Arts Roundtable – Feb. 28

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DSC_0111Oscars, Netflix and the new Pope

Kyle Leitch, Paul Bogdan, Robyn Tocker, Dietrich Neu

1. Did you watch the Oscars? Were you pleased with the results?

KL: I did not. If I can’t be a voting member of the Academy, then I refuse to watch a show that managed to lobotomize Quentin Tarantino to the point that he didn’t utter one “fuck” during his acceptance speech.

PB: Nope. I watched Oscars once to make fun of it in this paper a few years ago, and I don’t intend on paying attention to them in the future. Major awards things like this are generally pretty stupid.

RT: I did, and I was very pleased with the results. Anne Hathaway is one of my favourite actresses and she was fantastic in Les Miserables. Jennifer Lawrence cracks me up every time I see her. She’s a peach. Overall awesomeness.

DN: I didn’t even know that the Oscars were happening until Facebook and Twitter exploded with weird cryptic comments about Seth McFarlane. It was kind of like watching a constant stream of inside jokes poison my Facebook feed. I still didn’t feel the urge to watch though. I haven’t looked at the rest of the roundtable questions, but if they are all about the Oscars I’m fucked.

2. Who do you think should be the next pope and why?

KL: I think that we can all agree that if Lemmy isn’t made the next Pope, then we have legitimate reason to riot.

PB: Not sure who, but my bet’s on an old white guy.

RT: I honestly don’t care one wit who the next pope is so long as they stop all this hypocrisy and address the child molestation that’s been tossed under the rug for years.

DN: Oh thank God, not an Oscars question. I remember hearing eager media analysts mention Canadian Cardinal Thomas Collins’ name when the news first broke that Pope Benedict XVI was going to step down. I remember feeling quite excited. That was a stupid feeling to have; I don’t even believe in God.

3. What do you think of the proposal for a Public Private Partnership (P3) for the new waste water treatment centre?

KL: Public Private Partnership? I hardly knew her!

PB: I’ve recently changed my views about Regina from “let’s get up in arms and save our city” to “fuck it; the only way to change Regina is to burn this fucker to the ground and start over”. So yeah, I’m all for this.

RT: I’m horridly behind in current events, but from what I looked up online, it could work out, or it could not, as all things usually do with the government. We’ll just have to wait and see for more developments.

DN: I do have a concern about freedom of information. If water treatment was handled entirely by the government we would have the right to demand information and keep them accountable. Private companies don’t have to grant FOI requests the same way that the City of Regina would have to. The people looking after our water should be held more accountable, not less.

4. Should everyone in Canada be forced to take a mandatory vacation to somewhere warm so we all aren't inherently insane by this time of the year?

KL: Sure, why not? Most of us know how winter treated Jack Nicholson in The Shining (spoiler alert: poorly).

PB: Yes, and I’d like to take this 50ish word space to announce my 2016 campaign for mayor of Regina. I’m running on the platform of starting a P3 to finance everyone’s Caribbean vacation. #PBP32016

RT: If it was paid for by the government, hell yeah. If not, sorry I’d rather freeze.

DN: Yes. I just came back from Mexico and I feel like a million bucks. I didn’t get shot either – big plus. There is nothing like spending a week in a warm country relaxing and lounging around. However, there is also a tremendous heroin-like comedown when your plane hits the freezing Regina tarmac on your way home. But yeah, I think everyone would benefit if they could afford it.

5. What do you think of Netflix premiering original content?

KL: I think we’ve finally made the shift from cinema and TV to Netflix as the dominant entertainment media. I dunno how I feel about that.

PB: Yes because drowning oneself in a TV series to escape the inevitable anxieties from daily reality is significantly more challenging with a weekly show than if I can watch House of Cards for eight hours straight.

RT: Interesting concept, we’ll see if it takes flight. Depending on the genre they put on there I could take the time to watch something.

DN: Whatever floats their boat I guess. I don’t particularly think that a company built on syndication would be very well suited to produce their own content, but I think this is a sign that Netflix is clearly bent on world domination. Good for them!

Photo by Tenielle Bogdan

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