Archive for the ‘TV’ Category

• Ballet Girls Redux

  Date: 2007.12.10 | Category: TV | Response: 0

  I’m catching the last episode of Ballet Girls on a repeat. I forgot how utterly heartbreaking Katherine was. I heard (from someone I consider to be a reliable source) that she did end up not coming back to the school after her first year.

  Bullies suck.

• Need to borrow a shovel Mr. Washington?

  Date: 2007.07.04 | Category: TV, Things I Don't Understand | Response: 1

  From IMDB Entertainment news about Isaiah Washington :

  “I said several bad words. There’s no way you’re going to treat me like the B-word, the P-word or the F-word.” He insisted the “F-word” was not intended as a gay slur – but used to imply “somebody who is being weak.”

  Oh yeah. That makes it so much better.

• X-Weighted Season Two

  Date: 2007.07.02 | Category: TV, Uncategorized | Response: 0

  Ok, since this information is annoying difficult to find and since I know a whack of people show up here every week looking for information about X-Weighted I thought I’d post the information I found here.

  Right. X-Weighted Season II starts THIS WEEK! Finally. First episode of the season airs on Slice at 8pm ET, Thusday July 5 and repeats on the same day at 11pm ET. It also repeats Saturday July 7 at 11am ET, Sunday July 8 at 7pm ET, Monday July 9 at 9am ET and Wednesday July 11 at 3pm ET. The first episode focuses on Valencia.

  Note to Slice:

  Hello, Slice? Your page on the show really rather sucks and information is harder to find than it should be. Sorry but it’s true. The number of people who find me every week looking for information about the show are a good indication that you need to do something about that. Cause you know, it’s a good show and I obviously think so otherwise I would have never bothered to blog about it plus I really don’t watch much TV at all so the fact that I make a point to watch regularly says volumes about the show. As does the number of people who seek out information about it. You can do better.

  Technorati tags:x-weighted, x-weighted season 2

• Note on X-weighted

  Date: 2007.04.05 | Category: TV | Response: 5

  I’ve seen a spike in searches for “x-weighted” in the last couple of days. I’m not entirely sure why. It caused me to do some digging and all I can tell you about Season 2 is that it’s slated for “Summer 2007″. And they’ve already started (finished?) casting calls for Season 3. And that’s all the news I’ve been able to find on that end. If anyone knows anything else please leave a note in the comments!

  (I’ve sent an email to the Slice Network (formally the Life Network)…I’ll let you know if I hear anything…)

  Technorati: x-weighted

• Dear CBC

  Date: 2007.01.10 | Category: TV | Response: 1

  Dear CBC,

  I just wanted to let you know that if I never hear about Little Mosque on the Prairie again I’ll be a very happy individual. No, I was not one of the 2.1 million viewers who tuned in last night to see it. And hey, maybe it really is a good show.  But I’m so bloody sick of hearing about it that I will *never* be tempted to watch it. There really is such a thing as too much hype.

  Hyped out,

  Sassymonkey

• More interesting TV

  Date: 2007.01.03 | Category: TV | Response: 0

  Tonight CBC is airing The Greatest Canadian Invention, at 8pm EST. (Perhaps this is a good time to mention that I don’t work for the CBC…).

  What did Canadian invent? Well here’s the 50 inventions on the show tonight.

  My favourite? Difficult. I love me the Canadarm. I’ve actually been in the control room for it. Admit it- you think that’s damn cool. And I love me a Bloody Caesar (so not to be consumed before using the Canadarm…). And what kind of Canadian would I be if I didn’t like goalie masks??? Or the retractable beer case handle??? And umm hello…INSULIN (thank you Mr’s Banting and Best). And I think that Java is part of what allows me to do my work. Ditto the telephone. And with my love of underwear the WonderBra should be on my list. And ummm poutine. Yes, poutine that wonderfully perfect artery-clogging creation.

  But seriously I think that the highlight will be Margaret Atwood musing over the wonder that is the caulking gun…

  (And for the homeschoolers there’s a GCI in the classroom lesson plan available – clicky)

• Brilliant

  Date: 2007.01.01 | Category: TV | Response: 4

  Sometimes the CBC is brilliant.

  It’s January 1st – the day of new year resolutions. How many people are adding “lose weight” or “eat healthy” to their list of things to do this year?

  So what’s CBC doing? They are showing Super Size Me.  How freaking brilliant is that?

  I’ve actually never seen it. It was always out and then it disappeared to some unknown part of the video store (it’s on my ziplist though).  So I’m watching.   And I must say, it makes me want to add a long list of green things to my grocery list.  And I’m very happy that they haven’t invented Smell-0-vision.

