And another childhood TV icon is beamed up:
UPDATE – A profile of the man in Bangor Metro, including his impact on TV in Atlantic Canada.
Monthly Archives: September 2006
Pervez Musharraf
Last night Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It was a pretty good interview. Considering this guy took power in a coup d’etat, has nuclear weapons, and may or may not know the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, Stewart went more or less easy on him.
Stewart began the interview by offering his guest traditional tea and a Twinkie. When he was settled in, Stewart asked right off the bat: “Where’s Osama bin Laden?”
I find Musharraf to be an interesting player on the world stage: a moderate Muslim trying to bridge his world with the West’s, all the while trying to tie it all in with his own self-interests, which there are many. What interested me about this interview, however, is that it’s set a bar for world leaders appearing on The Daily Show.
14 years ago, Arkansas Governor and presidential candidate Bill Clinton appeared on the briefly but extraordinarily popular Arsenio Hall Show, playing saxaphone. At first, all lot of people thought it would destroy his campaign but, in fact, it pretty much clinched his win. Since then, most political candidates have appeared on a late night talk show to show voters how relaxed and at ease they were. But really, nobody did it like Clinton.
Now that, for the first time, a sitting head of state has appeared on Jon Stewart (of course it was to sell his memoirs), I’d say it’s only a matter of time before we see George W. Bush sit down with him. It says a lot about how influential Stewart has become.
Jet Setter
Montreal
to
Calgary
to
Saint John
to
Montreal
to
Saint John
to
Montreal
This is going to be a fun two weeks.
Umbridge
Of all the Harry Potter books, my favourite is the fifth in the series, Harry Potter and The Hair Down There Order of the Phoenix. This is the book with which many fans had difficulty, citing its length, meandering plot, and reliance on detailed descriptions of the wizard world as it exists outside Hogwart’s. I found these shortcomings to be strengths as I became less interested in Harry and the gang and more intrigued by the sometimes brutish, corrupt, highly politicised, and hypocritical world of adult wizards. And, of course, this series has always been all about my personal favourite, Snape.
But the highlight of Order of the Phoenix was its villain: Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge. Unlike Harry’s other villains, namely Voldemort, Umbridge doesn’t want to kill him, but she does want to hurt him. And she does, repeatedly, in a school related punishment that it outright torture. And there is the open-ended question of where her loyalties rest, which makes her even more frightening.
The fifth book is currently being filmed with Vera Drake‘s Imelda Staunton in the Umbridge role. Say what you will about the Potter films, they’re remarkably well-cast. More photos available here.
(and if I could take this opportunity to suggest Vera Drake to anyone who hasn’t seen it, I would. Any politician even considering restricting a woman’s access to abortions should be forced to watch it.)
The gym – one month later
Not much in the way of weight loss – 3 or 4 pounds gone and strange bumpy things have appeared on my arms where mushy flesh once appeared.
But a jacket I haven’t been able to wear in a year fits, just. This bodes well for the wedding reception I’m attending in SJ on Saturday. Two long term friends who happen to be of the same gender are getting married, thereby mocking the sanctity of marriage and shaking the cornerstone of our Christian civilisation, all in the name of forcing society to recognise their aberrant behaviour. There will also be a buffet, I believe.
