Countdown to the Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival starts on Thursday night... I've been involved in some of the training and orientation sessions over the pasts few months and during TIFF (Sept. 10 - 19) I'll be volunteering at Roy Thomson Hall most evenings. This grainy snap is from inside the auditorium at RTH, a few minutes before the theatre volunteers arrived for their orientation.

Today I drove up to Wilcox Lake for a short ride (60K). Along with the start of TIFF I also have my last triathlon of the season on Sunday, the Ironman 70.3 Muskoka race up in Huntsville.

Listening to: Was a Time (Favretto Remix) by Whigfield from David Rocco's Dolce Vita.

World AIDS day

Today is World AIDS Day... I'm lucky not to have any acquaintances or loved ones suffering from this disease, but back around 1990 a good friend of mine died from AIDS-related illness.

Don Garner and I were Geology students together at university. We were part of a group of older theoretically "mature" students that had a bit more life experience that the rest of our class and weren't quite so meek and earnest. I was in my early twenties, Don was probably in his early thirties. We mocked our professors quietly, shared pitchers of beers after class and admired the physical attributes of the passing parade of students. His homosexuality was just part of the mix, although a couple of times he took us on a "tour" of Toronto's gay district.

When I was looking for a new place to stay at the end of second year, he suggested I share the inexpensive house he was renting and we did that for three years. A few years later Don was diagnosed with HIV and he died about a year afterwards. Today his disease would probably have been controllable, perhaps one day it will be curable. Don had tried to live "straight", he left behind an ex-wife and teenage son.

Don sometimes earned money writing poetry, selling it on street corners as self-published books and to magazines such as The Body Politic. A Google search for Huron Path Press shows that in a way he still lives on. In high school he was once the mystery guest on a popular TV show called Front Page Challenge, after he led a classroom protest against the playing of God Save the Queen. Don had changed his name before I knew him, as I recall it was something Ukrainian, so I guess he's still a bit of a mystery guest...

Don had a sharp mind, no patience for bullshit and a fierce independent streak.

Listening to: The Remedy (I Won't Worry) by Jason Mraz from Waiting for My Rocket to Come.

Another Season Begins

Last night I watched the Malaysian Grand Prix with my friend Brian, a week ago we watched the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix. Only sixteen more to go! Brian and I have watched almost every race together for thirteen years now. A bit of a ritual...

Quick summary of the two races: No computerised traction control allowed this season, so there will be plenty of driving errors and greater speed differences at the start.

In Melbourne "my" driver, Kimi Raikkonen, managed to survive two serious braking errors and fought his way up from 16th (owing to a problem in qualifying) to third before his Ferrari coasted to a stop in the closing stages. The McLaren's ran strongly all day, Lewis Hamilton started at the front and stayed there comfortably. The Ferrari's were perhaps the fastest but that meant little as both cars failed to finish. The first race of the season is always a bit chaotic and this year was no exception. Lots of collisions and other incidents. Only 7 of the 22 cars finished!

In Malaysia the Ferrari's were on the pole and it was the McLaren's starting down the grid because of a penalty assessed during qualifying. Kimi and Massa were untouchable. Kimi got past Massa on pitstop strategy, but Massa was bitten by the lack of traction control late in the race anyway and spun out. Lewis Hamilton fought his way up from 9th to 5th, but was never really competitive. His teammate Heikki Kovalainen made it up from 8th to 3rd though, putting two Finns on the podium.

Otherwise last week was a busy one for me. I did a two day photo shoot for Ontario Tourism out in scenic Prince Edward County where my "wife" and I had a cooking class, went antiquing, visited an art gallery, a winery and a brewery, relaxed in a luxury suite, and browsed in a bookstore. With a production crew of ten following our every move. You should go there! :-)

I also did two days of fitness modeling on The Shopping Channel. Bowflex four times on Saturday and four different gadgets, five times each, on Sunday. All this while I was hoping, but failing, to get a solid long run in before resting up for the 30K "Around the Bay" race in Hamilton this coming Sunday (bib number 4270 if you want to check my results). I did manage to do a 15K workout before heading out to The Shopping Channel on Sunday morning.

Listening to: Where The Streets Have No Name by U2 from The Joshua Tree.

Bring It On!

