Really Great Band Posters

For reasons of a cover-art situation I spent some time this afternoon Googling "gig posters" and similar search terms. Along the way I found this post about great concert posters on a website for photoshop users. The band posters they've got up are all gorgeous in that arty, decadent and maybe a little vapid way Whitworth-pleasing posters are. Those of you into pictures, drawrings and rockaroll should check these out. And if you're in a band...something to aspire to!

Inglourious Basterds Is A Hoot

Saw it. Loved it. The film has problems and will definitely not be to everyone's taste. But if you liked the first trailer, you should like the movie. It's the same--witty, crude, offensive and schlocky--but longer and gorier. Truth in advertising for the win.

Speaking of long, I think it's something like two and a half hours. I could've handled four. And I think everyone I saw Inglorious Basterds with felt the same. The consensus complaint was, "I wanted more Nazi killin'!"

One friend said this will be a great movie to watch in a living room with copious amounts of beer. Yup.

Far from a great film but a blast to watch with pals on a Friday night. We'll have a full review by Jorge in next Thursday's paper.

Saturday Morning Cartoon

Way back in 1992, a bunch of comic book artists got together to form their own comic company called Image Comics. It was going to be free of the corporate greed and control that plagued the Big Two (Marvel & DC). They were going to create their own "original" super-heroes. Like former X-Men artist Jim Lee. He created a new super-hero team called WildC.A.T.S. (covert action team). Instead of drawing everybody's favorite X-men character Wolverine, who has claws in his hands, Lee created an entirely new super-hero. Warblade - who had claws for hands. Ah, the originality.

Being the early 1990's, the market was full of speculators out to make a quick buck and the company quickly became as big as - well - the Big Two. And natural they all tried to cash in as much as possible, thus in 1994 WildC.A.T.S. became an animated Saturday morning cartoon on CBS. It only lasted 13 episodes. Recently somebody lent me the complete series on DVD and I have to say it has the worst (best?) theme song ever written for a cartoon.

Remember - they're heroes, not zeroes.

Friday Afternoon Kitty: Do Not Watch This If You Are High Special Edition

No, I haven't forgotten the Friday Afternoon Kitty. Actually I had something else I was going to post, but Friend Of Dog Blog Dakota says I should put this up. "It's three minutes long but totally worth it," he says.

One warning, since we've been posting about drugs all day: whatever you do, do NOT watch this video while smoking pot. Because while it's kind of amusing straight, it would be LETHALLY HILARIOUS to watch stoned.

So DO NOT walk away from your computer right now, roll a fat one, and come back and puff away to this reel of dumb-cat comedy, eight or nine times in a row. That WOULD NOT BE SAFE. You might LAUGH YOURSELF INTO A COMA.

I care about the well being of Dog Blog readers. I don't want you hurt because something was too funny when you were stoned.

This Week In Cocaine

Speaking of drugs, there have been a couple other interesting stories this week that we haven't blogged about.

ON MONDAY, there were media reports all over the place whooping about a discovery by the American Chemical Society that paper money in up to 90 per cent of big U.S. cities is contaminated with cocaine.

The claim sounds like an urban legend but apparently it's true. But what does it mean?

On the New Scientist magazine blog Short Sharp Science, reporter Ewen Callaway points out that coked-up bills didn't neccessarily get that way by being rolled into snort tubes. For example, the bills could have easily picked up traces of coke just from spending time in an ATM with other bills that had come into contact with the illegal narcotic.

The important thing is, New Yorkers don't have to worry about most of the bills in their wallets having been inserted into someone's gross nostril quite yet.

THEN, ON WEDNESDAY, the Guardian had a great article about a cocaine "bar" in Bolivia. It's not legal but apparently all the right officials have been properly bribed so it seems to be flourishing. I recommend the article--in addition to being a good piece about a crazy place, there's a good bit of ranting about the war on drugs. Check it out; it'll help you kill 10 minutes of your pre-weekend work afternoon.

Mexico Legalizes Drugs

It's a start anyway. Hopefully, the new law (RantRave) passed by Mexico legalizing small amounts of drugs for personal use will prompt Canada and the U.S. to rethink their draconian policies. Like Prohibition in the 20s, where the manufacture and sale of alcohol was outlawed, the so-called War on Drugs has been a dismal failure. Use does not automatically translate into abuse, especially with softer drugs. Government regulation is the answer. Do that, and suddenly a whole bunch of problems from police corruption to drug cartel violence to petty charges against otherwise law-abiding citizens disappear.

