The “Lost Boy” tried, but never found himself.

Canada and Hollywood lost one of its ’80s heroes this morning when 38-year-old Corey Haim was pronounced dead in the early morning hours after an apparent drug overdose.

I have to admit, I’ve spent a few weekend afternoons watching self-made marathons of “The Two Coreys” On Demand, and it was at once entertaining, uncomfortable and heartbreaking to watch Haim — who his longtime friend and occasional foe Corey Feldman called a “tortured soul” — try to regain his footing in life and in acting.

The Toronto native was just about 15 years old when he starred with Winona Ryder and Charlie Sheen in “Lucas,” and “The Lost Boys” followed the next year, setting off a string of movies with Feldman for which Haim would forever be known.

For more on Haim and a wonderful, complete obituary, visit CBC.ca.

By Gordon Holmes
Special to Canadian of the Week

From Alberta’s Hart Family to Quebec’s Rougeau Brothers to Ontario’s Edge and Christian, the tradition of Canadian wrestling is full of larger-than-life personalities and unforgettable matches. Join us every week as we count down to Wrestlemania XXVI by taking a look at the Great White North’s finest contributions to the squared circle.

Editor’s Note: The “Modern Era” is defined as the period of wrestling that exists from
SummerSlam 1988 to the present day. Why 1988? Because that’s when I started watching wrestling. I know, I’m lame.

Previous picks:
10. Andrew “Test” Martin
9. John “Earthquake” Tenta
8. Lance Storm
7. Christian
6. Chris Benoit

5: Trish Stratus
Height: 5’4”
Weight: 125 lbs.
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
Greatest Match: Stratus vs. Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley – No Way Out 2001

If this were a ranking of the top women wrestlers of the modern era, Trish Stratus would be a no-brainer pick for the top spot.

Of the handful of women who have been legitimate draws in the past few decades, none of them have combined the superstar look, promo-cutting ability, and in-ring talent into one package the way Trish Stratus has. Sable had a million-dollar look but couldn’t talk or work. Lita could throw an impressive highspot or three when she needed to, but couldn’t cut a promo to save her life. And Chyna…well…I never quite got the appeal of Chyna…maybe the less said about her the better.

So, if Trish is the undeniable best female wrestler of the past twenty years, I think it’s fair to say she’s the Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, or Rock of women wrestlers.

But how do you rank a woman wrestler against male wrestlers?

Sure, the in-ring and microphone basics are the same, but from a business standpoint, the pressure and drawing ability of a female wrestler isn’t as great as that of a male wrestler. Not to open up a sexual politics debate, but from a money-making standpoint the Women’s Champion isn’t as important to the company as the male World Champion. The Women’s Champion rarely main events shows and is rarely given enough time to put on a classic match.

I’m not saying that’s the way it should be, I’m saying that’s the way it is.

Comparing Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock to Trish Stratus isn’t exactly fair. It’s like comparing apples to super hot oranges.

So here sits Trish, arguably the greatest female wrestler of all time sitting at the number five spot on a list of the best Canadian wrestlers of the modern era.

Is it fair? Probably not. Is that the way I’m going to leave it? Yes.

That being said, Trish deserves credit for much more than her wrestling character and in-ring ability. She was The Miz before The Miz was The Miz.

Wait, what?

Basically The Miz and Trish got their jobs based on something other than their wrestling-based talents. The Miz was a minor celebrity from his appearance on MTV’s “The Real World.” Trish was hired because she was a nuclear-hot fitness model.

Both could have coasted for a while and enjoyed some success without ever improving. We’ve seen it before. Yes, I’m looking at you, Maven.

However, neither was content to rest on their laurels. Both worked to improve all facets of the craft. And now, The Miz walks around with three championship belts and Trish Stratus is considered to be the best female wrestler of all time (or a close second to the Fabulous Moolah.)

So, why didn’t Trish follow the standard eye candy route that The Kat and Terri Runnels paved for her? Because she’s a wrestler.

While Diva Search contestants were signing with the WWE because it was a paycheck that kept them out of strip clubs, Trish signed because she was a wrestler.

And by wrestler, I mean someone who when they enter the ring and are about to do something violent doesn’t think “Gee, I hope this doesn’t hurt too bad.”

They think, “This better look awesome.”

It may sound simple, but it’s not a mindset many outside the business have.

