> Any parents out there looking to have their teens cast in a un-usually inappropriate television show?
MTV is casting actors to be in their adaptation of the hit British TV SKINS. If you’ve never heard of SKINS, it basically makes Gossip Girl and 90210 look like Full House and Family Matters.
I don’t know what it is, but those British teens are sexed up and now MTV wants to copy it.
Thanks to shows like Degrassi, we know that Canadians know how to get their sex on too, that’s why MTV is coming to Toronto to do an Open Casting Call for SKINS.
If you think your kids are low on morals and can act their way out of a threesome (if they want to), then they might be perfect for SKINS.
The casting call is taking place on Saturday November 21st at Jarvis Collegiate (495 Jarvis St, Jarvis Street Entrance). The show is looking for teens in the age range of 16-18.
You can go to the casting call Facebook page for more details!
sidenote: yes, that kid in the above picture is the cute kid from About A Boy. Sigh.
>Monday was a great day for Canadian Music as the Polaris Music Prize Long List was announced! In case you are like half of Canada and have never heard of Polaris, I’m not going to pretend I’m a music snob and discipline you, I just heard about them last year.
But the Polaris Music Prize is actually very important and one of the highest honors any canadian musician can receive because it’s awarded to them by the critics. Many people think the Junos are the Canadian Grammys, but the Junos are based on sales, that is why Nickelback keeps winning. The Polaris prize is awarded by the critics and does not count airplay, sales or revenue.
The long list of nominees was announced today. In a couple of weeks (July 7th) it will be shorted to ten and then on September 21st one artist will chosen to win the $20,000 prize. Past winners include Patrick Watson, Final Fantasy andCaribou. It’s okay if you haven’t heard of any of them, now you just have more great music to listen too!
Take a look at the list below and see if you recognize any of the nominees. If not then go to Itunes or your local music store and BUY their albums. Canadian artists are hard working and deserve to reap the rewards of following their dreams.
Congrats to all the nominees. (I’ve bolded the CDs I own!)
Arkells - Jackson Square Jill Barber - Chances Beast - Beast Bell Orchestre – As Seen Through Windows Bison B.C. - Quiet Earth Bruce Peninsula – A Mountain Is A Mouth Cœur De Pirate – Cœur De Pirate Leonard Cohen – Live In London D-Sisive – Let The Children Die Elephant Stone – The Seven Seas Elliott Brood - Mountain Meadows F**ked Up – The Chemistry Of Common Life Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels Handsome Furs – Face Control Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country Hey Rosetta! – Into Your Lungs Japandroids - Post-Nothing Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care K’NAAN – Troubadour K-OS – YES! La patère rose - La patère rose Land Of Talk – Some Are Lakes Lhasa - Lhasa Malajube – Labyrinthes Metric – Fantasies (check out my Metric concert review) One Hundred Dollars – Forest Of Tears Pink Mountaintops – Outside Love Joel Plaskett – Three Snailhouse – Lies On The Prize Charles Spearin – The Happiness Project Rae Spoon – superioryouareinferior The Stills – Oceans Will Rise Think About Life – Family Timber Timbre – Timber Timbre Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane Martha Wainwright – I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer Women – Women Woodpigeon – Treasury Library Canada C/W Houndstooth Europa
She is Alexandra and she was a model on Canada’s Next Model 3 and she is full of shit! After the first challenge she dropped out of the show because of mysterious hip industry. You know, because lots of 20 year olds have lots of hip injuries.
As someone who would injure a Gosselin kid to get on reality show, I HATE that canadian’s keep getting on shows and then dropping out so quickly! Yeah, I’m talking to you Project Runway Canada designers!
Also why is half the cast medicated and why isn’t the other half, when they should be?
>Six years ago, Juno award winning artist Lhasa de Sela released ”The Living Road” and then went on a journey to record a new CD. The result, simply called Lhasa, is finally being released today and I definitely think it is worth a listen and hopefully a purchase.
The album was written and produced by Lhasa herself and was recorded mostly live and entirely to tape! Yeah, who even knew you could still record things to tape! The great thing about Lhasa is the control she has over her music, for her third she was the singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer all in one.
Have a listen and you instantly feel calmed by the song’s smooth melody and raw vocals. I’ve never fallen asleep on a cloud but I figure it’s a lot like listening to Lhasa.
