2012-03-31

Canadian Hulu Spring 2012

Shortcut to this page: http://j.mp/aaa2012

A very slight update to my Canadian Hulu 2011 list (this season's Pan Am, Weeds and Terra Nova are over, I've added Last Man Standing, Merci... ,TVO docs, Mr. D, Artic Air, Ben City and Pérusse cité). Am I missing any? Also, if you have Netflix, check out Lilyhammer (trailer). If you have HBO online (via a friend's login): Life's Too Short with Ricky Gervais.

Drama
-Desperate Housewives (CTV)
-Merci les enfants vont bien (tou.tv)
-Artic Air (CBC)
-Mad Men Season 5


Comedy
-The Simpsons (Global Sunday night or iTunes)
-Mr. D. (CBC)
-Last Man Standing (City)
-Ben City (CBC)
-Pérusse cité (tou.tv)
-The Office (Global)
-30 Rock (City)
-Parks and Recreation. (City)
-The Big Bang Theory (CTV)
-Modern Family (City)
-Suburgatory (City)
-Raising Hope (City)
-The Daily Show (CTV)
-Saturday Nigth Live (Global)
-The Rick Mercer Report (CBC)
-Et Dieu créa, Laflaque (SRC)
-Acadieman (Télévision Rogers)
-Whitney (CTV)

Reality
-The Amazing Race (CTV)
-TMZ (CTV)

Sports
-Hockey Night in Canada (CBC), click with your glasses off so you don't see the score (or watch live).

Infotainment
-Doczone (CBC)
-The Fifth Estate (CBC)
-The Nature of Things (CBC)
-The Passionate Eye (CBC)
-60 Minutes (CBS)
-Frontline (PBS). Some episodes not available in Canada.
-Nova (PBS). Some episodes not available in Canada.
-Documentaires de Radio-Canada.
-La facture (SRC)
-Découverte (SRC).
-TVO Documentaries. (tvo)

Podcasts:
-Diggnation (HTML 5, plays on iPad).
-Tech News Today, etc. (Twit.tv)

2012-03-29

Coup de foudre télé: Merci, les enfants vont bien

Merci les enfants vont bien est un téléroman parfois très comique qui
passe maintenant à tou.tv .
À la base, c'est un téléroman classique.
Mais:
-C'est parfois très drôle;
-Ça ce passe souvent dehors, et dans le sud de la France, avec parfois
des paysages dignes du cinéma.
-Les comédiens sont très beaux (et surtout, très belles)
Habituellement les mères de 40 ans qui ont sept enfants ne me
séduisent pas. Mais quand elle est joué par une très jolie blonde dans
la jeune trentaine...
Les personnages vivent dans un village près de Marseilles, mais ils
viennent de Paris, alors on les comprends. D'ailleurs, il y a une
scène comique dans la série 3 ou les deux ados se mettent à parler le
jargon des jeunes, tout à fait incompréhensible (leur tante traduit).
Sur tou.tv c'est cotté G pour général, mais il y a suffisamment de
nudité pour justifié un PG13 par les standards américains. Et il y a
des thèmes quand même assez lourds: avortement, adultère,
homosexualité (des filles qui s'embrassent dans un club). Même une
scène ou les filles travaillent pour une ligne 1-900, tout en gardant
les plus petits. Quand même!
Ayant déménagé de Ottawa à Moncton, à la base j'ai de l'empathie pour
ces personnages. Oui, la mer est belle et le train de vie plus lent
(et il y a moins de congestion). Mais l'argent. Beaucoup moins
d'argent qu'à Ottawa ou Paris.
Bref, Baywatch rencontre Big Love rencontre Les Lavigeurs (Flodder).
Une belle façon de passé du temps lorsqu'il fait froid.

2012-03-27

Fordplay: Letterman Monolog

Nothing like a bit of "Fordplay" before going to bed. Letterman was way funnier than John Stewart on Monday.

2012-03-26

1080p iTunes

Took me a few frustrating minutes to figure this out (Hat tip Mac forums). To watch content in 1080p in iTunes, you want to click on edit, preferences. Change the viewing to 1080p and, most importantly, change the dowloading to 1080p (under Store).

Jessica Paré jure en câlice à Mad Men


Jessica Paré joue le rôle de Meghan, femme de Don Draper, dans la série Mad Men de AMC. Grâce aux sources sur Twitter (je n'ai pas le cable), j'ai appris que dans la première de la saison 5, Meghan lâche un "câlice" (ou "calisse" selon l'ortographe de Rosie Barton, journaliste de la CBC).

