exclusivediecast.com

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

David McGruer is running for the Freedom Party of Ontario in the Ontario provincial election, in the Ottawa-Orleans riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Friday, November 3, 2006

On November 13, Torontonians will be heading to the polls to vote for their ward’s councillor and for mayor. Among Toronto’s ridings is St. Paul’s West (Ward 21). One candidate responded to Wikinews’ requests for an interview. This ward’s candidates include John Adams, Tony Corpuz, Joe Mihevc (incumbent), and John Sewell.

For more information on the election, read Toronto municipal election, 2006.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Tyler Currie is running as an Progressive Conservative candidate in the Ontario provincial election, in the riding of Trinity-Spadina. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Homebush Bay, New South Wales —

Wikinews sat down with Great Britain men’s national wheelchair basketball player Ade Oregembe before a practice session at the Rollers & Gliders World Challenge in Sydney.

Nigerian-born Oregembe, one of twenty-four children, contracted polio when an infant. He started playing basketball after a random person suggested he take up the sport. Oregembe stated he’d never previously seriously considered any other sport. His wheelchair basketball journey has taken him to Spain (to play in their local league) and around the world with the Great Britain national team.

Oregembe was asked about two of the big Paralympic stories: Oscar Pistorius, and 5 point players —able-bodied competitors— competing in their sport at the Paralympics. He did not support Pistorius’s inclusion in the Olympics, nor inclusion of able-bodied athletes in wheelchair basketball at the Paralympics.

While the United Kingdom has a reputation for sport-related racism, Oregembe said he had not experienced much of it on the courts. Elsewhere though, it was a different issue as he had experienced racism both to his face and behind his back, noting it was a particular problem in Spain.

Oregembe’s Great Britain side kicks off their London campaign on August 30 against the Germany men’s national wheelchair basketball team.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Finnish theatrical hard rock band Lordi have released Beast Loose in Paradise – which will be the soundtrack to the band’s upcoming horror movie Dark Floors – as a downloadable single.

The song was originally intended to be released via Zed.fi, but for unknown reasons has not appeared on the site. However, it has appeared on at least two other sites as a pay-to-download single – MSN Music Finland and MTV3.fi.

The song was one of two recorded last month, and will be released by Sony BMG Finland as an actual CD on January 8 . The other song, titled Studs and Leather, was also written for the movie.

The cover art for the CD single has already been revealed. It is a direct tribute to the KISS album Creatures of the Night.

Most of both songs were composed during Lordi’s tour of the United States as part of Ozzfest, with the band’s lead vocalist saying in an interview with MonsterDiscoHell.com that the main riff of Beast Loose in Paradise was written in Milwaukee, while the chorus of Studs and Leather was composed in St. Augustine.

He went on to say that Studs and Leather had originally been intended for Bend over and Pray the Lord!, an unreleased album from 1999 that had been intended to be Lordi’s debut. The verses from Beast Loose in Paradise had been decided on between the whole band during therapy sessions at Christmas 2006. He said that he had written most of the rest between two US tours, the Ozzfest tour and a tour as the support act for American gothic doom metal band Type O Negative.

He continued to deny a recent rumour posted in Finnish music periodical Soundi that the new material was going to be “more brutal and raw” than that on Lordi’s last album, The Arockalypse. “Our music is not gonna get any brutal or heavier, but not any lighter [either]… I’d say these two songs are familiar Lordi. Although Beast Loose in Paradise is more ‘movie-esque’ and ‘horror-ish’ on purpose. And some might say it’s even heavier, but at the very least the chorus will be familiar and melodic Lordi stuff. And Studs and Leather is basically Heaven’s on Fire (KISS song) meets Balls To The Wall (Accept song).

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Four months and 3,200 kilometres ago, Canadian runner Jonathan Howard began his run across the second-largest country in the world, to raise awareness for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

A graduate of McMaster University, Howard arrived in Toronto this week, to address the nation’s largest city before continuing his westward run which will take him through all ten Canadian provinces.

Howard was met Monday at a charity barbecue by Senator Art Eggleton. The fundraiser was part of Howard’s strategy to raise 2.5 million dollars to assist families that support children with ASD. “Spectrum is a very puzzling word,” he told the gathering “because there are many types of autism on that spectrum”. The real goal of his RunTheDream.ca charity drive though, Howard explained, was simply to “get people involved in the issue” and generate attention for the little-understood disorder.

Eggleton, who welcomed Terry Fox to the city as mayor in 1980, drew comparisons to the Marathon of Hope runner who became a Canadian icon. While praising Howard’s efforts to raise money and awareness, the senator said he believed that “an awful lot more needs to be done” at the political level to combat the financial and emotional difficulties that face those dealing with autism.

Howard reassured supporters that he still intended to reach Victoria, B.C. before December 31. “The challenges are great,” he confessed “but as long as the determination is greater, anything can be achieved”.

Terry Robinson, a two-time Canadian Paralympic contender born with cerebral palsy, pledged to follow Howard’s journey two weeks ago on its three-month leg from Ottawa to Winnipeg.

Robinson addressed the city, speaking about how his own disabilities left him with an appreciation for how important it was to ensure that people struggling with autism had access to services that could support them.

Monday, January 2, 2017

On Friday, Tyrus Wong, a Chinese-US painter who inspired the style of Disney animated film Bambi, died at home of natural causes in Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles, according to his daughter Kim Wong.

Born on October 25, 1910 in Guangdong province, China, Tyrus Wong left the country with his father at the age of nine under fake names “Look Tai Yow” and “Look Get”. Wong’s father taught him the art of calligraphy using water instead of ink on newspapers.

Wong used to work as a houseboy after school in Los Angeles earning half a dollar per day. Wong’s principal in junior high school helped arrange a scholarship in Otis Art Institute for his art skills. At Otis, Wong studied Western art and graduated in 1935. In 1934, a landscape of Wong’s appeared in an exhibition organised by the Art Institute of Chicago which also featured a Pablo Picasso etching, “Two Nudes”. For two years, from 1934 to 1936, he worked for the Works Progress Administration to create paintings for public buildings.

In 1938, Wong began work in the Disney animation studio as an in-betweener — creating hundreds of intermediate images for the appearance of motion. Walt Disney noticed his work. Wong’s forest paintings of deer strongly influenced the style of Bambi. Wong worked at Disney for only three years before he was sacked in 1941, following an employee’s strike in which Wong did not participate. Next year, Wong became a Warner Bros. concept artist, drawing storyboards and set designs for live-action films. Films he drew concept art for included The Sands of Iwo Jima, Rebel Without a Cause, and The Wild Bunch. After more than a quarter century at Warner Bros., Wong retired in 1968. Wong gained US citizenship in 1946.

Wong influenced animator Andreas Deja, the creator of Lilo from Lilo & Stitch and Jafar from Aladdin. Wong also worked as a janitor, designed greeting cards, and picked asparagus during the lows in his career.

Wong was named a Disney Legend in 2001. Wong is survived by three daughters and two grandchildren.