New Moon thoughts

Thanks to my lovely friend Lara I got to go to an advance screening of New Moon last night and now you get to hear about it.

Let me say this up front. I am not a Twi-hard. Honestly. I don't believe in the magical love between Edward and Bella and find most of the overwrought obstacles put in their path more amusing than anything. BUT, I have read all the books, almost compulsively, because as silly as they are...once you start reading you must finish them, even if you find yourself screaming at the story (I mean, Renesmee...really?!?). It's been interesting to watch the Twilight phenomena from relatively early in the process to see what a rabid following has developed. I remember reading a bit about the casting and filming the first film and I honestly think Summit was unaware of what they had on their hands when they started on this whole journey. They are certainly reaping the rewards now.


A few things about the movie:

- It's deliciously cheesy. And really, if you were going to this movie expecting anything else you are going to be very disappointed and have been living under a rock for the past couple of years.
- I inadvertently giggled at several inappropriate points of the movie, including but not limited to the moment when Edward does his first slow-mo entrance, Jacob having to rip off his shirt in order to pat at the blood on Bella's forehead and pretty much any moment when Edward looked 'pained'
- There are a lot of actors in this franchise who really don't get much to do. Poor Jackson Rathbone seemed to have only 4 lines in the whole film and a really bad hair style on top of that. Nikki Reed and Rachelle Lefevre fared even worse with basically one scene apiece. Same goes for the crew of Volturri, Bella's school friends and pretty much anyone who isn't part of the lead trio
- The Bella/Charlie father daughter relationship has come a long way and provided some genuinely charming moments
- The effects were better than the first film and they did a pretty good job with the wolves in general
- There are several truly cute and or funny moments on the screen. Anna Kendrick's post movie monologue rocked. Bella's 'double-date' at the movies was cringingly funny.
- Rob Pattinson is pretty, no question. And he seems pretty self-deprecatingly charming in interviews. But his Edward is a bit....annoying. The pained expression, inexplicable departure, melancholy suicide mission and painted on abs, were not attractive on screen. Now some of this is absolutely the source material and not Pattinson's fault. But the trailer for his next film "Remember Me" aired before the movie and didn't shine a glowing light on his acting ability either (Oh, but I'll totally end up seeing it). He may have it in him to be a good actor one day but it isn't today.

Which leads me to...

A few things about why I'm solidly on Team Jacob (and also a dirty old lady):

- Taylor Lautner's abs. Look I resisted. Honestly. Popwatch has had an abwatch category for months. I told myself I wasn't that superficial. I am. He's really, really pretty.
- The fact that Taylor worked his ass off to keep the role after the first movie blew up and they thought he couldn't play it as the series went forward. The poor kid must be so sick of talking about how much time he spent at the gym and how much weight he put on but seriously, that shows dedication.
- Jacob's the warm body for Bella to curl up to. (Lautner's delivery of "108 degrees over here" was one of my fav lines of the movie)
- Lautner's protrayal of Jacob just seems so much more natural than Edward (which again, is likely 50% due to the source material)
- Jacob didn't take off on Bella and leave her to mope for months
- Did I mention how good he looks running around without a shirt?!?

So yeah, go see New Moon if you've read the book and want to see it come to life on the screen. Go see it if you're looking for some prolonged teen angst in your day. Go see it for the objectification of some pretty boys. Go see it for the cheese. But if you're looking for a quality film this weekend, you might want to avoid the line full of teenagers.

Return from Paradise

I'm feeling a bit depressed tonight because I'm officially back in the real world. But I'm going to try to hold on to the warm fuzzy vacation feeling as long as humanly possible and try to prolong it a bit by documenting what was one of the most relaxing, fun and beautiful weeks I've had in a while.

Thanks to the planets aligning sometime at the end of August, 4 women managed to get points flights, vacation time and personal lives all sorted out to book a trip to Hawaii.

Hawaii.

Just hearing the word brings to mind sunny skies, beautiful beaches, brilliantly coloured flora and tropical drinks (well, that last one might be just me but I don't think so).

It's also way the heck out in the middle of the ocean and takes a full day of travel (especially when you get a two hour delay on the runway in Chicago due to overloading issues) to make your way there from Toronto. But the pain of that process is erased in an instant the minute you walk out on to your lanai.

Our lanai was located on the on the island of Ohau at a condo in the Ko Olina development on the west coast of the island. The place was, in a word, spectacular. I literally felt giddy every morning when I'd start the day off looking out at the ocean with a coffee in hand.

When I could drag myself away from the pool, lagoon or lanai on our property, here are just some of the ways I spent my time over the past week or so:

I got to spend 3 mornings of diving with the crew at Hawaii Nautical and got my dive count up to double digits at some great sites and saw a ton of ocean life including a couple of sharks, octopii, sea turtles, eels and a bunch of fish. The crew were great and the boat was amazing.

I got to spend a day completely geeking out with Lara over our shared Lost love on a Lost tour of the island. You can read her account of our adventure here. While our search for Jack and Sawyer was ultimately fruitless, we can at least tell ourselves that at some point we walked across the same pieces of sand (and in some cases parking lots) as our heroes.

