Press Release: Canadian Comedy Stars Line Up in Support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Canadian Comedy Stars Line Up in Support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada

April 5, 2010 , Toronto, ON– Some of the funniest people in Canada will be in the spotlight on May 4 at the Melody Bar in the Gladstone Hotel, as they raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada’s TEAM in Training (TNT). Funds raised from the show, titled Lloyd’s Laugh Marathon, will go towards TNT member and stand-up comedian Lloyd Ravn’s goal of raising funds for blood cancer research and patient support while training to run a half-marathon.

The show’s organizer joined TNT in honour of his late father as well as to take the opportunity to set a positive example for his two sons. When his father lost his battle with leukemia 5 years ago, Ravn’s oldest son Eric was only 6 weeks old, and losing his father so soon after becoming a father himself was a major life changing event. He considered joining TNT to raise funds as a way of marking the 5 year anniversary of his father’s death, but found it hard to commit to making the move from his unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle to the hard work of training for a half-marathon. That is, until he thought about how hard Eric works every day.

Over the past 5 years, young Eric has experienced his own series of health issues, including 3 major strokes, and Lloyd has watched and cheered as his son worked exceedingly hard at various rehabilitation therapies. “I always tell Eric ‘You can do it!’ when he is struggling to re-master a skill that his strokes have taken away from him,” said Ravn. “But as he gets older, I started to wonder if he’s thinking ‘That’s easy for you to say, as you sit on the couch.’ So I wanted to show him, and his brother Alex (2), that I am willing to push myself too.” Ravn signed up to be part of TNT for the Ottawa half-marathon, and committed to raising at least $3,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada (LLSC) in the process.

As an amateur comic in Toronto’s comedy scene, Lloyd decided to organize a stand-up show to help reach his fundraising goal, and put out the word to some of his favourite professional comedians. “I’m thrilled with the amazing line-up I’ve been able to assemble for this show and I can’t wait to perform along with these comedy stars,” said Ravn.
Tony Krolo, a Canadian comedy veteran, will host the show which will also include:

· Brian Lazanik - Just for Laughs, Last Comic Standing
· Boyd Banks - Little Mosque on the Prairie, Comics!
· Allyson Smith - Winnipeg Comedy Festival, The Debaters
· Andrew Johnston - Video on Trial, Love Court· Riz (Ali Rizvi Badshah) – Second City’s Next Comedy Legend, The new host of CBC Radio’s Laugh Out Loud

Lloyd’s Laugh Marathon Details:

Date: Tuesday May 4, 2010
Location: Melody Bar in the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W, Toronto
Time: Show at 8:00
Tickets: $15.00, available at http://www.anotherl.com/ or by e-mailing lloydravn@hotmail.com

About Team in Training

Team In Training is the world’s largest endurance sport training program. For 21 years, participants of Team In Training have been completing marathons, triathlons, and 100-mile cycling challenges while raising funds for blood cancer research. Team In Training athletes are encouraged and inspired through their endurance challenges by their honoured team-mates; individuals who are currently battling, or have battled a blood cancer and have thereby faced a far more challenging test of human endurance.

For More Information:
· Lloyd Ravn, Event organizer: 647-929-8916, lloydravn@hotmail.com
· Derek Virgo, Team In Training Program Co-ordinator, derek.virgo@lls.org

What's in a Name? Silicone?

Te North York District Leisure Skating 2008-2009 Flyer.

One of the contact names on the back (although this image is blurry, and you can't see it, so you will have to take my word for it) is Titti Dunn.

Do you think that would be a rough name to grow up with?

"Whose bra is that?"
"It's Titti's."
"I know, but whose?"

Watch It

I always get the question "did you see the game last night?" Because I am a guy, people assume I am into sports. But I'm really not. I always say I don't watch sports because I don't enjoy playing them because I suck at sports.

But I have realized that is pretty stupid logic. If I only watched things I was good at, the internet porn industry would see a massive drop in downloads overnight.

Poor little jocks

Have you seen the commercial on TV for the Olympics that has a bunch of kids saying things like "I'm not a loser" or "I'm not a loner" in several languages. Then they all start saying "I'm an athelete" like you can't possibly be both.

(If you don't recognize the commercial, go to olympic.org and click on "The Best of Us"in tbe multimedia gallery in the top right.)

What kind of jock nonsense is this? I always expect the next line to be "so go find a fat kid to call names and leave the jocks alone. Faggot."

Spread it evenly, please

I know this is old news, but I haven't had time to blog about it, so get off my back, ok?

Canada's elected Members of Parliament decided recently to make good use of taxpayers' dollars to debate whether Hockey Canada should have made Shane Doan the captain of Team Canada at the world championships. It was alleged that Doan made derogatory comments about a French-Canadian referee at a game in December 2005. The argument that some opposition members put forward is that someone who uses this kind of language should not be representing Canada as the captain of the national team.

Hockey legend and Liberal MP, Ken Dryden, argued that since Hockey Canada receives funding from the Government of Canada, they should be accountable to the Government. Maybe this makes sense. Maybe. But this isn't the point. The point is that Shane Doan was cleared by the NHL and by Hockey Canada of any wrongdoing in this event. It doesn't mean that he didn't say it, but it means that they couldn't prove that he did.

