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Tuesday June 8, 2004
Time to start slapping some photographers
Hey, you! Yeah, you...the one complaining about how the Toronto-based left-leaning media is out to get Stephen Harper. Have a look at this. Feel stupid yet? You should.
No, not because Paul Martin says you don't like minorities. Nothing to do with that. I'm talking about the picture that the anti-Christ (that would be the CBC) used.
A picture tells a thousand words. And that is a picture of the PM looking old, tired, and defeated. Now, I won't deny he's probably looking like that a lot these days. But most of the freeze-frames at the media's disposal probably look a lot better than that one.
So why did the CBC go with the one where he looks like his dog just died? Simple. The storyline right now - the one that the Toronto-based left-leaning liberal media is pushing - is that Martin is a walking disaster area. And the way we're seeing that is mostly through images.
The folks who choose the photos that go in your paper, or the 10-second clips that go on TV - they're the ones who really tell the story about the campaign. If they wanted to help Martin, they'd be showing us images of him looking young and vigorous. Instead, those images (except for the infamous chicken wing shot) are going to Harper, at least to the extent that it's possible to make him look energetic.
I'm not saying there's an anti-Liberal bias. But there's no anti-Conservative bias, either, and there probably won't be this campaign. It wouldn't fit the storyline.
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Adam Radwanski
Warning: Toronto-centric posting ahead...
You want to know why Toronto sports fans hate the Skydome? Here's why.
It's Saturday night. Every self-respecting fan in the city is stationed close to a TV, watching game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals. Except for us. We're at the Argos' game. And not just any game - the Argos'exhibition game.
You'd think maybe the Skydome folks would be keen to reward this inexplicable support of their crappy facility and its inedible concessions. But with the Argos and Ticats done on the field, and with six minutes left regulation in the Flames/Lightning game, clusters of Argos fans gather around the concourse TVs to see if anyone can break the 2-2 tie.
Two minutes later, the TVs all turn off. Skydome wants us out of the building.
At the Air Canada Centre, fans are encouraged to come early and stay late after Leafs and Raptors games. At the Dome, the idiots who run the place (not the actual teams, in fairness) act like they're doing you a favour letting you in. The good news is that they'll have plenty of time to enjoy the place by themselves once the Argos are at Varsity, and the Jays have either moved stadiums or skipped town.
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Saturday June 5, 2004
Team Harper pulls no punches
It may be amateur hour in the Martin camp, but at least the Liberals can count on the generally professional Scott Reid (the spin guy, not the MP) never doing his best impression of Zsa Zsa Gabor. Which, apparently, is more than can be said for Harper flack Carolyn Stewart-Olsen.
I can't find the story online, but a brief CP report in today's Post tells us that Stewart-Olsen laid a smackdown on CP photographer Jonathan Hayward (the guy who took the chicken wing shots) on Thursday. Apparently she interrupted a shot he was going to take, he complained, and she (lightly) slapped him twice in the face and told him to "shut up."
First the scrapping seniors, and now this. Those attending Conservative events might want to start wearing helmets.
Update: Ah, here it is. Enjoy.
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Adam Radwanski
Dear God no...
The good news: Creed is breaking up. The bad news: Lead singer Scott Stapp is pairing up with...wait for it...The Tea Party.
I can't begin to comprehend how the hell this happened. Did Stapp scan the entire U.S., decide there wasn't another band crappy enough for him to play with, and then start searching abroad until he stumbled on Jeff Martin and pals? Anyway, if you've ever wondered what a Doors tribute band would sound like playing Christian rock, you're about to find out.
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Friday June 4, 2004
"Bad news, guys...I lost the napkin we wrote our defence policy on..."
I spent much of yesterday reading and re-reading the Liberal platform, trying to find enough grist for an editorial. Now, granted, there's some interesting stuff (most notably the national daycare program, if you actually think it's going to happen). But rarely will you find so much space used to say so little.
Instead of all the endless detail about what they've done in the past, it would have been nice to learn a little more about what the Liberals are actually proposing. The new "Peace and Nation Building Initiative," for instance, sounds very interesting. But having read every word the platform has to say about it, I still have no idea what the hell it'll do. I'd like to think they have a really detailed plan and are just keeping it to themselves, but if you believe that then you probably also believe that Paul Martin was really fascinated in wind turbines before Jack Layton started going on about them.
Anyway, way too much filler here and not enough meat. If nothing else, these guys could've used a good editor.
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Adam Radwanski
He's just in it for the booty
My colleague Adam Daifallah recommends (on the Post's blog, no less) that you check this out. I concur. It's hilarious.
Have to ask, though: Why is Ed Broadbent's hip-hop performance less cringe-inducing than Jack Layton's rendition of This Land Is Your Land?
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Random music thoughts (that don't involve Ed Broadbent)...
Don't you hate it when you start getting really into a band just as it starts falling apart? I could make a serious case that the Libertines' debut CD, Up the Bracket, is the best rock album that's been released this decade. Sadly, it took me a little longer than it should have to realize this...and now, Pete Doherty's latest meltdown may do them in by the time their sophomore release hits stores later this year...
