Prime Minister Stephen Harper waltzed through his first interview gig on YouTube on Tuesday and along the way he gave a thumbs-up to the seal hunt and the crackdown on "guns, gangs and drugs" and a firm thumbs-down to legalizing pot.
"The reason drugs are illegal is because they are bad," Mr. Harper said. "And even if these things were legalized, I can predict with a lot of confidence that these would never be respectable businesses run by respectable people."
Canadian Patrick Pichette, Google's bilingual chief financial officer, conducted the interview, and made a point of saying the question about marijuana, which he asked last, won the most votes from those who participated in the YouTube challenge.
"Well, it's a good question," Mr. Harper responded.
The 40-minute interview broke no new policy ground for the prime minister, who appeared relaxed as he gave long, uninterrupted answers to questions posed by Canadians and relayed by video or by Mr. Pichette.
The only hitch was that the interview, taped earlier Tuesday, was posted more than an hour later than was scheduled. A Google official later blamed technical problems for the delay, the problems in uploading an interview that was twice as long as expected.
The questions were straightforward and pressed Mr. Harper on such current hot topics as the $56-billion budget deficit and his government's current handling of the Afghan detainee issue.
Someone identified as B. Jonte of Waterloo, Ontario, asked Mr. Harper why the government was not more open on the Afghan prisoner issue and why it always responds to "legitimate" questions about the issue with "'support our troops' and look the other way."
Mr. Harper said he disagreed with the premise of the question and said that it's important to state there is no evidence Canadian soldiers have done anything wrong. He pointed to his appointment of Frank Iacobucci, a former Supreme Court justice, to review the contents of still secret documents to decide what can be released as proof of his openness on the issue.
Mr. Harper flatly rejected a questioner's appeal to cancel the 2010 commercial seal hunt, saying there is "no danger" of the seal population disappearing and that his government would continue to "vigorously defend our sealers" in the face of domestic and international criticism.
"There is no scientific evidence that says the seal population is in jeopardy," he said.
On mandatory sentencing, he said that although he didn't think crime was out of control in the country, there are "worrying growth areas, particularly if you look at the areas of guns, gangs and drugs, and this is a growth area, not just in Canada, but around the world."
Mr. Harper's YouTube appearance was a clear bid to try to connect with an audience that considers YouTube part of its daily online diet, which is sad for those who visit YouTube on a regular basis. The Prime Minister's Office described the move as a chance for "Canadians to have unfiltered and immediate access to information."
The interview was taped at Rideau Gate, the Government of Canada's elegant guest house situated across the street from the prime minister's Sussex Drive residence.
Google spokeswoman Wendy Rozeluk said that the tape was unedited, and that there was no vetting of the questions by the Prime Minister's Office.
However, Mr. Harper did not go into the interview blind. He and his staff, like anybody else with access to the Internet, were able to tap into YouTube's Talk Canada site to read the questions in advance to quickly ascertain the most popular subjects.
Mr. Harper's appearance was the finale of an arrangement made by the PMO and Google, which owns YouTube, to carry a live feed of the speech the prime minister gave in the House of Commons last Thursday in response to his government's throne speech.
U.S. President Barack Obama engaged in a similar YouTube event last month after his State of the Union address.
YouTube users were encouraged to post their questions for Mr. Harper, with a promise the most popular questions would be asked at the virtual town hall on Tuesday night.
By the time voting was cut off on Sunday afternoon, a total of 5,128 people had cast 170,000 votes on 1,797 questions, according to the tally posted on YouTube's Talk Canada site.
The European arm of Blockbuster Inc. has been put up for sale amid growing concern over the financial health of its American owner.
Blockbuster Inc. is struggling with spiralling losses and more than $1 billion in debt. It wants to offload the European division, including 650 stores in the U.K. and more than 5,000 staff, as part of a drive to raise cash.
The company has appointed Winchester Capital, an American corporate finance house, to find a buyer for the European operation, which it values at about £50 million. The company also has stores in Denmark, Ireland and Italy.
Blockbuster, founded in 1985, has been battling with debt since it was spun off from Viacom, the U.S. media conglomerate, more than a decade ago. At the same time, it has attempted to modernize by embracing the online market for home entertainment and moving away from its traditional shops.
Last month, the company said its global sales had fallen by $1 billion to $4 billion in 2009 and losses had jumped 50% to $560 million. Shares in the chain, once valued at $28, are now worth only 41 cents. Blockbuster is reportedly assessing a change to its capital structure, possibly a debt-for-equity swap with its bank, after its auditor raised doubts over its ability to continue as a going concern.
The company is also looking to modernize by improving its digital and mail-order services and expanding its network of DVD rental kiosks.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that Canada's record-setting performance at the Vancouver Olympics should be an inspiration to MPs and all Canadians as they face the challenges of recovering from the recession.
Mr. Harper made the remark in the House of Commons but was hopeful that it was heard by more than just MPs. Mr. Harper's speech was broadcast live on YouTube, the online video service owned by Google, part of a new initiative his staff said was intended to reach out to Canadians who don't normally pay attention to politics.
"Because the Vancouver-Whistler Games... showed that when the challenge is understood, when the goal is clearly defined and when Canadians are given the tools, Canada can get things done," Mr. Harper said in the House of Commons as part of his reply to the speech from the throne. "And Mr. Speaker, getting things done is the trademark our country is starting to be known for."
But just as Mr. Harper saw the Olympics as inspiration for his government's agenda, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe, in response to Harper, cited the Olympics as one more reason why Quebec must declare its independence.
There was significant criticism, even from some cabinet ministers, that the opening ceremony did not include enough French or references to Quebec culture.
"That means that Canada can continue to impose its multicultural ideology, the old Trudeau ideology, on Quebec," Duceppe said in the House of Commons. "Canadian federalism has nothing to offer Quebec."
Duceppe's speech was also broadcast on YouTube and caught the attention of a thousand or so who saw it on a special YouTube site set up by Google.
The site, found online at www.youtube.com/TalkCanada, also lets visitors post a question to the prime minister. Visitors can then vote on the question they'd most like Mr. Harper to answer.
Within an hour of the conclusion of the speeches by Duceppe and Mr. Harper, the most popular question was from "Warren from Red Deer." He asked: "With regards to the Bloc Quebecois party, how can we justify having so much of the federal vote controlled by what is essentially a provincial party?"
More than 600 questions had been posted by curious Canadians as of mid-day Thursday and 37,000 votes had been cast for those questions.
Mr. Harper is expected to answer those questions which attract the most votes from the online visitors.
The popularity of the Bloc Quebecois question was later eclipsed by other topics, but one issue that stayed among the top three all day was the decriminalization of marijuana.
U.S. President Barack Obama used the same YouTube system last fall and a question about marijuana legalization was the top vote-getter. The topics for Mr. Harper's questions ranged from the government's record on climate change to the Middle East to prorogation to the troubles of gay teenagers.
One person asked Mr. Harper for a job. Another asked if Harper really had an economics degree. The answer to that one: yes, he has a master's degree in economics which he earned at the University of Calgary.
In his speech in the House of Commons, Mr. Harper reiterated what Governor General Michaelle Jean had said in the Senate a little more than a week ago, that creating jobs will be the government's chief objective this year.
"It is true that our unemployment rate is still too high. That is why it is our chief priority," Mr. Harper said Thursday.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff argued in the House that the government appears to be doing little to reduce unemployment.
"On jobs and innovation, this throne speech doesn't hold water, it treads water," Ignatieff said. "The throne speech will only be remembered for one of the most remarkable flip-flops in the history of throne speeches -- a promise to change O Canada that lasted approximately 48 hours."
NDP Leader Jack Layton, in his House of Commons speech, said the NDP could support neither the throne speech nor the budget.
"This was a long throne speech, a voluminous budget, more free-flowing giveaways for big banks and oil companies," Mr. Layton said. "And precious little hope for the victims of the recession. That's not an approach New Democrats can support."
