With the last day of the US election campaign coming to an end, I thought I should use my blog here to help get the word out about the other candidates running for US President. First up is a video from the campaign team behind the Saul Tigh-Laura Roslyn ticket. This video is a great reminder of the sacrifices made by Tigh that he survived through with the help of the Lords of Kobol. You can learn more about the Tigh-Roslyn team at their campaign website found at tighroslin2008.com.

Meanwhile, the other alternative choice for President is taking a more toned-down approach to handling the last day of campaigning. Evidently, there is talk in Admiral William Adama’s camp that they have indeed found the way to that fabled and unknown part of the universe, the one around which many stories and myths have grown around to the point where it’s hard to know what’s the truth and what is merely the rambling absurdities of certain special interest groups. But Adama’s camp has made it clear that they will press forward and move for change once they reached that magical land known as . . . Washington, DC.

With all their signals now clearly indicating that they are on the right course to DC, they have opted to release just this image to help stir the masses that yes indeed, the winds of change are underway. You can learn more about this candidate’s platform on their campaign website at adamaforpresident.org

Of course, while it may have been called ‘the promised land’, time will tell when they arrive - if it is indeed Washington DC that they arrive at - if that will still hold true come next January. Then again, as Admiral Adama knows only too well, sometimes you just have to roll a hard six.

Just an injection of some political/BSG-inspired humour on my blog here to help kick-start the week.

Last night, my children joined in that annual tradition where ordinary boys and girls transform themselves into witches, pirates, princesses, Spidermans and various ghouls in the pursuit of collecting confectionery from nearby neighbourhood houses. Of course, I’m talking about Halloween, which is without question my favourite secular holiday that our society celebrates for the simple fact that for one day of the year, kids everywhere get to revel in the simple pleasures that come with childhood.

Without question, the world our children live in today is far different from the one my generation grew up in with new dangers like cyber-bullying and even identity theft in addition to those threats that we had to deal with as children. There’s also a greater pressure on children these days to live according to some schedule or activity regimen – I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard fellow parents complain about how many sporting events, tournaments, dance practices and so forth they have to take their kids to. And every time, I find myself biting my tongue from pointing out the obvious of who chose to sign them up for so many activities instead of just a select few. After all, let’s face it – children by nature lack the ability for self-control as well as knowing their limits and as such, that kind of decision-making lies squarely on the shoulders of the parents. Put it to you this way – switch these activities for video games or some other toys at the department store. If your child asks that he/she wants all these toys, are you simply going to buy all of them or are you going to inform your child that we can’t get everything we want simply because we want it? I think you can appreciate now why I discretely roll my eyes when I’m subjected to hearing these complaints from other parents about how busy their children are as a reply to my mentioning the fact that my kids were joining a swimming class this session.

That’s why Halloween for me is so important to make a big deal of, not just for my kids, but for all kids because on that day, we don’t expect them to be minature versions of ourselves, checking the calendar to see what’s been booked that day and such. Instead, we allow them to enjoy an event that we ourselves participated in many a moons ago that’s a source of happy memories of what it was like being a kid. In fact, just this past week, I shared with my children a fond memory I have of going out trick-or-treating one year where one of the neighbours went all out in decorating their house for Halloween. Now, I can’t remember exactly what it looked like or even which house it was. But that doesn’t matter since in the end, I have this wonderful memory of being dazzled by the handiwork of these homeowners from that Halloween night, a memory which to this day still brings a smile to my face.

And it’s for that reason why every Halloween my family and I transform the front of our house into an almost magical Halloween setting, complete with a small cornfield maze-like walkway, Halloween-inspired songs piped out from an outdoor speaker, and enough lights to make our house easy to spot from near the end of the street. Yep, Tim Taylor would be proud. What’s especially nice about decorating the house for Halloween is that the kids now want to help us out in getting the front of our house ready for the big day. For them, this process is now a part of the magic surrounding Halloween and they look forward to it almost as much as trick-or-treating. Almost.

Of course, when you go all out decorating your house for Halloween trick or treaters, you do end up with your share of interesting moments. For example, it’s become a regular event every Halloween for parents to take pictures of their kids standing in front of our Halloween menagerie - some in fact even sit on the hay bay next to our little witch decoration to pose for their picture. Then there are those trick or treaters whose parents drive them to our street to canvass for candies. Oddly enough last night, one family drove their two kids to our house, waited for the kids to come get their bag of goodies from me before the kids got back in and they took off – they didn’t even bother to visit my neighbour next door or the ones across the street. But the best moment has to be when the kids take the time from their rushing from house to house to stop and thank us for making such a beautiful display for Halloween. In fact, I still remember how last Halloween this little boy said to me ‘Thank you for decorating your house so much for me’. From an adult’s perspective, it could be easy to think that this boy is being a bit self-absorbed, but the reality is that he got it – I did decorate it for him so that he could have this lasting memory of a magical Halloween night when he was little. And that’s true for every child that comes to visit our house on Halloween night – whether they were a just a little toddler or one of those young teenagers reveling in their last moments of childhood before accepting the reality of growing into an adult.

That’s why I was so touched by what this mother who came with her daughter told me last night. At first, she started complimenting me on the beautiful decorations and how she hadn’t seen anything like this all night. And then she thanked me with such emotion and sincerity that I knew this mother understood why I was motivated to create this magical world if only for one night - I had grown up into the role of my old neighbour who decorated his house in such a way that even now, it brings a warm memory to my mind and heart about my childhood. And last night, I passed that memory on to that little girl who stopped by our house for a little treat. After hearing her mother’s warm thanks, I know her daughter left our house with something more special than just a few sugary treats. She now has a sweet memory of what it was like when she was a child.

