MetaFilter posts tagged with Canada

For Sale: A Video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Smoking Crack Cocaine

(Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:39:46 -0800

"Rob Ford, Toronto's conservative mayor, is a wild lunatic given to making bizarre racist pronouncements and randomly slapping refrigerator magnets on cars. One reason for this is that he smokes crack cocaine. I know this because I watched him do it, on a videotape. He was fucking hiiiiigh. It's for sale if you've got six figures." [single link Gawker]

Mennonites in Mexico

filthy light thief — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:51:40 -0800

If you fancy diversity in cheeses, you might have come across queso Chihuahua, or Chihuahua cheese, a Mexican semi-soft cow milk cheese. But if you're in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, the cheese is called Queso Menonita or Campresino Menonita, for the Mennonites who first made the cheese in this region. The Mennonites in Mexico are a small but growing socio-religious pocket of that has retained much of their traditional Dutch and German heritage, despite a series of moves, from Russia to Canada, and finally Mexico. Mexican photographer Eunice Adorno spent time with Mennonites in Durango, capturing moments in their lives. Adorno first had to overcome the language barrier, as she spoke Spanish and English, but no Plautdietsch, or Mennonite Low German. Though the Mennonites retained their language, they shared some of their culture with their new neighbors, including their cheese. The Old Colony Mennonites have stayed closer to their roots, while most of the Modern Mennonites speak Spanish, drive trucks and buggies and their schools are a mix of the Mennonite and Mexican educational system. In the 1990s, there was also Mennonite drug-smuggling rings, who accounted for about 20 percent of the drugs smuggled into Canada. Some Mennonites are looking to move again, but this time, it's because of drought and limited farming land, not religious persecution. About a dozen Mennonites traveled from Mexico to the prairie of Tatarstan, 900 km (~560 mi) east of Moscow and similar to Manitoba with its cold winters, hot summers and flat prairie. Mennonites have also moved into Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil, with smaller groups in Uruguay and Argentina. In Paraguay, the Mennonite community is almost completely self-contained. They administer their own schools, conduct various community services, have political structures, and maintain law and order in their colonies. Only in serious criminal cases do the national authorities step in.

O, Canada...you're doing it wrong.

bitmage — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:21:34 -0800

"Scientific discovery is not valuable unless it has commercial value" The Canadian scientific research and development agency has announced a major policy change. Going forward, they will only perform research that has "social or economic gain".

Do you wear headphones? Do you like skeletons?

arcticseal — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:30:31 -0800

How about dancing Canadian skeletons? Avec les sous-titres et sonnaille. Introducing mounties, a new Canadian supergroup formed by Hawksley Workman with Hot Hot Heat frontman Steve Bays and Limblifter/Age of Electric member Ryan Dahle. It's rather catchy and an early contender for my song of the summer.

Forgot to Celebrate D-Day, Sister Woman.

QueerAngel28 — Sat, 04 May 2013 04:34:29 -0800

What Does D-Day, MLK JR and Tennessee Williams have in common? NO, not that D-Day. The other D-Day. The forgotten D-Day. May 2nd 1963 The Children's March aka D-Day. The D-Day that was orginized by C.O.R.E's own James Bevel. C.O.R.E's Most famous voice was MLK, but there was another member just off stage right (Tennesse Williams cast her on stage in his 1955 Broadway masterpiece, and again as the same character in the 1958 film), working closely with Dr. King. In 1963 she was arrested in a freedom walk, jailed, made an example of, and sentenced to six months hard labor for "Endangering the Customs and Mores of the People of Alabama". Her lawyer, Fred Gray, was the first African-American lawyer to represent a white woman south of the Mason–Dixon Line. She was typecast. Later in life she got work on The Flying Nun. She is Canadian. She is a Quaker. She is that woman. Her story if full of small discrepancies, and missing information. She, along with the Children's March is mostly forgotten, but Sister Woman is Alive!

