The Vent - Part 2

[July09Bride 1]

Here is the original Thread of The Vent.

Here's my vent...

Montreal is SOOOOOO backlogged!!! Why won't the US allow Toronto to do K1 and other interviews??? Toronto is SO ,much closer, easier to get in & pout of transportation-wise as well as cheaper! Not to mention language friendly (English is more prominent than French).

Argh!!! Common sense... and I'm a USC frustrated with my own country and how they do the interviews!!!!

[Jenni and Bo 0]

Montreal is always slow, but it's really not a bad place. I never had a problem with language when I was there - Montreal is actually a predominately English city anyway (anyone I had to talk to was Bilingual) as it's so international, and the Consular officers are all English anyway because they are Americans. And for those of us from the East Coast, I'm glad I didnt have to travel to T.O - it's expensive as heck to stay in the city

But I understand your frustration, the wait isn't easy. I had a 4 month wait between my P3 and the interview date. Just keep thinking it's all worth it! We just got married Friday, and as hard as it was, that moment was worth all the frustration, tears and anxiety

[July09Bride 1]

Montreal is always slow, but it's really not a bad place. I never had a problem with language when I was there - Montreal is actually a predominately English city anyway (anyone I had to talk to was Bilingual) as it's so international, and the Consular officers are all English anyway because they are Americans. And for those of us from the East Coast, I'm glad I didnt have to travel to T.O - it's expensive as heck to stay in the city

But I understand your frustration, the wait isn't easy. I had a 4 month wait between my P3 and the interview date. Just keep thinking it's all worth it! We just got married Friday, and as hard as it was, that moment was worth all the frustration, tears and anxiety

Thanks, that does make me feel better... knowing that people do survive and are happy. Congratulations on your recent marriage!!! I can't wait for ours.

I think what makes me so frustrated, is that we will have been dating for 9 years as of March 17, and these last few months are the hardest and longest. We've been together for so long - but so far apart being in Michigan and Canada. <sigh> We just want to be together.

Again, congratulations on your wedding!!!! You make people like me feel like there is hope and that it will happen... eventually.

Thank you!

[JillA 2]

Nothing about this visa journey makes much sense or is easy. I guess they make it difficult on purpose. But, we've all been there and don't worry, you'll get through it. It really is worth all this hell to be with your love.

My vent is that I am getting SO impatient for my AP and EAD to be approved. I applied in December and many other December filers, almost all of them have been approved and received their AP/EAD. I feel like they forgot about me. My family keeps asking me when I'm coming home, and no one understands this process. It's hard to explain to outsiders "I can't leave without my AP" they just don't get it. I can't wait for this to all be over with.

[DeadPoolX 9]

Before I write this, I want to say that I'm not attempting to insult any of the Canadians here.

My wife and I went to the movies last night (we saw The Watchman which wasn't very good, unfortunately) and during those extremely annoying commercials before the trailers, I noticed something. Just about every single commercial or movie blurb strongly emphasized who and what is Canadian.

The voice over was saying things like: "Canadian actor [name]" or "so-and-so was born in [Canadian city]" and so on. You'll never hear "American actor [name]" or "so-and-so was born in [American city]" when in the United States. I think that's funny since many people claim Americans are overly patriotic.

I realize I'm living in Canada now, so some of that doesn't surprise me. However, it felt like it was emphasizing "look at us, we're Canadian!" over anything else, some of which might actually be more important. Does it make a difference if someone is Canadian, American, German, English, etc? How does that make so-and-so a better or worse actor? It's completely irrelevant.

I suppose my issue isn't that they were showcasing Canadians. I merely felt it was weird that there was such a concerted effort to the push the "I'm Canadian" angle. Why does that matter? That knowledge has no bearing on someone's abilities or skills.

Edited March 8, 2009 by DeadPoolX

[MrsCat 6]

I have seen these intros during the movies, but they've almost always been at the dollar theatre. But I have two suppositions why they include these:

1) Canada is situated to the greatest and biggest cultural exporter in the world. In that sense, our own national culture is difficult to promulgate because the majority of our programming is American. So if there is a Canadian actor, director or writer, the culture and arts community want Canadians to know that we've got a place in the world too. Its not that we think Canadians are superior actors etc, it just about being informative about Canada's contributions to the larger world.

2) This is just a guess, but I wonder whether this is a way to meet CanCon requirements. Not sure if you're aware but there are Canadian content programing rules in Canada. From wiki:

Canadian content (abbreviated cancon or can-con) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requirements that radio and television broadcasters (including cable/satellite specialty channels) must air a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from Canada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_content

I don't know whether this actually applies to movie theaters. I wouldn't think so, but it just might.