Pour revenir ici: http://j.mp/madencalice
J'ai acheté l'émission sur iTunes Canada (disponible en haute définition). Je recommende pour tous les fans de Mad Men ou de Jessica Paré. Pour les fans de sacres québécois, vous pouvez vous contenter de faire jouer la trame sonore ci-dessu (requiert Flash, donc incompatible avec iOS; je cherche une solution). La photo de Jessica est tirée de l'épisode 2.

2012-03-20

Jason Russell (Not That There is Anything Wrong With That)

Is Jason Russell (of Kony 2012 fame) gay (not that there is anything wrong with that)? You decide.

Learning Ski Jumping Takes Courage

Watching this video in my living room I think I was more scared than the 10 year old little girl actually doing it. Although in my defence, she had already done the 20 meter jump.

2012-03-08

Top Ten Signs Your Student President is a Bank Robber

Inspired by student laziness at Mount Royal (they elected convicted fraudster Meghan Melnyk), here are the top ten signs your student president is a bank robber. 

10. Drives a PT Cruiser
9. Owns a German Sheppard.
8. Uses Twitter
7. Uses a Blackberry
6. Lives in Alberta
5. Is overweight
4. Is a long term student
3. Is studying Communication
2. Uses LinkedIN

And the number one sign your student body president is a bank robber:
 Uses Facebook!

Tweets of the PT Cruiser Bank Robber

Edited on 2012-03-08 at 15:34 to reflect Meghan is actually a Blackberry user, not an iPhone user.

Meghan Darcy Melnyk, the new age bank robber:  Drives a PT Cruiser and reads The Economist.


Meghan Darcy Melnyk allegedly robbed a bank. She was caught with the disguise, the knife and all the money, so I use term "allegedly" because of my love of TMZ. Meghan also appears to enjoy TMZ type entertainment. Last year she tweeted: "  Drink of choice tonight- a #lindsaylohan : a redheaded-slut dropped in coke. "


PT Cruiser
Last time I was in Calgary, my rental was a PT Cruiser. I loved my PT Cruiser. If I was going to rob a bank in Alberta in the dead of Winter, I totally would have used my PT Cruiser rental. Granted, back then the car did get you noticed. People would pass me and shake their heads, truckers would talegate and, the worse, other PT Cruiser owners would talk to me (one guy told me his was in storage for the Winter).  Now we know, the Calgary police can spot a PT Cruiser from the air. Thousands of pick-up trucks in Calgary, but very few PT Cruisers... 

Student Government
I was also involved in student government. We had to fire one person from the executive (the religion department student representative), because he accepted a free flight in exchange for being bumped off a flight from Halifax. I guess he felt it was a gift from God, but my colleagues felt it was a gift from Air Canada and should not be used for personal gain (I voted against his firing). So I get the sense of entitlement one can gain from being in student office (although I personally didn't get any flights or bank money, I did get a couple of totally deserved free slices of pizza). There was some other alledged corruption against the guy heading the campus environmental group (he later represented Green Peace). The girl from History alleged, but never proved, he robbed some mugs meant for fundraising. I thought my student colleagues were quick to judge. Two members of the student executive at the time went on to become Parti Québécois Members of the Legislative Assembly.

Bank Robbing
Like Meghan, I've also thought about robbing a bank. The 50% success rate is less than ideal, but they have money and I don't.

What I'm saying is I can relate. I envy my former colleagues who went on to represent Greenpeace and be elected members of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec. Suddenly working in a call centre isn't the worse scenario. I could have ended up in jail. Or, worse, as in the case of Meghan, on bail awaiting trial at my aunt's! And frankly,  she deserves it. I can morally justify robbing a Toronto based bank, but a credit union?

Here are her tweets (taken from Google's Cache)

  1. Alberta Student Summit breaks for lunch #samru #asec #caus #agc http://twitpic.com/62kx2b  via Twitpic
  2. Drink of choice tonight- a #lindsaylohan : a redheaded-slut dropped in coke.  via Twitter for BlackBerry®
  3. Dear #MRU students, I will endeavour to live up to your expectations and serve you to the best of my ability as the next #SAMRU president.  via web
  4. @MontyG_MRU thanks monty!  via Twitter for BlackBerry®
  5. #samru election results are in!  via Twitter for BlackBerry®
  6. I was elected for 2011/2012 President as #SAMRU  via Twitter for BlackBerry®
  7. Two hours left to vote in the #SAMRU elections! come on #MRU students, have your say!  via web
  8. Last day to vote in#SAMRU elections! come on #MRU students, have your say! I will continue to fight for you on-parking, transit, textbooks!  via web
  9. Hey @_MichelleDennis and @kylemacquarrie and other #samru candidates, come out to Students' Council meeting tonight! 4:30, council chambers via web
  10. @HeatherMLA I am indeed! I bet you are too with all the hoopla at the Leg!  via Twitter for BlackBerry® in reply to HeatherMLA
  11. At #MRU going to see residence students and talking to them about the issues they are facing. tweet me if I missed you! #samru #vote  via web
  12. Running for President of #SAMRU! please get out and vote online www.samru.ca/vote  via web
  13. “@TheEconomist: The global economy How to stop a currency war http://bit.ly/a6kwxr” @jonesimedes interesting but not new ideas.  via Twitter for iPhone
  14. Trying to reconnect with myself.  via web
  15. I think it is #superhappyfunday at #samru via web
  16. Had a great meeting with mayoral candidate @nenshi talking about secondary suites and voter accessibility.  via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Did you see number 14 and 15, she reads the Economist!