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, is turning for the first time ever to YouTube to put his political spin on last week's Speech from the Throne and is even taking questions at www.youtube.com/talkcanada.
The Office of the Prime Minister announced today that Mr. Harper's reaction to the Speech from the Throne will be streamed tomorrow morning from the House of Commons.
"Canadians, especially younger Canadians, are no longer getting their news from just television, radio and print media. They are turning to new media in increasing numbers," according to a PMO statement.
Politicians both in the Canada and the U.S. often complain they don't like their messages being filtered through the traditional media or having to answer questions from reporters.
"Social media is changing the way Canadians interact with politicians. It allows Canadians to have unfiltered and immediate access to information. Livestreaming compliments our Government's current use of social media," the PMO stated.
Mr. Harper will follow up his viral performance with another appearance on YouTube on Tuesday at 7 p.m. where he will answer selected questions that have to be in by Sunday at 1 p.m. EST.
This should be good news for the Reverend Huy Dang... or not! But either way, it's still exciting, even if the series of movies kind of "jumped the shark" after the first four movies.
Comedy series Police Academy, which began life in 1984, is set to return to the big screen, according to reports.
New Line cinema is rebooting the franchise with original producer Paul Maslansky returning, The Hollywood Reporter said.
No writer or director has attached their name to the new version as of yet.
The original film, which starred Steve Guttenberg, was released in 1984 and spawned six more movies and a TV show grossing $240m worldwide.
"It's going to be very worthwhile to the people who remember it and to those who saw it on TV," Maslansky said. "It's going to be a new class. We hope to discover new talent and season it with great comedians. "
"It'll be anything but another movie with a numeral next to it. And we'll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme."
The first Police Academy film featured Steve Guttenberg as Carey Mahoney, a repeat offender forced to enter the academy.
Sex in the City actress Kim Cattrall (who once dated former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau) also starred as one of the recruits in the movie, which introduced characters including gentle giant Moses Hightower, gun-crazy Tackleberry, mousy Hooks and human sound effects machine Larvell Jones (played by Michael Winslow... I wonder if he'll be in the new movie).
The series ended with in 1994 with the seventh film, Mission to Moscow.
The series is nothing without Mahoney and Harris though.
Students who filmed two suspended teachers performing a lap dance at Churchill High School and posted the event on the Internet could face serious disciplinary action.
The students appear to have violated the Winnipeg School Division's zero-tolerance policies forbidding the use of cell phone cameras and other devices in schools.
School board chairwoman Jackie Sneesby refused to rule out punishment for the students Monday.
"We haven't finished the investigation. It (disciplining students) hasn't been discussed yet," Sneesby said in an interview. "It isn't anything we would do without thinking about it."
Teachers Chrystie Fitchner and Adeil Ahmed have been suspended with pay after being filmed performing a lap dance, including simulated oral sex, at a school spirit event in the school gym two weeks ago.
Sneesby would only say the senior administration's investigation was not completed yet.
The policy on WSD's website forbids the use of cell phones, video cameras, and similar devices in schools. The only exception is for school projects, but even that use requires prior approval by the principal.
During the open portion of Monday night's regular school division meeting, trustees Mike Babinky and Kristine Barr asked that they be provided with an update during the subsequent closed session. Superintendent Pauline Clarke said she would be reporting behind closed doors on process, but there would be no update Monday night on the investigation into the lap dancing teachers.
Babinsky emerged from a closed-door meeting Monday night to tell reporters senior administrators had not given trustees any new information. Babinsky said he was told repeatedly his continuing to express his opinion about the Churchill situation could jeopardize the eventual outcome of the case.
However, Babinksy said he was assured in the closed-door meeting that unidentified division personnel have been talking to Churchill students about the impact of both the incident with the two teachers and a traffic accident that recently sent a Churchill student to hospital.
Despite being told not to express his opinion, Babinsky speculated the division could fire the teachers, could allow their contracts to expire or the teachers themselves could choose to resign. Babinsky suggested Education Minister Nancy Allan could even consider cancelling their teaching certificates.
Winnipeg Teachers Association president Dave Najduch said the two teachers have heard nothing yet from the division. They have been suspended with pay since February 19.
The feisty, pint-sized 88-year-old mayor of Canada's sixth-largest city is an Internet star.
A YouTube video of Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion being interviewed by CBC funny-man Rick Mercer had more than two million views by Friday morning.
The interview, which was shot last year, has also dominated on online aggregator website Reddit.com for the past two days.
During the video, "Hurricane Hazel" and Rick Mercer hang out at Mississauga city hall, a skating rink where she dons a hot pink jersey and relives her days as a professional woman's hockey player and shows off her skills at a local bowling alley.
McCallion has won eleven consecutive elections in the city, which is about 20 kilometres west of Toronto.
Mississauga is also one of the few Canadian cities to be debt free.
Recently, two teachers in Winnipeg were suspended after a video of a male teacher giving a female teacher a lap-dance surfaced. Well, it appears that students have identified the male teacher, and it's apparently a guy named Adeil Ahmed.
They have described the teacher as a fun and popular math and science teacher who only started working at Churchill High School this semester. In fact, one student said that Ahmed graduated from university only last year.
The original video of the lap dance has garnered international attention and has more than half a million views on YouTube. A second, higher-quality video was posted on YouTube yesterday, showing the lap dance from a different angle.
It shows Ahmed straddling teacher Chrystie Fitchner while she was seated in a chair. Fitchner throws her hands back while Ahmed at first grinds against her and then pretends to perform oral sex. Students say that Fitchner "paid" him with fake money.
Damn teachers and their stripping ways...
To watch the higher-quality video, there is a video above.
A Milan court convicted three Google Inc. executives on Wednesday for violating the privacy of an Italian boy with autism by letting a video of him being bullied be posted on the site in 2006, which is presumably YouTube.
Google, which will appeal the six-month suspended jail terms in Italy, also heard that European Union antitrust regulators were looking into complaints about it from three online firms. Google said it was confident it would avoid formal investigation by the European Commission.
It said the Milan verdict "poses a crucial question for the freedom on which the Internet is built" as none of its employees had anything to do with the video.
"They didn't upload it, they didn't film it, they didn't review it and yet they have been found guilty," said Google's senior communications manager, Bill Echikson, in Milan.
The court convicted senior vice-president and chief legal officer David Drummond, former Google Italy board member George De Los Reyes and global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer. Senior product marketing manager Arvind Desikan was acquitted. The executives, none of whom are based in Italy, do not face actual imprisonment as the sentences were suspended, while an appeals process in Italy can take many years.
They were not in Italy for the hearing. Drummond is based in California, Fleischer in Paris and Desikan in London, while De Los Reyes has since retired, Echikson told news agency Reuters.
The complaint was brought by an Italian advocacy group for people with Down's Syndrome, Vivi Down, and the boy's father, after four classmates at a Turin school uploaded a clip to Google Video showing them bullying the boy. Vivi Down was a plaintiff because it was named by the boys in the video, a lawyer for the group said. But Google's Echikson and the prosecutor said on Wednesday the boy had autism, not Down's as widely reported during the three years of the case.
"A company's rights cannot prevail over a person's dignity. This sentence sends a clear signal," public prosecutor Alfredo Robledo told reporters outside the Milan courthouse.
The video was filmed with a mobile phone and posted on the site in September 2006.
Google argued that it removed the video immediately after being notified and cooperated with Italian authorities to help identify the bullies and bring them to justice. It says that, as hosting platforms that do not create their own content, Google Video, YouTube and Facebook cannot be held responsible for content that others upload.
Drummond said in a statement the verdict "sets a dangerous precedent" and meant "every employee of any internet hosting service faces similar liability." He said the law was clear in Italy and the European Union that "hosting providers like Google are not required to monitor content that they host".
Fleischer said if employees were "criminally liable for any video on a hosting platform, when they had absolutely nothing to do with the video in question, then our liability is unlimited."
The prosecutors accused Google of negligence, saying the video remained online for two months even though some web users had already posted comments asking for it to be taken down.
