The Killers....well...killed

I've been to a number of concerts in the past few months and they've all been pretty great. But The Killers at Massey Hall on Tuesday were absolutely fantastic.

First of all, Massey Hall is one of my favourite venues to see a concert. It's relatively small (capacity is under 3000) and feels intimate, the acoustics are great and I just love walking into the old building. Mind you, I've been fortunate to have floor seats for most of my events which undoubtably improves on the experience. The wooden gallery seats offer little in the way of comfort or leg room and practically require hiring a sherpa to make the climb up the stairs...though still offer a better concert experience than the 300 level at the ACC or other large venue.

Now, the only thing that Massey Hall doesn't have going for it is that the crowds are often on the "polite" side. I have spent pretty much entire concerts sitting in my seat (which I decided to stick to after an unfortunate incident involving gum being thrown in my hair for having the audacity to actually be on my feet at a concert). That was not an issue on Tuesday. About 95% of the crowd were on their feet from the moment the band took the stage until the final bow.

The Killers new album (Day & Age) hits the shelves next week and world tour kicks off in the new year. In preparation for the tour, the band has played a number of smaller venues in a few major cities around the world, likely to work out the kinks performing the new material. From where I was standing, I really didn't see any. And I had a pretty good vantage point. Fourth row tickets on the aisle became 2nd row centre about 2/3 of the way through the concert when security detail managed to efficiently and quietly shuffle people around to fill in the area in front of the stage. The show itself was paced well combining the new material with better known hits (and they really have more of them than I had catalogued in my mind before the show) and Flowers is an endearingly dorky rock star with an impressive live voice.

They're back in Toronto to play the ACC in January and I'd recommend going if you were on the fence. As for me? As tempted as I am to see them again, I know that there's no way I'm going to top this experience so I'm better off with my memories....and all the vidoes on YouTube...

Don't screw up this election m'kay?

I really hope you folks south of the 49th parallel don't screw this thing up today.

I lamented in my facebook status a few weeks ago that I would gladly exchange my just cast vote in the Canadian election for one in the election happening south of us today. I am admittedly (and a bit sadly) more informed about the political situation in the U.S. than I am in my own damn country, though frankly, I do believe that the policies of the States end up having a larger impact on my day to day life than those here. Also, the entire Canadian political spectrum seems to be about half as wide and exist entirely to the left of that in the U.S. to begin with. My TV hubby put it best the day after the Canadian election when he said that the Conservatives were elected in Canada...which is roughly equivalent to the "Ralph Nader lovers for Peace" party in the U.S.

Frankly, part of me is just going to be happy that the election is over no matter what the outcome. It strikes me as highly amusing that Canadians were able to call an election, campaign, vote (and actually determine a winner) all in the span of the final 10% of the time that McCain and Obama have been on the campaign trail.

A larger part of me has been watching the debates, enjoying my daily 'Daily Show' time more than usual, reading the blogs and wanting to shout at the screen half the time Palin opens her mouth and will be sitting in front of the television tonight waiting to see if Barack Obama will make history.

And check out this link to log your own vote in the American election...wouldn't it be funny (and again sad) if more Canadians actually registered their vote on this site than actually voted in the election we held last month?

The new TV season so far

Now that we're into October and a good chunk of tv shows are back on the air...a couple of random thoughts.

• Shonda Rhimes...you suck a little bit. Here's the thing...I (like many others) loved Grey's when it appeared on Sunday nights. I own the first three seasons on DVD and have gotten others into the program. I stuck around through last year's mess and even put up with Gizzie. And the Grey's premiere was fine. I appreciate the fact that you came right out and said that the ABC promo with Rose telling Dereck she was carrying his child was a complete misrepresentation, good for you. I'm glad that Christina's impalement never seriously put her in danger (cause we've had enough of that on this show) and loved the intro of Kevin McKidd. My bigger beef with you right now is with Private Practice. I rewatched a couple of episodes that aired over the last few weeks and was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed them and was looking forward to the premiere last night. But here's where you lost me...Naomi has somehow mismanaged funds, run the practice into the ground, is making borderline unethical medical decisions for money and had to have the big strong man come in and take over??? I almost threw something at the tv.
• Heroes may just be losing me with the shifting futures, Mohinder reenacting The Fly, the petulant Hiro, Nathan's 'conversion' and the reappearing Linderman. I'm holding on by my fingertips mostly cause it's so much fun to see Veronica Mars and Weevil on the same show again.
• I'm hoping that Fox sticks with Fringe and The Sarah Connor Chronicles even though the ratings aren't killer. For Fringe, because Joshua Jackson is just extremely fun to watch and he and Anna Torv have a Mulder/Scully chemistry about them and because as previously mentioned, I do worship a bit at the altar of J.J. Abrams. For Chronicles, because Lena Headey is great as Sarah and who knew how good Brian Austin Green would be at playing a bit of a badass?
• Chuck has officially replaced Reaper as my favourite show about a 20-something slacker-boy forced to take on a 'job' he didn't ask for or want . Now, maybe that's not fair since Reaper hasn't even had it's premiere yet to try to win back my love, but it's a bit telling that that the season finale has sat unwatched taking up space on my PVR all summer.
• What does it say about the fact that I taped the premiere of The Amazing Race on Sunday but have no desire to actually watch it...

