Canadian Crossing

'iCarly' hits Canada in search of Canadian Fat Cakes

No matter what you've heard on "iCarly," you can bring processed baked goods from Canada into the United States.

Then again, even if you are a part of the "iCarly" demographic, hopefully you know that the Canadian Fat Cakes episode was just a spoof.

The popular Nickelodeon TV show took Fat Cakes, one of their running jokes, and adapted an episode where Sam, who is obsessed about Fat Cakes and has never had a Canadian fat cake, gets a chance to tour a plant in Canada where they make Canadian fat cakes. Fat cakes in Canada taste better because they are made with "cane fat" while American Fat Cakes are made with "corn fat."

Processed baked goods are well within the rules of what you can bring back from Canada into the United States. Trust me, I've brought back Canadian versions of Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and Cup Cakes. The customs officers think they're more funny than dangerous.

Since the show mentions Seattle, the inference is that the cast went to Vancouver or somewhere nearby in southwestern Britian Columbia.

Besides the actual ability to bring back processed baked goods, one other glaring misstep in the script was that Sam didn't have her passport when she tries to go back across the border to the United States. Sam would have needed a passport to get into Canada. She seems surprised about this when she gets to the border. Especially since this was a day trip, Sam would have had this issue come up earlier in the day.

For more from the food perspective, check out this edition of "Temptation of the Week" from our sister blog, BalanceofFood.com.

photo credit: iCarly

Alberta is a great travel destination, but can cost a lot to get there

After watching "Live! with Kelly," what the show and all its partners want you to do is travel to Alberta to see the beauty of the Canadian Rockies for yourself the way you saw it on TV. You are all set to book a vacation, and you try to get a decent airfare and then you stop in your tracks.

Flying to Canada from the United States can be expensive, especially if your destination isn't Toronto, Montréal, or Vancouver.

For all the hassles of living in big cities, one key advantage is convenient air travel to where you want to go. So traveling from Chicago to Calgary for the start of a whirlwind Alberta vacation is as simple as booking a non-stop flight between the two cities. Certainly a lot easier than traveling from Kalamazoo, MI or Janesville, WI to Calgary.

The only major issue is the cost of traveling non-stop, or even with stops, from Chicago to Calgary. Flying a comparable distance is cheaper within the United States than from the U.S. to Canada and within Canada. From Chicago, you can fly to San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Seattle for significantly cheaper than to Calgary, even though those cities require more jet fuel. In some cases, you can fly to Europe.

So when planning vacations, you can't blame tourists flying from Chicago to consider Denver if they want a taste of the Rockies instead of Calgary. You can't blame tourists from Toronto who drive or take buses to Buffalo to fly to Denver instead of going from Toronto to Calgary.

For those who have seen the Canadian Rockies, they will tell you that Denver doesn't hold a candle to Calgary. Plus, the beauty of Banff and Lake Louise is nowhere to be found in Colorado.

This isn't to discourage travel to Alberta. This is just to introduce the realities of travel decisions, especially in uncertain economic terms.

Those who fly frequently are very aware of odd diversions. In trying to book a flight from Chicago to Calgary, they wanted me to go through Dallas. While Dallas is a fine destination, the city is in an opposite direction from either main points.

FWIW, Westjet was offering lower prices on flights from Chicago to Vancouver and Calgary. I can't vouch for that, but you should take that into consideration.

The Washington Post online travel chat recommended flying to Spokane and then driving to Calgary. The trip would take about 8 hours, not counting breaks and an international border crossing. The travel experts' argument was that if you needed a car anyway, why not rent one from Spokane? The 8-hour trip was one thing, but you have to factor in another 8+ hour trip on the way back. If you have limited time for a vacation, taking two days of driving just to get to Calgary may not be worthwhile. Eastern Canada has an advantage in that fly-and-drive destinations are a lot closer to viable U.S. cities. If you did fly to Buffalo to get to Toronto, you could take the rather cheap Megabus from the airport to downtown Toronto (as I did in 2008).

