I'm Not Cheap, I'm Thrifty . . . D'oh!

I know you'll all be thrilled to hear that Round 1 of this year's 4 rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs has now started, and that the Edmonton Oilers are once again making a run for the Cup (in Round 1, they're playing the Los Angeles Kings, as per usual).

You may remember that last year I shelled out a positively obscene amount of money to buy a lucky official NHL t-shirt to spur my team on to victory --

But I'm one smart cookie, see? I don't need to spend that kind of money again this year, thanks to my trusty black Sharpie --

Alas, though, my clever thriftiness has been summarily thwarted by an unexpected development!

My other beloved hockey team, the Winnipeg Jets (who have been #1 all season and are playing the St. Louis Blues in Round 1) have just recently acquired a new player from the Seattle Kraken -- Brandon Tanev, one of my favourite Hockey Hair Gods. Here's his new official player photo wearing a Jets jersey while sporting his trademark stunned expression --

This unexpected development has now forced me -- forced me, I tellz ya -- to shell out another positively obscene amount of money to buy a new lucky Jets t-shirt to wear while watching their games too.

Jeez, has the NHL tagged me as a pathetically easy fleeceable pushover or what? (Rhetorical question only, NO need to answer it, thank you very much).

In Which I Help the VGK Win the Stanley Cup

One of my favourite hockey teams, the Vegas Golden Knights, are the 2023 Stanley Cup Champions! The VGK eliminated the Winnipeg Jets (*sob*), Edmonton Oilers (*sob*) and Dallas Stars to get to the final round, where they thoroughly dominated and defeated the Florida Panthers to win!

Here's my reigning Hockey Hair God, Captain Mark Stone, hoisting the Cup as his team wins it for the first time in VGK's brief franchise history.

If a Canadian hockey team can't win the Cup, then the next best thing is seeing a Good Winnipeg Boy like Mark Stone do it. And, as my post title reveals, I went above and beyond to ensure this Stanley Cup victory. In honour of Stone and the other three Manitoba players on the VGK's extensive Canadian roster, I wore my Lucky Winnipeg T-shirt each game of the final round. 

Behold the T-shirt of Destiny --

You're welcome, boys!

No, No, I'm Fine ... *sob* ... REALLY!

Well, the Winnipeg Jets are gone. Eliminated by the Las Vegas Golden Knights. There will be no Stanley Cup for Canada or Winnipeg this year.

The battle for the Stanley Cup will be fought between the Las Vegas Golden Knights (the Western Conference champions) and whoever wins the Eastern Conference championship tonight -- either the Washington Capitals or the Tampa Bay Lightning.

I'm torn about who to cheer for now. I like the whole Cinderella/Underdog story of the Golden Knights, yet I'm very fond of the Lightning too and have cheered for them in the past.

Who would Jesus cheer for?

Kick Cinderella's Ass!

Winnipeggers are partying in the streets!

The Jets eliminated the Nashville Predators in seven games and have advanced -- for the first time in Jets franchise history -- to the Western Conference finals! If they win the Western Conference championship, then they will play the Eastern Conference champions for THE STANLEY CUP!

In this series, the Jets are playing the Las Vegas Golden Knights, the NHL's Cinderella team. They are a brand new expansion team, only in their first year of existence. It's unheard of for such a new team to even make the playoffs in its inaugural year, let alone get to Round 3! Obviously the Golden Knights are a phenomenal team. But Winnipeg is hot too and WE CAN TAKE THEM!

[photo © John Woods/The Canadian Press]

The Jets have already won the series' first game against the Golden Knights on Saturday. The second game is on tonight.

Time to put on my LUCKY JETS PJ PANTS!

GO JETS GO!

Hockey Hopes and Dreams

Alas, the Toronto Maple Leafs' playoff run was finished after the first round. So now Canada's Stanley Cup hopes and dreams ride on the Winnipeg Jets, the only Canadian team left.

The Jets defeated the Minnesota Wild without too much difficulty at all, taking the series 4 games to 3. In the second round, the Jets are battling the Nashville Predators. So far the series is tied one all.

