Should the Pope face charges?

By Brian Bethune - Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 8:23 AM - 0 Comments

Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images

God in the Dock, meaning God on trial, is a familiar concept in Britain, both from the title of a famous collection of essays by C.S. Lewis and as a general term for skepticism about religious belief and doctrine. But Pope in the Dock? Literally? Perhaps not in our lifetimes, as British lawyer Geoffrey Robertson concedes in The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse, a book set to appear just one week before Benedict XVI makes the first-ever papal state visit to Britain. But, Robertson argues, the once unthinkable idea that Benedict or a successor could be charged with obstructing justice or for “harbouring pedophile priests” is now very thinkable, and—given evolving trends in international human rights law—may soon be practical.

The plain facts of the case to be answered are horrific and undeniable. Since the dam crumbled around the turn of the decade, a cascade of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy has come tumbling into the open. So many cases emerged that the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference commissioned an expert study, which concluded in 2004 that, since 1950, 10,667 individuals had made plausible allegations against 4,392 priests, 4.3 per cent of the entire body of clergy in that period. The total bill in settlements with victims is spiralling toward $2 billion and won’t stop, Forbes predicts, this side of $5 billion. Depressingly similar stories from other First World countries, including Canada, soon emerged; the situation in Latin America and Africa, where no investigations have ever been made, can only be imagined.

Continue…

Joaquin and the Black Swan—two TIFF tales of showbiz meltdown

By Brian D. Johnson - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 9:29 PM - 0 Comments

Natalie Portman in 'Black Swan'

It’s Day 2. And I’m already reeling. This afternoon I tried to interview Kat Dennings, who sat across from me in monumental heels and a scarlet dress with a plunging neckline and said that she, unlike the seductress she plays in Daydream Nation, would never dream of using her feminine wiles to get ahead. Moments later, in a hotel room down the hall, I watched a gregarious Javier Bardem spill his water bottle onto the table, almost drowning a tape recorder, as he talked about his role as a clairvoyant hustler dying of cancer in Biutiful. And those were the moments of relative sanity. In the past two days, I’ve seen lives monstrously shattered in one movie after another—from the self-mutilating ballerina played Natalie Portman in Black Swan to the trio of doomed innocents played by Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield in Never Let Me Go.

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is a total trip, a giddy melodrama that plays like a pas de deux between All About Eve and The Red Shoes choreographed by David Cronenberg.  Led by a sensational performance from  Portman, it’s a glorious backstage tale of showbiz self-destruction. You could could say something similar  about I’m Still Here, the utterly mystifying documentary about Joaquin Phoenix directed by his brother-in-law, Casey Affleck. But while Black Swan is exhilarating, the Phoenix movie is terribly sad, a voyeurist mudbath that makes you want to take a shower, with a loofa.

Joaquin Phoenix in 'I'm still here'

Ever since we saw Joaquin make a fool of himself on Letterman, we’ve been waiting for this film, hoping it might provide some answers. Is Joaquin’s career suicide the real thing, or is it a hoax? After seeing the film, I have to say that the verdict is still out. But among the critics arguing on the sidewalk in front of the theatre afterwards, the consensus was that what we saw was too ugly and harrowing to be a complete hoax. At best it might be a combination of verité documentary and twisted performance art. Even if it’s pure documentary, there’s still a large element of contrivance and set-up—as suggested by the closing credits, which resemble those of a fictional drama and proclaim that the film was produced and written by Affleck and Phoenix. Either way, phony or real, it’s like watching a snuff film of career suicide. It’s also a compelling portrait of celebrity as pathology. This is the cinematic equivalent the car wreck you can’t help slowing down to watch.

I’m Still Here is amusing for a while, in a sick way. Phoenix, ranting like a spoiled brat, pulls the plug on his acting career, saying his “artistic output thus far has been fraudulent.” He says he no longer wants to be “this dumb f–king puppet . . . My purpose on this earth is not to interpret somebody else’s words, it’s to express what’s inside of me.” And that, it seems, is a toxic cocktail of  bile and dumb-assed revelation. He smokes joints, snorts lines, strews f-bombs as he berates his two long-suffering handlers, in a kind of S&M answer to celebrity entitlement. As Phoenix struggles to launch his hapless hip hop career, he courts  Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, and the star is transformed into craven wannabe, while Combs looks on in deadpan consternation.

