Showblockers

By Jaime Weinman - Monday, August 16, 2010 at 10:57 AM - 0 Comments

The AV Club’s latest inventory features “Showblockers: 22 characters who stop good TV shows in their tracks.” The list has the expected mix of one-note supporting characters who are over-used (Kenneth, Klinger) and leading characters who come off as being awful people, like Ted Mosby and, perhaps most famously, Dawson of Dawson’s Creek. The “Television Without Pity” site actually originated as “Dawson’s Wrap,” devoted to recapping Dawson’s Creek with an emphasis on what a worthless, self-loving creep the title character was.

We can all have our disagreements with the choices on the list — even the older Rudy was less intolerable than Elvin or post-reprogramming Denise, and was okay with Dawn by the last two seasons of Buffy; Spike, Tara and even Willow were bigger drags — but I think we can all agree that the phenomenon is real; there are some characters who, when they get an episode or even a big scene in an episode, make us wish they’d go away.

I think the ultimate showblocker may be Carmine “The Big Ragu” Ragusa from Laverne and Shirley: no one, before or after, has been quite so useless. He wasn’t funny, he wasn’t handsome, he wasn’t likable, and he frequently held up episodes by singing and dancing. Whenever you saw him, you knew you were in trouble, and if he didn’t do anything particularly offensive, you feared it was just a ruse to distract you from the impending doom musical number.

Also, some characters, like Dwight, start out really good and then become irritating as the show goes on. (Dale on King of the Hill had this too; it might be an inevitable part of the Greg Daniels universe that as the show goes on and develops the characters more, the one character who’s completely nuts begins to get on our nerves.) Bull from Night Court was like the predecessor to Kenneth, in that he got too popular for his own good with the writers and some of the fans, and went from a funny-in-small-doses character to one who was given to us in unbearably large doses. Too bad 30 Rock couldn’t get Richard Moll for that reunion episode, because there could have been a symbolic passing of the torch.

Update: Linda Holmes writes in defense of Ted Mosby. Someone has to. But the problem with Ted, as with many showblockers, is that the writers were unaware that he wasn’t cool and awesome and wonderful, and therefore spent a long time writing him as if they thought we liked him. That’s a common showblocker issue: if the writers know we don’t love someone, then they will write him accordingly. The horrible thing happens when the writers love someone like Wesley Crusher, and write him as a heroic super-guy. The thing with Ted was that they spent the first season telling us what a wonderful, romantic, sweet man he was, when we at home could see that his “romantic” behaviour was either stupid or creepy. Then they spent the second season telling us that Ted and Robin had great chemistry, when they didn’t. The writers eventually wised up and started admitting that Ted is annoying and has no chemistry with anybody, but it was too late. A show can get away with having a flawed central character, but when the show is not aware that the flaws are in fact flaws, that’s when showblocking happens.

Living in exile

By Michael Petrou - Monday, August 16, 2010 at 10:39 AM - 0 Comments

Photograph Milad Mahdavian

Edison wasn’t home the first time Iranian police came to arrest him. He had been photographed during the mass demonstrations that rocked Tehran following last year’s seemingly rigged presidential election.

When police couldn’t find Edison, they took his computer and scoured its hard drive. Sifting through his emails, photographs and Internet search history, they discovered he was gay. When the police returned to his house three days later, they were no longer interested in his politics. Edison’s mother answered the door. “The first thing we have to do is stone your faggot son,” they told her.

Continue…

Ignatieff’s summer of love

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, August 16, 2010 at 10:38 AM - 0 Comments

Aaron Harris/Bloomberg/Getty Images/ Christopher Wahl

The 17-year-old girl from Sarnia, Ont., asked him if he had any advice for young Canadians who are “charting paths for themselves toward a productive future.” Behind him, the local candidate and a few Liberal MPs were positioned to fill the screen. Behind them a half dozen enthusiastic young Liberals stood where they were told. Behind them a steel drum band played.

This was an interview for MuchMusic on a street corner in downtown Toronto. The girl wasn’t one of the network’s regular hosts. She’d written her questions on a piece of paper and she addressed him politely as Mr. Ignatieff. He hasn’t yet lost the urge to satisfy his interviewer and so he went on at some length, recalling some words he’d offered years ago at a university commencement.

