Where did I go?

Where did I go? To bed. I've been battle a nasty head cold and a bad cough for two weeks now! Yike. This photo is from a recent long run, which I've been trying to keep up in spite of my general illness. Now let's see if I can remember what's happened since my last post.

Sheryl's back from Australia with many entertaining anecdotes to impart, perhaps not so entertaining from her perspective... Overall she had a great trip, with lots of relations visited, her new granddaughter presented, and time spent with her daughter living in Sydney.

There have been two Formula One races, Spain and Turkey. In Spain the Ferrari's were one-two followed by Lewis Hamilton's McLaren. Hamilton's team mate Heikki Kovalainen had a massive high-speed crash that buried his car underneath the crash barrier, but he proved to be unharmed other than a minor concussion. In Turkey Massa's Ferrari triumphed, while Lewis Hamilton managed to stay just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Istanbul Park is a great track for overtaking, which made for a lot of great battles throughout the pack. A fun race.

Last weekend Chris and I went to see the new Hollywood blockbuster Iron Man. Kind of fun actually, which is a relief as these comic book properties can be terribly mishandled. I enjoyed Robert Downey Jr.'s performance a lot and the effects were excellent. Never mind that there's no way that funky metal suit could hold enough fuel to go more than ten meters...

Speaking of fantasy, I've finally come 'round on the Sci Fi TV series Battlestar Galactica. I wrote it off when it arrived, remembering the seventies version and linking "BSG" in my mind with the goofy Babylon Five series. But a friend's wife finally convinced me to give it a try, and I've used my recent downtime to watch the first two seasons almost back to back (thank you BitTorrent). Great writing, great performances. The effects are generally good, but I hate noisy space explosions and jet fighter-style spacecraft maneuvering. That part I just have to suck up. Lots of relevance to a post-9/11 Iraq War world too... I wonder if I'll catch up before the fourth and final season finishes.

So I'll close off, still hacking away, but planning a big cycling workout tomorrow followed by an overnight trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake with Sheryl.

Listening to: Again and Again by The Bird and the Bee from The Bird and the Bee. Check out the great viral Mac-lover's video for it on YouTube.

Another Great Performance

Yesterday I ran 30K, today I barely moved an inch. I spent the day doing some catalog work for a Sears publication called New Outlook. Four looks, one with a Labrador Retriever named Sadie and a few setups with a "wife" who had flown in from Vancouver for the shoot. Nice working with you, Judith. It seemed to go well and there's a chance they'll use one of our couple shots for the cover. Now if I can just get this kind of work every week...

Chris is with me this week, tonight it was urgently important that he show me this YouTube video. It's an infomercial about a replacement toilet seat that is an intelligent bidet that he found hysterically funny. When I explained to him the enema function they mention he just about lost it. I had a hard time keeping a straight face at that point too! I have no fundamental problem with bidets although I have no personal experience with them. This particular device's enema function sounds a bit dicey though and I don't think I would have the patience to wait for a "warm breeze" to dry things off.

Sheryl came over last night to watch the last episode of Rome. Grippingly bloodthirsty and carnal as always, but there seems so much still to tell. Too bad it's stopping at two seasons. With Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip gone at least temporarily there are precious few intelligent shows left to watch.

W.C. Fields' advice to actors was "never work with children or dogs" but I seem to have got through the day. This shot from last night of Sheryl's dog Barkley was perhaps foreshadowing the day's photo shoot. I didn't know there'd be a dog on set until I got there. Sadie and I became fast friends, as is usually the case. Not like my surprise dog bite from two weeks ago!

Listening to: Cooling the Medium by Martha and the Muffins from Mystery Walk.

OzFlix

This weekend was the "OzFlix" film festival, part of a larger Australia Tourism promotion that is running in Toronto until next weekend. I went to see two films on Saturday night with my Australian friends (I'm Australian by birth too by the way).

First up was Girl in a Mirror, a documentary about Carol Jerrems, a celebrated Australian photographer from the 1970's who died of cancer at 30. Although her photographs were captivating the real story seemed to be her "crazy hippie" approach to life, full of reckless self-danger (she wanted to photograph youth gangs, so she tolerated their raping her!) and reckless love life. This was followed by Stranded, a 50 minute short(ish) film about a girl coming of age while her wacky family deals with the aftermath of her mother's suicide.

