Mike's Bloggity Blog

Sometimes I don’t know how I get myself into these situations.

Earlier this morning me and some of the crew from Breakfast Television got hypnotized live on television! The show had local hypnotist Faith Wood come on and put us under. A lot of the crew was nervous but I knew that I didn’t have anything to worry about.

This was actually my second time getting hypnotized.  The first being a few years ago at the Calgary Stampede in front of thousands of people.  Just like the last time, I remember every minute of being under.  It’s sort of hard to explain except to say that it is like living in a world with no, “what ifs.”  You really do remember doing everything and sorta feel like you are awake the whole time but you are also feel so relaxed that you really don’t care what is going on.

Click here to watch the video.   If you watch the whole thing, you’ll notice that at the end we don’t really seem like we woke up.  I know I definitely didn’t.  So when the show went to commercial break, so put us back under for another minute or so and woke us up one time. It was like a hypnotic snooze button.

You’ll have to see the video, to see it for yourself.  Now that it is has happened to me twice, I am definitely a believer, at the very least for entertainment value.

Ohhh snap!  Who doesn’t love awkward TV?
Let’s face it, the Calgary mayoral election has been pretty drama free…up until today.

This morning on Breakfast Television Mayoral front-runner Barb Higgins had a sit down with the show’s political analyst Mike McCourt and things got a little heated. There was no Jerry Springer-style blow-up, but yikes, it was definitely awkward. I have to say that Higgins certainly held her ground and was able to defend herself and her decisions. But you could obviously cut the tension with a knife.

Watch for Tara trying to make the best of a bad situation and slip into the segment in at the end of the interview, it reminds me a lot of Christmas dinner at my house.

UPDATE #1: Apparently things only got worse after the show went to commercial.  Unfortunately none of it was caught on camera but Higgins got very, very angry after the interview and laid into ArtsVote volunteers.  If you want to follow what happened on Twitter, check out Mark Hopkins or DJ Kelly.

UPDATE #2: After Breakfast Television, Barb Higgins headed to X929 for an interview with The Show.  You can listen to it here.  The questions started off pretty easy but things got heated pretty quickly!  Listen to the interview here.

UPDATE #3:  X92.9′s Fraser and myself were on Shaw TV today to talk about this morning’s video and if  social media has made difference in this year’s election! Click here to watch the video.

Even if you don’t live in Calgary, you’ve probably heard about all the changes our edition of Breakfast Television has been going through.

It started last year with the layoffs of some of City TV’s favourite personalities like Aisling Slattery and  Sandra Jansen.  Then in the past eight months we’ve seen the departures of the show’s hosts Dave Kelly and Susanne Fox.

But things are slowly starting to turn around.  The show recently brought on Toronto’s Tara Sloan to be the new co-host and so far she has been fitting in nicely.  And now comes word that CityTV is about to announce Tara’s new co-host.  But why wait for the announcement when I can just tell you.

Sure this essentially proves I can’t keep a secret, but I’m pretty excited about the new host and can’t wait.

The new host of Breakfast Television is going to another Torontonian and his name is Zain Meghji!  I don’t know the exact date, but I think he’ll be starting next Monday.

The great thing about Zain is that you’ve probably already seen him on TV.  He’s been a reporter with Etalk for a couple of years now and has interviewed some HUGE stars. Take a look at his pretty fun (and maybe a little self-indulgent) demo reel below:

If you want to follow Zain on Twitter, you totally should. He is already complaining about our weather.  Boy does he got another thing coming to him!

So what do you think? Will the newest host be enough to make you go back to Breakfast Television? Or are you sick of all of the changes?

If you’ve watched Calgary’s Breakfast Television this year, you know that they have been going through big changes.  BT Icon Dave Kelly left the show on New Year’s Eve and just over a month ago, his co-host Susanne Fox stepped away from the desk.

Well the show will be re-launching in September with brand new hosts, and if the seven emails I’ve gotten in the past two days are any indication they’ve already found one of their new co-hosts.

Rumor has it that Tara Sloan will be making the move from Toronto to Calgary in the next couple of weeks to take the reigns of the popular morning show.  Reality-Tv fans might recognize her from the tv-show Rock Star: INXS.

Check out her website to learn more about the sexy new host. Judging from this decision, I don’t think this is going to be your mom’s Breakfast Television!

Tired of Stampede yet?

This morning I was on Breakfast Television here in Calgary to talk about things to do during Stampede…that have nothing to do with Stampede! Not that I have a problem with the “Greatest Outdoor show on Earth,” but sometimes you just need a break from all that cowboy madness.

