New Year's Resolution?

Gee, kind of forgot about the blog for a while. In spite of the thousands of e-mails begging for the thrilling details of my life. Not! So what have I been up to? (This simply is so I can document any needed alibis because no-one else reads this.)

First of all, Christmas. My present came a few days early unfortunately. I was at the gym a week before Christmas chatting with a friend on my iPhone and he was goading me about my "obsolete" iPhone with it's cracked screen. I adamantly defended it; no replacement as long as it keeps working! Ironically that was the last time the damn thing worked properly. An important strip of the touchscreen stopped responding and all I could do was answer calls. I mulled it over for a few days and bought a replacement. That was the end of Santa's generosity to me this year...

The family holiday gathering, back at my brother's house outside of Woodstock, NY, was another compressed experience with everyone mostly happily jammed together and four nieces alternating between delight and despair with no known cause for either state. It was nice to see my brother's twin girls growing up. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was watching my son be the responsible oldest cousin; mediating disputes, helping with chores, reading bedtime stories. Maybe that was my real Christmas gift. Chris seemed pleased with his presents;  notably a new Xbox game, some Rock Band accessories from me which opened his eyes, and a little throw-away present of a flowing sand desk toy that seems to have found a permanent home beside his bed. And lots of Toblerone bars, Terry's Orange balls and clothes... As a joke I filled both of our stockings with mainly new socks.

January means New Year's resolutions for most people and since losing weight is almost always at the top of the list the Shopping Channel has been providing lots of fitness buying opportunities. I'll probably have been on air more than ten days by the time this month is out. I got off to a bang with three days back to back starting with January 1st. With between three and six hour-long shows each day that's a lot of working out! My right shoulder (rotator cuff?) has been a bit tender for months now, at the moment it's extra sore from all the punishment.

I haven't made a New Year's resolution myself because I'm down on the artificiality of New Year celebrations. But I have awakened to the fact that it's time to start getting serious about training for Ironman USA this July. I've been adding swims into my usual schedule and I'm starting to focus more on my indoor cycling. I got talked into taking over the Marathon Clinic at the Running Room this time 'round. It's a big step up, but at least I'll be able to treat the Clinic runs as actual workouts. It's been cold out there too, we're in the middle of a deep cold snap. I almost got frostbite in an intimate area on the run in this photo.

Lots of activity on the computer front. My parents bought a new laptop to take with them on a three month trip to Mexico. I got it set up for them and moved over all my step-father's writing from his ancient PowerBook. I ended up having to buy a USB floppy drive to download floppies into their new MacBook! The new MacBook is a bit of a mixed blessing, We can all stay in touch better now but they're inundating me with news and questions. These trips used to be a sort of "time out"... I also helped another friend get set up on her new old Dell desktop which was a bit of a stumbling around in the dark. I got there in the end though.

Professionally, I've landed a contract to re-do the web site for a local gym. Nice to make some money from all my computer monkeying! I'm going to use an interesting Content Management System from Squarespace so they'll be able to do most updates themselves. I've also had to troubleshoot a problem with a web site I helped set up for a friend, irisimages.ca. The hosting company, bludomain, seems to have overwritten almost all the files! Kind of the opposite of what they're supposed to do. I'm doing a bit of forensic work to recover it.

 Listening to: That Old Pair of Jeans by Fatboy Slim from The Greatest Hits: Why Try Harder.

Christmas Decorations

Here's an iPhone photo of the Christmas wreath on my front door, this past Saturday morning. We are still blanketed with lovely white snow, so it will be a perfect white Christmas this year. Click on the photo to see it at higher resolution.

We leave for my brother's house tomorrow morning. See you after Christmas!

Listening to: All My Bells Are Ringing by Lenka from The Hotel Café Presents Winter Songs.

Boo! Halloween 2008

A warm and dry Halloween evening, but only 35 kids came to the door. So much chocolate to throw away now... Not! Chris carved this year's pumpkin while I was roasting the seeds (they were delicious). I like his design and the extra carving he did on the back. Click on here to see the back side. You can't see it in this photo, but the nose is "3D".

I've been following the American elections pretty closely. Looks like Barack Obama is going to lead a Democratic tidal wave on Tuesday. Its been interesting, and satisfying, to watch the Republican campaigns collapse. I guess eight years of George W. Bush will do that. The down side is that I've been following some election web sites a bit obsessively, particularly FiveThirtyEight.com. FiveThirtyEight (the number of electoral votes) is an excellent poll analysis site run by a Democrat nerd. Tonnes of detail and quite objective about the polls. Some good "on the ground" reporting too.

