July 31, 2004

The Unbelievable Truth: Tonight Is Video Night

A Lesson for Crispin Glover: When Not To Take LSD

A few years back, actor Crispin Glover had, what appeared to be, a nervous breakdown while visiting David Letterman’s late night show on NBC. Subsequent to Glover’s onstage antics, Letterman swore that Marty McFly’s dad would never appear on his show again. Well, here it is a new millennium, and VanRamblings learns (c/o All Things Christie) that Mr. Glover wasn’t suffering from acute psychological distress, rather ... he was making like Art Linkletter’s worst nightmare. Here is Crispin Glover ‘kicking it’ on the Letterman show.

Funnier Than Anchorman: Will Ferrell Makes Like Bush

After spending over $75 million on fraudulent attacks, Bush White House apparatchik Karl Rove is back to selling the true Texas cowboy. Throughout August, Bush campaign commercials will feature President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. What will these commercials look like? Comedian Will Ferrell takes us for a behind-the-scenes look at ‘White House West’.

Summer at the Movies. A Video With More Heart Than I Robot

Migawd, this has been one lousy summer at the movies. There are no sleepers. Not one film has broken out, unexpectedly, to emerge as a hit. Second week box office drop-offs remain in the 60% range, and from Van Helsing to The Village and The Manchurian Candidate, this has been a summer of disappointment for most dedicated movie-goers. Fortunately, VanRamblings comes to the rescue tonight, presenting this heartfelt glimpse into our future, a video that is everything that I Robot could never hope to be, whatever the budget.

John Kerry: The Next President of the United States?

Click on the picture above to watch “A Remarkable Promise” (Windows Media Player)

July 30, 2004

B.C.'s Left: Reasoned, Revolutionary and Damned Unapologetic

After years in the political wilderness, the left in British Columbia has begun to find its voice.

The debate on how to go about building a fairer world takes place on our own, expansive terms, and involves neoliberalism only insofar as it is necessary to grudgingly acknowledge the troglodyte politics of repression that is the purview of Harper, Campbell, Bush and their ilk.

The new, non-electoral-politics-oriented left in British Columbia (at least, at this point) recognizes history as a dynamic. We know in our hearts and minds that we will continue to move forward towards that day when all might participate as equals in a civil society defined by justice, caring and respect for the collective, and individual, needs of each and every one of us.

Left Turn online addresses the role of the leaderships of the NDP and BC Federation of Labour and “their fear of extra parliamentary struggle (that) is only surpassed by their contempt for workers’ democracy.” Left Turn rejects the ‘humane’ capitalism of the NDP and instead calls for a dialogue of change with activist groups in our communities who have been battling “in the trenches, whether involved in fighting welfare cuts, organizing for union democracy, struggling against the closure of women’s centres, combatting homophobia, or preserving the ecosphere.”

Seven Oaks online magazine has positioned itself as the reasoned, thoughtful and non-didactic “publication which stands outside the realm of false consensus.” The editors write in their manifesto ...

Through our weekly provision of analytical features, progressive opinions, cultural commentary, and more, we hope to provide another space where ideas, questions, stories, information, problems, and possible solutions can be shared, sounded out, celebrated, and debated in an open forum free of cumbersome, dogmatic ‘Party lines’, but all the while in unambiguous pursuit of progressive social change. We hope to be a part of that chorus of voices in this country giving the lie to the quiet, conservative fantasy that all is well here, and always has been.

If Seven Oaks is British Columbia’s weekly magazine of the left, since last November The Tyee has emerged as the feisty new media online presence that, daily, addresses issues the reactionary forces of the CanWest conglomerate refuse to acknowledge even exist. More reportorial, and immediate, in its presentation and structure than Seven Oaks magazine, The Tyee is helmed by David Beers, once a senior editor at Mother Jones, and creator of the lamentably, now lost, cultural section of the Vancouver Sun, The Mix (simply the best weekly cultural magazine published inside any Canadian newspaper in the last 25 years). The Tyee remains a must read.

And, finally, there’s Public Eye, an online weblog, edited by Sean Holman. Although Public Eye bills itself as “independent and irreverent ... neither Liberal nor New Democrat”, make no mistake, this peripatetic online journal in covering the backrooms of provincial and federal politics in B.C. offers a progressive and necessary voice for change.

Welcome to the new digital democracy. The revolution is underway ...

July 29, 2004

With The Sun Beating Down, Take A Break With a DVD

With the fan(s) whirring in the background, the hot noon day sun beating down hard outside (or, perhaps, it is the early evening sun that is preparing to set off in the distant west), yes, this just may be the perfect time to pick up the remote, slide a DVD into the machine, and relax.

A couple of recommendable DVD’s this week; so let’s get started, shall we?

Surprisingly entertaining, this spring 2004 cinematic re-imagining of the vividly drawn Dark Horse comic series, may not be Spiderman-inspiring, but with WWII Nazis, aided by occultists, summoning a creature from hell to help destroy the earth, and good guy Professor Broom (John Hurt) intervening to raise Hellboy to fight the evil monsters who first brought him into the world, well .... the DVD simply crackles. Talented writer / director Guillermo Del Toro (The Devil’s Backbone) and co-writer Peter Briggs (Alien vs Predator) give Hellboy the mythic treatment, while actor Ron Perlman (City of Lost Children) occupies Hellboy with more than enough humanity to ground him. With its surfeit of twirling gears and clockworks juxtaposed with crumbling castles pelted by dark rain, the action sequences comes fast (and satisfyingly clear). All and all, one helluva good time.

The guilty pleasure of the week, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is the perfect DVD for a steamy summer’s night, a movie that will have you swinging your hips and singing “Cuba!” under your breath for days to come. The ‘prequel’ has almost the same plot as the 1987 original, and works for much the same reason the first one worked: the two lead characters. This time around up-and-comer Romola Garai (luminescent in any number of films) and Diego Luna (Y Tu Mamá También) bring the classic teen Romeo and Juliet story (and the idea of a girl’s initiation into sexual awareness) to life, once again rendered onscreen by the transmutation into sexy dancing.

July 28, 2004

The CHUM Fall 2004 Television Schedule

Once again, CHUM Thinks We’re Chumps

CHUM Television has unveiled a prosaic (which is to say, a rather ho-hum) fall television schedule, heavy on reality programming (The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, both ABC shows) and returning U.S.-purchased family dramas, such as Everwood and 7th Heaven (both WB shows).

CHUM will continue to broadcast their usual amalgam of in-house programmes, covering a broad range of topics, from music, fashion, media, cinema and the arts, to sex and sexuality, new media, science fiction and beyond, as well as a glut of movies you’ve seen at the cinema or on video.

The most anticipated new in-house programme is the made-in-Vancouver The Collector, featuring Chris Kramer as a modern-day agent of the devil sent to collect lost souls; the programme has been playing this summer on CHUM’s specialty channel, Space: The Imagination Station. The programme will début on Citytv, and other CHUM stations, early this autumn.

Returning series include the widely-acclaimed Monk, the filmed in Vancouver Smallville, and Enterprise (new day and time, Fridays at 9). Talks shows returning range from The Ellen DeGeneres Show, to the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

CHUM’s new programmes for Citytv include And Go!, a 13-week guerrilla-style improv series hosted by comedian Bruce Hunter, an alumnus of Second City, Puppets Who Kill and The Red Green Show.

Other new series, purchased from networks below the 49th parallel:

• Battlestar Galactica, made in Vancouver and starring Edward James Olmos.

• Jack and Bobby.

• Life As We Know It.

All and all, CHUM’s fall television schedule lacks anything approaching creative vision, and comes across more like a cynical grab for advertising dollars. Who’da thought we’d miss Moses Znaimer, missing since 2003?

As for the remaining Canadian television network schedules: here’s a peek at CBC’s fall television schedule, as well as a glimpse of CTV’s fall schedule.

For the major U.S. networks fall television schedules, click on the following direct VanRamblings’ links: ABC, NBC, the WB, Fox and UPN, and CBS.

July 27, 2004

Jib Jab: This Land Was Made For You and Me
(with apologies to Woody Guthrie)

Tech Tuesday: Google, Security and a Question Answered

MyDoom Worm Variant Causes Internet Storm

A pesky new variant of the MyDoom worm — dubbed MyDoom.m or MyDoom.o — clogged e-mail accounts and crippled Internet search engines Monday with messages posing as either a returned e-mail notice or an alert from an IT administrator. MyDoom.m usually arrives as an executable programme file attachment that launches when you open your e-mail.

