Nerd Alert

I’m not going to say “Does wanting this make me a nerd?” because…well, the answer is yes, but I don’t care.

Marc Ecko’s Boba Fett Hoodie.

Now, let’s be realistic here.  This is so far outside what I am willing to spend on a hoodie.  But…common!  Its Fett!  You know…Fett from before he was a lame ass kid in the prequels.  Fett from when he was AWESOME.

So nerdy-cool. 

Let’s call him Shawn, eh?*

*quote from Wallace and Gromit, A Close Shave.

On Saturday, we’re doing a photo shoot for Keystone Theatre, and since the style of the silent film era really requires me to be clean shaven, tonight I have gone from this:

To this:

Pretty frightening, isn’t it?

Truth is, I hate doing this. I’m so used to seeing myself with facial hair, that its quite a shock to me to see my face without it.  I don’t even really register that its even me.  It looks like someone else.  Which is really awkward when a face I don’t really recognize is looking at me from the mirror.

The things we do for art.

In other news, its really hit me today that my dog is getting on in years.  I mean really getting on.  I noticed today that when we went on our walk that he was looking like he was working at it harder than he used to.  And he moved slower than I recalled from what seems like just a short while ago.  Worst of all, twice, he lost his back legs out from under him.  Both times, he got excited about seeing a squirrel and tried to lunge forward, but is back legs just wouldn’t cooperate.  It was sad to see.  Made me realize that I’m probably not going to have him for much longer, because age will claim him. 

I remember during some of the worst times in my life, over the past few years, he’s been there.  When Erika and my sister died, he stuck by me, lying at my feet, following me around, making me laugh when I really needed it. Its going to be hard to say goodbye when I have to.

Practically speaking…I’ve also realized that I have no idea what to do when he does.  If he dies at home, then I’m really not sure what to do.  Don’t know any of the legalities around, what to do with the body.  Even though I don’t want to think about it, I’m going to have to.  Anyone out there know what one is supposed to do when a pet dies?  Especially if they are a larger animal?

A Dear Harper Letter

Craftygrrrl pointed me to a post at yarnharlot.ca, where the author provides a well thought and well-composed letter to Harper about this whole arts funding thing.

I suggest you take a look.

I’d write my own…but the truth is, I get too caught up in how angry and insulted I am by the comments made by our Prime Minister to really be able to form a really coherent rebuttal.  Thus the linkage to YH.

The boy in the bubble

Stephen Harper apparently campaigns in the same way he “governs”.

In a bubble.

He’s not interested in talking with voters.  He’s only interested in talking at voters.  He won’t answer questions.  He just wants his staged events, where he talks and his supporters applaud when they are told to. 

He’s not interested in actually dealing with the press.  According to the Toronto Star:

The Harper campaign keeps a short leash on national and local media, limiting questions and access to local candidates, sometimes calling on RCMP security to block reporters from doing their jobs.

But look at the way that his minority government has dealt with these same things, and you’ll see this isn’t just campaign behaviour.  This is business as usual.  The days of the media scrum are gone.  No questions.  His ministers can’t even make their own statements unless they are approved by the Prime Minister’s Office, which often means that ministers end up repeating the same phrase over and over, which can be illustrated in the Bill C-61 debacle, with videos showing Jim Prentice and Colin Carrie reading the same approved statement readily available on Youtube.

In this election, this clampdown on his own people continues.

Conservative candidates may give interviews with local media on local issues only. If reporters seek comment on national issues, they must go through the national campaign spokespeople instead.

This is clearly the wrong attitude.  Local candidates are expected to talk to local media about national issues.  Its how elections in Canada have always worked.  The local media goes to the local candidate, who provides the party’s view on the topic, and therefore become the local voice of that party.  But Harper doesn’t want a local voice for the party.  He wants his voice, and his voice alone.

But this isn’t the only way in which Harper lives in a bubble.  In an opinion piece entitled Harper’s goal a right-wing Canada, Bob Hepburn presents some frightening statements by Stephen Harper illustrating what Harper might do with a majority government.  For example, this statement to the National Post:

“I said for a long time, and nobody listened to me for the longest time, that my goal was to make conservatism the natural governing philosophy of the country”

And let’s not ignore his respect for the US right-wing:

“Your country, and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world.”

So, the leader of the party which is ahead in all the polls, has openly stated that he wants to make Canada a conservative country, and has also quite openly talked about his respect for Bush-style, right-wing politics.  If there’s not a better reason to fear this man, arts cuts aside, I don’t know what is.

Consider yourself warned

Worth remembering.

More grrr.

Stillvisions had a comment on the topic I’ve been going on about the last day or so:

When lesser-known artists speak out, the government/right-wing arm of the media dismisses them as "something nobody cares about" and when the big-name ones do it they "just a bunch of rich people wanting more money".

He’s absolutely right.  This is the catch-22 in this situation.  No matter who you are, you are discounted.  A struggling artist?  You’re just someone no one cares about, so why should the government?  A well known artist?  Well, then you’re just a member of the cultural elite scraping for more handouts.

There’s no way to win with these guys.

