pop (all love)

2007-10-23T21:07:00.000-04:00

THE ARCHIVES
February 28 The Commons: Leader in absentia
March 1 The Commons: A purely hidden agenda
March 2 The Commons: Week in review
March 5 'Can he be forgiven?'
March 6 The best defence is a good offence
March 12 If a tree falls in the forest...
March 12 The strength to stand alone again
March 14 Chewing on his words
March 19 The Commons: Flaherty saves the world
March 20 The Commons: Complaints department
March 21 The Commons: Bullshit
March 22 The Commons: Divide and conquer
March 23 The Commons: Week in review
March 26 The Commons: Baird to the rescue
March 27 The Commons: When logic fails
March 28 The Commons: The Bill Matthews Fan Club
March 29 The Commons: Whose scandal it is, anyway?
March 30 The Commons: Week in review
April 5 Who's the fairest of them all?
April 18 The Commons: That icky feeling
April 19 The Commons: Come on give us a try
April 23 Now more Britney than Britney
April 23 The Commons: I read the news today, oh boy
April 24 The Commons: On the defensive
April 25 The Commons: Chicken v. Dog
April 26 The Commons: Everyone's losing something
April 27 The Commons: In crisis, there is Guergis
April 30 The Commons: Happy birthday, Mr. Prime Minister
May 1 The Commons: Changing the channel
May 2 The Commons: He said, she said, who said?
May 2 The Commons: Selective memory
May 3 The Commons: Let's call the whole thing off
May 7 The Commons: Happy days are here again
May 8 The Commons: Civility and other such nonsense
May 9 The Commons: Our buffoonery runneth over
May 10 The Commons: A poet who knows it
May 11 The Commons: Dropping trou
May 14 The Commons: Welcome home, Gilles
May 16 The Commons: Mr. Boring, meet Mr. Arrogant
May 17 The Commons: A drunken punch-up
May 28 The Commons: Giving peace a chance
May 30 The Commons: Where the truth lies
May 31 The Commons: A new standard
June 1 The Commons: Turn on, tune out
June 4 The Commons: Giggling towards the finish line
June 5 The Commons: Peter Van Loan Week rolls on
June 6 The Commons: No place for a gentelman
June 7 The Commons: Questioning the questioner
June 11 The Commons: He left his heart in Heiligendamm
June 12 The Commons: The fine art of public shaming
June 13 The Commons: Very small things
June 18 The Commons: 'The time is for the truth'
June 19 The Commons: Behold, the future
June 20 The Commons: And so it ends
July 2 Rock stars to the rescue
August 8 Defending Iggy
August 13 Gangsta rap out of south Ottawa
August 17 My movie date with Stephane Dion
September 28 Felix and Oscar
October 4 From a great height
October 10 A thinker and a fighter
October 11 Did I pay too much for the Radiohead album?
October 16 The Commons: A bedtime story
October 17 The Commons: Losing the room
October 18 The Commons: A Hallmark moment
October 23 The Commons: Computational politics

2007-10-12T01:15:00.000-04:00

That's nice. But is it any good?
As my editor pointed out this morning: in between whining and faux philosophizing, I didn’t actually say much about the new Radiohead record, In Rainbows. Good and valid point. [MORE]

2007-09-11T22:45:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part 16
And so it ends. Two more hours of Canadian Idol. Then Canada gets a winner. And the winner gets a fleeting glimpse of a kind of fame. For the sake of the historical record, a full accounting of the proceedings follows... [MORE]

2007-09-11T01:10:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part 15
How scared are Canadian Idol producers that Jaydee Bixby might win this competition? It is difficult to quantify this, but I would suggest a considerable amount. [MORE]

2007-09-06T16:56:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part 14
At the end of Tuesday night's show, Zack Werner said that Canadians were guaranteed to embrace Carly Rae. This just moments after Canadians had specifically chosen to not embrace Carly Rae. [MORE]

2007-08-28T17:00:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part 13
There's no reason to feel sorry for Paul Anka. He's probably richer than Nicky Hilton. He once guest starred on an episode of The Gilmore Girls. Life is probably pretty sweet for Paul Anka. But, all the same, consider how eternally screwed he is. [MORE]

2007-08-23T17:23:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part 12
Approximately five people came to Macleans.ca yesterday looking for "brian melo karma police." So here it is (at about the 6:30 mark, right after Carly Rae). [MORE]

2007-08-22T16:44:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part 11
Like any over-sensitive writer, I often find myself questioning my purpose, my utility. Most of the time I'm shaken from my malaise by a kind word, a random moment of generosity or a new issue of Stuff.

But last week, deep in just such an existential crisis, I was ready to give up hope. Thankfully, before I could decide to drop out of society to pursue life as a sherpa or a monk or an associate editor at Stuff, I turned to a last refuge, my Maclean's e-mail account.

