Lazy Sunday # 195: The Future of Television

There's an old screenwriter's trick, when you're bereft of ideas, to open a newspaper and link 2 or 3 random articles to devise a story premise.

I'm told some hedge fund managers similarly link a handful of current events to concoct the argument that their clients should buy or sell a certain stock.

This week a few unrelated events caught my own attention which, when combined, might just reveal the future of television.

The first actually began about three months ago, when a crew of university students rented the house across the street.

Like a lot of students, they're either too broke or too disinterested to buy curtains. Unfortunately for me, there are no side benefits in that since they're all guys. On the other hand, being guys, the first piece of furniture they moved in was a massive HD television they hung on the wall facing the front window.

So every night when I walk the dog, it's not hard to notice what they're watching. But what I've come to realize is -- I've never seen them watching a TV show.

The set gets used for a lot of video games, facebook updates and twitter messages. One night I thought they were watching a movie, when the screen suddenly went black and returned them to the familiar "Recently Added" Netflix screen, where they clicked another selection.

Now, I'm not sure how pervasive their habits might be, but it shed some light on a business article I read last week about how there are something like 3 HD television sets in Canada for every HD cable box that can actually supply them with the proper signal.

This was spun as a huge revenue opportunity for cable providers as they sold boxes to all those people who hadn't realized they needed one to fully enjoy their new flat screen.

Except…

I think what's happening out in the real world is exactly the opposite.

First, I'd wager that more and more people are mostly using their smart TVs to watch DVDs, play games and stream online content.

What's more, about 3 years ago, I bought a HD antenna that allowed me to get several local channels in better quality than my cable provider without having to pay a monthly fee for the privilege. At the time, the dealer told me about 1000 people a month in Canada were making the same decision I had.

While that number may have leveled off, I would seriously doubt it's in decline.

I think the reality is that more and more of us have become our own content programmers, having had enough of the multi-channel universe of programming that just seems to repeat shows we've already seen from one specialty channel or tier to another.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, news came out that the once mighty and unchallenged "Number One" American television network, NBC, the home of "Appointment TV", has lost 18% of its audience this year and is regularly eclipsed by the Spanish language Univision network.

Like the cable box article, this news was spun as "an opportunity" since a single hit might -- I repeat "might" -- get their numbers up. At least for one night of the week.

But what if the night that potential new hit was to debut was Tuesday, when last Tuesday 6.5 Million Americans and Canadians stood in line to purchase the new version of "Call of Duty"?

Don't you think there's a good chance that Tuesday night there were upwards of 6.5 Million North Americans not in the least interesting in watching whatever NBC or anybody else put on TV because they were trying out their new game?

"Call of Duty" earned $400 Million worldwide on Tuesday. And between now and Christmas there are a half dozen similarly popular gaming titles issuing new versions and anticipating equally rabid fans -- and rich paydays.

Maybe Gamers don't watch that much regular television to begin with. But you get the feeling their ranks are growing much faster than those who are just happy to plop down on the couch and let whatever is being served wash over them.

Final observation…

Wednesday night, I was watching a hockey game while surfing my Twitter feed and on the latter heard about the riot at Penn State University. I jumped over to CNN, only to find Piers Morgan interviewing somebody nearing the end of their personal 15 minutes of fame.

I dropped down a channel to Headline News to see if they had coverage, finding Dr. Drew kibitzing with somebody just beginning their celebrity 15. Over to CBC who were running a documentary repeat. Way down the dial to SUN TV where somebody in a bad suit was really annoyed about -- something.

Thirty seconds later, I found the live coverage I wanted -- on my laptop.

In this era of 24 hour news cycles, the guys who seem least aware of that fact are those broadcasting the news.

They remain locked into the decades old model of news at noon, six and eleven -- or ten at CBC -- or nine if you want to see the exact same version of "The National" on the CBC News Network.

I came to the conclusion that all of this is happening because, while you and I are embracing all the new technologies on offer, our television networks and cable companies are locked into business models that support their own internal needs but fail to service the audience.

This week, the usual suspects will troop up to Gatineau for CRTC hearings on OTT (Over the Top) services. Nothing will likely evolve from these meetings beyond arguments for regulation to shore up or sustain the collapsing business models that we have. There will then be another round of hearings in May.

And in the meantime, more and more people will either discover the new entertainment options they have or discover how easy it is to devise workarounds to watch what they desire.

More of us will become our own program directors and program schedulers. And we'll have less and less interest in a system that says you need four separate sports channels to watch your home team, or you need your news filtered and interpreted before its presented for your consumption.

More of us will find that "Call of Duty" is more engaging than "Republic of Doyle" or yet another singing competition.

In short, more of us will realize we can make our own choices.

And those people won't be interested in handing that freedom back to somebody else.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

The Evil That Walks By Night

I did a few hours of Community Service last week. Not the court imposed kind. My life's not that exciting. This was the type where somebody phones you up and you kinda feel obligated to assist.

In the middle of carving the pumpkin on Halloween I got a call from my local church. They have one of the oldest graveyards in the country and last Halloween somebody pretty seriously vandalized it.

This year they called the cops in advance to see if somebody could keep an eye on the place and were told that the night was one of the local constabulary's busiest, so we were on our own. The only option was finding a few brave souls who wouldn't mind spending the night among the tombstones.

Now that's the sort of invitation you can't turn down.

So, as Midnight drew close, I packed the sheepdog in the car and headed over. Along the way, I passed the elementary school. They had cars backed against all the entrances and a foursome with flashlights patrolling the perimeter. Apparently, the police didn't have the staff to look after them either.

I later learned that the year previous, schools and churches in my small corner of the world had sustained tens of thousands of dollars of damage on Halloween. I don't know why those two institutional groups were singled out. For that matter, I don't see what's achieved by tagging the walls of a gym or busting up 200 year old headstones under any circumstances.

But then I also don't understand how people who set out to challenge crooked financial practices end up throwing bottles of urine at street vendors or maintenance workers and still think they're somehow "stickin' it to the man".

The church's Priest and the guy I call the Pre-Priest (he doesn't get ordained for a couple of weeks) were on duty when I arrived. They'd already put in a long night, after putting in a long day doing all the things Priests do. Which in this day and age, when most of those with a degree in theology also hold one in psychology or sociology, is a lot.

The deal was, we'd mostly hang in the church and about every 20 minutes, a couple of us would make a sweep of the graveyard. What we'd do if we actually found anybody up to something, we didn't discuss. Hopefully, anybody casing the place would see the flashlight beams and go elsewhere. And more hopefully, if they didn't, the sight of a dumpy guy holding back a sleepy sheepdog would surely be enough to make them scamper.