Continue…

Do you trust your doctor?

By Charlie Gillis, Julia Belluz, and Josh Dehaas - Monday, August 16, 2010 at 10:37 AM - 0 Comments

Getty Images

After five miscarriages, and with the odds of ever having children stacked against her, Lee Dix was glad to get a second opinion. It was the summer of 2000, and the Toronto woman had been referred to a gynecologist based at Scarborough Hospital, Dr. Richard Austin, whom she hoped would eventually deliver her first baby. But far from feeding her optimism, Austin told Dix she had a benign tumor called a fibroid in her uterus, and made a provisional diagnosis of endometriosis, a painful disorder where cells on the uterine wall grow out of control. Between 2002 and 2005, the greying physician performed two operations on Dix—one a total abdominal hysterectomy, the other to remove her remaining ovary (she’d had one taken out in a previous operation). “I just went with what he said,” Dix now recalls. “I trusted doctors, and I thought that if anyone is going to work on me, they must have the proper schooling and knowledge.”

Continue…

Harper’s summer, according to none of your business who

By Scott Feschuk - Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 5:35 PM - 0 Comments

UPDATE: It took 59 hours and 117 comments, but we finally have someone writing in defence of Jane Taber. Fittingly, they do so while remaining anonymous. See the comments below.

•

I know you’re all very busy, and I worry about you. I don’t want you to miss out on any big developments in the world of Canadian politics. So I’ve done you the solid of summarizing the many revelations contained in Jane Taber’s Saturday column in the Globe:

1. The Prime Minister is currently “pretty laid-back. He’s pretty calm.” This quote comes courtesy of a “Conservative caucus member.” One can understand why the MP would demand the cloak of anonymity for such an incendiary and seditious remark.

2. The Prime Minister is “focused.” Polls, the census controversy, the Helena Guergis affair – these are all “mere irritants” (Jane’s description) or “white noise” (the description provided by “one veteran caucus source”). Question: does that mean the source is a veteran of the caucus or a veteran of being one of Jane’s sources? Is this “source” the same “source” as the “Conservative caucus member?” Does Jane Taber go “off the record” with everyone she talks to, or also inanimate objects like boxes and hat racks?

3. The Prime Minister “likes governing,” in the words of a “senior Conservative official” who was granted anonymity because who the hell knows. Funny story: When I was in journalism and an actual reporter at The Globe and Mail, I was informed that Continue…

UN Secretary General calls for urgent action in Pakistan

By macleans.ca - Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 1:54 PM - 0 Comments

A day after Canada pledged an extra $33 million (on top of $2 million last month) for Pakistan flood relief, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made an urgent request for the world to come to the aid of those affected. Ban Ki-moon said he’s seen many natural disasters but nothing like this, with over 1,500 dead, and 20 million homeless—and with more flooding likely to come. There’s also a growing fear of diseases, including chlorea and malaria. The UN has had trouble reaching their target amount of aid for Pakistan as other nations are not reacting as quickly or as generously as they have with past disasters, including the 2004 tsunami, or the earthquake in Haiti.

CBC

Financial Times

Setting the sidewalk on fire outside the PM's house

By macleans.ca - Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 1:18 PM - 0 Comments

A man is being held by Ottawa police after starting a small fire outside the 24 Sussex Drive residence of the Prime Minister. The man was seen igniting liquid on the sidewalk, and was arrested by the Mounties around 9:30 pm on Saturday—before being handed over to the Ottawa police. While it is unclear whether the Harpers were home at the time of the incident, the police insist the family was never in any danger. It has yet to be announced whether the fire starter will be charged or appear in court.

CTV

We get the feeling you’re tuning out, Steve

By Scott Feschuk - Saturday, August 14, 2010 at 2:17 PM - 0 Comments

Dear Steve,

We’re just going to come right out and ask. Are you bored with being Prime Minister? Are you bored with us? After four years, it feels as though the magic is gone from our relationship. You seem about as interested in your job as John Baird is in nuance.

We don’t communicate like we used to, that’s for sure. Despite the turbulent times, you haven’t delivered a major speech to us since the first week of March—and the content of that address, to mark the return of Parliament, could be reduced to two words: “Olympians? Yay!” How are we supposed to understand what you want, or know what you believe in, or remember what you look like?

