Something To Do

Saw the new exhibition Diabolique at the Dunlop Art Gallery tonight. It's curated by Amanda Cachia, includes 22 Canadian and international artists, is split into two parts with the second half scheduled to run in the fall, and addresses themes of war and violence. Among the pieces on display is one of Douglas Coupland's provocative life-size toy soldier sculptures. The show is definitely worth checking out. In our July 30 issue I'll have a review.

Rosie's Top 6 In The A.M.

1 MOON GRUMP As if we haven't been mooned out enough, take a look at an interview a NASA PR hack did with Apollo 11's command module pilot, Michael Collins (he was the one who stayed in the command module while Armstrong and Aldrin went to the moon). He sounds like your grouchy – but perceptive – grandfather and an environmentalist at the same time. Can't say I don't agree with him. (NASA)

2 MOON? NYET. While we're on the topic, let's spare a thought for the Soviet Union's failed moonshot program (Wikipedia). Plagued by a lack of money, lack of resources, and scientists and engineers infighting like cats in a bag, it's amazing that they got as far as they did. It's doubtful whether their manned lunar lander would’ve worked but the major reason why it didn't work was the N1 rocket (myspacemuseum.com) which stood as tall as the Saturn V but whose engines weren't as powerful. The first stage was comprised of 30 rockets strapped together, and no N1 flight lasted as long as the first stage cut-off. Here's what it looked like when one of the suckers exploded. (metacafe.com)


Russian Moon Rocket Disaster - The most amazing bloopers are here

Three weeks before the Apollo 11 landing, the Soviets tried to launch an N1, but it blew up on the launch pad, killing many launch site technicians and engineers. A good analysis of all that went wrong in the Soviet Union's moonshot program can be found at Encyclopaedia Astronautica (Encyclopaedia Astronautica), along with other NASA, United States Army and United States Air Force plans for moonbases that were formulated in the 1950s and 1960s.

3 NO FREE RIDES One of the strangest things I'm hearing in the entire Saskadome debate (Leader-Post) is the Sask. Party government getting on about how no taxpayers' money will be used to construct the $350 million (estimate? Guesstimate?) cost to build the thing. A lot of those proposals for paying for it involve funds from the Crown corporations or the Saskatchewan Gaming Commission (the people who run Casio Regina and Casino Moose Jaw). Well, they're supposed to be turning over their profits to the provincial government's revenue stream. And if they don't, then the money's going to come from somewhere – either higher taxes or cuts to government programs. Taxpayers will still pay the cost, directly or indirectly.

4 HEAD HORROR Talk about burying your lede, Ian Hamilton … a good piece on Tony Proudfoot's battle with Lou Gehrig's Disease (Leader-Post) leaves the most important part to the second-last paragraph. Are there more football players suffering from ALS? Is there something that makes football players more prone to suffering ALS—head injuries, concussions, that sort of thing? Is the CFL Players Association worried about its members? Are current players worried?

5 TRUE PATRIOT Just when you think Fox News Network can't go any lower … a chickenhawk war correspondent talks about an American solider captured by the Taliban a couple of weeks ago, and says he should be killed. (Crooks and Liars)

6 WINNING WHEELS Oh yeah. Almost forgot. I interviewed two members of the Pile O'Bones roller derby club in advance of their event Saturday night at the Caledonian Curling Club. The first reader who makes it this far and e-mails me (slarose@sasktel.net) gets two tickets to the roller derby.

Watchmen Scoop

Guess this comix/superhero movie gets its DVD and Blu-Ray release tomorrow. Here's one scene that didn't make it into the theatre version but will be featured in Zack Snyder's director's cut. (College Humor)

Six In The Afternoon

So here's what's up:

1 STADIUM STUDY ANNOUNCED It's official (Leader-Post). I love the location and I love that they're talking about a retractable roof, which I think is critical. (It's not football in Regina if you can't hear the crowd cheering all ove the city). There are more important things to spend $350 million on, though. Should be an interesting story to follow.

2 BRITISH COLUMBIA RAIL SCANDAL GETTING UGLY The judge in the case about the shenaniganic privatization of BC Rail orders recently-reelected premier Gordon Campbell to turn over e-mails that may have been illegally deleted (Globe And Mail). Kind of makes the BC NDP look pretty good in retrospect. Don't you think?

3 BC BURNING In other BC news, hot, dry weather is making a bad forest fire situation worse. Yikes. (Toronto Star)

4 DITCHES IN A DRY LAND? Prairie lakes are dryer than usual, say experts. But the experts say they've been dryer in the past. Nevertheless, aieeeee (Globe and Mail).

5 AFN GEARS UP FOR ELECTION The Assembly of First Nations is preparing to elect a new leader (StarPhoenix). You know what would be cool? If everyone with a treaty card could vote, instead of just 633 chiefs.

6 I'M STILL BUMMED ABOUT WALTER So let's see what there is to read... well, here's a good, long blog post on the late Walter Cronkite in Salon by the always excellent Glenn Greenwald. And here's one in the Guardian. And here's one in the New York Times. And here's one in the Washington Post, by Tom Brokaw. And here's the Associated Press story, also in the Washington Post. And here's one more essay in the Huffington Post. And i have to get back to work now.

The Moon Landing, 40 Years Later

Forty years ago today, Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon. Thanks to the Dechene Family Moon Landing Archives (ie, a pile of newspapers in an old Zehrs bag) here are some pics from the Globe and Mail announcing the achievement. I do believe you can click on them to see larger versions...

