I can’t believe Duddy Kravitz is 50

By Noah Richler - Monday, December 21, 2009 at 12:13 PM - 5 Comments

My stepdaughter, aged 15, has taken to sleeping in the Baron Byng T-shirt my late father brought back from his high school reunion some years back—not sure where she found it. Wearing it seemed a reasonable cue for suggesting she read The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. “You’re old enough,” I said—as, in the back of my mind, I remembered how my father once found me, his impudent teenage son, reading Cocksure and told me the opposite. My father knew randy adolescent lads—God’s Little Acre and all that—and I imagine what he’d really meant by his reproach was, “You’ll be disappointed, go buy a dirty magazine instead.”

My father, note, never handed me a book of his—not even among the dozen that he gave me when, aged 15, I went to work in a Yukon bush camp (Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Koestler’s Darkness at Noon, Dickens’s Hard Times but also The Art of Kissing among them)—just as he never included any of his own pieces in anthologies he edited. I was assigned Duddy Kravitz at school and then again at CEGEP where, asked to compare it with Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, I wrote a story in which Duddy came on to Daisy at a publishing party, the imposter Jay knowing exactly what was going on. Dad liked it but my professor was not amused. I got a 50.

At least the novel was taught, then. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, it astonishes even me, was first published 50 years ago. Perhaps the movie with Richard Dreyfuss has left it feeling younger. At any rate, this sort of anniversary is less likely to be noticed now that it is quite possible to graduate from the country’s high schools without having read a single Canadian novel. Even when schools do have the option of teaching it, a lot don’t bother. When my nephew asked to study Duddy Kravitz he was told by his teacher not to. It was, he said, “too complicated.”

Continue…

Parliament will fight

By Andrew Coyne - Monday, December 21, 2009 at 12:10 PM - 263 Comments

We are not yet in a constitutional crisis over the government’s refusal to release the Colvin memos to Parliament, but we probably should be. A secretive and overbearing government has turned an ordinary political dispute into an extraordinary confrontation over the powers and privileges of Parliament. Unless some compromise is found, Parliament will fight, and Parliament will be right.

What began as a manageable controversy over the Harper government’s faltering attempts to deal with a problem it inherited from the Liberals—what to do with the prisoners our forces captured in Afghanistan—has been transformed, via the Conservatives’ reflexive paranoia and insularity, into a full-blown political debacle, complete with martyred whistle-blower, outraged former ambassadors, self-correcting generals, and befuddled ministers. And running throughout, a drumbeat of press reports contradicting virtually every aspect of the government’s story.

It now appears, contrary to the government’s repeated assurances, that at least some of the prisoners we transferred to the Afghan police and security services were tortured, or at least abused; that at least some of our troops knew this; and that serious concerns about the treatment of these prisoners, and about our own procedures for reporting on their whereabouts, were relayed to government and Defence officials, not only from Richard Colvin, the diplomat at the centre of the storm, but from multiple sources. Continue…

Whisky hangover worse than vodka: study

By macleans.ca - Monday, December 21, 2009 at 11:33 AM - 9 Comments

Drinking whisky will result in a worse hangover than drinking vodka, according to U.S. researchers, although vodka has negative effects, too. It might be because of molecules called “congeners,” of which there are more in whisky than in vodka; congeners contain small amounts of chemicals like acetone, acetaldehyde and tannins, according to researchers at Brown University. In the study, 95 volunteers, all healthy alcohol users, were given enough booze to put them one-third over the legal driving limit. On the third night, they were given a “placebo” drink with no alcohol. The day after each session, the subjects were asked how they felt, and were tested on how well they could concentrate. Volunteers who drank whisky reported more symptoms like headache, nausea, thirst and fatigue, than those who drank vodka. But the overall performance at the concentration task was about the same between two groups. Disrupted sleep was also about the same in both groups.

BBC News

"Almost as lucky as Obama"

By Colby Cosh - Monday, December 21, 2009 at 11:17 AM - 0 Comments

Turns out the U.S. President’s Nobel prize wasn’t the only one to generate controversy this year. Nerd-grade coverage of the dispute is available from Spectrum, the mighty trade journal of the electrical engineering and IT professions.

Definition challenge: The voting

By Scott Feschuk - Monday, December 21, 2009 at 6:01 AM - 25 Comments

UPDATE: SeanStok wins! Take an e-bow, Sean. Thanks to all for your definitions and your votes: the Monday caption challenge resumes in the new year.

