This entry is cross-posted with blogTO.

For me, A Christmas Carol is Christmas. I’m not a religious guy, so the story’s emphasis on the spirit (or spirits) of the season and distinct lack of god-talk really resonates. Plus, it has a bunch of ghosts and a time travel plot. Which, in case you were wondering, is totally awesome.

Suffice it to say I was predisposed to enjoying Soulpepper’s production of Dickens’ classic tale. But even if I hadn’t been, I’m sure the excellent performances and nifty staging would have won me over.

Everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carol, so I won’t rehash it here. But I will say this is an excellent adaptation of the original novella. Dickens was paid by the word, and his prose is filled with maddeningly dense, joyfully comic passages. Michael Shamata’s adaptation revels in the Dickensian language without ever bogging down or losing the essential thread of the story.

The performances are also uniformly excellent, from the supporting players to the featured roles. But this is Scrooge’s story, and without the right Miser the whole thing falls apart. Joseph Ziegler isn’t just good as Scrooge. He is Scrooge. In fact, Ziegler’s portrayal is now one of my favourite Ebeneezer depictions, perhaps even edging out Michael Caine in A Muppet Christmas Carol for the top spot. That may sound flip, but I love the muppet version.

Soulpepper’s production also features some nice stagecraft. Tablecloths disappear into the darkness like apparitions. Scrooge and his spirits ‘fly’ on a towering ladder. A giant clock, created entirely through lighting, was also a nice touch. The sound design seemed a touch rough in places, and the play suffers from a few over-long, over-complex scene changes. But these small sins are easily forgiven amidst all of the other awesomness.

Soulpepper’s A Christmas Carol is also genuinely spooky. Which is perfect, since Dickens wrote a ghost story about Christmas, not a Christmas story with ghosts in it. Too often, productions of A Christmas Carol overload on Christmas cheer, and forget to play the more frightening elements of the story. What these shows fail to realize, and what Soulpepper gets so strongly, is that when you’re honest to the show’s ghostly plot the holiday message is all the more effective.

If you like Christmas, the Holiday Season, Dickens, or just really good theatre, go see A Christmas Carol. It sure put me in the ’spirit’.

Sorry. I think everyone gets to make that joke in a review once.

A Christmas Carol continues at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts until Dec. 24th. For tickets and info, call 416 866 8666 or visit Soulpepper’s website.

Photo: Joseph Ziegler as Scrooge. By Cylla Von Tiedemann.

I can’t help but think this is a good thing. In the furor to unseat the Conservatives for their appalling partisan politics, I think people got a bit swept up without thinking through the consequences. I’m all for some kind of censure, but not if it precipitates a national unity crisis, paralyses government, or compromises our ability to weather an economic crisis. I’m not saying a coalition government will necessarily do all- or any - of those things, but we need a bit of time to make damn sure they won’t.

Hats off to Rick Mercer for an excellent post on this whole mess. And I must say, I agree with his conclusion- that both Stephen Harper and Stephane Dion should immediately resign for conduct unbecoming parliamentarians. Maybe this proroguement is a good chance for a fresh start.

Finally, something to fill the infinite black abyss left in my soul when Murray, Ackroyd, Ramis an Co. failed to make a third movie.

• Today’s the day…Stephen Harper goes before the Governor General on bended knee, looking for a little help.
• Canada has banned cluster bombs. Which is great, since we had all of four of them.
• Rick Mercer, as always, boils down the parliamentary crisis.

World

• Meet the asshat GOP confresswoman that hung up on Obama…twice.
• The Mumbai Terrorists were hepped-up on goofballs.
• A rooster escaped the chicken nugget factory…by hiding in a McDonald’s parking lot. OH THE IRONY.
• Hero dog drags another, injured dog out of traffic. With video.

Mediated

• Stephane Dion’s televised address was apparently shot by twelve year-old with a cellphone.
• Burger King’s “Burger Virgins” campaign culturally risque, may also be brilliant.

