that canadian girl

I’m disgusted to find out that Ofcom is about to allow more advertising on commercial television channels in the UK. Somehow, in response to people using more personal video recorders like Sky Plus, Ofcom’s been fooled in believing that the answer is to slap on some more ad minutes into every show.

The geekier masses have migrated towards online sources for entertainment, and I’ve got a feeling that if UK television is heading the same way as American shows, crammed with obnoxious and imposing ads, more Brits will start relying on Joost, Bittorrent, iTunes podcasts and other services.

The advertising industry is so sick, all the way to the core, I don’t think it’ll ever recover. If you agree that this new suggested ruling, allowing more ad breaks, should be stopped, please let your comments be heard by Ofcom, do it now, and pass it on to others around you!

People are often surprised when I tell them that English isn’t my first language and that I wasn’t comfortably speaking it all the way into my early teens. I also clearly remember hearing music in English when I was very young and not understanding any of it.

So while I think this girl is mad for going to a Music Idol show in Bulgaria and choosing an English song, I can completely hear what she’s hearing in the song. Hilarious video!

Sorry if I’ve started posting loads again! I’ve got internet access again, have returned to something resembling routine and have dealt with the bulk of organising the new house, so I’ve got time to write.

Andrew and I have now watched a couple of episodes of Delia’s new cooking show where she shows busy people how to get nice meals together quickly.

Now, what mystifies me is that while she’s targeting time-poor people, she’s unquestionably aiming for the top tier richer people. Last week, when she made her fish pie involving frozen pre-mashed potato cakes, we estimated the cost of the meal at nearly £15! For that price, you could get a delicious Marks & Spencer meal that you can stick in the oven and enjoy just as much without having to fight with frozen potato lumps and pre-smoked, pre-cooked salmon!

I suppose she’s shooting for the even-smaller niche market of those who need to pretend they’re eating “homemade” food to have a clear conscience!

Seriously… pre-mashed potatoes… Delia, honey, you can’t be serious!

Andrew rants… A court in the US has ordered a woman to pay $222,000 (£109,000) in damages for illegally file-sharing music. The jury ordered Jammie Thomas, 32, from Minnesota, to pay for offering to share 24 specific songs online - a cost of $9,250 per song.

$9,250 per song?? While I understand that what Jammie was doing is seen as illegal, having to pay $9,250 per song is bordering on the insane. Take out the resellers fees and doing some completely incorrect and unsubstantiated mathematics, she is effectively paying the US recording industry more than 12,000 times per song she shared.

There are a few points which really grate on my mind with this issue.

1. She is allegedly in the wrong, but ruining her life by taking 1/4 of her paycheque over 24 songs for the rest of her life is morally incorrect and just plain wrong. Putting a shackle around somebody’s neck like this for the rest of their life is a completely unbalanced punishment which clearly demonstrates just how detached from reality the RIAA and their lawyers are.
2. 288,000 (12,000 * 24 songs) people who downloaded music directly or indirectly from Jammie over Kazza now have a paid for (and legal) copy of the tune. This should be taken into account when the US recording industry incorrectly try to sue these people.
3. What the RIAA don’t take into account is the music that people download, without paying for, which they had no intention of buying anyway; these people are just downloading it to explore new music. I could make a wild (but definitely correct) assumption that many people who have “illegally” downloaded tracks would not have contributed to the RIAA’s coffers anyway even if file sharing did not exist - so this is NOT lost revenue. Music sharing simply opens up a free advertising channel for new fans who would subsequently purchase merchandise and see gigs leading to increased revenue for the artist.

This aggression is only going to fuel more hatred from the general masses, and certainly has done for me. While I have bought music online, I do think it is too expensive and the current move towards DRM free and artist direct bought music is a great one in my mind.

With the evolving and modern model of music distribution provided by the internet, the record label plays a much smaller (or no) cog in the gearbox of an artist getting their music to fans or potential fans. Take for one example the Pandora / Music Gnome project, which leads people to find new artists without and intervention of traditional promotional methods. Along with file sharing, the artist no longer needs the record label as they did in the 90s, they have the chance to go it alone and be just as successful.

The US record industry has two choices. Firstly, they could accept their inevitable demise and realise that the days of fat cigars and comfortable leather directors chairs are numbered. Secondly, they could adapt - and FAST - to a more modern model of music distribution, stop suing people and try and win back some popularity of the general population and artists.

Its the only way they will still be here next decade.

[bbc news]

Last night, I went out to see “Run, Fatboy, Run!” with Andrew and my lovely friend Celia.

