CP24 To Offer Breakfast Television Some Youthful Competition?
First, let me preface this post by apologizing to all my non-Toronto readers. Go look at my Flickr account, this post will not interest you.
I've steadily been having a big hate-on for Breakfast Television since it's sale to Rogers and its long, slow departure from CityTV/CTV while remaining on CTV's news channel. The choppy and awkward station ID/commercial flips between the two has been like trying to track a schizophrenic family member's conversation who hasn't taken their meds in months. For the last month or so, any fan of Breakfast Television who watches on the CP24 channel will have noticed that when BT goes to commercial, CP24 kicks in with "More On CP24!" teasers of weather and traffic.
Let's just get past the fact that the bumper title is dangerously close to "MORON CP24!" if you're not watching the screen closely...
Besides being utterly maladroit (like that? I have Thesuarus.com open), these extra reports of traffic and weather are an additional assault of already mentioned information (it's fucking scrolling across the bottom already!!), jazzed up with an odd segment of Cam Woolley driving around town and talking about traffic (different idea but utterly useless: "Here's a live feed of us stuck in traffic on the DVP!").
I've posted before about how BT gets my ire: particularly Kevin "I Don't Live In Toronto" Frankish and his need to revolve the show around himself. Even his post-show blog (full of terminology errors - he calls his video posts "blogs"), gets my blood boiling. I'm really glad he's trying to get on board with the whole Web 2.0, new technology thing but it's becoming unwatchable, like your parent trying to email a photo off their hard drive (no offense dad!!). I have to admit in the last while, I've hopped over to Canada AM and have become dangerously close to accepting their dry, conservative pap as my morning ritual.
Until this morning there was a ray of hope...
This morning during a CP24 bumper, in between the weather and traffic, there were two young somethings chatting amicably about their fantastic weekend and how great the weather was. I missed their names and the segment lasted only a minute, but they got my attention... They were young, well dressed, good looking, bright, smiling, energetic and so NOT like the current Breakfast Television crew, that my heart beat faster.
Is CP24 going to cut loose BT and have their own breakfast show of goodlookings 20-30somethings? I'm hoping that CP24 is grooming young bucks to offer a breath of fresh air from curmudgeonly Kevin "I'm Old and at no way at all a Metrosexual" Frankish? Can Dina transfer over to that show if they do? She's the only reason I've hung on so long.
All Hallow’s Eve Pt2
A meme from The Electronic Replicant so fitting, I can't pass it up:
What were you last year for Halloween?

A Luchadore. Often imitated. Often better than yours.
What are you going to be this year?
You Tell Me...
Favorite costume you have ever worn?
For attention, I've never got as much as the wrestler. I do remember my sister trying to get me into a Mummy costume and bailing on me when she got half way through. Too many bandages for her attention span.
How do you spend your Halloween?
Lately, on Church Street. I'm a people watcher at heart. But the desire to dress up overtakes that a bit.
Are you or are you not going trick or treating this year?
I hope to trick. Nyuck nyuck.
Did or do you pull Halloween pranks?
I tried to scare my mom once when I was 9 or 10 but being the last of 5 kids, she'd seen it all: the dummy in the chair in a dark room, the panicked yelling of "John's been hit by a car", the lawn dart in the back for real...
Do you believe in ghosts?
Sort of. I had a sink tap turn itself on full blast when I worked in a 170 year old jail converted into a traveller's hostel. Last place in Canada to have a public hanging. Spooky.
Are you superstitious?
I'm not. But I do pray to the fates when I want something.
Do you like caramel popcorn?
Duh.
Have you ever gone in the country to look for pumpkins?
I've gone into the country looking like a pumpkin. Gay camping and over-tanning does that.
Have you ever been on a hayride?
I've been in a Corn Maze.
Do you decorate your home for Halloween?
First time this year. Mostly cat-safe candles.
Have you ever been to a haunted house?
Where do you live?
Have you ever been to a graveyard on Halloween?
Nope. Too stupid and scared.
Have you ever attended a Halloween party?
Where do you live?
Do you watch scary movies on Halloween?
Not lately. Too busy.
Have you ever had your candy stolen from you?
Yes. At the age of 12. The guy I was with took off suddenly and my costume (I forget what I was) didn't offer up much notice that there were big kids bearing down on us. I was tackled wondering why my friend was racing away from me. I hope the fucker (friend and big kid) is diabetic now.
Did you ever steal any ones candy?
Nope. I was a wimp.
Has anyone ever gotten hurt due to your prank?
What prank?
Have you ever dressed as a witch/warlock?
No. I wanted to be Sci Fi all the way.
Are your parents into Halloween?
When I was 16, my dad and I went to a department store and bought a pair of those cheap vinyl kids jumpsuit costumes with the tounge-cutting slitty mouths. We squeeezed into them and headed out to the apartment upstairs for the apartment building's party. By the time we climbed the stairs, the seams had burst and we were basically in our underwear. With masks. Dad was Captain America. I was Wonder Woman.
In Which Dead Robot Turns Chrimson With “Gwarsh!”
Robert, who has been coming around this here blog for a couple months now, recently started up Canada Blog Friends, a review site of Northern webzines (ha! when was the last time you heard that? Webzines! hmmm...) that:
...is a celebration of life in Canada, as manifest in many different blogs, across many different genres from every part of the nation.
The coolest Canadian blogs are profiled here, and sometimes extra passionate posts are condensed in compelling story briefs and further digested in comments.
Well I got featured yesterday and I have to tell you, I've never had a stranger say such nice things about my blog/hobby who didn't want money or sex. Go read the review. I rarely toot my own horn on here but the post is so well written I feel like a proud parent at a grade 2 musical and my child just nailed "I Don't Know How To Love Him".
Thanks Robert!
iPhone Saturdays
Articles that made me laugh this week:
• The reason why SharkBoy got me the iPhone. 85% less sedatives? This is probably why I haven't quit my job lately. (via Gizmodo)
• "The Cow Says Copyright Infringment!" (via Engadget)
• Is this the Second Coming of the Jesus Phone? The back looks like the template leak, but I don't see a user-side camera... I would say mmmmmaybe. (again from Engadget)
• Erica Sundin, the iPhone goddess, confesses to not using her phone part of her iPhone. GASP! (via TUAW)
• Do you think Rogers will do this when they come to Canada? SNORT! Not on your life. (via ComputerWorld)
• No buttons, No Reception, All Ego. A parody ad easter egg in GTA IV (Via TUAW)
• Still one of my favorite groups on Flickr: iPhone Effects. Raw images out of the camera.
• And finally, R2D2 as video projector, yours for $3K (nothing to do with the iPhone, I know. But it's FRAKKING COOL!)
An interesting synchronicity is occurring between art and real life: The movie The 