The graveyard was suitably spooky in the pitch darkness. Now and then, our flashlight beams would catch a rabbit or a deer foraging between the graves. But after the first few, even they didn't make the dog anxious to make another circuit. She was quite happy to curl up between the pews and snooze.

It looked like we were in for an uneventful evening. We checked our watches. The bars were long closed. We hadn't heard a car go by in at least an hour. Maybe we could call an end to the vigil.

Then the dog suddenly lifted from her spot between the pews, her head cocked. I listened too. Nothing. Then…

The chained rear doors of the church shook, yanked hard from the outside.

We weren't alone.

We grabbed our flashlights and bolted for the nearest door, running around to the back of the building. By the time we got there, who or whatever had shaken the doors was gone. The night was perfectly quiet. The dog sat down and yawned. The Pre-Priest and I shared a look. Maybe we'd imagined it.

Then I played my light across the steps of the rear door. The imprints of a pair of heavy work boots were clearly visible in the dew.

The next day, I wondered who our visitor might have been. What would he have done if the doors hadn't been chained or we weren't there? What kind of a person takes satisfaction in pointless and wanton destruction?

I was interrupted by a call from another friend asking if I could help out with the annual Legion Poppy drive. The Canadian Legion, not the faux outfit I run around here.

Like most Canadian Legion Posts, the vets are getting on and standing around a shopping mall for an afternoon isn't as easy as it once was. So I said, "Sure", put on a suit and headed out.

99% of the people you meet when you're holding a tray of Poppies and a donation box greet you with a smile. They know what that little paper flower symbolizes and that the money goes for a good cause. They even exude a certain pride when they pin it on. It's one of those things that says, "I'm thoughtful. I care. I appreciate the sacrifice".

But after about an hour of smiles, this guy strode up looking a little belligerent. "I'm not buying a Poppy! You know why?" I shook my head. "Because I don't believe in war!"

"Neither do we," I said.

Big mistake.

He glared at me. "Bullshit! You're selling those for the military."

I glanced down at the floor, wondering what was the best way to handle this and noticed...

He was wearing big, heavy work boots.

I looked back at him. The possibility that this was the same guy was beyond remote. But what if it was…?

"First of all, we're not selling anything," I said. "People donate what they want. Hell, we even give them away free if somebody asks."

I held out a Poppy. He slapped my hand away.

I met his eyes. "All the money goes to veterans and their families. Every penny."

The muscles around his jaw tightened. By now I'd decided this was the kind of asshole who trashes church yards. And I almost hoped he'd try something. Even though there was no trusty sheepdog nearby with its dopey tongue hanging out or an almost Priest to provide me with absolution if I went into "Defender of the Faith" mode.

A guy bigger than both of us interrupted. "Why don't you piss off!" he said to the guy with the boots as he dropped some change in my box and fished a poppy from the tray. Boot boy looked up at him and slunk away. The big guy smiled and I realized he was wearing a uniform.

He pinned the poppy next to one he already had on his chest. "Good to have a spare." And he was gone.

There was a point back in the 1930's when Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party and Mussolini's Fascists were indistinguishable from street thugs. Saddam Hussein, Gadaffi, the serial rapists of The Lord's Army, the Sudanese Pirates and any number of tribal warlords were and are, when you come right down to it, no different from petty criminals.

There is an evil that walks by night, stalking a nurse just off the night shift, stomping a gay guy, snapping the crucifix from a headstone.

Unchecked and unchallenged, it becomes bolder, enjoying the ability to strike fear or cause pain or create suffering. Sometimes it finds like-minded companions and begins to feel safe in the daylight and to contemplate even larger evils.

When that happens, there have always been those willing to force the evil back into the night. Some of those brave men and women don't come home, leaving families in need of help. Some return from the battles with scars it takes time to heal.

That's where the money raised by Poppies goes. And wearing one designates you as one who understands that sometimes sacrifice is required and you respect those who chose to pay the price.

But it also marks you as one who knows that there is evil in the world and that you stand against it.

Greenlight “Cover Me Finland” Immediately!

Somehow I missed the first 6 or 7 episodes of “Cover Me Canada”, the CBC’s latest effort to discover talent it doesn’t actually employ anywhere on its network.

But last night, I gave them a shot.

Can somebody tell me why CBC gets a Billion+ ever year and can’t come up with something even fractionally as entertaining as what follows…

Yeah, that’s how you do a cover song! Finland’s “Porkka Playboys”. Somebody give them a show!

Lazy Sunday # 194: Happy Trails

Fifteen or twenty years ago, for reasons I can’t recall, I found myself in Victorville, California, home of the Roy Rogers Museum. I had a couple of hours to kill so I decided to look around.

Roy had been a huge Western star for a couple of decades before I discovered him in my childhood. By then he was well known as “The King of the Cowboys” with a weekly TV show starring himself, his wife, his horse and his dog.

Though not an actual monarch, Rogers was as wealthy as one, listed among Hollywood’s box office leaders from 1943 – 1952.

But Roy’s empire wasn’t restricted to the movies.

Born into poverty in a Cincinnati tenement, he’d had to seek factory work as a child to support his family. He never finished high school, quitting after he was chastised for falling asleep in class – after a night shift making shoes.

His family travelled West during the depression, with Roy learning to play the guitar and sing in the transient and worker camps later made famous in John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”.

He broke into show business in the 1930’s as a country singer, forming a group called “The Sons of the Pioneers” and meeting his wife Dale Evans (later “The Queen of the West”) at an Oklahoma radio station where she gave him with a lemon pie to coerce him into playing a song she’d requested.

The Sons had several hits that eventually landed them spots in a few Westerns, including a Gene Autry movie that the star exited on the first day in a contract dispute. Stuck for a star, the producers noticed the handsome young man with the guitar, handed him a white Stetson and the rest – as they say – is history.

But Rogers not only copied Autry’s singing cowboy character, he improved on it. In a 1940 contract negotiation he gave back some of the money the studio was offering to acquire the rights to his likeness, voice and name.

Within a couple of years, he’d parlayed that into his own production company, radio serials, comic books, adventure novels, public appearances, records, action figures, western clothing and toy six guns of all description.

Only Walt Disney had more merchandise bearing his name.

Already a cottage industry, one that soon expanded to include Dale, trusty mount Trigger and dog bullet, Rogers took over creative control of his films, shooting them in color when everybody else was still making their low budget oaters in B&W.

