American Idol lowers age limit

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 4:34 PM - 0 Comments

Trying to figure out how to recover from this season’s ratings decline and next season’s loss of Simon Cowell, American Idol has the answer: find another Justin Bieber. The reality competition show announced today that it is lowering the minimum age for contestants from 16 to 15, the better to find performers that actual 15 year-olds—or 13 year-old girls—can relate to. The show, whose auditions begin next month, has not changed its maximum age of 28. Because, after all, who wants to see a singer over 30, except for all the famous singers who appear as guests?

New York Times

David Simon Wants You To Trust Him Implicitly

By Jaime Weinman - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 4:28 PM - 3 Comments

David Simon’s season-ending Treme interview with Alan Sepinwall contains at least one observation I really like, since I’ve been making the same point myself (and we all know that a statement only matters when we agree with it). This is that even though a lot of people find that there’s not enough plot, not enough things happening in the show, it’s not necessarily the case. What is true is that the show doesn’t have a lot of melodramatic high points, and we’re so used to TV drama being melodramatic that just plain ordinary drama may play as un-dramatic.

It’s not that it lacks plot. What it lacks is the life and death stakes of the television trope. If you tell me that somebody is going to lose the love of her life, which is a restaurant, and it’s going to happen in real time, and we’re going to see them make a choice to abandon their city – that’s an awful lot that’s happened to a character. On the other hand, are you measuring it by asking, “Did I see a gun put to this person’s head? Did I see them raped? Did I see them wreck their car drunkenly and end up in the hospital? Were they put on trial for their life? Were they sent into an ER and the doctors hovered over them making life and death decisions? Were they hurtled into the West Wing where they had to consult on a decision that would mean the lives and deaths of thousands?” Those are the standard tropes of a standard television drama. I’m uninterested in telling a story that is a lie, and those are not the stakes of post-Katrina New Orleans, and I’m interested in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Treme also has a lot of things that aren’t necessarily plot-related but contribute to the atmosphere or themes of the show — most obviously, the musical performances. (Which, as Simon notes, aren’t actually full-length performances; they’re just longer than they would normally be in a TV show, where the normal practice is to have a few seconds of performance and then cut away.) This, again, is not really un-dramatic; it’s like one of those old movies where a song performance has nothing to do with the plot, per se, but gives the film more of a distinctive rhythm, and creates the illusion that it’s not just a story, that the characters have time to relax and do non-plot-related things just like real people do. On Treme it’s even more essential to have music because the actual story material is based on the music and musicians, but it’s a similar idea, one that is a refreshing contrast to the kinds of things that are taught in screenwriting classes (where every second of screen time is supposed to be tied to the plot).

Simon also claims, as he often does, that everything that happens on the show can only be judged in retrospect, once we see the season finale and realize it was all part of his master plan. I always find this an attempt to minimize the accidental, haphazard nature of filmmaking (it’s essential to minimize these things if you’re going to argue that a TV series is just like a novel, but it’s not). But I understand his frustration with people who see an episode and can’t stop talking about where it might be leading. An episode is an episode, and a season is a season, but a lot of TV discussion — inevitably — is about neither: instead it’s about evaluating an episode in the context of a unit (the season) that doesn’t fully exist yet.

Buy, hold and forget?

By Jason Kirby - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 4:20 PM - 3 Comments

Grauer's forgotten account grew to a five-figure sum over the course of 20 years PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN HOWELL

It’s not every day a stranger calls to say they’ve got a sum of money waiting for you to collect, and when it does happen, it’s almost certainly a scam. So when a woman from a Toronto investment firm phoned Cindy Grauer last year and told her she was eligible to reclaim a mutual fund account she didn’t even know existed, alarm bells went off. But after cautiously confirming her identity, Grauer learned both the caller—Alison Pettigrew, a customer relations manager from Front Street Capital—and the fund—a straggler left over from a 20-year-old investment account—were for real. Then came the stunner. “Are you sitting down?” Pettigrew asked. After two decades orphaned on Bay Street, Grauer’s small initial investment had exploded to a healthy five-figure sum. “It’s like winning the lottery,” she says. “But how could something like this happen? It’s outrageous.”

Continue…

Why are some teenagers risking their lives to sail around the world?

