Merry Christmas to all — if you celebrate it, or even if you don’t; and even if you don’t, you’re still going to love Simon’s cat in ‘Santa Claws’ (unless you don’t like cats, in which case, forget you).
Happy holidays and talk to you in 2012!
NOVEMBER HAS BECOME synonymous with “Movember,” the annual event during which guys around the world grow moustaches to raise money and awareness for men’s health, prostate cancer specifically. It’s a brilliant publicity campaign that has gathered a huge amount of momentum over the past decade.
But when it comes to helping raise awareness of men’s health issues, Movember has got some substantial competition from the Durham Region Health Department:
Not exactly sure what having people walk through a 40-foot-long colon helps to achieve, other than causing more than a few of the explorers to lose their lunch (hopefully not through their colons). Suppose that is the point: show you what colon cancer looks like, scare the shit out of you (again, hopefully not literally), and push you to take steps to prevent it.
As odd as a gigantic colon attraction might be – how many folks will be traipsing out to The Oshawa Centre for a stroll though it, you have to wonder – helping people to get more in touch with their vital organs is never a bad thing. Indeed, as far as the value of spending a few minutes to educate yourself is concerned, this 40-foot-long colon could hardly be considered a waste.
ryan@roadtostarrdom.com
HOW’S THAT FOR heeding a warning? Saw this head-shaking piece of work on the way into a Toronto-area hospital yesterday. If the genius driver responsible for the damage could read the sign, apparently he didn’t get the message.
ryan@roadtostarrdom.com
CANADIAN NOVELIST Russell Smith had a thought-provoking column in the Globe and Mail a few weeks back examining the growing tendency these days for young creative people, writers in particular, to work for free.
The spur for the discussion was (surprise surprise) the recent launch of the Canadian arm of the Huffington Post, which Smith dubs “that unapologetic exploiter of eager, clever people.” He notes that the HuffPo, which doesn’t pay its writers, is being sued south of the border by a group of ex-contributors who “are keenly aware that the online magazine was recently sold to AOL for $315-million.”
The matter has prompted heated debate in both countries about the difference between “canny self promotion and slave labour,” Smith writes. He continues:
The two sides are neatly divided by generation. Older writers, who have made a living from selling journalism, ghostwriting and corporate writing and who see their writing as a product with a quantifiable monetary value, are horrified that anyone would collaborate with the HuffPo, the Mordor of magazines. It’s not a start-up run by ambitious recent graduates, not an environmental or human-rights project, not a good cause of any kind, but the cash-cow possession of a giant media conglomerate. There is no question that the HuffPo can afford to pay, and pay well. You’d think it would be an easy target for a concerted boycott by Canadian writers.
Perhaps. But check out The New Yorker’s fabulous cover tribute to Jobs:
Says it all really, doesn’t it?
NEGATIVE OPINIONS about news organizations have hit an all-time high in the U.S. But Americans trust their news organizations more than they do government and business.
This according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which has been tracking press performance since 1985. According to a summary of the poll:
•66% of 1,501 respondents to the news attitudes survey say news stories “often are inaccurate;”
•77% think that news organizations “tend to favour one side;”
•80% say news organizations are often “influenced by powerful people and organizations;”
•And a quarter of those polled said that “in general news organizations get the facts straight,” while 66% said “stories are often inaccurate.”
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I CAME ACROSS this dumpster the other day, and had to look twice to make sure I’d read the sign correctly.
I’m pretty sure the guy who composed the message meant to write “garbage,” but then, what do I know – maybe there’s been a big problem of late with people tossing entire garages into dumpsters.
I can see how that would *drive* a contractor crazy.
YOU HAVE TO GIGGLE at this gem of a story out of Victoria, British Columbia.
What on earth did you put in these brownies?!
Police in the provincial capital were called to an office building last week following reports of a possible poisoning. According to the Victoria Times Colonist: “Three employees, all at once, had been taken to hospital with similar symptoms, including light-headedness, numbness in the limbs and disorientation.”
“Investigations led to the office refrigerator and some brownies which, it turned out, had been baked with marijuana.”
Apparently the brownies were brought in by a woman who had discovered them in her freezer at home. Her stoner son later admitted to police that the treats were his, that he’d made them a year ago, and that – true to form! – he had forgotten about them.
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