THE URBAN I-TIE

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.

The grand unveiling/opening of the Burj Dubai…..the world’s tallest skyscraper.  Just ridonculous.

Man, where to begin.  2009 has definitely been an eventful, tragic, random and strange year, to say the least.  I know there are dozens and dozens of ‘top 10′ this and ‘top 10′ that, but this is my retrospective on 2009.

◙   The tragic and sudden death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.  This most certainly tops my list for what has happened in 2009, and I don’t care what anyone says.  People are still talking about it and he passed away on June 25.  Even though the rest of the family (ie. his brothers and Latoya) have tried to monopolize on their brother’s death, is tacky and distasteful, it still doesn’t downplay the fact that he’s gone. 

◙   The continuation of the stupid recession aka economic downturn aka tough economic times.  Glad that we don’t hear those statements every two seconds in the media, but it still negatively effected all of us, especially those who lost their jobs and are still struggling to make ends meet.  I empathize with you completely and I hope 2010 treats you much better.

◙   What goes hand-in-hand with tough economic times?  Douchebag fraudsters who deserve all the pain and suffering = Bernie Madoff, for example, or even Earl Jones, who was dubbed the ‘Canadian Madoff’ – he wasn’t as successful in milking billions like Madoff was.  Succkkeerrss…

◙   Whitney Houston’s comeback post-crack-chronic-Bobby Brown. 

◙   The fast-unravelling of Tiger Woods’ life and bag of dirty secrets: the pathetic ‘accident’ he had in front of his house; the few dozen women who’ve come out admitting to their affairs with him, the loss of his big endorsements and his indefinite leave from pro golf.  Hahahahaha another sucker!!  Elin, take him to the cleaners, girl!!!

◙   The neverending steroid saga in baseball….shouldn’t have been a surprise that the Yankees won the World Series this past year.  A-Rod loves steroids and I’m sure the rest of the team relishes in them too.  Woopdeedoooo!

◙   Who could forget (I almost did) the passing of the best ad-man of all time — Billy Mays.  Oxyclean will never be the same without him; frankly no cheesy infomercial is the same without “Billy Mays here!!”.

◙   The volatile and wonky stock market – from hitting record lows to silly highs (can we say Apple or Google stocks??).  If you were brave enough (or had some really good insider tips) and managed to keep your investments in the market throughout the rollercoaster, you probably made some good $$$$. 

◙   From Lady Gaga, Drake, Adam Lambert’s steamy AMA performance, to hearing more crappy Miley Cyrus songs on the radio, and who can forget Kanye’s “Imma let you finish” moment….the music world has seen some definite action this year.  Drake, hurry up and release your album already – we’re all patiently waiting, friend; the mixtapes aren’t cutting it anymore.

◙   Oh, as much as I want to forget this – the ‘big 3′ automakers asking for their ridonculous and uncalled-for bailouts.  We taxpayers will be paying for that crap for the next 20 years…..bureaucracy democracy!!!

◙   Susan Boyle made waves with millions and millions of hits on youtube and setting records for album sales in the UK and the US.  Another lesson to Simon Cowell and the rest of the world – don’t judge a book by its cover.

◙   The television world had some new life breathed into it with ‘Glee’ being brought to the airways.  Alongside the last episode/series finale of The Sopranos, and ‘Glee’, they both contributed to “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey, becoming the most downloaded song in iTunes history.  Personally, I think The Sopranos had more to do with it…..

◙   Ellen DeGeneres finally joined Miss Oprah Winfrey on the cover of ‘O Magazine’, being only the second person to join Oprah on the cover (after First Lady Michelle Obama, of course).  Congrats again, Ellen!!

***Dang, how could I forget – honourable mentions, so to speak:
- Balloon Boy:  it’ll never be referred as the Seinfeld character anymore…
- Chris Brown & Riiiihanna draaaaama : hit her again, and slap some steak on it!  or did she hit him too?  Draaama.
- The passing of numerous stars: Charlie’s best and original angel, Farrah Fawcett, and one of the coolest US politicians ever, Edward “Ted” Kennedy…In addition to Patrick Swayze (I’ll heart Dirty Dancing forever!) and Natasha Richardson, most famous for her role as Lindsay Lohan’s mother in The Parent Trap.
- President Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize??  Still scratching my head on that one…

◙   Ahhh, the ‘Balloon Boy’ saga continues.  Richard Heene will be spending 90 days in jail and Mayumi Heene will be serving 20 days of community service.  Womp, womp.  I’m sure they thought they would be getting away with it – NOT! hahaha

◙   How did Time magazine come up with the idea to name Ben Bernanke the ‘Person of the Year’?  He didn’t save the economy; such a sham!  He’s the head of  the Federal Reserve, which in case you didn’t know by now, is a private company (not the government), run by a few really rich men, who decide the fate of the US.  He shouldn’t be praised for nothing.