And lo, there waiting for me was an e-mail. And not just any e-mail. But an e-mail from a reader alleging to detail the hotel porn habits of a Canadian Idol personality.

Bless you selfless reader.[MORE]

2007-08-15T17:16:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part Ten
So, where were we? Ah yes, Ben Mulroney thinks you're an idiot. [MORE]

2007-08-12T19:30:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part Nine
I didn't mean to not write about last week's Canadian Idol results show. It just took me a few days to properly come to terms with what I saw. [MORE]

2007-08-09T16:59:00.000-04:00

Press release poetry
A collection of random words and phrases taken from an e-mail I just received announcing MuchMusic's fall line-up. It's like salvia in your inbox. [MORE]

2007-08-07T12:24:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part Eight
It's Queen Week on Canadian Idol. Or at least Queen + The Guy From Bad Company Week. Either way, Brian May's here and he's wearing a silly shirt. [MORE]

2007-08-01T18:46:00.000-04:00

Searching for Be Mulroney's Soul, Part Seven
Despite my otherwise excellent cable service, I do not yet receive Tolo TV, the biggest network in Afghanistan. This did not strike me as a grave injustice until yesterday afternoon, when I read this dispatch from Kabul.

Most upsetting is the fact I've been forced to watch The Hills, while Afghanis were delighting in Because the Mother-in-Law Was Once the Daughter-in-Law. (For future reference, this hereby answers all questions as to whether progress is being made in Afghanistan. Before we invaded, there was no Because the Mother-in-Law Was Once the Daughter-in-Law. Now, every night at 8pm, Afghanis can gather together in front of the television and watch a show called Because the Mother-in-Law Was Once the Daughter-in-Law. Obviously we should invade more countries.)

Also troubling: my previous lack of exposure to Afghan Star, the local version of American Idol.[MORE]

2007-07-30T19:02:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part Six
Before we get to Canadian Idol, let's talk about Mindy McCready. I dare say we're witnessing - or, actually, ignoring - one of the top five greatest runs in the history of rock debauchery. [MORE]

2007-07-20T17:59:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part Five
Twice on Wednesday night's Canadian Idol results show, Ben Mulroney touted Rihanna as the owner of seven number one singles. Now, for the sake of reference, the Beach Boys topped the Billboard Hot 100 a grand total of four times. Indeed, according to Wikipedia's tally, seven number one singles would put Rihanna ahead of Eminem, Guns N' Roses, INXS, Bob Seger, Avril Lavigne and LL Cool J... combined. [MORE]

2007-07-18T16:09:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part Four
So, where were we? Ah yes, I was going to write about Canadian Idol on a semi-regular basis. About that... [MORE]

2007-07-05T22:45:00.000-04:00

'Art should be pure'
Ah, for the long ago days of 2004. Chantal and Avril were like sisters, staying up late at night, braiding each other's hair, writing songs. [MORE]

2007-06-26T21:51:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part Three
So the shocking news this week was that one contestant has left for personal reasons and been replaced by an equally anonymous also-ran. [MORE]

2007-06-20T13:36:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part Two
I know it's altogether boring and lame to complain about the judges on these shows, but seriously. If I wasn't concerned that he'd bring Robin Black with him and then refuse to leave at the end of the evening, I'd love to invite Zach Werner over to watch an episode of Canadian Idol with me. [MORE]

2007-06-11T21:11:00.000-04:00

Richard Schickel is smarter than you
When I wrote this, I had not yet read this. Thankfully, a colleague passed it along today. And now I feel that much smarter. Or dumber. Or something. [MORE]

2007-06-11T21:09:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul, Part One
I'll try not to waste too much time comparing Canadian Idol with American Idol, but I must say that so far I haven't found our crazy, talentless losers as endearing or entertaining as their crazy, talentless losers. [MORE]

2007-06-06T21:55:00.000-04:00

Searching for Ben Mulroney's Soul
For as long as I last, I'll be blogging the latest season of Canadian Idol. [More]

2007-05-30T00:42:00.001-04:00

Feist on Kimmel on a bus
This is a couple weeks old, but still rather cool. [MORE.]

2007-05-29T13:30:00.000-04:00

White people are funny
For the first time since I started keeping track (a couple minutes ago), there is a tie atop the standings for My Favourite Canadian Rap Video of the Moment. [MORE]

2007-05-28T13:28:00.000-04:00

National Anthem of Nowhere
From one tawdry music-related competition to another... I recently received an e-mail confirming that I again get a minor say in the Polaris Music Prize, the prestigious award that turned Final Fantasy into a household name for a couple minutes last year... [MORE]