TIFF: Final Day - Out with a Bang...and a Whimper

I don't think it adequately expresses how much I loved this morning's film to say that it was my favourite of the festival. Every Little Step is a documentary that follows the casting process for the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line on broadway. From the opening casting call of over 3000 people to the final casting about 8 months later we meet many of the auditionees and can't help but develop favourites among the bunch. Throughout the process, through interviews with people involved in the original cast and snippets of the audio recordings made by Michael Bennett which inspired the original production, we also get a bit of the history of the show. It was entertaining, and touching, and the filmmakers managed to catch some incredible moments on film. Now, I'm a musical nut so this movie was clearly going to be right up my alley but I feel pretty safe in saying that it will appeal to a much broader audience than just my fellow theater lovers. One of the directors attended and held a lively Q&A which was amazing in itself for a 9:00am screening on the final day of the festival. He said that they were close to being able to announce a distribution deal so chances are you may get a chance to see it in the spring.

I mentioned to my friends as we walked out of the screening that I felt like maybe I should skip my next one so that I could end the festival on a high note but I didn't and headed to the Ryerson for my last film of the festival. I probably should have followed my initial instinct.

Genova is the latest film from Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart) and stars Colin Firth as Joe, a father who moves his two daughters to Italy for a year after the sudden death of his wife in a tragic car accident. It wasn't the worst thing I saw at the festival (I'm looking at you Uncertainty) but it wasn't one I'd recommend anyone paying for. There were a bunch of scenes where the daughters seemed to be in danger in some way or another, with ominous music playing while they wandered through the narrow streets and alleys making their way home, that seemed really out of place. Catherine Keener was woefully underused as a university friend (who seemed to want more from Joe) who was helping the family getting settled. The youngest daughter sees the ghost of her mother and wanders off regularly and the oldest is sneaking off and sleeping with an older boy. And then it just ends.

Kind of like TIFF for another year.

TIFF: Uncertainty

Uncertainty was not a good movie. It stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who is reminding me more and more of Heath Ledger) and Lynn Collins (who kept reminding me of Evangeline Lilly) as a couple who decide based on a flip of a coin whether to spend the July 4th holiday in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Like an inferior version of Sliding Doors, we then watch both possible outcomes.

The first scene, as they stand on the bridge and talk about how they're all so 'uncertain' of their decision was mind blowingly bad. After that, thankfully, it got a little better and was mindlessly entertaining (mostly because I find Levitt so charming) but it's one of those movies I'll pretty much forget. And though they announced that the directors would be on hand for a Q&A afterwards, when one of the programmers got up to say they were running late and would be another five minutes I decided I really didn't need to hear what they had to say about it and Denise and I took off to get home early and crawl into bed.

TIFF: Synecdoche, New York

Tuesday's TIFF screening was the directorial debut of Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York. Given his track record of films - Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - I went in expecting something a bit surreal and twisted...and oh my did I ever get it.

I sit here still unsure about how I felt about the movie, though I can say that there were great scenes and fantastic performances which are definitely sticking with me. The film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Caden, a theater director who's body seems to be slowly shutting down, who has a wife (Catherine Keener) and daughter who seemingly disappear to Germany, another wife (Michelle Williams) and daughter who disappear to a better life somewhere (one supposes) and a mistress (Samantha Morton) who sticks around through most of his life. The story seems to twist in on itself over and over again as he directs a massive production of a 'real' performance including casting people as his wife and mistress. If that makes no sense to you reading it then I'm sorry but I can't really offer more in the way of explanation.

And Kaufman wasn't offering any of his own either. One of the first questions asked was one of those generic "can you talk about what x meant" things and he basically said no...he wouldn't talk about it what it meant to him writing it because he wanted the audience to take from it what they would. Keener and Hoffman showed up to be introduced before the film but didn't take the stage for the Q&A, which also seemed to be by design because they did stick around for the screening. Kaufman did take a lot of questions and was happy to talk about the process of making the film, writing the score and the performances. Just not to enlighten us on the film itself.

If anyone else sees it, I'd love to hear if you walked out as confused as I did.

