Olympic Opening Ceremonies

We begin with the trendy "zoom into the stadium from space" shot and then quickly cut to a video clip that looks suspiciously like a promotional video for a Travel BC.

As the president of the IOC is introduced and he enters the big wig box it is strangely mostly empty. A few minutes later the TV announcers let us know that the First Nations leaders (who had been granted head-of-state status hadn’t arrived yet and so due to protocol most of the others who should have been seated in the box were still waiting in the wings. Wow! Nice!

The next thing I can even remember is the parade of athletes. As usual it was the longest and least interesting part of the whole three hour show. In the olden days at least, the athletes acted like the world was watching them and acted accordingly. Nowadays they barely even acknowledge the audience as they are all so busy videoing themselves being videoed and texting their BFFs “like can u c me now? lol”. I can remember the days when maybe one or two athletes would discreetly take out a camera and grab a quick shot and then get right back to the important business of being on worldwide TV. Now they’ve all got their cameras out front and center from the moment they enter the stadium. I don’t like it.

The national anthem was sung by a very good singer but I guess my thinking on how a national anthem should be sung is different from most of the world. I remember the Salt Lake Olympics when the Tabernacle choir sang the anthem and the NBC announcers were very impressed and commented “that’s the way an anthem should be sung” and I agreed totally. It was sung the way it was written. It was powerful and moving. I really don’t care for these divas who take the opportunity to showcase their own particular interpretation of the song and change it all up. Nope, didn’t care for it.

At some point along the way some guy comes out and does his version of the “I Am Canadian” commercial. Way too preachy.

Did you notice we were able to hear Brian Adams sing the first couple of lines of his duet with Nelly Furtado even though he hadn't raised his mic to his mouth yet? Hmmmmm...

In the olden days Canada was a colony of the British Empire and therefore had someone called a Governor General. This person was the representative of the King or Queen and was probably a relatively important person in the grand scheme of things. Today Canada still retains the position of GG but as Canada has been an independent country for several years now the GG position is completely symbolic and the holder of said post has no actual power. This seemed to change a bit when they started appointing TV personalities to the post. Remember that Adrienne Clarkson lady.
She totally let her pompous new title go to her head and started showing up at everything, giving her opinion like anyone really cared and all that. This delusional assumption of actual power has continued with the current GG, George Michael or John Michael or whatever her name is. Sorry but just I don’t want some former TV presenter opening my Olympics thank you very much.

The artsy and computer generated portion of the show was cool but forgettable. I kind of liked the whales. Was that Peter Pan over some barley?

The final disappointment and ultimate fail was the torch itself. How can you let something THAT important malfunction? Somebody is SO fired? And what’s with sending 99 out into the rain for a way too long back of the pick-up ride down darkened streets to light the “other” torch. Talk about anti-climactic. Lame, lame and lame!

For me, the highlight of the opening ceremonies and the only thing that made the whole thing worth watching and yes, it did make it all worth while was the brilliant singing of kd lang. I have had her rendition of Hallelujah at the 2005 Juno awards in my YouTube favourites for a long time now. Talk about a powerful soulful performance. Just brilliant!

And here it is. Hallelujah



I love the reaction of the audience, full of her music industry peers. They knew they had just witnessed a very special performance by a great talent. (I also love her reaction to their reaction.)

Don't You Hate It When...

you are enjoying a nice quiet little blog surf and all of the sudden someone's playlist autostarts and scares the methane out of you because you had your speakers turned up way too loud the night before listening to your own music and forgot to turn them down. Maybe it's just me but I think it takes a pretty great autostarting playlist to be better than none at all.

After being the victim of yet another unexpected melody tonight I have decided to join in with all the playlist perveyors and get in on a bit of payback (hey that's only one skinny letter away from playback) with my own hastily chosen and partially plagarized playlist.

Don't you also hate it when you can't find where they've hidden the player in their blog and you're frantically scrolling and searching for it to pause it because just reaching and turning down your speakers would somehow mean that they won.

By the way mine is at the very bottom. Feel free to pop down and shut it off if you haven't already.

