BT Edmonton Blogs

Well, that was a first (for me, anyway)! For what felt like five straight minutes, millions watched a kissing competition unfold between grown adults on Monday night’s episode three of Bachelor Pad here on Citytv.

Before our Tuesday morning BT Bachelor Pad panel, I asked Jennifer, Charity and Trevor to sum up their viewing experience in just one word. “Creepy” topped the list, followed by “uncomfortable,” “trainwreck” and “icky.”  Of course, some of the participants were easier on the eyes than others. But still, I couldn’t help but feel I was peering in the window of a high school party gone rogue.

I suppose that’s the point of Bachelor Pad. Every time you lose focus and start to look for budding romance on the show, something happens to snap you back to reality. Some reminders come in the form of relationships born, nurtured and busted up over the course of 24 hours. Others, in the form of back-stabbing, flirting and alliance-building. This is not The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. This is not a noble search for love. This is reality TV’s most loved/hated stars pulling out all the stops in competing for $250,000.

Just when you think you’ve figured out each competitor’s game plan, there’s a twist. Sometimes, it’s one of the Most Dramatic Twists Ever. Good thing we’ve got our panel to sort out all the drama. Click here for this week’s installment!

Don’t miss next week’s panel Tuesday morning at 8:10. We’ll have details on how you could rub shoulders with some of your favourite bachelors…up close and personal!

rpj.

It is definitely cool to have a dinosaur named after your city.  There’s no Hong Kongasaur, or Chicagosaurus.  It makes you wonder what you might find in your back yard if you dug deep enough.

How do you wake up your kid for school?

School time is just around the corner.  While my girl is too young to go to school, she will be going to daycare for the first time in September.  The rare time we needed to wake her up…we just opened the door.  She heard the morning commotion, the sound of our voices and she woke up. That is not going to last forever.  I know there will be a time that she pretends she doesn’t hear me when I plead for her to get out of bed.   

Here’s some suggestions I hope to try out when I need to pull them out of my arsenal.

- Be funny. Do a Friday morning dance.  Make faces.

- Be sweet. Showering your kids with kisses may work up until they turn into a teenager.

- Be annoying.  Tickling may tick them off.  But they won’t hate you for it.

Here’s what some of my twitter friends said

@Lynnoil says singing 80’s songs always works.

@hurtinalbertan says have an understanding with your kids.  If they miss the bus and need a ride to school..the gas money comes out of their allowance.

@mommagrocks says she yells “wakey wakey rise and shaky” and then gives them a good toss.

@debraward does what alot of people do…a spray of water works everytime.

@dheuman says he starts with gentle talk.  When that doesn’t work then drums, pots and pans, then cymbals and last resort cold water.

@donnalives says she wakes her child up asks them when they will be ready to get up.  She sets a timer and waits for the beep, 3 to 5 minutes later.

@difabs says his mom always tore the blankets off him.

And lastly, if you want to get aggressive with a sleepy teen…lift the mattress up…just high enough to get them to roll out.

Let me know what you do to make kids rise and shine.

 r

Fantasia Barrino.

Fantasia Barrino has cleared the air. After being hospitalized for an overdose of aspirin and sleep medication, she admits she intended to commit suicide.

Her sobering sentiments are revealed in an episode of VH1’s Behind the Music, airing Tuesday night.

The 26-year-old singer says, “I just sat in the closet and looked at the mirror and took all the pills in the bottle. I wanted to go to sleep and just be at peace. I knew exactly what I was doing. You can’t accidentally take a whole bottle of pills.”

“At that moment, I wanted out. I wanted it to be over with — all of it,” she adds.

“I remember waking up in the hospital,” the singer tells VH1, according to People, and thinking, “‘It didn’t work, I’m still here in this hellhole. Still here with all this drama going on.’”

The incident followed Barrino being named in court papers alleging she had an affair with a married man.

She’ll be back at work Tuesday. The American Idol star will perform on Good Morning America to coincide with the release of her third album Back to Me.

Alexander Skarsgard, Anna Paquin, and Stephen Moyer on an upcoming issue of Rolling Stone.

On and off screen couple Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer said I do this weekend.

The True Blood stars were married Saturday at a beach side villa in Malibu.