I got to spend a day road tripping around the island with my friends, stopping at multiple beaches to watch crazy waves and even crazier surfers, committing shrimp homicide at a roadside truck and ending off the day with shaved ice, a sunburn and finding sand in weird places.

I got to do some shopping here and there and managed to fill my already full suitcase way beyond capacity with additions found at outlets, Target and Sephora.

And finally, I got to end the vacation with a 24 hour layover in Vancouver which allowed me to catch up with some West coast friends and have an amazing dinner overlooking the city.

Now, thanks to my PVR, I have some serious quality time to spend with my television over the next few days. Which I imagine will fill the time I spend awake over the next few nights as I try to readjust to the 6 hour time difference. So. Worth. It.

10 Reasons to love Kristin Chenoweth

How cute is she?

Her acceptance speech (as best supporting actress in a comedy for Pushing Daisies) at the Emmy's on Sunday night was adorable and heartfelt and funny all at once. She's either an even better actress than I thought or was truly surprised and overwhelmed by the win. The plug for employment on her favourite shows was my fav part of the whole thing.

Her book: A Little bit Wicked is crazy entertaining and funny. She's open and engaging without coming off as self absorbed or vain with stories about her career path (beauty pagents, schooling and broadway), relationship with Aaron Sorkin (including a discussion about the character of Harriet on Studio 60), family life and even her weave.

She does 'Christian' right...not to be confused with 'the Christian Right'. Her faith seems to be important to her but I don't get a preachiness vibe from anything I've read or seen of her onscreen. And she seems generally tolerant and open minded.

"Taylor the Latte Boy" has brought me much enjoyment.

Wicked. Chenoweth was involved in the production from workshop to Broadway to the Tony stage. Every Galinda that follows her will be compared to her performance. The musical is one of the best I've seen and I love the fact that it's about 2 strong but very different women and how they become their best selves. I will be in line to see the movie they eventually get around to making.

She's a pretty versatile actress and singer, moving from opera and classical music to broad based broadway musicals to physical comedy and even drama (catch her turn on The West Wing if you don't believe me).

She's guest starring on next week's episode of Glee, one of several theatre and broadway vets who have lined up to appear on the show. I'm sure it's only going to make me love the show (and her) more.

She's a great talk show guest with multiple entertaining appearances with Letterman and Ellen and the rest of the lot.

Seriously, how cute is she??

TIFF: The Wrap-Up

So TIFF is over for another year and I'm moving on to the Emmy awards and the fall TV season starting in earnest this week. But before I do, here's the final ranking of the movies I saw this year.

My Favourite film of the fest:

Up in the Air. Jason Reitman, you rock and I will line up for any movie you want to put on the screen. Clooney is flawed but dreamy and that slow smile and head tilt will hopefully show up in my dreams for a while. Farmiga, Kendrick, Bateman and everyone else on the screen are good too.

Great movies (watch for them to show up somewhere on the Oscar ballet next year):

An Education. Catch Carey Mulligan in her starmaking turn and stay for the performances of everyone else. A fairly straightforward story about a girl trying to figure out what she wants from life.

Bright Star. I cried, that says it all. A heartbreaking story that's beautiful to look at on screen. And hopefully will lead to Abbie Cornish being known for more than just the girl Ryan left Reese for.

Precious. Tough to watch but worth the struggle. It won the TIFF audience award this year (along with a bunch at Sundance), likely the first of many accolades heading to director Lee Daniels and supporting actress Mo'Nique.

Good Movies (worth your while, or, you'd be happy to watch them on a plane):

Youth in Revolt. News just broke that the movie's release date has been pushed to early next year into the dumping ground of January, which is too bad because it's truly funny and a good opportunity for Michael Cera to break out of his type casting rut with the Francois Dillinger alter ego.

Leaves of Grass. Edward Norton shines in a dual role in a movie that may be trying too hard to be quirky. Mostly entertaining and gets a 7 out of 10 in my books.

Whip it. Drew's directorial debut is nothing to be ashamed of. Fun and entertaining and Ellen Page is enjoyable as lead, though I'd like to see her as something other than the angsty alterna-teen sometime soon.

Passenger Side. Small independent film showcases Adam Scott and Joel Bissonnette as brothers struggling to maintain/rebuild a relationship while on a meandering drive around Los Angeles.

The movie I didn't see enough of to label:

Life During Wartime. Sorry Mr. Solondz.

TIFF: Life During Wartime and Up in the Air

Final day of TIFF and two films on the schedule.

The first was Life During Wartime, the latest from director Todd Solondz is basically a sequel to 1998's Happiness cast with new actors. As you'd expect, it's pretty much dark and twisted. And if I'm being completely honest with you, the combination of a bad night's sleep and a comfortable seat meant that I dozed off a bit throughout the movie. There were some good scenes, and I love Allison Janney in pretty much everything she does but it wasn't enough to keep me completely engaged enough to stay awake.