◙   Dave Matthews Band is the Number One most grossing concert tour of the decade.  Hellllll yaaaa!  For all those DMB haters, you have no idea what you’re missing out on, until you see Dave and the boys live.  It’s no wonder they are ranked number one because they have such a huge following..and their music is amazing.

◙   Serena Williams has been named Female Athlete of the Year by The Associated Press.  Meh…

◙    Ohhh, the joys of having a Blackberry.  The uber popular smartphone experienced it’s second server outage in less than a week.  Either upgrade your systems RIM or get your crap together.  People pay really good coin to have and utilize a bb; I don’t blame people for questioning RIM’s reliability and credibility. 

◙   Susan Sarandon and her long-time partner Tim Robbins are splitsville.  Too bad, because they were together for something like 20+ years.  I guess if they’re not happy it was the best thing. 

◙   Another rockstar/celeb who’s gone in and out of rehab.  Steven Tyler has entered rehab again, this time for a pain killer addiction.  Yikes.

◙   I really didn’t think ICQ was even in demand anymore, or for that matter, still in use.  I remember the good old days of repeated “uh oh’s”; ICQ was crazy popular back in the day, wayyy before MSN was even a thought.  Looks like AOL may be selling the service to a Russia-based company for around $300 million.  Wowwowweeewow. 

◙   Oh ya, in case you didn’t hear, Tiger Woods is leaving the world of golf indefinitely.  Only he knows if he’ll ever return.  Also, he lost endorsements with Gillette, Gatorade and Accenture.  Boooo freakin hoooo.  His lame statement he posted on his website bothers me – why should we feel one ounce of empathy or compassion for him?  Paaa-leez.  His family are the ones who deserve it, not him.  On the bright side of things, he can feel proud about being named Athlete of the Decade by the Associated Press.  Which lady friend will he call to celebrate??

◙   Starbucks may be offering free Wi-Fi in their stores to compete with McDonald’s, since they’ll be offering it for free; while McDonald’s is trying to compete with Sbux to become a cool, hang-out spot. 

◙   Christmas is 9 days away!!!!!!!!

◙   Roy Disney, the nephew of the late Walt Disney (the founder of Disney) has died at the age of 79.

◙   Roy Halladay, is officially leaving the Toronto Blue Jays to head to the Phillies.  Too bad that he never won a championship with the Jays – but I guess they never worked around his amazing talent after all these years.  Good luck Doc!!

L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers is caught up in legal drama with her mom – the richest woman in Europe and who has a 30% stake in uber-comestic company, L’Oreal.  She thinks her Mom is losing her ‘faculties’ and she is requesting a court order in Paris to have her money spending monitored.

Apparently, Mrs. Liliane Bettencourt, who by the way is 87 years old, gave her friend (Francois-Marie Banier) $1 billion Euros over several years…..I guess because she wanted to or Mr. Banier is a great con-artist.  To go to court and have a judge say that your Mom’s spending has to be monitored is a pretty intense situation.  On the flip side, just giving someone $1 billion Euros is a bit ridonculous too.  It is Mrs. Bettencourt’s money, but I guess her daughter thinks she’s worth it.

After what feels like months away from the blogosphere, I really need to catch up on a lot.

◙    Coca-Cola is stepping things up a bit more, with the introduction of their “PlantBottle” which is derived from 30% plant-based waste material.  The extra cool part is they’ll be selling it all over the place at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, which I’m sure will land the bottle/drink on store shelves soon.  I’m sure their competition will follow suit soon enough.

◙    Beyonce featuring Lady Gaga – Video Phone music video.  It made me laugh a lot; such a cheesy, bad video and the song sucks.  Her videos are getting more and more cheap and cheesy lookin’.  Sorry, just saying.

◙    Dwyane Wade to Anderson Varejao: In your FACE!!  Michael Jordan’s expression is hilarious too.

◙    I almost forgot about the Gosselin’s.  Jon Gosselin is up to no good again; this time he’s counter-suing TLC for $5 million dollars.  I’m sure TLC tarnished his image a wee bit but his own actions didn’t help things either. 

