Pride of the 'rock' wins curling gold for Canada

Day 14

Another day has dawn meaning more wall to wall coverage of this years Olympics. It`s been an Olympiad full of highs and lows for Canada. From the heartfelt story of Lascelles Brown journey to Olympic silver for Canada, to the Canadian men`s implosion in hockey, we have seen it all.

But one thing I will be happy about when it the games are all over is that I will never have to watch that damn annoying ad that depicts a grocery store shopper imploring other customers, in a cartoon-like voice, to pick up some Yoplait yogurt.

The TV ad have been running, and running, and running, during CBC's wall-to-wall Turin Olympics coverage, prompting me on several occasions to want to throw something through the television. This commercial is almost as popular as a bad rash, you take notice of it when it`s there and damn glad when it`s gone. Anyway, here is a look at what Canada accomplished today.

Brad Gushue used steady play and one spectacular end to win Canada's first-ever Olympic gold medal in men's curling. The 25-year-old skip and his St. John's-based rink of third Mark Nichols, second Russ Howard and lead Jamie Korab scored six in the sixth end to propel themselves to a 10-4 win over Finland in the gold medal game on Friday in Pinerolo, Italy.

Immediately after the win, Gushue was on the phone with his mother, Maureen, who underwent chemotherapy a few weeks ago and was unable to travel to Italy. Gushue fought off tears when asked what she had said.

"She's proud and I'm proud of the guys," he told CBC Sports.

The win gave Canada its second-ever Olympic curling gold medal. The women's team led by the late Sandra Schmirler finished first at the 1998 Nagano Games. It was also the second medal for Canadian curlers at the Torino Games. On Thursday, Shannon Kleibrink's Calgary rink captured bronze in women's curling with a convincing 11-5 victory over Norway's Dordi Nordby, also in eight ends.

Gushue, Nichols and Korab became the first Newfoundlanders to win a medal at the Winter Olympics since Dwayne Norris of St. John's won silver with Canada's men's hockey team at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. Howard was born in Midland, Ont., and now resides in Moncton, N.B.

Clinging to a 4-3 going into the sixth, Gushue counted six after Finish skip Markku Uusipaavalniemi's final shot of the end rubbed a guard, leaving Gushue a free draw for seven. Gushue sailed his stone through the house and had to settle for six, but the game was essentially over at that point.

Nichols, who curled a brilliant 97% in the game, set up the big score with a dazzling run-back takeout with his first stone of the end. Canada and Finland traded two-point ends to open the game. Uusipaavalniemi, who had last-rock advantage in the first, made a take-out to score two, though he was trying for three. Gushue evened the game in the second by drawing to the four-foot for two. Gushue went up 4-2 with steals in the next two ends.

With Canada lying four in the third, Uusipaavalniemi attempted a delicate angled tap-back put couldn't bump his stone close enough to the button, giving Gushue a steal of one. Uusipaavalniemi then missed on a draw attempt to close the fourth, handing another point to Gushue.

Uusipaavalniemi got one back in the fifth. He converted a tricky takeout with his first stone of the end, scraping by a Canadian guard to knock out Canada's shot stone on the eight-foot. Uusipaavalniemi then had a chance to count two but came up short on a draw, leaving Gushue with a 4-3 lead.

Canada all but wrapped up the game with its six-point sixth end. Finland blanked the next end, then scored one in the eight to make the score 10-4 before conceding the game. Olympic rules stipulate that a game can not be called until after the eighth end.

Gushue and his rink had plenty of supporters behind them, including thousands of school kids who were given the afternoon off by Newfoundland and Labrador Education Minister Joan Burke. She called Friday's match a historic moment for Newfoundland and Labrador. In St. John's, a crowd of about 6,000 was expected to gather at Mile One Stadium to watch the final.

Gushue, favoured to win gold when he arrived at these Olympics, fashioned a 6-3 record in the round robin that included an 8-7 loss to Finland on Feb. 17.

Later,
Kenaz

Local film shoots produced about $15 million in revenue for Hamilton in 2005

Courtesy Doug Foley, The Hamilton Spectator
(Jan 21, 2006)

Hamilton was home to 91 productions in 2005 ranging from big-budget Hollywood films to TV commercials involving cows at Main and James streets. Film liaison officer Jacqueline McNeilly estimated the productions spent as much as $15.6 million in the city for expenses ranging from food to car rentals to local salaries to hotel accommodations to set decorations.

McNeilly said film work in 2004 involved only 48 productions in comparison.

She cited the Hollywood films Silent Hill and Four Brothers as the biggest productions to shoot in Hamilton last year.

Silent Hill, based on a video game and starring Sean Bean and Radha Mitchell, is scheduled for release in April.

