It's been a long time coming. But the Georgia Straight Watch is back, not so much by popular demand, but because I picked up a copy, and we're blogging again. So here's your, kind of late, current issue, top 5 things that are so very right and/or wrong about this weeks edition:
5. The whole cover is about Madonna. Lets not go there, even if Sex Machine was a trolling for readers headline, because it's all there on page 61. "On a completely superficial level, there's the fact that Ritchie's soon-to-be-ex-wife—improbably, and against all known laws of nature—is hotter at 50 than she was in her 20s, and only partly because she no longer dresses like something Keith Richards's cat dragged in." Are you serious? Have you not seen this Madonna?
4. On the other hand, we can appreciate Madonna when interpreted by designers with a soft spot for the 1980s and penchant for modeling themselves like Christina Culver does.
3. This week's Love Lounge personal, the appropriately names, "Awkwardtouch". Is it that he is a gun owner? That he paints small figurines? Or is it that he dreams of living "...in the mountains away from civilization with my sweet heart. Hunting your own food, living in a cottage... i think it'd be cozy and relaxing." I can see where the name came from. C-R-E-E-P-Y.
2. The commentary on Work Less Party candidate Betty Krawczyk being overlooked for a mayoral debate is pretty funny. Spending ink on writing about why an 80-year candidate for a joke party like this is like a SNL skit. It's awesome, she's like the female John McCain only not like Republican. It's absurd. And crazy. Although I actually find her more credible than Marc Emery. Follow up question: does the Georgia Straight have like a Grandma thing going on this week? Edgy. Bonus: The comments on this feature Emery and me actually agreeing with Bill Tieleman which was, er, awkward.
1. Still the best thing. The Goethe. Nice to see a long story on Golden Mile Cellars, now Road 13 Vineyards. Looks like a nice re-brand and my friend Daniel will approve of their all screw top philosophy. Who doesn't.
The Metro paper must be trying to scare the absolute bejesus out of people by putting on their cover the over promo for some sort of early trick or treat. Honestly, Ujjal Dosanjh for Prime Minister is the craziest thing I've read, until i got to the end of Paul Sullivan's article where he mused, "Stephen Harper vs. Ujjal Dosanjh...in its own way it's as exciting, as transformational , as Barack Obama vs. John McCain."
So that is two off my chair things I read in the Metro over lunch today. I'm still getting the taste of spit up out of mouth. On the hand this is the one choice for Liberal leader that would actually put the Liberals in an even deeper hole to dig out of. Sickos.
I was introduced to Banacek a little while ago. Frankly I need this on DVD, like now. Time for some Amazon orders! Seriously, this dude is on fire. And, sweet niblets, the plot was amazing:
"Thomas Banacek is a clever and well-to-do insurance investigator living in Boston. He makes good money by solving the most intricate and unusual mysteries, and is very proud of his Polish heritage. His contacts include his street-smart chauffeur Jay and British bookstore owner Felix."
At some point a few weeks ago, this song was rolled out during our day. Totally Killer. Just groove it. Bonus for the video just showing the record playing.
"Ha Ha." Pretty sure the loneliest, perhaps worst job in the Vancouver area today was handing out fliers for candidates for the October 29, 2008 Provincial By-election in Vancouver-Burrard. Nobody seemed to be too pumped up for the Federal Election, now in in downtown we have a By-election only two short weeks later. Ouch. The guy handing our Arthur Griffiths fliers did not look like he was having fun around 6:45 on Nelson St.
First question, what do the Hedy Fry maniacs do with their vote sans Hedy? I can hardly wait for their and the Green voters super awesome fun times.
Well, another night of politics with debate number three taking place. But it wasn't really that entertaining. And I'm kind of over the whole thing. Thank god AMC was rocking alternate programming with a showing of 1990's "Navy Seals" with Charlie Sheen and Micheal Biehn.
