Spaceman Spencer....Check it out...

some friends have been contributing to some projects for kids. This video is one of their latest pieces. Its a fun music video about space. Who doesnt love stuff about space ? :)

Check it out and please share it on... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOAN81p5nHA

compromised democracy

The end of 2009, meant another prorogued government for Canadians. The second in just over a year, by the same minority government, and the first time ever in Canadian history that the same government has done it twice in its term. I am shocked, angered, frustrated and disappointed about this development. Although sadly, I am not very suprised.

As I understand it, proroguing the government, means that the Members of Parliament will not return to work until March 3rd. It also means that all of the 30 or so pieces of legislation that been scheduled to be voted on will be cancelled, and have to be resubmitted. Additionally, two other interesting things happen - the committee which was due to address concerns of abuse of Afghani prisoners will not continue to meet, and during the break, the Harper government has said that it will fill 5 more senate positions effectively making it easier for their party to pass legislation.

The statement issued by the PMO's office said that the proroguing would allow the government to prepare the budget. In an economic downturn there is no doubt that fiscal responsibility is important. But what about the other responsibilities? Did they really have to suspend all other work to ensure that the budget gets done? I don't think proroguing was the only way to allow more time for budget preparation. Using the budget as the reason and the motivation for the proroguing also implies that all the other work being done in the House and Senate, was not nearly as important as what Harper and the Conservatives wanted. What about discussion? What about collaborating with other house members to arrive at a solution that would not totally disregard legislation that was in progress, that would create alliances, instead of drawing lines?

And what about the budget anyway? If the budget becomes the main topic upon return in March, and it benefits Canadians economically, or appears to.... will people forgive? Will people even remember what happened? Will they still care? Will they think about the implications that proroguing has had and still be critical? I'm not so sure. I fear that social memory is very short. This year, I think it will be particularly short with the olympics as the primary focus through most of February. More than anything, this move stops discussion, of any kind. There is no debate, there is no movement, the country waits until March 3rd. Maybe I am an idealist, but I thought debate was the heart of democracy. Taking away the discussion on important topics like the Afghan detainee issue and legislation in progress means that opinions, as well as criticisms can not be given.

Perhaps the strategy Harper is using is one which he hopes will force an election. We really can't afford an election right now. Besides that, the other parties are not in a position to take the leadership. A coalition government would probably be a short run. I don't think any of the parties can push through a majority government right now. I think we need some new leadership, in all of the parties. It almost feels like we are in a leadership limbo as a country. It's been a long time since we have been infused with fresh thinking, new ideas and a leader with passion and charisma like Trudeau. We need some change.

As for the proroguing... I think we have to start to think about the things that are not being said. What are the possible reasons for this move by the government that are not being offered up. There is more to this than just the budget. What reasons are not being given? What other benefits might a suspended session offer the sitting government? Does this give Harper more latitude to do things during these two months without being noticed? And if so, what? Are there pieces of legislation on the table that the government did not want passed? How could a delay benefit the governments position on an issue? And what about the timing of the announcement? A few days after Christmas and before New Years. A time when people are on vacation, still in their sugar and turkey comas from the holidays. It feels like the timing was strategic. The government was probably counting on the fact that people were likely not paying attention.

As someone who participates in democracy, whose concerned about how our country works and what decisions our politicians make, I am frustrated. On one side, my frustration stems from watching the democratic process get continually compromised at the whims of a leader who seems to me to be playing political games as a means to give his party the upper hand. I know politics is about strategy. I would also hope it is about compromise, collaboration and making positive strides towards what is in the best public good. I have to ask whose agenda and whose benefit does proroguing ultimately serve? My answer would be the conservative government. The answer should be, the people.

The second point of my frustration is apathy. Why are more people not talking about this? Why are more people not upset? Are Canadians really this politically disengaged? But it is my hope that we are engaged. I hope we do care. As much as debate is at the core of democracy amongst politicians, our elected officials, I think its also integral among the people. If we cannot talk about these things, we cannot contribute our opinions, we cannot participate in the process. Participation is at the core of democracy. If we are are fortunate to live in a democratic country, where we have a voice that truly comes without fear of persecution, do we not also have an obligation to participate in that democracy? I feel we do.

Participation begins with understanding, taking an opinion, but it continues with how you use that knowledge. Each individual has power, the point is how we apply our influence. Your voice matters. Your opinion is important. Your ideas are valuable and you have a right to share them. You also have a right to question the things you do not understand. A good place to start might be with your local MP's office. They are all accessible, and it is there job to represent you. It is your job to tell them how.

