Jan 21/08 9:28am addendum:
Photos by Allan.
Read his full report.
Test the Nation: the holding pen
P.S. Also thanks for the photos.
Thanks allan and jesse for sharing your experiences in detail here. I am so glad that I check out the site here to read your comments.
wow who knew a fun lil quiz show could cause jesse and the bloggers such angst ?
it’s a game dude
18 Comments
And now who’s judging a book by it’s cover?
I’m just kidding, Allyson, you made me smile, amidst all the STRESS!!!
Hi Allan! Thanks for the lovely comment…I did not dislike you before we got into the studio, though I was a little irked that you were so negative about The Shock Doctrine even though you’ve NEVER READ THE BOOK! What ever happened to ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover????’ You cannot successfully make or defend an argument about the thesis and content of a book without having read the book to begin with.
I’m just saying…
Anyway, I was very glad to have met you and I had an absolutely smashing time! And, yes, there are hip young broadcasters out there, but George will always be #1 in my books!
Allan, thanks for your kind praise.
Your HTML is breaking constantly though, you should know.
Your weekend reading starts here (because I know you all only work a four-day week just like George!)
Leave it to Saskboy to fill in the blanks. So few of the 36 team members actually wrote at length about their experiences, which I find unusual for a bunch of mouthy bloggers. Perhaps they’re just trying to put the pieces of a normal life back together after such a heady experience (thought of a title for the event – Bonfire of the Vanities – wadda ya mean it’s been used?).
Ouimet pointed out earlier the remarks made by Gay Person of Colour at his blog. I didn’t miss seeing him wearing a T-shirt with the name of his blog (which is something we all should have done – I’m not interested in your real name, you’re a blog to me) and sitting next to Jesse in the photo. Gay Person and I had earlier smiled at one another and that pretty much was all I needed to know we’d have a great relationship. Good vibes.
Personally, I was moved by a remark posted just the night before the event, over at Wandering Coyote. And yes, you have to read link right now) that she felt kind of foolish dressing like that and being the only one to do so.
Unfortunately her comments are closed, otherwise it seems that Hugh Mcguire and I both want to tell her how proud we were of her for getting into the spirit of it all and really putting the fun in fun. It’s the rest of us who should be embarrassed for not having the nerve to do the same (I too compromised – I usually wear a tie when blogging).
I was a bit taken aback by how much of her blog was devoted to American politics, this from a Canadian living in the hinterland. But of course that stuff is a goldmine for satire, and duh, Samantha Bee’s bread & butter at this point.
And if you think Jules is pretty sharp, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Check out this incredible story from her “About” (often the most interesting part of someone’s blog):
“Canadian Author and Humorist, Jules Carlysle lives and works from the remote regions of Northwestern Ontario Canada, where she shares one room, with one dog and one kid.
In January 2004, as President of Learn-IT, one of the world’™s fastest growing technology training companies, Jules, after a long career as a ’œkamikaze entrepreneur’, was at the pinnacle of her success.
Well known for her casual demeanor and unique approach to pretty much everything, Jules had become famous for her ability to see problems and solutions in a completely new way. She had been called upon by the Federal Government to consult on issues related to ’œtech transfer’ (the process of commercializing new innovations in science) and regional economic development. Despite her lack of formal education, (she dropped out of school after tenth grade), Jules was highly regarded for her unique brand of ingenuity.
Unfortunately in 2004, Jules suffered a serious head injury, when she slipped on some ice outside her office and hit her head on a brick wall. After ’œleaking IQ points’ into a snow bank for three hours, Carlysle would find her life suddenly and dramatically changed.
A year after the accident, after the money had run out and Learn-IT was nothing more than a distant memory, Carlysle, her teenage son and their cocker spaniel moved to a small single room in an old commercial building, in the worst part of town.
Still having difficulty with reading and her memory, Carlysle was considered unemployable. She was offered no opportunity for rehabilitative therapy, simply instructed to learn to live with her new limitations. Surrendering in the face of a challenge was not something Carlysle was prepared to do.
Bored and virtually housebound, Jules became engrossed in the emerging spectacle of American politics. Galled that she was considered too dumb to return to the workforce, yet still significantly smarter than the President of the United States, Carlysle concentrated her efforts and frustrations into researching her book DUMBASS, a tome of flabbergasting volume that serves up the irresponsibility, incompetence and stupidity of America’™s Frat Boy in Chief and His Merry Band of Miscreants in humorously chewy bite-sized morsels.
After 10 months of nearly obsessive research and writing, Carlysle found herself unexpectedly rehabilitated. Ironically, the very process of mocking President Bush’s intellectual prowess had restored her own.
Perhaps, more surprising are the conditions under which she managed to live, raise a teenage magician and publish her books. Carlysle lives in what she calls a state of “functional homelessness”. She explains the term like this, ’œAs a functionally illiterate person manages to move amongst us undetected while lacking the very basic skills of reading and writing, we live without the basics normally associated with “home”, such as running water, a bathroom or a kitchen.’
Carlysle claims this domestic purgatory is much more common than one might realize as it remains a hidden, uncounted demographic. Over the years, she claims to have known a dozen other families who have lived similarly.
Carlysle, in her typical style, takes it all in stride. “The bottom line is that the bottom line doesn’t matter. Our worst is better than other families best”, she argues. “We laugh far more than we cry at our house. I’ve always said that if I wake up tomorrow with nothing left but my pulse and a sense of humour, I’ll happily start all over again. — of course, when I said that I didn’t know I would actually have to do it one day…”.“
I chose to not put their stuff in italics. And I chose to submit it to you in full rather than just link to it, because I wanted you lazy geeks to have every chance to read this.
It’s not at all about the CBC. But this is who should be on The Hour (!!!!)
It’s just some of the best stuff I’ve read on all these blogs. And I’ve read at least three of the 20,000,000 so far.
But back to