Watch Episode 2 of "Talking Bollocks"

Josh Rachlis and Marilla "Rill" Wex want to host a talk show. So they're doing it themselves. By interviewing each other. In our second episode... Wait, do talk shows have "episodes?" Maybe I should just say "show." Hmmm... For our second show, Rill, who is soon eligible to become a Canadian citizen, interviews Josh about what it's like to be a Canadian. It was filmed live on the cozy, snowy evening of January 8, 2009 at Talking Bollocks Studios (a.k.a. Rill's den, on her futon). You can watch it by clicking here.

P.S. Oh, and you'll notice that Rill drew a very colourful sign for the opening title sequence, thus upstaging the black & white one I drew for the first episode. Very impressive! So I'll have to come up with something really snazzy for the next show.

A love song for a cozy snowy winter evening

Yesterday Cheryl emailed me: "What are you up to tonight? Feel like coming to my place and practicing more music?" So last night in the soft beautiful snow, I subwayed over to Cheryl's basement apartment. I love it there. Not only is it a very cozy place, but she even made me a cheese and tomato sandwich (cheese and tomatoes are two of my favourite things). Anyway, we played a couple of songs for her JVC Super VHS GR-SXM540 Camcorder. And then realized we can't get the footage off her JVC Super VHS GR-SXM540 Camcorder. So until we do, all you can watch is the back-up I shot of the first song with my digital camera. Which you can do by clicking here. The lyrics are on the right side if you click "More info." The song is about feeling a rush from a special someone every single time you think about them. Even years after you first met. If you know what that feeling's like, you're very lucky. Suggestions for a title for the song are welcome. Cheese and tomato sandwiches are also welcome.

My YouTube is amongst the most viewed (albeit in a very specific category)

A couple of days ago, I noticed a new little item on my YouTube page. A tiny picture of an award ribbon, with the words: "#74 Most Viewed (Today) - Comedians - Canada." Well! That was exciting. Although, maybe Canada only has 74 comedian pages on YouTube, I wondered. But then a few hours later (Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 11:48am, to be exact) it was saying: "#69 Most Viewed (Today) - Comedians - Canada." So even on the off-chance that there are only 74 such pages, I was climbing the charts! Could it all be because of my recent posting of the love song? Who knows. But whatever the case, I owe it all to you: The Fans. And Jesus. But I'm not sure why he'd want to help me. So it's probably more The Fans. So, thanks. I haven't been this excited since I was my summer camp's "Most Improved Water Skiier."

A love song to fill the New Year with, um, love

One of my new year's resolutions is to fill the entire world with love. My other resolution is to find someone to marry me. And since the first resolution will be much easier for me to achieve, I figure I'll get right on it by posting a love song, thus putting the first drop of love into the empty vessel that is 2009. Click here to see/hear it. This song is a work in progress. Still tweaking the chords. And don't have a name for it. But that's a lesson for all of us in 2009 - things will never be perfect. So just do it. No, wait. That's a Nike ad. Anyway, helping me out here is the stripy-socked Cheryl Beatty. Click here to buy her album and find out where you can can see her live. She's a beautiful singer and a beautiful person. (Oh, and if you're expecting this song to be funny, it's not. Well, not intentionally, anyway.)

Check out my comedy video where I try to sell an "authentic" Transformers action figure

Here's the description I'm putting with my new video: "Josh has been having trouble selling his amazing goods on his eBay page. So he thought maybe videos would help to show how great his stuff is. In his first video, he's selling a real, authentic, vintage Transformers action figure. It's a valuable collector's item and you should buy it for lots of money." Now, that sort of leaves it up to the viewer to figure out that if it's serious or a joke. But because you're a loyal reader of my blog, I shall give you a top-secret inside tip: It's a joke. :) Check it out by clicking here.

Check out the first episode of my new talk show, "Talking Bollocks."

Josh and Marilla want to host a talk show. They also want to be guests on a talk show. Since neither is happening at the moment, they're taking things into their own hands and making their own talk show. They'll take turns interviewing each other. And they'll be "talking bollocks," which is an English expression meaning "talking about whatever." (Take Marilla's word for it, because she's English.) Check out the first episode - filmed on Saturday, December 6th, 2008, at Talking Bollocks Studios (a.k.a. Marilla's house) - by clicking here. (But be warned: THE VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC ADULT LANGUAGE THAT MAY OFFEND SOME.)

I'm in today's National Post talking about green dating

I'm interviewed in today's National Post about how being an environmentalist can affect one's dating life. Unfortunately, the accompanying photo of me in my green superhero outfit should effectively put an end to my dating life. Although, if you look at the photos of the paper version, you'll see that on the front of the section, my head is actually above the heads of Tina Fey and Oprah. And if that doesn't guarantee action, I don't know what does. Well, okay. I don't know what does. To read the online version, click here.

