I want to Fringe you like an animal
I’m likely never going to get another chance at a headline like that, so I’m taking it.
I don’t tend to see a lot of fringe plays when the big festival is on, and so far I’ve got one in this week. But even with just a cupcake, and the one night, I’m enjoying the 29th Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival.
First of all, after learning what is in Taco in a Bag I learned, last night, that it costs $7.50.
What is wrong with you that you would pay that kind of money for Doritos and taco fixings? I could understand if it was $2 or something so cheap it was the best deal on the grounds. But that seems a little steep for something that’s fairly guaranteed to haunt you for the next few hours.
So, as I mentioned, I went to see a midnight showing of Game Face. It’s getting solid reviews, I know people involved in it, and it involves a woodchuck mascot. That’s a darn good mix of reasons to see it.
I won’t go into great detail, since we’ve learned only a chosen few should ever dare review a sacred theatre production, but I will tell you to see this play.
The actors in it are great (and all have laugh-out loud lines), there’s quite a bit of scene changing and production (which must be tougher to throw together for a Fringe play), and I want Scott C. Bourgeois and Morgan Smith (she also acts as the angriest lady ever) to write another play for next year’s Fringe, so I can see that.
That's Alex, running away from the drunk guy.
While trying to guess at the thought process of those enjoying Taco in a Bag, I caught some of the street performing. It’s actually one of my favourite parts of the Fringe.
After catching Alex Clark doing his thing near the Gateway Boulevard entrance, I highly recommend you try to see him perform. Funny and skilled, he seems to be enjoying the hell out of his gig. (Thanks to Brittney for the link.)
And he handled a drunk, dancing, walk-through (who wouldn’t leave) and an over-the-top excited participant hilariously.
—–
So, I give my night at the Fringe 4.0 stars out of 5.
(It would have been 4.5, but I deducted points for Taco in a Bag.)
—–
By the way, here are some other recommendations from Fringees:
The Fairy Catcher’s Companion (At the Kids Fringe)
Apocalypse Kow (Outdoor stages.)
Problem Solved
We’re all for Edmonton’s downtown becoming more vibrant, with more people living, working, and enjoying it. We also like the Oilers.
But we understand it’s expensive to build an arena and entertainment district (AED).
We also understand that Edmonton city council is wary of borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars to create the new AED. So we think we’ve come up with a plan that can raise the money to build the new downtown arena, and save taxpayers any possible losses.
Call us if you need anything else, City Hall!
David vs. Goliath vs. Airport
By Gregg Beever
I consider myself to be a reasonably politically savvy dude. A steady RSS feed of the CBC, the Edmonton Journal, and Jeff’s daily link dump here at the edmontonian arms me with just enough knowledge to claim my wildly inflammatory political opinions aren’t completely unfounded.
I’m familiar with the majority of the local and national movers and shakers, and I mostly understand political and electoral speak.
Mostly.
Plebiscite is a word that has been kicked around a lot with the coming closure one of the Edmonton City Centre Airport’s (ECCA) runways next month. I understood what the word meant, in context, but had to look it up in the dictionary to be sure I grasped the meaning completely.
There is virtually no way to look up a word in the dictionary without feeling stupid. I know, because I do it often trying to avoid sounding like a dolt in front of you guys.
Now you know why I mostly write about movies. Movies are easy and fun; the petition to keep the ECCA open is complex and not that much fun to read about. So let’s discuss it, shall we?
Gregg’s quiet coffee
By Gregg Beever
Coffee is a relatively new thing for me. I have always had an aversion to bitter tastes, and coffee is as bitter as liquids come – unless you’ve developed a taste for battery acid, a.k.a. Tim Horton’s coffee.
In the last year I have warmed up to the coffee bean and its deliverance of hyperactivity. On the weekends I regularly take an enjoyable stroll down to the newly renovated Wild Earth Bakery for a cup of mild roast.
Wild Earth coffee may consistently make my stomach go boom, boom, but I drink it anyway. I love having a tiny little coffee shop two blocks from my cosy residential dwelling, and I especially love the walk, as short as it is.
My apartment sits nestled in a urban forest of old growth. Long branches, thick with brilliant green leaves, sift sunlight down through to the sidewalk while summer birds sing to the melody of rustling deciduous.
It is quiet, and calming.
That is until I get to 99th Street where the din of steady traffic finds my ears begging for silence.
While celebrating this year’s Canada Day with my regular pilgrimage for coffee, I thought “wouldn’t it would be great if Edmonton took a holiday from traffic?” Just one day where everyone parked their cars and the only the dull hum of the ETS would fill the streets.
Let’s forget for a moment how logistically impossible that would be.
Think about it, one day out the year when the city’s white noise is replaced by the soft sounds of feet traveling the sidewalks; children laughing and playing in the vacant streets; and conversations of your neighbors enjoying a peaceful day in Canada’s sunniest city.
Imagine Whyte Ave. littered east to west in musicians and street performers setting up shop in the middle of the road, or an impromptu game of ball hockey being playing on the High Level Bridge.
What if, for just one day, you could challenge your friends to a foot race down the length of Calgary trail? Or set up the world’s most painful slip and slide down Bellamy Hill? Wouldn’t that be amazing?
Until that day I’ll just have to enjoy my short walks for coffee where, for a moment, everything is beautifully silent.