The craziest, yet cheapest idea was to fly from Chicago to Seattle and take Greyhound from Seattle to Calgary through British Columbia. Time would be a factor in this option, but the views of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia would be wonderful, plus the bus stops in Banff and Lake Louise to stop off and look around.

This outrageous fare stems from taxes and fees at Canadian airports. As we noted in previous coverage:

"Airports in the United States receive significant financial subsidies from local, state, and federal governments. Canadian airports don't. … The Canadian government used to own the airports. Now they just charge rent. There also isn't much opportunity for discount airlines in Canada."

I may not get to all 10 provinces in my lifetime; I have done 4. I would love to add Alberta to that list. But when I booked an airline trip from Chicago to Calgary and discovered I could go to Paris or Rome non-stop for the same amount of money, as much as I love Canada, I might have to wait for a moment when I have time and money to visit Alberta.

Day 4 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Ben Mulroney, torchlight skiing, and Canadian cuisine

Canadian word of the day: Ogopogo

The Calgary Stampede Show Band opened and closed the final chapter of Kelly Ripa's adventures in Banff. Ripa's co-host on Thursday was Ben Mulroney, an actual Canadian. Mulroney works for CTV as host of ETalk and "Canadian Idol." (CTV airs Live with Kelly.)

Mulroney was born in Montréal and grew up in Ottawa. Ben was 8 when his dad became prime minister. Tying in the show band, the hosts talked about this summer's 100th Calgary Stampede. Mulroney noted that Canada is a young country, having been created in 1867, so 100 years make it a nationwide cultural icon. Calgary is about 145 km (90 miles) from Banff.

Mulroney did a really nice job as co-host. I argued that Ripa needed Canadian presence in the chair. And it showed well on Thursday.

Theresa Montague of Banff introduced the Canadian Word of the Day; an ogopogo is a mythical creature that lives at the bottom of the lake. Montague said the creature is green and 50 ft. long. I confess I didn't know that word either.

We mentioned yesterday the oddity of promoting trips with the trivia game while promoting Banff and Alberta. Well, sure enough, the trip up for grabs on Thursday was for the Fairmont Banff Springs.

David Torres of Fairhaven, MA was the player. Torres had heard of Calgary and Alberta but not Lake Louise. Not too bad. Then Torres blurted out his critique of Alberta beef "not the best looking, but it is the best tasting steak."

Torres won the trip to the Fairmont in Banff Springs because he knew the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City the same year as Banff National Park. You got the impression that the show would have been more pissed than the contestat if he didn't get the question correct.

David James Elliott was the primary guest. Elliott is a native of the Toronto area, but had never been to Banff. He teasingly went after Mulroney for his father being in charge. Ben said "Take a number." Elliott was known for being on "JAG" but is now on "GCB." At the end, Ripa noted that GCB aired on ABC; Mulroney sneaked in that the show also airs on CTV. (That is too many initials in one paragraph.)

One of the issues with the coverage in Banff was that we only saw winter shots, forgetting how pretty the area is when the snow isn't on the ground. We got a shot of Horse Thief Canyon, a lovely shot of the area without snow.

Kelly never did see a moose, even if Mulroney wore a moose hat for her. And Ripa snapped her 2-day string of mentioning poutine.

Speaking of food, Kelly and Ben were treated to Rocky Mountain cuisine courtesy of the executive chef of the Fairmont Banff Springs.

The difficulty of defining Canadian cuisine is that this depends on the region of the country. Poutine travels well beyond Quebec. But it is easier to get elk and bison in the Rocky Mountain region. We also got trout, salmon bouillabaisse, beef tenderloin carpaccio, cheese fondue with truffle, and poached pears with maple mousse.

Mulroney said, "nothing says Canada like maple, huh." Ripa dipped the poached pears with maple mousse in the cheese fondue.

