Sure I Read War and Peace...*Cough*

The BBC has conducted a survey of the books most people lie about having read. The top two are George Orwell's 1984 and Tolstoy's War and Peace.

It never occurred to me that people would lie about having read a book. It seems risky if the person you're talking to says what did you think about what Bolkonsky did on page 738? Then you're screwed.

I can sort of understand why people lie about War and Peace. Its one of those quantity over quality things. You read that huge book, wow your smart...lets have sex...

I tried to read War and Peace several times but I found it quite tedious and not a very engaging story. Sorry if you're Tolstoy fan. I generally dislike long novels, the exception being Lord of the Rings which I couldn't put down.

Orwell's 1984 puzzles me a bit more. You can read it in one sitting and its totally captivating. In Alberta most people had to read it in high school as I did. I re-read it a couple of years ago and found it far more interesting. Bush and Harper made it seem more prescient.

Other books on the list include James Joyce's Ulysses and Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. I tried to read Ulysses but got lost in the plot. Call me a plump stately Buck Mulligan. All that shaving... My excuse for not reading Madame Bovary was my promise to myself that someday I would read it in the original French. Also I read Woody Allen's short story the Kugelmass Episode which kind of ruined it for me.

Try not to lie about the books you've not read. That kind of thing makes me crazy. Please recommend this post

Suspicious Amount of Angst over a "Dead" Coalition

Gratuitous use of quotation marks. Everyone's doing it.

My friend drove me to a coffee shop near my house this morning. It was just long enough to be forced to listen to Rutherford encourage and affirm phone-in lying. I thought about opening the door and bailing out into a snowbank but everything is melting here.

I'll paraphrase:

Dave: Go ahead Corky your on dumbass radio.
Corky: Yeah, Dave I went to school and what not and know a lot about government type things and what not. And I know that the Governor General can't hand over power to separatists. She's literally not allowed to.
Dave: You're right you're right. The Bloc have avowed to cut the country in half. You're so right.
Corky: I am that.

For brevity, I left out the caller's preamble about how Stephen Harper is the best Prime Minister Canada ever or will ever have.

Even a Junior High student could list off the fallacies and the lies in this all too common type of exchange.

This is getting so repetitive, but once more:

• The Bloc Quebecois is not part of the coalition. Never were never will be. They agreed not to vote non-confidence for some period of time that's it. Why can't these people follow a simple news story and get the basic facts?
  
• The Governor General can ask the opposition to form a Government and has done so in the past. Period. There is no litmus test of what the opposition parties have to believe in.
• The Bloc Quebecois is not in any position to advance the Separation of Quebec, or anything really. I call bogey-man. Referendums occur on the Provincial level. The Provincial Parti Quebecois is currently out of office. Separation, right now seems kind of low on the priority list of Quebecois.
• Dave and his friends don't care about Quebec separation one bit. They would be more concerned if their cats had anal gland problems. They only care about Stephen Harper implementing an agenda favored by only 40 some percent.
  

Fighting bullshit is hard work and mostly thankless. I'd like to thank all the progressive and liberal bloggers who spoke up on the coalition issues with far more eloquence than I have.

(Update: and thanks to blogger for stripping out my bullet points.) Please recommend this post

Mr Pinsent, with all due respect...

From the Canadian Press:

MONTREAL – Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's promise to reverse plans to scrap tax credits for productions deemed offensive to Canadian viewers came as a pleasant surprise Tuesday to those in the film and television business and a major blow to the religious right.

"The arts community I think can almost relax and unpack their bags," actor Gordon Pinsent said in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press.

Pinsent said he never would have expected such a change of heart from the Conservatives and wonders whether it means Harper may be open to other new ideas.

And magic fairies will fly out of my butt. And Charles McVety will be put in a straight jacket and fed-exed on a slow boat to outer Mongolia.

Right....

Grow up Mr. Pinsent. Don't you know that Stephen Harper is a compulsive liar. In spite of all the respect you've earned as one of Canada's greatest actors you sound like a child who is overjoyed when his father tells him he won't beat him anymore.

Unpack your bags my ass. Please recommend this post