Guelph Politicast

End Credits - October 31, 2018 (22 July)

This week on End Credits, we wrap up Halloween, and just in time. We will conclude our ongoing series of favourite Halloween movies, and we'll cover some of the news from the past week including one rebooted franchise, and one pair of filmmaking twins who aren't doing as well as they used to. All that, plus a movie review about some real life horrors!
This Wednesday, October 24, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Vince Masson will discuss:
Ploughed Atlas. The Wachowski Siblings were among the most celebrated filmmakers in Hollywood almost 20 years ago when The Matrix became an unexpected smashed hit, but it seems that they've fallen on hard times. Their Chicago production offices have been closed down and put up for sale, a symptom of their waning cinematic fortunes and no future projects in development. Is the end of the Wachowskis?
Parrot of the Caribbean. It was just last year that Disney released the latest installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and now we're talking about a reboot. Apparently, Deadpool and Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have been hired to put a new spin on a, ahem, classic, but they will do so, it seems, without Johnny Depp or his iconic character Jack Sparrow. Is Disney really this unimaginative, or do they really like money *that* much?
What Are Your Favourite Scary Movies? (The Adam Edition). Don't lose your head, because it's finally Adam's turn to reveal his Top 5 picks favourite scary movie. (That was a hint by the way!) On the list are giant monsters, slasher killers, vampires, and yes, zombies. We wrap up October by finishing with the final five of our panelists' most beloved spooky stories.
REVIEW: 22 July (2018). A timely film given the week we've had, and a real-life horror story just in time for Halloween, Paul Greengrass' 22 July takes us to Norway, and the worst violence to happen there since World War II. On July 22, 2011, a white nationalist exploded a car bomb at Labour Party headquarters in Oslo, and then went to a summer retreat where he shot dozens including young political activists. All told, 70 people died, and hundreds more were affected, but can Greengrass capture the nuance and subtext for such a prescient movie?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #142 – Bry Webb, Musician and Video Maker

The Guelph Film Festival begins this week, and it's bringing documentaries from around the world to various venues around town. Occasionally though, the Guelph Film Festival highlights a Guelph project through a series called "Hidden Histories", and this year it takes us all the way back in time to the year 2000.
Royal City Summer 2000 is a collection of home movies made by Bry Webb in, yes, the summer of 2000. At the time, Webb was on the cusp of success as the lead singer of the Constantines, an accomplished and renowned Canadian band that got its start in Guelph.
When Webb and his bandmates weren't making music though, he took a borrowed video camera and filmed scenes around the Ward and downtown, capturing the sights of his new city and sending them to a friend out west. Nearly 20 years, Webb dug out the old tapes, and voila, you have this year's entry into "Hidden Histories"!
On this week's podcast, Webb talks about those good old days in the Ward, what he thought of Guelph back then and how it changed, why he filmed the things he filmed, and what it is about Guelph’s past that makes us so nostalgic. And yes, for you music fans, we talk about those good old times with the Constantines, and those famous early days playing shows in the Royal City.
So let's go back in time all the way to the year 2000 on this week's Guelph Politicast!
Royal City Summer 2000 is screening at Brothers Brewing this Thursday at 15 Wyndham St N from 9 pm to midnight. For more information about any of the Guelph Film Festival programming, or to buy tickets, you can go to its website here. And if you want to see Bry Webb in his current environment, he can train you on tech stuff at CFRU and you can get in touch with him at tech@cfru.ca.
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here.
Remember that the Politicast Podbean channel is also the host for podcast versions of Open Sources Guelph. The previous Thursday’s episode of Open Sources will be posted on Mondays.

