What is life without music?

I clicked on to The Hour's site and saw the same subject I have been thinking about for the past few days. Music! (check it out!)
I had asked George if he listens to music 24/7. I can only guess what he reply will be. I observed on myspace that George gets requests to hear bands play, and listen to musicians tracks, on a regular basis. Where does he find the time? Does the man get a break? I don't think he wants a break, or would know what to do with one. For his vacation plans he is going on a very long motorcyle journey. He plans to film it. He has a camera mounted on his motorcyle, with the lens set to capture his helmeted expressions of riders bliss.
I wonder if his helmet is wired for music.
What would you play if you were on the roadtrip that George is planning. From Toronto, through the Mississippi, into Texas then on to LA, CA.
He wants to go back to the blues roots via the blues routes. So throw in some blues in that mix. Not sure what he would play going through Texas. I guess it would be hot music to match the temperature, or very cool music to create a contrast. You never know what music is coming up next on his playlist. That is why I listen to his musical recommendations carefully. (For me it's ahhh yes cool! Good choice George, or What? No bloody way!) If I was going to California, I would play music painted with bold colours. Starting with the 60ties and ending with the newest, latest, hot, but not yet hit, bold LA sound, that was only created very late the night before. I can never guess what George will mix for the soundtrack of his life. Here is one question he does not have to answer. Is music the foundation of his life?
Note that George's set sits on a record.

Is music the foundation of your life?

Please feel free to answer that as a comment.

Barbara W

____________________________________________________

The Fork in the Road

The Senate report on the Canadian media was released this week, with the recommendation that CBC-TV become a truly commercial-free broadcaster. The report also recommended that the CBC greatly reduce its coverage of hockey (including Hockey Night in Canada), other professional sports, and the Olympics. Stating that the CBC was "in danger of losing its way", the senate report called upon the CBC to fulfill its duty to provide quality commercial-free programming without any reliance on ratings. This, of course, comes directly on the heels of the decision by the public broadcaster to bump back the National, the CBC's flagship news program, one hour on Tuesday nights during the summer, to make way for the showing of an American reality show talent contest.

While this programming decision is particularly repugnant, it does highlight the pressure that CBC television is under to compete in a tight media market. The CBC does seem to be floundering between its mandate to be the nation's public broadcaster and to be financially viable. CBC Radio, which is truly commercial-free, has found its voice and is flourishing in its role as the voice of Canadians. The television arm is being torn in two directions and needs to re-establish its focus on fulfilling its mandate.

In order to do this, of course, it needs drastically increased funding. Severe budget cuts by the federal government over the past decade are responsible for this situation and have forced the CBC to make these kinds of worrisome programming decisions, in order to seek advertising revenue.

The senate report recommends long-term and stable funding increases to the CBC, to allow it to return to its mandate. However, we are more likely to see Canada win the World Cup than we are to see the Harper government agree to this recommendation. Stephen Harper's calls to eliminate public support for the English television network are a matter of public record. Although he has changed his stance on a lot of issues since becoming government leader, I doubt he has changed his mind in regard to this agenda.

And now, of course, the Hour is making the move to the main network, in addition to being aired on CBC Newsworld. Newsworld is, and always has been, commercially supported, and I would hazard a guess that The Hour is one of its top revenue draws. What does this mean, in light of the new senate report? Will the addition of The Hour to the main network help increase revenue for the financially-strapped CBC? What will it mean for programs like The Hour, if the senate recommendations are adopted (which they almost certainly will not be, but just for the sake of argument)? How do you feel about the call to drop financially successful sports programs like Hockey Night in Canada and the Olympics? Where is the CBC going to go from here?

Barbara B.

Wonder what Wikipedia has to say...

Well you can visit The Hour to see what George says about Wikipedia.
Here is what Wikipedia says about George and CBC Newsworld The Hour .

What Do You Think?

We want to know what all of you Strombo Show fans think!!

With Bob being away, George has been hosting the radio show with his buddy Alex, and there's some mixed opinions between us Stroumboulopouli. After debating between each other during the show last night, we decided that a poll would be the best way to see what you all think...

Do you think Alex should continue co-hosting on The Strombo Show? Yes, it should be George, Bob and Alex all the time Yes, Alex should replace Bob Yes, but only when Bob is away Maybe, but only on special occasions No, never. Bob is way better than Alex No, never. Too much whining. ....who's Alex?? Free polls from Pollhost.com

Mon. June 19th, Jian will be back on CBC Radio One

We are excited to announce that H' our buddy Jian will be hosting Sounds Like Canada every week day from 10am to noon.