I had no such issues for Up in the Air, my final film of the festival. Director and writer Jason Reitman officially has a perfect filmmaking record as far as I'm concerned (his two previous features, Thank you for Smoking and Juno also premiered at TIFF) and this one ended the festival on a high note for me.

George Clooney is perfectly cast as Ryan Bingham, a solitary man who's job is to come into companies and fire employees and who's only joy in life seems to come from racking up frequent flyer miles. He's joined on the road by an upstart go-getter played by Anna Kendrick (of the Twilight series, surprisingly very much holding her own sharing the screen with one of the biggest stars in the world) who he somewhat relectantly takes under his wing. Vera Farmiga plays a fellow traveler and she and Clooney, as basically two ships passing in the night, give us a tutorial on fantastic onscreen chemistry.

While there didn't seem to be a Slumdog Millionare this year in terms of 'the film that everyone is buzzing about', Up in the Air was consistently given high marks by everyone I heard from this week. And even on the last day of the festival, for it's third screening at one of the biggest venues, the Rush line was long and started filling in at least three hours before the start time. It's absolutely worth seeing when it opens up in December.

TIFF: Youth in Revolt

Can we all agree that Michael Cera has been playing some slight variation of the same part for the past five years? And yet for some reason it hasn't quite become too much for me to handle (let's call it the Zooey Deschanel exception).

Making it my third year of Michael Cera TIFF premieres in a row, tonight's film was Youth in Revolt, based on the popular novel by C.D. Payne, and stars Cera as...wait for it...an awkward, precocious teen who's burdened with an overabundance of virginity and an underabundance of self confidence. But Cera also gets a chance to break out a bit by playing Nick's alter ego 'Francois', a complete bad ass who goads him into criminal behaviour.

I'd totally recommend the movie. More laugh out loud moments than I've had at a movie in a while. Great performances by Cera and his leading lady Portia Doubleday in her first major role. And entertaining supporting performances from Jean Smart, Zach Galifianakis, Ray Liotta, Justin Long, Steve Buscemi, Mary Kay Place and Ari Graynor.

And the post film Q&A with director Miguel Arteta, Cera and Doubleday was one of the best I've seen so far this year. Cera is just truly funny and engaging, and his improv background means he's never at a loss for a quick response. My favourite answer...the best part about playing 'Francois'? He got to stare down Ray Liotta...which was terrifying.

The movie comes out next month, and it's worth putting on your list.

TIFF: Precious, An Afternoon with Chris Rock and Leaves of Grass

Is there anything better than taking a day off work and spending it at TIFF? Maybe it's starting off the day with brunch and a mimosa to kick it off :-).

My first film of the day was Precious..."the Oprah movie" to those of you following the front page pictures of premieres at the festival. Based on the novel 'Push', the movie is about an illiterate 16 year old girl who is pregnant for the 2nd time by her father and her relationship with her monster of a mother as she tries to escape her life, quite literally into fantasy at times.

It was a tough movie to watch. The violence and abuse are close to the surface throughout the film and there were scenes that drew audible gasps from the audience. The performance by the unknown first time actress who plays Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) is moving and powerful. Mo'Nique plays her monster of a mother and is rightfully on the early shortlists for an Oscar nomination. The film garnered a standing ovation for Director Lee Daniels, which in my mind was probably 60% merited and 40% a carryover of the Oprah effect. He seemed genuinely moved by the crowd reaction and took about 20 minutes of questions from the audience.

*This* was possibly the most painful part of the screening for me, due to quite possibly the worst moderator I've ever seen take the microphone at the festival. I was honestly tempted to walk up to the stage and take the microphone out of her hand because I'm sure I could have done a better job. At one point someone in the crowd asked a question about why the audience had laughed at a particular scene which caused about 100 members of the audience to yell the answer at him simultaneously and not only did the moderator not take control and move the process along, she added her own rambling thoughts about hightened reactions in the festival setting. Eventually (thankfully) Daniels basically took over and manged the whole thing himself.


After the heaviness of Precious I was even more thankful for the next item on the schedule. This afternoon's selection was not a film but part of TIFF's Mavericks program, a discussion series that includes dialogues, Q&As, short films and clips, which this year included Michael Caine, Peter Berg and Barry Levinson. Chris Rock comes to the festival with his new documentary 'Good Hair' (which opens next month), and after screening the trailer, sat down with the TIFF programmer for about an hour long interview followed by 20 minutes or so of questions from the crowd. It wasn't exactly what I expected as I thought there were going to be more clips shown from the documentary itself, but it was a nice alternative to sitting through three movies in the day and Rock's commentary on the movie, politics, growing up and filmmaking were about as entertaining as you would expect from the performer.

Best line of the afternoon? When someone in the audience asked for Rock's reaction to the whole Kanye West/Taylor Swift episode at the VMAs last night he said there was no way he was talking about Kanye only to get dissed in his next single..."there are way too many words that rhyme with Rock".

