Orchestras are going digital

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 10:52 AM - 0 Comments

Gone are the days when an orchestra could get a contract with a big record label and make lots of money, like the Montreal Symphony did with Decca in the ’80s and ’90s. Now classical recording as a for-profit business is almost gone. But orchestras still need to make recordings to promote themselves and attract listeners. So many of them are increasingly taking matters into their own hands. Thanks to a 2007 change in union rules that allowed orchestras to make recordings without paying its members up-front, orchestras are recording their concerts and then distributing them: sometimes as CDs, most often online. It won’t make the players a great deal of money, but it will attract attention, sometimes around the world: The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is finding that many of the people downloading its performances are from outside Canada. The next step is to make recordings that are seen as well as heard; the Berlin Philharmonic has launched an online subscription service where people can watch its concerts in High Definition. Who knows, if enough orchestras do this, one of them might actually start to make money on it.

The Globe and Mail

Convene one emergency committee meeting, get the second one free – and we'll throw in an ITQ poll too!

By kadyomalley - Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 10:50 AM - 20 Comments

Hey, remember last Friday, when ITQ was rambling on about all those possible emergency committee meetings that the opposition parties were hoping to 106(4) into existence? Well, turns out she wasn’t suffering from end-of-August delirium: both Foreign Affairs and Agriculture will be back in business later this week , dealing with motions to “study the treatment of Canadians abroad by the Government of Canada”  and “[hold] a meeting on the Report of the Independent Investigator into the 2008 Listeriosis Outbreak, and the Government’s response,” respectively.

The catch? According to the schedule, the two meetings will be happening at the exact same time, which means that ITQ has to decide which one deserves full liveblogging coverage, and which one she can catch in reruns on CPAC. She’s currently leaning towards Foreign Affairs, which seems to hold far more potential for drama, particularly if the opposition can come up with a decent witness list, but she’s willing to entertain arguments in favour of the Aggies too.  (And no, she doesn’t promise to be bound by the results of the following poll, but it will definitely be taken into account when she makes her final decision.)

Defending the homeland

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 10:36 AM - 1 Comment

At National Defence, it’s become known as Personnel Crunch 2010, but don’t let the bureaucratic understatement belie the seriousness of the situation facing the Canadian Forces over the next 12 months. According the Toronto Star, between now and next July, “more than 32,000 military personnel—about half the entire Canadian Forces—will be in training or set to deploy on missions to Kandahar, the Vancouver Olympics and next summer’s G8 meeting in Huntsville. This may make it “impossible to carry on current operations and still respond to the weekly requests for Canadian soldiers from the Americans, NATO and the United Nations,” according to Defence officials. As a result, Canada could be forced to pull soldiers from “smaller peacekeeping operations” such as those currently underway in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans, as well as turn over some “signature work” in Afghanistan to “civilian contractors or retired soldiers.”

Toronto Star

PressReleaseWatch: Oh, they'll be "thrilled" if they know what's good for them.

By kadyomalley - Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 10:22 AM - 5 Comments

From the apparently-just-too-darned-excited-about-all-this-arts-funding to-proofread-every-single-release office of Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore (emphasis added):

Government of Canada Increases its Investment in the Confederation Centre for the Arts and Offers Incentives for Private Donations

CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND – The Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, accompanied by the Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Member of Parliament (Egmont), today announced an increase in the amount of funding for the Confederation Centre for the Arts for five years. Over the next three years, the Centre will benefit from increases to its current level of funding of $1,875,000. By 2012-2013, the Centre will receive $3 million annually.

[...]

(Proposed quote from the Centre: to be confirmed by the Program)

“The Centre is thrilled to receive this news,” said David MacKenzie, CEO of the Confederation Centre for the Arts. “The increase in operating funding and the ability to match endowment gifts will help the Centre be a 21st century celebration of Confederation that expresses Canada’s heritage, diversity and creativity through the arts.”

Hey, at least David MacKenzie gets to approve his talking point! That’s more than most cabinet ministers can say. (Okay, that was just mean.)

INSTA-UPDATE: At least someone caught it before sending the release off to Marketwire. And yes, as it turns out, they are thrilled!

