Blackout!

So we're in the middle of a blackout here in the Big Smoke. Which blows cause the temperature is, like, -29C with the windchill. That's -20F for you Imperialists out there. Bloody cold. By the grace o god I didn't lose power, something that I lorded over Bucky this morning. Strangely, my declarations of "Do you know how lucky you are, cat?" fell on selfishly deaf ears. But that's likely cause he's all cushy and never experienced a temperature extreme in his life. Not like I have. I remember Leningrad 1944, man. Now that was cold. Anyhoo, power outages always make me think of the Lou Grant episode aptly titled "Blackout". I was all about Lou Grant in the late '70s. I wanted to be Lou Grant, which in retrospect is a bit odd. For 9 year old girl. But I also wanted to be either Roy Scheider or Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws, so whatev. Anyway, this particular episode was all about how the The Tribune struggled to produce a paper during a power outage. Compelling drama. Jack Bannon, played by Art Donovan, was all smug cause he'd kept his manual typewriter despite the mocking of his coworkers and was all "who's able to write now, bitches?" A sentiment I whole-heartedly echo. I'm all about the low-tech just so I don't get snookered in power outages and the like. Which is I guess why I've always held a torch for Jack as well. I think back to that episode and think "Dammit. You and your convictions are so sexy." I mean, how is your trusty IBM Selectric II going to save your ass when things go all Mad Max? Just saying. It's all because of and for Jack Bannon that I treasure my dynamo pig flashlight. You will forever be in my heart, Jack. For those within The Zone, I hope you get your juice back soon. Remember to drain your pipes and check on your elderly neighbours!

Interesting side note discovered in my morning travels: Terri Nunn, lead singer of Berlin, appeared as a 15 year old girl trying to get pregnant in the second season of Lou Grant.

Pamela Westoby still guesting and ghosting while Barker tans his tush. If you like this, you might just like my book Hoyden!

Cinema Terrorism

I’ve had the good fortune of seeing both Munich and Paradise Now over the past few months and both films have given me greater insight into the seemingly never-ending struggle between Israelis and Palestinians.

Munich was about Israel's response to the killing of their athletes at the 1972 Olympics -- sending assassins after the Palestinian planners of Black September. Paradise Now’s perspective followed two West Bank friends chosen to be suicide bombers as they prepare for and struggle with their mission.

Both films began with the belief that violence must be met with violence. In Munich, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Mier say civilizations must sometimes compromise their values, as they defend their right to exist. Said and Khaled, the protagonists of Paradise Now, feel they are trapped in an open–air prison with no future and no respect, kept down by the military and economic might of Israel, responding to their planes with explosives strapped to their bodies.

By the end of the films, the black and white issues have considerably grayed. Avner, the lead assassin questions the effectiveness and the justice of the counterterrorist response that only appears to be breeding new resistance. In Paradise, only one of the two bombers heads into Israel, ready to carry out his destructive plan, only coming to that decision after debating with a resistance leader who argues that in killing there is no difference between victim and occupier.

Munich may net director Steven Spielberg an Oscar nomination in a couple of weeks and is in theatres now. Paradise Now just won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film and you can catch it at rep theatres. They will add to your understanding of a complex situation as both films come to the inevitable conclusion: the cycle of violence is leading nowhere.