Open Sources Guelph -October 25, 2018

Finally, we're getting back to normal on this week's edition of Open Sources Guelph, and by "normal", we mean in Trump adjusted terms. The big man will come up in a tertiary way on today's show, but he will not be our focus. Instead, we'll be looking at the fallout of the Municipal Election race here in Guelph and other places, the ongoing controversy over the apparent murder of a journalist in Turkey, the lack of controversy from Canada legalizing pot, and we'll look ahead to the next election. (Naturally.)
This Thursday, October 25 at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
The End (for Four Years). Our Election Night coverage wrapped with things on Guelph City Council being mostly settled, but with some last minute ballots still to come in. In the end, it turned out most of Guelph's council was re-elected, but joined by two new faces in the form of Rodrigo Goller and Dominique O'Rourke. Elsewhere, Doug Craig was ousted as Mayor of Cambridge by friend of the show Kathryn McGarry, and Ed Holder became the next Mayor of London after 13 rounds of counting ranked ballots, a first for Canada. And by the way, we still can't believe that Patrick Brown is now the Mayor of Brampton...
What the Bone Saw. The disappearance and suspected murder of Washington Post correspondent Jamal Khashoggi shocked the world, but it remains to be seen if Saudi Arabia will suffer any actual consequences. The Canadian government is being pressured to cancel contracts with the Saudi government, but our relations with the Kingdom have already been strained due to our own protests over human rights. As for our friends in the U.S., President Donald Trump is outraged. Sort of. But the millions made from arms sales is no reason to come to the defense of the Fourth Estate, right? We'll talk about the issues and the potential consequences.
Reefer Blandness. October 17 came and went, and it turns out that society isn't going to descend into an endless fog of pot smoke as we indulge the munchies and watch reruns. Indeed, legal weed is big business, and is even showing its muscles on the stock market. Meanwhile, the federal government is working on pardoning anyone previously charged and convicted for having a small amount of pot, which is probably one of those things they should have thought about from the word "Go!" All that, plus how we're running out of pot already and how a post office strike might ruin our buzz as we enter post-pot prohibition week two in Canada.
On to 2019. If you're already missing elections, don't worry, there's another one only 365 days away! While were covering the Municipal Election, Justin Trudeau and the gang managed to secure a new NAFTA deal, and most Canadians agree that all things considered (like more U.S. access to our milk market), it all worked out pretty good. Of course, Andrew Scheer disagrees, but with less than a year to Election Day, he's got a lot of work of his own to do. And has anyone heard from Jagmeet Singh lately? At least he doesn't have to worry about Kennedy Stewart coming back for his seat.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 6 pm on Thursday.

GUELPH POLITICAST #141 – Astra Taylor, "What is Democracy?" Filmmaker

We may not really know what democracy is, but we certainly know it's in danger. This week, we've seen that first hand with the case of the #MAGABomber, but there's the more fundamental problem of the fact it feels like we're losing our democratic values and institutions. Perhaps to understand the situation, we need to go back to the beginning.
On this week's second edition of the podcast, we talk about What is Democracy? a fundamental question, and the title of a new documentary by Astra Taylor. After stops at the Toronto and Vancouver International Film Festivals, and a Grand Jury nominee at the Sheffield Doc Fest, Taylor's film's next stop is the Guelph Film Festival next week.
What is Democracy? takes us from the grounds of Plato's academy in Greece, to the streets of modern Athens where protests against government austerity led to change until the government overruled the people. We also go to the streets of the United States where democracy means freedom and opportunity, and then to the shores of the Mediterranean where refugees seek democracy as a mean for justice.
With so much to talk about, this is going to be a very packed 30-minute discussion with Taylor as she talked about her approach to answering a question as big as "What is Democracy?", the various philosophical values raised in the film, how sometimes democracy includes things we don’t necessarily think of as democratic, and how we all need to start making politics a way of life.
So let's try and get some answers about What is Democracy? on this week's second edition of the Guelph Politicast!
What is Democracy? will be shown as part of the Guelph Film Festival on Saturday November 3 at 7:30 pm in the council chambers at City Hall. It’s a co-presentation of OPIRG, and producer Lea Martin will be on hand after the movie for a Q&A. For more information about the Guelph Film Festival, or to buy tickets, you can go to its website.
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here.
Remember that the Politicast Podbean channel is also the host for podcast versions of Open Sources Guelph. The previous Thursday’s episode of Open Sources will be posted on Mondays.