Gregg Beever writes amazingly sarcastic movie previews for us, among other things. We had no idea he was so introspective.
Banff and crap
(Yes, we were in Banff, getting so close we could almost touch celebrities, at the World TV festival. Here’s what our man in the mountains, Jonathan Robinson, learned.)
“The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.” – Hunter S. Thompson
“I look at what we produce and if we’re honest with ourselves, I look at it and say, ‘Why do I produce so much shit? Why did I fund such crap?’” – Lindsay Blackett – Minister of Culture and Community Spirit
Forgive me for not filing this story earlier, but I’ve only just wrenched myself from beneath the giant pile of iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks that descended last week upon Banff for the World Television Festival. You see, I was there when Minister Blackett made his comments. I had gone to Banff both to write this piece and to pitch some shows myself.
There were representatives from all kinds of television networks, distributors, new agencies, and hundreds of “Independent Writer/Producers” there, all chasing after the next “John and Kate Plus Eight” or “Being Erica”… and everything was going according to plan. That is until Minister Blackett went and ruined the party by making all of us “showbiz” types actually look inward for a moment to reveal the complete lack of substance in our products.
Within the industry, and certainly outside of it as well, the question has existed for ages… why is Canadian film and television such garbage? What can make it good?
To find the answer… I went right to the heart of the issue, and asked perhaps the most credible source on Canadian media, Jason Priestly (clip above):
OK… so maybe ol’ Brandon Walsh isn’t the best source on all of this, but he does raise an interesting point. The need for Canadian programs to find American and other international money exists because there is not equitable financing coming in our own country. A report for the Alberta grants paid out in 2008/2009 can be found here.
As you can see, our province handed out just over $31 million last year, and what do we have to show for it? “Heartland”? I mean “Christmas in Wonderland” got just under a million dollars for God’s sake! I worked on that movie and, let me tell you, it’s a HUGE pile of shit! Christmas shit, but shit nonetheless.
But here’s the punch line… do you know what the budget was for debatably Hollywood’s worst movie last year: “Old Dogs”?
$35 million.
That’s right… “Old Dogs” cost more than all of the grant money that was given out in our province last year to film and television combined.
Which brings me to what I see as being the underlying problem with Blackett’s comments. They are true, but they are true because we have such a skewed frame of reference and we are continually trying to produce content simply for sale to other places.
As long as we keep playing the game of comparing ourselves to the U.S., we will fail. It’s like trying to fight a tank with a spear… sure you might get lucky, you could throw the spear, it could slip in through the window and kill the driver… but the chances are a lot better that you’re just going to get blown to shit. We don’t have the same kind of money to play with, so we should be using what we do have to create our own products based on quality as opposed to resale value.
If the products are good, we will be able to sell them regardless of their budget. Just look at “Trailer Park Boys” if you need an example of this. It airs in 14 other countries. Proof that strong characters and story are indeed marketable, regardless of the cost of production.
There is a tremendous amount of talented people working in film and television both in our province, and in our country, but we are putting ourselves at a huge disadvantage out of the gate by immediately comparing everything to our richer neighbors. I know it’s much easier said than done to ignore the overwhelming influence of the U.S., but if we can manage to create a product for ourselves, we will find that the quality of product will shift significantly, and that we will have much more diverse and interesting film and television coming out of Canada.
That, or we’ll keep getting gems like “Dan for Mayor.”
—–
And now, on a lighter note: More celebrities!!!
Here’s William Shatner shilling all of his current projects, starting with Shit My Dad Says.
Here’s Eric McCormack talking about working in Canada.
And finally, here’s Ricky ‘Effin Gervais talking about what Karl Pilkington is up to right now.
Pipe down, loudmouth
Our resident cranky lady, Janine Edwards, is back, and wants you to quiet down.
Darling Edmontonians, we have a problem. And that problem is noise. You see, our delicate ears cannot handle the terrifying noise that motorcycles make.
Shut-up, ambulance!
Living where I do, it makes sense. All too often, they rip through my neighbourhood, startling myself and my little old lady neighbour next door. They are ridiculously loud, and I was more than happy to hear that the city is telling them to quiet down.
But then, I saw that people are now complaining the sirens on emergency vehicles are too loud. Where do we live? Communist Russia?
The sound of emergency sirens are too loud? You would have hated bomb raid sirens during WW2. The common theme here: sirens save lives.
I live near a fire station, and I’ll admit… Occasionally the fire trucks will awaken me in the night. But rather than get angry at them I consider this: that emergency vehicle is potentially SAVING SOMEONE’S LIFE.
So maybe it jolts you out of your light sleep, but that emergency vehicle is on its way to put out a fire, stop crime, or give much needed medical attention to someone. Are you really that selfish that you’ll whine about the siren sound?
Other people on the road need to know the good guys are on their way, so that they can make way for them. Those precious seconds mean something in situations which can be life or death. So when I hear someone whining about the decibel levels of sirens, I want to push the mute button on them.
Rather than complain about the heroes, let’s stop a real noise menace! I’m talking about drunks and “woo girls.” I’m sick of trying to go to bed and hearing drunk people having their loud conversations on street corners. Of girls ‘wooooing’, and of overly loud laughter. I’m tired of waking up to the party crowd, honking horns, and arguments. Where’s the noise crackdown on them?