If you know who your MP is, you can get their contact info here:
http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E

If you are not sure, you can check this site by entering your postal code. It will tell you who your local MP is: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

Ok. I am jumping off the soapbox now.
If you made it this far into my rant, thanks for taking the time to hear me out.

My movie year in review

I know it seem slightly OCD to track all the movies one sees in a year. But meh, we all have our quirks. This year, I tracked all the movies I had seen for the first time. (This doesnt include all the movies I saw again, only the new ones.) I think I'm missing a couple, but here is my almost complete list, in almost chronological order. I wrote reviews for some of them, but I will save that commentary for another day.

What can I say about the list? There are some exceptionally creative artists who make films. There are some awesome directors whose films would be so much better if they had a good editor. There are some films that I wonder how they ever got made.... and this was good year for zombie movies...Overall though, 2009 gave us some real gems in film and a number of suprises.... Some of the discussions these movies inspired were very interesting.

without further adieu...here's my list:

1. Into the Wild (2008)
   
2. Come Early Morning
3. Midnight Express (1978)
4. The Visitor (2008)
5. Shattered Glass
6. Gran Torino (2008)
7. They Dying Gaul
8. After the Wedding (2006)
9. Alpha Dog (2007)
10. He's just not that into you (2009)
11. Slumdog Millionaire (2009)
12. Underworld (2009)
13. Let the Right one In (2008)
14. Benjamin Button (2008)
15. Coraline (2009)
16. Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008)
17. The Changeling (2008)
18. The Reader (2008)
19. Friday the 13th (2009)
20. Zack & Mira Make a Porno (2008)
21. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008)
22. Pride and Glory (2008)
23. Taken (2008)
24. The Watchmen (2009)
25. Savage Grace (2008)
26. Australia (2008)
27. Take the Lead (2007)
28. Out of Africa (1985)
29. Choke
    
30. Milk (2008)
31. I Love you, Man (2009)
32. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2008)
33. Role Models (2008)
34. The Rocker (2008)
35. Young People F*cking (2008)
36. Cadillac Records (2008)
37. Monsters Vs. Aliens (2009)
38. Wolverine (2009)
    
39. Star Trek (2009)
40. Not Easily Broken (2008)
41. Last Chance Harvey (2008)
42. Love & Other Disasters (2008)
43. Easy Virtue (2009)
44. Up (2009)
45. Faith Like Potatoes (2008)
46. Hound Dog
    
47. Something New
48. Personal Effects
49. Nights of Rodanthe
50. Away we go
51. Departures (2008)
52. The Hangover (2009)
53. The Proposal (2009)
54. One Week (2008)
    
55. Henry Poole is Here
56. Bride Wars
57. Orphan (2009)
58. Love in the Time of Cholera (2008)
59. Dead Snow (2009)
60. Julie and Julia (2009)
    
61. Nowhere in Africa (2002)
62. The World According to Monsanto (2008)
63. Atonement (2008)
64. Ramen Girl
    
65. House of Sand and Fog (2003)
    
66. Sicko (2008)
67. Amistad
68. In Bruges
69. Moolade (2004)
70. Inglorius Basterds (2009)
71. Two Lovers (2008)
72. 500 Days of Summer (2009)
73. Management (2008)
74. Sunshine Cleaning
75. Cairo Time (2009)
76. An Education (2009)
77. Zombieland (2009)
    
78. Time Traveller's Wife (2008)
79. My Sister's Keeper (2008)
    
80. A Christmas Carol (2009)
    
81. Prom Night in Mississippi (2009)
82. Love & Savagery (2009)
    
83. Precious (2009)
84. The Single Man (2009)
85. Boy Eats Girl
    
86. Avatar (2009)
87. Funny people (2009)
88. It's Complicated (2009)
89. Up in the Air (2009)
90. Sherlock Holmes (2009)
    

happy new year.

As the chaos of holiday celebrations is about to finish and as we are about to welcome in another year and begin a journey into a new decade, these are the things I hope. I hope you are full with love. I hope you find peace in yourself. I hope the next year fills you with joy and laughter. I hope you make many new memories and have many new adventures.

Wishing you and yours the best of love, health, and happiness in the coming year.

Try the yellow snow...just this once.

Now normally, I would never advocate for interaction with the yellow snow.

The yellow snow is the warning sign for where your neighbourhood animals have used the world as their urinal, largely a spot to avoid making snow angels, getting material for snow fights, and always, the last snow bank you want to be thrown in.

