Leatherheads

The only thing I find more tedious than football movies is watching an actual football game. Thankfully, this is not a football movie.

Leatherheads is a good old-fashioned screwball comedy. Renée Zellweger practically channels Kathryn Hepburn as the cheeky dame in trousers, and George Clooney reminds us that in addition to being a brooding Oscar-winning actor, he is also a very, very funny guy. John Krasinski rounds out the romantic trio as the lovable palooka who just wants to play ball.

All three actors seem perfectly at home in the 1920s, and their believability gives the film an innocent charm. There is nothing modern or updated about Leatherheads. Even the big love scene goes no further than smooching, resulting in both parties being covered in lipstick. Yes, even the make-up is true to the period.

Leatherheads does bog down a bit in the third quarter, and resorts to the inevitable ‘Big Game’ at the end. In general, though, I found it utterly enjoyable and entertaining. Three and a half stars out of five.

(Despite my choice of a film that is at once a sports movie AND a chick flick, Murray still managed to hate it.)

Sarah Polley is a Lousy Pinko!

Today was Celebrity Day at the Senate Finance Committee as representatives of Canada's film and television industry pleaded their case against government pre-censorship in the form of Bill C-10.

The Government's response was even worse that one would have expected. Leave it to the Conservatives to listen to the testimony of Genie winner, Oscar nominee and all around Canadian icon Sarah Polley - and then dismiss her as just another leftie with a socialist agenda.

Conservatives issued a combative response - releasing a press release attacking Polley's left-wing political ties and suggesting that artists had no business telling "hard-working Canadians" how their tax dollars should be spent.

...In the press release, the Conservatives took specific aim at Polley. She has been a vocal NDP supporter and once lost a pair of teeth when the riot squad aggressively broke up an anti-Mike Harris demonstration outside of the Ontario Legislature.

"Individuals with vested personal and political interests should be honest with Canadians on what their true intentions are," said Pierre Poilievre, an Ottawa-area MP.

"Hard-working Canadians are growing increasingly tired of special interest groups telling them what to do."

I cannot begin to guess what 'special interest group' Poilievre imagines Sarah Polley is representing other than, you know, the multi-million dollar industry that employs her and thousands of other hard-working Canadians like my husband and my sister and a whole lot of our friends.

But hey, maybe they're right. Just take a read through the comments at the bottom of the article for a glimpse into the minds of the kind of people who think C-10 is a dandy way to keep pinkos like Sarah Polley from spending their hard-earned money on more of her potty-mouthed pornographic Commie Canadian trash.



I got about halfway down before I got too nauseous to continue.

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UPDATE: H/T to Denis for finding this little 'macaca' moment. Apparently Senator David Angus, Conservative Chairman of the Banking Committee left his mic on after adjourning the meeting and was recorded saying, "The government has to bite the bullet. The minister agrees, she told me she hates the law."

Conservatives Do the Right Thing; Satan to Open Ski Resort

I honestly didn't think it would happen, but here it is: Industry Minister Jim Prentice has decided to block the sale of MacDonald, Dettwiler to a U.S. arms company. And a whole week early, too!

Ottawa rejects space firm's sale to U.S.

OTTAWA — Federal Industry Minister Jim Prentice confirmed Thursday morning that he has taken the unprecedented step of rejecting the planned $1.3-billion sale of Canada's leading space company to U.S. interests, concluding that the deal would not be in the best interests of the country.

Mr. Prentice's office issued a brief statement acknowledging that, as The Globe and Mail reported, he wrote to Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) on April 8, to advise them that, "based on the information received at this time, he is not satisfied that the proposed sale of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) to ATK is likely to be of net benefit to Canada."

Under Canada's investment-review law, the company has 30 days to make new arguments to the minister, and Mr. Prentice must then confirm his rejection. But Mr. Prentice's move signals his intention to take the unprecedented step of blocking a major corporate takeover, in an issue that has been fraught with controversy as opponents argued that the sale of MDA could impair Canadian sovereignty.

I'm still suspicious, especially when Alliant is feigning ignorance of the minister's decision, but with the amount of public scrutiny on this it would be virtually impossible for Prentice to let the deal go through at this point.

Right?

Bernier is "Reassured". I Feel So Much Better Now.

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier had a little get together with his American and Mexican counterparts yesterday, and lo and behold he was asked about our two biggest Canadian Celebrities Rotting in Foreign Prisons: Omar Khadr and Brenda Martin.

His responses were apparently under the same time constraints as an Oscar acceptance speech, but he still managed to babble his way through a comment on the very same free trade agreement with Columbia that killed Hillary Clinton's chief strategist this week.

Thank you, Secretary Rice. And I will be quick and – because we – sorry – yes, I’ll be quick. We were at the same meeting. So we discussed what is important for our countries. And as you know, we want to ensure that North America is a secure and economically dynamic region. This is important for us, but this is also important for our citizens. And yes, we discussed the agenda for the next meeting in New Orleans. Our leaders will be there and they will discuss issues that are shared concern. And also, we discussed the free trade agreement that we are having together, NAFTA, but the importance of free trade. It is important for the prosperity of our countries that we succeed in a free trade agreement. And I raised with my colleagues the negotiation that we’re having in Canada with the Colombian Government for having a free trade agreement with them.

(No. Really. They're complaining about Dion's English?)