•

Using only my instincts (and the bones of 14 chickens), I’ve selected three finalists for the 2009 Definition Challenge. Do what you will with them. Winner gets a $50 Amazon.ca gift certificate and, in the spirit of the holidays, a purple nurple*.

* Gift certificate optional.

Meanwhile, the caption challenge and mailbag are taking a holiday hiatus. The merriest of the season to you all. I’ll be the guy at the Continue…

What the ministers were told

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 21, 2009 at 1:03 AM - 71 Comments

The head of the International Red Cross is reported to have met with Peter MacKay, Gordon O’Connor and Stockwell Day in the fall of 2006.

Officially, the Red Cross would only say the talks focused on topics including Afghanistan, humanitarian law in modern conflicts and co-operation with Canada. Unofficially, sources in Geneva said the international agency, whose functions include monitoring the treatment of prisoners, was growing frustrated over Canada’s tardy notification of its handover of captured suspected Taliban to Afghan authorities. The delay could often be as much as 34 days, making it difficult to track the detainees.

Ottawa to provinces: Know your place

By macleans.ca - Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 5:21 PM - 18 Comments

Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice lashed out at provincial officials who criticized Canada’s work at the Copenhagen climate summit, suggesting the provinces will have to fall in line behind Ottawa’s “leadership.” Ontario and Quebec both suggested the federal government wasn’t committing to sufficiently stringent emissions caps, with Quebec Premier Jean Charest saying provinces would have the legal authority to branch out on their own should the federal government fail to negotiate a suitable deal. “There is no doubt that some of the comments that were made have been divisive,” Prentice told CTV’s Question Period Sunday. “I think wiser heads will prevail and we have a lot of work to do.” Prentice added the provinces should be mindful not to interfere with the federal government’s with its global partners on climate change. “When we’re on the international stage, Canadians need to bear in mind that we’re there as a country, speaking as a country.”

Journalist allegedly manhandled by undercover police

By macleans.ca - Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 4:50 PM - 2 Comments

A Toronto Sun reporter was allegedly manhandled by an RCMP officer while videotaping shooting victim Louise Russo’s torch relay near Toronto on Saturday. Ian Robertson, 61, suffered a concussion after he was apparently grabbed by an undercover RCMP officer dressed in an Olympic track suit. Robertson has turned over the footage from his camera to investigators at York Regional Police and has discussed the matter with a lawyer Robertson describes as having “experience in civil action against police officers.”

Toronto Sun

The labourer is worthy of his hire

By Colby Cosh - Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 4:36 AM - 39 Comments

Some people think Bramwell Tovey’s protest against letting someone else pretend to conduct music he pre-recorded with the VSO is a blow for artistic integrity and an attack on the Olympics as an institution. Some people think it is a selfish attempt to gain the spotlight, albeit for work that he and the whole of the VSO will actually have done in the studio. I think Maestro Tovey’s motives are irrelevant in the face of a patent fraud, and I am happy to applaud him for all of the foregoing reasons, including the selfish one.

But there is an in-between reason, one that is being overlooked in the coverage but that I would guess is on Tovey’s mind all the same.

Of all the incredibly difficult occupations in the world, conducting an orchestra is the one that looks the easiest. Everybody whose work has a creative component knows the frustration of having their work misunderstood; the book editor who is thought to be “sitting around all day reading”, the abstract expressionist painter who has to hear “My kid could do that.”

But imagine being an orchestra conductor. You have the responsibility for understanding a composer’s intentions in the proper context—learning his biography, his philosophy, the constraints and compromises he was up against, the arranging and performing conventions of his time. You have to communicate that information, as an integrated whole, to a group of expert musicians—while being capable of understanding, in detail, the capabilities of dozens of modern instruments. You have to be a persuader and inspirer, but also a first-class musician yourself. You have to know the score backwards and forwards, and master, or at least know your way around, the recording apparatus. And when you are done, you stand there beating time in a penguin getup, which is about all the public ever sees you doing.

