On TV
I just saw a very short film on TV (think it was CBC--sorry, Americans) called
George Lucas in Love.
Shakespeare in Love meets
Star Wars in about seven minutes. Carly and Dale thought it was vaguely amusing; I, however, was laughing so hard I could barely breathe. Ah, my geeky self is so happy.
Also on TV all week has been Conan O'Brien in Toronto. All the TO newspapers are going on about this like he was the Pope--or maybe more, because I don't recall the Pope getting this many headlines in the summer. (Though, really, I wasn't counting.) I haven't stayed up late enough to see it live, but Carly's been taping them and we've watched the shows sometime during the day. It's so surreal. The opening shows stores that I go into, and the streetcars that I curse when they won't come and pick me up, and the skyline of the city in which I was born. And yet ... it's Conan.
And the Canadian content is just unbelievable. I'm reeling. Not even Canadian shows/stations can pull off this level of Canadian content. Some of it is hilarious, and yet I can't believe that anyone outside of Ontario is really understanding even half of this stuff. Or maybe the joke is just the fact that if Conan mentions Scarborough, the Canadians in the audience will laugh their asses off. It doesn't take much for us, really.
See, we're used to getting brief mentions. Like, when David Letterman visits Toronto in the summer to see the Molson Indy, half of the city holds its breath during his Monday show just waiting for him to say "I was in Toronto this weekend--what a beautiful city." Oh, and then we cheer and cheer. Or if a Canadian actor goes on a talk show, you just know that half of the Canadian viewers are muttering to their TVs, "Say you're from Ottawa. Say it ... SAY IT ..." Nothing evokes more scorn than a Canadian pretending to be American (coughJimCarreycough), except maybe a Canadian who becomes American (yes, I'm talking to YOU, Alex Trebek). Course, you mention Mississauga in passing in a 30-second interview for
Extra and we'll love you again. As I said, it doesn't take much.
