Clearly the place to Vent.

Teresa Teng sung by a boy?

2011-09-06T00:24:00.001-06:00

http://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XMjY1NjUxODA0/v.swf

I thought this 19 yo kid was lipsyncing, but no, he really has that voice.

From CCNGO:

"China’s Got Talent" always seems to have a gender-bending performance or two, but none so far have won so many hearts as 19-year-old waiter Wu Yongqing.

As an ode to his late mother, Wu sings Teng’s “Thousands of Words” ("千言万语") on the show, leaving the professional Teresa impersonators in the dust -- and not a dry eye in the house.

Here is the original Teresa Teng:

Betty White, 88 years old, SNL, no Golden Girls skit.

2010-05-12T07:03:00.000-06:00

No Golden Girls skit, but Betty White made SNL absolutely fantastic.

You know what else is priceless? Betty White saying "balls"

Thank you facebook

Golden Girls theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctWhy06DKT4

Real talent on YouTube?!

2010-04-12T05:27:00.001-06:00

I know I have been a bit occupied with my other blog lately, mostly because I have nothing much to say on this one. However, today is different. I do have something to talk about. People who sing covers and post their videos on YouTube. Talk about raw talent. There are some people who really shouldn't sing but hey kudos to them for putting themselves out there. On the other hand, there is some impressive stuff. People who should be contestants on American Idol, or other singing reality shows opposed to the selection of mediocrity that invades our TV screens once a week (Not all are horrid but most).

I don't usually follow these singing talent shows (Rock Star Supernova or America's got talent not included), I think I would if they would have someone like Kat Badar competing on it.

Who is Kat Badar? Just a fantastic singer that I found on YouTube. How I ran upon her youtube clips was pretty random: I was searching for the Spice Girl's "Say you'll be there", one of the hits was a cover of "Say you'll be there" by another talented singer Keisha Lee, from that clip, a related video was a cover of "I want you back- Michael Jackson" by Kat(Kathleen) Badar. Now I am hooked. Her voice is amazing and unique. But don't take my word for it, check out the clips below and see what you think.
Many of the comments from others say the same thing "YOU SHOULD BE ON AMERICAN IDOL"
And funny connection, on one of the clips there is current Idol contestant Andrew Garcia.

Can't take my eyes off of you

A cover of Taylor Swift's You Belong with me

Halo (note Andrew Garcia)

Chasing Pavement (Andrew and Kat singing)

Another MJ cover- Always. Also a duet.

Touch my body- A spontaneous performance in a Yogurt shop so the sound has an echo but still, that voice is just amazing and hitting all the notes perfectly.

I want you back

Before Ally Mcbeal, there was The Wonder Years

2010-03-31T00:41:00.011-06:00

Kevin Arnold (played by Fred Savage) is just like Ally Mcbeal, only this neurotic soul belongs in a kid growing up in 1968 suburban America. Over 6 Seasons you get to watch 12 year old Kevin grow up and engage us with clips of his fantasy world, while being narrated by an 'older' self.

I like this show because it shows us what life looked like in the late 60s early 70s. The humour is almost mortifying at times, and the relationship between Kevin and Winnie just makes you go 'aww' each time.

I am re watching episodes because it's been a long time since I've seen the show. Let's note the stars of today who have guest starred on this show.

- John Corbett from SATC and My big fat greek wedding guest starred as a hippie dating Kevin's sister
- Breckin Meyer from Clueless, Garfield, as one of Kevin's classmates that cheats off his paper.
- Juliette Lewis played Wayne's girlfriend.
- Kelly Packard, one of Kevin's crushes.
- Dustin Diamond, another one of Kevin's classmates.
- David Schwimmer, Karen's boyfriend.
- Alicia Silverstone, Kevin's date in the road test episode
- James Caviezel, Star of the basketball team who's on first name basis with Kevin
- Seth Green, the kid that was trying to get Kevin to join their popular group.

Another similarity to Ally Mcbeal... the music! Not in general but a few songs so far:

- I wish I had a river by Joni Mitchell

- Will you still love me tomorrow by The Shirelles

- It's not unusual- Tom Jones
- Someday we'll be together- Diana Ross & the Supremes
- Respect- Aretha Franklin

Season 3 episode 8, this episode dealt with Kevin getting a zit. I believe Ally Mcbeal had an episode where she had a zit right before a date and used some strange measures to get rid of it.

Random photos on my computer.

2010-03-29T09:27:00.000-06:00

Please let me take this little pup home! So cute!

Sophia and Dorothy as Sonny and Cher for the Mother Daughter contest at Shady Pines.

Miss Vida Boheme as played by Patrick Swayze (RIP)

Real life Russell

Mario Sushi

Can't you hear Mammy saying "Oh you better come back here Miss Scarlett!"

Carmen at The Met.

It's sorta like I forget about other things in this picture.

Betty White as Santa!

"I'm your #1 Fan!" Stewie and Brian recreate Kathy Bates and James Caan in Misery.

Lobby of the Jack Singer.

Elizabeth Mitchell in V

Metaknight bento

Glitch-bob (newly merged)

Live action Sailor Moon: She realizes Tuxedo Kamen is Mamoru

Wade Duck

Oscar under the recession. Notable.

2010-03-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

This year's broadcast was a bit boring and not well researched. The red carpet pre show was unexciting and a bit awkward with these strange staffers from ET. Kathy Ireland, not strange, but strange to see her interviewing stars. The editor of Entertainment Weekly? Okay dot dot dot... I see that Canada did not send Ben Mulroney (not a huge loss). Not once did they talk to James Cameron or Kathryn Bigelow. Or maybe they didn't want to talk to them. No idea. Just disappointing.
My predictions in a previous post.

The show started with Neil Patrick Harris doing a showstopper number classic Hollywood style, that also introduced the two co hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.

I think overall they did a great job. Steve Martin always makes me laugh. I enjoyed the stare down between Alec Baldwin and George Clooney. The digs at Meryl Streep were also enjoyable. That's right being nominated so many times makes you a big loser.

The show seemed quite short and lacking a lot of substance. They took out the song performances, displayed a mediocre In Memoriam, and did a tribute to "horror films". And I'm sorry, was there no lifetime achievement award given out this year? Did I miss that? Okay hang on, while I'm writing this I am also googling. They handed out 3 honorary Oscars. I did see this part, but they handed them out at a seperate ceremony to 3 people. Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman and Gordon Willis.
I would have loved to see Lauren Bacall receive her honorary Oscar, with some moving tribute film collage. Instead the 3 stood up from their seats and received a standing ovation.
Why oh why does the show spend time honouring John Hughes more than this classic screen Legend WHO IS STILL ALIVE! Not many of them are still alive and kicking.

Speaking of the 80s tribute. John Hughes was also responsible for Baby's day out! I recently watched "Some kind of wonderful" (due to the reference from He's just not that into you). What a terrible 80s flick. Yet it was amusing to watch actors like Eric Stolz and Mary Stewart Masterson in it. Of the classic John Hughes flims: Pretty in Pink, Breakfast club, Some kind of wonderful, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's day off, Home Alone, Uncle Buck. I'd have to say the ending of Sixteen Candles is the most enjoyable.

Tribute to horror films. Thank you for producing a montage that would have once given me nightmares. Now it just creeps me out temporarily. Here are the horrific films that made my stomach churn: Chucky, almost any scene from The Shining, music from Psycho "shower scene", music from The Exorcist, and the blood scene from Carrie. Awful. I'm just glad they didn't add Gremlins to the mix.

MEDIOCRE MEMORIAM. NO FARRAH FAWCETT NO BEA ARTHUR??? They even forgot to put John Hughes on there even though they did a long tribute for him.

IN MEMORIAM

What I did like:
- Neil Patrick Harris, opening number
- Steve Martin Alec Baldwin banter
- Ben Stiller.
- Intro and segue music. Carey Mulligan and Zoey Saldana made a comment about living up to the intro music "Thank heavens for little girls" from Gigi.
- Not having to sit through the song from Crazy heart.

To my surprise The Hurt Locker swept up many Oscars. Actually I'm not surprised it racked up all the awards, but I honestly thought Avatar was going to be the one doing the sweeping. I am quite pleased that Kathryn Bigelow is the first female to win in the best directing category.
I agree The Hurt Locker deserves best picture, however, not against Avatar. Many will disagree with me, but that is just how I feel. If Avatar was not in the mix, I would say of course Hurt Locker would win. The 10 nominations for best picture seemed quite pointless, especially when it was basically Hurt Locker vs Avatar.

I've cut and pasted my predictions from my last posting except with the 'Winner' labeled.
10 right! 11 if you include the one I was on the fence about ( original screenplay )
2 I did not vote on.

Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” WINNER
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”- Haven't seen this but I doubt they are going to award him.
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”- I've heard good things about this film, but Jeff Bridges seems more popular.
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker” - I hope Jeremy Renner wins, but he will probably lose out to Jeff Bridges. I think the Golden Globes are

Actor in a Supporting Role

Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds” I really enjoyed him in this movie, again I think the Golden Globes predict this. WINNER

Actress in a Leading Role

Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”- I feel like it's Sandra Bullock's year. WINNER
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”- She won for The Queen I don't think it's happening this year
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”- Could be a surprise, but I know nothing about this movie.
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”- Like many underdogs, a nom not a win. (Whale Rider- Keisha-Castle Hughes 2002)
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”- I would love Meryl Streep to win. LOVE her to win. But it's traditional for Meryl Streep to be nominated only. Except for those two occasions (Kramer vs Kramer, Sophie's Choice)

Actress in a Supporting Role

Penélope Cruz in “Nine”- Could possibly be competition for Mo'Nique
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” WINNER

Animated Feature Film

“Coraline” Henry Selick
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
“The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
“The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
“Up” Pete Docter- No question. Pixar wins. WINNER

Art Direction

“Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair WINNER
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
“Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
“Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography

“Avatar” Mauro Fiore WINNER
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
“The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
“Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
“The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Costume Design

“Bright Star” Janet Patterson
“Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
“Nine” Colleen Atwood ( I know nothing of costume design but the name sounds familiar)
“The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell WINNER

Directing

“Avatar” James Cameron- Undoubtedly Avatar's year. Also James Cameron's year.
“The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow- James Cameron's ex wife. Would have loved her to win, but I don't think it's happening.WINNER I'm glad I was wrong!
“Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Documentary (Feature)

“Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Cove” Nominees to be determined WINNER
“Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein- random guessing.
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)

“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
“Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett WINNER
“Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing

“Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
“District 9” Julian Clarke
“The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis WINNER
“Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film

“Ajami” Israel
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina WINNER
“The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
“Un Prophète” France
“The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup

“Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
“Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow WINNER
“The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)

“Avatar” James Horner
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
“Up” Michael Giacchino WINNER

Music (Original Song)

“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas- This should win, it's a good song. The power of youtube.
“Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett WINNER

Best Picture- Even though there are more nominations, does not change the outcome. Avatar VS The Hurt Locker

“Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
“District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers (Seriously best picture??)
“An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
“The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined WINNER
“Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
“A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
“Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer (Not against Avatar. Maybe a different year.)
“Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

“French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
“Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin WINNER
“A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)

“The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
“Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
“Kavi” Gregg Helvey
“Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
“The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson WINNER

Sound Editing

“Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson WINNER
“Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
“Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
“Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing

“Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett WINNER
“Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
“Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects

“Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones WINNER
“District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
“Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

“District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
“An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher WINNER
“Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)

“The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal WINNER
“Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
“The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
“A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

Oscar nominations are in, and here are my predictions.

2010-02-02T19:48:00.001-07:00

Check out the official website

Alright here we go: (I've seen some of nominated films but not all)

By the way. I dislike the increase in nominations for best picture.

Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”- Haven't seen this but I doubt they are going to award him.
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”- I've heard good things about this film, but Jeff Bridges seems more popular.
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker” - I hope Jeremy Renner wins, but he will probably lose out to Jeff Bridges. I think the Golden Globes are

Actor in a Supporting Role

Matt Damon in “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds” I really enjoyed him in this movie, again I think the Golden Globes predict this.

Actress in a Leading Role

Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”- I feel like it's Sandra Bullock's year.
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”- She won for The Queen I don't think it's happening this year
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”- Could be a surprise, but I know nothing about this movie.
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”- Like many underdogs, a nom not a win. (Whale Rider- Keisha-Castle Hughes 2002)
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”- I would love Meryl Streep to win. LOVE her to win. But it's traditional for Meryl Streep to be nominated only. Except for those two occasions (Kramer vs Kramer, Sophie's Choice)

Actress in a Supporting Role

Penélope Cruz in “Nine”- Could possibly be competition for Mo'Nique
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film

“Coraline” Henry Selick
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
“The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
“The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
“Up” Pete Docter- No question. Pixar wins.

Art Direction

“Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
“Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
“Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography

“Avatar” Mauro Fiore
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
“The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
“Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
“The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Costume Design

“Bright Star” Janet Patterson
“Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
“Nine” Colleen Atwood ( I know nothing of costume design but the name sounds familiar)
“The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Directing

“Avatar” James Cameron- Undoubtedly Avatar's year. Also James Cameron's year.
“The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow- James Cameron's ex wife. Would have loved her to win, but I don't think it's happening.
“Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Documentary (Feature)

“Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Cove” Nominees to be determined
“Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein- random guessing.
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)

“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
“Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
“Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing

“Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
“District 9” Julian Clarke
“The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
“Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film

“Ajami” Israel
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
“The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
“Un Prophète” France
“The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup

“Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
“Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
“The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)

“Avatar” James Horner
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
“Up” Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)

“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas- This should win, it's a good song. The power of youtube.
“Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best Picture- Even though there are more nominations, does not change the outcome.

“Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
“District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers (Seriously best picture??)
“An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
“The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
“Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
“A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
“Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer (Not against Avatar. Maybe a different year.)
“Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

“French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
“Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
“A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)

“The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
“Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
“Kavi” Gregg Helvey
“Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
“The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing

“Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
“Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
“Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
“Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing

“Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
“Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
“Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects

“Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
“District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
“Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

“District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
“An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
“Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)

“The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
“Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
“The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
“A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

My current playlist

2010-01-26T00:14:00.005-07:00

I haven't updated my ipod playlists for a long time so I figured it's about time, and this seems to be what I am in the mood for.

- Judy Garland- The man that got away (The best song ever performed by Judy Garland, A star is born is only worth watching for this piece)

- Un bel di Vedremo- Madama Butterfly- Puccini (It's just so sad...poor naive Cio Cio San. This aria fills me with tears)

- Connie Francis- Who's sorry now (Reminds me a bit of old cereal commercials)

- The Carpenters: The end of the world (Watch: Girl, Interrupted)

- ABBA- The winner takes it all

- Roy Orbison- Crying (There may be a bit of an Ally Mcbeal theme, but I prefer the original version)

- Tammy Wynette- Till I can make it on my own
- Tammy Wynette- Till I get it right
- The Shirelles- Foolish little girl

- Celine Dion- All by myself
- Gilbert O'Sullivan- Alone again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rmt-u1lTG0
- Al Green- How can you mend a broken heart (Continuing with the Ally Mcbeal soundtrack...another tear jerker)

- Barcarolle- Les Contes d'Hoffmann- Offenbach (The lyrics don't matter, the music is just beautiful)

Tragedy: Carmen? Not so sad when a slut dies. Sayonara.

2010-01-20T03:32:00.007-07:00

My title does not accurately depict what I am going to talk about, but oh well, maybe 'slut' caught your eye.

First of all, I am a bit annoyed that for the second time, I did not get my tickets early enough for Saturday morning Live at the Met and Chinook was sold out... Crowfoot was the alternative and it worked out alright, had to sit close to the front, however there is an advantage of sitting close to the front. You can see the subtitles a little more clearly.
As always, I enjoy eating junk food while watching tenors and sopranos exercise their voices :)

Carmen, comedy or tragedy? Yes it's a tragedy, but not the type I would shed any tears for. Not like Cio Cio San plunging her father's knife into herself. Carmen got what she deserved. She spends a lot of time playing Don Jose, then when Escamillo comes along , it becomes 'Don who?'
The man went to jail for you! Was it 2 years? I can't remember. Tra-la-la-la-la-la throw a rose in your face. I think Don Jose was just in killing her.

I think what I like the most about this opera is that the music has been in popular culture. Everyone has been exposed to it though unaware. I thought it might have been just the 2 songs, Habanera and the Toreador song, but there's a lot more that I am familiar with from my childhood (Thank you Sesame Street-no need to traumatize anyone with the singing orange).

