A night with David Sedaris

I made my way to Indigo after work tonight for a reading and book signing with David Sedaris. I thought I was getting there in plenty of time for the 7:00 reading when I arrived at 5:45. Yeah, not so much. The seating area was already full and a lineup had started through the aisle. But I picked up my copy of the book and joined the end of the line which very quickly grew to hundreds of people behind me. He was doing about an hour and a half of signing before the reading in order to get a start on the crowd which was a very good idea. I was in the first 30 people in the actual line and I didn't get out of there until 9:30 so he will likely be there for hours yet.

Anyway, if you haven't read any of his books yet get thee to the library or bookstore immediately. Better yet, get a copy of a book on tape because hearing him read is even better.

He started by reading one of the stories from the book, moved on to an "animal fable" that is part of his next project and then finished up the reading with some random diary entries. All of them funny and entertaining. Then he took about half an hour to answer questions from the crowd. And then he took his seat at the table and started signing books and chatting with people. It's to his credit that he didn't rush people through the line and promised to stay until everyone's book was signed.

When my turn at the table came up he took my book and drew a funny little picture and signed it. After guessing my astrological sign (wrong...about 5 times) he came out with "What kind of shampoo do you use?". I wasn't sure where he was going with that one and said that it was usually whatever was on sale. And then he proceeded to pull out a hotel size shampoo from his recent stay at the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro and hand it to me. I will treasure it forever :-).

New York...the good stuff

Before the aforementioned travel debacle, the trip to New York was fantastically fun...here's what we managed to fit into four days...

Thursday

Late lunch at the Blue Fin upon arrival at the W hotel in Times Square. Every good vacation should start by drinking something blue. I don't think I'd want to stay right in Times Square if I was going to be in the city for any length of time but for one night it was quite fun. Comfy, sleep encouraging beds...cool lobby/lounge...Bliss beauty products...



The Daily Show taping!!! We very thankfully had VIP tickets which guaranteed us entry and got us out of the long line outside in the sun. The warm up guy was a bit abrasive but Jon was as wonderful as ever for the pre show question period and the show was funny, funny, funny. The Gitmo piece was classic. Mike Myers seemed a bit disgruntled by the timing of his clip and the lack of setup but I don't think people would have laughed with the best setup possible...The Love Guru looks positively awful.

Dinner at Stanton Social in the lower east side...thanks for the reco Sarah!! Food was amazing and the atmosphere was great. We walked through what looked like a pretty big film shoot on our way to the restaurant but I couldn't figure out what they were getting ready to film. Took the subway back to midtown and hit Sephora to stock up on products that are still way cheaper in the U.S...what's with that??


Friday

I couldn't convince any of the other three girls to get up early for a walk so I made my way up to Rockefeller center to pick up an OJ at Dean & Deluca and catch Rihanna's performance for the Today Show concert series. After getting back to the hotel to find my friends slowly waking for the day we did some shopping on 5th avenue for the morning, checked out of the hotel and grabbed some lunch and spent the afternoon at Macy's on 34th street doing a bit more shopping.

After grabbing a quick dinner we went back to midtown to see In The Heights. It had just won the Best Musical Tony less than a week before and the place was definitely packed. It didn't blow me away and immediately have me wanted to buy the soundtrack (like Spring Awakening had last year) but it was a very good show. Amazing to realize that Lin-Manuel had started writing it while still in school and that it was his broadway debut. Then we made our way back to the hotel to pick up our checked bags and got a cab to take us out to Brooklyn...

Saturday

Our home for the rest of the trip was D's friend Gillian's place in Park Slope just over the Brooklyn Bridge. She was heading out of town for the weekend and very graciously offered us her keys. Trust me, we used the 'we're not paying for accomodations' excuse to allow us to spend money many, many times. On Saturday morning we walked around her neighbourhood and stocked up on Bath & Body Works products, shoes and some other shopping.

Saturday afternoon we split up and while Shawna and Denise went out to check out the mermaid parade at Coney Island, Mel and I went back into Manhattan to catch a second show. It was Boeing-Boeing starring Bradley Whitford (one of my many, many TV boyfriends), Gina Gershon, Christine Baranksi, Mary McCormack and Mark Rylance (who had just one the Tony as best actor). We had the best seats that I'd ever had on Broadway and were in the third row right in the centre of the stage. You could see the makeup smudge on the ladies' eyes and the sweat trickle down from Brad's brow (and there was a lot of it). The play was a farce and I spent a good deal of the 2 1/2 hours laughing. Afterwards we went back to meet the other girls on a patio, picked up some snacks and relaxed in the backyard(!) before getting ready to walk through the neighbourhood for a nice low key dinner at a restaurant that Gillian had recommended. Then we had to face the challenge of trying to fit all of our shopping into our suitcases as we packed up to get ready to head home.

