Journal
Prime Minister Harper. Harper, PM, Canada's leader, Steven Harper. Steven Harper, leader of government…
This is going to take a while to get used to - the TV news just wont be the same. I can barely remember the days when Canada did not have a Liberal government. I was 10 during the years of Kim Campbell and you can bet that I didn’t understand or care who was in power. How things change!
While any friend of mine knows full well how much I dislike Harper and the Conservatives, I am actually quite happy with the results. Harper ran a great campaign against the tired old horse of Paul Martin; 13 years in power, 4 election wins in a row and scandals to boot. If there was any reasonable option for change, the party should have won a landslide victory last night, yet the Liberals still have over 100 seats, a strong minority.
The election is two weeks away, so I think that it is time to start spouting off my viewpoints, as I've been following everything daily. As I'm sure you've gathered from the title of the post, I do plan to vote Liberal. Yes, you read that right Liberal!
Most of you know that I lean left, so why not vote for the NDP? While their social and environmental policies are indeed the best out of an party running and represent my viewpoints ideologically, I can't help but think they wouldn't be the best party to govern the country.
While I am socially progressive, I am actually a conservative fiscally. I do not believe in gutting the social support system in Canada or lessening income re-distribution (just the opposite!). I do however believe in sound fiscal management, starting with running predictable surplus budgets. The excess money that is gained from lower interest payments and a healthy economy should then be poured back into Canada's social system, which will then continue to help our country fiscally.
Despite my newly organized self, I am still not finding enough time to get through all of my "to-dos" or "like-tos". My case in point is my bookmark folder called "to blog" is overflowing with about 50 things that I would love to post about. Rather than waste a good chuck of the holidays writing about everything, here is a few things I have found to be interesting as of late:
- The Chronic of Narnia
- If you love SNL parody, you have to watch this rap. As a side note, I just saw the Chronicles of Narnia last night and really enjoyed it (3½ stars), despite being stuck in the second row.
I think this place needs a little lightening up. I think that photo says it all! Check out the site!
Lot movie
(click to stream, right click and "save as" to download).
This video was produced for my VISA 310 class at UBC and I just thought that I would share it here. It was created as a companion piece to a series of photographs of the same abandoned house. The background music is by the Flaming Lip's, copyright be damned! Here is the description of my photo series, adapted for this video:
This video is meant to spur the discussion of what happened at this house. Why was it abandoned? Why so quickly (or so it seems)? When? Why was it left to deteriorate?
A little September house cleaning is going on in the blog department of my life:
First, notice that column on the right side of this type. See how it isn't just navigation? You might have noticed a new "Upcoming" badge displaying events that I am attending or have in mind. Any of you long time readers (aka. a few of my close friends) used to get the occasional posting or email from me announcing a listing of the latest and greatest concerts or films that must be seen. This is no more, just track my life on the right. An RSS feed of this is still available for you nerdy types.
Second, I have had a huge folder of articles to blog about hanging around and it was somehow stressing me out. I purged it today and posted links to 10 articles on my Del.icio.us feed, which is also located on your right.
It is September again and I am back to school again. Presently I am "killing" time in class. I know that you maybe thinking that I'm slacking off already, but I think that I am actually being efficient as my prof is explaining how a camera works.
The lat bit of summer (aka "the computer-less time") was relaxing for the most part, although my car breaking down the night before taking a 2500 km trip to the Gorge and Oregon was a bit un-nerving. Osoyoos was relaxing and I finally was able to just sit around, tan, drink, read and play. Hopefully I'll get the time to knock off a few book reviews of what I read.
The summer is in full swing now and with three days left before holidays, I am determined to at get some sort of tan this summer. On that note, I will be cutting back all internet use to the bare-bones until after labour day. I will only be using the net for email, school and necessary searches/work. No RSS Feeds, Blogs, Google News, CBC, NY Times - I might even cut out Pitchfork!
Before I stop blogging for a few weeks, I'll give a quick update on things going on with me or catching my attention. Here goes the categorical list:
Music
Best Album of the Summer (so far): The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Today while poking about the best movies ever on wikipedia I came across The Razzies, better known as "that other awards show" for the worst movies ever. Understandably, only two actors (one of them Tom Green) and the director of Showgirls have ever picked up their trophies.
The list is long (here as well) so here are a bunch that I remember or are laughably bad, along with some great slams by critics:
I've always had a problem with the dichotomy of a church being a body of believers as well as an institution. To myself, the heart of any church is the congregation, not the programs offered or the image portrayed.
Lately, I have been reading more and more about the transition from church being about community to becoming a self-serve service or commodity. Think about the regularity of church "shopping", something that I am guilty of myself. Or maybe think of how we expect churches to provide us with services such as Vacation Bible Schools, Youth Groups, Child Care, Multimedia departments, Kids Clubs, Seniors Luncheons... the list goes on.
