roll up the ripoff
March 1, 2010
On first glance I thought that perhaps Tim Hortons had, after all these decades, changed their colour scheme. But, no. This Country Style Donuts coffee cup is nothing but a dashing imposter, laying its glitzy colour scheme over the well known design of Tim Hortons’ nationally beloved and highly anticipatedRoll up the Rim. Here, have a look at how similar the design is:
photo by flickr user western tragedy
(for my non-Canadian friends: the other side of the Tims cup also has little black and white photos of the SUV and the television and whatever other stuff you can win on it. Just like the imposter cup).
Posted by jodi on March 1, 2010 at 11.28pm
sing it one more time
February 28, 2010
Who owns hockey? Why, I believe that would be Canada.
You’d think this shot was from the women’s gold medal game if the score wasn’t different.
Posted by jodi on February 28, 2010 at 6.34pm
turn on the waterworks
February 26, 2010
The second and third periods of last night’s hockey game were dead boring, what with all of the scoring happening in the first few minutes of the game. But, whatever. We won!
That guy with the “GOLD CANADA GOLD” sign had a white helmet on his head with a flashing police car light on top. Somebody on flickr said that he was in the front row at every game, always with the same helmet and different signs. Hilarious. He must have spent a fortune on tickets.
I always feel so sad for the team that loses, though, because I am a sympathetic crier and can’t see people crying on the teevee without joining in (it makes no difference whether or not I’m actually moved, and in fact television doesn’t really move me very often and I’m mostly cynical even about the few shows I like; the crying’s just a visceral reaction. Or whatever the viscera of tear ducts are, I guess). I wish the Americans could have felt happier in celebrating their silver, but they all just looked so crushed that the medals ceremony was hard to watch. The Finns, on the other hand, were ecstatic, jumping around and making kissy-faces at the camera. So cute. Anyway, it was nice to see some people in the stands wearing Canada jerseys holding up American flags and shouting “U-S-A! U-S-A!” after the silver medals had been given out. Okay, actually that might have made me cry a little too. I’m a big old crybaby this week. Y’all should have seen me hoofing it up that snowy hill to work yesterday in the wind and blowing powdery snow. I was crying up a storm then, I tell you what.
Another thing frequently seen on the teevee these days that never fails to make me cry:
The Tim Hortons “welcome to Canada” ad. For the record, I’ve never cried over a Tim Hortons commercial in my life before, no matter how overly sentimental and mushily patriotic they are. This one, though, I can’t watch all the way through with dry eyes. Good thing all this hockey will be over soon and I won’t have any more reasons to watch teevee.
Awww.
Posted by jodi on February 26, 2010 at 5.51pm
a giant frozen tentacle porn adventure!
February 12, 2010
Peter and I took a walk through the trails around Duchesnay Falls this afternoon. The only part of the river that wasn’t completely frozen over was this bit at the bottom, where water rushed up into a spectacular ice formation that resembled a gigantic frozen cephalopod, sucking and lapping at the water with its gross mouth tentacles. We were standing on frozen river to take these photos (I was unreasonably nervous about being on the water considering the ice was probably a metre thick in some places).
A frozen bridge of ice tentacles:
Peter is standing on the river here, about halfway down the falls. Because he cares about SAFETY, he did not attempt to swim. Because I care about hypothermia (and, specifically, avoiding it) I didn’t try to swim either. I was tempted, though.
It’s perhaps not apparent here, but Peter is standing near the top of a pretty much vertical drop about 15 metres down to the river. This was right after we crossed the river ice and CLIMBED up. I’d just like to point out here that my boots, while warm and shiny and sturdy, are made for walking around all winter on nice, safe, snow-covered city sidewalks. They’re a tad slippy on the climbing straight up snowy cliff faces with practically zero footholds. I would have been scared to climb that if it hadn’t been covered in snow. Oh, and also I walked face first right into a huge branch that hung out over the trail and just about knocked myself out. Just like in the cartoons!
Peter, on the other hand, has the perfect boots for living up here. He rarely gets a chance to use them down in balmy Windsor.
Posted by jodi on February 12, 2010 at 5.19pm
where the bear and the bison blow
February 7, 2010
Today Peter and I took a walk along the road that leads uphill to the university in order to photograph the ubiquitous Canadian Shield graffiti. We ended up climbing to the top and taking a hike along some of the trails that wind through the area. I wish I’d taken a photo of the frozen stream that I was totally freaked out about standing on, but I was far too busy not falling on my arse.
