There is culture north of the 49th Parallel

I am writing this blog because mainly I’m procrastinating about getting back to a newspaper story I’m in the midst of writing, but have lost all inspiration. Anyway, I’m waiting for some more info from the subject being profiled. That’s my story, and I’m sticking with it.

I’m also a bit ‘blog’ uninspired, but reading the thoughts of some others I see that ennui is kind of endemic in the blogger realm at the moment. Must be the time of year.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I wrote a blog in which I listed very, very bad Canadians. Did I include Nelly Furtado on that list? This pretty-ish girl with a lousy and uninspired voice seems to be the flavor of the moment amongst prepubescent girls. Well, we tend to develop actual taste as we get older, I hope. But, to judge by the city fathers of Victoria, BC, her hometown, we cannot be too sure about the taste thing. How do you know Victoria is still a small town? By the fact that they have declared an ‘official’ Nelly Furtado Day! I mean, these geezers are obviously creaming their collective jeans over a very second rate talent. How unfortunate, not to mention embarrassing. As long as my town doesn’t declare a Pam Anderson Day (this is where the Boobs Queen went to high school and possibly bought her first training-bra), then I suppose I’ll survive the onslaught of tastelessness.

But, good Canadians is the subject at hand. You must understand, all my non-Canadian readers, that Canada, with its smaller population, is a bit paranoid and self-conscious about who we are and our place in the world. So, to give us a bit of a boost, I am about to list compatriots that have excelled in a wider sphere, or who give me, as a Canadian, a bit of a boost. Here they are, in no particular order:

Neil Young: I once dated his first cousin, does that count? Otherwise, a fine musical craftsman and, even though he pissed off Lynyrd Skynyrd (whom I like) many years ago, he still excels and is certainly an icon of the Woodstock era who keeps moving on. Hey-hey, my-my, rock and roll will never die!

Michael J. Fox: He and I went to the same high school (at entirely different times), but I laud him for his acting chops, for getting to hang out with Justine Bateman (which truly would have worked for me) for Back to the Future, and for his resolute courage in facing a disease that would make others give up. He rides tall in any saddle.

Leonard Cohen: The old rogue and consummate (and successful) womanizer who is filled with talent and spirituality even though getting long in the tooth. So, did ‘Suzanne’ really take you down to a place by the river?

Dan Aykroyd: The ‘other’ Blues Brother who has proved to be much more than the sum of his old SNL parts.

Buffy Sainte-Marie: For ‘Universal Soldier’ if nothing else. It still works and still applies, and those in charge have still never gotten the message.

Glen Ford: An actor from another era, but a personal favorite for unstated determination. Not big and tall and handsome, but always believable. Watch him in The Blackboard Jungle (co-starring an unspeakably young Sidney Poitier) if nothing else.

William Shatner: The old ham still prevails and excels in Boston Legal and while many negatives have been written about his overacting on Star Trek among other vehicles, he is always the first to mock himself.

Kim Cattrall: Not the greatest Canadian actress, but one with certain icon status due to Sex and the City, and for her steely determination to succeed in a ruthless business. She had that when she was 14, sitting in my English class, so I’ll gladly drop her name here.

Catherine O’Hara: She has come a long way since her SCTV days, and she still shows her resolute comic skills in virtually everything. At her best, I think, in Beetlejuice.

And there are many more, but this will suffice for now, and just to let you know I do have compatriots in the realm of entertainment whom I admire.