the blog quebecois

Jay Stone, Postmedia:

The Ides of March, George Clooney's cynical drama about an American presidential election, is an entertainingly bleak story of backstabbing, betrayal, lies, corruption and sexual misconduct in the camp of a brightly idealistic politician who is running to be the next leader of the free world. Clooney -- who directed, stars and co-wrote the film -- is undoubtedly being ironic by saddling the tale with such a noble title, but the notion of perfidy is well placed.

3 1/2 stars! Hmmm-hmmm.

John Boot, Pajamas Media:

Spoilers lie ahead, but it wouldn’t be proper to write about the film without mentioning how idiotic its plot is. For all of the “insidery” goings on and the air of knowingness that accompanies the scenes inside the campaign office, we are obliged to believe that it constitutes a major scoop when Ida finds out the Gosling character had a beer with the chief (Paul Giamatti) of the rival campaign. There are all sorts of innocent reasons why these men might meet (they are, after all, both liberal Democrats), and even in the Times it would hardly constitute a major story. What would the headline be: “Political Operatives Have Conversation in Bar”? Yet this paltry item of micro-trivia sets off a chain reaction that could have historic consequences.

The other unbelievably moronic plot element involves a slutty intern (Evan Rachel Wood) who, after a one-night stand with Gov. Morris, gets pregnant — and is unable to come up with $900 for an abortion. Her dad is a Catholic ex-senator and the head of the DNC whom she dare not ask for the money (even though, back in reality, virtually all Catholic Democrats are vehement defenders of abortion). But a girl who grew up in the upper reaches of Washington must have hundreds of rich friends she could ask to loan her $900. Instead, she goes directly to Gov. Morris to ask him for the money, which threatens to derail his campaign.

Ottawa Citizen:

A trio of former NHL enforcers are poised to launch a lawsuit against CBC hockey commentator Don Cherry for comments he made last Thursday.

The Montreal Gazette, citing sources, reports that the Tennessee law firm Kay, Griffin, Enkema & Colbert will release a statement Tuesday morning from former NHL players Chris Nilan, Jim Thomson and Stu Grimson indicating the players are not satisfied with Cherry’s explanation of the comments two nights later, and making clear that they expect a full apology from the CBC commentator.

In an episode of Coach’s Corner that aired last Thursday, Cherry referred to the Nilan, Thomson and Grimson as “pukes,” “hypocrites” and “turncoats.”

The statement is expected to indicate that the players feel Cherry’s comments were vulgar and malicious and, in light of his limited attempt to qualify his comments Saturday, they are considering further action to force an apology.

C'mon, let's settle this like the (highly-effeminate) warriors you are: Powder puffs at dawn (or Don, if you prefer to throw pun-ches).

I don't remember exactly why - one or maybe both of us were out of town for awhile -- but we were on hiatus for a few months. I spent the time writing some (pretty good, I think) new songs and reworking some older ones. This is one of the latter, one of the more melodic (albeit still sloppy) things we did.

Previous: Walkaway (3)

you've lost . . . well, The Globe and Mail.

Margaret Wente:

The Canadian media have overblown the occupier story because they’re desperately afraid of missing something big. They don’t want to make the same mistake they made with the Tea Party, which they at first portrayed as a bunch of nuts in tricorne hats. Also, like the occupiers themselves, they have a bad case of me-tooism. They really want to be a part of something significant.

Inflating the importance of the occupation is a brainless way of nodding to a number of extremely significant but complex issues: the growing wealth gap, the stagnation of middle-class incomes, the rise of long-term unemployment, diminished generational prospects for the young. Much has gone wrong in America, and Canadians will be affected, too. But until the occupation movement in North America attracts as many people as the Halloween Parade does in New York, or a marathon in Toronto, you can safely ignore it..

There are still a few skirmishers fighting bravely on in the comments; but it's basically like the Germans at Stalingrad in 1943.

Publius takes a look at the apparently intractable problem of ever-expanding government:

Having children spend a large portion of their time being indoctrinated in the latest environmentalist propaganda is not education. It does, however, give employment to teachers who have no real knowledge to impart to their wards. These warm bodies who are ignorant of math, science, history, literature or art are useful in that their pay stubs are revenue conduits for the teachers unions. The interests of the unions, in having lots of warm bodies in front of chalkboards, trumps the needs of children in receiving an actual education.

Now firing the chalk wielding Greenistas seems like a sensible cost saving measure. That's waste being cut right their. The spin directed to the media will not be that an incompetent is being fired, no it will be that a trusted guardian of your children's future is being thrown out into the colds of the Canadian winter. There is no waste in government because every dollar spent is useful to someone, though not always the end user of the service.

