On-Line Dating Re-Visited

Further to Carle Steel's cover story on on-line dating in the Feb. 12 issue of prairie dog, and with the annual love-fest known as Valentine's Day now mere hours away, with hordes of Regina couples about to descend on city restaurants for romantic candle light dinners followed by who knows what type of shenanigans, here's another take on the growing phenomenon of Internet dating courtesy of the Onion News Network. Unlike Carle's story, it seems to suggest that there may be an upside to joining networks like LavaLife, Plenty of Fish and eHarmony after all.

The CanWest Death Watch

One of my favourite bloggers, Ottawa Watch, has a recurring segment called the Canwest Death Watch. He hasn't gotten around to linking to this story (tip of the hat to federal Liberal Party back-roomer Warren Kinsella), but give him time. From reading the story, I would imagine Canwest's financial problems are even worse than what we're led to believe, and I would give the organization six months to a year before it all comes crashing down ... not just the folding of the National Post (which would rebirth itself as the Financial Post, which was what it was before Conrad Black bought it to make it into the business section of the NP) but the collapse of the Canadian mainstream print journalism system.

I still think that Stephen Harper isn't going to let one of his biggest (only) boosters go down the financial drain. That's why the federal government will amend its legislation to allow a majority share of Canadian media outlets to be owned by non-Canadians, allowing Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation to buy Canwest Global on the cheap. But News Corp. is having its own problems.

Are we going to wake up one morning and see no Leader-Post on our doorstep? Or see Jill Whatshername on News At Six begin the newscast ... 'This just in ... MY PAY CHEQUE BOUNCED!" Maybe, but unlikely. The television system that's set up today doesn't allow for small, independent television stations -- they all have to be part of a massive chain (CBC, CTV Globemedia or Canwest Global) or they don't get the programs to fill their schedule.

The print edition is a different thing: the L-P and the Star-Phoenix's dead tree editions remain profitable -- what's killing them is the increasing amount of profits they have to pay to head office in order to keep Canwest from sinking faster into its ocean of red ink. Journalists are relatively cheap to employ (especially with a J-school trundling out grads every April who need to work at whatever job they can find to build up a portfolio and keep Kraft Dinner on the table), and hiring Marty Klyne as publisher, someone with a lot of roots in Regina's business community, will go a long way to help the L-P negotiate its sale to local concerns. The only problem may be that by the time the L-P goes up for sale, the newsroom will be cut so dramatically that Reginans may find that there's nothing worth reading in the newspaper ... which is always a bad sign if you're trying to attract readers.

So what does it all mean? First things first. I would imagine that the local private radio stations -- say, Harvard and Rawlco -- are taking a good look at buying the L-P and Saskatoon Star-Phoenix on a discount in the ensuing fire sale.

Secondly, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers may as well give up the fantasy that they are going to be playing in a brand-spanking new football stadium. In fact, I think the reverse will be true -- the Bombers will probably one of the next CFL teams to undergo a financial meltdown as a community board of directors pick up the pieces from David Asper's financial flameout. Ottawa Watch calls the Asper family's crisis management of Canwest Global the 'flinging tables and chairs in the way of the people who are trying to chase you out of the bar' strategy ... the Bombers will be just another piece of furniture flung the creditors' way when it all goes down, as it appears it will, inevitably, in 12 to 18 months.

Them Kids

Sell off the justice system to the private sector? Whatever could go wrong?

Six In The Morning

You know the drill:

1 HORRIBLE CRASH A plane hits a house in Buffalo, 49 are dead. Awful, awful details here. (Globe And Mail)

2 DRUG ARRESTS The RCMP in Regina have nabbed 26 culprits in something called a "dial a dope" scheme. I note with interest the only weapon seized, according to the story, was an "expandable baton" whatever that is. So much for my fantasies that all dealers are scowling Cuban immigrants spouting catch phrases and dying in spectacular machine gun rampages. (Leader-Post)

3 CIRCULAR JUSTICE The sentancing circle is underway for Christopher Pauchay, the man guilty of criminal negligence in the freezing deaths of his two young daughters. (CBC)

4 FIREBUG Authorities in Australia have arrested and charged a man alleged to have intentionally strated bush fire that have killed 21 people and destroyed 7000 homes. Police also charged this sweetheart of a dude with possessing child pornography. (The Guardian)

5 ROLL UP YOUR KID'S SLEEVE A U.S. court says the evidence is overwhelming: vaccination doesn't cause autism. (AP/Toronto Star)

6 TOMORROW IS VALENTINE'S DAY So here's some YouTube of two pets and their unlikely wuv for each other. The cuteness is deadly. Happy Valentine's Day! (YouTube)

Good Movie, Left Happy

The new prairie dog is out today and full of good reading, including Carle Steel's takedown of the whole online dating racket and not one but two articles about beer.

I'll say that again: TWO stories about beer. Ah, you're running out the door to pick up your copy now. Excellent.

There's also a short write-up on a good documentary playing at the RPL tomorrow. Died Young, Stayed Pretty is a made-in-Canada (well, Calgary) flick about underground rockaroll poster culture: the posters, the weirdos (and in at least one case internationally recognized graphic designer) who make them, their cultural significance--basically the wacky shenanigans of the whole nutty scene.

