kimmy

So what are you waiting for? Make yourself up a "Hitlarper!" sign and sit on Parliament Hill and chant, and we'll see how many people come join you. -k

Hadn't seen it, wasn't aware of the film... really didn't care for the music at all. Like a Les Claypool bass exhibition: technically amazing, but to little musical effect. It's overly busy, often discordant, and... just sounds like a jumble of notes to my ears. Musically, it's pretty much the opposite of the ones I listed, which are very melodic and "clean" sounding. By the way, add "Moonlight Sonata" to my list. -k

Indeed. Attempting to choose your own nickname is folly. However, what if they legally changed the name? Then it could end up being like the episode of The Simpsons where Homer changed his name to Max Power! It's not Constantinople, it's Istanbul. It's not Bombay, it's Mumbai. Come on, Toronto! What is there to lose? At worst, it could end up being like Burma, now awkwardly known as "Burma-also-known-as-Myanmar", which doesn't exactly scream "rebranding success story." Still, I think it's a winner. Toronto should go for it. Pick an exciting new 21st-century name, and commit to it. -k

Anything with Michael Moore's name attached to it deserves a healthy dose of skepticism, so here it comes. On the takeover of Inco... why would our government approves something like that? Well... Winnipeg Free Press Vale is going to be investing a huge amount of money in other operations in Canada, and is going to be investing in new projects in Thompson and northern Manitoba as well. As well, it appears that the closure of the current Thompson operation is not so much a product of Brazilians being mean as a result of reality: (same article) So... they have to import ore to keep the smelter operating, and the ore they're importing won't be available, and the smelter won't comply with changing environmental regulations. On the billion dollars the feds gave Vale: Mining Watch It seems like a stretch to say the feds gave them the money to kill jobs in Manitoba. It appears the money was to invest in Vale's operations in Canada, and operations abroad that would use Canadian products. However, we should always ask questions when public money is given to private enterprise. What will we actually get for our money? It appears that this is a loan... so what are the terms of its repayment? Will the loan actually be repaid at all, or are there loopholes? -k

Amusingly, when viewed from the main page, the thread title appears as "Do you have a favorite pie..." I like cherry. As for classical music, there is a lot that I love. Some of my favorites: "The Fingal's Cave Overture" by Mendelssohn "Hall Of The Mountain King" by Grieg (currently listening to a crazy heavy metal version!) "Dance Macabre" by Saint-Saens "Ride Of The Valkyries" by Wagner I have an MP3 of some portion of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" that I like. It sounds like a prelude, followed by "Montagues and Capulets" followed by some sort of flute fantasy. it's very nice. I used to like Night on Bald Mountain after I saw Fantasia, but the stupid disco version ruined it for me for all time :angry: -k

When I watch a Canucks home game and see all the brown faces cheering the Canucks, to me that's the benefit of something like hockey. It's meaningless, it has nothing to do with what our country really stands for... but it's something for everybody to rally around. A common cause, a shared experience, something that transcends differences. I think there's some value in that. -k

I remember seeing an episode of the American adventure gameshow "The Amazing Race" where a couple of female contestants were groped on a public train in Bombay. I realize that "The Amazing Race" is not a documentary, but that alone makes me doubt what Fellowtraveller is saying about women's safety in India. -k

Being bilingual makes you a polymath? Although, I suspect that from William's perspective, somebody who's good at both Call Of Duty and World Of Warcraft would be a polymath. -k

I feel bad for the guy. When he gets to the month where he has to watch Canadian sit-coms, he's going to feel totally depressed. Can I borrow your turbomolecular pump? Mine is on the fritz. That's a really good point. The aggregate international trade figures are not really that relevant to a guy's quest to find Canadian-made consumer goods. Unless he's shopping for board-feet of lumber and barrels of unrefined bitumen. -k

He said Newfoundland, not Greenland. They did call it "Vinland"... -k

My apologies. It appears that "Paul Martin Time" was a parody of the Liberals' "Paul Martin Times" campaign news site. Point stands, however. -k

