Guelph Politicast

End Credits - November 11, 2020 (True History of the Kelly Gang)

This week on End Credits we're going to fight the power! For our review on this episode we're going to move our streaming sight to Netflix and an Australian style western called True History of the Kelly Gang (true story: it's not a true story). Along with that, we will also recap the week's movie news which features a death and a firing.
This Wednesday, November 11, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
News of the Week. The week started off rough with the passing of Alex Trebek, but it's been even rougher for movie theatres as they lost two more 2020 releases that have been postponed to 2021. At the same time, Johnny Depp lost a prime role in a magical franchise after a libel case didn't go his way in the U.K. We'll cover these stories and the rest of this week's movie news.
REVIEW: True History of the Kelly Gang (2020). In 1870s Australia there was an outlaw named Ned Kelly who led his gang of dress-wearing bushranger berserkers in a war against the colonial forces of the British Empire. This movie is the not remotely true story of Kelly and his gang, but it is still an interesting piece of Australian history and a brutal modern spin on the classic Western outlaw tale. But what's our true opinion about this half-true tale?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #246 – Explaining the Multi-Year Budget

Putting together the City of Guelph budget was a process that more or less started right after the last budget was passed, and involved every City department basically rebuilding their budget from scratch every year. It wasn’t easy, it was short-sighted, and it created a lot of extra work for staff. There had to be a better way, and that better way might be the move to multi-year budgeting.
Now this is always a busy time of year for the City's finance staff, but this year may be even busier because they're introducing multi-year budgeting. It's a plan that aligns budget priorities with the Strategic Plan and forecasts the budget out three extra years. In the past, Guelph’s annual budget has been built piece-by-piece, and only one year at a time, and while that has served us well in the past, the move to multi-year budgeting is meant to give us a broader budget picture.
For example, consider the decision to build a new library, or community centre. The immediate costs to next year’s budget may fall under the capital budget, but there are also new operating expenses and staffing in the years that follow. Multi-year budgeting makes it easier to see those effects by not just expanding the timeline, but also by eliminating the silos of capital and operating and considering them both at the same time. It sounds complicated, but how complicated is it really?
Tara Baker, the general manager of finance and the treasurer for the City of Guelph, will help guides us through that and other questions. Baker will talk about how the new budget is organized, how staff aligned the different departments into the various Strategic Plan categories, and how local boards and committees that still budget on an annual basis fit in. She will also talk about the ongoing effects of COVID-19 on the budget, and how members of the public will be able to follow along with the new budget process.
So let's talk about this very different Guelph Budget season on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can see all the budget materials now on the City’s website. The budget will be presented at a special meeting of council on Tuesday November 17 at 9 am, and the public delegation night will be Wednesday November 25 at 6 pm. The final budget vote will take place on Tuesday December 1.
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple Podcasts, 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.

Open Sources Guelph - November 5, 2020

This week on Open Sources Guelph feels like a million years. After going live-to-air on the U.S. Election Night, we're back at our usual time slot on Thursday to talk about all the ins and outs and whatevers of the Presidential race, and all the other races in this consequential election year. For something a little less controversial, we'll also talk to a University of Guelph researcher who has some things to say about the effects of that screen you're looking at right now.
This Thursday, November 5, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
The Aftermath. It's two days out from Election Night, and boy was it a gas! Fortunately though, no one was actually gassed, and whether people will remain ungassed in the days to come is going to be the bigger question. It's a big question as to whether or not we will know all the final results by show time, but we will try and talk about the results from the Presidential race, the House and Senate races, and all the crazy QAnon people that are now in the halls of Deep State power in Washington.
Kill Screens? One of the thing that we've all had to acclimatize to in the pandemic is spending a lot more time in front of screens, but what are the effects of that, especially on the kids? This week we're joined by University of Guelph family studies prof Jess Haines, who's appearing in an episode of CBC's The Nature of Things on November 13 called "Kids Vs Screens", to talk about the effects of too much screen time, the best ways parents can model good screen behaviour, and how they should manage screen time for the kids.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits - November 4, 2020 (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)

This week on End Credits we're going to make glorious show for the benefit of great radio station CFRU. In case you haven't already guessed, we're reviewing the Borat sequel this week, and just one day late for the American election. Before that, we will talk about the streaming wars to secure on James Bond, and the sad passing of another.
This Wednesday, November 4, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Peter Salmon will discuss:
The (Movie) News. The last time we talked about movie news, more big movies left their 2020 release dates, and with new lockdowns in Europe it's guaranteed that theatres are going to struggling for a while longer. That's why there were rumblings that the next James Bond movie No Time to Die was the subject of a first bidding war between Apple and Netflix even if those rumblings lead nowhere. We'll talk about that other movie news.
Sir Sean. Although he retied from acting in 2003, Sean Connery has never been far from the minds of fans who have always hoped for a comeback. It was not meant to be. From his being the first legendary portrayer of James Bond, to his Oscar winning role in The Untouchables to being Indiana Jones' dad, we'll make some time this week to remember Sean Connery.
REVIEW: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2020). Borat is back, and this time the misunderstandings are on a global scale. Fourteen years after the bumbling foreign journalist was sent to a gulag for bringing shame to his country, the Kazakh regime can only entrust their bribe for U.S. President Trump to one man. Is America ready for more Borat, and is Borat ready to be a father to a teenage daughter whose feminist ambitions lead her to make some news of her own?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #245 - Still COVID [Fall Edition] with Dr. Mercer

