Canada does not equal U.S.A.

I'm miffed about a rather depressing "clarification" in a Guardian article about how fashionable reusable shopping bags are. At the end of an article, designer Kresse Wesling describes the impetus behind her latest design for a UK supermarket chain and the Guardian helpfully decides that there is no border between Canada and the US.

'I grew up in Canada,' she says, 'so I love the shape of the brown paper bag [used to carry shopping in the United States]. That's what we've made: a brown bag, double-wide, with a really long shoulder strap.'

The square bracketed "explanation" even occurs in the same sentence in which she mentions growing up in Canada. What, did Canada not have brown paper shopping bags? Did Wesling's family go cross-border shopping (for groceries!) where she would longingly gazing at American brown paper bags?

Well done, Guardian, for implying that Canada and the US are virtually the same country. If only it were, so I could vote for Obama.

Not bad Photoshop, but...

This poster for Clint Eastwood's latest movie is awful awful awful awful...

It looks like she's going to eat him.

Don't meet me on the El-Train

Chicago is wonderful. Really, really wonderful (more, plus photos, to come). But O'Hare is really far away from the heart of the city.

Early this morning I left the B&B I'd been staying at and took the elevated-train (subway/LRT) to Chicago O'Hare airport with a friend of mine who was on the same flight. We were leaving from just north of downtown, so took the Red Line down and transferred onto the Blue Line, which is the only line that goes to O'Hare. On the way in, it had taken me an hour to get in on train and I expected something similiar. All was going well until an announcement that due to construction on the tracks, the Blue Line train ended at Belmont Station, we'd have to disembark and take a shuttel to Addison and Irving Park stations. At Irving Park we could board another train to continue on. So we got off, went on a bus, saw more parts of Chicago, and finally got back onto a fuller, lurchier train.

The delay was due to construction to enable the train to go faster than 15mph on the tracks. How slow is 15 mph? On that part of the Blue Line, the tracks are placed in the middle of what looks like the interstate highway—four lines on each side. At one point, I looked outside, and realized that cars were passing us. Easily.

Construction is scheduled to be finished Dec. 2008, at which point all parts of the Blue Line track from O'Hare to downtown should have top speeds of 55 mph. And oh yeah, the trip out took 1.5 hours in all, and that's not counting the 2o minute walk through O'Hare. It felt like I had already gone on a long trip before even getting on the plane.

How Jane Austen movies should really be watched

At the very least, I wouldn't be (as?) angry at Becoming Jane.

Saw these guys, Mostly Water Theatre, at the Edmonton Fringe Fest this year.



Written rules, with a link to a slightly different radio version (with clearer audio) here.

I think it's really quite clever, though it's "drawing-room", not "parlour".

Oh, Google

Does this bode ill for the British monarchy?

Hey, we're over here

Amidst all the ridiculousness about Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin having foreign policy experience because the state she governs, Alaska, is next to Russia, I have to ask:

What about Canada? Alaska shares an actual border with Canada. And Canada's a foreign country, too! But wait—if proximity to Canada qualifies as foreign policy experience, then the governors of Washington State, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine also have foreign policy experience.

And you know, Illinois isn't that far away from Ontario, if you don't mind going through Michigan first. And Chicago is located on one of the Great Lakes, though (alas!) it's the one that's not shared with Canada. Does that still count?

Bohemian Rhapsody: Two Memories

#1

Department holiday party in January, held at a community hall. A grad student as DJ, doing a fantastic job. We're dancing. We've been drinking. I managed to pull a friend who doesn't dance much out on the dance floor after he's had a few beers. We hear the opening strains of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and freak out. No one dances to the song, because, really, it's not a dancesable tune, but we all sing along, some of miming as well. It's an awesome dance floor group sing. And then the bridge, with the guitar solo. And Dave, subdued, former-metal-head Winnipeg "Saddleback" Dave, pulls out air guitar. For the entire solo. And I only wish I had taken a photo, but I was laughing too hard. Awesome.

#2

Edmonton Fringe festival. Final weekend, Saturday night, on the way to an 11:15 show. Pass by a busking station, where a crowd has gathered to hear what turns out to be a ukelele cover band. Lead singer intros by explaining how difficult the song was to learn, joking that they lost a drummer/keyboardist along the way. Jeff wants to know what the song is so we linger (there's time). Opening strains of "Bohemian Rhapsody." Me: "no. way." Thing is, the cover band is good. Really really good. Breezy, cool late August night. Darkness, lights from Fringe site, sound of a band that I can't see through the crowd. Three-part harmonies. Singing along. People become drawn to the buskers. The crowd grows. Applause.

Perfection.