I've been drawn into some extended debates with rabid neo-conservative bloggers too, which has been a real time sink. I just can't let the idiotic lies go unchallenged when I stumble across them. Obama is not a baby-eating foreign-born socialist Muslim planning on instituting a communist dictatorship as soon as he's in office! The absurd length of the Presidential elections gives people plenty of time to get wound up. Funny how Canadians can take the American election more seriously than their own.

Listening to: Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears from Songs From the Big Chair.

Open the Floodgates!

Boy it's been hard to get back into blogging... I enjoy it, but it takes so much time. I've spent the last week battle a stomach bug that has kept me very close to the toilet, so I suppose I've actually closed the floodgates. Now I need diarrhea of a different kind!

So yes, I did spent three weeks in Australia last month. Way too much to put in one post, so I'll leave that on the agenda, perhaps even with a "table of contents" entry to organise it. Instead I'll start with Christmas and fill in the gaps later.

Christmas this year was at my sister's place. Chris was with me Christmas Eve and Morning, and my parents came in to town and stayed at a hotel for several days, which let them visit their town friends and eased all our travel plans. Very civilized, I thought. My brother had no respite though, they came up from New York state with their twins and they pretty much all got sick as soon as they started traveling. His girls are growing up fast and were fun to have around when they happened to be healthy.

We ended up dining together the day before Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, and again for Christmas Lunch. Not only was it a lot of food, it was a lot of family! Note to self: spread all that stuff out next year, like over a month perhaps...

So what did Christmas bring for everyone? Lots of technology, lots of movies, lots of books. Chris got a new iPod nano, some spending money in his iTunes account, and the new Simpsons and Futurama movies. Sheryl got an iPod nano too, while her daughter got an iPod Touch. I got a nice sweater that I've been wearing almost on-stop, and an iPhone! Too bad I can't hack my iPhone to work as a cell phone in Canada (yet), but it's a groovy iPod, camera, and web browser. Santa brought Chris and I a new 32" Sony Bravia flat panel TV too, which Chris in particular loves...

New Year's Eve was an interesting variation on a theme. I spent all New Year's Day, starting right at midnight, demonstrating Bowflex fitness equipment on The Shopping Channel. Seven hour's worth of muscle building! Personally I've usually chosen to spend New Year's Eve quietly at home.

Since then I've been pretty busy with my triathlon club getting plans together for the coming season, leading another Running Room 5K Clinic, and other Shopping Channel gigs (January always has a big fitness focus apparently).

I did manage to find time to finally replace my superannuated 1994 Cavalier. Two weeks ago I picked up a 2006 Mazda 3 Sport, which is a much nicer ride... I managed to keep the news to myself for about a week and surprised Sheryl by showing up at her office behind it's wheel. My first road trip was this past weekend, heading up to the Washago International Film Festival (a weekend of spy-themed DVDs at a friend's cottage; Diamonds are Forever - a camp hoot with appalling acting, The Conversation - I loved it, but it's better seen alone, On Her Majesty's Secret Service - more camp, The Departed - excellent but grueling), where this photo was taken.

Last week I went with Chris to see Juno, a film he's already seen with his Mum. A fun film with entertaining dialog and a fantastic lead from Ellen Page, but I think the teen pregnancy thing was handled a little too lightly... Still, worth seeing.

Listening to: Oxygène Part IV by Jean Michel Jarre from Oxygène.

Season's Greetings

I've been having a terrible time recovering from my flight back from Australia! I'll resume blogging as soon as I get some important tasks completed (or at least started...)

Dear friends and family,

It's been an interesting year with Chris starting high school, our move into a new home and my completion of an Ironman triathlon in Australia(!). I hope that you are all well and I look forward to catching up with each of you soon.

Sadly my father Bruce, battling cancer for the last few years, suffered a stroke in March and passed away in August at the age of 73. My triathlon in Australia at the beginning of December was timed to coincide with a family memorial service in Perth.

I'm treating this photo as a Christmas image owing to the presence of the colour red... It was taken a few minutes after I completed my Ironman race in a time of 10:46:01, about an hour faster than I had expected and good enough to place 15th out of 70 in my age group! Chris earned his wings as an "Iron Spectator", spending just as long waiting to see me flash past nine times.

