The Gemini nominations are in...

From the website of the 25th Annual Gemini Awards:

"The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is pleased to announce the nominations for the 25th Annual Gemini Awards, recognizing the year’s best in Canadian English-language television. This year’s celebrations will be held in Toronto over three nights in November. The Industry Gala Presentations will take place on Tuesday November 2nd and Wednesday November 3rd at the Kool Haus Entertainment Complex; the Broadcast Gala will take place on Saturday November 13th at the historic Winter Garden Theatre and will be broadcast live-to-tape on Global and Showcase."

Congratulations to the following nominees:

Best Host or Interviewer in a General/Human Interest or Talk Program or Series

George Stroumboulopoulos

The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

&

Best Talk Series
The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

p. George Stroumboulopoulos, Claire Adams, David Freeman, Susan Taylor

Click here for a complete list of ALL Gemini Award nominees...

among them, many past visitors to The Hour!

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Put your thinking caps on!

It's the week before Labour Day! If you are a student (or a teacher), likely you are in a state of mourning, as the countdown to the start of another school year is underway! I feel your pain...trust me! Bright and early on Tuesday, September 7th, I will be standing in Room 104 asking myself where July and August went. :-)

With many brains on hiatus over the past several weeks AND both The Hour and The Strombo Show still in re-run mode, I decided to turn this week's 'what's coming up' into a brain teaser...a word scramble to be exact. You've likely seen the interviews with this week's guests at least once. So lets test your memory and your puzzle solving ability! If you get stuck, click on the link and all will be revealed. Happy unscrambling!

Monday, August 30

ELE NDELIAS

VADE REWSTAT

NYMID NOHC

Tuesday, August 31

NEUGEE VLYE

RYOC TTOMEHIN

HANRO EOSNJ

Wednesday, September 1

MOAT NAGYOE

BORIN KITHCE

BUCHBY KREHCEC

Thursday, September 2

(this one is easy)

ICLAMEH J. OXF

Friday, September 3

HEALCIM LEBUB

RITAITPC CKARLONS

VICEL NOWE

So, how did you do? Did you have to click?

In other news...

Have you been trying your luck at the "Weekly Win" contest on The Hour's website? Many great prize packs are up for grabs including books, DVD's and CD's.

Did you miss George's visit this week to Q with Jian Ghomeshi on CBC Radio One? Click here to listen to the August 24th podcast of the interview with substitute host Zaib Shaikh.

And finally...

Last week Tracy touched upon a reminder that while we very much appreciate people reading and commenting, we'd respectfully ask that everyone play nicely. To keep the conversation going, we have elected not to use comment moderation. For those of you unfamiliar with this, basically it is a blogger feature that allows us to approve comments before they are published to the blog. We really do not want to go down this route as it is both time consuming for us and does take away from the genuine real time conversation going on amongst readers. We are trusting our readers to leave comments relevent to The Hour and The Strombo Show. Please do keep in mind that our blog is viewed by people of all ages and that as adults we need to all be good role models. Thank you.

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Pretty Faces Spotted During the Kadayawan Festival

When you are out watching the activities during the Kadayawan festival, you can't help but turn your head and look at the beautiful and smiling faces on the events of the festivities. Here are some pretty faces captured by hubby's lens...

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Remembering Kadayawan 2010

Kadayawan 2010 was a huge successful event. It culminated with the floral float parade. In the parade you can see floats decorated with fruits, orchids and other flowers of different varieties. Here are photos of beautiful floats during the Kadayawan festival.

Happy weekend everyone!

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A few dates

September 9th George should be at the TIFF opening film Score: A Hockey Musical This is just one of the TIFF films George appears in.  I can't keep track of them all... If you plan to attend TIFF just don't be surprised if you spot Strombo on the screen of that Chinese historical drama you managed to win or buy tickets for.
TIFF runs from September 9th to the 19th.   You can follow TIFF on twitter


The Live Your Legacy fund-raising gala
It's the 20th anniversary of the David Suzuki Foundation and they are celebrating and fund raising on September 10th at the Four Season in Toronto.
George Stroumboulopoulos and comedian Russel Peters are co-hosting this event. Special guests include Stephen Lewis, Ed Begley Jr, Andrew Ference, Adam Van Koeverdon and Gordon Lightfoot. 
This will not be televised.
For more information and tickets click this.  
  

Another important date with George in September is the 20th. It's the date he named to start the season of the yet to be renamed The Hour. 

George was talking about it on Q today. He mentioned the show will be taping TIFF related interviews and then the show begins broadcasting September 20th in it's new 'length' with the same core values. There will be the interview and the look at the news and some great changes. New set, some new staff, we will see new faces.

George Stroumboulopoulos can be followed on Twitter here and he has a  new consolidated Facebook page he would like you to join here 

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Star Sightings during the Kadayawan Festival

There are actors and actresses who visited Davao City during the Kadayawan Festival. Here are some photos of them...

