BLOG THIS | blog.thismagazine.ca: September 2006 Archives

I was wondering the other day -- whatever happened to that story about Ted Rogers going to someone's house to apologize for a ridiculous cell-phone bill resulting from stolen service. We had a pretty good discussion about the media ethics aspects of the story on this blog at the time.

It's one of those corporate world stories that briefly touch down into the world of everyday humans -- a customer gets some raw treatment by a big company, the customer complains, nothing happens, the customer complains publicly, the company is embarrassed to have its lax customer service hit the daylight, the CEO agrees to take certain steps to make things right, and...

And, what? Ted Rogers agreed to meet with Susan Drummond and Harry Gefen for tea at their house to extend his personal apology for the over $12,000 cell-phone bill Drummond was expected to pay despite the charges being rung up by thieves operating well outside her normal calling patterns (tracked by Rogers). So, what happened over tea?

Well, a quick search reveals this website: rogersandme.ca. Note the day counter on the splash page. 286 days and counting without that famous visit for tea. Either Ted Rogers is remarkably busy, remarkably unthirsty, or remarkably unhappy with the fact that he agreed to this meeting.

How hard is it to schedule an hour long chat over tea, with which you purchase huge public goodwill for your company?

This is actually a fascinating website, detailing a lot more of the story than has reached the traditional press. Both Drummond and Gefen appear to be very smart, very determined, and very good-humoured folks. Really, 100 percent the wrong sort of customers on whom any company wants to try and pull a fast one. Further, the rogersandme.ca website itself has become the focus of dispute with Rogers, as Drummond notes on this page.

I see a book coming out of all this, and if Ted Rogers wants to have any say in how his character comes across, he'd best develop a taste for the orange pekoe.

More entries on: Activism

September 21, 2006

If Michael Moore were President of Venezuela

Posted by john_d at 11:42 AM ET | Comments (8)

Responding to Hugo Chavez' speech to the General Assembly at the UN yesterday (from The New York Times):

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Mr. Chavez's comments were "not becoming of a head of state."

And I agree, which means that Condi and I now agree on two things (Peter McKay can be very charming when he wants to be).

Chavez's speech was ridiculous and embarrassing, and I'm not sure how it helps the left to have one of its supposed champions in the world be such a cartoon character. The Bush White House does not need Chavez's cooperation in their campaign to discredit him. And he's taking work away from Michael Moore, whose job it is to say outrageous things outrageously.

On the other hand, that same White House lecturing anyone on issues of free speech and open democracy, as US ambassador to the UN John Bolton did yesterday, is a bit rich. Brave defenders of freedom and truth, such as they are.

More entries on: Bushfraud

September 20, 2006

The King is Dead

Posted by joyceb at 03:44 PM ET | Comments (1)

It's official, Ralph Klein's resignation as leader of the Progressive Conservative party of Alberta was accepted today. Once a new leader is elected, Klein will resign as premier too.

Klein has been arguably the biggest problem with Alberta's PR for nigh-on a decade now. I'll bet there's some clinking of glasses happening over on Sussex Drive right now too.

Read his complete resignation statement after the jump.

September 20, 2006
Ralph Klein Statement

On Saturday September 16, I submitted a letter of resignation to the President of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta. My resignation as leader of the Party will take effect on the day on which the new Premier is sworn in.

Now that I have submitted my letter of resignation to President Doug Graham, the PC Party will undertake its obligations to elect a new leader as outlined in the Party Constitution. I expect that you will be hearing from President Graham about that process very shortly.

As I prepared my letter of resignation, I looked back on the years I served in the Alberta Legislature, the last 13 of which I had the privilege of serving as the Premier of Alberta and leader of the PC Party.

Together, we accomplished a great deal but as everyone knows it wasn’t easy. The early days of deficit elimination and debt retirement were difficult for every Albertan. As we predicted, however, the protests ended as our government got on a sound financial footing. The day that I stood on the steps of McDougall Centre, July 12, 2004 and announced the end of our debt -- 14 years ahead of schedule -- was a proud day for all Albertans. I will never forget it.

Another highlight is the national recognition we have received for our excellent health care and education systems, for which we consistently get the highest ratings in term of service to people and outcomes.

Today we live in a different environment. Our thriving economy is exerting pressures resulting from this growth. Through wise investment we have responded by helping our towns and cities and we continue to maintain and expand our provincial infrastructure of roads, health care and education.

