From Cork to Toronto

The Red Hot Chili Peppers recently launched a lawsuit against Showtime's show " Californication " claiming that they had lifted the title, a character name and some dialogue. The Register notes some possible icebergs on the horizon : Showtime Networks is expected to argue that the band did not coin the word, a portmanteau of California and fornication. It first appeared in print in Time Magazine in 1972, in an article called The Great Wild Californicated West. Time reporter Sandra Burton wrote: "Legislators, scientists and citizens are now openly concerned about the threat of 'Californication' - the haphazard, mindless development that has already gobbled up most of Southern California." Kim Walker, head of intellectual property at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, said the band should have registered Californication as a trademark. Instead, the only trademark application was filed in April in the US, by Showtime Networks. The mark has no...

The teaser for Battlestar season 4.0 is on youtube... Hopefully the deferral of the start of the season to April 2008 means that when it does come it will run as a proper season and not "half-seasons" as before.

Only just came across this - TV3 reporter Sinead Kissane 's touchline post-match interview with Eddie O'Sullivan after the Argentina game. The youtube clip includes Jim Glennon's attempt at humour slapped down by Matt Cooper. [Hat-tip Waffler ] Unfortunately I can't find a clip of the reaction by "sacked Scotland coach" (as Matt Cooper's column in "de Paper" described him) Matt Williams on Setanta, describing Kissane as a "work experience girl" and not "showing respect". At least she has a decent job Mr. Williams. A good reporter asks reasonable questions the public would ask if they got the chance, and she did just that - and it's not like he hadn't time to consider the possibility. The IRFU's decision to award a 4-year extension prior to the World Cup (a mistake the FAI made with Mick McCarthy, let's not forget) was shown up big time here - not least because of the warning signs during the pre-Cup camp....

Michelle Madigan, Associate Producer at NBC Dateline , was outed at the hacker conference Defcon having lied about her position as a member of the press, instead registering as an ordinary attendee. Signing for a press badge entails a code of conduct - i.e. don't try and entrap 13 years olds who are making claims they aren't close to being capable of, and don't endanger the identities of federal agents with ties to the security community. Hidden cameras are a no-no, but it is suspected she was utilising a pin-hole device. What she and Dateline forgot is that unlike your common or garden paedophile, that show's bread and butter, hackers are wary types and intrusion detection is their stock-in-trade. Some reports indicate Defcon were tipped off by their own source within Dateline. After being offered a press badge four times , Madigan was outed and chose to flee the conference despite an offer to remain - with a badge. Plainly upfront journalism isn't the kind...

In Phoenix, Arizona two helicopters operated on behalf of KNXV and KTVK following a police pursuit collided killing all four crew . In Toronto, Global, Rogers and CTV all operate news aircraft. The Toronto Police wanted a helicopter for years under Fantino's regime, which may have cut down the number of fatalities occurring during these same pursuits and assisted control of large events, but while moaners, er... "concerned citizens" refused to countenance it citing noise and cost, the media organisations have expanded their fleets without much notice being taken. At the moment, the TPS seem to be able to get by for their own needs by borrowing York Region's helicopter, but to my mind it's time they had a hotline to Toronto Air Traffic Control with the power to close airspace to visual traffic such as private aircraft rather than having tellychoppers hanging overhead a crime scene causing a racket while officers are trying to deal with incidents for nuisance valu...

A wrongheaded stance , in my view, but their right to be wrong, etc. What got my goat though was the reference to the property market last month: The Toronto Real Estate Board is opposed to the tax, but it recently reported that June's sales volume was the highest ever for that month, with the average property selling for 5 per cent more this year compared to the first six months of 2006. Well, yeah - it would when the tax hasn't come in yet, and I fully expect sales to be as brisk if not more so between here and the year's end - as long as closing dates precede 31.12.2007. A surge in consumption usually precedes the onset of a tax, and a decline in advance of a reduction. Don't try and book a moving truck this Christmas. Toronto is providing at insufficient compensation things that are not its proper responsibility such as social welfare and does not have access to taxes directly linked to growth it creates. A Toronto success is really a federal and provincial succ...

makes for a very interesting read, not least for the admissions respecting spin. I was surprised that the Independent came in for such stick but I lived in the UK during a time when one wondered if the Independent would be around next month so things have obviously improved. I also like Paul Wells' take - hat tip to him as his blog was the first place I noticed this story. With 15 days to go before the press gallery can't tear any more strips off him, Tony Blair takes a great big strip off the gallery. The word "harlot" makes an appearance. UPDATE: You'll be shocked to know the speech didn't go over well. The tale of the tape: BLAIR: I'm not complaining. TELEGRAPH: We're not defensive. INDEPENDENT: We're not sanctimonious . GUARDIAN: We're not as bad as the other guys .

