BLOG THIS | blog.thismagazine.ca: April 2008 Archives

Water levels in Lake Huron have been low for a while. Really low. Docks are now on dry land, harbours are having to be dredged, cottagers are getting ornery. In fact, Huron and Michigan have been at "critical alert" level since 2000. One group, the Georgian Bay Association, is championing the theory that the water is rushing out the St. Clair River thanks to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging.

But is it? And will an inflatable rubber bladder be the answer?

I'm spending a Saturday morning, one sadly short on coffee, on the Pride of Michigan. Mary Muter from the GBA is on board, as is Krish, an Environment Canada researcher. There's also a retired NOAA hydrologist, someone from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and a policy advisor from the IJC.

Water flows out of Lake Huron through the St. Clair River and into Lake Erie. There's a theory, which Mary explains, that dredging disturbed the river bottom, which is now being scoured out by water rushing into Lake Erie, effectively opening the drain.

A screen shows the river bottom, being filmed by a camera we're towing behind the boat. It's mostly pebbles and stones 5 cm or more in diameter. I ask Krish, the EC researcher beside me, if the river's flow could shift that. "No," he replies. At least, not without some disturbance. The river can only carry sand -- debris less than 1.3 mm in diameter. And dredging could provide that disturbance, Mary tells me as we continue up the river. Everyone agrees that cutting navigation channels through the river and extracting sand from its bottom in the 1800s has lowered Lake Huron by 14 inches. But the debate is whether dredging is letting debris flush out, futher lowering the river bottom.

There's a "scour hole" about 60 feet deep at one bend in the river. It surrounds the wreck of the Sidney Smith, a tanker that went down in 1972. As water rushed around the wreck, it does seem to have carried away a lot of riverbed material. Still, one hole shouldn't affect lake levels, since the river bottom on the other side of it is still high.

But that hole may be at a "critical juncture" in the river, Mary says. And that's why Krish is here -- to figure out just what is happening on the river bottom. The scouring theory has a lot of sceptics, and an IJC study won't be completed for another year. One solution to the problem, if it is riverbed scouring, would be to place an inflatable bladder in the hole, says Mary. Then you could pump it up with water and reduce flow at critical times.

But this idea has plenty of opponents. John Nevin, a policy advisor with the IJC, seems to be one of them. Lake level controls are controversial in the Great Lakes, and the IJC has been looking at ways to make flows more natural, particularly in Lake Ontario. Many lakes are highly regulated: Superior through locks, Erie through the Welland Canal, and Ontario through the Niagara Falls power diversion. The bladder would be one more step toward five-lake regulation, he says (he's on the boat, too).

"You can't have someone twiddling at the dials to meet one group's or two groups' -- or one very vocal group's -- needs. The lakes need to fluctuate more naturally," he says.

However, as Mary points out, critically low water levels are expensive. The U.S. is already looking at spending $100 million to dredge ports, and Ontario marina operators have asked for a similar sum. It's a problem we can't wait to solve, she says, though completing the study first is important. But she does seem quite convinced that the St. Clair River is the problem. And that the bladder is the way to go.

Others disagree. And with cause, as there are a lot of other factors at play.

Lack of winter ice might be increasing evaporation. Climate change is increasing wind speeds and both water and air temperatures, which could also speed evaporation. Lake Superior's water levels are low because of low precipitation. Lakes Huron and Michigan were at rather high levels in the 1960s, 70s and 80s when infrastructure such as docks was built. Even the Earth itself is against the lake -- isostatic rebound is raising Lake Superior, Lake Huron and much of Lake Michigan, very slowly making them shallower (not enough to account for these short-term fluctuations, but over a century, it can mean a water levels going down by a foot).

The problem might not be Lake Huron's alone. And while tossing a bladder in the St. Clair River might help in the short-term (and I didn't hear a compelling argument that it will), it won't solve what is rapidly shaping up to be a problem throughout the Great Lakes Basin.

More entries on: Planet Earth

April 27, 2008

Vancouver: City of Literature, presidential typography,

Posted by ron at 11:20 AM ET | Comments (1)

A group of Vancouver's literati is gunning to get that city the honour of UNESCO World City of Literature. Mmmm, nice try Vancouver. While we love you and your pretty mountains and plentiful trees, not to mention excellent sushi, we don't really think you're the most literary city in Canada. We'll let Montreal and Toronto fight it out for that honour. Also, do you think you'll stand a chance against Amsterdam?