Like I said before, I love Halloween. It’s just too bad it comes only once a year.

I must admit that I find it a bit odd how much people are making a big deal of Colin Powell’s recent official endorsement for Barack Obama. True, they come from opposite sides of the political spectrum, but I think some thought needs to put into what Powell’s endorsement really indicates, not only about him but what I suspect includes many in the inner circles of the Republican party itself.

First of all, I find it pathetic that anyone is so ingrained in their political thinking that they can be so mindless as to just assume at the next election they will vote for a specific party. Granted, there are some issues which both sides have been known to historically support or fight against - abortion is a good example - and on those issues, it can be easy to see why some voters will automatically decide to vote for one party over another. However, there are times when our society faces more pressing issues that should obligate us to disregard such emotionally-charged issues in favour of assessing which party has the best platform or candidate to help our society overcome its current predicaments. But that takes a fair amount of rationalism and yes, intelligence on the part of the voter to understand what really is going to impact their lives and their family directly instead of focusing on issues that might bristle their own personal code of ethics or values.

From this perspective, Powell’s recent endorsement on the surface makes a lot of sense since it indicates that after looking at the two respective candidates, he’s decided to throw his support behind Obama - regardless of his being (gasp) a Democrat - because he honestly believes that Obama more than McCain can help the United States get out of this pit of quicksand they currently find themselves in and hopefully get back on to some solid ground. The general feeling people have about Powell is that he’s not only intelligent, but a straight-shooter so it makes sense that he should be able to look beyond the Republican/Democrat party line blinders and see the bigger picture and what needs to be done. But there’s more to his character than that which allowed him to rise to the prominent position of Secretary of State and I think it’s that part which reveals more about why he made this endorsement now and why I suspect many in the top tiers of the Republican leadership may not feel as betrayed as some of those neo-cons blasting Powell all over the Net claim to be.

To cut to the chase, I strongly believe that the Republican top leadership - that is to say those outside of the McCain team - are hoping that Obama will win this year’s election. Shocking? Outrageous? Laughable? Sure, on the surface. But again, this kind of thinking has less to do with emotionalism and notions of blind patriotism and more to do with pragmatism, tactics, and wielding power. The fact is the United States right now is in a complete mess - the economy is teetering on the brink of slipping into a depression, they are in a war that shows no end and no clear victories in sight, and they are trillions of dollars in debt and growing almost exponentially. And if that wasn’t enough, the United States influence on the world stage is diminishing dramatically, one reason why military intervention is often threatened since its become the only leverage the United States can claim and now, thanks to the Iraq war, even that is a pale version of what it once was.

So, like I said, the United States is a complete mess and the next president is going to inherit all this along with the expectations of the American public that he will fix it immediately so that they can go back to their carefree spending ways. Now that’s a tall order for either candidate to have to fulfill and I think most economists will agree, the current economic climate in the States will not be resolved in the next year or so. It’s going to be several years of crawling up out of the mire before the average American will feel that they are on some sort of semi-solid ground. That’s a pretty big, bitter pill to swallow and something the American public is not known for is patience and understanding. The Republicans surely know that and with someone like McCain, they must realize they have a slim chance of making a significant improvement on the current situation. That’s not to say that I think Obama would have far better success at it since I don’t, and I think the Republican party leadership has come to that conclusion as well. And that’s why it’s in the Republican party’s best interests to let this term go to the Democrats - since both candidates could only succeed marginally on solving most of these problems, it’s better to let the Democrats take on the burden and face the wrath of the American people that, despite assurances from the Democrats that change was coming, the amount of change they got wasn’t enough to improve their lives and their country.

The other gain the Republicans have through this campaign is that they finally gave McCain his chance to run as the Republican candidate for President and with his failure to win the job, they no longer need to worry about him running in the leadership race, tearing up the party votes and preventing them from showing to the general public a star candidate that they know can beat Obama at the next election. After all, the last thing the Republicans can afford is to have a race like the Democrats had this year between Obama and Clinton. So with McCain now taken care of, a smoother, tighter Republican machine can arise that can demonstrate to the American public that despite all the allegories to the Kennedy legacy, Obama just couldn’t deliver what the country needed and that they instead carry the goods.

And this is that part of Powell’s personality traits that explains his recent public endorsement of Obama - the man is a proven successful tactician. His endorsement of Obama was like the Bat signal, letting the party intellectuals know that the Republicans are tossing this election. Sounds crazy to think that any political party would throw a chance to lead, but as Powell knows, in any war there are many battles and some you have to give to your opponent if you want to win the war. Also, there’s no shame here for the Republicans if McCain loses. On the contrary, with someone like Sarah Palin on the ticket, they’re only opening themselves up to becoming the laughingstock both for Americans and around the world as a political organization for idiots - SNL’s recent ratings boon following Palin’s appearance on their show is a testament to this fact. As such, now is the time for the Republicans to retreat and re-brand themselves, leaving the poor Democrats to pick up the mess the Republicans leave behind on the political and economic stages, both at home and abroad.

The Democrats have been arguing that the United States has suffered due to the Republican leadership of the last eight years and that if the Democrats were in charge, things would be different. You can almost see the relish now among the Republican leadership as they survey the mess and reply ‘You want it? You can have it.’ As Powell and the Republican party surely knows, this battle has been lost. But the political war undoubtedly shall continue on.

The sci-fi community was a-buzzing this week after Paramount finally lifted the veil of secrecy on what JJ Abrams’ take on “Star Trek” will look like with the release of several stills from the upcoming movie. And while there were some real surprises in the mix, what I ended up finding more interesting was what this sudden reveal tells us about Abrams’ film and Paramount’s apparent new viewpoint on their prized Trek franchise.