TIFF: Triple play Monday

Monday was my annual full day of films when I take the day off of work and hit three movies in one day.

The first was The Other Man, a film directed by Richard Eyre who most recently did Notes on a Scandal. The director kindly showed up to do a Q&A for this 9am on a Monday showing and was eloquent and entertaining discussing the film and his actors. The film stars Liam Neeson as a husband who finds evidence of his wife's (Laura Linney) infidelity on her computer and searches out the titular "other man" Ralph (Antonio Banderas). The film was in what has become familiar 'good but not great' territory so far this festival.

Then it was off to meet Denise for brunch before we got into line for the next screening of the day. The movie was Religulous, which had premiered at the festival Saturday night and I had noticed the "protesters" of the film as I left the screening immediately preceeding. The documentary, directed by Larry Charles and starring Bill Maher, takes a satirical look at the idea of organized religion and has Maher interviewing subjects from a variety of backgrounds. The film seems to work a bit too hard to be deliberately provocative and push peoples' buttons but it still works. It's worth seeing if only to be a starting point for discussion. Larry Charles showed up after the film to answer some questions and he was fine but to me seemed to be bored to be there. I'm sure he's getting a lot of the same questions about the film but I got a bit of a "I'm the smartest guy in the room" vibe from him that was a bit offputting.


My final film of the day wasn't until 9:45 so I had a fantastic afternoon nap and watched the premieres of Entourage and True Blood at home (I could get used to the not working thing).

I picked up Kate and we headed down in the rain for the premiere screening of Gigantic. Thankfully the rain slowed to a near sprinkle while we waited in line outside the Bader. Gigantic is a movie from first time filmaker Matt Aselton which stars Paul Dano (who also has an executive producer credit on the film) as a mattress salesman who stumbles into a relationship with the daughter of a customer played by Zooey Deschanel. He's also in the process of trying to adopt a baby from China, dealing with his own family and has his own personal stuff going on. Dano and Deschanel have fantastic chemistry (she's really great with everyone isn't she?) and the respective fathers (played by Ed Asner and John Goodman) are larger than life and entertaining. The film would definitely fall under the 'quirky' description. I won't say too much more so as not to spoil it, but there is definitely a polarizing plot within the movie, and Aselton knows it based on his delivery of "I've never had that question" to the first question asked during the Q&A. He and Dano attended and took a number of questions after the screening, which lead to me getting home after midnight and not looking forward to getting to the office in the morning :-).

TIFF: Zack and Miri make a Porno

I figured I should show up extra early for the world premiere and only 'non-gala priced ticket' showing at TIFF of Kevin Smith's latest - Zack and Miri make a Porno. I was right. The line up started early and got long very quickly and I ended up sitting beside a guy who had been in the rush line since 1:00 for a 9:15 movie.



As the title would suggest, the film stars Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) as best friends and roomates who decide to make a porno (to solve their serious money issues). Of course, through the process they realize that they may have deeper feelings for each other than they had thought. The movie was very funny, a bit raunchy and truly kind of a sweet romance.

Kevin Smith, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Mewes, Katie Morgan and Ricky Mabe took the stage after the film to field questions. Smith is a pro at entertaining an audience, as you would expect if you've seen any of the 'An Evening With' films, and the Q&A was highly entertaining. Here's a little snippet of it for ya...and it should go without saying but obviously the language is NSFW.

TIFF: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

First things first. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is not this year's Juno. As much as the filmakers seem to be asking for the comparison...from their leading man to the credit sequence of the film to the killer soundtrack. It's just not quite that good.



It is, however, a charming movie with good performances from pretty much the entire young cast. Nick (Michael Cera) and Norah (Kat Dennings) meet at a bar where she approaches him to play her 'boyfriend for five minutes' to avoid the scorn of her school's resident mean girl Tris (Alexis Dziena). Unbeknownst to her, Nick is also Tris' ex boyfriend. The rest of the action takes place over a night in New York while they chase after a secret concert, try to keep track of her drunken best friend and run into their respective exes.

The director and the entire cast showed up for the movie. I actually had never seen a larger reserved section of seats at the Ryerson. The moderator did a pretty good job on the post film Q&A, kicking it off by announcing that she didn't want any questions that began with "I love you Michael", which I thought was funny. The cast has great chemistry and seem to truly like one another, with a bunch of chatter and a big group hug on stage before they settled down to take questions.

I was excited to see Jonathan Wright in his first movie role after absolutely loving him in the broadway musical Spring Awakening when I saw it last year. And, in the flurry of exits of the cast, I took the opportunity to tell him so afterwards :-)

TIFF: Me and Orson Welles

First screening of the festival last night at the Ryerson for the world premiere of Me and Orson Welles. The film was directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Before Sunset and School of Rock) and stars Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Ben Chaplin and the fantastic newcomer Christian McKay as Orson Welles.

