June 30, 2007
Weekend links: Library drill teams, down with billboards, make your own award
We love libraries, all those books! But every once in a while we get impish and think, “man wouldn’t it be fun to race book carts? Or play games of jenga with the books?” Apparently there’s a competition for people like me. There is one mysterious quote here: “It’s all about the image that librarians are stodgy, stern, always shushing,” said Caroline Langendorfer... [More >>]
June 28, 2007
Finkle Free! — Writers’ rights upheld in Ontario
(book image courtesy Amazon.ca) I’m just back from a courtroom on University Avenue in Toronto where a judge in the Robert Baltovich re-pre-trial threw out a subpoena demanding a local writer hand over his research materials. It’s a very good day for a free press in Canada. Derek Finkle, former editor of TORO Magazine, succeeded in protecting his background work for the book No Claim to... [More >>]
June 28, 2007
You fiddle, they die
Ottawa pols care more about working on their seasonal tans than getting AIDS drugs to the global poor, according to the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Jean Chretien’s outgoing humanitarian gesture, the “Pledge to Africa” (now called the Access to Medicines Regime), has amounted to nothing. The law passed three years ago with the alleged aim of getting cheaper HIV drugs in the hands... [More >>]
June 25, 2007
Making sex work safe
I just returned from Toronto’s gay pride celebrations, and I was so thrilled to spend a few hours on Friday night at Goodhandy’s, Toronto’s “pansexual playground.” The bar is only one year old, but in that short period of time has established itself as a gathering place for trans people and their allies, alternative burlesque performers, feminist activists, queer musicians,... [More >>]
June 25, 2007
Sanitized Bacon — do kids need protection from gay art?
Francis Bacon, Self-Portrait (image courtesy The Telegraph) On a day when even the stodgiest of media crews, the CTV television folks, covered the Toronto Pride parade like Santa Claus might show up at any minute, I enjoyed a few hours touring the closet. I happened to be in Buffalo, New York (great town, everyone should go — wonderful architecture), so took in the Francis Bacon retrospective... [More >>]
June 22, 2007
All hail Edward Tufte, can marketers be good?, idea stock exchange
In the hands of Al Gore Powerpoint is a force for good but in the hands of thousands of middle-managers everywhere the ever-present Microsoft program is downright insipid and evil. Professor Edward Tufte would probably agree with me. Read this New York magazine article to find out more about the design guru. Marketing guru Seth Godin asks do marketers have to be so evil? No, and they should be taken... [More >>]
June 21, 2007
Guerra contra el Terror?
One thing that initially seems refreshing about visiting Cuba is the lack of commercial advertising. Not that there are no billboards; in fact, huge placards are omnipresent. They’re populated instead with political propaganda. I’m sure many Canadian leftists might savour the idea of progressive viewpoints brandished everywhere instead of airbrushed models toting Gucci bags. After all,... [More >>]
June 19, 2007
If Starbucks is the new record store please just shoot me now
I have to admit that I don’t pay much attention to the CDs for sale at my local Starbucks. I’m usually in desperate need of caffeine and trying to figure out whether eight grams of fat in coffee cake really does make it “low fat.” Does it? I know they’re currently selling some sort of new Paul McCartney CD cause his face is all over the gift cards they’re selling.... [More >>]
June 19, 2007
The right to choose where to direct our political energies
What do you get if you cross the CBC with Facebook? A colossal waste of energy. Keen to tap into the youthful energy of online social networking, the CBC set up an experiment—The Great Canadian Wish List. (Note: A Facebook account is required in order to view links on the Facebook website. If you haven’t yet succumbed to the online world’s newest addiction, you can read more about... [More >>]
June 17, 2007
Fatspiration!
Whenever I hear media commentators bemoaning the scourge of childhood obesity, I always wince a little bit. Even though I understand how important it is for kids to get active (and for parents to help them eat nutritious, unprocessed food), the reality is that there are many factors that affect a person’s weight and girth. In many cases, poverty and food insecurity are an issue. In other cases,... [More >>]
