This is Martha Hall-Findlay speaking at the Young Liberal event March 21.

Though I wish I were at Waffle House right about now being asked if I’d like to indulge in a Southern American delicacy, I’m not. Instead, I was interviewing a bunch of Liberals at an event held a March 21 by the York Young Liberals at the Underground at York. I have a thing for interviewing C-list celebs, and this gathering was a good chance to do just that. A guy by the name of Neil Shukla, was nice enough to invite me to the $45/plate event, and I am grateful.  Let me just say that the Liberal Party is alive and well, they just need to shake things up a bit, which is exactly what the president of the party, Alfred Apps was preaching. The smartest person I spoke to that night, by far was Gerrard Kennedy.  It really is a shame that he will forever be known as the “king-maker” for Stephane Dion’s leadership run, because he would make a great leader. I still hope that might happen one day.

Ken Dryden, speaking with attendees at the Young Liberals event. I think he`s smiling because he`s out of the Leafs organization. I would be too!

The most genuine was my own MPP for Toronto-St. Paul’s Dr. Carolyn Bennett. Her office is right down the street from where I live. I asked her questions about clinics run by private management companies, like Appletree Medical Group, which took over the York Lanes clinic that I use. She gave really honest answers, that I’m going to hold onto for a rainy day. I wrote an article on the event for the Excalibur, but I think we’re still having problems with the website, so I’ll put it up if it gets fixed. Here`s some of the photos, all taken by Excalibur`s Pippin Lee.

Dr. Carolyn Bennet and I. I spoke to her for the longest by far, and she really impressed me - not only because we both have to deal with the rumble of the subway outside of our windows - but because she had a lot to say about healthcare, about the Liberal Party and about getting youth involved in politics.

Former Ontario NDP Premier-turned Liberal MP Bob Rae. I wasn`t old enough to remember what he was like as a premier, but I can imagine what he`d be like a Liberal leader...

Martha Hall-Findlay describing to me how difficult it is to get young people engaged in the political system. She`s a really smart lady, and genuine to boot. On a completely unrelated side-note, she also reminds me a lot of my Mom.

Ken Dryden and I. For a guy whose won a handful of Stanley Cups, Dryden sure is dull. I think Dryden and Dalton McGuinty play bridge together with their wives on Sundays. On a side-note he didn`t have any comment when I asked him what the solution to fixing the Maple Leafs is... I think it`s a touchy subject.

Gerrard Kennedy and I. If it looks like he`s listening to my question, it`s probably because he actually is. He gave me some honest answers when I asked him about overseas disputes spilling over into this country, especially in big cities and places like York. He said the only thing that we should be discussing is what Canada`s position is or should be, rather than taking sides.

Liberal Party President Alfred Apps and I. He lightly suggested that I join the party and run for office. I`m still trying to figure out whether or not he was joking...

Looks like someone is planning a golf vacation, or perhaps dreaming of new golf clubs.... I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this guy is thinking about something golf-related. (Photo: Pippin Lee)

Sure, it’s not like going to a Jays game, or a Junior “B” hockey matchup, but Question Period in the Ontario Legislature isn’t exactly a snoozefest either. In fact, part of what I like best about both baseball games and Question Period is the HECKLING. Depicted below is one MPP, whose less interested in heckling, and more interested in writing numbers in little squares of newsprint. If I were sitting on that legislature floor, the opposition party would get it worse than a right fielder at the Rogers Centre. I don’t know about the rest of Ontario, but I elect my MPPs to be engaged, not bored. Looks like someone needs to attend a baseball game with my brothers and I to learn the ropes of chirping the opposition gracefully.

An MPP completes a "Suduko" puzzle in the chamber at Queen's Park, rather than engaging in his GOD-given right to heckle. This was taken by Excalibur's Pippin Lee.