After a break for dinner we returned to see Kenny. Kenny is an Australian "mockumentary" about a man who works for a portable toilet company. Kenny is a very earthy working-class guy coping with an endless stream of problems. It was hilariously funny, if the fact that every conversation in the film managed to work the topic of shit into it isn't a problem for you. The writer-director and star were there for the screening. It was very much a family project that had grown in the making as they are brothers and the father character was played by their own father. Lots of reality crept into the film; the featured toilet company Splashdown is real and a big supporter of the project and lots of footage was shot during real events around Melbourne. Some of the audience members weren't so sure that Kenny was just a character when he came on stage after the screening!

I had a mini-marathon viewing of the first three episodes of the second season of Rome last night. What a great show! Fantastic sets and story lines, great performances and direction. I love the way they integrate Roman moralities and spiritual beliefs into the plot and the dialog and the contrast between the lives of ordinary citizens and powerful historical characters. Too bad there won't be a third season...

Watching Rome replaced the time waste of watching the Grammys. I'm not a big fan of awards shows. My son called from his mother's as they started though, he thought I should be reminded that the Police were starting the show with a reunion performance. I did enjoy that, as well as the Dixie Chicks performance of Not Ready to Make Nice. No surprise that an American Idol contestant did well, but I wish that the wonderful Corinne Bailey Rae had been recognised.

Another long run Sunday morning, over 19K in 1:33. But I forgot my iPod's Nike+ connector, so it's as if it didn't happen...

Listening to: Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae from Corinne Bailey Rae.

Minding Your "P"s and "Q"s

Late last night I tried to log into the web site I manage for my triathlon club to update some news. There was bigger news though... Our domain name registration had expired. No web site! I'm not the contact for the club's domain name, so I had no idea we were running out of time. I called/e-mailed everyone I had contact details for to make sure the problem was (hopefully) corrected quickly, things were back online by 9:00 AM. Luckily the domain name wasn't particularly desirable. I think that expired domain registrations are "protected" for a month or so after they expire as well.

I caught some entertaining TV yesterday, watching the opening episode of the 14th season(!) of Survivor, set in Fiji. I watched Survivor regularly the first few seasons but eventually got disgusted by the entire "reality" TV genre. I think it was Temptation Island that did it, a show where couples went to an island resort and the producers tried to break them up.

A friend of mine wanted to watch while I was visiting him, so I sat through the episode. From my "elevated perspective" the show was hilarious. It was like watching someone stick a fork into a toaster. What did you expect to happen? The producers are going to spend the whole season jerking your chain and making you jump through capricious hoops. Suck it up and bask in your 1.5 seconds of fame... Having said that, I enjoy this kind of competition when it's friendly. A number of years ago an acquaintance organised a big party on her farm and divided everyone into teams for a scavenger hunt. "We" won and I was able to solve about half the puzzles myself. It was a very satisfying combination of mental puzzles and trail running.

I found a new TV show to watch today too, The IT Crowd. It's a new British comedy about the I.T. department of a corporation... They seem to have nailed the stereotypes pretty well. Too bad its not on the air here, the episode I saw had been downloaded from the intertubes.

I've been meaning to mention this for a little while, but I found a neat Mac OS X utility for making audiobooks from MP3 files last week. I've got a number of "books on CD" that I've copied to my Mac, but they end up as a bunch of individual songs in iTunes, which isn't that useful. Audiobook Builder joins them together, lets you set Chapter points and import artwork, and tells iTunes to treat it like an audiobook. Nice.

Listening to: Plush (Acoustic) by Stone Temple Pilots from Thank You.

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.

Is It Live, or Memorex?

Just watched an episode of Studio 60 on tape (ironically) where the cast discovers that they have inadvertently plagiarized a comedy routine and goes through contortions to remove the offending passage from the delayed satellite feed. Plot spoiler: turns out that they'd plagiarized themselves (oh, the irony). What I love about this show is the same thing I loved about The West Wing: it feels like you're really there, behind the scenes of an intense environment. Given my own hesitant peek through the acting door, it makes me admire real actors all the more.

A few days ago Canada's Conservative government came out with it's "tough new approach" to climate change. Short version: polluters can keep doing what they want for now but watch out, 'cause in FORTY YEARS we're gonna get tough! Disgusting.

Listening to: Heroes by The Wallflowers from Godzilla (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture).

