Wednesday, October 31st, 2001: I just checked the U8TV website for last night's edition of Homewrecker. It hasn't been posted yet, but should be sometime today if you didn't catch it live.

The lofters themselves seems like a good bunch of kids. We met David outside the building, where he inquired about The Second City training program. All of the lofters are getting replaced in December, so it was nice to see at least one of them thinking about the future. We also said quick hellos to Arisa and Tre in passing, before spending an hour with Jennifer and Mathieu on their Internet show.

The deal was that we were to be shown music videos, then bash them. The catch was that some of the videos couldn't be bashed as much as others, because the producers were trying to build a relationship with certain music labels that would facilitate having music streamed from the U8TV site. It ended up being a non-issue, anyway; we couldn't remember which videos not to bash, so we bashed them all.

Interactivity is what's supposed to set The Lofters apart from other reality-based shows. Looking over Mathieu's shoulder as he supervised the chat room, it seemed to me that the interactive stuff was only partly successful. There were lots of folks in the chat room, to be sure, but what they were discussing seemed to have little direct correlation to the proceedings on our show. What's worse (and I'm sorry to be a rat about this), I caught Mathieu checking his personal email more than a couple of times during the webcast!

I spent a lot of my time at nerd school arguing that merely adding a chat room won't save a website or television show. With my experience last night, I stand by my convictions.

Monday, October 29th, 2001: One of these days marks the fourth anniversary of The Devil's Advocates' first Speaker's Corner appearance. Unfortunately, it's becoming increasingly apparent that nobody cares.

Devil Al and I performed our Halloween ritual last week, our yearly Speaker's Corner segment. Just like the good ol' days, we watched a tape of the previous week's show and responded to the arguments of the folks who were on it. I was particularly proud of the way we handled an angry woman who decried that the food drops over Afghanistan were being labelled as propaganda. But it was all for naught; this weekend's show was a best-of, so our Halloween broadcast won't make it to air by Halloween.

We also thought we could celebrate our anniversary with an appearance on The Lofters. In doing so, we found out just how much our stature in pop culture has fallen: We didn't make the cut for the Halloween show, so we're going on tomorrow night. And we're not even going to be on TV! Instead, we'll apparently be on Homewrecker, one of the Lofters' fourteen Internet shows, this one about DJs and the rave scene?!

I think it's high time for the Devils' official autobiography; my idea is for a tome with a double cover, my story on one side, Al's on the other. Each side would have the title 7 1/2 Minutes of Fame: My Life as a Devil's Advocate. The only hurdle is getting my partner to realize that the Devils are history...

Wednesday, October 24th, 2001: Students of comedy take note: I'll be taking the helm of a Level 4 Conservatory class at The Second City next month; their graduation show will follow sometime next spring...

If anyone is wondering whatever happened to that travel story I was writing for The Globe & Mail, the editor wants a few tweaks, but hasn't exactly been prompt in getting his notes back to me. If the thing ever gets published, you'll hear about it right here.

Finally, something I've long suspected about Canadians was proven true in today's Globe, in a report on the new digital cable TV channels. Here's the quote:

"The survey also said that children and teenagers were watching fewer Canadian programs than adults, and that more than half their viewing time is spent watching drama and comedy. Mr. (Ian) Morrison (spokesman for the lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting) said that makes sense, because Canadian programming is stronger in the non-fiction area, such as news and documentaries."

In the aftermath of Improv Heaven & Hell, I already had this figured out. For adults, there's no way that Canadian televised drama or even comedy can compete with American programming unless it's tied in some way to non-fiction. This Hour would be a good example, except that its American equivalent, The Daily Show, consistently blows it away. A better one would be History Bites, which combines comedy with historical trivia, an irresistible mix for anyone not interested in hockey. It's fourth season is presently in production... On cable!!!

To anyone arguing on behalf of Canadian artists who have made it big in the States, I would say that for all intensive purposes those artists are American. You can include both Red and Tom Green in this list.

Still disagree? Let's hear about it!

Monday, October 22nd, 2001: A healthy sign that the 'Net is returning to its normal state can be seen in the new crop of wacky Flash animations being passed around it. If you're impressed by the meagre attempts on this site then you truly need to get out on the web more often; instead try this one, sent to me by Ray Deonandan.

More Osama-themed movies of varying artistic and technical quality can be found at the clearing house for homemade Flash animations, Newgrounds.com.

Saturday, October 20th, 2001: I'm a baaad webmaster...