But what we’re hoping is a mockumentary morphs into a sad requiem as Phoenix, increasingly stoned and deluded, laments what he’s become: “I’m just going to be a f–king joke forever—I’ve f–ked my life!” I was inclined to believe him. And the scenes of vomiting and defecation seem all too real. As I mentioned to a colleague, paraphrasing This is Spinal Tap, “You can’t fake vomit.” Then again, as my colleague pointed out, you can. So now we wait for what happens next. Will Joaquin shave off the beard and say it was all a scam? Who knows? But if this was just play-acting, he’s taken the Method beyond the pale. If it’s really a hoax, and he comes out of it with his mind and career intact (fat chance), I suppose he deserves an Oscar nomination. That’s what we do at TIFF: everyone is part of a big scouting party for Oscar hopefuls. So far I’ve seen at least four surefire nominations: Carey Mulligan in Never Let Me Go, Hilary Swank in Conviction, Javier Bardem in Biutiful, and Natalie Portman in Black Swan—not to mention likely nods for Paul Giammati, Dustin Hoffman and Rosamund Pike in Barney’s Version As for Joaquin, his career suicide was a joke at last year’s Oscars, thanks to Ben Stiller in a ZZ Top beard. But now it looks like just another nasty showbiz accident. And to complete the circle, although the star of I’m Still Here does not appear to be here, one of the first “celebrities” to generate publicity at TIFF on opening day was a Joaquin lookalike.

First night of TIFF parties: from body paint to beers with Deaner

By Stephanie Findlay - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 8:20 PM - 0 Comments

My first TIFF night was an exercise in party diversity. I began at the TORO After Dark lounge where there was a preview of RED, the NY Times Canadian Photo Archive Exhibit curated by Toronto-based photographer Caitlin Cronenberg. The party was held at PEARS on Avenue Road in Yorkville. It was early in the night, so after I walked around the perimeter of the party a couple times I decided to take off. On my way out I passed Kandyse McClure, or, as I know her, Anastasia “Dee” Dualla from Battlestar Galactica. I love that show, and I love her character. Consider me star struck.

I proceeded to Ultra on Queen Street where Apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas was set to DJ for the evening. Entering Ultra reminded me of Disneyland in Los Angeles. There, you wait in line for rides in long winding hallways with outrageously spectacular props that hold your attention as you wait your turn. Ultra’s hallway wasn’t that long and winding, but it was fantastically decorated. What probably inspired the comparison to Disneyland were the bags of popcorn the club provided guests with on the way out. Apl.de.ap wasn’t on yet, so I took off to another venue, AME, located in the heart of Toronto’s entertainment district on Mercer street. Inside were multitudes of beautiful people, wearing beautiful clothes, sipping beautiful drinks in a beautiful setting. My eyes drifted to the top of the bar where there were what looked to be near-naked women in glitter body paint posing languidly. Upon seeing that, I began to question my party strategy. I was traveling solo after all. At the very best, I look like a weirdo, and at worst, I look desperate. Neither of these things really concern me, but the bottom line was that I wasn’t having very much fun.

How was I going to turn the night around? I needed a plan. I had to get my edge back. So I went West, to a red carpet-less bar on West Dundas called Unlovable. It was exactly what I needed: the TIFF antidote. No one cared about the festival. People were either chatting at the bar, playing arcade games or listening to the DJ spin an eclectic mix of soul, rock and Motown.

But at 2 am the night was still young—all the TIFF venues are open until 4 am during the festival. I had sufficiently cleansed my palate and was ready to party on. The owner of Unlovable and his friend and I decided to head to the FUBAR 2 afterparty, or the “FUBAR 2 GIVE’R AGAIN PARTY!” When we pulled up, it was chaos. Cabs everywhere. People were walking to the bar from all directions. Everyone was hassling the bouncer, and no one was getting in.