The West of Roy Rogers films had nothing to do with the Real West and he knew that. But he understood that most people dealt with enough reality in their own lives and wanted something else when they bought a ticket to one of his films.

I thought the museum was kind of tacky. It was weird looking at the taxidermied Trigger, Dale’s horse “Buttermilk” and Bullet posed around the corral set from Roy’s Ranch I’d remembered from childhood.

The racks of rhinestone and silver saddles, handmade Technicolor boots and shirts all seemed phoney and dated.

And after watching film clips of shows I’d loved that now came across as awkwardly concocted and badly produced, I wondered why so many people had bought into the Roy Rogers myth.

I got my answer yesterday as the media marked the 100th anniversary of Roy Rogers’ birth.

In an interview with Rogers’ son, who still makes a good living touring with his own son performing a show featuring the music and stories of his father, there was this insight…

"He came at a time when World War II was coming on pretty heavy and a lot of people, their dad didn't come back or they came from broken homes, so Dad, was a father figure to a lot of kids."

"And so they looked up to him and they knew they could hang their hat on what he would ask them to do. To go to church on Sundays and to keep yourself neat and clean and take care of your animals and obey your mom and dad, and just basic, common sense things."

The museum in Victorville closed a few years ago and its artefacts were sold for millions. Trigger alone went for more than six figures.

Roy Rogers may have been a cowboy caricature and a walking merchandising campaign, but he spent much of the fortune he  earned realizing the values he espoused, advocating for adopted children, kids with polio and research into Downs Syndrome.

He also did much for environmental causes, animal rights and ensuring that the history of the west, the “Real” West was preserved.

He closed every episode of his TV series singing one of his biggest hits, “Happy Trails”. You always felt he really meant the sentiment and maybe that’s the part of the man we should most remember.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

Get Over It!

"You wave it like a flag, you wear it like a crown
Got your mind in the gutter, bringin' everybody down
Complain about the present and blame it on the past
I'd like to find your inner child and kick its little ass." 

-- Glenn Frey/Don Henley

Sometimes I feel like I've become the local Internet Go-To Guy for an opposing opinion.

At least five times in the last week, I've had people asking me to blog about Rob Ford and the CBC, the Occupy Movement and other issues the Left and Right like to take sides on in order to pontificate on what morons the other bunch are.

And I'll admit I have opinions on all those issues. But since everybody and their dog is already filling up Column inches, Op-Ed pages and as much blog, podcast and TV panel space as they can on those topics, I ultimately came to the conclusion that nothing I add will be all that and a bag of chips.

Yes, I'm capable of throwing a pretty good fit from time to time on topics where I figure I have some inside perspective. But that's off the top of my head stuff. I really don't have the time or inclination for subject matter that doesn't concern me personally.

Tackling such issues also makes me think too much and being a Libra that ultimately means I'm gonna see the other side of the argument as well and end up either confused or catatonic or both. And we don't want that. At least, I don't.

But that still doesn't stop people, even weeks after some "outrage", from needling me on Twitter with "new information" or some "inside scuttlebutt" even the Press doesn't know. As if most in that profession actually look for much more than how to wind somebody up enough to tuck some change into the "Pay Here" slot.

My particular favorite is when somebody refers to some politician who has miffed them and asks "So what do you have to say about 'Your Guy' now? " as if I'm that idiot's mom or personally responsible for their current Gazebo building binge or whatever.

Other than making a mental note of who to call should I ever need a Gazebo, my honest response is, "All politicians are junkyard dogs! You can't even trust the ones you vote for!" I mean, we all live in hope -- but seriously…

For instance, while I know Jack Layton has now been beatified, there's still news footage of him screaming at police to arrest peaceful demonstrators outside an abortion clinic and threatening to have any cop who doesn't fired.

Put those same words in the mouth of somebody demanding an Occupy encampment be removed and those who admire Jack would be equally horrified.

Where did we move from a common sense of decency and maybe skepticism as well as acknowledging we don't own the moral high ground to needing to take up an immediate implacable stand?

"They point their crooked little fingers at everybody else
Spend all their time feelin' sorry for themselves
Victim of this, victim of that
Your momma's too thin; your daddy's too fat."

Do I think the CBC crossed the line with Rob Ford? Yeah. Do I think Ford over-reacted? Yeah.

Do I think the man is a Buffoon? Sometimes. Is he going anywhere else for the next three years? No.

But what's amazed me the most is how little so many people who work in my own film industry are aware of how video can be tweaked, sound bites clipped and additional perspectives omitted (by all sides) to skew the final impression. We do that every hour of every day in our own work but ignore the possibility that others might do the same for their own reasons.

So while the Left has used the incident to make Ford come across like more of a doofus than he already is, the Right has used it to successfully eviscerate the CBC.

I don't like to put anybody through the agony of tuning in to SUN-TV with its bad 1970's Game Show sets and caricature personalities. But they went to the trouble of simply removing the fake laugh track from the CBC broadcast, revealing the cause célèbre as little more than a blown joke that somebody whose creative skills outranked their ideology would have binned and replaced.

I'm just saying that anytime you can make Ezra Levant come across as the voice of reason, you have completely failed as artist or activist or both.

But it seems we've become a society where it's okay when our side does something wrong and a capitol offense when somebody else does it.

Even more than that, we seem to have become a people more intent on shouting down opposing views than considering they might actual have a kernel of merit.

A couple of days ago, I chatted with a good friend who has the unenviable task of getting Dwaine Lingenfelter elected Premier of Saskatchewan.  He was wrestling with the fact that he couldn't get anybody from the local media to write about how Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party was using subliminal images in their attack ads -- in direct contravention of the Elections Act.

He pointed me to a Youtube video where Lingenfelter's image had been photoshopped to make him look somewhat demonic and then surrounded by further Tarantino-esque imagery to brand him as a mud-slinger instead of the one on whom mud was figuratively being slung.

With Wall polling somewhere around 186% of the popular vote, it seemed such contravention of election rules raised no interest among media types. Was that because nobody wanted to alienate future government ad dollars or because it wouldn't alter the outcome of the election, or -- wasn't there enough controversy since Lingenfelter's people had been caught doing something similar not so long ago?

It's weird how we jump at the chance to make a Federal case out of the slightest things but appear to have no interest when an actual Federal case can be made.

"The more I think about it, Old Billy was right
Let's kill all the lawyers, kill 'em tonight
You don't want to work, you want to live like a king
But the big, bad world doesn't owe you a thing."

