Who Are You? : Warning, may contain tangents

I have always thought that it was a fools errand to try to 'Find Yourself'. If you want to travel and see more of the world or do something to test your character, excellent, but call it that. At the end of a 'journey of self discovery' people are generally whoever they have decided to become.

As Kurt Vonnegut says in Mother Night "Be careful what you pretend to be, because in the end you are what you pretend to be" If Vonnegut was right, and he was for a time one of the most frequently correct people in the universe, then the only difference between 'who you are' and 'who you pretend to be' is in your head. Others, generally, don't know you're pretending.

Given this it seems to me that it is better, after accepting whatever limitations are set down by nature and DNA, to simply decide who you want to be and strive to be that person. Sitting in the desert, eating peyote and waiting for 'God' to tell you who you are sounds like it would be hot, dirty, probably dangerous and you're not likely to get a better answer than the one you made up yourself.

Are there limitations on who we can be? Sure. If you are five feet tall you probably want to aim somewhere other than the NBA. You cannot, unless genetic modification races ahead rapidly, be a unicorn. The jobs of being Martin Luther King, Pierre Trudeau or Wayne Gretsky are already taken, though you can surely emulate them. The idea is to decide what kind of person you'd like to be, how you'd like to be remembered, how you'd like others to think of you and then strive to be that person. At times you may fail, you may not live up to your potential or you may not behave like the person you'd like to be, but the important thing is to know what type of person that is and to keep trying to be that person.

The reason I bring all of this up is not necessarily personal. It is more national. I hear alot about Canada's identity crisis, about people not knowing what it means to be Canadian but after 140 years, perhaps it's time to stop waiting for an answer to fall from the sky. Perhaps it's time to simply decide what it should mean and try to move in that direction.

What kind of country would you like Canada to be? How would you like people in other countries to think of us? Think about it, talk it over with others and then try to become whatever it is.

What started me down this train of thought originally was Stephen Harper. The one thing that most Canadians seem clear on in terms of defining themselves is that they are 'not American' but, to me, Stephen Harper is. His government seems to be following the same pattern that led the U.S. to it's current state and it seems strange to me that Canada, after watching it's neighbor jump off the high dive into an empty pool is now going to follow them. In case there is anyone who doesn't know the Loonie is at an all time high not just because of Canada's resources, or because we've done everything right, but also because the U.S. has done so many things wrong.

Everyone likes lower taxes. The neo-Cons who like money and don't like government have seized on everyone's love of lower taxes successfully in the US since the election of Reagan in 1980. Tax cut after tax cut was doled out in the states to 'boost the economy' (which at times it did, temporarily) but no one seemed to ask - where is the money coming from. It didn't seem to occur to people that a government that has less money must spend less. So, slowly, budget were cut and deficits incurred. The US school system began to decay, the environment (air, water, soil) got worse as protections were slackened and enforcement underfunded, the physical infrastructure of the country (roads, bridges, parks, public buildings) began to decay, programs designed to help the poor and help fund higher education eroded to the point that they essentially no longer exist south of the border. Despite all these cuts to programs, national debt climbed steadily to it's current level of 9 trillion dollars (or nearly $30,000 for every man, woman and child in the U.S.). They were not really paying lower taxes, they were borrowing money, and mortgaging nearly everything of value in the country. So when Mr. Harper announces sweeping tax cuts I am skeptical and a little worried.

If I answer for myself, what Canada should be the list contains things like

A country that truly values creativity, intellectual pursuits, education (at all levels) and the arts.

A country that is always willing to reach out and help the less fortunate whether they be other Canadians or people in troubled and impoverished regions of the world.

A country that stands on the world stage as diplomat and peacemaker, occasionally as policeman, fireman, paramedic, even teacher or construction worker but never, ever as a threat, or an enforcer.

A country that takes pride in its rich and abundant land and resources and protects and carefully manages it's resources and it's borders.

A country that openly welcomes newcomers, and embraces and celebrates diversity so long as the newcomers leave whatever grudges or hostilities they may have had at the door.

Personally I'd like to see a government and a budget that reflects those ideals and I do not think that the current Government does. But, I hope that before the next election that you will give some thought to 'what kind of place Canada should be' and not just accept a cash payout from Harper, or anyone else, in exchange for your support.

