Friday Afternoon Kitty!

Cute! Kind of an abomination against nature, Darwin and the food chain. But cute!

Rat loves cat! 2 @ Yahoo! Video

Public Broadcaster Helps Private Media

So the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation now has a cash-for-content sharing agreement with the National Post. This sucks. And it's an example of just how beaten-up our national broadcaster is under Stephen Harper's Conservative government, who are even worse CBC-bashers than the Liberals were. Canada doesn't need its national broadcaster, which politicians already love to starve for funding, bailing out an alleged news company that caters to right-wing delusions like "there's no climate change" (Ross McKitrick) and "cowardly war protestors are as bad as doctor murderers" (Lorne Gunter). Both those examples are from today's National Post, by the way.

Instead, the CBC needs its funding increased so it can do its job for all of us. This funding also needs to be at arm's length so that politicians can't launch self-serving attacks on its finances--my understanding is this is the BBC model. And the CBC SHOULD NOT be working with private media companies famous for abusing their monopoly power to bring right-wing bias/factual errors/hatred to news coverage.

I'm a patriotic Canadian and I want my CBC working for all Canadians. Not private media companies.

This is ridiculous. This is scandalous. This is reprehensible. This is EVIL.

Grrrar!

UPDATE: llustration added--an artist's interpretation of the deal with CBC executive vice-president Richard Strusberg on your left and a Slavering Minion of Hell (representing the National Post) on the (cough) right.

UPDATE 2: CanWest is selling its papers? What? (Globe And Mail)

Only Patriots For White Presidents

I've been dilly-dallying on posting a link to this terrifc article in last Saturday's Globe And Mail and here we are, almost a week later--so it's now or never. Writer Sonia Verma looks at the base, unthinking predjudice of Americans who are criticising their current president after eight goddamn years of sitting on their hands while their last leader--a white, warmongering, apparent good-ole-boy who was actually a well-connected millionaire--spent their country into ruin.

Americans' political double standards are mind-blowing.

Six In The Morning

1 LETTERMAN PWNS BLACKMAILING DOUCHEBAG The talk show host reminds a blackmailer that while sex outside of marriage might be jerky (or it might not, depends on what people agree to), extortion is an actual crime. (Guardian)

2 A LONG, HARD LOOK AT DICK So, a federal judge in the United States has ordered the FBI to open up its classified Dick Cheney interview notes. The FBI questioned the, let's just say evil and disgraced, former U.S. vice-president in 2003 during their investigation of the Valerie Plame affair--specifically, to learn if Cheney ordered his aide Scooter Libby to blow CIA agent Plame's cover as political retribution against her husband, who had criticized the administration. (Toronto Star)

3 TEXANS: NOT ALL JACKASSES A Texas judge ignores a district attorney's pleas and rules a gay couple may be granted a divorce even though gay marriage is illegal in the state. Why? Because, she says, the state's ban on gay marriage violates the U.S. constitution. Eat that, lone-star state bigots! (the Dallas Morning News)

4 AMERICA: WAY DIVIDED ON LEGAL ABORTION My god, if we could build a time machine for the nearly 50 per cent of the American population that can't cope with the modern era. They'd be so much happier in biblical times, marrying their sisters and wiping their butts with lizards--and I'd be so much happier with them out of my century. Once again: If you're opposed to abortion, DON'T HAVE ONE. But don't work against the legal rights of people living in 2009. (New York Times)

5 SASKATCHEWAN POUNCES ON KILLER'S BOOK PROFITS Read all about it. Or don't. (Leader-Post)

6 GOVERNMENT SURVIVES LIBERAL NON-CONFIDENCE VOTE Yawn. (The Globe And Mail.)

Pick of the Day: Capitalism: A Love Story

I admit to a certain amount of ambivalence concerning Michael Moore. I think, on occasion, he does bends the facts to buttress his position and heighten the entertainment value of his films. He doesn't produce documentaries as much as semi-balanced agit-prop. And he is a bit of a boorish loud mouth. But so what?

The neo-conservative right these days, especially in the U.S., is being driven by the looney fringe. People who feel no compunction about making wildy inaccurate and inflammatory statements to attack and demean anyone who doesn't share their selfish and soul-destroying outlook on life. If you believe in the inherent value of rational thought and reasoned debate how do you possibly relate to the venom these morons spew? But Moore is down with the way they operate, and isn't afraid to mix it up with them on their terms, and call them on their bullshit beliefs and actions.

Neither does he shy away from controversial issues. Guns. Health Care. Corporate Malfeasance. Right-Wing Terror Tactics. And now capitalism itself. Here's the trailer for his latest film Capitalism: A Love Story (YouTube) which opens tonight.