Wow, last weekend was a big one for me. Saturday's ride was planned to be "big" but some missed turns out in the countryside resulted in me realising that I was a long way from home when I began approaching my target distance, a full Ironman bike leg of 180K. I ended up doing 200K in just under 7 hours! I cursed myself a bit, but was very pleased to get home tired but undefeated. I even got a solid little run immediately afterwards. It was damn cold though, I had to delay my start over an hour to wait for the temperature to rise above freezing. Winter running pants, cycling "booties" (best money I ever spent...), two cycling shirts and a vest, and winter riding gloves were all in use. I was also wearing my Nike winter running cap underneath my helmet.

The late start and detours left me a bit short of time though and I had to scramble to meet up with Sheryl and Adrian. We'd all been invited by Adrian's friend Sean to his in-laws country potluck and Guy Fawkes Night celebration. I dealt that buffet table a mighty blow after my day's training. They put on a pretty serious fireworks show too and lit a satisfyingly dangerous bonfire.

Sunday's run was a reasonable 25K in just under 2 hours. Combined with the ramped up swimming I've been doing at the 50m pool up in North York, including full race distance swims (3.8K) in under an hour, I feel like I'm well prepared for my Ironman race on December 2nd. Now to pay some attention to the travel/sightseeing agenda!

Sheryl and I watched After the Wedding (the Danish film Efter brylluppet) Sunday night on pay-per-view, we both enjoyed it but differed in our opinion of the character Jorgen. Sheryl thought that his deceptions were justified, I was of the opinion that he was a self-serving, manipulative son-of-a-bitch... The film developed slowly, but was very rewarding. Excellent performances across the board, edgy editing, and a heart-breaking ending.

Listening to: Learn to Fly by Foo Fighters from There is Nothing Left to Lose.

Beautiful Weather

I've just finished a pretty intense training weekend. I started with an 85 km bike ride Saturday morning with a short open-water swim before and a short run afterwards, then a 24 km run Sunday morning. Maybe I was thinking too much about my friends in Ironman Lake Placid yesterday! The weather was beautiful all weekend long so a long ride was easy to undertake. I was particularly keen to get a long ride in to see if I could duplicate the conditions I experienced in my Half Ironman. I didn't experience the same pain in my glutes I had during the race. Maybe taking more salt helped, maybe our short group pauses were enough to allow my glutes to recover.

All this training didn't happen out of context... Friday night I was out late with my friend David taking in a Blues harmonica band north of the city. Saturday night I had a late night of dinner and drinks with Sheryl and some of her friends. I still got up at 6:00 AM on Saturday and 7:00 AM on Sunday. :-)

Last Thursday I went out for a ride with the Project Freeride cyclists, as I often try to do. The evening's workout was pure hill-climbing repeats. Hard, but fun. Especially when heavy rain began half way through our workout! I got home soaked to the skin but smiling.

The weather for yesterday's European Grand Prix at Germany's Nurburgring track was lousy, but made for great TV. The race started in the rain and was stopped after four laps when six cars spun off at one corner alone when the rain became torrential. Very dramatic, even the safety car was nearly hit. The race restarted under drier conditions, but the weather continued to be a big factor in the results. Lewis Hamilton was amongst the drivers that spun out, but he managed to keep his engine running and get hoisted back onto the track. Although he was a lap down after that he managed to climb back to ninth at the finish and may have scored a few points if he hadn't made a couple of ill-advised tire choices as the track alternately dried out and then got wetter again. Ferrari seemed in position to dominate the day, with Kimi Raikkonen qualifying first and Felipe Massa third. The slippery track conditions resulted in their positions flipping, with Fernando Alonso's McLaren remaining between them. Unfortunately Kimi's engine shut down halfway through the race due to electrical problems. Alonso also found more wet speed than Filipe in the final segment and passed him in a daring move. A great race!

Listening to: SimplyStu Triathlon Podcast #62 by SimplyStu.

Downstream and Uphill

Another road trip report! This one began on Thursday morning with a trip up to Stouffville for a photo shoot (happy couple discovering the delights of their new hometown). That went smoothly enough, with our outdoor shots completed in fairly cool weather. The last few days have been blisteringly hot. I learned that there's a vineyard in Stouffville, which was a surprise. Then I tried to get to an audition downtown (didn't make it) before heading out to join my friends Adrian and Sebastian in Ottawa for a white-water rafting trip. We met in Renfrew at about midnight as we'd both been delayed and spotty cell phone reception made connecting a bit tricky.