2012-03-06

10 Million Dollar Smoke Meat

Did you know you are supposed to avoid beef as it is a big source of global warming? Well now you get feel guilty next time you chow down on a smoke meat sandwich at Montreal's Schwartz. The famous restaurant just sold for 10 million dollars, half of it now belongs to Celine Dion and her husband.

My reaction to the place and the food was a shrug, but I've been on a never ending quest to find an equally good smoke meat sandwich ever since.

If burgers in Europe suck (they kind of do), then the same applies to smoke meat outside of Montreal.

Would you pay 10 million bucks for this? I wouldn't. But $6.50 for a smoke meat sandwich and a pickle? Any day of the week. Sorry Bangladeshis (buy boats now).



The following is from Wikipedia (reproduced here with permission).


Montreal-style smoked meat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Montreal-style smoked meat
Schwartz smoked meat montreal.JPG
Montreal-style smoked meat from Schwartz's in Montreal
Origin
Place of originCanada
Region or stateMontreal, Quebec
Creator(s)Disputed - various Jewish delis in the city
Details
CourseMain course
Main ingredient(s)Smoked meatmustard, and rye bread
Montreal-style smoked meatMontreal smoked meat or simply smoked meat in Montreal (French: viande fumée or du smoked meat), is a type of kosher-style deli meat product made by salting and curing beef brisket with spices. The brisket is allowed to absorb the flavours over a week, and is then hot smoked to cook through, and finally steamed to completion.
Although the preparation methods may be similar, Montreal smoked meat is cured in seasoning with more crackedpeppercorns and aromatic spices, such as coriander, and significantly less sugar than New York pastrami.[1] The meat is typically served in the form of a rye bread sandwich slathered with mustard. While some Montreal smoked meat is brine-cured like corned beef, with spices applied later, many smoked meat establishments prefer dry-curing directly with salt and spices.

Contents

[edit]History

The origins of Montreal smoked meat is uncertain and likely unresolvable. However, many have laid claims to the creation or introduction of smoked meat into Montreal. Regardless, all of these stories indicate the creators are of the Jewish Diaspora from Romania or Eastern Europe:
  • Some point to Ben Kravitz, who founded Bens De Luxe Delicatessen & Restaurant in 1910, as the introducer of Montreal smoked meat. According to the Kravitz family, he used a brisket-curing method he recalled being practised by Lithuanian farmers. His first smoked meat sandwiches were made and sold from his wife's fruit and candy store.[1]
  • According to Eiran Harris, a Montreal historian, Herman Rees Roth from New York may have created the first smoked meat sandwich in 1908, selling them from his deli, the British American Delicatessen Store.[1]
  • In another claim by Bill Brownstein, the smoked meat was brought over in 1902 by Itzak Rudman, who was an accomplished salami and smoked meat maker selling his wares on Buillon Street (formerly Cadieux Street).[2]
  • In yet another possibility, a butcher by the name of Aaron Sanft who arrived from Iași, Romania in 1884 founded Montreal's first kosher butchershop and likely made smoked meat in the Romanian style similar to pastırma.[3]

