Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Podunkian Brunch Sunday, August 15 2010

The Podunkian wagon is packed and ready for the annual exodus from Podunk, but before we head off for the fishing hole, a few items from our Podunkian Brunch the last for a while we we take our sabbatical.

We alas find that our favourite numbers once again failed to deliver in the weekly Lotto Max drawing, the 50 million jackpot which we surely could have found good use for has been split between lucky ticket holders in Ontario and Quebec. The weekly jackpots have been a popular topic for Canadians as they seek to find their share of the lottery dream and some of those Maximillions that have been added on.  We all go back to the starting gate for  next week, where the jackpot is 35 million. Which would make a nice start to a  well earned vacation we imagine.

Perhaps some of those fantasy winnings could be used on a trip to England for the 2012 Summer Olympics, if so, Canadians can rest assured that the British will be well schooled in their manners on how not to offend our apparently easily offended sensibilities.  The UK National Tourism  service has put together a guide for residents on what to expect and how to treat their soon to arrive visitors, from around the globe providing eleven helpful hints for how to deal with Canadians. Among some of the points they highlight are our tendency to use first names, our punctual.ways and our love of nature and shopping apparently, we also it seems have a firm belief in the nature of the first come, first served aspect of the line up and despise those who budge.  The British have also been advised that we are easily offended, quick to anger it seems when we are mistaken for Americans. The Brits may also like to like to keep in mind our vigorous defence of national pride especially when its the target of the always entertaining, if sometimes out to lunch British press, perhaps a refresher course might be in order, here's a sample of what not to say about us, should they need a relatively current and Olympic example.

On the topic of how to behave, a Calgary construction worker has learned the hard way that fooling around with safety issues at work (and posting the encounters on YouTube) are not a good mix. The unidentified worker was fired by his company after they came across a video of him throwing a wrench across the way to a co-worker, perhaps not an unusual workplace occurrence, but rather dangerous when  it takes place on the 29th floor of a construction project in a city.  The video which has since been removed from the YouTube portal, was apparently enough grounds for termination, but made for a handy teaching aid for the company's other employees, who all were given a safety seminar with the "what not to do" section featuring their one time fellow employee.

Another employee who had a bad week was the now ex-Jet Blue employee who had a wee bit of a meltdown during a recent landing in New York City. The saga of Steven Slater is becoming the thing of folk legend, that after he apparently having had just about enough of uncooperative passengers, levelled a foul mouthed tirade at the offending travellers, grabbed some beer and slid down the emergency chute abandoning his post and as it eventually turned out his job.  His path to revenge has of course been reviewed by many as what not to do in a trying situation, yet for some he's become the poster boy for frustrated employees weary of being the targets of customers and at times their own managers. For many who serve, the stylings of Basil Fawlty.



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This week also featured a few visits from the political stork. Our MP Nathan Cullen and his wife Diana welcomed two new boys into the world, with the newest members of the Cullen family now bearing the names of Jackson Donald and Elliot D'Arcy.   Over on the other side of the country, twins were the order of the day as well, as former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney adds  on to the roster for his duties as a Grandpa. His son Ben and his wife Jessica Brownstein have had twins, baby one was named Brian, baby two John, that brings the total of grandkids there to six for the Former Prime Minister an his wife Mila..

Last week we made mention that Wyclef Jean was set to launch his campaign to become President of Haiti. This week the candidate learned a valuable lesson, the path to power will be one featuring more than a few detractors, sometimes from sources you perhaps thought would be a tad more loyal.  Jean's prospective bid for power was trashed rather vociferously by Pras Michel, a one time band mate of the candidate,  stating unequivocally that "If Wyclef Jean wants to run around and act as though he is the messiah, then he's going to continue to perpetuate the destruction of Haiti". We imagine that he won't be helping out with any fund raising benefits for Jean in the near future.

The fall television season is just around the corner and just in time for the fall launch the CBC once again seems to be in a small bit of disarray.  The recent exit of high profile top executive Richard Stursberg is making for no shortage of drama in the backrooms of the public broadcaster and into the pages of the national press. The Globe and Mail has provided a few peeks into the state of affairs at the CBC, issuing a warning to sports fans that the shake up could make for interesting times for the brand of CBC Sports, while Television critic John Doyle offered up this  premonition for the taxpayer funded broadcaster.

Television is the topic of our Podcast link this week, as we send you off to TV Ate My Dinner for a look a television and entertainment issues. The updates aren't frequent, but some of the topics could raise an eyebrow or two.

And for our musical selection of the week, we make note of the passing of a co-founding member of Little Feat, Richie Hayward passed away in a Vancouver area hospital this past week. Along with Lowell George  (who passed away years ago)  and the rest of the California based band they provided the early development of what came to be known as the California sound. Among some of their devotees through the seventies and eigthies were Jackson Browne, The Eagles and Linda Ronstadt to name a few. Hayward provided the drums for the eclectic mix of music, which while artistically recognized by both the music industry and their peers, never quite had the commercial success on the scale of those that followed in their musical footsteps. Still their impact on the industry, has been recognized time and time again. Here's a sample as to why so many were fans over the years.
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1 comment:

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