Inside the human guinea pig capital of North America

By Martin Patriquin - Tuesday, August 25, 2009 at 10:00 AM - 5 Comments

The bulk of Project AON-P7-304 took place in a large, windowless room located in an equally featureless building in Park Extension, a working-class neighbourhood in the northern part of Montreal. At 9 p.m., the 48 test participants were in their assigned seats facing a glass wall, behind which several medical technicians, who work for Montreal-based contract research organization (CRO) Algorithme, milled about in white lab coats. The test participants—always referred to as volunteers, though they certainly weren’t sitting there for free—behaved as strangers do when forced to socialize: they chatted politely, obsessed over their cellphones, read magazines, cast an eye to the TV in the corner.

When the technician yelled out “numéro 34”—the number written on the plastic bracelet around his arm and pasted on his chair—number 34 got up, walked into the laboratory, sat down in a chair and rolled up his sleeve. A technician then applied a tourniquet and extracted three millilitres of blood from a spot just below number 34’s right bicep. Number 34—actually a Maclean’s reporter participating in the study—will have 26 such extractions over the next three days, during which 89 ml of his blood will be harvested. Continue…

'Its position remains unchanged'

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 10:16 PM - 39 Comments

The government will appeal to the Supreme Court on the repatriation of Omar Khadr.

Fight It, Colbert, Fight It! Also, Comedy That Goes Somewhere

By Jaime Weinman - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 8:28 PM - 4 Comments

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are on three-week vacations, and you know what that means: staff departures and replacements. Allison Silverman, who was Colbert’s head writer from the beginning of the series, became executive producer two years later, and has been as responsible as anyone for shaping the tone of his show, is stepping down. No official reason has been given (because, well, everybody’s on vacation), but the New York Times was informed by a Comedy Central executive that she was just exhausted after four years of working on the show, which sounds perfectly understandable.

I don’t know if this is actually true, but it seems like Colbert would be a more demanding show to work on than The Daily Show, because Colbert has to be in-character with everything he says, so they can’t just write straightforward jokes; every joke has to be a commentary on current events and something the Colbert character would plausibly say. (And then there’s “The Wørd,” where they have to write those two-level jokes while also coming up with jokes for the talking-points sidebar.) Also, The Daily Show has more field pieces that can be made separately from the rest of the writing/production staff.

Silverman described a typical Colbert Report day in this recent interview excerpted in Vanity Fair, which also includes a great discussion of what she calls “status shifts” in a comedy scene: how a lot of the comedy comes from who is in control of the scene, and how a good sketch can transfer control (and with it, power) from one character to another and then back again, instead of just sticking with one relationship (straight man/stooge) through the whole scene.

I once wrote a sketch on Late Night With Conan O’Brien that I liked because it dealt with some issues that were on my mind at the time.

The sketch started with Conan returning from a commercial break and saying something to the effect of, “I’ve got to tell you, sometimes being a talk show host makes me feel a little guilty. I could have been a lawyer or a doctor—that would have been way more valuable to society.”

There was an actor in the audience who piped up, “Excuse me, Conan. I am a doctor, and I just wanted to let you know that you couldn’t have become a doctor, so just stop worrying about it. You just don’t have the skills to be a doctor—or the intellect!” The “doctor” then injures an audience member and demands that Conan prove that he actually could have been a physician. Conan manages to treat this “patient” brilliantly.

It starts with a switch: At first, Conan is in charge and says, “I could have been a doctor.” The doctor says, “No, actually, I am in charge, and you couldn’t have become a doctor even if you’d wanted to.” And then it switches once again.

She discusses this in reference to a Conan O’Brien sketch, but it’s very applicable to the world of The Colbert Report: part of the fun of a good segment is that even when he’s alone at the desk, he bounces back and forth between having and losing control. One minute he’s saying something insightful, the next minute he’s being an idiot and doesn’t know it. “The Wørd” is at its strongest when the sidebar vacillates between agreeing with Colbert and contradicting him, instead of just backing up what he says (which was the idea they originally used) or just contradicting everything he says (which is what happens sometimes). One of the reasons Saturday Night Live sketches tend to be toothless is that they pick one idea, and therefore one relationship between characters, and repeat it for the entire sketch. Colbert has more bite, when it’s good (it isn’t always, of course), because it starts a segment with a premise and then changes things up and back again.