The CBC are still on the " greatest something or other bandwagon ". In addition to choosing the Seven Wonders of Canada they are asking Canadians to vote on Facebook for a wish , the most popular wishes to be announced on the CBC on Canada Day. Big Blue Wave urges its readers to support "Abolish Abortion in Canada" which at time of writing currently leads the list with 1223 votes . Sixth is "Restore the traditional definition of marriage". Fortunately there is also a wish that Canada would remain pro-choice , that Bob Cole would retire , and that we celebrate what binds us, instead of what divides us . I'm up for all of those.

The CBC's sports department is a rapidly shrinking animal given the loss of the Olympics, curling and CFL football so it is interesting that the Blue Jays are in talks with CBC to either have them replace TSN as secondary carrier of Jay games or to do so in addition to TSN, the current contract holder. Due to the mutual parentage of the Jays and Sportsnet under the Rogers corporate tent, the primary contract is not up for grabs. In NBA news - when Toronto got its 27th win last year it was April 15 and they had lost 55 games. This year they have lost 23 and are 9-1 in the last ten after their defeat of Kobe Bryant and the rest of the Lakers . As for the Leafs - after last night Nashville is still the only NHL team never to lose to Toronto, albeit over the short history of the franchise. This is a big sporting weekend for me, tomorrow morning will be spent watching United and Sunday morning (10am EST) the historic first international rugby game at Croke Park against France - an...

It's Wajid Khan for pity's sake, not Kahn. Blogs on all sides can't manage it . Bloggers are bad, so-called national newspapers worse. If there was any spelling error to be made in his name I expected it to be "Wajit". Other Khans in history: Genghis Khan Kubla(i) Khan Khan Noonian Singh ( Hollywood is "history" now? Shurely shome mishtake - ed. ) Imran Khan the Aga Khan Chaka Khan ( bottom of barrel approaching - ed. ) As for Kahns, well, there's Oliver Kahn Dominique Strauss-Kahn er... that's it. Now all you bloggers out there, Tory gloaters and Liberal spiters alike, get it right before I set Ricardo Montalbán on your ass. He may be old but I bet he's got some moves. And you Tories - what a prize you have. A guy who used to spend his mornings gorming with on FAN590 with Landry and Stellick. God help us all if the guy from Korry's on Danforth who advertises on the FAN runs for office, even if it's against fungus face .

One of the problems with podcasts is that one rarely gets to listen, they build up and you feel obligated to at least try and catch up. I was listening to an audio podcast from the December 13th the Agenda on TVO (about which I have written previously) which concerned the question of the amount of room for true debate in modern media. At one point the question of the use of the word "denier", usually linked to those who dispute or downplay the Holocaust , being used to describe those who do not subscribe to the theory of Global Warming while discussing a recent column by Rex Murphy . One of the participants said (and I have done my best to transcribe accurately and all emphasis below is mine): Until today I never heard the term "global warming denier" okay, until I read Rex Murphy's column. I don't think... I haven't heard that term. I hear "sceptic", is the term I hear. If someone's using the term "denier" that's the ...

At present, the CFL is broadcast on both TSN and CBC but the Grey Cup Final is shown on CBC. The Grey Cup is billed as a Canadian national institution (the foray into the US notwithstanding) and gets national network coverage as the FA Cup Final does in the UK. Under a new deal, TSN links up with fellow BellGlobemedia stablemate CTV to provide coverage. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it is odd that an outgoing Commissioner would negotiate it and the Globe infers that Argonauts executive and former TSN president Keith Pelley was the one doing the talking . The result was a sole-source bid with the CBC who had planned a bid with Global being shut out. Obviously Keith Pelley's broadcasting experience was a big deal when he joined the Argonauts staff given the dependence on TV revenue by professional sports but one has to wonder whether he really did influence the choice of going sole-source and if this did not form something of a conflict. The CBC's lack of a spo...

I wondered why Space was moving BSG to Sundays at 10pm for the second half of the season but it seems SciFi in the US are moving it from Fridays to Sundays at 10 and god forbid we'd see it first. It's rare that that happens - a day head start with the CTV viewing of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is the only one I can think of lately which might speak more to NBC's desperation to sell the show. Admittedly the existing BSG slot did suck as it clashed with Hockey Night in Canada but that was a problem solved by our new gadget . I'm interested by the slight difference in promotion of Season 3 - the Canadian/US ads tend to accentuate the romance and action bits teamed with music by Nickelback ( season 3 premiere ) and All-American Rejects ( season second half promo ) but I've just seen the Sky One promo for the UK Season 3 premiere on the 9th which pushes the political - you would barely notice the sci-fi bits until the basestars show up in the final frames - emphas...