Ripa reacted fondly to the food by kissing the executive chef and the sous chefs. This is about local cuisine, but it's also about food for people who can afford the luxury of such a trip.

Kelly was aggressive in selling Banff, Alberta, and Canada. Unlike Monday, it came across better and reflecting the time that she has had in that area. When people think of Canada, Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver leap to mind. Full credit where credit is due: the show went to two places that are very little known in the States and showcased them on U.S. television in ways that even the best of commercials couldn't do.

As much as we have teased about watching the show, I haven't been to Prince Edward Island or Alberta. And I want to see both provinces.

Previous: Day 3 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Snow shoeing, Melanie Fiona, and a beaver hat

Previous: Day 2 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Poutine, Calgary Fiddlers, and Caroline Rhea

Previous: Day 1 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Dog sledding, ice carving, and Regina jokes

Day 3 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Snow shoeing, Melanie Fiona, and a beaver hat

Canadian word of the day: Ginch

According to Wikitionary, ginch is from Alberta and British Columbia and refers to briefs, as opposed to boxers. For the record, ginch is not in the Canadian-English dictionary I own. Bunny hug, Tuesday’s word, isn’t in the dictionary, but I knew what that was.

Episode 3 started out with the Alberta Caledonia Pipe Band playing the bagpipes and drums. Ryan from Toronto gave the Canadian Word of the Day. But he clearly knew of ginch, so perhaps the word has drifted throughout the country.

Kelly's co-host was Peter Facinelli. Facinelli was a guest on the Prince Edward Island episodes, and had shot a movie in Banff. Kelly touched briefly on the fact that Facinelli is coming off of a divorce. He allegedly was having an affair with a Canadian woman. When Kelly brought up the divorce, one audience member clapped. Kelly said. “So kind of you. You must be American.”

The opening banter lasted quite long since there was only one non-musical guest. At one point, they mentioned that the mayor of Banff was in the audience. The conversation shifted to various mayors, so Kelly used it as an opportunity to make another Regina joke. Facinelli replied, “That’s not a real place, is it? It’s a real place?”

Kelly assured Peter that Regina was a real place. “Speaking of Regina, I got you a beaver hat.”

Melanie Fiona performed, just as she did in Prince Edward Island. Fiona is from Toronto and had not been to this part (Banff) of Canada. Fiona flew in from Ottawa where the Junos were.

The outdoor activity was Kelly going snow shoeing. The views were quite impressive. This showed off the park much better than Gelman’s skiing. Still, the lake where Kelly ended up on Wednesday (Lake Louise?) would have been amazing without all that snow.

Other highlights included:

-- They played the phone trivia game. The woman was from Babylon, NY (New York City area). Kelly asked her, "Joanne, have you ever been to Banff?” “No, I never even heard of it before you went.” The crowd booed that.

She won the trip to St. Lucia. Giving away a trip to somewhere else while enticing people to come to Banff seems odd, but they did this during the Prince Edward Island trip. So maybe she'll go to Banff after her St. Lucia trip.

-- Before they introduced Johnny Galecki, Kelly noted that this was “Day 2 of my poutine addiction.” Kelly had to explain that it was not a dirty word, but Canadian French fries.

-- They are shooting the episodes at the Banff Centre. Kelly noted that prominent alumni include Kim Cattrall and Eric McCormack.

-- They mentioned Balkin, a Greek restaurant in Banff, a couple of times.

-- Don’t know if you noticed this, and our Canadian friends didn’t see this, but I saw a Travel Alberta ad in the first break of the show.

Previous: Day 2 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Poutine, Calgary Fiddlers, and Caroline Rhea

Previous: Day 1 for Kelly Ripa in Banff: Dog sledding, ice carving, and Regina jokes

'Live with Kelly' Alberta schedule light on Canadian artists

That Alberta scenery better be really beautiful.