The rafting, with Owl Rafting, on Friday was good fun. We had great weather and our guide, Alex, was a real character. We got soaked of course, as well as getting dumped out of our raft a few times. Between rapids we amused ourselves by engaging in combat with other rafts. One of the large and very stable rafts was carrying a dozen young Asian guys. They managed to get dumped completely upside down on the biggest rapid. We had a great view of the incident, which ended safely.

After a short nap we headed back toward Toronto, a five hour drive. We stopped in the little town of Tweed for a genuine "Chinese-Canadian" meal and then followed our own routes. They drove straight on to Toronto while I stopped in Cobourg to spend the night at my parents so I could get up to Peterborough quickly in the morning. There was a great pale red moon at twilight, it looked fantastic against the horizon.

My reason for wanting to get to Peterborough is that I'm racing a Half Ironman triathlon there next weekend. I wanted to get a good long ride in this weekend and I thought that it would be nice to get a look at the bike course. So 90K later I have a good idea of what I'll be facing next week. There were a few other triathletes doing the same thing, but I only encountered them at the starting point. The route is pretty hilly but there weren't any killers. It should be a good road to race on, unless the peregrine falcons that have built nests atop several telephone poles get aggressive. A couple of women who finished their ride at the same time discovered that they'd locked themselves out of their car. Despite wanting to be a knight in shining armor the best I could do was drive one of them up the road to a service station to get a mechanic's help. Should I start carrying a "Slim Jim"? Probably not.

Driving back into Toronto there was a traffic jam on the Don Valley Parkway; yet another Canadian Goose leading her "teenage" gosling flock along the highway shoulder! After a nice nap when I got home I met Sheryl for dinner at Le Paradis, a nice French restaurant in her neighbourhood and we finally had a chance to catch up, her telling me about London and Paris, me telling her about Ottawa and Peterborough...

Now it's out the door to Brian's place to see the French Grand Prix on tape.

P.S. A bit of Mars news! The Opportunity rover is about to begin a risky descent into Victoria Crater. Let's hope it makes it back out after investigating some interesting rock formations.

Listening to: 5 Days In May by Blue Rodeo from Five Days in July.

The Drowsy Chaperone

On Tuesday evening, after a 20K run, I joined a friend for drinks at Hemingway's with his visiting nephew. My friend left at around 1:00 AM, but his nephew wanted to keep going with some of our friends. I stayed too, planning to finish my drink and steer his nephew back home. Didn't work out that way. At around 3:00 AM I finally gave up and walked back to my friend's place to get my car. The nephew? He took off with one of the friends...

I got home around 4:00 AM and was awakened at 9:00 AM by Sheryl's dog Barkley wanting to go for a walk. About an hour later I met another friend to help him shop for computer accessories. Fortunately he roasts his own coffee beans and had a really strong coffee ready for me. Sheryl got back from Paris in the evening and we met for a coffee and to transfer Barkley back. I was too tired to join her for dinner though.

I tried to get to bed early that night, but I was keyed-up over a photo shoot this morning. I get tense when I have to provide my own wardrobe! It worked out well in any event, a husband and wife shoot for a new home development. The woman playing "wife" was in the young trophy category, which made for a pleasant morning. The final setup was at a winery, so we finished with a glass of Pinot Grigio.

Now I'm getting ready to head up to Ottawa for a whitewater rafting trip tomorrow morning. On the way back I'm going to stop in Peterborough for a 90K bike workout on the Half Ironman course I'll be racing on next weekend. When does this stuff stop?

P.S. iPhone! iPhone! iPhone! Everyone's talkin' 'bout it, so I think I'll join in. They go on sale tomorrow in the US. Good thing they're not going to be sold in Canada just yet, I'd be hard pressed to resist picking one up... The fewer, and sexier, the number of gadgets I carry the happier I am.

P.P.S. The Drowsy Chaperone is a little one-off Canadian play that has grown into an international hit. I've promised myself I'll see it when it comes home again.

Listening to: Into the Mystic by Van Morrison from Moondance.

Home is the Sailor

I'm back home, safe and sound after my epic weekend. It all worked out in the end, even though I ended up living in my car for the whole trip.