Sunday

Got ourselves packed up and got a car back into Manhattan where we checked them at the Sheraton and then had a nice patio brunch. Meandered up to Central park to relax and wander which was a good idea until it started to rain. Hit a couple more stores on 5th on our way back to 30 Rock where we decided on the indoor activity of taking the NBC studio tour. It was fun to see a bunch of studios including Conan's and SNL's even if it did get kicked off with getting our flight cancellation notice while we were about to start.

All in all, the mess of the trip home couldn't spoil what was a fabulous weekend. The final tally included 7 pairs of shoes, sunglasses, a few shirts, Sephora and Bath & Body Works stock ups, and of course very sore feet and a need for some sleep.

New York to Toronto in 20 easy steps

First of all...New York was fantastic...but I have to save it for next time.

Let me tell you about the most complicated way possible to get from La Guardia airport to Toronto.

Step 1: Have your 6:30pm flight cancelled and receive notification around 2:15pm while in line to start the NBC studio tour.

Step 2: Immediately call Air Canada to confirm cancellation (which they do) and try to reschedule yourself (and your two friends) to get home that day.

Step 3: Receive an alternate routing home with a 5:30 flight to Montreal and a 9:30 flight to Toronto arriving at 11:00pm. Feel kinda crappy about getting home so late when you were hoping to have time to unpack and relax but figure it'll be ok to be a bit tired for work on Monday. Proceed with your tour.

Step 4: Rush out to the airport for the 5:30 flight thereby missing your planned excursion to pick up cupcakes before heading out of town.

Step 5: Arrive at the airport to find that the 5:30 flight to Montreal has also been cancelled and join the line of people trying to figure out a way to get home.

Step 6: Get rescheduled on a 7:55 flight to Montreal which moves your connection to 11:00pm and gets you into Toronto at midnight. Be thankful that using the mobile Air Canada services and getting notification early means that you were fast on the draw to get rescheduled through Montreal in the first place, unlike many others in the line who are being handed lists of local hotels.

Step 7: Decide screw it, since you've now got another 3 hours before your flight you'll take a cab back into Manhattan and pick up your damn cupcakes...which are absolutely fantastically delicious.

Step 8: Have your 7:55 flight get delayed until 8:35

Step 9: Have the flight get delayed until 8:55 and start worrying about making your 11:00 connection

Step 10: Have the flight get delayed until 9:25 and realize that there's now a snowball's chance in hell that you're getting to Toronto that night.

Step 11: Arrive in Montreal at 11:15 looking for attendent who was supposed to be waiting to rebook connecting flights for people as per announcement made en route. Find no one in the Airport from Air Canada because they all took off at 11:00.

Step 12: Book it to the Hilton while on hold with Air Canada to confirm seats on the 7:00am flight to Toronto.

Step 13: Spend 45 minutes on hold

Step 14: Confirm 7:00am flights for all three of us

Step 15: Sleep for almost 4 hours

Step 16: Get to airport to check in for 7:00am flight. Can't use kiosk to check in, deal with confusion about reissuing ticket (which is already an old fashioned carbon handwritten paper) to fly out that morning.

Step 17: Stop to grab some food with your two poor pregnant friends who need to eat something.

Step 18: Get to the gate having everyone already boarded and the sign already changed for the next departure to Winnipeg and the gate agents saying that there is no one else on the flight to Toronto that's about to pull away from the gate. Then they look at our boarding passes and realize that they had just took us off the passenger list because they assumed we made the connection the night before. Thankfully make our way on to the plane.

Step 19: Arrive in Toronto...pick up luggage (which makes it with duty free booze thankfully intact since it had to get checked after we missed the connection)...grab cab to head straight to work to arrive 15 minutes late for your 8:30am Monday meeting.

Step 20: Try to figure out how long you need to put in at the office before you can go home and crawl into bed.

Honey, I'm home

I'm heading to New York with the girls for a weekend of shopping, dining and shows.



More importantly, I'm going to see my tv husband on Thursday (don't worry, I know he's having affairs with others...we have an open relationship).


The only sad thing is that we're at the show the day after Steve Carell visits which would have been perfect. *so close* dammit! Our fellow canuck Mike Myers better bring the funny on Thursday.

Because there's not enough commentary on the SATC movie

Okay. So I came into the movie with certain expectations. I have seen every episode of the series multiple times. The show is one of my top five of all time. And I have to say that I walked out of the theatre absolutely, completely satisfied.

I went opening night with 14 of my friends for what was one of the most unique theatre-going experiences of my life. All of the oft-repeated observations about the movie's audience were evident...the theatre was on estrogen overload, populated by groups of women attending together, and there were stilettos and makeup and an audience more done up for a movie than I've ever seen. And everyone was excited to be there.

