TODAY'S TWD: BRIAN MULRONEY

With my pseudo-kids Sean & Gosia with their three children (including my god-daughter Rhiannon) over in Taiwan for the foreseeable future, we've found a way to recreate the experience of watching TV together like in the old days. With me using DVDs and Sean accessing - ahem! - other means, we've begun the experiment with 'How I Met Your Mother'.

I recommended the show, using the phrase "the 'Lost' of sitcoms" as my hook. They were a little apprehensive due to the laugh track, but they've now embraced it with enthusiasm. (Maybe because it's fresher in their minds, but they know details better than I do.)

So we finally reached the high point of the second season - "Slap Bet", perhaps the benchmark by which the series should be judged. When it was over, Sean went to MySpace (or was it FaceBook?) so that he and Gosia could watch "Let's Go To The Mall" in its entirety.

Which brings me to Today's TWD....

In the full version of the Robin Sparkles' music video "Let's Go To The Mall", Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney makes an appearance.

It's not really him, of course, just his televersion. Even if it wasn't apparent by comparing pictures of the two, the 'HIMYM' producers would never have cut him from the broadcast version. Maybe he's not a big draw down in the States as he might be north of the border, and I'm not sure if he's been able to recapture the heights of popularity he once enjoyed. But even so, CBS would have preferred using Mulroney's appearance as a marketing tool if it really was him. ('HIMYM' is always on the bubble when it comes time for renewal and it can be argued that the stunt casting of Britney Spears this year gave Les Moonves reason to bring it back one more year.)

At any rate, to make a short story long, since I think TV should be a teaching tool - even the sitcoms - here's a short [edited] bio of Brian Mulroney, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ (predominantly known as Brian Mulroney) (born March 20, 1939), was the eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993; and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993.

Widespread public resentment of the Goods and Services Tax, an economic slump, the dilapidation of his political coalition, and his lack of results regarding the Quebec situation caused Mulroney's popularity to decline considerably during his second term.

After retiring from politics, Mulroney resumed his earlier career as a lawyer and business consultant.

In 1998, Mulroney was accorded Canada's highest civilian honour when he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

In January 2004, Mulroney delivered a keynote speech in Washington, D.C. celebrating the tenth anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In June 2004, Mulroney presented a eulogy for former U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the latter's state funeral. Mulroney and former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher were the first foreign dignitaries to eulogize at a funeral for an American president.

Thirteen years after leaving office, Mulroney was named the 'greenest' Prime Minister in Canadian history by a 12-member panel at an event organized by Corporate Knights magazine.

Mulroney's legacy is complicated and even emotional. Mulroney makes the case that his once radical policies on the economy and free trade were not reversed by subsequent governments, and regards this as vindication. His Deputy Prime Minister Don Mazankowski said that his greatest accomplishment will be seen as, "Dragging Canada kicking and screaming into the 21st century." Mulroney's legacy in Canada is associated mostly with the 1988 Free Trade Agreement and the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

At the international level, Mulroney was one of Canada's most influential prime ministers. His emphasis on strong personal relationships with other leaders made him a successful advocate in fighting apartheid within the Commonwealth and beginning the process of mobilizing international efforts to combat global warming.

To all of that, we can now add that in Toobworld, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney appeared in Robin Sparkles' "Let's Go The Mall" music video, which supported the album "Make It Sparkle".
BCnU!
Toby OB