If you are tuning in to see Canadian stars on "Live with Kelly" this week, you will wait for most of that Canadian content until Thursday. If you're looking for Canadian stars that weren't also in Prince Edward Island with the show in 2010, blink and you could miss it.

Kelly Ripa's husband is co-hosting on Monday. Thursday's co-host isn't well-known to Americans, but Ben Mulroney is a CTV host, also host of "Canadian Idol," and son of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Peter Facinelli is the co-host on Wednesday; Facinelli was also a guest on the PEI episodes. while Facinelli is not Canadian, he reportedly had an affair with a Canadian woman that ended his marriage to Jennie Garth. Not sure if Kelly will bring that up in Alberta.

Caroline Rhea (Tuesday) and R&B singer Melanie Fiona (Thursday) are repeat guests from the PEI episodes. The lone newcomer is David James Elliott, who will also be on Thursday's episode. The guest list for Monday and Wednesday has no Canadians; Thursday is all-Canadian.

We also have no guests with Alberta connections, unless one of them has summers or winters in Alberta, so we may find an ulterior motive for why they are on the shows in Alberta.

So, Johnny Olsen, tell them what else will happen in Alberta:

"During the show's visit to Canada, "LIVE" also will showcase the abundant outdoor activities that Alberta has to offer. From snowshoeing and dog sledding, to torchlight skiing and cat skiing, "LIVE" is taking advantage of it all in the midst of the breathtaking majesty of Banff National Park. Each "LIVE" broadcast will originate from the Eric Harvie Theatre at The Banff Centre, a national arts training center located in the heart of the Canadian Rockies in Banff."

By being indoors, this reduces the chances of Kelly's skirt flying up like it did at Prince Edward Island. We'll have to see how much of the outside beauty we will see if they are in a theatre.

"Live with Kelly" airs in syndication out of WABC-TV in New York City and on CTV across Canada.

Seeing the multiple layers of beauty of famous Canadian women

Today is Valentine's Day. And since I'm single, I like to imagine that I meet a beautiful Canadian woman and she takes me to Canada. I had a recent dream where I ran a contest to determine the sexiest Canadian woman.

I have met many non-famous Canadian women who were sexy, cool, graceful, and fun, but mentioning them here wouldn't be helpful to you since you have no idea who they are. So I want to throw out some names of women who I think have that essence du Canada.

Molly Parker: Long-time readers knew Parker would end up on the list. She isn't the classic beauty; I love her freckles, even if others don't. And her pale skin sometimes blends into the scenery too well. All she has to do to get you to notice her is walk into the room. Parker (left) doesn't have to say a word; truly one of the best non-verbal actresses you will ever find. As I described recently, she is a cool center of calmness.

Caroline Rhea: Caroline brings you into her world with her humor and smile. Something about you is drawn to her. Despite her self-deprecating humor, she has some nice curves. Rhea, like most of the women on this list, offers a pretty face and a fun attitude. Plus, her curves can keep you warm on a cold winter night in her native Montréal.

Catherine O'Hara: O'Hara proved that outer beauty wasn't a handicap in being really funny in her days on "SCTV." While she had classic beauty looks, she wasn't afraid to throw that off for a good laugh. And that makes her a good sport.

Clara Hughes: You might remember Clara Hughes from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Hughes is a Summer and Winter Olympian, winning medals in cycling and speed skating. She won two bronze medals in the 1996 Summer Games and four medals, including a gold medal, in three Winter Olympics.

Hughes (left) is the only Canadian to ever win medals in summer and winter. And she'll be back in cycling in the 2o12 Summer Olympics in London at the age of 39. Clara Hughes has also been a role model, increasing awareness about depression, having suffered from depression herself. Hughes is the national spokesperson for the Let's Talk campaign to support mental health services. She's a hero on and off the cycle/skates.