The story takes place over a week in 1937 and centers around a young actor (Efron) who gets a shot at a small role in the broadway production of Ceasar and gets pulled into the politics and backstage antics of the theatre troupe. It's based on the historical fiction novel written by Robert Kaplow and I was surprised to learn in the discussion afterwards how much of the story was factual. It was a solid movie and I enjoyed it, though I wouldn't put it on my 'must see' list. I was surprised by how charming and engaging Efron was, both in the film and during the Q&A afterwards, where he deftly managed breathless questions like "Zac, what's it like seeing yourself on the big screen?" (I mean, seriously??). Which was only topped in ridiculousness by the first question asked to Claire Danes being about My So Called Life.

Afterwards we joined my friend Lara outside the exit door to play paparazzi and caught the exit of Efron, Danes, Linklater and McKay. As you'd expect, the highest decibel of screaming and flashbulbs hit Efron as he exited the building.

Claire Danes looked lovely and brought the cute Hugh Dancy as her date.










McKay seemed overwhelmed by the whole experience and charmingly told the two teenagers who asked him for a picture "See, I played Orson in the movie".

All credit to my friend Lara for the pictures. Her camera and timing are so much better than mine.

TIFF time

Ah TIFF...the week or so of entertainment that bridges me from the melancholy of the end of summer to the new fall television season.

As I mentioned, I was lucky enough to get tickets for 9 of the 10 films I had selected on my pre-order form. I was in box 30 of 78 for the annual lottery mess and they started filling orders with box 9 so I guess I did ok by being in the first third.

My screenings this year are heavily weighted to the 'Special Presentations' programme which seems to have experienced a growth spurt since last year. And other than a couple more 'indie' productions and one documentary, most of them are set to open before the end of the year. For anyone who's interested...here's how I ended up with my film list:

I picked up the giant program book (with all the rest of the folks in line) on Tuesday August 26th. Then I sat at my desk and flipped through the pages pretty quickly and marked all the movies that hit one of two criteria:

1. Was the director or one of the stars someone who I particularly liked
2. Did the title and/or quick perusal of the description grab my attention

Then - as the spreadsheet queen I am - I take all those those movies and throw all the data into excel along with the venues, dates and showtimes for each film. One pivot table later and I have a summary by day, venue and block of time (morning, afternoon or evening) of all the movies I'd be interested in seeing. After that it's all about picking one movie within each block, which is done by asking myself:

1. Is there anything in that block that falls under my 'absolutely must see' list?
2. Is it playing at the Ryerson (my fav venue)?
3. What is the likelihood of anyone associated with the film showing up for a Q&A (one of my fav parts of the festival)?
4. Is there something I wouldn't get a chance to see anywere else?
5. If I haven't picked one by now...maybe 'eeny, meeny, miney moe'? I've never faced the problem :-)

Then I fill out the advance order book. I only put in the request for my first choices and don't provide second alternatives (as you are able to do). I figure I'm only looking for 10 tickets (unlike some festival goers who see 30+ films) and it's easy enough to try to rearrange afterwards.

And after all that, I end up with my package of tickets which for the most part I stick with, though I've exchanged a ticket, picked up extras and missed a screening in the past. Here's where I'm going to be over the next 10 days...maybe I'll see you in line.

TIFF'08 Screenings

1. Me and Orson Welles (Ryerson)
2. Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist (Ryerson)
3. Zack & Miri make a Porno (Ryerson)
4. Other Man (Ryerson)
5. Religulous (Winter Garden)
6. Gigantic (Isabel Bader)
7. Synecdoche (Winter Garden)
8. Uncertainty (AMC)
9. Every Little Step (AMC)
10. Genova (Ryerson)

Signs of the end of Summer

• I was floating on the lake this weekend, enjoying the weather that we should have had in July, and looked up at the trees to see the edges of the leaves turning orange and red.
• Seeing the back to school ads that always make me feel like it's time for a new year to start.
• Setting my PVR for the start of the new television season. 90210 tomorrow baby!!
• Standing in lines waiting to drop off my order form and then pick up my tickets for TIFF. I was lucky enough to get 9 out of the 10 films I selected :-)
• Enjoying the last long weekend we have until Thanksgiving.

The Final Summer Tally

Weekends at the Cottage: 7

Concerts: 4

Musicals: 2

Weddings: 1

Non-cottage vacations: 1

Pedicures: 4

Margaritas: too many to count

Random Olympic thoughts

• Seeing people achieve their dreams is very inspiring



• Hearing about censorship, fakes at the opening ceremonies and sweeping violent crimes under the rug by the Chinese government is depressing
  


• Switching back and forth between the Canadian and American networks coverage of the games is entertaining



• Reading/hearing all of the negative comments about the Canadian medal performance in the first week of the games swing to support and celebration after several great days and performances in a row is pretty ridiculous.