While we were standing outside a huge black SUV pulled up to the club. Out came the stars from FUBAR 2. Interestingly, the crowd wasn’t unanimously happy. In fact, one girl smoking outside started sarcastically shouting “oh look, it’s TIFF. TIFF’s here everyone, look out,” and then went on to shout “F*** TIFF.” After covering the G20 protests I half expected her to say “give us back our city” and for riot police show up. Thankfully, that didn’t happen.

Once inside, the stars of Fubar soon appeared onstage. You might say it was predictable: they talked like hosers, the crowd was mostly drunk and giddiness ensued. After they started playing, one woman with a red beret, short punk blonde hair and a black crocheted top came onstage and attempted to dance. She mostly just succeeded in spilling her beer on the band and the crowd. (No one cared).

I checked out at 4:45am, having seen enough for one night. The next day, I ran into FUBAR 2′s director, Michael Dowse. He looked a little worse for wear and said that during the party he was out of it, but that he had a great time. Dylan Bowden, an attendee at the show, agreed: “Yeah, toats. I shot gunned beer with Deaner.” Which seemed to be, in any event, evidence of a succesful afterparty.

The most provocative blog post in the history of the Internets

By Scott Feschuk - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 6:47 PM - 0 Comments

God.

Discuss.

Brent Rathgeber Maverick Watch

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 6:22 PM - 0 Comments

Meanwhile, the Conservative MP for Edmonton-St. Albert tweets that he is “opposed to using taxpayer’s dollars to build NHL arenas or subsidize teams.”

'We cannot continue in this way'

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 6:15 PM - 0 Comments

Maxime Bernier states his categorical opposition to public funding for the Quebec City arena.

We cannot continue in this way to pass on to our children the bills for all the projects that we cannot afford to pay ourselves. We cannot continue to distribute ever larger amounts of money to please everyone and buy social peace, while refusing to face the consequences. We cannot ask governments to manage our money in a responsible manner while at the same time demanding that they devote some more money to an irresponsible venture that will benefit us.

I too share the dream of again seeing a professional hockey team come back to play in our region and I sincerely hope that a way will be found to make this dream come true. But dreaming does not make the hard financial reality go away. It’s nice to have dreams, but when you use borrowed money to achieve them and act as if money grows on trees, you may have a brutal awakening. For all these reasons, I cannot in good conscience support this project.

It’s the investment opportunity of a lifetime (II)

By Philippe Gohier - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 5:29 PM - 0 Comments

I should start with a confession: when I wrote that really long post slamming governments for getting into the NHL arena-building business, I hadn’t yet read the Ernst & Young feasibility study (summary here; full report here) about the project. Had I read the report, my opinion would have been different. I would have hated the idea even more.

Here’s why: Continue…

Quran burning protests turn violent in Afghanistan

By macleans.ca - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 4:01 PM - 0 Comments

Numerous protests broke out in Afghanistan, two of which turned violent, in response to plans by Florida pastor Terry Jones plan to burn copies of the Quran, even though Jones announced he had suspended those plans. A hospital official in Western Afghanistan said one civilian was killed and three were wounded by gunshots at a protest outside a NATO in Bala Buluk in Farah Province. In northern Afghanistan, officials said five Afghan protesters were wounded by gunshots, three of them critically, when hundreds of men tried to force their way onto a NATO reconstruction base in Faizabad. Four policemen were also wounded defending the NATO base from attack. Police said protesters attacked the Faizabad base, which is staffed by German soldiers, because they were angered by reports than German Chancellor Angel Merkel had attended an award ceremony in Berlin for the Danish cartoonist whose caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad angered Muslims worldwide. Merkel denounced the plans of the Florida pastor to desecrate the Quran at the same ceremony. Jones’ current intentions are unknown. Though he had canceled plans to stage the event on Saturday in commemoration of 9/11, subsequent comments made to the media made it unclear whether or not he will go ahead with his planned course of action.