Re-Surfacing

Monsieur Caution — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 00:51:23 -0800

In the archives of Cinema Canada (1962-1989), articles about the relationship of Canadian cinema to American genre films, the Canadianization of popular comedy, and "what is 'Canadian film'?" stand out as typical--even commonplace, given their context. They also happen to suggest an interesting mix of obscure and popular films to watch. A few examples, presented in the order in which they are mentioned or alluded to in the articles:

La bête lumineuse (1982; French with English subtitles) - a documentary about moose-hunters in Quebec, directed by Pierre Perrault.
Le chat dans le sac (1964; French only) - a "culturally significant" film in the history of Quebec cinema, directed by Gilles Groulx.
The Changeling (1980) - a quiet but effective ghost story, directed by Peter Medak; winner of the first ever Genie Award for Best Canadian film.
The Pyx (1973) - a supernatural crime thriller, directed by Harvey Hart.
Shivers (1975) - filmed as Orgy of the Blood Parasites and a.k.a. They Came from Within; a body horror film by David Cronenberg.
Death Weekend (1976) - a.k.a. The House by the Lake; a low budget horror/thriller film directed by William Fruet.
Paperback Hero (1973) - a film directed by Peter Pearson, in which a hockey player starts to believe he's a gunslinger in the Old West.
Gina (1975; French only) - a revenge film (trigger warning), directed by Denys Arcand.
Goin' Down the Road (1970) - a film directed by Donald Shebib and "generally regarded as one of the best and most influential Canadian films of all time."
Mon oncle Antoine (1971; French with English subtitles) - a film directed by Claude Jutra; "twice ... voted the greatest Canadian film ever in the Sight & Sound poll ...voted TIFF List of Canada's Top Ten Films of All Time 3 out of 3 times."
Excerpt from Amerika (1972-1983) - a mosaic of experimental short films, directed by Al Razutis.
The Rowdyman (1972) - a "comedy with moralistic overtones" notable for its depiction of life in Newfoundland; directed by Peter Carter.
Death Ship (1980) - a horror film directed by Alvin Rakoff.
The Last Chase (MST3K KTMA episode 20) (1981) - a science fiction film directed by Martyn Burke and parodied by Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Les bons débarras (1980; French only) - a "classic" of Quebec/Canadian cinema and the second winner of the Genie Award for Best Canadian Film; directed by Francis Mankiewicz.
Circle of Two (1982) - Richard Burton and Tatum O'Neal in a film about a teenage girl and a much older man; directed by Jules Dassin.
Scanners (1981) - the classic science fiction / horror film directed by David Cronenberg.

See also the many films available for download at the web site of the National Film Board of Canada mentioned previously.

Facing up to CNN

greatgefilte — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:14:36 -0800

Should viewer discretion be advised for pictures of children with congenital deformities? One Ontario woman doesn't think so: "I am 'deformed' and reading that viewer discretion warning ahead of the article (amounted) to telling me that every time I left the house I should wear a similar warning." Born with Goldenhar syndome, Penny Loker (blog, Twitter) hasn't let her congenital facial abnormalities stop her. She works in customer service at one of Canada's biggest telecom companies, Rogers, and volunteers regularly at Kitchener, Ontario's Grand River Hospital. Oh, and her dream is to head to Comic-Con one day. Penny's email to CNN resulted in the network apparently changing (but not removing) the warning displayed before accessing the photo gallery in question, and a detailed profile about her life, not to mention an interview on the Canadian Broadcasting Company's local affiliate.

"Ring it Out"

zarq — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:29:53 -0800

Last fall, the Canadian Space Agency asked students to design a simple science experiment that could be performed in space, using items already available aboard the International Space Station. Today, Commander Chris Hadfield conducted the winner for its designers: two tenth grade students, Kendra Lemke and Meredith Faulkner, in a live feed to their school in Fall River, Nova Scotia. And now, we finally have an answer to the age-old question, What Happens When You Wring Out A Washcloth In Space? Additional Videos Commander Hatfield is Canadian, and has been recording videos for the CSA from the ISS during the current mission, which they have been uploading to their YouTube channel. Playlist. The vids cover random trivia about living in space. There's also an inspirational message and a discussion or two of other experiments the astronauts have been conducting. Background * NBC's Cosmic Log: What happens when you wring out a washcloth in zero-G? Now we know. * Mashable: What Happens When You Wring Out a Washcloth in Space? * CSA Press Release Expedition 35: Photos * Commander Hadfield's Tumblr * NASA's Flickr Photo Set for Expedition 35. Previously on Metafilter * Gorgeous photos of earth tweeted from the International Space Station * Space jam Other Stuff * The Greatest Conversations To Ever Happen On Twitter Between Real Astronauts And The Cast of Star Trek * Reddit IAmA: I Am Astronaut Chris Hadfield, currently orbiting planet Earth.

