Open Sources Guelph #499 - December 26, 2024

12/30/24 • 55 min

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we box! It is Boxing Day, isn't it? So we're going to be boxing up all kinds of things, but the one thing we will be unboxing is our annual political movies show! For the tenth annual edition, we will look at four important films that cover a lot of political ground, from a documentary about a famous writer to the nightlife of Berlin just as things started getting Nazi, and from the end of the world in 2027 to a David Vs. Goliath courtroom fight!

This Thursday, December 26, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

Scotty's Pick #1: I Am Not Your Negro (2016). "In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, Remember This House. The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished."

Adam's Pick #2: Children of Men (2006). "The world's youngest citizen has just died at age 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set in and around a dystopian London fractious with violence and warring nationalistic sects, this movie follows the unexpected discovery of a lone pregnant woman and the desperate journey to deliver her to safety and restore faith for a future beyond those presently on Earth."

Scotty's Pick #2: The Rainmaker (1997). "Rudy Baylor is a young attorney out to make a difference in the justice system. He is also the only hope of an elderly couple after their corrupt insurance company refuses to pay out a claim that could save their child's life. In this judicial drama, Baylor rails against corporate lawyers, corrupt judges, and abusive husbands, all with the help of a fellow lawyer who hasn't even passed his bar exam. He is facing long odds in the courtroom - and this is only his first case."

Adam's Pick #2: Cabaret (1972). "In Berlin in 1931, American cabaret singer Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) meets British academic Brian Roberts (Michael York), who is finishing his university studies. Despite Brian's confusion over his sexuality, the pair become lovers, but the arrival of the wealthy and decadent playboy Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem) complicates matters for them both. This love triangle plays out against the rise of the Nazi party and the collapse of the Weimar Republic."

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

This Thursday, December 26, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

Previous Episode

End Credits #371 - December 25, 2024 (The Christmas Movie Draft!)

This week on End Credits, we wish you a Merry Christmas! To celebrate this annual occasion, we will do things Jigsaw-style by playing a little game. No one's going to die - hopefully - but there will be lots of bragging rights up for grabs as your four favourite cinephiles, and a special guest, hang their holiday favourites with care as we undertake another movie draft.

This Wednesday, December 25, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson, Tim Phillips, Peter Salmon, Candice Lepage, and special guest Jen Barson will discuss:

The Christmas Movie Draft! What day is it? Why it's Christmas Day! And we decided to wrap up something special for that difficult time between opening presents and waiting for the turkey to be served: The original End Credits Christmas Movie Draft! The entire gang is here, plus Jen Barson from Guelph Fringe Festival, to discuss their favourite holiday movies from six carefully selected categories. From the classics you love to some surprising revelations from the bowels of Tubi, we will stuff your stocking with some cool flicks, and maybe some Hot Frosties...

End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

Next Episode

GUELPH POLITICAST #449 – 2024: Year in Review (feat. Mike Ashkewe)

If you’re listening to this on New Year’s Day then you might be welcoming 2025 with relief, or maybe even trepidation. If you thought last year was a rough ride it may be an hors d'oeuvres compared to what comes next, but before we get into all that, we’re going to formally say goodbye to 2024 by talking about the year that was, and the year we wanted it to be!

There was a lot going on in Guelph in 2024, did you hear that we’re having a housing crisis? There was the use of Strong Mayor Powers, the push to make the OR Lands a national urban park, and the closure of the old Nestle bottling plant in Aberfoyle. There was also almost a transit strike, not to mention a weeks-long strike out on Dunlop Road at the Cargill Plant. A lot can happen in 12 months, and it did.

But what was 2024 really about? That is a difficult question, but Mike Ashkewe was a pretty good person to ask. He’s a member of the Accessibility Advisory Committee and an Indigenous activist, and he’s a regular at the weekly Breezy Breakfast gatherings downtown, which makes a triple threat when it comes to local politics. Perhaps he can help us make sense of this tumultuous year...

Ashkewe will join us talk broadly about what we learned in the year 2024, what we will take with us on into 2025, and why he’s decided to get more active in local politics. He will also talk about finding community, and what it takes to make the hard choices even if they’re not the most popular. Also, we will make some pop culture references to our current predicament, and talk about why where you live matters.

So let's talk about the year that was yesterday on this week's Guelph Politicast!

Mike Ashkewe, who has his fingers in many pies and you can find links to all those pies at his personal website. You can find his podcast This Week in Geek on all the major podcast platforms, and you can follow the Guelph Storm Trackers "@guelph_storm_trackers" on Instagram.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify.

Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.