NOT JUST A PRETTY FACE: Like you didn’t know that already about Jane Fonda. Over the weekend she blogged, “Twitter’s time has come” – and she means it.
FONDA: Twitter time
“Over the last several days,” she notes, “history has been changed by the new media, especially Twitter. A year ago, with mainstream media shut down, the massive demonstrations in Iran might have been a rumored upheaval. Now, via twitter and cell phones, we all can hear and see second by second what is going on. It is mind blowing. It’s not Ashton Kutcher who is putting Twitter on the map, it’s Iran.
“My son, Troy, and his wife, Simone, have been here with me for hours watching events unfold on CNN. Clearly, the impact isn’t just in the way events are being revealed to the outside world. There is the empowering way in which people within Tehran are communicating among themselves, finding out what’s happening in neighboring communities, developing strategy based on real time events, receiving news of friends and family. We haven’t begun to absorb what this new media will mean for the future but it’s clear that it has the potential to change what was a presidential election into a possible change of the entire structure of government.”
Yup.
PAGE: Abbey Road runner
IT’S A WRAP: Toronto mayor David Miller was in the Distillery District yesterday to launch Art On The Move, a new initiative to bring art into Toronto communities through moving art-wrapped vehicles. This maiden voyage includes everything from Canadian graffiti to Iranian-inspired artwork, from artists Beata Kruszynski, Amir Akbari, and Patrick Thompson and Jenifer Rudski, who have used a de-comissioned TTC bus as their particular canvas. Should make for an intriguing photo opp … seats for free screenings of Rob Stewart’s award-magnet prize-sweeping documentary Sharkwater, sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, are almost all sold out, but my spies tell me a few seats may still available at the 4 pm screening this Thursday at Empire Studio 10 in Square One … and Andrew Burashko confirmed last week that the Art of Time Ensemble 2009-2010 season will kick off Sept. 26 with a powerhouse celebration of the 40th anniversary of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album. Artists set to perform include Barenaked Ladies’ Kevin Hearn, ex-Ladies man Steven Page, Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace), Andy Maize (The Skydiggers), Sarah Slean, John Southworth and Martin Tielli (formerly of the Rheostatics.)
LITERATI: “The falcon could talk. I swear.” 
So begins Ron Base’s hypnotic new novel, The Strange. A troubled boy, a devious witch, a fabled tower and a magical Paris all come together in this intriguing and mysterious new page-turner by Base, whose word pictures are never far from celluloid. West-End Books publisher Brian Vallee hosted last week’s launch in T.O. and among those who turned out to help Base birth his new book were old chums Helga & Hans Gerhardt, past and present ink-stained wretches Kathy Brooks, Lou Clancy, David Cobb, David Haslam, Bruce Kirkland and Ellie Tescher, Toronto film festival alumni Joan Cohl, Anne Mackenzie, Helga Stephenson and Yanka & Henk van der Kolk, podcaster Nobu Adilman (aka Captain Eyeliner) and his mom Toshiko, Triple Sensation producer Garth Drabinsky, whose second season premiered last night on CBC Television, and many more.
For a sneak preview of The Strange, click here!
RECESSION? WHAT RECESSION? Okay, so it’s not all smooth sailing. Unionized Globe And Mail employees are mulling over a new contract offer from management after 97% of them voted in favour of a strike if a better deal is not
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reached before June 30. Meanwhile, a select group of sea-loving high-rollers are paying 10-30K each, depending on the lavishness of their accommodations, to be part of the Globe’s Mediterranean Odyssey Aug. 21-Sept. 4. Highlights include a private tour of the Vatican, al fresco dining in Sorrento, wine-tasting and pasta lessons in Tuscany, an excursion to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, and lotsa elbow-rubbing with such stellar G&M byliners as Christie Blatchford, Ian Brown, Eric Reguly, Elizabeth Renzetti, Doug Saunders & Lucy Waverman. Providing they’re not on a picket line at that time.
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By George 