Happy Canada Day!

[mabfan]

Today our friends to the north are celebrating Canada Day, the anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Our own independence celebration takes place on Monday, of course, but I have a soft spot for Canada and Canadian culture, and so to all my Canadian friends, happy Canada day!

To all my American friends who have talked about either immigrating to Canada or pretending to be Canadian when traveling abroad:

Have you heard of Stockwell Day? Have you ever experienced the humor of Rick Mercer and his Monday Report? Do you know which hour contains only 22 minutes? Can you name Canada's ten provinces and its Prime Minister? Can you identify your favorite hockey team? Can you name a Canadian's favorite place to get donuts?

If not, consider reading camwyn's essay How To Pass For Canadian. It's an excellent primer on the sort of things you ought to know about if you want to make someone think you're Canadian, or at the very least, give our northern neighbors the respect they deserve by knowing something about their country.

Comments

[camwyn]

I got a request from someone in Manitoba the other day for some kind of link exchange program- apparently I linked to a page in their Health Department and a company about to come out with Simpsons-themed health products saw this and thought it would be good advertising. Um, okay...

I got those edits up that I told you about, though. So it's clean and up to date now. Thanks for pimping!

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

That is an absolutely fabulous essay :) You get bonus points for the Great Big Sea reference.

(Did you know Tim Horton, as well as being a hockey player, was a wife-beater?)

[camwyn]

Glad you liked it! The music section of that page's been revamped more than any of the others- Canadians keep writing in and poking me with the names of various bands or thanking me for remembering their favourites. (Although, to my shame, I only got around to adding the Tragically Hip today.)

And no, I did not know that. Ow.

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

I'm going to poke you some more; if you like Great Big Sea, you might like The Punters, who are also based out of St. John's. Good stuff, and man do they ever put on a good show.

[somehedgehog.livejournal.com]

Tim Horton's!

The rest... uh...crap.

[zmook.livejournal.com]

Stockwell Day is sooo 2002. You should now be inquiring about Stephen Harper.

Also, Rick Mercer has a blog (and an LJ feed).

Happy Canada Day! It's a good day to blow something up real good, if you're too impatient to wait for the Fourth.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Noted about Stephen Harper; I just remember Day vividly because of the campaign to make him change his first name to Doris. As for the Rick Mercer blog, I'd already linked to it above, which you'd find if you clicked on his name. (OK, technically I linked to http://www.rickmercer.com, but that forwards to his blog, so...)

[zmook.livejournal.com]

Oh. Obviously, I did not click on your Rick Mercer link. After all, I know who he is. :-P (I just found the tape the other day where he did Talking to Americans in Harvard Yard. And I just bought the DVD set of "Made in Canada" season 1.)

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I want to see the "Talking to Americans" segment in Harvard Yard!

And what is "Made in Canada"? Is it like "This Hour Has 22 Minutes?"

[zmook.livejournal.com]

> I want to see the "Talking to Americans" segment in Harvard Yard!

Remind me to bring the tape next time I'm going to see you. Manitoba's rhino hunt really must be stopped.

> And what is "Made in Canada"? Is it like "This Hour Has 22 Minutes?"

It's a comedy more like "The Newsroom" or "The Office", a fairly biting satire on the television industry. But funny as hell.

[zsero.livejournal.com]

Of course I've heard of Stockwell Day. I celebrate it every year.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Not only can I name the provinces, I can map them.

Um, my favorite hockey team is from Lawn Guy Land. When I think of hockey at all. Without monkeys (http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=ZrMZyD1nJZM%3D) (mp3 (http://www.otmfan.com/mp3/Hockey%20Monkey.mp3)), that is :-)

Canada would be a lovely place to live if only its winters, and large swathes of its autumns and springs weren't so COLD. I mean, it's even more so than Boston (which suffers similarly).

[querldox.livejournal.com]

No points for being able to name multiple Degrassi characters and get their grade order correct? Tsk. : -)

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

But didn't they also broadcast that show in the States?

[camwyn]

They did. I had to watch it in eighth grade. yes, had to. Sister Christianne seemed to think it was a good way of getting Important Youth Issues as topics for discussion and such in class.

I consider Degrassi grounds for burning the entire country to the ground. Not even Jim Carrey can make me do that.