Planet, Shmanet

I still don’t know what planet Harper is on:

"I think when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV and see a gala of a bunch of people at, you know, a rich gala all subsidized by taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren’t high enough, when they know those subsidies have actually gone up – I’m not sure that’s something that resonates with ordinary people,"
The Star, Sept 24, 2008

Gosh, I really love what he’s doing there.  Pitting “ordinary people” against the arts by continuing with the “rich artists” analogy.

Of course, I have to take Stéphane Dion to task on his response, though.  Although its true that the “average” wage for artists is $23,000, that’s probably an inflated number.  Most artists would be quite happy to make that much in a year at their art.  But what I take issue with is Dion’s statement (from the same article) that

"Most of them [artists] need to rent their suit and beautiful dresses at these galas,"

Dion makes the poor choice here and continues the “Gala” analogy, which allows harper more traction with his lie.  It would have been more accurate to state that most artists never even go to these mythical “galas”, but instead are struggling to make ends meet.

Whiners: I am one, apparently…according to Harper

Well, Stephen Harper once again showed his contempt for the arts today.

He defended his government’s cuts to cultural programs and characterized artists who have complained as government-subsidized whiners.
TheStar, September 23, 2008

Conservatives just love to portray those in the Arts community as a bunch of champagne sipping “elites” who are rolling in money.  They love to portray the arts as something that appeals to the rich and out of touch.

And yet, this betrays an ignorance on a level that’s almost unbelievable.  How many rich artists do you know?  How many artists do you know who are just rolling in cash, and hobnobbing with the “cultural elite”?  I know absolutely none.  I do, however, know a lot of artists who are struggling to make ends meet, working minimum wage jobs in order to keep a roof over their heads, while also trying to work at their craft.

Harper and his bunch, hate those of us who make art.  Probably they hate artists because they don’t understand the need to communicate.  This is, of course, a government who have worked very hard to not communicate with the entire Canadian public.  His own ministers aren’t permitted to make public statements unless these statements have been approved by his office.  One doesn’t have to look very far to see this.  Look at the bill C-61 debacle, and how his government refused to even consult with citizens on the issue of copyright reform.

This is a Prime Minister that hates artists, the press, cities, and citizens who want to be informed about what the government is doing.  And yet, according to polls, he’s winning this election?  What’s wrong with us?  What’s wrong with Canadians that we are buying into his sweater vest wearing, carefully crafted, “softer image”.

Look, if all it takes to gain public approval and votes in this election is wearing a blue sweater vest, and talking about your family, then hell, I say that all the party leaders should go to the debates wearing sweater vests, and turn every question into an opportunity to talk about their family.  I mean, why aren’t we mocking this guy?  This whole campaign is completely mock-worthy, and yet…its not being done.  Harper is stealing this election by not talking about anything of worth and spreading lies about other party leaders.

And we’re letting him.

Doesn’t anyone else think there’s something wrong with that?

Election Fever Part IV: Tech Wish List

This week on CBC Radio’s Spark, the discussion turned to the Canadian election and tech issues.  Specifically, they asked “What’s on your Digital Wish List?”

Here’s mine:

1. I would love for our elected representatives to have a personal knowledge of the issues surrounding technology.  Do they surf the web every day?  Can they write an email?  Basically I want to know if they use the technology they are regulating. This is important, because if they Member of Parliament in question doesn’t know this stuff themselves, they are going to be informed about these issues by lobbyists.  And the lobbyists don’t have the interests of Canadians in mind.  They have the interests of their clients in mind, which means that Policy is being created by CRIA, by Bell and Rogers, and (as shown in the case of Bill C-61), US interests.
2. Related to my item 1, I would love to see public consultation on tech issues.  Technology impacts us every day.  If government is going to make changes, to something that impacts Canadians every day, then they should consult with Canadians.
3. Innovation.  I remember that it was just a few years ago that Canada was on the top of innovation lists.  Canada was the most Broadband-connected country in the world.  We’ve since fallen from the top spot considerably.
4. Choice.  You know, we really only have a couple of choices for our digital services.  In Ontario, there’s pretty much Bell or Rogers (or Shaw, depending where you are).  This means that I can either get internet from one or the other.  And even though there are smaller companies that offer Broadband services (like teksavvy, for example), they are actually resellers of the service from the big companies.  TekSavvy for example is a reseller for Bell, which means that when bell throttles internet service, it affects the customers of the reseller.  Canada also lags behind on mobile phone service.  We are being gouged by fees because our service providers have pretty much agreed not to compete on price points.  We get fewer mobile services than our neighbours to the South, and we pay more for it.
5. Talk about tech issues from the candidates.  Is anyone actually talking tech?  Have any candidates addressed bill C-61 and talked about what they would do differently.  Is Net Neutrality even on the radar?  Let’s get the candidates to talk about this stuff.

So, that’s my wish list right now.  What’s yours?

Theatre of the Obsessed

Early in the summer, I was approached by D.J. Sylvis to act in a collection of short plays called Theatre of the Obsessed.  Unfortunately, due to obligations to Keystone Theatre, I was unable to actually do the show, no matter how keen I was to be a part of it.  Sadly, I had to withdraw.

However, I wanted everyone to take note of the performance dates for this show: September 24-27th at the Centre for the Arts, 263 Adelaide Street West, Toronto.  The plays by Mr. Sylvis are pretty Geektastic, and I highly recommend them to anyone who has an interest in Science Fiction, werewolves, or giant monkeys (seriously).