All this got me thinking about a couple of comedians I admire. Bill Maher, who continuously inflames the Right. And Dennis Miller, now firmly entrenched as a conservative radio host.

I still think Miller is the best "Weekend Update" anchor SNL ever had and I'm enthralled by the intelligent wordplay that permeates his material. But mention Miller to those leaning Left and he's almost universally dismissed as "no longer funny".

When I lived in LA, I made it to as many tapings of Bill Maher's "Politically Incorrect" as I could, enjoying his visceral outbursts. But now, not a week goes by that some aspect of his new series "Real Time" angers those on the Right to the point of demanding he be silenced.

Have we fallen so far that we not only can't laugh at our own sacred cows being skewered, but we can't even acknowledge that somebody with talent might not think exactly the way we do?

And why do we feel it imperative to insist they change their minds and think just like we do?

Aren't those the kind of people who go around knocking the dongs off statues or burn books or crucify those who make them feel uncomfortable?

Aren't those the kind of people that form in pods if we should fall asleep?

If a joke's funny, it's funny. If it's not, maybe you shouldn't try to wrap it up as something else in order to make your point. And if you don't like the joke -- maybe you should consider that it's just a joke.

"It's like going to confession every time I hear you speak
You're makin' the most of your losin' streak
Some call it sick, but I call it weak.

All this bitchin' and moanin' and pitchin' a fit
Get over it, get over it!"

There was a time, less than 10 years ago, when Maher and Miller could be on the same stage and enjoy each other even though they disagreed.

This clip was recorded a few months after Maher was unceremoniously turfed from ABC for remarks he made about the 9-11 attacks. Instead of celebrating his newfound status as only "politically incorrect" comic remaining on TV, Miller put his own career on the line by bringing Maher on as his guest.

Their discussion on the importance of free speech and making room for dissenting voices has as much power a decade later as it did at the time.

And here's that Eagles song some of may need to listen to a little more closely…

Happy Halloween

When I was a kid, Halloween was just for us kids. A chance to dress up as somebody else, score some free candy and play a few tricks on people. Even if you went so far as to egg somebody's front door or tip over their outhouse, nobody got too upset.

But all that's changed. Everywhere I went today, there were people in costume and somebody else who thought their dressing up wasn't appropriate.

And I'm not talking about schools where the holiday has been dubbed "Black & Orange" day (whatever that means) or have requested that kids turn up dressed as a character who symbolizes compassion and caring.

That always reminds me of the Halloween I wrapped my school Vice-Principal's house in toilet paper while dressed as an Angel (complete with tinfoil halo). The concept that one night a year of childish debauchery might permanently warp a person's character or turn them down some dark pathway just doesn't make any sense to me.

Yet, I passed a zombie stocking shelves at the grocery store only to encounter a manager taking heat from an elderly couple who felt his outfit was too offensive for a place of business.

Over at Starbucks, the guys at the window bar were ogling a 20-something walking by dressed as a "sexy nurse". One of them later admitted that this actually made him quite uncomfortable since his 8 year old was trick or treating in the same get-up. That remark was met by troubled glances among his colleagues.

Like I said, some people take this stuff a lot more seriously than it warrants.

My day was made, however, by a burly guy outside the hardware store, dressed in the black and orange of the BC Lions football team and a dead ringer for their head coach.

"Hey, it's Wally Buono!" I chirped.

He smiled back. "Thank God somebody gets it," he said. "The last three people I met said I looked like a fucking pumpkin!"

As for me, I will join tonight's festivities dressed as I always dress, as the inimitable "Sexy Screenwriter".

And that's far from inappropriate -- even if only we screenwriters know it's not a fantasy.

Have a fun Halloween!

Lazy Sunday # 193: Best Episode Ever

Somewhere around 2004, the Internet spawned a new form of media known as the podcast.

It's unofficially defined as a digital audio or video file that is episodic; downloadable; program-driven, and has a host or theme or both.

For almost as long as most people have been using the Internet, there have been streamed webcasts, radio or TV broadcasts and digital files you could download. But this was something different, the evolution of a community, one that didn't yet know it was a community, in fact was mostly individuals in cubicles or basement offices, converging audio, the web and portable media players so the world might listen to what they had to say for a change.

In Communication terms, podcasting is what's known as a disruptive technology, meaning that it circumvents or end runs the established media outlets to distribute content to an audience it assumes has enough similar interest to find and value it. In a way, it's a medium where the producers are the consumers who are also the distributors and contributors to the conversation.

Basically, podcasts are conversations held without chaperones or gatekeepers, shared to spread the conversation.

In 2005, iTunes began offering podcasts as part of its download services. There are now more than 150,000 separate titles available, some numbering hundreds of episodes updated monthly, weekly, or daily. Add the number of podcasts hosted by other sites and their pervasiveness increases exponentially.

To a great extent, the people podcasting have never been part of a recognized media outlet. And yet their ability to inform, entertain and offer intelligent opinion often surpasses those who are well paid to do the same by the mainstream media.

All those who say they'd be lost without CBC Radio, NPR, Fox News or Pajamas Media just haven't looked very hard at what's available to them for free in the form of podcasts.

In the same way that the audience has fragmented, the business of providing us with our cultural touchstones has forever fractured as well.

And if you ask me, that's a good thing.

Those of us who work in Canadian Television are doubtless aware of Anthony Marco, co-host of Diane Wild's essential and perhaps definitive weekly round-up of Canadian TV news, "TV-Eh?". Anthony does several other podcasts, all accessible from his eponymous website.

Among them is "Best Episode Ever" a look back at television series which had a popular impact on the culture that is now in its third season.

I got to help Anthony kick off that third season by joining him to talk about "Route 66", one of the series that sub-or-unconsciously got my creative juices flowing before I'd even reached puberty. You can find that podcast here as well as episode two which features MacLean's Entertainment blogger Jaimie Weinman.

Our industry has always been driven by the arrival of new voices and new ideas. And in a media world that seems to be endlessly polarizing into Fox vs MSNBC and CBC vs SUNTv in a perpetual "He Said, She Said", perspectives that inhabit other points of the compass can be more than a little refreshing.

In the same way that I hope what I had to say about "Route 66" informs the way you look at television, I hope you'll search for what some of the voices of podcasters have to offer.

Like the incredibly infectious theme of "Route 66" it might help you -- Enjoy Your Sunday.

The episode of "Route 66" that Anthony and I discussed is also available on Youtube in its entirety. You can find it here.

Is It Safe?

Szell: Is it safe?

