Podunkian Brunch, Sunday, April 18, 2010

As we ease our way back into the blogging routine, we turn to our Podunkian Brunch feature to help get things back on track.

With a bit of time on our hands we found a few items of interest for your Sunday morning browsing adventures.

Mother Nature has chosen to once again remind us mere mortals as to the power of her desires, the Volcanic activity moving from Iceland confirmation that when Mama gets angry, we need to take heed.

The travel chaos of Europe is slowly moving away from the thoughts of inconvenience to the more worrisome concerns over long term effects over global trade and commerce as flight after flight shows up on the cancelled board. The BBC provides us with the economic and social fallout of the er, ash fallout, while Salon offers up an interesting look at what makes up a subglacial volcano and what the stages of development are.

Mother Jones gives us an interesting look at what may be the next response of Mexican officials in their ongoing battle with the drug cartels, it seems that those with illegal activity on their minds are making rather successful use of such social media outlets as Twitter and Facebook, so in the quest for safer streets and incarcerated drug dealers it appears that a ban on Facebook and Twitter may soon be on the agenda in Mexico.

Housing the homeless is on the agenda at the Tyee, which features the latest thoughts on housing from the Architecture For Humanity's housing challenge, which provides some creative ideas on addressing one of British Columbia's largest social issues.

The NHL playoffs are well under way now as sixteen of the NHL's lodge members continue on with their quest for Lord Stanley's drinking mug, it's that time of year where everyone and their dog seems to trot out some kind of hockey sweater to wear around town, Canucks, Canadiens, Bruins, or Leafs, ooops sorry Leaf fans, my mistake. At any rate, you can find someone somewhere modelling some rather colourful sportswear, though thanks to the Puck Daddy blogsite, we found that the uniquely Canadian fashion accessory can be found in some places that we suspect one wouldn't expect to find one. The Ottawa Citizen originally posted the report and with it a gallery of snapshots of the NHL brand afar, hopefully they keep the article away from Gary Bettman, lest the next NHL franchise be offered up to the Ganta Generals, a war torn city with a rather violent tendency, then again they do play games in a rather tough section of Chicago, so who knows it may all be good.

Former Premier Bill Vander Zalm continues to get under the skin of the British Columbia Liberals, as he continues on with his province wide campaign to thwart the Liberals introduction of a Harmonized Sales Tax, The Province's Michael Smyth outlines how his latest quest to force the government to outline for the public the entire list of services and goods that will be taxed, with the Liberal's apparently slow on delivery, Smyth provides his thumbnail guide of the gouging to come.

We'll confess to not following the path of American Idol over the years, whether it be the stars to be, the snarky or sweet judging panelists or the boyish hosts of the program, so we really have no idea who Brian Dunkleman was. A former host of American Idol who quit the program after year one, he apparently became an important aspect of pop culture this week past when current host of Idol, Ryan Seacrest made a rather mean spirited joke in reference to the original co-host of the program. With Mr. Dunkleman seemingly back in the public eye, he's making the best of his next fifteen minutes of fame, by flogging a rather creative attempt to gain himself a television program.  With an unexpected plug from Seacrest, all be it in a rather rude fashion, Dunkleman may yet get to join the likes of Jon and Kate and the gang from the Jersey Shore, as they compete for your viewing time on your televisions or computers.

Speaking of television, Conan O'Brien shared his good news this week that he's destined for television once again, his exile thanks to NBC (and its millions in send off dollars) to come to an end in the fall when he joins TBS in the US where the Conan O'Brien show will rise once again, the National Lampoon website makes sense of it all for us.

From the Podcast Directory this week a nudge towards the MSNBC nightly offerings of Keith Olbermann, who holds court on the cable news networks digital projections every night at 5 pm Pacific, he offers an anti dote to the right spectrum agenda of the "fair and balanced" Fox productions, though his critics suggest that he's just as vitriolic in his views from the progressives. Seemingly a sworn enemy of the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and Bill O'Reilly, Olbermann frequently kicks them in the shins with his nightly feature, the Worst Person in the World, you can stop in for a sample through iTunes store.  

And Sunday is Juno night in Canada, as Newfoundland hosts the royalty of Canadian music in the nationally televised awards show on CTV . Though Newfoundland it seems is playing havoc with the show's line up as fog settled over St. John's, leaving more than a few of Canada's stars to cool their heels across the nation as they awaited a landing time in the capital. If they do indeed arrive they may wonder if they'll ever get out, with Iceland's volcanic ash spreading across the northern hemisphere, they may have much more to worry about by departure time on Monday rolls around. If however they have to stay a little longer in the province they'll surely have an enjoyable time, the hospitality of St. John's is legendary as are the parties. To help set the mood for Newfoundland's moment in the Juno spotlight, here's a sample of one of their most prized musical exports, Great Big Sea.