Recently, on her show, Ellen Degeneres spoke out against the seal hunt in Nunavut. The hunt has been a hot topic off and on with celebrities for years. From Pamela Anderson to Morrissey (who won't tour Canada because of it) and even Paul McCartney, the lack of understanding around the hunt has been hurtful and, in my opinion wrong. Killa Enaruk Strauss is an Inuit young woman who was disheartened by Ellen's flippant remarks against the hunt and, well, I'll let you see her perfect argument for yourself.
What do you get when you bring together two comedians, one of whom is a new mom and the other, a former childcare worker? You get Newborn Moms, a refreshing (and real) comedic take on what it means to be a new mom. Created by Nadine Djoury and Aurora Browne, the soon-to-be series is aiming to take a stab at the misery that can come along with parenting.
Next up in my series, I'm pretty excited to interview Damian Abraham, of the Polaris Prize winning Toronto punk band Fucked Up (Damian also hosts The Wedge on Much Music). If you haven't figured out by now, I'm a big fan of punk rock, and I really enjoy the band's style, sound and it's evolution.
I used to work for Canada's largest charity, The Canadian Cancer Society. The society does all sorts of great stuff for people including driving people to their appointments, offering support and information on treatment and diagnosis. It's a great charity that has helped my family in times of struggle. Having worked for the society for many years, I am always interested in how other charities work, so this story about Gaga's Born This Way charity really caught my eye.
Recently, I got a chance to meet with four parents who also happen to be musicians, and was able to chat with them about touring, parenthood and if they have any advice or lessons they could offer being a parent in a unique situation. In the first of these chats, I met with Carolyn Brooks of The Good Lovelies. Caroline writes momontheroad.ca, a blog about touring with her daughter, Annie.
This weekend was The Oscars. In the aftermath of the show, people complained about winner Lupita Nyong'o's blackness and thinness, about Kim Novak's face and about all sorts of other ridiculous, superficial things. Even I was shocked by Novak's look on Sunday night, as she seems to have been plastic surgeried to within an inch of her life.
I was just having a fascinating conversation over on Facebook with Jackie Gillard and #YMCCommunity member Christella Morris about Dallas Buyer's Club and how I really disliked it. We got to talking about a bunch of things and basically, I realized I'm sort of a misery about stuff around Oscar time every year.
Generally speaking, I don't mind the Kardashians. Sure, the show is ridiculous and "momager" Kris is creepy the way she pushes her whole family into the spotlight, but I do think that they also can get unnecessary flack just for being "do nothing" famous. That being said, they have their names all over tonnes of brands, and have now just added it to another: Kardashian Kids, exclusively at Babies R Us.
If you follow me on twitter, or we're friends IRL, you probably already know that I've now sucessfully managed to take my second love (babies) and make it into my own business. My friend and now business partner Faye and I decided that we wanted to take our expertise and knowledge of baby products and move into a retail store that carries all the stuff we love. So, we started This Little Piggy and everything (so far) has fallen into place.
So, Woody Allen's awarding of the Cecil B. DeMille Award at this year's Golden Globes got Ronan Farrow, Mia Farrow, and others very upset because of the 20 year-standing allegation that he sexually assaulted Dylan Farrow, when she was seven years old, during Mia and Woody's separation.
Yet another confession from me: I love documentaries. I always have. Reality TV's sophisticated sibling. Slice of life film. Topics that run the gamut. Netflix Canada has an amazing selection of docs, but right now, for the Winter Olympics, they are airing a number of winter-sports-themed movies that look spectacular.
I was completely floored early Sunday when reports started surfacing that actor Philip Seymour Hoffman had died of an apparent drug overdose (a hot shot — the needle was still found in his arm, so it killed him instantly). He was found Sunday morning after he'd missed going to pick up his three kids, which was unlike the doting father. He'd checked himself into rehab in May for issues with heroin, but I hadn't heard anything about him since he'd left, so I thought he'd just been laying low and taking care of himself.
Disney's Frozen was a runaway hit this winter with kids and parents alike, and Disney has done something usually only reserved for classic movies—they are re-releasing it in theatres. But they aren't just re-releasing it, they're making it a sing-along!
Last year, when Forever Yours Lingerie in Vancouver, BC decided to start using gorgeous size-14 model Elly Mayday for their campaigns, they knew they were on to something. The shop's owner made a conscious decision to use the plus-sized model because of her gorgeous curves, thick thighs and full bust and bum. What she didn't expect was that Elly would find out that she has a rare form of ovarian cancer.
It's interesting that we live in a world where photoshopping of celebrities still happens so frequently, but we don't always see how it has changed images. In the past few weeks, there has been an uproar about Lena Dunham being touched up in Vogue (although, at the end of the day, she was barely changed), and French band, Boggie, released the video for their song "Nouveau Parfum," where the lead singer is shown being photoshopped during the course of the video.
So, this past Thursday, The Academy announced this year's Oscar Nominations, and I have to say, I'm starting to feel a little underwhelmed by the choices of the Academy year after year. Don't get me wrong, I love the pomp of the ceremony: the dresses, the drama, all of it. But maybe it's my involvement in pop culture, or the fact that I'm getting older (and more disillusioned), but the awards seem like a really big MEH this year.
Ah Netflix. First, there was Lillehammer, then House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. With more and more Emmy and Globe noms every year, Netflix is really pushing original programming (not to mention saving Arrested Development, too). While they have mostly stayed within modern drama/comedy, their new show, Marco Polo is a period drama centering around, well, you guessed it, the intrepid Italian explorer.
Early last year, I was interviewed during the preliminary data gathering for a new documentary airing this Thursday, January 9, on CBC's Doczone, called The Motherload. In the doc, Director Cornelia Principe takes aim at our society and the current pressures facing working mothers. I find this topic to be endlessly fascinating, and many of the topics and points that they bring up in the movie go through my mind on a regular basis.
If you follow me over on Twitter or Instagram, you may have noticed the last few days that I've started taking photos of myself (selfies) with the hashtag #365feministselfie. And a few of you have asked what that means, so I figured I'd tell you about why I'm participating and how you can, too. But to go forward, let me go back a bit to the first time Erica and I met in person.
