Toronto Mike

O Canada

Total 189 Posts

Not The Last Igloo In Canada

AFP has released an article with a title that immediate caught my attention.  "Canada's last igloo to be flattened amid Arctic boom" it read, so I read it.  I've now read it twice, but my feeble brain is awfully confused. The gyst of the article is that our far north
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D'oh Canada!

Speaking of positive reviews for The Simpsons Movie, the Globe and Mail had a nice little collection of Cancon Simpsons moments in an article they called D'oh Canada.  I like it so much, I'm reproducing it here in its entirety. D'oh Canada! by David George-CoshThe members of America's favourite nuclear
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O Canada at Live 8

One of my YouTube favourites is the closing footage from Live 8 in Barrie back in the summer of 2005.  Neil Young closed and Gord, Gordon, Bruce, Steven, Ed, Greg, Jim and other Canadian musicians joined him for Rockin' In The Free World. As amazing as that was, it got
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Best Canadian Movies

Humble Howard says "Bon Cop Bad Cop" is the best Canadian movie he's ever seen.  He openly admits that he hasn't seem a lot of Canadian films, but who amongst us has?  I can only think of a handful of Canadian movies that I've truly loved. The first couple of
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The Last WWI Vet

Dwight Wilson passed away today.  He was 106 years old and he was a veteran of the Great War.  That leaves us with one World War 1 veteran, John Babcock. The First World War ended in 1918.  That was 89 years ago.  That means Dwight Wilson was 17 when the
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The Eh Myth Busted

Thanks to Bob and Doug McKenzie, we Canadians have always been associated with the expression "eh?".  Truth be told, I never say "eh" unless I'm intentionally saying it to fulfil the expectations of the stereotype.  We're supposed to say it, so I'll say it for effect.  I never say it
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Remember Vimy Ridge and Rejoice

In the past, I've written twice about Vimy Ridge.  Today, on the 90th anniversary of this victory, I'd like to re-post both entries. On December 14, 2002, I wrote the following. If Vimy Ridge was an American success story, Hollywood would be churning out big budget epics on the subject
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My Ten Favourite Song References to A Canadian Place

Yesterday I wrote about songs that reference Canada.  I promised I'd share my ten favourite musical references to my home and native land.  Here are my top ten with apologies to Stompin' Tom Connors. "Bobcaygeon" by The Tragically Hip - I'm starting this list with Bobcaygeon because it's a village
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Canadian Idiot

"Canadian Idiot" is the third song off of Straight Outta Lynwood, Weird Al Yankovic's latest parody album.  It is, of course, to the tune of Green Day's "American Idiot" and chock full of the typical Canadian stereotypes, eh. There's no official video, but search for Canadian Idiot on YouTube and
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Canada's Top Athlete

There's some fierce competition for the Lou Marsh Award this year.  Usually there is one or maybe two potential winners, but this year there are four. Justin Morneau is the American League MVP, Joe Thornton in the NHL MVP and Steve Nash is the NBA MVP. In any other year,
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It's Our Job To Never Forget

As I mentioned earlier in the week, so many brave Canadians have sacrificed everything to preserve our freedoms.  If you stop and think about what we asked (and ask) these young soldiers to do, it blows your mind.  Back in 2003 I took a closer look at the participation and
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Canadian Design

Let's talk design for a moment, if that's okay.  Did you know there's a Canadian Design Resource?  Neither did I until I learned about it earlier today.  It's a neat collection of Canadian designs and definitely worth a visit. Here are a few of my favourites. The CSA logo we
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Essentially Canadian

The weekend was such a blur, I'm only getting to Saturday's paper now. In honour of Canada Day, the Star listed ten essential Canadian songs.  I did something similar last September, listing what I thought were ten essential Canadian tracks. Here's the Toronto Star's list: Huron Carol - Jean de
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Happy Canada Day!

On March 29, 1867, Queen Victoria signed the British North America Act.  This beauty came into effect on July 1 of that year, creating "one dominion under the name of Canada".  That was 139 years ago today. Initially there was just Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.  The Red
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Statement To Morrissey

To protest our seal murdering policies, Morrissey is taking a stand by refusing to take his tour to Canada.  He's also asking all his fans to boycott Canadian goods.  In his statement, he compares the act to the Nazi's construction of gas chambers and pins us alongside China as "the
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Canadians Are Known For...

Check out The Prejudice Map.  It displays what, according to Google, people in the world are known for. The map tells you Canadians are known for cultural diversity, humility and kindness, liking their beer and being tolerant.  Throw in an obsession with hockey and they've pretty much nailed us.
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Great New CanCon

I'm so damn proud of the new music I hear coming from this country.  This week I've been heavily spinning the tracks from The New Pornographers' Twin Cinema, Metric's Live It Out and Broken Social Scene's Broken Social Scene.  All three albums are fantastic.  They're a joy to listen to
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Sized By Population

Canada is the second largest country in the world after Russia.  We've got all this space but only 30 million or so people.  There's a lot of room to spare. Have you ever wondered what a map of the world would look like if all countries were sized by population?
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