Open Sources Guelph - October 31, 2019

11/04/19 • 52 min

Happy Halloween! We've got the scariest punditry you could ever imagine on this week's edition of Open Sources Guelph. There's danger and intrigue as the Federal leaders gather their thoughts after the election, there's a bottomless well of horrors being revealed in Washington as the investigation into Trump goes deeper, and then there's the most ghastly of all creatures, a smiling Doug Ford telling you he wants to be your friend. [Inset evil laugh.]

This Thursday, October 31, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

Forty-Three Easy Pieces. Yes, Justin Trudeau won the election, and he's gone to the Governor General to announce his intention to form government, but he still came in second place in terms of the popular vote, and he's got a resurgent west to try and appease. Still, might Andrew Scheer have problems in his own backyard? Are some Conservatives looking to put the 'progressive' back in the party in the name of electability?

An Impeachable Moment. U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that armed forces had killed ISIS leader Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi, and then he went to a baseball game and was 'Boo'ed.' It was the only bright spot in a month-long, non-stop barrage of news about his attempted to leverage military support for Ukraine in exchange for dirt (real or made-up) on a political opponent. It's been a while since we've talked about Trump, and there's so much to talk about.

Once More with Less Feelings. The Ontario Legislature got back to business on Monday after nearly five-months off. The last session of Queen's Park was not the, ahem, friendliest, but Premier Doug Ford did a round of press last week (unusual) and talked about how there was going to be a whole new Ontario government! Still, can he achieve that with growing discord among teachers, and by continuing the Supreme Court challenge of the carbon tax he's bound to lose?

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

This Thursday, October 31, 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 - October 30, 2019 (Dolemite is My Name)

This week on End Credits, we dig into a bit of Hollywood history, and a bit of Hollywood's future. We're reviewing the true life tale of Dolemite is My Name, and looking once more at the best movies of 1999. We're also going to ask if Hollywood is getting a bit too comfortable with certain box office conditions, and we'll get into the latest twists around the Marvel question.

This Wednesday, October 30, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Vince Masson will discuss:

China Grill. China is marking 70 years this month since the Communists took over, and they're marking it with even harsher censorship over their movie industry, and just as Hollywood is depending more than ever on Chinese box office revenue. Is Hollywood bending Free Expression to the breaking point just to get Chinese money?

Cine-Complex. The debate about whether or not the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films actually counts as cinema has gotten hotter in the last few weeks as Francis Ford Coppola, Ken Loach, and others have gotten in on the action, while Martin Scorsese, the originator of this debate, has tried to refine his original idea. So is this any closer to a resolution?

25 for ’99, Part 4 of 5. It’s been 20 years since what’s been called “the best year in movies” came and went, 12 months of some of the most influential and innovative movies of the last few decades, and for the next couple of weeks, we’ll remember the best of the best. Each of our hosts will reveal their Top 5 favourites from 1999, and this week we’ll continue with Vince.

REVIEW: Dolemite is My Name (2019). Eddie Murphy stages another comeback by realizing an overlooked bit of Black cinema history. Rudy Moore came to Hollywood wanting to be Sammy Davis Jr., but he only got as far as the record store selling Sammy Davis' music, that is until he discovered Dolemite. Director Craig Brewster chronicles Moore's rise from cabaret stage to movie infamy in this funny and inspiring bio-pic of an underappreciated cinema pioneer.

End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.

Next Episode

GUELPH POLITICAST #195 - Marshall on Transit

This weekend, the new Transit Action Alliance of Guelph (TAAG) will be holding their first annual Transit Summit and Town Hall. It will be a chance for the transit users and the transit curious to engage with City of Guelph employees and transportation advocates about how to make a transit-friendlier future. But why wait to get started?

This week, we'll hear from Sean Marshall, who's a prolific writer and advocate for transit and will be speaking and presenting at the Transit Summit on Saturday. Marshall's a geographer by training, but he’s made a name for himself as one of the preeminent voices on transit issues, covering them on the TVO website, and on his own personal blog, by digging into the history and the challenges all around this province in creating more transit and better active transportation options.

These are interesting transit times. In Guelph, we’re in the middle of creating a Transportation Master Plan. Up the road in Kitchener-Waterloo, the long-awaited LRT finally started running this past summer. In Toronto, the city council there finally reached a deal with the Government of Ontario to fund new subway expansion while retaining ownership of the present system. And Metrolinx is doing their damnedest to make two-way, all-day GO trains a reality on the Kitchener Line. So why does it still feel like we're going no where fast?

On this week's podcast, we'll consider that question in what we'll call a preamble to the summit. Marshall will talk about growing up as a transit nerd in Brampton, and how that much maligned GTA municipality might actually be a really positive example of transit expansion done right. We also talk about the transit challenges in Guelph and the region from Marshall’s perspective, and we get into the weeds about the Ontario Line, two-way, all-day GO and the transit plans from the Provincial Government. Finally, we'll talk about private operators and what role they can play in answering the transit needs of Ontario.

So let's get prepared to summit on transit with this week's Guelph Politicast!

You can find Sean Marshall's writing on TVO.org, and on his personal website. The first annual Transit Summit and Town Hall this Saturday at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church from 12 to 5:30 pm, and you can get tickets at TAAG's website.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, 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.