There are so many scenes that made me laugh. Mostly the teasing by Carmen. My favourite was at the end of the Toreador song when she caught the eye of Escamillo by saying one word 'L'amour'. Hilarious. I take that back. More 'La la la' tormenting Don Jose when he gets out of jail is the equivalent of a lap dance today.

I thought it got a bit slow when they were in the mountains smuggling goods. [Not as slow as watching Cio Cio San, the maid and the son were sitting there waiting for Pinkerton.]

I am impressed with the little kids singing: a) they must be under 12 years old b) they are singing in French c) they are in a production at The Met d) There are many many kids, direction must not have been easy.

Enough of this slut, now on to another lovely topic. Interracial couples post WWII.

Though they are the leading characters, the Academy awards recognized Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki! For those of you who don't recall Miyoshi Umeki was also in Flower Drum Song. What an odd pair of actors to bring together, yet in the movie they are like two peas in a pod.

I really like this movie. It's very unconventional the way Gruver and Hana-ogi fall for each other. I'm not going to post any spoilers here because I want you to watch this film!
It's a sweet, sad, touching story of overcoming adversity. Don't be naive. It still exists in 2010, we just don't hear as much about it. And we don't prevent different races from entering establishments.
Ricardo Montalban is also in this picture. As an Asian. Yes it's odd. Almost as bad as Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

I said almost. Ricardo Montalban's character actually speaks fluent English.

I just have one thought. Pay attention to how Gruver meets Hana-ogi. If this is the formula to fall in love, then we should all try it out! (kidding)
This is an amazing movie... Did I mention that Irving Berlin wrote the title song?

A visit home.

2009-12-31T14:50:00.003-07:00

One of my favourite things to do when I was little was watch "Star Search"- hosted by Ed Mcmahon, and bake pilsbury chocolate chip cookies.
My recent trip back to Lethbridge had fortuitous timing. No, Star Search was not on, no chocolate chip cookies. Instead, I am sipping tea and watching the Kennedy Center Honors 2009 with my family. What makes this especially fantastic is that all of us only cared about on of the recipients: Mel Brooks.
I was impressed that 'bad perm fellow' from Glee (Matthew Morrison) sang in Springtime for Hitler. Matthew Broderick did a fantastic tribute to Mel Brooks using "Till him".
My favourite moment was when Mel Brooks pulled out a black comb and did a Hitler salute.
My dad pointed out that Mel Brooks was married to Anne Bancroft. Wow was I surprised to hear that. Seriously. Mel Brooks and Mrs. Robinson. That's pretty hilarious.

My favourite Mel Brooks films are: The Producers, Spaceballs, Young Frankenstein, and High Anxiety (I need to find this one, I remember it parodied Alfred Hitchcock's most famous movies).

Bed bed I couldn't go to bed, not for all the jewels in the crown: Why I love Glee!

2009-10-26T01:44:00.003-06:00

Was Emma channeling Go-lightly here?

But in white.

Nothing compared to Audrey Hepburn, however it really impressed me.
Excellent song choice, though I really would have been even more impressed if they could mash up "I could have danced all night" with "The thong song".

Overture. Curtains. Lights. On with the show this is it!

2009-10-14T19:18:00.003-06:00

I have to say that Bugs Bunny on Broadway was almost as good as seeing Victor/Victoria at dinner theatre. I'd like to think that this is the way Looney Tunes cartoons are meant to be seen. On a big screen with a live orchestra. The conductor was absolutely fabulous. He was a wealth of information! I think that some poor kids out there on a Friday night were bored by his talks in between shorts, but it kept be thoroughly entertained. Did you know that they dug out the original slide guitar from the 1930s to use on tour? It doesn't compare to the $4.3M violin on loan, but it's the same one that they used for the cartoon! I learned all about the click-track, and how they use it for film and tv now.

The Jack Singer is pretty amazing, not as bright as the Winspear but it's still amazing. I really should attend more CPO events eh? I wish that the LOTR symphony took place at Jack Singer rather than the Jubilee.

I took a few photos inside the lobby. Pretty fab eh?
I also got myself a t-shirt!

Rocky Rocky Rah Rah Rah!

2009-09-09T06:42:00.005-06:00

After 4 years of attempting to go to the audience participation Rocky Horror Picture show, finally the day has come(and gone)!

This time I made sure to get my tickets well in advance and to get to the theatre early.

Some notes to the Rocky virgins who plan to attend:

- Dress up. Or if you don't dress up, wear black and or leather, you'll definitely fit in with the crowd if you are in costume. There were some good costumes, I should have taken a pic of the guy that went as Floor show Brad, he did a really good job. And the one on stage as Columbia was also impressive. One short Asian girl dressed up as Rocky. It was hilarious. Imagine a sumo costume but with gold shorts and a blonde wig. Too funny.

- Bring/buy props. It's a bit annoying when things are being thrown at you, but if you get to throw with the crowd then it's a lot more fun.

- Study the AP script. This is something that I had not anticipated whatsoever. Then I found this lovely website with a few links to the AP lines that you can use. I think every show and theatre do different things so just see what lines you would be more comfortable shouting out.

- Know the lyrics and the steps to the Time warp. They do show subtitles for the sing-a-long but you've got everyone dancing and reenacting on stage, you won't be able to see it, and come on it's Rocky, Don't dream it, be it. The Time warp dance was one of my favourite parts, so make sure that you are actually close to the aisle so you can timewarp in the aisles. It is difficult to jump to the left, then step to the right.

- Be aware that you won't be hearing the movie but other people belting out their own lines or AP script. Just look at the AP script so you can see what I am talking about.
Janet= Slut Brad = Asshole/ My favourite AP line at this particular show was when Magenta was mopping the floor (after the Janet/Frank scene) and this one guy started singing "I'm so glad we had this time together". Whoever added that line seriously kicks ass! If you don't know where that is from. Click here.

- Don't take your kids to this. Why would some parents let their kids go out after midnight esp to see RHPS, I mean young kids probably still in elementary school. It's a bit mature, I don't mean the movie, I mean the audience comments: "Group sex, group sex, group sex" " Sit on his face and wiggle" The movie and the AP version are two completely different things. Let the younger kids stay home and watch it, preferably before midnight.

Okay random thought for this post:

Here are 2 things that I am happy that I will never have to go through again:
a) going through a drivers test
b) pulling/losing teeth

“The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook”

2009-09-01T23:50:00.002-06:00

That's what she said!
And when I say 'she' I mean I am quoting Julia Child. I just got back from seeing that fabulous little film Julie & Julia. Meryl Streep does a better Julia than Julia! I agree with some comments like it would have been nice to see more Julia than Julie. Meryl Streep really does steal the screen with this one. I love how they made her tower over everyone and honestly this movie really makes you 'LoL' (I know I was).

I haven't tried french food yet, but I am now inspired to make Boeuf Bourguignon!
Julie Andrews as Victoria Grant once said " The boeuf bourguignon was just a little tough "
Well I am going to make sure that mine turns out tender and delicious.
Was Julia Child on PBS? I kind of remember her having a show on PBS.

Anyhoo, this is the real Julia Child. Go and see this movie if you haven't already!

Julia Child's view on McDonald's, Those damn nutritionists!:

My new favourite website, now talk about ranting!

2009-07-08T10:20:00.003-06:00

All I gotta say is, I AGREE!

I am Paralyzed... by Roxanne Potvin

2009-06-24T22:22:00.000-06:00

On this lovely Tuesday night at the Wildrose Brewery, I got to see an amazing (sold out) show, starring the lovely Roxanne Potvin.
I normally detest blues, but she makes it work through a more pop/indie feel. Most of her songs are original and fantastic. You can't say that about a lot of artists nowadays.
This 23 year old phenom from Gatineau she has come out with 2 albums (CD's were sold out right after the show- yet I got mine! The other on itunes). I highly recommend supporting this Canadian artist. Her voice is just amazing. She did not perform any of her french songs, but that is worth checking out. She started with "Iron and Solder" which really got the crowd going, and of course my favourites that she performed were "The Real Truth", "Who's the enemy?" and "Paralyzed". I was also amazed that she was able to get the entire drunken room clapping on the beat to "Laws of Nature" (And she actually uses the tambourine!).

[I'm amused that I end up going to a blues concert at a jazz festival. I love it!]

My brief thought on Twilight and Calgary Comicbook Expo

2009-05-01T22:27:00.007-06:00

I really don't feel the need to rant as much as I would like, so please refer to the following links:

Almost as much as I hate Gerard Butler's nipples

Wednesday Book Club

Now, as for the movie. Yes I went and watched the movie. I needed to compare. I feel like the movie actually came first and the book was written from the movie. I can't say it was good, but I did not dislike the movie as much as I hate the book. Edward's yogi bear feet, and Bella's stupidity was more amusing than annoying. Yes they did make him shine like diamonds in the sunlight. Actually it reminded me of the pixels when glitch and Bob became Glitchbob.

On a completely different note. CALGARY COMIC BOOK EXPO WAS AWESOME!
I stalked Admiral Adama. Well I stalked Edward James Olmos, and had to sneak in photos because the volunteer was not letting me take photos unless if I got int he $50 line.
Though I did not have to sneak photos during the Ed the Sock show! Yes, Ed the sock still exists!

Here I am with co-creator Gavin Blair of ReBoot, and artist Jim Su, who worked on the 4th Season of ReBoot.

R2D2 also ran over my foot.

I raise my spoonful of cheesecake to the late Bea Arthur: Thank you for being our friend!

2009-04-26T01:24:00.007-06:00

April 25, 2009

A very crappy crappy day.

1) I watched Philly get eliminated from the playoffs by Pittsburgh. After they were leading by 3 goals! And that dick Sidney Crosby scored on an empty net.

2) It started to snow... again. And it's cold.

and finally the biggest disappointment and which had me in hysterics:

3) Bea Arthur passed away.

- So thanks to Liz Feldman's status on facebook "Rest in Beace" I nearly had a heart attack. I quickly went to yahoo.com entertainment page and there it was, only 49min ago they had announced Bea Arthur had passed away. Apparently she had cancer and peacefully passed away in her home in California, surrounded by family.

I think the last time I was this saddened was when they announced the death of Princess Diana, and when Geri Halliwell left the Spice Girls.
This time this feels more like a knife to the gut. I don't feel good, even though she lived to a ripe old age of 86, she was still doing interviews, and basically still 'in the business'.

I have admired Bea Arthur since I first saw her on the Golden Girls as Dorothy Zbornak. She made the show. The spin off series The Golden Palace did not survive because Bea was not starring in it, the same reason why the Golden girls series ended, because of Bea.

I later found out that Bea had her own series "Maude" which was one of those ground breaking series that dealt with issues such as abortion. Maude was actually a charcter from All in the Family (Archie Bunker's cousin, the antithesis of Maude). Everyone should recall the theme song to Maude, they paid tribute to it on Family Guy as well.

The actual Maude theme:

By the way, Bea Arthur did NOT like cheesecake.
Bridget Mcmanus had said that she was influenced to become a vegetarian when she saw an advertisement that Bea Arthur did with PETA.

I recently found a Sex and the City parody that Bea did with some other famous 80s tv actresses. Yes she's still got it!

Bea also had a show on Broadway "Just between friends". Oh how I would have loved to see that.
Here is a clip of her singing as Dorothy:

I would like to think that she is partying it up with Estelle Getty in heaven.

So a last adieu:

Thank you Bea for being our friend!

Updated: Why the hell are we living up to the Canadian stereotype?

2009-04-25T17:00:00.000-06:00

I've made another addition to this blog post because the weather again sucks.
I've noticed that almost every week I have changed my fb status as "I HATE SNOW". It is March. Why the hell are we still getting a) snow and b) 5cm of it???
Yesterday I finally was able to drive on the actual road, as in tire to cement, the ice on the road finally melted, now today it's tire, snow, cement. I feel sick.

April 25- rain... nope now SNOW (Pellets) according to theweathernetwork.com
April 22- SNOW
March 27- SNOW
March 22-26- Warming up, sunny
March 21- SNOW up to your ass, otherwise 15-30cm? - My car can't make it out of downtown or up the hill
March 8- Snow that looks to be about 5 cm
March 6, 7- Sunny
March 5- SNOW
Feb 25- March 4- no snow
Feb 24- Day 3 of no water, finally turned back on by the afternooon.
Feb 23- SNOW, and Day 2 of no water
Feb 22- No snow, but ice that has been on the road for ages, Day 1 the city of Calgary shut off our water supply (a pipe leak)
Feb 10- SNOW

I'm not sure what occurred before Feb 10, but I'm sure snow fell before then.

I wish I could be in Palm Springs right now...

An educational clip

2009-04-24T08:22:00.000-06:00

Opprobrium part 2...

2009-04-24T01:55:00.006-06:00

If we keep being accused of NOT doing something, I will continue to publish these notes.

I really could care less about the T#3, I mean we used to have to count it in Lethbridge, so that isn't my concern. My concern is with the 'gentle' reminder about calibrating the glucometers. I don't know what prompted this. But this is my interpretation of this message:

"Night staff have not been calibrating the glucomters"

point a) Where is your proof?

point b) If there was concern, the lab usually audits glucometers.

point c) When they audit the glucometers the machine is plugged into another machine which will take the history: i.e. ID numbers and times when each "Quality control" or "Calibration" test is performed.

point d) If you want to accuse us of NOT performing our jobs, say it directly and provide us some proof of these accusations.

I really hate getting notes. Even though this one was not directed at me.

I admit the concert has brought out obsession

2009-04-17T16:59:00.000-06:00

This month's disciplinary actions are entertaining

2009-03-12T08:19:00.002-06:00

For those of you who haven't seen this yet, 1565... One might question what the street value of Percocets are going for. As for the crazy mouth, I really wish they had published their name.

I made a donation because I can't be in Palm Springs

2009-03-12T03:47:00.002-06:00

I am again stuck in the dilemma where no one wants to travel where I want to travel. Or no one can afford to travel where I want to travel.
It saddens me to say that I will not be going to Palm Springs in April, where all the fun is at...
I got a bit depressed when I saw the flights on Westjet as SOLD OUT... Oh yes, I know where everyone in Vancouver is going there.

So instead of getting my gear ready for the annual golf tournament, I gave to my favourite webseries instead.

Encore! Encore! Now Cineplex understands

2009-03-12T03:19:00.001-06:00

Recently I vented about my ordeal in getting into see Madama Butterfly at the Westhills and also sitting 4 rows from the front.

To my surprise Cineplex has posted an Encore presentation of the beloved Butterfly in April! This time at 3 different theatres.
And guess what? I can't go because I am working that day.

Oh well. I have seen it once, it's alright. At least they know now to book more than 2 theatres for these Saturday morning at the movies/opera.

My 1 hour ordeal to get to Madama Butterfly

2009-03-07T15:07:00.008-07:00

For about 1 hour it was not "Un bel di, Vedremo".
I found out a few days ago that Madama Butterfly- from the Met, was going to be shown at Paramount Chinook on Saturday @ 11:30 am.

Come Saturday, I woke up around 9, and double checked the show times, and discovered that the times had been changed to 11am. I thought 'Whew! ' Now I am up early enough and I'll get to the theater by 10:45, plenty of time.
Then I thought, hey, why not just buy my tickets online and pick them up there so I won't have to line up. I signed up for an account and the little time display next to the title of the film was in red. Apparently that means 'sold out'. I totally did not believe this, got my keys, put on my shoes (without any socks btw), and sped to Chinook, to see if I could get rush seating. On the way there, I had to drive behind this stupid BMW who was driving so slow and kept changing into the lane I was changing into. Bastard. I park quickly, run up to the door, where this couple was there but turned around going down the stairs. On the door it said 'Madama Butterfly- SOLD OUT, tickets still available at Westhills location'.
Frak me. I haven't been to the Westhills, I don't know where that is. It is 10:15 now, I hop back in my car and am rushing back home so I can look up directions and to see if I can buy my tickets online for the Westhills. The stupid website gave me a processing error, so I gave up, rushed back out, was again following a stupid BMW (SUV this time), who had no idea how to drive. I'm sorry a Merge sign is different from a Free Flow lane, go and take your drivers test again you asshole!
I get to the Westhills about 10:50, and thank the lords there were still tickets, but it was a huge line so I just used one of the machines, forgot to credit my Scene card, and realized, that they charge more for these 'special presentations', cheaper than a real opera ticket, but I don't think it should be more than a normal theater ticket. I get into the theatre, and it is packed. All the seats in the back are taken, and there is no raised seating at the Westhills (argh) I end up finding a seat maybe 4 rows from the front... My neck is feeling the pain already, but who cares I'm here!

