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| Robert Pattinson on the Toronto set of Cosmopolis. |
PopGoesTheNews.com What a year! A year with more ups and downs than Omar Sachedina's eyebrows. Ambrosial pop star Justin Bieber was accused of making a "baby, baby, baby, oh" with a fan; a law student knocked up (and then married) Sarah Polley; one Kate Hudson (the actress) got engaged while the other (aka singer Katy Perry) got separated; Kim Kardashian and Sinead O'Connor continued the heterosexual trend of mocking the sanctity of marriage; Gene Simmons finally married his Canadian baby mama; Lloyd Robertson signed off CTV National News after 35 years (without revealing if he ever, in fact, wore trousers on the air); Newlyweds William and Kate sparkled as they made a summer stop in Canada; people who find the Sun papers too in-depth celebrated the launch of Sun News Network; former Sun TV host Chris Van Vliet of Pickering, Ont. was named Cosmopolitan's Hottest Bachelor; Scotty McCreery won Idol, Javier Colon won The Voice, Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. won America's Got Talent, and Melanie Amaro won The X-Factor — propelling them to the ranks of such superstars as, er, Lee DeWyze and Bianca Ryan; CTV finally put So You Think You Can Dance Canada out of its misery; eight of the 10 top-grossing movies were sequels, proving that audiences want the familiar; three of the 10 biggest box office flops of the year were made in Canada, proving...well, nothing; Occupy Toronto protesters camping in St. James Park lined up daily for coffees from struggling independent businesses like, um, Tim Horton's and Starbucks while welcoming Canadian millionaires like Rachel McAdams and Gordon Lightfoot.
WE BELIEB • Justin Bieber proved the naysayers wrong by extending his 15 minutes of fame into another full calendar year. In fact, two years after releasing "One Time," the pubescent pride of Stratford, Ont. is more popular than ever. His year started with the big-screen documentary Never Say Never, which raked in $73 million at the box office and millions more in DVD sales, and ended with Under The Mistletoe, the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at No. 1. In between he stayed in the spotlight with a tour, a romance with teen star Selena Gomez, countless TV appearances including the MMVAs, and several generous charitable contributions — all without forgetting from where he came. The Biebs brought Gomez home to Stratford in the summer, made donations to food banks in Stratford and Toronto, and spent the holidays with his grandparents (and took in a Raptors game). Nearly 16 million Twitter followers can't be wrong.
RUN THE WORLD (GIRLS) • The year ended with three guys from the north atop the Billboard charts: Burnaby, B.C.'s Michael Bublé, London, Ont.-born Justin Bieber and Toronto's Aubrey Graham (aka Drake). But these formidable forces in the music business competed for headlines in 2011 with a Canadian singer who hasn't released an album of new material in almost a decade and one who hasn't released an album in four years — Shania Twain and Celine Dion.
Twain kicked off the year by getting married on a beach in Puerto Rico on New Year's Day to Frederic Thiebaud, the ex-husband of the woman who allegedly broke up Twain's marriage to Robert "Mutt" Lange. In March the duo were in Toronto for the JUNO Awards, where the Windsor-born star was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Twain was back in the city in May to promote her autobiography, From This Moment On. At the same time her reality series Why Not? with Shania Twain debuted on OWN to record ratings.
In June, Twain released to iTunes a single called "Today Is Your Day," produced by legendary Canadian producer David Foster, that failed to take off (it peaked at No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart). She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and also announced a two-year deal to headline at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas starting December 2012. In October, Twain testified via video link in a Toronto courtroom at the trial of Ottawa physician Giovanni Palumbo, who later pleaded guilty to stalking her. That same month, it was announced that Twain's duet of "Endless Love" with Lionel Richie will be released on his album Tuskegee in March.
And before the year was over, Twain's vocals were heard on "White Christmas," a duet featured on Bublé's hit holiday album.
Celine Dion, meanwhile, didn't slow down in 2011 despite welcoming twins at the end of the previous year. In February, the native of Charlemagne, QC made her 27th appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show and then performed the Charlie Chaplin-penned classic "Smile" at the Academy Awards. Dion kicked off a return engagement at Caesars Palace in March, where she's scheduled to perform 210 shows over three years.
In September, Dion launched Signature, her 14th perfume, performed with Andrea Bocelli in Central Park, sang on the MDA Labor Day Telethon, and appeared on the highly-rated TV special Celine: 3 Boys and a New Show on OWN. On Boxing Day, CTV re-aired the tour doc Celine: Through the Eyes of the World.