Daily Moon: Walter Cronkite Memorial Edition

Back from Saskatoon! Good to be home.

Well, it's a little rah-rah-U.S.A.! for my tastes but I always liked newsman Walter Cronkite, who passed away yesterday so what the hell. Here's 90 seconds of Cronkite reflecting on his coverage of the moon landing, ripped from the youtoob.



Dechene mentioned something special he's got so I'm hoping he'll put that up as tomorrow's Daily Moon. We'll see!

This Week at City Hall

In Maclean's recent ranking of best and worst-run Canadian cities, Regina received an awfully mediocre score. Now, there's a fair bit of bad blood between this town and Maclean's gang of merry statisticians. But there is an easy way to test the validity of this latest slur against our fair burg: come on down to city hall and see how things actually run. Here's what's going on this week...

Monday, July 20
City Council (5:30 pm): Considering a partnership with the RPL to relocate the Prince of Wales Branch into the Core Ritchie Neighbourhood Centre, a proposed renovation for St Paul's Cathedral, two condo conversions which were referred back to administration at the last council meeting, a tax abatement for Restwell Mattresses, the new city hall cafeteria agreement, and more. Of note is a request from Councillor Fougere to review the city's pest control program with a focus on looking at how to better control our gopher problem, and a request from Councillor Hincks to review ways to improve the city's bike path network.

Tuesday July 21
Board of Police Commissioners (9:00 am): Reviewing crime statistics for May. Once again, crimes against people are up over last year (+12.9 per cent since May of 2008) while crimes against property are down (-13.9 per cent since May of 2008). For the record, on that Maclean's ranking, we scored well on safety and protection, coming in fifth place. The board will also be reviewing 13 letters of appreciation received by the RPS.
Community Services Advisory Committee (5:30 pm): Going over meeting times for 2009.

As always, complete meeting agendas and reports can be downloaded off the city's website.

Saturday Morning Moontoon

In honor 40th Anniversary of the moon launch, it's a moon themed cartoon this morning.

Universal Studios are turning the 1979 video game Asteroids into a feature film but they clearly aren't the first film company to try and adapt a video game. In 1982 Hanna-Barbera Productions made Pac-Man into a bizarre Saturday morning kids cartoon on ABC for two seasons. Shirley (The Partridge Family) Jones' lesser half, comedian Marty Ingels provided the voice for Pac-Man. The plots usually had to do with an evil Darth Vader looking villain employing ghosts that try to steal magic power pellets from Pac-Man and his people. In this episode they try and steal them from the planet Earth while on the Moon.



There was some messed up cartoons in the '80s.

And just because I've been dying to post this really cool trailer for movie Moon and this is probably the last chance I'll get - here it is. Directed by David Bowie's son Duncan Jones and starring Sam Rockwell as the only man working on a Moon base with only two weeks left in his three year stay. Naturally he starts cracking up. Very cool stuff. Of course it will never play anywhere near here.

Friday Afternoon Kitty!

Okay, this is kind of gross but it's too funny not to post.



I love the way the two kittens stop wrestling at the end, and just stare. Even kitties recognize when they're in the presence of a true artiste.

Six in the Morning

1. THANK HARPER FOR A DECADE OF DEFICITS: Yeah, we need stimulus. But thanks to the Conservatives stubborn refusal to raise taxes, we can expect to be in the red for at least the next ten years. Sound fiscal management. That's what you get from Conservatives. Yessir. They may be troglodytes on social issues and the environment but they sure can manage money. (Globe and Mail)

2. IRANIAN CLERIC CONDEMNS REGIME: Tens of thousands took to the streets in Iran, their protests bolstered by a speech by top cleric, Hashemi Rafsanjani, in which he condemned the governments handling of the civil unrest in June. Meanwhile, the badass of British letters, Martin Amis, provides a bit of context on the Iranian situation. This will be a long, slow and very painful uprising, he argues. (Guardian)

3. PALIN NOMINATES HERSELF CHIEF NUTBALL IN ANTI-SCIENCE MOB: Not wanting to fade into the background now that she's resigned as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin penned an op-ed in today's Washington Post in which she attacks Obama's proposed cap-and-trade system. No one should care what she thinks about climate change but sadly many do so fortunately Media Matters has gone through her piece and picked it apart point by point. (Desmogblog.com, Media Matters)

4. YES, THIS IS AN UNSEASONABLY COOL SUMMER: It's official. What we've all suspected has been verified by science: this has been an unseasonably cool summer in Regina. In fact, it's been unseasonably cool everywhere in Canada except up north where the Yukon is uncharacteristically posting warmer temperatures than Toronto for July. Meteorologists, meanwhile, report that models predict the rest of the summer will be unseasonably warm. Climate change deniers have latched onto the colder-than-usual temperatures as evidence global warming is hoax. Everyone else looks on with alarm at the numerous uses of the word "unseasonable" in weather reports. (Leader Post, Globe and Mail)

5. MOUNTAIN LION VS. MAN WITH CHAINSAW: Not much more to the story than that. I post about it not merely because this is a pretty cool tale... that is, if you dig the old man-with-enormous-powertool-versus-nature plot, but more because I have to wonder what string of keywords are attached to it that it'd wind up featured in the automated news aggregator box on the rabble.ca website. (Guardian)

6. MOON LAUNCH WARRANTS EMBEDDED MOVIE TRAILER: In honour of the anniversary of our species first voyage to a celestial body, we bring you Space Nazis!.