Day 19 Ode to Elvira Kurt

Let's talk about great Canadian Women

Elvira Kurt is a comedian and I'm not going to beat around the bush but she is funny.

Her weekly segment on one of Canada's most listened to radio shows is the best part of my week. Well that's a bit of an exaggeration but it is really good. She's just downright funny and Jian makes a good straight man to her funny one. An outspoken out comedian she just says whatever she wants despite what might happen. Just remember the time she put Germany in the cultural hall of shame? How about babies? These are just a couple of the things she has inducted shamelessly into the cultural hall of shame.

She is the first inductee into my list of Great Canadian Women.

These are my three reasons:

1. She is effing hilarious.
2. She is out and that's awesome. I mean this is Canada and it's not a big deal here but she talks about the gays and her family all the time. I love it. I love it. American media really needs to take notes here because it's so natural that no one bats an eye. In the states man there would be backlash and it would be just stupidly handled. But then again we are Canadian and we are superior. ... lol maybe
3. She is not going to the states to 'make it big' She's here in Canada being a Canadian and I really respect that. There are so many Canadians who move to the states and have a career and get famous there. I don't need to list them you all know who they are and I don't have as much respect at all for them as I do for people like Elvira Kurt who are Canadians who work in Canada.

A taste of her hilarity

I mean I'd probably go into the cultural hall of shame for writing this.

Day 17

Currently Listening to The New Pornographers - Challengers

The weather is starting to warm up considerably so I spent the day outdoors with the dog enjoying it.

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I also found the gold medal hockey games on itunes so I'm going to download those again to enjoy over and over.

The CBC has become my best friend because it is really the only channel that tries hard to develop some good Canadians shows. Besides Brent Butt who works for the CTV.

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You all should listen to the song Oh Canada by Classified. It's pretty relevant.

Day 12

It's very hard to put yourself in front of some sort of screen. Whether it be a computer monitor, a television, heck even my phone without being exposed to the USA. Maybe that's why Canadians can be resentful of our American neighbors. I'm not saying that would be the sole reason but it could be a major factor. We can't get away from the American media. While we want our own country we are so exposed to the USA part of what is theirs become part of what is ours. Thank God for the CRTC though. I mean without them we would lose what little we already have.

Many times over the past month when I tell people what I'm doing I get the response "Canadian TV shows suck" and other variations on that sentence. I think that we have gotten soft with our media. We have the USA to supplement our own television so that gives us liberty to invest less in our own media. And it is the suits who have the money that are holding it back. That's why our music has flourished. Music is relatively inexpensive in comparison to produce. But our television and movies are for the most part ignored for one reason or anouther.

Now if the people who have a say and the people with the money got together and said let's reclaim our media and let's put something out that we can be proud of. Us as Canadians could be more proud of what we are producing as a country and not just what we are producing in hockey.

Over these past few weeks I've been watching a lot of CBC. The Hour, Q, Rick Mercer. Thank goodness that we have that otherwise I would have pulled out my hair.

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When you get a chance listen to Wavin' Flag by K'naan and that version that they recorded with all the Canadian artists.

Day 7

I'm debating on wether or not I should watch the oscars tonight. It is VERY American but it's an examination of American cinema that includes Canadians. After all James Cameron is a Canadian.

I have yet to decide.

Music has been good though. That's the only thing so far I'm having no trouble with. There is an abundance of good Canadian music. TV shows and movies are few and far between but not music. Music is great.

anyways I'm out for now.

oh I should say though that I'm having to get creative with my activities during this little personal social experiment.

Day 4

My co-worker put on American Idol today. I tried not to watch but it was so slow at work. I don't feel bad though because when it's out of my control it's out of my control.

So I went home and promptly turned on The Hour and Strombo was interviewing Rick Mercer. And I learned a fun fact that Flashpoint is a Canadian show. I did not know that.

George also played this video of an outdoor camera in the harbor in Vancouver when Sidney Crosby scored that epic goal. It was quiet then all of a sudden it's like the entire city cheered at the same time. It was pretty funny.

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I wish I would have done this American media fast during the olympics. It would have been easier. Maybe that's why Canadians became more patriotic. We were all immersed in our own countries activities we didn't have time to zone out in front of any number of American media mediums. So for 2 weeks we were nothing but Canadian. I bet you that has a little bit to do with this Canadian pride.

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Do you think that changing the words to 'O Canada' is a good idea? Do you think it's a Harper diversion tactic? He is usually up to things like that.

Apparently Jason Kenny is a social conservative who is not a fan of gay rights either. He's also gunning for Harpers job.

I learned a lot tonight.

The Juno Awards

So today the Juno Award Nominees were announced. I'm not going to go through the whole list as it is quite long. But there were some that weren't a surprise. Everyone seems to like anything Michael Buble does, they also adore Drake, Johnny Reid, and Classified. I am not a fan though.

Bands that should get the Juno in their category are:

1. Tegan and Sara for their album Sainthood. It was a fantastic album. Hands down best Canadian album of the year period.

2. Alexisonfire for Old Crows/Young Cardinals I don't even like this kind of music and I went out and bought this CD. So for their ability to get people to listen that wouldn't normally is worthy of a Juno for sure.

3. Now K-Os and K-naan are both nominated in the same category for rap recording of the year. I have a feeling it's going to be between K'naan and Drake officially. But if I was deciding it would be between K-Os and K'naan. And I'd probably lean towards K-Os. So let K-Os win for best rap album of the year and K'naan can win for artist of the year. Deal?

4.Darryl Neudorf should win for recording engineer of the year.

5. Mr. Hurricane should win for Video of the year. But I'm bias just because I really like Beast.

I like how the new artist of the year category has bands that have been around forever. What exactly makes them new artists? Seriously.

Anyways those are the artists I care about this year and those are the only categories with artists I know enough about to make comments on. So that's it.

Day 3

So today is a day off from work. So I cranked some tunes and did some chores. Now that the chores are done though I would normally watch some TV. But that isn't really an option.

I need some suggestions for great Canadian cinema. Heck I'll take anything as long as it's not american.

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I didn't realize how ingrained the American media is in our culture. You can know it but until you cut it out of your life you don't realize how big of an impact it has.

Day 2

Well this day was harder to take. I mean as far as TV goes. Music has been easy so far but only because that requires the least amount of change. I could have easily zoned out in front of American Idol or anything else that was on tonight. But I watched the Rick Mercer Report. I usually do though. So I'm at a loss. I don't know now wether I'm going to rule out american books or not but we'll see what happens.

This is hard.

Day 1

Well swearing off American media for the first 24 hours hasn't been so bad. After work I went home and I watched Brent Butt's new comedy called Hiccups. It wasn't hilarious but it has potential. I will definitely tune in to see what happens next week. It's tough though for people having a number 1 hit then trying a new show doesn't always work out. Those sophomore attempts more often than not fail. I really hope this does ok. Because I like them both. I just don't like the acting of the woman who plays Brent's wife girlfriend whatever. She is so bad.

Then Little Mosque on the Prairie came on. It was it's usual. Quality.

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But then I logged on the internet going through the usual motions. Facebook, e-mail etc etc. Then all of a sudden I catch myself on a site I know is based in the states. (I'm not stopping the usage of facebook because it's more of an interface as opposed to media outlet) So I left. It's crazy the patterns we get into without realizing it.

So I turned on the music. Lucky for me I already love a lot of Canadian and International bands. So I am not anticipating much trouble with this. Right now I have some Mother, Mother cranked and that is satisfying.

So no withdrawal yet.

I'll keep ya posted.