Censoring of websites has become a hot issue in Italy in recent months, following a spate of hate sites against officials including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The government briefly studied plans to black out Internet hate sites after fan pages emerged praising an attack on the premier, but the idea was dropped after executives from Facebook, Google and Microsoft agreed to a shared code of conduct rather than legislation.
Google counsel Julia Holtz said the scrutiny by EU antitrust regulators "in all likelihood... will not go anywhere. The Commission has not expressed any hint of guilt."
The Commission can fine companies up to 10% of their revenues and has imposed billions of Euros of fines on Intel and Microsoft for breaking antitrust rules, though it was far too early to say if Google could be fined.
Google said British price comparison site Foundem and French legal search engine ejustice.fr had complained that its search algorithm demoted their sites in results and Microsoft-owned Ciao from Bing had complained about its terms and conditions.
Google has 90% of the global search market compared to 7.4% for Yahoo and Bing combined, according to November data from research firm StatCounter. The company has drawn increasing regulatory scrutiny as it has grown.
We may hate to lose to them in hockey, but it appears we don't mind being the subject of America's online edification. Since it appeared on February 12, the video "Tom Brokaw Explains Canada to Americans" has been viewed over 215,000 times on one YouTube channel. The search term "Brokaw explains Canada" has also been logged as the #1 Twitter topic in Canada.
Despite the fact that the six-minute video was aired on NBC before the Olympic opening ceremonies, it has picked up steam online, where it's been linked to by ex-pats and citizens from both sides of the border.
The reason for the video's popularity, said the head of the The Historica-Dominion Institute, is that the rousing images of Canada are now at the centre of American attention, which is a place we rarely find ourselves.
"It's a valentine to Canada," said Andrew Cohen, president of Toronto-based. "It was very, very flattering."
And with tourism hurting since 9/11, the implications could be far-reaching. "That's free advertising. That's millions of dollars in advertising," he said.
The NBC clip features journalist Brokaw enlightening viewers on Canada's geographic beauty, the merits of our role in the Second World War (noting Canada participated before the U.S. did) and contemporary symbols such as the Highway of Heroes.
"If you're in a fight, you want the Canadians on your side," Brokaw said at one point.
The video also mentions the strength of the Canada-U.S. trading partnership with $1.2 billion transacted every day, the fact that Canada is its largest supplier of oil to the U.S., and both countries' history of welcoming immigrants.
The online comments for the video have ranged from gushy to nostalgic, with a majority being predominantly positive.
Cohen said the "love letter" to Canada leaves out right-wing criticisms about the border or healthcare, as well as some important details about Canadian diplomacy and peacekeeping.
"This isn't a political science seminar, it's NBC. It's mainstream America. It's not contentious. And by-and-large, (the information) is probably true," said Cohen. "To be honest about Americans and Canada is that they don't know very much. And so what I liked about that is it frankly told them important stuff."
Maybe that's why "Brokaw explains Canada" is also one of the most popular search terms on Twitter in the U.S. too.
Remember Leo Laporte? If not, you should be slapped. Anyway, he has a show called The Tech Guy, which provides support to technology users.
Below, a woman calls and complains that her wireless Internet connection has "disappeared." But as it turns out, she didn't even have a connection in the first place... and she had been stealing the connection from someone in her neighbourhood and had been doing her online banking and other stuff during the past 18 months... over an unsecure connection!
Lilydale, the company that previously had commercials with a guy that possessed a funny accent, is being acquired by an Ontario-based company called Sofina Foods for about $130 million in a deal that ends its 70 years as a producer-owned poultry processor.
Privately-owned Sofina, based in Markham, Ontario, will pay $75 million in cash and debentures, and assume bout $55 million in debt.
Sofina, which has about 1,200 employees at six facilities, produces mostly beef-and-pork-processed meats under private labels, and their own Fletchers, Cuddy, Quality Meats and Vienna brands.
Lilydale has 2,100 employees at two Edmonton plants, one single plant in Calgary, Abbotsford and Port Coquitlam, B.C., and Wynyard, Saskatchewan.
A veteran British broadcaster was arrested on suspicion of murder today after admitting that he had smothered to death an ex-lover who had AIDS, police said. Ray Gosling, 70, made the confession in a television program this week about assisted suicide, and ahead of the publication of new guidelines on assisted suicide next week.
He said he killed the unnamed man as he lay seriously ill in hospital "in the early period of AIDS," likely to be during the 1980s. A spokeswoman for Nottinghamshire Police in central England said officers "this morning arrested a 70-year-old Nottingham man on suspicion of murder following comments on the BBC's Inside Out program on Monday evening."
Gosling's confession comes amid a fierce debate in Britain about so-called mercy killings and whether people with terminal illnesses be allowed to commit assisted suicide. New, fuller guidelines on when prosecutions in such cases should be brought will be published on Thursday next week, the Crown Prosecution Service said Wednesday.
In the program, Gosling told of how he had taken his lover's life after they agreed a pact.
"In a hospital one hot afternoon, the doctor said, 'There's nothing we can do', and he was in terrible, terrible pain," he told viewers. "I said to the doctor, 'Leave me just for a bit' and he went away."
"I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead."
Gosling's solicitor Digby Johnson told reporters after visiting him at the police station where he is being held that the TV host was in "good spirits" but the investigation was still at a "very, very early stage".
The law in this field has come into sharp focus after two recent cases of mothers who killed their seriously ill children, one of whom was jailed and another who were not. There have also been several high-profile cases of Britons going to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland to die in recent months.
Author Terry Pratchett, who has Alzheimer's disease, became the latest public figure to speak out this month, urging the creation of special panels where seriously ill people could make the case for their right to die legally. But those opposed say changing the law could put leave very sick people vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous relatives.
Last year, the Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales, Keir Starmer, published interim guidelines on when assisted suicide cases should be prosecuted. He was forced to take fresh action after a House of Lords ruling in the case of Debbie Purdy, a woman with multiple sclerosis who wanted to find out if her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her to die at Dignitas.
The interim guidelines said that while there were some factors which could weigh against the chances of someone being prosecuted, such as the victim asking for help, assisted suicide was still a criminal offence. The new guidance due next week should provide further clarity.
Unless you were living in a cave during the last few weeks, you would know that the Super Bowl was on television yesterday, and the Colts lost to the Saints.
Well, something we always enjoy watching are the Super Bowl ads, after the game, because we live in Canada and aren’t allowed to watch the ads that are shown in America.
Well, after some archiving, here is the Simpsons Coca-Cola commercial we got all excited about. Enjoy!
Recently, the Saskatchewan Party began running an ad on television that targets the leader of the NDP. They say that it is meant to give people "a clear understanding" of what Dwain Lingenfelter is like, says Saskatchewan Party MLA Nancy Heppner.
Heppner said that the television ad, which contains of Lingenfelter referring to Premier Brad Wall as a loser, shows disrespect for the Office of the Premier on the part of the Opposition leader. But, Lingenfelter, being the disrespectful guy that he is, made no apology.
Instead, Lingenfelter claims that the ad overall is untruthful because of the "twist" it apparently puts on his words.
Charlie Sheen, or Charlie Harper to me, has been dropped from an underwear advertising campaign in the U.S. following his arrest for allegedly putting a knife to his wife's throat.
Clothing brand Hanes said that it was a "straightforward call," given the "magnitude" of the allegations.
The actor, who is 44, spent much of Christmas Day in prison after his wife told cops he threatened to kill her during a row in the ski resort of Aspen, Colorado.
That's a shame... because the ads also feature Michael Jordan!
Steve Ballmer wants you to take your hands off the keyboard!
Well, that's one of the short points he made during a keynote address to kick off the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Mr. Ballmer, who likes to speak in exclamation points with his loud voice, showcased an interesting slew of gadgets and devices that don't really require keyboards. Among them include the Slate tablet from HP that featured a multi-touch screen from N-Trig, which also provided the touch technology for computers from Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba.
That's interesting...
I think I'm only featuring this because of the funny photo that came with it.
