Canadian Cable etc.
Ah yes. Living in Canada has its bad points as well and that includes one of the basic forms of entertainment in the modern world: cable TV! Canadian cable has got to suck. I swear, Sky Cable is still the best! Grabe! The cable provider we have now is Shaw Cable, which is one of the two major companies here in Canada (Telus being the other). Shaw and Telus provide cable, internet and phone services... and Shaw's been in the CABLE industry for quite a while now, in contrast to Telus -- the company to go for when it comes to your landline phone.
There's only two channels I can actually rely on for entertainment here in Canada, and that's the Family Channel, Channel 51 and the Food Network, Channel 52. Buying the other 40+ channels is a waste of money, but it's a package and Family and Food Network comes in the 63 channel package. Haaaaay. So, it's obvious why I love Food Network... it's food! Haha. So watching Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals, Iron Chef America, Giada de Laurentiis's Everyday Italian and Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa isn't exactly boy stuff, but food's concerned and where there's good food, I'm there! :)) Technically, I only watch the Food Network shows shown in the Philippines, with the exception of French Food at Home which I only watch once in a while... as in twice lang. Haha! It's nice to watch food which eating food! LOL!
Now, there's Family. I only watch a couple of shows there... basically those I watch at home! :)) They got some shows from Nickelodeon, like Zoey 101 and Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. There's also Naturally Sadie but I don't watch that. Most of the time I find myself watching the Disney shows like The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Hannah Montana (Hey! Her songs are empowering and you could pick up good values -- and a good laugh -- watching her show. Hahahaha!). Sometimes I get a glimpse of That's So Raven, the very-old-but-fun-to-watch Lizzie McGuire and Phil of the Future, but I don't watch them often since they only air during the weekends.
But here's the good part about Canadian cable: two shows called Life with Derek and Popular. These shows are cool! Life with Derek is a Canadian sitcom all about sibling rivalry. The actors and actresses are Canadian obviously and it's actually pretty interesting. Ever since Casey's mom, Nora, got married to Derek's dad, George, chaos within the Venturi-MacDonald household begins to take place the moment the MacDonalds move in with the Venturis. The children just can't get along! You should just listen/watch the theme song which talks about how the whole thing starts... By the way, the song stinks. Hahaha. It's fun to watch Casey MacDonald (go Casey!) get even with her evil step-brother Derek Venturi (pronounced Ven-chu-ri) though. Their younger siblings, especially the cute Marti, and their parents add an extra dimension to the story. The story's quite predictable though cause in the end, if Casey doesn't win, nobody does. Haha. Then there's Popular, but I'll deal with that in my next entry. Basta, it's no Anina ng mga Alon. No offense, but I didn't like how Anina was written that much. Popular's definitely better and has a more interesting way of presenting the theme "finding your true identity." Now don't get me wrong... these shows still do NOT make up for how horrid Canadian cable is. :D
To make things worse, if we applied for cable one week after we got it, we would only have to pay 19.95 for each months (till end of Sept.), instead of 52.95! Inis! They wouldn't let us avail of the promo because we're already existing customers for applying. Dapat new customers talaga to avail (as in never applied to Shaw Cable before). Ang sayang! One week... 100 dollars go bye bye. :(( It really bites!
Back home I get to watch Animax (anime!!!!!), Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon (I miss stupid Spongebob!) and Disney Channel. Tapos, I watch a lot of shows from each pa. Waaa! I want my Sky Cable Programming back! Stupid Canada broadcasters... blocking most of the American kid-friendly and teenage programming. :( To see a list of the other shows that I watch on Family, go to http://www.family.ca/whatson/schedulegrid.php . Aside from the shows I mentioned above, I also sometimes watch shows like Disney's the Weekenders, Disney's Recess, Kim Possible, Dave the Barbarian and The Proud Family, all of which aren't exactly what I imagined to be entertaining (unless I'm super bored). Good thing I have this computer and internet connection!
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Speaking of internet, I'm so happy to be free of PLDT DSL! Thank God! From now on, I have FREE High Speed Internet sponsored by Telus, which is actually more than 4x faster than what I get from PLDT. Free na, Wi-Fi pa! Why? That's because I live in UBC and Telus happens to sponsor UBC's internet and communications and for some reason, our building seems to have free Wi-Fi rin (alam ko kasi students lang can use internet in a special cafe for free kaya weird why we have). Hopefully it's not just one of my neighbors (because the connection name was Telus and it seemed unlikely na owned by neighbors) though... So why apply for internet if there's super fast and FREE connection? :D I LOVE INTERNET!!! I checked my internet speed, and I was so happy with what I saw: click here to see the speed. Usually sa Pinas, it would be 250++ kbps; minsan kulang pa nga eh, kaya I'm happy with this speed na... pero these past two days medyo nagtotopak na ng konti... but minor lang. :P
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While typing this entry, FamJam (Family Channel showing music videos) played the song How to Touch a Girl by JoJo. Haaay. That song always sounds so sad, and it reminds me of March-April 2007, when I was starting to get ready for leaving for Canada. *SIGH* It's not the leaving part... eh basta. It's a sad song that brings back memories of my condo unit in the Phil (old and damaged as it is by me. Hehe) because I used to listen to that song a lot in my room. :(
Tapos, yesterday, FamJam also played Just So You Know. Even worse. That songs brings back bad memories. I love the song, but things associated with it aren't as pleasant. Aside from that other memory, it also reminds me of my last 4th quarter in Xavier, wherein nagpupuyat ako (as in 1 or 2 am) and I just turned off the aircon and the room was all cold while I started to pack for school and keep what I finished. Haaay. Another sad song. Isn't it nice how songs are associated with memories? By the way, check out RuinedMusic. Haha. You wouldn't believe how much music became unliked because of bad memories associated with it. For me, these two songs aren't ruined music though. They just make me think of the past, that's all. :D
There's only two channels I can actually rely on for entertainment here in Canada, and that's the Family Channel, Channel 51 and the Food Network, Channel 52. Buying the other 40+ channels is a waste of money, but it's a package and Family and Food Network comes in the 63 channel package. Haaaaay. So, it's obvious why I love Food Network... it's food! Haha. So watching Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals, Iron Chef America, Giada de Laurentiis's Everyday Italian and Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa isn't exactly boy stuff, but food's concerned and where there's good food, I'm there! :)) Technically, I only watch the Food Network shows shown in the Philippines, with the exception of French Food at Home which I only watch once in a while... as in twice lang. Haha! It's nice to watch food which eating food! LOL!