On Monday's show:
Several years ago, Matt Dusk was declared a rising star. Since beating out 654 other singers, the Toronto-based crooner has studied music at York University with teachers like Oscar Peterson, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, and played himself on a reality tv show about a casino. Jian Ghomeshi speaks to Matt Dusk about life before he was signed, and his new CD, 'Back in Town'.

Looking forward to listening to Jian on Radio One again. Who says it's The End of radio?

Barbara W.

The Panel Weighs In

CBC Reveals Fall Lineup
Where were you when you heard? Relaxing from the comfort of your living room sofa, or did a friend pass along the info over dinner? Or were you like me, scrolling the interweb on your lunch break, and as the phrase 'late night talk show' flashes before your eyes, you spill your drink down the front of your shirt. I hope you weren't the latter. However you found out, I'm curious to find out your thoughts on The Hour going live, and making the shift to a "more late night talk show," more details in the article above, and on The Hour's main page.
This news shouldn't be shocking. The Hour's live shows this season have been met with great success, so it should seem like a natural progression making the move to a live studio audience, right? Then why do I feel like I've been cheated somehow? Maybe it's because so few shows on TV these days don't have a audience, which gives The Hour (in my opinion) another edge, its own edge, if you will. So there's a part of me fears it will become watered-down, not soft and mushy, but rubber-like, in an effort to reach everyone. Yet, at the same time I know that it won't. I've trusted George and Co. this long, I know that they won't do something that leads them completely blind down the rabbit hole. Either way you look at it, it's amazing that a program can elicit such debate. The Hour may be moving 'houses' but I have a feeling the contents will remain intact.
~allison
----
When I read the Fall announcement I was scared, mostly the part about The Hour. It's going to be a talk show? No, no, no! Like which one? Letterman? Stewart? Colbert? Tout le monde en parle (on Radio-Canada, by the way this one is a really good one, I don't like the host but it's really good)? Kimmel? Leno? None of those?
But hold on, since day one, The Hour has been brilliant so, we have to give them a chance. We don't know, it could be the coolest thing you ever saw, or it could be the worst thing that could have happen to The Hour. But I think that the show will be great, George is a good host, yes, but he's even better when he's doing interviews so what are we going to lose? If the producers are able to keep the informative touch (i.e. Set Up, Bio and others things like that) as well as showing both sides of a story it could be good, and please keep the edgy attitude.
But (sorry, I'm trying to make up my mind, I'm saying to myself that it's going to be good, but it gives me a hard time) what about mile-a-minute, Canada, the news and the closer, is it going to stay? If they can keep those segments and have awesome interviews with good guests (I don't want to see stupid people and I don't think that's going to happen), I think it could be good and I hope it will.
Now, about the studio audience, I think it can be good too, but I'm not so sure about this point. It's obvious that George loves when he has a studio audience and the show is different. And going to a live taping is so much fun, that I can't blame them for this one.
If they can keep the "The Hour style", I think that it could be great.
We'll see in Fall!
Evelyne
----
The Hour, hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos, has been added to the main network at 11 p.m. and will be developed into more of a late-night talk show with a studio audience. It remains on Newsworld at 8 p.m.

Late night talk show?? Your scaring me here. The Hour to us is like a personal friend. When our friend tells us they are planning renovation on their place, we want to know more about their plans. Will we still feel as welcome in the new place. I will try to be trusting of the creative team that produces The Hour. My fear is that the 'talk show' part might take away from what makes The Hour a very smart informative news show. Please see our latest post by hilary and the comments that follow. The audience for The Hour does not require entertainment by celebrities. (Well good music and musicians sure...) But we value most and expect to be engaged on the issues and the news and the culture of Canada and the world as it affects us.My fear is, as a talk show, that it would get intellectually watered down. Tell me that won't happen. I shall just have trust in the producers of The Hour. They have done brilliant things with The Hour so far. The CBC main channel exposure will allow them to do more. Just don't call it a talk show...

