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.

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...