Newsmakers

By macleans.ca - Friday, June 4, 2010 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

Out of the horse’s mouth
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi doesn’t believe he has any more power than wartime dictator Benito Mussolini—a comparison his critics might not argue with. Berlusconi was lamenting his powerlessness when he quoted from the Fascist leader’s diary in a speech this week: “They say I have power. It isn’t true. All I can do is say to my horse: go right or left.” This new humility, if that is what it is, could be linked to Berlusconi’s falling popularity. It turns out that while Italians tolerate Berlusconi’s trademark gaffes and ability to dodge criminal trials, they aren’t fond of his new fiscal austerity plan.

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Grandpa, what did it mean to "take a picture"?

By Colby Cosh - Saturday, December 12, 2009 at 12:11 PM - 23 Comments

Among the most convincing “What will 2009 be remembered for?” ideas I’ve seen is Jason Kottke’s notion that this is the year we heard the death knell of traditional still photography. Esquire magazine broke new ground in May by capturing a high-definition cover image of Megan Fox without using a still camera at all: instead of having her cavort en maillot while a photographer activated a motor drive a couple thousand times, they shot the whole sequence with a high-definition video camera and selected the most appealing compositions from the resulting footage. When you imagine the editing process, you realize that there’s no clear qualitative distinction between taking two frames a second and taking 24. We’ve stepped forward into a world where “video” is capable of image quality as good as “still photography” was just a few years ago—allowing photographers to capture the crucial moment at leisure, after the shoot, instead of with their fingers in real time.

Of course, saying it “allows” them to do things a certain way doesn’t mean they’ll like it, because it “allows” everyone else to do it that way too. Ask a newspaper columnist how he much has enjoyed having his medium demoticized; it drives down the price something awful. The new “moving photography”, as it becomes available to the consumer, will be seen to de-privilege the mystical gift of perfect timing that was once perceived to distinguish a Cartier-Bresson or a Winogrand from the herd. (Though that argument becomes hard to sustain when you find out just how many exposures Winogrand, for one, took–more than he had time to scrutinize editorially, and maybe more than anyone ever will have time for. It seems likely that he regarded the shutter of his Leica as a mechanical impediment he would have been happy to see superseded.)

In short, cheap hi-def video seems poised to make editorial judgment (and being in the right place at the right time) scarce relative to content-generation, which is exactly what the web did to nonfiction writers. On the other hand, cameras aren’t totally Moorean. The price of chips and memory will continue to approach zero; glass, not so much.

The Mailbag: Tiger Woods, a pair of beavers, Michael Ignatieff's eyebrows

By Scott Feschuk - Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 7:25 AM - 39 Comments

Welcome to the Tuesday Mailbag on Wednesday, where we answer all the pressing questions of the day, save for the question of why I lied just now when everyone knows this column is in fact all about boob jokes and David Hasselhoff references.

Queries for future mailbags can be submitted in the comments below, sent to me via KITT or dispatched using electronic – or “magic” – mail at scott.feschuk@macleans.rogers.com. Next week’s mailbag will give priority to questions dealing with your most personal and intimate problems, including relationship queries and urgent medical advice. So staunch that bleeding and start typing.

Remember – there are no stupid questions, unless Helen Thomas somehow gets involved.

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Dear Scott:

What would you do right now if you were Tiger Woods? – Dan222

Dan –

Right now? I’d duck. In fact, I’d probably spend most of my time around the house ducking. But when I’m not ducking – which wouldn’t be that often – here are some of the things I might do – duck! – if I were Tiger Woods:

1. Start doing porn. Sounds insane, right? But think about it. He’d get to have all the sex he wants, plus at this point porn stars are actually more highly regarded and respected than Tiger by society at large. Two birds, meet one stone. (That could also be the title of his first movie.)

2. Pay a guy to get rid of this whole so-called “Internet.” Shut ’er right down. Bury it in a landfill somewhere in Jersey. Damn thing is nothing but trouble.

3. Construct an alternate reality in which Continue…

NFL Picks Week 4: Where football and John Mayer's junk intersect

By Scott Feschuk - Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 3:44 PM - 6 Comments

Scott Feschuk Last week: 7-9 Season: 25-23

Scott Reid Last week: 8-8 Season: 29-19

Welcome to Can’t Miss NFL Picks for Week 4, the first bye week of the season… not counting Week 3 when Carolina said “bye” to its last remnants of credibility. In honour of the Panthers’ QB, all interceptions thrown this Sunday afternoon shall be referred to as “delhommes.”

Oakland (plus 9) at Houston

Reid: According to Forbes, Bill Gates saw his personal fortune erode by $20-million a day over the past 12 months. That’s roughly the same pace at which JaMarcus Russell has seen his goodness-at-football deteriorate. Over the first three games, he’s thrown four times as many interceptions as touchdowns (hint: he’s only hurled one TD). He’s completed about 40% of his passes. His QB rating is a Jack Benny-ish 39. He’s fat, he can’t sing and if he continues to perform this poorly, someone’s going to ask him to serve as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. The latest hot rumour is that the Raiders will pick up just-released Jeff Garcia and name him this week’s starter. Why not? They’re deep down the well of ‘At this point anyone would be better.’ Is DeForest Kelley still alive? Give the Doc a shot. Pick: Houston.