All the best,
Ben

Listening to: I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Stuhr Remix) by Kay Starr from Christmas Remixed - Holiday Classics Re-Grooved.

Ten Little Indians

Our vacation started with a beach house stuffed to the rafters with ten people... My parents and their friends the Bells moved to another house after two days, as planned. That left six of us there. On the Thursday my sister and her family left for Miami airport at the crack of dawn. In the middle of the morning Chris and I left as well, joining my parents and the Bells at the other rented house on the far side of the island. In the afternoon we drove back up to Vaca Key for a swim at Sombrero Beach while my mother did some shopping in Marathon. Dinner was a hearty home-cooked potato salad, with nary a deep fryer in sight.

Friday was a repeat of Thursday with the Bells heading out at the crack of dawn to drive back to Canada. We headed back up to Vaca Key again in the afternoon, this time to pick up a rental car from the Marathon airport so Chris and I could get to the Ft. Lauderdale airport the following morning without inconveniencing my parents. My parents shopped (again) while I went for another swim with Chris.

Chris and I were up and on the road by 6:20 the next morning with a beautiful sunrise laid out before us. But that story has already been told...

During our two days at the second house I managed to find, start and finish all 230 pages of the singer Jimmy Buffet's 1989 collection of stories and memoirs, Tales from Margaritaville. I thought it would be fun to read some Florida Keys stories. It was a brisk read, but the characters were unlikely and rather opaque, and they had an annoying habit of making unexplained life changes. A bit like a pop song I guess! To his credit he did an entertaining job of evoking the "old Keys" lifestyle, largely through the persona of a Wyoming cowboy...

Listening to: Road To Nowhere by Talking Heads from Little Creatures.

Making Like a Tourist

The oft-repeated "pop culture" definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. What does that make George Bush? His grand new plan for Iraq is to send 20,000 more troops, essentially restoring levels to what they were a year ago, when they were also unable to provide stability.

Here in Canada another naively ambitious politician has left the Liberals to join the governing Conservatives. The constituents of his "safe" Liberal riding are naturally incensed by this betrayal and exploitation. I think it's time for politicians wishing to change parties to be required to resign and run under their new party's banner in a by-election. Note to politicians: election to office is a commitment to public service, not a reflection of your personal importance. But enough about the world at large, back to my vacation!

Tuesday morning started off quietly as it was just my sister and I with our kids in the beach house. Her girls were, as usual, up at 6:00 AM but kept quiet. I went for a stroll along the beach after breakfast and then we prepared to drive up to Vaca Key to visit The Theater of the Sea. There was a problem though; my sister's rented Subaru battery was drained! I'd noticed that their running lights never went out but hadn't been able to figure out what controlled them. Now I know there is a separate switch on the steering column. I managed to flag down a passing police car and get a jump from his portable booster battery.

In the end we got tired of driving and visited the closer Dolphin Research Center, where much to their delight the kids "met" a dolphin for $40 each. I've always loved dolphins myself, so I enjoyed watching them interact with the trainers and visitors. I hope the dolphins enjoy it too... Two dolphins had weeks-old babies, which was especially sweet. We all regrouped at the beach house for a home-cooked dinner.

Wednesday morning I took all the kids back down to Key West to pick up my brother-in-law. We saw the obligatory tacky tourist attractions in Mallory Square; the Key West Aquarium (with a touch tank!!!!!) and the Shipwreck Historeum, which offered a view of town from it's 60 ft. tower. Once Patrick was collected we had lunch at "The Deli" and ice creams on Duval Street (I think) before driving back to Big Pine Key.

The greasy deli lunch left me feeling a bit guilty so I did a 5K run before dinner, which we had at the locally famous No Name Pub. There were an estimated 90,000 dollar bills pinned to every surface by visitors! It was quite a sight. The food was enormous portions of pub grub, I had to scour the menu to find some seafood that wasn't breaded and fried... The pub is located at the end of a No Name Road, which leads to the unoccupied No Name Key, so you really have to know where to look. No Name Key was apparently once a CIA property.

Listening to: If I Had $1,000,000 by Barenaked Ladies from Gordon.

Victory in the Big Pine New Year's Day Triathlon!

Yes, I won the Big Pine Key New Year's Day Sprint Triathlon. 'Cause I was the only person who knew about it. It was my own secret, private race... Time for me to begin recounting my Florida trip.

