A Very Bad Movie and some Political Thought

I watched M. Night Shyamalan’s movie “The Village” this weekend, and have decided that not only is it my choice for the worst movie of 2004, but that it was soooo awful, it will probably also be my worst movie choice for 2005 as well!! That twist ending was pretty lame. No...the whole movie was pretty lame.

Anyway, it was an interesting weekend. Friday night, Lewis Lapam, the editor of Harper's Magazine was in E-town for the U of A Students' Union Revolutionary Speakers Series. It was an interesting night. He gave the crowd quite a bit of insight into the current political climate in the US (from the viewpoint of an intellectual of the left). I would say that there were at least 600 people there.

I also attended the Annual General Meeting of the Alberta Liberals in the good city of Red Deer. Over 170 people from across Alberta came to this meeting to elect a new party executive, meet the 17 newly elected Alberta Liberal MLA's, and hear Leader Kevin Taft speak. It seems to be a very exciting time of growth for the Official Opposition in Alberta.

I had an interesting discussion this weekend with some familiy of mine about Alberta Politics. It has always been a frustrating topic for me, I'm a provincial Liberal (big and small-L) here in Conservative dominated Alberta. I realize that the Liberals have a huge mountain to climb before they can legitimatly form a government (the PC Party has been in power since 1971). I do tend to believe that the first-part-the-post electoral system, the stagnation and lopsidedness of political debate along with the dominance of the PC Party has led many Albertans to believe that a change in government will never come. It's frustrating and I think it may be how the Federal Reform/Alliance/Conservative Parties have felt about the federal Liberal dominance in Ontario.

But, nethertheless, it is very uplifting and re-energizing to see the the Alberta Liberals have a Leader like Kevin Taft to lead the charge against the "natural governing party of Alberta."

Adieu and good night.

D