After an enjoyable summer break, the Hammer is back. I have a short piece in this edition, inspired by Terrorist, John Updike’s latest novel. Check it out if you’re interested.

This is quite a remarkable piece of animation, but be warned that its main idea is diabolically evil.

Two of the busiest weeks I have ever experienced are over…

I came across an article recently called The Winds of War, The Sands of Time, that made an interesting statement: “we are actually living in the most peaceful time ever in human history”. As proof, the writer lists a series of major conflicts with more than a million deaths since World War II, all of which are over.

Unfortunately for his premise, the last war he showcases is the Second Congo War, which killed 3.8 million people and didn’t end until 2002, just four years ago. Four years seems far too short to make the claim that this is a “peaceful time”, especially given the constant news of war and violence from around the world and particularly the Middle East (as well as the ongoing violence in Congo, for that matter).

But there is more to his article than this claim, and some of it is quite interesting:

[N]ever have two democratic countries, with per-capita GDPs greater than $10,000/year, gone to war with each other. The decline in warfare in Europe and Asia corelates closely with multiple countries meeting these two conditions over the last few decades, and this can continue as more countries graduate to this standard of freedom and wealth.

If you’re not familiar with economic terms, GDP stands for gross domestic product, which can be thought of as the value produced by a given country – put more simply, rich countries have a high GDP.

What he’s saying is that rich, democratic countries don’t go to war with each other, which in the last century appears to be true, and that they won’t go to war with each other in the future, which I think is naive. But whether or not he’s right, there’s a refreshing optimism to the idea that appeals to me.

I’m finding it a little hard to be globally optimistic lately, as in, optimistic about Planet Earth and all of us critters who live on it. I still feel personally optimistic about losing my hint of a beer belly. I still feel financially optimistic that some day, I might be out of debt. Earth, though? Humanity in general? Not getting such a good feeling lately.

There’s no need for me to run through the list of reasons why we’re probably screwed, since you’re already aware of them yourself. That, or you’re in denial, which means I’m unlikely to get through to you any more effectively than all the other people you’ve successfully ignored. Instead, let’s take a look at one of our latest, greatest solutions to one of our most pressing problems: not enough oil to go around.

The solution, some are telling us, is biofuels. Biofuels are fuels derived from recently dead stuff, typically plants like corn, soybeans, straw, flaxseed and hemp, as well as sewage, wood and other biologically derived materials.

Yes, this means you can theoretically drive your car on meat, but it’s far more cost-effective (among other benefits) to use fast-growing plants like corn instead. That means expanding or diverting agricultural production to growing crops for fuel instead of crops for food.

It also means creating a whole new list of problems like deforestation, the many ill effects of pesticides, and of course, the ethical issues of using food for fuel while people starve. There is also at least one problem that borders on the fantastic: the rise of primitive organisms in our oceans.

On July 30, the Los Angeles Times published a story right out of a science fiction novel. A Primeval Tide of Toxins tells how basic nutrients like “nitrogen, carbon, iron and phosphorous compounds” from fertilizer and other sources are reverting our oceans to the “primeval seas of hundreds of millions of years ago”.

When our “solutions” to the coming energy crisis create massive swarms of jellyfish that clog nuclear power plant intakes, toxic cyanobacteria that burn and choke fishermen, and foul-smelling algae and bacteria goo that coats beaches in blobs bigger than humans, it’s no wonder I’m a little less-than-optimistic lately!

[tags]environment, war, politics, futurism, energy[/tags]

Have you watched the new CTV series Whistler? Like the village of its namesake, the television show is gaining quite a reputation.

On August 2nd, Canadian snowboarding legend and sometime stoner Ross Rebagliati announced a lawsuit against the show. One might expect Ross to sue the show for sucking, but instead, his personal defamation suit alleges that the show’s producers modeled an immoral and reprehensible character on him.