The newest variant of the MyDoom worm then sets about to search your address book for e-mail domains (e.g. @telus.net), in the process launching an Internet search using various search engines (Google suffered a major attack). Once MyDoom has located additional e-mail addresses, it sends out a denial-of-service attack across the Web. Note to corporate workers: Have your morning coffee before opening your e-mail.

And Below, VanRamblings’ Newest Tech Tuesday Feature

As is the case every week, the security news just doesn’t stop. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser was practically on the 10 Most Wanted list as a bank robber, thanks to malicious code that uses advertising pop-ups to steal data from bank Web sites. Not surprisingly, VanRamblings will provide you with the information you need to know.

The Internet Explorer onslaught continued unabated this past week, and the message that IE is somewhat less than a safe browser seems to be getting through to an increasing number of Internet surfers. Maybe it’s the constant reports of vulnerabilities, culminating in last week’s news about pop-up ads that can actually harvest password and other data from bank Web sites. Either way, according to Google and C|NET, searches for browsers — most particularly Mozilla, and Firefox — dominated network traffic last week, providing evidence that Microsoft’s stranglehold on the browser market may be coming to an end.

Last week, Google announced that it had purchased Picasa, a company that makes software for organizing digital photos. Almost immediately, Google made the software available for free, resulting in a massive download of the programme by computer users worldwide. At first glance, the purchase seemed a tad puzzling. Picasa makes a desktop product; Google is a Web search engine. But Google would appear to have big plans for Picasa’s Hello peer-to-peer photo-sharing application, which already works seamlessly with Google’s Blogger Weblogging service. Google is also likely preparing to compete with Microsoft, which has already touted advanced image-search features in its upcoming Longhorn operating system.

Is KaZaA totally over? Although it’s too early to draw broad conclusions about KaZaA’s future, for some months now the search has been on for file-swapping alternatives that are less hassle than KaZaA. What pieces of software are emerging as the early favourites in the peer-to-peer sweepstakes? eDonkey and its cousin eMule (VanRamblings uses the latter) have gained a loyal following. BitTorrent is the alternative for the tech savvy. Over a period of six months, network management company CacheLogic found that KaZaA had slipped far behind rival BitTorrent, which accounted for 53 percent of actual peer-to-peer network traffic. And, arising Phoenix-like from the dead, WinMX, which has moved into a Top 10 position at Download.com.

Want more information on BitTorrent? Here’s the scoop: BitTorrent is peer-to-peer software that makes it easy to share huge files quickly and reliably. Remember, with earlier file-sharing networks, waiting behind 15 other people to download a file from some poor sap with a 384Kbps DSL upload pipe? BitTorrent avoids that bottleneck by splitting files into chunks and having people download different chunks from one another. Everyone downloads and uploads at the same time. Inevitably, people discovered that BitTorrent is a dandy tool for swapping movies and TV episodes. Beware, though: The entertainment industry is watching; BitTorrent also exposes your IP address.

Question of the Week

I accidentally unchecked the ‘Always ask’ option in the File Download dialogue box when I downloaded a .zip file. Now I’m no longer asked about whether I want a downloaded .zip file opened. How do I get that choice back? — Submitted by: Jonathan Kwan, Edmonton, Alberta

As always, we’ll assume that you’re using Windows XP. Here goes, then: In Windows Explorer, select Tools / Folder Options. Click the File Types tab. In the ‘Registered file types’ list, select the appropriate type (zip, or WinZip File, in your case). Click the Advanced button. Check the Confirm open after download box, and click OK.

July 25, 2004

Breach of Confidentiality: BC PCs ... and the FBI?

British Columbia is outsourcing desktop computer support for all government employees. The company awarded the contract: IBM.

Public workers, represented by the BCGEU, have gone on record as expressing concern that the privacy rights of all British Columbians could very well be in jeopardy.

IBM will not only gain access to most of the confidential files handled by the provincial government — the company could be compelled to share your confidential information with the FBI, under the sweeping new provisions of the USA Patriot Act.

The BCGEU has filed a complaint with the office of the B.C. Privacy Commissioner on the issue of citizens’ rights to privacy in the outsourcing of government services, and has also initiated legal action to overturn the outsourcing of confidential information services to private firms.

In addition to the undertaking of the BCGEU, a broad coalition of community groups has launched a Right To Privacy campaign, setting as their goal “no contracting out of information or information management to any company subject to foreign laws that violate the rights of Canadians.”

As of this writing, the provincial government continues its plans to contract out the administration of the Medical Services Plan and Pharmacare to Maximus Inc., an American multinational corporation, by the end of August.

According to an article written by Michael Geist — the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa — and published in the Toronto Star ...

A review of both Canadian and U.S. law leaves little doubt that U.S. law does grant law enforcement authorities the power to compel disclosure of personal information without notifying the targeted individual that their information is indeed being disclosed (in fact, disclosing the disclosure is itself a violation of the law).

The troubling truth is that this is not strictly a Patriot Act issue. There are several U.S. investigatory powers that grant similar authority. These include grand jury subpoenas and national security letters, both of which predate the Patriot Act.

Moreover, the application of these laws is not limited to U.S. companies but actually applies to any company with sufficient U.S. connections such that it could find itself subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts. Several cases, including one involving the Bank of Nova Scotia, have found that the U.S. courts are entitled to apply U.S. criminal law, even in the face of a conflicting obligation under the foreign law. This is true both for U.S. companies operating subsidiaries in foreign countries as well as for foreign companies with U.S. subsidiaries.

Since Canada’s, and British Columbia’s, privacy laws are unlikely to meet the blocking statute standard, it seems likely that U.S. law enforcement authorities may indeed compel the disclosure of Canadian data.

B.C.’s Privacy Commissioner, David Loukidelis, wants to know what you think about the provincial Liberals’ plan to contract out the administration of the Medical Services Plan, Pharmacare and other public services to American multinational corporations.

Submissions must be clearly labelled “Submission on the USA Patriot Act” and mailed to P.O. Box 9038, Stn. Prov. Govt., Victoria, B.C. V8W 9A4, or sent by fax to 250-387-1696, or submitted by e-mail to David Loukidelis, B.C. Privacy Commissioner (to e-mail, simply click on the link provided).

Deadline for submissions is 12 noon, Friday, August 6, 2004.

July 24, 2004

Justin Cheats, Britney Droops

Justin Cheats on Cameron, and We All Weep

You’ve heard about it elsewhere, but VanRamblings has the naughty pictures and the whole salacious story (courtesy of Olde Blighty’s News of the World), all for you.

According to Britain’s favourite scandal rag, former ’NSYNC member and current pop prince Justin Timberlake spent two sizzling nights with model Lucy Clarkson (pictured to your right), while Justin’s girlfriend, Cameron Diaz, was 5,000 miles away in Los Angeles playing domestic goddess.

Still and all, according to the voluptuous Lucy Clarkson, neither she nor he scored ...

“I kept saying to him that I wasn't ready and he kept asking me why. I told him we didn’t have condoms. But it was obvious he was desperate to make love.”

For more on Justin’s boob fetish, take a moment to read the whole romantic, silly, virtually chaste, rock ’n roll story ... here.

Star’s Gone From Superbabe To Wreck of the Month

Sure, they call her the Princess of Pop, the blonde babe whose sexy videos are as memorable as her catchy singles.

But just four months before her wedding, Britney Spears’ drop-dead gorgeous looks seemed to, well, have dropped dead.

At 22, riddled with spots, the once sleek and chiseled Britney now has a double chin, puffy eyes, droopy boobs and wrinkles.

The whole sordid story is available here. Read it and weep.

July 23, 2004

Cruise Control? Cruise Ship Industry Pollution In Canada

Alaska-bound cruise ships in dock, at Vancouver's harbourfront Canada Place terminal

What images spring to mind when you imagine a northern cruise vacation? Crystal clear water, teaming with sea life; humpback whales frolicking for your viewing pleasure; or perhaps just the vastness of British Columbia’s pristine coast, and a wild azure blue ocean untouched by human pollution.

These images contradict the current reality of the cruise industry.

A single cruise ship discharges approximately 1.3 million litres of waste water per day, more than the port city of Haines, Alaska.