◙    The “Belle de Jour” has a real identity – a cancer scientist from the UK - Brooke Magnanti.  Of course, there’s the classic reasoning behind it – she was a sex worker to get her through her doctoral education.

Happy 40th anniversary Sesame Street!  My childhood wouldn’t have been the same without you!  Cookie Monster will forever eat cooooookies!!!

I still love rubber duckies!!!

Intel has been handed another hefty lawsuit for it’s ridiculous business practices
◙  New York’s Attorney General has handed Intel an antitrust lawsuit for its “illegal business practices” – paying computer distributors big dollars to strictly use Intel processors as opposed to their competitor, AMD.  Well, as the saying goes, money talks and bullshit walks.

Yayyy, the New York Yankees have won another World Series
◙   It’s the 27th time they’ve won the championship.  I guess it makes everything better for all of America.

More H1N1 vaccine drama….
◙   Wall Street employees get access to the shot before millions of others who actually need the shot.  Here  in Canada, more professional athletes (NHL players, for example) are receiving the shot before the rest of the general public, which in both cases has people extremely upset.  We know why these groups got the shots before the average-Joe, but really, how are they more at risk than other people?  They’re the percentage of people who can actually afford any type of medical care they would need.  Once again, money talks……

12 dead after rampage shooting at army base in Texas
◙   A horrifying incident for all who were there at the Fort Hood military base in Texas today.  31 people were wounded and 12 people are dead after a fellow soldier started shooting at his own comrades.  It was thought that he was dead but he’s in hospital recovering from gunshot wounds as well, after a female soldier shot back at him.  Reports are saying that US authorities knew about the soldier (Major Malik Nadal Hasan) 6 months ago as he had posted threats on the internet about suicide bombings and other attacks, but they’re still questioning whether it really was him or not.  I wonder what will come out of all this – besides him getting the death penalty.  What a crazyass mofo.

◙   Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will be co-hosting the Oscars.  I hope we can see some Jack Donaghey-ness on stage….I’m thinking it’ll be a good show.

◙   No Doubt is suing Activision (the makers of Guitar Hero) over the newest game “Band Hero” over a feature that allows players to control band members, to sing other artists’ songs. 

◙   Rihanna is finally sharing her side of the story.  Diane Sawyer interviews her on Good Morning America about the situation/abuse that took place between herself and Chris Brown, with the interview also showing on 20/20.  Timing couldn’t be any better with Rihanna’s new album coming out on November 23.  I’m sure she’s sincere about what she discusses but the timing of the interview is just a little wack, in my opinion at least.  Play on the heartstrings of young girls and women out there Rihanna and company, just to make a buck.

◙   Drizzy Drake won the “Rookie of the Year” award on the weekend at the BET Hip Hop Awards.  Here’s hoping this leads to more…On the other hand, Kanye West was a no show.  Was it all to prevent another ‘i’ma let you finish’ moment??  More..

◙   Steve Jobs and his Apple genius will be providing their skills to revamping Disney stores in the USA and Europe to give a more interactive approach to customers, and probably less merchandise in the stores.  Will there be Mickey Mouse iPod earphones??  I know I want a pair!! 

◙   Could U.S. health care reform be around the corner?  I’m still apprehensive about it….but the Senate committee has given its approval.  More on this…

◙   Model-of-all-trades, Heidi Klum and her husband Seal welcomed their new baby girl, Lou Sulola Samuel, on October 9th.  This is Seal and Heidi’s 3rd baby, but she has another daughter from a previous marriage.  For some reason, she makes being/looking pregnant the easiest thing to do.  Congratulations to the happy family!

◙   Michael Jackson has been nominated for 5 American Music Awards, including his ‘Number Ones’ album for Best Album.  Even though decisions may be based on the last few years of his life, I don’t think that should be taken into consideration, instead they should be recognizing his artistry.  No more drama necessary…I think there’s been enough.

◙   Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté speaks again to media in Russia about his momentous trip to space and his worldwide concert to bring awareness to making safe drinking water more accessible.  I can appreciate his efforts but couldn’t his $35 million spent to go on his trip be put to better use?  Article…

◙   Bloomberg Media buys BusinessWeek magazine….just another notch on Mayor Bloomberg’s financial belt.

◙   Facebook hacking has gone out of control.  I think many FB users can say they know at least one person whose account has been hacked and this time it’s hit a real low.  Shelby Breimer‘s deceased mother’s fb account had her status changed to promote a colon cleanser product.  Just hearing about this urkes me, and I can only imagine what Ms. Breimer has gone through being that her mom passed away less than a year ago.  Facebook, you better step up on this one and improve your security and account maintenance for ALL users.  Even though some may say this was a really bad coincidence, it’s still wrong.

