it's lighter without the ego

[sab]

I'm distracting myself from David Tennant for the duration until I hop the pond at the end of July. Fortunately my fannish yen for obsession has been fed by Paul Gross. I'm obsessing hard, but in a really exciting non-proprietary way where you all totally got to him before me and he's ALL YOURS, except that I briefly want to beat the crap out of him for being such a talented, brilliant, arrogant, ego-centric fuck. Possibly beat the crap out of him and fuck him at the same time. Actually, I did that a couple days ago.

So, I have questions.

First off, what's the deal with PG's political involvement? Does he really represent the conservative party? Or only as far as Canadian nationalism? Did he actually consider running for office? And, more recently but sort of unrelatedly, how's that fight for arts funding going? I take no small amount of humor from the fact that Tennant (comma David) is doing exactly the same thing in Scotland for arts education.

Second, rec me (and link me to?) some interviews with PG? I mean, print mag interviews but also any video. How about reviews of his stage productions?

Third, is there footage of any of his stage performances?

Fourth, what sort of music can I find aside from "Kiss You Till You Weep" (oh, so magnificently cheesy and yet triumphant)?


Those are my questions. And I still want to throttle that arrogant fuck, slam him into the floor and tell him what a gorgeous, obnoxious, absurdly talented fucking bastard he is. Somehow, Paul Gross is just the kind of guy I wanna fight. Hard.



In other news, faced with zombies in a mall I would wield an axe to the tune of "Rhapsody in Blue" (excellent zombie-fighting music!) with Seeley Booth at my side. Does Booth get a gun? I mean, does that count as my weapon if Booth has one? I like the one-two axe-handgun combo. BAM! Bada dada dada DUM DUM DUM DUM, DUM DUM DUM, DUM DUM DUM, DUM DUM doo DOO!



\o/

Comments

[kernezelda]

Oh, for Paul Gross glee and squee and linkage-spree, you totally want to visit sdwolfpup and brynnmck. Mmmm.

I don't find S&A as enthralling as many of my flist do, but it's sharp (oh so sharp) and funny and horribly uncomfortable and delightful and tragic.

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

Wow. Your Paul and my Paul are not altogether the same guy. *g*

Which is part of the fun of fandom.

My Paul is smart, multi-talented, well-informed, tremendously gracious and thoughtful toward the people who work for and with him, bored silly by remarks about his looks (but polite about deflecting them), incredibly funny, and a passionate, articulate, and absolutely fearless spokesman for what he believes in. He's got a healthy ego and pride in his own work, but no more so than anyone else in the business, and considerably less than some.

Your Paul sounds really interesting, though. I'd buy a ticket for that fight. *g*

I'll try to pull together some stuff for you. Have you got the one-hour Laurie Brown interview .mp3 file yet, where he talks about funding for the arts in Canada? Awesome stuff. I'll upload for you if you need it.

A few of us are working on a project comparable to the_ckr_files which will catalog all of his work, including all the interviews and such we can get our hands on, hopefully in an entertaining manner.

Yes, he was approached by the Conservative party to run, but declined and has said more than once that he's not interested in going into politics -- though he is a self-described "political junkie" which is reflected in his H2O and Trojan Horse Canadian political thrillers (which are grand fun, if you haven't seen them yet, the latter considerably better than the former, though the first is pretty good). And while there may be some aspects of his political beliefs (which he has not publicly discussed) that are in line with the Canadian Conservative party, his social values appear to be decidedly liberal.

Sadly, there's no footage of his stage performances aside from an archive tape at Stratford, and nobody is allowed access to that unless they have serious scholarly credentials and justification. Which, of course, irks the crap out of fandom.

As for his music, I'll upload the two country music CDs he recorded with his buddy David Keeley. Some of the stuff is pretty good. Some... not so much.

ETA: The two music CDS:

Two Houses: hxxps://download.yousendit.com/EBFF665116703F51

Love & Carnage: hxxps://download.yousendit.com/F8FE12E202E137A5

ETA the 2nd: The Laurie Brown "On the Arts" interview (about an hour long):

hxxps://download.yousendit.com/444A02DF19D5D21B

ETA the 3rd: This is the last one, I promise, and I'll bugger off and leave you in peace. This one's a rather vapid 22-minute CBC radio interview, conducted by a male host who has a sort of cringe-inducing fanboy crush on Paul. It's notable mostly for Paul's answer to the question about what he wears to bed.

hxxps://download.yousendit.com/05BF469D3AC6298A

[twentyfivepast.livejournal.com]

Ahahahah PAUL GROSS. My friend just said the other day that she thinks the reason Canadians are a little embarrassed about Paul Gross is that he's so unabashedly, earnestly patriotic, which, like, they can see you doing that, you know. As far as I know he's not involved in any political party, though I don't know for sure, and CTV, at least, invested far more in American programming than in Canadian for next year, which blows and comes as absolutely no surprise. I don't know. "So You Think You Can Dance Canada" counts as CanCon, which I kind of think is appalling, but! I can bitch about that for days and days and no one wants to hear that shit.