Excuse us while we geek out on typefaces. A couple of weeks back, The LA Times looked at the typefaces of the U.S. presidential candidates. Ever wonder why those Obama signs looked so good? Blame it on Gotham, the typeface. The makers of the nerdilicious film Helvetica talk about Obama's type. The New York Times dissects McCain's choice of typeface (Optima, if you were wondering).

Apparently it's eerily appropriate. Here's designer Michael Bierut on the font:

When I saw John McCain's Optima, the first thing I thought was that it's the same font used for the carving of all the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Maybe this is a coincidence, but even if so, it's certainly very apropos.

And now, a pair of affable Scottish guys playing "Blitzkrieg Bop" on the ukulele:

More entries on: Weekend Links

April 25, 2008

The Northwest Passage has no more pomegranates

Posted by daniel at 12:37 PM ET | Comments (0)

First off, apologies for the spell of darkness. I wasn't trying to express certain silences of the documentary form with the silence of this blog. (Or was I?) No, a combo of slow internet, distractions, etc -- these are to blame. There must always be something to blame. (Or must there?)

On Wednesday I watched Passage in a sold-out theatre. Passage is an attempt to rescue the reputation of John Rae, the man who discovered the true story of John Franklin's death as he sought the Northwest Passage, from the dustbin of history. Much less successfully, experienced director John Walker tries to valorize the Inuit's role in the whole affair.

The film is a po-mo tour-de-force, blending historical recreation, rehearsals of the historical recreation, debate about historical recreation, etc etc. And yet, it works! At least, insofar as the narrative is compelling and remarkably easy to follow. It's also pretty heavy on self-congratulation. And with its lionization of Rae, Passage's intended spotlight on the role of Inuit in Rae's achievements is dimmed and at times forgotten.

Tehran Has No More Pomegranates is another po-mo tour-de-force. (Yes, from now on I will only be reviewing po-mo tour-de-forces.) I saw it yesterday in another packed house.

It's director Massoud Bakhshi's history of Tehran, mostly the past hundred years, organized loosely around the theme of the contradictions and idiocies of various attempts to modernize the city. Unlike Passage, a sincere and serious movie with a playful form, Tehran is an ironic, sarcastic, and funny treatment of Tehran -- it's almost documentary sketch comedy. Though in its last few scenes, Tehran's loose structure begins to wear, on the whole it's an entertaining and insightful and quite beautifully shot.

More entries on: Hot Docs festival

April 22, 2008

The Road

Posted by daniel at 10:06 PM ET | Comments (0)

Sometimes it's very hard to describe something good in a way that makes it sound as good as it is. Usually, I find this happens with vegan food or sensual experiments with clothespins. This time -- surprise, surprise! -- it's a doc, Corridor #8.

I don't really know what to say. It's documentary of the absurd. A road trip along a non-existent road the EU decided to build in 1997 (and that remains unbuilt) to connect Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Albania, three places that are still a little touchy about each other, it seems. The narrative is structured around the journey and the various people and landscapes we meet along the way. The images are beautifully and thoughtfully shot. The interviews range from extremely comic to bitterly sad. And the pace is pretty brisk.

But beyond these generalities, I struggle to recount the anecdotes without garbling them. So nothing.

This was the second and final showing of Corridor #8 and I'm not sure I'll see it -- or Albania -- again. Thanks for everything.

More entries on:

Obstructed View

Posted by daniel at 03:39 PM ET | Comments (0)

[Hot docs media downloads are down, at least here in the Reference Library. So no photo for you!]

Last night I watched another slow-paced doc about migrants -- this time, asylum seekers -- and I was lulled into such a deep ravine of slumbererous sludge I couldn't even bring myself to get up and leave. I should have brought a pillow and caught up on my sleep.

Seaview sucked all the more poignantly because of its potential. Seaview is a former holiday resort built after World War II on Ireland's coast where middle class English families could go for cheap vacations. 6000 people could live there at a time. Now Seaview has about 800 residents -- asylum seekers who wait up to six or seven years to find out whether Ireland will grant them entry as refugees. Only one in ten is accepted, allowed to join the 5% of foreigners in Ireland who are also refugees.

