Archive for the “television” Category

We’re in Toronto for CBC Test the Nation. Good God it is cold.

It’s “only” -6, but man it’s damn cold. It’s a different cold than Vancouver, Toronto is a dry cold, or whatever it is, it just hurts! My ears were burning, that kind of cold. Your nose hairs (yeah, i got em) get crusty, that kind of cold. You scream “Mother of God!” every 20 steps, that kind of cold.

We’re staying at the old SkyDome Hotel, now a Renaissance. I took a flight with Rebecca, Miss 604 and Kerry-Ann, Lip Gloss and Laptops.

Here are some pics from Rebecca’s post about our adventures so far.

That last picture was taken by Duane Storey at the airport. He tagged me as “Tod Maffin” on his Flickr listing, so I will represent our Mother Corp Mentor in spirit.

We met Karen Barnaby from Team Chef and the Fish House in the elevator on the way back from dinner. She doesnt think the chefs stand much of a chance, they spend too much time in the kitchen!

Tomorrow morning it’s breakfast and a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame before kicking some ass on Test the Nation. You can take some practice tests to get ready, if you want.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

Welcome to the last bit of work before the weekend, here's what's on the radio.

    - Yes, I'm doing a whirlwind to Toronto this weekend to be on CBC's Test the Nation.  It's Sunday night at 8p.  Watch and cheer on Team Blogger!

    - Cloverfield opens tonight.

    - Dine Out Vancouver night #3 tonight. Need a list of where to eat? Check this out.

    - Johnny Depp as Michael Jackson?  It's getting my interest, and it just might happen.

    - David Beckham and Snoop are going into business together.  Designing slippers.

    - Are you really really really happy it's Friday?

    - The Canucks celebrate their 200th straight sellout this weekend, and they're running a little contest.

    - The stars are out in Surrey this weekend. Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates, to be exact.

    - There's word (again) Paula Abdul could be getting fired from Idol.  So she's trying a music comeback.

    - Nat and Drew had Andrew Morton on discussing his Tom Cruise book this morning. Brilliant. If you missed it, check it out below:

I’m off to Toronto tomorrow for the taping of Test the Nation on the CBC (Sunday 8p-10p) and I’ve figured out what I’m NOT wearing. This cool tshirt I got from my brother for Christmas.

It’s a shirt that features an equalizer that lights up and bounces based on sound around you. You have wires going from the front of the shirt to a battery pack and microphone in your pocket. It’s the PERFECT shirt to wear to represent the Blog Nation on Test the Nation, BUT…

Can you imagine the look on the faces of security at the airport as I stroll up to the scanner with a battery powered shirt complete with wires? Yeah, that would go over well. So the cool T-Qualizer T-Shirt will stay at home.

Instead I think it’s all about the boy. The Zizou shirt will be worn. With pyjamas. (they asked us to wear what we normally wear blogging)

The best part about being on Team Blogger is that we’re not really stars, but stars will be there. Andree Lau is excited to meet Surreal Gourmet, Bob Blumer, to chat him up about his Medoc Marathon where he ran 42 kilometres across vineyards and sampled wine along the way. I hadn’t thought about it, but I’m excited to meet him too.

For his show Glutton For Punishment he assaulted a stage of the Le Tour de France that included L’Alpe D’Huez! That’s a dream of mine, I can’t wait to hear about it.

Other celebs on hand will be Debbie Travis, Farley Flex (Canadian Idol), Carlo Rota (24, Little Mosque on the Prairie), Samantha Bee (The Daily Show), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica, Top Model) and many more chefs that you’d recognize from Food Network Canada.

CBC’s Test the Nation goes Sunday at 8. It will be taped in Toronto. Where they have winter. -9? Ick.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?.

Bloggy bloggy blog blog blog:

    - 250 of Canada's best figure skaters are in town for the BMO Canadian Figure Skating Championships which start tonight at the Coliseum.

    - Dine Out Vancouver also starts tonight.  For almost 3 weeks you can get cheap eats, sort of.

    - Have you seen the video of the guy trying to jump off the Empire State Building?

    - How do you get back at email scammers? Make them hand transcribe Harry Potter books.

    - Buying a condo? CBC: Marketplace breaks down everything you need to know about the contract.

    - Excited to see Cloverfield this weekend? Here are some tips from someone who's seen it.

    - George Michael is going to spill the dirt in a tell all book. Oh, Kevin Federline is planning one too.

    - Nicole Richie really really wanted to be on the cover of People this week. Christina Aguilera was offered $1M by OK! Magazine for her son's pics… and said "No!"?

    - Idol ratings down big last night, we all miss William Hung.

    - When you're in line tomorrow at Starbucks dont be surprised to hear the word "skinny" a lot.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

Email. Twitter. Facebook. Blog.

I’ve got more than a few websites on these here internets. For 12 years I’ve been writing about technology and hosting a radio feature called cyberbuzz. Currently it airs across Canada, but has also aired in Africa, Australia and Europe.

I put most of my tech pieces over there, including archives of my radio features, columns for 24hrs and magazines.

Today I’ll double post one here for you.

CBC’s Test the Nation is back on Sunday night at 8. It’s a national pop quiz on current events to test your mettle against those from other lines of work.