Barbara W.
----
I have to confess to being highly ignorant of most tv talk shows. I've seen The Daily Show a few times and that's about it, so I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the announcement that The Hour would develop into a late night talk show format with a studio audience this fall. I really have no basis for comparison.
I know that some of the others in this group have expressed concerns about the use of the term "late-night talk show" and what that would imply in terms of the news content of the show. I have to chose to trust that the folks at The Hour realise that their treatment of the news is a major strength of the show and that it will not be watered down. In fact, there could be potential for emphasis on even more indepth analysis of stories.
You must admit that, as interesting as Mile a Minute and the other brief news clips on the Hour are, they are generally all news that we have read in the paper or seen on the internet. And they are brief. The new format could allow for George and his league to really get their teeth into a story and make it their own.
I think I'm pumped!
Barbara B.
----
Well, a talk show....that would be an interesting twist. In my opinion, if it is not transformed into something like Oprah or Jay Leno-Jon Stewart kind, it would be okay. I trust George to orchestrate the new "talk show" facet into something similar to what he has succeeded in doing to the news/current events show in the present manifestation of "The Hour".

My main source of news and current events IS "The Hour", so if the global issues/events/news/discussions/varied perspectives part is not neglected or totally omitted, it would work for me .

I really like their decision to broadcast it on the regular CBC channel, as it would give access to a wider audience (I was deprived for a long time before I got cable television subscription).

All in all, I think I am excited about this, tad wary, but excited. And I agree with Barb B., maybe "talk show" would not be a great term to describe the changes to this show.

Jas B
---

Upon everyone's reaction to the shift in the way The Hour will be aired come fall, I've really got to say... have some faith!

I know the whole idea of change can be rather daunting, and we're all accustomed to the way the show ran, but sometimes change is for the better, and I think, being the dedicated fans that we are, we need to give the people behind the scenes some credit.

I'm always the first in line to be pessimistic and critical, I'm always there to raise my hand and say "wait a minute, this doesn't make any sense!", but this time around, I'm not so willing to jump on the This Sucks Bandwagon. I'm actually looking forward to the new changes being made to the show. As we've witnessed before when the show was taped live on the road, George does a fantastic job of incorporating the audience into the show without being too "Leno" about it, and he really does feed off of everyone's emotions and reactions, as we've all seen during his interviews. His attentiveness and focus on the people around him may very well turn the "talk show" idea into something we'll all be very into. The keyword here is faith, folks. Have some faith in George and everyone at The Hour, they would never steer us wrong.

Alana
---

When I heard the news (or actually, read it on CBC.ca), I wasn't too worried. Like many before in this post have said, I have faith in 'The Hour'.

But at the same time, I was concerned at the fact that they used the words "late night talk show", because when I hear those words, I think 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' or 'David Letterman'. I don't think of an awesome news show, and I definitely don't think of George Stroumboulopoulos.
But I guess that is part of George's charm... he could basically pull off anything, because the man's got major talent.
So I guess it's the wording that scares me with that.

I was kind of disappointed at the fact that they'll have a studio audience... I think it's three things:
1) First the selfish one. I think that I think it will make my experience of going to a taping a little less meaningful,
2) Like Barbara B said, it will make the show less intellectual, and
3) It will make the show less personal. It's like watching M*A*S*H with and without a laugh track. I'm afraid a studio audience will turn into The Hour's version of a laugh track. I think that'd be awkward.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the announcement... I guess they're all negative... but, then again, I'm the kind of person who dislikes change. I guess I'll have to listen to that CBC commercial (the one that I always talk along with) that says "nothing stays the same".
I'm sure it will be fine (that's what I keep telling myself)!

-Becky

Do Stats. show what the viewers are watching or are they for the birds?

As you may know I am a big fan of CBC Newsworld. I have digital cable and other than CBC newsworld, I have selected many stations of interest to me. I assume somewhere there is a computer keeping track of what stations I am watching. This is where statistics can misrepresent what we are actually watching.
I have a pair of budgies, Gordon and Georgie. Georgie was not named after George, 'cause I know you are thinking that she was. Gordon was named Gordon long before that eagle was. Gordon was actually named after the Barenaked Ladies Album. My two birds like to be entertained while I am out. I leave the TV on all day for them. Most days I leave it on the Animal Planet channel. Some days I leave it on the CTV travel channel. Both stations have lots of bird noises. That's what my birds like.
On days I leave it on Newsworld my birds tell me off. Not enough bird noises on the news.
They do like to watch The Hour with me. They loved the eagle segments!! Gordon got all fluffed up when he thought George was naming an eagle after him. He also thinks George was named after his buddy Georgie. That's how birds think.
The birds would watch Newsworld more often if more birds were featured.
When I am home with the birds I get the choices.
I am happy with what Newsworld does feature. Other than The Hour I like, Au Courrant, The Sunday report, CBC News Morning, and the many Docs and series like The End.
How can the statistics reflect what the birds are watching or what I am watching or is it all the same to The Networks?