Funny... seems to me that the lefties were calling them "the Harper government" way back when the Conservatives were still calling themselves "Canada's new government". I recall the Rabblers referring to the Conservatives as "the Harpocons" long before he even became Prime Minister, in fact. (they also called Conservative supporters "Harper Harpies", back then.) Why? My guess is that they felt the best way to fight the Conservatives was to remind them about the horrible, horrible man at the helm. Effective strategy that turned out to be. If the Conservatives have decided that focusing attention on their leader is a winning strategy for them, it's probably because they're entirely comfortable pitting Harper's popularity against Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, and whats-her-name and the separatiste. The media have been referring to "the Harper government" ever since he was elected, and as Bambino points out, that's not anything new either. When the New Democrats plaster Action Jack's face all over their website, advertising, and posters, is that an attempt to create some sort of cult of personality around him? Or is it just the realization that (sad as it is) Layton's personal popularity is the only thing their party has going for it? When the Liberals went to the polls with slogans like Paul Martin Time and Team Martin was that an attempt to create a "dear leader" mentality, or was that an attempt to cash in on what they believed was a popular leader (or at least persuade people that Chretien and his buddies were no longer in charge)? (The last time the Liberals went to the polls, instead of putting Mr Dion front and center they opted to focus on, as he called it, "de Green Shit". The decision to focus on the Green Shift rather than Dion was partly because they knew that lots of Canadians liked the idea of environmentally friendly policies, and partly because they knew that the prospect of Stephane Dion being Prime Minister would inspire a range of emotions ranging from faint nausea to sheer panic.) -k

That flag, missing apostrophe and all, is steeped in American history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_flag Whether it's use by the Tea Party is in the spirit of its history might be debatable... -k

Well said, Bubber. The sheer number of songs that have "radio-friendly" edits makes it hard for me to get the derision that this particular decision was met with. -k

People say bad things about Sultans of Swing? I dunno, I'm pretty terrible... ...in that case, I may have to concede. -k

This is the smartest thing you have ever posted! I don't think there could be a better choice for the position than Michael Hardner, if he's willing to take it on. -k

No, not stage presence or doing big cheesy rock-star moves in tight pants. I just had "Brothers In Arms", by Dire Straits, on my stereo, and it's a great example of what I was thinking of. I haven't looked at a tab for it, but it sounds like it should be dead simple to play correctly. Even I could probably learn it, and I'm literally the worst guitar player on the entire planet. Give the Korean toddler, and Joe Satriani, and me, the sheet music for that, and we could all probably learn to play the notes correctly... and each performance would sound different (and probably much inferior) to how it would sound when Mark Knopfler plays it. -k

So, what you're saying is that Jim isn't a real Canadian-- not because he doesn't watch hockey, but because he doesn't play it? -k

...so, uh, how about those glaciers? -k

I think Dick is right... the real reason this is in the news isn't that a reporter was assaulted, but that the reporter was *sexually* assaulted. That's a very interesting point. Well, Raymond Davis went that route in Pakistan, and it's not working out very well right now. Turns out that police don't appreciate it when foreigners shoot people, even if they claim self-defense. -k

This is the result of a national identity built around what August1991 refers to as "kitsch". We're a country with no common ancestry, no common culture, increasingly little common history... and in an effort to invent some sort of national identity in the absence of these things, people grasp at meaningless symbols-- kitsch. Canadians love hockey, maple syrup, donuts, coffee, toques, flannel, Cape Breton fiddle music, bad sketch comedy, and public broadcasting. That's Canada! That's kitsch. -k

Betsy can say that pushing religion and pushing vacuum cleaners aren't any different if she wishes... ...but I bet she'd react a lot different if her child came home with a new Hoover than if her child came home with a new Prophet. -k

I don't blame Harper for being skeptical of an uncharacteristically positive poll. -K

So I was reading that Shady's been watching the original Star Trek on Blu-Ray. The original Star Trek is ok, but I prefer the Next Generation. The dialog was much more cerebral. Case in point: (warning, language.) -k

I posted this in the Bob Hope Christmas thread, with the caption "This will make Bubber very happy, and Betsy very sad." Hilarious video. -k