As someone with a wrestling background, I’ve been asked several times why I’d allow myself to be smacked with a steel chair or thrown through a table. The answer is simple; the mental pain of something looking terrible is way worse than the physical pain of something that looked awesome.

I’m not special. I’d say 95 percent of wrestlers have this same attitude.

Trish Stratus is a perfect example of this. She’s missing a knuckle from a match with Victoria (now Tara). She never had it repaired because it looks cool and she likes to tell the story. When given the choice of experiencing a hand taser or a shooting taser on the dreadful reality show “Armed and Famous” she chose the more painful shooting taser because it’d look better.

And that’s just one facet of what Trish brought to the table.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say if Vince McMahon were allowed to head into a lab and create the perfect Diva; she’d have the looks of Trish Stratus, the attitude of Trish Stratus, and the work rate of Trish Stratus.

The only thing I’d change? The catchphrase: “Stratusfaction.” I’ve always kinda hated that.

Gordon Holmes is the wrestling correspondent for Comcast.net’s SlamCast wrestling coverage and the “Survivor” correspondent for Fancast.com. He was also trained to take a beating by WWE Hall of Famer Afa “The Wild Samoan” Anoa’i. You can follow Gordon on Twitter at twitter.com/gordonholmes.

The spirit of Canadian unity is in the air as the 2010 Winter Olympics come down the home stretch, and nowhere is it more evident than in the apparent closeness and acceptance of French-Canadian athletes, including skier Alexandre Bilodeau, who won the nation’s first gold medal on home soil, and figure skater Joannie Rochette, who captivated the world with her brave performance Tuesday night just two days after her mother’s sudden death.

But much of Canada’s union is credited to a couple of politicians from the mid 1800s: Louis Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin.

This week’s Heritage Minute whisks us back to 1841, when LaFontaine preached a message of non-violence even when his French-Canadians supporters were blocked from the voting polls and deterred from casting their ballots for him in his run for political office. He lost the election, but his message endured.

Robert Baldwin would later convince LaFontaine to take public office in Toronto, planting the seed for French-British cooperation that carries on to this day — despite some hiccups along the way.

“Canada’s existence owes much to the partnership of two moderate reformers: Louis Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin,” Historica Dominion writes. “By the end of the 1840s, Baldwin and LaFontaine had succeeded in convincing the British government that legislative power should rest in the hands of the elected assembly of the colony. Moreover, their historical compromise showed that French and English Canadians could work together to solve their political problems.”

This week’s Heritage Minute covers quite a bit of ground, starting with the 1841 election in which LaFontaine kept his supporters from responding to violence with more violence, and ending with a historic union between LaFontaine and Baldwin that many believe set the unified nation on its course for the future.

Heritage Minutes are 60-second short films that are shown in between some TV shows in Canada — and they’re amazing. We’re planning to bring you a “Heritage Minute” every Thursday on COTW.

Enjoy.

By Gordon Holmes
Special to Canadian of the Week

From Alberta’s Hart Family to Quebec’s Rougeau Brothers to Ontario’s Edge and Christian, the tradition of Canadian wrestling is full of larger-than-life personalities and unforgettable matches. Join us every week as we count down to Wrestlemania XXVI by taking a look at the Great White North’s finest contributions to the squared circle.

Editor’s Note: The “Modern Era” is defined as the period of wrestling that exists from
SummerSlam 1988 to the present day. Why 1988? Because that’s when I started watching wrestling. I know, I’m lame.

Previous picks:
10. Andrew “Test” Martin
9. John “Earthquake” Tenta
8. Lance Storm

7: Christian
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 227 lbs.
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
Greatest Match: Edge and Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz – Wrestlemania X-Seven – TLC Tag Title Match

When one member of a tag team goes on to become a bigger star than the other member, that less successful member isn’t referred to as “The Jim Neidhart” or “The Ray Rougeau.”

They’re known as “The Marty Jannetty.”

Maybe it isn’t fair for any wrestler to have to live up to the legacy Shawn Michaels has crafted for himself during his post-Rockers career, but such is life. After Shawn ended their tag team run by shoving Jannetty face first through Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake’s storefront window, Michaels went on to enjoy four World Championships and some quality time with Tammy “Sunny” Sytch in her prime. Meanwhile, poor Jannetty was left to bounce around the independent circuit.

So, when the WWE was enjoying a bit of a tag team renaissance around 2000-2001, me and my friends would debate who would become the Shawns and who would become the Martys.