For those of you who have already seen the pictures, I’m sure you’ve had your share of other peoples’ descriptions of what minutiae can be dissected from these images, so don’t worry this won’t be more of that. Besides, in all honesty, I don’t spend my time over-analyzing stills looking for some hidden secret just as how I don’t look for images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary in oil stains. In other words, I do have a life, thank you very much. All I will say is that looking at this shot featured above of the new Enterprise bridge, I can’t help but wonder if the production designer got some sort of discount deal with a light bulb manufacturer as there are a LOT of lights in that layout, some of which make no sense at all – those halogen-spotlight circle lights running along the top of the stations are a good example. Oh, I’m sure this design has got the geek “SO Cool!!!!” vote sewn up, but from my viewpoint, it just seems a tad too cluttered. Put it to you this way, would you buy an iPhone or other electronic device if it had that many bells and whistles decorating its housing? It’s clear as technology gets more advanced, we’re moving toward not only smaller devices, but also simpler interfaces, something this image doesn’t quite bring to mind. In any case, now that I got that out of the way, let me get to the point that is surprisingly being overlooked surrounding the release of these various images.

To bring everyone up to speed, Paramount’s marketing division decided to release five image stills this past Wednesday from the upcoming movie, no doubt as part of their plan to generate buzz about the flick leading into the full trailer release that is expected to be shown at screenings of the latest James Bond film “Quantum of Solace” next month. However, rather than offer these images to a single magazine or news information website, Paramount shrewdly took these five photos and distributed one each to five different news websites for them to carry as exclusives for their site. Not only does this have interested readers scrambling to find all these pictures, but it also ensures that Paramount is getting the word out to as many sci-fi fans as possible since the various sites like UGO, IGN, and MTV are no doubt visited by differing audience sets – I suspect there’s very little cross-pollination happening among them. But that’s pretty straight-forward and obviously Net savvy on Paramount’s part and something I suspect other major studios will start employing for their upcoming blockbusters. Instead, what’s surprising is both the content of these pictures and more importantly, who is carrying what.

It’s a given that the release of these pictures was meant for avid Star Trek fans who have been eagerly awaiting a visual preview of the latest entry into the Trek mythos. And there are certain elements to the franchise which carry greater interest or curiosity than others, one of the top being what the new bridge will look like. Personally, I was of the thinking that this particular design element was going to be kept under lock and key until the movie’s release so that the first time we actually see it would create that “Ahhh!” moment much like when a new work of art is unveiled from behind a velvet curtain. And yet, this past Wednesday, Paramount trotted out an image showing off the bridge of the Enterprise – and yes, they even went so far as to confirm that it was the Enterprise bridge – throwing out what I had thought was one of their big cards that they had in their hand. Frankly, it made little sense to me to give away one of the most anticipated designs for the core audience in a simple photograph. Unless of course, Paramount is now planning on creating a new core audience for this franchise, something I think is apparent from how the release of these images has been handled. Let me show you what I mean.

If we look at some of the pictures that were released in context of which site got what exclusive photo, we can see a clear demarcation of which site got the best photo and which one got the least interesting or noteworthy one. Now as a set, the pictures work well to give a good impression of this upcoming film, but for now, let’s take a few of these images and see what they accomplish on their own. Let’s start with the site JoBlo.com:

This site got a picture of the film’s nemesis, Nero, played by Eric Bana. An interesting shot in terms of its angle, but let’s face it – this picture on its own doesn’t reveal anything about Abrams’ Trek aesthetic, nor is it a picture that one couldn’t easily confuse as being a still from some other film. So on its own, it’s rather blasé.

Now, let’s jump over to IGN:

Here we see a picture of Chris Pine as Kirk trying to climb up out of an ice pit from some sort of spacecraft which carries the iconic “NCC-1701” identifier. Again, another interesting shot, but it doesn’t give us much to work with in terms of understanding what this film will be like visually in relation to previous Trek incarnations.

Next up is UGO’s exclusive pic and now we have something to chew on:

In this picture we get to see some of the iconic characters inhabited by these new actors in what UGO establishes in their article is an image taken from the bridge set. We also get here a good look at the new uniform design. Compared to the previous two, this image tells us a great deal about the new Trek aesthetic as well as giving us an impression of what these actors will look like playing these beloved characters.

However, the real winner of the pack has got to be MTV (their picture graces the top of this entry) which lands not only a picture of the cast in their Starfleet uniforms, but also gives us a clearer and unmistakable view of the new Enterprise bridge. And if that wasn’t enough, to sweeten the pot, the picture also features Kirk sitting in the famous Captain’s chair looking like he’s plotting his next move while McCoy and Spock - framing him on each side in this image - ponder the situation. A very iconic visual of the Trek mythos.

Now let’s think about this for a moment – the one picture that on its own provides us with the most information and insight into what Abrams’ film will look like, the one that would satiate Trek fans’ hunger for knowing more about the upcoming film, was not featured on some geek-friendly website. Instead, it showed up on MTV. And let’s be honest here – no one’s confusing the MTV crowd with Star Trek fans. Also, as I pointed out, this one picture more than any of the others reveals one of those key elements that Trek fans have been hoping to see since production first began on this film earlier this year. These two points paint an interesting picture of the future of the Trek franchise.