Premier Dalton McGuinty is the best example of how you don't need to be charismatic to be the boss. In fact, you can be the least charismatic guy in the entire legislature and still be the leader. McGuinty is a shining beacon of hope for dull ambitious people across the province. This is him speaking in Question Period on March 29. (Photo: Pippin Lee)

There are very few things in life I like to do more than emulate the most typical elements of a news report: buttoning the blazer, walking towards the camera, punctuating every sentence with a hand gesture, and the most dramatic voice-over intonation possible. Which is why it makes me sad that last week was probably my last trip to Queen’s Park as a member of the press gallery.

Since October, I’ve been lucky enough to meet some pretty cool journalists: the Toronto Sun’s Christina Blizzard, CTV’s Paul Bliss, Global News’ Sean Mallen, the Globe and Mail’s Karen Howlett, and Toronto Star columnist Jim Coyle are just a few of the people whose hands I’ve gotten to shake.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is a fiery and passionate speaker in the legislature. (Photo: Pippin Lee)

The Minister of Training Colleges and Universities John Milloy was the man of the hour on March 29. A little known fact is that he was classmates with Dalton McGuinty way back when they attended Charisma School, and then both dropped out simultaneously to join the seminary, before entering politics when the prospect of the priesthood just seemed like too much fun. (Photo: Pippin Lee)

I also got to interview pretty well everyone there except for Dalton McGuinty, including Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, Health Minister Deb Matthews, Energy and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid, Training Colleges and Universities Minister John Milloy, as well as PC Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, plus a bunch more MPPs.

Last week’s announcement was on the new tuition fee framework for Ontario colleges and universities and changes to OSAP. My print story can be found here, and my video report is below (Forgive the brief black space at the beginning, I don’t know what happened there!). Now, one quick note, this announcement was basically Christmas morning for Canadian Federation of Students executives, since it either validates or negates their years of lobbying efforts. Curiously, neither the Ontario Chairperson and nor Ontario national rep showed up. Instead they were in Guelph trying to keep U of G a part of the CFS. Interesting to see where priorities lie when push comes to shove. Anyhow, here’s the video.

And speaking of typical news elements, I only just stumbled upon this a few days ago. Charlie Brooker is my new role model.

That’s all for now I guess. Updates on my new documentary will be up later this week.

Anyhow, I promised I would post the second feature piece I wrote about the film, which you can find here. Also, I did a little video to go along with the two features. It took a while to upload, but it’s done. It’s my first real experiment with entertainment reporting, and it’s literally just that: an experiment. I also shot the entire thing “survivorman-style” because I was on the trip by myself. Enjoy!

I also saw a lot of amazing work from some of the other journalists I met while I was at the press junket. First off, JJ (and Melanie in the Morning), from Toronto’s Flow 93.5 interviewed Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson with his contest winners, and quickly uploaded the video shot with a tiny little flip cam to the Flow website. I asked JJ about his interviewing techniques, because on the radio it needs to flow like a conversation, and that exactly how he does it. Take a look:

He wasn’t the only one of my colleagues in Lake Tahoe who impressed me though. The definition of multimedia was emulated by Kansas City radio DJ David Medsker. He transcribed and posted all of his interviews, took photos of all of the cast members, made cool headers for each of the interviews in photoshop and then wrote a blog-style post about the entire junket experience. Wow! Check it out!

Also, remember the guy with the flowery bag? Whose “wife packed his bags” (sure…we believe you), well his name is Thor Jensen and he’s actually a journalist for heavy.com, and he wrote some cool things as well. Including a review, and a feature on Crispin Glover.

That’s all for now! I have more stuff to share, but I’m up to my neck working on my documentary on Ontario’s energy policy and the decline of manufacturing in the province. More on that later…

Craig Robinson and I at "Winterfest '86", also known as "gongsha 2010".

Yup, that’s me with The Office‘s very own Craig Robinson. I was in Lake Tahoe, last weekend for the press junket of Hot Tub Time Machine. Apparently MGM has a lot of money, who knew!?

Anyhow, they invited media from all four corners of North America including some larger college newspapers, lots of radio stations and some of the more well-known online media. It was the strangest thing, I think I spent the same amount of time in airports on on airplanes as I did actually in Lake Tahoe.

This is the view from the hot tub. I went in this hot tub and ended up in the past. I can't explain it.

