Guelph Politicast

End Credits - October 10, 2018 (A Star is Born)

This week on End Credits, we catch a rising star and put out a review about her. Yes, A Star is Born, and we were there to see it shine on this week's show. As for the news, speaking of stars, we're heading back in to the Star Wars, or at least the TV version, and we're eager to learn more about Dick [Cheney], and a drug dealing Clint Eastwood. And this week, as with the next couple of weeks, our Halloween tribute rolls on...
This Wednesday, October 10, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Super Commando TV. Jon Favreau announced the name, and some of the details, about the Star Wars TV show he's been working on. The Mandalorian will follow a lone gunslinger that looks like Boba Fett but is not Boba Fett on the fringes of the galaxy sometime after Return of the Jedi. But after the lackluster success of Solo: A Star Wars Story, can we now confirm that there's such a thing as Star Wars saturation? And are people going to buy the Disney streaming service to get it?
Vice and the Mule. Awards season is coming, and we seem to have two new contenders. On the one hand, Clint Eastwood delivers his second film of the year in a timely drama about an old man running drugs and trying to reconnect with his family. And speaking of monsters, the other trailer of the week is the new Dick Cheney bio-pic from Adam McKay called Vice. Are one or both of these films bound for Oscar glory?
What Are Your Favourite Scary Movies? (The Peter Edition). We continue on this week with our celebration of Halloween, and horror movies as Peter Salmon gives us his sorta decisive list of favourite scary movies. So what's Peter got for you? How about a found footage classic, one of the better examples of torture porn, a new spin on a classic genre, a Stephen King thriller, and the perhaps the best of David Cronenberg?
REVIEW: A Star is Born (2018). Into every generation A Star is Born, and she alone will make a tired, old alcoholic star believe in music again... Seriously, every once in a while, someone gets it in their hear to remake A Star is Born, and this time it's Bradley Cooper's turn. The actor/director plays a folk crooner that rediscovers his love for life and music when he meets Ally, whose amazing voice demands attention. This is old-fashioned Hollywood mirth-making, so come on out and watch Lady Gaga win her Oscar!
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.

Open Sources Guelph - October 4, 2018

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we start the countdown to Election Day with another line-up of candidate profiles. You'll hear this week from a quintet of council candidates including a pair of incumbents and a triad of challengers.
This Thursday, October 4 at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
2018 Election Round-Robin Part 4. Time is running out for the 2018 Municipal Election, advanced polls start at the end of next week, and the time has come for the voters to start making their final decisions. For voters in Wards 3, 4 and 6 this week, we've got some audio for you to help you make your mind up. We've got two Ward 3 candidates, two Ward 4 candidates, and a candidate for Ward 6. Sit back and let our five profiles try and persuade your vote as we count down to Election Night! And in case it goes without saying, don't forget to vote!
This week we’re talking to:
Phil Allt
Patrick Sheridan
Mike Salisbury
Matt Sanders
Stacy Cooper
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 6 pm on Thursday.

End Credits - October 3, 2018 (The BlacKkKlansman)

October is here, and this week on End Credits we're going to get into something scary. Yes, we're going to start a weekly chat about our favourite scary movies, but the real terrifying bit this week is the real life horror of hate crimes and those that perpetrate them. Yes, we're reviewing The BlacKkKlansman this week, and we'll also be talking about Robert Redford's maybe retirement, and the new Joker movie. 
This Wednesday, October 3, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Vince Masson will discuss:
The Retirement Syndrome. Robert Redford's new film, The Old Man and the Gun, was released last weekend, and it was supposed to be his final film before retirement. But with all the attention about his retirement, it seems as if Redford has had second thoughts. Despite that, Redford is still 82 years old, and retirement might not be a bad idea for a man with his illustrious career. Just in case he's retiring, we'll talk about Redford's legacy on screen and off.
The Joker's Riled. Currently filming in New York City is a film about the origins of the Joker, the Batman nemesis previously played on film by Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Jared Leto. But what seems like a typical Hollywood move to make money from a well known character by giving him an unasked for origin story may yet be salvaged. Reports and set photos show a film that may be taking its cue from classics like Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. Might there be hope for the Joker movie?
What Are Your Favourite Scary Movies? (The Vince Edition). For the month of October, the panelists of End Credits will answer the question: What are your favourite scary movies? Vince will reveal his list this week, and on it are tales of demons, zombies, and slashers. There are a couple of horror classics on there, a cult classic, and a Spanish horror that stands as one of the best in the found footage subgenre. So what are Vince's choices? Listen and find out!
REVIEW: The BlacKkKlansman (2018). Speaking of scary people in costumes, we delve this week into a story too impossible to not be true. In the 1970s, the first black officer for the Colorado Springs Police Department somehow managed to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan by posing as a potential recruit on the phone, and with the help of his white partner, he was able to expose the local leaders of the racist movement. A tale that's both timely, and intriguing, and one that's tailor made for the inspirations of Spike Lee.
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #139 - Jason Hammond, Wroute