It’s no secret that Abrams and Paramount are hoping that this next Trek film will have broad audience appeal in addition to being a fave among the mainstream Trek crowd – that would be those who are capable of growing up and not tying down a science fiction franchise to an outdated, 40-year interpretation of what the future will visually look like. Indeed, given the $150 million price tag this film currently carries, they have no choice but to make this film appealing to the casual film goers to help them make a tidy sum on their investment. Of course, a healthy portion of that profit will be derived from merchandising and other promotional licenses, products that normally are marketed at the young adult set given their relatively higher portion of disposable income for such items. A quick review of the current make-up of the Trek crowd shows the age-set has migrated northward toward that segment of the populace that’s more concerned with mortgage/car payments and who have a much smaller amount of disposable income, something the current economic climate has further eroded. It becomes clear from this demographic viewpoint that Paramount needs to make this next venture of interest to the younger set if they are to continue to generate revenue from their 40-year old property.

Another point to consider is the success Marvel has had with migrating their various franchises from being of interest only to the comic book reading crowd to the mainstream audience through their filmed versions of these properties. While the various “Spiderman” releases and the recent takes on the “Batman”, “Superman” and “Iron Man” franchises do appeal to their respective die-hard followers, they also have succeeded in drawing in the casual film goer who hasn’t picked up a comic book since they were twelve. The collective success of these various franchises is proof that even a genre like “Star Trek” can straddle that line of garnering the support of their die-hard audiences while courting the mainstream crowd that wouldn’t normally consider spending their time and money on such a film. To do that, however, means that “Star Trek” must follow the path of these other franchises in re-inventing some aspects to make it relevant and entertaining to today’s audience. It simply cannot be a vehicle for nostalgia-driven fans who simply want to see more of the same material that was derived over 40 years ago when the first Trek series aired.

The pictures released this week are very much telling that this is what Abrams and Paramount intend to do with the Trek franchise. Their decision to put the best content on a site like MTV is a strong indicator that they want to ditch that notion of “Star Trek” being the exclusive domain of geeks and grown men living in their parent’s basement to something that has contemporary chic and mainstream appeal. Granted, the MTV crowd is unlikely to get all worked up over seeing a picture of what Abrams’ Enterprise bridge looks like as the geek-Trek fans would. But that product placement there is a very clear statement by Paramount to those geeks to get ready for their beloved franchise to grow beyond their grasp and merge into the mainstream entertainment scene. Indeed, I think that is why Paramount elected to release this much sought-after look at the new Enterprise bridge so early in the game – they basically want to dispense with whatever elements those die-hard Trek fans love to obsess and dissect so that future promotional releases can be geared toward the average film goer in an attempt to get their interest, to pique their curiosity and get the kind of buzz going that “The Dark Knight” enjoyed earlier this year on account of Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker. In other words, Paramount gave “Trekkies” what they have longed for so that Paramount’s marketing division can now focus on creating material to convince the mainstream audience that Abrams’ new take on “Star Trek” is cool and fun.

While I can imagine there will be many on the Net whining and crying over the loss of their beloved Trek, I personally would be happy to see “Star Trek” grow up and once again become relevant both as a source of entertainment and something that is shared by more than just a select group of viewers. As a vehicle for story-telling, “Star Trek” certainly has the ability to be modernized without losing any of the charm that has made it a cult classic. While I may find Abrams’ bridge design could employ some energy conservation by tossing out a couple dozen of those lights, I’ll forgive that real fast if they provide us with a fresh look at these beloved characters in a compelling and yes, entertaining storyline. That is, after all, why any of us watch “Star Trek” in the first place.

As some of you may have noticed, I haven’t been writing much in my blog here lately and I fault that on the fact that I’ve been busy writing in another medium – music. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I’m directing/producing my second episode for the amateur-based science-fiction series “Star Trek: Unity”. Production on the latest episode, “Disunity, Part 2” wrapped up at the end of August and much of my off-hours time has been spent knee deep in post-production work. While I learned the ropes of post-production working on “Disunity”, this time round I’ve added another new challenge to the mix - instead of utilizing cinematic scores written for other works, I plan on using music written specifically for this episode. Of course, the twist to this new approach is that I’m taking on the role of the composer who’ll create these original music compositions.

Now writing music itself is not something that is new to me as I have written songs in the rock, jazz and cinematic genres. However, those compositions were stand-alone pieces in that they weren’t written to enhance the feel and emotion of a particular scene in a dramatic work. Also, unlike like my previous compositions that involved only a handful of instruments, for some of these scores I need to compose arrangements for a full orchestra. So far, creating scene-specific scores hasn’t been much of an issue; instead, it’s the daunting task of taking a composition and figuring out its orchestration that has been the real challenge. Obviously, I have in my mind’s eye an idea of what sound or sounds I’d like for certain sections of the piece to have. What I’m learning through this process though, is that it’s not always obvious what instruments and/or arrangement is needed to create that certain sound, especially if you’ve never been trained or versed in the art of music orchestration.

One score in particular has been a source of both elation and utter frustration. It’s a score I’m writing that gives our lead character his own theme. Obviously, this type of score would need to have that heroic or self-assured feeling, something that would paint in the listener’s mind the impression of a character of firm resolve and confidence. At the same time, though, given the nature of this character and how he’s portrayed, it also needs to be a little understated so that people don’t get this notion of some guy walking into a room, his chest pushed outward while his nose almost launches up into the air. This one score also differs from the others planned for this episode as it needs to contain a melody that can be used in other episodes as a character cue. So it not only needs to fit the scene in question, but it also needs to be one that can be adjusted slightly to fit in other scenes with different moods and themes. As a simple composition on its own, that’s a challenge there in and of itself. Throw in trying to figure out the articulations needed for an orchestral piece and now you’re swimming in murky waters. It’s this one score that’s the main reason why I’ve been remiss on adding new entries to this blog as of late. Over the last couple of weeks, the only thing I could think about writing was the arrangements for this score instead of new content for this blog. Fortunately, I made some significant progress on this one score last week so I’m hoping my music-induced myopia will start to subside and I can get back into writing for this blog.