As she told Vanity Fair in December: "I don’t just sing for free. It’s my work. You’re paid for what you do. And I work hard. But a lot of people work hard and they don’t have anything. I was very fortunate, and people have bought my albums year after year, and they come to see the shows, and it’s expensive, and they still come."
BUILT FORD TOUGH • In his first full calendar year as mayor of Canada's biggest city, Rob Ford proved he's as big a buffoon as we suspected. Ford, whose follies could easily fill a separate blog, surprised many of the city's "left-wing pinkos" when he stopped fighting with his wife Renata long enough to pose for a picture at the $1,000-a-plate Shine fundraiser in February.
Whether it's calling the cops on a TV crew, flipping the bird at another motorist, scrapping a transit plan and vehicle tax that will cost taxpayers millions, charging the cost of business cards printed by his company to taxpayers or ignoring the city's most-read newspaper, Ford made Mel Lastman seem sophisticated. Mark your calendars: The next municipal election is Oct. 27, 2014.
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| Elisha Cuthbert on The Marilyn Denis Show. |
WHAT THE PUCK • He's on the road a lot with the Toronto Maple Leafs and she's in Los Angeles a lot shooting episodes of Happy Endings — but Edmonton-born Dion Phaneuf and Calgary-born Elisha Cuthbert were frequently spotted picking up groceries or Starbucks near their Bay Street condo last year. Country music star Carrie Underwood gave up her status as part-time Ottawa resident in 2011 when her hubby, Peterborough, Ont. native Mike Fisher, was traded from the Senators to the Nashville Predators. In California, Hilary Duff and her Edmonton-born husband (and heir to The Brick) Mike Comrie announced last year that they're expecting their first child.
BAD NEWS • It was a bad year for copy editing at the Toronto Star, as readers noticed more and more typos in the paper and, more frequently, on its website. The National Post was left red-faced by an error in one of its TV commercials. The Globe and Mail was publicly shamed when it failed to cut one of its contributors a cheque in a timely fashion. The Ottawa Citizen figured a fatal explosion was a good time to refer online readers to its delicious summer BBQ recipes. CBC News Toronto, sloppy at the best of times, needed geography lessons again in 2011, and CTV News in Toronto continued its habit of making statements on air that are neither attributed to a source nor supported by its own video footage when Andria Case declared a million people attended the Caribbean Carnival parade.
But the biggest media slip-up happened in June, when newspapers, talk radio hosts and TV news reporters made a big fuss over Toronto mayor Rob Ford's decision not to attend the city's Pride parade. It was old news, of course. In an interview with Metro published on Dec. 26, 2010, Ford gave notice that he wouldn't be in the parade. "I have gone away every July," he explained. "I take my family up to the cottage — sort of our getaway time." Shame on everyone who waited six months to freak out.
A PRIME TIME FOR CANADA • It was a decent year for Canadians on prime time U.S. television – except for Toronto-born actors Dave Foley (CBS's How to be a Gentleman) and Leah Renee Cudmore (NBC's The Playboy Club), whose series were cancelled after only a few episodes. Victor Garber of London, Ont. also lost his gig as the voice of Charlie when the reboot of Charlie's Angels on ABC flopped.
Karine Vanasse of Drummondville, Que. showed up on the highly-hyped ABC series Pan Am, which failed to really take flight and could be grounded next year, and Degrassi alumnus Landon Liboiron of Jenner, Alberta starred in the new Fox adventure series Terra Nova, which is reportedly facing extinction.
But Emily VanCamp of Port Perry, Ont. did well with the new ABC drama Revenge alongside Canadians Henry Czerny and James Tupper. Former MuchMusic host Hannah Simone's comedy New Girl on Fox was a hit, as was NBC's Up All Night starring Toronto's Will Arnett and 2 Broke Girls on CBS co-starring Noah Mills of Toronto. The Secret Circle, starring Calgary's Jessica Parker Kennedy, Adam Harrington of Hamilton, Ont. and Springdale, Nfld. native Natasha Henstridge debuted well for The CW.