What a coincidence: I love trucks too!
The view back down to the road from up on top of the painted wall:
Posted by jodi on February 7, 2010 at 3.42pm
compassion
January 29, 2010
**Edit: The Court issued a unanimous ruling condemning the government’s actions in the Khadr case, but stopped short of ordering them to intervene with US officials to have Khadr repatriated. I’ll quote a bit from the Globe and Mail article, since they archive stories for a woefully short period of time:
In an 9-0 ruling this morning, the Court said that Canada violated Mr. Khadr’s Charter rights by participating in illegal interrogation methods which included sleep deprivation.
It stressed that the constitutional breach is ongoing and “continues to this day.”
However, the court said that before stepping in to dictate a Canadian response on a sensitive question of foreign policy, the federal government must be given a chance to rectify Mr. Khadr’s plight.
But should the government fail to act, the court warned that it has the power to move more overtly to aid Mr. Khadr.
So. “What you’ve done is wrong, and you should put it right, but we won’t make you. But we could”. I’m trying to look at this in a positive light, but I have no faith that our current government will move to protect Khadr unless forced to do so by the Court. I think they’ve only given Harper more time to stall. And stall he will.
One more quote from The Globe and Mail:
At one point in the hearing, Chief Justice McLachlin expressed concern that, with Mr. Khadr’s mistreatment in the distant past, it might be too late for the courts to take drastic action.
“He has suffered greatly, perhaps, and with great consequence,” she said. “But how does repatriation fix that?”
Well, for one thing, it STOPS THE TORTURE. Because I can’t imagine that life in Guantanamo these days is suddenly all ice cream and pony rides.**
I’m a ball of anxiety today, worrying about what the Supreme Court will decide in the case of Omar Khadr. For those of you who might not know who Khadr is, the quick version: he is the only citizen of a Western country still detained at Guantanamo Bay. He was arrested in Afghanistan at the age of 15, accused of throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier, and has been in detention at Guantanamo ever since. He is now 23 years old. Unlike the governments of every other civilized nation in the world, the Canadian government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper has steadfastly refused to demand he be returned home to face trial in his own country. The US military wants to try Khadr in a military court rather than in a federal court, and the reason for this is that the evidence against him is as fragile as a month-old cobweb: blow on it and it will fall apart and disappear on the wind.
Browse through the comments section (at your own risk; I’ve been reduced to angry tears by it so many times that I avoid doing so anymore) of any online news article on Khadr and you’ll find a lot of hateful racist vitriol there, against Khadr, against his family, and against Muslims and Muslim-Canadians in general. Yes, his family’s associations are problematic. But the truth is, having been taken from Canada to Afghanistan and forced into combat by his own father and not some village-invading militia does not change the fact that Omar was a victim, a child soldier abused first by his own family, then by the US military, and then by the Canadian government in their refusal to offer him the protection every citizen deserves.
I don’t even care whether or not Khadr threw that grenade. I have confidence that the truth will be determined in court. But I don’t have confidence that any truth or justice will come from allowing this boy (man, now) to face trial by the American military. They have too much invested in producing a conviction to be trusted to view the facts fairly.
This morning when my alarm went off I dozed through the CBC radio news, and listening to this story I saw in my dream a 10-metre-tall Stephen Harper in a blue pinstripe suit (and a red toque with a Vancouver Olympics logo; it was a dream, don’t ask) standing at the gates to a medieval city, gazing out over the minus 35 windchill (I must have slept through the weather report as well) snowy landscape with a majestic sneer. Melodramatic I know, but cut me some slack, it was a dream. His giant eyelids slid down lizard-like over his cold, glittering eyes before he turned and closed the doors. Let’s hope the Court forces him to leave that door open a crack, so the abused child at his feet can scrabble in behind him to the safety of home.
Posted by jodi on January 29, 2010 at 9.17am
with each coffee its history*
January 13, 2010
I threw up.
*a direct translation of the trademarked French phrase which is the French version of the English phrase, also trademarked, with which I normally title these photos on flickr but won’t here because I’m askeered of big corporations.
Posted by jodi on January 13, 2010 at 9.58pm
it doesn’t matter where in Canada you go
January 9, 2010
There’s always something familiar looking about the scenery.
Posted by jodi on January 9, 2010 at 4.35pm