Babe: Yes, it's safe, it's very safe, it's so safe you wouldn't believe it.

Szell: Is it safe?

Babe: No. It's not safe, it's... very dangerous, be careful.

There’s been a lot of talk over the last few weeks (driven mostly by the dismal Fall ratings at the CBC) about when might be the better (or best) time to release Canadian content.

Some believe these series should have debuted in late October or November to avoid the massive marketing campaigns that accompany the launch of new American series.

Others predict they’d do better if they were held until the dead of winter, when the thrill of the other new had worn off, or maybe in the Summer, or on the nights major networks program repeats, perhaps even in non-Prime-Time hours, or maybe…

Oh…Stop it! Just stop!

You’re all starting to sound like Dr. Christian Szell, the Nazi war criminal in William Goldman’s “The Marathon Man”, trying to figure out if he can safely retrieve his stolen cache of diamonds.

I’ll be publishing several posts next week with my take on why Canadian show numbers are so anaemic this season. But I wanted to make one point first.

No time slot on television is safe. They’re not supposed to be. That’s the whole point.

The entire system was built to support the needs of the advertisers and the audience. The audience wants to be inspired, entertained or shown something they’ve never seen before. The advertiser pays producers to do that in order to reach the largest possible audience.

No islands of safety were embedded to serve the mediocre, the less entertaining or those who just feel they deserve a shot.

It’s a system that does not guarantee that the “Best” shows succeed. But it is one that makes sure that the audience always has a choice.

Maybe that’s not “Fair” to those who struggle to make TV shows and maybe it goes against our Canadian penchant for treating everyone with equanimity. But that’s just the way it is.

And it’s only going to get LESS fair.

The wide open Summer season of repeats has been closing for a decade. Upstart cable channels kick off new series every month of the year, maybe every week.

Netflix now has more than one million Canadian subscribers and will DOUBLE the smorgasbord of content it offers before Spring.

Others (like the Google Megalith) are about to launch their own viewing alternatives that will further fragment the audience.

And then, late Friday, Youtube announced a massive increase in their streaming channels, literally offering something for everyone.

Just what kind of channels? Here’s a partial list:

Alchemy Networks
Alli Sports
Bedrocket Media Ventures, Official Comedy
Bedrocket Media Ventures and Full Picture Productions, Look TV
Bedrocket Media Ventures & Wasserman Media Group, Network A
BermanBraun, theLOGE
BermanBraun & Rodale Inc., Vigor
BermanBraun & Rodale Inc., Taste
Big Frame, BAM
Bleacher Report
Numberphile
CafeMom
Chopra Media/Generate, The Chopra Well
Clevver Media, ClevverStyle
Clevver Media, ClevverNews
Clevver Media, ClevverTeVe
The Comedy Shaq Network
Cooking Up a Story, Food Farmer Earth
DanceOn
DECA, KinCommunity
Demand Media, eHow Home
Demand Media, LIVESTRONG
Demand Media, eHow Pets & Animals
Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG), Spaces
East of Center Productions LLC, YOMYOMF
Electus, Pop Culture Channel
Electus NuevOn, Latin Channel
Electus, Food Channel
Emil Rensing International, Auto Channel
EQAL, u look haute!
Everyday Health TV
EYEBOOGIE, POP SPOT
FAWN by Michelle Phan
Fine Brothers Productions, MyMusic
Frederator Networks, Channel Frederator’s Cartoon Hangover
FremantleMedia Channel, Pets & Animal
Hearst Magazines, Fashion & Beauty Channel
Hearst Magazines, Car and Driver Television
Iconic, Life and Times
IconicTV, 123UnoDosTres
IconicTV, myISH
IGN Entertainment / Shine Group, START
Intelligent Television
Jon M. Chu, Dance Channel
Katalyst, Thrash Lab
Knights of Good Productions, Geek & Sundry (with Felicia Day)
Lionsgate, Lionsgate Fitness Channel
Machinima
Magical Elves and InStyle magazine, Little Black Dress
Maker Studios, The Maker Music Network
Maker Studios, The Moms’ View
Maker Studios, Tutele
Meredith Corporation and Meredith Video Studios, Digs
ModernMom Channel
Mondo Media, New Animators
monotransistor, werevertumorro
My Damn Channel: Live
New Nation Networks
Pharrell Williams, i am OTHER
Philip Defranco, Sourcefed
Pitchfork TV
PMC Entertainment News
Radical Media, Education Channel
Red Bull Media House North America
Roadside Entertainment/BAC, The NOC
SB Nation
Seedwell, American Hipster
Slate News Channel
Smart Girls at the Party
Smosh/Alloy Digital, Smosh Animation
Soccer United Marketing & Bedrocket, KickTV
SoulPancake Productions, SoulPancake
Source Interlink Media, Motor Trend
Steve Spangler Science, The Spangler Effect
TakePart™ TV
TED Conferences, TEDEducation
The Bowery Presents
The Nerdist Channel
The Onion, Onion Broadcasting Company
The Wall Street Journal
The Young Turks, Town Square
Thomson Reuters, Reuters.com
Tony Hawk’s production company, 900 Films, Inc., RIDE Channel
Uncommon Content Partners, The Conversation Channel
Uncommon Content Partners, Taste & Access
Varsity Pictures, Awesomeness
VICE, VICE
VICE, Noisey
Vlogbrothers, CrashCourse
Vlogbrothers, SciShow
Vuguru & POW! Entertainment, Stan Lee’s World of Heroes
Walter Latham’s “Kings of Comedy”
WWE Fan Nation
Young Hollywood, Young Hollywood Network

If you’ve purchased a HD television in the last year, it likely came with “Smart” technology, meaning it can pick up anything streaming over the Internet, be it Netflix, MLB.com or Youtube, so you can watch it right on the big screen from your usual spot on the couch.

If your TV isn’t so smart, you can increase its IQ for $99 by purchasing one of these at any place that sells television sets.

Television producers never had any business making programming that was just designed to be filler or made in the hope it would find some oasis of safety, where it didn’t have to compete on its merits with whatever was programmed against it.

Now, there is absolutely no place to hide.

And that’s a good thing. A very good thing!

Lazy Sunday # 192: Becoming A Failed Writer

It's actually quite easy...

Enjoy Your Sunday.

Obsession x Voice (Failed Writer #6) from Yuvi Zalkow on Vimeo.

More here.

And the lecture it's all based on -- here.

