Everything about Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary, eh?

The Messenger paints a bleak picture for future of songbirds

Spring is here, and that means songbirds waking you up from your morning slumber or flitting overhead when you’re outside. Unfortunately, the number of songbirds is dropping, and folks are scrambling to figure out why.

After airing on The Nature of Things as “SongbirdSOS,” The Messenger flies to Documentary Channel on Tuesday with expanded footage and more stunning visuals. Throughout history, man has viewed birds both as mythical beings and as harbingers of changing weather and seasons. Now, their diminishing song is hinting at something catastrophic.

Beautifully shot, with cameras capturing clouds of birds swirling in unison with thunderclouds in the background, Bill Evans’ hearing aid microphone contraption proves smaller songbirds migrate at night when predators can’t see them (something radar proves with blooming imagery spreading across the United States as the sun sets), chirping to avoid mid-air collisions.

As York University’s Dr. Bridget Stutchbury notes, species of birds still exist, but their numbers are way down. The question is, why?

The Messenger suggests sobering answers. Mankind’s creation of artificial light has messed with the birds’ ability to migrate during the night, disorienting them and causing midair collisions. And, of course, we’ve constructed huge skyscrapers that songbirds fly into, a point driven home by FLAP (Fatal Light Awareness Program) Canada when they lay out the bodies of hundreds of dead birds on a plain white sheet for all to see.

Lost breeding and wintering habitats in rain forests, wetlands and boreal forests, oil pipelines and farm pesticides are contributing to declining song bird numbers, as well as house cats.

On the positive side, there are steps being taken to halt the dropping populations, including allowing birds to feast on hurtful insects in Costa Rican coffee fields and mandating building owners to switch off the lights at night. Hopefully enough changes will come in time to save the songbirds before their tunes cease.

The Messenger airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Documentary Channel.

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My Millennial Life spotlights the struggle of overeducated, underemployed young adults

The statistics don’t lie, and they’re pretty darned depressing. Millennials are the most-educated generation ever. Since 1981, there has been a 58 per cent increase in the percentage of 25-29 year olds with post-secondary degrees or diplomas. Nearly half of millennials are underemployed in low-wage, dead-end jobs and unemployment for recent grads is double the national average.

Amid those, stunning, crushing numbers comes TVO’s My Millennial Life, which follows five twenty somethings struggling to find jobs—and an identity for themselves—today.

It’s easy to watch something like Saturday’s documentary—produced and directed by Maureen Judge—with a jaded eye. After all, these are all twentysomethings who want money, cars, houses and fame right now rather than work the decades it took generations before them to get there. It used to be folks got an education, graduated and then worked at one company until retirement. Today’s society is different, with 40-year-olds looking for work; where do kids half their age go to find a gig?

Hope saw herself living in NYC and working for a high-end magazine, going to parties and meeting celebrities. She dreamed of buying Louis Vuitton bags on a whim. Her reality? Buying knockoffs from a street vendor and living at home in Pennsylvania. James has a start-up company but is cash-poor; Meron wanted to be a MuchMusic veejay but cleans hotel rooms; Emily sits in her kitchen and listens to music in the apartment her dad pays the rent for and enrols in college to get the real-life skills she didn’t acquire in university; and Tim moved from Moncton to Toronto to make it as a musician but transcribes court testimony for money. There are plenty of tears as they describe the frustration of working in menial, low-paying jobs.

“I don’t know why I haven’t been hired,” Emily says at her lowest point. “I keep trying and trying, and I just need a chance. I just need that break and I don’t know what to do. At this point, I think there’s something wrong with me.”

My Millennial Life isn’t a total downer. Judge introduces the family, friends and loved ones’ of those featured, showing the support systems in place when things aren’t going well. And there is good news for a couple of the kids featured. But the fact remains: it isn’t getting any easier for millennials to realize their dreams.

My Millennial Life airs Saturday, May 28, at 9 p.m. ET on TVO. It can be seen on TVO.org following the broadcast.