There's been a lot of discussion about regional this year with elections at the two government levels most directly responsible for creating it. Transit within the city is important, but unless you're going to Toronto, public transit out of Guelph is somewhat limited. Perhaps private industry can fill the void?
Now that's something that people who listen to the Guelph Politicast probably didn't expect to hear, but that's the story of this week's podcast. In this episode, we meet Wroute (pronounced as you would without the 'W') and its president, Jason Hammond. Wroute just launched a few weeks ago offering regular trips between Guelph Central Station and Fairview Park Mall in Kitchener. And it is a ride in style.
Utilizing a fleet of electric Tesla Model X 100Ds, Hammond and his drivers go back and forth, from Guelph to Kitchener, seven days a week. According to Wroute, they make a thousand trips a week, and for $40 you can make the round trip to and from Fairview Park Mall. So what do we call this? Is it transit? Is it a taxi service? A more exclusive Uber?
You might be surprised to learn that Hammond actually hopes that you'll use his service not in competition, but in co-operation with other forms of transportation - walking, biking, taxis, and public transportation. In other words, he has his eyes on maybe being put out of business in the future. While he has plans to expand Wroute to other underserviced areas, part of his mission is to prove that people need, and will support, more regional transit options. 
In this podcast, Hammond will talk about his inspiration for Wroute, his business considerations, his plans for expansion to other areas, and why he’s selling a luxury transit experience. You'll also hear a bit about the politics of regional transit, if he's worried about friction with the taxi companies, and how he see his business fitting in with local active transportation systems.
So let's take a ride and talk about redefining regional transit on this week's Guelph Politicast!
To learn more about Wroute, or to book a trip, you can check out their website here.
The theme music for the Guelph Politicast is from the KPM Klassics collection by Syd Dale.
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 - September 27, 2018

Welcome to week #3 of our Municipal Election coverage here on Open Sources Guelph! We continue on maximizing our minimums with live (ish) interviews with as many candidates running for city council as possible for the next couple of weeks. Today. we've got five more interviews as we creep ever closer to Election Day on October 22. 
This Thursday, September 27 at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
2018 Election Round-Robin Part 3. This week we talk to another five candidates, and they span nearly the entirety of the election map in the Royal City. We're bringing you one candidate each from Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 this week, and most of them are challengers. Join us again as we help your election decision by profiling some of your favourite, or potential favourite, municipal election candidates.
This week we're talking to:
Barbara Mann
Mary Thring
Jason Dodge
Indu Arora
Mark MacKinnon
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 6 pm on Thursday.