Science & Tech

• The amazing, swimming, medicine-delivering microscopic paddleboat.
• Teddy Bears in spaaaaaace….
• One of the world’s oldest, and rarest tortoises may be sterile. Also, his name is George.

Pop Culture

• Drive the Batmobile with this kickass iPhone app.
• Introducing Osama Bin Lego.
• John Maynard Keynes apparently kept secret sex diaries…in code.
• The Toronto Raptors have fired head coach Sam Mitchell.

The Conservative Party of Canada has released several ads attacking the Liberal-led coalition government proposal. Here’s one of them:

Pretty pedestrian, really. And is it me, or is the stink of desperation coming off the CPC like a hot day at the hog farm? I mean, even the paid voice-over woman sounds desperate.

As I’ve said, I’ve got some deep reservations about this whole coalition thing. But from a technocratic, or “rules of the game”, perspective, the Conservatives just got pwned. And they are now getting down to some serious, albeit angry, squirming.

And there’s a compelling economic argument in there too. Six weeks too late, but the thought was there. Thanks, Doogie!

So, I was one of a few lucky bloggers given the new XM XMp3 player to test out a few weeks ahead of its Canadian release date. It’s billed as a ‘portable’ satellite radio, something that’s easy to carry around to the gym, the office,  the car, whatever. As a device designed to integrate into a mobile lifestyle, you could call it XM’s answer to the iPod.

But is it? The answer has to do with the ‘three pillars’ of iPodishness: design, content and function. And in the end, the XMp3 falls a little short.

From a design perspective, this is an attractive little unit. The XMp3 is smaller than a credit card, and not much thicker than an iPhone. The screen is nice and bright, and the controls are reasonably efficient. It takes a while to scroll through the 240+ channels on the rather clunky click wheel, but Pioneer has done a nice job in cramming a lot of features into a very small package.

And you can’t argue with the range of content offered by XM. The provider recently merged with rival Sirius, so you really get the best of both worlds. CNN? Good stuff. BBC World? Love it. As an old punker, I also enjoyed Marky Ramone’s show on FACTION XL. And if you like sports, this thing rules. Channel after channel of baseball, hockey, football, you name it. But XM also carries  a lot of chaff in the schedule. I mean, I like AC DC as much as the next guy, but do we really need a 24 hour channel devoted to the inveterate rockers? Probably not. Still, in the two weeks I’ve had the XMp3, I’ve heard a lot of things that just don’t get played on regular radio.

Of course, all that content is only good if you can access it. Reception is a real problem for the XMp3, and it’s a real stretch to call it “portable”. The player has a beefy looking built-in antenna, but I’m forced to assume it is largely ornamental. The signal is decent, if spotty, when walking around outside. But inside, or in a car, you’ll need an additional external antenna to get any kind of reliable reception. All this extra gear gets a little tricky to haul around. And it ain’t cheap- between $50 and $100 for a car kit.

This is really too bad. The places where I would actually really like a satellite radio - like driving in my car, commuting on transit, or working out at the gym - are all the places it doesn’t work, or requires an external antenna to work properly. The “portable” tag emerges more as wishful thinking than an actual feature for the XMp3.

Presumably to compensate for the reception problems, the XMp3 lets you record up to 100 hours of programming. You can also record up to five channels at once, meaning you won’t miss any of the all-Elvis station while getting the latest financial news from Bloomberg. You can also listen to Mp3’s on an SD card (not included). Which is all fine, except this is supposed to be radio. You know, live and immediate. I’d happily sacrifice some recording functionality for more consistent reception.

Oh, and XM also offers some software to help you manage all your recordings. Unfortunately, the software only works on PCs, and is therefore totally useless to me. What is this, 1995? Make your software compatible across multiple platforms, or you risk alienating the gadget-happy Apple Army.

So, I’m a little lukewarm on the whole ‘portable’ satellite radio idea. The device is well-designed, and the content is impressive. But the reception issue kind of sours the whole deal. If you love radio and want a low-home satellite player that takes up very little space, get the XMp3. But if you’re looking for something to listen to on the go, get an iPod. It may not be live, but it plays thousands of songs, all of which programmed by you. And you’re never left cursing the heavens for somehow blocking your precious satellite signal.