• Ballet Girls – The End

  Date: 2006.12.18 | Category: TV | Response: 4

  I’m really sad this is only three episodes and that tonight was the last one. Tonight was really good.

  There were girls doing typical girl things – like picking on a girl. I felt bad for Katherine. I’m glad she got a new roommate. I hope the rest of her year went well (I’m assuming this was filmed last year). But I’m glad that they included it because a. it showed that the girls were still really girls and b. there is a catty side to dance as there is everywhere else and to not include it would have been a farce.

  There was this one awesome moment where one of the girls they’ve following from her summer school audition to the Nutcracker – the teeny-tiny 10 yo that alternates between being very serious and being a little girl and whose name I cannot remember. She’s standing in the wings in her costume, her part long since over (she was one of the party girls), completely alone among the black curtains. Then suddenly the Sugar Plum Fairy is beside her. She just looks up at her. And in the shot for one moment there’s the Sugar Plum Fairy and the little girl. Then the Sugar Plum Fairy runs on to the stage and the girl is left standing there, looking after her in awe as she starts to dance. And you know that with every little bit of her being the little girl is dreaming of being the Sugar Plum Fairy.

  I’m sorry this is over. I’ve enjoyed it so much. I’ve never taken a dance class in my life. Ok, that’s not entirely true. I took a line dancing class once (I’m a little bit country ok, or at least I was in a past life). I keep saying I’m going to take a dance class but I never really get around to it (ok fine, I’m a totally chicken). I’m so uncoordinated it’s not funny. But it’s more than just the dance that made this good. These girls have a passion for dance. They love it in a way that some of us won’t ever love anything.

  I’d still really, really love to see a Ballet Boys though. In this episode we saw a lot more boys than the last ones. I really want to see something about them. I think most of us understand why girls want to be ballerinas. But most of the boys I know would rather be the next Wayne Gretzky than the next Baryshnikov.

  Technorati tags: Ballet Girls

• Ballet Girls

  Date: 2006.12.12 | Category: TV | Response: 0

  Sorry I didn’t post a reminder yesterday Cat. I was too busy Faking the Joy.

  But I did watch. And I liked it a lot.  And it makes me want to buy a ticket to the Nutcracker this very second (only I’d be seeing the National Ballet, not the RWB).

  BUT do you know what I think would be even better than Ballet Girls? Ballet BOYS.  I’d really like to see a documentary on the boys that enter the ballet school.  Cause there are far less of them and I think it would be really, really interesting.  When’s the last time you heard a boy say that his life goal was to be a classical ballet dancer? Exactly.

  Technorati tag:  Ballet Girls

• October 1970

  Date: 2006.11.23 | Category: TV | Response: 3

  Canadians know this date. I doubt that the Americans that I know read this know what is significant about October 1970. It was quite an exciting time. Revolutionaries (today they would be called terrorists). Kidnapping. Murder. Martial Law. Like I said, exciting times! It’s also known as Black October and you can click here to learn about more about it. And hey, Cuba plays a role too. As I said, exciting times.

  And the CBC has played into those times and does what CBC does with such things – it makes a mini-series, aptly called – are you ready for it??? October 1970. How innovative!!! Although instead of running this one over two or four nights it’s been running for a number of weeks. Of course, it started in October. I discovered it a couple of episodes in. And then I forgot it was on. And then I forgot to watch it a couple of times. I didn’t mean to but you know it’s on right after Grey’s Anatomy and between McSteamy and McDreamy and McVet! Whew! Some times I was just tired!

  The real reason I started watching this was because I noticed R.H. Thomson was in it. The non-Canadians may recognize him as Jasper Dale from Road to Avonlea. The Canadians will recognize him from almost every historical mini-series the CBC has produced (ok, so that’s an exaggeration…but barely). I like him though and when I see him in something I generally stop to watch. Then I noticed this chick – Karine Vanasse. I’m sure I’ve never seen her in anything (at least not according to IMDB) but she looked really familiar to me. I’m just going to assume that I saw her face plastered on billboards or in the subway or something when I lived in Montreal. And then there were a bunch more faces I recognized and I’m going to chalk up to French tv (not that I ever watched it…) and billboards and stuff.

  And then there’s all the young FLQ guys with their long shaggy hair and beards. Every time I see them I go “Hey! It’s Sam Roberts!”

  So if you are Canadian and wanna watch? Just flip through the channels looking for either Jasper Dale or Sam Roberts.