Collected Data
Read: "The austerity delusion" by Paul Krugman
On the other side of the ledger, the benefits of improved confidence failed to make their promised appearance. Since the global turn to austerity in 2010, every country that introduced significant austerity has seen its economy suffer, with the depth of the suffering closely related to the harshness of the austerity. In late 2012, the IMF’s chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, went so far as to issue what amounted to a mea culpa: although his organisation never bought into the notion that austerity would actually boost economic growth, the IMF now believes that it massively understated the damage that spending cuts inflict on a weak economy.
Meanwhile, all of the economic research that allegedly supported the austerity push has been discredited. Widely touted statistical results were, it turned out, based on highly dubious assumptions and procedures – plus a few outright mistakes – and evaporated under closer scrutiny.
The austerity delusion
"Happy Together is less a film with a subject than a film about not being able to find one."
Wong has stressed that Happy Together was inspired by contemporary Latin American fiction, Manuel Puig’s The Buenos Aires Affair in particular: “I was besotted with the title and always wanted to use it for one of my pictures. Then, after the shooting in Buenos Aires, I finally realized the film is really not about the city, so my long cherished title went out of the window and I needed to come up with something new.”
Cult Confusion (HAPPY TOGETHER)
"It’s been almost ten years since Laura Poitras’ name has been on the NSA Watch List."
After a few hours of tense huis clos in the hotel room, Greenwald publishes his first article on the basis of evidence from the former NSA employee. The clock is now running before the NSA and its minions, or the triads, get to them. Laura films Snowden’s confession. He faces the camera and gives testimony: family name, first name, age, profession, motivation. And evidence of the some of most shocking revelations in the history of the American Intelligence Agencies. The Washington Post, the only media company to have commissioned Poitras, releases the video on its homepage on June 6th. The video, a full frontal assault on the NSA, goes viral around the world and is screened in Times Square.
The Woman Who Hacked Hollywood
Read: "Pesky brats, adventurous ducks, and jiving swamp critters"
We never need an excuse to write about comic strips or comic books. We’re fans and, just as important, we think of them as having important connections to film. We’re particularly fond of classic funny-animal comics, from Krazy Kat (the greatest) onward. So I got a double dose of pleasure reading Mike Barrier’s Funnybooks: The Improbable Glories of the Best American Comic Books. It taught me a lot about the history of some favorites, and it set me thinking about some overlaps and divergences between film and graphic art.
Pesky brats, adventurous ducks, and jiving swamp critters
"It’s worth keeping in mind the fact that lists such as these can be as misleading as they are illuminating."
For all the telling changes on this year’s list, there was still a stable core of familiar favourites, films which seem to have established a more or less permanent place in our national cinematic consciousness. Atom Egoyan’s masterful adaptation of Russell Banks’ The Sweet Hereafter placed third for the second year in a row, while Denys Arcand’s beloved Jesus of Montreal and David Cronenberg’s most disturbing, yet most austere work (at least for him), Dead Ringers, returned as well.
Top 10 Canadian films of all time
All of the films are good (I have seen 8 of the 11) but it’s a very safe, very boring, very ‘Canadian’ list.
Two films I would add - 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould and Project Grizzly.
Watch: "Squarepusher Discusses his Ufabulum Live Show"
Squarepushers Damogen Furies is out today.
Surprisingly, Pitchfork didn’t hate it, but did give it a generic review.
"They've been caught using a partisan tagline and they're hiding behind cabinet confidentiality to avoid the political fallout."
The Conservatives have come under repeated criticism for spending tens of millions of dollars annually on government advertising that is often indistinguishable from the partisan branding of the party. The marketing exercise extends to departmental web design (now a uniform Tory blue, with cross-pollinating links to popular Conservative initiatives such as family tax cuts) and even departmental press releases, often heralding local "Harper government" expenditures.
Ottawa's 'Strong Proud Free' slogan can't be explained because it's a secret
Read: "The first 26 pages of Seveneves" by Neil Stephenson
An amateur astronomer in Utah was the first person on Earth to realize that something unusual was happening. Moments earlier, he had noticed a blur flourishing in the vicinity of the Reiner Gamma formation, near the moon's equator. He assumed it was a dust cloud thrown up by a meteor strike. He pulled out his phone and blogged the event, moving his stiff thumbs (for he was high on a mountain and the air was as cold as it was clear) as fast as he could to secure the claim to himself. Other astronomers would soon be pointing their telescopes at the same dust cloud—might be doing it already! But—supposing he could move his thumbs fast enough—he would be the first to point it out. The fame would be his; if the meteorite left behind a visible crater, perhaps it would even bear his name.
