James Gandolfini on Inside the Actors Studio [Video]

There are many things that draw people into the arts and immortality is not the least of them. Tens of thousands of people die every day and most of those people are lost to history. Unless they are related to you, you will probably never know the names of the factory workers, farmers, soldiers and…

Our duty to Haiti: donate then wake up!

One day prior to the earthquake in Haiti last week, Darren Ell’s art exhibit Haiti: Holdup opened in Concordia University’s Media Gallery. His photographic documentary pieces were a prescient warning about the vulnerability of Haiti’s fragile infrastructure — a fragility directly caused by American, Canadian and French manipulation. Ell’s exhibit consists of three enormous photographs, seven…

On the Dangers of Walled Gardens and Locked Gates

Steve Pratt of CBC Radio 3 has an excellent post on ‘walled gardens’ vs Setting your content free (which is an old topic/rule but still totally relevant.) Canadian media companies, from my point of view anyway, still haven’t fully grasped the concept, or they are still very resistant to it. You should definitely read Steve’s…

CBC News Sunday Earns Misplay of the Week

Back on February 24 I pointed out that, apparently, more journalists need media literacy when it comes to ‘scientific studies.’ Today on CBC News Sunday I learned that the problem runs far deeper than that. Aside from bad health and science reporting – arts reporting was today called into serious question. On News Sunday today…

The CBC is Cool Again in Rural Ontario

Take note Mr. Harper: The Conservatives, having all but given up on Quebec seem to have miscalculated on the reaction to their passive-aggressive attack on the CBC. The loudest cries against the recently announced CBC cuts are coming – not from Toronto (where Conservatives aren’t even serious contenders) but from rural ridings that Conservatives will…

the Juno Awards Have Become a National Embarrassment

Someone really has to do something about the Junos. It is horrifying to think that anyone, anywhere, even for a moment think that they represent the best Canada has to offer musically. They don’t. The Junos are not really Canadian and they are more about marketing and distribution networks than they are about music. Once…

Future of Media: An Idea Whose Time Has Come (apparently)

So I threw the idea out there about creating a forum for creatives, artists, content creators, journalists, media management folk, tech people and consumers to come together and chat about the things that need to be talked about. Namely how do we make it all work? How do we create a system that meets consumers…