I want the loud mouth partiers to shut-up. Is that too much to ask? Go home! It’s a Wednesday night!
Is it too much to ask that instead of punishing the police and emergency vehicles – we give emergency responders duct tape for the jerks who wake me up, while they describe some rad thing that just happened at the club? Or they can taze them. I don’t care, I just want some sleep.
Feel free to use your sirens on the way over to taze the loud drunks.
All too common
You already have that feeling of dread, don't you?
By Gregg Beever
South Edmonton Common is not a place I visit often. At least not anymore.
Six years ago I would travel to the “retail power centre” daily, working for Best Buy. It was my first intimate exposure to the modern retail mentality; a big box culture where everything centered around the bottom line.
Morning meetings discussing the previous day’s sales numbers were followed by an emphatic cheer session. Best Buy’s stock numbers hung up-to-date in the break room while managers on the sales floor hovered over their charges reminding them ad nauseam to sell each and every customer on a Product Service Plan.
The flat linoleum wasteland was packed with patrons desperately seeking a poorly paid staff member, who barely knew a Firewire cable from their shoelace, for electronics advice.
When I quit to move on to my current job the general manager tried selling me on staying, like he was selling me a car stereo.
“Don’t you like opportunity?” he asked. A question I assumed was meant to be rhetorical.
Working only 37.5 hours a week to ensure I wasn’t legally full-time, and therefore did not qualify for benefits, was all I needed to know about the “opportunity” at Best Buy and how much the retail giant cared about the needs of its employees.
I packed up, left for greener pastures, and have scarcely been back to South Common since.
This weekend, however, I returned to Edmonton’s southern beacon of commercial progress in search of some hockey gear. (more…)
Abortions R 4ever?
Abortion is a profoundly complex, deeply personal political and social issue.
But whether your stance is pro-life or pro-choice, I think there’s one thing we can all agree on.
The kids love to text. AM I RIGHT?
Txting 4ever!
Telus Revenge: Best Served with mustard and relish
By: Colin MacIntyre
Show of hands; how many of you hate Telus?
3…17…63…576….6,192….1,093,833….464,837,272,828….. hmmm…I guess ALL of you hate Telus.
No, there isn’t much love for Canada’s favourite western-based telecommunication company. Oh sure, they have cute commercials starring baby ducks, monkeys and hippopotamuses, often set to catchy music. Unfortunately, that seems be where people’s enjoyment with Telus comes to a sudden, screeching, car rolling into the ditch, kind of halt.
I’ll confess, I haven’t been a Telus customer since waaaay back in the days when I owned one o’ them landline telephones (remember those?), so I don’t have much experience to draw upon. However every person I’ve talked to that is a Telus customer has a story to tell; nay, stories to tell.
From receiving bills for services not even used, to waiting two months for services to be installed, to that ohhhh so expensive fine print, which is fine, but also written upside down, backwards and in Ferengi. That’s just from people I’ve talked too! A quick Internet search reveals pages and pages of angry people. Heck, the Internet Search Page even asked me if I wanted to specify or narrow my search from ‘Telus Complaints’ to ‘Telus Complaints 2010′ or ‘Telus Complaints last 24 freakin hours’. I even found a blog where people can submit their own horror stories.
Unfortunately, if you are one of this misbegotten customers, there isn’t much you can do when Telus decides to play with you like cat plays with a blind mouse. Sure you move to a different telecommunications company, but seeing as how there ain’t that much to choose from in Canada, switching Tel-co’s is a bit like being stood in front of a row of half a dozen Ninjas, and being told you get to pick which one gets to kick you in the forehead. Writing letters and angry phone calls to customer service will only take you so far, and even the most hardened whiner will come to realize that their bleating is falling on deaf ears. It would seem that when it comes to having a lousy Telus experience, there is no way of extracting any measure of justice.
Until Today. (more…)
Anonymous Anger
This guy probably love edmontonjournal.com
It’s time for our second installment of “Edmonton Journal anonymous comments make us look like the worst.”
Ugh.
Paul Band fire contained
anonymous
3:14 PM on April 21, 2010
no surprise this fire started on a native reserve…got out of control with all the somewhat empty whiskey bottles tossed in amongst the garbage
- I’ve already reported this one.
Approving Katz’s rezoning application would be a big mistake
anonymous
1:04 PM on April 20, 2010
Paula, you are fat, get a life, you want a crappy sprawled out city, go write for the Herald.
Edmonton Needs this Project and it needs it now, today, no more waiting.
- This is your response to a well-written, cogent, eloquent argument against City Council passing Katz’s zoning application? Maybe you should be the one getting a life.
So, here’s what we do, Edmonton. We all get signed-up to Canada.com’s system (It’s your standard name, e-mail, password…) and we start posting smart, informed, sarcastic comments that make those people look even worse.
Oh, and we flag them for being angry, racist, hate-filled Internet trolls and knock them right out of the comment section.
That combination of flagging stupid comments and shouting down the idiots should help keep things in order until the Journal gets better moderation, and less anonymity.
Update: After writing all that stuff up there, I went and commented on a story. That’s me at 4:59pm on April 21, 2010. Why it still says “anonymous” is beyond me. I’m just trying to help you, Edmonton Journal!
One night with Coco (is not enough)
Photo quality suffers when snapping pics on the fly.