Sarah Polley: Similar to Molly Parker, her sexiness doesn't come from the obvious. She is also a cool center, though in a different way from Parker. On a basic level, she is the girl next door, but you always know she has more layers than the rings of a California redwood tree. Her directing and writing make you want to love her more for her mind. After seeing “Take This Waltz” last fall, I fell in love with her storytelling. And if you see her in “Guinevere,” you would want to be with her for everything else, too.

Jessica Paré: Besides being a good actress (in the right role), Paré’s beauty lies in part that she doesn’t take her beauty that seriously. That is so Canadian. Her two best films are “Stardom” and “Lost and Delirious,” but she also had a lot of fun in “Suck.” Jessica was just as convincing as a hockey player as she was as a model in Denys Arcand’s “Stardom.” Boys and young men can easily get caught up in Paré’s figure, but if you only focus on two things about Jessica, you are truly missing her essence.

Jill Hennessy: Jill is secretly Canadian, though she clearly had that Canadian coolness on her American TV shows, “Law & Order” and “Crossing Jordan.” Graceful, dark-haired beauty would be enough to put her on the list, but you honestly feel like you would love hanging out with her, even shooting pool, even if she wasn't that pretty. As if that wasn't amazing enough, Jill (left) has a twin sister, Jacqueline. For a great but brief shots of the Hennessy sisters, look for “Dead Ringers,” an early David Cronenberg film where Jeremy Irons plays a set of twins.

Sarah McLachlan: Her voice is enough to have her on my list, but her warmth and her laid-back style adds to her charm. Plus, she has a face you could stare at for hours and not get tired. She has such a pretty smile. Her love for animals warms your heart. Even if those commercials to save the animals can drive you nuts, I always watch when her commercial comes on. If that isn't love, I don't know what is.

Laura Calder: Calder is still very unknown and seems so aloof, you wonder if she ever wants to have a boyfriend. Her cooking shows have developed a small cult following and I am one of those people. You look at her and think she's pretty. You see her figure and you go “Wow!” You listen to her speak and her voice is extremely cool.

You watch her casually talk about French food for 30 minutes on TV and you want to go home with her, and you realize that your motivations have very little to do with her physical beauty.

The beauty of Canadian female celebrities is that they sing and act and tell jokes. Their beauty lies not just in the lines of the face, but in the way they move, act, and perhaps even breathe.

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Beauty, inside and out, can be subjective. So while these women didn’t make the top echelon of my list, these lovely ladies might be on your list:

Kim Cattrall, Sandra Oh, Elisha Cuthbert, Sarah Chalke, Rachel McAdams, Evangeline Lilly, Margot Kidder, Olympian speed skater and cyclist Clara Hughes, Natasha Henstridge, Neve Campbell, Genevieve Bujold, Andrea Martin, and Gilda Radner.

Maybe Playboy playmates are your thing, including the late Dorothy Stratten, Shannon Tweed and her sister Traci, Kimberly Conrad Hefner, and Pamela Anderson 1.0, pre-surgery, pre-“Baywatch."

How about Alanis Morissette, Cobie Smulders, Ellen Page, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Helen Shaver, Jennifer and Meg Tilly, Kathleen Robertson, Susan Clark, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Rae Dawn Chong, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Rachel Blanchard, Mia Kirshner, and Anna Paquin (born in Canada, but considers herself from New Zealand).

Linda Evangelista, Carly Pope, Gabrielle Miller (Corner Gas), Cree Summer, Laura Vandervoort, Nia Vardalos, Catherine Mary Stewart, Deborah Kara Unger, Sandrine Holt.

Canadian women who have passed on: Mary Pickford, Yvonne de Carlo, Fay Wray, and Colleen Dewhurst.

Honorary Canadians (women who married Canadians): Hilary Duff, Carrie Underwood, and Scarlett Johansson

Molly Parker photo credit: CBS

Clara Hughes photo credit

Jill Hennessy photo credit

Laura Calder photo credit

Super Bowl ad notebook: Actual Canadian Super Bowl ads

Your TV choice this past weekend: 4 CBC games and no Super Bowl ads OR no CBC games and all the Super Bowl ads you can muster.