My lucky Winnipeg Jets pj pants have been freshly laundered and are back in service again . . . now with chips!

GO JETS GO!

The Playoffs Are Here!

There are only TWO Canadian hockey teams in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs this year -- the Winnipeg Jets and the Toronto Maple Leafs. I wish the Leafs well, of course, but at the moment I'm cheering for the Winnipeg Jets in their series against the Minnesota Wild. As an ex-Winnipegger, how could I NOT? The Jets are currently leading the series two games to one.

So here I am in front of my TV SET, wearing my Winnipeg Jets PJ PANTS, assisting the Winnipeg fans on the screen by being the Edmonton contingent of THE WHITEOUT!

GO JETS GO!

O Canada! Blogathon 2017 -- "My Winnipeg," Part 3

Winnipeg is, and always has been, a hockey city. This central reality of the Winnipeg psyche is mythologized to great effect by Guy Maddin in My Winnipeg, as he narrates the Tale of Two Arenas and the story of the ghostly hockey team called The Black Tuesdays.

This is the segment of the film which probably contains the greatest number of actual facts. Everything is true about Eaton's, its replacement with a new downtown hockey arena and the destruction of the old Winnipeg Arena. All the hockey facts and historical photos of players are true and known to every Winnipeg fan. Even the trough urinal is true!

Quite frankly, I cannot tell if Maddin's bitter outrage about the Arena Debate and the NHL is real or satirical. But if he's a true Winnipegger (and he is), it's probably real.

The video excerpt is 10 minutes long but it's well worth your time to watch!



One of my favourite aspects is Maddin's whole riff on the homoeroticism of hockey. Yes, he goes there, a subject virtually never explored in Canada. Another example of sleepwalking?

"Man-sweat!"

"Erotically-charged secret slapshots!"

Smitten by a naked Soviet hockey player glimpsed in the showers as "he emerged from the steam, naked except for the lather mantling his torso," a young Maddin steals his jersey. Wearing it against his own bare skin, "I nearly fainted from the touch of its fabric, and the fear." He immediately throws the jersey into the waters of The Forks, terrified that the KGB will come after him for the theft.

Like much in this film, it's amusing and poignant all at the same time. I love it. And for those of you familiar with Quebec author Roch Carrier's iconic coming-of-age short story, Le chandail de hockey [The Hockey Sweater], I feel this story in My Winnipeg is its English Canadian equivalent, LOL!

So this concludes my series about My Winnipeg -- I hope if you ever get a chance to see this film, you will! It's a classic gem of Canadiana which plumbs the very depths of our soul, eh? Thanks for reading along, those of you who persevered this far!

O Canada! Blogathon 2017 -- "My Winnipeg," Part 2

Part of Maddin's "mystical hypothesizing" in My Winnipeg is the crazy, macabre myth he concocts about the frozen horse heads at The Forks (where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet in the centre of Winnipeg).

It is one of my favourite scenes in the whole movie. It is SO Winnipeg.



It's a perfect example of how mythology always employs untruths to express deeper truths. In Maddin's satirical hands, the "ice-and-horse jam" morphs from a scene of horror and terror into a benign excuse for a Sunday afternoon outing, as hardy and resourceful Winnipeggers adapt, as always, to their harsh surroundings.

Or are they just sleepwalking again in the snowy city? "We grow used to the sadness. Simply incorporate it into our days."

Either way, if that doesn't say it all about Winnipeg, I don't know what does.

Tomorrow's Post: The Black Tuesdays

O Canada! Blogathon 2017 -- "My Winnipeg," Part 1

Winnipeg, Winnipeg, wonderful Winnipeg!

Where I belong and joys redound

In one long, happy song. 

Here are friends and kindly faces,

Folks I'm glad to know.

It's no Eden that you would seek,

Yet it's home, sweet home to me.

Independent Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba and (until recently) lived his entire life there. Now, Winnipeg was also my stomping grounds for 22 years, from my university days until middle age when I moved to Edmonton. So I understand very well the "love/hate relationship" that all Winnipeggers (and I mean ALL) have with that great prairie city.