By Kate Lunau - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 4:19 PM - 11 Comments

Richard Hartog/AP

One bright, sunny Saturday in January, Abby Sunderland steered her boat away from the dock at Marina del Rey, Calif., a light breeze barely rippling the water, as dozens of supporters whistled and cheered. Blond, soft-spoken, just 16 years old, Abby was intent on becoming the youngest person to sail around the world alone.

Last week, after encountering a massive storm in the Indian Ocean, her trip came to an involuntary end. Grainy images from an overhead plane show the boat, crippled without its mast, buffeted by waves on a dark grey sea. It would take rescuers three days to reach Sunderland, over 2,000 miles west of Australia. She was forced to abandon her 40-foot boat, Wild Eyes, but she was physically unharmed.

Continue…

Five World Cup standouts you've never heard of

By Daniel Squizzato - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 4:04 PM - 0 Comments

(REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi)

Diego Forlan, Uruguay

Forlan was born to play in the World Cup—his father, Pablo, represented Uruguay in the tournament twice, in 1966 and 1974. But despite plenty of success at the club level—he won a Premier League title with Manchester United in 2003 and the Europa League crown with Atletico Madrid this year—Forlan is only now finding his World Cup footing. He scored twice against South Africa, including an early candidate for goal of the tournament, and was at the forefront of the Uruguayan attack. This may be the 31-year-old striker’s last shot at World Cup glory, and he’s looking poised to seize on it.

Next: Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina

Does Rahm Emmanuel have a foot outside the White House door?

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 3:53 PM - 1 Comment

Rahm Emmanuel, the tough-talking chief of staff to U.S. President Barack Obama, may be leaving one of the most powerful jobs in the world before the end of the year. The pragmatic Emmanuel is said to be clashing with some of the more idealistic members of Obama’s entourage and insiders predict he’ll leave the White House after the midterms in November. “Nobody thinks it’s working but they can’t get rid of him—that would look awful,” an unnamed Democratic consultant tells the Telegraph. “He needs the right sort of job to go to but the consensus is he’ll go.” Emmanuel is also said to be concerned about the demands the job has put on his family life and could be pondering a run for mayor of his native Chicago.

Telegraph

Flaherty boosts Canadian economic outlook

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 3:17 PM - 3 Comments

In New York City to deliver a speech today, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty hiked his projection for Canadian economic growth over the next few years. By 2014, he said, the economy will be $24 billion bigger than his department previously expected. That reflects a survey of 15 private economic forecasters, who estimate Canada’s gross domestic product will grow by 3.5 per cent this year, up from 3.1 per cent in March, when Flaherty delivered his most recent federal budget. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in an interview setting the stage for the G20 summit later this week in Toronto, said world leaders must send two arguably contradictory messages at the meeting—talking up stimulus and restraint at the same time. “I think that what markets are looking for,” Harper told Reuters, “is that we understand that we have to continue to deliver stimulus now but that in the mid-term countries, particularly highly indebted countries, have got to have credible plans to bring their fiscal houses in order. So it’s a balancing act.”

CBC News

Reuters

The start of a tough summer of fighting?

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 2:41 PM - 1 Comment

In what could be a prelude to a summer of bloody combat, the 148th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan, Sgt. James MacNeil, 28, of Glace Bay, N.S., was killed by an improvised explosive device this morning about 15 km southwest of Kandahar city. It was the second deadliest day this year, as eight other NATO soldiers were killed in insurgent attacks and a helicopter crash. Adding to the grim tidings, the British government announced that 300 of its troops have now died in Afghanistan, following the death of a British soldier injured in an explosion earlier this month. In all, 64 NATO soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this month, 284 the number this year. In 2009, 520 NATO troops died, the worst toll of the Afghan conflict. The U.S. military is warning that casualties will mount as they lead a push against the Taliban this summer in Kandahar, the heartland of the Islamist movement.

Winnipeg Free Press

AFP

"His face makes him special"

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 1:35 PM - 8 Comments

Six-year-old Maddison Biddlecombe’s fundraising drive to save her pony, Diego, has captured the hearts and minds of a horse-loving nation. Diego was born on May 12 in Poole, Dorset, with Wry Nose Syndrome, a condition in which a horse’s upper and lower jaw grows to one side, making it difficult to graze. Maddison’s mother, Janey Biddlecombe, was advised to put the foal to sleep. But she refused: “Maybe it’s an easy way out but not for me. I don’t agree with putting him to sleep just because he looks different.” Now her daughter is working to raise the £4,000 necessary for Diego’s dental surgery. “Diego is my best friend and I don’t care what he looks like, to me his face makes him special,” the little girl told the Daily Mail, adding “People shouldn’t say he should be put down because of what he looks like, it doesn’t matter to me.” Despite initial difficulties, Diego has learned to suckle well from his mother and is happy, healthy and growing well. “Maddison adores Diego and has formed a great bond with him,” her mother told the paper. “They have even been found cuddled up together asleep in the field in the sun. He certainly knows he’s loved.”

