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 »

Yonge & Dundas Intersection in Toronto after Team Canada Win

This week’s Weekly Ten, Why Canada Deserves Silver, stirred up quite the controversy yesterday. Seriously, I didn’t see this much hate on CollegeCandy since one writer expressed her disdain for Taylor Swift. And rightfully so. Yes it was meant to be a joke, but we in Canada aren’t entirely laughing with you.  While we know for a fact CollegeCandy loves their Canadian readers, and even has a few Canadian writers (myself included), this post pissed a lot of people off.

But instead of get angry and insult the intelligence of the writer, editor or Americans in general, I decided to take the high road and just show why Canada deserves more than just a gold medal in Olympic hockey. So here is my condensed version (there are way too many reasons for one post!) of all the reasons Canada rocks that they forgot to teach you in high school. Read More »

Thanks to our friends over at Broadway.Tv (Click there to watch the video interview), I was able to interview none other than Miss Julia Stiles for CollegeCandy’s “5 Questions We Ask Everyone.” Julia and Bill Pullman are co-starring in the Broadway show “Oleanna,” a play about tension between a college student, Carol (Stiles) and her professor (portrayed by Bill Pullman). Though Julia is familiar with the stage, this is her Broadway debut (and she is unfamiliar with wooing her professors…).

I met with Broadway.Tv in the press room for Oleanna where cameras and reporters interviewed Julia, Bill and director Doug Hughes, firing questions about the intricate plotlines and the dynamic relationship between the two characters. “Oleanna” only has two actors on stage for the entire play and the high drama between the two characters was a primary focus for all the reporters. Both Stiles and Hughes likened the performance to “a sporting event,” noting that working on the play is so powerful, the emotions are akin to an adrenaline rush.

I was able to sit down with Julia and chat with her one-on-one and capture her insights on the play, college and… Sesame Street?

5 Questions We Ask Everyone:

1. What’s the most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?
The most trouble I’ve gotten into? Oh my God. Well you know, I’m very good at… not getting caught. It’s not that I’ve not gotten into trouble, I’m just good at not getting caught.

2. What are some things you can’t live without?
Running and swimming. I love exercise. It helps me blow off steam, helps to calm down.

3. What’s your motto/advice you live by?
I wish I had a motto. I don’t know. It’s like one of those things I’ll think of later.

4. What’s your favorite song to belt out at the bar/in the car/for karaoke?
I’m obsessed with “I Feel it All” by Feist and of course “1, 2, 3 ,4″. I just saw that she did that for Sesame Street. It’s really awesome.

5. Ten years from now you will be….
I’d love to be still working, acting, doing what I love. You know what’s funny? I can’t even think beyond March, until this play closes. Read More »

This week was a good, if not totally random, week for music. I mean, who groups Daughtry, Jack White’s the Dead Weather, and the soundtrack to 500 Days of Summer in one category? I do. And I love them all.

Though, in totally different ways.

Chris Daughtry I love in a good-boy rocker kind of way. Jack White I love in a creepy weirdo fascination kind of way. And the 500 Days of Summer I love in a Zooey Deschanel kind of way. I love music in lots of different ways and this week is a prime example of how much my love can vary. Read More »

“Who did this to you?” a new friend asked me yesterday when she noticed my near gagging at a couple holding hands crossing the street in front of us. It was followed later by a, “Damn…I would never date you!”.

I come off to everyone as a jaded and heartless b*tch, I guess. But that’s not really it at all. It’s not my lack of emotion that makes me steer clear of relationships. On the contrary, it’s my abundance of emotion. Sound silly?

Well, yeah. It is silly. But it’s how I am. When I really like a guy, I’m f*cking worthless. Every moderately aching emotion makes me want to puke all over everything around me. Love hurts…it’s not just a song, people. Sure, I feel ecstasy. I feel love. To quote songstress Feist, I feel it all. But when the pain comes, it kills me. I lost fifteen pounds in two weeks once after a breakup that I couldn’t emotionally handle. Read More »

I sometimes drift off to this place where I feel very detached. To borrow a phrase from a friend who once witnessed me in it…it’s kind of like “existential despair”.