Plenty of other Canadian talent returned to the small screen in 2011, including Calgary's Cory Monteith (Glee), Vancouver's Joshua Jackson (Fringe), Calgary native Elisha Cuthbert (Happy Endings), Sandra Oh of Ottawa (Grey's Anatomy), Nathan Fillion of Edmonton and Stana Katic of Hamilton (Castle), ex-Vancouver resident Grace Park (Hawaii 5-0), Vancouver's Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother), Len Cariou of Winnipeg (Blue Bloods), Montreal's Robert Joy (CSI:NY), Oshawa, Ont. native A.J. Cook on (Criminal Minds), Toronto's Shenae Grimes and Vancouver's Jessica Lowndes (90210), and Toronto-raised Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries).
Canada itself was well showcased on U.S. television in 2011, even though it mostly stood-in for America. British Columbia was home to the ABC fantasy drama Once Upon a Time, Fox's Fringe as well as The CW's Supernatural and The Secret Circle. (Fox's mid-season series Alcatraz, debuting this month, is also primarily shot in B.C.) Toronto provided the backdrop for TNT's hit Falling Skies, SyFy's Warehouse 13, USA Network's Covert Affairs and Suits, The CW's Nikita and ABC's Rookie Blue. (The Firm, debuting this month on NBC, and Cinemax's upcoming Transporter: The Series were also shot in Toronto.)
Ottawa native Jon Cassar had plenty of reasons to smile in 2011. The made-in-Ontario mini-series he directed, The Kennedys, aired in April and nabbed 11 Emmy nominations (it won three, including one for Canadian actor Barry Pepper) and he was an executive producer, and directed five episodes, of Terra Nova.
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| Toronto-based DJ Deadmau5 thrilled fans around the world in 2011. |
CTV is a proud sponsor of the Salvation Army's Toy Mountain drive, which collects toys for needy children – and no one is suggesting it's not a worthy cause. But surely the network can find an organization that isn't so unabashedly opposed to homosexuality, equal marriage, and a women's right to choose.
According to a position statement on its Canadian website, "The Salvation Army believes marriage is the covenanting together of one man and one woman for life in a union to the exclusion of all others." On homosexuality in general, the Salvation Army "believes that God’s will for the expression of sexual intimacy is revealed in the Bible, and that living fully in accordance with biblical standards calls for chastity outside of heterosexual marriage and faithfulness within it. We believe that we are accountable for the ways in which we express our sexuality."
It's also vehemently against abortion. "The Salvation Army believes in the sanctity of human life because human beings are made in the image of God. Each person is of eternal value and each life a gift from God worth cherishing, nurturing, and preserving. We are committed to the protection and care of the unborn, and to the promotion of societal systems that promote wholeness, freedom, quality of life and the development of the potential of all persons."
In fact, the Salvation Army makes no effort to disguise its preference to welcome only the faithful. "Membership in The Salvation Army church body is open to all who confess Christ as Savior and who accept and abide by The Salvation Army's doctrine and discipline."
A week before Christmas, CTV's Dana Levenson reported that the Salvation Army's Christmas Kettle campaign was a whopping six-million dollars away from its goal. A little journalistic investigation into the organization would likely have revealed one of the reasons for the shortfall: People living in a diverse (and increasingly non-Christian) city don't want to fund a religious group that calls on gay people "to embrace celibacy as a way of life" and reminds women of the rights of "unborn children when considering the matter of abortion."
BLOGGING IN CANADA • In 2011, two popular celebrity blogs by Canadians shut down — Zack Teperman's zacktaylor.ca and Chris Corsini's and David Tumey's DrinkTheGlitter.com. So where will we get our northern pop culture fix in 2012? There's still Elaine Lui's laineygossip.com, Mike Morrison's mikesbloggityblog.com and Chris Mejaski's outisthrough.com. And if Will Wong stops making stuff up and pulls back on the celeb-stalking that got him kicked out of events last year, his mrwillw.com could become a hit with readers older than 12.
Homegrown photo blog canadiantabloid.com, from veteran Toronto paparazzo Todd Gillis, may have an amusing amount of spelling and grammatical errors but it's often got pics no one else gets (and Gillis' recent spot-on rant about Leah Miller is a must-read). Other notable Canadian photo blogs include John White's tceb.ca and Richard Budman's shot7.com. (Let's not forget StarsInCanada.com!)
COME OUT, COME OUT • The careers of out stars like Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons, Jessie Tyler Ferguson and Adam Lambert continued to flourish and NKOTB member Jonathan Knight, CNN anchor Don Lemon and actor Zachary Quinto came out publicly in 2011. Out talk show hosts Ellen DeGeneres, The Talk's Sara Gilbert, and Nate Berkus (whose self-titled show won't be back next season) were joined last year by Rosie O'Donnell (The Rosie Show on OWN) and Anderson Cooper's syndicated Anderson.