Men Writing Women Writing Men

On a fairly regular basis, somebody looks at a show with promise that fell on its face, a newly released set of statistics or the complaints of some frustrated artist and wonders if television would be better if more (or fewer) of a particular gender were involved in its creation.

Such was the case recently with a Globe and Mail feature by Kate Taylor entitled "You've Come A Long Way -- Maybe". Which you should read because it's very well written.

Although you do have to get past…

a) The initial statement of fact that all American TV writing rooms are "bastions of male hackdom".

b) The assertion, despite contrary interviews with several Canadians, that "there's no reason to believe the situation here is much different".

And above all…

c) That the UCLA Sociology professor supplying the "scientific data" admits he actually "has not finished compiling" all the research.

Maybe that last is just where the concept of "settled science" has brought us -- or its inclusion exemplifies what passes for journalism in Canada's purported National newspaper.

When these discussions get trotted out, they inevitably evolve into wondering whether men can really write women and vice-versa. And around that point we exit the realm of making TV shows and get into personal and societal issues that have not much to do with the reality of churning out popular entertainment.

That's because most people who are intimately involved in the production of TV shows embrace the singular truth that "A writer is a writer is a writer" and the abilities of any individual writer have less to do with what's between their legs than what's between their ears.

If somebody can write -- and more importantly write the kind of show you're desperately trying to make, you don't give a flying fuck what position they take to urinate. You just want them nailed down in front of a computer and writing.

I began my TV career at a time when a lot of women writers used initials instead of a first name so that script readers wouldn't know they were women. I always had a special soft spot for those who chose "BJ".

And while the chauvinist producers and writers that Anita Loos, Lilliane Hellman and Joan Didion first made famous certainly existed and probably still do in some places, I didn't understand exactly why this hidden identity game was still played.

Because I honestly don't remember any producer I worked for who read a submitted script and remembered the writer's name let alone thought to ask whether they were male or female. Most often, the discussions went along the line of "What about the one who wrote that thing with the thing and the dog? We all liked that one didn't we?"

True, the first couple of shows I worked on didn't have women writers on staff. But they all had female supervisors at the network level, female producers, directors and heads of various production departments. Not to mention actresses in key roles who had input into what transpired with their characters. And many of our freelance writers were women as well.

So while I often heard "This script is a piece of shit", I don't recall anybody ever suggesting that it could be made better if a woman were hired instead of a man to do the rewrite. Or a man brought in if said "turd" had been deposited by somebody of the lady persuasion.

I have no doubt there are a ton of women writers both my age and younger with unimpeachable stories of how they were used and abused and sullied by the world of television. But I'm just as certain those tales can be matched by any man in the profession.

Television is simply an equal opportunity user and abuser where, as the man said, "Good men (and women too) die like dogs!".

Yes, I know what the stats say about the percentage of women in writing rooms and how those numbers either don't seem to improve or do for a season or two and then backslide. And I can't explain it anymore than I explain why the team with the highest paid or best players doesn't always win the World Series.

If I had to come up with a reason, I'd say it had something to do with which showrunners have shows this season -- and what kind of shows the networks felt their audiences wanted.

That's because when I'm putting together a staff or making a list of writers I want to use, my only consideration is "Who can write the kind of scripts we need?" and that list gets further shortened by "Who's available?", "Who's reliable?" and "Whose quote can I afford?" -- or more accurately of late, "Who'll work for scale?".

I might get an additional list of writers the network or production company(s) want me to use. Often those lists include writers who are right for the show. And sometimes they include writers who are owed favors or have a contractual commitment the prodco or network can burn off if I hire them.

Sometimes the corporate lists include close friends, boyfriends or girlfriends. I try to shortlist the writers I think are right for the show.

And then the network puts a checkmark next to who's right for them.

And if you work in Canada, there's somebody from the government also wanting your staff to reflect some undefined (or indefinable) gender, regional or diversity target.

What I'm trying to say is, with that many different agendas being addressed, nobody is busy painting a "No Girls Allowed" sign to nail on the clubhouse.

Perhaps more important, no matter the final make up of your writing room, some demographic will be in the minority.

I just know there's always a point where I feel like a high school student council entertainment coordinator setting out to book "The Travelling Wilburys", who's ultimately thrilled that he found a pretty tight little "Bon Jovi" cover band.

 

Yes, women currently only comprise 32% of the membership of the Writers Guild of Canada. But then, only about 15% of the entire membership is working at any given time. And yes, a lot of that membership (both male and female) don't get writing jobs or even job interviews because they don't have a lot of produced credits to prove they know their craft.

So, it would seem the real problem might be the lack of work opportunities that would provide production experience for Canadian screenwriters overall.

But if someone like Kate Taylor wanted to write about that, she'd have to start questioning the resistance to producing Canadian scripted shows that comes from companies like the one which owns her own Newspaper.

How many scripted shows is CTV (like the Globe & Mail a property of Bell Media) producing this year? One.

One which has a woman co-showrunning it.

Indeed, despite Ms. Taylor's assertion that "the situation isn't much different here", virtually every flagship show on Canadian television has a woman in charge of its creative decisions.

"Flashpoint" at CTV. "Rookie Blue" at Global. "Lost Girl" at Showcase. "Call Me Fitz" at HBO Canada. "Living In Your Car" at TMN. Not to mention "Little Mosque", "Heartland" and "Being Erica" at CBC.

Hey, wait a minute… Should Ms. Taylor consider a think-piece asking if all those shows created and/or run by women is the reason ratings for Canadian TV series have gone into the tank over the last couple of years?

Of course not. Because too many series created and/or run by men, "Endgame", "Michael: Tuesdays & Thursdays", "Thirteen" and "The Bridge" have all tallied much worse numbers.

A woman writer I know once stated her belief that women network execs preferred male writers because they did not like having story conferences with women writers who might be smarter than them and male writers were also more "flirt-worthy".

Either of those assertions make me shudder on a whole bunch of levels.

The truth is -- the sex of your staff has nothing to do with the quality or entertainment value of your finished product. That's determined by level of talent alone.

And then, no matter what your sex or sexual preference, every writer can only pray (or "hope" if praying offends their belief system) an adequate audience finds and then keeps coming back to the show.

And even then -- you stand a pretty good chance of being cancelled.

As to "Can men really write for women and women for men?" -- that's pure Bullshit; the kind of intellectual nonsense reserved for network executives working on a doctorate in creative obfuscation.

For proof of how false and facetious this argument is, I'd ask you to surf over to Netflix and call up Season One of "Californication" Episode 12. Go nine minutes in to a conversation between a bride to be and her best friend moments before the march to the altar.