The film is set in the mountains of “Kodiak Valley” so from what I can gather they wanted to replicate that type of scenery for the setting of the press junket. I didn’t really know what to expect, and so I did what smart people do and just assumed the weather would be gorgeous, afterall, Lake Tahoe is on the California-Nevada border! I packed shorts, sandals, a toque, mittens and ski goggles “just in case” it was still cold enough in the mountains to ski. Well, as it turns out, the entire resort was in the mountains. I wasn’t really expecting full-blown winter, but that’s what I got!

Not too shabby eh?

We got off the airplane and the group of journalists (and radio “winners”) in beautiful Reno, and they told us there was a “snow storm” that was delaying our shuttle bus to the hotel, even though there was definitely no snow to be seen anywhere. So, instead of waiting for the bus, they just got us a limo. Halfway up the mountain a police officer stopped us and forced the driver to put snow chains on the tires. Half an hour later, we were on our way. This provided ample bonding time with the others in the limo, which included JJ, from Flow 93.5 in Toronto’s JJ and Melanie in the morning, a few radio show DJs from Ohio, and a guy named Thor with a flowery bag from the “dude site” heavy.com.

Rob Corddry really likes me I guess. We got to chat for a long time at the party. He's going to be even bigger than he is now. He is hillarious. Even though Cusack is the star on the poster, it's really Corddry who steals the show.

When we finally got to the hotel and a bellhop with both arms (you’ll think I’m funny when you see the movie), took our bags and threw us into a bar and told us to drink as much free beer and nachos as we could. So I did. We didn’t have a lot of time there, but apparently in Nevada “road beers” are completely Ok. They shuttled us down the street to the theatre and had us watch the film. I had already seen it when it was screened for the press the first time in Toronto, but I have to admit it’s a lot funnier when you watch it with a liquored-up crowd of people on vacation for free.

Jack and Coke. That's what Clark Duke drinks. He plays the funny, pudgy, nerd pretty well because that's not all that far off from what he's like in real life. He didn't really seem like he wanted to be there, which was odd because he's the least famous of all the actors. I'll let it slide though, because he's "bff's" with our Canadian boy Michael Cera.

The next day I got up, took in the beautiful scenery (I’m going to put up more of my photos the Photography section tomorrow), shot parts of my video and prepped for my group interviews with the cast (minus John Cusack and Chevy Chase).

The interviews went well. My only complaint is the fact that some of the other journalists in the room ask the dumbest questions in the world. I wish I could share with you the audio recording, because there are some real keepers in there.

Remember this guy? He's George McFly in the '80's classic "Back to the Future." Odd fellow, but super nice. You could tell he was there to get paid, but he was great for making conversation, even if he didn't laugh at my jokes!

The thing is that these guys have done interviews all day, so you really have to ask them something they haven’t heard before to get an answer worth writing down because mostly they’re just trying to entertain themselves. Being in the same room with, and sitting directly across from Craig Robinson was the highlight of the afternoon for sure. I had already interviewed Clark Duke and Collette Wolfe when they were in Toronto, but everyone else was new for me: Lizzy Caplan, Rob Cordrry and George McFly himself Crispin Glover! Glover gave the best answers by far. he’s a bit of an odd guy, after a bit of quick research you’ll find out that his passion is not acting with Michael J. Fox in time-travel flicks, but rather experimental film. His stuff is pretty out there. He essentially uses mainstream blockbusters to earn his pay cheques to fund his experimental films.

Collette Wolfe plays Clark Duke's '80's Mom in the film. She married the director of her last film Jody Hill. What a shame.

It was Saturday night and the fun hadn’t even begun yet. Sure enough, I hopped in my hot tub and went back to 1986 for “Winterfest”. This was where everyone at the press junket drank the free beer and got to take pictures and shoot the shit with the actors who attended.

Craig Robinson gives the crowd what they want, his very own rendition of the '80's hit "Jessie's Girl." (I stole this photo off of JJ's Facebook page)

Craig Robinson even got up and sang “Jessie’s Girl” with a Kiss wing on! They were all pretty open to talking to everyone. Robinson was clearly the star of the show, so I didn’t get a lot of face time with him, but most of the others were pretty cool. I had a really long talk with Rob Cordrry about dating in Hollywood, and something I don’t even remember with George McFly.