In an article published in The Dominion, writers Yuill Herbert and Karen Gorecki report that:

• The American environmental group, the Blue Water Network, estimates that 77% of all ship waste comes from cruise ships

• Two billion pounds of trash is dumped into the world’s oceans each year and 24% of that waste comes from cruise ships

• 14 million kilograms of waste was produced in 2000 on the Alaska-Canada route alone

• Cruise ships have accrued over $60 million in environmental fines over the last five years in the U.S. Yet, in Canada, due to a lack of monitoring and enforcement there have been no fines, despite the fact that these same ships visit our waters

• Greenhouse gas emissions of international ships are excluded from the national emissions inventories, a loophole in the Kyoto Accord which benefits cruise ship lines

The Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group’s report, Ripple Effects: The Need to Assess the Impacts of Cruise Ships in Victoria B.C. not only serves to reinforce the points made by Herbert and Gorecki, among other findings the report’s authors learned that cruise “ships burn fuel that has sulphur content 90% higher than that used by cars.”

July 20, 2004

VanRamblings Off The Net For ISP Service Upgrade

Service will resume Friday evening / Saturday morning

As Telus, VanRamblings’ Internet Service Provider, undertakes an upgrade of high-speed Internet Service across British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, VanRamblings will be off the Net until service has been completed.

VanRamblings’ Internet service will be restored in the next 24 - 72 hours.

In the meantime, click on any one of the Topic categories to your right, or on VanRamblings’ archives. The site is up, just not being updated. VanRamblings will be updated soon, though, and all of your favourite features will return (look for a new Unbelievable Truth Saturday night).

July 19, 2004

Young Male Prisoners Sodomized at Abu Ghraib Prison

Seymour Hersh

In a report published in the British newspaper, The Independent, the paper reports that Seymour Hersh — whose essay on the torture of Iraqi prisoners appeared in New Yorker magazine in May — told a meeting (RealPlayer required) of the American Civil Liberties Union of the continued abuse and torture of teen male Iraqi prisoners. Hersh said ...

“The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling, and the worst part is the soundtrack, of the boys shrieking. And this is your government at war.”

Hersh accused the U.S. administration, President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney of complicity in covering up what he called ‘war crimes’. A full transcript of the Hersh speech is available here.

An Associated Press story reports that two young male detainees were bound naked, and were raped in front of 30 other detainees. Further gross sexual abuse and humiliation is sited in the AP story.

The stories above follow on the heels of a May 22nd published report in The Guardian, detailing the rape of a teen Iraqi boy by an army translator.

To date, the U.S. administration has not responded to any of the stories alleging rape of young male prisoners at Abu Ghraib, nor have such stories appeared in newspapers or magazines published in the United States.

July 17, 2004

27th Annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival: Day Two

Oliver Schroer, Kelly Joe Phelps and other on workshop Stage 2

Well, here it is the first full day of the 27th annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival, following a fabulous first, Friday evening series of concerts (here and here), with Janis Ian and Mercan Dede as particular standouts.

Coming up on the main stage tonight, B.C.’s own The Bills (formerly The Bill Hilly Band) and Bruce Cockburn, while this afternoon, it’ll be one workshop after another, on any one of the seven stages.

Well, back I go to the Festival to catch Ellen McIlwaine, Po’Girl, Utah Phillips, Martyn Joseph, Odetta, and so many more fine artists.

July 16, 2004

Peace and Love: The 27th Annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival

VanRamblings will be taking a well-deserved break (at least, we think so) from posting regular features, news of the world, and such, to attend the glorious, magnificent, awe-inspiring, musically transcendent, and just generally joyful and peaceful 27th annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival.

Upon entering the grounds, adjacent to Jericho Beach (this is the view at sunset), we’ll locate a space in front of the main stage and await the arrival of the performers, including tonight: the Warsaw Village Band, Janis Ian, and renowned Québec cellist Jorane, among a host of others.

Posting will be sporadic on VanRamblings over the Folk Festival weekend, but will return with regular features on Monday. Enjoy your weekend!

July 15, 2004

Summer DVD: Sex, Death, Fighting and Really Cool Gadgets

All and all, a sterling week for new DVDs at your favourite ‘video’ store.

We begin this week with one of the least seen but most ambitious and exciting movies of the year. Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers understands the power of sex and film to set off evocative fantasy, incite danger and transform the spirit. Affecting, twisted, and seriously erotic, the film — set in the incendiary, revolutionary Paris of spring 1968 — tells the story of three cinephiles who shut the door of their Paris apartment and barely leave it, creating an emotional and sexual psychodrama as the world outside beckons, threatens and influences their interaction. A passionate tribute to the cinema’s contribution to the great 60s cultural fusion, as well as a melancholy reminder of just how far it’s fallen from that heady era of its highest idealism, The Dreamers is VanRamblings’ DVD ‘pick of the week’.

Academy Award-winner for Best Foreign Film at this year’s Oscar ceremony, Denys Arcand’s The Barbarian Invasions is, all at once, heartfelt, elegiac, surprising and pungently funny. A follow-up to Arcand’s triumphant 1986 groundbreaker, The Decline of the American Empire, the new film takes us inside a sombre reunion of friends and family around the hospital bed of an unapologetic and dying philanderer (Rémy Girard), as it transforms into a moving exploration of what it means to live and to die. The rapprochement between Rémy and his estranged daughter (who we see only on video) is the single most moving cinematic sequence I’ve seen on film this year, in a DVD that is, otherwise, occasionally uneven in tone — although always sharp-witted, engaging and marvelously humane.

If both of the DVDs above fall into the category of ‘good for you’ (and they are good, whatever the case), then the trashy delights of Against The Ropes can only be seen as guilty pleasure material, barely better than TV fare but, heck, the movie stars the always engaging Meg Ryan (here playing a feisty fight promoter), the woefully underutilized Omar Epps and Charles S. Dutton, who also directs this flim-flam fairy tale. Still and all, bathos and formulaic script aside, this character driven movie connects from time to time — which is a great deal more than you can say about many films — and, as such, against your better judgement, you’ll probably end up enjoying this story.

And for the tweens this week, Frankie Muniz is back as a junior James Bond in Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London , a kid-flick trifle that thanks to an engaging, if relatively unknown cast, lots of cool gadgets, and everything a 6-year-old spy would hope to find in a kiddie-espionage flick (with just a twinge of romance), ought to engage its intended audience.

July 14, 2004

CTV Fall 2004 Television Schedule: Fewer Repeats, Big Deal

Welcome to Week Two of the Canadian fall television schedule. Last Wednesday, VanRamblings presented the CBC fall TV schedule.

This week, it’s CTV’s turn.

Promising fewer ‘repeats’ for the coming 2004-2005 television schedule, Bell Globemedia’s CTV network says - just like Fox TV in the U.S. - it will offer new, original programming 52 weeks of the year, not just this fall.

“More titles, less repeats,” pledges Susanne Boyce, CTV programming president. “Canadians have long demonstrated to us that if we build it, they will come.” CTV also laid claim to being No. 1 in Canadian prime time and vowed to further widen the gap between itself and its main competitors, Global (by far the worst website for any Canadian TV network), CHUM (Vancouver’s Citytv website, cuz the parent site is godawful) and the CBC.

Among the programme choices this autumn and winter are new additions to the import crime drama franchises, CSI and Law & Order; Rob Lowe’s new series, Dr. Vegas; and the much-praised sex-and-the-suburbs prime-time soap, Desperate Housewives. In the reality department there’s the British import Wife Swap; as well as The Benefactor, a $1 million giveaway programme, based on the 1950s anthology series, The Millionaire.

CTV also announced its fall daytime lineup, including the Vancouver produced Vicky Gabereau, long thought to be on the chopping block.

Recurring dramas and sitcoms include The Eleventh Hour, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Corner Gas, as well the HBO import The Sopranos, CSI and CSI Miami (plus the new CSI: New York with Gary Sinise), The O.C., According to Jim, The West Wing, ER, Third Watch, Cold Case,Joan of Arcadia and American Idol (and Canadian Idol, of course).

New For Fall Prime-Time

Some of the new prime-time series that CTV’s unveiled:

• CSI: NY: Gary Sinise and Melina Kanakaredes star in this second spinoff of the ‘crime scene investigation’ franchise.

• Dr. Vegas: Rob Lowe is the in-house doc at a high-end Vegas casino. Co-stars Joe Pantoliano.

• Desperate Housewives: Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher star in this take on modern marriage.

• The Benefactor: Billionaire businessman and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wants to give away US$1 million to a complete stranger.