Now that sordid business is over I can talk about more important things.
The reason why I want to see this particular opera. I could have stayed home and watched it on tv, but this is Madama Butterfly. This is the show with the aria that I have been obsessed with since I was little (explanation to come). Opera Calgary hasn't had any shows that I really want to fork out the dough to see, so watching this on a big projection screen is a pretty good alternative (though IMAX would have been fantastic, especially with acoustics). Another advantage of watching an opera at the theater is that I can eat and drink throughout all the acts! Yes, movie popcorn and opera. This is ingenious!

* Ah yes the reason why I became obsessed with Madama Butterfly. When I first saw Victor/Victoria (which you all know is my favourite movie of all time) there was a scene where Julie Andrews takes James Garner to the opera and they are watching Madama Butterfly and the scene where she sings the aria. It is such a beautiful song, I don't know what it is about because there were no subtitles, but the music is just so powerful. I heart Puccini!

Alright, so Cio Cio San, as played by Patricia Racette, was amazing. Obviously not convincing as a 15 year old Japanese girl, but it's kind of unbelievable that the 15 year old Japanese girl would be singing her whole life, in Italian.

Apparently Puccini wrote this based on the play he saw 'Madame Butterfly'. I never really knew what the story was about, other than it being a tragedy, but after seeing this, all I have to say ... Men suck. They really do. I mean this poor naive girl thinks she's going to spend the rest of her life with this guy and he's saying that because it's in Japan it's not really real, and that he'll find a wife back in America but in the meantime this is for fun. It is in my opinion that Pinkerton never loved Cio Cio San and he's even more of an asshole when he comes in to take their son away. Speaking of which, this production used a puppet as the son. This creepy looking mannequin like puppet- operated by 3 puppeteers. Let us be reminded that this version of Madama Butterfly was brought to us by Anthony Minghella, the director of The English Patient. An academy award winner decides to bring us creepy doll-puppets...

Otherwise it was an amazing performance. I only cried twice. Once during 'Un bel di vedremo' and then again at the death scene. Such a sad tale.
Did I mention that I cried again while driving home because they were replaying the performance on CBC radio and yup that's right One fine day was playing.

If I ever have a puppy I think I am going to have to name her Cio Cio San, and another pup Yum Yum (different show I know).

From one homo loving commie son of a gun to another... my thoughts on the Oscars 2009

2009-02-25T11:30:00.029-07:00

First of all, I heart the musical director and the architect of the Academy awards this year. They made the Kodak theatre into a magical place somewhat like those 1920s musicals with the orchestra set up in a big band style (as in not in a pit).

So let's start from the very beginning (a very good place to start):

- No previously filmed intro to the Oscars sequence, as we have been accustomed to for many years. I was miffed at first, then when Hugh Jackman started talking about some of the other actors, I was just thinking, oh dear lord, he's trying to be a comedian. Oh no.
Then the show finally started, Hugh Jackman played on his strengths. Musical talent.
Anne Hathaway as part of the big opening number was fantastic. I know she sang in Ella Enchanted, but who knew she was that good eh?
And what are 'Craigslist dancers?'
The Benjamin Button aging backwards part somehow reminded me of 'They both reached for the gun', maybe it was the tempo?
See for yourself.

Before I forget: SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL CURTAIN

Best Supporting Actress...

- Moon river intro music was such a good idea, as well as having previous winners in that category present this years award.

- Tilda Swinton must think she is making a fashion statement, when really it isn't a statement, it's just really really ugly.

- Whoopi Goldberg: "It's not easy being a nun" One of my favourite lines!
- I did not know that Goldie Hawn won an Oscar.
- I had a feeling that they were going to award best supporting actress to a POC, but I was hoping for Taraji P. Henson, instead Penelope Cruz won... I dislike her as an actress, her character on Vicky Christina Barcelona was so annoying, you can't understand her whether or not she is speaking in English.

- Lawrence of Arabia in the style of Benny Goodman (according to the Musical Director), I've never seen the movie, but even I can recognize that it is the theme to that film.

- Tina Fey and Steve Martin really should present every award because they are fabulous! I think Tina Fey should host the Oscars next year.
- I love Tina Fey's dress!
- " To write is to live forever, the man who wrote that is dead" - One of my favourite quotes of the night.

- "Every writer starts with a blank page, and every blank page was once a tree, and every tree was once a tiny seed, and every tiny seed on earth was placed here by the alien king rondalay..."

Too bad Tom Cruise wasn't in the audience!

Best Original Screenplay
- Dustin Lance Black- Milk. Notice the white knot he's wearing! I had no idea he was Mormon!

Best Animated Feature

- Jack Black and Jennifer Aniston. To Jack: Do you have some special animated career strategy?
Jack: Each year I do one Dreamworks project then I take all the money to the Oscars and bet it on Pixar

- And after that Wall-E won. In Andrew Stanton's acceptance speech, he thanked his highschool drama teacher for casting him as Barnaby in Hello Dolly. So I would also like to thank his highschool drama teacher for that as well.

* Interesting how they flashed the camera at Angelina Jolie at this moment.

- I died during the acceptance speech of the best animated short because of the whole "Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto", what a way to pigeon hole...

Best Costume Design
- Benjamin Button, but who cares about that, after his acceptance speech, the music that he walked off to.. I recognize it but I don't know where it is from. I want to say it's from the Godfather, but maybe not, it's not the main theme or waltz.

*My pick for who had the best hair: Natalie Portman.
Ben Stiller's impression of Joaquin Phoenix was hilarious.

- Jazzy ET music?

Musical # 2
- Hugh Jackman in his top hat and tails... Doubt the musical! Singing and nuns have worked before! Yes THE MUSICAL IS BACK. Beyonce didn't screw it up this year, she did really well!

- Singing in the rain, Sweet Charity "Hey big spender", West Side Story "Maria", Grease "You're the one that I want", Sound of Music "How do you solve a problem like Maria?", Chicago "All that Jazz", Moulin Rouge "Lady Marmalade", Dreamgirls "One night only", Hairspray "You can't stop the beat", Jesus Christ Superstar "I don't know how to love him", At last, Some crap from Highschool Musical, Back to "Maria" WSS, Mamma Mia!, Don't cry for me Argentina, back to Mamma Mia! Somewhere over the rainbow, The Wizard of Oz. Somewhere-WSS [Let me know if I missed anything]

OH MY GOD THEY ARE SINGING ABBA AT THE OSCARS, IS THIS NOT A DREAM COME TRUE? Thank you Baz Luhrmann!

Best Male Supporting Actor
- Oh I see Frank Sinatra on the screen!
- Joel Grey is still alive?!
The speech by Heath Ledger's family was not as profound as I expected.

Best Documentary Feature
- The guy balancing the Oscar on his chin and making the coin vanish.

Jerry Lewis receiving a humanitarion Oscar, entering to the music of Nat King Cole's Smile.

Best Original Score and Original Song
- Not much nominated, you know it's Slumdog's night, so no surprise but not terribly fantastic.
Speeches were short and sweet.

Best Foreign Picture
More Nat King Cole "Around the World" enter Freida Pinto and Liam Neeson
Here we go again, what is with the Japanese winning this year? Oh the winner was "Departures".

In Memoriam
- One of my favourite parts of the Oscars. With Queen Latifah singing "I'll be seeing you".
Michael Chrichton? Vampira? Ricardo Montalban? Charlton Heston is gone! Sydney Pollack??? Aww :( And of course Paul Newman. I loved how they ended with one of his lines from 'Cat on a hot tin roof'.
My only complaint was the camera work, I think the should have just kept it still, You couldn't see all names because of all the movement, which I thought was unnecessary.

Best Actress
They are presenting the same way, with 5 past winners, and flashing scenes of past winners. Marlee Matlin what are you wearing???? Was it the 90s? Coke bottle glasses, some weird flower in her hair and this purple thing that I swear looks more like something Blanche Devereaux or Dorothy Zbornak would wear.

Entrance music: Gone with the Wind theme

Sophia Loren(nee 1934), Shirley Maclaine(nee 1934)... Sophia Loren had so much plastic surgery done she looks 20 years younger than Shirley Maclaine who had no work done and dressed very age appropriate. Ha ha, I guess Meryl Streep can't present because she's nominated for the 15th time? She won for Sophie's Choice and Kramer vs Kramer, surprisingly NOT Out of Africa or The Bridges of Madison County.
Now Kate Winslet has joined the ranks, but not the underdog! That's no shampoo bottle! Suck it up Meryl Streep!

Best Actor

Uh where is Daniel Day Lewis? Shouldn't he be presenting? Hey Marlee Matlin presented the oscar to Michael Douglas!

"How did he do it? How did Sean Penn go all these years playing straight men?" Robert Deniro.

YES SEAN PENN BEAT MICKEY ROURKE!

Best Speech Ever. We Love you Sean Penn! Wait, where is his white knot?

- And I don't think anyone else noticed this but, they ended the show with the band playing "Le Jazz Hot" which obviously made me freak out and go 'YAY!' and really made it a nearly perfect night.

Best Dressed:
- Kate Winslet- Love her hair, very retro, and the dress was so elegant.
- Anne Hathaway- Gold/white/cream, with the hair and the whole acting/singing combo A+
- Angelina Jolie- Simple black, but her green earrings were fabulous.
- Natalie Portman- Best hair.
- Meryl Streep- Love the lavender.
- Sarah Jessica Parker- SJP and Dior, what harmony.
- Evan Rachel Wood- Really looks more mature each year, and thank god she's not with Marilyn Manson.

Worst Dressed:
- Tilda Swinton- WHY? I think Bjork that year with the swan dressed better than her any year.
- Amy Adams- Very weird looking red dress.
- Jessica Biels- Her hair was a mess.
- Miley Cyrus- Yes she looks like a scallop. Or maybe scalloped potatoes.
- Mickey Rourke- Let's not even talk about the dog.

All in all, one of the best ceremonies I have ever seen!

Thoughts about 5x14 of Grey's

2009-02-06T08:40:00.002-07:00

- Callie and the single people syndrome, yes I agree we hate couples.

- IT'S FRAKING JESSICA STEIN!

- Owen and Cristina background music... um I suppose it's Victorian romance novel music.

- Louis from Angels in America is married to Jessica Stein...

- Madame President using a hugging machine is hilarious, I enjoy this better than her sleeping with the Admiral.

- Give me a break... Grey's decides to take page out of The L-word, as in, the bathroom.
Why the bathroom??? Pick a different setting. And are we surprised? No. The moment that they cast 'Nadia' as Arizona, we knew that was meant for the Callie storyline. I have to say that I prefer Arizona/Callie to Nadia/Bette.

June is bustin' out all over... what were R&H thinking??? music is good though

2008-12-06T21:50:00.010-07:00

Carousel. One of the worst musicals with good music but poor storyline.
The story does not even revolve around the Carousel. The Carousel is only important in the first few minutes of the movie. The rest seems to be focused on this clam bake. Honestly, I really did not pay too much attention because there wasn't much connection between the story and the music. I can't believe this was made post Oklahoma... I suppose this is the one and only defect that R&H had in their career. Some of the songs have potential to be catchy as those in The Sound of Music and The King and I, but somewhere it failed... The duet between Gordon McCrae and Shirley Jones "If I loved you" is amazing, though the circumstances of the story are ridiculous. They just met, she is infatuated with him, he teases her about marrying him, saying he's not the type she'd want to marry. I mean hello, they just met, this isn't like Curly & Laurey
or Nicky Ferrante & Terry McKay.

Most of the film is told in flashback. I don't usually have a problem with that, but it is ridiculous because Billy is telling the story to the 'star man' because he's apparently in someplace like heaven, hanging silver paper stars.

"June is bustin' out all over" is the most recognizable song, parts of it remind me a bit of Gilbert & Sullivan operetta's.

I quite enjoy the scenes with all the sailboats, I don't think that would be an easy scene to film, honestly. That, plus the dance sequences on the dock. It's amazing what they did back then.
Of course my favourite dance sequence of all time is "Stepping time" from Mary Poppins, no one can beat chimney sweeps. There was some rooftop dancing in Carousel but not to the caliber of Mary Poppins.

The central character Billy Bigelow is essentially a loser. He was a barker for the Carousel, but now unemployed and makes poor decisions and leaves his family by getting himself killed falling on a knife. They do play it out as a noble cause, as described by "My boy bill", but it's still ridiculous.

Another thing that bothers me is this whole idea that they made 'hitting a woman' acceptable. There was a scene that the other two women had said 'I'd leave him if I were you', but then near the end they related 'being hit' to 'being kissed'. I nearly gagged.

"This was a real nice clam bake" made me very hungry. I'm sure PETA would have a huge problem with this song, as they talk about how to prepare lobster and clams, with cracking claws fitted for an angel's choir!

Overall this film reminds me of another film that really tried too hard, that is, Anchor's Aweigh.

Speaking of that film... brings me to another question. WHY does Gene Kelly like to dance with Animated characters? It's okay for Julie Andrews and Angela Lansbury... but I just don't like it, he should have stuck to dancing with lamp posts.

Frak me this is only Part 1!

And this is from Anchors Aweigh

I love this side by side comparison with the Family Guy incorporation of the same scene.

4-5am rant: regarding protests and backwardness

2008-11-27T06:32:00.007-07:00

After watching more vlogs on protesting prop 8, and just generally regarding this topic of hate... I've decided to go on another rant.

This issue of same-sex marriage does not involve straight people. So, why should straight people be allowed to vote on something that has nothing to do with them? I watched some Yes on 8 PSA on youtube, and this is what they did to brainwash the REALLY stupid Californians who voted yes.
This is what they did to convince the Californians who were on the fence and really had misinterpreted what they voted for.

I remember back in the day when this was an issue in Canada, I knew some people of the community who were very much against same sex marriage because they felt that approving same sex marriage was conforming to a 'heterosexual' idea of life. It's true, not everyone wants to get married. Not that I agree with this, but really, gay Californians should be the only ones to vote on this issue. I kind of associate this with the 1995 Quebec referendum. Whether or not Quebec should secede from Canada. Now, does it make any sense for someone say in Yukon or PEI to vote for whether or not Quebec should separate? Of course not, because they aren't from Quebec, they don't have any association there, and frankly it's none of their business. The people of Quebec decided on whether or not they wanted to secede.
Apart from being unconstitutional, the same thing should apply to gay people in their respective countries who currently do not allow same sex marriage. If you want to put it to a vote, you have to only include the people who are involved.
I'm going to relate this to something silly that I just made up.
It's as if, non Asians voted on whether or not Asians should have the option of eating with forks. Sure this may have an affect on non Asians in the fork making industry, but really, why should they have a say in what someone else should do?

Now here's my rant about protesting.
While I am in full support for protesters, and I would gladly volunteer my time to picking up a picket sign, I don't see how effective those measures are. I think that if you want to be more proactive, write into your MLA or whichever government representative if you want something more to be done. Protests, petitions on line... Honestly, look at all those petitions on facebook, do you really think that those are going to do anything? I'm not saying that protests are not important, they are. In fact it is easier to make a sign and shout for equal rights than actually doing some research on legislation and writing an elected official. I'm not going to pretend that I know much about the Green Party, but I believe that they have gone beyond chaining themselves to trees to get their point across. I mean, isn't it a big step for someone like Elizabeth May to be part of a leaders debate? Even though they didn't win any seats, it was surprising to see the Green's coming in 2nd place regarding votes.

March 2009 will be an interesting month for California... In the meantime, the protests are surely not going to die down. Luckily no tragedies have occurred (I think one protester got punched, but hey that's better than getting shot).

Now, onto the case in Saskatchewan with the guy who is suing the gov't for being fined for refusing to perform a same-sex marriage on basis of faith. "The pendulum has swung too far in favour of same-sex people and against people of faith." Said the lawyer of the marriage commissioner fined. Too far in favour? How can you be 'too far in favour'? This marriage commissioner was basically saying "I don't want to marry you because I don't like you for your chosen lifestyle... as it is against my faith". Now, I don't believe that this guy is a church minister, pastor, priest, or whatever man of the cloth. He's a marriage commissioner, which I believe even atheists and agnostics use in order to obtain the legal/civil right of marriage. The fine he's incurring sounds like it's for discrimination. I wonder, had he not mentioned anything about faith and referred the couple to another commissioner, would he still incur a cost for not performing a marriage? What if the commissioner refused to marry a straight couple because he knew that maybe the bride or groom was unfaithful? That's still discrimination, and the purpose of a marriage commissioner is not to ask why people get married or to outwardly judge someone for getting married. Those religious orders have the right to judge and to deny performing marriage ceremonies for something they don't agree with.
This brings me to the Car Wash episode of Ally Mcbeal, where the priest refused to perform the ceremony because he found out that the bride was cheating on the groom.