Update Feb. 11
I have now disabled the autostart so... it won't anymore.

It’s Not What You Think

Nearly three years ago when I decided to start a blog one of the things that had me stumped was what to call it. I’m terrible at coming up with names for things and even thinking up a user name for an internet account has been known to take several hours for me. Having visited a few blogs it was clear to me that an awesome title was critical if one was to be taken seriously in the blogosphere.

In my quest for a blog title I remember even googling “clever blog titles” and in the process found out that I was not the only one trying to come up with a clever name for a new blog.

Then I guess it sort of struck me that there might be this website where all the blogs and in the world with only the most clever titles would be listed or where you could go for help in coming up with a spectacular name for your own blog. This imaginary website would be called “Clever Title Blogs Inc.”

Ever since starting my blog I it has always been in the back of my mind that people may not have really understood my title, I mean why would anyone be expected to understand the events and thinking that resulted in that name. I worry that they might think I supposed my blog to be clever or that my posts had clever titles or something like that. The reality is just the opposite. The name came as a result of an inability to come up with a good name. I finally just decided to make that clear to my readers, yes all three of you.

That's What I Said

Well maybe not in the exact same words but the general sentiment and implications of my last post way back in January appeared in news articles today.

Obama Calls for End to NASA’s Moon Program

Students failing because of Twitter, texting

I'm not saying I called it but...

2010 and still only one sun

Wasn’t this the year that both the Americans and the Russians were supposed to have spaceships orbiting Jupiter in order to take a closer look at that big black rectangular solid thingy called a monolith? (Apparently it’s full of stars.) It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen this year now does it. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve even heard of the release of a computer called the HAL 9000. I know Future Shop isn’t selling them yet, but I bet you can order one from Alienware. I’ll have to check out their website again. Oh well, I suppose I should have adjusted my expectations after 1999 came and went without even a single moon base being established.

It seems we had far greater dreams for our future world back in the 60s, 70s and 80s than we do now. 2010 and other randomly selected distant future years were so far away that it must have seemed quite appropriate to assume humans would be living on the moon and taking trips to distant planets in the early 2000s. On the other hand, I guess that is why they call it science fiction. Because even though some of it may be based on science, in the end it’s all just pretend isn’t it?

It’s not just that we haven’t progressed as far as some might have thought we would by now, it’s that we’ve lost the ability to do things we managed to accomplish decades ago. Although to be fair, I’m pretty positive the computers they used to go to the moon in the 60s and 70s aren’t Windows 7 compatible so somebody is going to have to relearn how to do all that stuff over again.

Maybe there is still hope for us all though. If I’m not mistaken, in the Star Trek universe we have a couple hundred more years (until the 23rd century) to join the United Federation of Planets and be exploring strange new worlds with warp speed or hyper drive or something like that.

Anyway, 2010 is here, no drops of Jupiter getting in or anywhere near anybody’s hair yet. On the other hand we do have twitter, texting, facebook and …blogging. So yeah, we’re like... SO awesome.

May 2010 be your best year ever.

Brookie, what do you want for Christmas?

I just wanted to share a recent conversation I had with my 4 year old niece Brooklyn.

Me: So Brookie, what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?

Brookie: A dog, a snake, a parrot and a mice.

Me (siezing the opportunity to be wise and condescending): And what do you call just one mice Brookie?

Brookie: .....Fred.
.
.
.
I think that was the most perfect answer to a question I have heard in many years.
Epic fail for me, completely owned by a four year old.
So much for my wise and condescending intentions.

The mouse/mice conversation will have to wait for another time. Although now that I think about it, she probably already knows about all that and was just having a bit of fun with me.

Love ya Brookie!

Merry Christmas everyone!

New Moon > Twilight

For those of you who are in a hurry I’ll just come right out and say it. New Moon is a better movie than Twilight. If you are interested in why I think so then please continue reading.

Actually it’s not better in every way but it is in the most important ways. First let me tell you the things I didn’t like about it.

The score and music. I thought the music from Twilight was excellent and fit the story very well. The music in New Moon is completely forgettable and I was actually distracted by it a couple of times. It just felt much less mythical and vampirey and much more like the music from a typical generic Hollywood love story.