◙   Not that I care, but Miley Cyrus has deleted her twitter account and even made a ridonculous video of her rapping about it – which starts off in a bathroom of sorts and alongside a bad porn music beat.  Wtf.  She has nothing better to do with her millions of Disney dollars???

For any hockey fan in Canada, talks about a new franchise or even the return of a legendary franchise like the Quebec Nordiques, you can’t help but be excited.  After Friday’s meeting between Gary Bettman and the mayor of Quebec City – Regis Labeaume, the speculation of the team’s return is almost like teasing a kid with candy.  Will there be any sort of expansion in Canada…..ever??  After all, the majority of the country eats, sleeps and breathes hockey so let’s do it already NHL!    (article)

Swimming, playing pool, getting a hair cut, playing volleyball – just a typical day at the office right?
(photo source)

Well, another money grabber created by the airline industry.  United Airlines decided to come up with this – for only $249 (which I’m guessing doesn’t include taxes), you can check two pieces of luggage per trip, with no additional cost!  This is clearly geared towards those who travel frequently, and who like to, or have no choice but to fly with United or one of its subsidiaries.  I understand that the baggage fees were instilled to generate revenue as the airline industry surely took a beating with various negative economic contributors, but why do corporations LOVE gauging consumers?  Article here…

We pay rather costly ticket prices and they add ridiculous fees for almost anything they can put a fee towards.  Obviously one has no choice but to pay the fees if they have to check their baggage, but what happened to the good ol’ days where there was kind customer service and your bags were taken care of free of charge and made it to your destination without a hitch?  I love flying but when you see all the fees that you pay before you even get to the airport for your trip, and when you arrive to check-in, you’re stuck paying another $20 or $30 just for your bags, it’s obvious that we’re all getting frustrated and upset.  Then these companies wonder why there is ‘airplane rage’…

Note to self: don’t threaten Barack Obama on facebook

◙  If you think facebook is a great, safe place to use an application to get a poll started asking if the president should be assassinated?  Think again folks.  Read more on this bad idea.

Could Coke be healthier than we thought?

◙  Hasn’t this memo gone out before?  Coca-Cola is modifying its labels of certain products to provide further nutritional information.  The products are sooooo good for you, that they need to create another label to show you! *side eye*  Story…

Sesame Street, Obama style

◙  First Lady Michelle Obama will be appearing on Sesame Street, as part of their 40th anniversary series, to promote healthy eating.  We all know that more people need to hear and learn about that.  More on this…

Jim Balsillie just can’t catch the Coyote…

◙  Research In Motion tycoon, Jim Balsillie has been denied once again to bring an NHL franchise to Canada, after the judge for the bankruptcy case denied him.  An appeal will not be set in motion this time around – I hope there’s another chance for him to make it happen.  Are you happy Gary Bettman?  Story…

What’s going on in the Pacific??

◙  First, a typhoon hits the Philippines with more rain than they see in a month; then an earthquake in underwater in the South Pacific causes a tsunami to blast through Samoa, Tonga and American Somoa, and now a huge quake also originating in the ocean, hitting Indonesia in the province of Sumatra – all in a few days.  Does anyone still believe that global warming isn’t real??  Story…

Toyota orders recalls on certain cars..

◙  Well, if you’re the owner of a Toyota Camry, Toyota Prius, Toyota Tacoma or 2009 Lexus ES 350, you better look into removing your driver-side floormats.  They could potentially be a factor in causing a serious accident.  Read more on this…

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is officially the new owner of the New Jersey Nets; well 80% share of the franchise.  This move still allows Bruce Ratner (who still has ownership of his franchise) to build the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, NY.  Mikhail Prokhorov will also be investing in the Atlantic Yards, which will house the new arena for the Nets, as well as residential/commercial space.  This makes Prokhorov the first Russian owner in the NBA.  (link to this story)
I guess Jay-Z won’t have a piece of the pie?  I was hoping he would be behind the move as he has been talking about bringing the Nets to Brooklyn for a long while now.  Maybe he can build a school or something…Or buy another bball franchise?

More auto industry drama!

Part of the GM Europe deal between Sberbank (a Russian state-owned lender) and Magna International (a Canadian company) that was completed this past week, includes both parties to create a Russian car brand that will have international reach and appeal.  Sounds like members of the EU aren’t too happy about it.  Kinda figured there was a slight twist to this deal….Full story here.