9 days until the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Canada GO!!!
“Helping Haiti” and “We Are the World” pt. 2
February 3, 2010“Helping Haiti” charity song — Simon Cowell’s rendition of R.E.M’s “Everybody Hurts”….including Susan Boyle, Mariah Carey, Kylie Minogue and others.
◙ Twenty-five years after the original recording of “We Are the World”, Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie are getting together with some of music’s biggest stars to re-record the song, to benefit Haiti; but this time, none of the original singers will be on this version. I know Michael would have done the same thing, if not wrote a new song to bring awareness to the devastation in Haiti. About 70 singers are on the record, including Kanye West, Natalie Cole, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Tony Bennett, Justin Beiber…the list goes on. Should be interesting to hear the final product.
Oscar nominations!!!!!!
February 3, 2010
Ohhh, one of my favourite times of year - the Oscar aka Academy Award Nominations are in!!! Some of the highlights are:
Best Actress
◙ Gabourey Sidibe – ‘Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire’
◙ Meryl Streep – ‘Julie & Julia’
◙ Helen Mirren – ‘The Last Station’
◙ Carey Mulligan – ‘An Education’
◙ Sandra Bullock – ‘The Blind Side’
Best Picture
◙ ’Avatar’
◙ ‘The Blind Side’
◙ ‘District 9′
◙ ‘An Education’
◙ ‘Up’
◙ ‘The Hurt Locker’
◙ ‘Inglourious Basterds’
◙ ‘Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire’
◙ ‘A Serious Man’
◙ ‘Up in the Air’
Best Director
◙ Lee Daniels for ‘Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire’
◙ James Cameron for ‘Avatar’
◙ Kathryn Bigelow for ‘The Hurt Locker’
◙ Quentin Tarantino for ‘Inglourious Basterds’
◙ Jason Reitman for ‘Up in the Air’
….and so much more!!! Check out the full list of nominations here. Oscars air on Sunday, March 7th.
Some celeb-ness…
January 25, 2010◙ PETA’s Vice President says Kanye West and Amber Rose “look like pathetic creatures from a shabby roadside zoo.” Those are some fighting words! Just kiddin’. The fur is definitely a little tooooo much and Amber Rose needs to get over herself because if it wasn’t for Kanye, she wouldn’t be wearing a full-length lynx coat, nor would we know her name.
◙ Even Stevie Wonder wanted a piece of “Sex Therapy“:
◙ The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien is no-more. Just when I was starting to enjoy/getting used to NBC jabs throughout the comedy and talk show circuit, his show finishes. I doubt Jay Leno will be able to bring his show back to what it was. Why did they ever mess with a good thing?? I wonder what he’ll be up to next….
◙ Speaking of Robin Thicke, I am just coming to the realization that the song “When I Get You Alone” belongs to Mr. Thicke!!! I remember hearing this song in 2002 (I can remember the year because it used to play a lot at this place I used to work at). Damn, I still can’t get over it. The hair on him in this video….wow, what a difference to how he looks now.
There is hope for Haiti….
January 25, 2010A couple of nights ago there were two telethons on tv (that I watched at least), Canada for Haiti and Hope for Haiti. In case music or celebrity-ism gets you motivated to give to those who are in desperate need of help such as the country of Haiti, then these telethons should have done just that! In my opinion, they achieved quite a bit of financial success; Hope for Haiti - lead by the man, George Clooney himself and a few of his A-lister friends, and Canada for Haiti - which included the big 3 tv networks in Canada (CTV, Global, CBC) and Canadian celebrities. Both telethons (shown at different times, of course) had some really great and powerful performances from people like Alicia Keys, Jay-Z/Bono/Rihanna, Dave Matthews & Neil Young, Nelly Furtado, K’naan and so many others. Hope for Haiti so far has raised over $57 million dollars and Canada for Haiti, over $27 million. Canadians as a whole have currently donated $67 million, and the Federal government will be matching those donations, dollar-for-dollar.
In the end, there will always be that smalllll hint of doubt, whether or not the money will be allocated to the right people to do a lot of good and help hundreds of thousands of people who don’t have the means to survive at this point. It will take quite some time for recovery to begin in Haiti but I hope that the world continues to reach out and help Haiti.
Robbie Pardlo from ‘City High’ on “Intervention”.
January 25, 2010Damn, I was just thinking about ‘City High’ (an R&B/hip-hop group from back in the day…well, 2001) when one of their songs, Caramel, came on my iPod. Now, he’s going to be on A&E’s “Intervention” for alcohol addiction. Very sad to see…hope he gets better soon.
“5′5 with brown eyes, smile like the sunrise.”
Manny Pacman – are you acting a little sketch or what?
January 25, 2010Not sure what’s up with this mini interview, but Manny Pacquiao seems to mess up his words towards the end of chat. I still would have wanted to see him kick Mayweather’s ass.
Another a fine example of a TTC employee “at work”.
January 25, 2010
If anyone else catches these douchebags sleeping on the job, take pictures and post them anywhere you can! I know I’ll be more on the look-out for it, regardless of what time of day it is, and I’ll be sure to which out my phone to take a pic. Both this guy and George Robitaille (the more ‘famous’ guy who first got caught) should be suspended for 2 weeks at least, without pay.