Fun fact: Lhasa left her singing career in 1999 and moved to France to join her three sisters in a circus/theatre company named Pocheros.
On Monday Night, Canada will bid farewell to Corner Gas, which is arguably the most successful and popular television show to come out of this country in recent memory. The whole country, including myself, will be saying goodbye to Dog River. But there is just one singular problem:
I’ve never seen Corner Gas.
No, I’m not proud of it. Every time I think of it I feel significantly less Canadian, but somewhere between not being an 80 year old woman and having it ingrained in me that Canadian TV is typically pretty awful, I missed the Corner Gas train.
And it’s not that I’m ashamed of the hit show. What Brent Butt was able to do for so many Canadian actors over the past six seasons is nothing short of amazing. Notably, the success of Corner Gas has propelled Canadian shows into the spotlight, many of them now even get picked up in other countries. While Corner Gas isn’t the first show to break into the American market, it certainly made it easier for many shows that followed (Flashpoint, Being Erica, Little Mosque on the Prairie)
So I’m officially a Corner Gas band wagon jumper. Much like watching the Stanley Cup finals if there is a Canadian team in them, it’s the Canadian thing to do. My hope is that networks like CBC, CTV and Global continue to make shows that strive to achieve the success that Corner Gas was able to.
Congrats Corner Gas!
For all your Corner Gas fans out there, Monday is going to be your day to spend with the entire Dog River gang!
The entire cast of CORNER GAS wakes up the neighbourhood as CANADA AM broadcasts a live one-hour special from Toronto’s Masonic Temple.
The cast appears with fans on LIVE AT ETALK: THE CAST OF CORNER GAS at 7 p.m. ET.
Then, CTV goes behind-the-scenes of the taping of the final episode in the exclusive, half-hour retrospective special, IT’S BEEN A GAS, at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Then the finale airs at 9:30pm ET time. (Check your local listings.)
It was only a matter of time, earlier this weekend Billy Bob announced that his band, The Boxmasters, would abort the cross canada trek and not continue to tour with Willy Nelson, in light of him being a douchy mcdoucherson on CBC earlier this week.
What’s funny about this whole thing is that Canadian’s are pretty nice people. It takes a LOT to piss us of and we pretty much let anything slide. But somehow BBT was able to find that “piss-off button” in about 7 minutes and keep hitting it repeatedly. By now the video has been seen by 1.5 million people, that is not an easy number for a publicist to fix.
Secondly, just cause this is your fall back career BBT, it doesn’t mean it is for the rest of the poor Boxmasters, who will now probably have to back to their day jobs as accountants and record store sales clerks. Maybe one of them will open up a monster comic book store in your honor.
But for now this whole issue is water under the bridge. If anything, it gave canada something to bond over…at least until the final episode of Corner Gas later on this week.
Lastly, after having four kids with three different women, it’s nice to see Billy Bob finally pull out of something.
> The Hills has we know it finally starts to wrap up tonight with the 5th (and last) season to feature Lauren Conrad. Taking into account the fact that Audrina has already signed a reality show deal with Mark Burnett, it looks like if The Hills does continue after season 5 it will be up to the Pratt family to carry it. Which will officially make it the most annoying show to ever grace our television screens before actually airing. I am making a promise right here. That if there is a Pratt Trifecta show (Stephanie, Heidi and Spencer), you will NEVER hear it from me. I will never ever take about it. Not once. Not even to discuss how much I hate it. You can take that to the bank.
So as Lauren gets ready to finally turn the cameras off, I think the ones that will be hurt the most our are dear friends at MTV Canada. A lot of Canadians don’t know this, but the Hills:Aftershow is the only Canadian production to be aired on the mothership of MTV. The Hills essentially gave MTV Canada a chance to shine and show off the talents of Jessie Cruickshank and Dan Levy. And although I never did get that invite to be apart of an episode of the Aftershow, it was great to see Canadians get such a huge international spotlight for an even huger show.
So if you ever wonder why the hell would anyone ever inflict us with someone like Lauren Conrad, you can sleep at night knowing that she kept many canadians employed. Maybe Harper should have a chat with her too!
>CBC debuts it’s second new show of the week tonight with Wild Roses! (Being Erica premiered last night And how much did you love it?)