End Credits - September 27, 2018 (Interviews: Cohens Book/Heretics)

One is the loneliest number this week on End Credits. With only a single host available this week, we had to outsource the talking to some special guests. First up, we'll hear from someone steeped in wonderful worlds of the Coen Bros, and then we'll talk to a pair of Guelph boys making very, very good in the movie business.
This (unusual) Thursday show, September 27, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson:
We've got an interview here, man! The first of our two interview segments this week is with the man that has literally written the book - well, a book - on the Coen Bros. In The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films, film writer and critic Adam Nayman tries to makes sense of the perfectly wonderful world of the Coens, from Blood Simple. to Hail, Caesar! Nayman talks to End Credits about diving deep into Coen lore before stopping in Guelph Thursday night to talk about his book!
The Heroes of Heretics. With one movie just released on Blu-ray, and another movie already in the can, the Guelph-born production company Black Fawn Films is a horror movie dynamo that's showing no signs of slowing down. That new film is called The Heretics, and director Chad Archibald and star Ry Barrett join us this week to talk about making their new movie, the highs and lows of indie filmmaking, and why Guelph is the word at film festivals around the world (but especially Germany).
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Thursday at 2 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #138 - Arthur Kerrey, Professional Graffiti Artist

Is graffiti an art form in its own right, or is it a nuisance, a sign of urban decay and increased crime? Depends on who you ask. For some people graffiti is gang-related, or done by hooligans that deface public property because they can. To others though it's about frustrated artists looking for a canvas, and then they grow up to become successful artists.
The latter described, Arthur Kerrey, a born Australian that has settled in Guelph, and is now sharing the secrets of creating art out of graffiti (responsibly, of course). Kerrey has been making a name for himself in town showing that graffiti can beautify as opposed to being another eyesore. Lately though, he's been showing off his favourite bits of Guelph street art.
Kerrey led his first Street Art Walk through Downtown Guelph back on Jazz Festival weekend, and he's leading his second during Culture Days this coming weekend. It's part of his effort to get people to appreciate the artistry of graffiti and street art, like he did earlier this year at a Wyndham Arts Summer Camp. The goal is to educate and explain the rise of graffiti culture, and why it should be embraced as more than just a societal drain on property value.
So this week on the podcast, Kerrey talks about his own background in graffiti, how he parlayed that into a career as a successful artist, and what he hopes to give back to the people that attend his walk. Kerrey also talks about the genuine talent that’s involved in creating graffiti, and how maybe that can be directed into something more law abiding. Finally, he talks about appreciation for street art, and what makes Guelph an interesting place to practice the craft.
This Politicast was taped in two parts: the first part was record in the Commons Cafe, so it's a little noisy, and the second part was while Kerrey was setting up for his first walk in Market Square.
So get out your spray cans, it's time for this week's Guelph Politicast!
The next Street Art Walk takes place this Saturday as part of Culture Days, and although it's already sold out, there's a chance that a few vacancies might open up. Keep an eye on the event's Facebook page just in case. To learn where and when you can attend the whole assortment of Culture Day activities this weekend, visit the City of Guelph page here.
The theme music for the Guelph Politicast is from the KPM Klassics collection by Syd Dale.
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.
Covering Local News doesn't just happen! Please donate to Guelph Politico.

Open Sources Guelph - September 20, 2018

 
It's nearly a month till Election Day, which means there's a lot of ground to cover in the next 30-some odd days. This week on Open Sources Guelph, you join our candidate interview series already in progress as we go into the field again to talk to those that seek the endorsement of the people so that they might become official city councillors.
This Thursday, September 20 at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
2018 Election Round-Robin Part 2. We continue on with our tour of candidates running for city council in this election. This week, we have a full hour of conversations with five of the people running for an office at 1 Carden Street; a mix of young and old, incumbents and challengers, men and women. What they all have in common though is that they're eager to serve their constituents, and they hope to convince you with these segments that they're the ones you should vote for. Well, this and lots of door knocking. Here's the list of candidates we're talking to this week:
Cathy Downer
Alex Green
Anshu Khurana
Eli Ridder
Steve Petric
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits - September 19, 2018 (The Predator)