A reported stop on their honeymoon: the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

The newlyweds have been added to the roster of presenters for the Emmys in L.A. this Sunday, Entertainment Weekly reports.

They’ll be joined by a third True Blood star, Alexander Skarsgard.

For the record, HBO’s True Blood is nominated for the best drama Emmy, and in the categories of casting, art direction and sound editing.

Courtesy 20th Century Fox.

I’m sorry, I need to roll my eyes here. Avatar hits theatres Friday. Again, you ask? James Cameron is inviting movie-goers to take an extended tour (9 minutes to be precise) of Pandora.

Cameron says the new footage in “Avatar: Special Edition” is sprinkled throughout the film. A special-edition DVD with the new footage will be released in November- just before Christmas.

 I feel like I’m in a dream sequence…you know like in movies.  Things are hazy, kind of out of focus…but I usually don’t smell like campfire in these scenes in my head.

 Edmonton is enveloped in smoke.  The perfect storm of weather systems trapped the B.C. haze here in Alberta.  It’s worse in Red Deer and Calgary where air quality is very poor.  As I’m writing this, Edmonton is listed as fair.

Some people are finding it harder to breathe, others are losing their voices.  Here at City TV, we turned off the air conditioning to keep the smoke out of the fresh air intakes.

 Alberta Health Services warn people with respiratory conditions to stay indoors.  I have found that’s easy to do.  I drive from my attached garage to the underground CityTV lot…I could go days without going outside and smelling like roasted marshmallow.  That indoor isolation may be great in this circumstance, but obviously not in others.  People living suburban lives, like me, often miss out on the new birds who move into their yard, and greeting neighbours with a smile and a wave everyday.  But that’s a different blog.

Will using a mask help in the smoke?

I’ve seen a few people continuing their exercise routine despite the fog. Some are wearing masks. Do they help?  Well I did some research.  The Alaska Public Health Department says most don’t. “It must be able to filter very small particles (around 0.3 to 0.1 microns), and it must fit, providing an airtight seal around the wearer’s face.   Paper “comfort” or “dust” masks commonly found at hardware stores are designed to trap large particles, such as sawdust. These masks will not protect your lungs from smoke. “  Wet towels and bandannas also don’t work well. Respirator masks can filter some particulate, but they have issues as well.  For more information, here’s the website.  Hopefully the smoke settles before we need to go out and buy one.

http://www.epi.hss.state.ak.us/eh/wildfire/FAQ_FireSmoke.pdf

The gorgeous Miranda Kerr.

Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr has confirmed she’s four months pregnant with new husband Orlando Bloom’s baby!

The Australian beauty confirmed it all to Spanish Vogue just one month after her secret wedding to her longtime boyfriend.

Those two will have THE most beautiful baby.

Madonna's "Material Girl" line in Macy's.

Madonna is being sued over the name of her new junior clothing line.

Clothing company “L.A. Triump Inc.” filed the law suit claiming Madonna used its “Material Girl” trademark which its used since 1997.

It wants her to drop the name and hand over all of the profits the line has made- which is in the millions of dollars.

This is just the beginning I’ll bet.

I hope this blog isn’t turning into a shopping blog, but I guess if shopping becomes news then it’s fair game.

Have you heard of Groupon?  I hadn’t until last week when one of our reporters told me about it.  It’s a website that provides discounts at local businesses.  It launched last week with a deal at the downtown restaurant Sabor Divino.  You spend 20 dollars and you get a 50 dollar gift certificate.  It’s a different deal everyday.  There’s been deals on haircuts, climbing companies and at Greenwood’s books.  Each morning, you get an email detailing the deal.

How does it work?  Here’s how it works according to Groupon’s website, “by promising businesses a minimum number of customers, we get discounts you won’t find anywhere else. We call it “collective buying power!”  But, there’s a catch.  If not enough people sign on to buy the deal, the deal is cancelled.

Thursday's Deal at Groupon

On Thursday, Groupon’s website was overwhelmed with Edmontians trying to get the latest deal.  Spend 25 dollars and get a 50 dollar credit at the GAP.   Thousands bought, so many did in fact that the website is overwhelmed.  The site admitted so many people wanted to cash in on the deal that there were delays in processing requests.  Keep trying and eventually you will get through.

As long as I’m talking about shopping…parents, have you heard about these new boots called Bogs? I hadn’t, but apparently there are huge waiting lists for them.