’stache of the week and the shi*storm it has caused.
January 25, 2010
Well, I have been waiting to post this picture of this “hard at work” TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) employee, taken a few days after the fare hike came into effect. Not just because it’s ridiculous that someone was caught sleeping on the job, but the guy actually has a pretty sweet mustache! Aside from his ’stache, there’s nothing great about this photo, at all.
This photo has created major buzz (not the good kind) within Toronto, has gone viral online and amongst those who use the TTC, because not only is this guy (George Robitaille) probably making close to or just above 6 figures, but we’re paying $3 ONE WAY just to get to where we need to go. Our subway system is maybe a quarter (maybe) of what NYC or London’s Tube has to offer, and we’re paying $3??!!? He’s not the only person to ever fall asleep on the job; I’ve seen it happen in other places of business, but in such a public capacity as sleeping in the fare collector booth? It’s bad enough we can barely talk to someone in one of those fare collector booths (in the subway stations) to get change or buy tokens without them talking to you like you’re a piece of crap; now we have to try to wake the person up and babysit them?? I don’t think so.
The fare hike outraged the entire city and then to add insult to injury, a couple of riders caught George Robitaille (thank you!) and another employee, fast asleep while they’re supposed to be working. Now, the TTC union is upset that riders didn’t pay attention to the employee and that someone who passed his booth should have attempted to see if he’s okay, instead of laughing at him. Great, I mean, pathetic PR attempt. Put the blame back on the riders, sure. We’re always the TTC’s and the Amalgamated Transit Union’s scapegoats. The union’s mini press release from president Bob Kinnear is just another example showing how stupid their leadership is. If someone has a medical condition, or taking pills that will make them sleepy (that’s according to George Robitaille himself) then maybe they should be doing a different job within the organization. Hey, union, you’ve heard of modified work, haven’t you? They should not be placed in a position where the safety of others is at risk.
As a fellow Torontonian, TTC rider and tax payer, it’s getting to the point that hearing about the disgusting behaviour of huge organizations like the TTC and the kind of pampering that the employees receive through their union, just doesn’t garner the empathy or compassion in me at it once did. While there are still thousands and thousands of people in Toronto alone trying to make ends meet or are still unemployed due to the recession, who now are forced to pay $3 to make it to a job interview, or $3 to get to an appointment, or $3 to take their child to school or day care, and that’s just one way. How can the TTC and its union explain the justice in that? Are they going to tell that person to take a cab, like I’ve been told by a TTC employee?
Mr. Robitaille was inteviewed by the media and to try to clean up his image, he went on to say that he thinks “our priorities are a little mixed up”, he “can hold his head up high” because he’s been working for the TTC for almost 30 years and that he has a medical condition that can explain him falling asleep, or the fact that he saved someone’s life in 1995. Priorities mixed up? No. Saying we booted Haiti off the cover of a national newspaper, to put a photo of you fast asleep while on the job, is not distorting our priorities. Saving someone’s life is commendable, of course, but none of that changes the fact that you, Mr. Robitaille, got caught!
To try to make an attempt at pleasing the public, now the TTC is offering refunds on tickets (those that were to expire on Jan. 2, 2010) that were purchased after the sale of tokens was discontinued (when apparently too many people were “hoarding” tokens) up until March 31, 2010.
At the end of the day, if you need to get somewhere and having a car isn’t feasible for you, or you can’t afford to take a cab, we have no choice but to deal with the TTC, its half-ass employees and its semi-decent service. I’m so glad that two people caught two different employees, both doing the same job as fare collectors, sleeping on the job. Deep down we all know that the fare hike isn’t for operational costs; it’s merely to support the unions demands, fill up upper managements’ pockets even further, and to continue to overly pamper employees, when half of them are just a terrible representation of the TTC – rude, inconsiderate people who have no inclination of what custoer service really is. TTC is not “the better way”.
Citytv/Rogers, what the hell were you thinking?!!?
January 19, 2010
For those fellow Canadians who watch Citytv programming, especially in Vancouver and Toronto, there are going to be some drastic and saddening changes. Citytv announced today that they’re eliminating local newscasts in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. Toronto is also greatly affected as there will no longer be the 12 or 5 o’clock news, Citynews International and possibly weekend newscasts.
What’s the most shocking is they laid off Toronto TV/journalist /reporter legend Anne Mroczkowski, who was with City for over 30 years. They also let go one of my other fave reporters, Laura DiBattista who’s been with the company since 1983. In total about 60 jobs will be lost, with about 35 coming from T.O. I knew Rogers was going to do something dumb to mess up things after they bought the company in 2007.
Sauce of the week!
January 19, 2010
One of the more tastier pasta sauces out there, bolognese sauce is a hearty alternative to a marinara or ‘plain’ red sauce. When you’re not in the mood for meatballs (wayy more work involved making meatballs) make a yummy goodness bolognese sauce….
’stache of the week.
January 19, 2010
Not only is this album cover absolutely classic, but the ’stache that Ken is rocking is something else. Makes the guy look super creepy but his semi-handlebar mustache almost makes up for it…….almost.