Okay, enough of that, one last thought on protesting...

A lot of us weren't even born to see the civil rights movement back in the sixties, now is time to witness history in the making. I think Rafael Mandelman said it best:

"There's a rediscovery of civil rights, the culture of protest. People have gotten engaged."

Why they think they are Better than Mama!

2008-11-24T19:58:00.003-07:00

As they say on Grey's: Seriously...

The beloved Wii game Cooking Mama, that has recently released a sequel Cooking Mama World Kitchen, came under attack by PETA. According to PETA, everyone who eats meat is a hypocrite, but I won't waste my breath on that. The attack, comes in the form of a flash game, that depicts Mama as an evil cartoon character.

Let's be clear, Mama does NOT kill animals, she COOKS them. Please do not talk to me if you are one who equates killing with cooking, I'm sure you've stepped on an insect in your lifetime.

I'm all for the humane treatment of animals and the oxymoron of humanely killing something, I know it made me squirmy when I had to chop up a lobster. But really, why attack Cooking Mama? Actually I think that what they did accomplished part of their goal. It made me look, it made me go to the website, play the stupid game, watch the clips that try to guilt you into giving up meat, yes, it provoked me to pay attention for five minutes and even more by me writing this blog. Don't get me wrong, this is a venting session. I think that's great, those who choose to be vegan or vegetarians, good for you, that's your choice, I'm not going to cruicify you.
But this incessant need for organizations to convert people... I could see little kids getting influenced by this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean that they aren't going to nibble on something deliciously deep fried by Col Sanders.

Here is the response from Majesco towards the parody.

This is my response to people trying to guilt people for eating meat:

I don't turn lovable cartoon characters into murdering psychopaths, and I don't always eat raw meat. I know where my food is coming from, and I am comfortable with that knowledge. No matter the brutality, which I don't approve of, I don't take histories of the food I eat. I eat what I choose to eat because it tastes good. That silly game and the KFC parodies only make me want to go out for turkey and fried chicken. You do your thing, I'll do my thing, and I won't throw a freshly guillotined head at you.

DH Predictions

2008-11-19T04:37:00.003-07:00

Obviously we know that Porter is the one who has been arrested for the club fire.
Okay, here are my thoughts for future episodes:
- Susan is going to freak out when she finds out about Mike and Katherine, which may spark old feelings... *please keep Jackson around... regardless of the outcome
- Virginia is going to die, and she will have things left for Gaby and Carlos, but with some preconditions.
- What's her face... Kirby's mom, is going to have a miscarriage.

Finally someone from the press speaks logic

2008-11-11T03:22:00.000-07:00

The sky isn't going to fall...

2008-11-08T13:56:00.005-07:00

I've decided to link this 3 part video blog "The Violet Underground", because:
a) It is funny as hell how people evade questions... sounds familiar?
b) For Becky, who has been commenting on one of my previous posts, this is the other side of the argument. And an example of an American who had voted Yes on 8.

No one has to agree or disagree with the views that are displayed in these vlogs, it's just a perspective.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

American's should learn from this example...

2008-11-07T18:46:00.001-07:00

Address by Prime Minister Paul Martin on Bill C-38 (The Civil Marriage Act)
February 16, 2005
House of Commons, Canada

I rise today in support of Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act. I rise in support of a Canada in which liberties are safeguarded, rights are protected and the people of this land are treated as equals under the law.

This is an important day. The attention of our nation is focused on this chamber, in which John Diefenbaker introduced the Bill of Rights, in which Pierre Trudeau fought to establish the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Our deliberations will be not merely about a piece of legislation or sections of legal text - more deeply, they will be about the kind of nation we are today, and the nation we want to be.

This bill protects minority rights. This bill affirms the Charter guarantee of religious freedom. It is that straightforward, Mr. Speaker, and it is that important.

And that is why I stand today before members here and before the people of this country to say I believe in, and I will fight for, the Charter of Rights. I believe in, and I will fight for, a Canada that respects the foresight and vision of those who created and entrenched the Charter. I believe in, and I will fight for, a future in which generations of Canadians to come, Canadians born here and abroad, will have the opportunity to value the Charter as we do today - as an essential pillar of our democratic freedoms.

There have been a number of arguments put forward by those who do not support this bill. It's important and respectful to examine them and to assess them.

First, some have claimed that, once this bill becomes law, religious freedoms will be less than fully protected. This is demonstrably untrue. As it pertains to marriage, the government's legislation affirms the Charter guarantee that religious officials are free to perform such ceremonies in accordance with the beliefs of their faith.

In this, we are guided by the ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada, which makes clear that in no church, no synagogue, no mosque, no temple - in no religious house will those who disagree with same-sex unions be compelled to perform them. Period. That is why this legislation is about civil marriage, not religious marriage.

Moreover -- and this is crucially important -- the Supreme Court has declared unanimously, and I quote 'The guarantee of religious freedom in section 2(a) of the Charter is broad enough to protect religious officials from being compelled by the state to perform civil or religious same-sex marriages that are contrary to their religious beliefs.'

The facts are plain: Religious leaders who preside over marriage ceremonies must and will be guided by what they believe. If they do not wish to celebrate marriages for same-sex couples, that is their right. The Supreme Court says so. And the Charter says so.

One final observation on this aspect of the issue: Religious leaders have strong views both for and against this legislation. They should express them. Certainly, many of us in this House, myself included, have a strong faith, and we value that faith and its influence on the decisions we make. But all of us have been elected to serve here as Parliamentarians. And as public legislators, we are responsible for serving all Canadians and protecting the rights of all Canadians.

We will be influenced by our faith but we also have an obligation to take the widest perspective -- to recognize that one of the great strengths of Canada is its respect for the rights of each and every individual, to understand that we must not shrink from the need to reaffirm the rights and responsibilities of Canadians in an evolving society.

The second argument ventured by opponents of the bill is that government ought to hold a national referendum on this issue. I reject this - not out of a disregard for the view of the people, but because it offends the very purpose of the Charter.

The Charter was enshrined to ensure that the rights of minorities are not subjected, are never subjected, to the will of the majority. The rights of Canadians who belong to a minority group must always be protected by virtue of their status as citizens, regardless of their numbers. These rights must never be left vulnerable to the impulses of the majority.

We embrace freedom and equality in theory, Mr. Speaker. We must also embrace them in fact.

Third, some have counseled the government to extend to gays and lesbians the right to 'civil union.' This would give same-sex couples many of the rights of a wedded couple, but their relationships would not legally be considered marriage. In other words, they would be equal, but not quite as equal as the rest of Canadians.

Mr. Speaker, the courts have clearly and consistently ruled that this option would offend the equality provisions of the Charter. For instance, the British Columbia Court of Appeal stated that, and I quote 'Marriage is the only road to true equality for same-sex couples. Any other form of recognition of same-sex relationships ...falls short of true equality.'

Put simply, we must always remember that 'separate but equal' is not equal. What's more, those who call for the establishment of civil unions fail to understand that the Government of Canada does not have the constitutional jurisdiction to do so. Only the provinces have that. Only the provinces could define such a regime - and they could define it in 10 different ways, and some jurisdictions might not bother to define it at all. There would be uncertainty. There would be confusion. There would certainly not be equality.

Fourth, some are urging the government to respond to the decisions of the courts by getting out of the marriage business altogether. That would mean no more civil weddings for any couples.

It is worth noting that this idea was rejected by the major religions themselves when their representatives appeared before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in 2003. Moreover, it would be an extreme and counterproductive response for the government to deny civil marriage to opposite-sex couples simply so it can keep it from same-sex couples. To do so would simply be to replace one form of discrimination with another.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, there are some who oppose this legislation who would have the government use the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights to override the courts and reinstate the traditional definition of marriage. And really, this is the fundamental issue here.

Understand that in seven provinces and one territory, the lawful union of two people of the same sex in civil marriage is already the law of the land. The debate here today is not about whether to change the definition of marriage - it's been changed. The debate comes down to whether we should override a right that is now in place. The debate comes down to the Charter, the protection of minority rights, and whether the federal government should invoke the notwithstanding clause.

I know that some think we should use the clause. For example, some religious leaders feel this way. I respect their candor in publicly recognizing that because same-sex marriage is already legal in most of the country, the only way - the only way - to again make civil marriage the exclusive domain of opposite-sex couples is to use the notwithstanding clause.

Ultimately Mr. Speaker, there is only one issue before this House in this debate. For most Canadians, in most parts of our country, same-sex marriage is already the law of the land. Thus, the issue is not whether rights are to be granted. The issue is whether rights that have been granted are to be taken away.

Some are frank and straightforward and say yes. Others have not been so candid. Despite being confronted with clear facts, despite being confronted with the unanimous opinion of 134 legal scholars, experts in their field, intimately familiar with the Constitution, some have chosen to not be forthright with Canadians. They have eschewed the honest approach in favour of the political approach. They have attempted to cajole the public into believing that we can return to the past with a simple snap of the fingers, that we can revert to traditional definition of marriage without consequence and without overriding the Charter. They're insincere. They're disingenuous. And they're wrong.

There is one question that demands an answer - a straight answer - from those who would seek to lead this nation and its people. It is a simple question Will you use the notwithstanding clause to overturn the definition of civil marriage and deny to Canadians a right guaranteed under the Charter?

This question does not demand rhetoric. It demands clarity. There are only two legitimate answers - yes or no. Not the demagoguery we have heard, not the dodging, the flawed reasoning, the false options. Just yes or no.

Will you take away a right as guaranteed under the Charter? I, for one, will answer that question, Mr. Speaker. I will answer it clearly. I will say no.

The notwithstanding clause is part of the Charter of Rights. But there's a reason that no prime minister has ever used it. For a prime minister to use the powers of his office to explicitly deny rather than affirm a right enshrined under the Charter would serve as a signal to all minorities that no longer can they look to the nation's leader and to the nation's Constitution for protection, for security, for the guarantee of their freedoms. We would risk becoming a country in which the defence of rights is weighed, calculated and debated based on electoral or other considerations.

That would set us back decades as a nation. It would be wrong for the minorities of this country. It would be wrong for Canada.

The Charter is a living document, the heartbeat of our Constitution. It is also a proclamation. It declares that as Canadians, we live under a progressive and inclusive set of fundamental beliefs about the value of the individual. It declares that we all are lessened when any one of us is denied a fundamental right.

We cannot exalt the Charter as a fundamental aspect of our national character and then use the notwithstanding clause to reject the protections that it would extend. Our rights must be eternal, not subject to political whim.

To those who value the Charter yet oppose the protection of rights for same-sex couples, I ask you If a prime minister and a national government are willing to take away the rights of one group, what is to say they will stop at that? If the Charter is not there today to protect the rights of one minority, then how can we as a nation of minorities ever hope, ever believe, ever trust that it will be there to protect us tomorrow?

My responsibility as Prime Minister, my duty to Canada and to Canadians, is to defend the Charter in its entirety. Not to pick and choose the rights that our laws shall protect and those that are to be ignored. Not to decree those who shall be equal and those who shall not. My duty is to protect the Charter, as some in this House will not.

Let us never forget that one of the reasons that Canada is such a vibrant nation, so diverse, so rich in the many cultures and races of the world, is that immigrants who come here - as was the case with the ancestors of many of us in this chamber - feel free and are free to practice their religion, follow their faith, live as they want to live. No homogenous system of beliefs is imposed on them.

When we as a nation protect minority rights, we are protecting our multicultural nature. We are reinforcing the Canada we value. We are saying, proudly and unflinchingly, that defending rights - not just those that happen to apply to us, not just that everyone approves of, but all fundamental rights - is at the very soul of what it means to be a Canadian.

This is a vital aspect of the values we hold dear and strive to pass on to others in the world who are embattled, who endure tyranny, whose freedoms are curtailed, whose rights are violated.

Why is the Charter so important, Mr. Speaker? We have only to look at our own history. Unfortunately, Canada's story is one in which not everyone's rights were protected under the law. We have not been free from discrimination, bias, unfairness. There have been blatant inequalities.

Remember that it was once thought perfectly acceptable to deny women 'personhood' and the right to vote. There was a time, not that long ago, that if you wore a turban, you couldn't serve in the RCMP. The examples are many, but what's important now is that they are part of our past, not our present.

Over time, perspectives changed. We evolved, we grew, and our laws evolved and grew with us. That is as it should be. Our laws must reflect equality not as we understood it a century or even a decade ago, but as we understand it today.

For gays and lesbians, evolving social attitudes have, over the years, prompted a number of important changes in the law. Recall that, until the late 1960s, the state believed it had the right to peek into our bedrooms. Until 1977, homosexuality was still sufficient grounds for deportation. Until 1992, gay people were prohibited from serving in the military. In many parts of the country, gays and lesbians could not designate their partners as beneficiaries under employee medical and dental benefits, insurance policies or private pensions. Until very recently, people were being fired merely for being gay.

Today, we rightly see discrimination based on sexual orientation as arbitrary, inappropriate and unfair. Looking back, we can hardly believe that such rights were ever a matter for debate. It is my hope that we will ultimately see the current debate in a similar light; realizing that nothing has been lost or sacrificed by the majority in extending full rights to the minority.

Without our relentless, inviolable commitment to equality and minority rights, Canada would not be at the forefront in accepting newcomers from all over the world, in making a virtue of our multicultural nature - the complexity of ethnicities and beliefs that make up Canada, that make us proud that we are where our world is going, not where it's been.

Four years ago, I stood in this House and voted to support the traditional definition of marriage. Many of us did. My misgivings about extending the right of civil marriage to same-sex couples were a function of my faith, my perspective on the world around us.

But much has changed since that day. We've heard from courts across the country, including the Supreme Court. We've come to the realization that instituting civil unions - adopting a 'separate but equal' approach - would violate the equality provisions of the Charter. We've confirmed that extending the right of civil marriage to gays and lesbians will not in any way infringe on religious freedoms.

And so where does that leave us? It leaves us staring in the face of the Charter of Rights with but a single decision to make Do we abide by the Charter and protect minority rights, or do we not?

To those who would oppose this bill, I urge you to consider that the core of the issue before us today is whether the rights of all Canadians are to be respected. I believe they must be. Justice demands it. Fairness demands it. The Canada we love demands it.

Mr. Speaker In the 1960s, the government of Lester Pearson faced opposition as it moved to entrench official bilingualism. But it persevered, and it won the day. Its members believed it was the right thing to do, and it was. In the 1980s, the government of Pierre Trudeau faced opposition as it attempted to repatriate the Constitution and enshrine a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But it persevered, and it won the day. Its members believed it was the right thing to do, and it was.

There are times, Mr. Speaker, when we as Parliamentarians can feel the gaze of history upon us. They felt it in the days of Pearson. They felt it in the days of Trudeau. And we, the 308 men and women elected to represent one of the most inclusive, just and respectful countries on the face of this earth, feel it today.

There are few nations whose citizens cannot look to Canada and see their own reflection. For generations, men and women and families from the four corners of the globe have made the decision to chose Canada to be their home. Many have come here seeking freedom -- of thought, religion and belief. Seeking the freedom simply to be.

The people of Canada have worked hard to build a country that opens its doors to include all, regardless of their differences; a country that respects all, regardless of their differences; a country that demands equality for all, regardless of their differences.

If we do not step forward, then we step back. If we do not protect a right, then we deny it. Mr. Speaker, together as a nation, together as Canadians Let us step forward.

Scary

2008-11-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

No On 8: Home Invasion
by thereisnosp00n

Crash and not burn

2008-10-25T18:50:00.004-06:00

My favourite band that emerges every few years with a bit of gold, faltered a bit with the release of 'Missiles'. The Dears are back, but something is missing. When I first listened to the album, I knew something was different, it didn't have that orchestral pop noir. So I looked into some reviews and here's what I found. The departure of bassist Martin Pelland, keyboardist Valérie Jodoin-Keaton, drummer George Donoso III and guitarist Patrick Krief has altered the sound of The Dears. Lightburn is still the core of the band, and has kept intact his soulful voice accopmanied by lyrics. The title track "Missiles" is a good attempt at getting back to the root of The Dears sound. Gang of losers was the manic phase and now Missiles is almost depressing. I have the album, but only 3 songs are really worthwhile: Missiles, Crisis 1 & 2, and Lights Off.

My heart will not go on.

2008-10-10T16:19:00.003-06:00

The other day I stumbled upon the Celine Dion TV movie on CBC. When I say stumble, I mean the only reason why I stopped at that channel was because I recognized the tune of 'Too much'.