I’m already pretty fond of Simon Pegg’s older movies, but I think this one tops them all. The theme is more appealing to girls than zombies or village cops, so that might have something to do with it. It might also have to do with the fact that the spotlight is much more on Pegg, rather than sharing it with Nick Frost and some guns. And it might have to do with Thandie Newton being so adorable, Hank Azaria playing the over-confident American so well and a handful of classic cameos from the likes of David Walliams and Stephen Merchant.

Take all the above, mix them gently together and you’ve got my favourite comedy of the year by miles.

Definitely comes with two thumbs up, and a big toe too.

Do I really even need to say it? Or does the picture on the right and my empty wallet say it all?

Yes, I’ve given in, I’ve got a red iPod nano on order. In my defense, it’s my birthday on the 19th so it’s my pressie. And it’s the “good cause” iPod too. I’m helping fight AIDS in Africa by giving my money to Mr. Jobs.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had the luxury of music in my pocket. My N95 is far too rubbish to be used for music, and while I have an old iPod Shuffle (the kind that looks like a USB key, not the slick tiny clippy one), I’ve never liked the shuffling concept.

So here it is, my first real iPod. It’s red. It’s lush. I can’t wait to get it! Shame it won’t arrive before I go to Finland and Russia next week though… :S

Run for your life, the Daleks have arrived and will EXTERMINATE everything in their path!

More awesome Flickr pics here
[Via BoingBoing]

I think this weekend, Andrew and I have achieved Peep Show* overdose. On Thursday night, we started watching the first series, which star David Mitchell and Robert Webb**, the two guys from the recent UK Apple adverts. From thereon, it was a downward spiral until the end of the third season on Sunday afternoon!

Symptoms of Peep Show overdose include talking to yourself in an inner monologue and mentally picturing David Mitchell’s little beady hamster eyes, hearing him swear to himself that he’s going to screw things up with Sophie again.

Peep Show is probably on par with some of the best British humour, it’s a shame that it isn’t better recognized. I’d classify along the lines of Spaced, another under appreciated in British comedy.

So for now, I don’t really want to see any more of Mark and Jez, but I’m sure once I digest so much of that raw humour, I’ll go check out their new movie “Magicians”, though the reviews are a bit lukewarm at the moment.

[* No, mom. Peep Show isn’t some pervy show, it’s just some great British humour. Well, not really pervy anyways.]
[** He so doesn’t look like a “Robert” to me.]

If you’ve just started watching the total cheesefest that is Eurovision, become your own Wogan on Twitter. Find my commentary here.

Unfortunately, usually I have booze to ease the pain of the bad acts, but tonight I’ve got to stay up to go pick up the other half after a stag do, so it’s not half as fun. Bollocks!

Dealing with the first one, Bosnia & Herzegovina was already pretty bad, but now oooh Spanish Backstreet Boys… with women pretending to play the drums… Cheesy!

I’ve just finished watching last week’s The Apprentice where Alan Sugar set the two teams the task of making as much money as possible in a single day, giving them £200 as starting funds.

The girls decided to do face painting, which is a ridiculous idea outside of town fairs and birthdays, and then moved on to kissograms in the evening - a real class act! They made £65 profit.

The boys did some garden maintenance (how much must equipment rental have cost?!), followed by a singogram service ’round the pubs. They made £189 profit.

For god’s sake, they’d probably make more money panhandling or selling the Big Issue on a street corner!

I think it’s disgraceful that these are the best businesses these supposed professionals could think of. A single day of trading or running an affiliate site online would probably make them loads more than the measly amounts they made, but even baking cookies would make more revenue and be less embarrassing than resorting to kissograms!

I’ll probably watch The Apprentice until the end of the season now, just to see whether it gets any better. Hopes are low…

I know I’m going a bit heavy on the videos these days, but this is just too good not to share. KT Tunstall is great, she’s such a REAL artist, and I think this video shows it again.

Lone woman on a stage, yet you’d believe me if I said she was accompanied by a number of other musicians if you closed your eyes. Enjoy!

I must publicly apologise for eating all the Skinny Cow “Truly Lovin’ Toffee” ice cream this evening. Otherwise Andrew will take my blog down again and display the following message:

“Sorry, thatcanadiangirl.co.uk is offline temporarily as Vero ate all of the toffee ice cream. It will return as soon as she makes it up to me.”

Sorry, I was too busy paying attention to David Tennant and Martha Jones, followed by John Barrowman and Andrew Lloyd Webber (pick the ugly one out of the four…)

Proof that you shouldn’t mess your other half around (especially when they know web shites better than you do!)