31 Days Of Horror: Mad Love

It's hard to believe that's it October already but here we are and Halloween is fast approaching. This is the only time of year that my preferred genre of choice, the horror film seems to be accepted by the general public and I don't stand out like a weirdo like when I'm renting zombie movies on Christmas Eve. So I've decided to present one brilliant masterpiece of horror/ thriller until Halloween. These films will be presented in no particular order. First up Mad Love from 1935.

Mad Love is a remake of the 1924 silent film The Hands of Orlac. I haven't seen the original yet but Mad Love is Peter Lorre's American screen debut and it is one creepy performance. Lorre plays Dr. Gogol a brilliant surgeon who is madly in love with Grand Guignol actress Frances Drake. She's already married to brilliant pianist Colin Clive (the once good Dr. Frankenstein). Lorre is so obsessive that he keeps a wax mannequin of Drake in his room to talk to and embrace when the need takes him.

Clive is in a horrific train accident and loses his hands. Drake pleads with Lorre to help them and he grafts new hands on to Clive. The hands of a recently executed murderer - Rollo the knife thrower. As Clive recovers he finds that he can no longer play the piano but suddenly has the ability to throw knives at people.

This movie was the last film directed by The Mummy director Karl Freund. Freund was a brilliant cinematographer - responsible for some of the coolest looking movies of all time, The Golem, The Last Laugh, Metropolis to name a few and had only directed a couple of movies but would continue on as a cinematographer and eventual create the three camera technique that is still used to shoot TV sitcoms.

Lorre owns this movie. His performance is so disturbing. From his enjoyment of watching the Theatre des Horreurs performances - particularly Drake getting tortured - to his keeping the mannequin of Frances Drake in his apartment and the creepy way he talks to himself in a mirror. He is just unsettling to watch. This is an excellent thriller.

NXNE Prepping for 2010

Received a press release today from organizers of the NXNE festival in Toronto stating that any musicians and filmmakers interested in participating in the 2010 festival, which will be held next June, had until January 31 to apply. Akin to the SXSW festival in Austin, NXNE, which will celebrate its 16th anniversary in 2010, is regarded as great opportunity for musicians and filmmakers to showcase their stuff. Well-known Canadian acts like Billy Talent, k-os (pictured) and Feist all received major career boosts through their participation in NXNE. Until Dec. 31, the application fee is $25. After that, it rises to $35. For more information, check out the NXNE website.

The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff is an amazing 20-minute film that chronicles the life cycle of our stuff, from the mine to the landfill. The problem is that it is not really a cycle. It features the friendly Annie Leonard presenting a succinct criticism of our current system of production and consumption, backed by superb animations which illustrate all her points clearly.

The Story of Stuff is now being used in many elementary schools. It has also recently come under attack by right-wing nut-job Glen Beck.

Watch the film online right now...

This isn't going to end well ...

It's pretty clear to anybody what the Republican Party's plans are in Washington. Plan A involves gumming up the political works in the capital until nothing gets done, then run on a platform of 'throw the incompetent bastards out' in 2010 to retake control of the House and Senate. And then spend the time from then until election day 2012 by impeaching Obama for losing the Afghanistan war/the bad economy/brushing his teeth with a fluoride toothpaste/whatever the aliens telepathically transmit to Glenn Beck on a frequency only he can hear and only when the tinfoil hat is off.

Well, a Rupert Murdoch-owned website with big connections to the Republican Party tipped off Plan B. (Talking Points Memo). A military takeover throwing Obama out of office.

Pick of the Day: Elliott Brood w/ the Wooden Sky

This one is a bit of a toss-up. Bouncing Souls are headlining an all-ages punk-pop blowout at Riddell Centre tonight. Had it not been for this gig at the Exchange, that would be a definite option. If you check our Sept. 24 issue, you'll find an article I did on a Cathedral-area house concert I attended by the Wooden Sky in early August (picture by Carey Shaw above). Having seen them play an acoustic set (here's video, by the way, of a song they did on an earlier stop in their Bedrooms & Backstreets tour [YouTube]), it'll be interesting to see them play with full gear in support of Elliott Brood.

Elliott Brood are a death-country trio out of Toronto. I abhor Nu Country or whatever you want to call it. Taylor Swift. Big & Rich. Stuff like that. But alt-country like Neko Case, the Sadies, Lucinda Williams and Deep Dark Woods I can totally get into. Elliott Brood was recently nominated for the respected Polaris Prize for their CD Mountain Meadows. I'm on the guest list for this gig courtesy of Theresa at MuseBox and I will be attending. Off of Mountain Meadows, here's Elliott Brood's video for "Fingers and Tongues". (YouTube)