Women should NOT sit out the U.S. election

This is a Letter to the Editor I just sent to Metro News. I doubt they'll print it, because I just had one in the paper. And even if they did, it wouldn't be printed in time for the U.S. election. So I'm going to post it in my blog, in the hopes that it helps combat the dangerous message given in today's paper by Rick McGinnis (whom I believe is their TV critic, so I'm not sure why he's even writing about politics at all, much less trying to take away women's power to vote).

Here's my letter:

In “Sit this one out, ladies” (Oct. 31), Rick McGinnis suggests that women not vote in the U.S. election in order to protest sexism in the campaigns. While his cause is noble, his advice could just as easily be given by people who want to silence women and take away their hard-fought-for power to vote, power which women in many countries are still murdered for trying to achieve. Sure, a few jerks wore offensive t-shirts and yelled out ignorant insults. But the answer is not to withdraw from the process and let misogynists be the only ones who choose the government. As we’ve seen in the Canadian election, low voter turnout doesn’t “slap… otherwise intelligent people back to their senses,” as McGinnis suggests it would. It just results in more of the same mean-spirited government and makes progressive people feel even more hopeless. No, the answer is for women to rise up and vote in unprecedented numbers, thus demonstrating that they are a powerful force for good in this world, and that their voices cannot be ignored.

I come to the rescue of Elizabeth May in Metro newspaper

In the Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008 issue of Metro, Canada’s #1 free national daily newspaper with 950,000 readers, my letter was the only Letter To The Editor published and, as you can see in the photos, was one of only three items on the Comment & Views page. A few days earlier, Andrew Cohen, apparently a Metro columnist, had written a very rude, childish and misleading column insulting the leader of Canada's Green Party, Elizabeth May. Well, as someone who respects people who devote their lives to making this world a cleaner, healthier place, I wasn't going to stand for that! So I didn't stand for it. I sat down for it. At my computer. And this is what I wrote:

Re: "May pays for mistakes" (Oct. 16)
Andrew Cohen believes that: "Unelected leaders have no credibility. You can stand and squawk in the foyer of the House of Commons, as Ms. May does every day. But really, though, why should anyone listen to you? Especially when your party has 6.8 per cent of the vote."
It says a lot about Mr. Cohen that he dismisses daily fighting for a cleaner, healthier, fairer Canada as "squawking." But dismissing 6.8 per cent of the vote as insignificant is even more absurd.
Does he not know that the Bloc won nearly 50 seats with 10 per cent of the vote? With a fair and proportional voting system, the Green Party's 940,000 votes would have earned them 23 seats.
The problem is not May's passion for improving our country. The real problem is our electoral system.

Hybrid taxis, not higher taxi fares

An open letter to Mayor David Miller and Councillor Howard Moscoe:

Dear Mayor Miller and Councillor Moscoe,

I heard on the news last week that the taxi companies are demanding that fares be raised in order to compensate for higher gas costs.

As a tax-paying, air-breathing citizen of Toronto, I would like to express my extreme opposition to this.

Every day I see taxis parked with their engines idling outside my work, outside my condo, outside union station... everywhere.
A couple of months ago I even saw a cab sitting idling with NOBODY IN IT for at least half an hour, while the driver was inside a coffee shop playing cards with his friends. I took a picture and will be sending this to your idling reports division.

My point is that cabs seem to think wasting gas is fine. They also aren't converting to hybrids. I've seen maybe two hybrid cabs all year.

I believe you've implemented some kind of green taxi plan. But I'm not sure how that's going and it hasn't seemed to have any effect yet. The increase in gas prices should be a good incentive for cabs to convert to a hybrid fleet. Hybrid cabs would save thousands of dollars a year in gas costs. I've read about hybrid cabs in Vancouver that have done just that. You should push the cabs to make the change quicker if they are really concerned about rising gas prices. You should crack down on idling. And, if you must, give them more incentives to switch to green cars.

But to simply let them charge more money to make up for rising gas prices would be missing a once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity to green Toronto's cabs, clean the air for all of us and let cab drivers save thousands a year.

I know the entire city would be behind me on this one.

As you can read by clicking here, the cabs of New York City are enjoying huge gas savings thanks to going hybrid. So should Toronto's cabs.

Please let me know what you think of this idea and let me know if myself and my friends could do anything to help make this happen.

