February 21, 2011 – 12:45 pm|Posted in Radio, Video
This National Film Board documentary about the state of Canadian radio (particularly CBC/Radio-Canada) in 1949 has some funny lines. My favourite is this one:
"Radio reads its fan mail and makes its listeners' surveys because radio has learned to trust the judgment of the listener. And in Canada, the listener gets what he asks for."
There's also some talk near the end about setting up a national television network and developing this new "frequency modulation" radio. And a clip of Oscar Peterson tickling the ivories.
The anniversary special was preceded by a very short newscast. And since I made fun of a Global error the night before, I can't ignore the fancy camerawork on display during a broadcast that I'm sure many other people also had on their digital video recorders.
January 19, 2011 – 3:02 am|Posted in Humour, Video
You might have missed it because you were on vacation or something, but the ad agency écorce put together a form of online advent calendar in December with ... let's call them interpretations of things that happened online in 2010.
It was kind of hit and miss, but there were a few gems among the videos that were done for this:
Une fille inoubliable, by Les Appendices. My favourite sketch comedy fivesome, the stars of the Télé-Québec show covered an awfully written and awfully-sung song from a video that was posted to YouTube but later taken down (fortunately, the Internet keeps copies of these things). Even though they use the same lyrics and roughly the same music, the Appendices version is actually pretty good. At the very least, it had a much higher budget.
Contrat d'lezz, by le Girly Show. You've seen Contrat d'gars, right? The show that goes so over the top with the testosterone you can't help but laugh. It's hard to parody something that already doesn't take itself seriously, so Le Girly Show just turns it on its head and has women playing the lead roles. It's not much funnier than the original, but it has the same magic.
I think what worries me most about the weather, as I saw it on tonight's Téléjournal, isn't that major cities on the west side of the country are farther east than they should be, but that the wind there is so strong it is repeatedly pushing Calgary into Edmonton.
I didn't catch this on Christmas Day (because, sadly, I was working), but CFCF aired a half-hour year-in-review special in place of its regular newscast. It featured some discussions with CTV staff, and little packaged bits from reporters about their favourite stories of the year.
Artist's conception of the new studio planned for CFCF's newscast
(And thanks to hifichet, ladyjaye27, TVRetroQC, mtltv and others who are finding jems like these and putting them on YouTube so they can be enjoyed nostalgically by everyone.)
Those folks at CBC Montreal have taken to embarrassing themselves in front of the Internet to promote a holiday fundraiser for Dans la rue.
The Carolling Challenge will see personalities and listeners sing along in an effort to drum up donations. There's even a practice today at 1pm (in case you're not going to either the protest against the Journal de Montréal or the protest in memory of Mohamed Anas Bennis, which are both taking place at the same time), before they hit five locations between Monday and Wednesday. Send a picture of yourself at one and you could even win a bag!
After that, next Sunday, there's the annual Christmas Sing-In, a recording that will air on Christmas Day on the radio.
But if you just like seeing videos of CBC radio personalities singing Christmas songs (and if that's the case, there's something wrong with you), here's a bonus video of Sue Smith singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town:
You'll probably be seeing mention of this video in the local media in the coming days (hopefully some will actually look into the issue instead of just posting the video with baseless conjecture like I am here). It shows a metro train travelling between the Assomption and Viau stations on the green line with a door stuck open, and is already getting traction on Twitter.
It shouldn't be difficult to see the very serious safety implications of this kind of failure.
Metro trains are designed with a safety system designed to prevent exactly this (which is why it's so rare). When it detects that a door has opened beyond a set limit, it automatically commands the train to stop. This is what causes a train to come to an abrupt halt, usually as it's leaving a station, when someone either accidentally or deliberately attempts to force a door open.
Clearly, unless this video is an elaborate fake of some sort, this system failed on this train. Hopefully it will prompt an investigation that ensures it never happens again.
Since the failure happened on an older MR-63 train, expect some people to link this to the age of the trains and the apparent desperate need to replace them with new ones from Bombardier-Alstom.
The spokesperson also adds "someone should have pulled the emergency brake" - though those handles on board the trains don't actually stop a train in motion, they merely prevent it from leaving the next station.
Just about everyone has picked up the story, with varying amounts of journalism involved:
Radio-Canada posts the YouTube video, and has a phone interview with STM spokesperson Marianne Rouette, who's had a busy day
Agence QMI says the video came to it via Mon Topo on Monday, and it has quotes from Rouette. It also says the train was in the direction of Honoré-Beaugrand, which contradicts the video and what Rouette says.
Métro posts the YouTube video, the basics, and links to Radio-Canada for STM reaction.
CBC Montreal posts the YouTube video and quotes Rouette, including the statement that parts from the door were sent "to the lab" for analysis.
The Gazette posts the YouTube video and quotes Rouette
CTV Montreal posts the YouTube video and interviews Rouette.
Branchez-Vous does its usual form of "journalism", posting the YouTube video and quoting Radio-Canada without linking to it.
Benoît Dutrizac interviews general manager Carl Desrosiers, who says this was caused by a simultaneous failure of two systems that were completely replaced only three years ago.
There's also commentary already, mostly along the lines of "why did they just film it instead of pulling the emergency brake?" - from bloggers like Cécile Gladel. While I think I would have pulled the emergency brake if I was in that position, I would have also taken photos or video of it.
Consider this:
As much as safety is a consideration, there didn't seem to be any immediate danger because the train wasn't full
Pulling the brake or warning the driver would have caused delays as the problem was discovered and fixed, and most people on the metro are looking to get somewhere quickly
There's a reasonable belief that the STM will take this more seriously now that there's video of it in the news
The Metrodemontreal.com forum also has some discussion of this event and testimonials of similar things happening in the past.
Automatic sprinkler systems annoy me quite a bit. I mean, we get enough rain here that it's really not necessary to use the public potable water supply to water the grass.
But those behind the Place de l'Adresse symphonique of the Quartier des spectacles know it's important not just to keep the grass drowning in water, but to keep the garbage can and sidewalk wet at all times.
Grass drowning in sprinkler water for no apparent reason
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