New York Times

Number of jobs and unemployment rate both rise in August

By macleans.ca - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 3:58 PM - 0 Comments

Statistics Canada reported Friday that both the number of people employed and the unemployment rate rose in August. Though an additional 36,000 people got jobs in August, the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 8.1 per cent. That raised the number of unemployed by 17,800 to slightly more than 1.5 million. Statistics Canada said the higher unemployment rate resulted from another 53,500 people looking for work. While most provinces showed little change in employment, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador all reported big job gains. Education, professional, scientific and technical services, and natural resources saw gains, but manufacturing, support services for business, building and other industries, and information, culture and recreation fell. The summer was also a challenging one for students, an average unemployment rate of 16.8 per cent for those 15 to 24 years old.

CBC News

TV Tidbits (updated)

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 3:40 PM - 0 Comments

A few quick hits as I wonder if Stephen Colbert brought out the “Atone Phone” for this Rosh Hashanah:

- CTV is now going to be fully owned by Bell, which spent $1.3 billion to acquire its lineup of U.S. simulcasts. David Olive of the Toronto Star argues that there’s “less to this deal than meets the eye,” and specifically that it won’t help Bell expand its service as much as it hopes — particularly in Quebec, where “CTV’s predominantly English-language content will be of minimal use.”

- The Peabody Awards have added four new members to its selection committee, including Mo Ryan, formerly TV critic of the Chicago Tribune and now covering TV for AOL.com.

- A look at how The Office might go about replacing Steve Carell. One of the things they’re considering is getting somebody famous to replace him as the “star” but not as the boss. Another possibility is promoting someone from within to be the dominant character on the show. But given that much of the show’s ratings success has been dependent on Carell’s fame, I assume they’re at least trying to find someone with a comparable degree of fame outside the world of TV. Because, really, if The 40 Year-Old Virgin hadn’t come out when it did, the show would not have survived. The movie, and Carell’s new popularity, didn’t just drive people to the show, but it created a whole Steve Carell comic persona that the writers could write for, leading to Michael becoming a more sympathetic and clearly-defined character than he was in the truncated first season. The advantage of adding a well-known star to the cast would not just be the publicity value, though that helps, but that they’d instantly know how to write for that person, making it (theoretically, anyway) easier to integrate the new lead into the large cast.

- I doubt that’s why Tim Allen is talking to Greg Daniels about a possible TV comeback, though in the unlikely event that they could get him, he’d certainly be a decent Carell replacement. If, as seems more likely, Allen is conferring with TV producers about a new star vehicle, I hope he doesn’t make the usual mistake and do an “edgy” single-camera show like the upcoming The Paul Reiser Show and a number of other ’90s star comeback vehicles. (Curb Your Enthusiasm doesn’t count because David wasn’t the on-camera star of the ’90s show.) If Wilson were alive, he’d tell Allen to find a new project that lets him do what he knows how to do.

- This piece on Hollywood’s Top 50 Showrunners is good, but seems to include almost every show in America. The few showrunners who didn’t get asked anything (oddly enough, there seems to be a bias against TNT shows like Men of a Certain Age) must feel very left out.

- Finally, you may have already seen Fred Fox Jr.’s oddly defensive piece where he tries to argue that the “Fonzie Jumps the Shark” episode (which he was assigned to write, though he can’t remember whose idea the story was) wasn’t really that bad. It’s not very convincing at all, since he uses the typical gambit of mistaking popularity for quality: the fact that the show continued to be popular does not prove it didn’t start to suck. Besides, the biggest problem was not that Fonzie jumped a shark but that he a) was a champion-level water skiier for no reason and b) skiied with his leather jacket on. By the way, you can see Fox — who made my Canadian childhood happier by creating My Secret Identity — in anothe shark-jump-y episode, the one where Fonzie does a dance based on himself called “Do the Fonzie.” Fox plays the rock star who dares to call Fonzie a “punk.” Which is exactly the sort of thing you wind up doing after the show has, well, Jumped the Shark.

