Mike's Bloggity Blog

So that was Christmas! How was it for you? Did you get everything that you asked for? If not, then this brand new contest is for you!

To help kick off Boxing Day (and maybe get what you really wanted for Christmas), I’m giving away a HP ENVY14 Beats™ Edition laptop! The retail value of the sweet PC is $1,299.99!! If you’re not familiar with the HP ENVY, it is one of HP’s most powerful PCs, perfect for anyone that is not only looking for great performance but a sleek design.  It’s perfect for gaming, movies, music, even DJ’ing.  And let’s be honest, we all want a computer that looks cool and I’m fairly certain you won’t find one any cooler than the HP Envy!

It comes with an aluminum cover, soft-touch surfaces, and a red backlit keyboard. Computer geeks will love the Intel® Core™ i5 processor2 with Turbo Boost Technology6 that allows you to switch between apps faster.  Photogs will be thankful for the built in Adobe Elements photo and video editing software. Plus, hear music the way the artists intended with Beats Audio™, only from HP.

This is definitely one of the biggest prizes that I’ve ever given away.  So if you want to be sure that this computer is all yours, then you gotta enter!

If you wanna win this game-changer of a computer, then there are two ways to enter, each one will get you an entry to a maximum of two entries! All entries must be received by Friday, December 30th at Noon/MST

1) Leave a comment telling me which Christmas gift you’d like to trade for this laptop.  (Don’t worry, you don’t really need to, it’s hypothetical.)

2) Second entry can be done on twitter. Tweet: “I can’t wait until next Christmas, I want to win the #hpenvy from @mikesbloggity now! http://goo.gl/Sc70p ”

TIP: Get your friends and family to enter by sharing this link: http://mikesbloggityblog.com/2011/12/boxing-day-giveaway-hp-envy14-beats%E2%84%A2-edition.html

Rules:
1) Gotta live in Canada.
2) Can’t have won from Mike’s Bloggity Blog in the past three months.

Wherever you are, whoever your with, I hope you’re having a great day, that happens to include A Muppets Christmas Carol!

Merry Christmas!

For Metro Calgary

This Christmas, I’ll be doing something that I’ve never done before: Spending it in Calgary. Yes, due to a variety of reasons, most of them involving airlines gauging passengers around this time of year, I’ve decided to save the equivalent of four months of rent and stay here for Christmas. Since moving to Calgary six years ago, this will be the first time that I miss opening gifts with my family. It is definitely going to be surreal, but after much thought, I sincerely think I’m going to be okay with it.

The obvious advantage is that I’ll be able to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol by myself and not have to explain to naysayers why Rizzo The Rat is the most underrated Muppet of all time. It will also allow me to explore the city in a way that I never have before. The C-train is free on Christmas Day, so I plan on taking a long-needed tour of all the stations. Most importantly, I’ll finally be able to find a parking spot downtown. Nothing will be open, but it’s the finding of a spot that is the Christmas gift.

Since I’m staying in Calgary over the holidays, I decided to do all of my shopping online. I know that many of you are resistant to the idea, but it was the best decision that I’ve ever made. (Well, at least, since I decided to cut my loses and start shaving my head.) I didn’t have to fight with Canada Post or deal with tween cashiers. Some sites even wrapped the gifts for me! I haven’t been to a mall in weeks and I couldn’t be happier.

Will I miss my family? Absolutely. My mom does this amazing thing, where, whenever she gets stressed out, she screams “Fa la la la la, la la la la.” No amount of boxed wine will replace that hilarity. I’ll also miss watching the kids in my family open their presents, because there’s something about seeing children who still believe in the magic of Christmas, that watching Netflix on your couch, will never be able to replace.

Over the past few days, as more and more of my friends have left the city, the realization that this Christmas will be spent without my family began to set in. I know that I will inevitably be at least a little sad on Christmas Day, but when I call home and hear my siblings fighting over doing the dishes, I will know that I made the right decision. And, to me, that’s what Christmas is really about.