Steve Pink is the coolest guy ever. I'd go for beers with that guy any day. He made me take this picture twice, because he didn't like the first one.... this is the first one.

The coolest guy by far though (and probably because he’s the least famous) was the Director of the film Steve Pink. He sat beside me at the bar in the casino and just chilled. I feel like if I were about ten years older and a Hollywood director we’d be buddies for sure.

Anyhow, you can read my features on the film here. I can’t find the second one, but I will put it up when I put the video up! I wrote two separate pieces on two separate weeks.

I’ll put the video up as soon as it gets edited (not by me).

You can always tell the Canadians by how cool they are, and these ones are no exception. This is JJ (and Melanie in the Morning), with his contest winners Courtney Shranz and Racine Mdge.

The view out my hotel window in Phoenix, Arizona.

At the end of February I was fortunate enough to attend the Associated Collegiate Press spring convention in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. The idea is to bring college journalists together for seminars, and also to judge the best of the best in college journalism. Turns out, Excalibur stacks up pretty well against the Yanks. They merged a bunch of categories together this year, putting broadsheet and tabloid formats together (Excalibur is a tabloid…. no, not like the National Enquirer… we don’t write about who Jon Gosselin is dating… ever… thank GOD), but we still managed to come in 5th place! Here are the results.

You Can't tell from this photo, but downtown Phoenix has a vibrant art community filled with lots of talented artists and lots of really odd characters.

I went to a lot of pretty cool seminars, and learned a lot of random things that I never would have otherwise figured out… like how to optimize your search results to bring people to your website. In fact, that’s probably how I sucked you into finding this page on Google. I also learned about newsroom management, front page layout, how to teach the basics of news writing, and more on the first amendment then I will ever care to know.

We reached the summit of the "mountain" without any oxygen tanks. Badass, I know.

Phoenix is weird. It is the definition of backwards America. The downtown is a ghost-town; a 9-5 downtown and that is all. I mean, it has some tall buildings and even a university campus with 10,000 students… but there’s still no one there. We had to go to a suburb called Tempe to find any drinking establishments populated with more than three 40-year-olds and the bartender. Tempe is where the main Arizona State University campus is located. On the bright side, that side of town is pretty damn cool.

I also got to see some old friends from New Jersey (with awesome accents) and met some new ones from Central Washington state. It’s funny I always have this idea in my mind about what Americans are like, and every time I go there I’m always impressed by just how friendly and cool these people are. As an added bonus I met a whole ton of awesome Americans from Minnesota, and boy was it fun to brag about our hockey team to people who actually know what hockey is.

The only time I had ever seen a cactus before this trip was in a pot in my mother's living room. It's weird seeing their massive trunks planted in the rocky ground right beside the pathway.

On the last day we went to the edge of town and hiked up the dessert mountains. The scenery was just gorgeous. It’s the strangest thing seeing cactus growing in the actual earth beside the path.

On a quick side note, I bought a CD from the singer/guitarist who was performing outside of the restaurant one morning during breakfast. I bought his CD for five American dollars out of his guitar case, and it was the best purchase I’ve made in a long time.

His name is Blaine Long. Check him out, spread the word!

Thirty-two year-old TTC Chairman and Ward 18 councillor Adam Giambrone.

Okay, so i don’t need to go into detail about what exactly has happened to Toronto’s former political goldenboy Adam Giambrone (or as the critics are now calling him “Giamboner”) in the past few weeks, you already know. But what strikes me as insane is how somehow the blame for a struggling TTC is all of the sudden shifted solely onto his shoulders.

Sure, the TTC has been the subject of a lot of criticism for a while now, after all, the aging system is far from perfect, but it was always labelled more of a systematic failure rather than a matter of personal neglect. Here is a guy whose made some strides in improving the system and done mildly well with the cards he’s been dealt. Back in December I wrote an investigative story on how the TTC fails to come even close to having buses come to campus on time, or in regular intervals. Giambrone did well to diagnose the problem and explain exactly what needed to happen in order to fix it. Was he personally responsible? No. Could he have done better? Sure, but so can everyone at City Hall, Queen’s Park and especially in Ottawa.