I’ve actually had the screener for the first episode on my coffee table for the past month. I know I should have watched it before but the idea of another drama about cowboys in Alberta was almost too much for me to handle. It’s alberta, there’s cowboys, we get it! But this weekend, I settled down in my comfy pyjamas and decided to give it a shot. I guess it was kinda like going on a date, not because you wanted to, but because it was the nice thing to do.
The drama takes place and is filmed in and around Calgary and tells the story of two families that have a sorted past at best. I’m going to be brutally honest and say the first twenty minutes were rough. The show throws almost a dozen characters at you with little explanation to who anyone is and why we should keep watching past the first few commercial breaks.
But I’m also going to tell you that Wild Roses ends up being well worth your time. Especially once you get a quick family tree history courtesy of series star Sarah Power, a tube of lipstick and some old family pictures.
Wild Roses is the story of two families with a LOT of history clashing over land, love and loyalty. The families are the wealthy Kennedy-esque McGregors and the debt-ridden Henrys. Trust me when I tell you that these two families have enough drama, secrets and sex to make even Gossip Girl blush.
As someone who has lived in Calgary for the past three and a half years (gulp!), I’ve always struggled with the huge gap between the lower middle class and those upper class Calgarians who are newly wealthy (and are bad drivers). This show is a provocative look into the lives of those who have benefited and have become victims of the Alberta boom.
And it would be impossible to not mention the true star of the series: the scenery. Wow. Even if you’ve lived in Alberta your entire life, it would be impossible to not be impressed by the scenic shots that frame the show. Oh and can we talk about those houses?! Sweet lord, if you are ever looking for a house sitter, call me! My apartment doesn’t even have a bathroom in it. No joke.
I’m also going to say that Amy Lalonde, who plays the spoiled and yet stunning Rebecca McGregor is the one to watch on this show. She is truly captivating and I’m not just saying that because I think she is the first naked person I have ever seen on CBC. Don Cherry doesn’t count, right? We are lucky that our American counterparts haven’t scooped her up yet!
I’m not sure if I am ready to add Wild Roses to my Tivo season pass list just yet, but I’m certainly going to give it a chance. Afterall I did watch an entire season of One Tree Hill last year. Shudder
Wild Roses premieres tonight on CBC.
Check out the title sequence for the series. Sure the song has nothing to do with the show but still fun.
Like every other human being on earth I have been watching the Olympics like crazy lately. Unlike the rest of the world I seem to be more than confused than impressed.
Over the last couple of nights I have making a list of questions, comments and concerns pertaining to all things Olympics.
I think it’s funny that the women’s beach volleyball teams always hug after every point. It seems nice and cordial.
Do you have to wear ugly hair clips to be a gymnast?
Do table tennis players classify themselves as athletes? Do they workout?
How many different ways and/or forms can one race in a pool?
Is it really fair that someone who does a 2 hour triathlon gets the same gold medal as someone who jumps off a board or runs for 10 seconds? Not that I think one is more athletic than the other, I just think they should have different sized medals depending how long it took to win them.
Can the country of Canada sponsor Michael Phelps? Maybe he can be in one of those Heritage Moment commercials?
It’s weird that they involve horses in the Olympics right? Are there any other animals involved during the two weeks? Do horses ever adjust to the jet lag?
BMX racing? Cool.
How do you try out for the Canadian Handball team? Imagine the type of people that show up for those tryouts by accident.
Water Polo is an Olympic sport, but polo isn’t? What about badminton?
Did you know that the 2008 games is the last time that baseball and softball will be Olympic sports? Canada probably won’t notice.
It seems like every Canadian child plays soccer, so why is it that we can never actually do well at it at the games? I blame parent coaches.
Whatever happened to the Gymnastic foam pit? I was good at that.
Is it really fair if a diver (China’s Wang Xin) only weighs 65 pounds? Is it even less fair that divers get to sit in a hot tub in between dives?
* In researching my questions (yes, I do research), I found out that quite a few sports of been cut from the Summer Olympics, and they aren’t ones that you would necessarily expect. They include: golf, croquet, cricket and sadly Tug of War (see above picture)! Luckily hockey and figure skating were moved from the Summer games to the more ideal Winter games in 1920.
