canada

Ottawa/Canada Day 2016: The Muskrat’s Lack of Revenge

by margotsmokes

First of all, this should be an aside, but I want to write my blog post chronologically not in terms of importance, so this is going at the beginning: I am fucking in love with Porter Airlines. I’ve heard people talk about them the way they talk about SoulCycle and Wegman’s and other cult-y shit, and if we’re going to be honest, my response was always “you whores,” so easily bought for a pack of free cookies and aiport WiFi. But the hype is real. They fucked up our checked carry ons every single leg of our trip, but I don’t even care. Those snacks are incredible. Their flight attendants are the nicest and they have the best outfits. I would purchase one of their tiny, glass, Porter Airline branded cups for use in my real life. I would attempt to live in the aiport lounge of Billy Bishop if it weren’t for the fact seeing the CN Tower and the TD building and the Sky Dome and the roundhouse for those few fleeting moments made me feel like I was getting hit in the stomach with a bag of rocks and I actually thought I was going to cry. Thank God the safe windowless Porter Airlines lounge with it’s endless free coffee was there to comfort me.

Anyways,

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The Pursuit of Happiness – “I’m an Adult Now”

by margotsmokes

Relevant. How did I never hear about Toronto’s musical gem, The Pursuit of Happiness, before? Their debut album was produced by Todd Rundgren.

Well, I don’t hate my parents
I don’t get drunk just to spite them
I’ve got my own reasons to drink now

Priestess – “Blood”

by margotsmokes

No description just a sweet-ass fucking jam. I’m pretty sure I first heard this on The Punk Show around the time Priestess’ first album Hello Master came out in 2005. Like all good things they’re from Montreal. “Blood” makes me nostalgic for a time I wasn’t alive for. It sounds like velour and parents’ basements and teenage flirtations with Satanism. I like that.

MMVA set up, Queen St., Toronto, ON, June 2009

by margotsmokes
much music video awards 2009 construction

Do people do throwback Thursday on Tumblr?

In honour of Now declaring MuchMusic dead, here are some photos of the set up for the Much Music Video Awards that I took back in 2009.

I hope Much Music can resurrect itself. I do believe it has a place showing Canada back to itself, and for every jaded journalist who thinks protectionism is a sign of weakness and CanCon should be burned at the stake, I’ve got the memory of a little Canadian tween who moved to the U.S. at eleven and would watch MuchOnDemand religiously to feel at home. I always hoped one day I’d be a VJ and get to walk around the Chum building like Strombo and Amanda Walsh and finally find out whose hand was up Ed the Sock’s ass. I think there’s a misconception that Canadians want to be Americans, particularly Torontonians and particularly with our media. TRL was more glamorous, but I always wanted to be on a street corner with Rainbow Sun because to me it always felt weightier, more real, more of who I was. We were always a little bootleg, but we swore more and had better videos and everyone seemed like they were having more fun.

So here’s to you not dying Much Music. I hope you re-find your voice, dig yourself out of the grave with some Canadian know-how, and inspire another generation to know it’s okay to embrace who you are, even if you don’t have the prettiest face or the best production values.

Nick Kroll on what makes Canada funny

by margotsmokes

You know, it’s a combination of things. One, I think, specifically with “Wheels” is, there’s the specifics of Degrassi, which our editor watched religiously. So when we handed him that sketch, he was incredibly excited.

And also what I partly think is how familiar Canada is with the U.S., and how unfamiliar the States is with Canada. Like, how unbelievably aware you guys are and how little we know about you. Which is sort of inherently funny to me.

And then it just becomes a fun game of specifics. Especially with Degrassi, the even temperament that we assume is part of Canada mixed with the incredibly high-stakes elements of Degrassi, its lessons and its issues that it tackles, whether it’s abortion or rape or drug abuse or domestic violence. But it’s all done with sort of that even keel of the Canadian temperament.

Source: http://cultmontreal.com/2013/07/nick-kroll-on-why-canada-is-funny/