I can tell you it’ll be nice to be able write again using nouns and verbs and not just half-notes and chords.

I must admit I haven’t been very inspired lately in terms of adding a new entry to my blog. That is until I heard about the latest cry foul from the American news channel FOX News against the news wing of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aka the CBC. At the center of this latest tirade from the Fox News team is an article from Canadian writer/columnist Heather Mallick called “A Mighty Wind blows through Republican convention”.

The article is Mallick’s assessment of Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin and the fact that it provides a rather unflattering impression of Palin has got FOX News in an uproar. During a news segment on the FOX News cable network, the FOX News anchor refers to Mallick’s article as “getting beyond vicious” and states that Mallick refers to Palin’s daughter Bristol by “a nasty name that we will not repeat here on this broadcast”. The FOX News anchor also takes exception to Mallick’s assertion that Palin has helped “sewn-up the quote ‘white trash vote’ for the Republican ticket”. Now, that’s how FOX News presented this article, but why don’t we see what the article really says.

First off, in regards to that last quote about Palin sewing-up the “white trash vote” for McCain, that is not at all what Mallick said. Here instead is the exact quote – that can be seen at the link provided above – of what Mallick wrote in her article:

“She added nothing to the ticket that the Republicans didn’t already have sewn up, the white trash vote, the demographic that sullies America’s name inside and outside its borders yet has such a curious appeal for the right.”

Oops. Looks like someone was having a hard time reading this piece. Did Mallick use too many big words for you, Fox News? You can’t blame her for that – she has won National Newspaper Awards for critical writing after all.

Now, what about that “nasty name” that Mallick refers to Bristol? Oh yes, it is a shocking one (that’s sarcasm, by the way). Once again, let’s go to the source to see what was really said -

“Bristol has what is known in Britain as the look of the teen mum, the “pramface.”“

Yep, that’s right. The offensive word here that FOX News refused to repeat on the air was not ‘b**ch’ or ‘whore’ or ’slut’. It was “pramface”, which Mallick even defined in that sentence as being someone who has the look of a teen mother; in other words, someone who looks like they’d get pregnant as a teen. Granted, teen pregnancies are finally on the decline, but really, does FOX News think teens are going around insulting one another by saying they’re most likely to be a teen mom? Or that the worst thing you could say about an adolescent girl is that she’s most likely to get pregnant before becoming an adult? Wow – suddenly I feel like I’m in a “Leave It To Beaver” episode.

And what about that “white trash vote” they keep tossing around in this ‘news’ report? What does that term mean? Again, let’s go back to Mallick’s own words to see what she actually said in her piece -

“White trash — not trailer trash, that’s something different — is rural, loud, proudly unlettered (like Bush himself), suspicious of the urban, frankly disbelieving of the foreign, and a fan of the American cliché of authenticity.”

A-ha. So, Mallick makes the clarification that she’s not defining “white trash” as being the equivalent of trailer trash and, let’s be honest here, who can prove that her definition of white trash doesn’t apply to the majority of Republican voters? I’m sure if we conjured up a personality quiz we’d find that these demographic and social attitudes do line up well with the typical profile of Republican voters. And frankly, aside from the illiterate and “loud” remark, what descriptor in her definition would really anger a proud Republican voter? That he/she lives in a rural environment? Then again, perhaps Mallick addresses this anger Republican voters are spewing over such labeling when she remarked in her article that the white trash populace “vote Republican on social issues to give themselves the only self-esteem available to their broken, economically abused existence”. Without question, it’s a great article and thought-provoking as well, and it directs the reader toward points strangely absent from most commentaries regarding the current American election. For example, Mallick’s point about Palin and Giuliani referring to Obama’s community service in the same manner as one would utter “rectal fissure” is a sad reminder of the ever widening-gap between America’s financial elite and the average American who can only dream of rising above the flotsam.

Of course, mis-representing the facts – a FOX News speciality – is not the only noteworthy bit about this piece as there was one hilarious moment when the subject of describing Republican voters as white trash came up. As part of their coverage on this article, FOX News invited Ottawa Citizen columnist David Warren to comment on Mallick’s piece for the CBC. At one point during the interview, Warren said that many people believe that Palin’s supporters fit Mallick’s white trash definition. The FOX News anchor expressed surprise, if not shock, upon hearing this, no doubt because she thought Warren would help them tear apart Mallick’s article, instead of shedding light on its true nature. Warren’s reply to hearing the anchor’s surprised “They do?” comment to his remark was classic - “I’m surprised that you’re surprised”. Hilarious stuff that deserves to be a Daily Show moment of zen.

Granted, any intelligent person knows that FOX News is far from being an objective source, let alone a reliable news one. One need only look at how many mistakes they made quoting Mallick’s article in their 5 minute ‘news’ piece for proof of that. Indeed, one doesn’t even have to compare Mallick’s article and the FOX News report for glaring mistakes since they even made serious gaffes in plain sight during the broadcast. For example, if you watch the first minute of the broadcast, you’ll see the anchor quoting the article as saying Palin has the look of “a toned-down version of a porn actress” and yet, their on-screen graphic at that point has the actual quote of “toned down version of the porn actress look”. Another humorous, if not insightful moment to be sure. Oh, and for the record, what Mallick wrote about Palin’s look was “Palin has a toned-down version of the porn actress look favoured by this decade’s woman, the overtreated hair, puffy lips and permanently alarmed expression”. Once again, not so outrageous as those ace-reporters over at FOX News would like people to believe.