Saturday was a long day with five shows to do, starting at 9:00AM and ending at midnight. Five hours of exercising the day before my race! Oh, I threw in a 5K run as well. The set was a bit fraught as there were three different products to demonstrate each hour and a nearly impossible new routine for one of them. After my last show I jumped into my car and headed north to Huntsville, hoping to be able to get a few hours of sleep when I arrived. Unfortunately there had been a massive accident caused by idiots racing through traffic. Eleven people were hospitalized! Hours later when I was traveling traffic was still being re-routed around the scene, adding a desperately needed hour to my journey. I rolled into the race parking lot at 3:15 AM and managed two fitful hours of sleep in the car. I was able to notice and enjoy a beautiful sunset and new moon earlier in the evening.

So what about my race? I was a bit bleary on race morning, but it was nice to see my club mates start to show up in the transition area. I had two surprise introductions at the race, once when a cyclist paused beside me to introduce himself as a club member and then after the race while I was watching the other athletes finish I discovered I was talking to someone from San Diego who'd asked me, as official e-mail answerer for the Toronto Triathlon Club, for some Ontario race advice a few weeks ago!

3:35:33, 281/792 overall, 31/93 in my age group
Swim - 2km. 31:16 (1:34/100m), 8/93 in age group. Transition 1 - 2:12
Bike - 55km. 1:45:04 (31.4 kph), 41/93 in age group. Transition 2 - 1:15
Run - 15km. 1:15:48 (5:04 min/k), 40/93 in age group.

My 2 km swim was strong, in warm water and not too bad traffic until near the end. I managed to get a solid draft all the way from another swimmer. I think he tried to shake me toward the end, but I clung on like a limpet. Seeing the whole 2 km course laid out in front of me was a bit intimidating, not at all like looking down a 25m pool. About half way through the swim the back of my neck started to burn. I think I missed a spot with the Body Glide. Ouch! I have a scab there now.

The bike leg, 55 km in this race, is always my weak link. I got passed by 33 guys in my age group! Disheartening. I think my lack of sleep started to catch up with me on the bike. It was a hilly course though... I saw a few riders defeated by broken chains and watched two riders come together in a low-speed tumbling crash while wobbling up a steep section.

On the run I really felt a lack of energy. I had 15 km to cover and averaged 5:04 min/k, which is slow for me. In the shorter Milton race two weeks ago I averaged 4:36 min/k. Around the half-way mark I started walking up to and through the aid stations. I was beat! I managed to pick up the pace a bit as we came back into town. I get a real boost from the spectators on the run. The downhill finish was nice, as was the cold shower immediately after the finish...

I watched the finish for a while with a friend and then it was back into my car to rush back into town. I got there with ten minutes to go before air. That's cutting it too close! There were three shows Sunday evening. I was tired and stinky, but I don't think it showed on camera. Finally heading home at 12:30 AM, I picked up Sheryl's dog Barkley from a friend to babysit. She's on a trip to London and Paris, timed to let her join her old boss for the premier of the London production of Lord of the Rings. It had been two days of sweat and toil with no chance to shower, but I simply collapsed into bed with Barkley taking the other pillow...

Monday should have been a recovery day but I ended up spending the afternoon at my friend David's home office helping him switch to a new MacBook laptop. This was followed by a long but pleasant evening at my friend Brian's place where we had a nice barbecue in the back yard and then watched the US Grand Prix. There were some interesting moments in the race, but it finished the way in started: "junior partner" Lewis Hamilton's McLaren ahead of Fernando Alonso's, "junior partner" Felipe Massa's Ferrari ahead of Kimi Raikkonen's. Nineteen year-old Sebastian Vettel, filling in for Robert Kubica who hasn't yet been cleared to race after last week's crash in Canada, became the youngest driver ever to score a Formula One point. But Lewis' dominating drive is a sign that he's the rookie to watch this year. That's two victories in a row and a podium finish in every race he's run!

As we drove home Chris uttered some ominous words; "You know, Clare and I have a lot in common." Clare is Brian's oldest daughter, just turned fourteen...

Listening to: All That I Know by The Marble Index from Watch Your Candles, Watch Your Knives.

Time Flies

It's been a while since I've blogged, so this will have to be a collection of quick notes. No excuse really, I've just been distracted. So; what's happened this week?

My house has been "on the market" for a week now and there have been plenty of showings. We started accepting offers on Friday, but so far nothing. Patience, patience... I think people are looking for a second bathroom these days. It's been nice living in such a pared down and clean house but not very convenient having to jump out for an hour or two, often on short notice, when someone wants to come through with their agent. I've been starting to consider areas for renting that are close to Chris' high school and to parks for training.