THE MEAGRE AMOUNT OF PICTURES I HAVE:

(With Molly Parker!)


(Oh damn Paul Gross)


(look okay you cannot resist)

THE OTHER SONGS BY HIM I HAVE:
Ride Forever

Robert Mackenzie

See, okay, I freely admit that one of the reasons I have a problem with taking Paul Gross seriously a lot of the time is that, while I love and am proud of being Canadian, I also have a lot of ~*~issues~*~ about it. But also he completely earnestly sings things like "YOU CAN'T KEEP HORSEMEN IN A CAGE" and also wrote what is basically a ripoff of an actual piece of Canadiana, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", because the families of the men who died in that wreck wouldn't let them use the song on Due South, for obvious reasons. I don't know, man. You just don't put yourself next to Gordon Lightfoot and say HEY MAN I COULD DO THAT.

eta
JUST TO CLARIFY, I don't hate Paul Gross. He's fucking amazing in Slings & Arrows. It's just, IDK, maybe I'm just fucked up and too Canadian or something. I just don't want to come off as bashing Paul Gross in your PAUL GROSS IS RAD post, because basically I agree wholeheartedly!

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Heh, are you kidding me? I meant to equivocate MYSELF and say *I* don't hate Paul Gross, I just think he's an (understandable, multi-talented) egomaniac who knows he can pretty much play to the rafters in any given situation, and counts on it without any humility whatsoever. To wit, that "35 Dead on the Robert Mackenzie" song.

Of course he's amazing in Slings & Arrows. He's amazing in lots of things! And even his confidence that he can stroll into Parliament and be respected, I mean. Sure you're a triple-threat, mister, but none of those threats include a career in politics, and just because you're an influential and powerful Canadian doesn't mean you can just swan in and legislate policy.

Plus, oh god, the cheesy, cheesy songs.

But also -- what a stupid year for CTV to import American programming; it should be happening the other way around, for fuck's sake, WE'RE going into a SAG strike in a couple weeks.

[aud-woman-in.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing these pretty, pretty pictures! So curious about the one with Molly Parker, as I also admire her greatly. What did they work in togther?

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

I knew you'd come through for me! *g*

Thanks for these. And if you do find any more interviews, I'll totally take 'em. And you obviously get ringside seats for my prize match w/PG. I'm takin' that talented sonofabitch DOWN.

[sloganeer.livejournal.com]

The thing with Canadian artists is that we don't think you're good enough if you haven't made it in the States, but we hate you if you have. We're mostly embarrassed by overt examples of patriotism, but never happier than when another country acknowledges our existence.

You either make it big in America (Céline Dion) or you stay in Canada (Paul Gross), but we don't like you either way. It's our national affliction. Which is to say, I empathise with your need to punch him in the mouth.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

"Men With Brooms," PG's adorable movie about curling.

[ainsley.livejournal.com]

See? This is why I have to stay away from RPF. It's *so* much easier to appreciate the characters and the acting without knowing about the ego!

OTOH, his recent appearance in Parliament may have been considered by me to be insanely sexy. But I am the very model of an Aaron Sorkin character; idealist politics and well-spoken beautiful snarky people are my porn.

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Thank you for these! The Laurie Brown interview WAS great.

Sadly, there's no footage of his stage performances aside from an archive tape at Stratford, and nobody is allowed access to that unless they have serious scholarly credentials and justification. Which, of course, irks the crap out of fandom.

About the recording up at Stratford -- what's the real nitty-gritty. Is it a physical VHS that someone would need to go into their archives, physically, and watch? Or have copies been made?

If you had serious academic cred and had contacts at Stratford, would you be able to get a copy? Even on loan? I mean, assuming you didn't live near/couldn't get to Stratford.

Have people tried and failed at this process or have people just been put off by Stratford's proprietaryness? Do you know of anyone who's been granted access to the archive?

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

To the best of my knowledge, it's a physical copy (whether VHS or digital at this point, I couldn't say for sure). Many have inquired; all have been turned down. To see it, you have to get advance authorization from Stratford (based on your credentials and stated purpose for viewing the recording) and then go there in person to view it onsite.

Their point -- they must have a form letter by now; I've seen this come up so often on the PG-L and elsewhere -- is that Stratford puts on stage performances which are meant to be viewed live. The recordings are strictly for onsite archival, and never for distribution in any form.

[twentyfivepast.livejournal.com]

Men With Brooms! Hilariousness and curling. :D And also, you know, Canadian film and television, so I'm sure they've been in at least one other thing together.

[twentyfivepast.livejournal.com]

Awesome! All of a sudden I just got really worried that I came off as super negative or something.

EVEN BETTER: rather than just, you know, airing Little Mosque on the Prairie, Fox (of all networks) is making an American version of it. I really don't understand the world.