It’s a comedy principle that goes way back, of course. My favourite example is in the mirror routine from Duck Soup. Why is that routine so much better with Groucho and Harpo than with the many comedians who did the same routine before and after? Because there are “status shifts” throughout the sketch. The typical version of this skit gives all the control to the person pretending to be the reflection, but in this version, Groucho knows Harpo is not really a reflection and is just trying to force him to admit it. Groucho seizes control of the situation by coming up with a new way to force Harpo to admit he’s not a reflection, but Harpo turns it back on him in different ways. At one point Harpo completely blows his cover, dropping his hat, and Groucho hands it back to him, but then they go on with the routine as if nothing had happened. They even switch places at one point. There are all kinds of twists and turns in it, whereas most people who do that sketch stick to one joke (there’s these two people and one does exactly what the other guy does). Even in “Who’s On First” there are moments where Costello is on the verge of gaining control or bringing the conversation around to where he wants it. If a sketch stays in exactly one place for its entire length, it goes nowhere and builds to nothing.

Democracy, it haunts us still

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 8:21 PM - 50 Comments

John Baird objects to Michael Ignatieff’s suggestion that the country might somehow survive an election this fall.

“This guy was a university professor at Harvard, I don’t know a single person with any experience in (government) who would believe him…of course, elections will cause instability,” Baird said…

Baird said “everyone knows” government grinds to a halt during an election campaign. Decisions are not only delayed until the election is over but until a new cabinet is sworn in and politicians get settled into their new jobs, he said. “We are seeing some positive economic signs, but they are fragile…The last thing we need is the political instability an election would cause,” Baird said.

Indeed. Mind you, Canada has, against all odds, so far persevered through the instability of 40 national elections and, depending on the accuracy of my math and Wikipedia’s record keeping, something like 423 provincial or territorial votes.

The case of the goat in a trunk

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 6:14 PM - 1 Comment

How does one explain the passion for football in America’s heartland? Perhaps with this gem of a story from the Winona Daily News (Minnesota). It involves a stranger to town, an auto repair shop, and a goat—painted purple, with new Vikings quarterback Brett Favre’s number 4 shaved into its side.

Winona Daily News

‘City of Water’ too true to its name

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 5:28 PM - 0 Comments

Despite the flood barriers under construction to protect Venice, a new study suggests that by century’s end, they may be useless. Currently, Venice experiences “high water”—tides about 110 cm—about four times annually. But based on forecasts of how much global sea levels will rise, scientists at the Institute of Marine Sciences predict that by 2100, high water conditions could occur up to 250 days per year. Because of this, the city’s defence system, scheduled for completion in 2014, will have to be raised, and may cease to be effective.

New Scientist

Coroner tells police: Jackson death a homicide

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 5:25 PM - 2 Comments

According to documents unsealed today in Houston, Michael Jackson had “lethal levels” of the powerful anesthetic propofol in his system when he died. The finding was contained in documents filed by the L.A. County coroner’s office, which reached its conclusion after performing an autopsy on the pop star. Conrad Murray, Jackson’s doctor at the time of his death, told detectives he had been giving Jackson propofol every night for six weeks as a treatment for insomnia. Murray says he eventually tried to wean Jackson off the drug, fearing he may have been developing an addiction. However, on the morning of Jackson’s death, Murray says he gave Jackson propofol after other drugs—including valium, lorazepam and midazolam—failed to put him to sleep.

Los Angeles Times

The Associated Press

Marrieds have better chance of cancer survival

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 4:42 PM - 0 Comments

A recent study conducted by researchers at Indiana University suggests that married people are more likely to survive cancer, while those going through a break-up have the worst chance of beating it. After working with data on 3.8 million people diagnosed with cancer between the years 1973 and 2004, the researchers found that people who were married had a 63 per cent chance of surviving five years while people who were separated had 45 per cent chance. The team believes that the stress of separation probably affects survival rates. This is in line with other studies that find that the love and support are important in battling against illness. After marriage, never-married patients had the best outcomes, followed by those who had been divorced and then widowers. Lead researcher Dr. Gwen Sprehn cautioned, however, that more research was needed into the area.

BBC News

The impact of Alberta’s oil sands

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 3:55 PM - 2 Comments

In a recent article published in the Guardian, George Poitras, a member of Mikisew Cree indigenous First Nation, suggests that the activities of British oil companies in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, have severely affected the health of members in his community and the local environment. According to Poitras, the levels of metals like mercury, arsenic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in their water and sediment are very high, and as a result there are higher levels of cancers among indigenous residents in the region. The air quality in the region is also worse than other geographic regions in Canada, and acid rain is greater than in other communities. With this in mind, Poitras is travelling to London this week for the Camp for Climate Action with the hope of creating an international movement for a complete tar sands moratorium. He also hopes to persuade the British government, national oil companies and financial institutions to get out of the Alberta’s oil sands business.