End Credits - October 24, 2018 (Halloween 2018)

This week on End Credits, we actually celebrate Halloween by reviewing Halloween. In fact, it will be kind of a whole Halloween theme this week because we're talking about some issues regarding the production company, the potential return of another John Carpenter franchise, and the long awaited list from our most horror friendly panelist.
This Wednesday, October 24, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
No Girls Allowed? On the eve of what might be his biggest success yet, Jason Blum stepped in it by saying that he can't really find any female directors for any film in the very busy Blumhouse slate. Oops. In fact, there are a great many wonderful and talented female horror directors out there, so how did the producer of Get Out step in it so badly, especially in this era of hyper-awareness about female empowerment in Hollywood?
They Live Again? On the same week that the new iteration of his classic Halloween opens, John Carpenter was heard to talk about another update on a classic, They Live. Matt Reeves, the director of two successful Planet of the Apes movies, might make this one of his future projects, but in the 30 years since it came out, They Live is less science fiction and more science fact, so can you make something more satirical then reality?
What Are Your Favourite Scary Movies? (The Candice Edition). Finally, the Top 5 you've been waiting for if you know Candice and what a tremendous horror fan she is. So what has she got for us? How about some of the biggest hits of the 60s, 70s, and 80s? We've got shape shifters, and we've got scary ghosts, not to mention a meta horror and a classic slasher. And we've got zombies too, of course!
REVIEW: Halloween (2018). Forty years to the day, fate brings Michael Myers and Laurie Strode back together again! Director David Gordon Green casts aside all the sequels and reboots and sequels to reboots to get back the heart of the original story: one woman's battle against the Boogeyman. It's a battle that Laurie Strode has been getting ready to fight for four decades, and apparently it's a rematch the audience has been waiting for too given the $77 million opening weekend. Lock you doors! Michael Myers is trick-or-treating again this year!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek1ePFp-nBI
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #140 - Election Night in Guelph!

So what's left to be said about the 2018 Municipal Election in Guelph? Who can say? But if you would like to flashback to what might have already been said, then this is the podcast for you.
This week's podcast is a replay of our Election Night coverage on CFRU. It wasn't necessarily a long night, but it was a long wait between when the polls closed and when we started getting results in. And then we really were on something of a roller coaster ride for that last hour as it looked like there were going to get a few upsets, but it was not meant to be.
In case you weren't aware, all members of Guelph city council not retiring, were re-elected. Two new members, Rodrigo Goller and Dominique O'Rourke, will be joining council in December.
But beyond Guelph, we also talk about some of the other big races around the province. We look at Toronto, where John Tory was unsurprisingly re-elected as Mayor, and we look at Brampton, where it was definitely surprising that Patrick Brown was elected as Mayor. We also talk about the first signs of the online voting process going boink as 51 municipalities in Ontario ended up experience problems.
Mostly though, this is a Guelph show about Guelph stuff. Thanks to everyone that appeared on Open Sources over the last several weeks, and we look forward to hosting all the elected city councillors again in the weeks and months to come.
So let's flashback to Election Night on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can still listen to Open Sources Guelph every Thursday at 5 pm on CFRU 93.3 fm or cfru.ca. We're planning something special for our 200th episode at the end of November, and we'll be having members of your new city council into the studio soon for a proper sit-down interview.
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here.
Remember that the Politicast Podbean channel is also the host for podcast versions of Open Sources Guelph. The previous Thursday’s episode of Open Sources will be posted on Mondays.

Open Sources Guelph -October 18, 2018

Our municipal election is coming to a close, and so is the municipal election coverage on Open Sources Guelph. We know, don't try and hide your disappointment. In the season finale of our coverage, we will welcome to the show the second of two mayoral candidates in this election, a man who is no stranger to the Open Sources audience or the Open Sources hosts.
This Thursday, October 11 at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Viva le Cam?! In our last interview before the election, we welcome back to the studio Mayor Cam Guthrie! Now Guthrie has been on the show before as the present Mayor of Guelph, but this week he's trying to convince you why he should still be the Mayor after October 22. Having made the transfer from insurance agent to city councillor, and then mayor, many people thought that Guthrie has his sights set on higher office, but Guthrie seems to like the mayor's office just fine, and he's trying to keep his seat in it. We'll be asking Mayor Guthrie about his record, his experience as the head of Guelph thus far, and what he hopes to achieve in the next four years.  Plus, we'll have your questions too!
FYI: Open Sources Guelph will be doing a live election night special! Tune in to hear the results from Guelph, and other races around Ontario from 8 to 10 pm on October 22!!
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 6 pm on Thursday.

