Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Modernized version of Alice In Wonderland miniseries coming to TV
The mini-series is being described as "a modern day take" on the Lewis Carroll original, with Alice (Caterina Scorsone) updated to a twentysomething who ends up going down the wrong rabbit hole at the wrong time. The series will debut in December.
Guillermo del Toro on the Future of Film
Possible upcoming films:
The Hobbit
Hellboy III
Drood
Pinocchio
Slaughterhouse-Five
At the Mountains of Madness
Frankenstein
The Witches
Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Doctor Strange
Air Doll movie trailer
Here's the trailer for Japanese art-film director Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll, a lyrical Pygmalion tale that played Cannes last month
NDP make history in Nova Scotia
And take note of the mention of the piece in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald by columnist Ralph Surette.
"Being a Tory means never having to say you're sorry for being an asshole"
Top Tory Curses Toronto

...
In an unguarded moment, Baird told aides Toronto stood alone in not
meeting the technical criteria for federal cash, yet was complaining
about Ottawa dragging its feet.
"Twenty-seven hundred people got it right. They didn't. That is not a partnership and they're bitching at us," he said.
"They should f--- off."
...Mayor David Miller said Toronto only wants funds to buy 204
streetcars from Bombardier, to be built at a cost of $1.2 billion. The
proposed deal will expire June 27 and will collapse if federal and
provincial money isn't forthcoming by then.
The city said, based on its population, its share of the stimulus announced in January's budget would be about $312 million.
Miller said last night Toronto's proposal fits the federal criteria.
...Councillor Linda Rydholm of Thunder Bay, home of the Bombardier
plant, said the project needs approval. "Our workers need the contract
to continue or start."
Miller said Toronto's bid will help the overall economy in Ontario and create immediate jobs.
...
Pirate Party Wins A Seat at EU Parliament!
...
The Pirate Party (PiratPartiet) was set up in Sweden in 2006 to compete
in domestic and European elections and yesterday gained 7.1 percent of
the vote in EU elections winning them a seat in the European Parliament.
From there they will continue to fight for the abolition of the patent system and to strengthen the rights to privacy online.
...
The Raitt & MacDonnell tape - Sexy radioactivity...
...
Ms. MacDonnell said the isotope issue is hard to control, “because it’s confusing to a lot of people.”
“But it’s sexy,” says Ms. Raitt. “Radioactive leaks. Cancer.”
“Nuclear contamination,” says Ms. MacDonnell.
“But it’s only about money,” say Ms. Raitt.
...
Monday, June 8, 2009
New breakthroughs in electronic component minaturization
Scientists are engaged in a race to make electronics components even
tinier. Now, three breakthroughs in the manufacture of chips and
superconductors are about to make computer components so small that
they can operate on the quantum level. ...
The Plan - BSG from the Cylon perspective - due in Sept 2009
88 minutes - on-air version. DVD version 2 hours and 6 minutes.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Frank Klees - let's have more racism in Ontario
This is why the Conservatives won't be winning any elections in Ontario anytime soon.
Federal court fighting for Canadians' rights against the Harper government
...
"Ottawa says it has no duty to protect Canadians outside country." Remarkable that a Canadian government goes to court to take such a position. ...
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Conservative government lying to Canadians, again.
...
Sixteen months ago, the Harper government ordered the reactor restarted
after a shutdown for safety reasons, saying cancer and heart patients
would die without an immediate isotope supply. At that time, the
shutdown lasted four weeks and the world’s other four isotope reactors
were operating. This time, the situation is far worse — Chalk River is
out of order indefinitely and two of the other reactors are also down.
Yet, Raitt testified at a Commons committee this week there is nothing
to panic about. Either the Harper government lied to Canadians
16 months ago, or it is lying today. Either way, government deceit is a
far bigger issue than lost documents.
...
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Harper awarded for supporting genocide in Palestine
watch the video.
This is the reason that Harper received a "human rights" award from the
Canadian Jewish Council. It is sad. Do these children have no human
rights? If Harper had any credibility as a leader, this should put an
end to it. If the Canadian Jewish Congress had any claims of being an
organization for human rights, then this kind of award should put an
end to it.
Conservative government actually tightened the purse strings in this time of a need for increased spending
The Conservative government in Canada would have you believe that they actually are spending more to boost the economy in this time of recession. But, as reported in the Globe and Mail, and referenced in the Far and Wide's blog post, they are spending less. They promised a stimulus package, but they are not releasing the money as promised.
Excerpt from the Far and Wide post:
Government spending growth in Canada actually slowed to below the
historical average in the first three months of 2009, even as the
recession's grip tightened...
Government spending rose only 0.3
per cent in that period over the previous quarter. This increase even
fell short of the 30-year historical average of 0.5 per cent for
quarterly government spending growth.
"In a quarter they're
supposedly rolling out big stimulus, government spending actually rose
less than a typical quarter," BMO Nesbitt Burns deputy chief economist
Doug Porter noted.
As Mr. Porter observed, it's a surprise that government spending growth actually softened as the downturn grew.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Canada withdraws aid from the world's poorest
Further to last week's post on a multitude of Conservative sins that
were impacting Canada at home and abroad, I would like to draw your
attention to this Geoffrey York article in today's G&M: Banned Aid.
It brings home the effects the Harper changes to foreign aid is having
on one of the world's poorest countries and how it is damaging our
international reputation. Excerpts follow with my highlights in bold.
Read the whole thing. Not because it is funny or there are pictures
of kittens or some such. Because it deserves to be read.
(continue reading at the link)
Harper's Law
Have you ever sat around a round table which has a big hole in the
middle and wondered that, besides occupying some space, what is the
purpose of that hole? I once dropped my pen in that middle during a
meeting and had a hell of an embarrassing time to retrieve it.
Now
think of Harper and a hole in his head. He is going to come up with a
law where you can sue terrorists in Canada. Firstly, terrorist for us
is someone else's freedom fighter and a freedom fighter for us is
someone else's terrorist. We go and occupy others' land or countries,
we should fully expect that there will be resistance. So we
conveniently call resisters terrorists. That is the way it goes. (This
is no way condones violence on either side - personally I condemn
violence - but illustrates the nature of the discourse).
...