• I love Simon Whitfield for putting it out there that he wanted to be on the podium, almost forcing Triathlon Canada to put up or shut up and celebrating when it all came to fruition...how Uncanadian of him :-)



• I never look forward to the Olympics at all and then get swept up in watching for the entire two weeks every single time



• I have picked up many, many Olympic boyfriends including but not limited to Michael Phelps, Adam Van Koeverden and Alexandre Despatie

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You are welcome for the gratuitous photos

In Theatre news this week

Avenue Q had the serious potential to be a let down. Only because I've been waiting to see it for so long! The first time I tried to get tickets was in New York in 2005, but I wasn't really surprised when there were none available at the TKTS booth since it had just surprisingly won the Tony the year before. But surely, when we where there in April of 2007 there would be tickets available, right?? Well, I went up to the board to see what was up for grabs and of course I was out of luck. I came back to my friends in line and said I apparently wasn't meant to see this musical at which point the gentleman behind us in line informed me that it was "always" there and had been available just the day before...so not helping! Anyway, just after we arrived back in T.O. last spring Dancap Productions announced it's line up and lo and behold it was coming to Toronto! After purchasing the tickets almost a year ago, I finally got to the show last night.

And I'm seriously happy to report that even with my (admitedly) high expectations the show did not disappoint. Funny, raunchy and surprisingly sweet with great performances across the board. I wasn't sure how the whole puppet thing was going to come off but the actors performing (often with their faces right next to the puppets they were playing) were great. The dual movements actually seemed to add to the experience. And if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed that some of the folks were playing the multiple roles on the stage.

Ads for the show loudly proclaim that the material is inappropriate for children...muppet looking puppets aside. And anyone expecting anything different with songs like "Everyone's a little bit racist", "The internet is for porn" and "Sucks to be Me", not to mention the puppet nudity and a character named Lucy the Slut, would be in for a big surprise.

If you were giving thought to the idea of seeing it before it moves on at the end of the month I'd highly recommend getting off your ass and going. I'd hazard to say it may be one of the top 5 musicals on my list!

The most absurd thing I saw last night

Seriously? You push your tiny little dog around in a stroller?!?

And at the Eaton Centre no less, which is officially the Worst Mall in the World for Stroller Navigation?

I know I am...but what are you?

I had an interesting moment of pop culture juxtaposition last week. I was in the the middle of reading Full Frontal Feminism, a book I was finding quite interesting. Though superficially aware of the issues that continue to face many women in their work and personal lives, I know I've lived a pretty cushy existence and have always pretty much taken for granted that I can do whatever it is I choose to do with my life. At the same time, I started watching the first season of Mad Men, the acclaimed AMC series about the lives of a bunch of advertising guys that takes place in the early 60s. Now, I know that this is just a television show but, man, how much would have it have sucked to be a woman born 50 years ago? (Not to mention any time period before that). The career prospects and comments made around the office, a pharmacist doling out birth control pills but warning not to use them lest you become a 'loose woman', the wife/mother role as the be all and end all of existence. The actresses on the show are wonderful but I almost find myself not liking their characters because I want to give them a shake and tell them to give the men in their lives a smack and tell them to smarten up and treat them like people.

Is the fact that I find the show (while very well done) to be so misogynistic a testament of how far we've come (and not in a Virginia Slims kind of way) or am I just being willfully ignorant about the fact that women still face these issues today?

I've had conversations with friends about the idea of feminism and heard a lot of the "Well, I'm not a feminist...but" type of comments (which is also a point that Valenti makes in the book). Why are we so seemingly scared to call ourselves feminists? Why is it that identifying yourself as such seems to automatically also classify you as a bitch? And why, as smart successful women, don't we consider it our responsibility to make sure that other women have the same opportunites?

So yes, I am a feminist and not afraid to call myself one. And in what is possibly the online posting I've forwarded most frequently over the years, I'll let Sars explain why you are too.

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.

The best TV shows of all time (this week)

Two different people have asked me in the last week about what I would consider the top tv shows of all time. Clearly, this is something I need to share. So without further ado and in no particular order...here are what would make the top 5 list at this point:



Sports Night. Because even if the first three seasons of The West Wing are arguably Sorkin at his best, this is where he did it first. Because it was my introduction to Peter Krause, Felicity Huffman, Josh Malina and the multitude of Sorkin regulars showing up in bit parts. Because it died an early death thanks to the boneheads at ABC. Because even though the Damn Dating Plan was awful, the first season build up to the Dana & Casey kiss was fantastic. Because "you're wearing my shirt Gordon" is a moment that still gets me to this day. Because of the many, many, many quotable moments and expressions that I still manage to get into my day to day life (and rejoice when someone gets the reference). Every couple years the series gets popped into the DVD player and rewatched.