Decafinate the CBC

Richard Stursberg, CBC's VP of English Television generated some publicity recently saying that the CBC should be "more like Tim Horton's and less like Starbucks", it is not exactly a new sentiment. There is, however, a deep flaw in it and one that perhaps reflects more of the problem CBC Television is having than Stursburg intended.

The problem with Tim Hortons AND Starbucks is that they are both fast food restaurants. No matter which you prefer neither is particularly good for you. The whole idea behind fast food is the cookie cutter approach. A coffee from a Tim Horton's or a Starbucks should taste just the same in Halifax as it does in Ottawa, Montreal, Saskatoon and Victoria. What else do Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, Saskatoon and Victoria have in common? Well, apart from being a part of Canada and North America ... not very much.

I live in Toronto and one of the great things about Toronto is the diversity. If I want a cup of coffee, or a bite to eat Toronto is packed with great little coffee shops, some of them are "fair trade" places, some roast their own beans in house, all of them have their own particular flavour, their own regular clientele and their own style. There are also great cafes and pubs, there are restaurants everywhere - some serve more traditional North American fare and others serve a range of ethnic or specialty foods as diverse as the city itself. This is not only true in Toronto though, it is also true in Montreal and Vancouver and, to varying degrees, in every little town, village and hamlet across this country. Canada is a 'patchwork quilt', our 'diversity is our strength' and that doesn't lend itself to a fast food model.

The CBC, if it is to be of any value at all, needs to reflect the diversity of Canada. If it wants to be like (American owned) Starbucks or Tim Hortons then there is no point in subsidizing it. There will always be plenty of private sector companies offering you convenient, inexpensive products (of questionable quality.)

To find an examples of how to be successful and diverse at the same time the CBC needs to look no farther than it's own radio and internet divisions. The CBC's web site, overall, is one of the most popular in the country and one of the most popular news destinations in the world. CBC Radio (1, 2 and 3), with their broad diversity of high quality, informative, thought provoking programming and mutli-regional focus dominate virtually every time slot in virtually ever market in the country. Oh, and while many people may listen to them while drinking a Tim Horton's coffee (or a Starbuck's coffee for that matter) that is where the connection ends.

Stursburg also said, in an interview with the Globe and Mail that

“‘If it’s a public broadcaster and it’s paid for by all the taxpayers, then it has got to make an offer that is the broadest possible offer,’ Richard Stursberg, vice-president of CBC-TV, said in a recent interview reviewing the current television season and defending the network’s still unproven scheme to boost ratings with populist formulas. ‘It’s not a service that is built for elites.’”

But that is not what the CBC is doing at all. In a country of 33 million plus Stursburg has, priviously, pegged the number that constitutes a "hit" at 1 million viewers a week (approximately 3% of the population). There are two problems with this. The first is that most of the CBC's new programming seems to be aimed at the same 3% (or maybe 6-10%) of the population: That segment of the population that likes reality TV, that watches Survivor and that cares about Britney Spears latest foibles seems to be the segment that Stursburg is particularly interested in. That is not the bulk of the population anymore it is only the lowest common denominator.

The days of big audiences and "big hits" is over

...Perhaps the most profound implication of the long tail, however, is its impact on popular culture. As choice expands and people can more easily find niche content that particularly interests them, hits will be less important: so what will people talk about when gathered around the water cooler? In fact, says Mr Anderson, the idea of a shared popular culture is a relatively recent phenomenon: before radio and television, he notes, countries did not operate in "cultural lockstep". And the notion of shared culture is already in decline, thanks to the rise of cable television and other forms of market fragmentation. The long tail will merely accelerate the effect. There will still be blockbuster movies, albums and books, but there will be fewer of them. The companies that will prosper, says Mr Anderson, will be "those that switch out of lowest-common-denominator mode and figure out how to address niches."

What's more the CBC knows it.

President's Message in the 2006-2007 Annual Report
"In just a few years, the landscape of Canadian broadcasting has changed almost beyond recognition. Canadians can now choose from hundreds, even thousands, of television channels, radio stations and websites, and new technologies are allowing them to gain access to that content whenever and however they want it."

