The Bachelor is not a show I watch or barely follow, but I found out at 10 minutes past the last minute that the show had an episode in the Canadian Rockies. Having been to the Canadian Rockies myself last summer. I looked forward to what they would show.
The bachelor and the women got to row canoes from one side of the lake (from the Fairmount hotel where they were staying) to the other side of the lake. They got a chance to see how beautiful the water is on the lake.
I wish I had done the canoe trip, but with limited time and not having the budget of a reality show, well, you make choices. Looked like fun, though.
They also did a polar bear dip into Lake Louise. The water and surrounding air was pretty cold (I saw snow on the mountain tops in August) when they shot the episode back in October. The temperature rested slightly above 0° C, but if viewers weren't paying attention, they might have thought it would be 0° F. Still, the idea of being in Lake Louise even for about 15 seconds would have been really cool.
Later in the episode, the bachelor took one of the women for a date to the top of Tunnel Mountain. Desiree says she can see all of Banff National Park from there. Sure seems like that, but the park is so huge that you might be able to see all of it, but only from space.
They later climbed down about 400 feet down the mountain to a picnic.
Earlier in the show, he went on a date with Catherine on the Columbia Icefield. That detail wasn't identified in the show, but I'm relying on people who know this better than I do, since the date was at night in the dark.
One potential problem was that Tierra had a bad reaction to the icy plunge. The scene looked a bit scary (any cold water would do this, regardless of location), but the fact that Tierra may have exaggerated her problems — she showed up for a group party in heels even with foot issues — so everyone will be just fine.
True to form, the Fairmount Chateau Lake Louise is offering a special package for fans of The Bachelor.
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Justin Bieber was host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live before flying west to the Grammys in Los Angeles.
Bieber performed two songs, one acoustically with a guitar player and another, also acoustic, with a piano. Can't say I'm the target demo for his music (i.e., Grey Cup performance) but it was nice to hear him without an auto-tuner or whatever enhancement pop stars use these days.
Bieber is also a decent actor, and doesn't have to rely on the cue cards unlike many of the SNL regulars. He played the president of the Miley Cyrus fan club where he dogged Bieber on the "Miley Cyrus" show. Bieber played himself in assessing Bieber lookalikes.
The Valentine's Day message was sexy and creepy. Speaking of creepy, Bieber was "Danny" in a Grease parody where he brags about the date, but she points out that he was clueless. The punchline was that he was 11, yet he drove a car.
Bieber did a nice job playing a high school guy who is into abstinence.
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Having digested two Canadian-themed episodes of How I Met Your Mother in the last week, the show has a fun love/hate relationship with Canada that is very entertaining.
Both episodes had Tim Hortons appearances: coffee the theme in Duel Citizenship from 2009 and donuts in P.S. I Love You from last week.
Yes, the 1996 Grey Cup was at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton (near Guelph). That was the Snow Bowl, so if Robin Sparkles/Robin Daggers did perform there, she would be plenty cold, even with flannel.
Dave Thomas delivered the line about Guelph. If somehow that line stemmed from the fact that the CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats will be playing their home games in Guelph, I would be tremendously impressed. If not, Guelph sounds funny as a word.
Barney tries to track down the identity of Robin's obsession and goes to Vancouver to interview former boyfriends at a Vancouver Tim Hortons (Cobie Smulders is from Vancouver and is a Canucks fan). "Hydro" is definitely a word used in Canada and not so much in the States.
He discovers that a Canadian version of Behind the Music exists that explains this chapter of Robin's life. Through the process, we hear from Canadian icons such as Paul Shaffer, Geddy Lee, Jason Priestley, Luc Robitaille, Dave Thomas, Alex Trebek, and Steven Page.
Dave Coulier is also in the mix, though Coulier's Canadian-ness is a bit sketchy. Born and grew up in the Detroit suburbs, Coulier's maternal relatives are from Bathurst, New Brunswick. He also provided the voice of Bob McKenzie for the Canadian cartoon series Bob & Doug. Coulier did date Alanis Morissette (definitely the inspiration for Robin Daggers). He also starred with Bob Saget in Full House; Saget plays the narrator in HIMYM.
The funniest part was the matchup of where these celebrities were during the 1996 Grey Cup, but they had to be at a Tim Hortons shop AND know which donut they were eating at the time.
Steven Page, Wawa, ON, blueberry fritter; Geddy Lee, Halifax, walnut crunch; Luc Robitaille, Victoriaville, QC, sour cream plain; Alex Trebek, Sudbury, ON, honey dipped; k.d. lang, Red Deer, AB, chocolate glaze; Jason Priestley, Squamish, BC, timbit in a strawberrry vanilla (now known as a Priestly).
BTW, P.S. turned out to be Paul Shaffer.
It's difficult to imagine that Robin could be considered not Canadian as she was struggling with her identity in the Duel Citizenship episode. Then again, the Tim Hortons worker summed it up well.
"American money. Didn't watch the Leafs game. No please or thank you for the coffee. You sure don't seem like a Canadian."
I wouldn't offer even in Toronto that you are required to watch the Leafs, especially in 2009, but I would stand by the other two "requirements."
Thanks to the folks at How I Met Your Mother for its contribution, strange and otherwise, to the neighbors to the north.
photo credit: The Bachelor/ABC
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