Didn’t you say you were a Rush fan in the 70s in a previous thread or post? I’m sorry if I’m misremembering…
Winter’s last bit of nastiness – lake ice taking out homes.
It’s somewhat tangential to our conversation of the CBC and Canadian content, but I’ve had a good time exploring the NFB site recently. Plenty of good (and free) stuff there, from the animations we’ve seen many times before (for example, “The Cat Came Back” and “The Log Driver’s Waltz”), to thought-provoking documentaries (for example, “They Chose China,” about the American Korean War POWs who did not return to the US after hostilities ended). Best of all, nothing there returns a “This content is unavailable in your country” message.
If you haven’t had a look at this kind of Cancon, give it a try.
Where else, in cinema’s entire oeuvre, do you learn about glaciation by watching a fellow in a canoe fall a mile into an alligator pond (Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes), or the lyrical biography of that paddler (Blake), or that filmmaker’s transition of his life’s seasons in the closing sequence of one of his later films (Mason – Waterwalker).
For a canoehead, Mason and the NFB is a treasure.
You’re talking about Bill Mason, who did Paddle to the Sea? I remember seeing that film in my childhood.
Like I said, I’m having a great time with the NFB site. I just watched “The Sweater.”
Though as an ex-Torontonian, I see nothing wrong with wearing a Maple Leafs sweater. Johnny Bower, Teeder Kennedy, Bill Barilko, Darryl Sittler, George Armstrong, Bob Baun, Ron Ellis, Dave Keon–all of these, and more, have proudly worn the Blue-and-White.
Needless to say, I’m glad that the Bank of Canada is changing the five-dollar bill. Number nine of the Montreal Canadiens indeed!
One and the same.
BTW, the snow in the bush where Paddle began his journey on a melting snowbank is melting at the moment, so if anyone wants to launch their own Paddle, now’s the time.
If it were not for the Rocket and the Pocket, I never would have been born, so when I was a kid in Oakville, and when my dad and I watched the Leafs at the Gardens, I wore a Habs sweater.
Many of the scores for those films were done by Eldon Rathburn, a national treasure whose name almost no one knows about. I had the pleasure of meeting him and talking to him at his 90th birthday tribute concert, and even through my rather conservative ears enjoyed his music thoroughly!
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/emc/eldon-rathburn
Heresy!
Mind, when I first went with my Dad to the Gardens to watch the Maple Leafs in about 1965 or 1966, I had to wear a shirt and tie. That’s how gentlemen went to the hockey game in those days. Nobody wore a sweater supporting any team. Things changed as I grew older, but still: in those days, gentlemen attending a hockey game at Maple Leaf Gardens wore a shirt and tie, not team colours.
Gosh, I feel so old. 
Funny what you can find there. We had a neighbour family when I was a child; he had been a sergeant in the Canadian Army in WWII, and she had apparently been a member of the CWACs (Canadian Women’s Army Corps). He had seen action, and had the medals to prove it, but she?
Well, here she is, in this NFB recruiting film. No, she is not the lead, but she is one of the background singers. And I recall her singing in our local church choir for years.
She passed away some years ago, but I am happy to see her again in the film, full of life, and belting out the song. Way to go, Mrs. G!
I did back then. 
Lucky you. I got stuffed into Sunday best in order to go to the game (which was kind if ironic, given that the same outfit I wore to the Saturday night game was the same as I wore at church the next day.)
Oh well. Good to know that you were also at the Gardens in those days. Your choice of team is somewhat suspect, but you were there.
I wonder–how many of us CanaDopers have attended an Original Six game in Maple Leaf Gardens, or the Montreal Forum? Sounds like Muffin and I have–anybody else?
On a completely-unrelated note, I found what appears to be an excellent document explaining equalization payments in Canada.
And no, I have not seen an Original Six game in Maple Leaf Gardens. I have, however, watched the athlete who scored the last professional goal there play - Kaleb Toth, best known as a member of the Calgary Roughnecks of the NLL. 
Calgary today. We’re having a nice, sunny, mild day today.
The double-flowering plums are almost in full bloom. I love these bushes - they’re so pretty!
BC elections tomorrow. Stand by for the potential for at least one BC Green Party member in the legislature.
I’ll go out on a limb and predict a win for Andrew Weaver in the riding of Oak Bay - Gordon Head. In driving the last week, I’ve noticed a LOT of signs on private lawns for him - and surprisingly many in the wealthier areas like Uplands and Ten Mile Point, where last election it was all Liberal.
(Note that the BC Liberals are actually right of center, and are essentially the party that the former Social Credit right leaning party took over. They currently have advisors from Harper’s group helping them with the election. The BC Conservatives are further right, and are more like the Alberta Wild Rose Party)
I think there are a few reasons for this.
- There are a lot of disaffected BC Liberal voters who cannot stomach more of the same, but cannot bring themselves to vote NDP. (my neighbor’s sentiment, who last election had a liberal sign on his lawn)
- Weaver is seen as an intellectual, not a politician
- He’s from the local community, and has done a lot of local stuff. He’s not parachuted in.
- There is a large university presence in the riding, and he’s a university prof.
- Last election, strategic voters went for NDP, to try to get rid of the sitting incumbent from the Liberals. This time, most folks are confident of an NDP overall win, so there is less danger in voting your conscience.
So… We wait for tomorrow night to see…
Yes. Detroit and Toronto, 1993 playoffs. Game 3.
Montreal and Boston, regular season circa 1986 at the Forum.
Montreal and Toronto, regular season circa 1994 at the Forum.
Detroit Olympia, Detroit and Boston circa 1975.
I’ve also been to the original Boston Gardens, but not an original 6 game; it was Vancouver.
So, the old Chicago Stadium is the only traditional original 6 arena that I’ve never been in.
Good times.
Missed edit window. Never been to Madison Square Garden either.
Chris Hadfield, first Canadian commander of the International Space Station, is on his way back to Earth in his Soyuz capsule with crewmates Thomas Marshburn and Roman Romanenko. The de-orbit burn is in about 15 minutes, with landing in just over an hour. You can watch it here:
In other news, the Leafs and Bruins are tied 4-4 on overtime, and I got hailed on today here in Jonquière.