I'm sure that Ford, Chrysler and GM would like to return to the days of 25 cent gas, when big sedans were in style and people bought a new car every few years. I'm sure that many in television would like to return to the days of three channels and mass audiences. But time moves on and the successful adapt.
Canada does not need more fast food. Canada needs a public broadcaster, one that reflects the diversity and wide array of different experiences in the country. The CBC cannot be all things to all people, but it can have something for everyone. It can ditch the fast food thinking and, like many of the successful independent restaurants, cafes, pubs and coffee houses in my neighborhood - offer a good, high quality product, on a menu of diverse choices and do it at a reasonable price.

The Blood Lines Take China

Cast of the new Shrek movie? Nope, guess again! Remember when, a long time ago, when I said the Blood Lines were going to China to play the Beijing Pop Festival? Well they did, and they came back and they brought video and on R3TV #30 you can see what happened. Which is awesome for those of us who couldn't make this years Beijing Pop Fest!



You can find more from the Blood Lines on their home page http://www.thebloodlines.com/, their myspace http://www.myspace.com/thebloodlines, at New Music Canada http://radio3.cbc.ca/bands/THE-BLOOD-LINES/ or...if you want you can find out how the Blood Lines really feel about you, personally on their Facebook Group The Blood Lines Love Me.

Techknowledgy

So, for this morning (until 1 p.m.) I'll be posting to techknowledgyexchange.blogspot.com from the CBC Techknowledgy exchange - Studio 41, 10th Floor TPC. The primary idea for my being here is to help people who have never blogged to do so, or at least to explain it to them as best I can. Please drop by that blog if you get the chance and/or drop by the 10th Floor if you're in the building.

baldry & the blues

Passion is a word that comes up frequently when speaking with Paul Myers.

The music journalist and author of two rock biographies, says it was passion that drove him to write about the legendary, if little-known figure of Long John Baldry.

"I had pitched to Rob Sanders (the publisher of Greystone Books) an idea for a book about Derek Taylor (the legendary music publicist)," he says excitedly, "I wanted to trace his influence, but I when pitched it, Rob's eyes glazed over. He didn't get it. I had to prove to him I knew how to tell a story. Baldry had just died, and Sanders, being in Vancouver, knew him as a kind of local guy. He knew there was a story, but no one person seemed to know the whole thing. Rob said 'well, what do you know about this guy?'"

Myers had to dig.

In doing so, he unearthed a treasure-trove of near-forgotten gems from popular music history, that culminated in a new biography, It Ain't Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues (Greystone Books).

"Baldry discovered Elton John -Elton partly took his name from him," Myers explains, "The song 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight' is about an incident where John Baldry did actually save Elton's life. Baldry also discovered Rod Stewart. I found out The Rolling Stones formed around a social club of his that appreciated blues music, and they had gone to school with Baldry. The more I dug, the more I discovered Baldry was the lynchpin for the British blues rock movement."

Myers then faced the "daunting task" of finding people to talk about Baldry, and their relationship to him. The project also forced him to question his own resolve, admitting that "I'm more schooled in post-new wave and pop music, honestly. In my teen years, I was a rock fan -I still am, but I thought, what could I bring to Baldry? Would I have enough passion to sustain the chase? Would I be able to chase down rock stars and lesser-known characters involved in his life?"

As it turns out, Myers did sustain the passion, and managed a stellar line-up for the book, including Sir Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood, Rod Stewart, and yes, Elton John.

"It wasn't an easy job, getting hold of them," Myers says a bit warily, "especially after so many rejections. Some wanted to know if Baldry's family was on-board -they were protective of him because he was gay. Tabloid action had tried to destroy him years ago. Still, the fact someone like Paul McCartney took a second to say nice things about Baldry -that's a testament to him and his influence."

Indeed, Baldry's influence was huge, and still resonates with us in popular culture today.

"Baldry was the guy who brought the black artists in to Britain at the time -people like Muddy (Waters) and Willie (Dixon). To me, that is almost an archological find -it's like the missing link! How did London become the 3rd cradle of the blues and end up exporting it back to America? Baldry was one of the handful of people who saved American Blues for Americans. I'm as surprised as anyone."

He notes that "a lot of these bands from the '60s re-defined popular music with what they added. And you see that culminating in the (Led) Zepppelin Cadillac commercial -it went all the way to that. That song (Rock and Roll) has a bluesy feel that is undeniably descended from American rock, now it's gone around and is being sold back to us via car commercials."

And the Vancouver connection with Baldry?