As promised, here’s a little more on Conan. (The camera had been temporarily misplaced and we are back on track now.)
I’d mentioned previously that I was trying to avoid reports of “The legally prohibited from being funny on television” tour, so that if there were repeat gags I wouldn’t be bored. I’m glad I hid under my rock.
The Conan O’Brien live show was way better than I had expected, and after paying $100 for a ticket I was expecting a lot.
While I had missed the opening comic’s name, many, many people smarter than I had caught that information and passed it along after the show. Reggie Watts is worth a little of your Internet time, as he’s funny, drops mad beats and has a lot of hair. Not that I judge people on their amount of hair.
Things were kicked up with a couple of songs from the band, with LaBamba coming so close I could touch him. But I wouldn’t, since he was playing his trombone. That didn’t stop the jerk across the aisle from slapping him on the back.
An hour or so later, Conan would lick LaBamba's face. He tastes of Funions.
Comment on this!
I’ve been meaning to write about comments for a little while. Today, I got the extra bits of inspiration I needed to finally put fingers to keyboard.
The main push for me to write about comments is the Edmonton Journal‘s un-moderated free-for-all comment system. It’s great that they are trying to get people to register, but that doesn’t seem to be taking off.
So, I wanted to highlight a couple of truly outrageous comments, especially on fairly mundane stories, to help show those big bosses that something needs to be done.
As if all the “This comment was removed for being absolutely the stupidest/angriest/most racist thing,” wasn’t proof enough. My original inspiration also comes from people smarter and funnier than me.
Today’s extra pushes came from a neat look at Gawker’s comment system, which is more community-moderated, keeping the first-timers and one-timers (usually the angriest people) from getting much play and distracting the conversation.
The other was waiting 2+ hours for my comment to appear on an iNews880 blog. Ugh. Just don’t even bother. It’s the web and if my comment isn’t going up anytime soon I’m not even part of a real-time conversation and that’s what the Internet is supposed to help provide. If I wanted to opine and wait to see it appear I’d just write a letter to the editor.
Now…onto what this is supposed to be all about…
Edmonton vigil for Polish plane crash victims
anonymous
10:32 AM on April 13, 2010
Hyphenated Canadians are dragging this country down.
Name withheld
10:34 AM on April 12, 2010
This comment has been removed because it contains material which was deemed inappropriate.
- There were actually quite a few “inappropriate” comments. No respect for the dead I guess.
The Journal is Edmonton’s largest and most popular news source (That’s not really up for debate.), so it stands to reckon their comment section should be a big ole online water cooler – but they’ve basically got an anonymous comment system. While they’ve begun to ask people to register, that’s doesn’t really seem to be happening. So, really angry, hate-filled people are saying what they really think. Well, great. I suppose it’s sort of nice reminder about the price of democracy, but the Journal (or any other newsroom/website) doesn’t have to put up with that.
Now, over here at the edmontonian, we have neither the volume of readers, nor the amount of comments to deal with that the Journal does. This makes it easy for us to approve someone the first time they comment (which is required), since, generally speaking, angry, dumb people tend to say things that are angry and dumb right out of the gate. So far, once approved, nobody here has crossed the line.
We’ve sent a few “don’t talk like” that e-mails to first-timers, trust me. And then we never hear from the troll again. That’s what I hope for my friends at the Journal: a forced registration/held for moderation system that allows them an e-mail/URL/IP address to block stupid people.
Mandel shows support for downtown arena, LRT and Expo 2017
anonymous
4:46 PM on April 13, 2010
Who taught these rednecks how to use the internet… Go back to your double-wides.
anonymous
4:40 PM on April 13, 2010
Bunch of old people in this section who can’t see the big picture. Maybe we should build more nursing homes for you old farts instead.
- Play nice.
The super-angry people with loads of time might get another e-mail address or block their IP, but if the whole system was being moderated in some capacity the Journal’s online staffers could spend a few minutes zipping those people cease and desist style e-mails instead of having to read every. single. comment. because one (or many more) might contain hate speech or libelous accusations.
I don’t think letting people come to my site or your site and say whatever they want is a part of free speech. It’s the Internet, after all, and they can go ahead and get their own hatetank blog for that. The Journal, and hopefully all newsy websites (even this little one), should be trying to raise the level of conversation and keep discussion on track.
Now…what do you think about commenting? I open up this comment section to you, and all of your intelligent, thoughtful, hilarious insights. Keep the hate-speech for the Journal.
Slave Lake’s Jim Thunder made his voice heard
anonymous
5:07 PM on April 13, 2010
mmmmm whiskey
Time for a new statue?
Hi Edmonton. It’s me, Janine. I missed you.
It’s been a while because, well, you have been doing a good job without me. At least, I thought you were.
And then I noticed, that none of you are asking the big question when it comes to this whole arena debate. The Journal has a new angle every weekend but has one person asked the biggest question of all? No.
That's the one. (Photo: joevare)
What is that question? I’m happy to tell you dear friends…
What will happen to the Gretzky Statue?!
Yes, the Hockey icon (dare-I-say) of yesteryear. He stands proudly, holding that long-ago Stanley cup up high above his head. It’s long been a landmark of our great city.
Many people have pictures taken in front of, and with, the fine statue… but if the team gets moved downtown into a new arena what happens to the forgotten statue?
