The Ugly Canada Thread

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

That's rough, Acajack.

*****

A cultural one. Our most popular magazine at the grocery this morning:



It serves the lowest common denominator in our society - basically our version of Fox News: obsessed with the Royal Family, religion, local beauty queens, AMERICAN SOAP OPERAS, Coronation Street, family values, and anyone anywhere who has ever visited here or said something nice about us.

The frequency of Royal Family profiles is... insane. Diana has probably been on the cover 20 times since I moved home in 2012.

Some of the most recent past issues as reference:

I'm actually semi-impressed that you have these! You really are a nation!

We have a gazillion of them of course, but this doesn't surprise anyone I suppose.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I'm actually semi-impressed that you have these! You really are a nation!

We have a gazillion of them of course, but this doesn't surprise anyone I suppose.

That's exactly what came to mind when I saw them... I thought those types of regional general-interest/celeb mags were limited to Quebec.

It's kind of interesting, virtually every big American metro has at least one or two local paid-circulation magazines but that sort of thing isn't as common here. Toronto Life is the obvious major example, but beyond that it's not quite as common.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I wonder if that pink brick has any relation to anything traditional, or whether it was just a design invention of recent decades? I can't imagine why anyone would choose that colour (if they had any choice) over more traditional shades of brown, yellow or red.

Well, I live in Gatineau. So I can imagine some people choosing that colour (at least in the 80s and 90s I could).

Most have been redecorated by now but back in the day the inside was usually filled with stuff like this:

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is nothing like pink brick on semi-detached houses to liven things up! (There are actually quite a few of these in Gatineau. Seems like it was a fad in the late 80s and early 90s.)

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.4970822,-...Eyr9gITIgKluBT1RnfHcw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

You've captured the Gatineau vernacular perfectly.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Well, I live in Gatineau. So I can imagine some people choosing that colour (at least in the 80s and 90s I could).

Most have been redecorated by now but back in the day the inside was usually filled with stuff like this:

Jesus.

I think we skipped that entire phase - we remained poor and out of fashion long enough that we just graduated directly from the loud, colourful wallpapers of the 1950s-60s here directly into kind of contemporary. Although I have seen what's in that dining room as lawn furniture here. Same fabric pattern.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Well, I live in Gatineau. So I can imagine some people choosing that colour (at least in the 80s and 90s I could).

Most have been redecorated by now but back in the day the inside was usually filled with stuff like this:

My wife and I are house-hunting and you would not believe how many of those vaguely southwestern-themed pastel pink and peach coloured abominations are still out there in these parts.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

That's rough, Acajack.

*****

A cultural one. Our most popular magazine at the grocery this morning:



It serves the lowest common denominator in our society - basically our version of Fox News: obsessed with the Royal Family, religion, local beauty queens, AMERICAN SOAP OPERAS, Coronation Street, family values, and anyone anywhere who has ever visited here or said something nice about us.

The frequency of Royal Family profiles is... insane. Diana has probably been on the cover 20 times since I moved home in 2012.

Some of the most recent past issues as reference:

I see the lead singer of Great Big Shit is on multiple covers. Funny that Elvis is on one of them. Not exactly an up to date tabloid.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I ugly world news, I just saw a report about KFC in the States giving away 3,000 bottles of sunblock that smells like its extra crispy chicken. Sometimes I want to weep for humanity!

That's awesome!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

That's exactly what came to mind when I saw them... I thought those types of regional general-interest/celeb mags were limited to Quebec.

It's kind of interesting, virtually every big American metro has at least one or two local paid-circulation magazines but that sort of thing isn't as common here. Toronto Life is the obvious major example, but beyond that it's not quite as common.

Not sure if this is what you're saying, but Toronto Life isn't really a celebrity/entertainment magazine. It's more like a wannabe knock-off of The New Yorker. Ottawa has one too: http://ottawamagazine.com/

(I don't really buy them but I see them often enough: the Ottawa one is often seen lying around office tables here and there in Ottawa, whereas I sometimes peruse Toronto Life as it's frequently offered on board Air Canada Rapidair flights in the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal triangle.)