The visible part of the job is something a ten-year-old could do, and sometimes conductors will even diminish their collective public image by letting a ten-year-old come up on the dais and do it. It is an untenable state of affairs. Today’s metropolitan symphony conductor receives an exaggerated personal deference from the local arts crowd that contrasts more sharply every year with his actual job security and welfare; he must live, I think, with the constant suspicion that he is turning into a mere civic mascot. The deal conductors accept today, on this continent, is that they will be cooed at and fawned over as tokens of Old World creative genius, but actually be treated—this, anyway, is how VANOC proposed to treat Tovey—as an interchangeable part. If he’s just plain fed up with the whole game, more power to him.

The year in Ignatieff

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 1:29 PM - 81 Comments

The leader of the opposition does the end-of-year rounds, talking to the Canadian Press, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star (more here), Canwest (more here and here and here), Sun Media and CBC (more here).

Belatedly, there is also Ron Graham’s essay for the Walrus. And since it was just a couple months ago, here is the piece I wrote for this magazine.

Some highlights from this week’s interviews. Continue…

Well, thank God for Prentice

By Paul Wells - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 9:13 PM - 139 Comments

From the Inkless emailbox, this news release from the PMO:

STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA

Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued the following statement on the occasion of the closing of the 15th Climate Change conference in Copenhagen:

“This agreement is the result of two weeks of negotiations in which Canada and Environment Minister Prentice, our chief negotiator, played a key part.

“And over the past 24 hours, I have met with numerous leaders to reaffirm that Canada remains committed to a comprehensive, post-2012 agreement that is fair and effective.

“All countries must commit to taking concrete action to address climate change as part of a new treaty – actions which are measurable, verifiable and reportable.

“Canada is working to align our clean energy and climate change policies with those of the Obama Administration. This approach recognizes the high degree of integration of our two economies.

“Canada is prepared to contribute our fair share of financial support, particularly to the poorest and most vulnerable nations.”

Something to write home about

By macleans.ca - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 5:32 PM - 8 Comments

A climate change deal has been reached. Well, “deal” might be too strong a word. But a “meaningful agreement” to address global warming was reached on Friday by U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and others. A U.S. administration official describes the move as “not sufficient to combat the threat of climate change but…an important first step.” As part of the agreement, countries will clearly outline the actions they will take to reduce carbon emissions. There will also be a scheme set up to help developing countries pay for their environmental efforts. Still, few details about how these  national commitments will be verified are available. The issue has been a sticking point throughout the Copenhagen talks, specifically between the U.S. and  China. Ambitious plans to to make a legally-binding pact seem also to have been dashed. “It is now clear there won’t be a comprehensive accord,” said Italy’s  Environment Minister. “There will be a text that refers to next year for a comprehensive agreement.” The draft agreement that was passed around on Friday discusses aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050 (compared with 1990 levels).

Wall Street Journal

Unhappy holidays

By macleans.ca - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 5:14 PM - 1 Comment

The holiday brag letter, which people send to update friends and family on their achievements of the past year, isn’t quite as full of its usual upbeat holiday cheer this Christmas.  In this time of recession, the holiday letter has taken on a considerably more downbeat tone. With little good news to go round, many are using the letters to inform people of lost jobs, passed-up vacations and their generally rotten year. One car dealer tells the Wall Street Journal that his letter this year will include the line “For God sake, buy a car!” An out-of-work software manager writes, “Please keep me in mind if you know of a Boston-area organization that can use entrepreneurial, business management, or technology management skills.” While it might seem a depressing trend, for those who tend to view Christmas letters as either over-the-top or pretentious, this has been a welcome shift.

Pretty please

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 5:10 PM - 15 Comments

The opposition requested a meeting of the special committee on Afghanistan for next Tuesday and that meeting is apparently now scheduled. The Liberals humbly ask that Rick Casson, the Conservative chair of the committee, deign to preside over said meeting.

Good Cheer and Bad Music

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 5:02 PM - 0 Comments

Time to get some Christmas episodes up here, preferably with no connection to A Christmas Carol or It’s a Wonderful Life. So here, to start with, is the first WKRP Christmas episode, because it starts by dissing “Jingle Bell Rock.” (In repeats, this recording is replaced by a synthesizer playing the actual “Jingle Bells”; it doesn’t work. This is the original soundtrack.) The episode also reminds us of the main rules of office-based Christmas episodes: office Christmas parties are always disastrous, co-workers give each other terrible presents, and nobody has anything better to do at Christmas than show up at the receptionist’s apartment.

