Thursday, April 14, 2011
Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern coming to the big screen
Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern book series has garnered generations of fans. Now it's about to be translated for the screen by the screenwriter for Watchmen and X2, David Hayter.
According to Deadline,
producer Steve Hoban has been itching to make a Pern film forever. And
now David Hayter has been hired to write the script based on Dragonflight, the first book in McCaffrey's 22-book series.
I wasn't too impressed with The Watchmen movie. But I can't see how they can make Dragonflight dull. Here's hoping they do a good job on this.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Eye magazine changing its name and direction
Eye've got a bad feeling about this...
The new publisher and editor-in-chief, who reports directly to Star Media Group president and Toronto Star publisher John Cruickshank, used to be the editor of the Globe & Mail's Report on Business magazine (see link here).
Excerpt from the main link above:
The new handle is not some sort of Tron reference, he said.
“It’s actually more descriptive than anything. If you look at a map of
the city and take out the background and just emphasize all the
roadways—North, South, East and West—it looks like a piece of graph
paper. So that notion of looking at the city from a street level and a
neighbourhood level is very much the direction we’re going editorially,”
said Turnbull, who stepped into his role at the Torstar-owned Eye seven months ago.
The name change is part of a move in a radically different direction for the publication, he continued.
Rather than remain an alternative newsweekly heavy in arts, entertainment and listings, The Grid will essentially be a city magazine for people in their 20s and 30s. “So a younger, hipper, more provocative version of Toronto Life in a weekly guise,” he said.
“We’re pretty excited about it because there’s never been a weekly
city magazine for young people in Toronto and we think there’s a real
appetite for it,” said Turnbull. He added that Torstar has put a lot of
resources into the launch.
“There really hasn’t been a big print and online media brand launch in this town for a long, long time. Dose was probably the last thing that would even approach this scale.”
Dose magazine info
And, more on this here:
People In Print: Changes at Eye Weekly and Chatelaine
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Pope charged with crimes against humantiy in World Court
Excerpt:
hey claim the Pope “is responsible for the preservation and
leadership of a worldwide totalitarian regime of coercion which
subjugates its members with terrifying and health-endangering threats”.
fatal forbiddance of the use of condoms, even when the danger of
HIV-Aids infection exists” and for “the establishment and maintenance of
a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by
Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets
ever new crimes”.
that do not yet have a will of their own”. This act was “irrevocable”
and is buttressed by threats of excommunication and the fires of hell.
development and of a person’s emotional and mental integrity”. The Pope
was “responsible for its preservation and enforcement and, as Prefect of
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of his Church, he was
jointly responsible” with Pope John Paul II.
terrible alternative: If they protect themselves with condoms during
sexual intercourse, they become grave sinners; if they do not protect
themselves out of fear of the punishment of sin threatened by the
church, they become candidates for death.”
prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of his church
and as Pope, has up to the present day systematically covered up the
sexual abuse of children and youths and protected the perpetrators,
thereby aiding and abetting further sexual violence toward young people”.
Geoffrey Robinson, a United Nations jurist from the UK, called for an
international criminal investigation of Benedict by the UN World
Criminal Court over the cover-up of crimes by pedophile priests, but
nothing came of it. That may not be the case this time because once
charges are filed, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
must investigate them.
Silver Snail comic shop may move to the Annex in 2012
The owner of the Silver Snail will be sold to to the manager and it will continue. But, it may be moving in in 2012 to the Annex.
Read the link for the details.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
People with Tourettes syndrome have tremendous cognitive motor control
Excerpt:
The motor outputs of children with Tourettes syndrome are under
greater cognitive control. You might view this as their being less
likely to respond without thinking, or as being less reflexive.
This helps explain why some people may have many tics as children,
but as adults have very few. Over time, their brains have developed ways
to control these tics. Jackson points out that this may mean people
with Tourettes need mental exercises rather than brain surgery or drugs,
because their brains will naturally develop compensatory mechanisms.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Duke Nukem Forever - to ship a month later
It was actually schedule to come out in May of this year, now delayed one month later.
:)
Watch the video at the link for the full announcement.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Israeli Apartheid Week.
Apartheid is a totally appropriate term. But, as one commenter suggested, "slow genocide" actually captures what is happening more directly.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
As Arab world marches towards freedom, Israel would be wise to join them
Excerpt from article by Uri Avnery (Uri Avnery is a peace activist, journalist, and writer. He was a founding
member of Gush Shalom (peace bloc), an independent peace movement, a
former publisher and editor-in-chief of Haolam Hazeh news
magazine. Avnery is also a former member of the Knesset and a founding
member of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.) :
"When our Zionist fathers decided to set up a safe haven in Palestine, they had the choice between two options:
They could appear in West Asia as European conquerors, who see
themselves as a bridgehead of the "white" man and as masters of the
"natives", like the Spanish conquistadores and the Anglo-Saxon
colonialists in America. That is what the crusaders did in their time.
The second way was to see themselves as an Asian people returning to
their homeland, the heirs to the political and cultural traditions of
the Semitic world, ready to take part, with the other peoples of the
region, in the war of liberation from European exploitation."
I wrote these words 64 years ago, in a brochure that appeared just two months before the outbreak of the 1948 war.
I stand by these words today.
These days I have a growing feeling that we are once again standing at a
historic crossroads. The direction we choose in the coming days will
determine the destiny of the State of Israel for years to come, perhaps
irreversibly. If we choose the wrong road, we will have "weeping for
generations", as the Hebrew saying goes.