"The political climate was more liberal than other places he'd been," he says thoughtfully, "I think the Trudeau years advertised Canada to the world, as being sort of like America with a European accent. That's what defined Canada in the '60s. We should still be proud of that."

Myers, having already authored a book on The Barenaked Ladies, is hoping to embark on, yes, the life and times of Derek Taylor, the publicist for The Beatles and creator of The Beach Boys fun-loving image.

"His position is strangely simliar to Baldry's, except (Taylor) was a PR guy, not a musician. While Baldry was unseen hand in music, Taylor was the unseen hand in publicity. He was the poet of the press release."

Now he's on another passionate rush.

"It's like the (Woody Allen) movie Zelig. With every picture, Baldry is standing just to the left of history. In every picture, he's the elbow, and Taylor's the same. I mean, let's give it up for someone fascinating no one ever talks about! I'm guess obsessed with the elbows of history, but I bring my own passion to this stuff, as well as equal parts humility and confidence. Passion is the fuel that lets you push a rock up a hill, and it's the part people relate to."

It Ain't Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues is published by Greystone Books and is available now.

Paul Myers wrote and appears in the documentary Long John Baldry: In the Shadow of the Blues, airing on Bravo! on Saturday, November 10th, @ 10pm.

Go to http://www.bravo.ca/schedule/Default.aspx?date=11-10-2007 for schedule.

For more information on Paul Myers, go to www.pulmyears.com

For more information on Greystone Books, go to www.greystonebooks.com

Canada Post's Second Life - with Yankee help

I didn't think I'd have much to post anymore here since Justin's been on top of pretty much everything, but I ran across something interesting I knew he wasn't going to know, because it's in Second Life.

You know Second Life, right? World of Warcraft without the points and tasks and medieval dress code? Folks making their own avatars to look like slightly better or totally-surreal versions or themselves, then going off to dance, have sex, buy stuff, and most importantly talk to other people who might not completely suck? Yeah, that thing.

A couple days ago, I logged on and ducked into my modest rental house as usual to peruse the events of the day, and imagine my surprise finding an ad for a huge music event to celebrate the opening of the new town Maple Grove, with the major sponsor being Canada Post. Of course, I had to go.

So I teleported to the middle of this sort of prototypical Canadian small city. You would assume it's a Canadian small city because a) there are Canadian and provincial flags everywhere, b) there's a big tower at the end of one street (an amalgam of the towers in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, it seems) and c) there are red Canada Post mailboxes everywhere.

Here's what the welcome notecard says:

Canada Post is proud to showcase the retailers that are participating in the 2007 Holiday lookbook. The lookbook is a shopping catalog delivered across Canada.

Explore Maple Grove and discover the largest collection of real-life retailers sharing one sim in Second Life. In the city center, you can visit Toys R Us, Sky Mall, The Shopping Channel and Canada Post.

On Maple Street near the Canada Post Place Theater, be sure to check out Brookstone and Red Canoe. Don't forget to stop in the lookbook cafe!

Blackberry Lane is home to Sears and the Canada Post garage where you can get your own free mail truck.

On Hudson Avenue, you will find the Everything Olive store located next to our own lookbook Tower.

Thank you for visiting Maple Grove and be sure to leave us some feedback at the Canada Post office in the city center.

(Note the spelling of the last word.)

So you can start to see the intention here. These companies - some multi-national, some Canadian - joined forces with Canada Post for this sampler catalog to get Canadians to do some online holiday shopping that involves good ol' mail delivery. Fair enough. You continue to see the intention as you wander in and out of each store and find nicely furnished places to click and be taken to each store's site outside of SL.

Otherwise, there's not a heck of a lot to do there besides get that truck, sit around at the café, look at retro arcade games in the Tower, pretend to draw at the Toys R Us kids' table (but hey! I got a free pen!), skydive at Sky Mall (though you wouldn't know you could do that until you stepped inside) watch some commercials over and over and try to figure out how to read that huge lookbook you got - but can't back up your camera enough to actually view (maybe that last one was just me).

And of course, go to the theatre and check out the concerts - the place was packed on the day to hear the line-up of great musicians playing live, though only one was Canadian, despite the many successful Canuck artists in SL. It would have been cool to buy RCAF or CBC shirts for my avatar to wear, or noise-cancelling headphones from that crazy-ass Sky Mall. These are things that people in SL actually make and sell in-world, and many of the best designers and vendors are Canadian. And it's those things (virtual though they may be) that would have people coming back.

