Day one approaching...

I have a confession to make. It's a dirty one, so lean in close. I consume way too much US culture. Slate, Nytimes, Perez, CNN, Go Fug Yourself - these are the sites I frequent. I watch CNN, for the latest fast-paced, interactive graphics on the scores from the President Cup. (http://www.slatev.com/player.html?id=1370845042) I watch BBC World for badly-lit, rambling interviews on the President Cup. There's only one day left before my four weeks of Canadiana begins. I'll take this opportunity to set out the rules.

1) For four weeks, I can't consume any cultural product from outside of Canada. This includes websites, TV, movies, music, newspapers, or magazines.

2) By "Canadian" I mean produced by a Canadian company, in Canada. So despite the fact that it has a Canadian star and director, "Juno" wouldn't count. Celine Dion doesn't count, as she produces her music in the States, and is an alien. The album has to have been made in Canada, by a Canadian record label. Ann Murrey counts. Broken Social Scene counts. Beverly Hills 90210, although almost entirely made by a cast and crew of Canadians, doesn't count.

3) Due to the nature of my work, I may have to read international stuff for research. But I'll try to keep this to a minimum, and not browse in a non-work kind of way, which I do a lot of anyway. This might be a good opportunity to curb that habit.

There are a few reasons I'm doing this.

1) To imagine what it would be like if Canada was a giant Island floating in the Pacific ocean. What if there was no loud, attention seeking neighbour who kept coming up to borrow cups of oil and leaving their pyramid-scheme catalogs on your hallway table? What if we had to produce our own culture by necessity, motivated by the purest form of supply and demand? I want to live in this ideal state of unsaturated "Canada" for a month, whatever that means.

2) I want to know what happens when one exists off a steady diet of canned Can Con. Will my perspective change? Will I become a Better Person? Or... will there be absolutely no difference?

2) It's a great excuse to discover new Canadian artists and writers. This is the part I'm most looking foreward to. I'm going to be publishing lists of the hot stuff that comes my way while trying to fill the void left by Project Runway. And, yes, I have seen Project Runway Canada. Maybe PRC will begin airing their secnd season during my four weeks. That would be a gift from the angels.

So this blog will consist of a daily update on the expereince, it's level of difficulty and the period of withdrawl I'm about the enter (I hate PerezHilton, but I love reading about the pretty, messy people.) It'll have updated lists on great Canadian bands, book, mags, websites, TV shows and people.

By people, I mean I will periodically interview some of the artists and writers I come across, and post the interviews.

I would love to hear from anyone who comes across this blog, as it floats in space. I'd love tips on great Canadian songs, sites, music or mags that no one has heard of but everyone should see. Anyway. I'm going to spend some time prepping today. I'll erasing my web history, find someone new (In my head, this was said in Neil Young's voice. Good start.)

PS - If it weren't to a trip to LA planned in March, I would make it two months. But maybe that'll be an extra challenge.

PSS- The Blogger site needs to be the one exception. Ooops. Oh, and gmail. Blogger and Gmail and the only two exceptions.