End Credits - October 17, 2018 (Bad Times at the El Royale)

This week on End Credits, we get baked... about some great movies! What did you think we mean? Anyway, we're going on a trip and we're staying at the El Royale where there hopefully won't be any Bad Times. Also, we're going to talk about the surprising comeback of James Gunn, 10 years of Twilight, and Tim's favourite scary movies. Maybe some baking's not a bad idea...
This Wednesday, October 17, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Gunn Intended. It was about four months ago that old, inappropriate tweets by director James Gunn sunk his involvement in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, so in the great comics tradition, it looks like Gunn is moving from Marvel, to DC. Gunn is now in talks to write, and maybe direct, the sequel to Suicide Squad, a movie often criticized for being a Guardians rip-off. Will Gunn find his Marvel redemption by working for the distinguished competition?
Twilight Ten. Can you believe that Twilight is turning 10 years old? The one decade anniversary of the Catherine Hardwicke film based on the Stephanie Meyer vampire romance novel is actually next month, but the occasion was recently mark at New York Comic Con. Twilight was a phenom, but five years after the release of the final film in the series what happened to all that passion and obsession? We'll try hard to figure out where the Twi-hards are.
What Are Your Favourite Scary Movies? (The Tim Edition). Halloween creeps ever closer, so we'll tackle another slate of scary movies this week by getting Tim's Top Five. On this list, you'll find a classic by two masters, a potential devil baby, some mysterious disappearances, one of the greatest slashers of all time, and the epitome of the word "Lynchian".
REVIEW: Bad Times at the El Royale (2018). Seven strangers converge on a kitschy hotel that sits on the California/Nevada border, and each of them has a secret their desperate the others don't find out about. And then the storm comes... Like his Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard delivers another genre-bending movie experience that borrows from Quentin Tanantino, David Fincher, Agatha Christie, and all set to the tunes of the greatest 60s jukebox you've ever heard. So is Bad Times a good time for the movie viewer?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.

Open Sources Guelph - Bonus Election Episode!

This week we get an Open Sources before Open Sources. In this special, additional hour of the show this week, Open Sources Guelph will wrap up our one-on-one interviews with council candidates before getting into our last interview of the election season, which will be live from the studio. 
This Thursday, October 18 at 4 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
2018 Election Round-Robin Part 5. It's four days till Election Day, and if you're still having trouble making up your mind, this bonus episode of Open Sources might make a difference. Well, it might make a difference if you live in Wards 1, 2, or 6. Finishing up our council candidate coverage before diving into our live interview with the incumbent mayor, we'll hear from five more people aiming to sit upon city council for the next four years.
This week we’re talking to:
Mark Gernon
Jamie Killingsworth
Rodrigo Goller
Jonathan Knowles
Usha Arora
FYI: Open Sources Guelph will be doing a live election night special! Tune in to hear the results from Guelph, and other races around Ontario from 8 to 10 pm on October 22!!
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

Open Sources Guelph -October 11, 2018

It's been a hustle and bustle these last few weeks to get 19 of your city council candidates onto Open Sources Guelph. Thankfully, for the next two weeks, we're going to be doing something more laid back, and by laid back, we mean host a couple of very important interviews. For the next two weeks we're going to talk to two people, and only one of them will be the next mayor of Guelph on October 22.
This Thursday, October 11 at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Guelph Needs an Aggie? Part II: The Mayoral Race. This week, we're kicking off our two-part mayoral interviews for the 2018 Municipal Election. Next week, we'll talk to the incumbent, but this week, we're talking to challenger, Aggie Mlynarz. This is the second time that Mlynarz has been a guest on the show this year. She joined us back in the spring as the NDP candidate in the provincial election, but now she's the one person in a city of 130,000 to stand in opposition to the incumbent mayor. We'll ask Mlynarz about why she wanted to run for mayor, how she would do things differently if she should end up wearing the chain of office, and what she thinks the immediate future of Guelph might look like. Plus, we'll have your questions too!
FYI: Open Sources Guelph will be doing a live election night special! Tune in to hear the results from Guelph, and other races around Ontario from 8 to 10 pm on October 22!!
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 6 pm on Thursday.