Carts of Darkness

The scene:  The affluent, hilly and eco-conscious streets of North Vancouver.  In the shadow of one of the world's finest ski/snowboard hills, on the same streets that gave rise to the world champion downhill longboard teams of Rayne and Landyachtz, there's another breed of insane thrill-seekers on the loose.  Every city in North America has hordes of homeless people filling shopping carts with discarded empties, scraping up enough for a slice of pizza and a day's worth of booze or drugs five cents at a time--but it becomes a little bit different when they can reach speeds of 70+ km/h bombing hills on those carts.  The NFB's Murray Siple tells the story:



(Incedentally, this is the first I've seen of the NFB's new post-YouTube site... well done, lads!)

edit: If the embed isn't working for you, the full length film is here.

Drinking age: 55

I can't decide offhand whether Fred J. Eaglesmith is the best country singer in Canada, or just somewhere in the top three[*], but he's definitely the best stage banter artist. Here he is, demonstrating why on an unreleased tune called "Tryin' to Buy Alcohol in Abilene."



[*] The other two: Stompin' Tom Connors and Corb Lund.

VAY-KAY-SHUN, or, Je commence un voyage

Well, I'm off to the land of poutine and Leonard Cohen for a week. This isn't the standard "I apologize in advance for neglecting my blog" post because I pretty much do that anyway, so expect me to actually have something interesting to say and/or share when I get back, if not sooner.

Unless the Language Cops drag moi away for le murdeur vicieux de langue francais, in which case send baguettes, Camus and a t-shirt that says "I didn't mean that about Levesque".

To celebrate, here's Flight of the Conchords explaining in musical fashion what to do with un anana you find in la supermarche.

Halifax finally explained

Well, that just saved me a trip across Canada. Thanks, guys!

[via the poor man institute]

Can we put an end to this "Harper = Bush" nonsense?

As you can clearly see from the photo above, he's actually Micheal Dukakis.

Also from the cheap sight-gags department:

The truth is out there

A petition to the House of Commons, signed by almost 500 of [Conservative MP Mike] Lake's constituents in Edmonton and due for debate next week, asks the government "to establish immediate, comprehensive legislation to effect immediate protection of Bigfoot."

You know, some people might actually go so low as to mock this as some sort of evidence the current Government is out-to-lunch, but I can see the wisdom in it. Not only will moving the Tory environmental policy into the realm of the wholly imaginary mean good things for the economy, but Stompin' Tom might finally get his wristwatch back.

Don't forget your history, know your destiny

Manifest Destiny and Western Canada is a free online history book detailing the fascinating interaction between the Riel Rebellion, US and Canadian expansionism in the 19th century, and the historical forces that led to Sitting Bull and General Custer meeting at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Highly recommended.