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My advice to all you hackers…GET A REAL JOB! Learn what its like to be honest.

This is the answer…
According to some long-time Hello! Canada readers, the yellow lozenge does not make or break their purchase of the magazine. They enjoy the magazine itself, and actually did not even notice the bright yellow circle on every cover of the magazine. They enjoy the content, and the cover images, and the price of the magazine is not a factor when they buy the magazine off the newsstand. I personally don’t think that Hello! should keep the lozenge when the price rises, as long-standing readers will still purchase the magazine for its content. Hello! Canada is an affordable magazine, and will remain so, even when the price rises to $3.99. It stays within the price range for higher quality magazines, and people will continue to purchase it.

What’s Your Take?

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Click here to read about it in the Winnipeg Sun

I can barely watch this whole video, the ignorance portrayed in this video is so unnerving. Our military may not be as brutal, or as immensely ignorant as the American’s, but I think that we as Canadians are definitely classier, and can hold our heads up higher than many Americans. Due to the lack of  – TACT – in this video, you may find yourself wanting to punch your computer screen. What you are about to watch is the number one reason why Jean Chretien made the right decision to not go into Iraq with those barbarians.

Note: Not ALL Americans think like this. We can’t forget that they have lost many in their plight as well.

Feel free to leave irate comments.

Good news – at least 30% of the people featured have graduated from Centennial’s Book and Mag Publishing program.

Things are looking up 

12 to watch in the new Q&Q

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THE FUN STARTS HERE

“Oleeeee Ole Ole Ole” bet you thought you were in a massive soccer stadium in England or Italy, with a capacity of 50,000. Well you thought wrong! Just look a little northeast, oh, and look up too – do you see the CN Tower? You’re right here in Toronto at BMO Field – home of the Toronto Football Club and by “football” I mean soccer. You actually might be walking past a few soccer hooligans shouting obscenities at visiting teams, guzzling down a couple of beers in the parking lot, might even catch a whiff of some barbecued hotdogs coming from the vendors who have been strategically placed at every exit of the stadium. When you step inside BMO field, there is so much to take in: the finely groomed grass, the masses of seats that seem to reach to the sky, and the droves of people piling in to watch their team in action.

GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME

The fun really starts when the clock starts ticking – 45 minutes of constant running – a quick break and back again for another three-quarter hour. What makes the atmosphere inside so intense, so energetic? The crowd: over 20,000 screaming fans, chanting, laughing with friends, and cheering for the home team. These are the people that you work with, the guys on your summer softball team, people you go to business meetings with, the dads on your son or daughter’s hockey team, the PTA moms at your children’s school – normal folks – except when its ‘Red’ season in Toronto. These people are soccer SUPERFANS! They are the dedicated, loud, and energetic fans that have made the Toronto FC the number one summer team in the city.

These fans have a lot to be proud of.  In 2007, the TFC was the first non-American team to join Major League Soccer (MLS). Every single home game held at BMO field has been sold-out, as well as having every season ticket sold in both 2007 and 2008. In its first year, the TFC sold all of their 14,000 season tickets.  It is obvious that fan support have made the TFC a success story in Toronto.

WHY IS WINTER SO LONG?

Most were surprised that soccer would be able to compete with other sports teams in the city, ahem – The Toronto Maple Leafs – who actually own the Toronto-based soccer club. It helps that the hockey boys occupy the fans when the snow is on the ground, but many TFC fans aren’t into the aggressive, physical play of hockey.

THE NUMBERS

While the soccer season in Toronto is relatively short, this so-called “summer” game has evolved into one of the fastest growing sports in Canada. According to www.thesoccerhalloffame.ca, soccer league participation grew an astounding 36 percent in 2006 and has been on the rise ever since major league soccer has come to the country. It is also projected that the fan-base will grow another 44 percent by 2009.

Soccer is one of the most affordable sports to play. The average cost to register a child with a community-based soccer league ranges from $50 to $120 (canadasoccer.com). Registration costs for sports are indirectly related to ticket prices for the respected professional teams. The average ticket price to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs is just over $200 a pair, and at almost half the price TFC tickets are much more affordable at $100 a pair.

BECKHAM AND HIS BOYS ARE NO MATCH FOR THE TFC

So many times we see soccer hooligans causing fights with opposing fans, throwing things onto the field, and generally being annoying, but Toronto soccer fans are truly Canadian: respectful, loyal, honest, hard-working, and generally nice folks. Like the fans, these are the traits that make the team so successful. The club was undefeated in the season at 4-0 when David Beckham came to town with the LA Galaxy. The home team kept its Canadian-like demeanour when Beckham and his teammates came to town in May. A composed defensive strategy led the home team to a 2-0 win. The TFC proved that they could compete with the big-boys. The crowd couldn’t have been more ecstatic, solidifying that their team – in their eyes and on the score sheet, was destined to be on top.

Tell us who your favorite TFC player is through the online poll below.

National Geographic

On the National Geographic website, there are a few web2.0 options for viewers and browsers alike. There is the option to share certain news stories as well as videos from recent issues, however the ‘sharing options are limited to Facebook, Digg, YahooBuzz, and StumbleUpon, two of which I have never heard of (YahooBuzz and StumbleUpon). There is also an RSS option; however, it’s not for the actual NG site. I found this a bit troubling. The RSS is for Hot Hotel Offers. For the online magazine itself, I think not having a direct RSS feed hinders the readership and accessibility for people visiting the site. However, having the RSS feed by an advertiser would probably make the NG site a hit because it has those web2.0 capabilities.

NG is an established print magazine, and is doing a great job at becoming a forerunner for online editorial. By having web2.0 accessibility, publishers and editors who visit NG online can take notes on how to successfully market their web-based material. Having links to videos, pictures, and feature articles is a great way to interact online with the magazine.

The Hockey News

The Hockey News online edition is extreme web2.0. It has an RSS feed for just about EVERYTHING on the website. There are eight blogs that have RSS feeds, and each columnist has a feed for their articles in current editions. There is a limitation if you want to share a story or URL – you can’t. THN does not have any options to share: Digg and Facebook aren’t even options.

The problem with not having the option to share stories can be damaging for an online magazine because it limits its readership. Sure someone can cut and paste a link into an email, but I don’t think it has the same affect as would a big post on a Facebook page or a status update on Twitter. Advertisers need to get on top of this issue with THN because they are losing out on so many possible hits from people who are browsing/stalking their friends’ pages looking for some recent hockey info.

Outpost Magazine

Outpost has figured it out. They appear to be using the KISS method on their online magazine. I was yet to see a homepage as easy to manoeuvre as this one. It is definitely simple, yet surprisingly effective. At the bottom of the homepage, there are all the options: RSS, Share and Outpost Mobile. Not to mention that they have a Twitter link on the homepage sidebar requesting readers, editors, publishers – anyone – to follow them on the social networking site.

This is a superb demonstration of an interactive, online edition of a magazine and it works well, considering that Outpost is one of the smaller publications. They haven’t overdone anything, the page doesn’t force-feed RSS, nor does it ignore its possibilities. I think that this magazine successfully uses web2.0 to its advantage, relaying information in a positive and efficient manner.