Here's What's Coming Up...

So... as the weekend is winding up, the Strombo Show and The Hour are gearing up for the week.
As I write, a couple of observations -- I need more than 4 hours of sleep a night but yet, am still willing to give that up for a good show or party. To that end - a suggestion if I may? Check out the self titled CD from Toronto band 'The Beauties'. Disc is fantastic and their live show? Off the chain amazing.

Speaking of other great music? There's sure to be all you can handle on this week's Strombo Show -- 8pm-Midnight on CBC Radio2. Apparently, a discussion on the greatest 'Front men' in music is on tap.


Meanwhile, on the screen...

Monday May 31st

George Romero

The KING of the Horror flicks, George Romero visits the show. Dawn of the Dead. Night of the Living Dead. His latest flick is The Crazies which I was shocked to learn, is not a documentary about my neighbours.

Peter Nowak

In his latest effort, 'Sex, Bombs and Burgers - How War, Porn and Fast Food Created Technology as we know it' , Author Nowak operates on the premise that these three key elements of society have driven the perceived need for much of our technical innovations. Seriously -- how long can it be till there's a pizza 'n porn app for iPhone?

Tuesday, June 1st

Amanda Seyfried

If you have a television, satellite, read magazines or generally don't live your life under a rock, Amanda is everywhere -- she's the new It Girl of chick flicks. From Big Love, to the truly painful Mamma Mia to a string of newer films - Dear John, Letters to Juliet and Atom Egoyan's latest -- Chloe, she's going to stick around for a while!

Patrick and Jonathan Roy
Talk about pressure. Your father is hockey great Patrick Roy. You're a kid following in his footsteps. You get in a violent fight that makes headlines, you're charged and later get your charges dismissed. What are you gonna do next? If you're Jonathan Roy, you become a pop singer. Seriously. That's not made up. He's apparently set to open for New Kids on the Block this summer. Above is a good shot of the Roy men with Jonathan's lawyer. Good times!

Wednesday, June 2nd

Courtyard Hounds

They're sisters, moms, multi instrumentalists...and two thirds of the Dixie Chicks. With lead singer of the Chicks, Natalie Maines taking a hiatus, the sisters have put together a side project that is of such great quality, no one s saying they're just marking time. I confess I do like their sound, though I still resent them a little bit for their Grammy sweep for the Dixie Chicks 'Comeback album' post the George Bush uproar. My cousin's Canadian band was up for a Grammy against them. One of those good news/bad news things -- "Hey, we're nominated for a Grammy but the Dixie Chicks are in our category.' Burn. ;-)

Willie O'Ree

New Brunswick born Willie O'Ree is a sports pioneer. As the first black player in the NHL, former Boston Bruin O'Ree is the 'Jackie Robinson' of ice hockey. One interesting fact about O'Ree is that he was almost blind in one eye and covered up this fact, lest he be passed over for his shot at the big time. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has worked as a youth ambassador.

Thursday, June 3rd

Jake GyllenhaalAs part of his press blitz for his latest - Prince of Persia, Jake Gyllenhaal hit The Hour for a chat. From a Showbiz family, Jake and his sister, Maggie are both Oscar nominees -- Jake's for Brokeback Mountain. I really liked his film Jarhead and if you remember WAY back? Jake played Billy Crystal's son in 'City Slickers'. Yep, the one with Norman the cow. Now, I want steak for dinner... but I digress.

Christoper Plummer

Plummer has done it all... films, television and now, he returns to the stage. At 80, Plummer shows no sign of slowing down. In 2009, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the amazing film, The Last Station. His summer job? The role of Prospero in The Tempest at the Stratford Theatre. Can't wait -- tickets bought!

Friday, June 4th

MYSTERY DATE

No listings available at this time... as per usual, tune in and see what gems will be re-run.

The Hour has taped it's last show for the season and will return in the Fall. In the meantime, you'll have the opportunity to catch some shows you've missed over the past season.

Have a great Summer!

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On the occasion of our 4th birthday...

On May 30, 2006 a new blog was born!

In honour of our fourth birthday,

we present "The Stroumboulopouli" by the numbers...

14...the number of "Contributors ~ The Regulars" who have written for blog since 2006

5...the current number of contributors

2...the number of Provinces we currently represent (1 BC, 4 ON)

239,695...the number of visits to notpaidbythehour.blogspot.com

576...how many posts we've written in four years

30...the percentage of readers from Canada

28...the percentage of readers from the United States

18...the number of countries from which we have received visits this week.

Among them, the UK, Poland, Kuwait, France, Australia, Italy, Greece and Finland.

To our loyal readers, we say THANK YOU!

Also, thank you to George & the staff of The Hour for your assistance and support.

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They are talking about the new season now.

CBC 2010 fall Preview


CBC celebrated it's new fall lineup on the same evening The Hour taped it's last show for season six.

