Larocque and Roll

Night off June 15, 2007

I’m trying to think of a compelling reason not to sit here and watch television until it’s time for bed. So far, the reasons for doing just that are pretty damn good:

1. I have to work tomorrow, so I should take the night off.
2. No matter how much I clean, everything is going to be covered in cat hair tomorrow anyways.
3. I just made lemonade, and what greater pleasure in life is there than cold lemonade?
4. It’s too hot to do much else.

The DVDs of “A Bit of Fry and Laurie” I ordered for work came in the other day, and I took home a Horatio Hornblower film tonight. Just more reasons to chill out and do nothing strenuous.

A brush with shmarminess December 18, 2004

(”Brushes with shmarminess” used to be a bit on a radio station I listened to. People would call in and talk about their encounters with celebrities.)

Back in high school, there was this guy in a couple of my classes who was obsessed with Linda Evangelista. He was a funny guy - a cross between “ha-ha” funny and “hmmm..” funny. I didn’t know him really well, but I knew him from a couple of classes and from drama club. Actually, he was in my sister’s class, so she might know him better.

Anyways. This afternoon, I was flipping channels while eating lunch and happened across “Sexy Girl” on the Life Network. And guess who was one of the fashion stylists? Yup - him! It was a totally surreal moment - I kept thinking, “Nah, that can’t be the same Ryan… or is it?” So I checked the web site, and it is indeed the same guy from high school.

It ranks right up there with the time I saw a girl I knew from high school on the Camilla Scott Show, on an episode about obsessive roommates. Her roommates’ obsession was with alphabetizing all her canned goods.

Hockey! December 14, 2004

I mentioned in passing that I watched the show “Making the Cut,” the quintessentially Canadian reality show. For those of you not the least bit interested in hockey, you can go get a beer out of the fridge - we’ll still be here when you get back.

Why is this the quintessential Canadian reality show? Well, it’s about hockey. Specifically, tryouts for the NHL. Something like 4000 guys tried out, and 68 made it to the camp. Over the next two weeks, they had to impress the coaches and scouts to make it to the final 18. At the end of each day, a number of players were told they were “on the bubble,” or at risk of being cut, and had to go to centre ice. If they weren’t performing well, they got a black helmet and played with the developmental squad, but had the chance to return to the elite squad.

And since the NHL is on strike, and there’s no Hockey Night in Canada (waa!), this is all I have to fill that gap.

Last week, they announced the top 18, from whom the top 6 would be drafted by the six Canadian teams in the NHL (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal - go Habs!). Happily, five of the guys I was rooting for made it - Jacobs, Mole, Noel, Wires, and Dickenson. (A note about Noel - he’s from the town over from the town where my dad’s from, so naturally I was going to root for him!)

The final is being aired live right now, and they’re about to announce the top 6. Be right back!

Update: Frell. Of my five, only Mole and Noel got drafted. Mole to Ottawa, which are a pretty good team, so good for him! And Noel got drafted by Toronto - I can hear my dad swearing from here. He hates Toronto with a passion that is pure and holy, and for a hometown boy to be drafted by them must be seriously pissing him off. I would have liked to see Noel or Jacob drafted by Montreal (go Habs!). Eh.

Sunday Night TV - Take 3: The Greatest Canadian, eh? October 18, 2004

My mom called last night to tell me that the CBC was airing The Greatest Canadian. I hadn’t known it was on, or even intended to watch the whole thing, but naturally, I got sucked in.

As one of the commentators (Ian Ferguson, I think) said, it was truly and exercise in democracy, and demonstrated why sometimes democracy doesn’t work (or, at least work like you think it should). Hence the inclusion of the DJ from Winnipeg, who must have started a campaign to be included, because they said almost nothing about him. Or the guy who founded the Kinsmen - Harry or Harold something. Who? Exactly.

Other than that, it included more Canadians who were famous than actually great. Mike Myers? Jim Carrey? The DJ from Winnipeg? Not so much nation-builders and great thinkers as Canadians who made it big down south. And only one Canadian author (contrary to the claim that there were no Canadian authors on the list) - Pierre Burton.

The list of the 50-11 people they featured doesn’t seem to be posted. Or at least, isn’t posted yet. But the top 10 will be presented over the next 10 weeks, complete with celebrity advocate. It was interesting to see who made the top 10 (Don Cherry? Meh. David Suzuki? Yay!), and even more interesting to see who the advocates are:

• Frederick Banting (Mary Walsh)
• Alexander Graham Bell (Evan Solomon)
• Don Cherry (Brett Hart, who was one of the 50)
• Tommy Douglas (George Stromboulopoulos)
• Terry Fox (Sook-Yin Lee)
• Wayne Gretzky (Deborah Grey)
• Sir John A. MacDonald (Charlotte Gray)
• Lester B. Pearson (Paul Gross)
• David Suzuki (Melissa Auf der Maur)
• Pierre Elliot Trudeau (Rex Murphy! Woo!)

You can vote here, but watch the episodes too!

Sunday Night TV - Take 2: Surreal enough to be funny

I don’t get The Brak Show. If I were watching it in the middle of the afternoon, I’d probably change the channel, scratching my head and wondering what the hell that was.

However, Sunday nights when I’m falling asleep on my knitting needles, it’s the funniest show EVER. I think you need to be really tired, drunk or high to appreciate how funny the dream-like apparition of Spoony (a walking, talking wooden spoon) and Geoffry the Wonderbird are. Or the following bit of dialogue, which made me laugh so hard I snorted apple cider everywhere:

Brak: “Hey Mom. Where’s Dad?”
Mom: “He’s in the trunk of the car.”
Brak: “What’s he doing in there?”
Mom: “I just wanted five minutes to myself!”

See? Not really that funny. Try reading it when you’re really tired, and it becomes comedy gold!

Sunday Night TV - Take 1: No Farscape!

Space, which is Canada’s answer to the Sci-Fi channel, isn’t showing The Peacekeeper Wars - or at least, not yet. I haven’t been able to find out if it will eventually be shown in Canada, or if I’ll have to wait until it comes out on DVD.

Until then, the folks at TeeVee did an excellent job articulating why you should watch Farscape.