[zmook.livejournal.com]

I am Canadian. I remember it existing when I grew up, but to the best of my knowledge have never actually seen an episode, and certainly couldn't name a character.

It actually seems to me more the kind of thing Americans associate with Canada than actual Canadians ever think about. But then, I'm a guy. Maybe it's different if you're talking with women.

[camwyn]

My friend mountainspeak uses news of Degrassi to tease me, because she knows I'll lay back my ears and hiss at the sound of the name. "Did you know they're coming out with 'Degrassi: The Next Generation'?" etc.

It's enough to make a gal hide behind a wall of ReBoot tapes.

And there is no section on Canadian television in the Guide largely because I don't actually watch TV beyond Cartoon Network and Animal Planet anyway.

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

They tortured you with Degrassi in school? Poor you! I'm very grateful it was after my time. (Though I do think it was kind of a Toronto thing; I'm in Vancouver and I never hear anyone out here mention it with wistful nostalgia.) Was "Saved by the Bell" Canadian too? Or was it just crap, too?

I thought of loads of other music ersatz Canadians should be aware of, but I'm sure there's no shortage of info about that coming in, so I'll resist.

I do think the national "everything" store, Canadian Tire, deserves a mention. After all, they have the most annoying commercials on the tube, and there's one in pretty much ever village and hamlet of any respectable size. And it's a national sport (as far as I know) to call the place "Crappy Tire".

[camwyn]

Nuns tortured me with Degrassi in school. You're supposed to be able to trust nuns... I don't know what the deal was with Saved by the Bell. Didn't watch that.

Oh, I haven't had any new suggestions in a while, actually, so I'm open to whatever you've got.

Hmm... probably right. Something along the lines of 'yeah, yeah, K-mart, whatever, what you want is Canadian Tire'...

Canuck Tunes

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

Okay, well. Would-be Canucks (and I'm casting back a few years, into the collective conscious) should be aware of the Guess Who - writers and performers of the brilliant American Woman (which is not as "yay!" as the Lenny Kravitz version, which utterly misses the point), and their subsequent iteration, Bachman-Turner Overdrive ("Takin' Care of Business", which is the UPS [I think] anthem, up here at least, and mebbe down south too?).

Stompin' Tom Connors - writer/singer of such great hits as "The Hockey Song" (total arena anthem in Canada) and "It's Canada Day, up Canada Way".

Anne Murray, the original Snowbird. (Though she may be too well-known in the US to qualify, too, like Celine [barf] and Shania.)

Um. Think that's all for now :-)

Re: Canuck Tunes

[zmook.livejournal.com]

The song all Canadians (or at least all Maritimers) know is "We're here for a good time (Not a long time)". It seemed like a summertime rule that Halifax bars had to play it at the end of the evening. I was astonished to arrive in the States and discover no one had heard of it.

Re: Canuck Tunes

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

Rock Anthem, indeed!

But wasn't that one by Chilliwack? (Baby Blue, Arms of Mary...)

Re: Canuck Tunes

[zmook.livejournal.com]

Nope. Trooper, baby.

http://www.trooper.ca/default.php?cat=lyrics&subcat=82

And don't think "Here for a Good Time" was their only hit. There was also, um, "Boys in the Bright White Sports Car". And maybe some other crap.

Re: Canuck Tunes

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

Trooper! I meant Trooper! *headdesk* I have that album (on sunny yellow vinyl!!!!); how could I possibly have typed Chilliwack?

Re: Canuck Tunes

[zmook.livejournal.com]

I'm becoming convinced you're Canadian.

Re: Canuck Tunes

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

Heh! Who but a Canuck would have both Thick as Thieves (on yellow vinyl) and their greatest hits album Hot Shots (which must mean there was more than one other hit)?

My British hubby takes great delight in taking the piss out of the vocal style on "Bright White Sports Car". I loved that song, at the time.

[zmook.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, Canada needs to take no blame for "Saved by the Bell". Though it will probably turn out that some doofus actor on the show was from Moose Jaw, and I'll have to qualify my declaration.

[adventurat.livejournal.com]

Well, phew! Just goes to prove that not all television shite came from the creative minds that gave the world (!) the Beachcombers.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

OK, I could get most of that... :-)