Final film of the night was the world premiere of Leaves of Grass, written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson. The film stars Edward Norton in a dual role as twin brothers, Bill who has left his southern roots (and accent) behind and become a renowed professor of classical philosophy and Brady who's still living in Oklahoma as somewhat of a mad genius when it comes to growing pot. Circumstances bring Bill back to town and he gets sucked into the mess of his brother's life, with the only bright spot being a local teacher and poet played by Keri Russell. I liked the movie...but didn't love it. I thought it felt like it was trying a bit too hard to be a Coen brothers movie, a thought only reinforced when they were on the list of folks being thanked at the end of the credits.

Attendees for the Q&A included Nelson, Norton, Russell, Josh Pais and Lucy DeVito (the daughter of Rhea Pherlman and Danny DeVito who sat in the audience beaming like the proud parents I'm sure they are). The cast discussed the challenges of playing (or playing opposite) a dual roll as well as what it's like to work with a director who's also an actor (Nelson also costars as Brady's best friend) and Nelson spoke about some of his motivations as a writer. And while I'll admit to a bit of a crush, I thought Norton was ridiculously charming :-).

TIFF: Bright Star and Whip It

Day 4 of the festival and two films on the schedule.

The first film of the day (and my first and only early morning film of the festival) was Bright Star, the newest film from Jane Campion (The Piano) about the life of doomed poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his romance with Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). The movie was great. Moving and well acted and beautiful to look at and I was a bit of a blubbering mess at the end of it (and trust me, that doesn't happen often).

I'm always appreciative when filmakers show up for early morning screenings so it was a pleasant surprise to have Campion there to introduce the film and talk a little bit about it beforehand. She and her producing partner discussed their inspiration behind it and spent some time talking about the difficulty they had in getting it made due to a combination of the subject matter (she assured us that she felt the same as likely most of us sitting in the theatre about poetry before this project) and the fact that they didn't have any marquee names for the poster.

By my thinking, her casting was perfect across the board. Cornish and Whishaw are great as the leads and have you completely invested in the story even though you know it ends with Keats' untimely death (I'll quote Jane Campion herself here and say I hope I didn't ruin that for anyone). I was mildly distracted throughout the film trying to place the actor playing the part of Charles Brown, Keats' friend and seemingly biggest source of financial support. 'Where did I know him from?' I kept asking myself. A quick IMDB check revealed him as Paul Schneider...most recently of Parks and Recreation, Amy Poehler's NBC sitcom. That was definitely not a connection that my brain would have made while watching this period piece so good on him :-).

The movie is out in limited release later this month and it's definitely worth adding to your list.

My second film was the premiere of Whip It, the directorial debut from Drew Barrymore and boy did she have crowd out to support her. It officially eclipses last year's Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist as the film with both the largest "Reserved" section and biggest group of cast member attendees I've seen at the Ryerson. Here were the cast member attendees: Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Wiig (love!), Alia Shawkat, Zoe Bell, Andrew Wilson, Daniel Stern, Eve, Landon Pigg and Carlo Alban. Along with Shauna Cross, the writer of both the novel the film is based on and the screenplay and Michael Cera and Justin Long just hanging out.

Unfortunately the entertainment of the star power in the room may have eclipsed the actual film. I had read 'Derby Girl', the novel that provided the source material, last year, loved it, and was very much looking forward to the movie. Maybe my expectations were too high. I definitely enjoyed it, and I hope it ends up being successful because there is always room in the world for a movie about young women doing things that they are passionate about. And I loved that, while there was a love interest for Bliss (Page), the story wasn't all about the boy which was nice for a change. A perfect slumber party movie...remember those??

The movie started 30 minutes late after a lengthy introduction from Drew including effusive praise of each cast member individually, which is likely why there wasn't a Q&A afterwards. Though Drew stayed in her seat in the theatre until after the lights came up and yelled out her thanks to the crowd.

And now I'm home and off to bed...three movies on deck tomorrow!

TIFF: George Clooney is pretty

I didn't have any films on the docket for today and after sleeping in, eating lunch and catching up on the premieres of Melrose Place and America's Next Top Model (don't judge) I decided to swing by the Ryerson for the premiere of 'Up in the Air', the latest film from Jason Reitman that's on the schedule for next Saturday as my last film of the festival. Honestly, because I figured I shouldn't pass up the opportunity to see George Clooney while he's in town :-).

Other than grabbing pictures of people at screenings I'm attending, I don't really do much star searching at the festival. And I've never stood with the crowds at one of the red carpets so this was my first experience watching the action for more than the few seconds it usually takes me to walk by on my way into the theatre. I don't know that I'd make a habit of it, but it was a fun way to spend an hour on a lovely Saturday afternoon.

The carpet was busy and the crowds were huge. It's the first time I've seen the entire street blocked off in front of the Ryerson for a premiere. And among the group around me shouting at various stars as they talked to entertainment reporters across the way from us were definitely those that took the process of autograph hunting seriously.

Stars passing by included Vera Farmiga (that's her in the white dress above), Anna Kendrick and Jason Bateman (love him) who are all in the film but also a bunch of people who aren't including Amanda Seyfried who must have had nothing better to do today.