"We're going into the fall 2010 season with some of the strongest, highest-rated, most celebrated shows," Kirstine Stewart, general manager of CBC Television, said.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2010/05/27/cbc-fall-tv.html#ixzz0pB3uKQFS

I was at that taping to wish George a good summer and say goodbye to the old set.

The Hour is now getting ready for Season Seven

They are not only going to change the set (maybe even the studio), they are going to make changes to The Hour's format.
What those changes are they don't know yet. The Hour wants to add more online content, and be more available using new technologies. What stays on the show is the interview and the look at current issues... everything else is up for discussion. My hope is that they consult the viewers. It's our show too!

In this last taping they tried something new. They have been experimenting with live musical acts presented at the end of the show, tonight a comedian, Frank Spadone, stepped upon The Hour's stage to do a very funny stand up routine. Be sure to tune in, or watch online... let them know how you liked it.

There will be more new content on The Hour until it's preempted by The World Cup. In August there will be more of The Hour specials.

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Coffee on summer?

Me and hubby dropped by the mall yesterday to buy something and at the atrium, there were a lot of people who crowd in mini booths of Nescafe. Being nosey, I tried to look at what they do. On one booth, there's a free message, another booth offers free tarot card reading. I would have wanted to try it but the queue is just too long. In another booth, a lot of teenagers had their nails colored and on the other one, a teenager had his hair colored. At the center, they are offering free coffee so I tried to taste it. True enough, it can quench one's thirst under the summer heat because instead of putting coffee with hot water which I am used to when I was younger, it is mixed with cold water. It's yummy but I had to let hubby finish it all because I intentionally avoid coffee since I still breastfeed my baby.

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The week beginning May 23rd

Happy Victoria Day weekend! This is the weekend that begins the countdown to the summer...Canada Day is only 38 days away! Hopefully all our readers are enjoying their weekend!

Whether at home, the cottage or if you are brave enough to hit the campsite, you can tune into The Strombo Show on CBC Radio 2, starting at 8 pm EST. Click here to find your frequency. From the show's Facebook page: "This Sunday a special May Two-Four Strombo Show. George hands the show over to The Tragically Hip's Gord Downie for over an hour. Gord plays some music from his library and talks about his new band, The Country of Miracles."

As a result of the continuing NHL playoffs, the schedule for The Hour may be a tad wonky this week. When in doubt, check your local listings.

Monday, May 24th

Canada's iconic band Rush.



On June 10th, the documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage opens in selected locations throughout North America. It looks good!

Also, Brady Bunch actor Christopher Knight.

Tuesday, May 25th



Actor Jake Gyllenhaal of the latest action-adventure epic, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

Canadian Chief of Defence Staff General Walter Natynczyk.

Wednesday, June 26th

Of the Tragically Hip, Gord Downie.

Dave Salmoni and George's furry friend Jonas the tiger.

Thursday, May 27th

Free the Children founder Craig Kielburger.

"Electronica/trip hop" artists Massive Attack.

Friday, May 28th

It's like deja vu from Monday...Rush and Christopher Knight. Also, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, the singing sister country duo known as The Court Yard Hounds.
(If those names sounds familar, you may also know them as 2/3 of the Dixie Chicks.)

In other news...

Several weeks ago, we mentioned that George would be particpating in the localsknow.ca Canadian Tourism campaign. This has come to fruition through The Hour's "Best of Canada" interactive map. Share with the world where you think the BEST places in Canada can be found...it can be anything from a 'favourite find' to 'great grub' or 'take a hike' . Click here to get started and learn more about the contest associated with the campaign.

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Trudy attends a Vancouver taping of The Hour!

A couple of days ago, we asked our loyal reader Trudy if she would like to share with other readers her experience attending this week's taping of The Hour in Vancouver. Here is her story:

"My sister and I have never been to a show taping before, so it was really fun! We got there early, 5pm-ish and I was glad later, as some ticket holders (many actually) were put into another studio when ours was full. The guests and George were in and out of there during the taping breaks though, but I would have been pretty upset if we were put there. The studio was packed and I have to say everyone put in Studio B, as far as I could tell, stayed. I'm wondering how many people were in there, because that's a real testament to George. We sat front row of the bleachers beside the door. Here are another audience member’s Flickr photos . My sister has the short hair and I'm next to her.

We heard the instructions on when and how to clap and then out of nowhere George was right in front of us! He was saying “hi” to everyone. My sister, who is hilarious, shouted something like "Oh my God - you're real" and George high-fived her. The crowd was well behaved, nobody yelling out to him or anything, but super happy to see him making the rounds. Then he spoke for a while (very funny man) and the show started. We couldn't hear, but the rest of the bleachers sure could because they laughed a lot. The energy was just great. I guess from where our seats were located, the acoustics weren't great - we could see all the guests arrive, and the back stage staff doing their thing. When Billy the Kid sang, George came and hung out at our corner! So I got the unobstructed view of the guy! Best seat in the house. We had no problem hearing George answering questions though, just during the interviews. So when I got home at 11pm, I watched it on TV!