Feschuk: But Jim – he’s a doctor, not a miracle worker. And although DeForest Kelley is in fact dead, this does not entirely rule out the idea of him replacing Russell. Think about it: If Patrick Swayze could cross the firmament in 1990 just to give Demi Moore a goodbye kiss, then surely God has no choice but to give Bones McCoy a weekend pass to lead the Raiders to glorious victory and then go haunt the crap out of Shatner. I’m pretty sure it’s in the Bible. Pick: Houston.

Cincinnati (minus 5.5) at Cleveland

Feschuk: Hey everybody – stumped for what to get your football-loving pal for his birthday? Give the gift of a week at Brady Quinn’s Fantasy Backup Quarterback Camp (clipboard and headset included)! Derek Anderson is the new starting QB in Cleveland because, yeah, that’ll solve everything. Meanwhile, here’s my understanding of how the NFL works. The Bengals go out and Continue…

Diablo Cody now in sync

By Brian D. Johnson - Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 10:56 AM - 0 Comments

I just learned that, because of an upload glitch, the audio fell out of sync in my video interview with screenwriter Diablo Cody. I’ve now fixed it, and feel deserves a second chance. So here it is again, in its corrected form. I talked to the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Juno at TIFF for the premiere of Jennifer’s Body. She’s wonderfully candid as she talks about teenage sex, Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Steven Spielberg, writer’s block, roller coasters and tattoos, among other things.

Diablo Cody on camera

By Brian D. Johnson - Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 9:53 AM - 1 Comment

Here’s a video of my interview with Diablo Cody during the Toronto International Film Festival. The Oscar-winning screenwriter of Juno showed up for the premiere of her new movie, Jennifer’s Body. She talked about teenage sex, Megan Fox, Steven Spielberg,writer’s block, roller coasters and tattoos, among other things.

Opening Weekend: Shape shifting with Megan Fox and Matt Damon

By Brian D. Johnson - Friday, September 18, 2009 at 11:54 AM - 3 Comments

Jennifer's Body

Jennifer’s Body: Written by Diablo Cody (Juno), and starring Megan Fox as —who acts like Angelina Jolie in her Billy Bob Thornton phase—Jennifer’s Body throws a feminist kink into the old blonde/brunette, saint/slut high-school horror movie formula. Evil arrives in the form of an indie rock band called Low Shoulder, which comes to the town of Kettle Falls and commits a cult murder to achieve stardom. Fox is, well, a fox, and teenage boys all over North America will be trying to sneak in under the film’s R rating to drool over her. The sex is strictly soft-core (no nudity, boys). But there’s a long, lingering lesbian kiss, framed in profile as extreme-close-up, between Fox and co-star Amanda Seyfried. And while Fox devours her flesh-eating role with great gusto, Seyfried’s performance is the film’s revelation. She plays the good-girl heroine opposite Fox’s carnal cannibal. But in a modern twist on the formula, this sweet blond is far from virginal. She knows her way around a condom, and may even be having more sex than the bad girl. Seyfried also stars in Atom Egoyan’s Chloe, where she gives a dynamite performance in a shape-shifting role as a hooker that allows her to demonstrate remarkable range. Continue…

Bruce Cockburn's rocket launcher, Knut's girlfriend, and the new Osama

By Ken MacQueen - Friday, September 18, 2009 at 8:00 AM - 2 Comments

Dr. Nash’s hero
Wheelchair basketball lifted Terry Fox out of the funk of losing a leg to cancer. So it’s fitting that Fox’s Marathon of Hope inspired fellow British Columbian Steve Nash, Canada’s greatest basketball player. Nash interviewed Fox’s family, visited his grave in Port Coquitlam and has produced a heartfelt documentary on his childhood hero, to be aired on ESPN next spring. Fox’s foundation has raised hundreds of millions for cancer research. Nash’s own foundation helps “underserved” children in Canada, Arizona and Paraguay. The Phoenix Suns point guard is back in B.C. this weekend to receive an honorary law degree from the University of Victoria, and to host a charity soccer match in Vancouver.

White-collar crooks
Both the federal and Quebec governments promised tougher measures this week to hunt down and jail white-collar fraudsters, and none too soon in the view of jilted investors. Jury selection began on Monday for the criminal trial of Vincent Lacroix, the former CEO of Norbourg Asset Management. He is accused of stealing $115 million from thousands of Quebec investors. He was previously found guilty of securities violations and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. That was reduced on appeal, and he is now on parole after serving just 40 months. Also free in Montreal, money manager Earl Jones faces criminal charges for allegedly scamming 150 investors, including friends and family, of $50 million. Bailiffs seized his condominium last Friday as police kept a watchful eye on a scrum of angry investors waiting outside. Jones had wisely already vacated, leaving behind junk food on the counter and an open book on the sofa. Proceeds from the condo’s sale will go to investors. In Calgary on Monday, police charged two Alberta men with allegedly running an international Ponzi scheme that raised more than $100 million from investors. One of the men is still at large. Continue…

TIFF '09: On the red carpet

By macleans.ca - Friday, September 11, 2009 at 11:05 AM - 0 Comments

Click on each image to enlarge.