There’s a million billion things to do in Canada on Canada Day. Whether it’s checking out fireworks, a street festival or exploring a new neighbourhood, every city will be busting at the seams to celebrate our nation’s birthday.
But if you wanted to get out of the city and explore something different, Park Canada is offering free parks admission on our 144th birthday. That’s right, from coast to coast, every national park is FREE! You get free admission! You get free admission! You get free admission.
Parks Canada will also be celebrating its birthday on July 1st and its marking a 100 years young. Man! What kind of moisturizer do they use? Consider me jealous!
It’s been just over a month since a horrific fire ripped through the town of Slave Lake and all but wiped it out. While it may no longer draw the biggest headlines, the town and it’s people are never far from any Albertan’s hearts. Tonight in Calgary a group of dedicated volunteers organized a special evening called YYC4SlaveLake at Melrose Cafe and Bar, in an effort to raise even more funds for the devastated town.
Thousands of dollars were raised throughout the night, that saw hundreds of people turn out on a beautiful evening in Calgary. Hosted by Citytv’s Jill Belland, the guest of honour was none other than Jillian Harris from The Bachelorette and Extreme Home Makeover, who is from northern Alberta.
Here are some photos from the night’s festivities, if you’re still interested in donating money to Slave Lake, please visit the Canadian Red Cross.
Remember that completely absurd interview with Sun TV’s Krista Erikson and internationally renowed dancer Margie Gillis a few weeks ago? Well if you do, good for you, because I purposely didn’t write about it on the blog, I didn’t dare give Erikson a second of my attention, but things have gotten so ridiculous, that I simply have to comment.
But first, for those who didn’t see the interview, it was basically Erikson grilling Gillis about why Arts organizations felt okay taking Government funding, you know, cause the arts are so ridiculous. If you have a strong stomach, I suggest you watch the video because it really is the most silly thing you’ll ever see. It really makes Canadians look so stupid, it’s plain and simply embarrassing.
Since airing, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has received more than 4,000 complaints about the controversial interview. To put that in perspective, the council usually receives only 2,00 a YEAR! That’s double the complaints for one single interview! (And yet somehow she retains her job.) They’ve received so many complaints, that the CBSC has requested that no more be sent because they are already overwhelmed. It’s simply ridiculous.
What bugs me the most is that Krista Erikson is probably sitting in her poorly decorated Urban Barn-inspired condo loving every moment of this. She’s likely obsessed with googling her name and has rationalized all of this media and press by saying ridiculous things like, “If people are talking about it, it means I’m doing my job as a journalist.”
Well you know Erikson, as a blogger I’m probably the furthest thing from a journalist and when I think your job and life is a joke, then you know it’s bad. And Krista, just to be clear, we are all indeed laughing at you. You are legitimately one of this country’s most embarrassing public figures and I thank my lucky stars that Sun TV is as unpopular as it is, because that means I don’t have to deal with your cheap attempts at grabbing headlines at the expense of others on a daily basis.
I know the world isn’t perfect enough for you to get fired for this, but I hope people close to you are disappointed in your actions. Because they are probably the only ones who are likely to get through to you, either that, or you’re too far gone, which just might be the saddest outcome possible.
Remember a couple of weeks ago when The Black Keys randomly played the MuchMusic Video Awards? The uber-popular rock band definitely seemed out of place between Justin Bieber, Fefe Dobson and Selena Gomez.
Well it turns out, you’re not only one that thought it was weird, because the Black Keys also were confused to why they were playing at such a tween friendly awards show.
In a new interview with the Toronto Star’s Jane Stevenson, lead singer Dan Auerbach had this to say about the MMVAS:
“It’s a kid’s show, like teenyboppers, grownups can’t watch that s–t. Our record label really wanted us to do it and we said we’d do it. It had its awkward moments, but hopefully it served some sort of purpose. We sat backstage and sort of watched entourages walk back and forth. We watched the ‘schools’ of entourages. We got an entourage but it’s not the same. “They had the two bands (The Black Keys, City and Colour) who actually played instruments and weren’t lipsynching inside and then everybody else outside with big productions.”
So that explains why The Black Keys were there, now can someone tell me why Sarah Taylor essentially wasn’t?
Some of this country’s most talented and inspirations citizens are about to get one of Canada’s highest honour. Canada’s Walk of Fame has just announced the list of this year’s inductees and it’s as impressive as one would expect:
Dr. Roberta Bondar (First female Canadian astronaut in space)
Burton Cummings (Music god)
Daniel Nestor (Tennis Pro)
Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy)
Russell Peters (Comedian)
Ryan Reynolds (Abs)
Mordecai Richler (Author, Barney’s Version)
Each will receive their tribute on Saturday, October 1 at Toronto’s Elgin Theatre, and then have their star placed on King Street for millions of people to see…and spit on.