I've been reading reviews that swing from 'it's sexy' to 'it's sexist' and was gleefully informed by one of my coworkers of the 0* review in the Globe before heading out last Friday to see it. Here are my responses to the most commonly made criticisms.

1. I KNOW that real women don't walk around in designer clothes and $400+ shoes everyday. And have seemingly unlimited time to spend sitting around in restaurants over drinks with their friends. But we wish we could. Since when do movies need to show real life?

2. Ditto the money they have to spend on New York real estate, decorating their homes and travelling at the drop of a hat. Not realistic. Got it. Now get over it.

3. Frankly I pretty much disregard any review written by a man and I don't care it that's sexist in it's own right. So much that made this show and these characters special was in the way that the friendship between these women worked. I'm sorry, but if you're not a woman you just can't appreciate it the same way.

4. Yes, almost 2 1/2 hours is pretty long, especially for a romantic comedy. But I didn't look at my watch once. I can't say the same for the interminable 113 minutes I spent watching You Don't Mess with the Zohan this week.

5. Yes, Jennifer Hudson's character seemed a bit tacked on. But not obtrusively so, and I thought it gave Carrie a few great moments where she realized how far she had come.

6. If you didn't watch the show then this movie was not made for you. Period.

That last one is probably the biggest. For those of us that are fans of the show it was like catching up with great friends that you haven't seen in a while. And the fact that we know these characters so well means that we come into the movie with all of the background that makes the events on the screen have much more emotional impact (says the girl who was fighting back tears with varying degress of success through most of the second half).

The movie is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Everyone who's seen the trailer knows that Big is going to screw over Carrie (again) and set up the major conflict of the movie. Charlotte didn't get much of a plot at all, though the two moments where she went all mama bear on Big were fantastic. And Samantha had, for me, some of the best and worst moments of the movie (the two worst? There's no way she wouldn't have taken her hunky neighbour up on his offer and the silly 'let herself go and gained weight' scene.) As an aside, I sat about 10 feet away from her at the taping of the etalk Kim Cattrall interview and the lady looks fantastic, and thankfully not plastic or frozen in the face.

I'm also one of the people who think it's fantastic that a female driven movie (and one where all the stars are over 40!) was able to open at number 1 in the summer blockbuster season, and knock off Indiana Jones after only one week to boot. If its sucess, and that of Baby Mama earlier in the season, helps to get more 'movies for women' made then I'm all for it.

At the end of the day, Sex and the City: the movie has earned a spot on the DVD shelf next to the well worn set of the series. And that's the best compliment that I can give.

What's with all the cliffhangers??

Unless you count the summer viewing options of So You Think You Can Dance, Big Brother, Canadian Idol and the like (which I totally do, but anyway) the television season is basically winding to a close this week with the two hour Lost finale (the mother of cliffhanger shows).

And is it just me or did there seem to be way more cliffhanger endings this season? I don't know if the strike shortening the season for scripted shows led to some serious readjustments of story lines or if it's just that I've managed to forget the usual end of season 'suck 'em in for next year' moves but here are the questions for which I'm waiting until September (or more likely October) for answers:

1. ER - Who was in the damn exploding ambulance?
2. Criminal Minds - Who was in the damn exploding SUV?
3. Desperate Housewives - 5 years later? And where the heck did Mike go??
4. Brothers & Sisters - William Walker had another child?
5. Ugly Betty - As much as I love Christopher Gorham, Betty damn well better have gotten her ass on a plane to Rome.
6. Gossip Girl - OK, Chuck leaving B stranded at the helipad is probably technically not a cliffhanger but damn it, how am I supposed to go without this show for 3 months??

Not to mention all of the shows that never came back after the strike...I will undoubtably need a recap of where they heck they ended off before they come back in the fall.

I think only two shows that I was watching actually got cancelled this year, and they were ones I really wasn't all that invested in (Men in Trees and Canterbury's Law). Which means I have room in my schedule to pick up something new. First on the list...

Joss & Eliza together again! Sign me up.

Sucked in by a vampire

I read a lot. About 2-3 books a week depending on what else is going on. And I read pretty much everything, from biographies to business tomes, memoirs to mysteries, chick lit to crime, and everthing in between.

Lately I've been on a bit of a kick for both young adult fiction (so much better than it was when I was reading Sweet Valley High) and paranormal chick lit (which seems to fill the entertainment void left by Buffy). The combination of which seems to be met perfectly by the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer.

And yes, I realize that I'm late to the party on this one. She was just named as one of Time's 100 most influential people, the series has been called "The Next Harry Potter", and the movie being released this December is apparently turning the actors into the most searched for stars on the web. But in the spirit of 'better late than never' I'm telling you that if the idea of a teen vampire romance catches your attention at all, you should rush out and read the first three books in the series; Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse. If only to stay pop culturally relevant :-). And then you can join me in waiting for the conclusion of the series with Breaking Dawn which will be released on August 2nd.