The best scenario is to live along the border on the U.S. side, get the CBC feed and still watch the Super Bowl ads. Canadians get the hockey, but they are primarily shut out of Super Bowl ads.

The CRTC makes Canadian cable systems cover U.S. ads and Canadian ads are run in their place. So if you are on cable or satellite in Canada, whether you tune in NBC or CTV, you get the Canadian feed. Yes, many Canadians and Americans can go on YouTube and elsewhere and see some of the Super Bowl ads. (Full disclosure: My day job is running an ad in the Super Bowl.)

The best way for Canadian viewers to see the Super Bowl ads is to access a NBC over-the-air (OTA) signal. The CRTC can't do anything about OTA signals, though the digital conversion reduces the range of OTA signals. While Canadians receive the U.S. networks via cable, very few of them can get that OTA signal. In the major cities, Toronto has a pretty good shot at WGRZ/Buffalo Channel 2 and Windsor, Ontario is ideal to get WDIV/Detroit Channel 4.

In past years, Canadians might get the ads depending on their location, cable or satellite outlet, and whether all the network feeds were covered. This is a hit-and-miss, and we hope you found success.

Now, many companies run their Super Bowl ads well after the game. Though if it's a sim sub, the U.S. commercials are blocked. And the really cool ads — think Seinfeld and the Soup Nazi one — don't run that much after the Big Game.

This year, Labatt's, which distributes Budweiser beer in Canada, created a Super Bowl ad that was only shown in Canada, not in the United States. As a public service, you can see it in the video above.

For last year's Super Bowl, Hyundai Elantra paid extra to air the U.S. ad in Canada. This year, Hyundai created a separate Canadian ad for the Super Bowl.

Samsung aired its U.S. Super Bowl commercial in the Canadian telecast, continuing its quest to mock Apple customers. (Full disclosure: I just bought a Samsung phone.)

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You can't mention Super Bowl ads without noting that Canadian acting legend William Shatner's Priceline character was killed off by Priceline. While Shatner may be replaced as the company's spokesperson, you have to imagine that at some point, perhaps a future Super Bowl ad, Shatner's character will reappear, just like characters do in many soap operas.

Shatner's character goes out in a blaze of glory as he saves a bus teetering on the edge of a bridge, and then falls off that bridge.

Canada's best-known NBA basketball player Steve Nash appeared in a Bridgestone Tires ad. And Montréal's Moment Factory and Cirque du Soleil worked on the multimedia production of Madonna's halftime show.

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Being Super Bowl week, the Globe and Mail had some nice Canadian tie-ins to the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is quite popular in Canada from a fan's perspective — third-highest TV audience in 2011 — even with very little actual connection.

New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes was in his 2nd Super Bowl, and had also played in the CFL with the Ottawa Renegades in 2002-2003.

The newspaper also had a bit of fun with what would have happened if New England Patriots QB Tom Brady went with baseball as he was drafted by the Montréal Expos.

The Expos drafted him in the 18th round in 1995, a pick so late because the assumption was that Brady would pick football and go to the University of Michigan.

The Expos were snake-bit in a lot of ways, so you would like to think that a few of these moments would have made a difference.

Jennifer Granholm debuts 'War Room' on Current TV

We noted Jennifer Granholm's recent appearance on the "Colbert Report" as she promoted her new book. Well, the other reason she was there was to promote the new show on Current TV entitled the "War Room."

Granholm has helped out with Current TV's primary and caucus coverage along with the Young Turks and Current chief and former Vice President Al Gore. Granholm, who served as Michigan's attorney general and governor for two terms, doesn't have that much experience on television, other than her brief stint on "The Dating Game."