What is he accused of saying? I saw Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois, on CBC News saying that Doan had said "you fucking French frog...or something like that." Or something like that. So we aren't even sure what he is accused of saying.

So, the Hockey Canada officials were called before a House of Commons committee to explain why Doan was named team captain.

So, let me get this straight. If you are ever accused of maybe, who knows, he could have done it, possibly saying something inappropriate, or not, any government-funded organization that puts you in any position of authority should have to justify their decision to a committee of politicians. Ken Dryden says so. And the members of Canadian Parliament voted unanimously in agreement.

OK, then. The Liberal Party of Canada receives funding from the Government of Canada. The deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, has been accused by Ukrainian-Canadians and by Israeli-Canadians of making inappropriate statements about each group.

Considering that the elected members of Parliament all voted in favour of this logic, it only seems fair that representatives of the Liberal Party be called before a Commons committee to explain why they chose him as their representative in the riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore and as their deputy leader.

I am sending a link to this blog to the offices of my local Member of Parliament, the Prime Minister, the leader of the Liberal Party, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois, and of course, Dryden and Ignatieff, to encourage them to put this important issue on the schedule during an upcoming Parliamentary debate. You can look up your local MP here and do the same. (Copy these addresses: Harper.S@parl.gc.ca, Dion.S@parl.gc.ca, Layton.J@parl.gc.ca, Dryden.K@parl.gc.ca, Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca)

Also, if you know of any other MPs who have been accused of maybe, possibly, saying something inappropriate, but there isn't any proof that they said it, you should encourage your local representative to introduce a motion in Parliament that their position in Parliament is debated.

I think it's important that we let politicians know that we want them to be fair about the way that they waste time and tax dollars. They can't just pick on the hockey players. They need to spread the bullshit evenly, or maybe they should just get back to debating the important things. Like whether or not Peter called Belinda a dog.

Part of the problem

As I posted before, I'm trying to lose weight. I'll post a weight-loss update soon. For now, I wanted to talk about the cause of my weight gain over the years. I've been wondering how it got so carried away. But now I think I'm beginning to understand.

My family moved into our house about a year and a half ago. Recently, I was looking for something in the furnace room and noticed that there is still one box left to unpack, after all this time. Written across the top of that box, in black marker, was:

SPORTS EQUIPMENT

Maybe that's a bit of a clue. In fact, I would say that is the entire problem right there. I will unpack the box tonight, as the first step towards making some positive changes in my life. First, I have to pop over to McDonald's for supper.

Super Bowl Question

So I was listening to the radio yesterday, and there were a couple of jocks talking about football. Apparently there is some big football game today in the US or something.

These two guys were talking about the history of blackhead coaches in the Super Bowl.

Blackhead coaches? Are these football players such wimps that they need someone to help them through a few blackhead zits?

I've never understood football.

Thrashing Down Memory Lane

Copied from my MySpace blog. Originally posted August 22, 2006.

As I was sitting on my couch this evening, enjoying a beer and watching the Canadian Idol top five contestants sing with country star Martina McBride, I thought to myself, "man, she has a killer voice. What a beautiful song."

Then I thought to myself. "Canadian Idol? Martina McBride? When did I become so friggin lame?" I thought hard, but couldn't pinpoint the moment when I entered full-fledged lameness.

Since I was just sitting there, being lame, I decided that I would do something I had been planning to do for a while, and get some old pictures scanned. I recently discovered a high school friend on the internet, and told him that I would scan some pictures of our skateboarding adventures for him to see.

In going through those old pictures, I found the answer to my question. I didn't become lame. I was born that way. Good lord what a loser I was in high school!

Looking back at the pictures, my friends don't seem lame.

Sheldon was pretty cool.

Nothing wrong with Darrell (unless you count skinny legs ).

The old friend I mentioned above was Pat. Pat was always an artist in school, and still is. Check out his website here and his MySpace page here. He's done very well for himself as an artist, just like everyone knew he would.

Here's a picture of skate hero Jason Jesse going through Pat's sketch book at a demo in August of 1989. He was rightly impressed.

In addition to being a good artist, Pat was a good skater too.

And then there was me. The reason I took so many pictures is because I was afraid to try the skateboarding stuff. My board was just for transportation. Once we all got somewhere to actually skate, I parked the board and took pictures.

But on the few occasions when someone took my picture, it sure was scary. I was usually wearing sweatpants that were about two inches too short. The ones with the elastic around the ankle. Nice. And I had these cycling gloves that I wore to protect my hands when I was skating (not for protection during any tricks, but in case I hit a pebble and went flying face first).

And I had these horrible turquoise Vans (size 12, I think) that looked like clown shoes. Heres a picture of them I took while we were on the back of a friends father's flatbed truck that we used to move our ramps around.

Nice, eh?

But the picture that sums up "High School Lloyd" the best is this one, taken the day I got my new Kevin Staab board, by Sims. Check out the mullet. Wow.

So, you see, I have always been lame. Now Im just a different kind of lame.

Oh well. I have a wife with a great butt and we have a cute kid. Even lame people do some things right.