Hang Up and Drive Headlines
I guess, more accurately, that headline should “Hang up, put down the sandwich, don’t do your hair and makeup, shave before you get into the car, stop tweeting on your iPad and drive.” Yes, Alberta’s new distracted driving law takes effect today. It’s a $172 ticket, so keep your eyes on the road.
Alberta is not the first province to have this kind of law.
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Edmonton councillors will talk about the community revitalization levy (CRL) in October. This is the tax zone that’s supposed to help fund the downtown arena downtown revitalization projects. I hope it goes through and we finally see something productive happen on 104 Street, at 109 Street, at the old Canada Post property, with LRT expansion, and…what? That stuff is already happening?
Are you sure? I mean, how can it happen without an arena?
Speaking of LRT…Engineering design is to begin on Edmonton’s expanding LRT system.
Edmonton’s deficit for the year is improving.
One community in each of Edmonton’s five police divisions is going to get a little more policing. This is part of a new crime reduction strategy from the Edmonton Police Service. The EPS, by the way, is stretched thin trying to solve this year’s extra homicides.
I’m a little boggled on this one. Three Edmonton newsrooms (the Sun, CTV, and CHED/iNews) have a story today on a fatality report being released. Yet, CBC had it two weeks ago. Just a strange delay.
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This school year will be the first for public education in Morinville. Which sounds really weird when I read that back. (Today is the first day of school for most students.)
A new way to move patients through the University Hospital faster will likely be applied at other hospitals after successful wait time reductions. We’re also performing more surgeries in Alberta.
Being the start of a new month all the monthly magazines are out with new issues. Alberta Venture’s got a look at the Slave Lake fire.
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The photocopiers were flying, more textbooks are likely to be required, and more online links will be provides, because the University of Alberta’s getting out of its copyright agreement with Access Copyright. (Also, check out that new Gateway website! They’ve also got a refresher on top U of A summer stories.)
U of A students are depressed, not getting exercise, and not eating enough fruits and vegetables. But they’re not doing as many drugs as you may think.
The U of A’s Faculty of Arts is cutting some language classes to save money.
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Libraries are not just “warehouses for books” anymore.
And that library story probably has a tie-in to this one about Blockbuster closing their remaining Canadian stories. (Locally, you can still find movies at Videodrome and The Movie Studio.)
H, I, J n’ J
Friend of the website (and sometimes movie-reviewer) Jay Runham has teamed up with another J – Jordan Blackburn – to talk movies in your earbuds.
The second episode of Jay n’ J. is out now, with guest Paul Matwychuk. Paul is an Edmonton movie-genius, who you may know from his work on CBC Radio and the DVD Afternoon podcast he does with The Videodrome’s Heather Noel. (Side note on Paul: You want this guy on your trivia team.)
(Side note on the second episode: Metro Cinema is settling into its new home at the Garneau Theatre, and will begin showing movies at the end of the first week in August.)
The first episode of Jay n’ J. featured another friend of the website, and movie-guy, Gregg Beever.
The podcast (so far) focuses on one movie – Super 8 and Harry Potter in episodes 1 and 2. And the hosts jump into conversations that make sense for their guests, which will likely lead to a diverse entertainment podcast. Basically, the Js are two for two on guests, and are going to add to the great movie discussions happening online and in podcasts in Edmonton.
There is no Alternative
To anyone over the age of 27 this looks like home.
If you could stop downloading movies for just a few minutes, Edmonton, I’d like to tell you about a change to your video rental options.
A classic.
I’ll wait for those of you who didn’t even know you could still rent movies to settle down.
Ok.
If you’ve ever been on Whyte Avenue’s east side (east of Gateway Boulevard) you’ve probably seen Alternative Video Spot in the strip mall between 100 and 101 Streets. If you’ve been by recently you’ve seen a big, empty store. Yes, this long-time movie icon of Old Strathcona is gone.
You could fit a lot of movies in there. Now you can hold a rave.
But fret not, my arty movie-loving friends, for the team that brought you Alternative Video Spot has packed up their favourite flicks and moved ever-so-slightly southwest. You can call them “The Videodrome” now.
In an e-mail exchange, Alternative/Videodrome’s John Hudson explains the move.
“In short, the strip mall we were in had become a very unpleasant place to do business. First we were beside a rough bar and once the smokers were forced out on the street we had a constant stream of men outside the bar, drunk and smoking,” he writes.
“This, of course, attracted other undesirables such as drug dealers and “working” women. Then, after a couple years of that, a liquor store opened on the other side of us which attracted the street people first thing in the morning. So we were trying to run a business that attracted families who the had to run a gauntlet of un-family like people to get to us. Add to this our landlord was completely unsympathetic to our plight and wanted $7000 a month for the “privilege” of being there. We could not come to reasonable terms so we left.” (more…)