Barbara W.
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While Barbara W keeps her tv on to entertain her birds, I, on the other hand, very rarely turn the tv on before 9:00pm. Because that's when I watch The Hour.

My husband will turn on the tv for background noise, but I am more likely to turn to CBC radio for that, or a cd. He will generally park himself in front of the tv in the evening and I'll sometimes join him while I read the papers, but when he's not home, that baby stays blank until the magic hour.

So if statistics were being gathered for individual viewing habits, mine would be pretty consistent - The Hour, followed by something like the Simpsons or Futurama or Family Guy or the National, and then South Park. Throw in Rick Mercer's Monday Report on Tuesday, and Going Coastal on Sunday, and mini-series like the Tournament, and you've pretty much got the whole picture on me.

But then I am not the main tv viewer in the family.
Barbara B.
**************************************************************************

Like Barb B., I myself am not much of a TV viewer. My idiotbox felt neglected before I subscribed to cable (I got it mostly for watching “The Hour” on CBC Newsworld, and the soccer games on TSN and Sportsnet). The background noise for me is music as well. My personal mantra is, “I’d rather listen to music than watch TV” (of course it is a different story when it comes to hockey and soccer games!) Television viewing, for me, is restricted to few shows that I am addicted to, although the regular and daily favorite is “The Hour”. If I get home early, I watch the show at 18:00 MST, otherwise I watch it at 21:00, and at times, I watch all the runs! I have a pretty fixed schedule, just like Barb B, I watch hour at 18:00, go to the gym after, and then watch any other show that I think is worth watching. Statistics on my viewing would be pretty consistent on watching George’s hour, and the rest would be pretty much inconsistent, and haphazard!

Jas B

Anyone else feeling the absence of The Hour?

Now after the Hour has ended it seems that I have lost my ability to yell out in Science class "YEAH I HEARD ABOUT THAT ON THE HOUR". Although my ability to have information on current events is not the only thing I've missed. The Hour isn't just about current events. I'm really missing the interviews, and the timeless pieces. Today I listened to the radio for 2 hours to find something interesting, no luck.

I suppose you could always find some interesting clips or information on the Internet, but it doesn't seem the same. I think it's the way The Hour is presented that makes it so interesting and successful. A big reason why I miss The Hour, is because there is nothing else like it. There are plenty of news shows, but none seem to me as eclectic and engaging. Of course they have interviews, but I don't find a lot of variety in them. The Hour covers a range of topics, that may not be on the headlines but they are still important. This range of topics is important because they give us a little bit of what is going on the world, besides what we see on every other new show. The interviews give us an honest perspective through the stories of different individuals. Some may think that the High Priest of the Church of Satan is not worth watching, because it's irrelevant to them. But the fact that we are hearing a perspective that we might never have heard before is very important. Because we get these perspectives, from different people, whether we like the people or not makes the Hour unique.

So how is everyone dealing with their Hour withdrawal? How are you getting your news?
And does anyone else miss George’s smiling face?


{Our guest contributor}
hilary m.

After The Hour party Pictures

Here is where the party was. This is the Cadillac Lounge.
We arrived at the after The Hour party and were directed to the back room. The room was open to the night sky and most of the CBC crew and friends were there already. Your buddy George was a most gracious and generous host. We, my sisters, myself, Jeremy and his friends settled at a table and got to talking, eating, drinking (mine was gingerale I wanted to remember this) and having a great time. George came over to chat on a few occasions in the night. At one point he emailed Ben Mulroney on his blackberry on behalf of my sister Carolyn who likes Ben.
That still cracks me up.

The Iranian/Canadian Stallion Jian Ghomeshi was at a table full of women. I take it your not suprised. He is as nice in person as you hear/see on the radio or TV. I have to thank him again for the hug and the Pictures.

We left the party round Midnight. We had a fantastic time and can't thank them enough!

You should have heard 'The Sister Show' in the back seat of the taxi that night.

If the taxi driver is a blogger he has a funny story to post...