And perhaps the greatest danger is that we make no choice at all, that
we are not even aware of the need to make a decision, that we just
continue on the road that has brought us to where we are today. That we
are occupied with trivialities — the battle between the Minister of
Defense and the departing Chief of Staff, the struggle between Netanyahu
and Lieberman about the appointment of an ambassador, the non-events of
"Big Brother" and similar TV inanities — that we do not even notice
that history is passing us by, leaving us behind.
Guide to common childhood illnesses
A guide to 10 common childhood illnesses, as well as a vaccination schedule for children from 2 months to 6 years.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The pros and cons of fluoridating the water supply
CBC's Q&A with 2 doctors - one pro and one con - about the issue of fluoridating the water supply.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Egypt: Updates and Analysis Feb. 1, 2011
Live: Egyptians gather in Tahrir Square - thestar.com
8 million people protesting today across Egypt.
Another Warning on Egypt - Chris Hedges
Veteran war correspondent Chris Hedges writes we have to brace ourselves for what a post-Mubarak Egypt will look like. The thing is, he's quite probably right:
...
The rise of powerful Islamic parties appears inevitable. It
appears inevitable not because of the Quran or a backward tradition,
but because we [USA] and Israel believed we could bend the aspirations of the
Arab world to our will through corruption and force.
Could Egypt's rich deal decisive blow to Mubarak?
During 30 years of authoritarian rule by Mubarak, the widespread
abuse of human rights has been documented and elections have been
manipulated. Forty per cent of Egypt’s 80 million people live on less
then $2 a day.
The potential for violence during
Tuesday’s march remains. The hated riot police, who disappeared from
Cairo’s streets after Friday’s violent clashes, returned in force
Monday.
Analysts in Egypt are divided on
Mubarak’s future. Most believe he is finished. They say the military —
from whose ranks all Egyptian Presidents have come since the monarchy’s
overthrow in 1952 — is trying to work out as dignified an exit for
Mubarak as possible.
Others describe Mubarak as playing a dangerous game of chess with protesters while trying to remain as President.
Huffington Post: Egypt: A Complete Guide To The 2011 Revolutionand
Why Egypt Matters: The Implications Of The Protests
CKLN License Revoked - What Happened?
http://torontoist.com/2011/01/timeline_why_ckln_radios_broadcast_was_revoked.php
History leading up to license revocation:
http://www.theeyeopener.com/really-old-archives/search.php?q=ckln&=Search
UPDATE
Feb. 11, 2011
CKLN granted stay of CRTC Decision, will remain on air pending the outcome of CKLN’s motion for leave to appeal
CKLN will remain on air, for now
Monday, January 31, 2011
John Cusack to star as Edgar Allen Poe in The Raven movie
Poe (Cusack) will be a serial-killer-hunter - hunting for someone inspired by Poe's literary works.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Egyptian protests - background and analisys
Wikipedia has a good summary and chronology of the events.
Analysis: Upheaval in Egypt
Experts speak to Al Jazeera about the protests and what they mean
video
Mapping Egypt's 'day of wrath'
Specifics about various demonstrations and that happened
Pulling the Plug on the Internet
A Nation In Waiting
A special programme looking at Egypt under Hosni Mubarak
video and text
Egypt: The Youth Perspective
video and text
Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution?
Video of police and protesters
The Toronto Star: Siddiqui: Time to cut Mideast dictators loose
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Bell gets a slap on the wrist from the CRTC for annoying its customers
OTTAWA—The CRTC received more than 10,000 complaints from consumers
about Bell Canada telemarketers, including at least one alleged death
threat, the Toronto Star has learned.
While both the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and Bell Canada
refused to say how many complaints were received from the public, the Star
confirmed it was 10,000-plus and that the telemarketers’ calls
continued for about a year before the agency finally moved against Bell.
Bell was recently fined $1.3 million for calling tens of thousands of consumers on the Do Not Call list.
The calls from the telemarketing
companies on contract — some of them in India — were at times aggressive
and abusive, documents show. In some cases telemarketers cursed at
people who showed no interest in their sales pitch and even threatened
them.
...
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Bad media news - CRTC enables SunTV (Fox News North) to lie to you
Excerpt:
Some have considered this comparison to Fox News unfair[1]:
Don Newman, CBC columnist and former host of Newsworld'sThis is a reasonable
"Politics" attacked the idea characterizing Fox news in the U.S. as
"hugely polarizing." Fox "mainly spews out propaganda that is
dangerously misleading and often factually wrong....It
specializes in drive-by attacks and misrepresentations, and is
positively Orwellian at times, claiming to be 'fair and balanced' while
implying that its competitors aren't."
description of Fox News, but notice the distinction claimed to separate
SunTV from Fox: it is precisely the "misleading and factually wrong"
part. This is the part the CRTC gives them full license to do.
Mr Lavoie, who replaced Mr. Teneycke and is a former Mulroney insider,
claims the news will retain Sun's "provocative" tone. We are thus left
with an unapologetically politically right leaning 24 hour news station
intending to engage in provocative language with the ability to
misdirect or lie with impunity. That is a scary thing indeed.
Toronto school start hour later and sees improvement to grades and well-being of students
Starting high school at 10am instead of 9am makes sense to me. I was always tired in high school.
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