Watching this pre-9/11 anti-terrorism movie was kind of amazing. Do you even remember a time when Charlie Sheen was a real life action movie star and not just a travesty of middle America sitcom acting? Bottom line this is pure genius cheese.
This scene kind of tells it all:
Hawkins: [driving on a bridge on the way to a wedding] I'm sorry guys but I cannot be apart of this funeral procession. I'm out of here
[he jumps off the moving jeep, over the bridge and dives down in to the water about twenty feet below while shouting]
Hawkins: SEE YOU LATERRRR!
Chief Billy Graham: Whoa, did you see that, that guy's a crazy man!
[they throw him his coat]
Hawkins: THANK YOU!
Curran: [to Graham] I hope he dies of pneumonia.
It's post election hangover time in Vancouver. In the core of Vancouver (Vancouver Center) Liberal Hedy Fry continued her death lock grip on the riding, and conservative Lorne Mayencourt came in second. It was typical of Vancouver, to continue to send a do nothing, know nothing, someone like Fry back to Ottawa instead of someone who actually might matter in, you know, governing the country. Good news is that teflon Hedy's down to just 35% support, a nearly 10 point drop in support. One more point, Vancouver South charmingly chose, barely, to send Ujjal Dosanjh back to Ottawa. Are you serious?
Sure, it Steve Harper didn't get that majority he wanted but he did shake things up a bit. Maybe a couple of first downs. Bottom line is he move the game slightly and positively. He gutted Stephan Dion, which is good although maybe a little too good for the Liberals. And he probably gave himself a three year lease on office, as its unlikely anyone will be dumb enough to push for an election anytime remotely soon.
That said, Greater Vancouver support for Tory Blue was 39.13% (44% in BC) all round and that blue has started to creep back around the city gaining back North and West Vancouver, taking Richmond from the Liberals, amongst other gains. The Liberals turned into bronze medal winners, and for those keeping score all the Greens could muster was a lame duck 8.35%. You call yourself granola eaters people? Come on! In West Van, the sole Green MP, former Liberal Blair Wilson came in a distant third with only 14.4%. Then again, its clear that Canadians didn't really give a crap as they turned up in near record low turnouts. Not a good sign when the world faces a huge economic challenge that most of Canada chose to vote, "meh."
But here's the other thing that baffles me this morning. Why are there two, count 'em two, also ran lefty niche parties running in this country? The NDP and Greens are just killing each other. And don't get me wrong, its no secret that I think that concept in itself is pure awesome, but are voters just taking crazy pills? What makes you vote Green vs. NDP? Or either? Sure the NDP gained ground, sort of, but could they have won if in Vancouver Center it was either or? Yes. Combined they would have had more votes than the winner. What a total "fail".
And seriously, can you people just stop supporting the Green party. 2 independents won seats. And yet, not a single Green MP. Get over it. PS: Elizabeth May was in included in the debates and still got absolutely clobbered as she ran against Peter McKay. She should be the first leader to pack it in even before Dion. And here's dumbfounding evidence of Green insanity:
Adriane Carr says two losses provincially and now one federally under the Green party banner won't discourage her from continuing to run for politics."I'm here for the long run," Carr said of her defeat in Vancouver Centre to Liberal incumbent Hedy Fry. "A lot of people expressed to me they'd like to vote for me, like to vote green. I just hope that if it's not this election, it's the next."
I'd totally forgotten the cameo by John Candy in 1991's often overlooked classic from the John Hughes cannon, Career Opportunities (trailer). This is just one of the many amazing things in this little gem.
I'm not entirely sure what it was about this movie. It's not particularly memorable, well, other than images of a young Jennifer Connelly roller skating and/or riding a rocking horse. But it had this kind of strange pre-Clintonian, pre-HD, pre-iPodness world view to it. It was Target before it got all branded. And, really, who didn't want to be trapped in a big box store?
This would be a graphic novel I would actually totally read. "Smurf Wars" might be the story, as conceived by the talented Marcelo Braga, of how the Smurfs finally do away with Gargamel and his stupid cat Azrael.