Bogs are in high demand in Edmonton

They are definitely different looking.  The bottom is rubber and the top looks like neoprene.  They look like fancy rubber boots but they are rated to -30 degrees.  They actually can be used as rubber  boots so buy big for your kids if you want them to last into the spring and summer.

According to Cynthia at Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes (a kid’s store in Glenora) there were so many pages of people on a waiting list, she had to hire someone to alert people that a shipment was coming in.  At the store yesterday it was a bit chaotic as mothers were picking over the boots and kids were tearing apart the store.  Bogs are expensive so be prepared to pay $100 dollars for kids sizes. They also are available for women. You can get more information on how to get them at the company’s website.

It’s a busy weekend in the City of Champions.

It starts Saturday with a wild ride head-first down one of the fastest sections of Edmonton’s trail system on a longboard for “The High Level Downhill”.

Sunday, if you have nerves of steel, hit up the R.O.G.U.E. 20 km race for an “exhilirating and exhausting ride”.

Visit http://roguerace.com/site/ for all the details.

It’s the final days of the Fringe! Shows are selling out so snag a festival guide, pick a show or two or three, and buy your tickets to reserve a seat before it all wraps up Sunday night.

Log onto http://www.fringetheatreadventures.ca/ for all the deets.

For the 14th season, the Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival is back.

It showcases Asian culture and promotes the sport in our river valley. Catch the action from the “Edmonton Queen” starting Friday night.

Visit www.edbfa.ca for more information.

Hilary and Mike.

Hilary Duff signed a pre-nup before saying I do this weekend in Santa Barbara, California.

Mike Comrie’s dad is the founder of The Brick worth an estimated $500M. Knowing this, I checked out Duff’s worth which is somewhere between $15M and $25M. Big difference between somewhere in there and $500M.

Apparently it was “a totally amicable agreement”.

Duff, 22, and Comrie, 29, who met at an Idaho resort, have dated since 2007 before he popped the question in February.

A shot from Erykah Badu's latest music video.

It seemed like everyone was up in arms over Erykah Badu’s naked stroll for the “Window Seat” music video last March.

Now, she must pay a $500 fine and serve six months probation after reaching a plea deal to settle a misdemeanor disorderly conduct citation issued after she released the video.

The singer shed her clothes as she walked through Dealey Plaza until she was nude and then fell near where U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

After filming the video, Badu posted a message on her Twitter account acknowledging that there were children there.  She said she prayed they wouldn’t be traumatized by seeing her naked.

It’ll all be erased from her criminal record if she successfully completes the 180 days probation.

The Biebs.

Don’t tick off Justin Bieber.

A Detroit teen told The Detroit Free Press he “meddled into Bieber’s life”. What? Okay apparently this teen, Kevin Kristopiak, got the Biebs phone number from a “friend” and sent him a text message.

Harmless really. This is where it gets ugly, according to Kristopiak. On Saturday night, Bieber sent out a phone number that he claimed was his and invited his 4.58 million followers to contact him.

BUT, the Biebs actually posted Kristopiak’s phone number.

In a You Tube video, Kevin Kristopiak’s phone can be seen getting a steady stream of text (approximately 26,000). So NOW, Kevin’s dad is concerned his son will have a $20,000 phone bill. I take it this prank might come back to bite Bieber.

11 month old baby with bong posted on Facebook

This is even more disturbing that the smoking baby in Indonesia.  Recently, a Florida mom posted a picture of her 11 month old baby boy appearing to smoke out of a bong.   

Nineteen year old Rachel Stieringer was arrested on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia.  She told investigators she was cleaning her room one day and her young son crawled in and put the pipe up to his mouth, according to court documents. Stieringer said she thought it was funny and snapped a picture. The Department of Children and Families is still investigating.

Smoking Toddler

Speaking of the smoking toddler… months after he made international news Aldi Suganda is still smoking.  The 2 year old started smoking when he was 11 months old during daily trips to the market with his parents.  His parents, Rizal and Diana would let him play by himself and they say he went off and discovered smoking.  He is now smoking 2 packs a day.  His parents claim they are trying to make him quit.  But so far, it’s not working.  Actually acting his age…he’s throwing tantrums when they take the cigarettes away.