The charismatic daredevil Jeff Hardy? Future superstar. His more fundamentally sound, yet microphone challenged brother Matt? Less so.

The angry redneck with a fetish for smashing women through tables Bubba Ray Dudley? Maybe not up to Shawn Michaels’ talent level, but seemingly destined for bigger things. His testimonial-requesting half brother D-Von? Not so much.

Then there was Edge and Christian. Surely Edge had to be the Shawn Michaels in this scenario. He had the cool gimmick of the club kid who would stalk the arena and enter the ring from the audience. He had the double awesome Stanley Cup-inspired trophy he received after winning the 2001 King of the Ring tournament. And, he even had a brief Intercontinental Title reign before he ever began teaming with Christian.

This theory was seemingly proved shortly after the team broke up in the Fall of 2001. Edge would quickly go on to unify the WCW U.S. Title and the WWE Intercontinental Title while Christian was promptly lost in the shuffle of the WCW/ECW Alliance mess.

Surely, Christian was on his way to a plate-glass facial.

But something funny happened on the way to the Barber Shop. Christian managed to survive misguided angles such as throwing temper tantrums after every loss and Steve Austin dubbing him a “Creepy Little Bastard.” In spite of all of that, he found his groove.

The nickname “Captain Charisma” and the catchphrase “That’s how I roll” started to catch on. Signs from fans proclaiming themselves to be one of his “Peeps” started to show up in the audience. And his feud with Chris Jericho over the lovely Trish Stratus was one of the highlights of the WWE’s very strong 2004.

From there, Christian enjoyed a successful run in TNA which helped him hone the character we’re seeing today.

Christian may not be among the higher echelon of WWE superstars today, but I wouldn’t bet against him eventually getting there for one reason; he can make the fans care. Watch a Christian match; even when he’s paired with a questionable worker like Ezekiel Jackson, the fans are into the finish. He clearly has the talent to carry the move, catchphrase, or angle that’s needed to finally propel him through the glass ceiling.

(OK, I swear that’s the last glass-breaking metaphor.)

So, does all of that make Edge the Marty Jannetty? Absolutely not. But I will say this about Christian; everyone else you’ll see on this list will probably stay in their spot until someone bumps them lower. Nothing against those workers, they’ve just either retired, reached their peaks, or passed on.

But if we revisit this list in a few years, Christian is the only one I can see in a higher position.

Gordon Holmes is the wrestling correspondent for Comcast.net’s SlamCast wrestling coverage and the “Survivor” correspondent for Fancast.com. He was also trained to take a beating by WWE Hall of Famer Afa “The Wild Samoan” Anoa’i. You can follow Gordon on Twitter at twitter.com/gordonholmes.

Maybe not quite everything is better in Canada.

Bad hotels are bound to be found anywhere, and TripAdvisor.com’s new 2010 Dirtiest Hotels list tells you exactly where. The site put together a Dirtiest Hotels list for the fifth year, but it’s the first time that it included a Top 10 (er, Bottom 10) specifically for Canada, and two of the worst places — according to TripAdvisor user ratings — are located at Niagara Falls.

The popular tourist site is home to the worst spot on the list, a motel which customers have called “the worst of the worst,” and an “embarrassing dump.” One user reported “Blood in the bedding, spatter across the walls, carpet saturated with black filth, empty beer bottles piled outside the door, discarded rotting furniture at the bottom of the stairs, disgusting odour.”

To see the complete list of TripAdvisor’s Dirtiest Hotels in Canada, click here.

Toronto rapper Drake won’t have Kanye West by his side at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, but he will have him mom with him.

She’s the lucky lady who will be on the arm of the 23-year-old sensation, who is nominated for two awards (Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap song — both for his quick hit, “Best I Ever Had”).

The night will be one of the biggest events of his life, and, win or lose, the former “Degrassi: The Next Generation” star is our Canadian of the Week.

In addition to being nominated for two awards (without even having a full-length album out), Drake will be performing his song “Forever” with Lil Wayne and Eminem. Kanye was on the original recording but, well, award shows haven’t really been his thing, of late.

Drake, whose role on “Degrassi” ended last year when his character graduated, said his Canadian roots are strong and that his hometown of Toronto is “the biggest inspiration behind my music.”

“I do everything I do for Toronto,” he told The Canadian Press after Grammy rehearsal on Friday. “It’s a city I really believe in.