That's all for now

Barbara W.

What is the best-before date on news?

At what point does it cease to be news and morph into something else, like recent history? I ask this because I have a couple of episodes of The Hour on tape which I haven't had a chance to watch.
I was going to watch them this week, in order to ease gently in the absence of The Hour, but then Alana suggested I save those episodes for sometime in August when The Hour withdrawal really starts to kick in.

But I'm not certain that's the best approach. Firstly, although the show is so much more than just a recital of the day's news, there is still the question of pertinence to what is currently happening in the world. Some segments I know will be timeless, but others, well, they will indeed be old news by then. And we all know how pop culture disdains anything old. The nostalgia cycle seems to be shortening with each decade, so that something that was fashionable 5 years ago is already a candidate for an old-school label and ripe for recycling. I think it is tied in with our collectively shortened attention span.
So how will June's events translate to being viewed in August? Who knows? I would suspect that The Hour will fare better than a lot of other offerings though.
But by August, I will hopefully have been sufficiently weaned from my addiction to The Hour so that I no longer have cold sweats. I'll be onto something else - cycling or gardening or having a glass of wine with the neighbours. I'll be outside enjoying the summer. Watching those two episodes won't have quite the same impact at that time. But believe me, come September, I am going to be glancing longingly at the tv again, waiting for the launch of season three.
And then I'll be coming back inside the house and claiming my spot on the couch.

- Barbara B.

The Hour Season Finale.

The Sisters meet The Hour. (updated)

All the Stroumboulopouli girls were invited to the season finale taping of The Hour by Jeremy, the original web producer of The Hour. I had once told Jeremy, I go to Toronto to play. Well, to me it sounded like a great invitation to play. The other Stroumbi (short version of Stroumboulopouli) bloggers had to decline this time but, we hope to all go together in the fall (season three). The Hour plans for live studio audiences for each show next season.

Since I was going alone to Toronto, I invited my sisters, Judie and Carolyn, who live in the area, to come to a taping of The Hour. I had no idea how this was going to turn out... They thought I was way too into all this blogging, let alone all this talk of The Hour and George, and they were ready to give me an intervention. They thought we were just going to sit in the audience and watch a show... I knew that it was going to be so much more.

We arrive at the CBC building with time to spare. They tried to keep me distracted by playing around with Glenn Gould on the bench in front of the building. I am thinkin' how am I related to these two?


I ask them what they are going to say to George when they meet him. They tell me a few things to make me laugh and cringe in fear at the same time. They had no idea what they are in for.

We are greeted by Jeremy and friends in the lobby of the building. It was a real pleasure to hug the guy that started linking us bloggers together via the blogtracker! After a proper greeting and introductions, he then gives us the tour of the studio. The Hour studio is a bit bigger than it looks on TV. There is the half you don't see, the one they pack and unpack for CBC Sunday. Then the half you do see, with all the very cool background of the streets. We were taking a better look at the street scene when our buddy George himself shows up. More introductions are given. When it come to my turn and I introduce myself he smiles and grabs my arm. He knows me. He thanks me for all the kind words. He is so sweet and obliging in telling us all the personal details that went into that photograph. If you have seen, or are going to see, The Hour on the road he will tell you all about it then. He poses for pictures and thanks me again.

He leads us on a tour of the control room and introduces us to the hard working crew. They are getting ready for taping but take the time to talk to us as they prep. Time runs short, and we all go back downstairs and take our seats.

George does a practice run and a taping of the shows opener. In between takes he comes over to talk to us. I tell him at one point that my sisters are here for my intervention, but they are the ones being won over. He signs autographs and poses for pics and answers question after question. All of this in between segments. The show is more tape than live on this day.

Jian Ghomeshi arrives in studio and George introduces us to him. I ask him for a hug straight off. Pic too of course. Jeremy tells me that Jian has a website. www.jian.ca It's now a favorite link on this blog.
Jian also tells me the The National Playlist may come back in September... I hope it does!

It was a big surprise to see Peter Mansbridge on the show. George was as surprised as anyone. That was fun to watch. No I did not get to chat with Mansbridge.

If you saw the season finale of The Hour you would not have seen our little 6 seat studio audience. But we were there in the dark enjoying every moment of it. After the show we were invited to the after party. I am so glad I brought my sisters along on this adventure. They were nothing but fun.

