I’m sure all our American readers are counting down the days until they can crack a Miller Lite, light some sparklers and celebrate Independence Day. Me too, except, being a Canadian, I don’t have to wait quite as long to do so…. and I will probably be sipping on something Molson over something Miller.

Up here in Canada we do our celebrating on July 1st. It’s Canada Day – our nation’s big, fat birthday – and it rocks. And being the nice neighbor that I am, I’m inviting you to party with us. If the fact that fabulous CollegeCandy writers Alex from Lakehead and Ness from Sheridan are Canadian isn’t reason enough, then here are 5 more.

1. Calling in sick to work because you’re too hungover from partying it up on the Fourth of July is totally suspicious.  Call in on July 2nd (which happens to be a Friday!) and no one will bat an eyelash.  Celebrating Canada Day means you can party straight through the weekend!

2. For anyone close to the 49th parallel and under 21, Canada is the place to be.  With a drinking age of 19 in most provinces (18 in Alberta and Quebec!) you can enjoy a drink on a sunny patio.  If you can’t make it North for a drink, raise a Caesar in celebration of Canada – this popular (and tasty) drink was created by a bartender in my hometown of Calgary, Alberta! Read More »

[While everyone is fabulous in their own right, we thought we should celebrate the campus fashionistas of the world for their continued excellence in not looking like a hot mess for class. So, we started stalking those girls on campus (like Meredith at Simmons!) to get a few pics and get some tips on their personal style.

And maybe a restraining order or two.

But it’s worth it to highlight fresh, unique wardrobe choices that show personality and the courage to wear what you believe in. You think you've got some major style? Know someone else who's always looking ferosh? Think the world needs to see what she can do?  Send us an email with some photos and she could be the next fashionista celebrated right here.]

What is Thompson Rivers University?
Where is Thompson Rivers University?

To tell you the truth, I have no idea. (Without some Wikipedia, of course.) All I know is that a very creative and fashionable girl named Kimberly works that campus like a runway. She recently sent us an email asking that we “expand our [Campus Couture] idea and take a look at a student from Canada!” (So that’s where TRU is!) Little did Kimberly know, we’ve been featuring same Canucks all along, but after looking at her pictures I figured we could add another to the list; those Canadians have some great style.

Kimberly “takes great pride in her clothes” and while I don’t know her from some other hockey lovin’ Canadian, that is obvious in the unique mix of textures, colors and styles she has pulled together here. Way to go, Kimberly. You represent Canada well, girlfriend! Read More »

With the Winter Olympics in full swing, all of the world’s attention is focused on Canada. And in addition to figure skating and snowboarding and skeleton (?!) a new Olympic sport has arisen—one that we plebeians can play from our couches!

I like to call it “Canadian CelebSpotting.”

All of a sudden, celebrities are coming out of the woodwork to display their native Canadian pride, and they’re popping up in travel advertisements, Today Show interviews, and in the audience at Olympic events. In addition to well-known Canadians such as Nelly Furtado and Celine Dion, check out which other personalities (should) know all the words to “O Canada!” Read More »

Today, July 1st, Canadians and the people who love them (yes, lots of people love Canadians!) are celebrating Canada Day, an annual federal holiday commemorating Canada’s “birthday” in 1867. Since then, Canada has contributed a whole lot to the world in the realms of science, hotties, entertainment, hotties, cuisine, hotties, pop culture, and more (hotties). Here is but a brief list of things to love from our northern neighbor. Enjoy it, eh? Read More »

Ok, tonight’s episode of The City was….good. Really good. Chock full of the drama that I have come to expect from the MTV not-so-reality shows. It was so good, in fact, that it actually made me excited to watch next week. And if you’ve been following my recaps you will know that is saying a lot.

What made it so good? Well, for one, JR. He’s not so cute when he smiles, but he does seem to be the only real person on the show. And by “real” I mean “someone who leaves SoHo/Grammercy once in awhile and has a real job.” He’s totally smitten with Erin and her I-totally-just-smoked-a-ton-of-pot vibe and wines and dines her in attempts to woo her back.

Meanwhile Erin is telling anyone who will listen (even in the middle of a concert) that she is falling for him and even goes as far as telling the girl with the nose (Samantha?) that she just can’t make the whole long distance thing with her Canadian lover work. Read More »

Women’s social issues have been treated in programs geared towards teens for ages. Remember when DJ Tanner went on a crash diet so she could look good in a bathing suit, and then passed out on a stairclimber?

On Saved by the Bell, Elizabeth Berkley gained pre-Showgirls notoriety, for the famous Jessie Spano Caffeine Pill Breakdown (I’m so excited! I’m so scared!). Of course, Full House and SBTB were heart-warming sitcoms, where everyone learns their lesson in the end, and move away from their self-destructive behavior, never to mention anorexia, bullimia, or drug abuse ever again.

The breakout Canadian teen sensation, Degrassi, which airs in the US on The N network, covers a variety of teen issues, without the cavity-inducing sugary sweetness of the stuff we grew up on. Among the kids who dabble in drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, and bi-polar disorder, Degrassi introduced the world to Ellie Nash, who is a cutter.

I’m too old for Degrassi, but I don’t care. I’m pretty much obsessed with it. The best part about the show is that it doesn’t sweep the issues under the rug at the end of each 22-minute episode. And because the writers have the balls to “Go There.” I mean, come on: we all know the caffeine-pill incident was a stand-in for a harder drug, like speed or something, but hard drugs don’t exist at Bayside High.

I remember when the cutting craze swept my middle school. I have no idea who started it, or why it caught on, but at my school, cutting was the iPhone of the late 90′s. Read More »

I’ve talked about American Apparel before. Those ads that look like porn with bad lighting? Those models who may or may not be underage but who are definitely bored and affected?Well, it gets better.

A contributor for Jezebel (one of the funniest gossip sites out there) recently wrote about her experience working at the enigma that is A. Apparel, proving that it’s not just their ads that are pretensions and strange.

“I thought cocaine was kind of scandalous when I started working at American Apparel. And so I naturally found it kind of scandalous that a major coke dealer actually served as a kind of informal HR chief for many of the American Apparel stores in New York.” The Jezebel story begins, going on to explain about the monstrosity that is Dov Charney—the Canadian founder of A.A. Read More »