Speaking of training, I got a number of good workouts this week culminating in a 63K bike ride on Saturday morning with my Tri club. It was a chilly morning but I left the house feeling climatically optimistic. This meant that I arrived at the meeting point woefully under-dressed. Luckily I was able to borrow a cycling vest and arm warmers from two club mates. The result was pretty much perfect for the conditions. Otherwise the morning was sunny and the ride was great. I averaged just over 30K/hour. Good thing too, as I had to race home to change and get Chris out of the house for some house viewings at Noon. This morning I only had time for a 10K run before dragging Chris out to my mother's home in Cobourg for a Mother's Day lunch. (Chris has made arrangements with his Mom to celebrate Mother's Day on Monday.)

Saturday afternoon I ended up at Rosedale's long-running May Fair while Chris was visiting a friend. Same as always; a bunch of small-scale carnival rides and "games of skill", long lines, excited kids. The weather was nice which isn't always the case at May Fair. As always I got dragged on to a scary ride by an overly-ambitious small child and we both ended up hanging on for dear life.

No modeling work this week, but I did have a job interview with a big telecommunications company. The interview took place in their "Level Four" data center. It would be nice to have a full-time I.T. job again! Fingers crossed.

My friend Brian has been really busy lately, so we didn't watch the last Formula One race in Bahrain together. He's working on the Air India Inquiry, which is very much in the news here in Canada. He actually made it onto the Wednesday night National News! The race was a Ferrari/McLaren show again with BMW hard on their heels. Lewis Hamilton finished second, making him the first driver to finish on the podium in his first three races (he's now finished on the podium in all four races). The race has also produced a three-way tie for first place in the driver's championship between last year's champion Fernando Alonso, previous champion Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton. The Bahrain track is hot and prone to sandy conditions, but the big environmental factor was gusting winds which made down force a bigger variable than usual.

Today Brian and I watched a partial recording of the Spanish Grand Prix. The race broadcast was bumped by the World Hockey Championships in Moscow. Canada won, of course... That broadcast also ran long, so our recording contained about 30 minutes of post-tournament footage. This meant that our recording stopped with 13 laps left to go. Humbug. We did share a nice Mother's Day dinner at the same time though. The race was pretty straight-forward on the track with most of the action coming from breakdowns or pit lane mishaps such as a flash fire(!) and a wheel nut flying off. By virtue of a second place finish Lewis Hamilton is now in sole possession of first place in the driver's championship. What an amazing debut.

My Dad has improved a bit from his stroke, but I understand that they now think his stoke was triggered by a brain tumor. Not good. He's been moved to a rehab hospital but I think they are planning to move him again to a palliative care facility.

Listening to: Soak Up the Sun by Sheryl Crow from C'mon, C'mon.

Dust and Memories

It's amazing how much dust can gather beneath and behind your furniture. It's all being revealed as I keep packing and shifting furniture. So are piles of Chris' old school work and drawings. My friend Adrian came over before dinner to help me move some heavy and unwanted furniture out of the house and into my parent's U-haul. The place is looking pretty spare and I kind of like it this way!

This week is Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children week, which I'd almost forgotten about in the confusing of preparing to sell my house and my father's stroke. I've signed up to help with the Sprockets School Programme sessions at the Canada Square theatre. I spent Monday morning meeting school groups coming up from the subway and helping them navigate through the shopping arcade to the theatre entrance. There were a few crazy moments when large groups arrived at the top of the escalator and... stopped and stood there blocking traffic.

Today I was in theatre 2 acting as an usher, which meant I got to see two films. An Italian film was first, Rosso Come il Cielo (Red Like The Sky). Beautifully told and the kids were really absorbed by it. Red Like The Sky is the story of a boy blinded in an accident and forced to board at an oppressive school for the blind. He discovers a tape recorder and begins secretly making sound "stories" that result it . The boy the character is based on has become one of Italy's top film sound designers and music producers! It was also an interesting illumination of "Foley artists", who create the natural sound effects heard in film.

After an hour spent organising impromptu lunchrooms for several of the school groups we had our second film (there were eight screens in operation today); the Belgian Gilles. Gilles is the story of a boy and his father who are consumed by soccer (err... football). When Gilles' father passes away suddenly Gilles' home life and football ambitions are thrown up in the air. Sensitively told, but pretty straightforward. Once again the kids were drawn into a story that they would never have picked themselves. I wonder if either film will every be screened commercially in North America. Probably not, which is a sad observation.

