The CBC's Kowtowing Clique

Guaranteed airtime, guaranteed paychecks

Lachance in front of the Chicago Theater

There really is a CBC world out there.

- Recently, failed musician-turned-CBC-host Jian Ghomeshi was interviewing the actor Billy Bob Thornton who came with his band The Boxmasters, and who explicitly asked that Ghomeshi not mention his acting career. It was a reasonable request. Thornton didn't want his acting to upstage his music. But, Ghomeshi, in true passive aggressive CBC style, started off by introducing Thornton as "an Oscar-winning actor." Thornton remained uncooperative throughout the interview, and the following day, cut his concert tour in Canada short. Of course, the blame fell on "those difficult Americans."

- Despite really low ratings, the CBC still heaves on several shows, for purely ideological reasons. One is The Little Mosque on the Prairie, another is George Stroumboulopoulos's The Hour, where he gets to interview, in his skewed leftist way, celebrities, politicians, writers and other contemporary figures of note.

- A former CBC host, Avi Lewis, now hosts an English language program on Al Jazeera.

- Former Editor-in-chief of CBC News, Tony Burman, was appointed managing director of Al Jazeera English last year.

- And the best for last. An enterprising Quebec singer, Bernard Lachance, who sells hundreds of his concert tickets by going on the streets and getting people to listen to him sing on CD (via earphones), put his performance on Youtube, with an invitation for Oprah to come to his concert at the Chicago Theater. He rented the theater for one night to perform his American debut concert using all his savings of $18,000 (Canadian, as he puts it).

Gail, Oprah's assistant, showed up while he was selling tickets in front of the concert hall and said Oprah would like him to be on the show the following week.

CBC news reported this event in a condescending and unimpressed manner. They didn't consider this man’s singular entrepreneurship, and made comments about hoping that his voice is as good as his hype (which it is). Canadian Television (CTV), on the other hand, had an upbeat, cheerful interview with him, and called him "a real inspiration to people."

That's the CBC in nutshell. Collaborators with the ideological left (and abusers of taxpayers' money). Kowtowers to Muslims. Insulters of guests. And never impressed with people who make their own money and their own destiny.

Addicted to taxpayers' money, they have formed their own clique of leftist Canadians who never have to worry about being fired. Now, doesn't that sound like some other place?

Mousy Models on the Cover of Vogue

Not too threatening

L-R: Iman, Halle, Padma and Liya

Liya Kebede, the American model of Ethiopian origin, is on the May 2009 cover of Vogue magazine, and that's supposed to be a good thing. After Michelle Obama and Beyonce, Vogue is apparently on a roll adding her to the roster of "black" faces.

I don't know how Kebede got into the modeling business. By Ethiopian standards, she is not even that good looking. She is too dark, and her features are too mousy. She looks more Somali than Ethiopian. In a normal setting in her homeland, she would be called cute (especially if she also had personality), but not a beauty.

But, in America, what they seem to want in their "ethnic" models is that they either go all the way to the extreme end of the spectrum, like the Sudanese model Alek Wek, or have just enough Caucasian features (small lips, straight nose, high cheekbones without being too strong) and dark skin to figure as an acceptable "black" model. All this without looking too Negroid. This is actually the look of the super model, and mother of them all, the Somali Iman. It is not surprising that Halle Berry, a mousy-featured favorite, is so popular. Another mousy but popular model is the Indian Padma Lakshmi. Liya, Halle, Iman and Padma could actually be sisters.

It is frustrating to look at these women as models of beauty, when all they're really doing is fulfilling some ideological need of putting non-white models, whose looks are not too threatening, on main stream fashion magazines.