This week on End Credits, we go on the hunt... for a good movie to watch. Were we successful? Well, you should listen to our review of The Predator and find out. (Spoiler: we didn't like it.) In the first half we talk about actual predator news, what the takeaways from TIFF are, more concerns about buying digital, and saying goodbye to a Superman (maybe?).
This Wednesday, September 19, at 2 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
Tough TIFF. The Toronto International Film Festival has wrapped up for another year, and everyone wants to know which movie screened there will be the heir apparent to this year's Oscar for Best Picture. Green Book won the coveted People's Choice Award, but Bradley Cooper's A Star is Born, and Alfonso Cuaron's Roma also left the festival with a lot of buzz. We'll talk about that, and the silly flag controversy from First Man.
DC Pee-ew. In some earth-shattering news last week, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Henry Cavill is out of the DC superhero movie series as Superman, the Man of Steel. It's more bad news for a beleaguered franchise that already may be down one Batman with rumours that Ben Affleck has no plans for future appearances as the Dark Knight. What's going on at Warner Bros, and are they losing grip on the movie series they have so much invested in?
They Took My Movies! A Twitter thread once again raise the question: Discs Versus Digital? Many have made the switch to ditch physical media, but the idea that iTunes can take away the movies you *bought* when they lose a license from a content provider has a lot of movie buffs sweating. Consider this though, what are the odds that studio is going to break into your house and take back the discs you bought? The complicated debate continues with this newest hiccup...
Olivia Vs Predator: Requiem. Casting a shadow on this week's big release, was the revelation that Shane Black hired a friend, a convicted sex offender, to play a small role in The Predator, and the only person that seemed to have a problem with that was Olivia Munn, nearly the film's only female cast member. Worse still, it looked like Munn was standing alone in terms of her objection, so how did such a blatant infraction happen in this #MeToo era?
REVIEW: The Predator (2018). Thirty years after Arnold Schwarzenegger walked out of the jungle having beaten the Predator in a primordial showdown, several movies featuring the dreadlocked aliens have come and gone, but none have cracked the code to create a compelling follow-up. Shane Black, who actually had a small role in the original Predator, aimed to change all that, but shrouded in controversy now (see above) can his Predator do what all the others failed to do: build a cool and profitable franchise?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 2 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #137 - Megan Stacey, London Free Press Reporter

Here in Guelph you'll always find someone that will tell you government's all wrong. It's filled with the corrupt and the opportunistic, and no one that cares about the day-to-day issues of concern to citizens. Well, imagine living in an Ontario city where voters turned over 11 of 14 council seats, plus the mayor, and still couldn't get out of actual scandal.
Consider this paragraph from a recent London Free Press article entitled, "Elusive L-word -- leadership -- hangs over London mayoral race":
"Distrust of politicians isn’t exclusive to London, but its recent track record at the top thrust London under a harsh national spotlight and did nothing to inspire voter confidence: Mayor Matt Brown’s affair with council colleague Maureen Cassidy, a fraud conviction for then-mayor Joe Fontana, the criminal charges that dogged the husband of Anne Marie Decicco-Best, who is the city’s longest-serving mayor, and Dianne Haskett’s refusal to issue a gay pride proclamation in 1995."
Yes, that's the political picture in London, Ontario right now. Just a few miles down the road, but a world of difference. In London this year, there are just over 30 people running for the 14 council seats, but there are 14 people running for mayor. In an election year where many cities in Ontario have struggle to put challengers on the ballot, London is a veritable hotbed of civic engagement by comparison. What's driving all these wannabe mayors?
To talk about the very populous mayor's race and other electoral issues in London, the Guelph Politicast reached out to Megan Stacey, who covers the election, and city hall, for the London Free Press. Stacey lends her expertise in Forest City political affairs, including the complex background of nationally covered scandals that brought London voters to thie election.
Aside from all that controversy though, Stacey also talks about the issues in the London's election, and why some of them might sound familiar to some Guelph politicos. Speaking of the Royal City, our vocal electoral reform lobby here should pay attention to her insights into Ranked Choice Voting, as London is the only municipality that took the option for 2018. Stacey will also discuss the challenges of covering a wide-ranging municipal election in a modern daily newspaper office.
So let's talk about London politics on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast.
You can read Megan Stacey's daily coverage of local politics in London by visiting the London Free Press online here.
The theme music for the Guelph Politicast is from the KPM Klassics collection by Syd Dale.
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.