Today is Buy Nothing Day!
I always take a moment to remember Buy Nothing Day. It was the pet protest of a few politically active sorts I knew back in university, so it's part "for the cause" and part nostalgia.
Started by Vancouver artist Ted Dave, Buy Nothing Day is a way to protest the rampant consumerism of our society. It was the Vancouver-based magazine Adbusters that took the ball and ran with it.
Participating in Buy Nothing Day is quite simple: buy nothing today. It's also become a day to have very creative anti-consumerist protests. I just read about a new one called a Whirl-Mart. You and a bunch of friends head to the big box retailer of your choice, grab an empty shopping cart, and form this train of empty shopping carts that circles throughout the store for hours. Call me crazy, but that actually sounds like fun.
Buy Nothing Day always falls on "Black Friday." Today is Black Friday, the day that all the big retailers in the USA start their Christmas sales. It's the busiest shopping day of the year.
Of course, Buy Nothing Day gained noteriety in 2001, when the whole concept of "buy Nothing" ran counter to the rampant patriotism of "If you stop buying stuff, the terrorists win." Not so notorious anymore.
For more information on Buy Nothing Day, consult these local websites:
The Wikipedia entry on Buy Nothing Day
Adbusters' Buy Nothing Day website
And speaking of buying, today the hit Canadian sitcom Corner Gas acheived the Holy Grail for Canadian TV shows.
It got sold to a US network. Well, cable channel actually.
Starting in 2007, Corner Gas will be shown on Superstaion WGN, a cable channel that reaches over 70 million American homes...and is on most Canadian basic cable packages.
Said creator/star Brent Butt about the sale, "American provides so much television for Canada. It's nice to be able to give something back."
In fact, Corner Gas has been sold to 26 countries, including Australia, Finland and, the most surprising one, Iraq.
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