Last week, I had had the pleasure of attending Brett Wilson‘s yearly charity Garden Party. Each year, party guests are invited to make a donation to a featured charity. And this year over $100,000 was raised to fight blindness through 777 Run for Sight where Norma Bastidas is “running 7 ultramarathons [over 100 km each] in 7 continents in 7 months to raise funds for the blind and the visually impaired.” (see my earlier blog entry here)
It was very enjoyable listening to The Canadian Tenors performing at the party. And the highlight of the party for my better half and me had to be listening to the beautiful and accomplished Sarah McLachlan performing with the Tenors (singing Tenors’ Hallelujah) and then performing a few solos. Sarah’s performances were just beautiful and wonderful for us as it was our first live & really up close performance by Sarah!
So to me, Sarah & Brett seems to be more than just friends, but then only they really know! :) :) In person, Brett & Sarah are just super nice and very friendly people. I think it is in part of our Canadian DNA to be nice and friendly. :)
P.S. The following are better quality videos [recorded elsewhere] of the songs we had the pleasure to listen to at the party that evening. Enjoy.
Flashpoint is one of the best TV show in recent years (I don’t use the word “best” lightly). In my humble view, Flashpoint is even better than 24 (recent plot twists have become overwhelmingly nutty).
P.S. In Canada, you can watch the shows on CTV (online episodes available). In US, on CBS.
P.P.S. Mark& Stephanie, a husband & wife team, were very nice and humble people (very Canadian). I had a chance to talk to Stephanie briefly afterwards and it was so wonderful to talk to her. Great to see nice people being successful and their passion paid off.
I attended a great master class with Ron Moore, Battlestar Galactica writer & executive producer, at 2009 Banff World TV Festival. The following is my one-on-one interview with Ron after the master class talking about,
influence of the original BSG series and the style of the show
how the actors/actresses affect the writing of their characters?
I attended a great master class with Ron Moore, Battlestar Galactica writer & executive producer, at 2009 Banff. I had an one-on-one interview with Ron after the master class talking about BSG and his new series. I will post the video on YouTube and in this blog.
Stay tune.
*******
Update: I have posted the video and some notes here.
[June 9th Update: In total, I conducted two video interviews with Minister Blackett. The first interview was conducted on June 6th and then 8th (see below YouTube videos). I was unprepared for and a bit shocked by the "justifications" and "reasonings" provided by Mr. Blackett to my questions & concerns in the first interview. After further research and readings, I was much more prepared in my second interview and less able to simply accepting Mr. Blackett's "explanations".]
[Note: The goal for this post is to add grounded reasonings to this passionate debate/discussion. Thanks.
I will update this post as more information becomes available.]
Earlier today (June 6th), I met and interviewed Minister Lindsay Blackett for the first time to ask him about some of my concerns about Bill 44 (PDF or see bottom of this post). (see video below)
I pointed out to Minister Blackett that Alberta Teachers Association has expressed serious concerns about Bill 44. To my surprise, Blackett was dismissive and said the union doesn’t speak for all teachers and implied the 20-30 supportive teachers he has spoken to are more representative of the general teachers’ opinions about bill 44. Is the teachers’ union really this misinformed about bill 44?
Your help (please share your grounded comments and insights)
While trying the best I could in my first interview with Mr. Blackett, I was no match against the well briefed and studied minister in the interview and I probably missed many important concerns and potential problems. So I have done more research and conducted a second follow up interview (June 8th) with Mr. Blackett.
*** Two video interviews with Minister Blackett ***
Lindsay Blackett Bill 44 video interviews (June 6th)
Lindsay Blackett Bill 44 video interviews (June 8th)
After further research and readings, I was much more prepared in my second interview and less able to simply accept Mr. Blackett’s “explanations”.
*******
Thanks for all the comments left on this post so far (as of June 8th, 7:17am). Please keep them coming. It is important to have teachers, students and informed readers sharing their informed opinions here.
The following is a selection/excerpts of some of the comments received so far, I’ve added some emphasis. Please keep them coming.
From “Ken Chapman”,
“The Minister is misleading you on teacher reaction to Bill 44. You [Blackett] did a presentation yesterday to the ATA Executive Group and Senior Adminstratin in their strategic planning session. All 60 of them were negatively concerned about Bill 44. They are getting lots of teacher feedback that expresses Bill 44 concern too.“
From “John Winslow”,
“Mr. Blackett denies the existence of any opinions contrary to his own. Unfortunately, he never seems to have PROOF that those who agree, outside of the obediant MLA’s, exist.”
From “WhiffofGrape”,
“Over 450 teacher representatives chosen by their colleagues from across the province met at the Alberta Teachers’ Association Annual Representative Assembly over the Victoria Day Weekend. All save one voted in favour of a resolution calling for the removal of the education provisions from Bill 44.