When I pass the torch on to the new Premier later this year, I am proud to say he or she will be leading a healthy province with countless opportunities for all Albertans.

I didn't do it by myself. I owe a great deal of thanks to all those who were part of Ralph's Team -- both elected and non-elected. The MLAs and party members took the same heat that I did and we all owe them a debt of gratitude for staying the course.

Most importantly, however are the severely normal Albertans who supported me and helped guide our province through the past 13 years, during my watch as Premier. I tried to avoid "Dome Disease" so that I could listen and hear the advice of people on the street, at their jobs and on their doorsteps. Severely normal Albertans are the people who really made the difference.

Finally, I want to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to Colleen. She has not only stayed by my side through thick and thin -- she has contributed by donating thousands of hours of her time to charities and community events that benefit the children of this province. We both intend to stay involved and active and will continue to build the Alberta we love.

Ralph Klein

More entries on: Provincial Politricks

September 19, 2006

The future of journalism?

Posted by mason at 01:22 PM ET | Comments (0)

“An experiment in open-source reporting” is how Jay Rosen refers to his web project NewAssignment.Net. Rosen, a journalism professor at NYU and a prominent media critic, is proposing a new kind of citizen journalism in which the audience works with journalists by providing story assignments and feedback, while the professional journalists “carry the project home.”

Central to the idea is that readers can donate to the assignment directly, although other funding arrangements will probably exist. Apparently, this is an idea with traction. Already Rosen has secured $10,000 each from the Sunlight Foundation (a web-based watchdog of Congress) and Craig Newmark (of Craigslist fame) to develop the project. With newspapers struggling to remain relevant, thus leaving increasing numbers of journalists out of work, both citizens and media professionals have interests in a project that can advance democracy through the Fourth Estate.

Rosen seems to envision contributions from “large groups of users” rather than single investors, but I wonder if such an idea could be vulnerable to appropriation by wealthy users who can afford to offer larger amounts of money to put journalists to work on stories that may not be as beneficial to democracy as those ideas coming from the bottom up.

PHOTO: JAY ROSEN (FROM NYU WEBSITE)

More entries on: Media navel-gazing

September 17, 2006

Vancouver Queer Film Fest Raises the Ire of the Right

Posted by Krisztina at 02:05 AM ET | Comments (2)

LifeSite, a close affiliate of Campaign Life Coalition, is targetting Out on Screen, the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, and demanding the federal government revoke its funding.

A recent article, headlined "Why is the Conservative Government Wasting Taxpayer Dollars on "Queer" Film Festival?" is posted on LifeSite.net

Gwen Landolt, national vice president of REAL Women of Canada is quoted as saying "The films are simply degenerate and degrading to humanity. There is no artistry there, the films are used as a political statement against established social mores, a way of showing contempt...".

Landolt goes on to call the Department of Canadian Heritage's funding decision in question, "...it's a disgrace. I think the government is trying to show how wide open they are to all diversity, but surely there is a limit to tolerance."

What started out as a fairly minor posting on a right wing site is fast becoming an all out campaign, spreading over blogs and through emails. Wait a second, aren't those our tactics?

More entries on: Human rights | Vancouver

September 15, 2006

Polaris Prize to be awarded on Monday

Posted by mason at 12:49 PM ET | Comments (14)

A while back I wrote about the creation of the Polaris Music Prize, a new award recognizing excellence in music by naming the top Canadian album of the year. At the time I gave a suggested list of nominees, which, as it turns out, included a few of the actual finalists: Broken Social Scene’s self-titled album, Sarah Harmer’s I’m a Mountain and The New Pornographers’ Twin Cinema. The other finalists are Cadence Weapon’s Breaking Kayfabe, The Deadly Snakes’ Porcella, Final Fantasy’s He Poos Clouds, K’Naan’s The Dusty Foot Philosopher, Malajube’s Trompe L’Oeil, Metric’s Live It Out and Wolf Parade’s Apologies to the Queen Mary.

On Monday the winner will be announced to much fanfare, including the cover story in this week’s Eye Weekly, a Toronto news and entertainment paper. The albums recognized are all deserving, although I only know the Malajube, Deadly Snakes, Cadence Weapon and K’naan records by reputation or by single tracks (I have some catching up to do). And if one goal of the prize is to raise awareness of Canadian music flying under the Juno radar, certainly that’s been achieved.

