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Media pleas for fleas
Some of our best media minds have been, er, scratching their heads about the Acme Miniature Flea Circus’s run through Sunday (January 26) at Artword Theatre. CTV’s Canada AM was considering inviting flea trainer A.G. Gertsacov on the show, but when told the fleas couldn’t leave their hotel room and studio lights would be too hot, the producer bailed, saying a flea circus without fleas is like a magician without tricks. Same thing on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning no fleas, no guest spot. So here’s the news. Unlike dogs, flea circuses don’t actually have fleas. It’s a joke, dammit. In a routine that predates vaudeville, a flea trainer provides uproarious commentary as he presides over tiny bicycles and thimble diving tanks. Sheesh.
Ernie the red Had to howl as Ernie Eves was forced to admit the NDP’s Howard Hampton was right all along selling off Ontario Hydro is a stupid idea. It’s great entertainment watching Eves try to distance himself from the government he served as finance minster in time for the next election. Up next, watch the PCs commission a statue of Tommy Douglas for Queen’s Park and the red star replace the trillium.
Globe wins fuck fest
Canada’s crusty national newspapers aren’t equally uptight when it comes to the f-word. That’s f as in fuck. Thanks to foul-mouthed post-folkie firebrand Kathleen Edwards for illustrating this fact. Both the Globe and the National Post profiled the rising star last week in front of her low-key Friday appearance on David Letterman. In previewing the spot, the Globe quotes Edwards as saying her positive prognosticators “were totally fucking right.” Meanwhile, Edwards marvels at her success in the Post in a 50s-throwback formulation, wondering “What the f— is everybody talking about?” And the Post calls this edgy?
Football flop bags baseball booty
Shame on those who might leap to judge the recent appointment of Blue Jays CEO Paul Godfrey’s son Rob Godfrey as director of Florida operations for the increasingly unloved baseball team. Who wouldn’t like to log some Florida work time during these chilly winter months? Godfrey the Younger says he’ll be pursuing moneymaking and marketing opportunities, but his resumé isn’t very promising. It reveals a career in investment banking, a law degree and a sports background limited to bringing arena football to Toronto. And Toronto didn’t want it. Junior’s football Phantoms, marketed with tits and toga parties, folded after less than two unnoticed seasons. Go Jays.
Big Spender Boulevard
Full points to North York’s Giorgio no longer George Mammoliti. After only 13 undistinguished years in city government, the councillor with the biggest annual expenses appears to have the biggest ego, too. Mammoliti is supporting an independent effort by citizens in his ward to have a street named after him. Showing how much he just doesn’t get it, Mammoliti cites Mel Lastman’s appalling decision to name North York’s main square after himself as a precedent. Jewish culture has it right, even if Mel doesn’t: don’t start naming things after people until they’re gone dead, that is.