Will we move the relic? Is there a spot for it in the new building? Can it go in the floating garden? There are so many things to consider!
Perhaps we leave it there, a forgotten memento of a winning team and a franchise to be truly proud of. We could build a new statue of another hockey player who really bound the fans together.
(Here’s where I get really unpopular.) Why not build a statue of Chris Pronger at our new arena site?
It’s the last time I really remember all the fans being on the same side. Brought together by our hatred of a man who left our city behind, some of us still boo him. He was a man who thought we weren’t good enough, a man who wanted someplace warmer, someplace where the fans cared less. But, he also played on a team that got to the Stanley Cup Finals.
When did that happen next? Only time will tell, but it doesn’t look like it will be happening any time soon. Maybe one day our kids will experience what it’s like to have a winning hockey team. Until that moment, we should remember what it was like to all be on the same page.
Four days after the big 2006 playoffs… he put a damper on everything. Those “personal reasons” were the most talked about thing for months, and his wife had the house packed up in what seemed like hours. Fans haven’t agreed as much in years, so that’s why I think that Chris Pronger deserves a statue outside of the new arena.
Or, perhaps we just make a brand new, bigger, better statue of Gretzky and all he symbolizes. Those bright, big years in the 80s.
Third option: A giant statue of Daryl Katz, dressed like Batman.
Let’s have Edmontonians decide this one.
An alternate solution for Edmonton school closures
Re: Edmonton schools face possible closure
From: A Better Edmonton
The City of Edmonton keeps growing and growing. Unlike many cities, there are no meaningful geographical limits to this expansion. Edmonton isn’t bordered by the ocean or mountains, just miles and miles of limitless, wide open spaces. This terrain makes growth easy. Just decide were you want to build something and build it! The only problem with this growth model is that it’s unsustainable.
While the population of Edmonton is increasing, it’s not increasing at such as rate as to justify the physical growth of the city. It’s much cheaper, easier and faster to build new than it is to work with what you’ve already got.
This creates a lot of expensive problems for the city. When there are new subdivisions built, there are certain things the city must provide. Things like utilities, paved roads, traffic lights, police, fire stations, public transit and schools. These things all cost money.
What happens to the old things that are no longer needed? Nothing, really. The city apparently just ignores them and hopes a solution will present itself. Instead of fixing old schools, they build new and allow old ones to fall into disrepair until they’re no longer good for much of anything. Law enforcement and fire/rescue are spread thinner and thinner so they can patrol and serve new neighbourhoods. New bus routes are added at the expense of existing routes. This type of municipal thinking and spending is harmful, lazy and expensive.
Since there’s no physical barrier that stops developers from building further and further away from the existing core, council should impose an artificial limit to the size to which the city can grow.
Does a developer want to build 60 new houses? The city should instruct said developer to find an existing piece of land in the city and redevelop it. There is already infrastructure at this location, there are already buses that service the area and police and fire departments are already in place. Oh, and there are already schools that can serve the new development. Even if the school is so decrepit that it could no longer serve as a place of learning, it would still be more cost effective to tear it down and start over than it would be to build a new structure in a new neighbourhood with new infrastructure.
Make your move!
This is probably the only time anyone will ever mention David Swann, Brian Mason AND Carson Daly in the same breath. And I’m going somewhere with it. (Probably.)
It’s their time to make a move.
Don't stare directly into his eyes! Or you'll fall in love.
With all the chatter about Jay and Conan (I’m with Coco, by the way), and the renewed interest in all late night talk shows, Carson Daly is getting zinged left and right. I bet he’s being talked about as much, or more, than in his TRL days. Make your move Carson. It’s time to capitalize on your current name-recoginition before NBC just dumps your show (or puts you on at 2am), and secure your retirement with a sweet deal somewhere else.
Now, for our Alberta politicians I’d also say it’s time to make a big move. Though, they don’t have near the current name-recognition of doe-eyed Carson.
With the governing Tories taking a beating from all sides, the Wildrose Alliance is striding up the right-side of the policical spectrum to one elected member and two crossover MLAs. Plus, they’re all over the news and sinking into the consciousness of Albertans.
Why isn't Rick Mercer hanging out with this guy at WEM?
So…it’s time for the centre-left guys to do something big. I know people have told you to join forces, I know people have told you to work together, or start a new party for progressives, and those who are socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I’m telling you this is your one real chance.
Hey, would you look at that. Someone has already gone out and started a party which is looking for enough signatures to become the real deal. If the NDP and Liberals could just suck up their egos for about a minute they might see that they aren’t being talked about at all these days.
At all.
Never surrender! Never win many seats!
And since they haven’t been able to do much with their current parties, and since Alberta feels like a two-party kind of parliamentary democracy, I think the only chance real centre-left, post-partisans have is something new.
Now is also the time because you’ve got a few years until the next election so you’ve got time for the Tories and Wildrose to split the partisan, socially conservative side of things even more, leaving a nice big swath of voters looking elsewhere. And maybe all this new action will get even more people out to vote.
Come on Carson, David and Brian, make a big move.
p.s. If you make a move to a new party, be sure to pay off your current party debts first.
Beever’s Best
Best & Worst of Edmonton 2009 according to me, Gregg Beever
It’s probably a week late for a “year in review” type post, but I’ve
managed to convince the Editor-in-Chief to let me do it anyway. So
gather ‘round Edmonton, here is the year’s best and worst according to
me, Gregg Beever.