Town destroyed by twister rebuilds Green

Perhaps it's because I feel philosophical on Sundays. Perhaps it's because I was just watching a documentary about Superman while on the treadmill in the gym. But this story, about a town in Kansas that was flattened by a twister a year ago today and is rebuilding as a new model of how green a town can be, is inspiring and gives me a little bit of hope for the world...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/05/02/greensburg.green/index.html

Toronto's CHUM FM denies global warming

An open letter to 104.5 Chum FM:

Dear Chum FM and the Roger, Rick & Marilyn Show,

I was listening to your morning show today and was pleased to hear you reporting on the fact it was Earth Day. But then I was dismayed to hear you spend a full minute of the newscast giving airtime to the people who deny global warming exists. I don't see what this was intended to accomplish. Any sane person can see that we have a problem with pollution in our world. Even George W. Bush has acknowledged that global warming is a serious problem. And yet you felt that a few lunatic scientists who are funded by oil companies deserved more time in your broadcast than the people trying to clean up our city and our planet.

Your newscaster followed the positive Earth Day news with the line: "But of course, there's always a contrary opinion." Really? If you did a story about a Holocaust remembrance ceremony, would you feel the need to let a Holocaust-denier go on for 60 seconds as "balance?" Sure, there's always a contrary opinion. But there isn't always a logical contrary opinion that deserves airtime. The oil companies have tried to make it look like there's a "debate" in the scientific community on the subject. But anyone who's looked into it knows this is misinformation. You can always find someone who's willing to present a shoddy argument for a fee. But I don't see why this would earn them 50% of your newscast on a story about the environment.

I feel that you should apologize on air to your viewers for diminishing the important work that people are doing for Earth Day and for using your station's clout to promote dangerous, unfounded opinions that can only result in more deaths from smog and climate change. I am very disappointed in your station and in the usually positive and responsible Roger, Rick & Marilyn Show.

Sincerely,

Josh Rachlis

Get your face or message on a giant billboard in Ontario!

Get your face or message on a real, huge billboard in Ontario! Seriously! Just to go to http://www.jamesready.com, upload your photo or message, and it will most likely appear on a billboard!!!

The photo here is some guy Matt who sent in that picture. If he can get a billboard, YOU can. And no, what you send in doesn't need to have anything to do with beer.

If you’re my friend, I’ll make sure you get your stuff on a billboard! You see, I’ve been asked to use my internet social networking connections to raise participation in an exciting marketing initiative for James Ready Beer. (Translation: People at work said “Hey! You have over 800 Facebook friends! Help us out!”)

James Ready is an inexpensive beer that asks consumers to “Help us keep James Ready a buck a bottle.” As such, they have bought up some real live billboards around Ontario but don’t have any fancy, expensive ads to put on them.

So they’re asking people to email in a digital photo or just a message and they’ll put it on a giant billboard. They haven’t gotten enough responses yet. Maybe because people don’t believe it’s real. So if you send something in, it will most likely be made into a billboard.

Got a photo of your sports team? Want to ask a girl out? Are you making a movie that you’d like to promote? Want to show off your new haircut?

Just go to http://www.jamesready.com and send in what you want on the billboard. It’s that simple! And you can message me after so that I can help ensure that it does get up there.

You can do it no matter where you live. But if you live in one of these areas, even better, because this is where the billboards will be:

Peterborough
Ajax
Pickering
Georgetown/Halton Hills
Brantford
Chatham-Kent
Sarnia
Barrie
Orillia
Belleville
Kingston
Oshawa
Hamilton
St. Catharines
Niagara
London
Windsor
Sault Ste. Marie
Sudbury
North Shore
North Bay & District
Thunder Bay
Kitchener
Cambridge

Are you sabotaging your own success?

Check out what this study found:

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Mediocrity rules

People are so convinced they can't do well in certain pursuits that they can inadvertently sabotage their own performance to achieve their low expectations.

University of Toronto social psychologist Jason Plaks says this self-imposed mediocrity in selected areas is so pervasive that people become anxious if they achieve above their expectations. The anxiety of overachieving in areas they've convinced themselves they're no good at may actually limit some people's ability to do well in them, Plaks says.

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Pretty crazy, huh? But it reminds me of the many times I've heard people say they can't do something, even when I'm sure they could. Such a large part of getting ahead at anything in this world is simply DOING it. So, think about it... Is there something you want? Are you maybe not getting it simply because you're telling yourself you can't get it? Well, stop that. Go for it. And when you get what you want, leave a comment here so I can have the smug satisfaction of saying: "I told you so."