This weekend its flight crews vs bloggers vs backpackers vs celebrity lookalikes vs chefs vs cab drivers.
Read the rest of this entry »

Here's what's on the menu today:

    - CraveFX is hot, right out of the box! Already Shannon won $2500 with Nat and Drew this morning, and we're already up to $1500 for the next play at 5:15 this afternoon.  Ever wonder what it's like to win big bucks on the radio? Check out this video.

    - If you like it when your boys talk nerdy, check out the announcements made by Steve Jobs today at MacWorld.

    - American Idol is back tonight.  Christian Louboutin will be on Oprah on Friday.

    - They've cancelled The World Series and Stanley Cup Playoffs, and unions can cancel Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives too.

    - The Britney stuff gets crazier, crazier and crazier.  I want to just leave it, but I can't - sorry.

    - Tom Cruise is gone Katie, gone.  For that matter, Katie Holmes is gone too.

    - Madonna wants to do the SuperBowl.

    - Do you play a lot of Scrabulous on Facebook?  It might be coming to an end.

    - The Golden Globes were axed because of the Writers' Strike.  However, the AVN Awards went out because pr0n has no writers!  Lol.  With no red carpet to critique, the bloggers took to critiquing the .. um .. "hardwood" of the AVN show.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

CBC’s Test the Nation goes next Sunday night, January 20 @ 8p.

We received some final instructions today, notably flight times, hotel stuff and the question each one of the 36 members of Team Blogger wanted to know. Can we live blog?

No.

I guess 36 geeks hammering away at a keyboard and taking self portraits with Wendy Mesley would be distracting to the whole show. Actually, they have a legit excuse - Wifi sucks in the studio and Blackberries interfere with the remote devices we’ll be using to answer the questions.

We did get some good news out of the email, though. Each team will have a celebrity cheerleader joining them, we’re getting Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee! (guess she’s got some free time with the WGA strike and all) Samantha is a good old fashioned maple syrup swigging Canuck and will be a welcomed addition to our squad.

We tape the show at 7p-9p EST, and it will air at 8p-10p in most time zones. This should make for a fun Sunday night. I finish the show at 9 and have to be on a flight home at 10:40.

It’s gonna be tight, but I have to be back home to take Le Grand Zizou to Aquaman class (swimming lessons) on Mondays. Can’t disappoint the kid!

I hope you’ll watch and cheer on Team Blogger. Whoever scores the highest from all the teams scores a $5000 voucher for a vacation. w00t!

We’re encouraged to have our wardrobe on the show match what we wear when we blog at home. I’m usually in pj’s and a tshirt. Can I really wear that on national tv? Hmmm .. might have to do it.

I will need a slogan for a new tshirt, gotta do it up nerd style. Choices so far are:

• I’m Blogging This
• Team Blog
• I’m A Blogebrity
• Bloggable a la Miss 604
• a plain old plug with CYBERBUZZ.COM

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

I like reality tv, I do, but I think the label is spread a little too wide. Stuff like Survivor, Amazing Race, American Idol etc are more Game Show than reality tv.

To me, reality tv is more of a life docudrama. John and Kate Plus Eight, Rich Bride, Poor Bride, Flip That House etc are Reality TV. It’s fun to see how crazy other people can get. It makes me feel better about myself. Lol.

With the writers’ walkout down south, more “reality” tv is being served. Up next on NBC’s schedule is a show that’s quite a propos. The Baby Borrowers.

Yes, hot on the heels of Jamie Lynn Spears getting sperminated at 16, and her sister committing parenting crimes daily, comes a show featuring all those freaky teens you see on Maury. You know the ones who are 14, 15, 17, thinking that being a parent is fun, and babies are cute, and they can’t wait to have them.

It wasnt supposed to debut until the fall, but with the strike it’s been fast tracked to February 18.

This show takes that high school family planning class where you look after a doll or egg for a week and kicks it up a notch. For 3 days they look after infants, then toddlers, then preteens, then teenagers, then … senior citizens. Bam!

Check out the preview here.

It looks like a fresh, brilliant, original and topical show. But just like many other great new shows, it’s a British knock-off.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?.

I am soooo excited to have found a live stream of Good Day LA. It’s my kind of morning news show on tv. Loose, informative, silly, editorial - it’s good time. And I can watch it in a tiny window on my computer while I work - love the internets.

How are you doing on your New Year’s Resolutions? cyberbuzz has a list of sites and apps you can use to help you stay in the groove.

I also have a post about online speed-dating. Meg won’t try it, maybe you will?

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?.

I am very excited to be off to the CBC in Toronto in a couple weeks for the next round of Test the Nation.

I’ll be representing the Blogosphere along with other notable locals like Tod Maffin (above) and Miss604 (took the pic).

The teams have been set for this round of Bloggers v Lookalikes v Backpackers v Cab Drivers v Flight Crews v Chefs.

However, there is another round of Test The Nation coming up, and you just might qualify. They’re looking for new Canadians, Olympic medallists, firefighters and more. So drop them a line and get on the next round.

In the meantime, set your PVR for January 20 at 8p and get ready to read a lot about the show.

Give a blogger a bit of love and they’ll write about it for a month.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?