Simon Cowell is coming back to The Simpsons! If you remember his first appearance correctly, he was working at a snobby school for smart, but freaky kids.
The X Factor and American Idol judge said that it was vanity that made him return to the show, despite hating his previous experience on the show.
"It's the best thing to get the call - you last forever and are young forever on the show, so I love it - the only reason for doing it is to look good and stay young forever," he explained. "I criticized Maggie, rightly, and then Homer punches me in the face and I criticise the punch because it wasn't a very good punch."
You know what's fun to do? It's apparently fun to post videos onto YouTube. Well, it's not so fun when you get into legal trouble.
A former cop who accused senior officers of corruption in a series of YouTube videos will himself face prosecution for abuse of office, Russian investigators said yesterday.
A criminal case will be brought against Alexei Dymovsky for "fraud committed by a person using his official position," the Prosecutor-General's investigative committee said in a statement. The committee gave no further details.
Mr. Dymovsky said that the charges were fabricated.
"They want to silence me and gain revenge," he said in a telephone interview given to Reuters, whose article we are referencing.
That's the crappy thing about working for the government or law enforcement... you can't speak your mind.
A woman carrying the Olympic torch (I wonder what the overwhelming feeling is) was knocked down by a retarded protestor during the Olympic torch run in Guelph, Ontario.
Brittney Simpson, who is 19 years old and is from a joint called Kitchener, Ontario, was arrested and has been charged with assault, according to the Guelph Police Service, and is scheduled to appear in court in February.
Simpsons allegedly knocked the torchbearer, Courtney Hansen, 28, who is from Milton, Ontario, to the ground at about 7:50 AM yesterday.
A crowd of demonstrators appeared and disrupted the relay, but the torch remained lit, cops said.
If you don't remember who Tyra Banks is... we don't really blame you. However, I occasionally watch her show out of boredom, if it happens to be on television.
But, before watching her show, I recognized her from one prominent television show: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, as Will Smith's friend from Philly.
Well, her current talk show, will come to an end this upcoming spring.
Banks, 36, said in a post on her official website that the current fifth season of her show, The Tyra Show, on the CW network, will be her last.
But for those of you who are huge fans of her show, America's Next Top Model, there is no need to worry. She will still be the host of that show.
In an article published on Tuesday in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper had some nice things to say about America's longest-running prime time TV series, and had criticism for those who would simply discount its often-irreverent take on modern family life. Here's how Catholic News Service translated a portion of L'Osservatore Romano's article:
"Rigid censors turn off the television," when the Fox program comes on, "but the more serious analysts praise the realism and intelligence of its scripts, even if they often attack -- and rightly so -- the crude language and violence of some episodes.
According to Catholic News Service, the Vatican paper went on to describe The Simpsons as "tender and irreverent, scandalous and ironic, boisterous and profound, philosophical -- and sometimes even theological -- nutty synthesis of pop culture and of the lukewarm and nihilistic American middle class."
Clearly, somebody in the Catholic Church has been paying attention to the series. In fact, the paper goes on to discuss the show in terms of its theological viewpoint, too:
Simultaneously reflecting modern people's indifference toward and great need for the sacred, Homer... finds his ultimate refuge in God.
The idea of the Vatican newspaper taking the time to comment on a cartoon television show is pretty unusual. In fact, it has all the makings of a pretty good "Simpsons" episode.
A Colorado couple who riveted America with a bogus claim their son had floated away in a balloon received a 90-day jail term for the father on Wednesday, and both face thousands of dollars in restitution. General contractor Richard Heene will spend at least 30 days behind bars, the rest he can serve on work release if employed, for masterminding a hoax and publicity stunt aimed at gaining the family their own reality television show.
His wife, Mayumi, was spared from any jail time for her part in the hoax, sentenced instead to 20 days of supervised public service work. Both were also placed on probation for four years, during which time they must perform hundreds more hours of community service and forgo any financial benefit from their "balloon-boy" escapade, including potential earnings generated by book deals or other media ventures.
Still to be calculated are fines and restitution for the search-and-rescue operation unleashed by their bogus claims. Prosecutors said an initial tally of expenditures by various government agencies came to $47,000 and could climb higher, not including an $11,000 fine sought by the Federal Aviation Administration.
"I do want to reiterate that I'm very, very sorry, and I want to apologize to all the rescue workers out there and people who got involved," said the father, his voice choking with emotion, moments before he was sentenced.
In a letter to the judge, Heene sought leniency for his wife, who lawyers for both sides characterized as a relatively minor player. She declined to make a statement in court. Heene's lawyer, David Lane, also argued for leniency, saying no one was physically hurt by the family's stunt, and noted that no one was punished "when Orson Welles convinced America that Martians were landing" with his radio broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" in 1938.
But Larimer County Judge Stephen Schapanski said the case was all about "deception... exploitation of the children of the Heenes, exploitation of the media, exploitation of the emotions of people -- and it's about money." He said he wanted to deter others from following the Heenes' example.
The father was given until January 11 to begin serving his term, starting with 30 days of straight jail time. The grim-faced couple said nothing as they walked out of the courtroom surrounded by media. The parents drew worldwide attention on October 15 when they reported that the youngest of their three sons, 6-year-old Falcon, had been carried away in a homemade helium balloon that accidentally lifted off from their backyard.
The odd-looking silver craft, built to resemble a flying saucer, drifted over Colorado for 50 miles, trailed by National Guard helicopters as authorities scrambled to reroute aviation traffic in and out of Denver International Airport. The episode was followed for hours on live television and the Internet, transfixing millions as the balloon came down in a wheat field and was found empty.
It turned out the family had squirreled the boy away in the attic of their garage. The Heenes' account of events un-raveled after they were interviewed on CNN's Larry King Live, and Falcon was asked why he stayed in hiding so long. Looking first to his parents, the boy answered: "You said that we did this for a show."
A criminal probe was launched, and court documents later revealed the mother admitted to investigators the incident was concocted as a reality show gimmick. The family have previously appeared on the ABC reality show Wife Swap.
The father, 48, pleaded guilty last month to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant. His wife, 45, pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of false reporting to authorities. Their lawyer said then the plea deal was accepted so that the mother, a Japanese citizen, would avoid the possibility of deportation.
The longer American Idol goes on, the more people begin to whisper about Simon Cowell leaving the show for greener pastures.
As the highest-paid man on television, it's unclear where he could possibly find a pasture greener than that annoying show, but now, even Cowell's brother thinks the caustic TV personality plans to quit.
"A press statement is being prepared, which will confirm what everybody expected: Simon will leave Idol at the end of 2010," Tony Cowell said during his weekly podcast, The Cowell Factor.
Simon is reportedly planning to bring The X-Factor, his British, and similar reality show, to the United States. The recent season finale of that British show attracted 19.1 million viewers in the U.K., which is one-third of the nation's population.
An Arizona music teacher whose students performed at a presidential inauguration event is on administrative leave after taking 40 high school students to a Hooters restaurant. Paradise Valley school district spokeswoman Judi Willis says choir director Mary Segall accompanied the students to a performance in downtown Phoenix last week, and during the outing, they ate lunch at Hooters.
Willis says Segall explained that the restaurant, known for its waitresses' somewhat revealing attire, was the only place that could accommodate a group of that size. But district officials believe there were other options for lunch in the area. Segall could not be reached for comment.
The teacher plans on retiring in January, and Willis says she does not know if she'll return before then.
Avatar, James Cameron's science-fiction epic, took in $232.2 million in worldwide ticket sales during its opening weekend and set a record for a 3D movie in the U.S. and Canada. The News Corp. film led the box office with $77 million in U.S. ticket sales and had the second-best debut for a December release, Hollywood.com Box-Office said.
Avatar, Cameron's first movie since Titanic, ranks among the most expensive ever made with an estimated budget of $230 million, according to the Internet Movie Database. The film, playing on 3,124 3-D screens at 2,032 locations, may take in as much as $400 million in theatres, estimates Tony Wible, an analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.