Daily Mail

What do you think of B.C. and Ontario introducing a harmonized sales tax?

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 1:28 PM - 46 Comments

In Defence of Caspian Makan

By Michael Petrou - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 1:08 PM - 3 Comments

Caspian Makan, fiancé of the murdered Iranian protester Neda Agha-Soltan, has been the target of a lot of criticism and outright hostility. Much of it followed his trip earlier this year to Israel — something he told me he did to show Israelis only Iran’s government wants war, and to break the Islamic Republic’s ultimate taboo by visiting its favourite scapegoat.

Iason Athanasiadis, whose criticism is not based on Makan’s Israel trip, is particularly scornful, and was cited by readers who commented on my story in this week’s magazine. Athanasiadis was the first reporter to interview Makan last November, after Makan fled Iran for Turkey. Then, Athanasiadis described their interview as “moving” and didn’t question Makan’s credibility. Now he says Makan is an effete and narcissistic liar. Continue…

There's probably a faction inside the PQ that disagrees with this

By Philippe Gohier - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 1:08 PM - 86 Comments

**********

Also true: Catholics aren’t big fans of abortion, soccer players occasionally fake injuries, and fat people can’t do backflips.

Whaling talks criticized for secrecy

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 12:02 PM - 3 Comments

The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission, which just began in Morocco, is proving controversial as talks that could re-open commercial whaling have been closed to the public. Some say that whaling shouldn’t be allowed at all, while others believe that regulating the commercial whaling industry (Iceland, Japan and Norway set their own quotas and currently hunt whales despite a moratorium) could actually save more whales. Some observers noted that the recent UN talks on North Korea’s nuclear program were public, and questioned why whaling talks weren’t too, the BBC reports. Under the proposal, Japan’s annual quota for the Antarctic whale hunt would go down from 935 minke whales to 400, and then to 200 in 2015, but Japan says it’s too low. Environmental groups insist a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling must be upheld despite Iceland, Japan and Norway’s objections.

BBC News

Tea and coffee protects against heart disease: study

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:56 AM - 8 Comments

According to a 13-year study of over 40,000 people from the Netherlands, tea and coffee could offer protection against heart disease. In the study, those who drank over six cups of tea a day saw their risk go down by one-third, while two to four coffees a day also reduced risk. Protective effect stopped with more than four cups a day, but people who drank that much weren’t more likely to die from other causes like stroke and cancer, the BBC reports. Even so, healthy lifestyle matters most, they said.

BBC News

Prime minister's department breaks contracting rules

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:49 AM - 5 Comments

A newly-released audit shows nearly a third of all contracts awarded by the Privy Council Office were drawn up retroactively, in violation of Treasury Board rules implemented by the Conservatives as part of the Accountability Act. Auditors looked at a sample of 70 contracts from the 2,200 the Privy Council Office signed in the 18-month period ending June 2009. Twenty-nine per cent of the sample contracts were issued after work had already begun. A spokesperson for the department, which falls under the prime minister’s authority, says all the audit’s recommendations were implemented after the document was completed in February. However, the problems mirror those of a previous audit from 2002-2003, which showed around half the contracts issued by the Privy Council were improperly sourced and documented.

Winnipeg Free Press

Most Canadians believe in global access to safe abortions: poll

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:43 AM - 11 Comments

According to a new poll by Nanos Research, Canadians think women living in countries that receive aid from Ottawa should have access to safe abortions. 67.7 per cent of respondents said women in countries receiving Canadian aid should have the same access to safe abortion as Canadian women, with majorities in all regions, age groups, genders and political affiliations supporting the right of Canadian women to have an abortion. Pollster Nik Nanos said the results prove the views of Canadians aren’t aligned with the government on this issue. Respondents ranked maternal health last when offered four choices for allocating foreign aid in every region but Atlantic Canada, where it was ranked second last. When world leaders meet in southern Ontario this week, they are expected to endorse the “Muskoka Initiative”—a push to improve maternal and child health in the developing world. Canada is expected to ledge at least $1 billion to support an initiative that will focus on “better access to strengthened health systems, and sexual and reproductive health care and services, including voluntary family planning,” according to a draft of the summit communiqué. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s spokesperson Andrew MacDougall said Harper isn’t interested in the abortion debate, and that Canada can bring resources without bringing debate to countries in need of aid.