No matter who you are, you'll be instinctively aware of the utterly female truth in that scene -- a scene written by a man ("Californication" creator Tom Kapinos) and at the same time using language no male writer in his right mind would ever drop into any moment populated by drunk Australian Rugby players.

Good writers get it. They understand people. Whatever their sex, they know what makes the other tick. And they are intimately aware that unlike government bureaucrats, network executives or perhaps newspaper journalists, that each writer comes with a particular skill set that isn't replaced simply by bringing in a "different" writer.

Whether the works of William Shakespeare were written by Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe or the Earl of Oxford; whether the real author of those plays was a gay man or noblewoman using a pseudonym, the reality is -- that sonovabitch could write. Men and women both.

Are the men in scripts by Nora Ephron, Diablo Cody or Shonda Rhimes underserved by their author? Do the women of "The West Wing" and "The Social Network" come off less than real because Aaron Sorkin is a guy?

No. What determines character depth and worthy content is talent. And talent is not a quality reserved for those of any sex, race or age.

So, could we stop all this nonsense and just make sure that the best people get the jobs? And maybe we could also ask that companies like the one Kate Taylor works for start supporting the creative endeavors of a few more of them.

Lazy Sunday # 191: Red Solo Cup

Country Superstar Toby Keith describes "Red Solo Cup" as, "The stupidest fricken song I've ever recorded!". It's also turning into one of his biggest hits, as well as the audience participation highpoint of his live shows.

And he's right. It truly is a stupid song. But it's also fun and catchy and hard to get out of your head -- although I don't think you can really dance to it.

But it also resonates with something which every screenwriter wrestles.

We're all familiar with the light and flexible plastic container manufactured in a variety of colors by the nice folks at Solo (trademark registered, I'm sure). And what's becoming more familiar to fans of the Country genre is how many artists are now working product placement into their songwriting.

To be sure, Country crooners have always sung the praises of products they used or admired or knew their fans used or also admired. Everything from Ford pick-ups to Kenworth Semis, Lone Star Beer, Jimmy Dean Sausages and pretty much anybody sponsoring a NASCAR team has been immortalized in song.

But lately, the line of embedded products has crossed over into what passes for the mainstream. Items that can be found in any supermarket.

When last I posted an attempt to coax my readership into the pleasures of Country Music, I mentioned some of the product placement in Brad Paisley's latest Platinum-at-least offering.

But here's the thing.

It's all over the dial now.

And it isn't hurting the content or enjoyment of the product into which it's embedded in the least.

Now, I don't know if this trend is driven by advertisers searching for the audience that now deletes them from their PVR viewing, or it's coming from artists trying to make up for the continuing downturn in music sales. But if it means I've got something new to bop along to in the car and it keeps Toby recording -- well, where's the harm?

And maybe "Red Solo Cup" doesn't meet the normally exacting creative standards of the man who gave us "Who's Your Daddy", "Beer For My Horses" and the "Shock'n Y'All" album. But then, Garth Brooks practically begged his record label not to release "Friends in Low Places" and absolutely hated the song until it pole vaulted him into selling out 100,000 seat stadiums in 3 to 5 minutes.

By the time he was playing those shows, he'd added new verses and turned the tune into a show stopping set piece.

We, who write, often overly concern ourselves with what best exemplifies our artistic image of ourselves or whether our protagonist will be corrupted if he holds a can of Coke or Pepsi or the producer wants him to hold one while we scripted him holding the other. Toby Keith has found the solution.

Just pour whatever you're drinking into a "Red Solo Cup" and proceed to party.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

Let's See Who The Boys In The Backroom Will Have

Every time politicians vote themselves a salary increase or new job perks, the argument is always: "If we don't, we won't get the best and brightest running for office." My response to this rationale has always been: "How come that hasn't worked so far?".

No matter which side or sidestreet on the political divide you've chosen to park, you're either openly or secretly aware that it's not just the "other guys" who consistently run incompetent dipshits for Public office.

We've all voted for people who promised to clean things up and didn't, level the playing field and tilted it or guaranteed hope and change that never arrived.

In just the last week, Ontario re-elected a Premier who has openly and unapologetically lied to its citizens and an American President sympathized with those occupying Wall Street while continuing to refuse to criminally charge "the banking folks who did some very bad things".

Meanwhile, in British Columbia, one arm of the government wants to outlaw smoking in all public places (interior and exterior) while another requested funding to hand out free crack pipes. Perhaps the hidden agenda is to get all the junkies to move to Alberta before lighting up…

Jesus Wept.

Are there no clear thinking, intelligent and passionate to do the right thing people running for elected positions anymore?

Well, of course there are.

Then, why don't they get elected?

And how come so many incompetent boneheads and brown envelope collecting scumbags do?

And why do so many who might make terrific Public servants not even consider the possibility?

Does somebody benefit from not having the best possible people in political office?

I've been asking myself these questions for a couple of weeks now, ever since a guy I've never met but come to consider a friend was mauled by a swarm of untruths and innuendo unleashed in a smear campaign against him.

Now maybe I'm taking this story personal because I've been the target of a couple of mud-slingings. And I gotta tell you, it's real hard to disprove a negative. About all you can do is say, "No, I'm not." But when a couple of people are saying "Are too!" and there's nothing on paper or even iPhone video -- well, it's time to hit the showers and hope you don't drop the soap.

For those who don't know this story, Anthony Marco, familiar to most in Canadian showbiz circles for co-hosting the weekly "TV-Eh?" podcast discussing current events in Canadian television, ran in the aforementioned Ontario election as a candidate for the NDP.

And with about 2 weeks to go in the campaign, the Ontario Liberal Party began disseminating out of context snippets from some of his other, more personal podcasts in order to brand him as everything from a Nazi sympathizer to cop hater and somebody you oughta think twice about letting near your children.

Now, from a political standpoint, Anthony and I are diametrically opposed. But I agree with about 101% of what he has to say on "TV-Eh?". More than once I've been absolutely thrilled that somebody who doesn't work in the industry can understand it as well as those working in the trenches -- but, unlike most of them, is willing to speak out about its many absurdities and corrupt practices.

Based on Anthony's insights into TV, I began listening to "Dyscultured", another podcast he does about Canadian culture and emerging technologies that should be required listening for anybody in the show businesses considering an expansion into new media -- or even just trying to figure out how to work their mobile phone.

