Rating: NNNNN
Yorkville high-rise canyon
i’m surprised at the spiteful tone of your writer on Yorkville (NOW, May 6-12).
Our objection to the large proposed development on the north side of Yorkville Avenue, coming on the heels of permission for a hotel with condo tower at the corner of Hazelton, is that both will be built well inside the perimeter of this low-rise “special identity” area, contravening both zoning codes and Official Plan. Developers move fast to take advantage of precedents: is Yorkville to become a car-clogged high-rise canyon?
Jay MacPherson
Toronto
Pope as edgy as Dalai Lama
re my own private kalachakra (NOW, May 6-12). Wow. It’s been almost a year since World Youth Day and I still have to defend the Pope from NOW’s persistent haranguing and uninformed bias. To rebut your claim, Pope John Paul II is, in fact, the most travelled pope in history. If he didn’t appear to have the same lasting power that the Dalai Lama showed, it is because the Pope suffers from a little something called Parkinson’s disease.
That this man can even finish one mass is a testament to his faith and conviction.
I know the Beastie Boys don’t support him, but if you want edgy, don’t forget he helped to bring down the Berlin Wall.
Marc Boudignon
Toronto
Show a little tenderness
it’s a pleasure to read such straightforward, honest and graphic reflection like that in the article by Orville Douglas (NOW, May 6-12). On the surface, the piece appeared to be about two issues: 1) gay sex between consensual male adults and the various forms it takes and 2) relations and expectations of others based on their race/colour.
Regarding the latter, there is no question there are expectations and fantasies by people about those of other races.
Mr. Douglas was saying that he didn’t want sex that particular night. What he really wanted was what we all want more often than not, to be loved and cherished. The sex drive is a powerful one, but the drive to be loved and treated tenderly is even stronger.
Mark Bernstein
Toronto
Corruption by the trainload
you correctly note that police corruption is tied to prohibition (NOW, May 6-12) but don’t quite describe the potential scope of corruption. During alcohol prohibition in the U.S., for example, they were literally hauling convicted cops off to prison by the trainload. No one should be surprised at the current problems.
Clifford Schaffer
Director, DRCNet Online Library of Drug Policy
Agua Dulce, CA
Fantino’s sacrificial lambs
new corruption charges in the most expensive Canadian police force again, including against an ex- chief’s two sons! Each year, Toronto police get increases in their paramilitary budget, despite being headed by a man who would be completely comfortable with limiting, restricting or eliminating our Canadian right to assemble. And who is investigating the cops’ own corruption? Rest assured, Fantino has told us through the media that it’s OK for him to do this, because wasn’t it the cops themselves who initiated the investigation?
With that in mind, I think even the most corrupt police official in any city would be happy to sacrifice six of their own for the power and ability to whitewash any other evidence of corruption. What is wrong with a public investigation?
Greg LeBelle
Toronto
Iraq war blowhards
re bush’s image problems (now, May 6-12). Where are the supporters of the Iraq war now that the criminal and sadistic underside of the conflict has been exposed in Abu Ghraib prison? Most probably they will brush it off as a few “rotten apples.” However, torture and illegal imprisonment have been the hallmarks of the so-called “war on terror” since its beginning.
Simon Trevarthen
Toronto
Change your enemy views
you need to get rid of the hard leftist and pro-Islamist views. Otherwise, you may have to take a well-earned vacation in a secure hotel when all is said and done in a few years. You have no power. Remember, you’re the “pacifists.”
The United States Marine Corps and ultimately our tactical and strategic defensive arsenals represent true power. Take your peace marches elsewhere. Everyone is starting to understand now just how dangerous and treacherous the hard left truly is. Any Chinese survivor of Mao or Iraqi survivor of Saddam will tell you this, point blank. No more enemy views in NOW, please.