The last time that Dr. Nicola Mercer appeared on this podcast it was July, and things seemed to be going pretty good. Much of the province had been under a Stage 2 re-opening for weeks, and we were on the cusp of Stage 3. The virus wasn’t gone, but the number of new and active cases was on the right trajectory, but there were at the time rumblings about what would happen in the fall.
We’re now more than one month into fall, and it seems like those warnings underestimated just how hard COVID-19 would come roaring back as soon as it got colder outside. If you just watch the daily numbers, it seems bad, or if you just listen to the news about all the places that have had to go back to Stage 2 openings, the outlook for the rest of the year is concerning. But doctors have been advising us to look at the trends,  so what do the trends tell us?
By the time you’re listening to this, it’s likely that Wellington, Dufferin and Guelph has had more cases of COVID, but even in this resurgence we’re seeing around 50 active cases at any given time. Our local assessment centre has struggled occasionally to keep up with testing capacity, but that wasn't an unusual story as cases started ticking up again last month. It seems we’re doing well managing the pandemic locally, but let's ask an expert on public health matters.
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Medical Officer of Health Dr. Mercer joins us this week to talk about the bigger picture in protecting our area from COVID-19, the secrets to our success so far, and whether or not she’s concerned about the surge in new cases in other regions around us. She will also discuss the potential issues with the location of the assessment centre now at Southgate Drive, when an outbreak’s not an outbreak at Holy Trinity School here in Guelph, and how you might be able to tell the difference between when you have the common cold and if you might have COVID-19.
So let's talk about COVID (as if we're talking about anything else) on this week's edition of the Guelph Politicast!
You can get all the latest trends and statistics about the COVID-19, as well as the latest public health advisories and advice, at the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health 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 Apple Podcasts, 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.

Open Sources Guelph - October 29, 2020

This week on Open Sources Guelph is another one of those weeks where there's almost too much news, and it's not all related to the U.S. Presidential Election, which is definitely one of our topics for this show. Along with that, we will also talk about the four (!) elections we had in Canada this week, the continuing failures of Reconciliation in Caledonia, and labour strife in Alberta in their... healthcare sector?!
This Thursday, October 29, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Too Good to Be True? We're now in the final week of the U.S. election, and all the national polls, and most of the swing state polls, say that Joe Biden looks good to become the 46th President of the United States. But wait, it's not a done deal! We all know that the polls pointed to a Clinton blowout in 2016, and there's still big enthusiasm for Donald Trump despite the ground he's lost, so what will happen on Election Day, and will that be the final word on this 2020 election?
Return of the Kings. There were four elections in Canada this week, and they more or less ended the way you expected. In British Columbia, the NDP and John Horgan no longer need to worry about the Green MLAs now that they have a majority, Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan Party got their fourth consecutive victory, and the Federal Liberals held on to two seats in Toronto. Are there any lessons to be taken from these fairly straightforward election results?
La La Land Back. Things have escalated again at Land Back Lane in Caledonia after a court ruled last week that the land defenders have to get themselves off a disputed property there, but the land defenders have refused to go, and have actually dug in further. Meanwhile, tensions have risen with the OPP, who posted a video of a couple of protestors attacking a cruiser, but the land defenders said they were provoked at the sight of officers with guns drawn. So how does this get fixed?
Strong Medicine. In case you've forgotten, we're in the middle of pandemic. You probably haven't forgotten that, but the Alberta government seems to have because why else would they propose to cut 11,000 healthcare jobs at the moment in time? Like in most provinces across Canada, COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Alberta, but the politics have forced hundreds of healthcare workers to take part in a wildcat strike on Monday. So what do Jason Kenney and Co. think they're doing?
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits - October 28, 2020 (Vampires Vs the Bronx)

This week on End Credits it's Halloween week! Yes, the day itself is on Saturday, but it's also Halloween week in show as we appropriately run the series on the movie series of the same name. Also, just in time for Halloween, we have an all-new horror-comedy to review that finally brings vampires, and the people of the Bronx, together in one film.
This Wednesday, October 28, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Candice Lepage will discuss:
Run the Series: Halloween. There have been 11 Halloween movies including the 1978 original directed by John Carpenter. The series has been rebooted two times, retconned three times, and only one featured a story that had nothing to do with Michael Myers. Halloween has set the curve for slasher films, and the series isn't over yet, but this week we will rank all the entries so far.
REVIEW: Vampires Vs. the Bronx (2020). From Nosferatu to Twilight, vampires have been a constant presence in the movies, but can they stand up to the Bronx? The New York City-set horror-comedy sets a group of civically-minded kids against a nest of vampires trying to gentrify their borough and the beloved neighbourhood bodega where Tony lets the kids watch Blade. So can the kids take what they've learned from the Daywalker and save their 'hood? And, more importantly, is the movie any good?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.