Continue…

Hard to get

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 4:53 PM - 0 Comments

On July 26, after the National Statistics Council had publicly tabled a proposed solution to the census dispute, NSC president Ian McKinnon told Postmedia that the NSC had been trying for two weeks, without success, to meet with Industry Minister Tony Clement. The next day, Mr. Clement told the industry committee that “if others have other ideas that could help animate this discussion, we’re willing to listen to them.”

Two weeks later, the NSC released another statement, outlining its reaction to recent government changes and concluding that it “stands ready to assist” the minister and the government. Mr. Clement responded with his own statement, which concluded, “I value the expertise of the members of the Council and look forward to working with them in the future.”

As of this afternoon, no meeting had taken place or been scheduled, so just now, in a new release, the NSC “welcomes” the minister’s acknowledgment of their expertise and renews its request for a meeting.

Ben Mulroney names first born after father

By macleans.ca - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 4:16 PM - 0 Comments

Jessica Brownstein, the wife of Ben Mulroney, gave birth to twins on Thursday morning. Brian Mulroney was born at 8:09 and his twin brother, John, a minute later. Brian is named after his grandfather, former Conservative PM Brian Mulroney, and John is named after John, the “mystery” Mulroney, a brother of Brian Mulroney who passed away hours after he was born. Ben’s sons are the first Mulroney children to be born since 1985, when Nicholas, the youngest of the Mulroney siblings was born. With the newest Mulroney additions, the former PM and his wife, Mila, have six grandchildren. Caroline, Brian Mulroney’s eldest daughter, and her husband have four children together.

Globe and Mail

'Eat Pray Love' is the latest in food porn

By Anne Kingston - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 4:00 PM - 0 Comments

Illustration Adam Cholewa/Magnolia Pictures

Last August, Susan Spungen had to figure out what Julia Roberts should cook for Thanksgiving dinner. More precisely, the New York City-based culinary consultant was assigned the task of concocting a visibly delectable feast for Roberts’s character to serve in the movie adaptation of Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert’s blockbuster memoir about her self-discovery tour through Italy, India and Bali. The movie, which opens tomorrow, ends with Gilbert, played by Roberts, finding love in Bali with “Felipe,” played by dishy Javier Bardem. Yet the character shows far more passion for—and commitment to—a luscious plate of spaghetti pomodoro she hoovers down in Rome. Credit goes to Spungen, the former food director of Martha Stewart Living, who styled the “Eat” phase of Gilbert’s journey. It didn’t take long to figure out Thanksgiving dinner, Spungen tells Maclean’s: “I just asked myself what I’d make for myself as an American living in Italy.”

The menu is destined to invite duplication this holiday season: stuffed clams with parsley and bread crumbs; escarole with golden raisins and pine nuts; mashed potatoes; Romanesco broccoli; fresh porcini mushrooms; braised cippolinis; green beans with hazelnuts; roasted pumpkin with mint and balsamic vinegar; and whole roasted carrots. And the dramatic centrepiece: roasted “tacchino,” or turkey, served with gravy and apricot and fennel stuffing.

Continue…

Today in analogies and sample selection bias

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 3:43 PM - 0 Comments

Jim Flaherty explains how the fact he managed to get 22 prominent business leaders and policy thinkers to attend a retreat at the Wakefield Mill Inn demonstrates that Canadians will happily comply with a voluntary census.

“Canadians are good citizens. I just did a conference this week. I invited some really smart Canadians to come and give the government advice through Finance, and everybody I asked showed up. Nobody got paid. I didn’t have to threaten anybody with going to jail. We don’t need to see that in this country. I expect that the long form’s being sent out to a substantial number of people across the country [who] are being asked to complete it voluntarily, and knowing Canadians as I think we know them, we’ll get lots of those forms completed and sent back without having to threaten people with jail or fines,” he said.

Please give generously

By Paul Wells - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 2:04 PM - 0 Comments

From the Inkless emailbox:

Dear Paul,

In recent weeks, the Fraser Institute has been pilloried and criticized in both the mainstream media and among the country’s political and academic elites for our support for making the 2011 long-form census voluntary, rather than mandatory.