We also had a tour of the the offices of The Hour just after the show ended. You have seen the area a few times on the show I am sure. I took pics of Georges office without stepping in.


More about the after party on another post.

Come to think about it, this might take a few posts.


Guess who went to bed late and woke up way to early 'cause she had to blog!
still smiling
Barbara

Just another quick note...

There's good news, and there's bad news.
The good news is that Barbara is seeing The Hour being taped tonight!!! Good luck Barbara, we're all SO excited for you! Say hi to George for us!
The bad news, which I'm sure you all know, is that tonight is the final episode of The Hour (insert tear here). C'est Dommage.
But still, I've got the Stroumboulopouli Sisters (as Barbara named us) to make me feel better! And we're all looking forward to Barbara W.'s post about her experience at The Hour!
Just wanted to let you know Barbara!
See ya!

The Spoofs

I was actually sad that it took The Hour until June to talk about The Lonely Island's SNL digital short "Lazy Sunday," but when George mentioned it tonight, I was cheering from the sofa. However, although he showed a spoof, from two soldiers, I would now like to direct you to the BEST reaction to "Lazy Sunday." For those of you have already seen this from my own blog, I apologize. Here are illimms productions and the digital short "We Drink Tea" (aka the UK Lazy Sunday), endorsed by the dudes who wrote the SNL skit. Watch the video here. I realize this isn't directly news related, but I had to give a 'shout out' if you will, to these guys. I promise it will make you laugh. Outloud even. Plus, make you feel better that your not getting to see Radiohead live.
*Edit: clips do contain swearing.

The Show of the Beast

Warning: Severe Rambling Ahead

After tonight's show I have to admit, I had many questions running through my head. Most revolving around the issue of choice. Tonight we heard from various sides of the spectrum, however everything remained rooted in Christianity. I guess what I found perplexing was the argument over good and evil, as someone said tonight it is our choice (our moral decision) whether we have a world of evil or goodness. Then the age old question, who decides what is evil and what is good? Well, that all depends on what you choose to believe. Its a matter of your own interpretation right? For myself, coming from a Judea-Christian upbringing, I have a built in dichotomy because of each of my parents backgrounds - at times trying to form an opinion, I found everything became a little diluted. And I think that is what I grappled with tonight. There are so many ideas/feelings coming from all different sides, each trying to come under one umbrella, each promoting a variant of choice, ultimately who's holding up the umbrella? The same person deciding between good and evil? I don't know. Tonight The Hour did what they do best, brought up the questions and left them out for us to debate and discuss. Alright, rambling complete. Happy 6 Day ya'll.
Picture link.

06 / 06 / 06 - George Celebrates Evil

Look what I did!

Tuesday, June 6th, 2006 is the official day of evil, only comes around once every thousand years, and George seems very excited about it. So to join in the celebration, I did some work on a popular George photo. I'm looking forward to Tuesday's episode of The Hour, as it's dedicated to the world of evil and has been described as "a very scary show". I'm anticipating what will come of it...any ideas? Things you hope will be discussed? Things you hope will be avoided?

The Government Says You Stink

While listening to the Stroumbo Show tonight, some of us Stroumboulopouli were having a group conversation via MSN, and while George and Bob discussed what may be an upcoming ban on the application of all perfumes and colognes in public buildings in Ontario (including Ottawa), we shared our own opinions on the topic.

Some listeners called into the Stroumbo Show and commented that the law should be inforced, because there are many people with scent allergies who suffer from breathing difficulty when around other people's perfumes and scents.

Though that is a very good point, us girls (and George) had to disagree. The majority of people don't struggle with these unfortunate allergies, and while sitting on the subway or on the downtown bus, surrounded by people who maybe haven't bathed in a day or two, would you rather be breathing in a bad perfume, or a whole lot of body odour? When you think about it, when you go to sports games or even sports bars filled with sweaty men who keep raising their arms up in the air to cheer for their favorite team, wouldn't you rather get a big whiff of Old Spice than stale, acidic armpit sweat?

I don't think you can just stop people from applying their scent of choice, and if it came down to that, as George pointed out, would you (and HOW would you) enforce everyone bathe properly everyday instead? You can't just go around teaching security personnel to sniff out the scent of lilacs or Tommy or someone's natural B.O. just so they can send everyone home.

"I'm sorry sir/ma'am, you smell fantastic/horrific, would you please go home and bathe with an unscented soap so you can then apply some unscented deodorant?"