"It was a terrific opening," said Gitesh Pandya, editor of Box Office Guru LLC. "People are really liking the film: 92% of people surveyed are recommending it to their friends."
The previous record of $68.1 million for a 3-D opening was set by Walt Disney Co.'s Up (which was referenced on The Simpsons on at least two occasions) this year, according to Box Office Mojo, an industry researcher in Sherman Oaks, California.
In Avatar, an Earth corporation seeking rare minerals on a distant planet employs a private army to subdue the inhabitants. Australian actor Sam Worthington plays an ex-Marine who spies on the aliens by inhabiting a body cloned from their genetic material.
Cameron, 55, began writing the story in 1995 and spent 10 years developing technology, including a 3-D camera system, to create the world he imagined.
Olympic ticket holders who want to resell their stubs can now do so through the Vancouver 2010 website, located at www.vancouver2010.com. But the sellers and the buyers will leave a total of 20% of the purchase price with the Vancouver Organizing Committee. On Monday, VANOC released its long-promised resolution for how to fill seats when ticket-holders want to resell their tickets.
The plan, released electronically, also offers ticketholders the opportunity to simply donate their unused tickets to charity, for which VANOC won't take a percentage, but it also won't offer tax-deductible receipts.
VANOC has opened up a new front in its effort to raise as much money as it can from ticket sales, now offering "partially obstructed-view seats" at a 10% discount. And it has also entered the auction business, putting up a number of the best seats to the highest bidder.
VANOC says limited numbers of "prime seats in the judges' chairs at the figure-skating gala, behind the players' benches at the ice hockey semi-finals, centre ice at the gold medal ice hockey games and prime viewing spots at the snowboard half-pipe competition, as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games," will be available to whomever has the most credit on their Visa card.
VANOC is only accepting the credit card of the International Olympic Committee's top sponsor, which is Visa.
U.S. actress Brittany Murphy, who co-starred in such films as Clueless and Girl, Interrupted but saw her career wane in recent years, died in Los Angeles on Sunday after suffering cardiac arrest in her bathroom, officials said. She was 32.
She was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center about 10 a.m. PST (1:00 p.m. EST), two hours after her mother reportedly found her unconscious in the shower of the actress' Hollywood Hills home. A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner said there were no suspicious circumstances, but that an autopsy would take place in the next few days.
Celebrity gossip Web site TMZ, which first broke the news, reported late on Sunday that there was "a significant amount of vomit" in the bathroom area. It said Murphy had been taking medications for 'flu-like symptoms for several days, and that there were a lot of prescriptions in the house. There was no immediate word from Murphy's publicist beyond a statement that was issued on behalf of her family: "The sudden loss of our beloved Brittany is a terrible tragedy. She was our daughter, our wife, our love and a shining star. We ask you to respect our privacy at this time."
The actress starred in films opposite Michael Douglas, Ashton Kutcher, Eminem and Angelina Jolie, but failed to attain their level of success. In recent years, she worked mostly in low-budget movies, while her emaciated appearance sparked concerns about her health.
"(Today) the world lost a little piece of sunshine," Kutcher, a former boyfriend, wrote on his Twitter page. "(S)ee you on the other side kid."
Murphy was in the news earlier this month when she reportedly was fired from the Puerto Rico set of the indie thriller The Caller. Her publicist said the split resulted from creative differences. When Murphy and her husband of two years, British screenwriter Simon Monjack, returned to Los Angeles, he lost consciousness on the plane and was rushed to hospital.
Murphy was last in theatres with the low-budget thriller Across the Hall, which opened in one theatrer each in New York and Los Angeles two weeks ago. She recently finished work on the Sylvester Stallone action film The Expendables. The acrtess was born in Atlanta on November 10, 1977, and raised in New Jersey. Accompanied by her mother, she moved to Los Angeles in the early 1990s in hopes of stardom.
She made her breakthrough in the 1995 feature comedy Clueless, playing a frumpy schoolgirl who gets a makeover from Alicia Silverstone's character.
"I always felt connected to her as we shared a very special experience in our lives together," Silverstone said in a statement to People magazine. "I feel love in my heart for her -- and hope she is at peace. This is truly sad."
The acrtess built on her momentum with a succession of TV roles and appeared in two films in 1999 -- Drop Dead Gorgeous and Girl, Interrupted, for which Jolie received an Oscar. Murphy worked with Douglas in the 2001 thriller Don't Say a Word, and played Eminem's love interest in the 2002 hit 8 Mile.
The following year, she co-starred with Kutcher in the romantic comedy Just Married, and played Dakota Fanning's babysitter in Uptown Girls. But the movies failed to generate much commercial or critical heat. Her last major role was in the 2005 comic-book adaptation Sin City.
Murphy enjoyed more enduring success on the small screen, providing the voice of the vacuous Texan Luanne Platter in the cartoon series King of the Hill. She also voiced a penguin in the 2006 box office hit Happy Feet.
Before reading, check out the video. The video was recorded exclusively for Kelowna.com, whose article we are featuring today.
It only took her 13 seconds, but former Kelowna resident Naomi Thomas recently became Canada's fastest talker of 2009. The 25-year-old Vancouver actor won the title after recording the winning time at a recent speed-talking showdown in Las Vegas, hosted by Expedia.ca.
Thomas competed against nine finalists from across Canada in an attempt to accurately rip through a prepared script faster than her competition. The victory landed her a luxury weekend in Sin City, worth over $6,000 US. The four-night weekend reward had Thomas and her sister set up in a massive, panoramic suite at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. The prize package also included tickets to top Vegas shows, including the Peep Show and Cirque du Soleil's "O," a $200 steak dinner, VIP passes to a high-end nightclub, a night helicopter ride over the city and a $1,000 shopping spree at the Miracle Mile mall.
Although Thomas has been living in Vancouver for several years, she grew up right in Kelowna.
"I'm originally from Kelowna -- I lived there from the ages of 4 to 19," she tells Kelowna.com. "I did a lot of theatre with Theatre Kelowna, Shakespeare Kelowna and Creekside Players (in Winfield). My maiden name (and stage name still) is Naomi Dayneswood."
Thomas has great memories of our city, and returns for frequent visits to friends and family.
"I grew up in North Glenmore; the same house the whole time I was there... I went to Heritage Christian School from grades 2 to 12."
"For many different reasons I've been told I should be on 'Seinfeld.' Only you, people would say. But only because such strange things happen to me; not because I'm a fast-talker."
Being proclaimed Canada's Fastest Talker gave Thomas a Vegas experience she will never forget, and it's hard for her to contain her excitement when reliving the glamorous event.
"Vegas was phenomenal. When someone gives you $1,000 and you have to spend it and the only place is the mall, life is good," she says. "We had a few days to spend it all. The rest of the trip was great and they flew my sister out to join me on a Wednesday and we were there until Sunday. We got to stay in a 1,255-square-foot panoramic suite with a 180-degree view on the Vegas strip. It was twice the size of my apartment! We had several TVs, giant tub, bar area, double doors leading into the suite. I was too spoiled. I don't know if I could go back again and have to live less than I did."
Thomas hopes the win will boost her career options in the acting field.
"I really hope to further my career with this. It's kind of new so I haven't been thinking about it. My agent is definitely looking at new opportunities like voiceover work, and different commercials. I may even try for the Guinness Book of World Records, but the process is very involved. Maybe I'll do a Hamlet soliloquy for it, which I can read in 10 seconds."
For now, Thomas is enjoying her work at the Vancouver Film School.
"I work in the marketing department as the production co-ordinator; it's similar to role of producer. The film school is great they let me take time off for audition. The auditions have been slow lately but I am doing a lot of voiceover auditions. Hopefully this win will help."
After nearly nine months of negotiations, Comcast (that company that owns G4 and eventually bought TechTV and merged it with G4 to create G4techTV), America's largest cable operator, finally reached an agreement today to acquire NBC Universal from the General Electric Company.
