You have 29 Snarkmarks (snark foetus)

Well, our country has produced Jim Carrey and Mike Myers that are in many major films.

SCTV is Canadian, Matt Groening is Canadian (Therefore Simpsons and Futurama are in most ways Canadian.

As well as that, MANY films are made in Canada instead of the us because its cheaper (Lower taxes)

It doesn't count if your denizens flee the country to get stuff made. I'm a sketch comedy fanatic; I know all about the influence Second City Toronto has had on comedy in America. Even that, however, is an import of the original monolithic theater troupe in Chicago.

As to "lower taxes," there was already a post showing data that the US has the lowest taxes. I guess what you meant to say was "lower wages," in which case our making movies there is akin to our making clothing in Indonesia.

Oh, let us not forget the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, that has a tremendoes impact on the comedy scene

Moreso than Aspen? I doubt it.

Whats Aspen?

Thus proving you have no clue what you're talking about. The Aspen Comedy Festival (Aspen being a ski resort in Colorado) is to sketch comedy and stand-up what Cannes is to the film industry.

Well I've never heard aboot it in anything, and it's not on the comedy network, so it can't be that famous.

Indeed, how famous/important something is is based on solely if fizscy46 knows about it.

wil5on said:
First thing to worry about is air power. The US has the most powerful airforce in the world in terms of equipment,

UK has the best navy in the world :razz:

[edit] but it would be cool to be a pilot.

Indeed, how famous/important something is is based on solely if fizscy46 knows about it.

I watch a lot of media, and i've never heard the name of the festival, I can say the same for a good deal of people living in my area (4 million in the nearest 30km

I think it's ridiculous that you're actually defending being a final arbiter on whether something's famous or not. No man can be omniscient. You gotta accept the imperfection and move on from there.

fizscy46 said:
Britain won against the French in that war. Since Canada was a colony of Britian then, and United States was fighting against Canada on France, Canada beat the US.

War of 1812 had Canada almost completely take over the US... But the moronic British generals went "Ta ta, perhaps peace is the best option hear chap, wouldn't ya say?"

And made us give everything back to the US... The Indians should have gotten Michigan though

Wow. That's some wonderful history you canucks have!

1. French and Indian War - Canada is a colony of France. The US is a colony of Britain. Combined British/American forces (plus a few indians) defeat the French and their indian allies, forcing the French to hand over Canada and I believe the Ohio Valley to the British. So now the British control Canada and America. You don't even know what side Canada was on! This is one of the reasons why the French joined the US's side in the Revolutionary War, to get back at Britain.

2. War of 1812 - The US is sick of Britain f**king with them, ignoring treaties, and kidnapping sailors/ignoring maritime law. The US declares war and decides to kick the British out of the Ohio Valley. They should never have been there if the Brits followed the peace treaties they signed. In the process someone gets the bright idea that Canada would love to be liberated from colonial Britain and join the freedom loving US, so the Americans invade Canada. The Canadians resist instead of joining them, since most of the tories (British supporters) from America moved there after the Revolutionary War. Either Montreal or Toronto is burned to the ground by the victorious Americans (if only it stayed that way!). Eventually Britain has enough of this upstart country and invades, burning Washington DC in the process. Big deal, the Brits don't have the interest in a full scale war, and once they lose their momentum and start losing battles they decide to call the invasion off. Basically the US fought the British to a draw. Given that the US has been a country for like 20 years and Britain is the major power in the world, this is viewed as a victory for the US, especially after the British agree to respect earlier treaties, leave the Ohio Valley, and accept America's right to have ships in the ocean. Canada didn't invade the US to any successful degree. I don't remember New York or Philadelphia falling to Canadian hands :rolleyes:

Reminds me of something I read once where a major Mexican blowhard claimed that Pancho Villa managed to rampage across all 48 states of the United States without being caught. Yeah, ok, a marauding Mexican general managed to make it to Maine and stir up trouble... he must have been damn good.

ive never heard of it. (Aspen Comedy Festival)

Me neither...but then there isn't much point looking abroad for comedy when every year Edinburgh gets packed full of comedians from all over.

wil5on said:
The US navy could potentially launch a nuclear strike against all Canadian cities simultaneously, however the cost would be prohibitive.