Chris and I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale (via Boston) on December 30th, where we were met by some friends of my parents who were driving down to join us. It was an uneventful journey, except for an execrable meal at a Long John Silver fast food restaurant on the final drive down onto the Keys, but the total travel time was about 15 hours. While in the Boston terminal we ate "American" fries and watched the TV coverage of Gerald Ford's casket leaving California. There were ten of us bedded down in the beach house Saturday evening!

Sunday was New Year's Eve. We had a quiet morning but after lunch we all (all!) went on a reef cruise on a chartered pontoon boat. We snorkeled in a bay, examining sponges and upside-down jellyfish before heading out to the reef. Chris tried to join my brother-in-law Patrick and myself on the reef, but it was too rough and none of us could see anything in the stirred-up water. We returned to a sheltered island for another snorkeling session and then had grilled Mahi Mahi on the boat as we watched a gorgeous sunset. I'd forgotten how fast the sun sets in the tropics. We were all in bed well before midnight.

Monday was New Year's Day, and all was quiet... I'd joined an internet challenge to do a New Year's Day triathlon though, so I had to think of a way to swim, cycle and run in the area. In the end I decided to do roughly a full Sprint distance. I figured I could swim at a public beach on Bahia Honda Key, cycle along the US 1 Highway that connected the two islands on a borrowed bike and then run along the road behind our beach house. Two problems; the beach was about 9K away and it would be tricky getting the bike there if I didn't ride, and the only bike available was a "cruiser" with big soft tires and a nice bouncy seat... Still, a promise is a promise.

Big Pine Key New Year's Day Sprint Triathlon
Swim: 500M, 09:00 (1:48/100 M)
T1: Indeterminate (twenty minutes?)
Bike: 23.7K, 48.21 (29.41 Kph) surprising given the crappy bike
T2: Indeterminate (ten minutes?)
Run: 5K, 22:51 (4:31 min/K)
Final Time: 1:20:12

I rode the 9K to the Bahia Honda beach while my sister drove the kids there for a swim as well and to watch my borrowed bike. It was a beautiful day and the road was flat, but there was a stiff breeze to ride into. When we reconnected I got set for my swim. The waves were too tempting though. I delayed my race start by half an hour so I could body surf with the kids. Then it was race time... I swam along the beach and then back for a distance I estimated was at least 500M. It had been a long time since I'd swum in salt water. I have a habit of allowing some water into my mouth as I swim, which I then spit back out. It was hard not to notice the salt! Also, were there sharks circling around me? Jellyfish? Eek. The waves were significant enough that I had to modify my stroke, but it was still fun.

After a rather lazy un-timed "transition" I started my stopwatch and cycled out of the park and onto the Highway. I was worried about the blazing sun because although I had a full bottle of Gatoraid I had forgotten my sunblock. I needed to do a lap and a half of the causeway to get the approximate distance (I measured it later using Google Map through the Gmaps Pedometer site, which is a great tool for runners). The wind was a still a factor, but the worst of it was the ill-adjusted bike with soft tires and a heavily cushioned seat. The bike also had lousy gearing and I spent the whole time in the top two or three gears. Toward the end of what was, in spite of everything, a fun ride my wrists and man-bits began to go numb and my calves felt like they might start cramping. Still, it was great to feel the warm air and see the ocean all around me.

Now I was back at the beach house for my second lazy un-timed transition. Because of my late start it was now midday and the temperatures were well into the range of 35C. I had a big gulp of water and a small snack, refilled my water bottle with Gatoraid and headed out into the sun. Our access road, which winds through a mangrove swamp that contains both tiny Key Deer and alligators, easily encompassed the 5K I wanted to cover. I relied on my iPod's pedometer to tell me when I'd reached the turnaround point, and was surprised to hear Paula Radcliffe tell me that I'd set a new personal record for the 5K when I finished.

The sun was merciless though and I had started to fade toward the end of the run, so I was glad to be finished. A plunge into our beach house's pool helped revive me. Of course every great race has a great post-race recovery meal. My mother prepared a seafood extravaganza of grilled tuna steaks, scallop ceviche and a hearty veggie salad for all ten of us.

The hordes started dispersing after that though. Chris and I drove my brother-in-law 40 minutes down to the Key West airport for a sudden short business trip he needed to make and we took advantage of the journey to take in some of the sights there. My parents shifted over to a second rented house with their friends, so that night the house was pretty quiet with just my sister, her two girls and Chris and I in it. It was nice to relax under the stars of a warm tropical sky after the kids had gone to sleep and have a rare chance to talk to my sister.

