Randomia

[tartysuz]

Mr. Cameron Goes to Fort McMurray
I'm not a fan of all his movies, but I think it's a good thing that James Cameron is touring the oil sands. Obviously, it calls attention to the site and the issues, and he's enough of both an environmentalist and tech user to know that there are no easy answers. His visit coincides with the Edward Burtynsky exhibit, Oil. Burtynsky is a Canadian who is the probably the world's leading photographer at the moment. This leads me to a great desire to see Cameron, the world's leading Hollywood blockbuster director, to do a documentary on the oil sands. Wouldn't it be fantastic to have this globally-affecting Canada-based subject documented by two Canadians who happen to be the world's leading populatist artists in their fields?

A secondary "controversy" is whether the premier of Alberta should spend $10K flying back from government business in Ottawa to meet Cameron. He absolutely should all those pissant ads in the Washington Post and Times Square don't add up to a micron of a moment's worth of being seen with Cameron. Plus, if Cameron does make a documentary about this, the province needs to be in there from the beginning. This is our story, too, and we should not be a bystander to it, or worse, an antagonist in it.

HST
I did not understand the furor over the introduction of the HST in BC in Alberta. I guess some folks didn't like how the governments handled their introduction, but really, people are just allergic to the word "tax." Although I don't live in those provinces, it seemed to me that a single tax would be better for the pocketbook and longterm macroeconomic planning than two separate taxes. Plus, it's never good to be on the same side as Bill Vander Zalm*. Someone did the math at the Globe and Mail, so now I have empirical evidence.

* Supernatural Trivia
Vander Zalm owned Fantasy Gardens until he sold it in a shady deal that contributed to the undoing of his political career. The Supernatural episode "Monster Movie" was filmed at there. It was torn down earlier this month.

Comments

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Speaking of art exhibits centred on the Tarsands...this one's been held at Ottawa City Hall for the last few weeks:

http://beautifuldestruction.ca/

When I saw what was defined as "overburden"...horror, frustration and a certain amount of rage were involved. Quietly, as I wish to revisit City Hall on other business in future.

[tartysuz.livejournal.com]

Very interesting! There's also an exhibit of Burtynsky's deep-sea oil rig photos on in Toronto now. I think Canadians are finally turning a corner, away from thinking ourselves as hewers of wood and drawers of water -- which has a hand-work, artisan feel -- and into terraformers of landscape.

However, all these exhibits do remind us of how much we rely on the stuff. Not just for transportation and energy, but also for plastics, electronic gadgets, construction material, medical supplies -- petroleum is in everything, so how do we reduce our reliance on it, or replace it?