Pie Palace

And Happy Festivus!

I’m an atheist¹ but I really do enjoy the Christmas season. It has everything I love: snow, time off, parties, a reason to see friends, and an excuse for binge drinking. Given the length of the Ontario winter, I’ve always thought that we should have Christmas sometime in late January, but I’m rarely consulted on these matters.

Here’s the first (and possibly last) Annual Pie Palace Gift List

Canadian Electorate

Over the past year, Canadians have stayed away from the polls in droves, and expressed consternation when opposition parties did their job and opposed poorly considered legislation.

• What they want: A Prime Minister like Barack Obama.
• What they deserve: A remedial civics lesson, explaining why voting is important, and the role of the opposition.
• What they will get: A Prime Minister like George Bush (namely Stephen Harper).

Iraqi Shoe Thrower

Muntadar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at George Bush, yelling “This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq.” An event already immortalized across the intertubes by numerous animated gifs and at least one (crappy) flash game.

• What he wants: Stability in Iraq. (presumably)
• What he deserves: Stability in Iraq, and a new pair of shoes.
• What he will get: A long jail term, likely with abuse. (It looks like the abuse has already started)

Green Party Candidate Jen Hunter

Poor Jen. She ran as Green Party candidate in Ottawa-Centre during the 2008 federal election, getting 9.9% of the vote. If she’d gotten an extra 38 votes, she would have gotten 10%, and Elections Canada would have refunded 50% of her campaign expenses to the party.

• What she wants: A seat in Parliament.
• What she deserves: 39 more votes.
• What she will get: A new iPhone, and possibly a scarf.

OC Transpo’s Bus Drivers

Poor bus drivers. They just want their 7% raise over three years, and a contract that will allow them to set their own hours. Is that too much to ask?²

• What they want: A 7% raise, byzantine scheduling rules that favour drivers with seniority, and a pony for every driver.
• What they deserve: Better public relations.
• What they will get: Back to work legislation.

Stephan Harper

This year has been a bit of a roller coaster for the leader of Canada’s least disliked party. Breaking his own law and calling an election early, getting dissed by the Parliamentary auditor he appointed, almost losing the House when his poorly planned fiscal update backfired, and doing anything necessary to hold onto power.

• What he wants: A majority. And a pony.
• What he deserves: Visits from the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Future.
• What he will get: A visit from the Ghost of Joe Clarke.

This post is a tardy addition to A&J’s Ottawa Blogger Virtual Christmas Party.

Image credit: AP and AbstractionReaction. Used without permission.

1. Agnostic, to be exact. But “agnostic” sound too noncommittal for my taste. It would probably be more accurate to say that I’m committedly unconvinced of the existence of any higher powers. (back)
2. I’m not sure how I feel about the strike. The union is doing a terrible job at getting their side of the story out. As a bus rider, I want the drivers to be treated fairly, and service to resume – but it’s hard to tell if the drivers’ demands are fair, when I can’t find out what they are. (back)

Lumiere poster on Bank Street

OMG! Lumiere! Fire dancers! A local event organized by people who live in Ottawa! (And a chance to take pictures of awesome fire dancers)

Follow this link to take a gander at my fire dancer pictures from 2006 and 2007.

(Forgive the crappy quality of my 2006 photos: My SLR ran out of film and I went to town with a recently purchased Canon point-n-shoot. The pictures looked reasonable on the camera’s screen, but there wasn’t enough light)

Anywho: Lumiere is on Saturday, August 9, 2008. I think it’s in Strathcona Park, but the link on the Lumiere website is broken.

Here are a few pictures of the demolition of the south side stands at Landsdowne Park. The City has a short video from the north side stands.

Photographic observation de jour:

1. Make sure your batteries are fully (and freshly) charged before heading out to an event. I was using batteries that were at 50% (according to my camera) and dicked around trying to replace them just before the stands went boom. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
2. For fast events that are happening at a known location, use a tripod. If I’d been six inches lower that branch obstructing the top of the stands wouldn’t have been in the way. I knew that when I was setting up, but I was too rushed (due to battery idiocy) to scootch. A tripod would have ensured that my photographs were set up properly. Hell, even a monopod would have done the trick.

Dear Teenage Boys,

It has come to my attention that girls of your generation are:

• Skateboarding (on longboards no less)
• Dying their hair wonderfully anime-ish colours
• Playing video games (yes Nintendo, I’m looking at you)

Back when I was your age, creatures this perfect existed only in my dreams. I could tell you how nice it is to see young women in video game shops, riding gracefully down city streets, all with such attractive shades of blue/purple/green/red/pink in their hair. But I don’t need to. You already know how good it is to be a child of the third millennium.

Lets hope by the time I have children gender equality will have marched evitably¹ forward, and they’ll find their happiness doing whatever it is they want, regardless of gender role. Unless it’s watching TV. TV will be verboten.

Photo credit: bmh4you.

1. No dear reader, there is nothing inevitable about the march of equality. The cost of equality is constant vigilance. But the reward, dear reader! Think of the reward! (back)