Although this movie did a very good job of staying faithful to the book they did leave out the part that I was looking forward to the most. After Edward leaves Bella, she gets back to her room to find that Edward has taken anything and everything that could possibly remind her of him. Her immediate and total devastation is so well written in the book but is completely skipped over in the movie. I was disappointed.

My final gripe is in no way the fault of the film makers as it is part of the story from the book itself and so I was quite prepared to endure it but that doesn’t mean I had to like it right? That being, that for the bulk of the movie Edward is gone and Jcub is left to weasel his way into Bella’s life. I just don’t like anyone messing with Bella and Ed’s destiny.

Now for the good news, yay!

What a difference a change of director can make. I’m so glad I didn’t give up on Kristen Stewart after the first movie. Although I was disappointed in her portrayal of Bella in Twilight I really did feel that she still had Bella locked up inside her somewhere and I was right. She is so much better in New Moon! And if I may say so, they seem to have ignored the fact that she is supposed to be kind of plain and just decided to let her be the beautiful girl Kristen is capable of being complete with magazine quality eyebrows and lovely well conditioned hair. I have never seen K Stew looking this good. She is just so pretty in New Moon. But never mind all that. It appears that her one dimensional performance in the first film was completely the fault of the director. In New Moon she shows a much wider range of emotion and really feels much more like the Bella of the books. Most importantly she is allowed to show that she is genuinely in love with Edward. This was what I found missing from her performance in Twilight and what I was so glad to see this time.

Most of the other actors seem to have gotten makeovers between films and were much more Hollywood if that makes sense. I think that I actually preferred most of their looks in the first movie but I’m glad they let Ashley Greene get rid of that silly spiky hair from Twilight and let Alice become the lovely girl I could see hiding under all those spikes last time. (In case you haven’t noticed before, I just really really ♥ Alice.)

Call me crazy but when an original story is good I generally prefer the movie to stick with it rather than having the director give us his own personal vision which is supposedly somehow based on the book but inevitably takes off in a totally different direction. Chris Weitz has done very well in this regard and except for my previously mentioned disappointment I don’t really have any other complaints about what parts and how much of the book he was able to get onto the screen. Like other movies based on big fat books, there is the inescapable condensing of the story so it is obviously to be enjoyed most by those who have read the book.

Ultimately, Edward and Bella were great together and seemed to me to be much more like they were in the book. This is what is most important to me about the whole twilight story and this movie got their characters back on track and where they should have been from the start. Most everything else is secondary.

Dear Kristen has finally become Bella and Edward is back from Italy never to leave again. I can now look forward to the continuation of the story without worrying if I will ever recognize Bella and Edward from the book up on the screen. I still like the first movie and continue to prefer certain aspects of it to this one but overall I think New Moon gets more of the important things right and is definitely the better of the two films.

August Rush

This review is a couple of years late but...


A couple of days ago I sat through a movie (at home) called August Rush but I think I only saw about half of it because my eyes were constantly rolling into the back of my head.

First let me say that I do enjoy good heart warming movies, as long as they are honest in their approach and bring a good story along with the sweetness. In fact, that is why I decided to watch August Rush in the first place. However I found it was, from the beginning, unrelenting in its attempts to pull on the heart strings without giving us any real reason to care. It felt so full of clichés and scenes we’ve seen many times before in other movies. I mean come on, please tell me that Mrs. Doubtfire his-own-self didn’t just suddenly pick out a new name for the kid from some text that just happened to be in his field of vision at the time.

Poor but gifted orphan boy – check.
Teased and misunderstood by other boys – check.
Runs away to find much better life with seemingly loving and unselfish street people – check.
Tormented rocker father and Julliard alum cellist mother – check …He was a skater boy, she said see you later boy… oh sorry, I just drifted off there for a second. Also, these two just happen to meet on a rooftop, under a full moon no less, where they instantly fall in love and decide to make a baby right there and then. How romantic, mystical and free spirited of them.