But hey, there are plenty of companies who screw up on SL, not giving people a reason to come back and then scratching their heads about how this virtual world stuff ain't what it's cracked up to be. Relatively, this build isn't bad compared to many. But maybe what is a greater concern is the possible reason why Maple Grove isn't quite as Canadian as it could be, considering it's from our national mail service and a Crown Corporation.

It's the work of American builders and an American ad firm.

Canada Post did not enlist some of the many talented Canadian builders and coders in Second Life.

So if you do in fact find yourself in Second Life for some goofy reason, feel free to visit wonderful Canadian-built areas like Canada in SL, L'ile du Quebec, or the unofficial Tim Hortons; check out great live concerts from folks like Maximillion Kleene, Forsythe Whitfield, Norris Shepherd, or Montrealer Moody; and read the fashion wisdom of Iris Ophelia. And ask yourself: couldn't some of your taxpayer's money have gone to Canada Post utilizing their talents?

YouTube.CA and Said the Whale

Anyone else going to the launch of YouTube.ca? It's this Tuesday (November 6) at the Berkeley Church (315 Queen St. E). If you want to go just fill out the easy form at http://services.google.com/events/youtube_canada: Even if you don't care about YouTube, Said the Whale is playing a set at 8:30. Let me know if you're going! Oh yeah...and it's free!

This is Said the Whale doing This Winter I Retire.

RVT: Bob Wiseman and Feist (Feist on Drums)

Bob Wiseman opened for Feist on her recent European Tour. This video is from the last night of the tour at Oktoberfest in Munich.

gentrifying parkdale

A quick stroll through the neighbourhoods of Toronto and it's not hard to see which ones are getting the big makeovers.

Places that were once down-at-heel are now all gussied up with more bells and whistles than a porn star on the Fourth of July. A recent article in the Globe and Mail had a list of signs your neighbourhood has "made it" to the cool places to live, the #1 indicator being a Starbucks.

Well, I can't say for certain whether the addictive coffee chain has made tracks to Parkdale yet or not, but if no, it must be on its way.

Thelon Oeming's new play, Lullaby, is about the changes and tensions that occur with neighbourhood gentrification.

One of its featured actors, David Ferry, says the push-pull of old and new in the neighbourhood is reflected in the play.

"The character I'm playing, Kenny, has different politics than the yuppie couple that move into his old digs," he explains, "All the husband is interested in is increasing value of the house -that's his interest. Not in community. And if there's one thing that's clear with Kenny, well, he may have lived in rooming houses, he's had a rough life a dangerous life, but he still believes in community. He constantly talks about the old Parkdale, the place where you knew people, trusted people. The character who owns house has none of those interests."

Politics is something never far from the surface of Oeming's work, as Ferry notes.

"No level of government has really dealt with the challenges of Parkdale properly," he says passionately, "The problems have been met in much the same way as they were in places like Vancouver when the Expo was coming -you know, this attitude of, 'just get rid of those people.'"

Ferry says that there have only been "band aid solutions" offered to the original inhabitants of areas seeing gentrification, noting that " historically, the changes that happen that push people out into community leave those people with no place to go-they weren't properly planned, there was no oversight."

There are, however, still traces of the rough old Parkdale, if you know where to look.

"Lastnight the writer and I went out to do publicity photos. He took me to a pretty rough bar around queen and roncesvalles, and there were characters from the old Parkdale there. I heard so many of my lines from the play there. One guy's been in Parkdale for few years -it was really interesting to his concerns and in-the-moment rants."

Clearly, there are no easy answers for dealing with the marginalized in society, particularly those left behind in newly-gentrified areas.

And though Lullaby takes place in a furniture store, not a newly-renovated house, the themes are no less obvious.

"When the character who owns house finds out it has termites, he wants to do a fast quick-finish to the renovations, selling it to someone else so they can deal with it."

"That, right there, is a strong poitical statement."

Lullaby opens November 3rd and runs until November 18th at Simone Interiors, 1690 Queen Street West.

For more information, go to www.darkhorsetheatre.ca

It's Bucky Time!!

