Screaming at Briefcases - the Canadian Edition!

Is anyone else intrigued about the hype, the sheer squeal-like-a-girly-girl excitement that is accompanying the “Deal or No Deal”’ Canadian special? As far as I can tell it will air after the Superbowl (how Canadian!) and have real Canadian contestants and real Canadian briefcase models (real Canadian breasts? We‘ll see). The big joke, at least according to the ads, is that it will also feature a Canadian host - Howie Mandel. Ah haha ha ha… ha? I must admit I watch the show sometimes because I like seeing people win money and freak out. I also love how everyone tries so hard to continue the lie that the banker is a real person, and not an actor hired to be a silhouette dishing out mathematical equations. The clever rouse is so complete the banker even has his own blog. Here you can read his most entertaining and pointless thoughts. Did you know the banker considers himself “a very very very sexy man”? He is also “definitely not Steve Guttenberg“. This is riveting stuff people.

Where was I going with this? I started reading the banker’s blog and got off track. My point was that we, as a Canadian audience, are very excited by the prospect of Canadians winning lots of money on a big, popular game show. I’m wondering if it’s possible for Canadians to come up with their own game show. Instead of the meagre one or two episode “specials”, how about a real weekly Canadian game show where Canadians could participate and win big money? Okay, granted, if it were on the CBC or some other cash starved network the money might not be “big”, but it could be enough to make us care. Hell, throw in some gift certificates to Canadian Tire and we’d be happy. Does anyone else want to see this? Am I the only one who would be totally psyched to see a farmer from Tillsonburg win five thousand bucks in prime time? I think it would be nice to root for the home team, as it were. And no, Canadian Idol doesn’t count. Canadian Idol doesn’t really count as anything.

Jesus Camp

I’m back! I had a horrible, HORRIBLE stomach flu. Long story short, I threw up about twenty times and wished I were dead. Then slowly I got better and managed to finish the Jesus Camp documentary review I started last week. So finally, here’s my take on a little doc that’s been getting quite a bit of press recently. I was happy to see this film (and meet the film makers) at the Hot Docs screening last Wednesday. It’s a controversial little flick so let me know what you think. I’m going to go back to drinking lots of fluids now. Peace out.


Jesus Camp
(Directed by Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady)

Jesus Camp is a shock doc that not only confirms tentative fears about the right wing fundamentalist Christian movement in America, it creates whole new nightmare scenarios you never imagined. The film follows the Evangelical church, in particular children’s pastor Becky Fischer and the brood of tykes that eagerly partake in her “Kids on Fire” summer camp in Devil’s Lake(!), North Dakota. Becky is a fervent believer that children form the backbone of “God’s army” and they must be trained from a young age to be leaders for future generations of soldiers. There is an intensely creepy innocence to Pastor Fischer’s description of her camp, and why the children who are “so close to God, so open” are the perfect fodder for indoctrination into the church’s intolerant and ultimately uneducated views. It is one thing to argue evolution, but quite another to think global warming is a welcome sign of God’s coming apocalypse. As one mom tells her home schooled son (who learns from Evangelical appointed text books), “just think that science can’t prove anything. Everything is God”.

Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (whose first film was the excellent "The Boys of Baraka") Jesus Camp is guilty of bias. There is clever sound editing afoot that lets you know when the big bad Christians are on screen, and the voice of dissension in the film, a left leaning southern DJ, does get the last word. It’s hard to know, however, how the filmmakers could have presented their footage much differently. It’s almost like we don’t want to believe people would put a cardboard cut-out of President Bush at the front of their church and ask people to pray to it. We certainly might not want to see young children speaking in tongues, passing around plastic fetuses and crying out for the end of abortion. But there it is - Friday night at Jesus Camp. Oh, for the days of smores and ghost stories around a campfire.

Is the film propaganda? Well, I’m sure there are plenty of Christians (Evangelical or not) who would argue that their summer camps are nothing like “Kids on Fire”. Many people would say this film does not represent them, but others would say it is a mirror to the huge churches being built in America everyday. Both directors spoke to the audience after our screening and said that Pastor Fischer and all the participants had watched the finished film and were very happy with the movie. They saw it as a fair and accurate description of what they do and what they believe. I shuddered to realise that what disturbs the unindoctrinated seems justified to those who pack the pews. Perhaps most shocking of all is the power and popularity of this growing religious movement. This group of fundamentalists hold a lot of sway in politics and infrastructure already, and their voice will continue to shape America in the future. Jesus Camp may anger you, upset you or perhaps even inspire you, but I would recommend everyone see this film for the good of their education. Four out of Five

Little Mosque on the Prairie - Yet Another Blog Review

On Tuesday night after Rick Mercer, the CBC debuted a new half hour sitcom called “Little Mosque on the Prairie”. The hype about the show has been hard to miss, with various journalists wondering if the comedy about Muslims living in rural Saskatchewan would attract audiences or offend everyone in this delicate and apparently humour free “post 9-11 world”. Nothing sells better than controversy, but the assumption that Muslims would not be able to laugh at themselves and all white Christians are big balls of religiously intolerant rage was getting a little old. After watching the first episode I think it’s safe to say that no one - Muslim, Christian, or otherwise - will be pulling an Elvis and shooting their TVs in disgust.