And George, oh George. Lainey has always talked about how professional he is and how he goes above and beyond to work the publicity for all of his films and I'm going to have to agree from my brief perspective. He showed up early and worked the line. And not the line of reporters waiting to interview him (though he did a very quick pass by and shook all of their hands) but the line of fans out on the street and all around the red carpet area signing what must have been hundreds of autographs even with a broken hand.

Jason was pretty obliging as well.



The ladies never made their way to our side of the carpet, but I can tell you they all looked lovely from behind :-)



I'm very much looking forward to seeing the movie next week. Here's hoping Jason Reitman goes three for three. Now I've got to get ready for dinner out and two movies and a baby shower tomorrow.

I'll leave you with the biggest red carpet disaster I saw all afternoon...

No, I can't leave you with that. How bout this one?

TIFF: Passenger Side

Friday night's film was Passenger Side, an indie Canadian film about two brothers driving around Los Angeles seemingly aimlessly and the cast of characters they run into en route. Elder brother Michael (Adam Scott) is a writer of no success who spends a day playing chauffeur for Tobey (Joel Bissonnette), a recovering drug addict who's 'errands' for the day end up being a meandering quest in search of something...someone.

Matt Bissonnette wrote and directed the film and as he discussed in the Q&A following the screening, casting his brother and good friend as the leads made the brotherly relationship completely believable and their rambling discussions were full of conversational shorthand that only comes with years of history. The soundtrack of the film was also great, a character onto itself. The film's producer, Bissonnette(s), Kimberly Huie (who played a drunken right-winger in one of the brother's encounters) and Scott attended for the post-film Q&A to discuss the film, the music and road trips in general. I'll pause to note that Adam Scott has one of those voices you could listen to forever and I was always happy when a question was posed in his direction (and as an aside, you should really check out the hilarious first season of Party Down if you want to see more of him).

All and all a solid film, and one that I'm sure will show up on the Movie Network at some point in the future for your viewing pleasure.

The film was preceeded by the short 'On a lonely drive' which was really pretty to look at but didn't seem to say much...so I really won't say anything about it either.

TIFF: An Education

TIFF kicked off today and I really hope my first film is indicative of the quality of films I've got on the slate for the next 9 days.

An Education takes place in the early 1960's and stars newcomer Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a smart, pretty, curious girl who's a straight A student with parents pressuring her to gain acceptance to Oxford. But she strays from that path when she meets a much older man (Peter Sarsgaard) who tempts her with a life of fancy clothes, night life and even manages to somehow charm her parents into letting her spend a weekend in Paris.

The movie is based on a memoir by Lynn Barber and was adapted for the screen by Nick Hornby and boasts great performances all around. Mulligan is amazing in this film, and definitely worthy of the quiet Oscar buzz she's garnering. Alfred Molina's turn as her father is funny and charming. Rosamund Pike and Dominic Cooper are entertaining as the couple who, along with Sarsgaard, lure Jenny to the world of adventure. And Olivia Williams and Emma Thompson as her teacher and headmaster respectively are pitch perfect. Incidentally, watching a Sarsgaard love scene while watching the man himself react to the scene (he was sitting in the row ahead of my directly in my peripheral vision) is quite entertaining.

The post film Q&A wasn't the best I've seen at the festival, but I'm going to put that to the quality of the questions from the crowd (not that I had a better one to offer) as opposed to the actors as they were all quite charming.

After the film we played paparazzi at the exit door while the TIFF volunteers did their 'lock and load' for the stars' exits.

Here's Carey stopping to sign a few autographs as she was rushed through

Peter ran the gauntlet pretty quickly as well.

Alfred Molina and Dominic Cooper spent a little more time with the crowd

And Cooper's girlfriend Amanda Seyfried, who also has a film premiering at the same venue tonight at midnight (Jennifer's Body) came out to support him.

The poor girl may have been the most mobbed one there at her exit. And she somehow managed to miss the car and spent a few minutes in the middle of the street getting inundated for autographs and pictures before they swung back around to get her. Also incidentally, she and Cooper seem like a very sweet couple. They were sitting right in front of us for the film and at one point he removed his jacket and threw it around her shoulders as she was clearly getting a bit of a chill in the theatre. All together now....aaaawww :-).

TIFF 2009

So the rest of the summer has disappeared and it's once again time for TIFF! Year after year, it saves me from the end of summer doldrums and bridges the gap to the new TV season :-).

First of all, I have to say that the festival has recovered from the epic fail that was the Toronto Life main building box office location and management and my experiences at the box office this year have been great. I've visited the big white tent in Nathan Phillips Square three times and even the double lineup this morning to first pick up my tickets and then exchange vouchers for the choices I didn't get went very smoothly. And I was once again fairy lucky with my ordering, receiving 7 of the 10 films I selected and was able to pick up an 8th of my original requests this morning. I felt very sorry for a few people in the line around me who were in a few of the last boxes who had received about 40-50% of their requested tickets.