The situation is melancholy. Extremely. So melancholy that for what seemed like two thirds of the film, directors Nicky Gogan and Paul Rowley's cameras trained principally, sentimentally, even obsessively on empty chairs, empty swimming pools, empty hallways. Yes, I got the point: this place is a horrible institution to live day in and day out. The problem was they put the baby in sulphuric, muddy bathwater (leaving only one option). They confused the institution being unbearable with the documentary being unbearable. Now even my review is belabouring the point!

Okay, all that said, there were several watchable bits: Images of a man on a hunger strike who refuses to speak; bright-eyed children only slowly discovering the miseries of institutional life; a little-too-crude selection of refugees saying how desperate they were to work and contribute taxes instead of burdening the Irish taxpayer.

Hoping for better fare today. Meanwhile, Seaview does play again, Thursday at 2 at Isabel Bader, in case you're suffering from daytime insomnia.

More entries on: Hot Docs festival

April 21, 2008

Limbless and liminal in Central America

Posted by daniel at 06:00 PM ET | Comments (0)

Last night I watched my favourite doc of the festival so far, The Infinite Border by Juan Manuel Sepulveda. But before I splatter any more drool on the screen, I want to offer fair warning: a friend with far more exposure to the world of doc than me walked out halfway through, citing infinite boredom. (Actually, her text message read, "Leaving--not enough interviews, too many long back shots. ...")

And it's true--for 90 minutes, the word count was pretty low and there lots of long, slow shots. But the interviews were generally very revealing. Even more eloquent, though, was the movie's incoherence. The movie's "argument" is deeply embedded in its mood. Infinite Border is very loosely structured and provides none of the basic background you'd expect for a North American audience. We do know that we're looking at Central Americans (mostly Hondurans, it seems) traveling through Guatemala and Mexico and having a very hard time. But we never learn how many migrants follow this trail, how successful they are, what they're fleeing or what happens to them if they ever make it.

Instead, we get frequently beautiful and at times poetic vignettes of a long journey through liminality (yes, I'm showing off the subject of my 13th grade English presentation). The film's lack of linear structure seems to mirror the experience of these migrants, many of whom try over and over and over again just to get to northern Mexico, never mind across the Rio Grande. And let's be clear: it's a difficult journey.

One passage opens with a legless man digging a ditch. He's in a centre being built to house dozens of migrants who have lost one or more limbs trying to hop on the freight trains that wind their up through Mexico. "The train is magnetic, it drew my hand in," one nameless migrant recounts. "I watched my hand get crushed, I was bathing in my own blood."

Sepulveda is clear about his broader message. He himself answers one of his subjects' questions by stating "We are all immigrants." And near the end of the film, a migrant tells the camera, "They tore down the Berlin Wall. Now they're building another one. I don't understand why."

For the full panorama, you'll have to watch it yourself. Much more interesting things are said--things I was too busy listening to to jot down. Infinite Border plays again Tuesday at 2, at the ROM.

More entries on:

April 19, 2008

Catch me, I'm falling

Posted by daniel at 07:12 PM ET | Comments (0)

Well, if you're going to duck into a dark theatre at midday in the middle of a beautiful, sunny Saturday -- Toronto spring's first such Saturday -- you'd better get to see some pretty stunning landscapes. 20 Seconds of Joy didn't disappoint.

I should admit, I would never have gone to see 20 Seconds if it hadn't been for the first five installments I've recently watched of BBC's Planet Earth series. I thought I'd had my fill of wild and gorgeous nature docs. But I was wrong! Oh, so wrong. Anyway, this one, about BASE-Jumping, really reeled me in with its promises of beautiful nature.

But actually, if the shots of Karina Hollekin hurling herself off 290-metre cliffs (including wearing a wild, flying squirrel-esque suit) are the visual highlight, they're actually just window-dressing for a more serious subject: death. Or the fear and/or courting of. As one of the other jumpers interviewed in the movie puts it, "You don't really talk about it, but this sport will eventually kill you." One wrong move and it's over. In exchange for a tiny window of orgasmic joy. With the difference that in BASE-Jumping there appears to be little pleasure in repetition -- to keep the high you have to keep doing ever more dangerous stuff.