We know what we think, now it's your turn! What do YOU think?

What do you think about the "No-Scent Ban"?? Ban all Perfume/Cologne/Scented Deodorants Screw It. Douse Yourself In Aroma! Only Put It On For Dating Purposes... Only Put On People Who Pass The "Holy Crap You Stink!" Test... Who Cares?! I Naturally Smell Like Roses! None Of The Above Free polls from Pollhost.com

A Picture is worth a thousand words

I don't have to explain who George Stroumboulopoulos is to you, do I? I am sure you yourself have tried to explain who George is, and what The Hour is, and you have encountered blank stares, or rolling eyes, or polite nods, with the explanation that they don't have time for Television. Yeah right! Then how is it, they seem to know who won the last Idol Survivor Top Ten Model Race? For most of my friends, family and co-workers a picture is worth a thousand words.

Like this one that is available on The Hour 's website

I will remain quiet while you read the picture. What does he say to you? You can leave your comments about this picture but try to keep them clean.

{This one I took, you can copy it if you like.}

Here is another picture of George that speak for himself.
There is one thing this picture tells you is that George speaks and the audience listens.

Some even look on in adoration, or is that admiration?

Well they seem to be listening in any case.

You and I can talk about him all we want and even show some pictures but it's when He does the talking that his words and the thousands of pictures (video in this case) brought to you by

The Hour gives us a fresh and fascinating take on the news and issues in Canada and around the world.

That's all I am saying.

Just a quick thought...

If The Hour is a Canadian show, then shouldn't Mile-a-Minute be Kilometre-a-minute? I realize that mile a minute is a saying, and that kilometre isn't as catchy, but shouldn't we be using the unit of measurement that so many young Canadians have grown up with?
Well, on the other hand, I guess the whole purpose of The Hour is to do things out of the norm.

Ok, I realize that that was quite ridiculous, but it was bugging me, and I wanted to get it out of my mind. That's what blogs are for anyway, right? Well, thanks for listening to yet another of my rants!

-Becky

Return of the Iranian-Canadian Stallion

Wasn't it great to see Jian Ghomeshi back on The Hour last night? It's so cute when George flirts with him.

Oh, I am not implying anything about anybody; I think that George is just one of those people who just naturally flirt with everybody, regardless of gender. And that's a very good thing. It's a great way to make people feel special and appreciated and comfortable.

Flirting is highly underrated as a social concept; it should be taught in school and it should be required protocol at all United Nations meetings. I'll bet we'd see a lot less conflicts if world leaders spent more time slapping each other's knees instead of slapping sanctions on each other's nations. There's untapped power in the man-hug.

But speaking of nations, who are you backing in the World (minus Canada) Cup? Personally, although I had previously assured Ben that I would be supporting his British team, I think I'm going to have to renege on that and resort to the call of genetics. Germany it is!

Long live the man-hug.

Barbara B.

A word about my good bud BJ

I am a M*A*S*H fan, anyone I know can second that (especially my dog, who's name happens to be Hawkeye). I was SO happy to see Mike Farrell on The Hour tonight, so ecstatic in fact, I sent the show an e-mail yesterday about how excited I was about seeing it today. Does that sentence make sense? Oh well, you're all understanding people.

Mike Farrell was, so obvious to anyone from that generation, or even to the re-run teens like me, BJ Hunnicut on M*A*S*H. I knew that Farrell had been working as an aging veterinarian on 'Providence', and that he cared for Canada's environment more than most Canadians do, appearing on commercials for the Nature Conservancy of Canada. But what I didn't know that he was also was a political activist, like George said, speaking out against capital punishment, and forget Korea, Farrell now opposes a new war, Iraq. But I guess you all knew that, since you watched The Hour (why would you be here otherwise?).

But did you know that Farrell also is an activist for legalized abortion, gay rights (specifically for teachers), and the prevention of spousal and child abuse (basically for all the stuff you never talk about in Social class)? These are the things that make Mike Farrell really awesome. Not only does he use his influence well, but he doesn't flaunt his power, something some other Hollywood stars do.

Personally, Mike Farrell goes on my list of top ten cool celebrities, along with George Clooney, Alan Alda (can you say Equal Rights Amendment?) and Paul McCartney.

Thumbs up, George, once again The Hour has made an excellent choice in who you interview. You guys never cease to amaze me.

-Becky (GOG!)