I just watched this great interview with Chuck D. He’s one of the most interesting musicians of his generation and one of the grandfathers of hip-hop.
Category Archives: Culture
Dying with Dignity and Judicial Freedom (or Activism)
So Canada will soon have a legal framework for euthanasia despite the fact that Harper fought it tooth and nail.
I’m not 100% certain how I feel about this, but I think that’s normal. Like many issues relating to life and death it’s complicated so this is a pretty normal feeling I suppose. In fact, I tend to distrust people who don’t have any ambiguous thought at all when it comes to political-medical issues.
In either case, it’s good to know that even under one of the most right wing governments Canada has had in the past half century, the framework of the Constitution is standing up for fundamental freedoms in a way that evolves with the times. This has had me thinking a lot about the long term effect of having a modern legal framework which is based on 20th century norms of justice and human rights. As controversial as some elements are, we have a lot to be thankful here and we should be happy that the court under McLachlin has managed to remain largely free of interference from both Chrétien and Harper.
I know that some on the right have portrayed this as judicial activism (and not in a positive way) but I’m very happy that our legal system at the judicial level at least, still seems to be largely aloof of the government. I really can’t imagine that the country would be a better place if it weren’t.
Margot Wallström is Heroic for Speaking the Truth
I came across this article tonight on Reddit. It’s worth a read, I was unaware of the story.
It’s a long headline but it certainly doesn’t bury the lede. I only wish that Canada’s Foreign Minister was of Margot Wallström’s calibre.
Wings of Russia
If you’re like me and you have an obsession with aircraft then this series is a bit of a treat. Wings of Russia is sort of a Russian equivalent to the Great Planes/Wings series produced in the United States but focused almost exclusively on the history of Russian and Soviet aircraft.
Check it out! It’s fairly in depth and it’s great to watch a series that doesn’t treat Soviet and Russian aerospace development as simply a reaction to Western aircraft. From what I know about the topic it’s a fairly well balanced presentation.
Putin and the Truth
In light of the latest news from the Vladimir Putin, I thought I’d share this little article I came across a few days ago. It’s an interesting read discussing some of the psychology of the current Russian regime.
Without Sky: How a dystopian short story was Russia’s model for war
Vice: The Giants of Iceland
I watched this last night, it was an interesting documentary and it really took me back to the days when I used to watch Magnús Ver Magnússon.
Life is Beautiful
For some reason when I saw this it really touched me. I used to be a big fan of these sort of shorts, but I haven’t seen a good one in a long time.
Hope you enjoy!
International Women’s Day
Happy 100th International Women’s Day! Hooray! The Bad Astronomer has a post about it if you’re interested. The video by Judi Dench and Daniel Craig is a good reminder of how far we have to go for truer equality and perhaps how far we’ve come.
Nathan Rogers
I figured I’d take a quick moment to share some of the music I’ve been listening to lately. Back in October I spent a couple of days in the Eastern Townships on union business. Because it’s so close to the US border and CBC Radio 1 reception can be sketchy I usually find myself tuning into NPR Vermont and while I was driving back to Montréal on Sunday afternoon to catch my train back to Toronto I happened to catch a programme covering modern folk music. I immediately recognized Stan and Garnet Rogers when I turned the radio on, but jammed between them there was a Stan Rogers song I didn’t recognize. I thought that was odd because as far as I know I own everything he ever recorded and the recording certainly didn’t sound like a bootleg. As soon as the host came on after the set he explained my confusion by crediting Stan’s son Nathan for the middle song in the set: “Jewel of Paris”.
To say that he sounds eerily similar to his father is quite an understatement. I’ve done a bit of reading on his background and accomplishments as well as the requisite crawling through Youtube and Google to catch clips of my performing live. I’m sure he’s trying to carve out his own niche, among other talents he is an accomplished throat singer who has studied with indigenous groups in Mongolia and Nunavut, but releasing a first album, “The Gauntlet”, that is reminiscent of his father is not a bad way to start.
I can’t find an online version of Jewel of Paris but here’s a live cover on Youtube of Stan’s famous “Northwest Passage” which is a good sample of his voice. Happy Winter Solstice!
Pioneer One
I came across a link to Pioneer One last week and I downloaded it over the weekend. I finally got around to watching it this evening and I have to say that for a $6000 budget it’s not that bad, in fact I’m sure hoping that it continues, I’m pretty curious about the plot. Anyway I won’t bother repeating stuff you can just read on the site itself, but the idea of micro funded entertainment is really neat. I’ll be following this closely.