These videos are a bit loud, so maybe turn down the volume a little before playing them.

THE WIRE: Ambition and Limitation

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 4:26 PM - 2 Comments

David Simon interviews always have something interesting in them, because the guy doesn’t talk like a Hollywood screenwriter (unlike, say, Alan Ball, who has internalized every cliché that Hollywood types mistake for profundity). His new eight-page interview with Vice Magazine is a particularly good one, containing — in equal measure — insights into why The Wire was so great and why its reputation as the Greatest Achievement In the History Of Anything might be a tad overblown. One moment that provides both insights simultaneously is where he talks about one of the things he did that conventional TV shows don’t do: he would not change his plan for the show in response to the unanticipated success or popularity of a character.

I’ve always wondered how much of a character’s ultimate arc was known to you and how early it was known. For instance, did Omar always have to die? Did Carcetti always have to become governor? Was it just built into their DNA as characters?
It was. It was built in. You have to know where you’re going and one of the things that television in particular, more than film, certainly more than prose, suffers from is that there’s so much money in the product that once you get an audience, once you achieve an audience, your job is to stay in that audience ad nauseam.

Meaning what?
Meaning if they love Omar, give them some more Omar. If they love Stringer, give them some more Stringer.

Yeah. It’s not like they were going to kill Ross and Rachel on Friends.
Right. And they’re never going to kill David Caruso on whatever show he’s on, whichever one of the CSIs.

Or even Tony Soprano.
Well, you know.

That’s debatable, I guess.
But ultimately, if something is all about character, then character has to be served at all costs.

That’s as good a summary as I can find of the difference between The Wire and most television series, even most HBO series (like the more traditional Sopranos). Most TV series are about character, more than theme or plot. The average show will change its overall theme, or the type of stories it does, as the actors grow into their characters or certain characters become more popular. (To put this in as lowbrow a way as possible: most shows are looking for their own Urkel. If they find an Urkel, they will revamp the show to focus more on him, no matter what they originally pitched to the network.) They might kill off a character to upset us or surprise us, but we always know that the reason we’re watching is to see the people and what they’re up to. This type of character-based television is fine, but it’s absolutely inimical to the kind of thematically ambitious storytelling David Simon prefers; if you start changing your plan to accommodate the characters, then you wind up with a show that has no clear theme and no clear ending.

So while the characters on The Wire are great, they are subordinate to the showrunner’s plan, just as the whole show is about people who are caught up in larger forces that are beyond their personal control. Lost, the closest thing the networks have to Wire-style storytelling — on a more superficial level, of course — is a bit like that too. It’s the opposite of most great shows, where the writers follow the characters where they want to go, and re-think their approach to scriptwriting based on what the actors do (and how the audience is responding). That model is also, it need hardly be said, a more commercial model, since it allows the writers to find an artistic justification for doing what the audience wants. If you’re doing a show with a rigorous overall plan, like Simon does, then it’s disastrous to pay more attention to a character just because the audience likes them. But if you’re doing a show where the plot and theme are very loose, and most of the interest comes from character, then the popular thing to do is sometimes (not always) the artistically right thing to do.

My own attraction is toward the looser, baggier model of letting the characters take you to new places and de-emphasizing the didactic series-long plan. But both models are obviously justified. If we’re talking about TV in terms of novels, then the traditional TV show is a bit more like the Victorian novels of Anthony Trollope or the early Dickens, “loose and baggy monsters” where the author would start the book with only a vague idea of how it would end, and where major plot details and character motivations might be changed depending on how the book was doing in serialized form. (When Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit was doing poorly, Dickens added a new subplot where the title character goes to America, and abandoned much of his intended theme about the hero’s selfishness.) A show like 24 is comparable to, say, Wilkie Collins, someone who subordinates both character and theme to a complicated plot. And David Simon is trying to do more of a Russian-style novel, where there’s a broad historical-political theme that hangs over everything, and where we’re concerned with something much bigger than the fates of a few individuals. No wonder he doesn’t like all the comparisons to Dickens; if Dickens were alive today, he’d be writing sitcoms. Simon is not only trying to do novels for television, but a particular kind of novel.

I will end this longish post with a longish quote from Anthony Trollope, explaining why he’s not interested in plot-heavy novels. Think of this as the creator of character-based dramas complaining about 24; he’s not talking about the English David Simon, whoever that might have been. But still, it’s a nice bit of justification for loose, go-with-the-flow construction.