I have to say Key West left me with mixed feelings. Although there are plenty of quirky old wooden homes to enjoy if you found your way off "the strip" the town seems focussed on selling crappy souvenirs to cruise ship passengers. I think I snapped when I saw a wall covered in joke bikini bottoms with expressions like it ain't gonna lick itself printed on them. Chris and I did manage to avoid the worst of the tourist trappings, mainly by getting lost. We stayed to watch the sunset from Fort Taylor and then drove back to Big Pine Key.

More tomorrow.

Listening to: Nowhere With You by Joel Plaskett Emergency from Make a Little Noise.

Changing Latitudes

Well, I'm back from the Florida Keys. Eight days, 400 snapshots, nine companions; it's going to take a while to cover it all... For now I'll just regale you with yesterday's journey back to Toronto.

The most practical and economical way to get back to the Ft. Lauderdale airport turned out to be "returning" a rental car from the Marathon airport (in the middle Keys). We picked up the car the afternoon before and left Big Pine Key at 6:20 AM. It was a three hour drive up to Ft. Lauderdale, but we got to enjoy a glorious sunrise along the way and drink in the tropical beauty one last time. Hunting around for a gas station when we reached our destination we passed an Orange County Choppers location that was in the middle of filming an episode of American Chopper. There was a huge crowd spilling out onto the highway, police directing traffic, stage lighting, etc. An odd thing to run across at 9:00 on a Saturday morning!

Although we were going to spend the whole day traveling north things started to go south as soon as we reached the airport. AVIS charged me twice as much as promised and it took forty minutes to correct the problem. This left us less than an hour to check in and get through security. Every queue we joined looked impossibly long, but they all moved briskly and we made it to the plane with several minutes to spare (three...). However the stress brought on a headache that got progressively worse as we traveled.

Our journey had a two hour stopover in Boston and as my headache worsened and my stomach began to churn I began to wonder if I'd make it through the first three hour flight without "trouble". In the end I managed to get off the plane, find our next departure gate and settle Chris before racing off to the washroom for the first of two sessions of projectile vomiting. Chris rose to the occasion and did a great job of supporting me and looking after himself. As we boarded our second flight, to Buffalo, I warned the flight attendant about my fragile condition and she thoughtfully provided me with a large plastic bag. In the end my symptoms slowly subsided without a public display and by the time we reached Buffalo I was healthy enough to contemplate the two hour drive home.

We arrived home at about 9:30 PM and relaxed together for a little while, happy to be back home. Then we sought the bliss of sleeping in our own beds. This morning I fired up the Mac to find 900 spam e-mails, 50 job site/technology e-mails, and five personal e-mails. Same old same old. Over the next few days I'll post about the rest of our trip and upload my photos on Flickr. Short version: we had a great time...

Listening to: There Is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths from The Queen Is Dead.

Christmas Means... Films!

Chris and I had a cozy little Christmas morning together and then he was off to his mother's for the week. He'll actually be back on Friday afternoon because we're flying down to Florida early on Saturday morning. Time to start packing, gathering passports, etc!

I've been spending my time this week with friends, which largely boils down to seeing films together. I've seen The Good Shepherd with my friend Brian and Dreamgirls with Sheryl and her sister-in-law, while Sunday night I saw Night at the Museum with Chris. I've also been working out to shed those Christmas pounds.

The Good Shepherd was a thought-provoking and complex fictionalisation of the birth and early years of the CIA, as illuminated by life of Edward Wilson (played by Matt Damon). It had a great cast, with Michael Gambon, John Turturro and William Hurt standing out for me. Angelina Jolie was solid in her supporting role too, but they couldn't quite quench her sensuality... Matt Damon's subtle performance was hard to assess as Edward Wilson was such a reserved character. The film's structure turned on Wilson's unblinking, and ultimately self-defeating, focus on duty and secrecy. From a historical perspective it was depressing to see how callous and self-obsessed the American elite, as represented by the Skull and Bones "secret society", were and no doubt still are.

Dreamgirls was a different story altogether. Also a long and tangled tale, the music and performances were riveting and ultimately uplifting. Great costumes and choreography too. And who knew Eddie Murphy could sing? Beyoncé Knowles did well enough, but there's no doubt that the stand-out performance, both vocally and emotionally was by new discovery Jennifer Hudson. Ironically, just like her character Effie, Jennifer's voice probably has too much personality for a pop career. The slimmer talent and figure of Beyoncé will no doubt continue to hold the spotlight just as her character in the film did.