Serving for peace

By Julia Belluz - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 3:04 PM - 0 Comments

Pakistan’s No. 1 tennis player, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, is the first of his countrymen to make it to the final of a Grand Slam. Before losing to American identical twins Mike and Bob Bryan, the tennis champ had a chance at winning both the men’s and mixed doubles finals of this year’s U.S. Open. But for Qureshi, there was more riding on his matches than simple sporting rivalry. To him, tennis is about world peace.

The 30-year-old has become something of a goodwill ambassador on and off the courts, drawing international attention for his unlikely alliances. In 2002, the Muslim player partnered with Amir Hadad of Israel for the doubles event at Wimbledon. While they made it to the third round at the prestigious tournament, and won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award for their union, Qureshi was lambasted back home and threatened with expulsion from the Davis Cup by the Pakistan Tennis Federation.

Continue…

Show your work

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 2:46 PM - 0 Comments

In light of conflicting counts circulating as to upcoming votes on Bill C-391, here is how we arrived at our most recent tally of 151-150.

In favour of Bill C-391 are counted 143 Conservatives, two independents and NDP MPs Bruce Hyer, John Rafferty, Nathan Cullen, Dennis Bevington, Jim Maloway and Peter Stoffer. That’s a total of 151 votes.

Against Bill C-391 are counted 75 Liberals, 48 Bloc Quebecois and 27 NDP MPs. That includes three New Democrats who have switched their votes: Charlie Angus, Claude Gravelle and Glenn Thibeault. That’s a total of 150 votes.

Not counted are the votes of Peter Milliken (the Speaker only votes in the event of a tie), Judy Wasylycia-Leis and Maurizio Bevilacqua (both of whom have officially resigned) and Inky Mark (who is expected to soon resign).

Three New Democrats who voted in favour of Bill C-391 when it was last put to the House—Malcolm Allen, Niki Ashton and Carol Hughes—are counted as undeclared at this point. Ms. Hughes has said she will not support a Liberal motion to scrap C-391, but she has not said what she would do in a straight up or down vote on the bill. Mr. Allen and Ms. Ashton have not, to my knowledge, committed one way or the other.

The one caveat is the vote of Bloc MP Jean Yves-Roy, who would seem to be deciding if or when he may vacate his seat. He has previously voted against C-391.

Why buy the cow when the public will buy the milk for you?

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 1:33 PM - 0 Comments

Some years back, Matt Welch dissected the notion of public funding for professional sports venues in a piece for Reason magazine. And in light of word the theoretical owner of a Quebec City NHL franchise isn’t interested in building an arena for that team, one passage is perhaps particularly noteworthy.

The money quote from baseball’s most nauseating bit of self-mythology, the 1989 Kevin Costner vehicle Field of Dreams, was, “If you build it, they will come.” Like much of the national pastime’s lore, the truth is actually much closer to the opposite: Build a stadium with tax money, and they will eventually leave…

Keating made the obvious but infrequently stated point in a March 2000 article for USA Today magazine: “Another major downside to government-built and -owned ballparks is that clubs are transformed from owners to renters. It is always easier for a renter to move to get a better deal. So, government officials who advocate taxpayer-funded sports facilities to attract or keep a team virtually ensure that teams will continue issuing threats and moving.”

The paper by Raymond Keating to which Welch refers is available here.

Meili Faille's Muslim Brotherhood junket

By Michael Petrou - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 1:10 PM - 0 Comments

Among the many junkets Canadian MPs accepted last year from foreign governments and various lobbies was one “cultural and economic exchange” to the United Arab Emirates taken by Bloc Quebecois MP Meili Faille. The $6,000 trip was sponsored by the Muslim Association of Canada. Continue…

James Cameron to visit Alberta's oilsands

By macleans.ca - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 1:09 PM - 0 Comments

Avatar director James Cameron is set to visit Alberta’s oil sands. The hollywood mogul sent a letter to Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach scheduling a trip starting on September 27, saying he wants to meet with oil executives and tour one of the operations in Fort McMurray. “As a native-born Canadian, I’m concerned about the criticism leveled at Alberta’s oilsands operations,” Cameron said, “and eager to learn whether they are true or not and if true, how they are being addressed by industry and government.” Earlier this year, Cameron called the oil sands a “black eye” on Canada’s image as an environmental leader. Stelmach reportedly sent the director a letter, prompting the September visit. George Poitras, a former chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation near Fort Chipewyan and a long-time activist against oil sands, will also meet with Cameron.