Recently, however, the brewing community has come out with another gem, called Yellow Snow IPA. This yellow snow, is awesome! Made by Rogue brewery out of Portland, Oregon, US, (http://www.rogue.com/beers/beers.php) this stuff is like a party in your mouth. If you like hoppy beers with lots of flavour, I recommend checking this one out.

social critique doesn't come with spellcheck

I came across this in my travels around town and I found it amusing, so I am sharing it here.

banana bread....

When I was in university, my mother would send my father with boxes of care packages. As my father would bring in the box, there would almost always be a collection of my friends hovering around to see what my mom had cooked for us. Its funny, when I lived at home, my mom barely cooked, but when I moved away, she sent food almost weekly, and not just for me, usually for a collection of 8-10 people who she "adopted" along the way. One of the treats she sent was her famous banana bread. This stuff was awesome. She would almost always send two loaves and it was usually gone within 5 minutes of the package being unwrapped.

Her banana bread recipe is still with me. Most of my moms recipes were neatly typed on index cards, filed in a little metal box that was always in the kitchen. The well used ones, are now yellow and stained. The banana bread recipe, the only one I have used consistently in all these years, sits on my spice rack. Usually during bouts of insomnia, often during the holidays, sometimes just when i buy too many bananas, or you know, even when I'm supposed to be packing for a month long trip, I find myself in the kitchen making banana bread.

I love the stuff. I love the memories and moments it connects me to of my mother. And I love that my banana bread is damn good. I'm not uber confident about too many things, but I will own this one. This stuff rocks. Here is footage from my most recent foray into the goodness bananas make. Incidentally, I made this one, as I was preparing for a 5am trip to the airport.
In case you are wondering, it makes great airplane food.

This my friend Lucky charms. I consider this my banana bread "awesomeness" testimonial :)

The zombie scale

Friday, I watched Zombieland. (yay! Zombie movies..) Let me just say you should not read further if you have not seen the movie and don't want to know what happens....I'm about to spoil it for you.

Let me just start by saying that when one goes to a Zombie movie, you enter with certain expectations, or rather, you lower your expectations.

You don't evaluate a zombie movie on the same scale with which you would rate a indie movie or arthouse film. The scale is really about how bad it is, how gross the effects were, what was the most interesting zombie kill, how inappropriately clever or cheesy the dialogue is, how absurd the plot is. You rate it, on a Zombie scale.

I loved this movie. Don't get me wrong, I know its bad, that it had so much potential...blah blah blah....... But it made me laugh out loud, it had some of the best zombie kills I've seen in awhile (with the exception of Dead Snow, which should be another post, but I digress.) So the zombie kills - kill by piano drop, kill on an amusement ride, kill in a prize booth, and a zombie attack in a toilet. Classic!

In terms of absurd plot .....it wasn't a fantastic plot, but it had elements I appreciated.......I mean, seriously, how can you not like a movie, that has a alpha male hero obsessed with twinkies and Bill Murray, a sidekick who has that Michael Cera cadence and awkward geek factor, a re-enactment of a scene from Ghostbusters, and a great soundtrack. It also had a list of zombie survival tips which I found probably more amusing than I should.

Therefore, Zombieland = AWESOME.

Thank you for the shameless escapism, I feel full on my weekly cheese consumption :)

a plant survival story.

Meet Frank, hes my green plant, gifted from co-workers husband.

Franks a good plant, doesn't make a lot of noise, quietly cultivates in the corner and brings beauty to my apartment.

I'm happy to say, although its been touch and go at times, Frank is still alive and thriving after being adopted eight months ago. He even has a few siblings that live out on the balcony. But this is about Frank. Way to go my friend, thanks for hanging in there.

The Kite Maker

Do you remember when you were a kid, flying kites ? On windy days, you barely needed to run with the kite, you just threw it into the air and watched as it twisted in the breeze. Other times, on less perfect kite days, you had to run with your kite and almost will it to fly. But the excitement was in getting it into the air, and seeing how high you could make it go.

Yesterday, was a perfect kite day. It was sunny and warm and there was a relaxing breeze that seemed willing to embrace the company of kites in the sky.

I sat in the park most of the afternoon. It was there that I met the community kite maker. This older gentleman came and sat beside me on the picnic table and proceeded to make a half a dozen small kites. They were made out of plastic bags, sticks and string, all of which he pulled out of his small bag. As he finished each one, he hung them around the park for other people to enjoy. He seemed to be well known and well liked at the park, and lots of people volunteered to fly his kites. It was an interesting afternoon, and reminded me of kite adventures in my childhood I had forgotten.

To the kite maker, thanks for the conversation and for sharing your creations with all those that crossed your path.