It i’s officially in Winter in Canada now and while the weather might be frightful, the year-end television ratings are anything but!

As 2011 comes to a close, BBM Canada, which keeps track of TV ratings, is providing a snapshot of what Canadians were up to over the past 12 months.  It shouldn’t be a surprise that The Stanley Cup playoffs were among the most-watched television broadcasts of 2011 in Canada. In scripted programming, TV comedy continues to attract more and more viewers in Canada, with Two and A Half Men, The Big Bang Theory and The Roast of Charlie Sheen all raking in monster numbers.

It is interesting to see that Survivor and The Amazing Race still pull in HUGE numbers in Canada, yet we still don’t have versions to call our own.  Also of note, Shit My Dad Says, which was canceled by CBS for it’s low ratings, was the 6th highest rated program of the year!

What days were the most Canadian watching TV?  That honour goes to the 2011 Federal Election (25 million) and the Royal Wedding (24.9 million)!

Canada’s Top 10 Most-Watched Days in 2011

Canada’s Top 10 Television Broadcasts of 2011

Canada’s Top 10 Television Programs of 2011

Bam!  Another Canadian is taking over network television!

Deadline wrote yesterday that NBC has bought a potential series from Calgarian Kelly Oxford!  Oxford, who is mother of three but is anything but a mommy blogger, has seen her popularity explode thanks to her hilarious (and biting) Twitter feed.  Right now,  Oxford has more than 267,700 followers, many of them being some of Hollywood’s biggest…and funniest including: Kristin Bell, Dan Harmon, Jessica Alba,  Howard Stern, Jimmy Kimmel and Roger Ebert.

The show is going to be about a divorcing couple and the wife’s overbearing sister, who try to raise their families together after the sale of their house falls through.    Oxford was quick to declare on Twitter that she wouldn’t know until January if the show would be get turned into a pilot, but the network buying the series is definitely a really good sign.

If you have a chance, check out Oxford’s blog post about having a show that she wrote bought by NBC.  It’s quite an interesting read, especially now, with the amount of people who are getting famous off of scandalous twitter feeds.

(photo credit)

One of Canada’s biggest musicians, Sarah McLachlan is giving the Gift of Music this year…and it’s up to you if you want to pay for it!! The students at the Sarah McLachlan School of Music have released a new Christmas song that you can download entirely for free! If you can afford a $1 or $5 contribution (which you obviously can), the money will go towards providing free music lessons to at-risk youth.

The song is called “Space on The Couch for Two” and it’s an original Christmas song and music video featuring original lyrics by student Freya Cirulis (17 years old!!!!) with music by SoM students. “Space on the Couch for Two” features the talents of Sarah McLachlan on lead vocals, with background vocals and instruments performed by students.

As a child of reality TV, I love when people make passive aggressive moves. And offering free music, but then using children to ask for money for it, always works.  At least on me.  Well played Sarah.

Don’t even think about not paying for this song, click here to donate at least one dollar.

Bah Humbug indeed!

Western Canada got quite a shock today when it was announced that, just a few hours before their Calgary show, LMFAO would be postponing the remaining of their Canadian tour dates.  They were to play in Calgary tonight, Edmonton tomorrow and Vancouver on Friday.

The band, which had one of the biggest songs of the year with “Party Rock Anthem”, cited a severe back injury sustained by lead singer Sky Blu.  Sky attempted to perform the remaining shows from a mobility chair but only completed one before a physician declared him unfit to perform and explained the severity of the injury. Sky’s doctor has diagnosed him with three herniated discs and prescribed a full month of rehabilitation with no travel or performances.

Fans were understandably upset, some even tweeting that the reason the concert was canceled was because of low ticket sales, though I don’t know if that was the case.

TSN’s Jay Onrait even weighed in with quite a clever explanation for the postponment.

No new dates have been officially announced, though Live Nation will issue new dates and ticket information in the coming days.