In true FOX news fashion, they asked Warren at the end of the segment if the CBC would remove this ‘offending’ piece from their website to which Warren said he doubted it and thank God for that. The very idea that a news source would demand the removal of an alternate voice being heard, let alone that in a sovereign nation, is what’s really offensive here, if not outright disturbing. Proponents of free speech denounced the removal of cartoons that mocked the Prophet Muhammed as being an affront to the very notion of a free society. However, the idea that these same people would turn around and demand that a negative piece written about a public official be removed because we find its descriptions of said person distasteful should be seen as more of a danger to our free society than the removal of a cartoon. Public officials by virtue must be allowed to be subjects of public scorn or even mockery as it is the surest way to make sure that we are not simply relying on party propaganda or emotional notions like nationalism or patriotic pride to discern the facts. Warren himself points out repeatedly during this piece that regardless of whether we agree with Mallick’s assessment or not, it’s important that such attitudes finally be brought to light since they do mirror what many reporters say in private or amongst each other, if not what many within the general public think or believe. FOX News is welcome to continue to present the news in their own clearly distorted fashion. I’m just relieved that we have organizations like the CBC and others that give us a more accurate presentation of the facts.

Oh, and FOX News – thanks for the laugh. I enjoyed it immensely.

Yesterday, Canadians were reminded of just how much power they have as voters in a democratic society. At the beginning of the day, the news broke out that two national parties – specifically the PC and NDP parties - were forcing television networks to exclude Green Party leader Elizabeth May from the upcoming leadership debates for this year’s federal election. The reason provided by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP leader Jack Layton was that the arrangement between May and Liberal Party leader Stephan Dion to not run candidates in each other’s riding amounted to May being a closet Liberal supporter and her presence at the leadership debates would give the Liberal party two voices for their platform. The PC and NDP leaders went so far as to threaten to boycott these debates if the networks dared to include May. As such, the consortium of networks that carry the debates had no choice but to tell May that she would not be given a place in the leadership debates to present her party’s platform to the voting public.

As the day progressed and news of this exclusion of May from the debates seeped into the public conscious, something wonderful happened – the public got angry. Very angry. And with good reason – the very idea that leaders from political parties would dare to limit what voices can be heard during a political debate concerning the leadership of the country goes against the very concept of democracy. The fact that this was done behind closed doors no less is all the more disturbing, with the sad irony that it was a collaboration between the right-wing and left-wing parties that tried to get away with such a manipulation of the democratic process. Prime Minister Harper even went so far as to tell reporters at one of his campaigning pit-stops that he would no longer comment on the issue as he had already issued a statement on it. That only served as more fuel for the fire for if ever there was a time a politician needs to explain their position to their constituents, it’s during the middle of an election campaign.

And so, Canadians filled talk radio shows, blogs and TV newscasts with their anger and outrage over this obvious violation of democratic principles and by the end of the day, both Layton and Harper ended up backing away from their positions against May’s inclusion and now, the Green Party leader will be given the chance to address the voting public alongside the other national parties. While it will be interesting to see what fallout the PC and NDP incur because of this incident come the October elections, I must admit I still find the arrangement between May and Dion to not run candidates in each others riding disturbing – after all, closed door agreements between political parties during an election campaign is not something anyone should take lightly. Of course, it is encouraging to know that May will now have a chance to address the Canadian public about her party and their platform during the leadership debates since I’m sure the other parties will use the opportunity to force Dion and May explain their arrangement to the public. Such an situation will benefit the Canadian voting base as it will allow them to make an informed decision regarding each of the political parties vying for their votes this October. That alone makes this development a very good and healthy one for Canadian democracy.

Today, May has cheered this development as being the “grassroots power of the people” and indeed, she is correct. After all, if the public hadn’t raised their voices in anger over this news, it’s clear that May’s exclusion would have gone on without retribution and with the obvious message being sent to politicians that the restriction of opposing and/or divergent voices from the Canadian political scene would be tolerated by their citizenry. Regardless of whether one supports or agrees with the Green Party platform, it was important for Canadians to rise up against this censorship and make it understood that the manipulation of democracy would not be tolerated. And this was all accomplished over the period of one day. Hopefully, all citizens living in democratic countries realize this power they harness to effect change, real change and not simply words denoting the idea of it. It’s easy to dismiss our political systems as being overrun by lobbyists, special-interest groups and corporations. And yet, if we don’t take to the proverbial streets and let our positions be known to those who are supposed to serve us, then how can we ever expect things to change or improve.

Yesterday’s development on the Canadian 2008 election campaign trail is a great reminder of the true power behind the democratic notion of one person, one vote. We as a society just need to care enough to act on that right if we really want to see the changes we desire for our respective country and with it, our impact on the world around us.

As it’s the end of a short workweek, I wanted to dive back into the blog with something on the lighter side of things and what could be an easier topic to bring up than a discussion of a fictitious profanity word. As the title of this entry infers, I’m talking about that BSG colloquialism – frak.

In case you haven’t caught it, the Associated Press is carrying a news story about the prolific nature of this invented swear word. The article has its beginnings from a blog entry by writer Lee Goldberg appropriately titled ”The Power of Frak”. In his entry, Goldberg applauds “Battlestar Galactica” series creator Glen Larson for doing what few writers/TV show creators have been able to do – create a random meaningless word to replace a contemporary profane one so that it passes by network censors and yet still retains the intensity and meaning of the actual word it’s replacing. And he’s right – when you watch BSG and one of the characters says “frak off”, there’s no question what word the character is really saying. But at the same time, this made-up word works brilliantly in the context of the show in that it creates another layer of realism to the show’s backdrop, of these people being from another planet like Caprica, Picon, or Gemenon – after all, it’s only natural being from another civilization that they would have their own swear words.

