Almost Famous

A couple of nights ago Andrew and I spent the evening being filmed for Flemish Belgian national TV! It was quite exciting, let me tell you. I'm an ex-member of the Canadian Club (social group, not whiskey) and I'm still on their mailing list. A couple of weeks ago a notice went around that the popular Flemish national TV show Maan Bijt Hond (Man Bites Dog) was looking for a Canadian couple to include in their survey of different nationalities living in Belgium. We thought it would be fun so we put our names forward and were picked!

We didn't get paid or anything, but it was quite an experience. A three person crew came to our house on Monday night and spent an hour or so setting up lights and things. They actually made us move an Inuit painting we have in the office out into the living room, so there would be something "Canadian" in the background.

See? It's the green one to the right:

After they had set up our apartment we had to go outside so that they could film the opening scene, which features us with our building in the background. Andrew and I were a little late getting down there because the producer (Ann) asked us to change into long sleeve shirts so it would look more "wintry" -- see all the deception that goes into TV-making? Shocking!

Anyway, by the time we got down there the local kids who congregate in our square had swarmed the camera and sound guy and were begging to be filmed. It was kind of awesome because the kids treated us like rock stars when we came out. I have to say, I ate up the attention from those kids (or my "fans" as I like to call them). Filming an English-language 15 minute "bit" for a Flemish TV show aired only in Belgium is as close as I'm ever going to get to international celebrity... Kind of sad.

Another awesome thing happened after we had filmed the outdoor scene. There was one particular kid who was super obnoxious and kept begging to get filmed. The camera dude was nice about it, but the kid was quite persistent. As we were headed back inside, the kid kept circling us on his bike, screaming, "Filmer moi! Filmer moi!" and doing wheelies. Then, as he was in mid scream, he biked too close to the curb and completely wiped out. It was quite hilarious and the swarm of kids laughed hysterically, as did all of the adults. The kid was fine (I'm sure).

Anyhoots, we headed back inside for the actual show.
Here's the light and the big camera (sorry for the blurriness):

Then we sat down and answered one hundred questions about ourselves. The format of the whole show, Maan Bijt Hond, is a bunch of little segments about different aspects of life in Flanders and Belgium. One of the segments for the new season are these intereviews with expats living in Belgium. So over each hour long show, they'll air a segment with interviews from various different couples featuring snippets of their answers.

That's the camera dude.
He kept a half-smoked cigarette tucked behind his ear.
Cool, or kind of gross?

That's the sound guy.
He was bald on top with a long mullet of hair in the back.
Cool or kind of gross?

Ann asked all kinds of questions ranging from "What was your first car." To "When was was the last time you cried?" It was kind of fun answering them, especially hearing Andrew's responses. I learned a few things about my husband that I didn't know. Like the first girl he kissed was when he was 8 years old and they were in a box in her basement. How did that tidbit of information escape me?!

It did get kind of tiring by the end, which is the only way I can explain why I went along with Ann's suggestion that I sing a few lines from Canadian Shania Twain's classic, "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under." I pray to God that bit doesn't get aired!

All in all it was a pretty fun time, though. Even when she asked us how much we weighed (I declined to respond to that one -- If I lie to my doctor, why in the world would I tell all of Flanders? -- Apparently there are limits that even I won't stoop to).