Globe and Mail

Stephen Hawking gets warm welcome at Waterloo

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:16 AM - 1 Comment

Stephen Hawking made his long-awaited Ontario debut in a lecture at Waterloo’s Perimeter Institute to an audience of cabinet ministers, academics, and business folks, including Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and federal Finance Minister James Flaherty. Through his computerized voice system, the British cosmologist spoke about his life and work in science, his pursuit of answers to questions about the beginning of the universe, and his work on black holes. Attendees reported that at times, his voice was difficult to understand, but he remained as determined as ever to work the computer that allows him to speak despite suffering with the motor-neuron condition Lou Gehrig’s disease. The talk marks his only public appearance during his six-week stay in Waterloo. Mike Lazaridis, the co-founder of Research in Motion who established the Perimeter Institute, lured Hawking to Waterloo along with other internationally recognized researchers in hopes of making more breakthroughs in our understanding of the universe. “New ideas are needed if we are to secure our future,” he said. “I’m convinced great ideas will lead to solutions.”

Globe and Mail

Toronto Star

Saskatchewan, Alberta residents cope with aftermath of flood

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:08 AM - 0 Comments

As cleanup from major flooding was underway in Saskatchewan this weekend, emergency officials in southern Alberta were still dealing with overflowing rivers and creeks and bracing for problems in the days ahead. Up to 150 mm of rain has fallen in the region, prompting the evacuation of residents from their homes and patients from a 10-bed hospital in Maple Creek, Sask. Officials in Medicine Hat, Alta. knocked on doors this weekend, suggesting to about 500 residents in a low-lying area that they should leave their homes due to rising waters. Creeks overflowed their banks and water also backed up through drains, gushing along major city roadways and creeping close to houses in the city in southeastern Alberta. The main highway linking Alberta and Saskatchewan has been closed near the provincial boundary, and Highway 41 south to the United States border also remained closed because stretches of tarmac are still under water. The roughly 2,600 residents of Maple Creek, Sask. took stock of the remains of their flooded homes, where pieces of siding and even garden sheds were seen floating in the waters that remained in some areas of the community. Town officials canvassed entire neighbourhoods to check on the welfare of residents trying to cope with the effects of the flooding, giving out information on a provincial disaster assistance program for residents who don’t have insurance. Residents with damaged homes may qualify for a maximum of about $160,000 but there is no maximum limit for damage to property owned by the municipality, according to Saskatchewan deputy fire commissioner Colin King.

Toronto Star

More revelations about the spill and no end in sight

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 11:03 AM - 1 Comment

Deepwater Horizon rig worker Tyrone Benton told the BBC that he identified a leak in the oil rig’s safety equipment weeks before the explosion. Benton said the leak was not fixed at the time, and that the faulty device was shut down and a second one used instead. BP said rig owners Transocean were responsible for the maintenance of that piece of equipment. Transocean countered that by saying it tested the device successfully before the accident. This is just one of the examples U.S. Congress may point to when it accuses BP of making decisions for financial reasons, putting cost ahead of safety. On Monday, BP also announced that its partners in the leaking oil well must share responsibility for the costs in dealing with the disaster. In a public statement, BP said all partners shared in liability for damage resulting from exploration. For example, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which has a 25 per cent stake in the well, should help to pay for the spill. But Anadarko accused BP of negligence in operating the rig, and said that a joint operating agreement makes BP responsible to co-owners for damage due to negligence or willful misconduct. In another statement on Monday, BP said it has now spent $2 billion trying to stop the deep-water spill, including $105 million for 32,000 damage claims. With no end in sight, costs will continue to rise.

BBC

Toronto Star

Top Conservative staff moving on, but Giorno will stay put

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 10:58 AM - 0 Comments

Several high-ranking Conservative staff members announced last week that they’re leaving their jobs, fueling speculation that the PMO’s office is drafting a new team for a potential fall election fight. Guy Giorno, Harper’s camera-shy chief of staff, recently told friends that he’ll stay on at least until next winter, reports Sun Media. Darrel Reid, deputy chief of staff, Jason Plotz, the PMO aide, and Peter MacKay’s chief spokesman are among those who will leave their jobs.

