I spent most of 2010 defending my enjoyment of Degrassi but this time, I’ll let the numbers speak for itself.
In it’s tenth season, the show swtiched networks, produced more than 48 episodes and reached a huge milestone: more than 220 episodes since the show premiered in 2001! Not bad for something that used to be called “The Next Generation”. 2010 was also the year that Degrassi was named Canada’s Favourite TV Show at this year’s Geminis. Whether you like it or not, the show doesn’t seem to be going anywhere….thankfully.
In a matter of weeks the show;s twenty-two member cast tackled subjects like abuse, teen pregnancy, stabbings, coming-out, alcoholism, hoarding, school-uniforms, lock-downs and most importantly, introduced Adam, Degrassi’s first transgendered student. All of this was promoted in what I’m choosing as the coolest promo of the year:
This was also the year that I got the chance to visit the Degrassi set. It was amazing to see that the entire set is basically a city block with real stores, cafes, schools and it’s all staged in and around the show’s production offices. The show’s current cast is extremely strong and are proof that show’s can evolve and morph and not hurt the quality of the end result. Show’s like Glee should definitely take note and copy Degrassi’s model.
For a show that has already produced stars like Drake, Shanae Grimes and Nina Dobrev, it’s exciting to know that the stars are probably giong to keep coming. By doing the name Degrassi proud, the show was definitely one of my favourites of 2010!
With only a few days left of 2010, I thought it would be a great to look back and talk about some of my favourite things of the year 2010. If you have any of your own suggestions, make sure you leave them in the comment section. My memory is awful, I could probably use the reminder. Favourite Youtube Star:
Mike Tompkins.
When 2010 started no one knew who Mike Tompkins was, now twelve months later, he is one of the biggest Canadian stars to ever hit Youtube and we are the better for him! Since posting his unique music videos just a few months ago, the London, Ontario native’s career has taken off. He’s been featured on Perez Hilton, Ellen, Macleans and his videos were even spoofed on the Today show! And now he is working on Timbaland’s new album in Miami. Not that I’m one to brag but Mike’s Bloggity Blog featured him way before any of these guys. Okay, turns out, I am one to brag.
The great thing about Tompkin’s success is that he doesn’t seem to have done it on purpose. He took an original idea (used only his mouth and voice to make full musical arrangements) and made progressively cooler videos and before you knew it Glee was copying his version of Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream. Okay, that’s just a hunch of mine but puhhhlease. Tompkin’s version is amazing and I bet Katy is kicking herself just a little bit. The results of his hard work are definitely paying off. Some of his videos have already racked up more than seven million views and his most recent (Rihanna’s Only Girl) has been watch by almost two million people in just a few weeks.
I’m excited to see what happens to Mike Tompkins career in 2011 but let’s be honest, I’m more excited about his new videos.
Much to my excitement, MTV Canada has been airing Dan Levy’s Holi-Do’s and Don’ts over and over. If you haven’t had the chance to watch it yet, there are a ton of great segments in the half-hour long show but more importantly the special emphasizes something I’ve always thought: Dan Levy and I need to be friends. And I’m not saying the same way I used to think that me and the cast of The Hilarious House of Dr. Frightenstein could be best buds, I can legitimately see Dan Levy and I hanging out, laughing at people and offering to buy each other drinks but really hoping the other doesn’t accept.
Does our blossoming friendship face road blocks? Absolutely. We’re in different cities and while we all know long-distance relationships are difficult, long distance friendships are even harder. You don’t have that intimacy that you have when you are in a relationship, so instead you have to rely on sharing Glee/Dawson Creek mashup videos on YouTube and playing online scrabble. But when you do get to hang out and reenact your favourite scenes from The Good Son, it just seems worth it, doesn’t it?
Not that I don’t think we can do it. A Dan Levy/Mike Morrison friendship would be good for everyone involved. I can help him when he feels like he is having a bad hair day and he can teach me to wear clothes that don’t feature the words: Old and Navy.
But I don’t want to put too much pressure on our friendship, it’s something that has to happen organically. I get that. Until then, make sure you check out his special, it will be airing all throughout the holiday break.
Okay, so we need to talk about this flash mob epidemic that is currently taking over our country once dance number at a time. Yes, I did just talk about it last week but since then, examples of good and bad flash mobs have surfaced and I feel like I have more to say about the new trend.
A few days ago, Air Canada held a very successful flash mob in its terminal in the Vancouver Airport. Reason why it worked: 1) There was seemingly no press around. 2) People didn’t know it was happening. 3) Santa Hats. Who the hell doesn’t love Santa Hats. The only problem I could see was for the people who necessarily feel like they were in the Christmas spirit. Or as my friend Kristin pointed out: “It gives me anxiety because I am worried someone late for a flight won’t get through.” So even though the Airline will inevitably lose my luggage when I fly this Friday, at least I’ll have happy memories of this successful flash mob.