• Wife Swap: Two families get a chance to witness what it's like to live someone else's life as their matriarchs trade places for 10 days.

• Instant Star: Can contest winner and feisty SK8RGRL Jude Harrison, 15, cope in this new glam world?

• Robson Arms: This anthology series about the denizens of a Vancouver apartment building is finally in production.

• Athens: O.C. creator Josh Schwarz turns his attentionto the intertwined lives and loves of the fictional New England community of Athens.

• Commando Nanny: Likely to be one of the first series to be cancelled this fall, this comedy, based on Mark Burnett’s experiences as an ex-army commando who gets a job as a nanny in Beverly Hills, stars Gerald McRaney.

• Law and Order: Trial By Jury: Mid-season replacement. Another entry in producer Dick Wolf’s Law and Order crime drama franchise, this time focusing on the courtroom, à la Perry Mason.

• Kevin Hill: Taye Diggs stars in drama about a bachelor entertainment lawyer in New York City.

• Medium: Mid-season replacement. Allison (Patricia Arquette) sees dead people and hears them constantly, too. She soon finds her ‘gift’ can change destinies and provide justice for those who no longer have a voice. Executive-produced by Glenn Gordon Caron (Moonlighting) and Frasier’s Kelsey Grammar.

Here’s a list of all CTV shows, A-Z.

For the major U.S. networks fall television schedules, click on the following direct VanRamblings’ links: ABC, NBC, the WB, Fox, and CBS.

July 13, 2004

Tech Tuesday: Windows XP's New Update Facility, and More ...

For several months now, VanRamblings has been writing about the imminent release of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Window Media Player required). Now, we can report officially — thanks to a tip from Michael — that Microsoft has confirmed Windows XP SP2 will arrive in August. Arguably, Microsoft’s biggest service pack yet, and the company’s most important security project since the Trustworthy Computing initiative, there are those who feel SP 2 will cause chaos in the computing world.

Scot Finnie explores the positives and pitfalls associated with XP 2.

All things said, Windows XP Service Pack 2 is a mandatory download, and as such it is important that you know as much about SP 2 as possible in order that you might avoid, as far as one can plan for these things, problems related to its release. With this in mind, have a look at the next item, and the accompanying article by Fred Langa. VanRamblings particularly appreciates the pop-up graphics that accompany the article below, which provide visual insight into the new Windows Update facility.

The Promise — And Problems — Of The New Windows Update

A new version of Windows Update is about to début. It first appeared as part of the beta pre-release versions of Windows Service Pack 2 for XP. The new Update process (comprising both the new Windows Update site and a new software applet, titled Windows Security Center) has different defaults and behaves differently from the Update you’re probably used to.

Next month, the final form of this software will be offered to you as a normal Windows Update for XP and Windows 2000. You might want to take a look at the preview, in Fred Langa’s expansive Information Week article, for the full story. Not only does Fred provide the information you’ll need to adjust to the new Windows Update facility, he provides graphical pop-up screens, which take you through the new update process.

Test Your Popup Blocker

Auditmypc.com has released a page that will hammer your browser with every conceivable method of popup window and rate your popup-blocking software. On VanRamblings’ PC, Internet Explorer’s Google Toolbar received a Very Good rating with a score of 85, while the default popup settings in VanRamblings’ Mozilla received an Almost Perfect! rating with a score of 95. This is a good tool if you want to test the efficacy of your blocker, or gain insight into the methods used by popup companies.

In Tech News This Week

Associated Press writer Sam Cage reports that the United Nations is aiming to bring the modern day epidemic of junk mail (spam) to an end. Spam and anti-spam protection cost computer users some $25 billion last year, according to the UN, so they’re organizing a global anti-spam campaign.

Despite privacy concerns, school authorities in the Japanese city of Osaka have decided the benefits outweigh the disadvantages and will now be chipping children in one primary school, which is to say, that they’ll be attaching RFID chips to kids’ schoolbags, name tags or clothing in one Wakayama prefecture school. Denmark’s Legoland introduced a similar scheme last month to stop young children going astray.

Question of the Week

I had to reformat my hard drive, and I cannot find a code for Microsoft Word 2000. I have documentation for only Dell software and Windows XP. The Windows XP product key was located on a tag on the bottom of my Dell, but it doesn’t work for MS Word 2000. What do I do in order to install my Word 2000? Any help would be greatly appreciated. — Submitted by: Bob Whitecrow, Estevan, Saskatchewan

Software keys are much like keys to a car: a car key will work in only one particular car, so it can’t be shared. The same can be said for a software key. Dell should supply them with a phone call, but also beware that you can’t install Dell’s Office 2000 software on a machine other than what Dell sold you. Supplied Dell software is proprietary.

For most computer users a good rule of thumb would be: when you first receive your PC and all of the attendant software, take a wide-tip permanent marking pen, and write the product key for each piece of software you've had installed, right onto the software programme CD. Once this task has been completed, take extra special care to store all of the CDs you received with your PC in a secure location, preferably in one of those pocket CD organizers, available at most retail computer stores.

You know the old saying, “an ounce of prevention, is worth a ... ”

White Bread Could Spoil Your Diet

According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who eat whole grain foods, such as wholewheat bread, do not experience the same gain in waist size as those who consume white bread, and processed white flour products, such as cakes, cookies, Danish pastries and cinnamon buns, etc.

The scientists at Tufts University in Boston found that whole grain foods, which are higher in fibre, give a feeling of fullness so you eat less, say Dr. Katherine Tucker’s research team. Dr. Tucker avers: “Waist circumference is very much associated with this high-refined grains pattern.”

Many of the foods in the healthy diet are high in fibre. Not only do these foods fill you up more quickly, they also have a low glycemic index (GI), says researchers. The GI is a relative measure of how fast a given food raises blood sugar.

The study compared foods gram for gram for carbohydrate. Carbohydrates that breakdown quickly during digestion have the highest GI value and blood glucose response is fast and high. Carbohydrates that breakdown slowly release glucose gradually into the blood stream and have low GI values. In turn, the level of blood sugar affects the amount of insulin produced by the body which is linked with appetite.

“Many of the foods in the healthy pattern are low in glycaemic load, which evokes a decreased insulin response and therefore decreases hunger and energy intake,” say the researchers. “Those in the white-bread pattern received almost 16% of their daily energy intake from white bread — the food with the highest GI value.”

According to a spokesperson with the British Nutrition Foundation, “Consumption of wholegrain foods, such as wholemeal bread, is associated with reduced rates of heart disease, some cancers, type II diabetes and such foods may play a role in weight maintenance.”

July 12, 2004

Amnesty International: Living in a Dangerous and Divided World

Major challenges continue to confront the international human rights movement.

In the past two years, the United Nations has faced a crisis of legitimacy and credibility resulting from the U.S.-led war on Iraq. Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations (the International Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Madre), ever more distressingly find themselves unable to hold states to account for the most egregious violations of basic of human rights.

Across the globe, international human rights standards continue to be flouted in the name of the “war on terror”, resulting in thousands of women and men suffering unlawful detention, unfair trial and torture — often solely because of their ethnic or religious background. Around the world, more than a billion people’s lives have been ruined by extreme poverty and social injustice, while governments continue to spend horrendous amounts of money on the build-up of armaments.

The just-released Amnesty International Report reflects the challenges outlined above. The report documents the human rights situation in 155 countries and territories, summarizing regional trends. The report also addresses areas of work being prioritized and developed by Amnesty International — such as violence against women; economic, social and cultural rights; and justice for refugees and migrants – and celebrates the achievements of activists in these and other areas.

“Looking back over the past twelve months, what I see is a war on global values,” says Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Irene Khan (RealPlayer required). “A war that is being fought on the one hand by armed groups that are ready to go to any extreme of inhumanity to attack ordinary people.”

“On the other side we see governments, which have shown an equal zeal in attacking human rights and global principles. And in-between are ordinary people, (who) are paying a heavy price in terms of their human rights, and in terms of their lives.”

We live in a dangerous and divided world. It is more important than ever that the global human rights movement remains strong, relevant and vibrant, and that each and every one of us remain committed to revitalizing the vision of human rights as a powerful tool for achieving social justice.

July 11, 2004

Sweatshops and Subsistence Wages: The Gap Learns To Mind Itself

America’s fashion giant for teens and children — The Gap — has just released a candid report detailing the industry’s squalid working conditions.