I'm flying out to Regina on Thursday at the crack of dawn. Time to start a different sort of packing. I'll be bringing along some newly-assembled childhood photo albums of my brother, sister and myself that my mother has created for her own enjoyment. She's loaned them to me to bring out to Regina to share with her ex.

Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech: not much I can really do except to shake my head at the senselessness of it and mourn the loss of innocent lives. I wish we could somehow erase all mention of the killer, I think in their crazed minds the news coverage is partially what motivates them.

Listening to: Say Hello by Deep Dish from George Is On.

The Shock of Recognition

My son was watching 30 Rock earlier this evening and something caught my eye. We "rewound" the TV (thank you, PVR) and watched the clip again. It was me! The footage was the "running in the rain" stuff I did for the University of Phoenix back in December. I thought it had been and gone, unseen.

My Dad appears to be stable after his stroke, which has affected the right side of his body (left side of his brain) causing at least partial paralysis and aphasia. My brother is out there now and reports that Dad is pretty demoralised and has been refusing to eat. I think I'll fly out early next week and spend a few days with him.

So what else is happening in the world? Apple announced today that their next big version of Mac OS X (version 10.5, a.k.a. Leopard) will not ship in June. Because of the simultaneous development of the much-anticipated iPhone Apple is pushing back the release of Leopard to October. This has caused a great wailing in the blogosphere and expressions of hatred of and resentment toward the iPhone from certain quarters... I can understand Apple's position though. Both the iPhone and the just-released Apple TV are running specialised versions of Mac OS X, which is actually a technical strength, but the three projects have been placing a strain on largely the same development teams. A cell phone that doesn't work reliably would be a disaster, so getting the iPhone completed and out on time has to take precedence. Too bad though, I've been itching to get my hands on Leopard.

Belinda Stronach announced today that she's leaving politics to return to an executive position at Magna, her father's corporation. She certainly stirred things up in her time, running for the Conservative leadership before even being elected and then switching to the Liberals, but I guess the nay-sayers will be saying "told you so."

Last item today was an errand with my friend Brian's wife. She asked me to come with her to Costco to help her buy and bring home a "fancy tool chest" for Brian's 50th birthday. Apparently Brian has been admiring this particular tool chest for years. I couldn't believe it when I saw it though. It's five feet tall with wheels and weights 400 lbs! Huge. People could live in it. I stood there stunned for a minute before I could grasp the fact that she thought the two of us could maneuver this thing into the back of a little Volvo station wagon, get it into their house and then get it down a spiral staircase into their basement... This thing was strapped to a pallet. Oy!

And that's the day that was.

Listening to: Living on Video by Trans-X from Living on Video.

"Nigger-brown"

"Nigger-brown" is the name of the colour of a sofa a black Toronto woman bought this week. Bit of fuss about it! Turns out the store and distributor had never closely examined the products they were bringing in from China. I wonder if the description, which was apparently once a ordinary colour label(!), was just another example of a translation mishap or had a meaner intent.

Edit: Sheryl tells me that "when she was little" Brazil nuts were sometimes called nigger toes! My God.

Chris and I are back from an Easter visit to my parents in Cobourg. It was a very full house, with two grandparents, four parents, one babysitter and five children. I presume Mom was happy to have all her chicks in the nest for the day. I'm still struggling with a terrible cold so I took a few time-outs to recuperate. I did manage to photograph our Easter Egg Hunt and devour my share of the Easter lunch.

Once I was back in town I dropped in on my friend Brian to watch the Malaysian Formula One race which had happened overnight. Ferrari and McLaren were at the front again, this time with Felipe Massa's Ferrari followed by Fernando Alonso's McLaren, Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton's McLaren. A poor start by Massa allowed both of the McLarens to get by the Ferraris, and although the Ferraris were faster they were never able to regain the lead, despite a valiant attempt by Kimi in the closing laps. The podium had the same occupants as in Australia, but the order was different: Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen instead of Raikkonen, Alonso, Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton is off to a roaring start to his rookie year in Formula One.

Listening to: Black Boys On Mopeds by Sinéad O'Connor from I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.

Not Tested on Animals

Just got off the phone with a friend who had some Mac questions he wanted to talk about. He'd also just discovered the hilarious video of Microsoft's "rethink" of the original iPod's packaging on YouTube. Worth a look.