It's this vicious dynamic that provides the drama. And makes 20 seconds more than just another sports doc. Though not that much more. The director and central character have obviously bonded, leaving a lone on-camera psychologist (and former extreme sporter himself) providing just a few teasing ideas about megalomania. The rest of the critical thinking you'll just have to do yourself. 20 Seconds plays again Tuesday at 1:30 at the Cumberland.

More entries on: Hot Docs festival

Mexican standoff

Posted by daniel at 04:37 PM ET | Comments (0)

I learned a new word watching the Mexican doc The Demons of Eden: narcopederasty. But to be fair to the film's scope, it should be expanded even further, maybe ending up with something like, "narcokleptocapitalopederasty". And there you have your subject line.

If Demons of Eden cast a wide net, it must be admitted, it caught a lot of fish. But let's leave that metaphor behind. The main storyline follows Lydia Cacho, a human rights writer whose initial plan was to become a cultural journalist and write poetry -- "the beautiful things in life." No such luck. After one scoop led to another, she ended up writing a book about a network of extremely wealthy pedophiles in Cancun, featuring two Lebanese-Mexican gangsters of obscene wealth and influence. Though initially the sidekick, "Denim King" Kamel Nacif Borge becomes the main villain, landing Cacho in jail and arranging her torture.

In the investigations that follow, all rocks are unturned. Some reveal spectacular grime. Taped conversations between Nacif and various figureheads of the establishment, including the governor of Puebla province, are explosive and disturbing. Others reveal distractions -- a brief detour on the toxic blue water released by denim factories raises far more questions than it answers.

The movie's style is as hectic as its substance. A cacophony of extravagant graphics is out of control, making the subtitles often very tricky to follow. But Lydia Cacho's dignity and courage shine through, and if her story is rich in detail and digressions it's strong enough to keep you gripped (if confused). Like Shock Waves, Demons of Eden suggests that its journalist protagonist is ultimately a great nationalist. Cacho speaks frequently about wanting to bring out the best in her fatherland. Good luck to her. The film plays again Monday at noon at the ROM.

More entries on: Hot Docs festival

April 18, 2008

Reporting the news, building the nation

Posted by daniel at 10:48 PM ET | Comments (0)

Before Shock Waves came a 30-minute short called Umiaq Skin Boat which followed a group of Inuit elders building the first Umiaq (a traditional skin boat) in the community in 50 years. Boat-building being only so riveting, we also get some tall tales of survival from the elders, reminding me of an incredible book, Uqalurait: An Oral History of Nunavut. (For more arctic facts and some self promo, check The Walrus's arctic issue's special arctic facts gizmo.)

Shock Waves is a harrowing celebration of a network of radio stations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) called Radio Okapi. Of course, the story's heroes are the reporters themselves, followed around as they put themselves in ever more precarious situations (though we get to see them drink beer and debate governmental incompetence too). And yes, there is footage of a dangerous encounter at a riverside military checkpoint shot with a secret camera.

But it's much harder to watch one of Okipa's journalists interview a woman brave enough to recount being raped by a soldier. Five years after the official end of combat (in 2003), sexual violence continues to rage. The reporter asks her if she's had an HIV test since the rape. She says no. He offers to help her procure one. For a long time she looks down silently as her baby nurses. But she won't agree. She says she's afraid. According to the doc, 25% of the women raped in the DRC contract HIV.

The station is actually Congo's largest, with eight branches spread across the country and funding (now expired) from the UN and a Swiss journalism foundation called Hirondelle. The UN, which at its height had 17,000 peacekeepers in the country, also provide the reporters with much-needed security. Emerging from a massive civil war, journalism is the right profession if you're looking for death threats. Or the chance to build a nation.

One reporter says, "We have a historical role to play, helping make sure that social change can happen." Absurd as that would sound coming from Peter Mansbridge, in the DRC these reporters literally provide a voice for the voiceless. The doc also makes a lot of hay about the fact that in a country as vast as Western Europe but with little movement between regions (aside from the 1.5 million internally displaced), a truly national radio station is playing a huge part in the forging of national unity and identity. There's a sense that Okipa is providing for the Congo what Benedict Anderson, in Imagined Communities, believed the newspapers did throughout much of the rest of the world--a common narrative digested at the same time of day, allowing people who have never met to feel almost as close as neighbours.