It was one of my favourite songs on her Unison album. Yes, I own Unison on cassette, remember those? It was my first musical purchase from Sam the record man in Lethbridge.
I actually have quite a few Celine Dion's english albums as well as one in French. I stopped buying her albums when I heard 'My heart will go on' from Titanic. That horrid song may have given her Grammy's, Oscar's, etc... and have jump started her career, however, I thought it was too corny and overplayed. Parodies of Celine Dion usually consist of 1 of 2 things, Titanic- My heart will go on, or her and Renee with the obvious age gap. NO one seems to pay attention to the start of her career, where all the good quality songs were.

Who wants to be the next Vice President?

2008-09-28T18:42:00.001-06:00

Dancing with (my) Stars

2008-09-23T23:53:00.002-06:00

Okay so the new season of Dancing with the Stars has kicked off and I would say with a partial bang. I won't go into any detail right now due to prematurity, however I will list who I like and dislike:

Likes:

- Cloris Leachman: 82 years old and may not get all the steps but she is a performer. Go Phyllis!

- Lance Bass: I'm glad that he's living up to his genetic makeup.

- Warren Sapp: Teddy Bear

- Susan Lucci: She was on Broadway, now she just needs to bring it to this stage.

Neutral

- Toni Braxton- yawn

- Rocco- Short lived Restaurant

- Mitsy May- Treanor- well she is better than Monica Seles

- Ted McGinley- Oh Jefferson D'arcy

- Cody Linley- Who?

Dislikes

- Jeff Ross- again... who???

- Brooke Burke- I just don't really like her dancing, she's actually a good host

- Maurice Green- yawn

- Kim Kardashian- she may be the shy one, but this family doesn't need so much attention.

Who I would love to see on DWTS:

- Gale Harold- he might next season, depending on how well he does on Desperate Housewives.

- Alison Sweeney- A soap star represtentative.

- Mariska Hargitay

- Drew Carey

- Zooey Deshanel

- Mary Tyler Moore

- Will Arnett

- Tina Fey

- Ellen

- Seth Macfarlane

- Tiger Woods

- Martha Stewart

- John Stamos

- Patrick Wilson

- Billie Piper

- Patrick Swayze

- Olivia Newton John

many more, but that's just off the top of my head.

Don't forget... DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ON SUNDAY!!!!

A ha! I found the perfect BRAD

2008-09-21T10:24:00.003-06:00

No new updates on the remake of RHPS, however...

It just occured to me who would make a perfect Brad:

John Barrowman

John Barrowman= Brad Majors

Johnny Depp = Dr. Frank 'n' Furter

Sarah Paulson = Janet Weiss

My list

2008-09-20T01:46:00.011-06:00

This is a bit belated but this is my food list from SF in no particular order.

Kara's Cupcakes
ASQEW Grill
Chow
Tangerine
Catch
Plouf
Hot Cookie
Golden Gate Bakery
Bagdad cafe
Osaka Sushi
Fresca
Squat & Gobble Cafe
Neptune's Palace
Mel's Drive-in
Boudin Bakery
Zadin
Tapioca Express
Y Ben House Restaurant

Excited for the new season of BWB!

2008-09-14T06:47:00.003-06:00

This new intro is hilarious and fabulous! I'm trying to identify the legs...
This band isn't too bad either.

Nan Quan Mama 南拳媽媽

2008-08-22T04:09:00.002-06:00

First it started off with me looking for better clips of Drifting Flowers, which turned into Spider Lilies. Then I found an MV for Spider Lilies, the MV was uneventful, but the song caught my attention.

Then I learned after the itunes download that this song was actually written by Jay Chou. Which explains why I like it so much.
You can judge, who sings it better:

I vote Jay. But I can't seem to find any releases of his version of Tao Tai.

After some belated Wikipedia searches, I learned that Jay Chou assembled a band called Nan Quan Mama. They aren't bad, but their music is either really dark or too light, when they do have that happy medium, they sound fantastic.

Here are just some samples of what I like so far.

By the way, yes the girl doesn't look 100% Asian because half of her is Russian-American.

Opprobrium (Thanks for the word to describe my post)

2008-08-18T16:44:00.001-06:00

Insulting. I'm starting to feel physically ill. Cough. Cough.

I defended my argument didn't back down and only admitted one fault because I did not have physical evidence to back me up. I wonder if any of my American friends have had to deal with people who send letters instead of talking to you in person, oh and you know give more than 24 hours to respond... Yes Salt Lake, I am referring to you. Maybe you can see what Gimpy thinks about this. She's in a management position, I highly doubt she'd be passive aggressive or imply that I could not do my job.

Next thing you know they will want to remake Gone with the Wind...

2008-08-14T09:01:00.005-06:00

Adding to the list of movies that people SHOULD NOT REMAKE because the original is fantastic and should be left alone:
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- Gone with the Wind
- Grease

(and as mentioned in a previous blog posting: My Fair Lady, Casablanca, The Sound of Music)

It was recently brought to my attention that people don't know how to leave well enough alone, that they force the original mastermind behind RHPS to come out and state "I have absolutely nothing to do with this project"

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=200&objectid=10527066

To me, this shouts TV movie. And where do I begin with the wrongs that have been the result of TV movies? The Marilyn Monroe one or the Audrey Hepburn story (starring Jennifer Love Hewitt) Oh geez...

I had posted before that if they were ever to do a remake of RHPS I have my own idea of who to cast. It does not necessarily mean that it will be great. However. I think that this could be Tim Burton's second chance to redeem himself from Charlie and the Chocolate factory.
Sweeney Todd was very well done, and Rocky definitely seems to be a picture that is suitable for a Burton film. It does depend on whether or not the musical arrangements will stay the same.

But in an ideal world: Tim Burton would direct, Dr Frank 'N' Furter would be played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law or Brandon Routh could be Brad, Sarah Paulson as Janet, Molly Shannon as Magenta, Zooey Deshanel as Columbia, Jensen Ackles as Rocky, Anthony Hopkins as the narrator, Will Ferrell as Eddie and Patrick Stewart as Dr. Scott.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

2008-08-01T22:49:00.002-06:00

This film is wonderful. I just watched this, I can't wait to read the book!
A few thoughts:
a) The actor that plays Klaus is from Stepmom (Ben) that's amazing that he's grown up!

b) The actress that plays Violet is remarkably like Marnie Alton. It's like a very young version of Marnie.

My version of WYP

2008-07-29T01:57:00.001-06:00

- My own cut and paste via paint shop pro :)

Another lovely episode of Imaginary Bitches

2008-07-28T09:04:00.002-06:00

"What kind of condom would you prefer my child?"- Father Grant

Episode 10... Imaginary Wedding!

How I hate to see you like this, there is no way you can deny it... Sophia is dead.

2008-07-23T21:51:00.013-06:00

Bad news first (then we'll segue into the good news).

The cows got castrated. Well they didn't really. Actually I thought only bulls could get castrated, but one of my patients was very upset because her ranch hands didn't call her and she's afraid that her cows will be castrated without her instruction.

Now for the real sad news. Estelle Getty passed away July 22, 2008. The 84 year old Golden Girl will be missed. Even though as Sophie, she was mother of Dorothy (Bea Arthur) in reality they share the same birth year. And NO, I refuse to believe that Dorothy is next. No no no. (Knock on wood).

Speaking of the Golden girls. Blanche (not Dubois) otherwise known and Rue McClanahan is back on tv with a new series "Sordid Lives". Based on the 2000 film of the same name, Rue plays Peggy (not Peabody) mother/grandmother, the only one that doesn't seem like white trash (kidding). I saw a screening of the pilot at Frameline32, where some of the cast members made a special appearance. Margaret Cho was apparently there earlier but left, however 3 of the other cast members made it including Beth Grant. Now I never really knew the name of this actress, but she's been in plenty of movies. The one that I remember her for is To Wong Foo.. Thanks for everything Julie Newmar, as one of the town residents. Hilarious woman.
I don't think this show is available in Canada, so either you get it through satelite (logo) or if you're like me... bittorrent :) This show is seriously hilarious. Other big names in this cast include Leslie Jordan, Caroline Rhea and Olivia Newton John.
Here's a trailer for the series:

Thanks to Ali and Guillaume for making me aware of Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long blog.

I keep re-watching it and one of the scenes reminds me of the scene from Phantom when Phantom makes his appearance “Why so silent poor monsieur? I have written you an opera” mixed with Rocky Horror Picture Show's Frank N furter goes home.

If you are a Joss Whedon fan and you want to know what you're missing out on, here's a quick preview:

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

"It's not eaves dropping if you are aware that camera's are on you 24/7."
A new season of Big Brother is well underway, and this time, I am very uninterested.

Listening to Britney Spears "Gimme more" makes me laugh and generally content. I mean ABBA usually does it, but this one has more association, and only 2 of you have witnessed the reason why.

Ah yes ABBA, Mamma Mia!

I have been quoting a lot of ABBA on facebook lately, and people seem to think that I am having love turmoil. Well that may be coincidentally true... no I am merely quoting those lovely lyrics by Benny and Bjorn. This movie was amazing! They actually filmed in Greece, thank the lords of Kobol! I wasn't overly impressed with the singing, I would say it compares to Chicago. Colin Firth has a really nice voice, and I wish they would have more songs for him.
Meryl Streep was very over the top, which is what the character of Donna is (if you've seen the stage version, you'd understand). Her performance reminded me a bit of Death becomes her, minus the creepy limbs being lopped off and everything else that was creepy about that film.
Overall I was very impressed with this movie. The only thing I disagreed with were a) adding a not well known ABBA tune and b) not including the ones originally in the stage production. Then again, it's to be expected because it's a movie. Hopefully there will be a special edition dvd with deleted scenes *cross your fingers.

Don't judge me and I won't judge you... plus some not so boring notes.

2008-07-22T00:57:00.003-06:00

This is the motto that I have been introduced to a month ago.
I've learned that being the master of coincidences has helped me make new friends that have potential to be family. I honestly have not felt this exuberant ever. Coming out of my shell (so to speak) is something that I didn't think that I could do, but apparently I underestimate myself.
Judging by my levels of being content, I can see clearly now, that I need to not be in Calgary. I'm not saying that Edmonton is where I should be, but I am so bored and fed up with this province, and this country for that matter. Right now, it's the people who are keeping me sane while enduring my 22nd and soon to be 23rd year in this dry prairie land.
That's what I notice is the big difference between being here in Cow-town and Cal-town. People here are generally miserable while people there are generally happy.
I realize through my random rantings the answer is pretty clear.

Is it not clear? I'll give you a clue... it has the word rapist in it.

On a completely different note, otherwise known as 'how to pass the time in limbo'

www.drhorrible.com

Joss Whedon did it again! The Buffy musical was a hit, and his team created a smash 3 part webisode called Dr. Horrible's sing-a-long blog! Starring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. Oh Captain Hammer how I love you so...

I think I could handle going to see a show by Britney Spears...

2008-06-19T22:48:00.000-06:00

My left foot... (actually not mine, I don't wear Adidas)

2008-06-18T03:13:00.003-06:00

This is the 5th foot! I just don't know what to say. Just take a look:

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5inzpTUo8yzeLpl-pu1sqfNkEzHtQ

And just for fun...

Bridget on! The Bridget McManus version of Bring it on!

2008-06-13T08:45:00.002-06:00

I think this one is quite appropriate because it's about cheerleaders. Hope you like it!

Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing... Thanks for all the joy they're bringing, who can live without it, I ask in all honesty...

2008-06-12T14:43:00.005-06:00

Thank goodness for Rajaton. They may be Finnish, but they sure do a good job covering ABBA. This concert was fabulous. I didn't think beat-boxing was cool until they did Voulez-vous, Fernando, and Head over heels. The ESO did some fabulous ABBA medleys and here are the songs that I think they incorporated:

- Ring ring

- Hasta Manana

- People need love

- ? Nina pretty ballerina

- I’ve been waiting for you

- ?Rock me

- ?Dum Dum Diddle

- ?One man one woman

- I wonder (Departure)

Best. Wendy. Week. Ever. June 3-June 8

2008-06-12T13:47:00.009-06:00

Hello Kiddies,

I love food so much that I have dedicated an entire week of eating only fantabulous food.

After getting off the Thea and Charlie high (still so amazing!)

I had to prepare for my few days in Edmonton for convocation. So.. let's start with my night shift… So. Bloody. Tired. I missed my break… ugh… but hey I was still on the TC high so I used that to get through the night. I got home, slept for 6 hours, got up and drove to Edmonton. * In the process, I neglected to bring my camera, but brought my camera battery charger... yeah I'm so mad. Sam, Amanda, and I went to Dadeo, for the sandwich of gargantuan size (what did you call it Amanda? You have a better name for it). I hadn't eaten anything since 0200 at work, so by this point I had a real appetite. Po' boy pulled pork sandwich with yam fries! Delicious. Paced myself this time, and guess what, I wasn't as full as the last time where Amanda and I basically passed out on my floor for a few hours. I think that's a great start to the eating adventure.

I am a mean person apparently. Sorry, it's not my fault when someone does not want to see SATC just because they cannot stand Sarah Jessica Parker. Which would you rather? Stay and watch SJP for 2 and a half hours or walk 3.2 km to the driving range in the direction of the sun? I guess you chose to walk the 3.2km J

Thoughts on SATC movie: (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS SO STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET)

- They should have brought back one of Carrie's exes like Aiden (not Berger(because of the post-it break up), and not Mikhail Baryishnikov- he's too old).

- I know you can't fit too much in a 2 hour movie, but Stanford and Anthony hooking up is just too random

- Charlotte's sudden pregnancy (I say sudden, even though 4 years passed by) was disappointing. An entire season was dedicated to that problem and now poof it's resolved? The other thing about Charlotte was that face that she made when Big left Carrie on the street, that was some very intense anger coming from her character, I loved it!

- Samantha breaking up with Smith. Well duh. The disappointing part of this movie was that Samantha didn't have sex with anyone! Not even Smith! They introduced Dante and had no follow through… I think they should have changed this.

- Miranda's plot was acceptable, I thought that was very consistent to how things were going and to her character.

- Overall I think this movie is a 3.5/5, it was still good for the small amount of time that they had, but I wish they had taken some different approaches to certain characters and story lines. Carrie's was still pretty good, I just think that bringing in an ex would create necessary drama.

* Addendum: I forgot about the lady bug and the guy in skinny jeans. Ha ha ha

Day 2:

Gown pick up, "Driving Miss Li", Shopping, oh and food.

- I did not get any letter from the U of A bookstore telling me what time I could come in to pick up apparel and guest tickets. All I knew was that we had to come in the day before. I didn't know that 11am was only for Engineers! "You have to wait 3 more hours before you can pick it up" But I'm at the front of the line, it's right there within my reach… damn.

- Lunch: Gaya! *No Koreans bowing to each other and walking in the blowing snow eh? No pictures because I was silly. Kimchee fried rice, glass noodles, bi-bim-bop, beef bul-go-gi. Delicious. I love it when we have a group of people, then we can order more food!

- Walked around downtown while Sam was at an interview. Found a park that was on Jasper and 106 St., and looked at an Alberta art gallery store with very expensive but nice pieces.

- Shopping at West Ed:

I realize that I had been living in Edmonton since last August, but I did not shop for clothes since I was in Calgary. Therefore I can justify this day as the day where the hiatus is over. H&M how I love thee. I did go a bit t-shirt mad, but they had such a good selection at Urban Outfitters!

- Yummy bbt from the place across from McDonalds next to Guess. I had peach milk tea this time, delicious! Below par pho. I guess it was okay, but I definitely had better.

- Back to the gown. So now I'm at the U of A for the second time to pick up my gown. Guess what? They also give you your degree there at the same time! Ugly degree though, it's on normal paper. I've seen my friend's degree from Athabasca and they get a fancier degree holder.

Day 3: Convocation day.

- Alright so I stayed at my parent's hotel instead of Amanda's since it was closer to the Uni. I got there pretty early and had to deal with a snarky parking attendant who said to me 'no public parking today'. Well duh, I'm here for convocation. "What time?" Uh, let's see I'm supposed to walk across the stage at 10? "$4"… What a rude person…

- So here are some highlights:

- I noticed Guillaume actually on stage, as I was looking at the sign language lady.

- Of course the people I sat next to I have never met before.

- I think only 9 or 10 of us Post-RN's actually showed up!

- Tassels go on the left side as we cross the stage.