In her first episode, she had a rough time in the beginning; walking and talking on live TV is harder than it looks. Once she stayed still and started interviewing, Granholm had a natural charm in talking with her guests. And she even had a Republican, fellow politician Bill McCollum from Florida. McCollum is a Newt Gingrich supporter. 

Journalism is not Granholm's thing, and no one will mistake her for Charlie Rose. She is very excited about liberal things. If you have at least two posters of Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen, you are pretty liberal.

Granholm doesn't play up her Canadian ancestry in public interviews. However, we hope that if/when Canada comes up in the presidential debate, Granholm will spotlight her knowledge. After all, besides her first four years in Canada, she did deal with Canada on issues as Michigan's governor. Then again, Rachel Maddow, who followed Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, has a mother from Newfoundland and Labrador.

The more pundits who know about Canada, the better Canada looks on U.S. television news.

photo credit: Current TV

'Monsieur Lazhar' and Christopher Plummer get Oscar nominations

"Monsieur Lazhar" is one of the five nominees for Best Foreign Language Film for the Oscars, released earlier this morning. As you may recall, I saw "Monsieur Lazhar" at the Windsor International Film Festival, and I knew at the time that the film was Canada's entry into the Oscars.

The film is about a new teacher that comes into a classroom after their old teacher dies.

"Monsieur Lazhar" is the sixth Canadian nominee for the Oscar in this category, and the second one in a row from Canada that reached the Top 5. Denis Villeneuve's "Incendies" was nominated last year, but did not win. The other nominees throughout the years are "Water" (2006) and several films from Denys Arcand, nominations with "The Decline of the American Empire" (1986) and "Jesus of Montréal" (1989) and winner with "Barbarian Invasions" (2004).

The other foreign film nominees are "Bullhead" (Belgium), "Footnote" (Israel), "In Darkness" (Poland), and "A Separation" (Iran), winner of this year's Golden Globe in that category.

In the people categories, Christopher Plummer got a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in "Beginners." Plummer won the Golden Globe in this category earlier this month. While Ryan Gosling was nominated for a pair of best actor Golden Globes, drama ("The Ides of March") and comedy ("Crazy, Stupid, Love"), Gosling got zero Oscar nominations.

Plummer was last nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Leo Tolstoy in "The Last Station."

In other categories, two National Film Board shorts were also nominated.

We said last November about "Monsieur Lazhar" that "as far as Monsieur Lazhar goes in the Oscars world will improve the slight chances of making it onto American screens." Being a nominee gets a foot in the door; winning an Oscar will put you on more screens. Bonne chance!

The Oscars will air on ABC and CTV on February 26.

NBC Sports Network will carry 2 Canadian MLS games

Major League Soccer now has three Canadian-based teams as of 2012, and two of them will be featured on the NBC Sports Network's MLS coverage.

Toronto FC welcomes the Chicago Fire on April 21 to BMO Field for a 3:30 pm Eastern start. The Seattle Sounders go to B.C. Place to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps on September 29 at 9 pm.

NBC and the ESPN networks are also carrying MLS games in English this season, but none of them involve Canadian teams.

For those who get Galavision, and can follow the game in Spanish can catch the New York Red Bulls at BMO Field on June 30 at 7 pm. I saw a Vancouver Whitecaps game on Galavision in 2011, and could follow it fairly well.

The games should air exclusively, though if not, I'll know with the Chicago telecast in March.

The chances of all the Canadian-based teams playing in Canada on those games is pretty slim, but somehow that happened. Then again, Toronto and Vancouver feel more accessible to U.S. cable networks.

The other Canadian-based MLS team is the Montréal Impact, playing its first season in the MLS in 2012. The Impact is scheduled to play at Saputo Stadium, but since the stadium won't be ready, the team will play at Olympic Stadium until June.

For those who remember the 2010 MLS Cup being held at BMO Field in Toronto, the MLS won't have the championship at a neutral site. So if the MLS Cup will be held in Canada, it will have to be one of the teams in the championship that has the better regular-season record.