When the Documentary Channel commissioned Maddin to make this 2007 film about his hometown, the producer reportedly said, "Don't give me the frozen hellhole everyone knows that Winnipeg is."

So you can predict, of course, a central theme of Maddin's masterpiece.



Filmed in Maddin's signature black-and-white palette, with lots of shaky or blurry handheld DIY-looking shots, plus a crazy mix of historical film footage and surrealist drama, Maddin calls My Winnipeg a "docu-fantasia" based on "personal history, civic tragedy, and mystical hypothesizing." The New York Times accurately noted that the film "skates along an icy edge between dreams and lucidity, fact and fiction, cinema and psychotherapy." It is one of this country's truly great mockumentaries, a style at which Canadian filmmakers excel in particular. Mockumentaries suit our dry, subtle and satirical sense of humour.

While the film's universally-applicable meditations on the "heinous power of family and city" can, of course, be enjoyed by all viewers no matter where they live, any Winnipegger who watches this film gets a special thrill. [Note: all the following references are viewable in the trailer]

We can spot the familiar thoroughfares like Portage and Main, Ellice Avenue and the World War I era back alleys of the Exchange District. We recognize the fleeting glimpses of instantly identifiable locations, like the University of Winnipeg, the North End rail yards and the old Winnipeg Arena.

We are aware of which true (if often mundane) historical facts are sprinkled throughout the narrative. We catch the iconic Winnipeg cultural references mixed together with their crazy alter egos, like the old Paddlewheel Restaurant in the downtown Hudson's Bay Company flagship store, where the salacious "Manitoba Man Pageants" are staged. Or the plaid skirts of the school uniform worn at Winnipeg's exclusive, private girls' school, Balmoral Hall . . . I mean, the "Academy of Ultravixens."

These receive our special belly laughs.

Tomorrow's Post: Those frozen horse heads!

O Canada! Blogathan 2017

Just a reminder that the O Canada! Blogathon 2017 starts tomorrow and continues all weekend! Stay tuned for my upcoming three posts on Guy Maddin's film, My Winnipeg.

If you want to browse around the blogathon and see what else is on offer, the full list of participants and topics is found here.

And although he has nothing to do with the film I've chosen, may I just say how much I love Donald Sutherland? He is a National Treasure.

O Canada! Blogathon 2017

Hey, everyone! Are you a fan of Canada’s many contributions to TV and movies pop culture? Here's your chance to geek out on Canadiana! And you don't even have to be a Canuck to participate!

The O Canada! Blogathon 2017 runs from February 3-5, 2017. It will look at the way Canadian people, subjects and settings have shaped cinema and TV. You can expound on any Canadian film, TV series or production that has subject-matter relating to Canada, anything prominently set or shot in Canada, or adapted from a Canadian writer. Or you can talk about your favourite Canadian actor, director or other pop culture star of the past or present.

Contributions can take any form and be via blog, YouTube channel, podcast, tumblr or whatever. If you're interested, sign up for the blogathon over at Kristina's blog, Speakeasy. All the rules of the blogathon are there too. I've already put down my name! My blog post will discuss My Winnipeg, director Guy Maddin's love/hate art film about his home city and my old stomping grounds.

My only problem was narrowing down the potential topics to just one, LOL! I could yap on this topic forever!

The Matzo Ball That Ate Winnipeg

Since it's Hanukkah all this week -- Best Wishes to all who celebrate! -- I thought I'd tell you about the time I attempted to make matzo balls in Winnipeg about 35 years ago. MY WORST COOKING DISASTER EVER!

When I started university, I discovered the joy of eating matzo balls in chicken soup at a local Jewish deli which, alas, subsequently went out of business. (You can read my tribute to that beloved deli here, if you want). Anyway, being in serious matzo ball withdrawal, I decided to try making my own.

How hard could it BE? (said the Anglo-Saxon Gentile)

So I purchased a package of matzo ball mix from the grocery store and read the VERY minimalistic "how to" instructions on the back. I mixed the matzo meal with some oil and eggs as directed and brought my biggest pot of water to a boil. Then I formed the dough into balls.