The agreement will create a joint venture, with Comcast owning 51% and G.E. owning 49%. Comcast will contribute to the joint venture its stable of cable channels, which includes Versus, the Golf Channel and E! Entertainment, worth about $7.25 billion, and will pay G.E. about $6.5 billion in cash, for a total of $13.75 billion. For now, the network will remain NBC Universal, but ultimately, Comcast could decide to change the name.
Almost immediately, the transaction reshapes America's entertainment industry, giving a cable provider a huge portfolio of new content, even as it raises the sector's anxieties about the future.
In a joint statement announcing the agreement, Brian L. Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, said the deal was "a perfect fit for Comcast and will allow us to become a leader in the development and distribution of multiplatform 'anytime, anywhere' media that American consumers are demanding." The deal's genesis lies in frequent flirtations over the last several years between Comcast and General Electric, although serious talks began in March. For Comcast, the purchase is the realization of its long-held ambition to be a major producer of television shows and movies.
I still think they should have pursued their takeover of Disney.
News of the negotiations broke in late September, and in the ensuing weeks G.E. worked to resolve details with Comcast, while simultaneously negotiating to buy out a 20% stake in NBC Universal held by Vivendi, the French telecommunications conglomerate. It was this last part that proved difficult.
G.E. and Comcast's part of the transaction has essentially been complete for weeks, but the final step was held up by the negotiations between G.E. and Vivendi. Vivendi will receive about $5.8 billion for its stake.
Jeff Zucker, the current head of NBC Universal, will stay on as chief executive and would report to the chief executive of Comcast, Steve Burke. In a statement released by the companies Thursday morning, Mr. Zucker called the deal the "start of a new era" for NBC.
The deal could take up to 18 months to pass regulatory approvals. Although Comcast is based in Philadelphia (the city of brotherly love), NBC's headquarters will remain in New York, the joint release said.
Most of NBC's value is in its lucrative cable channels -- USA, Bravo, SyFy, CNBC and MSNBC. The NBC network and Universal Studios will comprise only a small portion of the joint venture's cash flow.
In some respects, G.E.'s decision to sell reflects the deteriorating state of the broadcast television industry, and a desire to exit a business that never quite fit well with its industrial side. NBC has been mired in fourth place among the major broadcast networks, and the economics of the broadcast television business has deteriorated in recent years amid declining overall ratings and a decline in advertising. By contrast, cable channels have continued to thrive because they rely on a steady stream of subscriber fees from cable companies, such as Comcast.
Mr. Roberts, the Comcast chief executive, failed in 2004 with a hostile takeover bid for the Walt Disney Company. Since then, the company has taken a less ambitious approach to content, buying a stake in MGM and building up smaller cable channels and regional sports networks.
Shortly after news of the deal leaked in September, G.E. and Comcast signed a standstill agreement, which effectively blocked other bidders from entering the bidding. Previously, G.E. had sought to entice Time Warner. More recently, Rupert Murdoch, who controls the News Corporation, considered making an offer for NBC Universal.
The debut album of Scottish singer Susan Boyle, who shot to fame on television through that show called Britain's Got Talent, has become the fastest selling album in Britain this year.
Entering the music charts in the top spot on Sunday, her 'album' titled "I Dreamed the Dream" sold more than 410,000 copies, which is the biggest first week sales for a debut album in UK chart history, the Official Charts Company has said.
This month, the Sony Music record became the largest global CD pre-order in the 14-year history of Amazon.com.
If there is any singer out there from Canada that I like, it's Haydain Neale, who was the singer for Jacksoul.
You're probably wondering, "Wait, isn't he still the singer?" Unfortunately, he isn't.
The man unfortunately died on Sunday at the age of 39, just a week before the release of a new album for the band, titled "Soulmate," which will be released on December 1, 2009.
The popular singer had spent the last two years undergoing extensive rehabilitation and therapy after a serious traffic accident.
In August 2007, a car collided with his Vespa scooter, leaving Neale in a coma with head injuries. His rehab was slow, but steady. During the last six months, Neale was able to finish production on the album that he started almost three years ago.
However, it was never revealed that the man was diagnosed with lung cancer seven months ago.
Remember Oprah Winfrey? Actually, it should be more like do you know who she is? Well, she is one of the most influential women, ever.
Since her television career began back in 1973, the 55-year-old talk show host and her show have won more than 40 Emmy awards.
Winfrey can also attract the biggest names in showbiz, and her intimate interviewing style often draws responses to highly personal issues.
Well, if you really want to read about her life, you can check out the article.
The big news is that she will be ending her talk show in September of 2011. Sure, that may be almost two years from today, but time does go by very quickly.
If anyone is annoying, it would have to be Stephen Colbert. And, recently, he used his sharp tongue to drag Saskatchewan into a dispute with officials in charge of speed skating at the 2010 Olympic Games.
The host of the The Colbert Report recently announced that he was coming on board as a sponsor of the cash-strapped U.S. speed-skating team and launched a fundraising campaign on his website. Now, he is bitching about officials in Richmond, British Columbia denied his "troops" training time.
"Those syrup suckers won't let us practice at their Olympic venues," he said. "At the Salt Lake Games, we let the Canadian luge team take 100 practice runs... and you know how Mormons feel about two men lying down on each other."
The douche also held up a sign saying "Canadian ice-holes," and claimed the Canadian national anthem was the theme song Quebec singer Celine Dion performed for the Titanic movie. The moron had earlier targeted Saskatchewan as being a culprit in keeping "his" skaters off of the ice.
"Tonight I'm calling on 'Saskatche-whiners' to unclench their frosty sphincters and let Americans onto their oval," said Colbert.
Well, you know what to do. If Colbert ever successfully locates Saskatchewan and happens to enter the province, you should tell him how much of a douche he is.
Olympic officials in Richmond have invited Colbert to serve as an Olympic ombudsman to prevent American discrimination.
"We are proud syrup-suckers who have been unfairly branded as cheats," said Richmond spokesperson Ted Townsend. "The fact is, we would never knowingly harm one of our American 'cousins.' However, we feel the best way to prove we are committed to fair play is for Mr. Colbert to come and see for himself."
In a letter, Townsend told Colbert: "It takes a lot to upset us. After all, the combination of the languid smell of beaver musk and the freezing temperatures make us a docile people.
"Still, we just can't stand the thought that someone would think we aren't playing fair."
A man who caught a 4.2-metre python in a Florida drain pipe was charged with perpetrating a hoax after wildlife officers discovered he owned the snake and put it in the pipe in order to stage the capture. Justin Matthews, a professional animal trapper, later admitted that he had "staged the event to call attention to a growing problem of irresponsible pet ownership," the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Thursday.
Matthews was charged with misusing the 911 emergency systems and maintaining captive wildlife in an unsafe manner. He summoned news media to witness the snake's capture from the drain in the city of Bradenton in July, telling them that he was performing a public service because it threatened nearby school children. He then said that neighbours had reported seeing the large snake in the area over several months.
Matthews, 47, had actually bought the Burmese python from a licensed reptile dealer a month earlier and illegally let it go in the drain, then called 911 to request emergency help, wildlife investigators said.
Footage of the capture was widely televised in Florida, where Burmese pythons and other non-native snakes have bred rapidly in the Everglades after being released into the wild by pet owners. The snakes are considered a threat to native species, and the state has allowed hunters to trap them.
I wonder if Florida has "Whacking Day" like they do on The Simpsons...
As the Liberals complain about the Government of Canada's "lack of awareness" and the confusion it has caused for Canadians (specifically pregnant women), the Conservatives only have one answer: laugh. Check out this video, as Dr. Carolyn Bennett bitches about the apparent issue.
Remember that guy from Nova Scotia who got his guitar broken by United Airlines and then wrote a song about it? Well, that very same guy has another mishap with the airline this past weekend.
Well, he now has new material. The carrier lost, and then found, his bagged on a trip to Denver this past weekend.
