Starting November 2, Canada will lose its long-held designation as one of the few countries in the entire world without its own version of Nickelodeon, as Corus has announced that Nickelodeon Canada is set to launch on that date. The station will feature new titles including Fanboy and Chum Chum and The Troop, older Nick titles including The Mighty B!, Danny Phantom and Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as some Canadian shows. The masses should also hope that this development will result in the return of Invader Zim, which is something Corus would likely be reluctant to make note of.

If nothing else, this announcement may come as reassurance to those convinced that YTV itself would become "Nickelodeon Canada" in the imminent future. Thanks to bosstard for the tip.

Due to that pesky education of mine, site updates will remain in their current inconsistent state for the next little while. I would like regular readers of this site to note, however, that I will be making a couple of very important posts on the front page in the next few weeks, the first of which will likely be in the next couple of days. They involve a couple of surveys which are very important. Please stay tuned to the front page or your RSS feed for more details.

I will try to have the Anime Evolution 2009 report up soon, but after the discouraging news that the con is going to be returning to UBC next year, I can assure you that I'm doing it purely out of obligation at this point.

I know I promised a few months ago to have site revisions finished by the end of summer, but I'm sorry to say those plans have been scrapped for the time being. However, this will more than likely be to make way for bigger and bolder changes next year. But one thing at a time.

Over a week after I said I'd have it done, but here it is. I apologize for the delay, but I have been preoccupied with some urgent matters in the past couple of weeks. And by urgent matters, I mean obsessively playing Persona 4 when I should be making progress on my Honours project.

It should also be noted that, as of this past week, Naruto and Bleach no longer carry Bionix branding of any kind. The currently acquired episodes for both series' are set to continue into October, but for the most part, it does look like the Bionix block is indeed dead.

Due to an unfavourable schedule today, there will be a slight delay with getting up the second part of my Bionix article. While you wait patiently, why not write up a submission for the government's consultation on copyright legislation? After all, there's only one day left!

In case you're not aware, lobbyists representing the interests of American groups are putting enormous pressure on the government to pass new copyright laws that give absolutely no leeway in the area of fair dealing (for instance, being able to use copyrighted content for satirical purposes or for remixing a song), and blanket protection for digital locks on media with absolutely no exceptions made for private or educational use. If you don't believe me, then just check out what happened at the townhall meeting held in Toronto a couple of weeks ago! If you don't know what to write, then just refer to this handy guide. It shouldn't take you more than ten to twenty minutes to write something!

A little late, yes, but here is Part One of my special feature in celebration of the fifth anniversary of Bionix's debut. Part two will follow shortly!

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Bionix block, which launched on Friday September 10, 2004. Or at the very least, the fifth anniversary of its premiere. Whether or not the block will still carry any branding, all of which has been removed from YTV's website, remains to be seen. Against many pessimistic expectations, what's left of the block has been extended beginning this Saturday, now featuring two back-to-back episodes of Naruto followed by Bleach at 12am EST/PST.

Since YTV doesn't appear to be doing anything to celebrate the anniversary beyond this generous extension of life, I will be stepping in and recounting both the best and worst of times with the Top Ten Bionix Memories. Part one will be posted on Friday night, followed by part two on Saturday night.

Since the block reached its sudden downfall in the past couple of years, many have been quick to accuse the move of being mere mimicry of gradual erosion of all anime content that has happened on Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. This many not be entirely true, since YTV has stated that ratings for the block have declined in the past couple of years. There is no doubt that this reasoning is valid, but we should not fail to note the recent announcement of Naruto Shippuden's upcoming US broadcast on Disney XD. Even if Cartoon Network has thrown in the towel, it seems anime on North American TV may not be as dead as previously assumed.

Unfortunately, these likenesses of Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Iron Man were mistakenly escorted to Montreal instead of the usual location of the Winter Carnival, and thus opted to promote Télétoon French's upcoming "Les Vendredi Superheroes" block to a wide, surprised public. An obvious analogue to the English Teletoon's "Super Fan Fridays", the new block will consist of Iron Man, Le Spectaculaire Spider-Man, Batman, Wolverine et les X-men, and out of nowhere, Star Wars: Clone Wars.

Things would appear to be going remarkably well with Teletoon's current grasp on the market of Marvel animated programming. Let us hope that this trend will continue despite Disney's somewhat surprising acquisition of Marvel. I think the last thing any of us want to see is Marvel's latest animated offerings airing at 6:53am on the Disney-owned Family Channel, or possibly Family EXTREME.

A reminder to all that Funimation has finally been given the go ahead by Toei to begin streaming new episodes of their highly acclaimed and bureaucracy-laden tentpole series One Piece one hour after their Japanese airing. Unlike some companies who are only making certain properties viewable exclusively through the all-American Hulu.com service, Funimation has taken the minimal effort required to ensure that Canadians are also able to participate in this revolutionary web-based offering. The latest episode of One Piece can now be viewed here.

I usually avoid posting news about theatrical releases on this site since it's very much "off-topic", although that may just be because I want to designate one specific thing as being off-topic to provide the illusion of scope. Regardless, the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki, Ponyo, is set to open tonight. Being the first time that a film from Studio Ghibli has been given a wide release right out the door in North America, we can for once be hopeful that it will actually see some degree of success. I am hoping that it topples Pokemon: The First Movie as the highest grossing anime movie in North America, but I can settle with taking down the Yu-Gi-Oh! movie, even though that one wasn't actually anime.

Ponyo is a wonderful film! Be sure to see it!

It looks like AMC's highly acclaimed (and rightfully so) series Mad Men, which follows the high times of advertisers in the 1960s, will be bypassing Canadian TV completely with the debut of the third season. Although AMC is available through cable and satellite services throughout many parts of Canada, the series' Canadian distributor, Maple, has opted to sign an exclusive distribution deal with Apple to have the series available exclusively through iTunes Canada rather than a Canadian broadcaster. So if you don't get AMC, be prepared to fork over $3.49 (high definition) or $2.49 (standard definition) for an intangible copy of the show.

I'd say this was positive if the show was being delivered through some kind of ad-based streaming service. The fact that its Canadian distribution is being left solely to the dead-end world of paid download-to-own services can only be seen as troubling. This may be the beginning of the end of television as we know it in Canada, but if this is the direction it's heading in, then you can consider me a dissenter.