The Guardian

Even without smoke, tobacco’s bad for you

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 3:54 PM - 3 Comments

A new study suggests that smokeless tobacco may increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. This is contrary to the belief that smokeless products, like snus, are safer. After analysing the results of several studies, researchers found that people who use smokeless tobacco products are more likely to develop or die from a heart attack or stroke. Smokeless tobacco caused 0.5 per cent of all heart attacks in the United States and 5.6 per cent in Sweden. The products were also the cause of 1.7 per cent of stroke deaths in the United States and 5.4 per cent in Sweden. Scientists hope to to confirm the correlation and call more attention to the area for the benefit of the public’s health.

Science Daily

Robin Williams as Susan Boyle?

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 3:54 PM - 1 Comment

Poor Susan Boyle. As if the overnight singing sensation has not suffered enough, a Hollywood star now feels she would be best represented onscreen by a hirsute guy in drag. Sure, Robin Williams pulled it off as the cross-dressing star of Mrs. Doubtfire. But that was comedy. And like Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, Williams was playing an out-of-work actor who cross-dressed to get a job. Susan Boyle is no Angelina Jolie, but is female. Give the girl a break. Meryl Streep would be a kinder choice—and she loves accents.

The Guardian

Asbestos: still possibly the most fascinating political issue of our time

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 3:43 PM - 17 Comments

As previously discussed here and here, asbestos, and Canada’s exporting thereof, is possibly the single greatest test of political leadership this country currently has to offer. And despite having struggled mightily with it at first, Michael Ignatieff is still attempting to find an answer.

From the Montreal Gazette: In response to a question from the audience regarding the asbestos industry, which has employed hundreds in the region for generations, Ignatieff said science has shown it is a harmful product and Canada should not be exporting it, but other work will have to be found for local workers if production is halted.

And from the Sherbrooke Record: Ignatieff reiterated his opposition to Canada’s asbestos industry, fully aware of its importance in the region. “I know how important asbestos is to the region around Thetford Mines and I’m aware of the hardship involved,” he said, “but the science is telling us that its is dangerous and we have to follow the science. I don’t think we should be exporting dangerous substances.”

Michael Ignatieff: Resurgent!

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 3:24 PM - 32 Comments

Right on cue, the latest poll puts the Liberals up one.

And that’s about the last time we’ll be discussing the horse race here at Beyond the Commons.

ITQ All Summer In A Day Mini-Vacation Open Thread!

By kadyomalley - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 2:13 PM - 44 Comments

I’ll be back on the job bright and early tomorrow morning, but in the meantime, feel free to play armchair pollologist with the latest Ipsos numbers, or just chat amongst yourselves.

Enough with drinking water

By Cathy Gulli - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 2:00 PM - 7 Comments

When it comes to water, there’s nothing clear about how much we need to drink or even what good it does us. Still guzzling eight 8-oz. glasses a day? There’s no scientific proof everyone requires so much. Urine should be colourless? That’s a sign you’ve chugged too much. Thirst means you’re already dehydrated? Not even close.

“I want to squash that notion. It’s baloney,” says Heinz Valtin, professor emeritus of physiology at the Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., in a recent podcast produced by the American Physiological Society. He should know. His seminal 2002 study, “ ‘Drink at least eight glasses of water a day.’ Really? Is there scientific evidence for the ‘8 x 8’?” is often cited by other researchers investigating how much water we should consume daily. Now, many physiologists are debunking the most common assumptions about water intake. Valtin’s conclusion: healthy people who live sedentary lifestyles in temperate climates don’t have to drink so much. Continue…

Bring on the butter!

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 1:42 PM - 0 Comments

Almost half a century after it was first published, Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child is a No. 1 bestseller. Since this summer’s release of Julie & Julia—Nora Ephron’s new film about Child’s illustrious culinary career—sales of the book have skyrocketed. “Pretty much by the Sunday after the movie opened, it just looked like a bomb hit,” says Gerry Donaghy, purchasing supervisor at Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. Last week alone, 22,000 copies of the 752-page cookbook were sold, according to Nielsen BookSkan. That’s more copies than were purchased any other year since the book’s release 48 years ago. On August 30, the book will debut in the No. 1 spot on the New York Times best-seller list, advice and how-to category. The only thing that has some new chefs squirming? “I’m looking at these ingredients going, Oh, sweet Lord, we’ll die,” says Melissah Bruce-Weiner, a 45-year-old who just bought the cookbook, referring to the copious amounts of cream and butter called for in Child’s recipes. Child is famous for saying, “Oh, butter never hurt you.”

