They found the Auschwitz Sign

For those of you like me who missed the news last night, police found the stolen sign from the entrence to the infamous Nazi death camp-turned holocaust memorial. It's bust into three bits but at least it's been recovered. Five alleged assholes have been arrested. More here. (Guardian)

This Week at City Hall

Monday, December 21
City Council (5:30 pm): It's a long agenda but a few items stand out. Chief among those, executive committee has recommended that the city's Tag Day bylaw be repealed and a report be prepared on how better to regulate panhandling in the city.

Council will also be considering a $190,000 expenditure to accomodate the 2011 Ford World Men's Curling Championship in Regina. The City Housing Incentives policy will be looked at, and the way it grandfathers projects covered by older incentive plans will be examined. Administration is recommending approval for a plan to reduce the cost of disposal of Auto Shredder Residue at the landfill to nothing during summer months (that's just on the first 30 tonnes a day delivered, mind). Also to be looked at is the annual community investment allocation (just over $4 million this year); an eastward expansion of the Wascana Centre Authority jurisdiction; a cost sharing agreement with the RCMP for the 11th Avenue bridge reconstruction; the 2010 Local Improvement Program; and a request to go ahead with a development in Harbour Landing that would be higher density than originally planned.

As this is the last council meeting of 2009, various boards and bodies will be putting forward their board memberships for the new year. This includes all the committees that councillors will be sitting on. Here's a breakdown of who'll be on the committees that get a lot of attention on this blog:

• Community and Protective Services Committee: Findura, Hutchinson, Murray, O'Donnell, Szarka.
• Finance and Administration Committee: Browne, Bryce, Fougere, Hincks, Murray.
• Public Works Committee: Browne, Bryce, Clipsham, Findura, Hutchinson.
• Regina Planning Commission: Fougere, O'Donnell, Szarka.

The complete council agenda can be downloaded on the city's website.

Join The Marines, Go To Iraq, Get Raped, Pregnant And Court-Marshelled

Don't know if you've been following this story but here's a thoughtful look at how U.S. general Anthony Cucolo's no-pregnancy order is dumber than a lobotomized lemur. (Salon)

12 Days of Christmas: The Lion in the Winter

It's 1183 and King Henry II (Peter O'Toole) and his wife Queen Eleanor (Katharine Hepburn) are holding Christmas Court.

King Henry is suppose to name a successor and wants to name Prince John (Nigel Terry). Queen Eleanor wants Prince Richard (Anthony Hopkins in his big screen debut). Meanwhile King Philip II (Timothy Dalton - future James Bond in his motion picture debut) of France wants his half-sister Alais (Jane Merrow) to marry the future heir. Except that she's been the mistress of King Henry for quite sometime now. A lot of verbal sparing and death threats follow.

The film is based on a play by James Goldman and directed by Anthony Harvey who, despite working several times with Katherine Hepburn, never managed to top this film. It isn't historically accurate but the acting between O'Toole and Hepburn is magnificent.

Six In The Morning

1 HANG UPS Saskatchewan RCMP to crack down on cell phone use while driving, starting...now! (CBC)

2 MORE ON THAT FLAWED U.S. HEALTH CARE DEAL No public option. No abortion in conservative jurisdictions. Yet this is still a landmark deal? Welcome to America. (Globe And Mail)

3 CANADA MET WITH RED CROSS IN 2006 What did the Red Cross tell Canada about Afghan prisoners? We don't know. Did they warn Canada that transferred prisoners were being tortured? We don't know. (Toronto Star)

4 LISTEN TO LISA The Simpsons might shape viewers' nuclear power views, says a professor with an eye for the obvious. (CBC/Canadian Press)

5 GREEN VIBRATIONS Liberal MP and doctor Carolyn Bennett says Canadians deserve non-toxic sex toys. Dog Blog salutes you, Dr. Bennett. (Globe and Mail)

6 "DON'T BRING A GUN TO A SNOWBALL FIGHT" I bet a certain snowball fight-hating Washington, D.C. cop is going to get coal in his stocking this Christmas. (Washington City Paper) And hopefully, long-term administrative leave and counselling.

Fun!



Snowballs vs. gun!



Fun again!



(Note to snowballers: in a situation like this chanting funny slogans is good. Saying "fuck you pig"? Prrrobably not the best idea. Besides unneccessarily escalating the conflict, it makes you sound like an asshole instead of a friendly, playful snow elf.)

Pick of the Day: Close Strangers: Distant Relations

This is the latest in a series of exhibitions the MacKenzie Art Gallery has presented where they invite a local artist to visit their vault and select works from the permanent collection to curate a show of their own. Sometimes prairie dog columnist Seema Goel was the first artist, I believe, to participate. A few years ago, she paired some traditional Western landscape paintings with Inuit prints to explore the link between art in those cultures and their broader relationship with nature and the land.

Close Strangers: Distant Relations is the brainchild of University of Regina Fine Arts professor David Garneau. Painter, art critic and academic, Garneau, for the last ten years or so, has been keenly engaged in critiquing pop culture and historical representations of First Nations and Metis people in Canada and the United States.


For this show, he pulled a broad range of paintings and sculptures from the gallery's collection. He then recorded short story-based commentaries on each work that viewers can listen to via iPods borrowed from the gallery gift shop while they wander through the show. Neat idea, eh?

Pictured above is Janet Werner's 1999 painting Gray Girl which is included in the show. Close Strangers: Distant Relations is on display at the MacKenzie until Jan. 3.