The second mob this week was held by Calgary’s Cowtown Opera. Now before I continue, all you artsy loving folks need to read carefully. You’ll note that I don’t have a problem with people singing and dancing, this is Footloose for godsakes. My problem is with the confusion of what exactly a flash mob is. The event took place this past weekend at Chinook Centre and was widely publicized to the public and the media. Again, defeats the purpose of using the word “flash”. Secondly, they had a prominently displayed conductor waiting for the singing to start. Sorta takes away from the surprise. Someone mentioned this on the event’s Facebook page and the Cowtown Opera responded saying, “Co-ordinating almost 200 singers to sing unrehearsed without some type of conductor would have been far too risky, but thanks for the feedback.” Puhhhlease. If you aren’t going to follow the simple rules of a flash mob, then don’t say you are going to do one. And it was 150 people singing in a mall next to old people and crying babies, I’m sure they would have been just fine without a conductor.
So as 2010 comes to a close, let’s all try and respect our cultures newest trend. After all, who doesn’t love to dance!
If you’re like me, you’ve probably been restless ever since finding out that we are only a few week away from a new Avril Lavinge CD. Did that come out sarcastic? It wasn’t supposed to.
Well guess what folks, you don’t have to wait any longer. I’ve tracked down a special sneak peak of the song that will be released in all of its glory on New Years Eve.
The first single is called “What The Hell” and if the 38 second clip is any indication, it sounds like Avril is back…thankfully.
Okay, so we had so much fun with last week’s Gift A Day Giveaway, I thought I would add one more just for fun!
Just in time for Christmas, The Golden Globes and The Oscars is a prize back from the most buzzed about movie of the year. (I was going to say ‘talked about’ but that seemed inappropriate given the material.)
Before you go see The King’s Speech in theatres, why not read the book that inspired the movie? The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved The British Monarchy, tells the story of how a speech therapist named Lionel Logue who single-handedly turned the famously nervous, tongue-tied, Duke of York into the man who was capable of becoming King!
I’ve got FIVE copies to giveaway to some lucky readers. As an added bonus, I’ll toss in the double movie pass to see the movie while it is in theatres!
As always, two ways to enter:
1) Leave me a comment with a quick story about something that you’ve overcome. (Yeah, it’s a little more work but it’s Christmas, I wanna be inspired.)
2) Tweet this message: “I wanna win The King’s Speech book and movie passes from @mikesbloggity!”
So here we are, my last Metro column for the entire year! To be honest, I was nervous to write this week’s column because I feel like there is a lot of pressure to go out with a bang!
So I decided to write about my general disdain for all things volunteering. Yeah, that’s right. I went there.
Click here to read it or if you are in Calgary, pick up a Metro newspaper pretty much anywhere you look!
Remember last week when I told you that Ron James was trying to break a Tweeting record? Well wouldn’t you know it, he actually did! On Wednesday, December 15th set the world record for the most tweets in a single day by an individual. Suck on that Kanye. Ron posted an astounding 520 tweets between the hours of 7:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m., exceeding his original goal of 500 – a voracious number of tweets that have left his thumbs battered and bruised. Do the math – that’s nearly one message every 90 seconds in a 16 hour period!
The other cool thing about Ron’s world record attempt was those that benefited from it. Every time that someone tweeted #ronjames, he made a donation to the Food Bank. That ended up being more than 1800 food items that were donated at this very important time of year.
Admittedly, Ron James has never really on my radar but he certainly has my attention now.
The Ron James Show, anchored by James himself will have it’s fifth annual New Year’s Eve Edition special on December 31 at 9:00 p.m. (9:30 NT).
It’s a good day to be working in the Alberta television industries. Two huge announcement over the past few days mean that lots of people will be able to find work in the struggling industry well into 2011.
First up is the obvious, CBC just announced that the horse hit Heartland has been renewed for a fifth season. This is pretty much a no brainer consider the shows’ stellar ratings. The Heartland Christmas movie that aired last week attracted 1.4 million viewers, which is about the same amount of viewers it pulls in every week. Can you think of another CBC show that has lasted so long?
Secondly is something that is a little more interesting. I don’t know if I’ve told you about my obsession with AMC’s The Walking Dead. I’ve literally had the shakes since it’s all to short six episode season ended a few weeks ago. Whether this is shocking or not, The Walking Dead was my first introduction to the AMC network. Yes, that means I’ve never seen Mad Men. You can take a moment to process that. But now comes another reason why I might have to keep AMC on my regular rotation. They just announced that they are developing Hell on Wheels, a western set in post-Civil War America, that has been picked up for a full season and is filmed in and around Calgary! The show stars Anson Mount (In Her Shoes), Colm Meaney, Dominique McElligott (The Philanthropist) and rapper/actor Common.
Okay, so a western set in post-Civil War America isn’t really my cup of tea but maybe The Walking Dead zombies can make a cameo. Maybe.
One of my favourite discoveries of 2011 was undoubtedly Winnipeg-based group Ash Koley. (Yes, it’s a band, not just the ridiculously attractive lead singer who happens to be named Ash Koley.)
In support of their debut disc Inventions, the band just released a new music video for their new single Brighter At Night. Great video, great song and at only $5.99 on Itunes, the disc makes a great stocking stuff. Also, why do I sound like I work at the Shopping Network?
(ps. For those wondering, that is how you do a flash mob. Sigh.)