Listening to: Clear the Area by Imogen Heap from Speak for Yourself.

And to All a Good Night

Christmas Eve is here; I've spent the day "cocooning" with Chris. We went out for a morning walk, watched some films on TV, and then went out again for a walk up to the movie theatre to see Night at the Museum. With Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday this year it was very quiet on the streets.

Now, after a nice Tikki Masala dinner and some more TV Chris is snuggled in bed, falling asleep to Christmas music streaming across our wireless network from my Mac to his. (Bit of a high-tech twist there.)

Night at the Museum was a entertainingly slight film. I was surprised to see Chris choose it as his tastes tend to run more towards Borat. Night at the Museum was very much a "family" film, even though it was close to two hours long. The premise is that every night all the figures and creatures in the museum secretly come to life through the power of an ancient Egyptian plaque. Ben Stiller, as the new night watchman, must figure out what's going on and keep them in check. The film was effectively Stiller and a swarm of fairly conventional computer effects, but he kept the laughs coming and the audience's sympathy. There were a lot of entertaining cameos though, Owen Wilson as a miniature cowboy and Steve Coogan as his Centurion rival were notable, but Robin William's Theodore Roosevelt seemed a bit flat.

Well it's time for me to turn in as well. Tomorrow morning, in the words of Eddie Murphy's "Donkey"character in Shrek, "I'm makin' WAFFLES!"

Listening to: Be Near Me by ABC from Look of Love - The Very Best of ABC.

Eggnog and Oranges

Christmas has landed with a thud here. The refrigerator is full of eggnog, the kitchen counter is piled high with mandarin oranges and Chris is working his way through another chocolate advent calendar. There's snow on the ground too. We both enjoyed this week's episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, "The Christmas Show". Is it just me, of is Studio 60 slowly turning into an actual hip variety show? Corinne Bailey Rae's appearance last week was spellbinding and the jazz tribute to New Orleans this week was magic.

Having Chris with me this week means I have someone to boss around. Helps me keep busy... We had a long argument this afternoon about his squash lesson; it was planned for today but at the last minute he wanted to go on Thursday instead so he could play RuneScape online longer. That didn't pass the sniff test, but he pushed it as far as calling his mother and asking if he could walk over to her house (foolishly, she agreed). In the end he stayed here and although we were too late for his lesson we did a treadmill workout together. Surprise, surprise, he enjoyed it. Especially since we discovered that my health club was offering hors d'oeuvres and music in the lobby and was holding, of all things, a pie eating contest. We didn't stick around for the pie though.

Last Sunday I met up with Sheryl for lunch. We walked down to the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, hoping to find an open table at Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner. No luck because the kitchen had closed (they only serve lunch) but we did run into Sheryl's good friends Colin and Mary Jo there. They were at the bar while their children worked some clay in the next room. We joined them for a drink but had to keep quiet as we were all trespassing on a private function! It was about 4:00 when we left and I still hadn't had anything to eat, so we stopped in at the Montreal Bread Company (their web site is too irritating to deserve a link) for a sandwich on they way back. Then it was back home for me as Sheryl was having a girlfriend over for dinner. And we're not seeing each other any more...

By the way, I saw The Queen a few weeks back with Sheryl. What an amazing performance by Helen Mirren! I had to keep reminding myself that it was Helen up there, not the monarch herself. Although the event the film is structured around, the death of Princess Diana, is the. biggest. thing. evar. for some people in reality it was just a pop culture sideshow. Watching the Royal Family's response was interesting though, revealing how out of touch and irrelevant they have become. Although certainly a competent film in all areas, with the script and supporting actors standing up particularly well, it's really a character study of Queen Elizabeth. So see it for Helen's performance unless you're a Princess Diana freak, in which case see it so you can hate the Royal Family.

I note two interesting developments south of the border: John Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has resigned. Bolton served 16 months even though he was never confirmed by Congress because of his combative attitude and bias against the United Nations. Also the Democrats have confirmed Robert Gates' appointment as Bush's new Secretary of Defense in spite of his involvement in Ronald Reagan's Iran-Contra scandal back in the Eighties and in the CIA's Iran-Iraq War entanglements during the same era. Anything to get Donald Rumsfeld out the door I suppose...

Listening to: Trouble Sleeping by Corinne Bailey Rae from Corinne Bailey Rae.