• CBC Vancouver is holding open auditions for a sock puppet, seeking an unofficial mascot for its take on the upcoming Olympic Games. The local Ceeb is calling on viewers to ‘create a sock puppet mascot that you think best represents the city,’ adding, ‘It can been a sporty spirit booster or an irritable ironic icon.’ Entrants have until Feb. 8 and must include ‘the character’s story in 100 words or less.’

‘What’s his motivation?,’ asks the CBC. ‘Where does she come from?’

• Clement Virgo and Norman Jewison will sit down on Feb. 9 at Toronto’s Isabel Bader Theater, marking Black History Month with a talk about the representation of blacks in the movies and a screening of the latter’s In the Heat of the Night. ‘With films such as [this], Norman Jewison was instrumental in helping to bring about change and give voice to the black experience in cinema,’ says Virgo.

• Visit Films has reportedly acquired Sophie Deraspe’s Les signes vitaux (Vital Signs) following its screening at Rotterdam.

• Picture Box Distribution has added two shows to its factual slate — taking Worldwide Bag Media’s Beauty Call, a 26 x 30 makeover series made for W Network, and Switch, a new 13 x 30 about television shows produced by Buck Productions for TVtropolis.

• TVOntario has ordered a third season of kiddie cooking series Taste Buds from marblemedia, which plans to shoot six episodes this spring, going to air in the fall.