The two are playing again Sunday at noon at the ROM. After wiping away your tears of frustration as you try to make it through the Sunday Star without unlearning too much, this is where to go if you want to see journalists earning their liquor money.

Tomorrow I review The Demons of Eden. Stay tuned!

More entries on: Hot Docs festival

Danger is somebody's middle name

Posted by daniel at 05:55 PM ET | Comments (0)

Blogging a Toronto film festival may not be literally dangerous (despite being an act of aggression against actual literature), but real journalism often is. This evening, I'm hoping to explore the theme twice. Apparently, neither film is a "hot pick". Then again, the margins are where the action is; as a German Jew might have once said, "The decisive blow is always struck left-handed."

First up, at 6:45 at Al Green, is Shock Waves, a look at a daring Congolese community radio station, Radio Okapi, by a Quebecois documentary team.

Next, at 9:00 and also at Al Green, I'll try The Demons of Eden, the story of a Mexican human rights journalist with powerful enemies who's investigating violence against and women and children.

There's probably a pun to be made contrasting the grimness of the themes with the fact they're in romance languages. But I won't go there.

More entries on: Hot Docs festival

Heavy hammer, bright sparks

Posted by daniel at 12:37 AM ET | Comments (0)

Anvil is ostensibly a movie about a metal band, but like any classic narrative, it's really about something more elemental--a self struggling against a context. Or in this case, two selves, Lipps (lead guitarist Steve Ludlow) and Robb (drummer Robb Reiner), who in the 1980s influenced and played with David Bowie and various metal luminaries before descending into obscurity. Now, the band's leads are in their early fifties and trying to make a final stand. As Lipps notes wryly -- yet optimistically -- early in the film, "It could never get worse than it already is."

Sound familiar? Of course, nothing about this movie was remotely familiar. Nearly everything was weirdly, becomingly strange. For me, the most outrageous act on camera happens when one of Anvil's fans, at an Etobicoke night club, chugs a beer through his nostril. But when fifty-something metal rockers weep as they make up after a terrible fight; when a 10,000-person venue attracts under 200 fans (in Romania); when a painful meeting with a record label executive reaches its painful conclusion; you feel for these guys.

I may have even felt it a little extra when we learned, about halfway through, that Lipps and Robb are Jews. Myself, I'm only half Jewish. But I suddenly felt even closer to these misfits tragically torn between two communities--one they were leaving behind and one they sought to join. Heavy metal has to be one of the great goyim scenes. That's not what Anvil was after--and yet, wasn't it?

I won't ruin the ending beyond saying the film was as deeply moving in its conclusion as promised in its middle acts. If you have the chance to see it and are looking for something outside the realm of social justice cinema, check it out. It's playing this Sunday (sold out, I think) but also next Sunday.

Still, there was something strange about the post-movie Q&A featuring director Sacha Gervasi (screenwriter of the Steven Spielberg flick The Terminal). Ultimately, you've got a highly successful Hollywood operator who, yes, was an Anvil roadie in his late teens, but is now using their failure as the narrative matériel of his latest success. Nothing wrong with that of course. But to see it all on stage brought it a little closer to home. At least, I thought so.

Afterward, I went to the Hot Docs opening party in the atrium of the MaRS building--a center for various forms of innovation, or so the government tells me. The risotto and pad thai were tasty, the wine drinkable, the Stella comfortably snobby (while tasting faintly like fancy, well-treated Belgian sewage), the guests charming enough. I should write something nasty or insightful. But that will have to wait.

Tomorrow's a big day. So off to sleep. See you soon.

More entries on: Hot Docs festival

April 17, 2008

Documenting the documentaries

Posted by daniel at 04:06 PM ET | Comments (0)

DOWNTOWN TORONTO--Today begins the 15th Hot Docs, "Canada's international documentary festival". This is my first time blogging a festival--I'm excited. First off, as I'm not a documentary "expert", I'll spare you a long introductory rumination on the documentary form. For the moment.

But I am a narcissist. So I'll kick things off with a quick introduction to my toolkit. But first, tonight is the special opening screening of Anvil, a look at some pretty old, very loud people. More sophisticated analysis to come. Also tonight, the opening night reception.

More serious fare starts tomorrow. I'm especially looking forward to The Demons of Eden.