Roberto Rossellini

His wide vision

Ingrid Bergman climbing the volcanic Mt. Stromboli
in "Stromboli", also known as "Stromboli, terra di dio"

I've written quite a bit about current movies, and, in my view, how they give us a compass for modern culture and its mores. But, that doesn't mean that I've neglected the classic masterpieces at all. Of course they are harder to find, but the inimitable Cinéclub of the Television Educative et Culturelle de l'Ontario Francais, simply known as TFO, provides periodic mini-festivals of well-known directors. I don't know why the English counterpart, TVO, showcases very few films, focusing instead on British TV dramas. Could it be that this is where the superiority of the French (vis-à-vis the British) is evident, with their advanced understanding of film as an art form?

We've recently had a fantastic cornucopia of Roberto Rossellini films.

It is extraordinary how many styles Rossellini incorporates into his films: from beautiful photographic and cinematic shots to pure documentary techniques; from revelatory psychological dramas to obtuse relationship derailments; and where the human is the prime subject, and yet the geography takes on a character of its own.

Rossellini says that his films take on God's aspect at some point, perhaps to guide the seemingly incongruent and unexpected decisions that his characters finally make to resolve their tensions and frustrations.

Carla Bruni Doesn't Live Up To Expectations

And opts for the irreconcilable causal and chic

She is Italian, but she should be dressing like a French woman by now. I never discussed Carla Bruni's fashion sense when she met up with Michelle Obama during their husbands’ NATO Summit meetings, and when both were being touted as fashion icons, because my focus was on Michelle. But Carla was hardly the Jackie Onassis they're now trying to make her out to be.

She was recently in Spain with Sarkozy during their first state visit to the country, and was upstaged by the Spanish Princess. Shame on France!

But, there is something strange going on. Leading ladies are coming out as dowdy (look at poor Mrs. Brown), overly casual (Michelle) and now Carla, who seems to want to have it both ways - casual and chic.

Left: Carla wearing a blue Dior dress
Right: Princess Letizia in Spanish designer Felipe Varela's dress

But, it doesn't work. Look at this blue dress for example, it is a good, interesting color, but why such flimsy material, which looks like it wasn't quite her size or just wasn't even cut right? It's supposed to be a Dior, but looks like a cheap, off-the-rack version. Then there's her evening gown, where she opts for black. What is it with black? Wasn't that at one time a color for mourning?

Then have a look at the Spanish Princess. Both her evening gown and the dress in which she received Carla are a league above her guest's.

Carla opts for black, while Princess Letizia
wears an aqua/silver gown with silver embroidery

I think the problem with fashion these days is that people don't want to look formal, well dressed and respectable. They want a little of that immature bohemian look, that free look, a little dishevelled and unconstrained, and perhaps in their opinion, young. So, how can you choose an evening gown and look "informal" and young at the same time? You cannot, really. You will just look insignificant, uninteresting and even, surprise, dowdy and old.

Something about well-cut, well-tailored formal clothes actually makes you more interesting, more dynamic, and even more youthful. Look at this lovely outfit, which I commented on here, worn by the Czech President's wife Livia Vaclav Klaus during the Obamas' visit to Prague, who despite her sixty six years looks radiant and lovely.

My Rule Of Thumb On Immigrants At the National Post?

They're not quite ready for it!

I sent my 700-word blog post "Indian Immigration Lawyer's Take on Dual Citizenship" verbatim to the Op-Ed section of the National Post. I really didn't expect a reply. I thought my opinion (or perspective) was too direct, and despite the National Post being a "conservative" magazine, it actually supports things like multiculturalism (or diversity, as they like to call it), and advocates some kind of immigration based on economic premises.

I did get a reply back, with a name signed off with "best,----", saying "Thanks for this, but I'm afraid [afraid?] I'm unable to use this."

I don't know what that means, but perhaps people like honest, straightforward opinions, even if it goes against their belief systems.