DANGER: This blog post contains spoilers about the penultimate episode of Top Chef Canada! Proceed with caution!
It seems like only yesterday that I blogged about a new show Top Chef Canada and that it was looking for chefs to apply for the show’s first season. Now, after weeks and weeks of amazing challenges, we are down to the final three chefs.
I’ve actually surprised myself by how much I love the show. Not having seen any of the Top Chefs before the Canadian edition, my expectations were understandably low, but over the course of the show’s debut season, I’ve fallen in love with the challenges, the host, the judges, the chefs and most importantly the show itself. For a guy that can really only cook a mean stir-fry and pasta dish here and there, I’ve surprised myself on how addicting Top Chef Canada has become.
So with the finale less than a week away, we now know who the final three chefs will be:
Calgary’s Connie Desousa
Vancouver’s Dale MacKay
Toronto’s Rob Rossi
For me, it’s too close to call, but what do you think? Who do you think will take home the title of Canada’s First ever Top Chef Canada?
Just in time for summer, I have a brand new contest that will surely cool you down!
Ever since Coke Zero launched a few years ago, I’ve been a fan. And this is coming from someone who has never liked Diet Coke. I’m a Coke fan through and though, but working in the media, I kept hearing everyone talking about Coke Zero as an excellent alternative, especially if you are trying to cut out the calories…and who isn’t.
Coke Zero is now revving up for the summer and they have launched a new campaign called Mission Zero and it exploded on Facebook TODAY!
To celebrate the launch on Coke Zero’s Mission Zero I have two 2-4 cases of Coke Zero (24 cans!) to give away to two lucky Canadian Readers. To enter, all you have to do is tell me what is your favourite way to enjoy a Coke Zero. Is it with your friends? Sneaking it into the movie theatres? On a patio?
If you some help, here’s my favourite way:
Bonus Twitter Entry: Tweet this message: “Hey @mikesbloggity, my favourite way to enjoy @CokeZero_CA is (your answer here) http://ow.ly/5rvl1″
Contest is open now and closes on Canada Day (July 1st) at 11:59pm/MST.
Maximum of two entries per person.
Even if you’ve never been to Calgary, you’ve no doubt heard of our most famous bar Cowboys. Well what you might not know is that the bar has actually been closed for years, really since Prince Harry made it famous for canoodling with a waitress.
Well since it closed, over the past few years it’s popped up in various temporary locations, with a variety of success. Well this year Calgary’s most famous bar will be making it’s first appearance on the actual Stampede grounds. Yes, you’re right, that is asking for all sorts of trouble…it’s going to be AMAZING.
It wouldn’t be Cowboys unless it was huge and over the top (like the bar staff’s boobs or muscles), and this year’s tent doesn’t look like it will disappoint. Some pictures of the set up have appeared on the bars Facebook page and holy kamoly, does it ever look big! I’m probably not Cowboys ideal clientele but if the size is any indication of the sorts of parties going on there, I think it might become a Stampede Must-See.
So are you getting excited for the Royal Visit? William and Catherine will be landing down in Canada any day now and if you’re in one of the city’s that they’ll be visiting, you know that every neighbourhood seems to be abuzz with the imminent arrival of the world’s most famous couple…sorry Brad and Angelina.
In what can only be described as “interesting”, the Canadian Government just announced a brand new iPhone and iPad app specially designed to help you follow William and Catherine as they make the long-trek across this country.
It’s simply called Royal Tour and it won’t cost you a penny. The app isn’t as exciting as Angry Birds, but it does include the couple’s full itinerary, with photos, video and from tweets their nine-day trip, which begins on June 30.
If there is one thing that I know I will always says yes to, it’s a lobster competition. So when I got asked to judge this year’s Thrill of the Grill Challenge for Habitat Humanity, it was a new brainer. The competition pitted four Calgary-area Delta Chefs against each other and they had thirty minutes to make an amazing lobster dish. Myself, Citytv’s Jill Belland, Avenue Magazine’s Kathe Lemon and City Palate’s Kathy Richardier got to judge and let me tell you, it was DIFFICULT! Since I’m originally from the Maritimes and once worked in a place called The Lobster Hut, my expectations for a creative, tasty and original lobster dish were exceptionally high.
The competition was tough, but in the end Chef Ian Riddick from the Delta Lodge Kananaskis walked away with the top award for his lobster sushi dish! Congrats to everyone involved, all those who came ended up raising thousands of dollars for Habitat for Humanity, now that is tasty!
Here are some photos from the Thrill of The Grill challenge! The judges await the lobster dishes! Kool FM’s Chris Shine helps John MacLean getting his dish ready!
There’s a million billion things to do in Canada on Canada Day. Whether it’s checking out fireworks, a street festival or exploring a new neighbourhood, every city will be busting at the seams to celebrate our nation’s birthday.