- They stand up for the PHD's and sit down for the Bachelors/Masters

- Chilling out at Amanda's afterwards

- K-BBQ at Korean Village. I really do need to get my streets and avenues straightened out or else how am I going to get to where I want to go in San Francisco?

- So much meat. So full. Look at the shriveling squid! Delicious.

- BBT again J Okay, I really like bbt and today I ordered one named after a Madonna song. Guess which one? It's not Holiday, but it's from the same album.

Bridget Jones lost the trivia competition by using this answer… If you don't know what it is, I am disappointed.

It was also delicious. I've attached some photo's, and my goodness don't we all have double chins except for a select few… tsk tsk tsk.

- Our beautiful Jenga tower.

- And check out facebook for our lovely poses outside bbt.

Short comment about Calgary Pride '08.

- Does it seem like it just gets smaller every year? Honestly, weather aside, 2 years ago it was raining and still there was a large turn out. When I talk about turn out I mean the actual parade participants not the observers. Here are my notes for this year:

- I swear to you the rainbow flag is getting shorter, and they didn't leave it at the very end. Not enough peeps? odd..

- the DOB's, dancing people on floats just zoomed by in the first couple minutes, after that it seemed dry.
- Only one cowgirl for AGRA with a lassoo.

- No float from Priape or Twisted? Or did I just miss them?

- How many lollipops and dental dams can one person collect?

- I hope there are less smokers in San Fran pride, the guy next to me was french and smoked like a chimney...

- I think that next year I should buy some stuff from the dollar store and just march up and down the street pre parade and make some cash. If the vendors in Olympic plaza can charge $30 for a feather boa, I think they have the right profiting idea.

- One thing I noticed, which was pretty funny. There were a big group of emo kids that dove into the center of the wading pool thing in Olympic Plaza and started dancing. Then there was this one girl that was trying to drag the other girl to the center of the pool, and the other girl was really not happy.

- I recognized 2 people, one a surgeon, the other works at the rogers store.

- All in all, I ended up taking some pretty nice pictures, and since the rain stopped, the weather was actually pretty perfect.

- I'm very excited to see what SF pride will be like. Grr to you Herbey for not coming.

Ditch the bitch, make the switch.

What a day this has been, what a rare mood I'm in..

2008-06-01T21:00:00.005-06:00

I wonder how much these Calgary health region people get paid to do these educational videos.

These poor working actors could put their talents to better use. Grooms’R’us? Or Bride’sR’us? Groommates/BridesMade (okay I just made that up)

No surprise here: Nurse assaults = police assaults, 46% staff abuse in previous 5 shifts.

Damn, I need to watch this dvd with someone else so I can mock it with someone.

As you have noticed, I am blogging while watching this compulsory ed dvd. (Yes Stacey you’re right, it is so dry…)

A few weeks ago I started watching Dante’s Cove, only because Jill Bennett is supposed to be in it. What I did not know, was that she’s not in it until Season 3! Regardless I watched Seasons 1 & 2 and caught the first two episodes of Season 3. Season 1 is kind of strange, it consists of 2 parts which are more movie-like. First season reminds me of a gay adult version of Goosebumps/Are you afraid of the dark. Season 2 improves. You can tell that they filmed at a different location, the entire feel of the show changes. Now we have more of a mix of Queer as Folk, Charmed, and Passions. In the first season Charlie David reminds me a little of Gale Harold, just a scruffier younger type.

Sci-fi in the way Charmed was Sci-fi, but darker like Buffy.

Before I start to tell my real story…

I was watching Vacation swap on ABC, which is like wife swap except you’ve got the trailer trash family vacationing with the rich snobs and vice versa. Very fun to watch.

The commercials during this show promoted what I call the American version of MXC. ABC is calling this show Wipeout. It looks fantastic. However, I just found out that they are also releasing a show called “I survived a Japanese game show”. I am very excited.

[By the way: The neutral tone lady is back with the IT security, just finished Fire Safety. Ugh… Privacy and IT security! Holy crap I remember watching this video like 3 years ago at orientation!]

Okay so let me tell you my story. Around midnight I was looking through movie listings on cinema clock and then I went to the Plaza website. Guess what? Fairy-tales Calgary’s gay and lesbian film festival is on! Okay unfortunately I read in FFWD the reviews on the films… they look mostly disjointed. The ones that look pretty good, I’ve already seen them on Youtube. The eye-catching note I saw was ‘Brunch with Charlie &Thea’. It appears that there is going to be a brunch discussion with the two cast members of Dante’s Cove happening on Saturday at 11:30am, tickets available at Priape. Obviously I found out too late, I already assumed that tickets would be sold out for this event. So here was my plan, I’d go there about an hour in to the talk, and maybe they could let me in after they were done talking so I could meet them. I got to the Siding café, and I could see the big group of people enjoying their brunch and listening to the two stars talk. Yes my heart was racing, I mean seriously, it’s Thea Gill (Lindsay from QAF one of my favourite shows of all time!)

and Charlie David (whom I only started watching recently as a matter of coincidence!). So the waiter said that I couldn’t sit closer, but he could seat me at one of the tables in the back with perfect view of the two stars. I have to thank the staff of the Siding café for being excessively slow for service. I usually complain about slow service, but this actually gave me the time to listen to the last bit of the talk and finish my lunch by the time most of the crowd had dissipated. I’ll probably bore some people with details verbally but this much I will say. I met Charlie David first, who introduced himself to me first (what a nice guy!). And I nervously introduced myself to Thea Gill, who has the softest hands that I have ever touched. Seriously. I wanted to ask her what moisturizer she uses because I did not know hands that soft existed. Very down to earth, eloquent speaker. She even laughed when I brought up her appearance on Cathy Debuono’s videoblog. Anyways, her and Charlie were nice enough to let me take pictures with them. And hey apparently I am “yummy”!

I think this is really helping me prepare for the potential meet and greet in San Francisco for Afterellen.com. Argh.. still waiting for details to come. Bridget Mcmanus’ myspace site only provides dates.

I'm on Spill response now! Yay almost done! Maybe this actress should take a news job where they solely read off of a teleprompter.

I laughed at my first death

2008-05-26T08:32:00.002-06:00

Okay so technically it wasn't my death, it wasn't even my patient and technically they passed on evening shift. I was just there to lend a hand to my colleagues to wrap the body.
Yes, I just got off of nights, and this is the first dead body that I have ever seen... I've been nursing since 2005, and this is the first one, not even as a student did I have a death. I know some people did as students, and they helped wrap the body but I lucked out until last night/this morning.
No I am not going to have nightmares, but let me just tell you that I was reminded of those movie zombies just from the pallor and coldness. So when I walked in to help the girls, I had no idea how I would react, and for some reason, I just wanted to literally, laugh out loud. There is nothing funny about the situation, this person took their pills, said goodnight and then the next nurse who checked them said 'they are not breathing, but they are a no code'. Even if they were a code, it would be too late. So this one seemed more like natural causes, and I would like to go that way if I had a choice, take my pills fall asleep and stop breathing. That seems quite peaceful.
Actually I think the reason why I wanted to laugh was because this person left this earth with their mouth wide open.
I can confirm now, that I am most definitely not an Atheist, agnostic, but not atheist.
Anyways, I''m not traumatized, I just really really had to control my laughter.
That might have been the most inappropriate time to laugh, but , actually when the Charge said 'well, at least you're down one patient'... yes I did actually laugh... Please realize that was your outside voice talking and thank god the family was not there.
Okay that's it for now. Goodnight. I hope I don't have nightmares now.

Loveth's Cheesecake Brownie recipe!

2008-05-21T20:31:00.002-06:00

½ cup butter

2 eggs

pinch of salt

3 tbsp cocoa

1 ½ cups brown sugar

1 cup flour

½ cup walnuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Add rest of ingredients and mix well – batter will be stiff. Put in greased 9” by 9” pan. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350ºF. Frost when cool.

You can double recipe and put in 13” by 9” pan for 40 minutes.

These taste even better 1 day old – if you have any left the next day!!

Cheesecake Brownies

1 brownie recipe or 1 package (19.8 ounces) brownie mix (do not use mix that includes syrup pouch) or your own brownies

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup white sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

Prepare brownies (or mix as directed on package). Pour into greased 9” by 9” baking pan.

Beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Mix in sugar until blended. Add egg and vanilla; mix until just blended. Pour cream cheese mixture over brownie batter; cut through batter with knife several times for marble effect.

Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes (check after 20 minutes) or until cream cheese mixture is lightly browned. Cool. Cut into squares.

I have altered the baking to 1 hour because it still seems really raw after 35 min. I have tested it out with an additional 15 but still not enough. 60 min seems to be the best and you have to let it cool, so be patient.
It's true it does taste better the day after.

I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it, I’m about to lose control…

2008-05-19T00:41:00.012-06:00

…and I think I like it!

Okay so I am amazed by a number of things. First of all, I’m starting to settle down in my place! Not picture worthy just yet, but I will post them on facebook sooner or later. I think it is worth the arm and the leg, and I am enjoying my new flat panel tv!
I discovered a PC port in the back so I have to try this out! Unfortunately, this means a trip back to Lethbridge to get my monitor cord. The only thing that will be an issue is the audio port, so if anyone has ideas as to how to connect my comp audio to the tv.
Also, I discovered a ‘freeze’ button where it takes a snapshot of a frame (but what is the point of that, I can’t rewind or anything).

*DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES SEASON FINALE SPOILER- SO DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT
My second bit of excitement (this is in random order by the way), A Gale force heads towards Wisteria lane... Okay I can't help it! GALE HAROLD WAS ON DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!!! Honestly, if you don’t know who he is then you are either ignorant or blind.

But they paired him with Susan??? Mike is gone great! And replacing him with a character played by Gale is probably the most fantastic thing that has happened! I just hope that they don’t give him a negative role like the racist Nazi on Grey’s Anatomy.

#3 How do you solve a problem like Maria?

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means Maria?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown!

Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her
Many a thing she ought to understand
But how do you make her stay
And listen to all you say
How do you keep a wave upon the sand

Oh, how do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

This isn’t just about me being completely random. CBC is broadcasting a new reality show, much like ‘You’re the one that I want’, but instead of selecting a Danny and Sandy for Broadway’s new production of Grease, ALW is producing The Sound of Music and selecting a Maria for Toronto’s production of The Sound of Music. Apparently this show was done in 2006 for BBC, so this is the Canadian installment.
Honestly, Julie Andrews made Maria, Julie Andrews made Mary Poppins. This being said, it just isn’t going to be the same. Not bad, I’m sure it will still be fabulous, but I’m just saying, nowhere near the caliber of Julie Andrews. I’m not sure when the show airs, but the actual North American production starts October 2008 at The Princess of Wales Theatre! (I saw Phantom there and that theatre is amazing! Even the sink in the bathroom was amazing! Speaking of public restrooms, in regards to this, I know it’s an apparent law, but who actually sits on a public restroom toilet??? It’s disgusting! No matter how much paper you put down! There is only one exception. The restroom in Chicago O’Hare airport… A HA! SOMEONE POSTED A CLIP ON YOUTUBE
See, this is the only one that a person should ever sit on if they had to. Please notice that the seats are also heated, and the temperature in Fahrenheit is depicted as well.

The last bit of excitement hopefully is not a hoax. I noticed on Bridget McManus’ myspace page, dates posted titled ‘San Francisco Afterellen.com’ June 20-23. And guess who is arriving to SF June 20 at 1357, and not leaving for 3 weeks?
No details have been posted yet, but it’s a bit early, so again I hope it is not a hoax!

Lost pin frakking hell

2008-05-14T03:01:00.003-06:00

As you can tell I am not impressed and yes I can here Persa saying I told you so!
It might actually be in my car but these stupid magnets DOT DOT DOT
I am not impressed.
You know what else I am not impressed with? The fact that I went down to the parking office ahead of time to sort out my ID and permit, and specifically asked them if I needed a new access card and they told me 'no'. The issue is that I could not get into the lot with my pass and have been having to give my ID # upon each entry(I could make a that's-what-she-said joke right now but I am annoyed).
Incompetent people also work at Shaw cable as this idiot named Jamie told me that my address was not on the list and that they had to submit it to the planning office so it could be put on the map. But it probably won't take long since there seems to be service there.(?) yeah... That goes with We'll call you as soon as we get that email. Thank god for Mabel who I talked to later that day that said that my address has existed for a long time. Yes that name association is applicable because you could tell that she sounded older.
Anyways, I am blogging from work, and yes this only pays for part of my TV.

Busy busy busy and distracted

2008-05-13T00:13:00.002-06:00

I finally found a decent place to live in Calgary, that is costing about an arm and a leg, but that is to be expected especially because of the location to my work. That's right, $1100/month doesn't include electricity either... but it's a condo so I suppose it covers condo fees and underground parking. Once I get settled in and have some decent furniture I'll start to post some pics up.
In the meantime it's a bit stressful with the move, since I don't have much practical stuff like a bed and a couch or a tv. Yet I have tons of stuff (clothes and my massive duffel bag full of dvds).
I'm missing a lot of elements but I know that once they are in place I can call it my new/temporary home!
You know what this means.... SHOPPING!!!

On another note, as I am quite easily distracted, I was introduced to this blog called "Cooking Korean food with Maangchi"
This is the best cooking blog that I have seen! I'm so glad that finally one of the Korean's have decided to share their special cooking techniques! Ahem, I think I see garlic potatoes...

There are some excellent vlogs on Afterellen.com, just click on the link on the side bar of my blog to get there. Liz Feldman has her new vlog, with fantastic special guests! 3way season finale is also up!

" Dancing, A non-violent approach to rehabilitation... "

2008-04-29T00:24:00.006-06:00

You know how I don't really like the Catholic church because of the whole history with Elizabeth I? Well there are some redeeming qualities:

- They have the most architectural significant and beautiful church structures.
- The students get to wear cool uniforms.
- Nuns are fun to poke fun at.
And this lead me to this... one of my favourite movies, Sister Act 1.

Next, while searching Youtube, I came upon these video clips:
1) Sister Act Dance- I especially love the prisoner dressed as a nun.

2) The Thriller dance that everyone knows about. I swear these prisoners dance better than those people who do it at weddings.

3) Last but not least... this is for you AMANDA!!!

These viral videos are made up of the prisoners at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC). What better use of their time! Not that I think prisoners can be rehabilitated through dance, but, this is just much more interesting and a way to implement physical activity. I think that we all know that prisons that are not in in Confederation countries are probably rough.

FFP... no not fresh frozen plasma you nursing dorks

2008-04-28T02:27:00.004-06:00

FFP....
Fresh frozen pizza at my door step!
Yes these two odd people dressed up as 'chef' stereotypes with sunglasses came up to my cousin's house while she was teaching piano.
I believe the convo went something like
PM: Delivery.
C: We didn't order any pizza... Wendy, can you get the door?
W: I think you've got the wrong house.
PM: It's free pizza.
W: Oh...okay... sure... (takes pizza 2 frozen pizza boxes)
PM: Yeah, I saw the no soliciting sign on the door but I thought I would try it anyways.
W: I see... thanks?

Yes, so we received 2 frozen pizza's that probably amounts to $20.
Not too bad if I do say so myself.

Ah the suicide penguin... next blog post...

The real diary of Bridget...

2008-04-21T23:36:00.005-06:00

So I was watching Bridget Jones's diary recently and got inspired. This is what happened. I know, it's amateur work, but I like my alterations. Cheers!
Made by yours truly.

Here's a new one that I just finished, not as good as The Diary but I still enjoy it!

Die snow, die...

2008-04-19T15:20:00.005-06:00

April 19..Feels like -16 with wind gusts.
You call this Spring??????????????????
Thank goodness I am going for Steak tonight.

Alterations

2008-04-19T01:26:00.002-06:00

My alteration to Bridget's photo no copyright infringement intended, this photo belongs to

Bridget McManus

Snow is not my friend

2008-04-18T19:40:00.005-06:00

The reason why I'm not in Cal-town this weekend

No offense but Americans are crazy

2008-04-18T18:53:00.002-06:00

I totally agree that people should have the right to bear arms. Buy a gun get it registered okay sure, no problem. But now you want to have the right to have a concealed weapon on campus?
Okay why has the thought process gone completely backwards?

Age 16: Student A goes to school where there are metal detectors because schools ban weapons of any sort.

Age 17: Student A starts their first day of college where people in the class have a gun in their backpacks.

So you people are saying that it is not okay to have guns in school but it's okay to have it in post secondary school...

Am I the only one that can see the contradiction?

We get school shootings in Canada as well, but we are not scared or have huge fears like Americans do.

