Behind The Curtain (28 July, 2023)
Accessible Audio for this week’s Behind The Curtain will be available soon!
FULLY NOTED
July 28th is a time for change. It’s both World Nature Conservation Day, and Jackie Kennedy-Onassis’ birthday, so how could it not be? This is when people traditionally change things up, so why should I be any different? Today’s Behind The Curtain won’t be in-depth musings on a particular thing, usually from my past, followed by some quick notes on what’s happening currently. Instead, Notes of the Week takes over the whole piece, and these notes will be more fleshed out, too. So here goes…
ThE X-Factor
You know, I don’t think this Elon Musk guy is as smart as (increasingly fewer) people say he is. This week, the billionaire owner of Twitter decided that the one thing that could stop the revenue drain, which started when he took over the social media giant last April, was to ditch the Twitter brand and logo. Wait, what? After renaming the company “X”, Musk made it clear on Monday that this wouldn’t be a Meta owning Facebook sort of deal, but rather a full rebranding. They ditched the bird logo, replacing it with a minimalist X design, and made the @x handle their official company handle, after effectively stealing it from the guy who got it 16 years ago. Tweets will soon be called Xes, and Retweets, well, they’re not sure about that one yet.
When I first saw this happening, as I was getting ready to post on Forget The Press, I thought it was a joke, but then I realized the joke was on everyone still taking Twitter seriously, and still respecting Elon. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a minimalist logo. If it’s not a simple box with a line through it, or some variation of that, it’s not Forget The Box. Likewise, if it’s not a bird, it’s not Twitter. But, sadly, I know that’s the point. So why didn’t he just start his own social media company called X instead of buying, and overpaying for, Twitter? Simple, or so I thought. He wanted the brand, the history, the credibility, and a name people recognized. Andrew, you said something similar about FTB on that podcast you were on with Dawn. But if that is the case, then why is Musk now killing off the very brand he purchased? Andrew, I think you may be smarter than Elon Musk. It’s not really a compliment, as that bar is apparently pretty low. (Editor’s Note: Twitter had just a bit more credibility and history than FTB, though, didn’t it?)
So what does this mean for those of us still on The Platform Soon-To-Be-Formerly-Known-As-Twitter? Well, if the info’s still there, like from the STM and other news organizations, I guess Forget The Press will stay. Is Threads blocking Canadian news articles like Facebook is supposed to do? I should look into that. If it’s still a good place to talk about wrestling, I guess I’ll stay, too. For now. Until it really feels like I’m part of some rich guy’s third-rate vanity project, and not the town square.
I once heard Musk compared to a Bond villain. Sure, but he’s the type that tells James his whole plan before placing him in an easily escapable predicament with only one inept guard to watch him.
The O Chestnut
Image courtesy of Montreal Visitors Guide
Any Montreal news headline with the words Olympic and Stadium in it usually elicits groans, and questions like “What’s the problem now?”. It’s been that way for over 40 years, and this past Wednesday was no different. The stadium’s roof and technical ring need to be replaced to meet current building codes, and the group responsible for the Olympic Park announced that they were scrapping the open bidding process they had begun nearly six years ago, and giving the job outright to Groupe Pomerleau-Canam. The Société de développement et de mise en valeur du Parc olympique claims that this work, and this choice of contractor, will allow them to operate the stadium year-round.
Sifting through this (I’m sure intentionally) confusing info to write our Forget the Press Tweet, no, sorry, our X (ugh), I started feeling nostalgic. No, not angry or annoyed, nostalgic. The Big O is classic old school Montreal corruption at its most blatant, and most pure. And it’s the gift that’s still giving, well, taking actually, but you get the point. Complaining about the Olympic Stadium is a tradition passed down from parent to child, and from life-long Montrealer to new arrival. The location makes no sense, and its construction uprooted a residential community. The city finished paying off the $1.4 Billion cost (originally budgeted at $250 million) in 2006, long after it stopped being used on a regular basis. And now it’s going to cost more! Surprise! The Alouettes don’t even use it, unless it’s for the Grey Cup. The retractable roof is neither retractable, nor a roof. And it’s ugly!
This isn’t about how billionaire sports team owners screw over cities by having them pay for giant stadiums, which, in turn, the billionaires end up owning. This isn’t about how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) screws over its host cities, and even countries, in a similar fashion. Those things happen and need to be discussed, and we recently did discuss it in Montreal when Denis Coderre was talking about a new baseball stadium in the Peel Basin. Our Olympic Stadium, though, is something else entirely. It’s a self-inflicted wound. Part intentional, part bungled implementation of grandiose, though terrible, ideas. This one’s 100% made in Montreal.
where in Montreal was this photo taken?
These photos will be limited to the Island of Montreal. Arguably, that’s quite a bit of territory to cover, but keep in mind that these will be original photos from people involved with FTB (the one above is mine), and while we’re not a sedentary bunch in the slightest, we generally stick to the major parts of town, and don’t venture that often to the nether regions, so everyone has a fighting chance of getting it right.
You can answer in the comments on Facebook or Instagram. I’ll announce the answer, and the winner(s), if there are any, in this space each week. Right now, there are no prizes, but maybe one day in the future! That’s right, it’s just for fun, and fun we will have! In the words of WWE wrestler LA Knight: “Yeeeahh!”
Well that’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed this experiment. I’ll be back to my usual ways next week. Happy World Nature Conservation Day!
FTB Founder Jason C. McLean returns every Friday for another installment in his series, Behind The Curtain.