According to Mark Engler, writing for In These Times, “The report has earned Gap genuine, if measured, praise from a variety of leading anti-sweatshop organizations.” The Gap’s name has been closely tied with the growth of the anti-sweatshop movement over the past 10 years.

“When I decided to join Gap Inc. in the fall of 2002,” writes Paul Presser, president and CEO of the clothing giant behind the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands, “one of the first things my teenage daughter asked was, ‘Doesn’t Gap use sweatshops?’ ”

An aggressive global movement for workers’ rights has effectively pushed this question into consumer consciousness, and it has haunted Gap for nearly a decade. In May, the company released its first Social Responsibility Report, providing a window into how far that movement has come.

“We’ve had our differences with Gap in the past, and we may in the future,” says Bruce Raynor, president of UNITE, the textiles and needletrades union. But he cites the report as a move to “create positive change for workers.”

A 1995 U.S. National Labour Committee (NLC) campaign against union-busting at a Salvadoran Gap contractor called Mandarin International was among the first drives to illustrate consumer awareness of corporate globalization via clothing labels. As a result, those workers who had been fired while engaged in organizing workers at Mandarin were rehired, and an independent monitoring organization was created.

Just a few years later, The Gap was one of 18 manufacturers charged in a 1999 lawsuit with human rights abuses in the U.S. territory of Saipan. After years of litigation, the company entered into a settlement creating a $20 million fund to compensate workers and establish independent monitoring.

“Companies wouldn’t be doing a thing if it weren’t for the pressure that they felt and continue to feel,” says the NLC’s Charlie Kernighan. “The progress we’ve seen is a testament to all those students, religious people, and union people who were out in front of the Gap back in 1995.”

July 10, 2004

In a global exclusive,

In a global exclusive, News of the World has broken the outrageous, tantalizing, titillating and salacious story, Britney was my sex-mad bride (brought to you by VanRamblings for posterity) of just how Britney Spears “bedded her childhood sweetheart (Jason Alexander, 22) ‘like an animal’, then wrecked his life with a 55-hour marriage than stunned the world.”

“We made love in her bed, her shower and her bath,” says Jason. “She asked me to marry her but when the lawyers demanded I end our marriage she didn’t stop them — and it caused chaos in my life.”

VanRamblings’ big mooshy, gooshy heart goes out to poor boy, Jason.

Couple Has Sex On Stage During Rock Concert

Fun-loving couple have sex on rock concert stage

As Kristopher Schau and his band Cumshots were in the middle of their concert, a young couple entered the stage, stripped and had sex on stage during the concert. See photos here and here.

The young couple, Tommy Hol Ellingsen, age 28, and Leona Johansson, age 21, are members of the environmental organization Fuck the Forest. They have sex in public in order to put focus on the rainforest. The last time Ellingsen and Johansson had public sex, they collected US$14,677, but nobody wanted to take the money.

“The goal is to take over the entire commercial porn industry and transfer all the money to protection of the environment,” Ellingsen explained. However, Norway’s Rainforest Foundation is far from thrilled by the way the small organization has chosen to raise money.

“I cannot see that this helps the work for the rainforest,” says Lars Lövold, of Rainforest Foundation Norway. “Generally speaking, we accept donations, but if the money is coming from illegal activity, from someone who abuses the rainforest or wishes to abuse our name, we say ‘No thank you’. This may be the case here.”

The police are investigating if the case is a possible breach of the criminal code’s paragraph 2001 regarding indecent conduct. The sentencing for such crimes is as much as one year in jail or fines.

Tara Reid Takes The Girls For A Test Drive

Looks like our favourite 20-something actress / model / multi-time dumpee, Tara Reid, went for the full meal deal when she decided on breast augmentation surgery. Not for her the modest, demure look. Instead, Tara is out every night on the Hollywood scene, sporting her new ‘friends’. And she accomplishes exactly what by opting for bigger boobs?

Pictures Galore: Hilary and Britney Go Shopping, While Kirsten ...

Here’s teen queen Hilary Duff on the town with her boyfriend, just coming home from a shopping trip. Meanwhile, Britney and her new beau, Kevin Federline, are locking lips on the balcony, providing the paparazzi with this prize-winning shot; by the way, here’s Shar Jackson, Kevin’s most recent squeeze, and mommy-to-be with his kid ... oh, did we forget to mention, that this will be Kevin’s 2nd child with Shar?).

And, let’s not forget about Hollywood’s cutest young couple, Kirsten Dunst and Jake Gyllenhaal, pictured here at the première screening of Spider-man 2.

Then there’s a particularly hideous Paris Hilton in her new Guess ad. Scary, huh?

U.S. Arrest and Abuse of Iraqi Children Revealed

More than 100 children report being detained by U.S. occupation forces in Iraq, according to recent information gleaned from the International Red Cross, including detainment in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

According to Report Mainz, a German television investigative magazine, 107 children were registered held in custody between January and May of this year, in at least six different Iraqi internment centres, Florian Westphal, speaking for the International Red Cross, told the magazine.

“The number of imprisoned children held could be higher,” Westphal said.

The TV magazine reported testimonies in which U.S. soldiers in Iraqi prisons had abused children. Samuel Provance, an NCO stationed in Abu Ghraib prison said specialists harrassed a 15- to 16-year-old girl in her cell.

Military police intervened only when she was already half undressed. Another time a sixteen-year-old was driven into water in cold weather and afterwards covered with mud. The child welfare organization of the United Nations (Unicef) confirms the capture of Iraqi children by coalition forces.

According to an internal U.N. document, written in June 2004, “Children from Basra and Karbala had been arrested because of alleged activities directed against the coalition ... (these children) were routinely transferred into internment in Umm Kasr. Concern was expressed as to the classification of children as legitimate detainees, their indefinite internment without contact of family members, and their denial of due process.”

The German arm of the human rights organization Amnesty International demanded the clearing-up of the reproaches and a statement from the U.S.

As a reaction to the alleged torture of children, Norwegian authorities state they will address the U.S. both politically and diplomatically and clearly state that such activities by the U.S. occupation forces would not be tolerated.

Further, based on published reports, the International organization, Save The Children, called on the Danish government to mediate immediately with the coalition forces in Iraq in order to release children detained in Iraqi jails.

July 9, 2004

Move Over, Pirate Radio: SomaFM Plays Tunes For The World

Ran across this San Francisco Chronicle story the other day.

SomaFM is a commercial-free, listener-supported, underground Web radio network broadcasting from a garage in the Bernal Heights neighbourhood of San Francisco.

Dedicated to high quality MP3 internet broadcasts reaching across the globe, SomaFM’s founder, Rusty Hodge — working with four other Bay Area residents whose music tastes have spun off stations like the indie-rock — broadcasts six RealAudio webcasts 24 hours a day.

The radio stations available range from the ambient beats and grooves of Groove Salad (RealPlayer / WinAmp required for each link), indie pop rocks, and the post-modern mysterioso of secret agent, to the blips ‘n’ beeps (backed w/beats) of cliqhop, the very tasty, atmospheric textures of drone zone, and the deep-house and downtempo chill of beat blender.

Among the salient features of the site (apart from the great music): a song history for each of the webcasts, linked to artist information; introduction to music you won’t hear elsewhere; and ... the broadcasts are all perfectly legal, given an arrangement SomaFM has negotiated with the RIAA.

Donations to SomaFM, through Paypal or Amazon.com’s Honor System, are gratefully accepted.

July 8, 2004

New On DVD: The Dog Days of Summer

All and all, this is a relatively slow week for new DVD releases, although not entirely without merit.

An unabashed, even old-fashioned humanist film, Monsieur Ibrahim tells the story of a grizzled, white-haired grocer (Omar Sharif) in a Paris working-class neighbourhood in the 1960s, a gentle man who provides the wisdom of his 70 years to a lonely and depressed young Jewish boy. Surprising and ironic at times, the movie insists that what is important is the interior life of the individual, the cultivation of a deep spirituality. The best new video release this week.

Less worthy, but bound to find an eager group of renters (given that it’s star is teen heartthrob Ashton Kutcher), The Butterfly Effect is, as the Hollywood Reporter suggests, “an entertaining piece of supernatural nonsense whose sheer audacity disarms all (well, nearly all) skepticism.” With off-putting subject matter (maiming, murder and kiddie porn), The Butterfly Effect is maybe not a movie for the whole family.