Well, first off, a nuclear strike would never ever be used. The only reason why the US still holds thousands of warheads is becuase they are left over from the cold war(most have already been disposed of). I mean, America would be quicker to nuke Iraq than Canada, and that's becuase it's simply inhumane. The only prohibitive cost I see is hate other nation's hate towards the US would be intensely strong if a nuclear weapon were used on another nation. As we all know, a nuclear weapon hasn't been used in warfare since the second world war, and I seriously doubt they will ever be used again for such reasons.

Yak_Fighter said:

fizscy46 said:
Britain won against the French in that war. Since Canada was a colony of Britian then, and United States was fighting against Canada on France, Canada beat the US.

War of 1812 had Canada almost completely take over the US... But the moronic British generals went "Ta ta, perhaps peace is the best option hear chap, wouldn't ya say?"

And made us give everything back to the US... The Indians should have gotten Michigan though

Wow. That's some wonderful history you canucks have!

1. French and Indian War - Canada is a colony of France. The US is a colony of Britain. Combined British/American forces (plus a few indians) defeat the French and their indian allies, forcing the French to hand over Canada and I believe the Ohio Valley to the British. So now the British control Canada and America. You don't even know what side Canada was on! This is one of the reasons why the French joined the US's side in the Revolutionary War, to get back at Britain.

2. War of 1812 - The US is sick of Britain f**king with them, ignoring treaties, and kidnapping sailors/ignoring maritime law. The US declares war and decides to kick the British out of the Ohio Valley. They should never have been there if the Brits followed the peace treaties they signed. In the process someone gets the bright idea that Canada would love to be liberated from colonial Britain and join the freedom loving US, so the Americans invade Canada. The Canadians resist instead of joining them, since most of the tories (British supporters) from America moved there after the Revolutionary War. Either Montreal or Toronto is burned to the ground by the victorious Americans (if only it stayed that way!). Eventually Britain has enough of this upstart country and invades, burning Washington DC in the process. Big deal, the Brits don't have the interest in a full scale war, and once they lose their momentum and start losing battles they decide to call the invasion off. Basically the US fought the British to a draw. Given that the US has been a country for like 20 years and Britain is the major power in the world, this is viewed as a victory for the US, especially after the British agree to respect earlier treaties, leave the Ohio Valley, and accept America's right to have ships in the ocean. Canada didn't invade the US to any successful degree. I don't remember New York or Philadelphia falling to Canadian hands :rolleyes:

Reminds me of something I read once where a major Mexican blowhard claimed that Pancho Villa managed to rampage across all 48 states of the United States without being caught. Yeah, ok, a marauding Mexican general managed to make it to Maine and stir up trouble... he must have been damn good.

We burned down your white-house...

Gorbachev said:

Yak_Fighter said:

fizscy46 said:
Britain won against the French in that war. Since Canada was a colony of Britian then, and United States was fighting against Canada on France, Canada beat the US.

War of 1812 had Canada almost completely take over the US... But the moronic British generals went "Ta ta, perhaps peace is the best option hear chap, wouldn't ya say?"

And made us give everything back to the US... The Indians should have gotten Michigan though

Wow. That's some wonderful history you canucks have!

1. French and Indian War - Canada is a colony of France. The US is a colony of Britain. Combined British/American forces (plus a few indians) defeat the French and their indian allies, forcing the French to hand over Canada and I believe the Ohio Valley to the British. So now the British control Canada and America. You don't even know what side Canada was on! This is one of the reasons why the French joined the US's side in the Revolutionary War, to get back at Britain.

