The Bodybuilder and I (again)

Congrats to director Bryan Friedman and everyone involved in making (and publicizing) The Bodybuilder and I. Top Canadian feature at Hot Docs. Nice work.

Best writer site I've seen in a long time

Writer Miranda July plugs her new book with a website she made using dry erase marker, kitchen appliances, and a camera.

She tells us about her book, too



The site is brilliant, and it is here.

Public support? What dat?

Memo to the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, and to its head, Joan Jessome: No matter how righteous you think your cause may be, having healthcare workers at a children's hospital -- and the IWK is the most apple-pie charity in the province, with every school and community group apparently putting on funding drives for it -- walking off the job is not a good strategy if you want to gain any public support.

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald reports:

Ms. Jessome said she regretted the impact a strike would have on children like those being discharged Friday and their families, but that the workers were fed up.

We're talking about families with sick kids, and the workers are fed up? Are the workers, getting a raw deal? I have no idea, but I wouldn't be surprised. But striking at a children's hospital? And trying to get public support?

I would hate to be a union communications officer in this case. It's the PR assignment from hell.

... and turn it off in court too.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Imagine the look on U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve's face when attorney Patrick Tuite's cell phone erupted in the midst of the Conrad Black/Hollinger trial here.

• • Why? Because the phone's tubular ring tone was from the movie "The Exorcist."

• • Quoth the judge to Tuite: "I hope you didn't program that ring just for this trial." When Tuite's phone rang again, an attorney quipped: "It's possessed."

Tuite told Sneed, "I think they thought it would keep the prosecutor demons away from our Hollinger clients."

The Bodybuilder and I

Through the NFB, I've been involved in the launch of the feature documentary The Bodybuilder and I.

It's the story of 26-year-old Bryan Friedman, and his dad Bill -- a 59-year-old competitive bodybuilder taking his last shot at winning back the title he once held.

It's one hell of a film, and it premieres at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto this weekend, with two screenings. The world premiere is Friday, April 20, 9:30 PM at the Royal Cinema, with a follow-up on Sunday afternoon at 1:30, at the Bloor.

Here's the film's page in the Hot Docs catalogue. Once you're there, click on the right side of the page to buy tickets. (The Friday night screening is rush tickets only at this point.)

Bathroom Brouhaha

I never realized the politics of using the disabled washroom/stall were so contentious.

I never realized there were politics connected to it at all.

Are these washrooms a decidated resource for the disabled - like a parking spot - making their use by the able-bodied immoral or illegal? Or are they like wheelchair ramps - allowing accessibility to everyone?

Full post from CBC'er Paul Gorbould's blog here.

Less depressing news from an engineering school

Engineering students at the University of California at Santa Cruz create a three-storey depiction of Donkey Kong using 14,000 Post-it notes.



More here.

High Steaks / Gone Surfin' and more

There's a new section over there in the sidebar on your right. It's called My Stuff. That's where you'll find my vegetarian- converts- to- meat-eater radio documentary High Steaks (thanks to all of you who have asked me to post it).

Right underneath is the first installment of my new Gone Surfin' web/tech column, originally published in local paper The Chester Clipper. Enjoy.

Garbled at the Post

The National Post has Warren Kinsella's new column online, and it sure reads funny. Don't know how long it will stay up before the fix it, but there are some pretty weird phrases. (Read it closely and you can see how they are supposed to line up.)

1) A lot of these extraordinary numbers, obviously, are -- like many of the numbers that attempt to describe the magnitude few of your belongings, just because I f***ing felt like it? It's the same f***ing thing, mate."

2) When the U.S. trade deficit with China has ballooned to an extraordinary $232.5-billion, the Bush administration's of myriad crimes -- completely speculative.

3) "How would you feel if I walked into your house and took a desire to haul the Chinese before the WTO is certainly understandable, if a tad cynical.

I don't know how I would feel if Johnny Rotten walked into my house and took a desire to haul the Chinese before the WTO. Baffled probably.