Name withheld by request
Toronto
Flash in the can
re flash recovers fast. if you’re gonna hire hack Jeffrey Haas to retype 22-month-old press releases, please at least teach him how to copy and paste. Macromedia announced way back on June 3, 2002, that Jakob Nielsen was to begin work on “best-practice guidelines” for Flash. Joining us late, Jeffrey?
Haas twice mentions “text-based browsers” as something that disabled surfers actually use. He also seems to equate “disabled” with “blind.”
Blind people almost invariably run Internet Explorer for Windows in conjunction with a screen reader, two of which – Jaws and Window-Eyes – have been upgraded to function adequately with some Flash animations.
Nonetheless, it is ridiculous to claim that Flash accessibility has been fixed. Macromedia was embarrassed when it claimed captioning was impossible in Flash, only to see a hobbyist hack together a utility in his spare time. There is no support for audio description many rich Flash interfaces simply cannot be made accessible.
Joe Clark
Toronto
Get Reel needs to get real
i just read your review of jully Black at the Get Soul Festival (NOW, April 29-May 5) and was immediately disappointed. Maybe I’m just stupid and out of touch, but I think the reason for the low turnout was the disastrous advertising campaign put together by the festival. The ads on FLOW 93.5 were little more than noise, and there were few (if any) posters.
I’d love to be able to go to events like this, but they have to spend the money to get the word out.
I also love reading NOW, but I can’t read through each daily list of events with a magnifying glass every week on the odd chance I’ll find an urban music festival.
Paige Best
Toronto
Now hear this
in light of may being hearing Awareness Month, the Canadian Hearing Society (CHS) would like to congratulate you on The Sound And The Fury (NOW, April 29-May 5), which outlined the negative effects noise pollution can have on hearing. I’m in my late 20s and find it hard to imagine that listening to my portable CD player too loudly or attending one too many concerts could result in a serious hearing loss 20 years from now.
However, noise is one of the leading causes of hearing loss.
Here is a quick hearing test I would like to share with your readers. Before going to a concert or nightclub, tune your car radio to an all-talk news station and adjust the volume so you can just hear and understand the conversation.
When you return to your car after being exposed to loud noise or music, see if you can understand the conversation without adjusting the volume. If you can’t, then you have probably been overexposed to noise.
Unfortunately, there are no symptoms until it’s too late.
Kristie Jones
Canadian Hearing Society
Toronto
Don’t believe Bailey
i agree wholeheartedly with Cameron Bailey’s observations on The Saddest Music In The World (NOW, April 29-May 5). You sit there staring in complete detachment at a film that doesn’t care to establish any rapport with you whatsoever. The curious thing about Bailey’s review is that, after noting how hollow and cold this movie really is, the rating is still NNNN. In 45 years of avid movie-going, I have never been so unmoved by any film.
Mixing art-film pretensions with jokes about Winnipeg and beer, it is as funny as Ingmar Bergman and as profound as the Air Farce. I can’t wait to forget everything about it, but the feeling of being had can last a very long time. Bailey, I will never believe you again.
Don Hart
Toronto
Abuse under guise of care
eli shupak has graciously touched upon a common problem in the health care and social service systems (NOW, April 8-14) – that of abuse under the banner of care. Whether approving medicines, counselling new mothers or adjusting a pillow, it’s amazing how a system dealing with vulnerability so often disregards vulnerable people.
E. Fabris
Toronto
Keep eco remedies coming
thanks for the steady ecoholic column. I think it is a very important addition to NOW’s many valuable offerings. Don’t stop.
Doug Moore
Toronto
Disabling beauty fixation
ok, i know i’m late on this one, but I was just looking at an older copy of NOW and read Mark Lindenberg’s Naked City column, Mixed Signals (NOW, March 25-31). Lindenberg wants women to look past his disability, but seems focused on finding a young, svelte, gorgeous woman. Maybe if he widened his search to include the rest of us who, while not model-like, are still pretty great, he’d have a better time of it.
Anna Snowdon
Toronto