100% Biodegradable (except as defined by California)

What the hell does "except as defined by California" mean? It's written on a package of "biodegradable" dog poop bags I bought yesterday for use while we're dog-sitting... Time to get some rest before tomorrow's running race but I thought I'd post about last week's Formula One race, at the Suzuka track in Japan, which I finally got around to watching with Brian.

Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher went in to the race tied in points but it looked good for Michael as the two Ferraris had the fastest qualifying times. The best Fernando could do was fifth, behind the two Toyotas. But when the race began Alonso was able to move up into second place fairly easily. It looked like that's how the race would end and Michael would move a bit ahead in the points, but it was not to be. Shortly after their second pit stops Michael's Ferrari engine blew up! This was the first engine failure Michael has had in six years. Alonso cruised home to an easy win and is now ten points ahead. For Michael to win the championship he'll have to win the last race and Alonso would have to fail to finish higher than eighth. A long shot...

There were two other dramatic turns in the race. On lap 21 Christijan Albers crashed after the back end of his Midland flew apart. Looked like a drive train failure. Big nasty chunks of metal and carbon fibre everywhere. On lap 50 Mark Webber went a bit wide on a turn and smashed his Williams into the barriers. Both drivers were unhurt. My favourite driver, Kimi Raikkonen had a tough qualifying session and started in eleventh, but he managed to fight his McLaren up into fifth.

I've been catching up on my TV viewing in other areas too. Yesterday I watched two episodes of Aaron Sorkin's new show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It seems to be a worthy successor to The West Wing in terms of plot and dialog. Several cast members have followed Aaron from The West Wing. I'm looking forward to seeing how the characters develop.

Listening to: Night Night by Ive Mendes from Hed Kandi - Winter Chill 06.02.

Today's meme: Stand by your woman

Sheryl and I just watched three back-to-back episodes of Big Love, the HBO series about a polygamist in Utah, on the PVR. Too much of a good thing for poor Bill Paxton! What at first glance seems to be a smooth and smug little patriarchy quickly turns into a seething nest of intrigue and jealousy. It's a great series though, with excellent performances and writing.

Coupled with the Truffaut film I saw a week ago, La Peau douce, in which a philandering French academic is discarded by his mistress and then murdered by his vengeful wife, I have to say that I'm starting to come around to the concept of faithful monogamy...

Listening to: Love You Madly by Cake from Comfort Eagle.

Oscar Night 2006: The Review

Thumb up, or thumb down? This reviewer liked the loose and slightly political approach that Jon Steward took, especially the fake 'negative ads', but shook his head at the idiotic knocks against watching films at home. "There's no place to see them but a big screen..." Poor Jake Gyllenhaal could barely say it with a straight face. Overall thumb slightly up, if just for the gay-cowboy montage. Those web mashups sure went mainstream in a hurry!

The Oscars got off to a great start from a TV point of view with George Clooney's Supporting Actor acceptance speech. He actually said something! And I agreed with his sentiments... Almost everyone else was a mumbling idiot, and rude as it was by the show producers, they generally deserved the abrupt microphone cut-offs. LeeAundra Temescu has the right idea: win or lose when you have a chance to directly address the world, say something worthwhile. Prepare a freakin' 45 second speech, not a laundry list of agents and producers! Everyone in the biz knows that stuff and the public just sees you kissing butt at the highest possible speed. Not flattering.

Not many surprises otherwise. Crash did better than expected, but they lobbied very hard. Brokeback Mountain did a bit worse. Apparently Reese Witherspoon worked the voters too (she did have a great performance in Walk the Line though). The Original Song win by Three 6 Mafia for their 'crunk' tune It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp was unexpected but I don't know what it means. The nominated songs were generally boring.

Listening to: A Love That Will Never Grow Old by EmmyLou Harris from the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack.

Bleak House

Sheryl and I have been enjoying Bleak House on PBS. There's an intricate melodrama unfolding, but I love it just for the character's names: Guppy, Flite, Krook, Lady Dedlock, Tulkinghorn, Pardiggle, Smallweed, Turveydrop, the list goes on and on. I also love that Dickens wrote his books as weekly magazine serials. No plot revisions in Chapter 3 for him!

Here's a quick family snap too; Chris wearing his Hulk foam fists.

Listening to: Free Nelson Mandela by The Specials from The Singles Collection.