Walk Out to Winter

unSane — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 07:33:43 -0800

In January, braving -40C weather, 18-year old David Kawapit and half a dozen other young Cree supporters set out wearing snowshoes and pulling sleds laden with supplies from the isolated community of Whapmagoostui in northern Quebec, to trudge the 1,500 kilometres from the edge of Hudson Bay to Ottawa in support of better conditions for aboriginal people. Yesterday, their numbers swelled to about 270 they arrived in Ottawa, where they were met with cheering and wild applause. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt agreed to speak with some of the young people who completed the trek, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper had more important matters to attend to.

Operation Overlord

zarq — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:21:02 -0800

PhotosNormandie is a collaborative collection of more than 3,000 royalty-free photos from World War II's Battle of Normandy and its aftermath. (Photos date from June 6 to late August 1944). The main link goes to the photostream. You can also peruse sets, which include 2700+ images from the US and Canadian National Archives.

“People never expect a youth to challenge the government".

jeffen — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 09:19:45 -0800

The Manitoba government's Bill C-18 compels all publicly-funded schools to accommodate students who want to form gay-straigt alliances. This bill has been met with resistance by religious schools, federal ministers and local clergy. Despite the furor, Education Minister Nancy Allan is not backing down, nor is sixteen-year old activist Evan Wiens.

Les érections de Stephen Harper

Capt. Renault — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 18:07:36 -0800

Les érections de Stephen Harper. (SL video) (SFW). Speaking in French, Prime Minister Stephen Harper asks the hard questions about Canadian "érections". (Via MontrealMemes)

"In the world of science, they are rock stars..."

Midnight Rambler — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 10:58:36 -0800

The Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) is a unique research facility in northern Ontario comprised of 58 lakes set aside by the Government of Canada in which entire lakes are used for experimental manipulation. ELA has effectively solved the problems of nutrient loading and acid rain in freshwater ecosystems. As well, it has produced top research on the effects of estrogen, climate change and methylmercury in freshwater. Current research includes the impacts of nanosilver, climate change, transgenic fish and flame retardants on aquatic ecosystems aquatic ecosystems. On March 31, 2013, The Harper Government will close the Experimental Lakes Area. The closure is said to be due to the $2 million/year price tag. However, required remediation of the facility will cost approximately $25-$50 million. Many prominent scientists do not agree with the decision, calling the closure a 'tragedy'. Efforts are currently under way to Save ELA

The reporter, his foreign-minister father and the war that consumed them

KokuRyu — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 10:23:59 -0800

The reporter, his foreign-minister father and the war that consumed them Ten years ago, Canada made a bold decision to stay out of the Iraq War. Many of us may forget how agonizing the process was. Patrick Graham was a reporter in Baghdad in 2003. His father Bill Graham was Canada’s foreign minister. Today, in an intimate conversation, they remember the months that changed the world, the nation and their own lives

The Inscrutable Brilliance of Anne Carson

Rustic Etruscan — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:00:47 -0800

Famous writer Anne Carson on ice bats: "I made up ice bats, there is no such thing." (SLNYT) Anne Carson previously.

Richard the Wurm

rosswald — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:10:55 -0800

Hahaha, that worm looks like a penis! Oh, wait, that's the headline. Well, for the most part: 'Missing link' connects two weird, wormy sea creatures Abstract

This Here is Rich Terfry: Forty One Odd Years (and a few days more)

filthy light thief — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 21:26:43 -0800