London Free Press

Madoff may have given billions to friends before arrest

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 10:52 AM - 0 Comments

An inmate in jail with Bernard Madoff told the New York Post that the Ponzi king has bragged about passing $9 billion to the bank accounts of three friends. The 72-year-old is serving a life sentence for defrauding investors out of $60 billion. The prisoner says Madoff believes his former partner in crime, Frank DiPascali, knows who has the money and will try to use the names to bargain for a shorter prison sentence. The prisoner also reports that Madoff is being treated for depression. He says Madoff is worried that his wife will leave him when she reads a tell-all written by his former mistress that hits bookstores in August.

New York Post

Russia cuts natural gas deliveries to Belarus

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 10:47 AM - 2 Comments

Russia President Dmitri Medvedev on Monday announced his decision to cut deliveries of national gas to Belarus, citing unpaid debts. He ordered Gazprom to reduce its supplies, a step which could affect up to 20 percent of Europe’s gas supplies. The decision comes at a tense time: Belarus has offered a safe haven to the former president of Kyrgyzstan and is the only member who has refused to sign off on stabilization measures for the country.

New York Times

China's currency strengthens

By macleans.ca - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 10:36 AM - 1 Comment

The yuan strengthened on Monday to its highest level since 2005, the New York Times reports. Its increase was a result of Chinese officials saying on Saturday that they would reform the exchange rate and enhance flexibility. Previously, China had not allowed its currency to move up as it maintained a competitive advantage exporting its goods abroad. However, it is yet to be seen whether Chinese authorities have committed to changing currency policy or whether this was a move to diffuse criticism about China’s currency before the G20 summit. “The renminbi is a political tool. Clearly the timing of the move was politically determined. It is not an economic tool yet. This will take years, not days or weeks,” said Bill Belchere, a global economist at Mirae Asset in Hong Kong. Analysts say in the long term, yuan appreciation would benefit the world economy.

New York Times

The Perils of Hiatus

By Jaime Weinman - Monday, June 21, 2010 at 10:31 AM - 4 Comments

Tonight CTV is airing the next-to-last episodes from the debut seasons of Hiccups and Dan For Mayor; the season finales (the shows have already been renewed for next season) will air next Monday.

The shows have turned into kind of an interesting case history of what can help and hurt a new show in its quest to find viewers. CTV promoted these shows very heavily to begin with, and it paid off with high ratings for the first part of the season. Then the network had to decide whether to keep the shows on in May, putting them up against the very tough U.S. competition, or bring them back after the sweeps period. They chose the latter; they even delayed their return longer than originally intended so these shows wouldn’t be competing against widely-watched sports events. But as Bill Brioux noted, Hiccups and Dan finally came back a couple of weeks ago with a tremendous drop in viewership.

It’s always hard to confidently second-guess a network move (unless it’s a Leno-at-10 type of thing), particularly when, as in this case, they had logical reasons for the move. But obviously, this situation is worse for HiccDan (I’ll mash them together to save time, though Dan is the better of the two shows) than it would have been to come back in May with numbers like this. If they’d suffered a drop-off against new episodes of the biggest and best shows the U.S. networks have to offer, they’d look healthier than they do now, when they were protected by the network and still lost a lot of the audience.

But this is also a case where the “protection” might have hurt HiccDan, since the shows were gone for a while, and a lot of people may not have known they were coming back. Also, the biggest advantage a network like CTV has when it comes to Canadian programming is that it has the rights to show so much popular first-run U.S. programming: by putting Canadian shows in with its U.S. material, it removes the stigma that is sometimes attached to home-made shows. (When you have HiccDan on the same night as new episodes of Two and a Half Men and Big Bang Theory, the network doesn’t need to do special pleading for its own programs; they’re just comedies, the same as any other comedy, and people can watch them for laughs rather than patriotic duty.) By waiting out the U.S. shows, it’s possible that CTV might have created the feeling that these shows need special help — which, Dan For Mayor, at least, does not.

Anyway, these shows were picked up before the current ratings trouble, so hopefully they and the network will have another 13 chances to fix what went wrong this month. (And Hiccups, at least, may need some fixing in other ways.)