Perhaps Hon Blackett should release all of the letters / emails that he has received relating to Bill 44.“
From ” A. Letourneau”.
“Minister Blackett should speak to his colleagues. I am a teacher, and I called my MLA Hector Goudreau to express my concerns with this bill. From conversations with other teachers, I feel the minister is wrong in his judgement that the majority of us support 44.”
9 The following is added after section 11: Notice to parent or guardian
11.1(1) A board as defined in the School Act shall provide
notice to a parent or guardian of a student where courses of
study, educational programs or instructional materials, or
instruction or exercises, prescribed under that Act include
subject-matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or
sexual orientation. (2) Where a teacher or other person providing instruction,
teaching a course of study or educational program or using the
instructional materials referred to in subsection (1) receives a
written request signed by a parent or guardian of a student that
the student be excluded from the instruction, course of study,
educational program or use of instructional materials, the
teacher or other person shall in accordance with the request of
the parent or guardian and without academic penalty permit the
student
(a) to leave the classroom or place where the instruction,
course of study or educational program is taking place or
the instructional materials are being used for the duration
of the part of the instruction, course of study or
educational program, or the use of the instructional
materials, that includes the subject-matter referred to in
subsection (1), or
(b) to remain in the classroom or place without taking part
in the instruction, course of study or educational
program or using the instructional materials.
* Heated Telus debate this morning at #nextMEDIA. I commend Telus for sponsoring the debate even more people agreed with views expressed by Michael Geist than David Neale (SVP Products & Services – TELUS Consumer Solutions).
* I didn’t have any expectation when I saw the title of this morning’s keynote and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much insights Alexander Manu had packed into his talk. When I find some time, I will take a look of these downloadable book chapters.
*******
The Death of Print: Is There Any Way Out?
Moderator Don Dodge, Director of Business Development – Emerging Business Team – Microsoft Corporation Participants Jerry Brown, Director – PricewaterhouseCoopers Candice Faktor, Managing Director – Corporate Development & Innovation – Torstar Digital Mathew Ingram, Communities Editor – Globe and Mail
[Updated: 8:23am MST, June 7th]
Many honest but grim (e.g. lost advertising revenue) insights from Candice and Mathew. Lots (and lots) of stats from Don and, especially Jerry. (In general, I am allergic to stats unless I know precisely how the stats were gathered.)
***
And then I attended the keynote “The Wolf in the Story” by Gary Carter, Chief Operating Officer of FremantleMedia, and Chief Creative Officer of FMX (FremantleMedia’s experimental division). (see below for Gary’s full conference bio.)
Since I’ve attended a talk given by Gary two years ago at Banff (or nextMEDIA?), I know how insightful Gary is. So before the keynote, I went up to say hi to Gary and told him how much I look forward to his talk because I learned a lot from him two years ago.
As expected, Gary’s talk was full of insights (and some with deep references, a few of the references were a bit lost on me). After Gary delivered his keynote, he had a very probing and insightful Q&A session with the audience and also shared with us some of the interesting things FMX was and is doing.
If you have a chance to listen to Gary, go & learn. If you want to follow the company’s activities closer, you can set up a Google news email alert on Fremantle Media.
Conference Bio:
“Gary Carter, Chief Operating Officer of FremantleMedia, and Chief Creative Officer of FMX, FremantleMedia’s experimental division focussed on non-linear, broadband-enabled projects considers storytelling in the digital age. Rejecting a narrow view of the respective roles of the professional storyteller and the amateur audience, he will argue for new kinds of narratives for new kinds of platforms, new kinds of subjects for new kinds of audiences, and new means of production for new means of consumption. And he’ll tell a few jokes. Probably.”
*******
Minister Lindsay Blackett & Bill 44
I interviewed Minister Lindsay Blackett and asked him about a few concerns with respect to Bill 44. I blogged about it in this post.
I am very much looking forward to a Master Class with Battlestar Galactica Writer & Exec Producer Ronald D. Moore to speak at 2009 Banff World TV Festival. I will try to shoot some videos and do a brief interview with Ronald if he has time. Will see.
If you are attending Banff (June 7 – 10, 2009) this year, please say hi.
RT @emmgryner: OMG just got off the phone w @Cmdr_Hadfield who signed off saying "see ya when I get back to Earth"...and I got chills 5 days ago
RT @WilliamShatner: I watch @Cmdr_Hadfield 's Space Oddity video last night and I have 2 words for him: "SHOW OFF!" I'd even look good floa… 5 days ago
RT @emmgryner: I am going to bed blown away by all the feedback and love re @Cmdr_Hadfield's Space Oddity. So proud to be a part of it. Wow… 5 days ago
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