Now, there's Family. I only watch a couple of shows there... basically those I watch at home! :)) They got some shows from Nickelodeon, like Zoey 101 and Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. There's also Naturally Sadie but I don't watch that. Most of the time I find myself watching the Disney shows like The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Hannah Montana (Hey! Her songs are empowering and you could pick up good values -- and a good laugh -- watching her show. Hahahaha!). Sometimes I get a glimpse of That's So Raven, the very-old-but-fun-to-watch Lizzie McGuire and Phil of the Future, but I don't watch them often since they only air during the weekends.
But here's the good part about Canadian cable: two shows called Life with Derek and Popular. These shows are cool! Life with Derek is a Canadian sitcom all about sibling rivalry. The actors and actresses are Canadian obviously and it's actually pretty interesting. Ever since Casey's mom, Nora, got married to Derek's dad, George, chaos within the Venturi-MacDonald household begins to take place the moment the MacDonalds move in with the Venturis. The children just can't get along! You should just listen/watch the theme song which talks about how the whole thing starts... By the way, the song stinks. Hahaha. It's fun to watch Casey MacDonald (go Casey!) get even with her evil step-brother Derek Venturi (pronounced Ven-chu-ri) though. Their younger siblings, especially the cute Marti, and their parents add an extra dimension to the story. The story's quite predictable though cause in the end, if Casey doesn't win, nobody does. Haha. Then there's Popular, but I'll deal with that in my next entry. Basta, it's no Anina ng mga Alon. No offense, but I didn't like how Anina was written that much. Popular's definitely better and has a more interesting way of presenting the theme "finding your true identity." Now don't get me wrong... these shows still do NOT make up for how horrid Canadian cable is. :D
To make things worse, if we applied for cable one week after we got it, we would only have to pay 19.95 for each months (till end of Sept.), instead of 52.95! Inis! They wouldn't let us avail of the promo because we're already existing customers for applying. Dapat new customers talaga to avail (as in never applied to Shaw Cable before). Ang sayang! One week... 100 dollars go bye bye. :(( It really bites!
Back home I get to watch Animax (anime!!!!!), Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon (I miss stupid Spongebob!) and Disney Channel. Tapos, I watch a lot of shows from each pa. Waaa! I want my Sky Cable Programming back! Stupid Canada broadcasters... blocking most of the American kid-friendly and teenage programming. :( To see a list of the other shows that I watch on Family, go to http://www.family.ca/whatson/schedulegrid.php . Aside from the shows I mentioned above, I also sometimes watch shows like Disney's the Weekenders, Disney's Recess, Kim Possible, Dave the Barbarian and The Proud Family, all of which aren't exactly what I imagined to be entertaining (unless I'm super bored). Good thing I have this computer and internet connection!
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Speaking of internet, I'm so happy to be free of PLDT DSL! Thank God! From now on, I have FREE High Speed Internet sponsored by Telus, which is actually more than 4x faster than what I get from PLDT. Free na, Wi-Fi pa! Why? That's because I live in UBC and Telus happens to sponsor UBC's internet and communications and for some reason, our building seems to have free Wi-Fi rin (alam ko kasi students lang can use internet in a special cafe for free kaya weird why we have). Hopefully it's not just one of my neighbors (because the connection name was Telus and it seemed unlikely na owned by neighbors) though... So why apply for internet if there's super fast and FREE connection? :D I LOVE INTERNET!!! I checked my internet speed, and I was so happy with what I saw: click here to see the speed. Usually sa Pinas, it would be 250++ kbps; minsan kulang pa nga eh, kaya I'm happy with this speed na... pero these past two days medyo nagtotopak na ng konti... but minor lang. :P
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While typing this entry, FamJam (Family Channel showing music videos) played the song How to Touch a Girl by JoJo. Haaay. That song always sounds so sad, and it reminds me of March-April 2007, when I was starting to get ready for leaving for Canada. *SIGH* It's not the leaving part... eh basta. It's a sad song that brings back memories of my condo unit in the Phil (old and damaged as it is by me. Hehe) because I used to listen to that song a lot in my room. :(
Tapos, yesterday, FamJam also played Just So You Know. Even worse. That songs brings back bad memories. I love the song, but things associated with it aren't as pleasant. Aside from that other memory, it also reminds me of my last 4th quarter in Xavier, wherein nagpupuyat ako (as in 1 or 2 am) and I just turned off the aircon and the room was all cold while I started to pack for school and keep what I finished. Haaay. Another sad song. Isn't it nice how songs are associated with memories? By the way, check out RuinedMusic. Haha. You wouldn't believe how much music became unliked because of bad memories associated with it. For me, these two songs aren't ruined music though. They just make me think of the past, that's all. :D