Platform 327

Okay, that douchebag I mentioned in the last posting is getting way too much attention — which is what that little fart wants. His actions are raising a whole lot of questions about the validity, definition, aesthetics and politics surrounding art and, in the context of his idiocy. This, in my humble opinion, is taking attention away from good artists who actually make good stuff.

Will I let that continue? Well, there’s not a whole lot I can do about what other people are talking about. But with the holiday season coming, I think some attention should be given to those artists who deserve it, no matter what the discipline. When you’re doing your Christmas shopping this year, consider picking up a little unique something from an independent artist or craftsperson. I’m not as in the loop as I used to be for this sort of thing, but here are a few suggestions I can offer:

• Cynthia Gould - if you’ve been to my place, you’ve seen her painting entitled “70s Lamp.” That’s just one of the many paintings she’s done. She’s also got a CafePress shop with mugs and clocks and other giftable sundries. She also knits, and might make something for you if you ask her nicely.
• Ravi Persaud - he hasn’t updated his site for a couple of years, but he’s still got a good CD available. He also uses CafePress for his storefront to sell his CDs, etc. Oh, and he has created a book called In Sight of Leonardo da Vinci, a collection of notes from the master himself.

And, well, that’s all I’ve got off the top of my head. Like I said, I’m not as in-the-loop with this stuff as I used to be. However, I do invite anyone reading this to add a link to an artist who deserves some attention (and a little bit of cash) this Christmas to the comment thread. If someone else comes to mind, I’ll be sure to do the same.

And remember, not all artists are assholes.

I submit this guy as evidence that our society is bored, stupid, and lacking in any sense of responsibility. Bomb scare as “art”? Fuck you.

‘Nuff said.

EDIT: Check out the picture in this article. If you still buy the idiot’s story that it’s “clearly not a bomb” to the naked eye, I’ve got an optometrist I can recommend. He’s lucky he did this in Canada and is only getting charged with “mischief.” Anywhere else, he would have been thrown into a dark cell and forgotten without the inconvenience of a trial.

Take note: the “NaNoWriMo Participant” logo has morphed into a “NaNoWriMo WINNER!” logo. A few scant minutes ago, I passed the 50,000 word mark, thereby ending my string of failed November novelling projects and bringing my record up to a solid 50%.

Yeah, I know. “What’s the point?” “Nobody’s gonna read it.” “I don’t get it.” Blah, blah, blah. Well, this blog isn’t about you, you nay-sayers. This job is about me. What I got out of this little project was something to work on that wasn’t just the work-a-day job, the first draft of a story I’ve been wanting to write for a while, and proof to myself that I have the time to write if I just take the time to write instead of taking the time to make excuses for why I don’t. So fuck you.

When I hit the 50,000th word, I celebrated by killing off all of my main characters. Seems a Pastafarian extremist on an international flight set of an improvised explosive device hidden in his hernia belt. The intent was to destroy the CN Tower, that iconic symbol of Canadian imperialistic dominance. Unfortunately due to a miscalculation attributed to the Pastafarian not switching his watch to daylight savings time, the wreckage of the plane dropped like a stone and just happened to land on top of a building where all of my characters were sitting and having a quiet drink. O, the randomness of death!

When I started this, I thought of getting one of those single-serve champagne bottles to celebrate my victory. Not only did I forget, but I still can’t drink for a few weeks, so that would have been out anyway. So I’ll be celebrating with a couple of bottles of non-alcoholic beer tonight. Such is life.

I bring attention to this issue as part of my “This Stupid City” category.

‘Nuff said.

Normally I’m quite indifferent to the future of the walking corpse of a sports league known as the CFL. Today, however, I’m rooting for a quick yet painful death to the whole affair. Seems I live next door to a hotel where a bunch of goonball aficionados are staying after the “big game.” It’s quarter to three in the morning, and they’re still yelling in a manner that should be reserved for those who are being eviscerated en masse. And what’s that I hear? Are those the dulcet tones of a cheap-ass plastic trumpet sold exclusively to drunken idiots at sporting events? It’s probably lucky for all involved that my balcony is surrounded by pigeon netting, else one of my prized marble bookends might meet the skull of our poor-man’s Louis Armstrong.