The Toolkit:

(1) My laptop. Without it, I cannot blog. (2) A glass of water. (3) My press pass. My authenticity. (4) The competition. They have more resources but less spunk. (5) A pen and notebook. Almost as important as the press pass for looking authentic. (6) A list of Hot Docs parties and receptions. (7) My cell phone and mobile office. (8) A voice recorder. Almost as important as the notebook for looking authentic. (9) Some light reading to pass the time between screenings.

More entries on: Hot Docs festival

Hot Docs coverage at Blog This

Posted by mason at 12:39 PM ET | Comments (0)

For the next 10 days, Blog This will be alive with reviews and news from Hot Docs, a documentary film festival taking over the screens of Toronto. All this thanks to our special Hot Docs correspondent, Daniel Cohen. Daniel lives in Toronto and has written about politics and culture in Canada and South America for the Toronto Star, NOW Magazine, The Walrus and New Internationalist. He is co-editor of Notes from Canada's Young Activists and a contributor to GreenTOpia: Towards a Sustainable Toronto. Daniel tells me this is his first time blogging a festival, and with many boozy receptions slated for the event, anything can happen... (Now take it from me, Daniel, don't drink and blog! If you must, then observe the cardinal rule: Write drunk, edit sober.)

Keep visiting Blog This for one-of-a-kind Hot Docs coverage.

More entries on: Hot Docs festival

April 14, 2008

Paul Watson: Hero or terrorist?

Posted by mason at 11:40 PM ET | Comments (1)

Those of you who are up on the news will know that Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been in a little hot water lately, first for suggesting that thousands of seal deaths are more tragic than the deaths of four seal hunters who died in a recent marine accident, and this weekend because crew members from one of his ships were arrested for aggressive behaviour toward seal hunters off the coast of Newfoundland.

With glee, the commercial media has pilloried the animal-rights crusader, and federal politicians have tripped over themselves to condemn his tactics. There is, of course, another perspective, and it's interesting to see Watson's work lauded when the target is Japanese whaling vessels, yet ridiculed when Canadian seal hunters are in his sights.

In a This profile from the summer of 2007, Dayna Boyer talks to Watson and delves a little deeper into his motivations than has been the case lately. By no means does he come across as virtuous, but the article is free of overblown reactions to Watson's tactics.

PHOTO COURTESY SEA SHEPHERD

More entries on: Activism | Planet Earth

April 13, 2008

One cool bookstore, the Chinese intelligentsia, best comedy ever

Posted by ron at 05:40 PM ET | Comments (0)

We do love a good bookstore and Holland's Selexyz Dominicanen is our kind of store. The store is housed in a 13th century Dominican monastery. It kind of reminds us a bit of that Umberto Eco novel The Name of the Rose.

Foreign relations expert Mark Leonard raises an interesting point about rising power China.

We are used to China's growing influence on the world economy—but could it also reshape our ideas about politics and power? This story of China's intellectual awakening is less well documented. We closely follow the twists and turns in America's intellectual life, but how many of us can name a contemporary Chinese writer or thinker?

His article gives us an introduction to the massive world of the Chinese intelligentsia.

Click on this next link only if you've got a lot of time. Nerve.com and IFC pick the 50 greatest comedy sketches (complete with links!)

More entries on: Weekend Links

April 10, 2008

Bidini: China's concrete welcome mat

Posted by mason at 12:19 PM ET | Comments (0)

In this instalment of his twice-monthly column, Dave Bidini laments China's unstoppable development rush. In an effort to be seen as good Olympic hosts, he writes, it is sacrificing pieces of its cultural uniqueness. Bidini's trip ten years ago to the walled city of Yingpao is particularly illustrative:

We ended up staying at the only place in town, a ten-storey concrete hotel that, outside, possessed a grim Scarborough-projects facade, but, inside, bustled like a Cotton Club of the Far East, with brilliant chandeliers and young female attendants wearing '70s-era taupe and mauve stewardess outfits serving gold-seal white liquor and countless exotic dishes to small tables horseshoed around the glittering lobby. It was like being dropped through a strange fissure in time--'70s fashion meeting '40s China meeting a futuristic tourist idyll; a backwater Plaza on a quilt of ricepaddies--and our time in Pingyao--we stayed for three days, until the next train passed through the town--is my most sustaining memory of my first trip to China.

