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Rebecca Solnit on Disaster

Making its way across the blogosphere is Rebecca Solnit's essay for Harpers on "The Uses of Disaster," which I'm guessing was written well before Katrina, and so is disturbingly prescient. She added a postscript specific to the recent tragedy.

It's very much worth reading. Solnit's an excellent, and highly passionate and opinionated, writer. She's something of a libertarian Socialist, but somehow makes it work for her.

Battlestar Canadia

So, we've definitely gotten hooked on Battlestar Galactica (the kidz call it BSG), and one thing that we've found... well... just funny is how it is essentially a Canadian production. I mean, beyond being shot in Vancouver, the bulk of the actors are Canadian, and don't try to hide it. I mean, Col. Tigh, played by Michael Hogan, might as well be wearing a toque, and eating ketchup chips, his accent is so strong.

Canadians are definitely proud to have the production in their land.

Anyway, the show's Canadian cast:

Tricia Helfer (pretty evil blond cylon)
Grace Park (pretty clueless Boomer)
Tahmok Penikett (pretty boring Caprica-left-behind Helo)
Kandyse McClure (pretty boring Uhura stand-in)
Paul Campbell (upstanding boy servant to the president)
Aaron Douglas ("chief")
Nicki Clyne (cute chubby-cheeked mechanic)
Donnelly Rhodes (smoking doctor)
Callum Keith Rennie (prophetic Cylon captee)
Kate Vernon (two words: Lady Macbeth)
Jennifer Halley (Seelix)

And on, and on. I've never seen an ostensibly American show so upfront about casting Canadians. I mean, the X-Files, which was also shot in Vancouver, frequently had Canadians in single-episode parts, but for a show's cast to be so Canuck-y. And Canucks who in no way are trying to hide their accents, well, that's new for me.

Special to the Canadians reading peterme: IMDB reveals that Michael Hogan got his TV start as an actor on.... "The Littlest Hobo"! (To Americans: "The Littlest Hobo" is one of those cultural things that makes very clear the distinction between Canadians and Americans. All Canadians know the story of this dog's adventures, whereas you'd be hard-pressed to find an American who'd ever even heard of it.)