Six Feet Under. It has to say something that I waited almost two years to watch the final season even though it was sitting on my shelf ready to go. I just liked the idea that there were more episodes for me to look forward to. It was smart, and heartwrenching and funny and had an incredible group of actors...and it made me cry.




Sex and the City. Look, I'm a single 30-something woman. Of course I love this show :-). And yes, I've had the "which character are you" discussions with friends...over brunch natch. But beyond all of the frivolity and fashion and discussions about sexual proclivities, this show to me was about friendship. How no matter what other relationships where going on these women had each other. And it makes me thankful for all the fantastic friends in my life. It's also completely rewatchable and I stop flipping through channels to watch it on a regular basis...even though I own the DVDs. And I can't tell you how many times that situations and conversations I'm having with friends remind me of episodes of the show. Does that make me sad? Maybe...but it also means that the show gets it right.



Veronica Mars. It was smart. It was funny. It had great dialogue with fun pop culture references. It managed to weave a season long mystery arc with more contained mysteries of the week and keep each episode entertaining...twice. Kristen Bell's Veronica is a kick ass heroine. Logan Echolls is the bad boy we all want to reform. Great guest stars...Paul Rudd! Alyson Hannigan! Michael Cera! I loved this show and mourned it's ending. And it's the one show on my list that I don't have in my DVD collection, must rectify that.






Lost. I think J.J. Abrams is brilliant and will watch anything he puts his name on (Cloverfield is the exception to the rule). This slot almost went to Alias because I'm nervous about including Lost as it's not finished yet and could go off the rails or end in a mess. I was somewhat late to the bandwagon on this one because I missed the first season in the days before timeshifting and the PVR with two shows already in that time slot when it premiered (yes, I've mentioned that I watch a lot of tv so shut up). But after hearing rave reviews all season I picked up the first season when it came out on DVD a few weeks before season 2 was set to start. I figured I'd watch it over a few weeks and tape the first couple of episodes. Silly me. I spent an entire weekend glued to the television and was ready for the premiere the next week. This show has more OMG! moments than anything I can think of. And while I think the third season contained a few of a missteps (Nikki & Paulo...shudder), the negotiated end date of the series allows the men with the plan to execute it the way they wanted to...I just hope they don't disappoint me.


So there they are. If you're looking at the list and thinking 'she totally missed show x', you may be right. But these are my top 5 and I'm sticking by them...for now.

Your turn.

Open for business

For all of you who were waiting breathlessly to see what I ended up deciding on the murphy bed...












Am officially ready for guests :-)

No day but today

I saw Rent for the 5th time last night. And yes, I know this pales in comparison to the count of the legions of "Rentheads" out there. I've mentioned how much I love musicals before and this is the one that kicked it off for me. I saw it for the first time in London at the start of my post university European tour and it was one of those hair standing on end, goosebump experiences. I proceeded to listen to the soundtrack so many times that I can sing the entire thing from beginning to end (and have subjected more than one friend to my 'performance' on road trips...sorry folks).

It was made even more fun last night for the fact that I was introducing it to a friend that had never seen it before. At our pre-show dinner, D and I were doing our best not to oversell our excitement for the show to Vicky who was our Rent virgin, though we couldn't stop ourselves from busting out a line or two...maybe it was the martinis...probably not. I thought it was a good production and Vic loved it (thankfully). For me the show is made or broken by whoever is playing Roger and he was fantastic (and played by South African Idol winner Heinz Winckler). Before the show last night I had said to myself (and others) that it would be my fifth and final time and now I'm not sure about that. It's closing in New York after running for 12 years and I'm thinking if I get there before June it might be worth seeing there before they shut it down ;-).

I can tell you that the soundtrack will definitely get a run through on the 3 hour drive to the cottage tomorrow.

Have a good long weekend people!

Wanna feel 13 again?

Here's the recipe:

- 7 girls with sleeping bags
- voting survivor style on which cheesy movie to watch
- 1 part 'Rock of Love'
- 3 hours of discussion (aka gossip) on celebrities, relationships and fashion
- copious amounts of food

- 3am talking til you're falling asleep in the dark

Wanna know the best part of doing this when you're over 30? (other than the fact that you don't have parents telling you to 'settle down and go to sleep')

Thanks Kate!

Beds...how much does size matter?