Best Local Band: The Provincial Archive
Edmonton has a very good music scene. While I haven’t experienced
enough of any other city’s scene to be considered even remotely
expert, I think I can humbly and modestly declare Edmonton’s the best
on the planet.
Our city has a plethora of small, intimate venues like the Empress,
Blue Chair or the Hydeaway. Here the music isn’t deafening, neither is
it crowded with hordes of drunk teenage lunatics screaming in your
very aged and sensitive ears. These are venues where the nuances of
each tune can be soaked in peacefully over a pint or a coffee. I can
spend an entire show in relaxed mesmerization of a percussionist’s
talented movements, the concentration of a cellist or violinist, or
the deft fingering of a guitarist.
Small venues also give you the opportunity to chat with the musicians.
I always make a point of telling an artist when I liked their set. My
theory is no one gets tired of hearing they are awesome. Plus it leads
to some interesting conversations, for instance: I once had a chat
with Megan from The Last Town Chorus about the logistics of using
laminated bookmarks as tools for cleaning up sexual fluids.
A friend of mine once told me she avoided chatting with musicians for
fear of becoming “that girl.” You know the one; that wound up
pre-pubescent girl, lavishing band members with intense adoration
before giving in to hyperventilation and passing out.
Which bring us (finally) to The Provincial Archive.
Craig Schram’s melodic prairie tunes truly demonstrate the fantastic
level of musical talent that exists in E-town. The Archive’s soft
sounds, formed from a collection of guitar, accordion, mandolin,
glockenspiels and other absorbing rhythms, somehow find me
steering-wheel drumming like I was rocking out in my car to Motion
City Soundtrack. In short, they’re excellent.
So excellent, in fact, that when I was chatting with one band member
before a show at the Pawn Shop I sounded like that hyped up
pre-pubescent girl meeting the Jonas Brothers.
I’m willing to bet I didn’t come off quite so ridiculous, but that’s
how I remember it:
“You guys are fantastic, I listen to you in my car every day! It’s
weird that you guys are, like, from Edmonton and I’m playing your
music in Edmonton, you know? That’s just…weird, right? I love you
guys. I’m going to have your babies.” (more…)
Have yourself an angry little Christmas
By Janine Edwards
Sometimes you've just gotta punch some snow.
Sweet Mistress Winter is finally here. She came fashionably late to the party known as Edmonton, but does anyone really mind? Some of us are delighted our mistress has come back to woo us. Others, like me, know she rules us with an icy vice-like grip. Like it or not, she now controls us for the next few months.
Surely, I am being dramatic. But am I, Edmonton? Now, if you’ve lived here as long as I have… You should know how to cope with the season. However, we have a lot of people who didn’t grow up here… and even those who tend to forget. So, without further ado, here’s Janine’s guide to surviving the dark wintry hell known as Blizzard Season in Edmonton (and area).
First things first: DON’T BE A DOUCHEBAG.
That seems simple enough, (more…)
No parties while we’re away
Every time you look at this photo, Edmonton's tax rate goes up $80. (Photo: George Watts)
You know, I was trying to think of a new or different angle on the Rexall Edmonton Indy when everyone was on about that money-loser last week.
Then, today we’ve got the City of Edmonton announcing its $500,000 bid for the 2017 Expo. That half-a-million dollars covers the next phase of the bid only. This puppy will come with a $2-billion dollar pricetag.
So I think I’ll tie the two together for a rant.
I’m really starting to feel like a parent who figures their child is responsible enough to be left home alone for the weekend.
I’ve left emergency contacts, money for groceries and have a neighbour ready to check in.
But then my kid, let’s call them “City of Edmonton,” goes and blows the wad of cash on pizza and a kegger. Pizza being the Indy and the kegger being Expo 2017. Since I support the kid I’m left paying to clean up the party mess. By party mess I mean my taxes will go up. (more…)
Save Local (Real Estate) TV
By Janine Edwards
I can’t seem to fast forward through commercials without seeing those annoying ‘Save Local TV‘ ads. Or the ones that oppose… I’m assuming ‘Kill Local TV’? Maybe it’s ‘Abolish Local TV?’
Let’s just say I can’t make it through an episode of CSI: NY without ignoring the propaganda. I’m already watching your local station… Am I not doing my part already? (By the way… Gary Sinise? More like Gary-Sin-easy-on-the-eyes… Amiright ladies?)
My problem isn’t that these commercials are annoying. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s not even for the fact that they’re taking away commercial spots they could fill with REAL advertisers and earn the local station money… Oh no. My problem is that they’ve taken away the one, truest local TV channel – and never gave it back.
That’s right my friends… My heart yearns for the Real Estate Network channel.
Those of you new to Edmonton, or new to awesome, would not have heard of it. This is the synopsis: the Real Estate channel was a channel which featured listings of houses, apartments, trailers, hovels, mansions, and condos in the city. You’d see a picture of the lovely house, you’d see a price, you’d see the picture of the realtor, their name, company, and contact information. Is there an Open House this weekend? You bet your ass the Real Estate channel would inform you!
It was the ultimate in house porn. Every house would be up for about 30 seconds, then the next property would be featured. Every 10 minutes or so was a different area of town. (Like the north-side? Stay tuned! In 40 minutes, you too can live near the beautiful Clareview transit centre.)