Otherwise, this may be the week to consider renting a DVD that you missed earlier in the year. VanRamblings offers the following for your consideration: the sweet, funny and empowering Calendar Girls; the magnificent Oscar nominated film, In America; the engaging and understated period drama, Girl With A Pearl Earring; as well as the magical new version of Peter Pan, and the compellingly watchable epic, The Last Samurai.

A Triumphant Return To TV: Fiona Forbes and Michael Eckford

Mike and Fiona: ‘Happy Together’

By far, the single most frequent Google search bringing visitors to VanRamblings concerns longtime Urban Rush, and recently deposed CITY-TV Breakfast Television, hosts Fiona Forbes and Michael Eckford.

In a Vancouver Province e-entertainment news story published today, columnist Dana Gee reports that “Fiona Forbes and Michael Eckford have agreed to terms with Shaw TV and will return in October to host Urban Rush, a show they last helmed almost two years ago.”

“It’s great. I won’t have to get up in the middle of the night,” says Forbes, referring to the 19 months the pair spent on Citytv's BreakfastTelevision. “When we met with our old bosses (at Shaw) and they made us an offer, Mike and I left the meeting and looked at each other and immediately high-fived. We really are excited about this.”

Forbes and Eckford will replace current UR hosts Erin Cebula and Russell Porter, whose contract expires July 16th.

The new Urban Rush will remain a one-hour talk show, and will be broadcast from the almost completed Shaw Tower in Coal Harbour, affording viewers a background vista (and here) of Vancouver’s magnificent harbourfront.

B.C. Liberals' Popularity Continues To Plummet

Mustel Group polling data, released July 8 2004

With only 313 days to go to the next election — May 17 2005 — just released Mustel Group polling figures for the popularity of provincial political parties show that the British Columbia Liberals are in freefall, having dropped 24 points, from 57% to 33%, since the last provincial election.

In other figures released by the Mustel Group, the polling firm reports that for the first time in several years, men tend to support the NDP rather than the B.C. Liberals (44% versus 36% supporting B.C. Liberals). Among women, 45% would vote NDP and 28% would support the B.C. Liberals.

Geographically, the NDP leads in every region of the province except the Lower Mainland suburbs (outside the City of Vancouver), where support for the B.C. Liberals and NDP is almost equal (38% BC Liberals, 40% NDP).

In more heartening news for those of us who would like to see the B.C. Liberals consigned to the dustbin of history, Premier Gordon Campbell’s approval rating remains at only 28%, with a full 60% of the province’s electorate finding fault with his performance and that of his government.

According to a story posted yesterday at Public Eye Online, editorial director Sean Holman wrote that the Ipsos-Reid polling company will also set about to publish B.C. voter intention and leadership approval numbers shortly.

Update: The just-released Ipsos-Reid poll states that “with 10 months to go until the next British Columbia provincial election ... the NDP (38%) and B.C. Liberals (37%) are in a statistical dead heat among decided voters. The NDP is down 6 points since May, with all of the benefit going to the Green Party (18%, up 7 points). The B.C. Liberals are unchanged from May.”

According to the poll, leadership disapproval ratings for Premier Gordon Campbell continue to fall, with 62% of British Columbians either moderately or strongly disapproving of the Premier’s performance, as compared to a 54% approval rating for New Democratic Party leader Carole James.

Still, if the Ipsos-Reid poll results hold up, and the B.C. Green Party is in fact resurgent, the Greens look to re-elect the B.C. Liberals.

July 7, 2004

The CBC Fall Television Schedule

Welcome to the first instalment of VanRamblings’ new Wednesday night TV feature. Each week, we'll publish the latest television news, hot watercooler gossip, as well as seek to provide insight into the role of TV in our culture.

Throughout the month of July, VanRamblings will publish the upcoming fall TV schedules for each of the Canadian networks (the fall 2004 schedules for the American networks were published earlier, in Television — all you have to do is scroll down). This week, we begin with an introduction to the CBC’s fall television schedule, to be followed by CTV, Global and CHUM.

CBC Hopes For A ‘Must See’ Fall Line-Up ... shyeeah, right

Here it is, the beginning of summer and the Canadian television networks are just getting around to announcing their fall television schedules.

Decidedly less exciting that the American fall television schedules (because Canadian TV, for the most part, acts simply as a re-broadcaster of American sitcoms, dramas and specials), there are nonetheless a few pleasant surprises, particularly on the CBC 2004 TV schedule.

Even so, Canada’s public broadcaster has unveiled a rather ho-hum fall schedule featuring familiar faces in unfamiliar places, a pair of new reality-based series, and an ensemble family comedy titled Ciao Bella (Adobe Acrobat required), about the trials and tribulations of an Italian-Canadian family in Montreal, from Mambo Italiano-writer Emile Gaudreault.

Something to look forward to: CBC will air a series of dramas, movies and miniseries this fall, titled High Impact, including a prequel to the successful miniseries Trudeau (Trudeau: The Prequel), and a sure to be groundbreaking, four-hour miniseries based on the life of five-time Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas (The Tommy Douglas Project).

CBC will also broadcast a drama based on the illegal trade in human trafficking across Europe, titled Sex Traffic, and H20, a futuristic political thriller. The British soap opera Coronation Street is scheduled to air four nights a week this fall, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

CBC’s Sunday Report will expand to a full hour come September, will go by a new name, Sunday Night, and have as its new hosts, Evan Solomon and Carole MacNeil. The much-praised Marketplace and the watchable and intriguing business programme, Venture, will kick off CBC’s Sunday evening programming this fall, at 7 and 7:30, respectively.

CBC’s award-winning drama, Da Vinci’s Inquest will move to Tuesdays, where it will follow Making The Cut, a reality TV series — a nationwide talent search for six of the best unsigned professional hockey players — at 9.

Returning series include The Nature of Things, the fifth estate, Royal Canadian Air Farce, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, On the Road Again, Just for Laughs Gags, The Red Green Show, Rick Mercer’s Monday Report, The Wonderful World of Disney and Mary Walsh’s Open Book.

Tom Stone and the investigative news programme Disclosure have been cancelled. The powers that be at the CBC ought to have cut the execrable This Is Wonderland from their schedule, but apparently this laughably awful programme will be returning after Christmas.

As for the remaining Canadian television network schedules: here’s a peek at CHUM’s fall TV schedule, as well as a glimpse of CTV’s fall 2004 schedule.

For the major U.S. networks fall television schedules, click on the following direct VanRamblings’ links: ABC, NBC, the WB, Fox and UPN, and CBS.

July 6, 2004

Tech Tuesday: Security, Shutdown and Service

This week, a potpourri of items, mostly revolving around PC security issues, everything from security flaws in Internet Explorer to the latest variant on the Bagle / Beagle worm, and what Microsoft is planning to do about it.

U.S. Steers Consumers Away From IE

Was reading fellow Vancouver blogger Darren Barefoot the other day, and ran across this EE Times story in which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) “recommended for security reasons using browsers other than Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer.”

Whether the forthcoming release of Windows Service Pack 2 (Windows Media Player video) will resolve the IE security flaw is yet to be seen.

In the meantime, as Darren suggests, you might consider downloading the latest version of the Firefox browser, which among its other features offers pop-up blocking and tabbed browsing (an amazing and addictive innovation), as well as, with its Thunderbird add-on, a next generation e-mail client that makes “e-mailing safer, faster and easier than ever before with features such as intelligent spam filters and a built-in spell checker.”

VanRamblings employs Firefox parent Mozilla as our default browser.

An Oxymoron: Microsoft Customer Service?

Allison Linn, an Associated Press business writer, in a story titled Microsoft Beefing Up Customer Service, writes that in response to “increased grumbling over its litany of security flaws (Microsoft will be) paying more attention its customers.” About time, wouldn’t you say?

Question of the Week

My PC takes about 5 minutes to shut down. What's causing the problem, and how can I fix it? — Submitted by: Georgia S., Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia

Remember when turning off an electronic gadget meant flipping a switch? Shutting down a PC is much more complicated. Sometimes Windows takes an extremely long time to close, and too often the operating system doesn’t shut down at all.

First, the more programmes you have running on your system, the longer it takes for Windows to close each one before shutting itself down. You should simply close your programmes manually before exiting Windows.

Second, here’s some general advice: Bugs in hardware drivers cause most shutdown difficulties. Before you do anything else, go to the Web sites of your hardware (i.e. graphics card, network interface card, sound card, modem, printer) manufacturers and look up the latest updates.

