We are Not Alone

It was only yesterday that I dared ask why the Premier is so comfortable chatting about political operatives working for him calling talk shows and pretending to be who they are not.

It was encouraging to see Vaughn Palmer asking the very same question in this morning's Sun, not to mention the entire NDP caucus asking the same question in the house yesterday.

The Premier's response is transparently below the required.

Starlight, Starbright...

How exciting to learn that we have a distant sister planet. Just turn left of this solar system, follow the known galaxy River Road, go past Ed's Eats, and there you be.

Even more rewarding to run into Mayor Sullivan's advance man on the new star, Ken Dobell, who has been awarded an additional $500,000,000 contract to develop poor people's housing in the red dust.

Now, when we look up at the heavenly skies at night, just before our last scotch and toke before beddie-byes, we can be comforted in the assurance that we are truly being taken care of by those who truly know how to take care.

So...take care.

Corinne Bailey Rae -- Like a Star

She was on Letterman last night and I just couldn't stay up that late...but, now we can see what all the rave is about.

The Money Went Where?

An important point was made by commentator, "Martino," the other day when I was blogging about City Hall.

He said it is time for regular and public audits. I would say they should be called "Performance Audits," and they should reveal in somewhat the same fashion what the Auditor-General reveals for us in her federal audits, what City Hall is actually doing with all this money they collect in local taxes.

We really have no idea at this point how our local tax dollars are spent, and what is more, most of us don't seem to care.

If we cared, and if we were informed, half the departments would vanish.

Rosemary Clooney -- But Not For Me

They're writing songs of love...she was magic, unmatched...

Who's On First?

For the first time in Canadian history, a man has been released on bail after admitting that he shot and killed a police officer.

The man is accused of murder. He claims he didn't know the guy he shot 3 times with a .357 Magnum was a police officer. So now a Quebec judge has released him on bail.

But...let's see.

He admits that he shot SOMEONE 3 times with a .357 Magnum. The small detail that this was a police officer that he shot and that all of this happened during a crazy shoot-out in a major drug and stolen cell phone raid doesn't seem to have impressed our learned fellow on the bench.

Shoot a cop 3 times, claim ooops, sorry, I didn't know he was constabulary, and you walk out on bail.

A milestone. A millstone. A new low for Canadian jurisprudence.

What are we going to do about making judges accountable?

Rapunzel, Do You Have Hair?

A pair of academics will analyze crime patterns in the hope of predicting your next bank heist.

Another professor, far, far away in another land, has figured out that French Impressionist Claude Monet had cataracts.

I guess this is why those places are called Ivory Towers.

That still doesn't explain why these daydreams are published as news. Perhaps for me and you and Dave letterman's writers.

LIne 4, Go Ahead. You're on the Air

There is something creepy about the Premier of the province praising "one of Dave's callers" after an appearance on a Victoria radio talk show.

Many of you will say, "Well, that's just business as usual. That's politics. That's how is works." And you're probably right.

But that still doesn't wash away the bad taste of knowing that the Premier thinks it's normal or just swell or ticketyboo to have a political operative play havoc with what others are mistakenly believing is a free and open discussion.

Clearly politicians think that such forums are simply toys and illusions, playthings awaiting their amusement and manipulation.

chasing nakedness

Sunday afternoon, 1:30pm, English Bay Beach directly in front of the inukshuk or whatever the pile of stones is called.

A man is on the beach naked. He is swimming and when he emerges from the water he holds his clothes in front of his ugly little manhood.

Someone freaks.

TWO COP CARS arrive.

This is what the police need to do? The town is broiling with criminality. This is what the ploice need to do?

The Pidgeons are Gone! The Pidgeons are Gone!

Feeding pigeons is forbidden all over Venice, not just in the St. Mark's area. To accommodate the nineteen vendors who sold corn as bird feed, the municipality will now allow them to sell souvenirs, instead, but not in St.Mark's Square. Next Thursday, all the involved parties (vendors, Comune, Art Superintendance) will hold what should be the final meeting to finalise the details. It will create a completely new look for St. Mark's, free of birds which damage the monuments, bring disease, and are loved only by tourists and corn sellers.

The Trouble With Headlines

Who really knows what happened in that Delta classroom?

The drama teacher for kids ages 11 and 12 has been asking her students to act out the headlines. Last week the headline was Mr. Cho.

Someone complained. Now the teacher is on the carpet and the Sensitivity Police have parachuted in in full force.

What that teacher may have dome with those students may have been really, really dreadful. It may have also have been realy, really wonderful and creative and instructive and transformational and leading to deeper understanding.

How the hell are we supposed to know?

This is bad reporting and bad publishing. If you can't tell me the whole story, be quiet and sip your soda.

F--- OF

You know what drives me crazy?

The sudden emergence of accepted new words and spellings like, "one off."

That drives me crazy.

How did "one of a kind," or, "one of," become, the hateful, widely accepted "one off."

To all the sheep who adhere to this, I bleat "F--- Of!"

Brodie is an Idiot

Malcolm Brodie is both Mayor of Richmond and the Chair of Translink. He is an idiot.

Today, the Vancouver Sun has published a detestable, specious little editorial by Mr. Brodie in which he blames the victims of crime for being assaulted.

His basic pitch is that Skytrain is very well policed and monitored, but that the areas near Skytrain stations aren't his responsibility and therefore older women with purses should be careful when and where they walk.