I saw it tonight with Carle and Paul Dechene, and we were all dazzled, educated and entertained. If you care about underground/outlaw art, rock, punk or gay Elvis, work as a graphic designer or you're in a band in this city, you should see it. It plays again tomorrow night at nine.

Hey, this could even inspire people to build a killer poster culture in this town. Okay, that IS crazy.

Happy Darwin Day!

It's the 200th anniversary of the birth of one the greatest scientists who ever lived, the guy who pretty much invented the field of biology and utterly changed the way people look at the natural world: Charles Darwin. Learn about the celebration here.

CBC radio's Quirks and Quarks did a pretty good show devoted to him this week. And if you want to read that book of his that caused all the fuss, On the Origin of Species, it's in the public domain so it's free to download.

Sadly, there isn't a lot -- if anything -- going on in Regina to celebrate Mr Darwin's birthday. I spoke with the director of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, thinking it would be a logical spot for something like this. Turns out they had nothing planned. However, in May, he says they'll be launching a Darwin exhibit.

Anyway, if you're hosting some kind of Darwin-related event this evening, please feel free to mention it in the comments.

Breaking the Law

I'm not a fan of the tags that mostly pass for graffiti art in Regina. Yes, an argument can be made that a tagger, especially if they belong to a marginalized community and they're tagging a building, bridge or other structure located in a prominent public location, is asserting their right to be seen by civic powerbrokers -- and by extension, acknowledged and heard. But tagging in Regina seems to be pretty indiscriminate. And defacing the garage or garbage bin of a cash-strapped senior or impoverished inner city family, forcing them to undergo the expense and trouble of having the tag removed or else be fined under a City of Regina bylaw, isn't exactly my idea of sticking it to the man. It would be nice too if taggers were a bit more creative with their mark-making instead of just squiggling away.

But there is such a thing as true graffiti art. And it does have a legitimate role to play in our society as a form of socio-political commentary. That's why the arrest this week of Los Angeles graffiti artist Frank Shepard Fairey on the eve of an exhibition of his work opening at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Boston is extremely troubling. Fairey isn't the first artist who began their career on the street, cultivating a unique and edgy urban visual style that initially brought them into conflict with property owners, police, the courts and politicians, but that later won them acclaim in the contemporary art community. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring are the two best-known examples.

Graffiti has been around since ancient times. When done with style and panache, it provokes people to think about the structure of the space around them and how messages of power and privilege are conveyed in our society. For Boston police to arrest Fairey for his graffiti-related activities (including a felony charge for an outstanding warrant dating back to 2000) was a simple power play on their part that confirms their role as an instrument of state oppression. Oh, in addition to the Andre the Giant image posted above, here's another sample of Fairey's work. It currently hangs in the US National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

A-Rod

Here's a really interesting piece on the A-Rod affair by a former teammate. 

It raises some troubling questions about privacy.

I don't really do sports, so I don't have much else to say. 

Go Riders!

Three (Extra) in the Morning

Because my daughter is reading quietly to herself (wow... this is new) so I'm sneaking a little blogging (read: surfing) in...

7. Canadian Labour Congress May Reverse Position on IP Policy: This is a good article that looks at where the CLC presently stands on Intellectual Property policy and where they could be headed if a proposed resolution gets passed... yeesh, next week from the looks of it. Seems they could be coming down in favour of the WIPO's internet treaties --- treaties which are being opposed by many consumer and education groups --- and they'll also be supporting a strict enforcement-based approach to copyright enforcement. A worrying about-face from the CLC. If you're suspicious of copyright laws, that is. Which I'm.

8. Baseball = Making Out Metaphor Explained, Finally: Generally speaking, stick-figure webcomics inhabit a rung or two below even student newspaper comics. This one, however, is very good. Update: Hahahaha, this one is too.

9. Indian Matchbox Cover Art: Because the world needs more India.

Aaaaaand... my daughter is now roaming about so I'm off...

Six In The Morning

1. Canada Failing on Climate Change: The environment commissioner is upset with Ottawa's lackluster performance on climate change. Gosh, who saw that coming?

2. University of Vermont Rethinks Ben Stein Speech: Apparently something he said about science made him unsuitable as a commencement address speaker. Could it have been this quote from Expelled, maybe? "I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed." Go back to the gameshow, Ben.

3. Beware of Zombies: The atheist bus is coming to Canada, but we can only hope a band of merry pranksters will start doing this to Regina road signs.

4. Writer Threatened for Being Thorough: Dr Ben Goldacre, author of the Bad Science column for the Guardian, devoted a blog post to debunking claims about vaccination made by a UK radio show host. To illustrate his concerns, he posted the relevant sections from the radio show: 44 minutes worth. As a result, he's been contacted by the radio station's lawyers for copyright infringement.

5. Bill Gates Infects Nerds With Malaria... Psych: Claiming, "Not only poor people should experience this," Gates started his TED 2009 talk by releasing a jar of malarial mosquitos into the audience. Only it turned out later the jar was empty and he was just "making a point." Your first instinct was right, Bill. You should've used real mosquitos.

6. Chemistry or Life? I don't read Russian, but the message on these anti-Coca Cola posters is pretty clear. Cool design.