here I go again...

ok, so awhile back i posted something about the shitty billboard i saw for the hour. on saturday, coming back from the film and tv expo, we made a pit stop so that i could take a picture of it. i was standing on the street corner when i took this shot.

thoughts on a week's worth of the hour. i hate the theme music. granted i hate the new pornographers. i think the worst part was when they actually had carl and kurt on for the opener on thursday. shiver. it took every ounce of control, not to change the freakin' station. actually no, the worst part is that damn song gets stuck in my head and i can't get it out. it wouldn't be so bad if i could at least be happy for the band, but i hate them so much that i resent having to listen to them four times a week. it's funny. i knew in my heart that when he said on urban rush that the theme music would have a west coast connection, that it would be the new pornographers. but i hoped that if i didn't acknowledge it, i would be wrong.

the show is slowly improving. just as i miss peter and kim from the first season (especially peter.. sigh...), now i miss the banter between claire martin and mr. stroumboulopoulos. and so far, hilary doyle has not impressed me that much. i didn't find her piece either interesting or funny. but i'm willing to wait and see. i didn't really like kim d'eon that much either at first and she grew on me.

stuff i liked this week. the talk of sleeping in space. finding out the barbarba frum's son wrote the axis of evil speech.

overall, my impression of this season's the hour is that it's trying to hard. at times the humour seems forced.

i also watched the best of the hour. although there are no new stories, there are new intros to the pieces. the hosting seemed more natural. however, be warned. the stories are edited versions. for the terry gilliam, they took out the retarded remark. for the letter he send to north korea, they edited to show a properly typed e-mail. and i think they also edited out the good looking comment from adrienne clarkson.

strombo.com finally debuted this week. a few days late, but i guess that's good for him. so far, i haven't really formed any opinion of it. it looks very much like a tabloid and if that is a picture of bob, he's got the some crazy ass hair.

mr. stroumboulopoulos was also featured in last week's hello magazine. a little spread of him at home.

music therapy ride has posted some shots of the whistler run. http://musictherapyride.ca/

Ok, here’s the weekly strombo show recap.

alex is back this week. mr. stroumboulopoulos has a cold. they are all exhausted this week due to the hour premiere. bob doesn’t believe in complaining about his job as other people have it worse. mr. stroumboulopoulos is living on advil. alex is part bat, sleeping in any position. bob & mr. stroumboulopoulos have worked together for 12 years.
nirvana – ‘stay away’.

the police – ‘so lonely’ . this is mr. stroumboulopoulos favourite police song this week. his favourite part is also my favourite part. mr. stroumboulopoulos interviewed andy summers today as he has written a book. He has led a bizarre life. i like the bit where mr. stroumboulopoulos talked about going over synchronicity track by track and about how andy got his track on the album and andy said that people think that the police was a democracy and it was not.

the new york plane crash was mentioned. apparently the woman’s apartment that it hit was the same woman that got hit with an out of control cat in the hat balloon in the thanksgiving parade a few years ago. weird. (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/461236p-388059c.html). a discussion on fate vs. luck follows. mr. stroumboulopoulos states he does not believe in fate, but then wants to change his answer. he feels that it’s all mathematical and that the end is predetermined but we will never know the end. alex feels this concept is dumb. mr. stroumboulopoulos accuses alex of sleeping thru the conversation. alex defends himself by throwing back if he was sleeping; it was because they were boring him. bob believes in coincidence. alex keeps interrupting him.

bob received a fortune cookie this week with this fortune. it is during difficult times that true friends become apparent. this concerns him. what difficult times? why do I need to know this? he wants normal fortunes about handsome strangers etc.

donnie has a story about fate and luck. he didn’t call the woman who gave him her phone number on a band aid (from last week) as he is currently spending time with another girl. he and this girl attended the taping of the hour and she was wearing new shoes to impress. she tripped and cut her ankle and said she couldn’t walk anymore as her ankle is bleeding. she needed a band aid; he had a band aid and whipped out the phone number one. it was all cool.

bob wants to capture the chinese market. he wants anyone listening in china to e-mail in, and then says if you aren’t listening in china, and then says something else. alex interupts and says if they aren’t listening, how can they do that? actually, alex, you need to listen. what bob said was directed to listeners who are not currently in china, not people in china not listening.

alex throws a snit about not getting paid and walks out.