Third, you might try restoring your Windows registry to an earlier point, when your computer was functioning properly (you will lose the use all programmes installed since that restore point, but you will not lose data).

Close all programmes, and return to your desktop. Select Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools / System Restore. ‘Restore my computer to an earlier time’ should be selected. Click Next. Choose an earlier restore point. Click Next. On the following screen, click Next again. Wait. Your computer will restart in about 5 minutes, and your computer registry will have been restored to an earlier, hopefully pristine, restore point.

Fourth, the root of the s-s-l-l-o-o-w-w shutdown problem could be a software conflict. You might try updating the programmes you use (e.g. Irfanview, Quicktime, RealPlayer, Mozilla, Spybot, Acrobat Reader) to the latest versions. Oftentimes this will resolve a shutdown problem.

Otherwise, you might try this: to verify that you’re not clearing your virtually memory (swap file) whenever you exit Windows. Select Start / Run, type in gpedit.msc, and press Enter. Navigate the left pane as if you’re in Windows Explorer to Computer Configuration \ Windows Settings \ Security Settings \ Local Policies \ Security Options. In the right pane, scroll to Shutdown: Clear virtually memory pagefile. If the option is enabled, double-click it, select Disabled, and click OK.

For additional shutdown tricks, surf to PC World for more hints.

Security: Bagle/Beagle Variant Includes Source Code

According to a ZDNet story, “two new Bagle worm variants and the worm’s original assembler source code were spreading around the Internet on Sunday — a dangerous development, according to security experts.”

The gist of the story is this: infected PCs download a Trojan that effectively enlists that computer into the worm author’s Zombie army, which can be used to distribute spam and other malware and to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

Because the Bagle worm’s author has included the source code comments, the fear is that several new variants could be authored and distributed, employing tricks to bypass mail filters and antivirus scanners, thus disabling our computers when their nefarious work has been completed.

By the way, Network Associates has just released their version 2.3.0 of McAfee Stinger which will rid you of several of the Bagle / Beagle variants. The latest version of McAfee Stinger is your best defense against Trojans.

July 5, 2004

Aviation Growth 'Risk To The Planet'

The rise in demand for air travel is one of the most serious environmental threats facing the world, according to a British report issued this past weekend. The report says that government plans for expansion of airport facilities are in direct conflict with targets to reduce greenhouse gases, stating that as polluting gases from aircraft exhaust fumes increase further, rapid degradation of the environment will take place.

Friends of the Earth claim this will push up the aviation contribution to carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) emissions to 10-12% by 2020 — from the current 5%.

“We are at war with the Earth itself,” says Cambridge University Professor James Lovelock. “Our goal should be the cessation of fossil fuel consumption as quickly as possible.”

In a BBC report (RealPlayer required) on aviation greenhouse gases, the Stockholm Institute is quoted as saying ...

“For too long, airlines have been largely exempt from efforts to combat global warming. The world’s airlines currently create 300 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each year, and that figure is rising fast. By the middle of the century, airlines will account for 15% of the total contribution to global warming.”

The head of one of the world’s biggest oil giants — Ron Oxburgh, Chairman of Shell Oil — in an interview with The Guardian, has said unless carbon dioxide emissions are dealt with, he sees “very little hope for the world.”

“No one can be comfortable at the prospect of continuing to pump out the amounts of carbon dioxide that we are at present,” Lord Oxburgh told the Guardian. “People are going to go on allowing this atmospheric carbon dioxide to build up, with consequences that we really can't predict, but are probably not good.”

The Kyoto Treaty was drawn up in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997 to implement the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change. It legally binds industrialized nations to reduce worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2% below their 1990 levels over the next decade.

After the U.S. pulled out in March 2001, the treaty was left shattered. A compromise was reached four months later, with nearly 180 nations (including Canada) opting for a scaled-down version of the treaty, but President Bush has stated that the U.S. will never sign it, in spite of dire warnings from within his own government.

July 4, 2004

Minority Government Bodes Well for Kyoto

Canada’s first minority government in 25 years will have to ensure it acts on environmental and sustainable development issues if it is to maintain support from the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois.

According to International Institute for Sustainable Development Board Member Mary Simon — also a former Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs — climate change should be at the top of the Liberal government’s environmental priority list. As someone with close connections to Canada’s north she is well aware of climate change’s “profound implications for the social, cultural and economic well-being of the 50,000 aboriginal people who live in the Canadian Arctic.”

Ms. Simon’s compellingly readable two-page report (Adobe Acrobat required) is available here.

July 3, 2004

After a two-week absence

After a two-week absence (that darn Canadian election — don’t forget, read the whole thing now), your favourite VanRamblings feature is BACK !!! Yes, we’re here to dish the dirt, fill your head full of naughty notions, and just generally engage in some gossip mayhem. So, let’s get started, eh?

Know Your Celebrity House-Husbands: Meet Mr. Mira Sorvino

Paul Sorvino must be one proud papa, knowing his Oscar-winning daughter, Mira, 36, married 22-year-old Kid Rock look-a-like Chris “Goofy” Backus in a private ceremony at the Santa Barbara courthouse on June 11th.

Heck, there was a time when Mira dated Quentin and French sex symbol Olivier Martinez, and yes we remember that Mira was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful by People in 1996. But look who she’s ended up with — a Kansas City born graduate of Shawnee Mission High School, and current waiter / aspiring actor!

Backus’ mom Terry, now living in North Carolina, tells VanRamblings that Mira is not the first Hollywood hottie her son has hooked up with:

“I can tell you this, Britney Spears picked him up. Carmen Electra took him out, too.”

Wow. And to think that after all that he settled for a Harvard grad.

Take A Break From Barbecues And That Low-Carb Beer

Here’s a look at the Top 5 films this weekend, playing at a theatre near you.

1. Spiderman 2 - $127.8 million (as of Saturday)
Well, well, well. Looks like the much-anticipated Spidey sequel has woven its web around a gargantuan audience, breaking the $114.8 million opening weekend box office record of its predecessor, not least because Spider-Man 2 opened to a spectacular $40.4 million on Wednesday.

2. Fahrenheit 9/11 - $50 million (cume total)
Michael Moore’s film is playing in 1000 more theatres this weekend, and although the per theatre revenue is down, box office remains strong. There’s no rush to see Fahrenheit 9/11 — it’s gonna be around a long time.

3. White Chicks - $41.9 million (11 days)
One of the worst reviewed films of 2004 hangs on against all odds.

4. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story - $82.2 million (16 days)
Ben Stiller. Vince Vaughn. Funny. What can we say?

5. The Notebook - $26.9 million (9 days)
Major weepy. A high-toned cinematic greeting card ... but it works.

First, War With Michael Eisner ... Now This

Who couldn’t love that big lovable mug, huh? Well, apparently not Mrs. Miramax, Eve Chilton Weinstein, who after 18 years of marriage is taking her leave of the rotund one — the often less than affable Harvey Weinstein (pictured left), co-founder of the Miramax film studio — along with the pre-nup negotiated multi-million dollar divorce settlement, and making like Harvey’s dinner (which is to say, gone). Poor, poor, humble Harvey.

According to the New York Post’s Page 6 ...

Eve, a tall blonde beauty who could have been one of Alfred Hitchcock’s leading ladies, was Harvey’s assistant in the early days of Miramax. Weinstein — a workaholic who puts in 18-hour days — purportedly promised Eve last year he’d cut down and spend more time on the home front.

Apparently, he didn’t “cut down.” Sayonara Harv. Nice knowin’ ya.

Here Comes Britney The Bride ... Pregnant !!!

Although Britney Spears’ upcoming nuptials will be a far cry from the quickie Vegas wedding she had last time around, News of the World reports that the pop queen is several months preggers.

Britney’s intended, Kevin Federline, appeared in the movie You Got Served, and was as a backup dancer for singer Justin Timberlake, Spears’ former boytoy.

Recently (and we mean, up until days ago) Federline was involved with actress Shar Jackson, of TV’s Moesha. They have a 2-year-old daughter together and are expecting another baby this month!

Spears recently cancelled her summer tour because of a “knee injury” she reportedly suffered during a video shoot. Shyeeah, right ...