Families everywhere would gather around the screen, looking at houses. Occasionally, you’d call “dibs” on a really nice bungalow in Mill Woods and point out that your brother would wind up living in that trailer in Heritage. It was truly a bonding moment that families all over Edmonton can reflect upon and cherish.
Then, suddenly, without any sort of warning or petition (this happened in an age before Facebook groups) – the best thing to ever happen to Local TV was gone. Forever living on in our hearts. Before, this city used to love looking at houses. We used to love and respect realtors! Now how do we treat them? Can you name one? Oh, okay… But how about 17? I didn’t think so.
Local TV should be about the city. It should be something that connects us all… And what’s better than shelter? We all need somewhere to live, don’t we?
So I will not be supporting Local TV until I get my Real Estate channel back! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go watch more HGTV. Take that Local TV!
Remembrance Day 2009: Remember Harder
Before I get into the meat of this Internet sandwich, let me use the bread to say that Remembrance Day is important and I value the sacrifice of those who would lay their lives on the line for others. (Let me also note I’m terrible at sandwich metaphors.)
That said, I wonder if having a day off each November 11th really lets people think about what the day means.
Yes, there are plenty of events around the city where people can pay their respects to veterans of Canada’s wars. Having covered a few as a reporter I know they will all be well attended.
But what of those who just sleep in today? How about if your parents aren’t dragging you off to such a ceremony; what are you learning about Canada’s military and peacekeeping role (other than it earned you a day off in the middle of the week)?
Lifelong Albertans always give me a look of shock when I tell them I didn’t grow up with Remembrance Day being a stat holiday. I was in school (in Ontario), always in assemblies and ceremonies for November 11. You lucky buggers also landed the first February holiday.
Now, I’m not saying I know any more about Canada’s military or peacekeeping missions than the next guy. I wouldn’t put my respect of the day up against anyone else’s. But I think about whether, growing up in a province with a stat, I would have paid as much attention not being forced to in school.
Of course, my point about being exposed to Remembrance Day, through school, loses its effectiveness when you look at adults in a province that treats today like a normal day. They’re at work, also not participating in any Remembrance Day events.
Though, I would argue, they may pay more attention, or pay some smaller respect, because school made today something to note.
If you didn’t work today, what, if anything, did you do to recognize the day? Did/does your family all head to a ceremony?
Am I right to wonder if a full day off is the way to go? Could a half-day be the answer that allows the ceremonies to co-exist with our love of not working?
If you’ve ever wondered if good things can happen…
…they can.
(No, they haven’t re-opened the doors next to Tim Hortons. But the sawhorse is gone on the second set of Jasper Avenue doors. Just let me have this one.)
Ed Stelmach: lone wolf pack
A letter to the Premier of Alberta, on his most recent television appearance, by Janine Edwards.
Dear Mr. Stelmach,
Your speech last night put me to sleep. It’s a good thing I set my VCR to record the speech, because I had to catch up on it when I woke up.
Now that I’ve watched it, let’s get a few things straight.
That cost HOW MUCH? $134,000. Wow. How many ‘Paranormal Activity’ or likewise indie movies could that purchase? And just what exactly cost so much money?
Was it all that beautiful stock footage? Was it the suit? (Which made you look frightening and awkward.) Was it the powerpoint slides swinging by on the screen? Was it for the speech-writer?
Here are some things you, Mr. Stelmach, and your team could do to improve these paid speeches:
1. Don’t read your prompter word-for-word. We CAN see you, and can tell you are reading as you are talking. Next you’ll be sounding out the big words.
2. Ask NAIT and SAIT kids to get the stock footage. It could be their assignment at school and cost nothing to the taxpayer.
3. Ditch the suit, wear something comfortable. Mr. Stelmach, by wearing that suit – you, yourself, just look like a suit. There is no personality there… you are exactly what I thought you’d be. Next time – how about a warm sweater-vest? Or perhaps a three wolf, one moon t-shirt. It will show that you’re one hip cat.
4. If you must use the powerpoint slideslow – do me one favour: creative transitioning. I want that dissolve feature, the curtain transition, and of course, the star wipe. The star wipe is key. Do this over and over, and we’ll take you seriously. As well, you’ll be watched by more people, all over the world – as we will ensure the world sees the video on YouTube.
5. Did you see when Harper sang that catchy Beatles tune on stage? Canadians went ape-shit. Step one: Learn the clarinet. Step two: A groovy jazz number to close your next speech.
6. Ditch the whole ‘speech’ concept. Film it like an episode of ‘Cribs’. Take us on a tour of the Legislature, or your farm in Andrew, and discuss the economy as you tell us what’s in your fridge, and how many cars you have. The brief look at your forest was alright… but what sort of farmer are you? Is it a Beet farm? Beet farmers are popular nowadays.
As it stands, it wasn’t the exciting speech I so dreamed it would be. Do I think it accomplished what you thought it would? No. But I think you just found the opportunity to waste taxpayers money and have a solid 18 minutes of air-time too tempting to resist. I can’t fault you that.
Oh, and by the way – I recorded over some Survivorman episodes. Thanks a lot, Stelmach.