Playoff beards

Gentlemen, start your beards. Maybe Crosby will manage to grow one this time (apparently, the last time he tried, as a 17-year-old junior, all he got was a bit of a moustache).

Sidney Crosby will become the youngest player ever to sport a playoff beard! We will see the Cros-beard this playoff season! Oh yes my friends, mark my words.

More at the Playoff Beard website.

Things I learned from my hockey pool this year

My buddy Allan Marron runs a hockey pool every year, and I persist in participating, even though the best I've ever done is second in the playoff pool (the year Calgary went to the final, and I had the Kipper, Iginla, and a host of other Flames).

Sometimes I pore over the stats before making my picks. This year, I chose them in about 15 minutes. I came fifth.

Here's what I learned.

• It's a very long season.

• Being 20 points ahead in early February is no guarantee of anything.

• Don't count on the big guns playing on the last day of the season. A couple of points from Iginla, a shutout from Kiprusoff -- these could have vaulted me into the money. But both guys were rested for the final game.

• I thought one of the things I learned was not to trade too soon. I dumped Savard in his early-season slump and took Hossa instead. If I'd stuck with Savard, I would have had 96 points. By trading him for Hossa I wound up with 90. In effect, I had him during his worst slump of the year, then missed out on the rest of his high-scoring season.

I also ditched Tanguay, who wound up with 81 points. Instead, I took Afinogenov, but by the time he broke his wrist, I had used up all 5 of my trades, and had to sit and watch as other poolies overtook me (see #2, above).

But it's not that simple. I hung onto Nash for far too long, finally ditching him for Selanne. I wound up with 70 points from these too. Sticking with Nash would have given me 57. I should have gotten rid of him much sooner.

• Save up your trades so you can dump players when they get injured. I did well by dumping Spezza (for Lecavalier) and Pronger (for Visnovsky) once they got hurt. But because of my absurd Savard trade, I could do nothing when Afinogenov went down.

• Past performance actually is a pretty good indicator of future results, especially when it comes to goalies.
  

• I need to finally realize that Martin St. Louis is for real.

• There is a limit to how much your family is willing to listen to you go on about the hockey pool.
  

Now if only I had a list somewhere of things I've learned from playoff pools. At least the Habs are out, so I don't have to worry about picking with my heart instead of my head.

Freelancer's dream

Emailed an idea to an editor this morning.

Note received in response:

No problem Phil... whatever you want.

Sometimes the writing life is good.

Accommodation: the vegetarian threat

In the recent Quebec election campaign, one of the recurring themes was how much Quebec should accommodate its immigrants. Would Muslims and Jews ruin the great Quebec tradition of the cabane à sucre by asking sugar shack owners to bake beans without pork?

As a March 20, 2007 CP story by Les Perreaux put it:

The tabloid Journal de Montreal dedicated yesterday's front page to an expose of a pair of sugar shacks south of Montreal that took efforts to allow Muslims to enjoy the annual spring maple syrup tradition known as sugaring off.

The fatty feast of beans, pea soup, pancakes and massive doses of maple syrup usually includes pounds of pork, something forbidden from the diet of devout Muslims.

One sugar shack removed pork from some food to meet dietary requirements under Islam.

Another shack paused entertainment recently to allow about 20 Muslims to pray on the empty dance floor.

"Pea soup without ham," said one headline in Le Journal. "Our traditions must be respected," said another.

Well, never mind the Muslims. What about the vegetarians?

On more than one occasion we've been to André and Annette Godard's cabane à sucre. For years, they have regularly accommodated visits from groups of vegetarians, serving up baked beans with tofu, and, yes, pea soup without ham. The first time I visited the Godards was when Sara worked at a health food store, and the staff organized a trip there.

That first visit was nearly 20 years ago, and somehow Quebec culture has continued to thrive til now. And the Godards? They're not some kind of hippie idealists. Just solid, old-fashioned farmers. I heard Mr. Godard say that he wasn't doing organic farming because it's trendy. He was doing it because it's the way everyone used to farm and the way he grew up farming.