You’ll have to excuse the slight change-up of The 49th Parallel this week, but when Budweiser offers you 2 tickets to the exclusive NHL Party at the Commodore Ballroom (and free beer) you don’t turn it down!

(There will be video coming as well, hopefully by the weekend)

After spending a day checking out the various festivities that are currently in town, Mike and I made our way over to the Commodore nice and early to get a pre-party tour inside.

The entire club had been totally overhauled with a giant mountainscape on the stage, a crazy projection ball hanging from the ceiling, various platforms to dance on all over the floor, ice sculptures, and huge stacks of the cool Budweiser beer cans behind all the bars. You could tell just from the setup that the party was going to be awesome.

After the tour we made our way down to the Red Carpet where I was interviewed and did some photos ops. You would think that by now I would have gotten better at speaking in front of a camera, but apparently talking about yourself standing up, and talking about the news sitting down on a couch are two very different skill sets. I have a new found respect for celebs and their ability to give interviews on a red carpet.

After having my 15 seconds of fame in front of the cameras, and hearing passerby’s on the street asking, “who’s that guy? I think he might have been in Twilight”, Mike and I stepped back into the press area and watched as the celebs rolled in, including Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Hayden Christensen (Star Wars), Logan Huffman (V), Ray Shero (GM of the Penguins), and my personal favourite, the Stanley Cup!

The real party, however, was going on inside, so we headed in, grabbed some beers, and did what any self-respecting person does in a club: hit up the dance floor. Did I mention that there were body-painted Budweiser girls?

All and all, I think the major highlights of the night were getting to meet Jon Hamm (he was a really nice guy), meeting VancityAllie (the other party crasher), and hanging out with Jesse Weeler and Logan Huffman from the TV show V. The guys were super chill and we wound up sharing a cab home.

You know it was an Epic party when you don’t get home until 5:30am, and you have no voice left. There’s simply no way I could do it justice in this short blog. Cheers to Budweiser for making it all happen, and I’m super stoked to be doing it all again on Friday at the Under Armour party.

Running time: 33 minutes

This weeks topics:

Obama aims to ax moon mission

Canadian climate research calls for radical strategy to reflect sun’s rays

Google Economist Explains Why You Won’t Pay For Online News

Our world may be a giant hologram

Also, check our sponsors

Low Price Barcodes

Go Sim Cellphone cards

Mommy is Moody

Running time: 48 minutes

This weeks topics:

DC Cops Can Arrest You for Carrying More Than Two Condoms

Army prosecutes single mother for refusing to deploy and put her son in foster care.

Googlegate: The search engine may be standing up to Chinese censors. What about Google?s own censors?

Man arrested after airport bomb joke on Twitter

Also, check our sponsors

Low Price Barcodes

Go Sim Cellphone cards

Mommy is Moody

And our friends over at Couch Beers

Running time: 36 minutes

This weeks topics:

Man Escapes from Prision, Updates Facebook

Glowing walls could kill off the light bulb

Cell Phones may stave off Alzheimers

Contentious study says spanking may benefit children

Harper Prorogues Government Again

Also, check our sponsors

Low Price Barcodes

Go Sim Cellphone cards

Strutta

Mommy is Moody

Run time: 50 min

This weeks topics:

Copenhagen climate summit: 1,200 limos, 140 private planes and caviar wedges

How to Slow Climate Change for Just $15 Billion

Oh, Liberals: Did you learn nothing from the puffin incident?

Thief steals Salvation Army kettle but not Christmas spirit

What is Skub?

Also, check our our sponsors Black Cloud Wine

Low Price Barcodes

Go Sim Cellphone cards

Mommy Is Moody

Law Students.ca

And our good friend’s band, Sex Ed Music

Run time: 43 min

This weeks topics:

Scientists target Canada over climate change

North Korea Begins Won Swap, Curfew

Drug tested as new anti-depressant is hailed instead as ‘Viagra for women’

Plastic Chemicals ‘feminise boys’

Al Jazeera English coming soon to Canadian TV

Also, check our our sponsors Black Cloud Wine

And, Go Sim Cellphone cards

Run time: 36 min

This weeks topics:

Obama urges Burma to free Suu Kyi

Dion’s wife goes rogue?

Omar Khadr: Coming of age in a Guantanamo Bay jail cell

We also interview Alex Neve at the Amnesty International Film Festival in Victoria

And talk about riding our bikes across Europe with Global Agents for Change

Also, check our our sponsor Aclara Promotions

Run time: 44 min

This weeks topics:

Canada not as smart as it thought it was

Scientologists convicted of fraud

New city liquor bylaw to limit sale of fine wines in Vancouver restaurants

Alcohol and cigarettes are more harmful than Ecstasy and LSD, says drugs tsar

Illegal downloaders ’spend the most on music

Americans are not as isolated as has been previously reported

Check out our sponsors, Black Cloud Wine

Run time: 37 min

This weeks topics:

Every G20 nation wants to be Canada, insists PM

Appearance tips off strangers to self-esteem, religion, openness

Gasps as Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize

International Olympic Committee Tries to Shut Down Olympic Photos On Flickr

Ivison: Harper gets by with a little help from his arts friends

Harper Singing on Youtube

Egyptian lawmakers want to ban fake hymen

The 49th Parallel is back from its summer hiatus!

Run time: 34 min

This weeks topics:

New United Nations General Assembly President calls homosexuality ‘unnacceptable’

Tories mum over vanishing Harper photos

4 Teens Sued for Obscene Fake Facebook Profile

B.C. may force homeless indoors in cold snaps