Since I feel BBC have done a pretty poor job of announcing the new season of Doctor Who, I wanted to post a quickie to say it’s starting this Saturday at 7pm on BBC One. Set your Sky Plus boxes, Tivos or clear your calendar for the evening and get ready for a new season with the Doctor, his new assistant, some Daleks and (hopefully) a few Jack Harkness appearances!

Once upon a time, water cooler chat was a company-wide thing. Anyone could gather in the kitchen during their coffee break and talk about last night’s TV show. Gags and allusions to TV twists caused team-wide laughter or nods, and no one would really feel left out, since most would have watched the same thing.

Nowadays, it’s a whole different story. The market is so incredibly segmented. For some years now, there are hundreds of channels, catering to niche interests. On top of this, Sky Plus and other video recorders are growing in popularity, adding to the mix by enabling us to watch whenever we fancy it. “If you tell me what happened in last night’s Lost episode, I’m going to have to kill you!”

To cause further fragmentation, YouTube and Google Video’s user- generated content is beginning to rival commercially and professionally produced content in terms of appeal, watchability (let’s pretend that’s a word, mmkay?) and entertainment value. With broadband infiltrating British homes at the rate of 70,000 a week, downloading videos, movies or TV shows is becoming easier than ever.

In recent months, the only shows I can think of that have had wide enough appeal to reach across these itty bitty fragments have been Lost and Top Gear, really. (As an aside, if my license fee goes to financing the largest non-commercial rocket launch attempt in European history, I’m all for it!)

Otherwise, an unexpectedly popular topic of conversation is still the Nintendo Wii, which seems to have racked up fans from all ages and interest groups and endures as the best source of evening entertainment.

Personally, I’d be quite happy to see the couch-potato era come to an end to be replaced by interactive media and entertainment. Maybe the next water cooler chat will have to do with our tennis score next time.

Mmmmkay, that was lame, I know.

But it’s that time of the year again: Red Nose Day happens in March and the noses are on sale at Sainsbury’s. How about you decorate that nose and send me a picture?

I’ll do it too, but at the moment, my clever husband has stuck them on the coffee table at the moment…

Any local fundraisers happening you want to promote?

[tags]Red nose day, fundraising, charity[/tags]

It’s a two-episode finale, and we’ll be recording it. Just a note to others to Sky Plus it, since the Series Link seems to have failed. For those who have yet to take the time to appreciate quite how good Torchwood is, why not make this your first encounter with Jack Harkness?

In other Torchwood news, John Barrowman has now tied the knot with Scott Gill, his partner of 16 years in a civil ceremony in Cardiff. Surely won’t stop the girls from swooning over him (or won’t stop me, anyways!)

And in somewhat related news, Andrew and I watched the whole first season of Doctor Who over the past few days, catching up on all the Christopher Eccleston & Billie goodness we missed out on in 2005! We’ve seen most of Season II, but bought it anyways for later viewing.

And now, time to look forward to Dr. Who Season III, which should start some time in the Spring. A new assistant for the Doctor, and some more Dalek action confirmed! EXTERMIIIINAAAATE! EXTERMIIIINAAAATE!

These are what I call great British productions - and a great Canadian collaboration in the case of Torchwood!

It was announced over a week ago that the Doctor Who spin-off show, Torchwood, will come back for a second season. It took me a week to post it, but I was thrilled to hear about it. Especially that it’ll be back on BBC Two instead of BBC Three - it’s moving up the rungs!

The first season of Torchwood started a bit slow, which is a shame, as I get the impression it has lost it a big chunk of viewers. After 3-4 weeks, it started getting really good and now it’s just excellent. John Barrowman is a great Jack Harkness (and all-round lurvly, Gemma & Kat would agree!) but he still doesn’t quite have David Tennant’s charisma. I can’t wait for the second season of that, and the third season of good ol’ Doctor Who! [Fine, for the finnickity ones, third season of the NEW series, I know there were tons before]

As a total aside, BBC really aren’t doing themselves any favours with the impossible search across their websites. I have no doubt the archives are filled with great content, but it’s impossible to find anything! Searching is particularly awkward, and the oddest off-topic results come up, but navigation as a whole is difficult. Why wouldn’t they put more energy towards successfully distributing their great content?

I watched the “F*** Off, I’m Fat” show on BBC Three this evening, and I’m seething at the thought that the Beebs has produced such a pile of tosh.

Now, as a disclaimer before I start, I’m not a wee little girl. Well, I’m only 5′2″, but I AM a UK size 14, so while I don’t need to be quite as concerned as some in terms of which shops will stock my size, I do know where they come from.