CBC News

Quebecor VP reportedly offered CRTC post

By macleans.ca - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 1:03 PM - 0 Comments

According to the outgoing vice-chairman of the CRTC, Quebecor vice-president Luc Lavoie has been offered the job as his replacement. Michel Arpin served as vice-chairman of the broadcast regulator from 2005 until 10 days ago, when his term ended. Arpin says Lavoie was approached to replace him a few months ago. The former spokesman for Brian Mulroney declined the offer, saying he won’t settle for less than the chairman’s job, which isn’t set to become available until 2012. Lavoie’s appointment would be a controversial one, given his close ties to Quebecor president Pierre Karl Péladeau, who is currently trying to secure a special broadcasting license for Sun TV News. Arpin had applied to have his post renewed earlier this year and admits being “disappointed” when the government chose to turn down his request.

Le Devoir

Maxime Bernier Maverick Watch

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 12:48 PM - 0 Comments

The honourable member for free market ideals isn’t so sure about federal funding for this Quebec City arena.

Conservative MPs from Quebec stoked speculation about federal support when they posed this week for a group photo in vintage Nordiques jerseys. Bernier, who represents the riding of Beauce, was noticeably absent from the photo op.

“If we offer this money to Quebec City, other cities will ask for money too,” Bernier said in his radio interview. “In the end, it’s a decision that involves $1 billion or $800 million, to be fair to other regions.”

Cost of healthcare needs reevaluating: study

By macleans.ca - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 12:35 PM - 0 Comments

The population is aging more slowly than expected, which means the burden on health care systems in industrialized countries might be less than expected and the cost of taking care of the elderly should be remeasured, according to a new study in Science magazine. The study, by American and Austrian researchers, suggests aging should be measured in a way that isn’t fixed to chronological ages. Current indicators used worldwide to determine healthcare and retirement costs are based on chronological age “and in many instances consider people as being old when they reach age 65 or even earlier,” professor Warren Sanderson, one of the authors, told the BBC. This has policy implications, since population changes are expected to have major economic consequences in the future.

BBC News

Castro regrets missile crisis, says Cuban economic model doesn’t work

By macleans.ca - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 12:16 PM - 0 Comments

After four years with little public exposure, 84-year-old Fidel Castro is speaking out once more and he’s saying provocative things. The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg was invited to spend three days with the former Cuban dictator after Goldberg penned an article about the potential for nuclear war between Iran and Israel. Castro told Goldberg “the Iranian capacity to inflict damage is not appreciated,” and warned that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not back down from his threats to Israel. Strikingly, Castro also revealed his support for Israel’s right to exist and his sympathy for the struggle of the Jewish people. “The Jews have lived an existence that is much harder than ours. There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust,” he said. On the topic of potential nuclear war, he also said he believes that “Obama could overreact [to Iran] and a gradual escalation could become a nuclear war.” The discussion prompted Goldberg to ask Castro about the logic of his own 1962 request for nuclear weapons from The Soviet Union, which culminated in the Cuban Missile Crisis. “After I’ve seen what I’ve seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn’t worth it all,” Castro said in his first admission he regrets threatening America. Another significant statement came when Castro’s was asked whether the Cuban economic model is still worth exporting (the state controls roughly 90 per cent of the Cuban economy). “The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore,” he said.

The Atlantic

151 to 150

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 11:57 AM - 0 Comments

NDP MP Claude Gravelle says he’ll vote against Bill C-391. That makes it 151 votes in favour of C-391, 150 against.

That leaves just three NDP votes still in play—Malcolm Allen, Niki Ashton and Carol Hughes.