When I sit down to write a novel I do not at all know,
and I do not very much care, how it is to end.
Wilkie Collins seems so to construct his that he not
only, before writing, plans everything on, down to
the minutest detail, from the beginning to the end;
but then plots it all back again, to see that there
is no piece of necessary dove-tailing which does
not dove-tail with absolute accuracy.

The construction is most minute and most wonderful.
But I can never lose the taste of the construction.
The author seems always to be warning me to remember
that something happened at exactly half-past two
o'clock on Tuesday morning; or that a woman
disappeared from the road just fifteen yards
beyond the fourth milestone.

Bless this mess

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 2:51 PM - 16 Comments

In a two-part post—here and here—Kady O’Malley reviews all that has befallen Parliament’s committee system.

The first one to collapse  was Procedure and House Affairs. where a motion to investigate the Conservative Party’s in-and-out electoral financing scheme led to meeting after meeting after meeting of government members running down the clock to prevent the vote from being called. Eventually, the opposition parties got fed up and ousted the chair — at the time, one Gary Goodyear, since ascended to the ranks of junior cabinet minister — which really did not go over well at all, particularly for Joe Preston, who was elected to take Goodyear’s place, despite his vehement protestations. After accusing the opposition of forcing him into indentured servitude, which made for a truly touching acceptance speech, Preston reluctantly took the chair, and adjourned the meeting, which turned out to be the last one the committee would hold until well into the next year.

Bestsellers

By Brian Bethune - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 2:49 PM - 1 Comment

Top-selling fiction and non-fiction titles (week of December 15th, 2009)

Fiction

Non-fiction

LAST WEEK (WEEKS ON LIST)

Fifi Would Like A Room

By Takeoffeh.com - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 2:23 PM - 0 Comments

In a competitive market, hotels are reaching out to pet owners to attract new customers and inspire loyalty. A surprising number of major hotel chains accept pets, and while some policies are virtual laundry lists of restrictions and warnings, others go out of their way to welcome Fido and friends.

In Canada, British Columbia sets the bar for pet-friendly hospitality. The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver has a $25 per night “Pets Are People Too!” program, which offers four-legged guests a welcome mat, food dish, treats, a toy, and information on local amenities of interest – parks, hydrants, etc. But the Fairmont is perhaps even more famous for the service it provides to guests missing their canine companions left at home. Mavis and Beau — the hotel’s “K9 Ambassadors” — are former BC Guide Dog trainees who hang out near the concierge desk. Guests are encouraged to take them out for a stroll through the neighbourhood. Following are some other interesting pet packages in Canada and beyond:

• The Oceanfront Grand Resort & Marina on Vancouver Island offers a $25 per night pet package at that includes a welcome toy, a treat and clean-up bags. Rooms are outfitted with a pet bed, food and water bowl and a “Pet-in-room” door sign. Guest Services can arrange dog-sitting or walking and offer advice on local dog parks, grooming and veterinary establishments.
• In Whistler, pets staying at the Summit Lodge can help other furry friends when their owners choose the W.A.G. Package. The cost of the package is $15 per day, of which $5 is donated to local animal shelter W.A.G. (Whistler Animals Galore). Special doggie amenities include gourmet biscuits at breakfast, customized water bowls and dog walking and hiking services provided by hotel staff. Lonely dogs looking for a companion can get to know Bonnie, a 14-year-old Burmese Mountain/Lab Cross and permanent staff member at the Lodge
• The Chateau Versailles in Montreal features a $15 per night pet package complete with pet sleeping mat, food and water dishes and an area map for pet walking. The hotel has also partnered with Muzo, which bills itself as Montreal’s “pet resort for urban dogs and cats” offering pet daycare complete with a spa and gym.
• The Prince George Hotel in Halifax offers a “Bow Wow Meow” package at $20 per stay, including a welcome package comprised of a comfortable fleecy blanket, some “Scoopies,” a treat from “Bark & Fitz,” an information package on local places of interest for pets, and the loan of a special bowl and placemat.
• If you’re travelling stateside, check out the Pampered Pet Getaway at Swissôtel Chicago.Here Fido will receive a VIP greeting, fresh-baked dog biscuits and a personal escort to the room. Other package inclusions are a family photo of pet and human guests, a pet massage and a 30-minute dog walk. All usual canine comforts are provided, from a pet bed, bowls and dog toys to a leash and portable water dish. The Pampered Pets Getaway package starts at a rate of $279 including one night’s accommodation.