Hey kids It's time to vote in the CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards! The categories are

Song Most Likely to be a Future Classic

Best Song to Listen to in the Fetal Position

Best Rap

Best Yacht Rock

Best New Band Name

Best Gang Vocals

Best Video

Sexiest Canadian Musician

Musician Most Likely to have a Future Career in Television

Best Lyric

Most Unpronounceable Name

Best Road-Trip Song

Best Falsetto

Best Song Title

Best reason to learn French (excluding Giselle Webber)

Best Sweatin' to the Indies Workout Song

Best Bass Line

and

Catchiest Hook

Who wins is entirely up to you. You can vote once in each category per day until November 30. Personally, and this is just a note for the people at Radio 3, I think you need to be able to do write in votes (if your voting software can handle it.) I'm sure it's true that "scrapped like junkyard dogs over these nominees" but I still think it would be good if the listeners could override all of your carefully chosen picks.

That aside Vote early and vote often - this isn't like a federal election, most of the candidates are really good!

Librivox Turns 1,000

Ok, not 1,000 years, but there are now 1,000 Free Audio Books available through Librivox.

Librivox, for those of you who don't know, is run entirly by volunteers. They take books in the public domain, have volunteers read them, one chapter at a time - and then publish them with the help of Archive.org. What that means is that there are no ads, and they are completely free - forever.

Pretty cool eh?

Art Countdown!

View on Canadian Art has just started a new tradition. "Every second Friday" Andrea Carson will introduce the Top 5: " five Canadian artists whose exceptionally well-made, well-conceived and original work we've recently featured, and recommend to art collectors." Definitely worth checking out even if, like me, your budged necessitates that you only look at the really good, potentially valuable art, online (no touching).

P2P is still good for the music industry

From Michael Geist, yet another study has confirmed that People who engage in file sharing also buy more music this is in keeping with every other major study done in the world.

The two key findings:

When assessing the P2P downloading population, there was "a strong positive relationship between P2P file sharing and CD purchasing. That is, among Canadians actually engaged in it, P2P file sharing increases CD purchases." The study estimates that one additional P2P download per month increases music purchasing by 0.44 CDs per year.

When viewed in the aggreggate (ie. the entire Canadian population), there is no direct relationship between P2P file sharing and CD purchases in Canada. According to the study authors, "the analysis of the entire Canadian population does not uncover either a positive or negative relationship between the number of files downloaded from P2P networks and CDs purchased. That is, we find no direct evidence to suggest that the net effect of P2P file sharing on CD purchasing is either positive or negative for Canada as a whole."

Do They Know It's Halloween?

Okay, I know Halloween is finished, but I had to post this.

Yesterday on Q, Jian Ghomeshi played Do They Know It's Halloween, a parody of Do They Know It's Christmas. The song is preformed by the NORTH AMERICAN HALLOWEEN PREVENTION INITIATIVE, featuring artists such as Buck 65, Feist and members of the Arcade Fire.

Here's the song and video:

A Galacticast Halloween

Rudy and Casey at Galacticast have outdone themselves again.

The Real World: Amityville


Rudy and Casey are also doing a live interview tonight at 9pm EST (6pm PST) on Jonny's Par-tay. http://jonnygoldstein.comYou can even take part by asking questions in the chat room, or even show up on camera if you log in to http://Operator11.com

Breaking Links: Tuesday, October 30

This is a couple of days old, but The Gap uses slave labour. Anyone suprised? Thanks Tessa. The gap revelation does make this seem a bit disingenuous and I think You Say Party! We Say Die! may have been a bit ahead of their time.

The Hollywood Reporter and Ouimet have some things to say about CBC's ratings this year.

This link will take you to a PDF from the University of California at Riverside on RIAA and MPAA P2P tracking.

Growing tension between Turkey and the Kurds threatens to expand the war in Iraq.

Here is an interesting bit from Grist on the Great Lakes Water Wars - the battle in the US on how best to divvy up the great lakes. Canada is obviously a secondary concern at best.

The Quill and Quire reports on Douglass Coupeland's foray into viral media.

More reports of torture coming out of Afghanistan

Russia is set to file a claim on the Arctic before the UN this year.

Breaking Links: Monday, October 29

For the second time in two years, Shahid Malik, UK Minister for Foreign Development has been detained at a US airport ""Obviously, there was no malice involved but it has to be said that the USA system does not inspire confidence."

Two Hours Traffic post photos from the"Nighthawks" video shoot.