I think a lot of people out there can occasionally relate with this feeling. It’s like you’re suddenly outside of everything. You WANT to focus on pushing forward with your goals, caring about the train being late, picking which sandwich you’ll eat for lunch…but there’s this one problem: everything just seems too irrelevant to care.

Sometimes, it’s comforting to listen to music that soundtracks this experience. Sometimes it is nice to know that you’re not the only one out there questioning EVERYTHING.

The next time you’re feeling disconnected, spend some quality time with these songs. And then get off the couch and go run…or something.

“Mad World” by: Michael Andrews

“Grey” by: Ani Difranco

“Meets His Maker” by: DJ Shadow

“Each to Each” by: The Gutter Twins

“Dizzy” by: Ours

“Requiem” by: Cave In

“When I Was A Young Girl” by: Feist

“A New Family” by: Colour Revolt

“A Viscious Circle” by: Day One Symphony

“Sweetness” by: Jimmy Eat World

Enjoy your detachment, boys and girls.

I first discovered Leslie Feist when I heard her song “Mushaboom”, a modest indie hit from her second solo album, Let it Die. In the song, she waxes melodic about her desire for a simple life: a husband, a home, kids, and…some mushaboom, whatever that is. It was that mixture of sincerity, simplicity and whimsy that pushed me into finding and listening to everything of hers I could find.

In 2007 Feist released The Reminder, which has since been canonized on VH1 and in advertisements. I’m glad that she has found some commercial success and all, but I hate that I can’t listen to “My Moon, My Man” without wanting a Chocolate by LG phone. But that’s another post.

Anyway, The Reminder is more than just an endless font from which advertisers like Apple can buy songs. It’s an exquisite, heartfelt album and every track is produced to perfection. Her music is lovely as a whole, but the standout aspect on The Reminder, and indeed, in Feist’s whole oeurve, is her voice–there isn’t another one quite like it. Read More »

• Guys dig porn… Wanna know why?

• Sarah Michelle Gellar’s got the look of the day

• The top 10 beards in modern music

• Britney does Ace of Base

• Heath Ledger’s Life in Photos

• Feist has a new video.

• Brad Pitt is one funny redneck.

• Smitten for mittens

• If you don’t know this band, you should.

• An open letter to the Simpson sisters

• Guess who’s the new Vaseline mystery model?

Let’s face it. In order to be a female musician, it’s a prerequisite nowadays to be considered hot. Unlike the guys, who can get away with looking like this or this and gorgeous girls will still screw them, women are a completely different story. It’s just the way things go.

So, with all of the ladies putting countless records out, who is the hottest? And what makes a “hot” female singer? There are dozens of lists of opinions; everybody’s got one. I happened to stumble upon one that caught my eye, if for no other reason than Madonna isn’t on it for once (I don’t care how “in shape” she is, people – she looks like hell. Eat a hot dog, woman).

Shoutmouth.com lists their countdown of the 50 Hottest Women in Music, and it goes by 7 different rules:

Rule #1 (The Madonna Rule): This list is based on recent hotness. It doesn’t matter how hot an artist was back in the ‘80s. It’s 2007. What have you done for us lately?

Rule #2 (The Hayden Panettiere Rule): To qualify for this list, an artist must be over 18 years of age. We only objectify of-age women here.

Rule #3 (The Newcomer Rule): Each artist must have released at least one full-length album prior to August 1st, 2007 in order to qualify.

See Photos after the jump. Read More »

From seemingly soft-spoken crooners (Jenny Lewis, Regina Spektor) to loud-mouthed firecrackers (Beth Ditto, Amanda Palmer) it’s no surprise that women have taken the reins from the guys and have proved that, they too, can rock as hard as any man. It’s time to let the ladies take over for a bit, and none too soon. Check out AOLmusic’s top female performers who are currently rocking the stage (and your iPod) right now. Photos after the jump: Read More »