On Monday night I sat and sulked to Normy about how the writer's strike in the States would kill our Monday night 24 ritual. I will admit that last season wasn't quite up to the standards of season's 4 and 5 which got me hooked but we still rushed home from basketball to tune in. It doesn't look like that's going to be necessary any time soon.
But as much as this is a painful situation for me, it is a boon for the CBC and the lineup of shows it's trotting out for the New Year. While I don't think I will be tuning in to MVP - The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives, I was happy to stumble across jpod, which is the CBC's adaptation of the Douglass Coupland novel. Despite the fact that North like him, I am a fan of Coupland's and despite my aversion to most Canadian TV, this one looks very promising. It's set in Vancouver so it lacks the typical rural simpleton stereotyps that Corner Gas plays up and is actually much more up to speed then any American comedy I've seen. Yet there is still the feeling that I relate a little better. Maybe it's because I've worked close to programmers; although, that being the case, I can say that they are less geek chic and more sweatpant chic...and there are definitely fewer hot girls. Nevertheless it is tv and I wouldn't want them to put my guys on tv so I'm happy with the stretch. I didn't watch the whole episode (that's not how people watch tv in the google age) but I liked what I did see and will watch again. I particularly liked the fact that Alan Thicke did a 180 from his Growing Pains role and plays a boozy skirt-chasing father. My other favourite part was that there was a kickass soundtrack including a nice interlude featuring the Hip's Flamenco...a great backround song if there ever was one.
Given the dearth of new American shows this is a golden opportunity for the CBC to reach a larger audience. This show should help and I would recommend checking it out.
My net savvy friends down at Evolving Solutions have their hands in all kinds of cool stuff. So much so that I have trouble keeping track of their brands; Evolving Solutions = Big Santo + YourTeam Online + Youtube? Might as well be, what with Craiger driving around in his tricked out Acura...but I digress.
Of all their products the one that has been most intriguing to me is YourTeam Online. It is a FREE global sports community that allows you to keep track of your team’s schedule, stats, bios, etc. and then network with other teams and leagues around the world to share updates on results and standings but also coaching techniques and drills. Basically it’s a place for sports nuts to connect, brag, and trash talk without spitting on anybody; and that’s good for everyone!
The most recent addition to the YourTeam site is SportsWire Live. It’s a highlight show of user-submitted clips from the YourTeam network delivered by my new favourite sportscaster (frankly, she had me at "hi"). Check it out:
At this point YourTeam is set up for Hockey and Soccer but I'm lobbying to get them to add rugby to the mix, partially so I can connect, brag, and trash talk, and partially so I can watch Steph Downey tell the world that we rock! I'm going to play hardball with Craiger to make this happen; until he makes this a reality he can't call me "the Guy Lafleur of Maritime Rugby", not until he gives that title the respect it deserves. The proverbial ball is in your court Craiger!
In the meantime keep a look out for the next edition of SportsWire Live.
I would like to take this opportunity to point you away from this page - Avert Your Eyes! - to introduce you to the most important thing to happen to the internet since...well, since this blog. My friends down at Evolving Solutions have liberated Craig Allen's thoughts from the confines of their walls and allowed them to roam freely across the internet.
Craig told me about this blog last week and I've been reading all the old posts all week. This blog is almost exactly what my blog would be like if I got paid to do it; exept that I would update it daily. If you can forget while you read that this is a business blog and Craiger is therefore a corporate whore then you will be rewarded. There is a high Maritime content factor and, next to North, Craig is the funniest person I know. And sometime he even means to be.
So without further ado I introduce you to Big Santo, and more importantly Big Santo's Blog - www.bigsanto.blogspot.com. I'm so pissed that Craiger actually made a post about the Seven Wonders of Canada before I did that I can't even tell you. Hopefully this post, and the huge increase in traffic that comes with it, will make him forgive me when I make one of my own. I will have to do something else for not getting expressed written consent to use the Big Santo logo. I think I had implied verbal consent but it was a couple of Saturday's ago and Craig said he doesn't remember it.
On Monday night I sat and sulked to Normy about how the writer's strike in the States would kill our Monday night 24 ritual. I will admit that last season wasn't quite up to the standards of season's 4 and 5 which got me hooked but we still rushed home from basketball to tune in. It doesn't look like that's going to be necessary any time soon. 
I didn't watch the whole episode (that's not how people watch tv in the google age) but I liked what I did see and will watch again. I particularly liked the fact that Alan Thicke did a 180 from his Growing Pains role and plays a boozy skirt-chasing father. My other favourite part was that there was a kickass soundtrack including a nice interlude featuring the Hip's Flamenco...a great backround song if there ever was one.