In case you missed the show or were wanting the links, here they are:

Playground to the Podium
Tuesday, July 13
Location: Bridgeland/Riverside Community Association
5:00 – 7:00 pm – Fun FREE activities for kids of all ages
Pictures and autographs with Canada’s Olympians
7:00 pm – FREE outdoor concert featuring Calgary’s own The Dudes

Meet over 15 of Canada’s brightest Olympians including Jon Montgomery, Maëlle Ricker, Charles and Francois Hamelin, Denny Morrison, and Kristina Groves. They’re helping to create social change through sport in support of KidSport Canada – an organization that believes all kids should be given the opportunity to experience organized sport.

Calgary Dollars Potluck/Market
Wednesday, July 14th
Time 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Location: Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association

Calgary Dollars is celebrating cruelty-free, human-powered transportation this summer with their second annual “luv yer bike” potluck/market. It’s a Stampede party: decorate yourselves and your bikes and head down for some fun while checking out the great stuff Calgary Dollars vendors have to offer. If your bike needs a little maintenance, they’ll have bike techs on site!

Shakespeare in the Park
Now until August 23rd.
Princes Island Park

Playing all this week: the Shakespeare comedy Much Ado About Nothing. You can bring a blanket or reserve a seat for $25; picnic meals from the nearby River Cafe cost $32.

Body Worlds

The ongoing exhibit has a tonne of different events on Thursday and Friday evenings in July, among them speakers series nights, body sketching nights, and demonstrations. They also have “touch specimens” so that guests can actually handle the exhibits! And everyday the exhibition has special activities for children and youth.

Admission to Body Worlds also allows access to the Creative Kids Museum and to the LEGO Wings, Wheels and Waves exhibition too.

Kingsland Farmers Market!
Wed-Fri  12:00-6:30- Sat 9:00-3:00
The new market just opened, so it is the perfect time to check it out!
The market features locally produced food and other products from local farmers and agri-food producers.

Daniel Wesley Concert for U:End
An amazing local charity that’s trying to end global poverty, they’re selling tickets to the Daniel Wesley concert at Wildhorse on Monday, July 12. All money raised will be going right back into the Calgary community. Tickets are only $20!

If you are in Calgary right now, you are probably in the thick of the Calgary Stampede.  Which probably means that you’ve had enough mini-donuts to harm a small child and at least one person has thrown up on your shoes.

Ahhh Stampede.

But if you are in Calgary and you are looking for alternatives to the Calgary Stampede, you should check out Breakfast Television on City TV monday morning.  I’ll be on air talking about all the great things to in the city that have nothing to do with cowboy hats or food on a stick.

I’ll be around 8:05am.  If you have digital cable and live elsewhere, adjust your schedule accordingly.

Eat your heart out (insert any one of a 1000 award shows here)!

AMPIA (Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association) just announced the nominees for the 2010 nominees! And while I don’t know most of the people, I have to give a special shout out to my good friends are Breakfast Television here in Calgary.

Jill Belland and Susanne Fox both picked up nominations for Best TV Host. If Belland wins, it will be her second in a row!

Marina Labby (producer) is nominated for Best News Information Series. Marina is up against her co-worker, Mike “Gadget Guy” Yawney who is nominated for his segment, 80′s Phone.

CBC’s Heartland also had lots to celebrate, the show about horses and boring people picked up a whopping 13 nominations! (Seriously, should I start watching this show?)

I’m so excited for Tuesday!

I’m going to be participating in Calgary’s Food Bank’s 10th Annual Empty Bowl Benefit! If you haven’t heard of the event, it is basically a gathering of Calgary’s coolest media personalities (and me), who use their creativity and artistic talent to create one of a kind of ceramic bowls. Once the bowls are completed they are auctioned and all the proceeds go to the Calgary Food Bank

(Since I have absolutely zero artistic ability, I’m going to be throwing in two tickets to Boz Scaggs! That is a $150 value!)

You can look for the auction at the end of April!

As an added challenge, Breakfast Television’s Jill Belland and Calgary Sun’s Kelly Doody think they can raise more money than me. They are obviously ridiculous and have no idea what they are talking about. On Tuesday morning’s BT, we are going to be duking out it craft-style around 7:45am. If you can find yourself a TV around that time, you can watch some true craft mastery!

If the challenge of craft-off is not interesting enough, seeing me try to get up that early should be funny enough all on it’s own.

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Sad day for Canadian television. Earlier this morning, CITY TV announced they were doing restructuring. In more honest terms, a lot of good people got laid off today.

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Today is a sad day for Calgary’s Breakfast Television. Popular host Dave Kelly announced this morning, that he is stepping away from his job as co-host of the high-rated morning show!