Reborn On The Third of July

In further Tinseltown pregger news this week ... E-Online is reporting that Demi Moore is pregnant ... Liv Tyler is also reportedly expecting her first child. Ms. Tyler and her husband Royston Langdon, from the band Spacehog, haven’t released a statement yet, but People magazine suggests the baby is due this winter ... Claudia Schiffer is pregnant with her second child. The gorgeous German supermodel and her film producer husband Matthew Vaughn already have a 17-month-old son, Caspar, and have reportedly told friends their second child is due to arrive at the end of the year. Rich and beautiful celebs, they‘re sort of a fecund lot, aren’t they?

That’s it for this week, folks. See ya next Saturday night.

Kerry: Vice-Presidential Running Mate Only A Heartbeat Away

l-r, Senators John Edwards, Dick Gephardt, Hillary Clinton, Bob Graham, and Gov. Tom Vilsack

With Democratic Party Presidential hopeful John Kerry about to make his decision as to a Vice-Presidential running mate, speculation is running rampant across the U.S. as to who Kerry will choose next week to take the fight to the Republican Bush-Cheney administration come November.

In a precedent-breaking announcement yesterday afternoon, Senator Kerry said he plans to announce his vice presidential running mate in an e-mail to the more than one million subscribers to his campaign Web site.

“The folks who are going to learn first about my choice are going to be the people on JohnKerry.com. They’re the people who’ve helped carry this campaign. They’re the folks who’ve been part of our effort across the nation; they’ll be the first to know what my decision is.”

Craig Crawford, the White House Trail Mix columnist with the Congressional Quarterly adds his thoughts as to whom Kerry is likely to choose, handicapping the five most often mentioned potential nominees (pictured above), as he holds out for a last-minute Hillary Rodham Clinton VP nod.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau, meanwhile, reports that the “with rumours abundant that Kerry could make his choice as soon as Tuesday, the frenzy is near its peak — with at least three candidates, including Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack atop the list of contenders.”

Let’s face it, choosing a vice-presidential running mate is the great blind date of American politics: There’s lots of mystery and anticipation, but the Presidential nominee ends up with someone he swore he already turned down. For nearly three months now, VP hopefuls have been in an endless audition, crossing the U.S. to see who could raise the most money, and who could get on TV most often to say nice things about John Kerry.

You‘d almost think that whoever John Kerry chooses was important.

The idea that the vice-presidential running mate will have a major impact on this year’s presidential race is, really, moot. Over the past century, maybe two VP hopefuls have contributed significantly to their ticket’s victory — Lyndon Johnson in 1960, who reassured Southerners about a Catholic, and Walter Mondale in 1976, who reassured liberals about a Southerner.

Aside from that, the vice-presidential candidate just gets to campaign in the places the presidential candidate can’t get to — or wouldn’t be caught dead in. As a sage political consultant once declared, “a vice-presidential candidate can bring the ticket one of two things — a state or trouble.”

As for John Kerry, knowing that his choice is unlikely to affect the rest of his life, or the outcome of the election, he’ll probably choose someone he gets along with. Which is the best you can expect from any blind date.

July 2, 2004

Now Hear This: Peace, Love, Understanding and New Music

Go Betty Go

Can’t figure out what to listen to this summer? Once again, the PopMatters’ music team presents a highly opinionated, overall quite superlative and even, at times, revelatory examination of 18 artists that, they suggest, absolutely demand your attention.

Ranging from the satirical, hip-hop sensibilities of 29-year-old rapper MC Chris (Windows Media Player required) to the avant-garde emo-rock of the San Francisco-based band, Evening, and the moody rock of The Velvet Teen you're bound to discover at least some new music to your liking. And, the best part: almost all of the artists have made free mp3s available on their websites.

Meanwhile, the always reliable éminence grise of rock criticism, Robert Christgau, weighs in with another Consumer Guide column in this week’s Village Voice, reviewing the latest releases from Sonic Youth, Bobby Bare Jr., and Arto Lindsay, among a raft of other bands. Needless to say, Mr. Christgau loves the music of each of these artists.

VanRamblings has, this afternoon, downloaded (legal in Canada, don’tcha know?) 18-year-old Norwegian chanteuse Maria Mena’s début album, Another Phase, about to be re-released in North America with the title White Turns Blue. The album’s lyrics may relate to Mena’s junior high school experience, but to this listener the sentiments expressed in the lyrics address universal emotional issues. Mature beyond her tender years, VanRamblings has not been as impressed with a new artist since we first heard Fiona Apple.

And, finally, for this instalment, the strongest possible recommendation for the upcoming 27th annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival (VanRamblings has placed a clickable advertisement for the Folk Fest at the top-right of all ‘pages’). Under the stewardship of longtime Folk Fest aficionada and political activist Frances Wasserlein, and artist cum Folk Festival artistic director Dugg Simpson, the annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival is a summer must. This year’s event promises to be a particular treat.

One of the premiére cultural events that takes place in Vancouver each summer, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival site transforms into an ideal universe of peace, love and understanding, where gays and lesbians stroll about unmolested holding hands with one another, where children run free in the safest of environments, where white cotton is the de rigeur fabric of the day, and where the music covers a broad spectrum of genres (because, after all, folk music is the music of the people, and is not limited, simply, to old-time folkies with acoustic guitars), wafting through the air from any one of the 7 daytime stages, and throughout the evening on the main stage.

In the coming days, VanRamblings will write more on the upcoming 27th annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival. In the meantime, if you haven’t purchased your ticket for this year’s event, you can do so online or by scrolling to the bottom of this page to find out where tickets are available.

July 1, 2004

Canada Celebrates Its 137th Birthday

Across this great land of ours, Canadians from coast to coast to coast celebrate a remarkable country on its 137th birthday.

As the election dust settles, this is a day to put aside our political differences, to come together in commemoration of a vibrant nation of almost 32 million people, a Canada that is held up around the world as a model of tolerance, civility and social-mindedness.

As the world becomes a smaller place, as globalization and the communications revolution sometimes blur the distinctions between countries and cultures, today is a day to acknowledge Canada’s ‘differentness’ — from our social safety net and welcoming immigration policies, to our cherished Charter of Rights and Freedoms and our acknowledged politeness — these are just a few of the traits that define us as Canadians.

In these troubled times, who we are as Canadians is cause for celebration.

Happy Canada Day !!!

Welcome to VanRamblings’ newest

Welcome to VanRamblings’ newest weekly feature, New on DVD. Each and every Thursday, VanRamblings will point you in the direction of the week’s best new DVD releases available at your local home entertainment store.

Woefully overlooked at Christmas-time, and almost completely misunderstood, director Anthony Minghella’s adaptation of Charles Frazier’s best-selling novel, Cold Mountain was little short of magnificent, an epic movie that is all at once as rudely violent, treacherous and politically charged as the source work, yet at times managed a picaresque, hurtfully romantic, chastely sexy, and warmly humorous tone that proves entirely inviting.

How it is that Nicole Kidman’s performance as a privileged Southern Belle was overlooked for a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her work on this Christmas 2003 movie release beggars belief. Grand, poignant, heartbreaking, and exhiliarating in equal measure, Cold Mountain is a must early summer DVD rental (also available on VHS).

Were VanRamblings able to say the same of The Perfect Score, a middling teenage heist comedy. Director Brian Robbins, the former Head of the Class actor, has helmed a number of laclustre teen projects. The only sexy things in this tepid, forgettable teen movie are Scarlett Johansson’s cherry-printed underpants and Leonardo Nam’s bedroom eyes.

A warm-hearted and surprisingly ambitious sequel to the 2002 hit, Barbershop 2: Back in Business is less cartoonish and more generous than the original. From the often affecting flashbacks of Cedric The Entertainer’s early days in the shop during the combustible 1960s and early 1970s (which also give Cedric more time to riff and rip) to the wary eye it casts on contemporary political hypocrisy, Barbershop 2 finds hope in friendship, respect and community, and comfort in the company of a first-rate cast of African American actors, including Ice Cube, Eve and Sean Patrick Thomas.

And, finally this week, Seducing Dr. Lewis, about which Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote: “In Jean-François Pouliot’s internationally charming, award-laden comedy Seducing Dr. Lewis, a guppy-size French Canadian fishing village in need of a resident doctor welcomes a smooth Montreal plastic surgeon offering a month’s medical services to expunge a minor drug charge ... but while Dr. Christopher Lewis plans a short stay, the citizenry, led by the town’s wily mayor, scheme to ensure longer-term commitment: They reinvent themselves as an irresistible, quaintly authentic Eden built on lies ... there’s shrewd wit to Pouliot’s gentle, no-bull farce.” And, by the way, she gives the movie a B+.