George was so great with making sure everyone had questions answered after the taping. He has such a great way with stories - he told one about the motorcycle accident and made it funny somehow. He also talked about his recent part in a movie where he gets shot and blood is pouring out of him. I hope someone cheated and filmed that, I had tears in my eyes from laughing. We didn't stay to meet him though, as neither of us had a camera and the crowd was huge...and I was nervous to meet him! I do wonder how long he stayed until. He's very dedicated to his audience and genuine about it. We were really impressed and hope the show comes back next year. BC place might have a roof by then! He can do the show there :)

Best,Trudy"

Thanks for taking the time to share your story with the blog! We are glad that you had such a great time. :)

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Abundance of Sineguelas

Sineguelas fruit (aka Spanish plum) brings back a lot of childhood memories in me. I was about 5-12 years old, when my twin, me and my cousins would play in our grandparent's ancestral house in the province and we would climb up to fruit bearing trees in the backyard, one of those is the Seneguelas. Summertime is always fun for kids and what better way to spend summer aside from playing under the sun, flying kites , swimming to the beach is also eating fruits from whatever is available in the backyard:).

Nowadays, seneguelas is in abundance in Bankerohan Public Market here in Davao City. I bought half kilo at first and when me and hubby ate it while watching TV, our little girl loves it too so every time I buy seneguelas, it has to be a kilo. We enjoy it while there are plenty because it usually ceases to be available in the market when the summertime ends.

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The Hour's week in Vancouver

The Strombo Show

Sunday nights 8-12
This week Band of Horses

takes over for an hour and they share some song selections.
Plus the usual audio appearances of Bob M jr and Rich Terfry
having a say about the musical offerings along with Strombo who is passionate about you hearing those songs you need to hear and he invites you to share you song passions as well.

Skype users can look for and join the Strombo Show chat group as the show airs. The chat group is hosted and monitored by Jazzdolphin of Vancouver. There is no video/audio features needed for the chat just a friendly need to communicate about the music and the topics.

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The Hour

Monday May 17th

Hockey Hero and Speaker Paul Henderson talks about being that Hockey player in that moment and other historic moments and how he became a Christian.

& Actress/Director Sarah Polley talking about the Sci-fi film
she is starring in ... Splice

Tuesday May 18th - VANCOUVER
Terry Fox's mother Betty Fox.
Who doesn't want to meet Betty Fox when in Vancouver?

& District 9 Director Neill Blomkamp
is working on a new Sci-fi film

Wednesday May 19th - VANCOUVER

Heritage Minister James Moore
My question would be...
Is he wearing this Habs shirt because he knew that would get him on The Hour?

Plus from the Vancouver Canucks The Sedin twins

and

Our Lady Peace's Raine Maida is a friend of the show
and also helped produce, mix and engineer The Lost Cause -Billy The Kid.

Thursday May 20th - VANCOUVER

Activist Rick Hansen
My question would be...
Did he really say no to the GG job?

President of the International AIDS Society Julio Montaner

Actress Nancy Robertson of Hiccups

& Musical Performance by Billy the Kid aka Billy Pettinger

Friday May 21
with a nod to Montreal

The Trotsky's Jay Baruchel with Director Jacob Tierney

& Musician

Rufus Wainwright

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Live Canadian music on The Hour

The Hour is trying something new.

They have done music specials for Christmas time and there was the Tragically Hip music special but they want to have bands performing on the show on a more regular basis.

Every once in awhile, on no particular day, George will present a lesser known, but fantastic Canadian band playing live near the end of the show.

The last five minutes will be bands like Timber Timbre from Ontario,
The Novaks from Newfoundland,

Billy The Kid from BC and other touring bands from all corners of the land.
If you can think of great bands you would like to see get this kind of national exposure, write the show and let them know.

Email thehour@cbc.ca, or write to The Hour, the address below.

THE HOUR
c/o CBC Television
P.O. Box 500, Station "A"
Toronto, Ont.
M5W 1E6

If you're emailing George, please use 'Message to George' as a subject.

*As they air on The Hour you can then watch the bands play some more songs as a web exclusive on The Hour's own site.
Enjoy!

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Alfonso Dolls

Take a look at these designs by Mr. Alfonso Guinoo. Beautiful, aren't they?

I've looked into my file photos and saw the pictures of Alfonso dolls which was displayed during the fashion edge exhibit in SM Davao.

Alfonso Guinoo, "Tito Boy", as he is fondly called is dubbed as Mindanao's fashion czar. He is known for interpolating the designs and fabrics of Mindanao's diverse cultural heritage into wearable clothes. His works have been exhibited and viewed in various fashion shows in Manila, Malaysia, Australia, the United States, and South Africa. Here at home, he has been honored with several awards of which are the Lifetime Achievement Award by the City Government of Davao, the Trophy of Achievement by the Davao Tourism Association, and the prestigious Datu Bago Award in 2004. He is now the adviser of the Fashion Designers Guild in Davao.

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