2. War of 1812 - The US is sick of Britain f**king with them, ignoring treaties, and kidnapping sailors/ignoring maritime law. The US declares war and decides to kick the British out of the Ohio Valley. They should never have been there if the Brits followed the peace treaties they signed. In the process someone gets the bright idea that Canada would love to be liberated from colonial Britain and join the freedom loving US, so the Americans invade Canada. The Canadians resist instead of joining them, since most of the tories (British supporters) from America moved there after the Revolutionary War. Either Montreal or Toronto is burned to the ground by the victorious Americans (if only it stayed that way!). Eventually Britain has enough of this upstart country and invades, burning Washington DC in the process. Big deal, the Brits don't have the interest in a full scale war, and once they lose their momentum and start losing battles they decide to call the invasion off. Basically the US fought the British to a draw. Given that the US has been a country for like 20 years and Britain is the major power in the world, this is viewed as a victory for the US, especially after the British agree to respect earlier treaties, leave the Ohio Valley, and accept America's right to have ships in the ocean. Canada didn't invade the US to any successful degree. I don't remember New York or Philadelphia falling to Canadian hands :rolleyes:

Reminds me of something I read once where a major Mexican blowhard claimed that Pancho Villa managed to rampage across all 48 states of the United States without being caught. Yeah, ok, a marauding Mexican general managed to make it to Maine and stir up trouble... he must have been damn good.

We burned down your white-house...

Yak: 10,000

Canada: .01

Quit while you're behind and go make some maple syrup, fellas.

Gorb- Correct me if I'm worong, but I was under the impression that the british burned the whitehouse. I'd be very much suprised if Canada had anything to do with it.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width="95%" align=center>
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<TD style="FONT-SIZE: 11px; COLOR: gold" bgColor=black>? posted by Tracer Bullet</TD>
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<TD bgColor=#151515>Gorb- Correct me if I'm worong, but I was under the impression that the british burned the whitehouse. I'd be very much suprised if Canada had anything to do with it.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Quite right TB. The Americans were trounced by British troops at a place called Bladensburg and fled for the hills leaving Washington defenceless. The White House and Capitol were burned but most of the rest of the city was saved from destruction by torrential rain.

Canada: .00

ReNo said:
Me neither...but then there isn't much point looking abroad for comedy when every year Edinburgh gets packed full of comedians from all over.

That's because the UK actually has the ability to maintain it's own comedy scene totally separate from America. Canada should make no such illusions.

This has to be the most patriotic forum I've ever seen. Too bad we're not all from the same country.

I've read that it is illegal for light-colored soda in Canada to contain caffeine... ...Is this true? For instance, is all Mt.Dew in Canada of the caffeine-free variety?

Bah. Cafine free soda taste like gack, even though you can't taste it

Nugg3t said:

wil5on said:
The US navy could potentially launch a nuclear strike against all Canadian cities simultaneously, however the cost would be prohibitive.

Well, first off, a nuclear strike would never ever be used. The only reason why the US still holds thousands of warheads is becuase they are left over from the cold war(most have already been disposed of). I mean, America would be quicker to nuke Iraq than Canada, and that's becuase it's simply inhumane. The only prohibitive cost I see is hate other nation's hate towards the US would be intensely strong if a nuclear weapon were used on another nation. As we all know, a nuclear weapon hasn't been used in warfare since the second world war, and I seriously doubt they will ever be used again for such reasons.

This is assuming the US and Canada are actually at war. And by the cost, I'm not only talking about money (though that is a major factor).

Yeah, I don't think we'd find it all that appealing to be living adjacent to a radioactive wasteland.

I'm sure its not so bad once you get used to it.

I've read that it is illegal for light-colored soda in Canada to contain caffeine... ...Is this true? For instance, is all Mt.Dew in Canada of the caffeine-free variety?

Its not illegal, they are just like that here

As for the whitehouse, Canada wasn't a seperate nation until 1867, so Canadian troops WERE British troops

That isn't to say British Troops were Canadian Troops. Basically, you are saying since you guys were pawns, that you should be given credit for any victories your masters won, no matter how insignificant or short-lived and with no regard to whether or not you were actually involved.

Don't be too harsh, Cash. They are just like that there.

...Besides, we can always just say USA's kicked their ass several times.

fizscy46 said:
As for the whitehouse, Canada wasn't a seperate nation until 1867, so Canadian troops WERE British troops

By that reasoning, it must have been the "Canadian Navy" that won the battle of Trafalgar (1805).