But as the AP article points out, what’s really remarkable about this word “frak” is just how invasive it has become in our society. My own personal experience can vouch for that as, being a father of young children, the last thing I want my kids to hear is their dad uttering profanities. So being able to use “frak” instead has come in handy. Granted, I don’t by nature swear much anyways since I think most times there are better words one can use to communicate with. I credit (or blame depending on how you want to look at it) that thinking on one of my English professors who berated the use of profanity, pointing out that we were inheriting a rich and evolving language that should allow us to express ourselves more appropriately. Of course, though I agree with that notion in general, the reality is that in some situations, the harsh and almost aggressive nature of swearing can’t be replaced with the use of a gentler, more sophisticated language. Hence my appreciation for this fictional product “frak”.

And yet, I can’t help but wonder if the growing popularity of “frak” has less to do with wanting to express oneself using a pseudo-profanity word, in cases where the use of real profanities would be frowned upon, and more to do with the ubiquitous use of its real-life counterpart. These days, the other “f” word is pretty much used as any type of word construct you can think of – it’s used as a noun, a verb, an adjective or however else you’d like to use it. And while it still carries a bad reputation, the over-usage of it in common discourse is perhaps dulling its sharp edge. Growing up, the “f” word carried a strong, negative connotation and thus, it’s usage had a powerful, immediate reaction on those who heard it. And let’s face it – that is one of the things profanity is supposed to do. And yet, as with anything that initially creates shock and aversion, repeated exposure eventually leads to a deadening of this reaction, if not a resigned acceptance. So perhaps that’s why “frak” is now starting to take off – in addition to being socially acceptable, it can carry that power and intensity its real-life counterpart used to have.

On an aside, for those who are interested in learning more about “the business”, I’d suggest you peruse Goldberg’s blog “A Writer’s Life” (it’s listed in my blogroll) as he shares a wealth of personal experience in writing books and script-writing that really serves as that much needed bucket of cold water reality for anyone who thinks they have the ‘next great idea’. After all, the undisputed truth about the entertainment industry is that it’s a business like any other one. And it’s always helpful getting the know from the inside.

The last long weekend of summer is before me and with it comes the sad realization that yet another summer season is coming to an end. Already, the nights feel noticeably cooler and the sun sets earlier every day; on the other hand, the days are now warm and we actually have been graced with sunshine for days before any rainfall returns. And yet, while the arrival of the Labour Day weekend harkens the approaching end for weekend barbecues and the winding down of festivals and special events around the city, what I’m really dreading is the return of school.

Sure, it’s been quite some time since I grumbled at the blaring of my alarm clock how I didn’t want to go to school. But even when I left the shelter of school life for the freedom of joining that magical group – the workforce – whenever Labour Day weekend came round, it brought back fond memories of summer as a kid and the tinge of sadness that those days where the possibilities of doing everything and nothing were now coming to an end. Since I became a father of school-age children, there’s now something else that makes me melancholy when this time of the year arrives. You see, unlike those commercials for “Back To School” sales that show the mom and dad celebrating that finally, their kids will be gone to school, their free time filled with homework assignments and extracurricular activities, I’m actually a little sad that I won’t have my kids around all the time and free to do whatever the day inspires. That’s not to say that there weren’t days during the summer break where I wished for some peace and quiet, free from those sibling arguments over who was going to role-play what part in their latest adventure or who had first dibs on the prized toy of the day. On those days, school couldn’t come soon enough. However, those moments were more the exception than the rule.

And so yesterday, as one of our last hurrahs for summer days, I took the kids downtown again by bus, especially since the commute itself was something they reveled in. Leave it to children to even find joy in something as loathsome as having to stand on the bus for the commute into town. Although there were plenty of seats to be taken, my kids would have none of it, beaming the whole while that they were allowed to stand on a bus and laughing every time the bus careened in any one direction. It was impressive to watch how the normally impassive commuters soon turned into relaxed, smiling individuals after taking in the spectacle of my kids’ giddy reactions to the lumbering movements of the city bus. It’s unfortunate that as a society, we really don’t appreciate what a positive impact children have on us, regardless of whether they’re our own or not.

Touring the downtown core, I reminisced about what the city looked like when I was their age and I couldn’t help but wonder what transformations lay ahead to change the city from what they saw now to what it will be like when they themselves become working commuters. It was also interesting to see what sights caught their attention and curiosity to learn more. It certainly was a learning experience for them when they saw a homeless man asking for spare change; the idea that there were people where we lived who had no home bothered them for a moment, as it should. But the lesson I taught them from seeing that, of learning to appreciate what you have made it worthwhile. Besides, unlike some parents, I don’t want to shelter my children from such truths about our society. I’d rather they understand that our city or country does have problems, but hopefully we’ll one day solve them because these problems bother us.

I had some apprehension of how we were going to navigate the congested lunch crowd, but my kids were real troopers, always keeping their eye on the ball – that would be me – and keeping up with the flow. They definitely have their father’s city slicker blood in them. As we continued our meandering trip through the downtown core, I pointed out places their mom and I had gone to before they were born, old haunts of mine when I attended university in the city – that they were impressed with, that their dad went to school in the city. For a moment, their astonishment made me feel like I admitted that I had once jumped over that nearby skyscraper to try and catch the bus. As to be expected, we stopped in the few toy stores we saw along the way, which helped to add items to the list of gifts my wife and I could buy them as rewards for another run of outstanding report card grades. It was also funny to try and explain to them why there were so few toy stores downtown – my argument of how many adults there were around us compared to kids failed to impress them, with my oldest pointing out that many of them were probably parents like me and how they could benefit from having toy stores in town to buy birthday/graduation/etc. gifts for their kids on their way home. Hard to argue against logic like that.