Opinion: Don’t give money to the homeless
The givers not knowing where their money’s going
Is as sinful as throwing away
- Cold War Kids, “Passing the hat”
By: Janine Edwards
We’ve established already that I’m an uncaring human being. If you are unaware of this, perhaps you should pay closer attention to my Letters to the Editors. If you’ve previously been offended by my point of view… you really aren’t going to like this.
Homeless people are ruining our city.
‘But Janine! They can’t help it. They’re addicts, they’ve had a bum deal, they are victims of an uncaring society.’ Bah.
There are places out there to help them. Lots of places. Okay, now we’re all recessionary… But there were tons of homeless even when we had staff shortages.
Now, in the style of our soon to be ruler of Colberta, I’m putting the Homeless on notice. (more…)
Watchoo talkin’ ’bout Edmonton?
Yes, Edmonton, it’s time to dive back into that sometimes horrible, awful world of online comments.
Now, I don’t want to seem like I’m picking on the Edmonton Journal, because that was never my intention. In fact, I really want the Edmonton Journal’s comments to be a place we can all rally around as a spot to have valuable debate about city topics.
I just pointed out how their anonymous comments can knock down multiple comments of worth, with a single racist or personal attack.
One way we can help them is to sign up for the comment system, then go under the My Community tab (once you’re in “Your Account”) and activate your name. Anonymous no more you can shoot down the angry, dumb people and vote them off the island, so to speak.
The Journal being Edmonton’s most active newsroom they are my first point of reference on this. But let’s see what Edmonton’s other newsrooms offer in the ways of online connection and discussion with their audience (you and me).
Edmonton Sun
The Sun doesn’t always seem to activate comments on every story. Or I’m just missing the “Comment here” button.
But when you can comment on a story you’re asked for your name and an e-mail address or your Facebook login. (See the image to the right.)
Sure, that stuff could be fake, but most people will likely enter real information and comment in a productive manner. While not moderated the comments can be removed, and if you’ve given your e-mail or Facebook info you could probably be blocked (I’m guessing that’s why they’d be asking).
And I really think that’s about all it takes. It’s going to be the rarest of trolls that will come back again and again, with fake e-mail after fake e-mail address, when they could just go somewhere without any information required.
CBC
The CBC doesn’t always allow comments. They’ve gotten into some trouble for people saying things in comments, and then being held to account for those comments on the CBC’s website.
So you probably won’t be able to comment on legal, court, crime stories.
They require you to sign up to comment.
That’s not to say signing up is the perfect way to limit trolls and stupid comments. As we learned with the St. Albert Habitat for Humanity letter, some people will gladly sign their real name to things that aren’t nice or smart. But sign-ups and moderation are BIG steps to having a worthwhile debate.
CTV Edmonton
It doesn’t look like they activate comments. Or, again, I’m missing the button or tab while scanning the site.
You can, however, comment on their blog.
Global Edmonton
It appears you can comment. Whether it’s moderated isn’t clear, but since you’re to use your Facebook, Twitter or OpenID to login, they’ve probably got some tracking going on.
CHED
There doesn’t look to be a way to comment on 630 CHED stories.
You can comment on the blogs. Though, check my warning about the iNews880 blogs in case your comments don’t appear right away.
iNews880
While CHED and iNews880 share a newsroom they do have different approaches to online comments.
iNews880 doesn’t let you comment on their iReports (sometimes audience-submitted stories). You can comment on their blog posts in a familiar fashion (though they go off somewhere for moderation) but they can take hours, even days to be approved. And when you comment on a story your thoughts are whisked away to a central comment area, not the story’s page. Which is weird.
Neither of these Corus newsrooms appear to ask for e-mail or ID stuff, but their comment-by-comment moderation would likely negate the need. Though, in my opinion, comments appearing quickly are more important.
Metro Edmonton
Metro’s tricky. They let you think you can comment without having an account, and then they ask for a name and e-mail address. (Look to the left.) They do have an official sign-up process too.
Again, it’s all about putting up hurdles to the lazy people that want to spew hate. There are way more of them then the hardcore trolls.
Edmonton Examiner
You won’t get away with posting whatever you want here, without the usual name and e-mail address for their sign-up process.
SEE Magazine
You’re required to register for SEE‘s comments. Though some people are still named “anonymous.”
I would hope that anyone asking people to register is then using that information to block idiots. Oh sure, send a nice e-mail asking for intelligent debate the first time, but be ready to turf them.
Actually, whenever we’ve sent an e-mail we never hear from them again…
Vue Weekly
It doesn’t look like you can comment on stories at Vue’s website. They encourage letters to the editor.
CityTV Edmonton
I checked a couple of stories and didn’t see any way to comment.
—–
That all said, most of the newsrooms were allowing their audience to share items via Twitter, Facebook, Digg, etc…
So, what does all mean?
I don’t know. I just wanted to see what everyone was up to.
It appears you can comment at most of the city’s news websites. Most of them require some basic information from you, which I hope is then used to block you for saying angry things.
I really don’t think you have a right to spew your vile thoughts at another website. If you want to exercise your freedom of speech you should get your own blog.
What do you take away from how comments and interaction are being done?
Where do you comment? Do you do it on a regular basis, or only when a story really grabs you?
May 17, 2010 | Categories: opinion | Tags: angry, anonymous, cbc, ched, citytv, comments, ctv, examiner, global, inews, jeff, journal, metro, see, sun, vue | 1 Comment »