Odds & Ends

I haven't posted in ages, so here are some stream of consciousness thoughts...

I've been driving through the Parkdale neighbourhood on my way to work and signs have started popping up for candidates for Toronto city council.

Oops-I have to edit this post as it was pointed out that there is a provincial by-election happening. Missed that. This must be to replace Gerrard Kennedy. Silly me.

Still, I stand by my theory that the NDP should stay out of municipal politics...

Even as an NDPer, an orange sign would make me LESS likely to support a candidate in a local race. I just don't see why I would want my local city councillour having his/her hands tied by having to toe a party line.
I think independent candidate Adam Vaughan (Trinity-Spadina) said it best. The problem is incumbancy and the solution is turnover. As much as I support the NDP, I think the casual NDP clique that runs city hall is a little too comfortable and needs to be broken up by some people with some vision. Go Vaughan. Go Sewell. And Jack and Olivia-you finally made it to Ottawa-good for you-stay there.

One more thing on an unrelated topic-not that I have anything original or insightful to add, but I was dismayed that the latest Israel/Lebanon "cease-fire" lasted a scant 5 days. To quote George Bernard Shaw, "Cease firing, damn you!" The whole mess reminds me of the Star Trek episode where two warring planets wage virtual war, with the citizens reporting to disintegration chambers as prescribed by the computer. Not that the middle east war is virtual-but it has become an accepted part of daily life, and that's not acceptable. Where's Jim Kirk when you need him?

We went to see Snakes on a Plane the other day. Pretty bad, of course. This has been one of the worst movie summers I can remember. Hopefully the Film Festival will provide a much needed drink of water after a long drought. (I'm not holding a grudge even though they rejected our film this year-the bastards).

The show I've been working on, "Patent Bending" starts airing tonight on Discovery. It's one of those rare jobs where I might actaully watch the show even if I hadn't worked on it. It started as a science show but has been moving more in the direction of a comedy. Luckily the show has no agenda other than to entertain, so we have been pretty free in the editing room to go where the material takes us.

In other news, my daughter Maja has taken an interest in making paper spiders. Off to make another one right now...