My pick for the award is Twin Cinema, despite having possibly the worst album cover art of all time (above). It’s a breathtaking performance, a fun ride and a production masterpiece all in one, featuring blistering pop-rock tracks and gorgeous torch songs by some of the most talented musicians around.

What’s your pick?

More entries on: Ear candy

September 13, 2006

Bush, Borat & International Diplomacy

Posted by annette at 04:07 PM ET | Comments (1)

It's no surprise that Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan, is none too happy with Sacha Baron Cohen's popular yet politically very incorrect character Borat. What is odd is that Borat has apparently been deemed worthy of an "official talk" item when Nazarbayev meets with Dubya, president of the good old US and A.

I'm sure Bush will be able to smooth everything over. He's SO diplomatic, especially when it comes to understanding foreign cultures.

Ironically, the Kazakh government's public displeasure with Borat is landing tons of free press for the upcoming Borat movie. Hmmm...

For what it's worth, I was able to check out the Borat movie last week, and politically correct or not, it's one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Like Cohen's other character, Ali G, it's all very tongue-in-cheek. Clearly not meant to be taken seriously. Brace yourself for the "hand party" scene. And the remarkable banana hammock (see photo).

I want to make thank you to Gary R. to bring this news to the attention of me.

More entries on: Cultural industries

Media issue on newsstands now!

Posted by mason at 02:12 PM ET | Comments (0)

Head on down to your local newsstand and grab a copy of the September-October issue of This, featuring the winners of the 10th annual Great Canadian Literary Hunt! This is also our media issue, and contains features on women in radio and how PR giants have framed the Kyoto debate, plus an interview with Canadian Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee.

Look for selected articles from the issue here at thismagazine.ca in about a week.

More entries on: THIS matters

Download for our troops! (?)

Posted by john_d at 12:28 PM ET | Comments (12)

image courtesy wikipedia

There's a fantastic event coming up in Toronto at the end of the month. CopyCamp, billed as an unconference for artists about the Internet and the challenge to copyright, looks to bring together working artists and creators from both sides of the current copyright/copyleft debate for open discussions and maybe a bit of a "where are we now?" moment before the Canadian government embarks on the next round of copyright law reform. I'll be there for part of the conference, asking my usual "and how will the artist be paid?" sort of question, and I anticipate hearing a lot of interesting answers.

Browsing the CopyCamp site, I came across this fascinating post by sci-fi star and Boing Boing editor, Cory Doctorow, in which he relates how American troops stationed on a ship in the Mediterranean have been downloading his books and passing them around below decks. Doctorow provides all of his writing as Creative Commons licensed free downloads on his website, advertises them heavily on Boing Boing, and actually sells a startling number of dead-tree books as a result of this loss leader and viral marketing approach to book selling.

Doctorow insists he sells more books with the free downloading option available to his fans than he would without it, and I believe him, but the jury is still out on whether that success would transfer to other areas of bookselling outside sci-fi (whose natural market dwells on the Internet--somemight even say they are the Internet). Nevertheless, Doctorow's entrepreneurial model should be intriguing to anyone working in writing and publishing today. I talked my own progressive publisher, Nightwood Editions, into free downloads of portions of my novel, The Uninvited Guest (sample the book for free here). To me, there is no question the benefit of viral Internet marketing on book sales is huge. Discussion on a full-text download of my book continues.

I love the image of American sailors passing loose pages of Doctorow's stories back and forth, sharing the single copy downloads one of their fellows was smart enough to gather into binders. It reminds me of the banned samizdat texts passed around through networks of friends in the old Soviet bloc (ahem, sort of like what happens in The Uninvited Guest). It fairly reeks of freedom of expression and thought; and I'll admit to being pleasantly surprised the American military does not engage in active download censorship. Especially gratifying because Doctorow writes some pretty subversive fictions.

But something in the economics of this story is not working for me, and I'd like to unpack it a bit and get some other views. As the sailor relates in a letter to Doctorow, "On a ship underway, there's no room to keep books -- unless they're the ancient, creaking John Grisham paperbacks in the ship's library - and no time to get some anyway if you're scrambling around for the couple days of warning you have..."

Okay, if there's no room on board for a single copy book of Doctorow's writing, how is there room for a binder filled with loose sheets of paper, which would be larger than a book? Granted, with the binder approach, more sailors can read Doctorow's book at the same time by passing loose sheets back and forth, but the same effect could be had by buying a single copy, ripping out the pages and passing them around, as was done often with samizdat texts, many of which were necessarily destroyed in the very act of being read.