I’m not sure whether its the media’s problem or simply a human instinct to build people up, only to tear them down. Even though the TTC Chair made some mistakes and did horrible things on a couch in his office (which I unknowingly sat on by the way), but that doesn’t mean that all of the sudden Giambrone should be a skapegoat for all the transit problems in Toronto. The TTC’s issues are far greater than one man, and he shouldn’t have to shoulder all of the blame just because of his choice to disobey the seventh commandment.

Plant manager Dennis Haggerty exits through the door of an 80-metre high wind turbine near Port Burwell, Ontario. (Photo Credit: TERRY TING)

Yup, I was in Copenhagen last week to shoot part of my upcoming documentary on energy policy in Ontario.  The film centres around the four remaining coal-fired power plants in Ontario (Nantocoke, Antikokan, Lambton and Thunder Bay) and the provincial government’s so-far-unsuccessful plans to close them. Essentially, the film is about what’s going to fill the energy gap left by the closures of these plants, and what’s stopping Ontario from using this opportunity to jump into the “green economy” and start creating jobs to replace the ones lost in the manufacturing sector.  The film is trying to bring into focus why exactly we haven’t been able to attract the investors to start large-scale manufacturing of things like wind turbines and solar panels.

According to one expert I’ve interviewed for the film — York University’s Mark Winfield — when environmental policy is shaky at best, investors aren’t willing to simply throw money into a less-than-stable market for only a chance to hit the jackpot. Although I think Ontario is the jackpot given that there are so many quality skilled and unskilled Canadians looking for work in a province that has the potential to be among the leaders in renewable energy manufacturing and installation, investors want a sure thing.

The politicians involved have only backed up Winfield’s views.  In 2003, Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals promised to shut down the coal plants by 2007.  Then 2007 came and they said 2009. This year is nearly finished and only the Lakeview plant in Mississauga has been closed bringing the total to four. They say 2014 is the magic date now, but given McGuinty’s history of promise-keeping no one is holding their breath. To make matters worse, according to Winfield, if we elect Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives to office in the next election, the plans will likely be scrapped altogether. So much for optimism eh?

Our poor showing in Copenhagen didn’t help the situation either. No, I wasn’t in Denmark last week, instead, I was in Copenhagen, Ontario to take a peek at a bright spot in Ontario’s energy grid — the Erie Shores wind farm, that stretches from Copenhagen, all the way over to Clear Creek, Ontario.  The nucleus of it all is in Port Burwell where my crew and I met up with the mayor of the Municipality of Bayham Lynn Acre (Note for Torontonians: a ‘municipality’ is essentially a collection of small villages and hamlets too small to govern themselves). Port Burwell is located on the north shore of Lake Erie not too far my birthplace: exotic St. Thomas, Ontario.

Acre, along with Plant Manager Dennis Haggerty shed some light on what it took to get the 66 turbines there in the first place, and the economic and environmental impact of the huge white turbines that litter the farms and cliffs in the area. I also got their take on whether there is the political will at Queen’s Park to make Ontario in a green economic powerhouse. Some of the residents of the area were also able to dispel any notions of noisy turbines that cause headaches, kill birds or ruin perfectly good landscapes.  Farmers who chose to allow the turbines onto their land make approx: $7-8,000 per year, per turbine in commission. Not too shabby for farmers recently bought out of the tobacco farming industry.

Anyways, the project is being shot by Alexandra Byers, edited by Mary Wallace and the sound will be recorded by Andrew Hunter. Here are some photos taken by the project’s still photographer, Terry Ting.

Enjoy!

Alex loves her Blackberry almost as much as I love mine.

Alex and Andrew had to fight the fiercely cold winds while setting up their equipment.

This is where the power generated by the turbines is collected before it's sent to the grid via Tillsonburg, Ontario.