Bell buys CTV, splitting up CTV Globemedia

By macleans.ca - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 11:07 AM - 0 Comments

BCE, the parent company of Bell Canada, is buying 100 per cent of CTV for $1.3 billion plus debt, a total outlay of $3.2-billion. The deal splits CTV Globemedia into two companies, with Bell taking the CTV network, which includes dozens of specialty channels like BNN and TSN. The Thomson-owned company Woodbridge will take over most of Globemedia, which owns The Globe and Mail newspaper, with BCE retaining a smaller 15 per cent share. The president and CEO of CTV Globemedia, Ivan Fecan, said CTV’s content will help Bell and CTV grow. “In today’s digital age, it is extremely important to be a part of a vertically integrated company that can take advantage of content over multiple screens,” said Fecan, who added that the deal will “accelerate Bell’s video growth across all three screens – mobile, online and TV.”

CTV News

Barney, unbound

By Brian D. Johnson - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 9:20 AM - 0 Comments

Sabrina Lantos/ Barney's Version

His first meeting with Dustin Hoffman did not begin well. Canadian producer Robert Lantos met the Oscar-winning actor for a drink at a Brentwood bistro, near Sunset Boulevard in L.A., hoping to persuade him to play Barney Panofsky’s father in the film version of Barney’s Version, Mordecai Richler’s last novel. As Lantos recalls, they had barely sat down when Hoffman said, “I want to be really clear. I’m not going to make this movie.” After telling Lantos that he looked like a nice man and had an impressive resumé, he went on to make his case: “First of all, I should be Barney. Why should I play a small part? It’s a tiny part. And who’s your director? Who is he?” Lantos gently reminded Hoffman, who’s 73, that the lead role was out of his range. “I said, ‘Could you imagine yourself being 30 onscreen?’ But we got past that quickly. He was just saying it to get it off his chest.”

Ironically, Hoffman had already passed up his chance to play the title character in a Mordecai Richler movie long ago—Lantos tried to cast him in Joshua Then And Now (1985). The producer even met him for a drink after seeing him onstage in Death of A Salesman. But Hoffman had no recollection of it. Nor did he remember sharing a table with the producer at the 2005 Golden Globes, where Annette Bening won an award for the Lantos film Being Julia. Hoffman spent that night talking to her husband, Warren Beatty, “and never seemed to take notice of me,” Lantos recalls. And five years later this unmemorable producer was asking him to play a tiny part as an old man in a movie by an unknown Canadian director.

Continue…

The long-gun registry’s value is only symbolic

By Andrew Coyne - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

KEVIN FRAYER/CP

One thing all the parties agree on is the vital importance of the long-gun registry. Whether it’s a costly and intrusive waste of time, as the Tories maintain, or an effective tool of law enforcement, as the Liberals insist, or both, as I gather is the NDP’s view, it’s widely seen as a critical, make-or-break issue.

And like most critical, make-or-break issues in politics, it’s of little actual importance to anyone. Whether the registry lives or dies will have no impact whatsoever on the vast majority of Canadians, and scarcely more on the minority that pay it close attention.

Take the cost, first. It is certainly true that the costs of setting up the registry were substantial, and outrageous. If the issue were whether it was worth spending $2 billion just to draw up a list, not of handguns or newly purchased rifles (both are subject to separate procedures), but of the rifles people already owned, I doubt there’d be many takers.

Continue…

Newsmakers

By macleans.ca - Friday, September 10, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

News flash: Carla has a past!
To the surprise of, well, no one, a tell-all book is set for release on the colourful life that model and singer Carla Bruni embraced before settling down as the third wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. It’s the tale of “a fast-living adventuress with an obsession with wealth and fame,” a source at Paris publisher Flammarion told the Telegraph. The source promises “explosive revelations” about secret lovers and plastic surgery, and the paper suggests the first couple tremble in anticipation of what author Besma Lahouri has uncovered. Well, maybe. Meanwhile, Bruni’s support for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman whose sentence to death by stoning may be upgraded to hanging, won criticism from an Iranian newspaper—and Catherine Deneuve, who called it “counterproductive,” given her past.

Continue…