As well, if the ship has a library, and the military obviously does not mind its troops reading Doctorow (since they are able to download him using military computers), why don't the troops simply insist their employers stock Doctorow in the shipboard library, instead of the Grisham they seem to despise?

Whose paper is being used to print the downloads? One would presume it is the American military's paper. Whose binders? And who has paid for the computer and the (presumably very expensive) high-speed Internet infrastructure that allows Doctorow's loss leader texts to make it into sailors' hands. This is all American military spending, is it not? Environmentalists might ask whether or not the sailors are printing their downloads double-sided. The arrangement is fraught with difficult questions not normally addressed in the copyright debate.

As an unrepentant social democrat, liberal and lover of peace, I think I would far prefer the American military buy a large stock of Doctorow's books and provide them free of charge to their troops (one per ship or camp if space is an issue -- liberal lending and borrowing allowed). That way an admittedly miniscule portion of the US military budget would go to something that does not blow up yet has the power to change hearts and minds. Doctorow and his publisher would then also be paid, money would flow through the cultural economy and free downloading could continue unabated on the home front.

More entries on: Copyright/left

Britney births second son, raises average Spears-Federline household IQ by 27%

Posted by calvin at 10:17 AM ET | Comments (1)

From the presses of the Globe and Mail article "Britney's done it again" where the journalist kindly removed the word "Oops".

More entries on: Signs of the Apocalypse

September 11, 2006

Our seal. Approval?

Posted by mason at 01:51 AM ET | Comments (1)

I think the blog’s been around long enough that we’ve earned our own seal. Don’t you?

(Thanks for the link, Clive.)

More entries on: Interweb | THIS matters

bitchin' Stitchin'

Posted by Krisztina at 01:12 AM ET | Comments (0)

knitta.jpeg.jpg

Tired of all that boring old painted on graffiti? Bored of tagging with sharpies on old stickers and mail labels and plastering them around town?

Why not try knitting? Yup, a new brand of street art is popping up, and it's made of yarn. Knitta, is a self described "tag crew of knitters, bombing the inner city with vibrant, stitched works of art, wrapped around everything from beer bottles on easy nights to public monuments and utility poles on more ambitious outings."

They hit up the streets of Seattle while I was there last weekend, even managing to wrap a scarf around one of those concrete Monorail towers. Mainly in the States so far, all it takes is a couple of needles and some left over yarn to bring this trend northward.

More entries on: Cultural industries

September 08, 2006

Higher learning?

Posted by mason at 01:44 PM ET | Comments (11)

Two recently announced educational institutions to be based in the Vancouver area provide an interesting view of the direction of higher education in 2006.

Today, the Dalai Lama is in Vancouver to announce the establishment of the Dalai Lama Centre for Peace and Education.

From the Times of India:

“This is purely educational, not political,” he said on Thursday.

The Dalai Lama said religious institutions have lost their power and that moral and ethical guidance is now provided through education.

“We have to live together. We must educate in this respect,” he said.

In late August the World Trade Organization announced its new World Trade University would be headquartered in Chilliwack, B.C., eliciting boasts from the city’s mayor that it is becoming a “university town.”

Does it reflect poorly or positively on public universities that a religious leader (albeit one devoted to peace) and a global institution criticized for its religious approach to free trade see fit to “educate” students with their version of events?

My sense is that these developments, though curious, are better than having religious and corporate stakeholders holding ever more influence over university curricula. At least you know what positions these institutions will be teaching from.

And hey, can’t you just imagine going to a varsity football game between the DLCPE Buddhas and the WTU Fatcats? Now there would be a rivalry!

More entries on: Edumacation

September 06, 2006

Sleeping with Strangers

Posted by Krisztina at 02:14 AM ET | Comments (2)

I just returned from a weekend in the States; Seattle WA to be exact. My friend Gisele and I drove down for Bumbershoot, an annual cultural extravaganza held on the old Expo fair grounds. Thousands of people, hundreds of shows, long lines and sun sun sun.

But wait, bragging about my fabulous weekend is not the point of this entry. Bragging about staying for free in a two bedroom apartment in Capital Hill is.

Being the frugal minded adventurous sort, we decided we'd rather blow our money at the high-end outlet mall than pay for a hotel room or even an uncomfortable twin bed in a hostel. So we emailed a few fine folks on the recently resurrected couchsurfing website and scored ourselves a free place to stay.