Fucking goons.

Of course, it’s those fucking goons buying their $18 beers and shelling out $25 for plastic trumpets that are keeping that sorry excuse for a professional sports league alive. I suppose as long as there are dumbfuck idiots in this country, the best I can hope for is being out of this town before the “big game” returns, or the home team actually makes it to the “big game.” I suppose I should be thankful that the home team got their asses punted to the golf course when they did.

Fucking goons.

I’ve just breached the 35,000-word mark on my quest to win NaNoWriMo ‘07. According to all the NaNoWriMo lore out there, the last 15,000 words are the easiest stretch of the course. We shall see. I’ve got one more week before the end of this thing. Will I redeem myself, or will I go down in history as a three-time NaNoWriMo failure? Only time and my word count will tell.

We knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Canada’s rather lax (in comparison to our southern neighbours) copyright laws are getting a facelift.

Quite frankly, I could give a rats ass about what the major labels do. They’ve been feeding us nothing but pablum, shit, and boomer nostalgia for way too many years, and it’s about time their profits start to suffer for it.

What I do hope that someone wakes up to is the fact that if the major record labels get a free hand to sue every 12-year-old girl with a downloaded Britney track on her iPod, the levy on blank media should be lifted, especially these days when there’s no guarantee that a blank CDR is going to be used to make a copy of copyrighted music. All I use blank CDRs for is making Linux disks, creating copyright-free audiobooks for my dad, or making CDs that I’ve made from music given away for free by independent artists… or music that I’ve even bought from independent artists. There’s nothing good coming out of the major labels anyway. Why should I have to pay a levy to them?

I’ll be fine with continuing to pay my $0.21 per CD if that means bullshit lawsuits are kept out of the courts. Otherwise, it should go. Or, of course, I could just mail-order blank CDRs from the US. Maybe I should stock up while our dollar is still somewhat hot.

My boss just showed me the 2008 Conservative Party of Canada calendar. It’s hilarious. It’s got pictures of Harper at work, Harper hanging out with Bonhomme, harper holding kittens… and his hair looks exactly the same in every picture!

Where can I get this? I mean, without actually giving money to the party or anything.

… I hit the 30,000-word mark on my NaNoWriMo endeavour yesterday. I gotta tell ya, it’s great when November comes along, but I’m also very glad when it’s over. This is one grueling exercise. Fun, but grueling.

So this guy, who calls himself one of Canada’s leading political pundits, wrote an article about the CanWest/Alliance Atlantis deal that I couldn’t read without commenting on.

It got me to thinking about punditry in general. Does the word “pundit” come from a Latin root word that means, “Can say anything out of the hole in his face with nothing to back it up”? Not just this guy, but all of them, all the way up to Bill O’Reilly. There are virtually no substantial facts in the linked article. He tries to give credence to his position by quoting a news article, but the 74-word section he of the article he quotes says nothing other than “…and the unions picketed outside.” It adds nothing to his argument.

I know I’m not the first person to express these thoughts, but I think it has to be said more often. Too much punditry is passing for journalism, and all it’s doing is forwarding agendas and fooling the public into thinking they’re making informed decisions.

By the way, the guy responded to my comment. I’m not in the mood to get into a drawn-out discussion with the guy on his site — I am, after all, only a casual blogger and not one of this country’s leading pundits — but all he’s done in his response is claim “anti-Americanism” of the CRTC, even though they’re only in the hearing stage (a process that the CTV/CHUM deal went through, even though it was two Canadian companies involved), and no decision one way or another has been made. Besides, in the US, the FCC also has foreign-ownership laws on the books, so the “anti-Americanism” argument really doesn’t wash. If they United States wanted to use those laws to block Al-Jazeera from buying CNN, would he claim “anti-Arabism” on his web site? It’d be interesting to see.