Friends from Iqaluit

These are my best friends here in Iqaluit:

Other Puppets from Takuginai

Here are some more puppets from the Inuit Kids TV show, Takuginai:
Amaudla and Johnny are in the first two. Amaudla is a main puppet host for the show and is performed by a 20-some year veteran of IBC and Takuginai, Annie Ningeok.
This is Grandpa.
This is Jaji, the IBC cameraman.

More Updates, More Better

My Internet has been down at the Bed and Breakfast for awhile. (At least that's my excuse). Sorry for the lack of updates. Here are some more pictures from around Iqaluit. The first one is of my “By the Bay” Bed and Breakfast. Some of the others are downtown, close to the Inuit Broadcasting studio where I work.

Taxis, Breakfasts and the Arctic Elmo

I arrived in Iqaluit on Monday. It’s a small town (approx 6,000) with a ton of taxis. To taxi anywhere is six bucks. Just down the street? Six bucks. All the way across town? Six bucks. But that fee is per passenger. You can’t split the fare if you are going to the same place. Taxis will also pickup additional passengers going to different locations while you are still in the cab and you might not be dropped off first anymore. Its quite an interesting system. I like it.

I’m staying at By the Bay B & B run by Evelyn Chemko. Evelyn is very friendly and welcoming. By the Bay is a small B & B – only two rooms for rent – and currently I’m the only guest. Home is lovely and Evelyn answered all my questions before I spoke them.

I am working at IBC (Inuit Broadcasting Corporation) on their children’s show, Takuginai, which I think means something like “Ta-daa!” or “Look here!” but I will try to find out for sure. Everyone at IBC is laid back, friendly, and interested in making good programming for the people of the North.

One of the stars of the show is Johnny the Lemming (see picture) who is a big star up here, and best described as the “Arctic Elmo.”

Goin' up North

I know that YOU and everyone else in the blogosphere have been dying to hear about my adventures and thoughts. Now you can! So favourite this bad boy right now.

For the next month or so I'll be blogging about producing an Inuit kids TV show in Iqaluit ('Cause that's what I'll be doing).

The show sounds very interesting, has been in production for the past 20 years, and has been described to me as "the Inuit Sesame Street." They have made interesting decisions regarding which animals to make puppets out of. They did not want to cutesify the seal or the polar bear because the area is still dependent on seal hunting and the polar is a very real threat. So the big puppet stars are a Lemming and a Raven.

The show became short staffed suddenly and I got a call to go pitch in.
I don't know what I'm in for up there so this Polar Bear oven picture might be appropriate.



Also, while in Nunavut I hope to find out all I can about Inuit Ear-pulling contests.
(Please see the picture I stole, at top).