Admittedly, the Newfoundland one is a bit of a mix, given the small size of the market. It leans more heavily to celebrity stuff than the Toronto and Ottawa magazines do.

There aren't national Anglo-Canadian celebrity and entertainment magazines AFAIK. When I go to supermarkets in Ottawa they seem totally dominated by American publications. Except for Hello! Canada, which is a Canadian version of a British royal watcher/celebrity magazine. It seems to try really hard to include a few smidgens of Canadian content amid the requisite coverage of Hollywood celebrities and British royals.

I know there have been a few attempts over the years at Canadian entertainment mags, but I am not sure if any of them are still around today.

[esquire]

^ I wasn't thinking specifically of celebrity/entertainment stuff (there's plenty of that in Toronto Life although it's more middlebrow than the Quebec/NL examples above), but just regionally-focused magazines in general. Every American city/region seems to have them, while they're less common here. A matter of population, I suppose.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There aren't national Anglo-Canadian celebrity and entertainment magazines AFAIK. When I go to supermarkets in Ottawa they seem totally dominated by American publications. Except for Hello! Canada, which is a Canadian version of a British royal watcher/celebrity magazine. It seems to try really hard to include a few smidgens of Canadian content amid the requisite coverage of Hollywood celebrities and British royals.

I know there have been a few attempts over the years at Canadian entertainment mags, but I am not sure if any of them are still around today.

That fits the Herald as well - except ours is more provincial, in every sense of that word. And the Herald's focus is a little broader - I can't imagine a national Canadian magazine doing the "Christ is Risen!" cover, for example.

I never noticed these weren't common elsewhere in anglophone Canada. There's lots of those hipster weekly/monthly papers covering many of the same things, though they tend to be exclusively current and timely. The Herald is more like Nan's candy dish.

I think we can support it because people are more obsessed with local things than seems to be the case elsewhere in anglophone Canada. In Quebec, they have to, if only for linguistic reasons - but we're small enough, and just separate enough, to accomplish that in English as well. Mainstream society here really is just as familiar with Snook as with Red Green; with The Once as Justin Bieber; with Mark Critch as Jim Carey; with Ryan Snoddon as Peter Jennings; with Toni-Marie Wiseman as Barbara Walters, etc. Consumption of local cultural output is high, basically.

It just... it cracks me up. They only have covers up for the past year, so I can't get any of the really jaw-droppingly awful ones that caught my attention over the years. NTV's weatherman, Ottawa's seedy underbelly... lol

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ I wasn't thinking specifically of celebrity/entertainment stuff (there's plenty of that in Toronto Life although it's more middlebrow than the Quebec/NL examples above), but just regionally-focused magazines in general. Every American city/region seems to have them, while they're less common here. A matter of population, I suppose.

Toronto Life does have a few pages that cover the cocktail party and red carpet circuit with photos and such. Which I guess isn't surprising given the relatively dearth of true fanzines devoted to that type of stuff in Canada.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Toronto Life does have a few pages that cover the cocktail party and red carpet circuit with photos and such. Which I guess isn't surprising given the relatively dearth of true fanzines devoted to that type of stuff in Canada.

TO's really the only place they have that sort of thing in anglophone Canada, isn't it? They film in a few other places, but does anywhere else have the accompanying lifestyle aspects? I think if they tried that anywhere else they'd end up with, well, NTV's weatherman on the cover of the Herald.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

TO's really the only place they have that sort of thing in anglophone Canada, isn't it? They film in a few other places, but does anywhere else have the accompanying lifestyle aspects? I think if they tried that anywhere else they'd end up with, well, NTV's weatherman on the cover of the Herald.

You could probably pull something off like that in Vancouver too. What with all the "Hollywood North" movies and TV being made there.