Anyway, speaking of Freddie Highmore, although he definitely pushed his luck with me in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and in Finding Neverland I just managed to tolerate him those two times. This time though, I’m afraid he’s gone too far. He is suspiciously good at crying on cue and is way too emoting and just overall annoying. I mean there must be thousands of other boys who could be in some of these movies. Why does it always have to be him? I say it’s about time we give some other kid a shot at being the misunderstood weepy genius nerd.

In the end, when all is said and done, and what it all comes down to is this. August Rush is a one trick pony that feels like a collection of clichés and overused bits and pieces of other tear jerkers. It places all its eggs in the “let’s get them crying” basket which unfortunately has a huge hole in the bottom. I don’t mind and can even enjoy a good bit of sugar as long as it is riding on something much more substantial to keep it in check. August Rush though is missing the substance and I felt like I was being force fed straight sugar and I’m afraid it was just too much to take. Actually I must admit, it wasn’t just straight sugar, there was also a significant amount of cheese as well but I’m afraid that only made things worse.

The Best Bar of Chocolate

Do you remember that chocolate bar you probably tried once or twice sometime during your childhood? Maybe you got a miniature one in your Halloween candy from some old person who just wasn’t “down with the kids” and didn’t know about all the current trendy candy they liked. You’ve probably never actually bought one yourself unless it happened to be part of a party pack, but thanks to the variety of experiences life does seem to inevitably provide, you have probably eaten a piece of one every now and then. You know, it’s the bar without any nuts, caramel, wafers, marshmallow, nougat or sprinkles of any kind. The plain one, so plain in fact that it comes in a mostly white wrapper with a simple unassuming name guaranteed not to draw attention and to nearly always be passed over for something more flashy, exotic or extreme. Have you guessed which one I’m talking about yet?

Yes it’s the Jersey Milk bar. On a hunch I bought one the other day, probably for the first time in decades. All I can say is WOW! Now that is some real quality milk chocolate. It’s a true chocolate bar, not a candy bar as they are often called these days. No need to disguise some cheap waxy chocolate flavoured imitation with other overbearing flavours. The Jersey Milk is simple yet obviously made of authentic high quality milk chocolate and is some of the best tasting, smoothest chocolate you can buy for less than a dollar.

In the olden days it came wrapped in gold foil with an outer white wrapper made of paper. Nowadays it has changed to a one piece plastic wrapper but has maintained the plain but elegant design of old. So after your kids come home Halloween night and you are sneaking through their bounty of goodies maybe pass over the Snickers, Oh Henry, Kit Kat and Wonderbars and see if you can’t find a mini Jersey Milk bar. I promise the kids won’t care or probably even notice if you help yourself to such a plainly wrapped and obviously boring bit of swag. Either that or you could just go buy one RIGHT NOW! Except those of you who don’t happen to reside in Canada of course. Yeah, unfortunately they are not available in the states. Sorry about that.

201 movies in 199 seconds

Yeah I know it's been a whole month since I last posted but due to my exciting life this is all I've got for you today. I know it's not much and pretty much pointless but you can at least take comfort in knowing that it took me several hours to make. Therefore I hope the 199 seconds required to watch it may seem at least partially justified.

The music in the clip is by Vanessa Mae, yes that very same Vanessa you met in my last post. The song is called Contradanza in case you are interested.

The video consists of movie still shots each lasting just under one second in the video. ( I tried to match the timing of the shots to the beat of the music but Windows movie maker doesn't provide quite that level of control so it is what it is.)

These are still shots from most of my favourite movies and many others that I consider well above average. I hope you recognize many of them. I would be very surprised if anyone could match every still with its movie as I'm pretty sure there are at least a few that none of you has ever seen. Maybe someone will prove me wrong. I hope so.

Maybe in the comments you could tell me how many of the photos you were able to match to a movie and we can see who gets the most. If anyone gets them all I promise to address you as "Master and Commander" all the rest of my days. (Yes that is the name of one of the films in the video, so one down, only 200 more to go.)

If you recognize a photo but can't quite place it and it really bugs you and renders you utterly unable to think about anything else and get on with your day then please feel free to ask me.

So here they are, 201 movies in 199 seconds and some great music as well.