This is why almost all campaigns to find savings in government fail. There will always be someone to yelp loud enough that some treasured aspect of our Canadian way of life if being threatened by the heartless right-wing barbarians. But let's say you get yourself a real cold blooded right-wing bastard in power. Sometimes it happens. He shrugs off the cries of the professional whiners and cuts with glee! 5% 10% 15% Perhaps even more!

Were I through some grotesque accident to become dictator of Canada, my first decree would be to abolish the parasitical public-sector unions. Those barroom Bolsheviks would fuss and pout, of course; but what do I care? I'm the dictator, remember?

Nobody would have mistaken me for an actual musician; but I was becoming a competent rhythm guitarist, at least. This came from a couple of riffs I'd been fooling around with -- I recorded it with two guitars (no bass that I can hear) in the somewhat unusual key of F-sharp. Unusual, that is, for rock (or country/folk) guitarists, who like the big, open-string keys like A, D, E, or G for the sustaining quality of the notes. Also, they're easier keys to play in while indulging in typical rock-star activities, such as: a) jumping around randomly; b) ingesting random drugs; and, most importantly c) playing with your guitar slung below your hips (it's a bit of a mystery how anyone can play anything, let alone complex chords with the guitar held that awkwardly).

At any rate, we never did anything with this, but I like the way it sounds.

Ottawa Citizen:

Styles isn't using your average rifle for his target-shooting. Instead, his firearms collection contains modern, sleek, semi-automatic rifles, which he says are light, accurate, durable and pleasing to shoot.

One of his preferred weapons is the Chinese-made M14 semi-automatic rifle. For years, it served as the standard-issue battle rifle for American soldiers and is now used by sharpshooters in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The M14, along with a range of much more modern rifles of military origin, is entirely legal to own in Canada, even if you're not in the military.

Some Canadians are alarmed that registered firearms users such as Styles have legal access to such weapons, which are considered "civilianized" models of modern military-assault rifles. Although these high-powered rifles are seldom used in crimes in Canada, many gun-control advocates want them banned in the name of public safety.

Meanwhile, many owners of these sophisticated weapons fear even if their firearms aren't banned, police may reclassify them as "prohibited" - a step close to a ban - then show up at their homes and seize their favourite toys.

Via SDA

National Post:

Children wanting to wear scary, violent or blood-drenched costumes will have to trade them in for more caring and community-friendly outfits at two public elementary schools this Halloween.

The principal of Colonel Walker and Ramsay schools said her staff has chosen to use the day normally known for scares and frights as an opportunity to teach community values.

[ . . . ]

Michelle Speight, who serves as principal for both inner city schools, said the move is designed to accommodate all children, including those with cultural backgrounds that don’t celebrate Halloween. It’s also an attempt by staff to prevent students from wearing costumes inappropriate for young children.

“You can still be creative, in fact we encourage that, think of all the things you can be in a non-violent way,” said Speight. “Ones that exemplify caring for other people and be respectful of other people.”

And what exemplifies "caring and respect" more than the . . . SOCIAL WORKER! Wouldn't that creep you out on your porch? Add orthopedic Birkenstocks, and behold, the . . . LESBIAN SOCIAL WORKER!!! Flee, men, flee!

How about those "Occupy" zombies! They care so very very much! Hear their haunting chant: "Braainsss!" Which they don't seem to have a lot of. (Or possibly "Weeeedddd!")

Or if you really want to strike terror into the hearts of all . . . the Michelle Speight bureaucrat from hell! Aaiiieee!

Sculpture by Ray Villafane

Question: You have a song, 3/4ths of which is kinda good; but 1/4 of the lyrics are poisonously bad. Do you: a) Stop all other work until you can hammer the offending couplets into shape; or, b) Add new lyrics, thus diluting the wretchedly bad content from 25% to only 15-or-so-%. If you have to guess which option I chose, you haven't been paying enough attention to my "career."

You can hear me laugh near the end of the first verse about how awful the line in question is. Oh, well. The music works, at least.

Previous: Come A Day (2)

The most interesting thing about the man who plays the Most Interesting Man in the World, in those TV ads for Dos Equis beer, is that he is interesting, too, perhaps even superlatively so. His name is Jonathan Goldsmith. He’s the one who says, in a Spanishy accent, at the end of each spot, “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do I prefer Dos Equis.” What makes his Most Interesting Man character interesting, besides a preference for spirits, is other traits invented for him by copywriters: At museums, he’s allowed to touch the art. . . . His blood smells like cologne. . . . Sharks have a week dedicated to him. . . . He once had an awkward moment, just to see how it feels. . . . The police often question him, just because they find him interesting. These lines are recited gravely by the narrator of “Frontline” over faux-grainy clips of our Man cliff-diving in Acapulco, or splashing down in a space capsule, or lying in a hospital bed stitching up a wound on his own shoulder while surgeons and nurses stand around idly, chuckling at his jokes.