“It’s got a bunch of great people. We got a lot of undiscovered things in Toronto, man: women, nightlife, restaurants, clubs, and talent. Women, first,” he adds with a smile.

“I just wanna bring the city to the forefront. I feel like every place needs an ambassador. They need somebody to show the rest of the world how magical that place can be. I think Jay (Jay-Z) does it for New York, a lot of people do it for Atlanta, Kanye did it for Chicago. A lot of rappers take it upon themselves.

“So I just really wanna be that guy for Toronto.”

Check out the official video for Drake’s “Best I Ever Had.” It’s kind of an odd tale of a women’s basketball coach (played by Drake) whose team is severely lacking in hoops talent and sports bras.

A new report says that Vancouver is the least affordable city in the world, when measuring median housing sale prices to median household incomes, according to an article from The Canadian Press.

The report, released by Demographia International, a group that wants to encourage major cities to allow more housing to be built on the fringes of cities, said other Canadian cities — notably Toronto and Montreal — are also highly unaffordable.

But Brent Gilmour, acting CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute, said the report is too simple and doesn’t account for all kinds of other factors, including shorter commute times, less need for cars by people who live in the city, and other elements of city planning that make city neighborhoods better options.

After a week of voting, a handful of Canada’s largest and well-known cities are in danger of not even making it on the board in a new version of Monopoly Canada.

Hasbro, the company that makes the game, has opened a public vote to decide which cities will occupy the 22 spaces on the board that were originally named for streets and areas in Atlantic City, N.J. (a la, Boardwalk, Park Place, St. Charles Place, etc.).

With 65 cities in the running for 20 of the spaces, Winnipeg and Edmonton aren’t making the cut, and Toronto is barely hanging on in 20th place.

The final two spaces — the “low-rent” spots occupied by Mediterranean and Baltic avenues in the original game — will be decided by a separate wild-card vote based on nominations of any and all cities in Canada.

People can vote for three cities each day until the vote closes on Feb. 7, 2010. The city that receives the most votes will be placed on the highest rent property traditionally held by Boardwalk.

The wild card vote for the two low-rent spaces will take place from February 8, 2010 until February 21, 2010.

Canadian of the Week thinks that in addition to the great cities that will occupy the spaces on the board, some uniquely named bergs might qualify as game pieces to go along with what’s sure to include a hockey player, a maple leaf and a totem pole:

Medicine Hat
Red Deer
Wood Buffalo
Whitehorse
Yellowknife
Moose Jaw
White Rock

Here’s a look at the current leading cities and their percentages of the vote, as of midnight Wednesday:

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. 5.4

Calgary 4.7

Chatham-Kent, Ont. 3.7

Quebec City 3.4

Trois-Rivieres, Que. 2.9

St. John’s, N.L. 2,8

Kawartha Lakes, Ont. 2.7

Medicine Hat, Alta. 2.7

Montreal 2.6

Victoria 2.5

Windsor, Ont. 2.4

Shawinigan, Que. 2.3

Kelowna, B.C. 2.3

Sarnia, Ont. 2.3

North Bay, Ont. 2.1

Vancouver 2.1

Ottawa 2.1

Gastineau 2.0

London, Ont. 2.0

Toronto 2.0

Howie Mandel is America’s newest arbiter of talent.

The Canadian comedian-turned-game-show-host has signed on to judge “America’s Got Talent,” replacing David Hasselhoff, who announced last week that he’s leaving the summertime talent show. Mandel already has a couple of other jobs hosting “Deal or No Deal” in prime time, in syndication and also in Canada.

It’s tough to say Hasselhoff’s will be difficult to fill, but there was a certain chemistry between judges Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and Hasselhoff that worked for the talent showcase that doesn’t take itself terribly seriously.

Will Mandel fit like a head in a rubber glove?

Interestingly enough, Mandel’s appointment to the judges’ table means that two Brits and a Canadian make up the entire panel on “America’s Got Talent.”

An Ontario judge saved Keanu Reeves from a paternity matrix that would have been a most bogus ending to an otherwise excellent adventure.

A woman named Karen Sala claimed that she once lived with Reeves and had four of his children, who are all adults now. But the CBC reports that Judge Fred Graham in Barrie, Ont., dismissed the case, calling Sala’s allegations “so incredible” that any trial would be “a waste of limited judicial resources.”

Reeves denies ever having met the woman, let alone having lived with her and fathered four children. Reeves grew up mostly in Toronto.