This is the time of year when the Toronto Star prides itself on highlighting the plight of vulnerable people, the homeless and so on. It runs a Santa Claus fund . It even tells the story of 85 staff of various parts of a major media company canned just before the Chri... I mean "holiday season". No wait, that wasn't the Star that reported it, it was the CBC . The Star ran a Canadian Press piece with a headline in teeny type on the business page. One can't help but feel 85 jobs gone at the Post would have given rise to a special from Antonia Zerbisias . According to comments on a Torontoist post Torstar are supposedly giving NASCAR branded blenders to the ejectees . Sounds like a re-gift eh? Never mind, the website's been redesigned. Ooh, shiny!

TSN: Why do you promote hockey via the "my NHL" advertisements... during hockey games? Surely if you want to increase the reach of hockey you should be advertising during non-hockey telecasts or on other channels? I'm just asking. NHL: Still think it was a good idea to mess Jim Balsillie, respected and VERY RICH executive of Blackberry, around just to try and force him to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh? Now you appear to be stuck with (a) loudmouth Mark Cuban or (b) a guy who even the CFL wouldn't give a franchise to and who employs drug cheat Ben Johnson in ads for his Cheetah brand.

This is a serious question - why should Justin Trudeau 's opinion on the Liberal leadership be important to me, or at least any more than any citizen in the street? Given recent media coverage this guy seems to be very important despite never being elected to a single public office or even have a leadership role in the Liberal party, and whose push for Canada's participation in a putative Darfur mission seems to have distinctly fallen off the radar. His "royal" wedding did give the gossip sections good copy though . It does all seem very Stephen LeDrew -ish (Mr. 1.38%) though, an importance limited to the Hill and various editorial boards. Inquiring mind wants to know. Update: Robert Fulford from November 18th's National Post Justin Trudeau has an oddly perverse way of looking at Pierre Trudeau's life story. "When my father was my age he was still backpacking around the world and beginning to write ..." Well, no, actually. Justin is now 34. Pierr...

It seems the Greatest Canadian didn't teach the CBC anything about quality television . It seems four former prime ministers can't resist one last go using the CBC as a plaything . If Rick Mercer hadn't been tapped to host I'm pretty sure he'd be having a right go at it on his Report . I'm especially disappointed in Mercer that he would ever host a show previously fronted by CTV's beardless garden gnome, Seamus O'Regan. As Mercer's role in shilling for the Liberal climate change programme "One Tonne Challenge" shows, he might live and work in Toronto but he seems happiest in Ottawa. What I would like to know is - in what circumstance would such a panel ever have picked Chretien - or Campbell for that matter.

Like many other things, the media loves to prognosticate about political term limits but would never seriously discuss the concept about itself. A few weeks back Bob Cole was joined in the Hockey Night in Canada Leaf game commentary box not by Harry Neale but by Cassie Campbell , who stood in when Neale was snowed in . As this was the first time a woman had acted as colour commentator on Hockey Night, much talk followed, not least that Campbell wasn't ready to fill in in the role, that she hadn't served her time , that presumably someone like the recently departed to the CFL anchor role Elliotte Friedman would have been a better choice if available. Now, having watched that game I thought she made a fair go of it. That the CBC decided to go with her when someone with more on-air experience was surely to be found a few streets away at CBC headquarters is the CBC's fault not Campbell's. However my reaction at the time was more - what the hell is the CBC, the state ...

Being left with the National Post as the only national paper that hasn't sold out or already been read earlier in the day when a 2 hour bus journey awaits is like getting the last chocolate in the box. Most of the time a sickly sweet strawberry stares up at you but once in a while a gorgeous caramel or hazelnut is to be found .

When you subscribe to blog aggregators like OntarioBlogs or IrishBlogs, you come across a lot of varied and wonderful stuff but also a lot of one-note blogs and a lot of one-track minds. God knows I have often been wrong about stuff I have written and commented but I hope that when it gets to the stage where I reflexively abuse people personally simply for thinking differently that someone like Twenty will less than gently smack me upside the head and I will find something else to do with my time. The problem is that sometimes an interesting sounding subject line will have me clicking on the aggregator link before I realise whose blog it is and then my heart sinks on discovering where I've landed. Even if I don't click on it, sometimes scrolling down through the aggregator brings post after post which are cut and pastes from other outlets favouring their positions and little if any content of their own. Having made this comment in some frustration on one such blog, I then no...