When I saw the story on NBC news for 'guns on campus' I thought that is absolutely ridiculous. And Utah is a state where you can legally carry concealed weapons on campus! UTAH!??
Because all the Mormons are gonna hit em' up right? (sarcasm) Say it with me... 'please'...

This is what I think, American's only learn through experience. So once there is another 'hit' on a university campus in the states, then people will start to understand that maybe it's not such a good idea for guns to be legal on campus.

This topic really pisses me off. I am not anti-gun. It should be registered, it should be used properly, home defense sure. But on campus? Do we really need to remind you guys about VT? Honestly I would not want to be going to a University that has students carrying concealed weapons.

I think it would be fun to go to a shooting range. I'll have to look into that...

Play a Volta with those Hungry Eyes!

2008-04-16T04:40:00.015-06:00

"Mary's head rolls, protestants burn, while nobody puts baby in a corner "

So I just finished watching "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and re-watched "Elizabeth". It was alright, not as good as the first film, very well done but not as interesting. I think the first film is more powerful because it shows how Elizabeth took the throne and really made it as the "Virgin Queen". The second one was about maintaining power (that was again challenged by the Catholics) however it wasn't as ambitious as the first. There is no one to blame, it's history. I'm looking at some of the bonus features right now and here are my thoughts:

- Mary's head (Mary Stuart) a shot of her cold detached head on the concrete... I agree.. that clip was unecessary for the film.

- Riding side saddle/ The Queen riding side-saddle/ The Queen riding side-saddle RACING
Must be difficult.

- "I marry for my country, I love for myself" - Damn straight! I love this quote.

- The map room is better than any map room I have seen in other movies.

- Walsingham deserves more credit. If Walsingham wasn't there, Elizabeth would not have succeeded, however, he did provide an excuse for the Spanish attack (oh well they were going to attack anyways).

- This film reinforces a negative image on Catholicism.

- This second film lacked Vincent Cassel in drag, that was a problem for me.

- It was frustrating that Elizabeth was 'married to England', I would have enjoyed a true love story between Clive Owen's character and Elizabeth. I would not change it because that was not the point of the film. I will still complain because it is frustrating (like Scarlett).

- "I am my father's daughter, I am not afraid of anything" - From the first film, but I love this quote as well.

- I actually miss the fancy row boats with boudoir like dressings, with fireworks glistening from reflection upon the lake.

I would love to observe the making of epic films.

Now while Dirty Dancing isn't an 'epic' film, it is a classic that they revived on Broadway! Be that they changed songs: Be my baby to This magic moment? Why could they not get the rights to Be my baby? The beginning sounds exactly the same, but Be my baby is by far superior.

- Jennifer Grey lost Flashdance to Jennifer Beals (good choice) so Dirty Dancing was her second chance!

- Jennifer Grey... I would not be able to recognize her now, she looks almost unrecognizable. I don't believe that was her.
- Billy Zane instead of Patrick Swayzee???

Billy Zane = Patrick Swayzee as Johnny in Dirty Dancing... who knows maybe Billy Zane would have had more fame?

- Okay the 'dirty' part I guess was when they were dancing to 'Love man' and 'Stay'? Anyways I wish we still danced like that today, with that kind of music. It sucks that we still have grinding in clubs but to some terrible sounds that people today call music... yuck.

The day the music died was probably in the 90s, then got revived by the Spice Girls, but that did not last very long because Geri had to fraking leave. After that there hasn't been any good original new music. Michael Buble is excellent but what does he do best? Covers. Diana Krall is on going. Celine Dion went down with the Titanic (Unison, The colour of my love, Falling into you and the concert Dion chante Plamondon were her best albums... okay so those were in the 90s and they were decent, but after that the music died)

Last random thoughts:

Desperate Housewives: Let's continue the religion theme! Bree poaching Lynette from the Catholic church. Gaby and blind Carlos, it was fantastic how she kept on making him run into objects. '18 is legal' Susan is always fantastic walking in on really awkward situations. Not just her cousin and Katherine, but Andrew and Justin in the pool.

DWTS:
- Yay Mrs. Presley has left the building! I would have preferred to have Mario leave, but Priscilla Presley was definitely getting on my nerves. Kristi Yamaguchi definitely has an unfair advantage. I think that Marlee or Christian will be the next to go.

You can't stop the Beat....

2008-04-14T03:08:00.001-06:00

Recently I have been looking at the facebook group "My Chinese parents used to beat me with a feather duster". Let me give you a summary of what is interesting about this group *my responses will be in red:

- There are currently 8,345 members of this group
Remember that this number only includes those who access facebook, and those who would seek out this sort of group. I'm trying to say that there are more than 8,345 real members of this group.

- Some of the discussion topics include:
Are you gonna follow tradition and beat your children with a feather duster??

129 posts by 115 people
If I were to have kids, not with a feather duster. I don't use feather dusters.

what else did u get beat with?

259 posts by 226 people.
The hand, fly swatter, shoe horn.

did it make you a better person?

37 posts by 35 people
Better? It put me in my place! I was never a bad kid, and then you'd see those other kids at school who would get in trouble... bet you they weren't beat when they were kids.

Where did your parents keep the feather duster ?

64 posts by 59 people
First of all, it was not a feather duster, it was a fly swatter of the shoe horn. Mostly it was the fly swatter, that was located in the kitchen by the fridge hanging on a hook. The shoe horn was hanging by the door on a hook.

What was some of the reasons you got hit/punish for?

109 posts by 98 people
Not wanting to practice piano, not practicing piano, getting less than 90% on any test, assignment, etc.

When is it ok to hit your kids?

26 posts by 20 people
When they misbehave and are being lazy and not reaching their full potential.. aka scoring less than 90% on anything.

Has the feather duster made us better people?

18 posts by 17 people
Well disciplined, respectful, clear minded, smarter than other people who weren't disciplined. Better able to cope with problems. Though everyone says that I am more mature for my age, so maybe that had some influence.

Is the famous feather duster only used by parents who come from HK?

17 posts by 17 people
I think that my uncle used the feather duster on my cousins but they are from Taiwan, so no not just HK.

did parents ever use it for dusting?

9 posts by 9 people

We never had a feather duster.

- It amazes me that a lot of other people also wrote that they were beat with the shoehorn and fly swatter.
- I think that I deserved a lot of the beatings, I know at one point when I was little I said "Ma ma bu yao da" and she actually stopped, but that only worked the one time.
- When I was beaten I cried, then I got beat some more because I cried more. I learned to control the crying, which is definitely a feat! I also think that I can stand a lot of physical pain without being emotional.
- When you hear about the other kids in school who got punishments like being 'grounded' or having their allowance taken away, sometimes I would like to tell them to stop whining, at least they don't have marks on their arms or backs from the recent smack-down for poor grades. I have no sympathy for those people... STOP WHINING!

Distractions, German prostitutes and The Bureau of Bad Behaviour

2008-04-09T00:12:00.006-06:00

Instead of working on a paper that I should be working on...
I am watching Sailor Moon and looking at research journals for my paper. (So I am doing some minimal work)
Anyways, while searching through these journals I came across something interesting. Here's my screen cap.

The Other Sister scene location, is it San Francisco?

2008-04-03T02:59:00.005-06:00

Help! Anyone who can identify this place wins 150 points from me!
I really have no idea where this is at, and I am not digging through thousands of articles on "The Other Sister" to find out where this scene was shot at. I don't think I can find it on the net. So someone please tell me where this place is!

I blame Edmonton, they blame it on not eating a cookie

2008-04-01T00:00:00.005-06:00

NOW do you believe me when I say truck drivers are crazy and stupid?

So this is the result of improper management of diabetes... Ridiculous...
Obviously this guy chose to ignore his health issues, and look at what it caused.

What happens when I don't wear my glasses

2008-03-29T16:24:00.004-06:00

I misread things and mishear things but this post is going to be about me misreading this statement:

When Blume replied affirmatively, the woman called her a "Communist" and hung up. Blume joked that she never did figure out if the harasser equated communism with menstruation or religion, the two major concerns in twelve-year-old Margaret's life.

So guess what part of that statement that I misread?

This is what I saw:
Equated communism with menstruation of religion.

And then I proceeded to laugh at this:

Menstruation of religion

I would say more but I don't want to get into an argument about this because I've been there, done that. So here are some things to think about. Which ones do you think belong in the light days and the heavy days?

This is the source, the fobs exponentiated it but they didn't start it

2008-03-29T11:59:00.007-06:00

So I have been trying to find out the origin of the asian bunny ears and I think I have found it.
Sad to say it comes from Japanese Anime. If someone has reason to disprove my opinion please just add it in the comments. I know that we do it, and it comes natural, but why do we do it? I have no idea. But now I'm going to say that it started with Sailor Moon.

This season finale is not the L word but the P-word: Predictable

2008-03-28T04:39:00.011-06:00

Okay so this is a combo of 5x12 and We’re going nowhere recap

Loved it, hated it. One more season to wrap things up, so here goes nothing:

Helena: YAY SHE’S BACK! Peggy is also fantastic. “What are you wearing?”

- I think that we saw a bit of the old Helena when she went to make a deal with double D’s lover Cindi. You could kind of tell with her attitude. I didn’t really like the dance scene where she was like ‘get your hands off her’ it just sounded kind of strange to hear that from Helena, but I guess that is where the writers are taking her character.

Speaking of the dancing, who thinks Shebar is lame? It just appears to be cheap and fake compared to The Planet. Remember the episode with the western theme and Phyllis showing up? Shebar is to The Planet = Poppers is to Babylon (QAF)

Bette/Tina: Oh god… everyone who watches this show will hate me for saying this… I hate this couple. Honestly, I fast forwarded through a lot of their scenes because they are back together. They are more interesting apart, and even if they stayed on having an affair that would be more interesting than putting them back together. Yes they are perfect for one another. But they are incredibly boring. They were interesting in the first season, but no, boring, boring, boring. Back to that dance scene, all I could think about was sort of a reproduction of Alice & Dana at the Planet when they told everyone they were together. Where do I begin? Oh wait, yes, why don’t they bring back Dana? Even as a ghost she is more interesting than Bette and Tina.

Speaking of which, The L word is terrible for continuity: Tonya, Angus, Ivan, Uta, Lara, Marina (when they brought her back in the later season), Grace, Gaby Deveaux, PAPI (Where’s Papi?), and many more. By the way.. why is Papi gone? She is the one that brought Tasha into the fold and now they just booted her?

- Angie says “Jodi”, Tina thinks she should still include her in her life (my eyes have rolled towards the door) Bette says that Angie should have a little brother or sister (those eye balls of mine took the elevator down to the main floor and have scurried out into the street).

Bette/Jodi: Bette had it coming (like Anne Boleyn). No surprises there. WGN did a reenactment of the scene at the art show. I’ve taken some screen caps, and the majority of it is called: The many faces of Jill Bennett (I’m actually quite confused as to who she was trying to be in this reenactment, but you have to watch it because it is fucking hilarious).

Liz Feldman said that Bette’s purple shirt exploded into a red thing that looked like her shoulder had her period and that her shoulder needed a tampoo.

And the reason why she is a great comedian is in this line: “A new novel by Judy Bloom ‘Are you there God, it’s me shoulder’ ”
Please note the maxi pad on Bridget’s shoulder.

Back to the L word, my eye balls

rolled out of my sockets when Bette said “Why would she do that?” OH MY FREAKING GOD… WHY ARE THE WRITERS TRYING TO MAKE HER CHARACTER INTO AN IDIOT? She’s not dumb and they are trying to make her into a naïve character…

Max/Tom: Max gets one line in “See ya”

- I like how they’ve sorta wrapped up this character because Max really deserves to be happy, and Tom is someone who accepts him for who he is. (If you have forgotten, Tom is the interpreter)

Alice/Tasha: I think the writers said, okay we have enough drama but making them into a cute couple will make them boring. (hm… like Bette and Tina… I concur)

Cal-mart to LAPD (too many things are spelled out for the audience i.e. vespa ticket from LAPD).

- So basically Alice’s fame is rising and Tasha is starting to get uncomfortable, hence the look she displayed when her friend asked for Alice’s autograph.

Alice/Clea Mason: Yay! Finally a pairing that has real potential! Famous fashion designer and talk show host- fame and money- power couple. Please make them a couple, there have been so many affairs, I’m really sick of it.

Shane: Vicious circle. Internet rumours have leaked that Carmen will be back for Season 6. I feel nauseated at this thought. I don’t get why everyone loves Carmen. I think she’s annoying and was glad that they didn’t get married. But now they are bringing her back… NO! Here’s what I would like to see happen: Shane + Jenny. Weird, but sort of a ‘oh look they found each other after a lot of crap’. This will never happen, but that’s just my opinion.

Shane + Nikki: Too much foreshadowing to this point where we think: Who cares? And we know that Jenny won’t go back to Nikki, it’s just not plausible.

Jenny: I said it when I saw the season premiere. Why is she back after floating off to sea with no friends? I also said that she will get what she deserves. And hey! Adele helped make that happen! *Applause

Adele talking about the movie and Jenny goes “She stole it from me”… uh… isn’t that a little too late? Her reaction to the backstabbing by Adele really makes no sense whatsoever. I don’t care, you can be predictable in this situation because we do expect Jenny to go bonkers because this is her movie, yet her reaction was not to rip Adele’s head off. Maybe they are trying to make Jenny look professional? It does not work for me.

Adele: Is that all there is? She pulls off a less than adequate takeover comme Eve Harrington? They should have revealed her character beyond a 2^nd degree burn, come on, give us the flesh! (gory visual, I know)

Dawn Denbo/Cindi/ the dance:

- Cindi Annabelle Tucker (ha ha ha ha ha)

- Helena acts out of character by saying ‘get your hands off her’

- Kit- ‘girl, mmhmm’

- Dancing in a paper mache club to tacky music

- Overall, not the dramatic wrap up of this situation

- WGN girls interpret the dance at the movie party but not this one (just realized that)

So I think that is all I have to say for now. 8 episodes to wrap up this show and Carmen is going to be part of it. Here is what will disappoint me: Carmen ends up with Shane, Bette and Tina get prego again, they don’t bring back the ghost of Dana, nothing happens between Clea and Alice.

My thoughts of what should have happened in this series:

- Alice + Lara- They had just started to connect (cat’s cradle scene and talking about her family, but no they sent her away to be the chef at some 5 star hotel).

- Shane + Mark: Mark had such a crush on her, they should have had some sort of situation occur between them with some tension but that did not happen.

- Shane + Jenny: There is still hope

- Jenny + Marina: She is less annoying when they are together. Stupid that they bring back Marina for 2 episodes and have nothing happen.

Random thought: Jane Lynch is fabulous, who here remembers Cindi Lightballoon? (Arrested Development)

Here is the trainwreck, or what I call: The Result of 7 Tops being in the same room

It’s long, but you can fast forward to the reenactments. Liz Feldman as Phyllis is a must watch scene. Isn't this sock puppet cute? So much character!

How I love thee Crazy world...there's a rose in my heart for you

2008-03-24T02:05:00.006-06:00

I just noticed something: Count Victor Grazinski and Miss Kitty Butler

Similar no? Which was first....

You break it, you buy it! (When will I ever learn)

2008-03-16T22:31:00.006-06:00

I must have bad karma around be... No.. I don't believe in karma, I'm just really really clumsy.
Yesterday, I accidentally knocked my laptop onto the floor, that coincidentally fell onto the bottom of the lamp (ouch my poor computer).
Today I broke my green Denby mug :(:(:(:(, I was trying to put it away and dropped it on the floor. Of course, it shattered :(
The metal ring on my cooking oil dispenser fell into my cooking wok while I was stir frying.
I will never own property that has marble flooring because there is too much risk of me accidentally slipping and cracking my skull.
But I guess that is the way the cookie crumbles.
BTW
I love the Theresa cookie recipe, so here it is for everyone:





3 chocolate cake mixes

1 cup oil

6 eggs

- Mix together the 3 double chocolate cake mixes
(2 doubles for 2/3 recipe, 1 for 1/3 recipe).

- Add 1 cup oil (2/3 cup for 2 doubles, 1/3 cup
for 1 double).

- Add eggs.  Mix well.  Dough will be very stiff.

- Roll into small balls (walnut-sized balls
yield approx.
8 dozen "Oreos" or 16 dozen single cookies).

- Bake at 350 F. for 8-10 minutes.  (I find that
 8 minutes is plenty.)
It is recommended you double up the cookie sheets
to avoid burning the bottoms.