Rebagliati claims that Beck McKaye, a fictional Olympic gold-medalist snowboarder, is too similar to him, and that this association harms his reputation. He is worried that the show will affect his ability to secure future sponsorships. Maybe. More on this debacle in a moment, but first I want to talk about Whistler – the place and the show.

I was in Whistler Village when the series made its television debut. In fact, I was drinking Pilsners with a handful of Ontario and Aussie ex-pats on Whistler beach the night after the show first aired.

I’ve never lived near Whistler, but I have visited the place more times than I care to remember. I have several life-long friends who call Whistler home. All of them have been there for more than half a decade, and they have all lived through the famed ski resort’s transformation into a playground for the wealthy, stoned, or Australian (sometimes all three).

Arguably, it was Ross Rebagliati who first put Whistler Village on the map. A long-time resident, Rebagliati won Olympic gold at the 1998 winter games in Nagano for snowboarding.

Shortly afterwards Ross suffered his first character impeachment when he tested positive for drug use. Routine Olympic blood tests had found traces of marijuana. His medal was taken away, but was later returned because marijuana was not considered a performance enhancing drug by Olympic standards.

Whistler Village has been a Canadian cultural icon ever since. The village and its adjacent mountains (Whistler and Blackcomb) are synonymous with an über-chic lifestyle made popular by tales of wilderness, extreme sports and mild hedonism. Whistler represents everything that most people will never find in the big cities of North America.

For my generation, it remains the definitive anti-urban port-of-call. Chances are if you are under 30 and love snowboarding, you have considered moving to Whistler at some point in your life. I am still visiting friends who followed through.

The attraction has not gone unnoticed at CTV. Whistler is reported to be one of the most expensive all-Canadian TV productions to date, at a cost of $1.4 million per episode. Some could argue that as far as trend-spotting goes, the series is long overdue.

Canadian media magazine Playback describes the production and plotline in an online article posted back in January:

Created by executive producer Kelly Senecal, the series is an ensemble piece with the murder of a champion snowboarder at its center. His family and friends deal with the death and its mysterious circumstances, while seeing to their own interpersonal issues.

According to Senecal, the show being made is a far cry from the one first suggested to him by the network and production partners.

“They had some sort of initial concept about five stoner snowboarders living in a cabin or something, but that got tossed and I started from scratch,” he says. “The only thing that stayed was the setting.”

[…]

Whistler comes in for CTV on the heels of its cancelled newsroom drama The Eleventh Hour, perhaps signalling a new trend whereby although the setting may be Hoserland, but the content is not, as Senecal calls it, “on-the-nose Canadian.” While Eleventh Hour was on the side of the angels, dealing in topical Canadian issues, Whistler is looking for mass appeal in sinful intrigue and the class divide of a resort town.

Murder mystery? Interpersonal issues? Sinful intrigue? Class divide?

Personally, I would have preferred the five stoner snowboarders in a cabin, like Friends with snowboards and bongs. I have seen the show and trust me, most other people would prefer this version too.

Whistler (the place) certainly has intrigue and issues, but they aren’t anything close to what the show portrays. Truth be told, this show doesn’t borrow any substance from Whistler Village. It could take place anywhere in the world. For starters, there are nowhere near enough Australians in the cast.

So, why is the patron saint of Whistler Village all worked-up?

Some accuse Ross Rebagliati of a callous cash-grab. Others think his anger is justified. Either way, you can’t really blame the guy for speaking out. His image is so intrinsically linked to the village. He made Whistler internationally famous. If a television show wants to subvert the story line of Whistler Village and its inhabitants, no one (and I mean no one) has more street credibility to cry foul than Ross Rebagliati.

Personally, I hope he wins his lawsuit. I hope it forces the end of this TV show – this pretentious piece of tax-subsidized, over-produced, under-thought, banal pap. I don’t know anyone in Whistler who would disagree with me. They all told me so last month.

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This post was written by alevo.

[tags]television, Whistler, snowboarding, Olympics, Canada[/tags]

This one deserves its own post to make sure no one misses it. Too funny.

Click here for the clip.