Ding Dong, the SPP is Dead

The Council of Canadians is announcing that the Security and Prosperity Partnership is no longer an active initiative. (Analysis of this development on the rabble.ca website here.)

Looks like a big win for campaigners protesting the much maligned "NAFTA Plus" project. And considering this could never have happened under the U.S. administration in place a year ago, it's also a refreshing sign that the new boss is not the same as the old boss.

Rider Rumbling

Miracles can happen, I suppose, but the odds of the 4-3 Riders emerging victorious in their game against the 6-1 Alouettes in Montreal tonight have to be considered long. While the Riders have shown flashes of brilliance, they've been plagued by inconsistency. They're tied for the lead in turnovers forced with Montreal, for example, with 27, but whereas Montreal has only turned the ball over 12 times, the Riders have done so a whopping 26 times. Another worry is the Riders' tendancy to implode in the third quarter of games, where they've been outscored something like 71-6. In their July 18 game against Montreal at Mosaic Stadium, the Riders trailed 14-8 at half-time, and ultimately ended up losing 43-10. If the Riders can find a way to run the ball and sustain some drives, keeping Anthony Calvillo and the potent Montreal offense off the field, they might have a chance. But considering that the forecast calls for it to be hot and humid in Montreal tonight, and the fact that the Riders rarely play well there, it seems a pretty safe bet that the Riders will head into the bye week at .500.

Six In The Morning

1 RATS! Swift Current is under attack by rats. Hordes of rats. People, this is why we need more snakes. Snakes kick rat ass. Well they can't actually kick because they don't have legs but you get the idea. (Leader-Post)

2 IRAN'S GOVERNMENT SUCKS SLIGHTLY LESS THAN USUAL Country behaves like a good global neighbour by letting nuclear inspectors in. (The Guardian)

3 ABANDONED CANADIAN SUES CANADA She's a Canadian citizen who was marooned in Kenya and jailed for a week and, and this is the key problem, our government sat on its hands. Here's rooting for a big settlement. (Toronto Star)

4 BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T BEEN BAD ENOUGH ALREADY The Conservatives want a majority government. Good luck with that. (Globe And Mail)

5 A PLACE TO FIT IN Founded five years ago in Edmonton, a four-day summer camp for teenage gays, lesbians and transexuals is setting up in Saskatoon. Good stuff. Sexual identity doesn't start when you get to college and high school is enough of a nightmare when you're straight so it's definitely a step in a civilized direction to have something like this for queer teens. (StarPhoenix)

6 OBAMA IS FAILING Support for the U.S. president is dropping. Gee, I wonder why. Maybe because Barack Obama is starting to look like an out-of-touch, spineless coward more concerned about pleasing his (insane) political enemies than working for his supporters? (Washington Post) Like seriously, Sarah Palin actually says he's plotting to set up "death panels" for disabled children and he doesn't rip the crazy, lying bitch a new asshole and point out that's actually the way it works now? (Salon) Radical anarchists show up at his public events armed to the teeth and he doesn't shit-can their asses to Guantanamo? (YouTube) What a sissy douche Obama is becoming. Of course sane Americans are disappointed.

Alberta Flu Doctors Want $500/Hour

Here's something to chew on while you're ruminating on the Canadian Medical Association's plan to push governments on private-sector solutions to health care problems (Star Phoenix). The Alberta Medical Association wants its flu doctors to earn $500/hour. From a canoe.com article:

The Province and the Alberta Medical Association are now trying to hammer out a deal on compensation for doctors who'd volunteer in the case of a renewed and widespread swine flu (H1N1) pandemic here, said Alberta Health spokesman John Tuckwell, who insisted the proposed pay scale is still "premature."

In a letter to doctors, the association lists a series of rates that could be paid if the province was scrambling to deal with a major flu outbreak this fall. The top rate quoted for doctors who volunteer to be part of the flu-fighting team would be $518.45 an hour.

Full article here.

I am reluctant to question the motives of Canada's valued doctors. When they say they want to reform Canada's health care system by lobbying for more private sector delivery, I'm not going to immediately call them a pack of greedy, manipulative jackels using a manufactured health care crisis to extort higher profits from Canada's publicly-funded system.

No, I'll respectfully listen to what they have to say.

But $500/hour? That's insane. Tons of Canadians working full time barely make $500 a week. And I sincerely doubt there are many "volunteers" making that kind of coin. (Do Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan even earn that kind of money?)

I know there's a strong culture of compassion for patients among Canada's doctors. And I know a lot of doctors support Canada's public system and are concerned about some of the directions suggested for it (Doctors for Medicare).

I'm just worried there's also a growing culture of "I want my second yacht".