Still, others fought hard to stay in the closet or keep their private lives private. Colton Haynes, who nabbed a role on the MTV series Teen Wolf, tried to wash the Internet of photos of him making out with a guy that originally appeared in a magazine for gay youth. Dustin Zito of MTV's The Real World: Las Vegas insisted he didn't actually have sex with the naked guys he hung out with on the Fratmen websites — even after clips of him giving oral sex and receiving anal sex resurfaced. And the PR team behind rising action star Luke Evans revised his Wikipedia profile hoping to erase references to his being openly and proudly gay.
In December, someone attempted to out Taylor Lautner — whose sexuality isn't exactly a well-kept secret in Hollywood (or Vancouver, where he made the Twilight flicks) — by posting a fake People cover online. That same month, a Republican politician came out after it was revealed he bought something at a gay adults-only store in Toronto.
In the same month that Ottawa teen Jamie Hubley took his own life after years of being tormented for being gay — and, across the river, teen Tanner Moskuil went online to share his despair about being teased for his sexuality — homophobic rapper Tyler the Creator performed a sold-out all-ages show in Toronto. "Whoa yo, yo, no homo, I'm not gay, faggot," he raps. "Come take a stab at it faggot/I pre-ordered your casket."
An organization called Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere raised eyebrows in September when it held its annual gala at Toronto's Ritz-Carlton, a hotel owned by Marriott International, a company founded and run by Mormons. CEO and chairman Bill Marriott is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who held a leadership position known as an Area Authority in the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy — a territory that includes Canada. The 79-year-old, as a devout Mormon, pays a tithe (a minimum of 10 per cent of his income) to the Church, which has long supported the fight against equal marriage.
There was some hope, however. Early in 2011, Toronto-born NHL star Sean Avery said he'd support any young hockey player who wants to come out. "I'll stand beside him in the dressing room while he tells his teammates he is gay," he told a reporter. "Maybe if Sean Avery is there, they would have less of a problem with it." Then in May he recorded a video in support of the campaign to legalize equal marriage in New York — a move that earned him some scorn within the hockey world, including Rogers Sportsnet host Damian Goddard (who was prompty fired).
ALL ABOUT RYANS • Canada's two Ryan exports – London, Ont.-born Ryan Gosling and Vancouver's Ryan Reynolds – had a busy year.
The latter struggled at the box office in 2011 with two movies that performed below expectations. Reynolds' action flick Green Lantern barely covered its reported $200 million budget and his comedy The Change-Up earned only $32 million. And People's 2010 Sexiest Man Alive fell to No. 15 on its Most Beautiful People list in 2011
At home, things weren't much better. Reynolds' divorce from Scarlett Johansson was finalized on Canada Day and the star declined to appear at his induction ceremony on Canada's Walk of Fame because he was in Boston (less than two hours away by air) working on R.I.P.D. Then, TVTropolis started airing his cringe-worthy 1998-2001 sitcom Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place.
Gosling, meanwhile, headlined two movies in 2011: the moderately successful Drive and The Ides of March, which supported a report here in September suggesting that his buzz is bigger than his box office. (Gosling was also in the ensemble cast of the comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love).
The star remained connected to Canada, visiting his mom and friends during the year and stopping in at a cosmetic surgery clinic in Burlington, Ont. He also started dating Eva Mendes, his co-star in the forthcoming The Place Beyond the Pines.
THE YEAR AHEAD • Predictions for 2012? A former Canadian prime minister will pass away this year, as will the mother of a famous Canadian actor. Virgin Atlantic will start flying between Toronto and London again, probably in the spring.
Speaking of a heads-up, despite breaking several news stories and bringing you exclusive content in 2011, the most-visited post on PopGoesTheNews.com was — go figure — the great Canadian bacon challenge, where thousands of readers tried their hand at identifying famous homegrown penises. If you missed it, click here (NSFW).
Photos by John R. Kennedy/SplashNewsOnline.com.
Homegrown photo blog canadiantabloid.com, from veteran Toronto paparazzo Todd Gillis, may have an amusing amount of spelling and grammatical errors but it's often got pics no one else gets (and Gillis' recent spot-on rant about Leah Miller is a must-read). Other notable Canadian photo blogs include John White's tceb.ca and Richard Budman's shot7.com. (Let's not forget StarsInCanada.com!)