I've been debating on getting a murphy bed installed in my second bedroom for awhile. It's sort of turned into a giant storage room and I figured there's likely a better way to use the space. I'm sure an actual mattress is much more comfortable for guests to sleep on than the pull out couch. And then I can move my couch up to the cottage and replace the pull out there with one that's actually younger than I am. So, I finally had someone from Space Solutions come by today to give me a 'design consultation' and quote.

Here's my dilemma...apparently if I want to have some actual storage space built in with the bed (shelves and drawers and whatnot) I really need to go with a double bed instead of the queen that I was thinking about. Whatdya think? Is a double bed good enough for my guests??

Vacation(s) aftermath

So now what?? I've travelled from sea to ski in the past two weeks and now it's back to the real world with seemingly nothing else to look forward to.

Ah, but let's relive the memories shall we??

Ships & Dip III was truly fantastically fun. We arrived in Miami at about 1:00am on Saturday and checked into our airport motel (just couldn't justify spending the money to stay on the beach when we were heading out on a cruise). And while we had some thoughts of heading to the beach or doing some shopping on Saturday we ended up spending the day having cocktails around the pool and enjoying the sun. Am almost (almost) embarrassed to admit we ate both lunch and dinner in the hotel bar. But sticking around proved to be the first of many good decisions on the trip as we connected with Fin to get the shuttle schedule for the morning, got to say hello to Alan and Sean (of GBS) as they arrived and promptly copied our mojito order and reconnected with a bunch of people we had met on last year's cruise over appetizer dinners in the lounge.

Sunday's boarding was quick and uneventful. After strolling the ship and trying to get our bearings (trust me, this was much more difficult than it sounds, I ended up as the group navigator for the week and managed to get us pointed in the wrong direction only a couple of times) we got ourselves a beer and waited for our luggage to arrive. See, when you go on a cruise you tag your luggage and have to leave it with the porters as you arrive and then wait for it to be delivered to your cabin. It's like checking in at the aiport with the added anxiety of getting stuck on a ship with nothing to wear for the duration of your stay if your luggage goes astray. My little suitcase was there within about an hour and I was able to unpack and get organized pretty quickly. Mom's got dropped off sometime during the sail away concert so she could finally relax ;-). The mandatory muster drill (punchline: where's the ketchup) brings up thoughts of Titanic as you report to your station with your life jacket and hear about what would happen in the event of an actual on board emergency. And then we were off! 5 days of music and partying on the ocean.

I'm not sure I will never be able to enjoy a 'standard' cruise after the party that Sixthman puts on. In 5 days I think we saw 20 concerts and about 5 comedy sets, with full days in Grand Cayman and Jamaica in the middle there somewhere. I knew that the BNL and Great Big Sea shows would be great (and they were!) but all of the artists put on a great show. I enjoyed the smaller, more intimate sets by Jason Collett, Brian MacMillan, Joe Pisapia, Lori Cullen and Jason Plumb. And after missing them last year, I got to a Guster and Thinbuckle show. Mostly, it was just really cool to see really talented people jump up on stage and perform with each other spontaneously.

So to share a bit of the cruise, here are my two new fav GBS songs

Walk on the Moon...Thurs night Lido deck



Straight to Hell...Songwriters panel


And my other "new" find on the cruise was Boothby Graffoe who I managed to catch 1 1/2 times while on the boat. Funny, funny, comedian/singer/songwriter from the UK...and I'm not just saying that because we shared a seat on the shuttle back to the airport in Miami and I felt like I got my own personal 30 minute set ;-)



I've got to say, there's no way the John Mayercraft Carrier (which was getting ready to take off on the same boat on the day we got back) could have been half as much fun.

Mom and I also managed to make our way off the boat for a very fun excursion in Grand Cayman. We got to SeaDoo 4 miles out into the ocean to Stingray City, where we fed and held giant stingrays. Having never driven a personal watercraft on the ocean I was a bit unsure what to expect, only that it would likely be much different than taking off on our mostly calm lake. I think I got the hang of it after a while and developed a technique where I tried to ride through the waves like ski moguls but I also felt like I got a complimentary sea salt facial with the ride. The next day we spent a day on a beach in Jamaica drinking Red Stripe beer. And somewhere in all of that we managed to catch a few hours of sleep ;-).

We flew back into Toronto in the midst of a snowstorm, which was a reality slap in the face. Thankfully managed to get in with only a couple of hours delay. I feel like I'm tempting fate by even saying this but I've had nothing but good airline experiences recently.

And then I spent a whole 5 days back in the real world before heading out west for the weekend with some friends for what was supposed to be a ski outing. Not for me, of course, cause I may be the most inept person on the planet on a ski hill. My plan was to join them at Lake Louise, do some skating or just walking in the morning and spend the afternoon at the spa. Well, the best laid plans and all that...