My Rule Of Thumb On Immigrants Has An Exception

Another TVO debate, this time on Canadian citizenship

A few days ago, I wrote, "My rule of thumb is that an immigrant will always behave like an immigrants", by which I meant that immigrants in general will support a multicultural Canada with high immigration intakes. Although I do find this to be true almost all the time, I have given this rule of thumb a small margin of error (maybe 0.001%?). In any case, in another stellar panel discussion (the topic and the questions, not necessarily the actual panel itself) by Steve Paiken on TVO, this time a debate on Canadian citizenship, provided that lone voice of an immigrant who doesn't behave like an immigrant.

Mahfooz Kanwar, a professor of sociology at Mount Royal College, was making sane, measured and honest statements about his observations on immigrants in Canada, and how they should behave as Canadian citizens. He was clearly against multiculturalism, which he thinks divides loyalties and puts people in ethnic ghettos. His counterpoint, Avvy Go, a "clinic director" at the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic - which I presume means she is a lawyer - was loud and aggressive.

The funny thing was that Steve Paiken was paying more attention to her, and accepting her horrendous statements, such as Canadians shouldn't be too smug about their history, tainted as it is with the conquest and oppression of the native Indian peoples, not to mention the Chinese head taxes set at the latter part of the 18th century. The quieter Mr. Kanwar was getting slightly ridiculed by our esteemed host.

Now, I don't think it is anything in Steve Paikin's personality which made him behave like that towards Mr. Kanwar. I think aggressive anti-Canadian statements seem to have a strange attraction for Canadians. Maybe it is a lack of confidence in their country, maybe it is decades (now) of beatings they got from blacks, Chinese, Indians about their oh so heinous crimes, but in any case, the more aggressive and rude an immigrant is, the more Canadians will accept the "beating" and acquiesce to their demands.

The video is worth watching only for the impassioned remarks made by the sole, brave voice of Mr. Kanwar.

Can Movies Change Human Nature?

The impossible goal of current movies

Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in "Bringing up Baby".
Grant ends up in jail, but proposes to Hepburn when he gets out.

Movies are really the gateway to modern society. However bad they may be, they still gauge for us something of the society's positions. They tell us how a society thinks, behaves and what it holds important.

There is such a strange earnestness about contemporary movies. It’s all about getting everything "just right". I don’t think anyone does a belly laugh over contemporary comedies the way that people would have done in those original screwballs comedies. To laugh like that, you would have to admit the incongruity and absurdity of a situation. No director wants to be incongruent or absurd these days, and least of all an actor. Just give them the politically correct, please. Of course, this goes for other emotions like anger, sorrow and deep indignation. No movie makes people deeply indignant anymore.

I think people feel an irrational anger more than indignation these days. This makes people a little crazy. When defending illegal immigrants, for example, who are for all practical purposes criminals, how do people support them other than to lie to themselves? What do they tell themselves about this or that illegal person? They can defend his humanity, but how can they defend his actions without being insincere (i.e. lying) to themselves? Such ambiguous feelings do not make for indignation. So people just get irrationally mad instead, and no longer go for the Good vs. Bad, anymore, because their story is already coated in lies. Such was the mood of the immigration movie "Crossing Over", although the director tried to be as honest as possible.

So, part of art's pleasure, to see truth reveal itself, becomes near to impossible in current movies, since so much is camouflaged with untruth. Even comedies, where we should be doing belly laughs, fall short. In the screwball comedies of yonder years, for example, slightly nutty women ran circles around unsuspecting men to finally return to "a man-above-woman world order", as one film critic put it. This is no longer possible. The comedy of the sexes is now no longer is a comedy of the sexes because we have equal opportunity, and career women, and politically correct men who dare not ruffle the feathers of their women colleagues (and wives). How do you return to "a man-above-woman world order" when everything has to be equal?

Still, art, whether the artists like it or not, does reveal some of the truth some of the time, especially if it is in the hands of a good artist.

Here is a review I did of a recent film "Confessions of a Shopaholic" and the trajectory screwball comedy took from the 1930s to this 2009 version. Despite all the meddlesome feminism, this 2009 version does give credit to the original masterpieces. People cannot completely change human nature, after all, although they may try to in their imaginations.