Mediamelon --30--

Bill Stovin has packed in his mediamelon blog, after taking a communications consulting job with the Saskatchewan government. Too bad, because in the short time he wrote it, it was one of the best Saskatchewan-based blogs out there. Good luck Bill. His last post.

Six In The Morning

1 GM DEAL EXPLODES, BANKRUPTCY LIKELY Governments did their part to save GM. Workers did theirs. But bondholders refused a deal to swap debt for stock, and now bankruptcy looks inevitable. A shitty day for GM workers and pensioners--who are probably the only people government should've been looking out for, here. (Globe And Mail)

2 TALKING URANIUM Public consultations on the nuclear reactor that's being pushed on us kicked off in Saskatoon yesterday. (StarPhoenix)

3 ESSENTIAL LABOUR LAWS? DOO-DIDDLEY DANDY The blatant, naked attack on organized labour that is the Saskatchewan government's essential services legislation is working fine, says Saskatchewan's Labour minister. (StarPhoenix, even though it's Leader-Post writer Angela Hall's story. But I can't find the link on the L-P's site. Wacky!)

4 NORTH KOREA RATTLES SWORD, RANTS CRAZILY The world's squawkiest rogue state seems intent on launching a regional war. Jerks. (Guardian)

5 GO PENS Pittsburgh--the U.S. city that charmed the crap out of me when I visited it last year--has a hockey team in the Stanley Cup finals for the second year in a row. (TSN) Meanwhile the Phoenix Coyotes ownership clusterfuck muddles along. (CBC)

6 TAX TIME! The City has mailed your property tax bill. Remember, you're not being gouged, you're paying for civilization and a stable city. Yes, that's expensive--but the alternative sucks. (Leader-Post)

Cat Scratch Fever

Don't if there's an actual medical term for what the woman in this video suffers from (YouTube), but Christie Callan-Jones just made a documentary about the phenomenon called Cat Ladies. (official website)

Stupid, Even For Hollywood

So, some idiots are planning to make a Buffy The Vampire Slayer movie without the cast and characters of the TV show and probably without Joss Whedon. (Dark Horizons)

What you need to know:

1.) Hollywood people are apparently far, far more stupid and arrogant than any of us thought. This is the mother of all insane ideas. This is like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Shitty Movie crossed with Catwoman bad. It's worse than a hundred farting Jar Jar Binkses. It's Thunderbirds meets Ishtar. It's the apocalypse.

2.) No way will this happen, because BTVS was an insanely popular TV show whose throngs of internet-saavy fans are as passionate as Trekkies and they will actively work to murder this slouching beast in its cradle. There's even a chance some unhinged Tara fan will hunt down and stake these morons in the heart, for real. (Note: murder is wrong. Probably even in this instance.)

So, you Buffy fans can relax. Well, probably.

Mob Rule 1, Civil Rights 0

California's Supreme Court has upheld Proposition 8, the controversial, democracy-endorsed constitutional amendment barring gay marriage. And by "democracy-endorsed" I mean a whopping 52 per cent! Of people who voted! Which is like 40 per cent of the population! So that's at least a couple thousand people in a state of 30 million!

(UPDATE: Actual research has determined that 6,322,732 Californians voted in a way that is consistent with being a homophobic coward and snivelling bigot, while 5,796,637 voted for tolerance and, by extension, sunshine, rainbows, love and goodness. Also, the state has over 38 million residents and, um, actually, had a record-breaking near-80 per cent voter turn-out in November 2008. Not 40 per cent. Cough.)

So anyway, this sucks if you're gay and Californian. Or if you don't think the masses should get a vote on the very personal choice of who is allowed to marry whom.

Full story in the LA Times, here.

Divorce and adultery remain legal, of course, so the married "family values" bigots pushing this discrimination are free to bang their congregations/secretaries/interns. And hey, since we're all angry anyway, here's a link to a news story on one random hypocrite homophobe's messy personal life. (The Stranger) I'm going to go out on a limb here and say a lot of the most agitated opponents to same-sex marriage have serious personal issues that they're dealing with by parading their prejudices around in public. Psychiatry, people! It can help!

Meanwhile, gay marriage is legal in Saskatchewan. And, since 2005, in all of Canada. No thanks to the well-documented opposition of one odious political /minority government (New York Times). So if you're gay and in California, move here! Our booming economy needs workers and we even provide free universal health care to Canadian citizens (and we love recovering Americans!). As for winter, well, uh, maybe it's better you not ask about that.

Ethics 101

Received word the other day that a new website has been launched in Montreal to promote ethical business practices in areas like the environment, labour relations and sustainability. It relies on case studies drawn from around the world. So far, 75 or so have been compiled. The goal is to add more as other examples of businesses behaving in an ethical manner are uncovered--assuming such entities actually exist (ethipedia)

Rosie's alternate top six

1. Meet the Regina Pats' latest fall guy. (Leader-Post)

2. Mr. T. At Wrigley Field. Singing. Hide the children. (Total Pro Sports)

3. Access Communications explains why CTV's Save Local TV campaign is full of it. (CJME)

4. The Regina Chamber of Commerce is pressuring for a nuclear reactor the same way a spoiled brat is screaming for a pony for Christmas (CJME). In lieu of a big long post about how the Regina Chamber of Commerce is made up of people with no business sense at all, I introduce you to our latest Type-O-Wiener winner's blog (SaskBoy).