Following my usual process I narrowed down the film list last week and here's what I ended up with after having to do a bit of reorganizing this morning.

1. An Education


2. Passenger Side


3. Bright Star


4. Whip it!


5. Precious


6. An Afternoon with Chris Rock


7. Leaves of Grass


8. Youth in Revolt


9. Life During Wartime


10. Up in the Air

Random ramblings

Summer is here and mother nature finally decided to catch up with the calendar bringing a heat wave this week.

It would have been nice if my air conditioning at home was fixed before that happened.

I went so see No Doubt and Paramore at the ACC last week and it was awesome. I bow down to Ms. Stefani's abs and stamina. And was impressed that she actually sang live for the entire show (I'm looking at you Madonna). Paramore became one of my favourite bands last year and got a visibility boost by being included in the Twilight sountrack (as with everything involved in that franchise) and were great live, especially when you consider what babies they still all are.

Lainey's annual Smut Soiree was this week and while still enjoyable, the lack of air conditioning, lousy sound set up and continued talking of other folks over the panel's discussion led to a bit of a disappointment. Thankfully the swag bag delivered. And warm gooey cookies with shot glasses of milk are a fantastic idea.

Alan Sepinwall (great TV reviews/recaps) started doing a rewind a few weeks ago and recapping episodes of my beloved Sports Night which lead to me rewatching the entire first season in a flurry. So it's entirely his fault that I've now found myself sucked in to a Sorkinthon and have begun watching The West Wing from the beginning. I forgot how much I adored that show and couldn't wait until Wednesday evenings when it aired. And it's filling the gap as the summer show pickings are slim.

Though True Blood is back and I'm thoroughly enjoying the second season, even as I can't help comparing little details to what happened in the books. Speaking of which, the latest is on it's way to my library for me to pick up according to the Toronto Public Library website...yay.

It's my birthday on Monday and I'm having a bit of a hard time believing I'm turning 33. I moved to the city 10 freaking years ago...where the heck did the time go? On the plus side, I got asked for my ID when buying beer a few weeks ago so at least there's that.

I had one of those sort of perfect quiet moments this weekend when I was at the cottage. Nothing major, just standing on the deck at dusk looking out at the water. My parents and grandparents were inside having cocktails and getting ready for dinner and my dad was about to light the BBQ. And I'm generally not one for a lot of introspection but in that instant as I just stood there I realized how genuinely lucky I am. So thank you to all the people in my life who make me feel that way.

Season finale thoughts

It's been a rather lazy long weekend and I've felt somewhat justified lounging on the couch with my PVR since the weather hasn't been 'seasonal' and I've completely caught up on my television viewing. Here's what I've been thinking about the season finales of some of my favourite shows (it goes without saying, but stop reading here if your PVR is backed up and you haven't seen em yet).

Chuck. Hallelujah!! The various 'Save Chuck' campaigns have apparently been successful and this wonderful show that was sitting on the bubble of cancellation has received a 13 episode renewal for next year. I'm choosing to just be excited about that and not worry about what the apparently required budget cutbacks will do to season 3. I caught an episode of this show mid way through the first season and then had to spend a few hours catching up courtesy of the folks at Television without Pity before adding it to my repetoire. It's fantastic and I can't quite understand why more people aren't watching. The last few episodes of this season closed out the arc on the creation of the intersect (featuring missing dad Scott Bakula!), had a pretty sexy (there but for the grace of a condom) hookup between Chuck and Sarah, a wedding for Awesome and Ellie featuring the musical sylings of Jeffster and most importantly (especially where next season is concerned) a Chuck who has actually been able to make the decision to be a hero instead of having it foisted upon him...a decision which came with a super upgraded Intersect and what looks to be a whole new set of skills.

Lost. OMFG Lost. How could you leave us with a flash to a white screen not knowing whether the quest to detonate the bomb had the desired effect?!? Well, of course you could, leaving us dangling is what Messrs Abrams, Cuse & Lindelof seem to do best. This season was as entertaining and frustrating as you would expect from one of the best shows on television. And sets us up perfectly for the final 16 episodes set to air in 2010. What are we do do in the mean time? If you're looking for a Lost fix, I'd highly recommend checking out Doc Jenson's colums for Entertainment Weekly or watching the interview with Lindelof and Cuse here.

House. Ok. In retrospect I knew the Huddy hookup was unrealistic. There's no way he was detoxing overnight and also no way (as much as she likely wanted to) Cuddy would have jumped into bed with him immediately afterwards. The final episode built slowly to the final 10 minutes, where House slowly realized the fact that he had been hallucinating the entire event. It will be interesting to see where they go from here, and I'm hoping we don't spend too long hanging out at the mental hospital at the beginning of next season because I want to see the series get back to dealing with weekly medical mysteries and a protaganist that is on his game. It was nice to see the Cameron and Chase wedding, and I'm also hoping that the producers find a way to get them more screen time in the future because their talents were wasted this year.