If you haven't already heard about couchsurfing.com you should check out the website. It's all about making the world a smaller, friendlier, more inviting kinda place. And if the existence of such a site isn't remarkable enough, the site crashed and basically died in June (there were notices that almost all the data was lost and the creator couldn't take it on anymore), only to be resurrected by a group of hard-working volunteers in Montreal in just two weeks.

Usually the point of couchsurfing is to stay with locals, meet them, hang out with them, tip toe around their apartment when they go to bed super early, and find out all the cool things about the city you could never find on your own, but we lucked out and our host was gone to Burning Man all week. He left his apartment key at the bar around the corner from his house and his door key under his mat. We stayed 4 days and 3 nights in his centrally located apartment, went for coffee at the local cafe, watched his 6-foot boa try to get out of her cage, hung out in the hair salon he's put into his second bedroom and never met him.

So thanks Eric, your apartment rocks! Enjoy the six-pack of fat tire we left you.

More entries on: Activism | Interweb

Embargoes vs. boycotts

Posted by mason at 01:24 AM ET | Comments (0)

Something funny I found tonight: it seems while leftists are criticized by the right for pointless boycotts of corporate baddies such as Wal-Mart, McDonald's and Coca-Cola, the cons are engaging in their own consumer activism by organizing "embargoes" such as this one against Wells Fargo bank. Its transgression? Giving mortgages and banking services to illegal immigrants! For shame. If I was an American I'd almost be tempted march down to my local Wells Fargo and open an account, just for that. Meanwhile, embargowellsfargo.com can continue with its hypocritical farce.

More entries on: Activism

September 05, 2006

Canada continues to fail guest worker

Posted by mason at 12:06 AM ET | Comments (21)

Monday’s Toronto Star carries a Labour Day feature updating the plight of Hermelindo Gutierrez, a Mexican who worked as a seasonal farm worker in Ontario for several years before kidney failure left him dependent on a dialysis machine—an unthinkable expense in Mexico for the working class.

Hermelindo’s story was previously told in the pages of This Magazine thanks to the crafty pen of writer Maria Amuchastegui.

Unfortunately, things haven’t improved much for Hermelindo, save for the fact that his wife is about to give birth to their third child. He has applied for refugee status, but until that is sorted out he remains isolated from his family in Mexico, without much help from either the Mexican or Canadian governments.

If anyone has a kidney to spare, now would be a good time to look into donating it…

More entries on: Healthcare | Human rights | Labour days | THIS matters

September 03, 2006

Designer duds: now with fewer duds

Posted by calvin at 11:05 AM ET | Comments (0)

CBC News reports that the fashion industry is not just setting the latest fashion trends but also the latest sensation in anti-counterfeit technology. Your latest Louis Vuitton luxury over-night bag may now come embedded with authenticating synthetic DNA interwoven into it's fine Italian silk inner lining. The technology makes any Canal Street forgery lacking the DNA undisputably identifiable from the coveted boutique sold original. While this spells a boon for the fashion industry which has struggled to defend its intellectual property for decades, it will undoubtedly exert distressing financial pressure on chavs.

More entries on: Copyright/left

September 02, 2006

My bookshelf, online

Posted by mason at 12:17 PM ET | Comments (5)

Last night I discovered a wonderful little online tool, LibraryThing, for tracking one's reading habits. It can search the LIbraray of Congress and Amazon to return info on thousands of books and thumbnails of their covers. It's simple to add books to your "library," rate them, and see what others like you have enjoyed reading. So far I've only added 23 books to my library, from old favourites to impressive newer books, and the system has recommended I read things like Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. Note my catalog includes The Uninvited Guest (pictured).

A nice site to check out on a rainy Saturday...

More entries on: Lit

September 01, 2006

welcome to my double espresso -- the film festival approacheth

Posted by john_d at 03:30 PM ET | Comments (2)

Spotted in the Lettieri at Queen and Spadina in Toronto early this afternoon -- Alice Cooper. Looking... very much in need of coffee.

Outside on a nearby bistro, as though performing an homage, a young starlet in training tried to place her Paris Hiltonesque chihuahua on the patio railing, it fell off as soon as she turned her head and dangled, by the neck, from its leash. Passersby alerted the, um, distracted young lady to her pet's dilemma.

Silly season begins in the temporary centre of the film world.

I believe the dog was looking for the easy way out.