Our rationale for opposing the mandatory long-form census comes down to a core belief that Canadians should not be forced to disclose private and non-essential personal information to the government.

In its current format, the long-form census requires Canadians to complete 40 burdensome pages of intrusive personal questions. Canadians are forced to disclose this information without good cause. The census has simply become a cheap way for academics, economists, and social scientists to get information that should be acquired using market surveys of the kind that are routinely conducted on a voluntary basis.

Having census data collected by a central government agency does not serve Canada’s interests, and it does not serve your interests.

If, like us, you believe that a less intrusive government will help make Canada a stronger and more prosperous nation, then help us continue our efforts to independently measure the success or failure of government policies.

Please donate to the Fraser Institute.

Sincerely,

Dr. Brett J. Skinner
President

Ignatieff in summer

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 2:03 PM - 0 Comments

In the latest print edition of Maclean’s there are something like 1,300 words, under this byline, about Michael Ignatieff’s summer. Here, for your amusement, curiosity or comparison, is the indulgently long version, including a never-before-seen alternate ending.

It could be read as the latest in a series that includes previous sketches in September 2008, February 2009, June 2009 and October 2009. It could also be read as a reference to my favourite rap song of 2008.

Anyway. Make of it what you will. Continue…

Another victory for Conrad Black

By macleans.ca - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 1:54 PM - 0 Comments

The appeal by a group of directors, advisers and a vice president of Hollinger International against six libel suits filed by Conrad Black has been dismissed by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Black alleged in the suits that press releases and reports posted on the company’s website, and later reprinted in the Canadian media, defamed him. The defendants said there was no connection between the reports and Ontario, and that the trial should be held in Illinois or New York. The presiding judge dismissed the appeal because she found the reports were directed to Canadian media, and that Black’s established reputation in Ontario had been damaged. Black is currently out on bail in the U.S. while waiting to hear whether his 2007 conviction for defrauding Hollinger investors will be overturned.

Toronto Sun

European economies grew faster than expected in Q2

By macleans.ca - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 1:39 PM - 0 Comments

The 16 economies that share the Euro currency expanded 1 per cent in the second quarter, beating expectations of 0.7 per cent growth—and beating U.S. growth of 0.6 per cent for April to June. Germany’s strong growth in exports fuelled its fastest quarterly growth on record at 2.2 per cent. (That number follows a 4.9 per cent decline last year, the country’s worst
annual performance since the Second World World War.) But it’s not all good news: countries in southern Europe continue to struggle. Greece’s economy shrank by 1.5 per cent last quarter while growth in Spain and Portugal was just 0.2 per cent. The UK, Europe’s second biggest economy, grew a modest 1.1 per cent. Canada’s second quarter results are due August 31.

CBC

The Independent

Khadr's trial delayed at least a month

By macleans.ca - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 1:36 PM - 0 Comments

Omar Khadr’s trial is postponed for at least a month after his lawyer collapsed yesterday, the first day of the Canadian’s war crimes trial. Khadr’s lawyer, Army Lt.-Col Jon Jackson, 39, began coughing about 10 minutes before the court was set to end and had asked the judge for a brief recess before collapsing. He was taken to a hospital by ambulance and is now being airlifted off the island for medical care. Jackson had undergone gall bladder surgery six weeks ago and doctors believe that complications from the surgery led to his collapse. “The most important thing is nothing has changed with the Omar Khadr case except for the timing,” said Guantanamo’s deputy chief defense Bryan Broyles to journalists Friday morning. Khadr is
accused of five war crimes and faces a life sentence if convicted at the Guantanamo court.

Toronto Star

Toronto Star

Ship carrying Tamil migrants docks at B.C. base

By macleans.ca - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 1:12 PM - 0 Comments

The cargo ship MV Sun Sea, carrying nearly 500 Tamil migrants, has docked at the Canadian naval base at Esquimalt, B.C., under military escort. The ship was met by dozens of border officers and other officials, who donned surgical masks and gloves before boarding the ship, in light of reports there may be passengers with infectious diseases on board. Officials erected large tarps to hide passengers from the media, as four buses and several ambulances waited to transport the ship’s passengers to nearby hospitals and prisons. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews stressed Thursday the migrants are not welcome. Some of the migrants are believed to be members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which has been outlawed in Canada as a terrorist group since 2006. Toews said the migrants would be processed according to their claims and would not be treated as refugees if their claims are invalid.

