Regina Folk Festival

The 40th Anniversary Folk Festival starts tonight with Delhi 2 Dublin, Iron and Wine and runs all weekend.

Always a great deal, even in the rain, as anyone who watched Bellowhead last year would attest.

Don't miss it.

Fake Kenyan Birth Certificate

Canadian politics can be dull and since the coalition attempt nothing much has happened to liven things up at all. (It may be some time before I forgive Michaelle Jean for that one) Truth be known, Stephen Harper, our Prime Monster must be one of the most boring people on the face of the earth. As classic example of why a policy nerd should never lead a political party.

Now in the USA things seem to be different. Those people get worked up over almost everything and the yellow press can make a story over nothing at all. I have been intrigued by this recent flap about where Obama was born. Fox news and others are apparently looking for a Kenyan birth certificate to try and undermine the President's claim that he was indeed born in the USA.

I discovered that in the spirit of this discussion you can generate a fake Kenyan birth certificate, on line, just like mine above. You can click on the image to enlarge it and to see a clearer image.

I encourage you to get your own as a reminder of the stupidity of the American media. Be the first one on your block to have one.

Who'll Play Me?

Have you seen the trailers for the new Nora Ephron film Julie and Julia? From what I have seen so far, Meryl Streep, who plays Julia Child has done an amazing job in capturing Child's voice and mannerisms. It looks like fun.

The film is based on two books and weaves the two stories together. One follows My Life in France by Julia Child and the other is based on what was first a blog. Parts of that blog - I don't think the whole thing exists anymore - is on the net at The Julie/Julia Project , then a book by Julie Powell.

As I understand it, bored and fed up with her job Powell decided to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year and write a blog about the experience.

The blog description is "Government drone by day, renegade foodie by night. Too old for theatre, too young for children, and too bitter for anything else, Julie Powell was looking for a challenge. And in the Julie/Julia project she found it. Risking her marriage, her job, and her cats’ well-being, she has signed on for a deranged assignment.

365 days. 536 recipes. One girl and a crappy outer borough kitchen."

The blog is fun to read as she works through the recipies. At some point after completing the task at hand and having written the book and managed to find a publisher, she wonders if she will actually sell 25 copies.

Still, I can hardly believe it. Nora Ephron wrote a movie based on a blog?

Perhaps there is hope yet. What could I say? Burned out and bored, retired trade union guy slaves away on his blog, holed up in his basement office, trying to be insightful, funny and provocative. That is it. Now I just have to wait until I am discovered.

I don't think I'll write the book. We'll go straight to the screen play. Dennis Hopper could play me. Now I'm getting excited.