Ricky Grover, that’s the tosser who wasted an hour of my life talking about fat people as poor victims of society, made some statements that were just mind boggling. I didn’t want to post about this when I first started watching the show, since I know it’s an awfully dangerous can of worms to open, but now I just can’t help it.

First, Ricky sends two teenage girls - UK size 20 and 22 - shopping on the high street for clothes they liked. As expected, they can’t find anything in the trendy shops, which either stop at sizes 16 or 18. Knowing absolutely nothing of fashion, he asks the two girls to choose an item of clothing they liked (which both girls pick in size 10) and he gets the items scaled up and recreated for them. Big no-no - the two girls look like they’re wearing potato sacks!

While he does make a point that losing weight isn’t just about cutting a bit on how much you eat and doing a little bit of exercise, he talks about weight loss as a total impossibility. Yes, it is a lifestyle change. But it’s a lifestyle change that will add YEARS onto your life.

So while it’s funny for him to build a fat people’s toilet in the middle of Basildon, his questions to designers of trains, planes and toilets on why trains/planes/toilets aren’t made to suit fat people’s needs, he entirely ignores the fact that the owners of said trains/planes/toilets are looking to cram as many t/p/t in a limited space to make as much revenue as possible. “Why don’t they make all plane seats bigger?” Well, darling, if you’re willing to pay for two seats every time you travel, I’m sure they can accomodate you. But fat people are like the rest of us, they’re cheap! And until it’s an absolute necessity, airlines, train companies and toilet fitters will try to fit as many butts as possible within a given space to make more money from us.

And as for going to a theme park and complaining that as a group of adults between 20 and 30 stone (that’s 280lbs to 420lbs to non-Brits), they’re unable to go on more than 10% of the rides? Please, think of your argument first, Ricky. I’m no amusement ride designer (unless playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 2), but it’s only common sense that no one wants to be responsible for putting extremely overweight people in high-speed, high-heart-rate, high-G-force situations. While fitting seats of a size that can suit bigger people may be possible, it still sounds like a bad idea to me and a huge insurance risk. Plus, the “more butts in any given space means more money” argument applies again.

So are larger people disabled? I would say yes. I’m sure I’ll have tomatoes chucked at my head for saying this, but it’s the bare truth. Struggling to get in and out of a car, being unable to go up into the loft, having difficulties keeping up with your 3 y/o child? Yes, it’s a disability.

While I don’t support employers choosing not to hire a fat person over a slimmer one, I understand their reasons. Slimmer, healthier employees take less sick days, are less exhausted by physical labour and generally are in a more positive frame of mind. (The first two have been heavily researched, the last statement is my personal observation)

I won’t get into arguments for weight loss, because I, along with everyone else, have heard them often enough. We know there is a basic math in more energy spent than ingested, as well as a personal lifestyle decision.

All in all, a terribly biased and lazily researched show, incredibly frustrating to see someone take the “We can’t help being fat! We’re victims” attitude.

So tonight, we watched last night’s Lost: Season II double-bill finale. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen the finale, instead I’ll just save them a couple of hours and tell them not to bother watching it.

Rather than giving people a cliffhanger, it’s just giving me a cliffjumper (that “just give up, jump off the cliff and get it over with, already” feeling). I think I need to find myself a new guilty pleasure, a less-bad series to watch and get into. I think Andrew’s vaguely enjoying the thrill of wondering what’s going to happen next, but I’ve grown somewhat bored of it.

Now, before people chime in telling me to watch 24 because-it’s-so-much-better, please understand I have an aversion to Kiefer Sutherland and an allergy to made-up bullshit technical terms. The only interest I find in watching 24 is evaluating how much product placement can be crammed into an hour of TV.

Oh and while I’m at it, I’ll thank the Gods of Sky Plus for allowing me to skip through the adverts while watching Lost. I’d get so aggravated if I had to watch the show when it’s broadcasted, but thankfully I can regain about 15 minutes of my life every time by skipping through the 118 118 adverts and other rubbish.

So all in all, I’m tempted to give up on TV altogether. Way too much crap and hardly anything worth watching. Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen USA is mildly entertaining, but only because I enjoy seeing Americans get their egos bashed by an angry Brit.

Anyone got anything less mind-numbing to recommend as slightly-guilty TV pleasure? I’ve had a few recommendations (Prison Break anyone?), but have forgotten most, leaving me with the first season of Dr. Who to catch up with and a lot of time to do more productive things.