Although the show did not cause amused shouts of “oh no you didn’t”, it did manage to get a few laughs from me and Anson. Little Mosque is quite a feat for the old Canadian Broadcasting Company for two good reasons. One, it’s a show people actually want to watch ( as long as it’s not on opposite Heroes) and two, it’s really not bad. Historically Canadians absolutely suck when it comes to sitcoms. We like our comedy either political (Rick Mercer), sketch (Kids in the Hall) or hilariously drunken and vulgar (Trailer Park Boys). Little Mosque exists in that rarely seen land of stock characters, snappy banter, and corny jokes more at home in American prime time than on the CBC.

So does the show succeed? Sure, I guess. I will watch it again. This is definitely a show that could improve with time and familiarity. The writing tries a bit too hard to make fun of every viewpoint, the pacing is stiff and many of the jokes just fall flat. In terms of characters, the attractive guy playing the Imam has comic potential but is still too exaggerated in a “look at how outraged I am! You called me a terrorist so I will throw up my hands and make a funny face to the camera!” kind of way. The hicks in town can be amusing, like the bumbling neighbour who stumbles into the mosque during prayer, or they can be completely one dimensional like the intolerant DJ who just comes off like a less interesting (if that’s possible) and less intelligent (almost impossible) Rush Limbaugh. Some of the characters have definite room for improvement, but that’s what you expect from a premiere episode anyway.

Little Mosque on the Prairie shows promise, but it’s not halalarious just yet (I stole that from another review. Another good line? "This show is Allah in the family"). I’m just proud to live in a country that takes a chance on corny jokes even if the person telling them has brown skin and the women wear head scarves. Hopefully the CBC will stick to their schedule and keep Little Mosque after Rick Mercer so that it can build up a fan base. With time, luck, and the growth of talent already evident, this little show may become Canada's next Corner Gas.

One final note. During the show they aired ads for a website that advocates fair employment for immigrants. I thought the ads were pretty good and the message was effective. Just in case you’re interested, the website is www.hireimmigrants.ca.

This is not documentary related, but I had to share some news with you. My aunt was kind enough to cut out an article in her local newspaper about the "new" and apparently "dynamic" look Archie Comics created for Betty and Veronica. You know Betty and Veronica. Even if you don't have a stack of their comics in your closet like I do, you are familiar with the duo of perky, curvy teenagers who are best friends and bitter enemies over the affections of one Archie Andrews. Fix a picture of them in your mind. The faces are exactly the same but one is brunette and one is blond. They have round cherubic cheeks, big black eyes and sideways "v" noses. They are both innocent and sexy and they always wear cool clothes.

Okay. Ready for the new look?



Um, WTF?

Yeah, that's a whole new world of ugly right there. Where's the "good wholesome Betty" and the "snobby but glamourous Veronica"? Where's Betty's kindness yin to counter Veronica's selfish yang? These generic jailbait teenagers are okay as background art in someone else's comic, but as icons with legions of stupid fans like me? NO WAY MAN. Veronica's face... Veronica's face will haunt my dreams. That is past ugly - it is all the way into fugly. Who knew that if you tried to make Betty and Veronica sexier and more lifelike you would get this?

Now I've been with Archie comics a long time. Even as an adult I pick up the odd double digest just to keep in the loop and feel like a kid again. I understand the need to keep things fresh, because God only knows the trials and tribulations of Riverdale High can get pretty old. A few years ago they wrote a story arc where Jughead got over his fear of girls (or as I always assumed - his latent homosexuality) and acquired not one but two girlfriends. They also tried introducing a third girlfriend for Archie - a saucy redhead named Cheryl Blossom. These attempts at updating the tested chemistry between the main characters was appreciated for a time, but ultimately any new characters were pushed back into the either and life returned to normal. Archie Comics has stated that they are only trying the "new" Betty and Veronica for a few issues starting in May and will go back to the old look soon after. I hope so. I'm tempted to buy the new comics because they might be good collector's items but seriously, how could I bring myself to look at those tarts and think of my beloved Betty and Veronica?

What do you think? Is this a good look for the girls or a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE mistake that should be immediately rectified and forgotten forever? Go ahead and share your thoughts - no pressure.