He also told me about a cell phone call he'd got last weekend from his thirteen year-old daughter, who was away on a school exchange program with a nice family in Quebec. She'd broken out in huge rashes and was terrified. She's highly allergic and carries an EpiPen. It had never been fired in anger until this trip though. Paramedics have always arrived in time to give a conventional adrenaline needle! She and her new friend were coached through the task over the phone and a little while later the paramedics arrived to take her to the local hospital.

The source of the reaction appears to have been some Aveda shampoo, which is "not tested on animals". Note to Aveda: THERE'S A F*CKING GOOD REASON WHY THINGS ARE TESTED ON ANIMALS, RATHER THAN ON CUSTOMER'S DAUGHTERS. End of note.

In a similar vein I saw praise for Paris Hilton and Britney Spears on Saturday Night Live for their refusal to wear fur, even their own. Hats off to 'em.

Got another sort-of workout in today, this time at the gym. Think I'm finally getting over this flu! The gym scales tell me that I've lost three lbs. during this little episode.

Listening to: Phantom Limb by The Shins from Wincing the Night Away.

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.

The Man Who Loved Women

Whew! I spent the day helping my photographer friend Adrian on a photo shoot. He shoots fashion portraits of the student's work at the Yorkville School of Makeup and Esthetics. Adrian can't do any heavy lifting for a few days, so I was his muscle and driver for the day.

So many pretty young women! Last time I helped him there the students had created a whole bunch of theatrical looks, which resulted in lots of special effects like wounds and alien skins. Today it was all glamour.

Listening to: (Get a) Grip (On Yourself) by The Stranglers from Rattus Norvegicus.

Holy Cow!

As my regular readers might have divined, I have been trying to get work as a model recently since nothing else has been happening employment-wise. A professional photographer friend of mine has taken enough photos of me to create a portfolio, which I took to an agency this summer. They signed me on and have been sending me out to casting calls and "go sees" about once a week since then, with zero results.

Well, yesterday I got a result... Tomorrow I'm going to be on set for an American television commercial in which I will be "seen on camera"(edit: silent on camera) in the role of 'patient reassured by the approach of his doctor'.

I nearly fell of my chair when I got the (good) news. I had hoped to get a bit of print work for catalogs and such, but I have hated the casting calls because I feel awkward and tongue-tied on camera. But the first call I had was for a commercial, and I was put on hold for the part. I think my agency got the idea that I "must be a natural" and have been pushing me into acting, including minor speaking parts. Frankly there's no way I'll get those parts, for the above reasons. Maybe with a year of acting lessons, but that is not on the cards.

Still, it's money in hand...

Listening to: In View by The Tragically Hip from World Container.

Will work for food

A busy day today starting downtown with a casting call in the morning. Didn't get it. (Surprise!)

Next I cycled over to the pool for my first swim workout in six weeks. With the triathlon season over and my local pool closed for maintenance I've chosen to focus on running lately and also hoped to recover from a mild case of swimmer's shoulder. I'm not sure about the shoulder yet, but it felt good to be back in the pool.

Then it was back downtown to make another platelet donation, keeping a weather eye on the sky as I was still on my bike and it had rained in the morning. While donating (it takes two hours) I watched the new Pink Panther film. Six word review: dumb but with a few chuckles. Want more details? I love Emily Mortimer. Too bad she was barely on screen...

At the end of it all I fixed some minor problems on a elderly friend's Mac in "exchange" for a seat at their dinner table. She's my friend Brian's mother-in-law and a very interesting lady. Her husband always wants to chat about his WWII experiences as an officer aboard corvettes in the Canadian Navy, so tonight I told him an anecdote I had just heard about a sailor on the HMCS Haida: Back in the Sixties his crew mates sent him running down to their quarters one morning to rouse a missing sailor. The reason the sailor wasn't on deck (which the crew mates knew)? He'd died in the night, but his corpse still lay in his bunk. What a macabre joke!

Brian's family joined us for dinner, but not Brian. He was hosting a catered company dinner at their home, his family was hiding out at granny's place.

Listening to: Fixing a Hole by The Beatles from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

In a Meaford State of Mind

I got back from Meaford this afternoon. We had a pretty wet and "rustic" weekend, but the weather co-operated enough for us to visit Sauble Beach. Adrian thought we could get some good shots for my modeling portfolio with the storm waves in the background. We got exactly enough 'good' weather to accomplish that. As the designated photographer's victim I didn't get much of a chance to take photos myself. I did manage to get a nice series this morning around the farm and beaver pond when the sun finally came out for a few hours before we left.

