Alright. Let’s talk roller derby.

This long weekend, the Oil City Derby Girls are sending their All-Stars to picturesque Boise, Idaho for the Spudtown Knockdown. One of two Canadian teams in mix, they’re sure to do Edmonton proud.

If you’re not headed to Idaho for the Labour Day weekend, you can catch the Spudtown action online, at the Derby News Network.

Oil City is back in Edmonton action on September 18. They’ll be taking on Calgary’s Hellion Rebellions in the WildRose Challenge at Northlands. The Edmonton EXPO Centre is a bigger venue, so be sure to head out and support the locals.

Now, while that’s two events, it’s not the double-whammy I promised.

No, the second half of this roller derby smackdown concerns the E-Ville Roller Derby. Their new season begins this month.

These ladies will get their new season rolling (see what I did there?) with a double-bill on September 25, at the Kingsway Hangar.

E-Ville also has a junior league (where teens can learn the basics of the game), and they’ve got a fundraiser coming up at the start of October.

Edmonton, get out there and support your very active roller derby scene.

Wait! There's a DVD?

By Little Miss Curious

Being a sexy nerd, I do admit books make the best lovers.

Here are a few I’ve been pondering over the last few days.

“Oral Sex is the New Goodnight Kiss.”

Well, apparently I’ve been ending 75% of my dates the wrong way. I have to admit, I was a little puzzled why they had such glum expressions as they walked me to the door…

And with school starting, I’m a little concerned about some of the books are children are reading, especially the new Dr. Seuss ones.

With titles such as “I Love the Nightlife,” “Show me they Honey,” and “Ice is Nice” I’m wondering whatever happened to “Sam, Sam, Sam I am…I do not like Green Eggs and Ham!”

Instead it’s more like “I love my crack, I love my ho, show me the money and I’ll give you some blow!” Awesome!

I’ve already picked up double copies for my nieces to promote a healthy street education.

Until next time Edmonton, Keep it smart single and sexy, I’m Little Miss Curious!

(Editor’s note: Probably Little Miss Curious’ first safe for work post. Don’t forget to get your dealbreakers in, because, as mentioned before, Little Miss Curious is working on a post about those.)

From the snowsuits we're fairly sure they're talking about winter.

]]> http://theedmontonian.com/2010/09/02/curious-sexy-books/feed/ 4 http://theedmontonian.com/2010/09/02/back-to-school-headlines/ http://theedmontonian.com/2010/09/02/back-to-school-headlines/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:54:09 +0000 Jeff http://theedmontonian.com/?p=15556

Back to school. Back to school. To prove to dad that I'm not a fool.

Good morning, Edmonton.

Bouncing off this morning’s photo, how about we lead with some school stories.

New schools dressed to the nines for opening day (Edmonton”s got lots of new schools for this year.)

Hardisty welcomes new students (Yet, school closures remains a shadow on the new year.)

Group protests against Bill 44 at Alberta Legislature

—–

Now I want to tell you a story.

This is a story about a city with an airport right in the middle of  it.

I want you to picture this city, and its central airport. On a sunny afternoon.

The city decides to close this airport and create something new in the middle of the urban landscape. It’s not every day that kind of opportunity presents itself to a city.

This city is a thriving capital. The airport, a historical one at that, doesn’t have as much use as it once did, as passenger traffic flies out of different international airports now.

There’s a design competition. Dozens of proposals are put forward. A half-dozen options are chosen to be explored further, before one design is selected as the next incarnation of this airport. The design will pay homage to the history of the site, but create something different that will benefit the city, and its residents.

A city with an airport right at its centre. Not used as much with the international traffic elsewhere. Potential for something that can be used by more of its residents in new ways.

I want you to picture that city.

Can you see it?

Now imagine that city is Berlin.

—–

Sorry, I couldn’t resist going all A Time To Kill on you after I read about Berlin’s airport redevelopment.

Don’t forget to check the Berlin designs (which all focus on the land becoming a park of some sort), including the new kingdom of bees.

Edmonton’s airport potential, and thoughts from one of the short-listed designers, is the story in our news today.

from the Edmonton Journal:

Oilsands PR machine ready to hit Ontario

Premier’s mute button on for 48 hours

From the Calgary Herald: Alberta reviews how Dirty Oil film got cash (So the arts and film grants will soon become part of the propaganda department? More on film stuff from SEE, below.)

from the National Post: Alberta to review rules on water in oil sands (Ah, government, getting a report on a report. Next up: a task force.)

Fort McMurray launches plastic bag ban

Phone rebate limited to current customers (I wonder if I’ll get one.)

from the Edmonton Sun:

Maintenance on LRT route (You can’t get to Clareview this long weekend.)

Alberta takes boycott battle to U.S. firms (Now imagine we spent this kind of time, effort, and money, on figuring out how to generate our power from renewable, green, resources.)

from the Edmonton Examiner:

City launches bus route from Mill Woods to NAIT

from 630CHED/iNews880:

MADD Edmonton speaks out over Khabibulin legal troubles (Does he have “troubles,” or is he just a drunk driver?)