A petition to let the Green Party into the debate

It's been shown that once a party is allowed into the televised debates, their support can soar. It's what happened to the Reform Party. People just need to see them deliver their message. The Green Party already has 11% support in Toronto. It's the only party gaining support in the Ontario race. And yet, they're not letting the Green Party leader into the debates. Fair? No. So please sign the petition at www.letfrankin.ca

(Sorry for this posting not being funny. The environment is just too serious an issue to make light off. However, if you've been good and signed the petition, you can turn on some clown music and go back and read the posting again, while listening to clown music. The posting will be funny that way.)

My marriage proposal's on ecorazzi.com!!!

Holy crap!!! Check out this amazing promotion of my marriage proposal by clicking here. It looks like it was put up on August 23rd. I had no idea it was there, though. I only just found it now because I was googling "Josh Rachlis" and "Jay Leno" and this link popped up for some reason. Anyway, all I can say is... WOW!!!! Thanks so much to ecorazzi for joining the cause. I will for sure reserve a whole ecorazzi table at my wedding to Laurie David if, I mean WHEN, it happens. There's even a comment at the post, from "rebecca," who mentions my An Inconvenient Ruth movie (which I made for Laurie's eco-film contest a while back). If Laurie doesn't see my proposal now, I don't know WHAT she's doing with her time. Other than devoting every waking minute to fighting global warming, I mean.

Oh, and check this out. People are reviewing the ecorazzi posting at this other page. Michael from Pensacola (known online as "moreminimal") writes: "Funniest thing I've seen all week. Laurie, you should at least go out with this guy. Who knows?" It's a great feeling to know that I've got the support of Pensacola, Florida behind me. And I'm sure Laurie has great respect for moreminimal's opinion because he's obviously got great taste in comedy and in men. So this could work out great.

(Oh, and why was I googling "Josh Rachlis" and "Jay Leno," you ask? Well, an account guy at work here just mentioned that a creative director at work mentioned that she heard that my marriage proposal was mentioned on Jay Leno's show. I said that the creative director must have misunderstood. But I googled it, just in case. And I found the ecorazzi post. Which proves that you never know what's out there! So maybe I've been on Leno after all and just don't know it yet...)

My letter in today's Star about MMP

Click here to read my letter in today's Toronto Star about the misconceptions surrounding the Mixed-Member Proportional election system we'll be voting for (or against) in the upcoming Ontario election. MMP will mean your vote will count for more. It will also help the environment, because parties that actually care about the environment will actually earn seats and be able to make positive changes for all of us. So make sure to get out and vote in October... and vote for MMP!

Radio station Edge 102 joins the cause to get Laurie David to marry me!

Alan Cross, the all-powerful and obviously genius Program Director at Toronto radio station Edge 102 has realized the vital importance to the world of getting Laurie David to see the marriage proposal video I made for her. So, as a public service, he has written about it on his blog. Check it out by clicking here. And from now on if anyone asks you what your favourite radio station is, the answer is no longer CBC, despite CBC's in-depth and important coverage of global warming. The answer is now is Edge 102, because of their in-depth and important coverage of me. I mean, coverage of me insofar as it will lead to me marrying the world's top crusader in the fight against global warming. So that her and I can work together to lick this climate change problem once and for all. In this way, Edge 102 is doing more to help fight global warming than CBC. That's what I meant. I didn't mean to be vain.

A clip of Beaver Tale 2 will be shown tomorrow night on CBC TV!

Wow! CBC Television really loves our good friend Pelt The Beaver! He'll be on the show Exposure yet again! The email below says it all. So if you have cable and a VCR, please tape it for Pelt and me! (We don't have cable. We're "old-school." Rabbit-ear antennae all the way, baby.)

----Original Message Follows----
From: Maia
To: Josh
Subject: Beaver Tale 2 on Exposure
Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007

Hi Josh,

It is Maia here, the Program Assistant at Exposure.
I wanted to let you know that we will be showing a clip from your video
BEAVER TALE 2: THE BED & BREAKFAST, as part of our Round Up on Animals.
The show starts at 11pm, Sunday, August 26, on CBC TV.

Enjoy watching the show and thank you for uploading!

Maia

Beaver Tale will be on CBC Television this Sunday at 11pm!

Well, a clip of it, anyway. Not sure what part they're going to show. So be sure to find out by checking out Pelt The Beaver's television debut! They're showing it because it's been getting lots of views and good ratings on the show's website. I'm sure this is just the beginning of your favourite beaver's television career. Actually, there was a clip of Beaver Tale shown on Chatham television when he won Audience Choice at the Small Town Film Festival. So this is merely the continuation of his television career. But really, anything to do with a television career is pretty exciting. Especially when you're a beaver puppet. Beaver puppets are shamefully under-represented in the entertainment industry.