The Office. After the first UK copycat season, which I could never watch, every season of the office has ended with a big Pam & Jim moment and this one was no exception. Krasinski's moment on the phone in the hallway was awesome (though a friend recently pointed out that Jenna Fischer was a bit shortchanged by the fact that the moment of revelation of Pam's pregnancy was all about him). Moments in the last few episodes of this season were pretty classic...the inappropriate casual day attire, Kelly & Andy's dance off at the disco, the reappearance of Holly and the negotiation for the sale of the Michael Scott Paper Company were all either laugh out loud funny or completely cringeworthy, which is just how we like it.

Castle. Ok, first of all, I just need to put in a plug for this show. Start watching it, seriously. For the most part, it's a procedural so you're not going to be missing much by jumping in at the beginning of season 2 and everything else you can completely catch up on. Here's the recap so far: Richard Castle is a famous crime novelist who has just killed off his main character (think Patterson's Alex Cross) and gets pulled into a murder investigation because the killer is copying murders from his books. That initial investigation leads him to decide that detective Kate Beckett should form the basis for his new character and through connections to the mayor (among others) he gets himself permission to shadow her for material. It's a fairly basic premise and the cases that they investigate each week aren't all that original but that's not why you should be watching it anyway. First of all, Nathan Fillion is quite possibly the most charming lead ever. Now I'm probably biased since I've loved Firefly, Dr. Horrible, Waitress and pretty much anything else on his resume, but even friends who are not as enamoured with Mr. Fillion have said that this show has become one of their favourites. The chemistry between Castle and Beckett is wonderful and playful and entertaining as hell. But even better is the relationship between Castle and his daughter. The moment in the finale after he waited up for her to get home from her first dance was just so sweet and endearing. The season ended with Castle about to share some information with Beckett regarding the long ago murder of her mother...and I can't wait to see what it was and where they'll go from here.

Grey's Anatomy. I missed watching the episode live as I was out for the evening and unfortunately couldn't help being a little bit spoiled the next day with my inability to avoid various pop culture commentary websites. So by the time I watched the show I was fully aware that John Doe was actually George and even though the plot was done on ER first I felt like the folks at Grey's did it better. It was a really well done finale and ending with both George & Izzie's fates in the balance was an appropriate cliff to hang on. The moment when Arizona was telling Callie why it was so 'awesome' that George had enlisted managed to activate my tear ducts. It was nice to see Mer and Der seemingly in a healthy adult relationship. I love what Kevin McKidd has brought to the show in the character of Owen Hunt and his relationship with Cristina. I hope that we've seen the last of Denny, as much as I enjoy Jeffrey Dean Morgan. And oh, that last moment when the elevator doors opened and George stood there on the other side was killer.

Fringe. Oh J.J. you got me again. Of course you did. You've got a series with a smart, kick ass female lead, a completely charming partner in crime for her in Joshua Jackson and a brilliant, strange mystery to unravel that goes back to experimental childhood treatments (shades of Alias). Alternate realities crop up in sci fi all the time and the idea of deja vu as an indication of such isn't new, but Fringe did it well, as with everything else on this first season. The character of William Bell was omnipresent all season, as the founder of the mysterious Massive Dynamic and former partner of Walter Bishop (the incredibly entertaining John Noble) his name came up in conjunction with many of their investigations. His appearing in the finale (in the shape of Leonard Nimoy no less) was perfectly done, and the final scene with Olivia coming face to face with the man responsible for not only the experiments done on her as a child but seemingly all of the events that she had been investigating was a strong ending. Until the camera panned out to show us that the meeting was taking place in one of the twin towers, which told us more in a single image than they could have told us in minutes of exposition and it got even better.

And that about wraps up another season of television. There are a few finales to come (24, Gossip Girl, How I Met Your Mother, Ugly Betty) but the season is pretty much wrapped up. There are a few summer series that I'm looking forward to (True Blood, Entourage) but for the most part my PVR is going to get a break. Which begs the question, should I finally start watching The Bachelorette so that I have something on my TV schedule??

Today's Public Service Announcement

This one goes out to all my smart, funny, feminist friends.

If you haven't watched Sarah Haskin's "Target Women" spots (they're all available on youtube) yet, you must get thee to a computer and do so immediately.

Here's a trio of my favourites to get you started...

"Well she's in for a surprise when unlikely suitor, high concept hijinks, unnecessary obstacle, true love, happy ending"



"Interested in sex? But afraid of having a baby? Trrryyy birth control."



"Ah Chocolate...orgasms AND childhood"

Diary of a Dive School Graduate

Just back from one of the best vacations ever thanks to a relatively last minute decision to join my friend Georgia on hers. I mentioned last month that even just back from the cruise, I was feeling in need of another vacation and luckily enough, an opportunity to take one came up.

Generally speaking, I'm the organizer bunny when it comes to travel (and pretty much everything really). I'm big on pre-vacation prep...loose itineraries, accomodation and travel arrangements and printing off info on activity options. This time around as the 'joinee', I had to step outside my comfort zone a little bit and just take it as it came.