Hmm, how BIG should I make them? The package provided no insight. Since the large matzo balls I'd eaten at the deli were about the size of the ones in the above photo, I made six similarly large matzo balls and put them all in the pot of boiling water.

Now, this is where being a Shiksa proved to be my undoing. I was, in fact, ignorant of a KEY PIECE of cultural knowledge. I'd never actually SEEN anyone make matzo balls before, of course. So HOW was I supposed to know that they SWELL UP LIKE A SONOVABITCH during the cooking process?

My back was to the stove when I heard this odd glub, glub, glub sound. I'll remember that sound as long as I live. It haunts me to this day.

"Slowly I turned . . ."

. . . and saw ONE HUGE, FUSED-TOGETHER, POSITIVELY MUTANT MATZO BALL in the process of RISING UP, UP, UP out of the pot and SPILLING OVER the sides!

Sort of like this, ONLY WORSE --

What an unholy MESS it made! I cleaned matzo dough off my stove for DAYS afterwards.

And on top of everything else, I STILL had no matzo balls for my soup! It just added insult to injury.

Who Should Be the Next Governor-General of Canada?

Queen Elizabeth is Canada's constitutional Head of State. When she is absent from our country (which is virtually always, since she lives in the UK), her largely ceremonial duties are delegated to her vice-regal representative, the Governor-General of Canada. At one time, our GGs were all Brits but since the 1960s they have all been distinguished and accomplished Canadians from such fields as the arts, academia, politics and the military. GGs are appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

It's almost time again for a new Governor-General to be appointed. There are many worthy potential candidates, but I am getting on the bandwagon right here and now to advocate that our next GG should be Justice Murray Sinclair of Manitoba!

[photo by Adrian Wyld, The Canadian Press Files]

A lawyer in Winnipeg, Murray Sinclair was appointed to the Provincial Court of Manitoba in 1988 and later elevated to the Court of Queen's Bench in 2001. He was the first aboriginal judge in the province. Much of his judicial service has been spent leading lengthy public inquiries. In Manitoba he led the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Inquiry and then co-chaired the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in 2000. In 2009, he moved onto the national stage as chair of the federal Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigating Canada's shameful legacy of Indian residential schools.

There is no greater or more eloquent spokesperson for the dignity and respect owed our First Nations than Justice Sinclair. He is a man of deep understanding, compassion and integrity. His destiny has been to become the wise Elder that all of Canada needs. What better way to recognize this than by making him Governor-General?

Last year, Prime Minister Trudeau appointed Canada's first gender-balanced cabinet "because it's 2015." In the same way, the time is long overdue to appoint a First Nations Governor-General.

An online petition has just been posted to urge Justice Sinclair's nomination. Canadian readers, if you'd like to show your support, it's found here.

The First Women in Canada to Get the Vote

One hundred years ago today on January 28, 1916, women in my home province of Manitoba became the first in Canada to obtain the right to vote. I like knowing that my grandmother and great-grandmother were legally enfranchised on this date. No longer were Manitoba women classified along with "children, idiots and criminals" as legally incompetent to exercise the central right of citizenship -- the right to vote.

Led by the Political Equality League of Manitoba, a long campaign for female suffrage had been waged throughout the province. But unlike the violence of the British suffrage movement, the vote in Manitoba was won through peaceful means -- pamphlets, lobbying, petitions, public debates and satirical mocking of anti-suffrage arguments.

The long-time Conservative premier of Manitoba, Sir Rodmond Roblin, consistently refused to enact female suffrage, saying it was supported only "by short-haired women and long-haired men." Homophobic slurs have a long history in the fight against feminists and their allies! But once Premier Roblin was turfed from office in a corruption scandal, his Liberal successor Premier Norris promised to enact votes for women if a petition with 20,000 signatures could be produced. The Political Equality League presented him with a petition of 40,000 names and the deed was done.

One of the most prominent members of the Political Equality League of Manitoba was Nellie McClung, a popular author of the time. She later moved to Alberta and became one of the "Famous Five" group of women who successfully sued to have women recognized as "persons" under Canadian law, equal to men.

