Not having anything better to do, might as well liveblog the leaders’ debate tonight. Will there be enough snide sarcastic comments about the leaders and TV networks to sustain a whole post? We’ll see.
Other liveblogs:
Tag Archives: liveblogging
Liveblogging the leaders’ debate
Take your pick, everyone’s doing it:
- The Gazette’s Don Macpherson
- La Presse’s Patrick Lagacé
- Journal de Montréal’s Marco Fortier (forum only, no liveblogging)
- The National Post (using crazy Flash technology)
- The Star’s Linda Diebel
- Maclean’s
- Ottawa Citizen’s Laura Drake
The debate itself is an unintelligible shouting match, so I don’t think there’s much analysis to get out of it.
But feel free to analyze the liveblogs themselves below. Which is funniest? Most astute? Quickest?
UPDATE: My initial reactions: most of these liveblogs sound more like transcripts. Are these for people who can’t access TV? They seem to think that knee-jerk snark can replace rapid analysis. As the king of knee-jerk snark, I wonder why I’m not being paid to liveblog this.
My winner is the National Post, which has special software which works properly, has comments from a team of writers instead of one personality, and includes (moderated) comments from visitors with the liveblog comments. Losers include Le Devoir and Canoe, which didn’t have liveblogging at all.
UPDATE 2: Paul Wells has a franco blogger roundup of debate analysis.
UPDATE 3: Regan Ray at J-Source has a taste of the liveblogging action.
Gazette live-blogging Impact game
The Gazette is trying something new tonight, live-blogging the Impact vs. Toronto FC game at Saputo Stadium BMO Field in Toronto. The copy is a bit dirty (note to marketing dept.: “Pat Hickey RAW”), but at least you get the news of what’s going on.
La Presse is doing similarly with blogger Pascal Milano, as is Radio-Canada, with at least a half-time report from each.
Unless I’ve missed something, Le Devoir, Quebecor’s Canoe portal, CTV Sports and even the sports networks (TSN.ca, RDS.ca, Sportsnet.ca) have nothing on how this game is going.
The Impact is the unpopular little brother of the Alouettes and Canadiens, and the media tends to half-ass coverage of the team (in most cases, only covering home games so they don’t have to spring for airfare). Since this is a non-league game, it’s not on TV. RDS and TSN have Rogers Cup tennis, and CBC/Radio-Canada have regular non-sports programming. Fortunately, though, CBCsports.ca has a free live broadcast of the game online.
UPDATE: 1-1 draw gives a victory in the CONCACAF Canadian championships to the Montreal Impact. SUCK IT, TORONTO!
Rad-Can and Milano win the race for breaking news, having the result up within minutes (seconds?) of the game ending.
CBC Television is also replaying the game at midnight.
The right way and wrong way to blog the Emmys
There’s nothing better on tonight (except re-runs of Family Guy/American Dad on Global, Anchorman on ABC, the NFL’s New England Patriots on NBC/TSN, and the Weather Network’s long-term forecasts), so I’m watching the Emmys.
Of course, it’s not enough to be watching the Emmys, you have to read someone liveblogging it too. Something to keep you entertained during Ray Romano’s monologue. (It’s clear why some of the awards were previously presented, because they needed more time for long, unfunny monologues and skits.)
There’s a few options for Emmy liveblogging, but I’ll point to two with opposite mentalities:
FOX has five people you’ve never heard of sitting in the audience with blackberries in their hands, contributing to a blog on its website. The blackberries apparently prevent them from using punctuation, capital letters, or from spelling anyone’s name right. Here’s a sampling of some of the comments:
- “ray remono is a comedic genious he had the audience in tears”
- “I’m quick like a squirrell.”
- “whod of thought eva l could get any hotter”
- “hahaha yay justin!”
- “queeny is in the house”
Most of the other posts have about the same level of insight and grammar.
On the other side of the spectrum, The Gazette’s Basem Boshra is sitting in front of a TV liveblogging the Emmys for the Inside the Box blog. A sampling:
- 8:47: Biggest upset of the night so far as Late Night with Conan O’Brien snags the writing in a variety, comedy or music series trophy over heavyweights such as the Daily Show, Colbert Report and Late Show with David Letterman. (Although the winner for best goofy video to accompany the list of nominees – always one of the high points of any Emmy broadcast – goes to the team from Bill Maher, for their priceless send-up of the Sen. Larry Craig mess,)
- 8:59 p.m.: A grizzled-as-ever Robert Duvall spends a little too long extolling the virtues of the western after winning the award for best actor in a minseries or movie for Broken Trail, presented to him by Heroes’ Ali Larter and 24’s Kiefer Sutherland, the latter who was in full-on Sutherland-gravitas mode.
It’s not like the latter tells me much I couldn’t tell from simply watching the show. But at least it doesn’t treat me like an idiot.
UPDATE: From Sunday’s Gazette:
Sacrilege! How could they get the name of his show wrong?
The Dawson shooting: As it happened
(I don’t quite get this “as it happened” re-run news coverage fad going on. CNN did it last year with its 9/11 coverage, replaying tapes of that morning in real-time. MSNBC did the same this year. But if it works for them, I might as well dredge up something from my archives.)
One year ago today, a tall gunman went into Dawson College dressed in black clothing and a black trenchcoat at about 12:41pm, and fired an automatic weapon at random, shooting students. Anastasia DeSouza, 18, died on the scene, and 19 other people were injured, many seriously. They spent between a few hours and a few weeks in hospital. The gunman, Kimveer Gill, was shot in the arm and then turned one of his guns on himself.
I was at home that day on a day off from work. I first heard about the shooting a few minutes after it happened, when it was mentioned in passing at the end of CTV News at noon. What follows are my observations of news coverage of the incident as it happened that day. (The links are a year old, so some of them may not work anymore)
The exciting results, live! (as soon as I see them on TV)
Tonight’s election liveblog, in a nutshell:
- Liberals win, ADQ becomes the official opposition after posting huge gains in Quebec City, the Laurentians and the Eastern townships.
- Strong second-place showings in two ridings by Québec solidaire and three by the Greens, all on the island of Montreal.
- The CBC blows a big election call (Jean Charest’s riding) and has to retract itself with a pathetic excuse