Get better soon Sky Blu. *

*Weirdest sentence that I’ve ever typed.

UPDATE:

From Live Nation:

“On Thursday, LMFAO announced the rescheduled date and venue of their Calgary concert will be on February 7^th at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Ticketmaster will automatically reassign you to comparable seats at Scotiabank Saddledome.  For those customers who have provided email addresses, electronic tickets will be sent out no later than Friday, January 6^th. There is no need to contact Ticketmaster unless you do not receive your tickets at that time.

Those customers who purchased at outlets will also be allocated new seats that are comparable.  They can go to the Scotiabank Saddledome box office anytime after Fri, Jan 6^th with their tickets and we will exchange them out.

For those who cannot attend the new date, please contact Ticketmaster for a full refund by January 13^th. “

If you’re like me, you spent much of the late 90s and early 2000s watching Muchmusic’s Electric Circus from your home, by yourself and eating ketchup chips.  I’m no dancer, but to me the show was what all the cool people were doing in Toronto. I thought it was awesome and I freakin’ loved it!

Well since the show’s cancellation, I know I’m not the only one that ached for the nostalgia and fun times that was the original Electric Circus and now the wait for the show’s return is….OVER!

Much announced today that the mother of all dance parties will be back for a one-night-only, New Year’s Eve edition of  Much’s iconic dance show. Electric Circus: NYE Dance will air live from MuchMusic HQ in downtown Toronto, Saturday Dec. 31 from 10 p.m. ET to 12:15 a.m. ET.  It will be hosted by Tyrone “T-RexXx” Edwards and NML’s  Liz Trinnear.

Guys.  Do you know how exciting this is?  I’m currently figuring how I can get my bald head to Toronto and be one of the hundreds of dancers that will take over the studio.  I want to dance in the window!  I want to grind against an intern’s desk!  I want be one of those cool people I always dreamed about being when I was a teenager!

This. Is. My. Chance.

While I’m busy stretching and getting ready to get my dance on, I’ll be watching this video to help inspire my night of dancing.

Oh, welcome back Electric Circus!

With only two weeks left of 2011, the Canadian television industry must be really looking forward to this year being over.

In the past 12 months, they’ve seen the cancellation of so many Canadian productions and now they can add one more to the list.  TV writer Bill Brioux has confirmed that Global’s Combat Hospital has officially been canceled.  Although it pulled in great numbers in Canada, especially for a summer series, it never picked up any steam on ABC in the States and when the American network opted not to pick the series up for a second season, production was shut down for good.

It’s too bad that Global has decided to not continue with the series, because the number were definitley good enough to remain a Canadian only production.  After all, CTV decided to keep producing The Listener after NBC aired it for only one season.

This year, the graveyard that is the Canadian Television industry already includes So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Dan For Mayor and Hiccups.  Murdoch Mysteries was also canceled by CityTV but CBC has since announced that it will now air the series.

Up next for Global is The Firm, which premieres in January.  With a huge push of support from NBC, this show should have more success than Combat Hospital.

Okay, I don’t want to ruin Christmas for you, but this year, your best gift might be coming to you the day after December 25th.

This Boxing Day, I’m going to be giving away the HP ENVY14 Beats™ Edition, which delivers the best sound available in a notebook. It is valued at more than $1,299.99 and guys, It’s awesome!  I’ve been playing with one the last couple of days (Don’t worry, you’ll get a brand new one) and it really is like having an entertainment centre on your lap. It comes with an aluminum cover, soft-touch surfaces, and a red backlit keyboard. Computer geeks will love the Intel® Core™ i5 processor2 with Turbo Boost Technology6 that allows you to switch between apps faster.  Photogs will be thankful for the built in Adobe Elements photo and video editing software. Plus, hear music the way the artists intended with Beats Audio™, only from HP.

So even if you don’t like a single gift under your tree this year, don’t fret, just come to Mike’s Bloggity Blog on Boxing Day, but please, keep the fruit cake to yourself!