COME OUT, COME OUT • The careers of out stars like Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons, Jessie Tyler Ferguson and Adam Lambert continued to flourish and NKOTB member Jonathan Knight, CNN anchor Don Lemon and actor Zachary Quinto came out publicly in 2011. Out talk show hosts Ellen DeGeneres, The Talk's Sara Gilbert, and Nate Berkus (whose self-titled show won't be back next season) were joined last year by Rosie O'Donnell (The Rosie Show on OWN) and Anderson Cooper's syndicated Anderson.
Still, others fought hard to stay in the closet or keep their private lives private. Colton Haynes, who nabbed a role on the MTV series Teen Wolf, tried to wash the Internet of photos of him making out with a guy that originally appeared in a magazine for gay youth. Dustin Zito of MTV's The Real World: Las Vegas insisted he didn't actually have sex with the naked guys he hung out with on the Fratmen websites — even after clips of him giving oral sex and receiving anal sex resurfaced. And the PR team behind rising action star Luke Evans revised his Wikipedia profile hoping to erase references to his being openly and proudly gay.
In December, someone attempted to out Taylor Lautner — whose sexuality isn't exactly a well-kept secret in Hollywood (or Vancouver, where he made the Twilight flicks) — by posting a fake People cover online. That same month, a Republican politician came out after it was revealed he bought something at a gay adults-only store in Toronto.
In the same month that Ottawa teen Jamie Hubley took his own life after years of being tormented for being gay — and, across the river, teen Tanner Moskuil went online to share his despair about being teased for his sexuality — homophobic rapper Tyler the Creator performed a sold-out all-ages show in Toronto. "Whoa yo, yo, no homo, I'm not gay, faggot," he raps. "Come take a stab at it faggot/I pre-ordered your casket."
An organization called Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere raised eyebrows in September when it held its annual gala at Toronto's Ritz-Carlton, a hotel owned by Marriott International, a company founded and run by Mormons. CEO and chairman Bill Marriott is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who held a leadership position known as an Area Authority in the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy — a territory that includes Canada. The 79-year-old, as a devout Mormon, pays a tithe (a minimum of 10 per cent of his income) to the Church, which has long supported the fight against equal marriage.
There was some hope, however. Early in 2011, Toronto-born NHL star Sean Avery said he'd support any young hockey player who wants to come out. "I'll stand beside him in the dressing room while he tells his teammates he is gay," he told a reporter. "Maybe if Sean Avery is there, they would have less of a problem with it." Then in May he recorded a video in support of the campaign to legalize equal marriage in New York — a move that earned him some scorn within the hockey world, including Rogers Sportsnet host Damian Goddard (who was prompty fired).
ALL ABOUT RYANS • Canada's two Ryan exports – London, Ont.-born Ryan Gosling and Vancouver's Ryan Reynolds – had a busy year.
The latter struggled at the box office in 2011 with two movies that performed below expectations. Reynolds' action flick Green Lantern barely covered its reported $200 million budget and his comedy The Change-Up earned only $32 million. And People's 2010 Sexiest Man Alive fell to No. 15 on its Most Beautiful People list in 2011
At home, things weren't much better. Reynolds' divorce from Scarlett Johansson was finalized on Canada Day and the star declined to appear at his induction ceremony on Canada's Walk of Fame because he was in Boston (less than two hours away by air) working on R.I.P.D. Then, TVTropolis started airing his cringe-worthy 1998-2001 sitcom Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place.
Gosling, meanwhile, headlined two movies in 2011: the moderately successful Drive and The Ides of March, which supported a report here in September suggesting that his buzz is bigger than his box office. (Gosling was also in the ensemble cast of the comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love).
The star remained connected to Canada, visiting his mom and friends during the year and stopping in at a cosmetic surgery clinic in Burlington, Ont. He also started dating Eva Mendes, his co-star in the forthcoming The Place Beyond the Pines.
THE YEAR AHEAD • Predictions for 2012? A former Canadian prime minister will pass away this year, as will the mother of a famous Canadian actor. Virgin Atlantic will start flying between Toronto and London again, probably in the spring.
Speaking of a heads-up, despite breaking several news stories and bringing you exclusive content in 2011, the most-visited post on PopGoesTheNews.com was — go figure — the great Canadian bacon challenge, where thousands of readers tried their hand at identifying famous homegrown penises. If you missed it, click here (NSFW).
Photos by John R. Kennedy/SplashNewsOnline.com.