Georgia's vacation destination was Roatan, Honduras. The largest of the Bay Islands just off the coast of Honduras mainland. To be perfectly honest, until I got her flight itinerary, I had never heard of the place. I managed to have a whirlwind converstation with G before she took off and booked my flight less than a week before departure. She was lucky enough to have a two week stretch off work so left 6 days before me to get down there and settled in.

On Saturday morning my alarm went off at the ungodly hour of 3:30am and after a connecting flight from Toronto through Houston, I arrived in Roatan to a blast of heat and crazy sunshine and the highway robbery of a $20 cab fare to the lodge. We stayed for the week at Mariposa Lodge, a charming, relatively inexpensive lodge owned and run by a couple of fellow Canucks. They've got a fantastic location (right in West End), clean good sized apartments and a fully stocked DVD library for guests (which allowed me my usual habit of falling asleep with the TV).


After enjoying a few beers on our deck we took a wander around West End and settled in for a pina colada and the first sunset of the week.

Activities for the week included taking a water taxi down to West Bay beach one afternoon and enjoying a very lazy long lunch at one of the resorts and an afternoon reading on the beach, as well as renting a (rather sketchy) van and driving around the island for the day through the small towns, hills and beautiful beaches around the island. Evenings were spent grabbing a bite to eat and wandering from bar to bar grabbing a drink or a dance as we moved along. One night we caught the NCAA final game 'old school style' on the radio at a bar with a generator when the power was out (which happened pretty much every day for a couple of hours).

But what I spent most of the week doing was getting my PADI Open Water diving certification with the gang at Tyll's Dive. Diving is one of those things I always figured I'd absolutely love but never got around to actually doing. I even went on a vacation with my friend Tanja a few years ago and spent the week drinking margaritas around the pool while she got about 10 dives in (but that's another story). With 8 days at my disposal and a very open itinerary I figured this would be the perfect time to give it a shot.

And oh my word, I am absolutely hooked. I started swimming lessons when I was 6 months old and have always been a water lover but this took it to a whole new level. Taking the tests and exam in the classroom sections made me feel like I was back in school and the first time you find yourself breathing underwater is a bit unnatural but it's all worth it for the first moment you find yourself hanging out on the reef. Over 5 dives I managed to see what seemed like a million fish, a turtle, lobster, moray eel and some pretty cool coral formations. I found it very easy to get a bit mesmerized and completely lose track of time...thankfully someone else was keeping track of me.

If you're looking for a place to dive in Roatan I can highly recommend Tyll's. They were great with a complete newbie like me and a more experienced diver in Georgia. The groups were small, equipment well cared for and the atmosphere relaxed. Tell them I sent you :-).

All too soon the week came to an end with a final sunset and beer and a day travelling back to the real world.

Now I just need to figure out how I get back underwater :-).

End of Winter perfection

Wow. What a perfect weekend.

I took a last minute holiday on Friday and headed up to the cottage to get in on the last weekend of winter and sure am glad I did.

Two days of perfect sunny skies and hours spent outside on the lake doing some skating, playin' some hockey and curling a stone or two.

Three mornings of curling up with mom and the dog and enjoying a coffee and Baileys while watching deer scamper across the lake.

Three runs down the lake on the snowmobile with the wind rushing and the sun shining down. Not to mention the absolute delight on the faces of the kids getting a quick loop around the bay.

Great meals that I didn't have to prepare (thanks to the chefs!) with good wine and even better company.

Cooperdog running after a tennis ball on the lake and overshooting it every time never gets less entertaining.

Watching my mother win the poker game was almost, almost, as good as winning myself.

So long to the lake...see you in the summer!

Hey there...what up?

So I've clearly managed to be very lazy and haven't posted anything in a while (for the 4 of you reading :-) ) Here's what's been going on in my life for the past few months...

- I have a nephew. He's adorable. And my brother and sister-in-law seem to be adjusting to the parenting thing pretty well. It was a fun Christmas with the family with a new little one around. I've made the trip back home more in the past three months than I have in the last couple of years it seems to see him.

- Speaking of babies, I have 5 friends who have either just had or are about to have a baby in the next few months. Good thing I love to play Auntie.

- I had a great vacation on the 'Ships & Dip' cruise for the third year seeing fantastic music and great all around entertainment. Unfortunately the weather wasn't as accomodating but at least there were a lot of great distractions. This year's "find" is Butterfly Boucher, an artist from Australia...you should totally check her out.

- I'm thinking i need to go on another vacation soon.

- I can't believe it's already March.

- I am really, really enjoying the third season of Friday Night Lights (why aren't more people watching this show??). I want a man like Coach Taylor.

- Am also enjoying the ride on 'Lost'. Please, please J.J. don't disappoint me with the wrap up. If you do, I'm going to hear "I told you so" from a few naysayers who insist you're making it up as you go along.

- I fall a little more in love with Jon Stewart every week.

- I'm looking forward to seeing Spring Awakening on it's pass through Toronto. Saw it on Broadway a few years ago and loved it. It remains to be seen whether I'll get there more than once while it's in town.