Saskatchewan and Alberta followed close behind Manitoba in extending suffrage in 1916. It is thought that the prairie provinces were more open to the idea because men understood perfectly well the central role that pioneer women had played in homesteading and settling the west. It was harder to portray women as too inherently weak to engage in society's issues.

Canadian women obtained full voting rights in federal elections in 1918. Quebec women had to wait the longest for the right to vote -- until 1940 -- because of the conservative Catholic Church's unyielding grip on Quebec society.

First Nations women and men could vote only if they legally surrendered their treaty status and rights under the federal Indian Act. This fundamentally unjust condition was not removed until 1960.

And what about "children, idiots and criminals," the other categories of people who were all forbidden to vote a hundred years ago? Following the 1982 enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, our courts recognized the voting rights of people living in mental institutions in 1988 and of prisoners in penitentiaries in 2002. So today, only children under the age of majority still remain on the list of those citizens who are legally disentitled to vote.

The Game Is Afoot!

So at the end of October, My Rare One and I went to Manitoba for her niece's "social," which is an engagement ritual unique to our home province. About six months to a year before engaged people get married, a big community dance is held in a local hall to raise money for the happy couple. You purchase tickets to get in, all the beer-and-liquor-sale profits go to the couple, and there are always 50/50 and doorprize tickets to buy as well. If the bride and groom come from different communities, a social will often be held in each of their towns. The couple use the profits from the social(s) to help pay for the wedding, honeymoon or what-have-you.

Anyway, because this social was held on October 30th, it was also a Halloween costume party! My Rare One went as Sherlock Holmes and I was Dr. Watson . . . sheesh, if you can't cross-dress at Halloween, when can you?

Here we are in the foyer of the Legion --

Not perhaps the most flattering of photos (note to self: lose that paunch!) but I thought you'd get a kick out of seeing our costumes. We dug deep, deep into our Tickle Trunks to put the costumes together -- the only things we actually had to buy were the deerstalker hat, the bowler hat and the pipe. By the way, in case you're wondering, that's a stethoscope I'm fiddling with.

It was a wonderful social -- just packed with people! Everyone went way above and beyond for their costumes too. There were so many awesome ones! We had a great time.

(P.S. Bigga bigga thanks to John M at REFLECTIONS blog for telling me about the free website software that allowed me to pixellate our faces -- FotoFlexer.)

Karaoke Memories, Part 1

Do you like karaoke? I enjoy it every once in awhile. Over the years I've had three memorable karaoke experiences which I'm going to share with you this week.

The first time I ever experienced karaoke was in The Peg about 25 years ago. The karaoke fad had just come to Canada and was all the rage. So when Winnipeg's local lesbian bar, Ms Purdy's, advertised a karaoke night, a friend and I made sure to attend. We got there early too because the joint was packed!

Speaking of Ms Purdy's, here's a photo I took of it around the same time period. It wasn't quite as seedy inside as it looked from the outside, LOL! Ms Purdy's was a small place but managed to pack in a pool table, a good-sized stand-up bar, about a dozen tables and chairs and a small mirrored dance floor. Its windows were, of course, unbreakable one-way glass so we could see out but no one on the street could see in. The front door led into a security foyer where you'd first have to run the gauntlet of a couple of big dyke bouncers before being allowed into the bar itself. The purpose of that was to keep out gaybashers, religious nuts seeking to condemn us and/or save our souls, irate husbands/boyfriends looking for their AWOL wives/girlfriends, and men of all descriptions.

[Photo © Debra She Who Seeks, 1990]

Anyway, back to karaoke . . . .

A number of women got up and sang a few songs. OMG, they were dreadful! But everyone, being Canadians and members of the Sisterhood, clapped politely and did not boo them off the stage. Finally, at the end of the rather desultory evening, a chunky middle-aged lez with short salt & pepper hair went up to the front. She grabbed that mic and proceeded to just blow everyone away with an absolutely rockin' rendition of "Old Time Rock & Roll."