Wake up dude, Canada is a second rate power (at best) and always has been.

Cash Car Star said:
That isn't to say British Troops were Canadian Troops. Basically, you are saying since you guys were pawns, that you should be given credit for any victories your masters won, no matter how insignificant or short-lived and with no regard to whether or not you were actually involved.

Calling us pawns just brings it all back to the whole point of the war...

Now just to sort of give you an idea of where I stand, I don't think Canada has anywhere near a mentionable armed force other than rescue and peace-keeping missions. This I am completely comfortable with and that's all I deem necessary and thus I could care less about the States having a hell of a lot more armed forces.

"I've read that it is illegal for light-colored soda in Canada to contain caffeine... ...Is this true? For instance, is all Mt.Dew in Canada of the caffeine-free variety? "

Not so far as I know...there are tons of lighter coloured pop that has caffeine in it. There are lot less restrictions in a lot of things in Canada than the States. (i.e. movie ratings, many "R" movies in the States are 14A these days, I haven't seen a real 18A or R Canadian in a long time. Our TV also seems to have less restriction on what it shows and how it shows it (censorships and such.)

"The US navy could potentially launch a nuclear strike against all Canadian cities simultaneously, however the cost would be prohibitive."

And why the hell would they ever want to? All it seems Americans proclaim is that because you could kill us that makes you better or something. Why not try being nice for a change instead of saying your guns are bigger?

"lol
no. Most of them are pictures of historical things or symbols of canada... And they are 46 cent stamps "

That was years ago, it's around 49 now I think.

Some special stamps for this year: http://www.ccna.ca/files/releases/NHL-stamp-sheet-300.jpg

"Canadians (Well, I refer to Ontario (The one that sticks down for you guys down there xD)) have free healthcare, and our income tax is lower than most states"

Pretty sure it's opposite to that...we get reamed by income tax here, in many cases up to 46% of your income. Although the trade-off is the free healthcare, in many cases saves tens of thousands of dollars from single visits in a comparable US situation. The only problem is the lack of full funding and no real privatized option to get instant care if you can afford it.

Then again, me being West Coast and all I have many differing opinions than someone of an Eastern Canadian perspective (especially Ontario.)

"If Canada is so great, why does it's government have to mandate that a certain percentage of its tv programming is made locally? Is your stuff that bad that the government needs to step in and training wheel you guys along? Outside of sketch comedy (YCDToTV and KitH), what has your country ever produced?"

I see this as an attempt to resist saturating our TV with a lot of the cheap and brutal garbage shows that come up from the States...UPN anyone? cough FOX cough. (Not to say that everything is bad, but I'm sure you've noticed by now that the majority of TV is crap.) There is some great stuff that is Canadian made and probably wouldn't have had a chance to pick up if it wasn't for the mandates. Watch a few episodes of Trailer Park Boys and you'll see what I mean. Although often the humour I enjoy that's Canadian made is highly satiracle and requires a lot of general knowledge that I know American citizens don't receive due to heavy biases on their most popular news programs. (i.e.This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Royal Canadian Air Farce) Odd are you've never heard of them and that's a shame, but I think you guys have been looking towards yourselves too long and are missing the great opportunities of the outside world.

I wonder who would win in a war where fizscy controlled the canadian forces, and TB controlled the USA's forces :rolleyes:

/de-railment

@ sloth

I absolutly agree witth you Gorb, but why spoil a fun pissing contest with reason?

/continues pissing

some stats as of 2003:

Here's a very nice commemorative stamp I found from a few months ago...

http://www.canadapost.ca/personal/collecting/default-e.asp?stamp=stpdtl&detail=880

There are some really interesting ones as well as the basic one (It's usually just a stylized maple leaf/flag.)

So what's the symbolism of the maple leaf anyway? Just the national tree, or is there more to it?

Those are some good points Gorb, particularly the last paragraph. In general, I find the US media is alarmingly biased and even ignorant towards world affairs and foreign cultures.