I enjoyed driving around with Adrian, we took interesting side roads all the way up and listened to Verve Remixed on my iPod. We traveled along Airport Road all the way to Georgian Bay instead of thundering up Highway 400, and crossed some steep but rolling hills. I kept thinking that I'd love to try them on my bike someday.

We stayed with Adrian's friend Roger, who was at his parent's farm/cottage tinkering with the rusty old cars he's hauled there, including a recently acquired 1948 GMC fire engine. Roger actually lives in San Diego, so this is a pretty optimistic activity... The farm is definitely isolated, and with few supplies and no running water due to a dry well we might as well have been camping. Sheryl had a good laugh this afternoon when I told her about the conditions, but I did get through a good chunk of Margaret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake.

The woods were pretty close in on all sides of the farm so there was no view to speak of. The sky did finally clear at about midnight though, so I was able to enjoy my favourite cottage activity; staring into the starry abyss. I hate to say it, but I'm really going to miss the family cottage. It was the perfect place to soothe the soul...

Listening to: Peter Gunn (Max Sedgley Remix) by Max Sedgley and Sarah Vaughan from Verve Remixed 3.

More Turkey

Funnily enough after spotting a flock of wild turkeys on my Saturday ride, I watched the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday morning with my friend Brian. We've missed the last few races because of technical glitches with our PVRs and conflicting family schedules. The Istanbul track provided a great race to "restart" with. The course was build just last year and it's well designed for today's faster cars. Lots of great racing - and passing - all the way through the field.

It was a Ferrari front row at the start, with Felipe Massa managing to out-qualify his superstar teammate Michael Schumacher. Renault fill the second row, with point-leader Fernando Alonso ahead of his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. Track temperature was an amazing 50C. The first corner was more eventful than usual as Fisichella spun out while running fourth so the 18 cars behind him needed to make a lot of quick decisions, not all of them good. My favourite driver, Kimi Raikkonen, started eighth and came out the worst when he was bumped from behind. After a pit stop to change a shredded rear tire he drove straight into a wall!

Another spin out on lap 14 at a dangerous point in the track brought the safety car onto the track briefly. All the front runners took advantage of the slowdown to dive in for fuel. Unfortunately Schumacher had to wait about fifteen seconds behind his teammate to be refueled. Alonso had no impediment and was able to jump ahead to claim second place and effectively stay there for the rest of the race. This enabled him to stretch his shrinking lead over Schumacher from ten points to twelve. Schumacher made a nail-biting attempt to get past though, as Alonso's tires were blistering badly in the heat. The last fifteen laps he was all over Alonso's rear wing in the slow stretches where tires were a bigger factor. Filipe Massa stayed comfortably in front the whole way and was a very emotional first-time winner.

Oh, I forgot to mention a few posts ago that I finally saw Transamerica. Felicity Huffman gave an absolutely amazing performance. Some great writing too. I guess you'd have to call it a road movie, but what a trip! Or should I say journey... Felicity's character is an unhappy man in the final stages of a gender change when he discovers, and has to come to terms with, the fact that he is the father of a troubled teenage boy.

Listening to: Say Hello by Deep Dish from George Is On.

The Kindness of Strangers

Today, without warning, a wildcat transit strike left 700,000 Torontonians to find their own way home. In the middle of our first smog alert/heat wave too! The temperature hit 34 degrees this afternoon. That's 94 in American.

I spent a sweaty afternoon voluntarily riding around town, which in retrospect isn't so smart when there's a smog alert. At the end of the day I met my photographer friend Adrian, who wanted to take some more photos for the portfolio he's building for me. I was wearing a business suit and tie in the still-hot sun, coyly holding my cell phone and sweating almost as fast as I could dab it away.

After a couple of thirst quenching beers in The Distillery District followed by a quick Vietnamese dinner I drove home to walk Barkley. Being an honourable canine he has so far left my floors un-blemished, but a dog has needs...

So why were pedestrians waving at me as I drove by? Oh yeah - 8:30 PM and office workers were still trudging home in the heat! As soon as I realised that their hopeful gestures weren't a recognition of my impending stardom I stopped and filled my car with hot, tired huddled masses and drove them as far north as I could.

Listening to: Lonely in Your Nightmare by Duran Duran from Rio.