Screw Rock 'n' Roll

The Robin Sparkles video for “Sandcastles in the Sand” is terrifyingly pitch-perfect. Well done, all involved.

Damn, I wish he was her lover.

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Oct 02

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing (Brothers in Arms, 1985)

I generally approve of lyrics that mock homophobia, even when they include the phrase “that little faggot.” But whatever. I don’t generally disapprove of lyrics. What I’m surprised about is Reason.com’s denunciation of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council’s decision to censure St. John station CHOZ-FM for airing a song with a naughty word.

Why? Well, Reason is a libertarian magazine, and I would have thought that there would be nothing a bunch of libertarians would like more than private individuals deciding for themselves what to broadcast on the radio stations they own. And what is the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council?

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) is an independent, non-governmental organization created by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) to administer standards established by its members, Canada’s private broadcasters.

This is libertopia at its self-regulating best. Some private broadcasters got together and decided they should form a body regulating what each of them airs. No broadcaster is obliged to join this body. These broadcasters decided they should not air a Dire Straits song. I would assume that any broadcaster who disagrees with the body’s decisions would disassociate themselves from this group — which they freely joined and are not compelled by the government to be a part of.

Well, that’s how I thought libertarians would see it. Personally, I think corporations as well as governments can restrict liberty, and I prefer it when I’m liberated from the influence of either. I think speech should be free and untrammeled and that private individuals who own media should have a moral, though not a legal, obligation to pursue that goal. But those libertarians at Reason? Why are they telling Geoff Stirling what bad ’80s rock to broadcast on his own radio station?

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canada music politics

Jan 14

Kristina Keneally becomes more fascinating as her end draws near. Never has she seemed so North American. It’s not the voice but the face: so perky even as disaster rolls towards her. She smiles, she’s mischievous and she keeps winning hand after hand in this losing game.

David Marr, “Perky prima donna more on song than tenor,” Sydney Morning Herald, February 25, 2011

At the USSC, I wonder what precisely Marr means by “seem[ing] so North American.”

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America Australia politics media canada ussc

Feb 25

The current system is that the Queen selects a Governor-General to be “her representative” in Canada, and does so “on the advice” of the Canadian Prime Minister. Since in practice the Queen’s assent is a pure formalism, you could easily cut her out of the process and replace the Governor-General with a President appointed by the Prime Minister.

But it’s not clear to me what problem of democratic legitimacy that solves. If anything, it creates a metaphysically somewhat weird situation in which the head of state is an appointee of the head of government that having him be formally speaking the appointee of the monarch avoids.

Matt Yglesias, “The Republic of Canada,” ThinkProgress, March 6, 2011

Since the queen’s assent is pure formalism, her input does not add legitimacy to a governor general, and Yglesias’s quarrel with a head of state chosen in such a manner remains. One might think this would give the monarchist-sympathizing Yglesias pause.

The correct answer, naturally, is to select a president by popular vote.

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politics Canada Australia The Republic

Mar 06

“Community,” Ep. 02.15: Early 21st Century Romanticism

I’ve just been feeling really bad that this scene about the most-celebrated Canadian alt-rock band of the mid-’90s has not yet appeared on my blog.

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music television '90s Community canada

Mar 15

The Singles Jukebox: BON IVER - CALGARY

thesinglesjukebox:

Anthony Easton: I never got Bon Iver until Kanye, and I never got Calgary, though I have spent weeks off and on there, once or twice a year since I was born. Less now that I live in Toronto, but I went last year, and will go again next year. Calgary is a lot like Dallas—lots of oil money, lots of flash and bang, not a lot of culture, and intensely lonely. I don’t think that I have ever had a good time in Calgary, only ever got laid by boys I brought down with me. So we get this song, processed to pieces, not quite looking or sounding like the previous Bon Iver, and it’s intensely, heart heartbreakingly lonely—but lonely not because it reminds me of some western culture’s nostalgic attempts to reclaim “our western heritage” (as the statue in the airport tells us to do) but because there is no place to break into it. The song is as hermetic as the city.

[9]

So, you know I like writing about songs, and cities, and songs and cities? When the tracklist for Bon Iver’s latest album was revealed, I was pleased to see the city-intensive focus, but when I heard the album, I was disappointed that I couldn’t hear much of the cities in the songs. Kudos to Anthony for finding the Calgary in “Calgary.”

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music cityporn canada The Singles Jukebox

Jun 29

Stars - Your Ex-Lover is Dead (Set Yourself On Fire, 2004)

It’s not Canada Day in Australia anymore, but it’s still Canada Day in Canada, so here’s a song by a Canadian band that makes reference to locations in the Canadian city of Montreal.

The video looks like it was inspired by the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which featured Canadian actor Jim Carrey, but it reminds me more of certain scenes in the film Scott Pilgrim vs the World, which was set in the Canadian city of Toronto and based on a Canadian comic book.

Congratulations, Canada. Happy Canada Day!

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canada Holidays music movies Team Knives

Jul 01

Top 5 Things About Montreal: Special Canada Day Edition

It’s a big city in a Western country with a large English speaking minority. That’s unusual.
There is a gigantic sprawling city underneath downtown Montreal with 32km of tunnels. That’s really cool!
Snow!
Its location, way up north, makes it seem like it might be the last city on the edge of the world. While it’s technically not far from the U.S. border, unlike Toronto and Vancouver, which are within reach of highly populated parts of America, Montreal’s American neighbors are the mountains of Vermont and upstate New York. It seems lonely.
That pointy stadium is pretty awesome.

Seriously, what even is Montreal? I don’t know anything about it.

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Holidays canada cityporn top 5 snow

Jul 01

As in all of the province of Quebec, Montreal is fiercely protective of its French culture. There are indeed “language police” whose job requirements include, for example, ensuring that English signs are no larger than French signs. (They don’t patrol, though. They only respond to citizen complaints.) Tourists are advised to stay in the downtown area around St. Catherine Street. Not only is English widely accepted downtown but there’s bars everywhere and a strip club every other block on St. Catherine’s (we’re quite serious: St. Catherine’s goes bar, restaurant, bar, strip club, interesting shops (that kind and not), museum, bar, strip club, etc.). Generally a good deal.

“Montreal,” TVTropes

I don’t know if this is helpful at all, but here’s some information about what Montreal is like written by someone on the Internet.

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cityporn canada

Jul 01

Attention: Ian Mathers has a Tumblr.

File under: Stylus Diaspora/Awesome people.

Ian Mathers has a Tumblr. You should follow him.

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housekeeping criticism music canada

Jul 26

Posts tagged "canada"