Has Mr. Brodie ever had to catch public transit at 6 am to go to a job to support his family??? I doubt it.

Why has the newspaper printed this self-serving trash?

The real story was told right here a few days ago.

There is no police presence at these crime hot spots. There is no police presence because City Council doesn't want to spend money on policing and because Mayor Sullivan has a personal agenda which would see the role of police deeply diminished in our communities.

Brodie is a shameless and shameful fool. "You're head has been cut off, " he informs the recently beheaded, "because you bothered to stick your head on the chopping block."

This is your government.

And, by the way, have you noticed how the Op-Ed page is taking a dangerous turn of late?

Three of 4 articles on today's page are written by government officials. Don't government officials already have public platforms from which to spew their noxious gasses? What happened to the citizen-observer?

Mrs. Palfry

"Mrs. Palfry at the Claremont" is a charming and deeply touching movie.

We expect Joan Plowright to always give us her talented best, and she does. But who ever heard of Rupert Friend? Well, kids, he's only doing 7 movies this year!

Easily the world's most handsome young man and a fantastically gifted actor, all things being equal, we can look forward to watching this fellow for ages to come.

They're both at the Park on Cambie now. Go. You'll like.

Barbra Streisand - Somewhere Over The Rainbow (One Voice)

This is probably Streisand's best video. It was filmed at a $5,000/seat private party in her "backyard" in Malibu many years ago. I was thinking of her this morning, because I noticed that "Funny Lady" is on TV tonight. "Funny Lady" is a perfect and terrifying example of how a wonderful thing - this case the perfect "Funny Girl" - can be followed by a dreadful, dead-in-the-door thing like "Funny Lady." The charming, vulnerable, irresistable star of "Funny Girl" somehow is replaced by a brittle, bitter, all-too-clever schtickster. Exorcism2 and The Godfather 3 are even more appalling examples of how "intention" is the key to everything.

TOSCA is in Town. Run to See Her.

It is not often that a company outside of New York, Milan or Buenos Aires manages to assemble such a perfectly balanced trio of lead singers as did Vancouver Opera for last night's opening performance of Puccini's "Tosca."

Renzo Zulian is Cavarodossi, the artist hero.

Yulan Zhang is the darkest of villains, Scarpia.

And Cynthia Lawrence is the alluring actress, Floria Tosca.

Against the most beautiful, classical sets of Rome 200 years past, this simple tight story is told with such swift confidence that you feel it has gone by in a moment.

It is one of the best pieces Vancouver Opera has ever presented. The three lead singers are each, alone and together, wonderful.

Click here for all the details of the 4 remaining shows, and do yourself a huge favor and see this and hear it. It is quite amazing.

MARIA CALLAS - TOSCA - Torture scene - Act 2 (1958)

On the other hand...here are Gobbi and Callas as Scarpia and Tosca in what must be one of the great pulp fiction terror moments eve put on a stage...It was brilliant last night, as well

Enrico Caruso - Tosca ''Recondita armonia''

In honor of last night's wonderful "Tosca" by the Vancouver Opera, here is Caruso...

SHHHHH, WE'RE TALKING/TEXTING

A fascinating article in this morning's New York Times talks about the need for Blackberry connectivity in terms of validation, inclusion and desirability. And the writers speak about addiction.

They are absolutely correct about addiction and those other motivator, as well. And they could include, especially include, the ubiquitous cellphone.

But I see darker, more ominous payoffs and motivations. And darker consequences.

Nobody today can tolerate quiet.

120 years ago, if you wanted to travel from what is now Richmond to what is now Point Grey, you would sit on or behind a horse. You would pack a meal or two and perhaps a small boat. Except for the bleats of Mother Nature, you would be alone with your thoughts. Alone with your thoughts! Imagine!

Today, there is a small counter or hanging, plasma TV in every kitchen making sure you don't have a thought over breakfast. The cell and computer practically turn themselves on in their excitement to run your noisy, thoughtless life. In the car, your earcell is blathering on from the office or the next condo closing, in competition from ALLNEWSALLTHETIME or ALLTRAFFICALLDAY.

Nobody can buy lettuce anymore without conferring electronically. "I'M AT THE LETTUCE COUNTER, DEAR," the fool hollers, above all the other hollering fools, "IS IT THE TALL, STALKY LOOKING STUFF OR THE SHORT ROUND CRINKLY ONES?"

Nobody reads a book in a cafe. Everybody computes and cells and blackberry's simultaneously, a dance to multi-tasking.

Nobody walks down the street and observes the passing scene, the men, the women, the children, the shop windows, the bakeries, the new clothes, the cherry blossoms. Everybody is talking and scrolling and texting.

A world without thought is world in great peril.

And I am a total hypocrite and of no use in this deluge. For soon, my blog will be ALLAUDIOALLTHETIME and it will RRS to your iPod and I will join the fray gleefully and pocket the change and help you ignore the world around you and avoid the silence that might if you really, really listened answer your prayers, amen.

Would the REAL America Please Stand Up?

President Bush continues his hopeless, hapless war on the world at an ever-increasing cost approaching a Trillion dollars.

But that is far from the only cost.

The money has to come from somewhere.

This article from the New York Times chronicles one of the most ugly and most sad and most predictable fall-outs of Operation Stupidity.