Photo Credits: WebSubstance, princegeorgehotel.com

A year in pictures

By Andrew Tolson - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 2:00 PM - 5 Comments

This Year in Pictures 2009 was unusual in one way: despite western news media being kicked out Iran after their election, images of that government’s crackdown still found their way out of the country through social media sites such as Flickr and Twitter. Citizen journalism has never been so effective.

We also saw elections in the US and India – and almost one here in Canada. President Obama dominated the world stage. The war in Afghanistan began a new chapter with a US troop surge and the weather continued to wreak havoc with the planet – all caught by the world’s photojournalists.

Putting together an issue of the year’s best photographs is a daunting task – there were hundreds we could have published in the magazine. (Maclean’s Year in Pictures issue is on newsstands now.) For that reason, we present the best of the rest here on macleans.ca.

Breakfast Television Interview:  Click here

How to say, 'I'm a thug' in a tattooed world?

By Shanda Deziel - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 1:12 PM - 3 Comments

Since tattoos have become so mainstream, criminals are finding it harder to signal their criminality with body ink. These days, even art on your neck, collarbone, and wrists isn’t really enough. Facial tatoos remain a pretty hard-core gesture, particularly on the eyelids. Also, according to this article, “the homespun variety created with a shard of a ballpoint pen during long hours behind bars” retains some menace. But if mere skin art doesn’t do the trick, there’s always the Japanese gangster gesture—amputate all or part of a pinky finger. Up to 70 percent of the so-called yakuza have sacrificed a digit.

Reason Online

Another potential wrongful murder conviction

By macleans.ca - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 12:53 PM - 0 Comments

From Winnipeg, hometown of David Milgaard—whose wrongful conviction for murder in 1970 resulted in a massive 2008 inquiry report into how he landed in prison—comes another potential case of justice gone dramatically awry. This morning a 60-year-old grandfather, convicted of a 1986 drug hit and sentenced to life behind bars, was released on bail. Frank Ostrowski has always said he was innocent in the murder of Robert Neiman, and now he’s out for Christmas as Ottawa reviews his case. The Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted contends that in Ostrowski’s 1987 trial key information was not disclosed by the Crown and police. A fact kept secret then: one witness who testified against him had made a deal with federal authorities to testify against Ostrowski in order to get a cocaine trafficking charge against him withdrawn so he wouldn’t go to jail.

Winnipeg Free Press

Oscar-Winning Actress Dies

By macleans.ca - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 12:49 PM - 0 Comments

Jennifer Jones, the Golden Age movie star who won an Academy Award for The Song of Bernadette, died yesterday at age 90. Jones, whose name was originally Phyllis Isley, was even more famous for her off-screen romances: first she was married to movie star Robert Walker, but she divorced him to take up with her producer and mentor, David O. Selznick. Selznick, who left his first wife to marry Jones (something that was big tabloid news at the time), guided her career and chose most of her projects. He also wrote and produced one of her most infamous films: Duel in the Sun, starring Jones and Gregory Peck in a sex-infused Western that critics dubbed “Lust in the Dust.” One of her most memorable films was Vincente Minnelli’s adaptation of Madame Bovary, where she played the title role. She retired from films in the ‘70s and led a very private life after that, saying that she preferred not to give interviews because journalists “probe and pry into your personal life.”

New York Times

Accused killer to plead not guilty

By macleans.ca - Friday, December 18, 2009 at 12:46 PM - 0 Comments

Michael Rafferty, the man accused in the kidnapping and first-degree murder of eight-year-old Tori Stafford, will plead not guilty, according to his lawyer Laura Giordano. He has also elected to have a preliminary hearing, ahead of the trial, unlike is co-accused, Terri-Lynne McClinitic, who has chosen to go straight to trial. They were arrested in May. The trial is set to start on June 21. Stafford went missing after school one day last April in Woodstock, Ont.; her body was found five months later near Guelph. Giordano says of Rafferty: “His story will come out at trial, and I would ask everybody to reserve judgement and simply be patient and let the story unfold as it will.”

Toronto Star