Scotland votes
The yes side has been rallying for support. And so has the no side. Both sides hoping eleventh hour attempts to attract votes will tip the scales in their favour. It’s a close race. Scotland’s independence vote is too close to call. And it’s happening today. First Minister Alex Salmond offered the following pearls to Scotland, as they make their way to the polling stations:”The talking is nearly done. The campaigns will have had their say. What’s left is just us – the people who live and work here. The only people with a vote. The people who matter.The people who for a few precious hours during polling day hold sovereignty, power, authority in their hands. It’s the greatest most empowering moment any of us will ever have. Scotland’s future – our country in our hands.” Follow the coverage live on BBC by clicking on this link: BBC LIVE COVERAGE. [Source: BBC]
Angela Lansbury tours Blithe Spirit
Murder, She Wrote star and mother to us all, Angela Lansbury, 88, is touring as Madame Arcati in Noel Coward’s comedy Blithe Spirit. The North American tour of the 1941 classic is set to begin in December of this year. Unless you want to visit such places as San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Washington, D.C., her only Canada spot is at Toronto’s Princes of Wales Theatre from Feb. 10 – March 15. “During the course of my career, I’ve had the good fortune to play many, many unique and wonderful roles in the movies, on stage and television,” said Lansbury, a multi-Tony award winner. “And it is a joy to once again step into the role of Madame Arcati, and bring Noel Coward’s classic comedy Blithe Spirit to wonderful audiences here in North America who have supported me for over seven decades.” We can all hear her say those words, and upon doing so, have no choice but to believe every one of them was spoken in earnest. [Source: Hollywood Reporter]
Giller longlist
The Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist is in, 12 titles whittled down from the 161 submitted by 63 publishing houses across Canada. The winning entry, which will be announced on CBC Television on Nov. 10, will receive a prize of $100,000. And each of the three finalists will walk away with $10,000. “We’re celebrating writers brave enough to change public discourse, generous with their empathy, offering deeply immersive experiences,” said the Scotiabank Giller Prize jury panel. “Some delve into the sack of memory and retrieve the wisdom we need for our times, others turn the unfamiliar beloved. All are literary achievements we feel will touch and even transform you.”
- Arjun Basu for his novel Waiting for the Man published by ECW Press
- David Bezmogis for his novel The Betrayers published by HarperCollins Canada
- Rivka Galchen for her short story collection American Innovations published by HarperCollins Canada
- Frances Itani for her book Tell published by HarperCollins Canada
- Jennifer LoveGrove for her novel Watch How We Walk published by ECW Press
- Sean Michaels for his novel, Us Conductors published by Random House Canada
- Shani Mootoo for her novel Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab published by Doubleday Canada
- Heather O’Neill for her novel The Girl Who Was Saturday Night published by HarperCollins Canada
- Kathy Page for her short story collection Paradise and Elsewhere published by John Metcalf Books/Biblioasis
- Claire Holden Rothman for her book My October published by Penguin Canada
- Miriam Toews for her novel All My Puny Sorrows published by Knopf Canada
- Padma Viswanathan for her book The Ever After of Ashwin Rao published by Random House Canada
[Source: Northumberland Review]
Great week for sky-watchers
Some interesting things are happening in the sky this week. Let’s hold National Geographic’s hand as it walks us through what to look for: On Thursday night, the summertime constellation of Cygnus, the Swan will be visible directly above those in the mid-northern latitudes. The collection of stars is also referred to as the Northern Cross. The pattern is bright and the magazine has confidence that it’s easy to spot, “even from light-polluted suburbs.” Then, on the same night, and just below Cygnus sky-watchers will take in the Dumbbell Nebula, which is “a cloud of expanding gas and dust, the remains of the death of a sunlike star sitting about 1,700 light-years away.” Estimates suggest the star died between 3,000 and 15,000 years ago. On Saturday morning – early morning, the magazine emphasis – Jupiter will be situated next to a waning crescent moon. They will sit five degrees apart, and the sight is supposed to be spectacular. If you’re still on board, Sunday morning promises a good view of the Constellation, Leo. For more details, and pictures of what you’re supposed to be seeing, follow the source link of this brief. [Source: National Geographic]
Sacred fire planned ahead of the CMHR grand opening
Close to its grand opening, and near the building itself, a group of First Nations people intend to light a sacred fire Thursday in close proximity to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. The fire is to educate visitors about the lack of clean drinking water in many reserves. The mantle is being taken up at the museum, in part, because one of the CMHR’s themes is water. “The central theme is healing with water, and we don’t have a human right to water yet,” Alberteen Spence, of the Tataskweyak Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, told CBC News. “All I want is to have safe drinking water without fear that it’s going to kill me because of pollution.” The fire is also meant to educate people on what Manitoba Hydro’s projects have done to her home community. The four-day fire is not being billed as a protest. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights officially opens this weekend. [Source: CBC]
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Toban Dyck abides. Hey, I’m on Twitter @tobandyck
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