I really do feel bad for Canada, in a sense, over hockey. It must be painful to see Canadian teams move south into areas that have no business supporting hockey and to see your national sport being played in such temperate places like Los Angeles, Dallas, and Florida. What I'm really trying to say is that the Nordiques need to go back to Quebec, leaving worthless Denver, Colorado. A little piece of my childhood died when all those teams started moving around ruining a sport I used to love watching.

PS Gorb: '94 must have been a bad year for you. haha! :biggrin:

Canada was still a "dominion" for a while, meaning that it had it's own government but we were still in overall control- it's dominion status was phased out slowly though, see bottom of Wiki article. Canadian troops were British Empire troops, not British troops.

movie ratings, many "R" movies in the States are 14A these days, I haven't seen a real 18A or R Canadian in a long time.

Meh, you can get into an American theatre to see an R movie, no problem. They really don't care if you are only 13 years old, they rarely check. At least, I have NEVER seen the age requirements of movie ratings actually enforced here.

And on the matter of a USA vs. Canada war? More likely, (still highly UN-likely though) if Canada was ever attacked, the U.S. would be stepping right in to help defend the continent. (and vice versa, I hope)

I find the US media is alarmingly biased and even ignorant towards world affairs and foreign cultures.

You're saying this like no one knows this or that it is new. Come on, the news is engineered to be entertainment ... not factual.

I've forgotten how many times I've seen something on the news only to have the whole story blown out of proportion and skewed to suit the station.

You'll also notice they'll easily cut into normal programming to show a stock holders new realistate property burn (in the event of a fire) and then call it the fire of the century, with some sort of tag line like: Blaze Watch '04.

The news is entertainment like everything else on TV.

If that war ever started I'd love to see Blair's face cos he would'nt know who to back.

Cos you know he'd want to send our army (with them being the best in the world).

Crono is right. When I watched CNN Europe for the first time, I was shocked at how low-key and unassuming it was. Compared to that, FOX, Michael Moore, Sean Hannity, or even CNN America are just sources of entertainment, and the times at which they truly inform the viewer are rare. That's how they make money.

Huh, Lep uses Wikipedia.

Heh heh, I can terrorize from 2 fronts.

If me and TB were in control of the countries armies, we'd blow ourselves up, not each other.

Yak_Fighter said:
I really do feel bad for Canada, in a sense, over hockey. It must be painful to see Canadian teams move south into areas that have no business supporting hockey and to see your national sport being played in such temperate places like Los Angeles, Dallas, and Florida. What I'm really trying to say is that the Nordiques need to go back to Quebec, leaving worthless Denver, Colorado. A little piece of my childhood died when all those teams started moving around ruining a sport I used to love watching.

PS Gorb: '94 must have been a bad year for you. haha! :biggrin:

/cry

But in all seriousness, I'm a big hockey person (I've been playing it for about 11 years already.) I started watching the Canucks around '95/'96 but have watched many of the '94 series games. It does suck, same with this year. But I don't know if you've noticed how the market in hockey has shifted? Now the Canadian teams are gaining steam again, such as the Canucks...we went from Cup runners, to missing playoffs for a few years to being one of the top 3 teams in the league. The playoffs always have some technicality, but Vancouver is the most exciting team to play by their adopted styles. (Much more active, but it can be costly too, unlike the 'trap' which works but sucks to watch.) There will be a 'Nordiks' team in that revival of the WHA as well as many other Canadian teams. While Calgary has also become one of the hottest teams for merchandise too because of their run (top jersey sales in the league) and Vancouver's vintage jersey has also proven to be a really hot seller too (I've seen it worn be even some larger name US rappers and stuff.) Hopefully with the CBA (collective barganing agreement) the costs towards players will be capped and/or reduced back to a sustainable market where Canadian teams don't have to be anything short of amazing to survive. (5 out of 6 CDN teams made the playoffs this year and the other was out by a point or two.)

Plus Bertuzzi is my favourite player, and the whole fiasco with him is a bunch of non-hockey players trying to judge a sport they know nothing about. So many of their new rules that supposedly protect players has resulted in this happening. Too bad they haven't figure that out yet...