- Cool on cookie sheet before removing, as the
cookies are very soft.
They harden a bit as they cool.
Yield:  6-7 dozen "Oreos".

Filling/Frosting:



227 g Philadelphia cream cheese

1/3 cup margarine

4 cups icing sugar

- Soften cream cheese and margarine.



- Mix well.  (Don't use electric mixer if
 well softened.)

- 1 batch of icing is more than enough for
 1 batch of cookies from this

recipe; i.e., 6-7 dozen "Oreos".

NO-FUSS COOKIES

1 pkg. cake mix - any kind                 

1/3 cup oil

1 egg                                      

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup flour                              

1 cup any"goodies" (choc. chips, M&Ms, etc.)





- Mix together all with a fork.  Dough will
 be quite stiff.

- Drop from teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.

- Bake at 350F 8-12 minutes or until done.
(I find 10 minutes is about right.)

Disgusted.

2008-03-14T20:58:00.001-06:00

So I looked outside today about 3pm, and guess what? IT'S SNOWING!!!
After it was so sunny the past few days, I even bothered to get my car washed and put away the car extension cord because it looked like the winter was going to be gone.... This is quite unfortunate to see 2-4 cm of snow on the ground...
F-you Alberta weather...

This is how you become famous. Find an important political figure and have sex with them. (Amendment 1: American political figure) (Amendment 2: must have exposed the infidelity to other officials with proof via recorded telephone call)
The governor's prostitute... ai ya... This girl is so famous right now, her myspace page is being promoted (her music). Penthouse is apparently offering her a deal for one of their issues. Comedians are already mocking her on Saturday Night Live and CNN. Apparently this girl ran away from home or got pissed off at her dad because he would not buy her a new porsche.

Listen - in for 19.95$ the sound amplifier. Listening to to people across the street!
This infomercial is hilarious! "listen to conversations from across the street!"
Talk about stalker advertisements.

And the lightbulb turns on

2008-03-10T02:32:00.003-06:00

I'm watching "Misery" right now, it's supposed to be a Suspense film... No no, not suspense, this is comedy. Kathy Bates is so talented in this role, mind you it is a really stupid role. Stupid but crazy. Anyways this isn't a critique, this is actually about another movie. My favourite Stephen Chow movie, "All's well end's well" aka "The Happy Family". It parodies a bunch of films, including Ghost, Pretty woman, Days of being wild, Terminator 2, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho. Now I realize that they also used Misery! In particular, the foot scene.

Thank you Staples

2008-03-04T14:25:00.009-07:00

I am taking this stupid nursing research course, (which should really be put to sleep) and I had not received a mark for one of my assignments until now. (see below)

Why I am ever so thankful to the 'tech at Staples' for finding my assignment? First of all, why did my assignment travel over to Staples? And why would a prof send me a message like this, since it is so ripe for mockery?

Oscar at 80 is starting to act its age...

2008-02-25T17:51:00.021-07:00

My thoughts on the Oscars and biographical movies

I’ve seen 4 out of the 5 best picture nominees, so everything except for Michael Clayton. I have to say that No Country for Old Men definitely deserved best picture, I could see Atonement winning, but it was pretty obvious that it’s a Cohen year.

This year just wasn’t very exciting for me, well, other than the food I decided to make in celebration of Oscar night. Let me just list the things that kind of sucked:

- The intro… it was very boring and it’s probably because of the WGA strike

- Lack of suspense during the announcements of winners. There was no pause after ‘And the Academy award goes to….’ It was just stated as matter of fact.

- Lack of humorous extras ( Whoopi Goldberg dressed in costumes from each of the best picture nominees, Ellen vacuuming the red carpet ) The only extra thing they had was Jon Stewart playing the Wii.

- No special individual tribute to Heath Ledger

I think that John Stewart was an excellent host, he could have made fun of more celebs, though my FAVOURITE comment he made was on Javier Bardem sporting the Dorthy Hamill hair cut. My second favourite comment was about how Oscar is the same age as the head of the Republican party. My third favourite moment of the show was Daniel Day Lewis accepting his award and being knighted by Helen Mirren.

I’m happy that Diablo Cody won for best original screenplay, it’s not often that a former stripper takes home an 80 year old Oscar… or is it? (okay that was just bad) I have nothing against her, I am really impressed that she won.
I think that I will always be disappointed in the winners of best original song…

That one year it went to ‘It’s hard out here for a pimp’… No seriously… a rap song won…. Honestly, I didn’t like Dolly Parton’s song either, but at least award it to something that you can actually differentiate the lyrics. I think that this year was another miss. Not as bad as the rap one, but 3 songs from Enchanted? I only think “how do you know” should have been the only one to be nominated. I think the song from Juno that they sing at the end should have been nominated, that was a really catchy tune. Thank goodness that they are not reviving the whole pick a famous singer and have them sing the songs to all the best original song nominees, like that Beyonce year when everyone wanted Emmy Rossum to sing ‘Learn to be lonely’ instead.

There is a trend of nominating really young actresses in the field of best actress or best supporting actress. Most recently, Saorise Ronan, Keisha Castle Hughes and Abigail Breslin. But have you noticed that none of them ever win!

To confirm, the only young winners have been Tatum O’neal(age 10) for Paper Moon in 1973, Judy Garland(age 16) for The wizard of Oz in 1939, and Shirley Temple(age 6) in 1935. During the time of Judy and Shirley, they actually won an honorary juvenile academy award. It’s been 35 years already, I want to see someone under the age of 16 win an academy award!

One of my favourite parts of the Oscars is when they show people who have died this year. Morbid, not really, just very surprising to hear some of the names. Note that Brad Renfro didn’t make the list, even though he was I think a few days before Heath Ledger.

Surprising celebs that have passed: Miyoshi Umeki- Most people remember her for Sayonara (1957), I remember her in the Flower Drum Song ‘A hundred million miracles’.

Deborah Kerr!!! Actually I didn’t even know that she was still alive! But again very sad… The King and I, An affair to remember, and of course From here to eternity.

This year they didn’t show clips for each best picture nominee throughout the show.
Instead, before or after each commercial break they would show clips from past Oscar ceremonies… I think that they could have done that as well as show trailers for each best picture nominee.

The red carpet this year was pretty disappointing, I mean it might be, because of the rain, but there weren’t many real interesting fabulous dresses aside from a few. Predominant colours this year seem to be black, red and green.

Anne Hathaway was stunning in her red off the shoulder dress, the one strap looked like a bed of roses, it was quite tasteful (not good at remembering most designers so I can’t tell you who she was wearing).

Marion Cotillard had some kind of ivory- silver mermaid dress (literally there were scales) by Jean Paul Gaultier.

You’d think that I’d pick Diablo Cody for the worst-dressed… no no no, that at least suited her style.
My pick for the worst dressed… (and she actually looked even worse at the BAFTA’s,) is the winner of the Best supporting actress Tilda Swinton. What in gods name is she wearing… She is one step away from Bjork’s memorable swan dress.

I think that if Tilda is going to continue to dress with no style, then she should stick with her witch outfit from Narnia.

This isn’t the best picture but I think Jennifer Garner was the best dressed this year. Very weird encounter with Gary Busey on the red carpet.

After the win by Marion Cotillard, I immediately saw La vie en rose. And she really is deserving of the Oscar. It’s not often that you can find an actor or actress who is believable enough to portray famous historical figures like Edith Piaf. If you find the right person to play that role then you’ve got a pretty good picture. Joaquin Phoenix and Jamie Fox are good examples. Angelina Jolie as Gia was interesting, but I don’t think too many people knew what Gia really looked like. That movie didn’t get enough credit.

There were some biographical tv movies that were flops, mainly because of the casting, and really it’s a tv movie, what do you expect. Life with Judy Garland: me and my shadows… accurate picture of what happened to Judy, but this is something that should be committed to film, not television. Finding someone to play Judy is the hard part (both young and old).

Another big disappointment was The Audrey Hepburn story. I am forever appalled that they cast Jennifer Love Hewitt as Audrey. WHY HER? Why not Mia Kirshner, or Alexis Bledel? Maybe my picks aren’t great either, but I think those are better than Jennifer Love Hewitt….

I was never a Marilyn Monroe fan, but her history is pretty interesting too. ‘Blonde’ was the made for tv movie about Marilyn… another flop.

I think these TV movies really have the heart in it, but just not the talent.

The Judy Garland story was probably the least crappy movie of all of them, I think it won some Emmy’s that year.

Welcome to the first day in my real life!... and other stuff...

2007-08-14T03:07:00.000-06:00

Everyone knows that I have been planning for this day for over 6 years now. You've heard me spew on and on about how I'm going to finish nursing in Lethbridge, then move to Calgary then work for a bit then move to Edmonton and finally live on my own.
Well my friends, the time is finally here!
It's not a terrible adjustment, and it does feel a bit scary at times, but hey I guess this is what being grown up means. As you know, being 'me' means having many many stresses in my life. Thank goodness that some of it has gone away:
1) A place to live: I have a roommate who is on a similar sleeping schedule as myself, I'm within walking distance to campus, I have full access to cook whatever I like, Wii access, video rental shop around the corner and I get to wake up to some jazz piano. Oh yes it's also a very nice building.
2) A job: I've got the interview crap out of the way now I just have to get all the paperwork and initial orientation done and then I'm set to start working! Did I mention that work is also within walking distance?
3) School: Well this one still needs to be assessed, I've taken care of the paperwork to complete the practicum (criminal rec check, TB test, blood work, etc) but there is also the part of actually going to school... I'll have an up date by the end of September.

And I guess that is it for stresses... I really don't have too much to say about my life right now, just that I am glad that it has finally started!

Now, on to more important matters.. the things that are tinkering in my mind...

1) Rocky Horror remake?
- People seem to be discussing a remake, or a sequel written by Richard O'Brien following 9 months after Brad and Janet's encounter at the house, with Janet pregnant with either Rocky or Frank'N'Furter's baby. I think that this movie doesn't need a sequel but a remake would be fantastic. Musicals seem to be a hot commodity nowadays, so why not remake this cult classic?
People will disagree and say that nothing will top Tim Curry's performance, however I think that if they cast carefully they can avoid a Charlie and the chocolate factory dunce revival (Tim Burton is great but he wasn't right for this remake).
So far this is my choice for a new cast:
Eddie ~ Jack Black
Frank'N'Furter ~ Cillian Murphy or Johnny Depp (Not sure if either of them have any singing talent)
Riff Raff ~ James Marsters
Brad ~ Chris Klein
Janet ~ Britanny Murphy
Magenta ~ Drew Barrymore

I will post up the rest of my make-believe cast once I have made a decision.

2) Mad TV's parody of a Korean soap opera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uzANrO0Wl0
That's only part one go to my facebook for links to parts 2-4.
So here are elements of a K-soap, similar to elements of a regular soap:
- Lovers finding out that they are some how related
- Lovers finding out that they are not related after they think that they are related
- A single kiss that is usually a terrible grandma kiss that will occur once in the entire series.
- Flashbacks, flashbacks, flashbacks.
- The love triangle
- 'Huh?' 'What?' 'Sorry'
- Someone always dies
- Yes those annoying food commercials do come on!!!
- Very long subtitles where you have to pause or rewind to see what they actually said

Baloney

2007-04-16T03:32:00.000-06:00

This article taken from The Calgary Sun is quite humourous, and I'd like to point out the things that are possibly true and the things that are just absolutely ridiculous

FEBRUARY'S NURSE OF THE MONTH Nurse offers care necessities
Todd Saelhof Sun Media
April 15, 2007

She’s a throwback to her mom’s time when nursing was more about having a bedside manner than manoeuvering a mouse through medical records.

I see this author can't even spell maneuvering right...

Nurse of the month, Maureen Lawrence, alternates days between the Foothills and the Rockyview hospitals. Following in the footsteps of her mother, Lawrence prides herself on greeting patients with a bubbly personality and a smile.

I wouldn't pride myself on being bubbly an smiley it comes with the territory of putting up with people's shit, they are a lot nicer to you when you are nice to them first

But Maureen Lawrence, who makes it her mandate to give patients everything they want, wouldn’t care for Calgarians any other way. “I’m an old-fashioned nurse — I like to sit and talk with my patients and like to hold their hands if they’re crying,” said Lawrence, a nurse in a post-surgical unit at Rockyview hospital.

Really? You LIKE to do that? Sometimes it is necessary and one does not mind to do that but you "LIKE" to do that? Do you smell that? that's smoke coming out the ass

“Definitely, that’s different with some nurses today.” Certainly not every caregiver these days dedicates herself to comforting Calgarians like Lawrence, which is reason enough for her to be named the Calgary Sun’s and Calgary Health Region’s Nurse of the Month for February.

Obviously there was no regional vote from all nurses.

But there’s much more to the veteran nurse, who considers herself sweet, bubbly and a constant source of positive reinforcement when dealing with those suffering from sickness — even after being on the job more than 30 years. “I pamper my patients, I have a very pleasing personality, and I always have a smile on my face,” Lawrence said.

Xanax, xanax, xanax, or whatever pill you're popping please give me your Rx

“I like to take ownership of my patients — I’m very obsessive — and I think that’s a good thing for the patients, because I do believe that whatever they ask for they get from me.

Drug seekers please pay attention to that last statement

“But I also have a wicked sense of humour — I tease patients and get along well with the families.” It’s all in a day’s work for the 55-year-old nurse. Her perfect shift is staying as busy as possible while keeping it light for patients.

My perfect shift is having no codes, no resp distress, no chest pain, happy patients and having enough to do as to not be bored. I don't really believe that any nursing LIKES to stay as busy as possible, honestly what are they putting in your redbull?

And she’ll get no argument about her work ethic and upbeat attitude from her co-workers, including one anonymous colleague who nominated the part-time caregiver for the monthly award. “Maureen always takes on more than her share of work on the wards, going out of her way for patients and making lots of extra effort to connect with them and their families,” said the nominator. “She goes out of her way to keep patients informed with what is happening in their care. “She exhibits a bright and sunny disposition no matter how heavy the workload, and she keeps her workmates in constant laughter with her wild sense of humour.”

If this is the reason why this nurse was nominated I can think of a dozen other nurses that I know that take on that same attitude, in fact almost every single person that I have worked with has that sunny disposition

Lawrence was born and raised in Edmonton, where she idolized her mother who worked in private home care. “My mom was a nurse, and I wanted to be a nurse since I was three years old, so it just came naturally,” Lawrence said. “It was just kind of neat to have a mom as a nurse — not many of my friends in the old days had moms that worked.” So she followed in her mother’s footsteps by taking nursing at Red Deer College. She then worked in Lac La Biche and Edmonton before coming to Calgary and taking up duties at the Rockyview, General and Peter Lougheed hospitals. She then returned to Rockyview hospital in 1988 and has been there ever since and made the move from maternity care to the post-surgical unit. “It was a completely different job — in maternity, the patients are healthy, have their baby and move on,” Lawrence said. “I like the kind of nursing I do now, because I like to look after sick people — maybe not life-and-death. “I like doing dressings and all the gory things.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA (this is known as the "gag" me statement) please please give me your pager number because you can do all of my dressings and gory related things, since you "like" it so much!

In the last seven months, Lawrence has picked up shifts at the Foothills hospital caring for post-surgery patients in the gynaecological cancer ward, where it’s still a case of putting on a positive attitude.

Okay well I guess that makes sense when you're working oncology there is no room to be depressing, may as well have 'happy' coming out of your ass in spades

“When I started at Foothills in October, I just remember coming home and thinking what a difference I made to one particular patient — she was terrified about her future — that felt really good,” Lawrence said. “I like to reinforce all the time — I’m quite sweet with my patients.” But in the post-surgical units, it’s not always easy to keep up appearances. When it’s difficult to stay positive under stressful situations, Lawrence turns to a strong support group of nurses in Rockyview’s Unit 61.

Bah! 71 staff camaraderie is in my opinion the best!

For more than five years, co-workers April, Robin and Audrey have always helped keep an upbeat department. “We’re an unbelievable team — if it’s a bad, horrible night, I know my three cohorts will be there for me, as I will be for them,” Lawrence said. “No matter how crazy it is at work, we’re still giggling and there for each other.” When she’s not taking care of Calgarians, Lawrence likes to get out and golf and walk. Plus, the mother of two girls, 26-year-old Keltie and 23-year-old Brittany, admits to having a serious Sudoku addiction. But her penchant for number puzzles is nothing compared to her dedication to caregiving. “After 30-plus years in nursing,” Lawrence said, “I still love bedside nursing.”

Now that I can believe, a lot of people I work with and my preceptor from Lethbridge have the same opinion