Because of those podcasts alone, I'd have voted for the guy if I lived in his riding. For starters, unlike the Conservative party leader he was running against, he wasn't afraid to say what he stood for. But mostly, because I knew he would be somebody in the legislature who not only understood what Canadians are facing in the rapidly changing cultural and tech worlds, but could be a strong voice advocating on the behalf of both artists and audiences alike.

But the smear campaign won.

And a good man had his good name torn to shreds.

And the rest of us lost one who could've been one of the good ones.

Anthony has detailed what it was like enduring attacks that were both baseless and impossible to combat here in a log he kept of the events as they happened. On the same site you can find an archive of the daily podcasts he was doing as a candidate until the nature of what he was fighting forced him to pull the plug.

It's a must read for anybody either considering running for Public office or simply voting in an upcoming election.

We all know that politics is a rough and tumble game. From movies like "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" to "All The Kings Men" to "Advise and Consent" to "The Candidate" to "Primary Colors" to the just released "Ides of March" we've all witnessed the drama of good men destroyed and those of lesser character succeeding.

Maybe that's the way of the world. But why do we put up with it?

Why are we willing to allow the lesser or mediocre at best govern our lives? Why do we regularly allow those who deal in character assassination, petty gossip and fear mongering to control how we choose those who would govern and lead us?

Are we that dumb? That small minded? That desperate to see somebody not much unlike ourselves tossed to the wolves?

Typically, we're told that the decision to smear somebody is made by the backroom boys in the party war rooms. It's not the people running, it's the campaign. But in the end, those elected get elected because of the campaign -- so aren't they the ones we should hold to account?

In this instance, it's clear that Dalton McGuinty, the Premier-elect of Ontario was aware of what was being done in his name to Anthony Marco. I wonder if he has the courage, the next time he speaks glowingly of Ontario Teachers at one of their gatherings, to explain why he allowed his minions to unjustly pillory a man those same teachers have chosen to represent their interests at the Union level.

Or is the Premier's real message, "I'll be your best friend as long as you don't get in my way".

And how do those of you who vote Liberal feel about your party going out of its way to unjustly ruin the reputation of a man running in a riding neither he nor you had any hope of winning?

Do you feel good about yourselves? Do you feel good about the people you give your time and money to elect?

Actually, that's a question I should be asking of anybody who supports any party. Because they've all done it.

And maybe, of equal importance, they've all done it with the assistance of the Main Stream Media in Canada. None of the concocted smears against Mr. Marco would have gotten past the press release stage if any of the newspapers, radio stations and TV networks reporting them hired journalists who either checked their facts first or weren't beholden to an editor beholden to assisting one of the parties.

To be fair, several did their due diligence after publishing and broadcasting the initial smears and dropped the story. A few more stopped rising to the bait in the days that followed as the Ontario Liberal Party continued to chum the waters.

But others just regurgitated what they were fed while their editorial boards had tea with the leaders trooped in to be scrutinized by the fourth estate so that each publishing empire could tell their readers who they had decided they should vote for come election day.

We long ago got rid of the corrupt and antiquated system where each voter had to publicly state their preference in favor of a secret ballot. Maybe it's time that corporate entities dependent on fat government advertising contracts also STFU and stop telling us where to mark that secret "X".

But that would mean basing a decision on party platforms and candidate qualifications rather than the spin the boys in the backroom want in play.

They're really the ones deciding who's worthy and who's not -- aren't they?

Towards the end of his essay, Anthony Marco wonders, given the trends in social media and online blogging, forum conversations and the like, where our future candidates will come from.

We all have online lives now. We've all posted a "Party On!" comment when a pal's status update says he's out drinking. Does that cost us the support of Mothers Against Drunk Driving? If we linked to a G20 riot video have we branded ourselves anti-cop? God forbid we ever hint at rolling a fattie or post a picture from a topless beach in Australia.

But what about being as innocuous as pledging support for one party when you're 18 and then changing your mind 20 years later. Does that come back to haunt you, make you a flip-flopper, indecisive or exhibiting disloyalty? The boys in the back rooms can spin "Love you, Mom!" into an Oedipus Complex if that's their intention.

And sometimes I think that's their real purpose. Not to get you to vote one way or another, but to make sure those with the smarts and the character to do what's best for their country don't win and those positions are filled with meat puppets so devoid of life experience, failures that led to insight and bad choices that made them better people that they will never question what the boys in the backroom want them to do.

After all. Cross one of the guys who specializes in spin and he can spin something against you. Even if he has to take it out of context or even better, just make it up.

Anthony Marco deserved better. And it's up to the rest of us to make sure that what happened to him never happens again.

Lazy Sunday # 190: Thanksgiving Dinner

Like a lot of Canadians, I’ll spend much of this weekend in the kitchen, putting together a kick-ass Thanksgiving dinner.

Not to toot my own horn too loudly, but I’m a pretty darn good cook. And it wasn’t a skill I picked up from Mom or special classes or concentrated effort. I learned from watching TV.

When I was a kid, there was a British guy on Canadian TV named Graham Kerr aka “The Galloping Gourmet”. Kerr’s shtick was cooking a complicated gourmet meal in 30 minutes while simultaneously polishing off a bottle or two of fine wine.

He was funny and enthusiastic and given to breaking the rules of what passed for TV decorum back then, so I made a point of watching his show. And I soon realized what he was doing wasn’t all that difficult.

Meaning –- it was incredibly difficult, but he made it look far less daunting and something you could have a good time doing.

So one afternoon, while I was home with a cold, I copied down his recipe of the day and tried to recreate it.

Maybe I got lucky. Maybe my house mates were incredibly forgiving -– or just happy somebody else had done the cooking. But dinner was a hit. I never looked back.

If you ask me, the secret to cooking is not taking it too seriously. I mean, unless you’re cooking Fugu, how bad can you really fuck up?

And unlike the modern TV meme, you don’t have Gordon Ramsay or some douchey Iron Chef judge waiting to take you apart.

So, just have fun. And if having fun includes a couple of beverages, even better. As the following exemplifies…

Happy Thanksgiving! And Enjoy your Sunday…

Lazy Sunday #189: Maximall

Famous last words, but by the end of the weekend, Life should be pretty much back to normal. 

Once all systems undergo the final pre-launch check, regular blogging will resume next week.  Lots of thoughts about the new TV season, the apparent seismic shift at the CRTC, Copyright, new production models and where it all might be leading us.

Let's hope some of it will be in creative directions like the one that follows. Click on "Full Screen" because the detail here is nothing short of amazing. And, of course...

Enjoy Your Sunday!

Maximall from Axel Tillement on Vimeo.

And...

For those in search of something more substantial...