In 2000, a certain beer company launched an ad entitled "The Rant". You may have seen it. It starred Jeff Douglas as Joe, a proud Canadian with something to say. Here's the ad. On July 1, 2000, I was at Molson Park for an Edgefest when Jeff Douglas actually delivered
Happy Birthday, Canada, you're 142 years young today. Over the past 6.5 years I've written quite a bit about you. All of those posts can be found at http://www.torontomike.com/o_canada/. But here are a few of my favourites, in the order I wrote them. Vimy
McGill University has a great collection of Canadian war posters online. The holdings of the Print Collection in the Rare Books and Special Collections Division include some 250 Canadian posters from the two World Wars. The posters are accessible to researchers who visit the Division's Lande Reading Room; a printed
CBC has unveiled their 49 Canadian Songs for Obama's iPod. These 49 won out over their top 100. I can't really speak to the French songs or the non-pop songs, but they seem to have hit most of the essential tracks from my definitive Cancon list. Still, how does The
I'm a sucker for all these Canadian music features the CBC like to throw at us every few years. The latest is from CBC Radio 2. Starting this morning, CBC Radio 2 is inviting us Canadians to help select the top “49 songs from north of the 49th parallel” that
When they taught us in primary school about our Governor General, they always referred to the position as symbolic and merely a figurehead with no actual power. Canada is, after all, a democratic nation, and the Governor General is merely a tip of the hat to the Queen of England.
Humble posted this today. It's a piece by NBC News on our Highway of Heroes.
Veteran's Affairs Canada provides general statistics about Canada's participation in war, including numbers of casualties. It doesn't include our recent losses in Afghanistan, but the figures are still staggering for a country our size. South Africa War (1899-1902) Approximately 7,000 Canadians served; 267 of them gave their lives.First
Not only am I not an economist, but I'm also not a lawyer. As a non-lawyer, I find myself confused by copyright law. This story says the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee has trademarked the line "With glowing hearts". That's right, they've trademarked a line from "O Canada", our national anthem.
Vegas Geoff just sent this over. I just came across this absolutely fantastic clip of our anthem being butchered during a Las Vegas Posse CFL game. Apparently, the story goes that this singer, Dennis "KC" Parks, had never heard the anthem before, so just tried to wing it. As you
I recently shared the track listing for "Early Canadian Rock: The 60s and 70s, Volume 1" and "Early Canadian Rock: The 60s and 70s, Volume 2". My bud has put together a third volume. Here are the 24 tracks from volume three. (Make Me Do) Anything You Want - A
Happy Birthday, Canada, you're 141 years young today. Over the past 5.5 years I've written quite a bit about you. All of those posts can be found at http://www.torontomike.com/o_canada/. This is a great day to dive in and revisit those red and white entries.
The Google universe effects us all in different ways. I feel a great responsibility to be an authority on subject matter I rank #1 for in Google. Tomorrow is Canada's 141st birthday, so many are Googling best Canadian songs and finding my Top 100 Canadian Songs List. That makes me
Ajax Mike wrote me a note today calling me out for referring to the Hockey Night in Canada theme as our second national anthem. The song, recently bought by CTV, was referred to as "our second national anthem" by yours truly in this recent entry. Ajax Mike has a good
I recently shared the track listing for "Early Canadian Rock: The 60s and 70s". That homemade mix served as a crash course in early Canadian rock, and now my bud has put together a sequel. Here are the 27 tracks from volume two. Big Time Operator - Keith HampshireBorn To
I've got a bud who's been burying me in early Canadian rock these past few months. All good Canadians know "As Years Go By" by Mashmakan or "Oh What A Feeling" by Crowbar, but unless you remember the 60s, how would you know The Beau-Marks, The Ugly Ducklings or Motherlode?
I see at Canadian Thinker that the drought is finally over. 26 years ago, Canadian Shannon Tween was named Playboy's Playmate of the Year. For the first time since, that title belongs to another Canadian. Jayde Nicole, 22, of Port Perry, Ontario, has been named Playboy's 2008 Playmate of the
When I saw No Country For Old Men recently, one of the coming attractions we saw was the trailer for Passchendaele, a Paul Gross film about the 10th Battalion, CEF in the First World War at the Battle of Passchendaele. I thought the trailer was pretty good and I'm looking
YouTube user inklinkinklink wins the Coke. This is Gordie Johnson playing O Canada on his electric double neck guitar prior to last night's game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New Jersey Devils at the ACC.
The first one to upload video of Gordie Johnson's O Canada from tonight's Leafs game at the ACC wins a Coke. If you missed it, CBC broadcast the national anthems and Big Sugar's Gordie "Grady" Johnson played O Canada on his electric double neck guitar in Hendrix-like fashion. It was
The United Nations has published its human development index which ranks its 175 members plus Hong Kong and the Palestinian territories. Canada is listed as the fourth most desirable country to live in. We used to dominate this list, finishing first nine times between 1990 and 2000. Here's the new
A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow (Ontari-ari-ari-o!) is the unofficial anthem of Ontario. It was featured at the Expo 67 Ontario pavilion, so Ontarians my age and younger know it best from Jim Carrey's appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien when he came to Toronto for four
The great show Ren & Stimpy aired an episode in season 2 entitled "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen". The song from this episode was frequently aired on MuchMusic in the early 90s as a stand-alone video. Here's the video... If you know the song, you likely found yourself singing along.
I don't have a personal story to relate about war. My grandparents didn't serve and I don't have an uncle or a cousin in the armed forces. I once heard about my grandfather's brother serving in WWII, but the details are sketchy. According to Veterans Affairs Canada, there are 205,
Earlier today, I wrote about my inherent disadvantage when compiling a list of this nature. Below are my ten favourite Canadian albums of all-time, but you won't find Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Rush or The Guess Who. You also won't find The Band, Leonard Cohen or Gordon Lightfoot. I kept