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Season 3 of Working It Out Together debuts May 31 on APTN

From a media release:

Working It Out Together returns to APTN for Season 3 with inspirational stories of Indigenous men and women who are at the forefront of a movement for positive change. Starting May 31, the half-hour show airs every Tuesday on APTN East and APTN HD at 10:30 p.m. ET, and on APTN w at 10:30 p.m. MT, and starting June 4, every Saturday on APTN n at 12:00 p.m. CT. It’s a 13-part documentary series, hosted by Olympian Waneek Horn-Miller, that goes deep into the colonial roots of the profound disparities facing Indigenous communities today; while celebrating a new face of Indigenous Canada – bold, confident and healthy, moving forward with the strength of tradition, family and community.

For Indigenous People, “Mino Bimaadziwin” – the “good life” – is embedded in traditional ways. Colonization tried to destroy this holistic approach to health, but strong family bonds and connections to tradition helped Indigenous communities to survive. Working It Out Together features stories of dance and art as healing practices, the revival of harvesting traditional food, the role of supportive communities in overcoming trauma and more.

Through engaging personal stories, sharp analysis and insightful commentary from honoured knowledge keepers, Working It Out Together, Season 3 goes beyond individual blame for health problems to celebrate strength and resilience. Inuit teachers educating their way and Mohawk midwives bringing birth back home are among the dynamic stories that highlight the “decolonization” of Indigenous bodies, minds and nations taking place beyond the headlines.

The series is accompanied by a digital magazine that celebrates remarkable Indigenous voices and talent. Acclaimed artists, filmmakers, scholars, athletes, activists, knowledge keepers and, of course, Waneek Horn-Miller, all join this virtual talking circle, shining the spotlight on what’s real and what’s next. WIOT Magazine is political, artful, poignant and funny. It’s a space to watch films by notable directors Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Shane Belcourt; explore works by award-winning visual artists Kent Monkman and Duane Linklater; read the words of renowned trailblazers Joseph Boyden and Pamela Palmater; and listen to inspiring audio accounts of residential school survivors and director of The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Ry Moran. WIOT Magazine is reconciliation in action. Most importantly, it shows the varied nuances of Indigenous People in Canada, past and present. And that’s something to celebrate.

Contributors to both the website and the television show include: James Jones, an Edmonton dancer from A Tribe Called Red who hosts powwow fit classes across Canada; Cindy Blackstock, President of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, in Ottawa; Wayne Rabbitskin, a healer and counsellor who focuses on addictions and violence against women from Oujé-Bougoumou, QC; and Rene Meshake, an Anishinaabe Elder based in Guelph, whose art preserves the traditions of his Native culture.

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Link: Remembering Canadian factual TV pioneer Ralph C. Ellis

From Barry Walsh of RealScreen:

Remembering Canadian factual TV pioneer Ralph C. Ellis
Ralph C. Ellis, a Canadian independent television production pioneer, has passed away at the age of 91.

The founder of Ellis Entertainment began his career with the National Film Board as a field rep in Halifax, and then in Toronto, Ottawa and New York. In 1955, he partnered with Paul Talbot and Saul Turell to open Fremantle of Canada, and then in 1964, set up a shop with partners Jerry Kedey and Dan Gibson, known as KEG Productions. Soon after, he established his own distribution business, Ralph C. Ellis Enterprises. Continue reading. 

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W Network’s Masters of Flip Returns for Season 2

From a media release:

W Network’s #1 rated reality series Masters of Flip is back at it again with higher stakes, massive flips, and even bigger drama when Season 2 premieres Tuesday, June 7 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on W Network. The series follows Canadian born, Nashville-based house-flipping couple Kortney and Dave Wilson (CMT Canada’s Meet the Wilsons, Kortney & Dave: By Request) as they transform “Music City” one property at a time.

In the second season, Kortney and Dave continue to grow their business as they hunt for new properties, take big chances, and deal with the chaos that comes with major renovations. With tight timelines Kortney and Dave use their house-flipping expertise to transform each real estate disaster into a stunning family dream home. The rollercoaster of buying, renovating, and staging each house all hinges on that final sale as Kortney and Dave debate how big a risk to take in order to garner the most profit.

Masters of Flip is produced by Rhino Content and developed in association with W Network. The series is also part of a growing slate of properties for international distribution from Corus Entertainment.

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