The lineup for Lollapalooza is way better than it has any excuse being...
NME reports that the first single from The Thrills' next album is called 'Whatever Happened to Corey Haim?'. Corey's not gonna be happy, assuming he has Internet access in whatever ditch he crashed in last night...
I'm trying to make it through the debut CD by Keane, apparently all the rage in the UK right now, and struggling mightily. But if Coldplay is too edgy for you, or you've been lamenting that today's music doesn't sound enough like Chris De Burgh, it'll be right up your alley...
File this under travesty: The Charlatans' new album, which I've already plugged once, is not available in Canadian stores (no North American record deal since their last one expired). Happily, each of its songs is still available for download from the band's official website. Go to it, anglophiles.
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Ahem
Remember how I said I'd be doing an Ontario column every Tuesday in the Post? Turns out it'll now be every second week. On Thursdays. As you can see, I've very much in the loop.
Actually, I gather we've just got more writers from other regions than originally thought. Which is good for the paper, and probably good for me, too. More time to frolic in the summer splendor and what-not.
One more thing...my Citizen column, usually on Thursdays until now, has switched to Fridays starting today. I wouldn't want you to make your breathless 6:00 a.m. run to the newsstand on the wrong day.
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Thursday June 3, 2004
A wing and a prayer?
Yesterday morning, I caught a bit of Stephen Harper's interview with a local radio station. He was decent, though banter will clearly never be his strong suit, but that's beside the point.
Just as I turned it on, I heard the Conservative leader complaining about being harrassed for eating a chicken wing. I confess that I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, and didn't for much of the day. But then I opened the front section of the Star, and found a large three-picture series showing Harper munching on a wing in graphic detail.
You know you're desperate when the best way you can find to demonize a candidate is by showing unattractive pictures of him eating finger food. What the Star did was an old trick, but you won't often see it so clumsily executed.
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Tuesday June 1, 2004
I speak for the masses
Today, the Post is launching a third comment page. It'll focus heavily on regional issues, with columns each day from different parts of the country.
You'll note a familiar face (well, somewhat familiar...I swear I don't look quite as creepy as my "head furniture") on today's page, and probably every Tuesday. That's right...I am Ontario. Ontario is me. We are one.
Or, um, something like that. Maybe they'd better find someone else to market this thing.
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Adam Radwanski
What a Dick
While I was sitting around a local establishment after a ball hockey game last night, Paul Martin's campaign ad - the one where he's showing his common touch by hanging around an exclusive cottage - came on, minus the sound. First thing I noticed was that they did something weird to his hair. First thing my friend sitting next to me noticed was that he looked a bit like Richard Nixon.
That can't be a good sign.
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Monday May 31, 2004
And you thought Catherine Clark's Star column was bad...
I didn't think yesterday's ruminations on lawn signs were particularly weighty, even by this blog's standards. But that was before I read Ben Mulroney's column on the same subject, which made them seem downright profound by comparison.
I'm normally not a fan of throwing stones at other writers or media outlets - partly because I know it's much harder to build a case in print than it is to tear it down, and partly because I'm not sure anyone in the real world is interested. But for crying out loud, this guy's had a newspaper column handed to him at a pivotal moment in Canadian history, and he's producing some of the most mundane drivel imaginable.
The day the writ was dropped, he took up most of his space whining that the election would spoil his summer. Now, he wants us to know that he doesn't like lawn signs, because they're ugly and they're apparently prone to "campaign abuses." Honestly, you have to read this thing - especially the payoff in the final paragraph, which I really can't do justice here.
Snicker about the Sun all you like, but I know plenty of young journalists who'd kill for Mulroney's slot. If he's not going to make good use of it, he should give it to somebody who would.
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Sunday May 30, 2004
Sign of the times?
Having driven through a bunch of ridings the past few days, I'm struck by how badly the Liberals are losing the sign war. Even in some of the ridings where their incumbents should be safe, they barely have a presence next to the Conservative or NDP candidates.
Ordinarily, I wouldn't put too much stock in this. I know from experience that half the time, homeowners agree to take a sign just so you'll get off their doorstep. But it's hard to ignore such a pervasive trend, and I'm thinking there are two reasons.
First, obviously, is a lack of strong supporters. That's not the same as a lack of people who'll vote for then, of whom there may still be many. But few are enthused enough about it to broadcast it on their front lawns.
Second is probably a lack of manpower. More than anything, signs are a reflection of the number of volunteers available to solicit locations and put them up. And, again, there may be plenty of Canadians willing to hold their noses and vote Liberal - but there aren't a hell of a lot marching into campaign offices and pledging their allegiance.
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Radwanski's Ramblings from May 21-27, 2004
Radwanski's Ramblings from May 14-20, 2004
Radwanski's Ramblings from May 7-13, 2004
Radwanski's Ramblings from April 23-May 6, 2004
Radwanski's Ramblings from April 16-22, 2004
Radwanski's Ramblings from April 9-15, 2004
Radwanski's Ramblings from April 2-8, 2004
Radwanski's Ramblings from March 26-April 1, 2004
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