Changes at 630 CHED start Sept. 1st (What the Corus newsroom isn’t touting in their story is the fact they’re turfing other long-time Edmonton radio voices. This, and a quip or two on Twitter, has me thinking of doing something local/Calgary related in the headlines soon.)

from CBC Edmonton:

Online safety statistics incomplete: AFL

from CTV Edmonton:

Alta. woman returns home after undergoing controversial procedure for MS

from Global Edmonton:

Beverly Motel shut down for 30 days (But I had just booked a luxurious stay…)

City funds solar power (More like, rebates solar power.)

from Vue Weekly:

Missing the point

Failure to enforce (There are rules?)

from SEE Magazine:

Light, Camera…Inaction!

Let’s hope that was a really important call (Driving while phoning. Scary stuff.)

Local news is back in the news, as CBC fights Shaw and Bell.

A movie review by Gregg Beever

The Switch tells a story each of us, I think, can relate to. We’ve all been there, accidentally spilling a hopeful single mom’s donor semen and replacing it with our own so no one is the wiser. If I had a quarter for every replacement-semen-baby I’ve got, let me tell you, that’s a lot of quarters.

Supplying the semen for this film is Jason Bateman as Wally Mars, the quick-witted, awkward best friend of Kassie Larson (Jennifer Aniston). No longer willing to wait through the standards steps of baby-making, Kassie jumps all those pesky relationship hurdles, opting for artificial insemination.

When a drunk Wally exchanges Kassie’s bottled baby-gravy for a load of his own, the premise is on. Seven years later, his best friend moves back to New York, and Wally begins to realizes he hijacked Kassie’s pregnancy and little Sebastian is his son.

Both Bateman and Aniston are excellent comedic actors with expert timing. I’ve liked Jennifer Aniston since the days of the Rachel Cut, and her banter with Bateman is hilarious and fun to watch. More importantly, the dialogue felt genuine, allowing the audience to buy into the friendship and history the two characters have.

The strongest relationship in the film, however, belongs to Wally and his son Sebastian. Thomas Robinson is not the most talented child actor – he’s certainly no Haley Joel Osment, the young DUI king – but he supplies right amount of innocence to the roll of a smart, odd kid.

Wally talks to Sebastian as if he were an adult, which I really enjoyed. Their conversations about hypochondria and missing father figures are cute, touching and add an element of friendship to the fatherly roll Wally later takes on.

For all its strengths, however, this movie could not escape the typical romantic comedy pitfalls. There seems to be a notion among screen writers that the audience will care if two people end up together simply because they are the principal characters. While Bateman and Aniston do have chemistry on the big screen, it isn’t romantic chemistry.

At no point in this film does Aniston’s Kassie see something in Wally she hadn’t before. Despite multiple scenes where Kassie is watching Wally interact and bond with her son, the script gives us no indication she is interested.

Okay, yes, there is a scene where Kassie tells Wally there’s some new “energy” between them. But really, if the script must resort to telling me there is “energy” rather than showing me, the screen writers aren’t doing their job.

There are other problems, such as Jeff Goldblum’s over-the-top performance as Wally’s confidant. Also, does Juliette Lewis ever not look completely wrecked on screen? Every movie she’s in I assume she’s playing a crack addict.

While there are some minor issues, The Switch is worth a trip to the theater if you have some time to kill, and definitely worth a rent when it hits DVD and Blu-ray. The film is quite funny, has a few very sweet moments and teaches us something about life. For example, I learned if you accidentally spill your best friend’s donor semen, make sure to replace it with your own semen, because eventually that semen will be your swapped-semen love-child that gets you the girl…

…semen.

Gregg Beever writes about movies for us. He also just set a new record for use of the term “semen” in a 600 word review.

Renner dismisses oilsands toxins report (I’m sorry, could someone float me a link or business card, is Rob Renner’s title Environment Minister or Oilsands Minister?)

Buyers gain the edge in Edmonton resale housing (I was pretty sure they had the edge for the last two years.)

We’ve got a couple of health stories from the Postmedia Network: Alberta schools to help push med students toward rural practice and Alberta health doles out $44M to boost health grads

From the Calgary Herald: Former speakers slam ‘bully’ Kowalski for abuse of power

from the Edmonton Sun:

‘No bodily functions’ signs working in inner-city park

Huge send-off for Gord Whitehead (Buried in this Graham Hicks column is the real question: Why does Edmonton’s news-talk station, 630 CHED, have no Edmonton news-talk programs, but two such shows out of Calgary? Are we taking crazy pills here at the edmontonian by always talking local?)

From the Calgary Sun: Alberta funded anti-oilsands film (We can’t have that. That’s not what arts and film grants are for, they’re not for art. They’re for government-approved art and film.)

from 630CHED/iNews880:

Kids back to school (Try not to run them over, with their little bag lunches and backpacks.)

from CBC Edmonton:

Garbage-to-biofuel plant launched in Edmonton (Come on, we’re all thinking about the end of Back to the Future now.)

Councillor calls for public vote on airport (Linda Sloan doesn’t care if the petition is legitimate, as long as those nice people tried really hard to do something. Gold stars for everyone!)

from CTV Edmonton:

Oilers goalie Nikolai Khabibulin appeals sentence (That was fast. I mean, he was only sentenced yesterday. The good news, if you can call it that, is that this means he can be at training camp. I think that will leave Edmonton with 23 goaltenders. It’s going to be a long year, Oilers fans.)

Delays expected on LRT as students head back to class (A good problem to have in one way; it proves that people will ride transit if it’s more frequent and connects to more parts of the city.)

from Global Edmonton:

Twilight not allowed to reopen

from CityTV Edmonton:

Police name Vader a suspect (This is in the case of the missing McCanns.)