Marvin Agustin

Ai-ai delas Alas

Melissa Ricks

Claudine Barreto and Richard Gutierrez

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Please... No more Nickelback!!!!

As summer comes to a close, the team at The Hour is hard at work planning the new season. As ever, there are changes in the offing and when we get any new info, we promise to post it here.

So what I'll miss most about summer are the BBQ's, lazy roadtrips, music festivals and Fridays in 'conference' on the patio... What I will not miss? Looking at your toe-jammy feet on your dash while I'm trying to drive, mosquitoes and inappropriate fashions - t-shirts with beaded fringe anyone?



Sunday, Sunday... Strombo Show Day. If you're at home or on the road, why not check out CBC Radio 2 at 8pm for the latest edition of the Strombo Show? Good tunes. Good times.


Meanwhile, The Hour continues repeat-a-palooza. For your viewing pleasure an assortment of encore performances...



Monday August 23rd



Peter Sarsgaard

Edgy actor Peter Sarsgaard is a critical and commercial success... of note are his roles in Kinsey, An Education and in production now? Green Lantern. I feel badly for his child with wife Maggie Gyllenhaal as their child will endeavour to learn to spell their last name, particularly if there's hyphenation. How many a's? Damn.

Juliette Lewis

Speaking of edgy, may we present Ms. Juliette Lewis. She sprang to stardom with her roles in Cape Fear and Kalifornia. Now she`s living life on the road performing music, and doing a hell of a job. Caught her show and high energy doesn`t even come close...

Michael Moore

King of the Documentaries, Michael Moore incites, entertains and enlightens. Sometimes all at once... his latest, Capitalism : A Love Story, didn`t perform as well as many of his others, but he`s still relevant after many years...

Tuesday, August 24th

Morgan Freeman

Oscar worthy performances and prolific numbers of quality projects like Prom Night in Mississippi have made Morgan Freeman a staple of American cinema. To me though and most of the 30 and 40 somethings, he`ll always be Easy Reader from the Electric Company!


David Cross

Seriously. If Mr. Show and Arrested Development were the only work David Cross had done, that would be enough. Fans eagerly await the long promised Arrested Development movie. In his spare time, according to the above picture, David also enjoys a good Asian noodle soup, but then again, who the hell doesn`t...

John Irving

From the World According to Garp, The Hotel New Hampshire and many more novels - the aforementioned being turned into popular films to his latest, Last Night in Twisted River, Irving remains popular with fans of many generations. Also, it takes a pro to rock a lady scarf like this... respect. ;)

Wednesday, August 25th

Hulk Hogan

Character or Caricature... you decide. It`s been a long time since Hulkamania but his impact on the `sport` of wrestling is unmatched. Featuring his mega-dysfunctional family on the train wreck TV show Hogan Knows Best seems to have been a sketchy decision as was his daughter Brooke`s music career... but I digress.

Harrison Ford

Icon. It fits Harrison Ford. Indiana Jones, Han Solo and Dr. John Kimble in the Fugitive... all great roles that made Ford a mega-star. Though he`s slowed down some, he`s taken the time to marry his longtime girlfriend, Calista Flockhart.

Terry Gilliam

The only non Brit in the Monty Python cast, American Terry Gilliam is as much known for his directing as his performing. Working with the late Heath Ledger on his last film, Gilliam held the project together with creativity and tenacity. Quite an accomplishment!

Thursday, August 26th

Vivica A. Fox

She is an actress that exudes sass and flash... and seems to defy the logic that a woman past 40 can not be considered sexy. However, recently she seems to have suffered an indignity that most girls would never accept. Her boyfriend, a club promoter named Slimm released a statement saying they were through only to retract it moments later. Nothing says long lasting love like your boyfriend retracting your breakup announcement. Pure class!

Hugh Dillon

Headstone and heartbreaker. Dillon is an unlikely but recognized sex symbol from his roles in Durham County and Flashpoint... a favourite of many friends.

Bill Maher

Opinionated, insightful and unafraid to offend, Bill Maher has an opinion on everything and he is not afraid to show it... Real Time with Bill Maher remains popular after many years on the air.



Friday, August 27th

No listing as of this writing so best advice is to tune in and take your chances kids!

So, a question for our readers. As the Season gets set to launch, who would you most like to see on The Hour. I vote Neil Young, Michelle Obama, Bono and the return of Gordon Ramsay.

On another note... a reminder that while we very much appreciate people reading and commenting, play nice. This is not a forum that is accepting of personal attacks or petty online bickering. It is meant to be a place to exchange information relevant to The Hour. Thanks everyone... and have a fantastic week.

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Davao Agro Trade Fair 2010- Landscape

When you go to the Agro -Trade fair, there's a portion that asks for an entrance fee of 10 pesos. Not bad because you'll get to see awesome landscapes done by the expert landscapers showcasing their talents here in Davao City. It's actually a contest so you'll see the best of what they can offer.

Here are some photos...

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