Read the first 26 pages of Seveneves
Listen: "Damogen Furies" by Squarepusher
Andy Battaglia for NPR;
Intimations of humor are never far from Squarepusher's challenging music, which is all the better and more powerful for the unusual alliance he strikes. There's fertile middle ground between furrow-browed intensity and appreciation for the gleefully absurd, and Damogen Furies finds a sweet spot somewhere therein. Even at his most unhinged, however, Squarepusher has a knack for flashes of virtuoso control, as in the drum-run in the last half of "Exjag Nives" or the many little wiggles and shifts in "Baltang Arc." It can be hard to know how exactly to react to every moment, but making a case for fruitful confusion is Squarepusher's specialty.
First Listen: Squarepusher, 'Damogen Furies'
"If the problem continues, by May they will consider fining anyone who fails to follow the law."
The Tim Hortons on Highway 16 has seen an influx of customers lately, particularly in their drive-thru during the morning commute. Fed up with the congestion, drivers have begun committing dangerous traffic violations to get their coffee fix.
Tim Hortons double-double spells traffic trouble in Terrace, B.C.
"There is something we can do about it and we can do it right now. Just tell them you’re tired of being a useful idiot."
Beyonce released “Die With You” on Tidal as an exclusive. Everyone at YouTube knows that it was intended to be an exclusive just like everyone at YouTube knows that YouTube could keep the track from being uploaded to YouTube if YouTube wanted to do that.
YouTube has worked hard at getting the world to accept the concept of “user generated content” as some kind of great cultural event–even, when like “Die With You”, there isn’t anything particularly “user generated” about it, unless you call a one-to-one rip of Beyonce’s track that was distributed in clear violation of Beyonce’s rights “user generated”.
The Great Disappointment: Tidal Highlights YouTube’s Moral Hazard for All the World to See
"As a consumer, you should have the right to know who is trying to persuade you,"
According to the consumer groups' letter, the videos mingle commercial and entertainment content in ways that wouldn't be allowed on television. Search for My Little Pony, for example, and the first several options are lengthy advertisements for My Little Pony Play-Doh and toy kitchen sets, including one Play-Doh segment stretching 19 minutes.
YouTube Kids app stuffed with deceptive advertising, say consumer advocates
Next, Google will try to sell kids illegal drugs.
"The Conservative bill really isn't a problem-solving bill. It's a pre-election, you know, 'we're trying to tinker with this and give us some money' bill."
The NFA, which had denounced Harper's Bill C-51, the so-called anti-terrorism legislation, as "a sort of creeping police state bill" teamed with a coalition of civil liberties and labour groups against the proposed law. Clare was even to make an appearance at the parliamentary hearings on the bill, alongside the spokesperson for the coalition.
…
It seemed Clare had the Harper government over a barrel. Just four days later, Clare suddenly bailed from his parliament appearance, with no explanation. And just as suddenly, Bill C-42 was back on track. Second reading resumed on Wednesday. It looks like it's a lock for passage before the election.
Who's calling the shots in Canada?
"Today’s television assumes that viewers can pay close attention because the technology allows them to easily do so."
As shows craft ongoing mysteries, convoluted chronologies or elaborate webs of references, viewers embrace practices that I’ve termed “forensic fandom.” Working as a virtual team, dedicated fans embrace the complexities of the narrative – where not all answers are explicit – and seek to decode a program’s mysteries, analyze its story arc and make predictions.
Why has TV storytelling become so complex?
"An exercise in futility"
Some of the strangest debate came in the committee's seventh hour, when government lawyers contended that the legislation wouldn't breach the constitution, despite language in the bill saying that CSIS agents, in tackling a threat, would be allowed to ignore Canadians' rights, if they have a warrant. They argued that, by obtaining a warrant, CSIS' actions inherently could not be unconstitutional.
Yet, minutes later, when the NDP and Green Party introduced amendments to forbid CSIS from breaking Canadians' constitutional rights, the Conservatives balked.
The Harper Government Has Killed Changes to its Anti-Terror Bill; Critics Are Still Alarmed
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