Happy belated birthday to Jesus Murphy, Haslam, DJ Critical, Uncle Climax (NSFW audio), Stinkin' Rich (NSFW audio), Dirk Thornton, Buck 65, or as his mom called him, Richard Terfry. Born in the year of the rat, and he's a Pisces, which makes him a rat fish, but by trade, he's a turntablist/ MC/ producer/ broadcaster. Generally he makes some form of hip-hop (some NSFW lyrics), though as of late, he's been broadening his style, as heard in his cover of Leonard Cohen's Who By Fire (previously) and Paper Airplane (official "lyric" video). In tribute to his 41st birthday, there's a lot more music inside. Born in 1972 in the farming community of Mount Uniacke, Nova Scotia, Rich Terfry's musical background starts in hard rock and heavy metal, when he was a "a child soldier in the Kiss Army," and a fan of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. At age 16, he was scouted by the New York Yankees, but his dream of being a major league baseball player ended early with a shoulder injury. In the 1980s, he heard hip-hop on the radio (or maybe from his babysitter's roller-rink DJ boyfriend), and his path was set. He headed to Halifax in 1989, ahead of the local hip-hop boom of the early 1990s. In 1990, he recorded his first track, which Terfry confesses wasn't very good at all (the audio link is dead, but this is a live link). Nonetheless, it got play on college radio, where Terfry DJ'd as Jesus Murphy for more than a decade. Rich Terfry's first official recording was under the name Haslam, and he had two tracks on a Phunky Lobster cassette in 1993. He released a few more tracks in the following years, using a number of different stage names, including both Uncle Climax and Stinkin' Rich on the '97 cassette Cock Dynamiks (which is now online via Bandcamp), and his first solo Buck 65 album, Language Arts, that same year (re-released in 2001; Grooveshark stream). That year or the next, a 120-minute cassette opus titled Vertex was released, and a year or two later, a shortened version was put on CD (YT Playlist; Discogs entry), and followed a few years later by Man Overboard (Grooveshark), and Synesthesia, which was originally mis-pressed without track breaks. In 2002, Terfry signed to Warner Music Canada, seeing a number of his original albums getting remastered and re-released (and untitled tracks given names), including old material going back to 1988 and features more rapper bombast than later releases, under the title Weirdo Magnet (YT playlist), which keeps with the style of many past releases and doesn't include track titles. In 2002, Warner also released the new concept album, Square (MySpace stream). The whole album consisted of four long segments, each containing a few songs, and much of it instrumental. The next year saw the release of Talkin' Honkey Blues (YT playlist), which consisted of "a continual thematic series of songs revolving around a single river." Those first six Buck 65 albums were part of what the Language Arts series (with Weirdo Magnet retroactively listed as Language Arts #1), spanning from minor to major labels. The seventh installation, Strong Arm, was released as a free mixtape online that has since disappeared from Buck's site, but it's on YouTube in 3 parts: 1, 2, and 3. That interesting lean towards country/rural themes that continued into This Right Here is Buck 65 (YT Playlist), in which old songs are recast as "honky-tonk parables," replacing the original samples with actual instruments. He went even farther backwoods with Porch, a tour CDr that paired Terfry with even more pared down instrumentation, consisting of guitar, banjo, dobro, and mandolin, depending on the track. Secret House Against the World (Grooveshark) continued the path beyond hip-hop, with some odd turn-offs into turntablism, though on the whole, there's a lot more folk, blues, and jazz than hip-hop beats, and where such beats are present, they sound more like Tricky's Maxinquaye-era trip-hop. But hip-hop wasn't gone for good, as Terfry teamed up with DJ Signify and Scratch Bastid for the next album, Situation, a concept album/ode to 1957 (Grooveshark stream). Originally it was a casual collaboration without intention, where Scratch Bastid (Paul Murphy) made beats and sent them to Terfry to rap over. Those tracks were passed around their friends, eventually making it to Warner, who liked it enough to want it to be a proper album. There was a serious problem with the songs in their current form: Bastid made his beats from loads of uncleared samples. So the album was re-recorded with studio musicians, and the original demos faded from view, until Scratch Bastid was kind enough to share them. Before the release of Situation, Terfry posted on Buck65.com (and his message spread elsewhere) that while he wouldn't stop making music, he didn't see music as a viable full-time job, that making money off of records is "hopeless now," and touring was fun, but a rough life. He even mentioned giving his music away and no longer making physical releases. He wrote "It’s just a thought. But if anyone wants to give me a job (I’ll consider just about anything), get in touch." Situation was released on a number of formats, so he hadn't foresworn physical releases just yet, but in 2008, he took a full-time job on CBC Radio 2, as part of the stations's shift from a strong classical music focus to more pop sensibilities. He's still there, more than four years later, and the show he hosts, Drive, features more pop/indie rock and folk than anything else. For a taste of the artists, here's a YouTube playlist of 58 live performances on Drive. Terfry, "known to the kids as Buck 65," shared his "fave books" as part of the CBC Book Club. But that day job didn't mean an end to Buck 65. True to his word, Terfry released some non-physical music, for free: three huge albums worth of music, about 70 tracks, written and produced in 3 months. Tell him a country and your email address, and the music (plus a PDF booklet) is yours. Or, stream and/or download them directly from Soundcloud: Dirtbike 1, Dirtbike 2 and Dirtbike 3. In that same year, Terfy collaborated with Symphony Nova Scotia, as you can hear in this YouTube playlist, or in a slightly different breakdown on Grooveshark. There is a nice bit of chatter between the songs, with both Terfry and conductor/director Dinuk Wijeratne, who composed a piece (Hymnpeace Remixed) that Terfry improvised with live. After two decades of making music, Buck 65 returned with 20 Odd Years, first as 4 EPs, then as an album (MySpace stream), featuring a diverse number of guest artists alongside the diverse sounds. There are also a number of videos to accompany the album, both music videos and odd clips with Terfry talking on collaborations. And speaking of collaborations, Terfry has done a number over the years, from limited work with DJ Flip as Dirk Thornton (stream tracks on MySpace), to the much more electronic project Bike for Three! with Belgian producer Joelle Le aka Greetings from Tuskan (Bandcamp) and their single album More Heart than Brains (Bandcamp stream). If this is too damned wordy but you made it this far, Tom Hull has his notes on the broad Buck 65 overview through 2003 by covering the Warner Music Canada (re)issues, and Robert Christgau (a serious Buck 65 fan since hearing the first 6 minutes of the fourth quadrant of Square) hits Man Overboard to present, including comments on Buck 65's two free downloads and the Dirtbike mixtapes. There's also Terfry's own discography, which includes links to his personal reflections on selected works (no longer on his own site, but Archive.org has some snapshots). Bonus links