The whole bar erupted sky-high with clapping, stomping and cheering! She shut the place down too because no one had the nerve to follow that act at the karaoke machine, LOL! Later I heard that 10-15 years earlier, she had been one of the lead singers in a popular Winnipeg tribute band. And man, she still had it, baby!

Next post -- Karaoke at the Old Bastards Club

Swept Away *sob*

[Photo credit: Trevor Hagan, CP]

Alas, Winnipeg's famed whiteouts could not freeze the Anaheim Ducks to the ice. The Ducks swept the series in four games and the Jets are now eliminated. But the games were always fast-paced, hard-hitting, exciting hockey. Well fought, Jets!

I am now switching my playoffs allegiance to the Calgary Flames, who are just on the verge of pounding the Vancouver Canucks into oblivion. So boys, bring that same aggression to the Ducks matchup in the second round!

GO FLAMES GO!

Yes, I'm Posting Twice in One Day!

So you know it's gotta be important. What do you get when you combine hockey with foodie culture? THIS VIDEO!



Okay, okay, I know the Jets have lost the first two games to the Ducks in Anaheim. But game 3 is TONIGHT in Winnipeg! Every Jets fan there will wear white and make the MTS Centre look like a total whiteout, exactly like a big mean prairie blizzard. And (just to mix metaphors) this "Fifty Shades of White" will leave the Ducks hurtin' bad and begging for mercy, but there'll be no safe word for them.

GO JETS GO!!!!

Look Who's Back It's Peg City

HOORAY! Five of Canada's seven NHL hockey teams will be in the playoffs this year -- the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks! But it distresses me to say that the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs are in the toilet again, as usual. *shakes head sadly*

As a former Winnipegger, I MUST of course cheer for the Jets. The last time Winnipeg was in the playoffs was 1996, the same year the Jets franchise folded and the team was shipped off to become the Phoenix Coyotes. *sob* Thus began the winter of Winnipeg's discontent lasting 15 interminable years until 'twas made glorious summer by the team's return in 2011. (Yes, only Shakespeare can do justice to the tragedy of Winnipeg losing the Jets).

Now, of course, the whole city of Winnipeg is in SEVENTH HEAVEN over making the playoffs. Local musicians have recorded this super rap "Playoff Anthem" to cheer on the Jets. The lyrics even manage to rhyme players' names like Scheifele, Pavelec and Perreault. I notice they didn't attempt Byfuglien though.

Give it a listen -- it's very funny! The video has subtitles so you won't miss a single word. But just FYI -- the screen is dark until :09 seconds in and then the visuals begin.

GO JETS GO!!!!

Valour Road

Last month when I was in Winnipeg, I went to the Manitoba Museum to see a special display -- three sets of Canadian war medals from World War I, all of which included the extremely rare Victoria Cross. In the British Imperial military honours system which applied to Canada in those days, the Victoria Cross was the highest decoration possible. It was given for "valour in the face of the enemy" and, by its very nature, was often a posthumous award.

These particular Victoria Crosses belonged to three Winnipeg soldiers -- Lieutenant Robert Shankland, Sargeant-Major Frederick William Hall and Corporal Leo Clarke. Only Shankland survived his heroic action to receive the award in person.

But what makes these Victoria Crosses unique in the world is the improbable coincidence that, before joining the Canadian Expeditionary Force, all three of these soldiers had lived within a block of each other on Pine Street in Winnipeg. What are the astronomical odds that a single city block would produce three VCs?

So shortly after World War I, Winnipeg honoured its "Pine Street boys" by renaming their home street "Valour Road."

Today, Valour Road is marked with special signage to indicate the street's historical and military status.

These large signs run up and down the length of the street.

And at one intersection, behind a fringe of these same signs, there is a freestanding stone and metal memorial to Shankland, Hall and Clarke.

The three soldiers also appear on other signs that decorate the street.

Their medals and VCs are part of the permanent collection of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. This special exhibit was loaned to the Manitoba Museum to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I. The display will return to Ottawa after Remembrance Day.

[First photo by Phil Hossack, Winnipeg Free Press. All other photos by Debra She Who Seeks, October 2014]