Four Brothers with Mark Wahlberg, which filmed for a week in the Wentworth Street North area last February, was a healthy box-office hit and has been released to the home video market. (note: I spent a day at this location, playing a forensics officer)

Dundas and Hamilton's north end played host to Robin Williams and Christopher Walken and their new movie, The Best Man(Man of the Year), last December and fantasy comedy The Return of Zoom, with Tim Allen and Courtney Cox, filmed in various locations in September 2005 and will be released in August.

Other productions that were in Hamilton for lengthy periods included It's a Boy Girl Thing, the first film from Elton John's production company and produced by his partner David Furnish; Caw, a made-for-pay-TV film starring Rod Taylor; an untitled TV series about events leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Above and Beyond, a TV movie about the Second World War.

Some more production's that were in Hamilton, and I had the opportunity to be part of include, Shades of Black, and Regenesis

Some of the reason's for Hamilton's success as a location had to do with the 30% provincial tax breaks on film production. Plus an extra 10% for productions working outside the Greater Toronto Area. Location managers like Hamilton because it is that it's easy to shoot here, they can get in and out quickly. Businesses are very accommodating and the scenery and locations are incredibly diverse. Toronto has torn down or renovated a lot of its old buildings, so a lot of that landscape is gone but we still have it, places like Liuna Station,The Old Mill and our many beautiful Gothic churches.

Toronto is still the hub of filmmaking in Canada, about 95 per cent of the people who work in Hamilton on film shoots are from Toronto, but a growing talent pool and a awareness will put "The Hammer" on the radar.

Later,
Kenaz

CBC puts another nail into Canadian culture's coffin

Posted Mon, 13 Feb 2006 CBC Arts

CBC Television has announced it is cancelling three prime-time dramas, Da Vinci's City Hall, The Tournament and This is Wonderland.

Despite critical acclaim for the long-running Da Vinci series and slightly kooky This is Wonderland, audiences had not responded to the programs, said Ruth-Ellen Soles, a CBC spokesperson.

"These are three programs that CBC believed in and attached significant resources to," Soles said on Monday. "Unfortunately the audiences for all three have been in steady decline and did not resonate with Canadians. These decisions are always difficult but they had to be made."

This is just another excuse from Soles, click on her link to read her reasons why the CBC doesn't participate in Canada's Amber Alert program if you need further proof of her outrages oppinions.

Wonderland, starring Cara Pifko as a young defence lawyer struggling with the confusing, often sad, side of criminal law at the Old City Hall courts in Toronto, was in its third season. Created by George F. Walker, Dani Romain and Bernard Zukerman and produced by Muse Entertainment and Indian Grove, it had been hailed for its insightful writing and for avoiding the stock law drama format. The final show is to air March 15.

Da Vinci's Inquest had been a highly rated prime-time drama for CBC, but when crusading coroner Dominic Da Vinci, played by Nicholas Campbell, won the election and moved to city hall to become mayor of Vancouver, viewers did not go with him. The Gemini-winning show, created by Chris Haddock, will have its final air date Feb. 28. It is in its eighth season.

Da Vinci had been averaging 394,000 viewers, Wonderland 376,000 and The Tournament 268,000. Da Vinci had lost about 40 per cent of its audience from its high point a few years ago.

The kicker is the fact that CBC has no plans yet to replace these shows. Hopefully CBC's newly hired executive director of programming Kirstine Layfield, isn't as incompinant has her predessor, or all the Canadian's who say "Canadian television is boring" will get their way .Our tube will be inindated with import 'clone' crap. Great another drama about talking ghosts or maybe CSI:Boise?

ACTRA, Canada's actors union, called the cancellations "a startling display of incompetence by irresponsible CBC brass" and blamed the CBC lockout last fall for causing declining ratings for all three shows.

"It was just a year ago that CBC's executive vice president Richard Stursberg proclaimed that 'only the CBC can be the cornerstone of a solution' to the crisis in Canadian drama. I'd like to know how Mr. Stursberg feels his cancellation of three acclaimed series without naming replacements is going to end the drama crisis," said Stephen Waddell, ACTRA's national executive director.

So would I love to hear Mr. Stursberg defend his myopic `vision`for the CBC.

Soles said CBC has a continuing commitment to Canadian drama and will be airing an increased number of hours of English-language drama next season. At this stage in the year, producers whose shows won't be renewed are notified, but the full schedule of programming to replace the cancelled shows won't be announced until later in the year, she said.

Soles denied the declining ratings were related to the lockout. "If you look at audience numbers, these shows had been declining before the lockout," she said.

This is complete bull doo-doo. The reasons why Canadian drama series have difficulty in getting comparable ratings to simulcast U.S. series is because they aren`t scheduled properly and they lack promotion. If you put a Canadian drama up against U.S juggernaught `Survivor` without any promotion except the occasional insert leading into a barrage of junk food ads, then of course the show doesn`t stand a chance.

Later,
Kenaz