Unfortunately, we didn’t end up taking the long subway trip I had suggested as an idea of what we could do this time around in the city. Given how close we were to the rush hour period at that point, I really had no interest in reliving memories of the subway commute in packed cars with people who should be introduced to a bar of soap. Naturally, they were disappointed until I promised them a return trip to the city where we’ll ride the subway once again. After all, there still were weekends and holidays after Labour Day.

And so, after a full day wandering and eating in the city, we headed back on our bus ride home. Watching them play various hand-rhyming games one often sees children playing in school yards, it was obvious that they were ready to return to school, meeting up with their classmates and sharing their memories of summer. It also brought one thought to the forefront of my mind – I was going to miss having them around.

As some of you may have noted from my list of other blogs I write, in addition to blogging I also work on the creation of an original, dramatic series called “Star Trek: Unity”. At the beginning of this month, I was informed about a major achievement for this production, something that we’ve now been able to share with the public. Our first audio dramatic presentation “Disunity”, which I directed, co-wrote and even acted a few roles in, has landed one of the five coveted nomination spots for the 2008 Parsec Award for “Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama – Short Form”. On our project’s website and blog, we’ve made this news public along with our obvious pride and elation at landing this honour. But I wanted to use this outlet to speak about this accomplishment on a more personal level.

But before I do that, let me provide some background for those of you who are not familiar with this dramatic series. “Star Trek: Unity” is an amateur series production set in the time period between the TV series “Star Trek: Enterprise” and “Star Trek”, the Original Series. Our series will be a full CGI animation series, but for now, we’re releasing a set of audio-only episodes that serve as a prequel to our animation series, to help introduce and establish our original characters and some future story plot lines. Our premiere episode, “Disunity”, which was released last December, is a mystery story that centers around a terrorist attack on a Federation construction yard. The episode was written as an allegory to our ongoing conflicts with those who use acts of terrorism for political/social gain, with certain character actions mirroring the posturing of some world leaders on this issue as well as the fallout that events like 9/11 have had on our collective society. Although the main cast consists of amateur actors, we have been fortunate to land the talents of professional actor Kurt Carley, who quite effectively breathes life into the part of the leader of the terrorist organization.

When I was offered the chance to direct “Disunity”, I was both excited and anxious about the prospects of taking on such a role. Although I was experienced in acting, I had never directed others, let alone in an audio-only format. Taking on this role of director also meant I had to play the part of the episode’s producer and sound engineer – two other jobs I had no prior experience to lean on. But one thing people soon learn about me is that I not only love learning new skills, but I love challenges as well. So for me, this chance to work as a director, producer, etc. was just the kind of opportunity I relish.

Working on this episode, I had no doubts about my abilities to coach the actors through their scenes, helping to give them a context for where their character was internally at that moment in the story. But I must admit there were times working on the other elements of directing and producing a dramatic work where I worried whether I would be able to successfully translate the vision I had in my mind for this story into something tangible that would impact the audience in the manner I wanted it to. One aspect that I think has been absent in many dramatic works these days, whether it’s made by a professional or amateur organization, is the need for the story being told to have an impact on the audience – you need to create a work that makes an impression on the audience, that makes them appreciative that they did take time from their busy lives to give your work a listen. Indeed, I have to say that notion was my one biggest concern working on that episode; from the start right until the episode’s release, I was driven to make sure my audience would not feel like I wasted their time. And to that end, every detail, every line, every performance had to be the best we could achieve as I was not willing to let us use that safety net of this being our first effort to deter us from pushing to do the best.

And there’s really no way for me to confer to anyone just how much work it took to get our first episode to sound the way it did, whether it was making the actors actually sound like they were in the same room interacting with one another, as opposed to being hundreds of miles apart or creating a soundscape that immediately made the unseen scenic environment manifest itself within the listener’s imagination. As we hear so often from film and theatrical professionals who toil behind the scenes, they know they’ve done a good job if you don’t notice all the hard work they’ve put into their creation. I can tell you my own impression of this reality is mixed since it really is a testament to how well you succeeded that no one appreciates these details, that it doesn’t take the listener out of the story. And yet, it’s a bit discouraging to realize that all those weeks if not months of work can never really be appreciated without releasing the rough starting materials you had to work with to create this work.

That’s why this Parsec nomination means so much to me – it’s a validation from those who know what it takes to create an audio drama and make it sound real of just how much work was put into this effort. It’s an acknowledgment from my new peers that yes, you succeeded. But what also makes this nomination so sweet and rewarding is looking at who my competition is for this award – all the remaining four nomination spots are held by completely original works – ours is the only media tie-in. And that’s a big deal for me since as I mentioned in the director’s commentary I recorded for “Disunity”, the way I approached the telling of this story was not to create yet another “Star Trek” tale; instead, I wanted to tell an original story set against a science-fiction setting. Standing now shoulder to shoulder with works that exist in their own universe is for me proof that I succeeded in translating that story-telling approach to my audience.

It’s going to be almost another week before I know if we won this Parsec award or not. But I wanted to post something about it now because for me, landing this nomination is a huge success. Remember, this episode represents a lot of firsts – it’s our series first episode, it’s my first directing effort, it’s my first work co-writing a story. To come out of the gates and out of all the dramatic audio works out there - and there are many - clinch one of these five spots as the Best Audio Drama for 2008 is amazing. I’m immensely proud of this achievement and though I’m well on my way to completing work directing our next episode (and with greater confidence in my abilities to direct it thanks to working on “Disunity”), this nomination is just the wind in my sails needed to push me, and thus our next episode, even further. Mind you, even before we won this nomination, I knew I wanted our next episode to be more challenging for me to direct and produce and certainly the darker nature of this next story is going to do just that, if not also the fact that I’ll be writing an original score for the whole episode during post-production.

Hey, I said I loved a challenge; I never said I wasn’t crazy.