The Mexican Foreign Minister ended up taking the question on the Brenda Martin case (shorter Espinoza: "Let's wait until our corrupt and incomprehensible legal system works its way through this, ok?"), but on Khadr, Bernier had this to say:

Concerning Omar Khadr, I think that you’ve read my statement, written statement, and it is very clear and I won’t comment on my statement that -- it’s all there. But what I can tell you right now, it’s, as you know, Mr. Khadr faces serious charges and it will be premature to comment about the legal process right now and appeal process because they’re still ongoing. And what we will do is we’ll do -- and I received also assurances that Mr. Khadr has been treated humanely.

"Humanely"? I see. Well, aside from the fact that this supposed 'written statement' appears nowhere on his ministry's website, that would be fine except for the fact that he's FUCKING LYING.

From 'Guantanamo's Child':

Omar retreated immediately to the back of the cell and sat down. Begg said he heard one of the guards say to him, "I hope you pay for what you've done," but Omar didn't look up. There were raw scars on his chest where there had once been two deep holes. Shrapnel had punctured the skin along his arms and legs. While the nicks and scrapes can sometimes look minor, they have a cruel habit of causing pain for years to come. Doctors will often not remove embedded shrapnel, preferring to allow the body to work on its own to eject foreign objects. While considered safer than extraction, it is incredibly painful as the shrapnel works its way to the surface, eventually bursting through like blood blisters.

Omar's introduction to Bagram was harsher than that of most detainees. Begg said the guards singled him out for the worst treatment, payback for allegedly killing one of their own. They would make him perform Sisyphean tasks, such as stacking heavy boxes and crates that the guards would knock over when he had finished and then force him to start again. Each time, they walked past his cell they would yell: Murderer! Killer! Butcher! "It was very, very hard to hear that because it was evident he was just a kid. Not only that, he was terribly wounded," said Begg.

And...

One evening in March 2003, Omar was taken from his cell and in no mood to co-operate. The guards left him in the interrogation booth for hours, short-shackled with his ankles and wrists bound together and secured to a bolt on the floor. Unable to move, he eventually urinated and was left in a pool of urine on the floor.

When the MPs returned and found the soiled teenager, Omar's lawyers later said, the guards poured pine oil cleaner on his chest and the floor. Keeping him short-shackled, the guards used Omar as a human mop to clean up the mess. Omar was returned to his cell and for two days the guards refused to give him fresh clothes.

I'm so glad that Bernier feels 'reassured', but I'd feel a whole lot better if these reassurances were coming from someone other that the people who are torturing and abusing our citizens.

Come to think of it, who cares whose citizens they are?

File Six Lawsuits, Get the Seventh One Free!

Here we go again:

Sask Premier serves notice to sue The Canadian Press over headline on video story

REGINA - Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall has advised The Canadian Press he intends to sue the national news agency for defamation for a headline it ran on a story featuring controversial comments he made on a home-movie videotape made more than 16 years ago.

"The headline of the article is false and defamatory of Premier Wall and, given the breadth of its publication, is likely to result in significant damage to Premier Wall's reputation," says the letter from the premier's lawyers, dispatched Friday to The Canadian Press.

And what exactly did this "false and defamatory" headline say?

"Tape with Sask premier and Tory MP has racist, sexist, homophobic comments: NDP."

False? No. Sorry. That headline is completely accurate: Premier Wall did appear in the tape, and the tape did include racist, sexist, homophobic comments. Besides which, they are merely repeating the accusations of the NDP. It could possibly have been worded more clearly, but that is hardly grounds for a libel suit.

Honestly, what is with these guys? Are Harper's lawyers offering volume discounts now? Does every right-wing party in the country get to collect stamps for their customer loyalty card?

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UPDATE: And quicker than you can say "What the fuck was he thinking?", it's all over.

Sask Premier no longer plans to sue Canadian Press over coverage of video story

REGINA - Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says he is dropping plans for a defamation lawsuit against The Canadian Press over its coverage of the release last week of an old videotape containing offensive comments.

These guys really need to re-examine their policy on boozy late night office parties. Never drink and sue, man.

Spring Is Sprung, the Grass is... Underwater

One of the nicest things about our little house in Milton is that Sixteen Mile Creek is literally across the street from us. Our part of it flows within an ugly but effective concrete flood control channel behind a high fence. Aesthetically it sucks, but days like today I'm awfully glad it's there.

This is the scene a few blocks south of us, looking north...



and looking south:



I've lived in this town for fourteen years, and I've never seen flooding this bad. Ever.

Other signs of spring: things emerging from the snow. Garbage. Muck. My next door neighbour's Christmas tree that the Town failed to pick up in January:



And this poor little fella, right at the busy corner of Laurier and Ontario St:



So sad. He looks like he's asleep, which he probably was when he crawled into a snowbank and died. I'll take mercy on the squeamish and put the close-up behind this link, but he's actually in pretty good shape, considering.

I called the Town to come and collect him (he's been exposed there for days), but they said they might not be able to come right away because they're busy... with flood issues.

April Fools?

Today in the 'WTF?!?' department, I haven't yet decided whether this is an April Fools Day prank on the part of Progressive Bloggers, or if Stephen Taylor has somehow hacked their website.



Seriously, Scott? If this is your doing - dude, you need a better comedy writer.