Leperous said:
Canada was still a "dominion" for a while, meaning that it had it's own government but we were still in overall control- it's dominion status was phased out slowly though, see bottom of Wiki article. Canadian troops were British Empire troops, not British troops.

That's more like what I thought it was, sort of a settlement of troops that worked as a seperate body but was still ruled overhead by Britain. Hell, we were still in the commonwealth up until a few years/decades ago. And many of our goverment based objects still reference the queen and such. All our coins have the queen on the back (every decade or so it changes based on her age and how she looks then) as well, we still have a governer general who's supposed to be the queen's representative in Canada. And once in a while we sing God Save the Queen.

Crono is right. When I watched CNN Europe for the first time, I was shocked at how low-key and unassuming it was. Compared to that, FOX, Michael Moore, Sean Hannity, or even CNN America are just sources of entertainment, and the times at which they truly inform the viewer are rare. That's how they make money.

Exactly, you're just like, "Holy s**t!! news". I suppose it sad when your country has entire "news" programs devoted to showing the non-factual ins and outs to celebrities. s**t, what am I saying, we have entire channel devoted to that (E!, Entertainment Tonight).

None of it is really news anymore, since the 'normal' news is already suggestive. They use scare tactics to keep you from certain areas of town and such. But, then again, you can't be mad or disappointed because this is after all a direct cause of what this country is made for, making money.

I heard stuff a long time ago about other countries ideas to 'entertain' during the news. Russia had naked women.

Gorbachev said:
"If Canada is so great, why does it's government have to mandate that a certain percentage of its tv programming is made locally? Is your stuff that bad that the government needs to step in and training wheel you guys along? Outside of sketch comedy (YCDToTV and KitH), what has your country ever produced?"

I see this as an attempt to resist saturating our TV with a lot of the cheap and brutal garbage shows that come up from the States...UPN anyone? cough FOX cough. (Not to say that everything is bad, but I'm sure you've noticed by now that the majority of TV is crap.) There is some great stuff that is Canadian made and probably wouldn't have had a chance to pick up if it wasn't for the mandates. Watch a few episodes of Trailer Park Boys and you'll see what I mean. Although often the humour I enjoy that's Canadian made is highly satiracle and requires a lot of general knowledge that I know American citizens don't receive due to heavy biases on their most popular news programs. (i.e.This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Royal Canadian Air Farce) Odd are you've never heard of them and that's a shame, but I think you guys have been looking towards yourselves too long and are missing the great opportunities of the outside world.

No one here watches UPN either. FOX has some pandering trash, but it's also home of some comedy gems: The Simpsons, Family Guy, Arrested Development. I've heard of Royal Canadian Air Force and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, but by name only, as they aren't shown around here. From what I understand, the latter is essentially your news parody show, right? We have one of those that's doing pretty excellent right now, The Daily Show. You're right in that a lot of the humor is non-transferable though. Anyway, I'm sure we have comparative stuff, I doubt you guys get the Upright Citizen's Brigade. Off television and on stage, however, Chicago is still absolutely king for comedy.

What I'm really trying to say, though, is that television networks are businesses, and the shows they run aren't always of the highest artistic merit - it's economics. What do the people want to see? What shows will sell ad space? The rules of economics don't change from country to country. The government stepping in to set rates of how much must be local programming is indicative of a populace, that given the choice, wouldn't watch it, at least at it's current percentage of air time. I'm not the one that needs convincing that Canadian TV is better - your countrymen are.

I find that the best news reporting in the states is on NPR. All Things Considered has a fairly liberal bent, but I don't think they spin things as much as the TV news does. One of my favorite programs is The World (co produced by the BBC). It gives an interesting international perspective on the news.

The only thing I ever watch on TV is movies. Everything else is garbage.

Canadian media is pretty damn funny, if only as a novelty. I visit Bellingham WA quite often (30 Mi south of Vancouver BC) and I'm always amused by the radio and TV. You guys are alot more... free with sexual content. By US standards it's positivly shocking.

...

The only thing I ever watch on TV is movies. Everything else is garbage.

...

ditto.