[edit]Serving

Warm Montreal smoked meat is always sliced by hand to maintain its form, since doing so with a meat slicer would cause the tender meat to disintegrate. Whole briskets are kept steaming and sliced up on demand when ordered in the restaurant to maintain its temperature. Unspecialized restaurants outside Montreal typically do not have the volume of smoked meat customers to justify this practice, and usually only have cold presliced meat on hand, reheated when a customer orders one sandwich. Good delis in Canada pride themselves in serving traditional smoked meat - cured, smoked and sliced by hand. The meat should be around 3 mm thick, cut slightly on a bias, and across the grain of the brisket.
Even when hand-cut, Montreal smoked meat produces a lot of broken bits when sliced. These pieces are gathered together and commonly served with French friescheese curds, and gravy as smoked meat poutine.
Montreal-style smoked meat sandwiches are built with seedless rye bread and piled with hand-sliced smoked meat about 2 inches high with yellow prepared mustard. The customer can specify the amount of fat in the smoked meat:
  • "Lean": The lean and less flavourful end. Healthful but dry.
  • "Medium" and "medium fat": The most popular cuts from the middle of the brisket. Occasionally, a sliced mix of lean and fat meats. Preferred by the renowned Canadian writer Mordecai Richler.
  • "Old-Fashioned": Basically the cut which is in between Medium and Fatty and often cut a bit thicker.
  • "Fat": From the fat end of the brisket. Fires the fat taste receptors, but may be an acquired taste.
  • "Speck": Consists solely of the spiced subcutaneous fat from the whole brisket without meat. An attributed cause of death for some of its connoisseurs.[1]

[edit]Cultural identity

Along with bagels, smoked meat has been popular in Montreal since the 19th century, and has taken such strong root in that city, many Montrealers, and even many non-Montrealers, identify it as emblematic of the city's cuisine. The location is also a veritable melting pot for Montreal where all cultures converge and people of disparate classes share tables when eating.[2]Current and former residents and tourists make a point of visiting Montreal's best-known smoked meat establishments, even taking whole briskets away as take-out. So loved is smoked meat by native Montrealers that renowned Montreal writerMordecai Richler once jokingly described its flavour from Schwartz's in his novel Barney's Version, as a "maddening aphrodisiac" to be bottled and copyrighted as "Nectar of Judea". [4]
Despite the food's origins in, and association with, Montreal's Jewish community, and contrary to what is sometimes asserted, these delis are not certified as kosher.[1]

[edit]Availability

Smoked meat is offered in many diners and fast food restaurant chains throughout Montreal, Quebec, and Canada.[5]Smoked meat has become popularized beyond its Jewish origins into the general population of Quebec, where smoked meat has been integrated into popular dishes, such as, smoked meat poutine or Québécois-style pizza.
Two of Montreal's best known smoked meat delis include:
Some notable establishments in the Montreal area that produce or serve smoked meat include:
Smoked meat can similarly be found in the Toronto area:
Similarly, smoked meat can be found as far afield as Burlington, Vermont and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Many smoked meat connoisseurs claim it cannot be obtained in its tastiest, or most authentic form, outside of Montreal. Several restaurateurs have offered to franchise Schwartz's in cities across North America. Its owners, however, have always refused, but do deliver by mail order. Schwartz's also caters worldwide, but the cost of transporting the smoked meat and flying a counterman to serve at the catered located must be included in the catering.[2]
The largest commercial producer of Montreal-style smoked meat is Lesters Foods Limited, which had its origins as a Jewish delicatessen in 1931 on the historic Saint Laurent Boulevard, also known as "the Main". Lesters Foods supplies Montreal smoked meat to many restaurants, delis and grocery stores throughout Canada. Montreal-style smoked meat can be found in the US, as Lesters does supply delicatessens in some US cities.[1]
Montreal smoked meat can also now be purchased in Brooklyn, New York from Mile End deli, which was opened and is run by a Montreal native.[6]

[edit]See also

[edit]References

  1. a b c d e f Sax, David (2010-10-01), Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen, Mariner Books, ISBN 0547386443
  2. a b c Browstein, Bill (2006), Schwartz's Hebrew Delicatessen: The Story, Vehicule Press, ISBN 978-1-55065-212-3
  3. ^ Rabinovitch, Lara (2009), "Montreal-Style Smoked Meat:An interview with Eiran Harris conducted by Lara Rabinovitch, with the cooperation of the Jewish Public Library Archives of Montreal"Cuizine: The Journal of Canadian Food Cultures / Cuizine : revue des cultures culinaires au Canada 1 (2)
  4. ^ Richler, Mordecai (1999-03-01), Barney's Version, Washington Square Press, ISBN 978-0671028466 "You know if you had really, really been intent on entrapping me on my wedding night, you wicked woman, you would not have dabbed yourself with Joy, but in Essence of Smoked Meat. A maddening aphrodisiac, made from spices available in Schwartz's delicatessen. I'd call it Nectar of Judea and copyright the name."
  5. ^ http://www.granddictionnaire.com/btml/fra/r_motclef/index800_1.asp Granddictionnaire.com
  6. ^ Newman, Andy (February 24, 2010). "Montreal Bagels, Now South of the Border"The Montreal Gazette. Canwest News. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
End of Wikipedia cut and paste. 



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