In 1999, Terfry did some jazz poetry stuff as Stinkin' Rich, with drummer Jerry Granelli, recording the album Music Has Its Way With Me; see and hear more in A Granellian Encounter, part 1 and part 2
Five "Show and Tell" videos, produced to promote Situation
20 videos on Buck 65's YouTube channel, though only half are music videos (and there are 8 other clips on his YT channel)

The best game you can name

mightygodking — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:59:24 -0800

Canada's legendary Stompin' Tom Connors died today at 77.

Jon Stewart Gets Serious

rosswald — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:12:57 -0800

Funnyman Jon Stewart is taking a 12 week hiatus to direct a film adaptation of Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari's book Then They Came For Me. John Oliver will take over hosting duties in his absence. Daily Show clip of Jason Jones interview before Bahari's arrest. Post - arrest Daily Show interviews. Previously

USTR still pushing ACTA on Canada

jeffburdges — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 05:12:20 -0800

Canada's Harper government has introduced an ACTA compliance bill at the behest of the USTR, despite the treaty being dead elsewhere. ACTA would come into force in the countries that ratify it after six countries do so, but only Japan has ratified ACTA at present.

Excuse me while I dust off the treadmill

desjardins — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 08:34:25 -0800

What will your last ten years look like? A powerful PSA that will get you off your couch. Another health-related PSA that will make you cry.

How “Golden Eagle Snatches Kid” Ruled The Internet

ob1quixote — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:17:14 -0800

Chris Stokel-Walker of BuzzFeed explains the motivation and technology behind last year's “Golden Eagle Snatches Kid” viral video sensation. [Previously]

Four Canadian film students were assigned a project: Create a YouTube hoax video that gets 100,000 views. They got nearly 42 million instead. Here’s the definitive behind-the-meme look at how—and why—their homework snowballed into one of the most popular and rapidly spread videos ever.

Happy Birthday Hurricane Hazel

256 — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 06:14:13 -0800

Hazel McCallion, one of history's longest serving elected leaders, turns 92 years old today. McCallion is current mayor of Missisauga, Canada's 6th largest city, where she has served for 34 years, winning 12 consecutive elections. Her political clout and public persona show no sign of slowing.

Zombie-free since 1867

asnider — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:46:53 -0800

Canada will never be a safe haven for zombies. Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs assured Canadians today that “Canada will never be a safe haven for zombies.” The comment wasn't a metaphor, nor was it completely out of the blue. Baird was responding to a question from opposition MP Pat Martin who asked if Canada is working with the U.S. to ensure that its citizens don’t suffer from a case of the zombie apocalypse.

15 Quadrillion Dollars

Mitheral — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 18:28:47 -0800

The comment period for the DRAFT Wireless code [PDF] to address some cellular provider abuses is expiring soon (February 15th). Comments can be made here. Highlights of the draft code include:

A $50 (or less) monthly cap on incurred fees.
A limitation of cancellation fees equal to the remaining amount of the prorated incentive amount
Mandatory unlocking at no cost for non subsidy phones with no waiting period.
Limits on deposits and non payment cancellations.
No termination fee, 15 day cooling off period
Mandatory listing of limits on "unlimited" plans.

If you have trouble commenting via the online process comments can be directed to the CRTC who will post them, anonymously to readers, to the comment forum. Missing though is an oft requested ban on contracts over 24 months. The 15 Quadrillion dollar bill wasn't Canada.