THE EDUCATION OF ROBERT NIFKIN

by Daniel Pinkwater. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.

This book is killer.

This book is (sort of) written in the form of a college essay. Robert Nifkin is a fifteen-year old boy starting high school in Chicago in 1957. He finds school boring and generally horrible, so he starts skipping.

This book is full of humour throughout. Also, it breaks into little sections. You'll read a few chapters and think, "That seems like a good place to stop," then pick up the book another time shortly thereafter.

There are some things in this book I don't agree with, but keep following this blog and you'll learn about those.

THE TICKET 2003-2008

Last night was the final episode of the Bbc arts and entertainment program The Ticket.

I first discovered The Ticket in the summer of 2007 via Cbc overnight. The ticket was a relief from Etalk Daily and Entertainment Tonight. Instead of being about the celebrities themselves, it would focus on the movies and albums. The show would feature a broad range of stories about a broad range of topics, from Hollywood movies to Russian art exhibits to Asian musicians to African circus performers.

Happily, the news of The Ticket's cancellation is not entirely bad. It will be replaced by a new daily program called The Strand. I hope The Strand will continue The Ticket's legacy.

BON COP, BAD COP

Cbc Television, Sunday October 19, 2008, 8:00 p.m.

Bon Cop, Bad Cop is a film about a French police officer and an English police officer who end up working together because the body of a murder victim is found lying on both sides of the Quebec-Ontario border. As they investigate, the officers discover that a serial killer is murdering hockey players and executives. Part of the movie was in French, so I couldn't really understand it, but what I understood was pretty good.

Highlights include Rick Mercer as a French-hating sports talk-show host, and the guy who played Jack Angel on This Is Wonderland as the English cop's supervisor. The key to watching Bon Cop, Bad Cop is not to take it at all seriously. Just sit back and be entertained.


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DEGRASSI: the next generation: episode review

The main plot of last night's episode of Degrassi: the next generation revolved around Jane joining the boy's football team. For a show that was founded on the alleged principle of being realistic, I have never heard of anything like this happening. The usual conflicts arise over the boys not wanting a girl on their team. Jane thinks she'll quit, but after being told she is the hero of the female student body, makes a stirring speech in the boy's change room during the pep talk. Incidentally, the usual conflicts also arise over differences between boys and girls, particularly when she has to go into the boy's change room to get her shoulder pads. In Europe, they have unisex change rooms, so I don't see why that stuff has to be such a big deal.

Here is the speech I would have made, had I appeared in the plot at the time of the pep talk:

"Look, boys, this school hasn't won a football trophy in it's entire history. Jane is your only chance, so suck it up, go out there on the field and try your very best. Also, don't make a big deal about the fact that she will be in here during the pep talk. In Europe, they have unisex change rooms, so I don't see why it should be a big deal."

Also, at one point, one of the players named Danny pushes Jane into a locker. How could he?

Also, this episode has a subplot (act surprised.) Darcy tells Peter that she is going off to Kenya the next day for four months, which is about how long the 90210 spin-off should last. Peter is very surprised by this news. After Darcy leaves, he ends up having sex with Mia, who now somehow is a model. This means she is now a model, a member of the Spirit Squad, involved in the student council, and a full-time student, and oh yeah, she also has a kid to raise. Be careful, Mia, you don't want Isabella to get taken away ... again.

IIf you are a girl who has played on a boys football team, or are a teen mom model, leave your comments in the comment area.

SELF-PROMOTION

In an efert to get more hits, I have listed this blog with some blog submission sites. In fairness to them, here are a couple of their Url's.


http://www.blogdigger.com
http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/news_media

SHADOW PEOPLE: inside history's most notorious secret societies

by John Lawrence Reynolds. Toronto: Key Porter Books, 2006.

This book does a lot of the usual things books that "debunk conspiracies" do, such as ignoring evidence and making fun of people.

Oh, and nice job attacking Bill Cooper when he's dead and can't defend himself.