Interviewing Municipality of Bayham Mayor Lynn Acre inside the Erie Shores interpretive centre.

Images like this one are tough to swallow for Jays fans everywhere.

Ever since the day I donned a yellow “Maxwell’s Camera” jersey and a red trucker-style St. Thomas minor baseball hat and stepped up to the plate in my first game of T-ball, I’ve been a baseball fan. In fact, it was around that same time that the Toronto Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series titles. I was hooked. Although my interest in the game has varied froms season to season, the team I’ve always chosen to support has remained unchanged.  I’ve attended more Jays games than I could possible remember, chirped more left-fielders than could possibly be healthy (or funny for those sitting around me), and at times the team has even served as a source of national pride.

So I was a bit taken aback when my little brother Luke told me he didn’t want a Jays hat for Christmas, he wanted a Philadelphia Phillies one. It didn’t take me long to figure out why.

It was no surprise when the Jays dealt their ace Roy Halladay last week. the entire world knew he had to go not only because he was going to be a free agent after next season anyways, but because the Jays are rebuilding and trading him frees up a lot of money. I’ll always cheer for Roy Halladay, and even though I’ll be bringing my best material to chirp the Phillies outfielders when they come to town next summer, I’ll be on my feet cheering when the doctor tips his hat to the crowd.

What troubles me is what the Jays got in return. First, they got three players that aren’t even ready for major league action, and for all we know, may never be! Sure these could be franchise players, but BJ Ryan was supposed to be a franchise player as well (I still haven’t forgiven you for sucking BJ). There’s no J.A. Happ, nor is there a Phillipe Aumont, instead the Jays get three minor league prayers and are still stuck paying Halladay $6 million next year to come to Toronto and dummy the 2010 Jays.

I thought new GM Alex Anthopolous would be a step in the right direction, but the way it looks now, I want JP Ricciardi back!

—

On an unrelated note, I’m glad that the Leafs are starting to come around, but I think the Leafs fans who haven’t already done so, should disown Brian Burke for his recent endorsement of Gary Bettman on the Phoenix Coyotes file.

That’s all.

No, I didn’t ask TTC Chair and Ward 18 (Davenport) councillor Adam Giambrone if he was going to run for mayor. Why? I know politicians well enough to know the answer would be ambigious at best, and besides, I had bigger fish to fry that day (Tuesday).

So far, TTC Chair Adam Giambrone has been mum on whether or not he'll run for the mayor's chair. (Photo by PIPPIN LEE)

I wanted to know what’s so wrong with the Toronto Transit Commission that busses leaving York University are routinely early or late, and some don’t even come at all.  Guess what? He didn’t have all of the answers. Can I blame him? Not really. He’s not a bus driver, or a route supervisor and has little to do with the day-to-day operations of the transit system Torontonians seem to have a love/hate relationship with.

He summed it up into a few things: 1) Its the operation staff’s fault (employees aren’t doing their jobs), 2) Uncle Dalton didn’t give him enough money to hire enough route supervisors 3) On-land transit is doomed to be tardy because its impossible to predict traffic, accidents, etc. 4) Drivers attempts to stick to the schedule actually make gaps/bunching worse.

Essentially he said they need to change the system to one that relies less on the schedule and more on what he called, “headway management,” which is essentially when buses are kept evenly spaced by running realtive to one another rather than attempting to run according to the schedule.

My full investigation into the issue can be found here.

All in all, though I only interviewed the 32 year-old mayoral prospect for a half-hour, he comes across really smart and self-confident. He didn’t put on an “everythings ok” face, when I showed him the dismal bus scheduling stats – instead he discussed the issue rather than glossing things over. I think he’s passionate and would make a good candiate to represent the “NDP” ticket in next year’s election.

They’re saying its going to be a John Tory/George Smitherman showdown. Tory won’t win, he doesn’t have the killer instinct ( see exhibit A, B and C), and as Royson james writes, Giambrone might just sneak up the middle and steal the show.

If it looks as if I haven't slept for three days in this photo... it's probably because I hadn't. (photo by PIPPIN LEE)