GUELPH POLITICAST #244 - Guelph: Home of 'The Incubus'

In 1982, John Cassavetes appeared in a schlocky Canadian-made horror movie called The Incubus, and a not so small portion of The Incubus was shot in Guelph. Just in time for Halloween, we’re going to talk about that time in the 80s where an Academy Award nominated actor and director came to the Royal City to hunt monsters in an unforgettably forgettable horror movie.
Released in 1982, The Incubus focuses on a small New England town plagued by a series of rapes and murders. Cassavetes plays Sam Cordell, a doctor who’s just moved to town with his estranged daughter and gets wrapped up in the police investigation of the attacks. As the saying goes, “It’s not Shakespeare,” but it’s hard to deny that there’s something about the film.
For Guelphites, The Incubus is a time capsule for vintage Guelph circa 1980 with the old Odeon movie theatre, Macdonell Street, the Homewood, and the Gilnockie House on Queen Street all being prime locations. For cinephiles, there's the curiosity of Cassavetes, long considered the godfather of the modern American independent film movement, who won the Gold Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his acclaimed film Gloria the same year he made The Incubus.
This is where Brett Wright comes in. Wright wrote an article for Split Tooth Media about Cassavetes and why he found some creative solace in shooting The Incubus. This week on the podcast, Wright will give us some insight into the artistic value of The Incubus for Cassavetes, why this supposedly forgettable horror movie from the early 80s hasn’t been forgotten, and why modern audiences and horror fans have been giving it a second look.
So let's get into this forgotten slice of Guelph pop culture history on this week's Guelph Politicast!
You can read Wright’s piece “An Artist’s Nightmare: John Cassavetes, Horror Films, and ‘The Incubus’” on Split Tooth Media. Guelph Museums has photos from the Guelph set of The Incubus in their collection, and you can watch The Incubus for yourself, for free, on the ad-supported streaming site Tubi TV.
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple Podcasts, 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.

Open Sources Guelph - October 22, 2020

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we're going to get into a realm of law and politics you've long demanded we visit: fishing rights! We will head out to the east coast for that big story on Indigenous rights, and then we will look at the recently renewed fracas over the WE scandal. Then, in the second half of the show, we will talk to an old friend and former colleague about the COVID-age at Guelph City Council.
This Thursday, October 22, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:
Talk Lobster. "Lobster War" sounds like the subtitle for the next Aquaman movie, but in Nova Scotia it's a real thing that's happening with Indigenous fisherman on one side, and the rest of the Maritime fishery industry on the other. The House of Commons held an emergency debate on the matter after another fire destroyed a First Nations lobster facility on the weekend, but is this something the House can resolve, or is it just more anti-Indigenous racism in action?
Here WE Go Again. The spectre of the WE Charity scandal arose again this week on a couple of fronts with new reporting from Canadaland, and new demands from the Opposition to have an open and honest rake out about everything that went in to the decision to funnel a billion dollars of student COVID relief through WE. Justin Trudeau said that this is heading down a road to election, but does he really want to fight an election over ethics? Does anybody?
Allt in the Family. It's October, but there are still a few very busy months at Guelph City Council left, so this week we will be joined by Ward 3 Councillor Phil Allt, and we will ask him to put on his philosopher's hat from the old Beyond the Ballot Box show to talk about the changes to council operations in the COVID-age, whether or not he thinks some of those changes will be permanent, and how it's been going so far. We will also talk to Allt about the upcoming budget season.
Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.

End Credits - Octobr 21, 2020 (The Trial of the Chicago 7)

This week on End Credits, the whole world is watching. At least that's what the trailer says. Just in time for the American political season, we've got the new film about a very politically charged part of American history from one of the guys that knows how to handle politically charged material best. Before that, we will Run the Series on this week's filmmaker in question.
This Wednesday, October 21, at 3 pm, Adam A. Donaldson and Tim Phillips will discuss:
Run the Series: Aaron Sorkin's Films. He started as a New York playwright, became an accomplished screenwriter, wrote one of the most influential TV series from the turn of the century, and finally won the Oscar for a movie about the creation of Facebook. In this week's "Run the Series", we will review and rank the screenplays of Aaron Sorkin.
REVIEW: The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). At the Democratic National Convention in 1968, eight people lead thousands of supporters in what was, at the time, the largest demonstration against the Vietnam War. The government called them anarchists, agitators, and left-wing extremists, and then they put them on trial. Through the lens and words of Aaron Sorkin, this new Netflix film draws comparisons to the current political climate, but how effective is it?
End Credits is on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca Wednesday at 3 pm.