The New York Times

Harper’s on top

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 1:39 PM - 7 Comments

Prime Minister Stephen Harper could be on top again. According to a new Ipsos Reid poll, the Conservatives have gained a big lead in popularity over opposition Liberals. Conservatives now have 39 per cent of support from decided voters, the poll suggests, compared to 28 per cent for Liberals. That news does not bode well for Liberals who have been pushing to bring down the Harper government in time for a fall election.

But maybe the Liberals don’t need to worry just yet. On Monday, a seperate Harris-Decima survey announced that Liberals have, in fact, edged ahead—capturing 32 per cent support, over the Tories’ 31 per cent. What’s next? A poll which puts the Bloc in the lead? Both polls together gave the NDP somewhere between 14 and 16 per cent of national support, and the Green party between 10 and 11 per cent.

Winnipeg Free Press

The Globe and Mail

Bernie Madoff ill with cancer (Updated)

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 1:37 PM - 1 Comment

Bernie Madoff might not serve much of his 150-year sentence after all. According to the disgraced investment adviser’s fellow inmates, Madoff is dying of cancer. “He talks about it all the time,” a prisoner at the North Carolina prison told the New York Post, adding that Madoff is taking “about 20 pills a day” for the disease. Madoff’s rumoured illness is thought to explain why he took the entire blame for a $65 billion Ponzi scheme that bilked several wealthy investors out of their entire life savings. Meanwhile, since arriving at the federal prison, Madoff is said to be spending most of his time participating in Native American ceremonies and working as a painter.

UPDATE: Correctional authorities say reports Madoff is terminally ill are wrong. “While the N.Y. Post story is full of inaccuracies, and we can’t specifically address all of them, we can tell you that Bernie Madoff is not terminally ill, and has not been diagnosed with cancer,” Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said in a statement.

New York Post

Bloomberg

This week's travel news

By Bruce Parkinson, Takeoffeh.com - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 1:35 PM - 0 Comments

Sweating? Nervous? Irritable?
Forgive us for assuming, but we thought behaviour profiling was already a key tool in the arsenal of our erstwhile airport security folks. Not so, according to an Ottawa Citizen report on aCanadian Air Transport Security Authority pilot project that will utilize trained “behaviour detection officers” to search out airline passengers who may be showing physiological signs of hostile intent. Unfortunately, that could represent a significant percentage of today’s airline passengers – most parents, to be sure, not to mention those whose luggage has not arrived or those who have been standing in a security line for an hour. Israel, which operates what is widely agreed to be the safest national airline (El Al) and the safest international airport (Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International), has relied on behaviour detection in its security efforts for many years. Their philosophy bears some resemblance to the U.S. National Rifle Association slogan “Guns don’t kill people, people do.” They are so confident of their people watching system, you don’t even have to take off your shoes at Ben Gurion security. Here in North America, we seem to be more preoccupied with what people are carrying on than the people doing the carrying. That’s changing though, especially south of the border, where there are now over 2,000 behaviour detection officers patrolling airports.

Travellers Getting Drunk On Deals
They’re practically giving it away. Hotel rooms, cruises, packaged holidays and airfares (except for the tax and fees part) have all been deeply discounted in what many travel industry observers are calling ‘The Year of the Travel Deal.’ In the U.S., even reasonably priced National Parks have been offering ‘fee-free’ weekends. A CNN report suggests some travellers are getting a mite greedy. The story reports comments from travel industry journalist Ruthanne Terrero, who attended a recent gathering of European tourism officials where people swapped stories of wealthy frequent travellers demanding outrageous perks for bringing their business to struggling travel companies. “They’re drunk on deals now and totally assuming the world is theirs. It might be, but not the entire world,” Terrero told CNN. For those with the means it’s a wonderful time to travel: it can’t last, but we’ll enjoy it while we can. Continue…

Called it

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 12:59 PM - 17 Comments

I would like to personally send a special thank you to Ipsos-Reid for having decided to release a poll last night that shows the Conservatives up 11 points on the Liberals, thereby redeeming the magazine piece published under my name three days earlier and making me look like a frickin’ soothsayer.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to begin work on my next two pieces, timed for the next set of polls and tentatively titled, “Michael Ignatieff: Hopeless!” and “Michael Ignatieff: Resurgent!”