Dave Carroll traveled on Sunday to Colorado Springs to give a keynote address at a customer service and social networking conference, and also perform his hit, "United Breaks Guitars." But he found himself standing at the luggage conveyor belt for hours before learning United had lost his bag. He was eventually reunited with the luggage, but not before it traveled to Calgary and Fort Worth, Texas, and not before he made his speech, on Tuesday.
"They just couldn't believe it, because they're all there to avoid exactly what happened with United Breaks Guitars, and the fact that this had happened," said Mr. Carroll over the telephone.
"United Breaks Guitars is kind of a metaphor now for customer service breakdowns," said Mr. Carroll, based in Waverley, Nova Scotia.
Cops in Colorado are now angry and are ready to file charges against that guy who created a balloon and apparently made us think that there was a six-year-old boy in the balloon. As it turns out, the boy was later found in the attic of the garage, apparently sleeping. And then, on national television, the six-year-old screwed over the father, Richard Heene, when he asked about whether or not they were doing it for some sort of show.
Well, authorities now say that it was a hoax and a bizarre publicity stunt and are now recommending charges against the parents, which would include conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and false reporting to authorities.
At this time, no charges have been laid.
"This was a hoax; it was a publicity stunt," said Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden.
Alderden says that authorities now believe that family was trying to make them more marketable for a reality TV show. The talk of charges from cops came a day after the family was interviewed by authorities for six hours. Cops also carried out search warrants at the family's home.
Well, I hope Richard Heene ends up in prison, along with his wife. Why? Well, I just think that Heene looks like a total douche.
Actor Woody Harrelson was be one of five recipients of honorary degrees from York University last week. The American actor and environmental activist received an honorary doctor of laws from the university on Saturday.
York notes Harrelson has used his celebrity status and led by example in promoting environmental causes. The other honorary degree recipients are: Timothy Price, chairman of Brookfield Funds at Brookfield Asset Management Inc.; Reverend Brent Hawkes, a prominent gay rights activist; Alvin Curling, a former Ontario cabinet minister and envoy to the Dominican Republic; and Shelagh Wilkinson, a scholar and activist for improved access to higher education and health and political rights for women.
If you don't know who Dr. Harrelson is, you need to watch this video:
An Ontario university on Thursday defended the actions of its campus police and London, Ontario officers in the arrest of a University of Western Ontario student that was captured in a YouTube video.
"The reality is that police are trained to provincial standards to not injure a suspect who is violently resisting arrest or trying to escape," said Elgin Austen, the university's head of campus police. "That's a call that they have to make at the time."
The minute-and-a-half long video shows a male student being pinned down by as many as six campus and city police officers on the main floor of the university's Social Sciences building. The man is then seen repeatedly kneed, punched and hit with a baton more than two dozen times. Hmm... that sounds funny.
By Thursday evening, the video had been watched nearly 33,000 times. Austen cautioned that the video only depicted a small portion of the events that transpired Wednesday night.
"People may interpret what they are seeing as excessive use of force, but the video only shows a small component of what was happening," he said. "The officers recognized very quickly that this was a very heightened situation."
According to the university, the incident began around 5 p.m. when a student called campus police and reported being followed by a male student. Campus officers then received a number of other calls about a "disoriented and threatening individual" who was attempting to enter some offices on the eighth floor of the building. It was then reported that the 22-year-old male student had barricaded himself inside an office on the seventh floor. Three campus police officers went to the scene and that's where the video begins.
According to the university, the student came out of the office and charged the officers. The suspect then made it down to the main floor of the building where he was stopped by campus police, and arriving London police officers.
They attempt to handcuff the student and were heard in the video repeatedly yelling: "Stop resisting" and "Give us your arms."
London police said that the man was being "combative and resistant."
The student was eventually handcuffed and taken to hospital for assessment, according to the statement. A university spokeswoman, Gitta Kulczycki, said Thursday that both the university and the police will be doing a review of the incident and allegations that the amount of force used was excessive.
"Our officers and London Police officers were dealing with a disoriented and violent young person who clearly required help," she said in a statement. "Our officers did what they needed to do to ensure that he and others around him were safe."
The fourth-year student, identified as 22-year-old Irnes Zeljkovic, of London, Ontario, has been charged with mischief, resisting arrest, assault and escaping custody. He has been suspended from classes until further notice. The university's student council said Thursday it has received "thousands" of comments from concerned students.
The University of Western Ontario has about 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students. It is located in London, Ontario, about 200 kilometres west of Toronto.
Quebec City's mayor and the former owner of the Quebec Nordiques met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman Friday in New York City, the French-language television network LCN has reported. According to the report, Mayor Regis Labeaume and Marcel Aubut discussed the possibility of Quebec City getting a new NHL team.
The meeting took place as rumours are swirling about a new arena to be built to replace the old Colisee, where the Quebec Nordiques played from the time they were established in the World Hockey Association in 1972 until the franchise was sold and moved to Colorado in 1995. At the time, Aubut wanted the provincial government to chip in the funds needed to build a new arena.
Bettman has said that building a new arena would be a key to establishing a new franchise in Quebec City. LCN reported an announcement either about the arena or a new NHL franchise could come next week.
Singing a Beatles classic might be kick-ass to most people, but not those who speak French. Well, at one person who speaks French? That's pretty funny, isn't it?
Yeah, it is. The National Arts Centre received several received several complaints from the public after the Prime Minister's rendition of "With a Little Help from My Friends" during a black-tie gala in Ottawa on Saturday, including one that said Mr. Harper failed to sing in French.
Carl martin, spokesman for the NAC, said that a woman left a voicemail message saying, "She thought the NAC was a bilingual institution and there was no French spoken in the performance."
Martin said that she did not leave her name.
"It was kind of, let's say, an unusual comment," he said. "Fair enough. She was just expressing what was on her mind."
Actually, if you thought that was retarded, the other complaints were pretty stupid too. Some people complained that it was inappropriate to "mix politics with arts."
Yeah, the French complaint was hilarious, in many ways, and something like that would only happen in Canada. But as for those who complained that the NAC should not have been mixing politics and the arts, those people are idiots. Is it really that bad if the Prime Minister Stephen Harper performs at a gala at the request of his own wife? Why is it that people complain about the Prime Minister when he is doing something that isn't political? I mean, if Michael Ignatieff was the Prime Minister and he was to do that, the fact that I support the Conservatives would actually have nothing to do with the situation. In fact, it would make me respect him just a little bit, but only as a person. As a politician, he would still be the scum of the earth. Of course, once the performance has been forgotten about years down the road, I would just return to denouncing Mr. Ignatieff.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked some major ass to the tune of The Beatles on Saturday night at the sold-out NAC Gala held at the National Arts Centre in support of Canada's next generation of performing artists.
Mr. Harper got a little bit of help from cellist Yo-Yo Ma, taking to the stage prior to the intermission and to sing and play the piano. He performed a classic Beatles song, "With a Little Help from My Friends," accompanied by Ma, one of the greatest classical musicians of our time, and members of the Ottawa band Herringbone.
Saturday's surprise performance was introduced by young Canadian pianist Avan Yu, an alumnus of the NAC's Young Artist Program and a guest performer at the gala's benefit concert.
Mr. Harper's unexpected number earned him a standing ovation and loud cheers from the black-tie audience of approximately 2,300 people.
You know what's fun to make fun of? The City of Regina's name. Yeah, they do have a funny name, don't they? Well, when celebrities do it, it's embraced for some reason.
Well, remember Craig Ferguson? You know... the guy who was known as Mr. Wick on The Drew Carey Show? Well, he made fun of Regina, and now it's on the papers for some reason.
Anyway, the reference came when Ferguson read an email from a guy named John in Ogema, Saskatchewan, near Regina.
Watch the video of him making fun of the city on The Late Late Show, above!
The Michael Jackson movie This Is It, which is based on footage from concert rehearsals before his death in June -- will have simultaneous premieres in more than fifteen cities around the world next month, the studio behind the film said Monday.
