references-videos

The history of highrise buildings
From ancient days to modern condominium towers, this interactive video explains the history of high-rise living.
http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/high-rise/

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The Corporation
Directed by Jennifer Abbott & Mark Achbar
from the book:
The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power
by Joel Bakan

Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe.

This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of "person" typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience.

Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it.
Watch the trailer.

The Condo Game
CBC
Aired: 21 November 2013
The Condo Game examines the forces at play behind the fastest moving condo market in North America—Toronto—and discovers that the glittering glass hides a sea of troubles.

The first startling revelation for many people will be how very much the condo market is focused on investor profit, not affordable housing. One expert even says that it’s really not a housing market but a commodities play.
http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/m/episodes/the-condo-game

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Duck Dynasty—Jase Robertson vs. The HOA
An American reality TV show captured an HOA board meeting on video. In many American states, unlike in Ontario, homeowners have the right to attend monthly board meetings.

An HOA is like a condo but for detached houses usually in a gated community. This meeting is priceless. It has immediately become one of my favourite short videos of all time.

Can't you just imagine your condo president chairing this meeting? Holding a meeting in someone's garage? I guess some condo townhouses up here could do that in the summer months.

I think the owner made a wonderful speech. Freedom and happiness. Wonderful rhetoric that warms the heart that was so cruelly shot down by a cold heart by a written contract.

Watch it here:
http://bit.ly/1e9Ybuz

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Special Districts: Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Published on 06 Mar 2016
Special districts spend more public money than all city governments combined. That's odd considering most of us don't know they exist.
https://youtu.be/3saU5racsGE

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The Hoax
"The HOAX" is an independent examination of the abuse of power and lack of regulation in the homeowners' association (HOA) industry; a business whose key selling point is the protection of property values.

The film follows an investigative reporter, homeowners, and HOA reform activists as they illustrate shocking evidence of financial and psychological hardships throughout Texas and Nevada. A few of these people, including the filmmaker, are the subject of adverse actions from the very Homeowners Associations created to help them.
Watch the trailer.

That Channel Interview
Condominium Owners Association members Linda Pinizzotto, David Dayan and Merg Kong talk about serious condo issues in Ontario and the process the government is presently using to draft changes to the Act.
44.53 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m9jkpe_VYw

HOA Hell
YouTube video
8 minutes
Feb 25, 2014
The Worst HOA in Texas! NEW reform law needed NOW!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8YveThMHEM&feature=youtu.be

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A Man Called Ove
Ove, an ill-tempered, isolated retiree who spends his days enforcing condo association rules and visiting his wife's grave, has finally given up on life just as an unlikely friendship develops with his boisterous new neighbors.

Here is the official trailer. (Swedish with English subtitles.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs0yp4gU4zU

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A Place Called Dixon
Producer: Robin Christmas
Interviewer: Jane Chalmers
Publisher: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1993 Toronto, ON
Description: 1 videocassette (26 min.)

Notes:
Canada's image as a safe-haven is at odds with the reality of Dixon. This condominium community, built for 5000, houses 9000 including 4500 Somali refugees. This has led to major culture clash. Condo owners are aggravated by soaring utility costs, due to over-crowding, and loss of equity.

Somalis face unemployment, language barriers, resentment and racism. Similar concerns of culture clash are being faced at Kipling High School, whose student body is now 20 percent Somali. We see how the administration and the students are learning to deal with this difficult and sometimes violent crisis.

Available at the Toronto Library in VHS.

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Probing the Existence of an Alleged Toronto Gang with Rob Ford Ties
YouTube VICE video
30 minutes
24 May 2016

VICE looks into the Dixon City Bloods - an allegedly notorious gang that sprung up into Canada's consciousness during the Rob Ford crack scandal to see if the gang was a media fabrication, a violent menace, or something in between.
http://bit.ly/25DN8DT

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The Last Hurrah
An aging politician tries to get re-elected one last time in the changing world of the 1950s when TV started to play a bigger part in politics. Based loosely on the career of multi-term Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, this film examines the good and evil inherent in politics and all the things that go into an election.
http://bit.ly/2tMCInG
https://youtu.be/u-iEl1EzU88

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No
Sony Classics
Year: 2012
Run time: 118 minutes
Spanish with English sub-titles

Military dictator Augusto Pinochet calls for a referendum to decide his permanence in power in 1988. The leaders of the opposition persuade a young daring advertising executive—René Saavedra—to head their campaign. With limited resources and under the constant scrutiny of the despot's watchmen, Saavedra and his team conceive of a bold plan to win the election and free their country from oppression.

Writing in May 2012, New York critic David Fear called No "the closest thing to a masterpiece that I've seen so far here in Cannes".

The lesson here for condo owners? If you are struggling against an entrenched board, then using humour and positive thinking may be the best way to persuade the majority of owners that change is possible.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGOcFPzx1H0

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Prevent excess moisture in your home
A video by TARION.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6RMJETUN7o

Stop condensation—Cure mould
Easy—How to stop condensation—Get Rid of Black Mold and Clean Mould
UK video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj99RNY55Es

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How to look for and avoid bedbugs in hotel or motel rooms
When travelling, you don't want to bring them home. Good idea to check if you are using short-term rentals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnOrYqKpmpI

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