Lots of good stuff lately from Hugh McGuire who has, in his blog, kindly pointed the way to the Teen Podcast Network as well as Alive in Baghdad - a weekly news program which employs Iraqi journalists to deliver news from the streets of Baghdad - these same folks (Small World News) also deliver Alive in Mexico

Bet you didn't know this one: While the US has waged it's 'War on Terror' and Parliament has debated Iraq and Afghanistan, Canada has quietly become #6 in the world in military exports - seriously jeopardizing our reputation as a peace loving country.

RVT: Serena Ryder - Told You In A Whispered Song

no good reason

Didactic art can be such a drag.

Plays are, I find, particularly trying.

All those people, working so hard, just to push through some simplistic, and frequently obvious message -without a whiff of subtlety, insight, or actual passion.
Reminds me of those mini-plays we'd put on in elementary school: SMOKING IS BAD. DON'T STEAL. HELP YOUR PARENTS.

Oh brother. I'd like to think adult audiences are a bit past the preaching, and ready for something a bit more challenging.

So would Leslie O'Dell, it turns out.

O'Dell is the director of No Good Reason, a two-man play opening at the Young Centre November 1st.

In it, two soldiers who have survived World War One recount their experiences and work to try to find a way to live with their wounds -both outer and inner.

"We're trying to resist the obvious or sentimental, or direct, striaght-forward peachy themes and go for something tougher,", she explains, "something more dangerous, and raw, where we back off of that simplistic message sort of thing, and say, 'okay, yes, war is bad, why do we as a species keep doing it?'"

From listening to the play's accompanying CD, Waiting There for Me, or examining playwright Stephen Baetz's work, it's easy to see how timely a piece No Good Reason is.

"Here we are, as Canadians, again, watching the price be paid by another generation of young people", she says with a sigh, "We call it the 'first' World War, but back then, they called it the Great War, the war to end all wars. I mean, what is it about our species that will, despite our capacity for caring and love and healing ... what is it in us that keeps us coming back to violence?"

O'Dell is certainly no stranger to examining the urge to kill in the theatre. She's been involved in productions of Henry IV (Revolt in England and Revenge in France), Henry VI -Parts One and Two, Titus Andronicus, Troilus and Cressida and Richard III (for the Stratford Festival).

While the challenge of re-creating battle scenes has always been a concern for directors, O'Dell figures her time directing some of Shakespeare's more bloody war-themed epics has actually endowed her with an appreciation for theatrical simplicity.

"We're exploring something where poetry and music sit together, where the intention is not to recreate or recapture. That's one of the marvellous things about theatre. It can do what film and TV can't. It can be unreal. Language takes on a simplicity and beauty on a stage. When an actor turns and speaks to an audience, from Shakespeare to a modern monologue, it packs a punch. And you haven't spent a penny on special effects."

What with soldiers coming back in body bags and televised news every night, it would seem war doesn't need to be dramatized anymore in order for it to be a reality. And it's not one that's going away anytime soon, unfortunately.

Still, the team behind No Good Reason needed to draw on a number of different experiences and influences to come up with a truly viable examiniation of the human instinct to war.

"We're drawing upon all of the cultural ways that we position war in our society, from World War Two films, to the heroic Rambo figure, through to the really brutal and thought-provoking historical examinations - not only Shakespeare, but as far back as the Greek world, with things like Euripides' Trojan Women."

But the play, says O'Dell, is far from being a downer.

"The ultimate statement of play is very affirming", she says, "It's about the quiet courage it takes to endure."

No Good Reason opens at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts on November 1 and runs until November 10.

For more information, go to www.youngcentre.ca or redsockscompany.com.

Breaking Links: Sunday, October 28

You can now see Leonardo Da Vinci's the Last Supper in much more detail than you ever will in real life - 16 million pixels.

The Afghanistan panel headed by John Manley will open a website for public submissions just in case anyone in the general public has any comments on the issue.

Toronto record label Arts and Crafts has joined the Podsafe network in yet another indication that, while the lawsuits continue, the music industry as it used to exist, is dead.

The Guardian (UK) on the Arcade Fire and the Bitter Taste of Success.

Moon Echoes presents the Rake Cam

You can now see Leonardo Da Vinci's the Last Supper in much more detail than you ever will in real life - 16 million pixels.