CBC

Seeing what you want to see

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 12:44 PM - 0 Comments

From a statement released last evening, the Industry Minister finds the one part of yesterday’s statement from the National Statistics Council that agrees with him and declares his agreement with it.

“I welcome the news that the National Statistics Council is supportive of the government’s plan to introduce legislation to remove the threat of jail time from all censuses and surveys conducted by the federal government.

“We believe this strikes a fair and reasonable balance for Canadians.

“I value the expertise of the members of the Council and look forward to working with them in the future.”

The state adrift (II)

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 12:21 PM - 0 Comments

Chris Selley considers civil liberties and partisanship.

In all these cases, the real villains are governments that believe, with ample justification, that they can do whatever they want to whomever they want, whenever they want. Governments don’t care what party you voted for, or what you think about the war in Afghanistan, or whether your bookshelf’s stuffed with Noam Chomsky or Ayn Rand. If they think it’s in their best interests to steamroll you, they will. Ideological partisanship dilutes by half the democratic force of the revulsion we feel — or should feel — when they do. It enables the very thing we all claim to detest when it happens to people we like. The answer lies in sticking up for people we don’t like too.

Barack Obama to sign bill approving $600 million for border security

By macleans.ca - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 12:18 PM - 0 Comments

U.S. President Barack Obama will sign a bill Friday that provides $600 million in emergency funding to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border. Among other things, the bill provides for roughly 1,500 new law enforcement agents, new unmanned aerial vehicles, new forwarding operating bases and $14 million in new communications equipment. The House of Representatives had already approved the measure, and the bill was passed in the Senate by unanimous consent, meaning it didn’t require the return of the entire Senate chamber. GOP leaders had agreed to the maneuver, and the measure has attracted strong support from both Democrats and Republicans. The bill is funded in part by imposing higher fees on personnel companies that bring foreign workers into the United States.

CNN

Disease outbreak feared in flood-hit Pakistan

By macleans.ca - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 12:14 PM - 0 Comments

Aid agencies have announced that disease outbreaks pose new risks for the victims of the monsoon floods in Pakistan, which have already killed more than 1,600 and left two million people without homes. The UN has said it is increasingly worried about water-borne diseases, such as fatal acute watery diarrhea, will sweep the devastated region and some officials warn of indications that there has already been a cholera outbreak. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to visit Pakistan this weekend to discuss the crisis with local leaders, who have been criticized for a slow response to one of the worst catastrophes in the country’s history. “Children are dying now as we speak because of lack of access to clean drinking water,” said Pascal Cuttat, International Committee of the Red Cross Head of Delegation in Islamabad. Food prices have been soaring as a result of damage to crops caused by the flooding.

Canada.com

Shania Twain next 'American Idol' judge?

By macleans.ca - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 11:58 AM - 0 Comments

The celebrity gossip site TMZ has reported that Shania Twain is set to be the next American Idol judge if Jennifer Lopez doesn’t get the position. Two days ago, People magazine reported that a source said that Lopez’s talks had fallen through because of her diva behavior. The show is looking for a new judge after Ellen DeGeneres announced that she would leave the series in late July citing scheduling issues. Her departure was the second major blow to the series in the past six months: Simon Cowell, arguably the show’s most famous host, left in January.

TV Watch

TMZ

Ground Zero Mosque an election issue

By macleans.ca - Friday, August 13, 2010 at 11:58 AM - 0 Comments

The Islamophobia that has swept the U.S. following 9/11 is being heightened by the battle over plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. And now, this issue has become a hot election topic in the run-up to mid-term elections in November. Sarah Palin has been a vociferous opponent of the mosque, and Newt Gingrich has said the mosque provides evidence that Muslims are attempting to impose sharia law in the U.S. There’s also reportedly been a surge in anti-Muslim protests across the country, including opposition to new Islamic centres from California to Georgia, plans by a Florida church to hold a “burn the Qur’an” day on September 11, and a New York group called the American Freedom Defence Initiative, which is placing adverts on New York buses showing a plane flying into one of the World Trade Center towers and asking, “Why There?”

The Guardian