Calgary/Canmore/Banff was cold this weekend. Seriously freeze your eyeballs cold.

Here's what Lake Louise can look like in the winter




Here's what it looked like when we were there

Not quite what we had planned :-). But we had a fun long weekend of relaxing, eating good food and drinking great wine. And at least managed to take the road trip to see Banff and Lake Louise...though I'll clearly have to go back and see it at it's best.

And that's what I've been up to for the last few weeks!

Come aboard...we're expecting you

It's vacation time people. As of tomorrow I'm leaving the snow and cold behind and heading south. Plans include, but are not limited to, seeing the Barenaked Ladies, Great Big Sea, Sarah Harmer, Harland Williams and others perform, visiting Stingray City, and having a number of umbrella drinks on board, in Grand Cayman, Jamaica and anywhere else we manage to find a bar ;-). Have a good week or so while I'm not around to keep up with the news on the interweb...

I'm in Love

Please meet the newest object of my affection. I believe we have a long and happy relationship ahead of us.














So I watch a lot of TV. I mean, a lot of TV. At any one time in the active television season I could be recording 25-30 shows a week on my PVR. (Now, of course, the strike means I've got some more time on my hands). I have a couple of friends who have mentioned planning an intervention to deal with my addiction. Now some of these people don't actually own televisions so really, what do they know?? When I finally got my hands on a PVR it felt like a religious conversion of some sort. It's not an overstatement to say it changed my life.

I have been watching all of this TV for the past 6 years on a 32” tube television, which wasn’t the height of technology when I purchased it at that time. (Why, I argued with myself, would I spend the extra $300 just to get a screen that was flat when I new there was better technology just around the corner). And since then I’ve been reluctant to commit, reluctant to spend the money, and fairly satisfied with the TV I owned.

I finally took the plunge. With the Christmas gift of some cash from my parents (with a cute little TV picture drawn in the memo section of the check) and the knowledge that my bonus this year was going to be my best ever, I headed out on Boxing ‘week’ to procure an HD TV. And have spent the last two weeks waiting for my spot in line in the delivery schedule. Well, last night it arrived. The very helpful delivery/installation guy helped me move the heavy old TV and the top section of the wall unit that housed the old TV and went to work connecting all of the wiring. After setting the TV up he said, “you know, I think your unit will still fit with the new TV”. And lo and behold it did, with mere millimeters to spare on either side. It looks IKEA custom designed it with this TV in mind…and I get to keep my shelf space!

I ordered a pizza (bad Heather!), poured myself a beer and settled in on the couch for the night. I’d still be there if I could. What the heck took me so long??

Hey, hey...it's January

I was recently taken to task for not having updated this page in a while...who knew anyone was actually reading it?!? And then I realized I had a half written post from the week before Christmas when I was killing time (I mean, working really hard) at the office, which makes no sense at all now. So, in the spirit of starting off the new year with a clean slate, I'll start over.


I know I'm not the only one having a hard time getting my shit together and back to productivity after the holidays. As evidenced by last Saturday night's "We're not ready to let go of 2007 Pub Crawl", many of you seem to be in the same boat. I'm not sure why it seems to be harder this year. Maybe it's rebelling against another year passing and feeling like I don't have much to show for it. Maybe it's feeling a bit exhausted at the thought of all the things I need to accomplish in the coming months. Or maybe it's just too many late nights and too much drinking over the holidays (no seriously, look at my facebook pictures, I'm holding a drink at almost every occasion) that's taking a bit more time to recover from. Whatever it is, I'm hoping that the recovery is just around the corner and I'm back to feeling productive and energized.

And I have a lot of good stuff coming up in the next little while. The Toronto Rock season kicks off with the home opener this Friday and the 9th season of Section 111ers is set to begin. I'm seeing a couple of plays/musicals/movies over then next few weeks. And in three weeks from Friday I'm taking off to Miami to set sail on Ships & Dip III (cause II is best not remembered) with my mom and a bunch of bands and comedians and hitting Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios en route (what was I saying about giving up late nights and drinking?).

I'll tell you what I won't be doing...watching the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday night. I had at least three people call or email to express their condolences when the cancellation was announced (apparently I've been quite vocal about the Globes being my favourite award show). I've been coping with this strike to date, while lamenting the abrupt endings to some of my fav shows, but this just might be too much. C'mon people...get it figured out!! And before the Oscars dammit! The latest victim of the strike for me is Gossip Girl...are you watching this show? If not, you should be. Last night's episode was the last one they managed to get written and filmed and I really, really need to know what happens to S and B next.