Today, that previously remote city is home to an international photography festival and has become a hotbed of tourism. Similarly, Bidini writes, Beijing is giving up some of its historical charm to roll out an "asphalt welcome mat" for this summer's Olympics.

Read the whole column right here.

PHOTO FROM FLICKR BY MONIQUZ

More entries on: Human rights

Nepal: shining future or end of the path?

Posted by derek at 10:41 AM ET | Comments (1)

Today in Nepal, voting began for a new constituent assembly that may well chart a radically different course for the Himalayan country. The election comes after more than 10 years of warfare waged by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The main parties squaring off are the Maoists, the Communist Party of Nepal United Marxist-Leninist (essentially social-democrats, counter-intuitively to their name) and the Nepali Congress Party.

The Maoists, still publicly commited to their goal of world communism, have been brought to this point by a number of factors. First, although they have major support in the hill regions, they have been viewed suspiciously by Nepal's urban middle classes, and see winning them over as critical to holding power country-wide. Second, The rapid success of their movement has ran far ahead of similar trends in South Asia, and the Maoists faced the possibility of running the undeveloped country with little or no external support. Third, the people of Nepal have been exhausted by the war and have been thirsting for peace.

The CPN(M) then, sees the push for a constituent assembly as a tactic in a complex dance to move their revolution forward in very unique circumstances.

It's highly unorthodox for their ideological background, and very risky. Anything could happen, from a coup/Indian invasion to Maoist political hegemony, from a new phase in the civil war to the rebels being adopted into the political mainstream.

PHOTO MAOIST SOLDIERS AND CHILDREN IN ROLPA, WESTERN HILL REGION

More entries on: From the intern desk | Global politics | War and peace

April 06, 2008

Instant cities, France fights to save the semi-colon, Obama big in Gaza

Posted by ron at 09:24 AM ET | Comments (0)

National Geographic looks at China's 'instant cities.' All over China's coastal regions huge cities are popping up seemingly overnight to make room for factories and the thousands of workers flocking from the countryside to fill them. The writer, Peter Hessler, is one of my favourites working in China at the moment.

France is fighting the semi-colon. Of course, they blame English for the decline of the poor punctuation mark. From the article:

In the red corner, desiring nothing less than the consignment of the semicolon to the dustbin of grammatical history, are a pair of treacherous French writers and (of course) those perfidious Anglo-Saxons, for whose short, punchy, uncomplicated sentences, it is widely rumoured, the rare subtlety and infinite elegance of a good semicolon are surplus to requirements. The point-virgule, says legendary writer, cartoonist and satirist François Cavanna, is merely "a parasite, a timid, fainthearted, insipid thing, denoting merely uncertainty, a lack of audacity, a fuzziness of thought".

Ouch!

Barack Obama is apparently very popular in Gaza! Sadly, it doesn't get any delegates.

Our video of the week... an homage to southern rockers Lynrd Skynrd and our friends in the Red Army Choir. Seriously.

More entries on:

Previous month: March 2008
Next month: May 2008

Listed in

THIS MAGAZINE. BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS POLITICAL

Please note that all writers hold the copyright for their pieces and it is illegal for any portion of them to be copied or distributed without their expressed permission. So please don't steal.

THIS MAGAZINE: BECAUSE EVERTHING IS POLITICAL

April 28, 2008

Does Lake Huron need a rubber bladder?

April 27, 2008

Vancouver: City of Literature, presidential typography,

April 25, 2008

The Northwest Passage has no more pomegranates

April 22, 2008

The Road

Obstructed View

April 21, 2008

Limbless and liminal in Central America

April 19, 2008

Catch me, I'm falling

Mexican standoff

April 18, 2008

Reporting the news, building the nation

Danger is somebody's middle name

Heavy hammer, bright sparks

April 17, 2008

Documenting the documentaries

Hot Docs coverage at Blog This

April 14, 2008

Paul Watson: Hero or terrorist?

April 13, 2008

One cool bookstore, the Chinese intelligentsia, best comedy ever

April 10, 2008

Bidini: China's concrete welcome mat

Nepal: shining future or end of the path?

April 06, 2008

Instant cities, France fights to save the semi-colon, Obama big in Gaza