they play the belinda interview and discuss the quote ‘can’t break up a happy marriage’. i had written earlier that i didn’t like that comment. i think the reason i don’t like it, is because it sounded a little too self-righteous when she said it. mr. stroumboulopoulos said he didn’t follow up on it in the interview as he believed it to be correct. bob brought up a chuck klosterman quote, which i will probably misquote. something like monogamy is only possible while you believe it is possible, once you believe it isn’t, it’s only a matter of time. mr. stroumboulopoulos stated that he is awful at relationships. he can have long ones and shorts ones, and they all have one thing in common. he’s in the wrong. the idea of getting married to him is foreign. bob is the marrying kind and it’s fantastic. nick the tech. director agrees. nick and bob disagree on what is the key to a good marriage. in a way they both agree its communication (mr. stroumboulopoulos thinks this is to 'everybody loves rayish'). nick says you need to talk, bob says don’t talk too much.

beck 'girl'

alex still isn’t back yet.

hilary doyle is interviewed. she is the new reporter for the hour and was interviewed for the job by mr.stroumboulopoulos, and producers ben and lindsey. she felt totally comfortable in the interview. bob asked if there was a casting couch and she stated that mr. stroumboulopoulos would not host an audition for that as his life is kinda a casting couch (which he denied). she lives in a coffin factory with no mailing address.

dandy warhols ' bohemian like you'

a plug for the upcoming advice time. bob & mr. stroumboulopoulos care. alex tolerates.

buffalo and outlet malls are discussed. bob loves the buffalo bills.

diddy and the burger king deal is discussed. alex is surprised that grandpa bob could even find youtube. alex wants to know if mr. stroumboulopoulos is upset that diddy has sold out? or because it’s burger king? what if it was harvey’s? mr. stroumboulopoulos loves harvey’s and is upset with mcdonalds because the manager of one mcdonald’s turned in ol dirty bastard and because his local mcdonalds has gotten rid of hot mustard. mr. stroumboulopoulos says he’s boycotting mcdonalds, alex calls him mr. mcdonald’s and mr. stroumboulopoulos says no, not for 2 ½ weeks. they discuss having a fish and chip place sponser 'strombytv'. bob wants mr. stroumboulopoulos in a pirate suit complete with parrot. mr. stroumboulopoulos says he would eat tartar sauce with a spoon. mr. stroumboulopoulos has a crush on the girl from lisanovatv. (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=LisaNova) .

advice time. jon from oshawa. he has been dating a girl for six months now. the other day, he comes home/over early and she is having drinks with her friends. the way they were talking to each other was awful. he described it as garage talk, vulgar and gross. it turned him off. he thought only boys did that. alex says he should leave her. she’s trash. i don’t care. i don’t know him. hilary says it’s a double standard. jon lucked out. she’s a dynamic, complex woman. mr. stroumboulopoulos says guys talk this way and when talk gets like that, alex always leaves the room disgusted. bob says men talk smack, women talk more smack. when you sleep with a woman, her five best friends can identify your penis in a lineup. guys don’t do this.

hüsker dü 'don’t want to know if you are lonely'

johnny thunders ‘can’t put your arms around a memory’ was brought up( http://www.bolt.com/benji-man/audio/johnny_thunders__you_cant/832205. bob suggests ‘can’t put your arms around a memory’s neck’. mr. stroumboulopoulos has been listening to early verve and snake (his cat) still climbs onto his chest and tries to rip the headphones out of his ears.

bob shares a funny story of how he waited outside muchmusic with all the little girls to see beck on the wedge. He is so excited when he sees him that he shouts out ‘hey beck, you represent.' beck looks at him and walks back into building. all the little girls stare at him.

10.35 comedy. mr. stroumboulopoulos imitates alex saying ‘don’t play that old guy with the ponytail’. alex complains that he does not sound like that. alex wants mitch hedberg. and they decide to placate him. the bit was about food and was so freakin’ funny ( http://www.mitchhedberg.net/). alex gets a round of nice call.

bob and alex fight like crazy. this week they almost knocked over a set at the hour. alex kept interrupting bob before he could finish a sentence when he was writing promos.

things they like. bob starts by bringing up outkast and the fact that andre 3000 will be working with madonna. a discussion on how many artists have ruined their careers by working or appearing with madonna. lenny kravitz. britney spears. sean penn. warren beatty.
madonna bad. annette bening good.

hilary is happy that the detroit tigers are contenders. and then she said something i didn’t catch. what it sounded like was trudeau didn’t have sex until he was 27. i am very curious to who it was.

alex liked nothing this week. and then says no, he liked fighting with bob. can’t wait for the show to be over so they can fight some more.

bob likes whitesnake. he was biking and the song came on in his ipod (bob, don’t listen and bike!) he didn’t like it when it was out but mr. stroumboulopoulos did. hilary loves it too, but didn’t know who the band was.

until next week.