5. About a week ago, the U.S. government made a big splash about arresting guys who were going to launch terrorism acts against Jews in the New York area. Turns out that not only the whole plot was bunk, but the main informant made his statements so the FBI could pay for his health insurance. (NY Daily News via Crooks and Liars)

6. Iggy doesn't like the EI program that the Liberals created, and Stephen Harper thinks people who lose their jobs are whiny sucky-babies. Prepare for another Thanksgiving election. (Globe and Mail)

Six In The Morning

1 CITY HALL LOVES THOSE CONDOS More condo conversion approvals. I like condos too, and there are lots of situations where condo conversions are fine. (Case in point--the Warehouse District's Brownstown's overhaul a few years back. Lovely!) But come on, this looks out of control. Where are the rental units in the city centre? Come to think of it, where are the new condo developments in the city centre? Do elected officials make decisions for this city or do property developers? I guess the answer to that is obvious, isn't it? (Leader-Post)

2 NOM NOM NOM The Governor General cuts out and eats a raw seal heart. How can you have the guts to eat a raw seal heart but not have the stomach to allow our democratically elected parliament choose its prime minister according to the wishes of the majority of its members (see: last fall's coalition debacle)? (Toronto Star)

3 BIG DAY FOR GAY MARRIAGE Speaking of democracy, the legality of California's Proposition 8--the democratically-passed constitutional amendment barring gay marriage in the state--will be ruled on by the California Supreme Court today. (LA Times)

4 I CAN HAZ ELECTION? Count Iggyula says he can "foresee" one in the "near future". Perhaps he's using his vampire powers? Seriously, dude looks like Dracula. (Globe And Mail)

5 MIND THOSE MISSILES North Korea is sure doing its best to freak everybody out/piss everybody off. (The Guardian)

6 NOW THAT'S LOYALTY Little slow on this one, so apologies. Last Friday Regina MLA Sandra Morin endorsed NDP leadership candidate Dwain Lingenfelter--after the Waterhengate scandal tainted his campaign (but he was cleared! wail supporters). (Leader-Post)

This Week at City Hall

Monday, May 25
Crime Prevention Advisory Committee (12:15 pm)
City Council (5:30 pm): After a long absence from council meeting lineups, the condo conversion is back in full force. Three are being considered this evening: 2151, 2153 and 2163 Hamilton Street.

Things are getting even more convoluted of late. The city is working with developers to impose a requirement that 75% of units in newly condo'ized buildings remain rental suites. The city even has proposed legal agreements with the developer of the Hamilton buildings that'll impose a reporting requirement on them (in which they have to prove they're abiding by the agreement) and penalties if the number of rental suites drops. This has all been done in light the city's 0.5% vacancy rate. Lawyers for the developer are balking at the 75% requirement now that CMHC has released numbers stating the current vacancy has risen to a whopping 1.2% and is expected to escalate to an unimaginably lofty 2% sometime next year. The lawyers will argue tonight that because the rental market has returned to pre-2008 levels (that hearkens way back to last year) they shouldn't be treated differently than developers from back in those days.

That city council probably shouldn't have been approving all those condo conversions back in 2008 when the vacancy rate was 1.5% seems to be immaterial to these lawyers. (City policy says they shouldn't approve conversions if the rate is under 3%.)

Also on the agenda, a review of the RPL's audited financial statements; external financing recommendations for the general capital program and for water and sewer utilities; and recommendations around the 2009 general and utility capital debenture bylaw.

In short, council should be an interesting affair tonight and I can't make it, dammit! So if anyone reading this does go to council tonight, feel free to post your thoughts in the comment section for this post. I'd be curious to hear what goes down.

Tuesday, May 26
Development Appeals Board Hearing (5:30 pm)

As always, you can download full meeting agendas and reports on the city's website.

Saturday Morning Cartoon

Last night I was out with a few Regina comic nerds, talking comic nerd stuff and doing a comic nerd jam. One of the nerds is a polylingual French prof who likes Japanese manga. Anyway I remembered at some point that my first exposure to anime (the TV equivalent of manga) was on French CBC in the late '70s. I was (pathetically still am) unilingual so I couldn't understand the show but it sure as hell looked cool to my 12 year-old eyeballs. And in the 13-channel universe kids had to take cartoons where they found them.

This Japanese show was about a one-eyed space bandit who stands around on the bridge of his cool-looking (and part wood!) star-battleship, and broods. And broods more. Unlike western entertainment, the Japanese understand the power of stillness. And brooding. Lots of brooding.

So I asked my friend Sylvain about it (he'd know! He's French!) and he told me this cartoon is Space Pirate Captain Harlock, and it's a classic. The Wikipedia entry is here.

Happily the introduction to the French-dubbed show--the same version 12 year-old Steve would've seen--is on YouTube. Instead of Space Pirate Captain Harlock, it's called Albator, probably because it makes a catchier theme song. (Actually Wiki says it was to avoid confusion with beloved Tintin character captain Haddock but I'm skeptical.)

Here it is, happy Saturday morning!