But in both Vancouver and even Toronto, it often comes off as "Hollywood Celebrity X Happened to be in Toronto/Vancouver".

If you've ever watched shows like eTalk Daily or ET Canada, that's pretty much the dominant form of content.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

That fits the Herald as well - except ours is more provincial, in every sense of that word. And the Herald's focus is a little broader - I can't imagine a national Canadian magazine doing the "Christ is Risen!" cover, for example.

I never noticed these weren't common elsewhere in anglophone Canada. There's lots of those hipster weekly/monthly papers covering many of the same things, though they tend to be exclusively current and timely. The Herald is more like Nan's candy dish.

I think we can support it because people are more obsessed with local things than seems to be the case elsewhere in anglophone Canada. In Quebec, they have to, if only for linguistic reasons - but we're small enough, and just separate enough, to accomplish that in English as well. Mainstream society here really is just as familiar with Snook as with Red Green; with The Once as Justin Bieber; with Mark Critch as Jim Carey; with Ryan Snoddon as Peter Jennings; with Toni-Marie Wiseman as Barbara Walters, etc. Consumption of local cultural output is high, basically.

It just... it cracks me up. They only have covers up for the past year, so I can't get any of the really jaw-droppingly awful ones that caught my attention over the years. NTV's weatherman, Ottawa's seedy underbelly... lol

You guys don't have bona fide Johnny Carson/Jay Leno/David Letterman-style talk shows, do you? I assume you don't, because if you did I would have probably heard of them. (Although it's true I had no idea about the Herald.)

[SignalHillHiker]

Not of that sort, no. The closest we have is Out of the Fog, but that's on Rogers so presumably very, very low viewership:

• Video Link

NTV also does entertainment news shows but they're more like E! or something, not a talk show. CBC NL used to have it's own daytime interview show, On Point, with David Cochrane as host. The show has been cancelled and he's been promoted to something in Ottawa, though, so that's gone.

I think talk radio - Open Line, Back Talk, Nightline, Crosstalk, etc. - occupies the same niche in our society that talk shows do elsewhere.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Not of that sort, no. The closest we have is Out of the Fog, but that's on Rogers so presumably very, very low viewership:

• Video Link

NTV also does entertainment news shows but they're more like E! or something, not a talk show. CBC NL used to have it's own daytime interview show, On Point, with David Cochrane as host. The show has been cancelled and he's been promoted to something in Ottawa, though, so that's gone.

I think talk radio - Open Line, Back Talk, Nightline, Crosstalk, etc. - occupies the same niche in our society that talk shows do elsewhere.

But do your talk radio programs (I know they're a big deal there) have celebrity guests?

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Acajack

But do your talk radio programs (I know they're a big deal there) have celebrity guests?

Yes, pretty regularly - especially on Backtalk and Crosstalk, given their format (generally they have a guest for the first hour). Visiting celebrities often call in when they're in town as well. But the overall tone of all the shows is more politics than entertainment.

The hosts also become local celebrities in their own right - and, actually, usually are before they become host. Pete Soucy was known for being Snook, for example, and I think Paddy Daly was pretty well-known in local hockey circles before becoming host.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I wonder if that pink brick has any relation to anything traditional, or whether it was just a design invention of recent decades? I can't imagine why anyone would choose that colour (if they had any choice) over more traditional shades of brown, yellow or red. At the moment, things seem to be very much about slate grey/black brick claddings, which is not horrible but I think it could get tired pretty quickly if there is too much of it.

I ugly world news, I just saw a report about KFC in the States giving away 3,000 bottles of sunblock that smells like its extra crispy chicken. Sometimes I want to weep for humanity!

Grey/black is so done in Toronto. Still see pinkish brick with red brick trim used here. It boggles the mind. A huge variety of glazed colours were used in the 1960s. Love to see a return to that era.

[WhipperSnapper]

some ugly painted sister knockoffs