This Is It opens to the general public on October 28, 2009 for a limited two-week run. While Hollywood movies often have several premieres around the world, they rarely happen at the same time. But for This Is It, more than 15 cities, including New York, Rio de Janeiro, London, Berlin and Seoul, will host simultaneous premieres with a red carpet event in Los Angeles on October 27, said Sony Pictures, which paid $60 million for rights to the rehearsal footage. Names of the other premiere-night cities were not released. The opening events will feature satellite transmissions of Hollywood stars arriving at the premiere in Los Angeles.
London's premiere will happen after midnight local time on Oct. 28, while Seoul's event is scheduled for the morning of that day. In all, more than 25 cities worldwide will have premieres for the movie, but not all will take place at the same time. In the days before he died of an overdose of prescription drugs on June 25, Michael Jackson was rehearsing for a comeback with 50 sold-out shows in London.
The $60-million movie deal was made between Jackson's estate and concert promoter AEG Live and Sony Pictures. Based on proceeds from the movie, business deals and album sales that have arisen since Jackson's death, administrators of his estate expect to generate more than $200 million in revenue before the end of the year.
Jay Leno's closely-watched new primetime television show drew a "bumper audience" of nearly 18 million viewers, cheering executives at struggling NBC Tuesday but leaving TV critics underwhelmed. The debut of The Jay Leno Show at 10:00 PM on Monday beat the competition to become the #1 network show of the night and gave NBC its biggest overall audience in that time slot since the August 2008 Olympic Games, NBC said.
The 17.7 million viewers compare to the roughly five million that regularly watched Leno's old Tonight Show during late-night hours, and it put the new outing on par with popular shows such as the CSI crime franchise on rival CBS.
Leno's move from his former 11:30 PM time period to the primetime slot five nights a week that is traditionally occupied by expensive scripted drama is being scrutinized by the network TV industry as it struggles to cut costs and retain audiences.
General Electric Co.'s NBC network has been particularly hard hit and has been in last place for four years among the leading four networks. NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker told reporters on Tuesday that the Leno debut was "a very nice start" but cautioned that it was early days yet.
"We're going to judge this on 52 weeks; we're not going to judge it on one night. The fact that it opened and opened so well is a great sign, and we feel great about that. But it's only one day," said Zucker, attending an investment conference in New York.
NBC has declined to publicly reveal its target ratings for the show, which costs roughly the same for five nights as does one night of a scripted drama. But the premiere, which featured appearances by comedian Jerry Seinfeld, rapper Kanye West and comedy skits involving talk-show host Oprah Winfrey and U.S. President Barack Obama, failed to wow critics.
Here are a few things that have been said by television critics:
"Sixteen minutes into the new The Jay Leno Show, it was difficult not to panic. This is the future of television? This wasn't even a good rendition of television past," wrote Los Angeles Times TV critic Mary McNamara.
Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times said: "So much ink has been devoted to describing how Mr. Leno's new show would depart from his old one that it was startling to see how little difference there was."
Time Magazine's James Poniewozik, who last week wrote a cover story declaring NBC's radical experiment The Future of Television, said it ultimately did not matter whether critics liked the new show.
"It cannot be overemphasized that Leno's show is first and foremost a cost-cutting move. It's a fifth or less expensive than airing scripted dramas; therefore, what would be a bad number for Law & Order would still leave NBC in the black on Jay," Poniewozik wrote Tuesday.
Rival studios have scorned NBC's experiment and loaded their upcoming fall schedules with dramas that traditionally deliver big audiences to advertisers that fund network television.
But on Monday, Leno's only competition in the time slot was a repeat episode of CSI: Miami on CBS and ABC's airing of the 2006 movie Dreamgirls.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper waltzed through his first interview gig on YouTube on Tuesday and along the way he gave a thumbs-up to the seal hunt and the crackdown on "guns, gangs and drugs" and a firm thumbs-down to legalizing pot.
The European arm of Blockbuster Inc. has been put up for sale amid growing concern over the financial health of its American owner.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that Canada's record-setting performance at the Vancouver Olympics should be an inspiration to MPs and all Canadians as they face the challenges of recovering from the recession.
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, is turning for the first time ever to YouTube to put his political spin on last week's Speech from the Throne and is even taking questions at www.youtube.com/talkcanada.
This should be good news for the Reverend Huy Dang... or not! But either way, it's still exciting, even if the series of movies kind of "jumped the shark" after the first four movies.
A Milan court convicted three Google Inc. executives on Wednesday for violating the privacy of an Italian boy with autism by letting a video of him being bullied be posted on the site in 2006, which is presumably YouTube.
The world's first film shot by chimpanzees is about to hit the airwaves.
Jay Leno is a pretty cool guy, is he not? Well, I think he is pretty cool. But, his new show is being 'canned.'
Simon Cowell is coming back to The Simpsons! If you remember his first appearance correctly, he was working at a snobby school for smart, but freaky kids.
You know what's fun to do? It's apparently fun to post videos onto YouTube. Well, it's not so fun when you get into legal trouble.
A woman carrying the Olympic torch (I wonder what the overwhelming feeling is) was knocked down by a retarded protestor during the Olympic torch run in Guelph, Ontario.
If you don't remember who Tyra Banks is... we don't really blame you. However, I occasionally watch her show out of boredom, if it happens to be on television.
The longer American Idol goes on, the more people begin to whisper about Simon Cowell leaving the show for greener pastures.
An Arizona music teacher whose students performed at a presidential inauguration event is on administrative leave after taking 40 high school students to a Hooters restaurant. Paradise Valley school district spokeswoman Judi Willis says choir director Mary Segall accompanied the students to a performance in downtown Phoenix last week, and during the outing, they ate lunch at Hooters.
Avatar, James Cameron's science-fiction epic, took in $232.2 million in worldwide ticket sales during its opening weekend and set a record for a 3D movie in the U.S. and Canada. The News Corp. film led the box office with $77 million in U.S. ticket sales and had the second-best debut for a December release, Hollywood.com Box-Office said.
Olympic ticket holders who want to resell their stubs can now do so through the Vancouver 2010 website, located at www.vancouver2010.com. But the sellers and the buyers will leave a total of 20% of the purchase price with the Vancouver Organizing Committee. On Monday, VANOC released its long-promised resolution for how to fill seats when ticket-holders want to resell their tickets.
U.S. actress Brittany Murphy, who co-starred in such films as Clueless and Girl, Interrupted but saw her career wane in recent years, died in Los Angeles on Sunday after suffering cardiac arrest in her bathroom, officials said. She was 32.
Every year, YouTube likes to announce the most videos of the year.
After nearly nine months of negotiations, Comcast (that company that owns G4 and eventually bought TechTV and merged it with G4 to create G4techTV), America's largest cable operator, finally reached an agreement today to acquire NBC Universal from the General Electric Company.
If there is any singer out there from Canada that I like, it's Haydain Neale, who was the singer for Jacksoul.
Remember Oprah Winfrey? Actually, it should be more like do you know who she is? Well, she is one of the most influential women, ever.
If anyone is annoying, it would have to be Stephen Colbert. And, recently, he used his sharp tongue to drag Saskatchewan into a dispute with officials in charge of speed skating at the 2010 Olympic Games.
Cops in Colorado are now angry and are ready to file charges against that guy who created a balloon and apparently made us think that there was a six-year-old boy in the balloon. As it turns out, the boy was later found in the attic of the garage, apparently sleeping. And then, on national television, the six-year-old screwed over the father, Richard Heene, when he asked about whether or not they were doing it for some sort of show.
Actor Woody Harrelson was be one of five recipients of honorary degrees from York University last week. The American actor and environmental activist received an honorary doctor of laws from the university on Saturday.
Quebec City's mayor and the former owner of the Quebec Nordiques met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman Friday in New York City, the French-language television network LCN has reported. According to the report, Mayor Regis Labeaume and Marcel Aubut discussed the possibility of Quebec City getting a new NHL team.
The Michael Jackson movie This Is It, which is based on footage from concert rehearsals before his death in June -- will have simultaneous premieres in more than fifteen cities around the world next month, the studio behind the film said Monday.