[DeadPoolX 9]

I have seen these intros during the movies, but they've almost always been at the dollar theatre. But I have two suppositions why they include these:

1) Canada is situated to the greatest and biggest cultural exporter in the world. In that sense, our own national culture is difficult to promulgate because the majority of our programming is American. So if there is a Canadian actor, director or writer, the culture and arts community want Canadians to know that we've got a place in the world too. Its not that we think Canadians are superior actors etc, it just about being informative about Canada's contributions to the larger world.

2) This is just a guess, but I wonder whether this is a way to meet CanCon requirements. Not sure if you're aware but there are Canadian content programing rules in Canada. From wiki:

Canadian content (abbreviated cancon or can-con) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requirements that radio and television broadcasters (including cable/satellite specialty channels) must air a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from Canada.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_content

I don't know whether this actually applies to movie theaters. I wouldn't think so, but it just might.

Hmmm... I'd never considered either of those. That's quite informative. Thanks.

By the way, the movie theater we went to wasn't the dollar variety (do they even make those anymore?), it was part of the Silvercity chain. Nice theater, although the seats could've been more comfortable. Then again, the movie was three hours, so maybe any seat would've been uncomfortable after a while.

[TheATeam 0]

I agree with MrsCat. I think it has a lot to do with the American programming which is prevalent in Canada. It's nice to know that there are Canadians out there who are proud to be Canadian, and doing well in their field. I think personally, that with the US next door sometimes Canadians need a little boost to remember why we're proud to be Canadian!

I have to say though that I understand where you're coming from and why it would be annoying! I don't want to insult any Americans, but I think part of the reason that actors aren't introduced like that is because Americans just naturally assume they're the best. At least that's been my experience so far. Just my opinion!

[MrsCat 6]

By the way, the movie theater we went to wasn't the dollar variety (do they even make those anymore?), it was part of the Silvercity chain. Nice theater, although the seats could've been more comfortable. Then again, the movie was three hours, so maybe any seat would've been uncomfortable after a while.

That's what I found weird. I assumed since it was a new movie, it was a good theatre. I've only seen those clips at the dollar theater in Edmonton.

But yes - they have a dollar theater here in Hilo. I call it my el cheapo $1 air conditioner. When its hot, I get air conditioning for a buck for a couple hours watching a movie.

[Carlawarla 1]

Here is the original Thread of The Vent.

Here's my vent...

Montreal is SOOOOOO backlogged!!! Why won't the US allow Toronto to do K1 and other interviews??? Toronto is SO ,much closer, easier to get in & pout of transportation-wise as well as cheaper! Not to mention language friendly (English is more prominent than French).

Argh!!! Common sense... and I'm a USC frustrated with my own country and how they do the interviews!!!!

I think everyone shares your frustrations! My only question would be, why Toronto? I'm sure there are people in Saskatchewan and Manitoba saying, why not Calgary instead of Vancouver?

I know I've said it again, and again, but truly, it will all be a distant memory when it's all over!

[Danu 19]

The one thing I wish is that they didn't have so few doctors now. Its so wierd for them to have had so many to start with and now be down to like 3 for all of Canadal. What happened in October? Did half of them get eaten by aliens?

[TheATeam 0]

Who knows! They started dropping like flies in March 2008. Cancelled my appointment and everything! They should really try to be more accomodating!

[Sprailenes 47]

Ahh my BIL wants to come work at the golf course I work at this summer.

His work ethics pretty much suck guys and I don't want to be associated with him in any way. He wants to put in his resume and then put me as a reference on it. Nooo! I don't want to sit there and be put into the situation to say: "Yea he tends to not get up in the mornings, he tends to freak out over nothing, oh ya he's a pothead and its most likely he'll end up quitting in a months time, oh ya he has sleeve tattoos on his arms..." nor do I want to lie and say: "Oh ya he's a great worker..." and then they find out the truth and there goes my credibility.

[JillA 2]

Ahh my BIL wants to come work at the golf course I work at this summer.

His work ethics pretty much suck guys and I don't want to be associated with him in any way. He wants to put in his resume and then put me as a reference on it. Nooo! I don't want to sit there and be put into the situation to say: "Yea he tends to not get up in the mornings, he tends to freak out over nothing, oh ya he's a pothead and its most likely he'll end up quitting in a months time, oh ya he has sleeve tattoos on his arms..." nor do I want to lie and say: "Oh ya he's a great worker..." and then they find out the truth and there goes my credibility.

Hmmm what if you tell him they're not hiring/fully staffed so there's no point in him applying? You definitely don't want to be listed as a reference for someone with poor work ethics!

Edited March 9, 2009 by JillA

[Sprailenes 47]

Yea I'm going to say that at this point due to the economy we're not hiring.

Last year his dad who is the president of an engineering company got him a job at his company, but first sent him to a three month Autocad class, paid for it and everything. Then he gets a job, a great paying job at that, with room to move up if needed and rarely showed up, never did a full week, was always "sick" on one of the days and then after 5 months just ended up quitting. I mean he didn't even seem to care about that made his father look, I felt bad for his dad.

I don't want to be put in that situation. He's just not reliable.