I've been neglecting my updates to this site, partly because I'm preoccupied with earning some rent money in this new age of anthrax, but equally because of my distracting new toys. I can finally get the 'Net on my cell phone through GPRS, and I'm also mucking around with Apple's new UNIX-based OS on my iBook -- Take that, Windows XP :->

The hits to this page keep on coming, though I clearly don't deserve them. Most of them are from friends and family of fellow Asia improviser Jenny Parsons; thanks for your support, please spread the word!

My offering for today is Noam Rosen's MidEast Optimist, a collection of news clippings from the other side of the war, and a recommended part of any balanced news diet.

Monday, October 15th, 2001: This ain't news to me, but I've been quite surprised at the number of people who haven't heard about this. If you're one of 'em, read on...

This is an image taken from the Evil Bert website, which has only recently been shut down. Before September 11th, it was your typical Internet fare, images of the well-known muppet Photoshopped into a variety of 20th century milestones -- the JFK assassination, the Pam & Tommy video and unfortunately, the rise to infamy of this guy.

Here's the funny part: After the U.S. started bombing the crap out of Afghanistan, protesters in the Middle East understandably needed posters for their demonstrations. An obliging printer, seeking to create a montage of bin Laden images, grabbed a bunch of them from the 'Net, including this one; next thing you know, our man Bert is front-page news!

To see what the Henson people think of all this, click here. The welcome page pretty much says it all...

Saturday, October 13th, 2001: So Air Canada has launched Tango, its own budget airline, perhaps as a haven for the twelve hundred or so employees that the government won't let it lay off? Apparently low-cost carriers like this can succeed only if everyone "pitches in" -- if pilots help clean the plane between flights, etc. Based on personal experience, I can't see any of the crusty Air Canada employees I've dealt with performing any task outside the immediate jurisdiction of their job description.

I'm glad that those in charge at Washington's Reagan airport are insisting on air marshals aboard arriving flights from Canada; this makes far more sense to me than any of the announced security increases at Canadian airports. It was said this week (by the Minister of Transportation, I think) that the danger of firing a weapon in a pressurized cabin is the number one reason not to have air marshals on all Canadian flights, but I know better from a conversation I had with a Cathay Pacific pilot in Hong Kong: Airlines just don't want to give up any extra seats that would otherwise be taken by paying passengers!

Doesn't anyone remember all the stories about air rage before September 11th? Terrorists aside, what guarantees of safety can Air Canada give me if I find myself sitting beside one of the Gallagher brothers?

Thursday, October 11th, 2001: I hold you all responsible for this...

Maybe it's only because of my recent travels, or perhaps my constant re-submissions of this address to Google have finally paid off, but the number of hits this site is getting is going up significantly, from about 40 to over 100 per week. In addition, I've been told more than once that my writing has some merit -- okay, mostly by my mom.

Nonetheless, since new media remains a closed door for me and the slop bucket of corporate whoring gigs is currently empty, I'm pitching a digest of my Second City China tour to the Travel Editor of The Globe & Mail. For inspiration, I dropped twenty-eight bucks on a copy of The Canadian Writers' Guide. The listings of literary agents will surely pay off one day; in the meantime, I have chapters of "up with writers" testimonials to sift through, with catchy titles like "how my cat taught me to persevere", and "every bestseller starts with good posture".

Somebody kill me.

Tuesday, October 9th, 2001: So they've postponed the Emmys again. With Survivor III making its debut this week amidst all the other shakey-cam crap, I didn't think there even were Emmys anymore. Hopefully, Survivor and its ilk will suffer a similar fate; September 11th was more than enough reality TV for me.

On that topic, here's my two cents in what everyone in North America was debating over the weekend, whether or not the United States should be bombing Afghanistan: Al Howell rightly pointed out to me that we're all financing terrorism indirectly by buying Arab oil. While it's a family construction business that's made a wealthy man of Osama bin Laden, I would argue that it's the sale of oil that finances most construction in Saudi Arabia.

If ever there was a time for an electric car, I say it's now!

Thursday, October 4th, 2001: Damn this jet lag! I slept through an afternoon and evening of appointments at nerd school, even with my new cell phone ringing in my ear beside my bed. To make up for it, I've added another photo from my trip to Asia, by popular demand.

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2001: Photos from my tour of Asia are up, along with another infantile Flash animation. If you haven't been here in a couple of days, be sure to check out last month's archives for details of my trip!