The nice people who gave me the XMp3 to test would like you to fill out a survey. If you’re interested, go here.

Canada

• Toronto is the “child poverty capital of Ontario“. Also, just plain ol’ Capital of Ontario.
• Toronto Council has approved the 5 cent plastic bag charge. Hurrah for token gestures.

World

• It’s raining in Brazil. Hard. Like, apocalypse hard.
• The army has joined protests against Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe. Through the bum out.
• Sarah Palin is still wearing the $150K election wardrobe she was supposed to give back.
• More Nixon Tapes have been released. Scenes from a dark era.

Pop Culture

• Toronto might be getting booze in a few movie theatres.
• The battle between Dr. Pepper and Axl Rose is getting ugly
• The NHL suspends Sean Avery for being a dumbass. Finally.
• Missing: 130,000 inflatable breasts.

Science & Tech

• Knut the Polar Bear is looking for a new home. Might I suggest my unholy polar bear army?
• Right-handed kids do better in school. Hey-O!

The EBC PARTY
Everyone But Conservatives

Department of Culture and NOW Magazine invite you to come celebrate the
success of grassroots organizing. Come toast the new government that 63% of
Canadians actually voted for. This coalition government proves that Canadian democracy works and that the voice of the majority of Canadians really matters in Canada.

They seem happy with the whole coalition thing, and that’s fine. But c’mon now. The success of grassroots organizing? If anyone can make a coherent argument as to why the rise of a coalition government was a grassroots victory and not a backroom political deal, I will give that person a unicorn. An honest-to-god unicorn.

It’s not so much that I’m against a coalition government. It’s that I don’t really know what I think about a New Liberaquois Party calling the shots. And for me, that’s a new and confusing feeling. I usually have an opinion about everything, no matter how misinformed and ridiculous it may be.

I’m no fan of Stephen Harper, and last week’s economic update managed to be both tawdry politics and  inept policy.  No question, Parliament should exact some form of censure. I also don’t think a coalition government is undemocratic. This is the Westminster system, folks. Power is more fluid than in a presidential system, and there is a lot of precedent for this kind of move.  And, taken together, the New Liberaquois Party represents significantly more voters than the Conservative Minority

Unfortunately, I dislike all political parties equally, so the prospect of a ‘progressive’ coalition replacing Harper provides little comfort. I also think this kind of tumult is a bad idea going into a recession. As we’ve seen, the almighty market gets a little jumpy around words like “instability” and “Jack Layton”. And it’s pretty jumpy already.

As Adam Daifallah, one of Canada’s more thoughtful conservative commentators, points out, a coalition government would short-circuit the Liberal Party’s “wilderness years”, a time of rebuilding and reflection it sorely needs in the wake of scandal and defeat. The Progressive Conservatives went through a similar process post-1993, and it worked wonders for their electability. Wilderness years are important to the Liberals, because Canada needs a solid Liberal Party. It’s political mutability makes it a party of the center, which is the only logical position from which to govern a modern, cosmopolitan state. If the Libs take the reigns now, they do themselves- and the country- no favours.

All that aside, the biggest problem for me is the optics of this whole thing. A Stephane Dion-led, NDP-heavy coalition government is sure to enrage the Western provinces. That’s a bad thing. Moreover, while I think a coalition government plays well within democratic rules, it will look to many like one party without a mandate to lead grabbing power, supported by another party with even less  public approval to govern. This will feed a lot of animosity and cynicism about our political system. It may also tick off a good number of moderates and independents, who may in turn grant Harper an actual majority government out of spite. A coalition sets up this unfortunate cycle of political attack and retribution that will effectively poison government for years to come.

OK. So maybe I’m starting to come down on the “coalition = bad” side of the coin. But I leave it open to you: if you feel passionately one way or another, leave your thoughts in the comment section. Educate me. Convince me. Take away these political nightmares, because let’s face it: those are the lamest kinds of dreams to have.