Author: cultureguru

Visiting the Canyon lands

We’ve recently returned from a trip with the following itinerary:

  • 2 days in Zion, Utah
  • 2 days in Sedonah, Arizona
  • 2 days in Grand Canyon Village, Arizona
  • 2 days in Las Vegas Nevada

Map of area

(Not quite our itinerary, but gives you an idea)

Getting around: Why drive when you can walk?

We flew into Vegas, rented a car, and drove ourselves to the other locations. (And by that I mean, Jean did all the driving.) But it was still a pretty active vacation, because we managed to get some walking in on the driving days, and on the non-driving ones, we did a lot of hiking. And the thing about Canyon areas is, there a lot of uphills! So it wasn’t just ambling down paved lanes.

On Grand Canyon trail

Even in sprawling Vegas, since we abandoned the car as soon as we arrived, we got around mostly on foot.

We did use a bit of public transit, trying out the cool monorail in Vegas, and having to take the free park shuttle to get out of Springdale (the little town right outside Zion) into Zion park, and to get to the various trail heads. Grand Canyon Village also had a free shuttle, but it wasn’t as frequent or as late-running as the Zion. So we did some car-supplementing there, especially at night.

But still, pretty active. And I have to say, that does wonders for sleep. And gives you quite the appetite, too. (For food. What did you think I meant?)

We’ve discovered that quite a few people actually visit all these parks from a Las Vegas base, driving out and back in the same day. If you have limited mobility, such that hiking isn’t too feasible anyway, it’s probably a reasonable approach. The landscape is very interesting—sometimes, but not always, gorgeous—but so varied and different from here, it does make for good drives. And Las Vegas is cheaper to stay in than the other places.

Route 66 scene

Not our rental car! A view from Route 66, one of the interesting drives you can do around these parts

But our best days were definitely the hiking ones, not the car ones. So if healthy and wealthy enough to do so, I’d strongly recommend getting out of Vegas and spending non-driving time in the other places.

Trail in Zion

You can’t get here by car! (trail in Zion)

The weather outside is (not at all) frightful

The weather was perfect. It was sunny everyday. It was warm, but not too warm. Despite SP15, I even got a bit of a tan.

I’m not sure that was such great luck. It is desert area, after all; warm and sunny’s not so unusual. Still, we heard that the week before we were there, Grand Canyon had turned so frigid, they actually got some snow. And Vegas got a flash flood that left knee deep water in parts.

So maybe it wasn’t great luck, but at least some luck. (Hmm, maybe I should have tried the slots at Vegas. Oh well.)

And, we were even graced with a full moon, which apart from looking gorgeous, was helpful in those small towns which (unlike Vegas) are not very illuminated at night. Especially given that the sun set around 6:00.

Moon over Grand Canyon

Hotels: Living in the lap of luxury

This wasn’t an organized tour, so we booked all our hotels a little haphazardly, over a series of weeks. In Zion and Grand Canyon, it quickly became clear that things were selling out fast, so the main criteria became, which hotel has space? In Sedona and Las Vegas, we were able to deal-hunt more, and picked out places mostly based on value (most stars for the least money).

So we were repeatedly surprised at just how fancy the places we were staying at were. In Zion, we had a full suite with complete kitchen, a hot tub outside, and a beautiful view of the park. In Sedona, we got valet parking, porters, free yoga classes, another hot tub, and walk-in closet. It also had the most gorgeous dining area, with a view, and on the Monday night, a great guitar player performing. Really, super-romantic.

And Vegas—our cheapest accommodation—was the best room of all! Again a full suite with complete living room as well as bathroom, two flat-screen TVs, walk-in closet (of course! Too bad we were never bothering to unpack), enormous bathtub (Jean said you could get a full workout walking around in there while taking your morning shower), escort by golf cart… 9 pools (all heated)… Crazy.

The only “normal” room—a perfectly fine room of the type we normally stay in—was at Grand Canyon Village. That was the most expensive one of all.

Hell is other people: The crowds

Actually, it wasn’t that bad. But, we weren’t exactly the only people there. All accommodations in Zion/Springdale and Grand Canyon Village were fully booked. (In Utah, they post Sorry! instead of No Vacancies. Isn’t that cute?) But where Zion had some crowded buses and busy restaurants, it really wasn’t annoying. Like, we never made restaurant reservations, and that was never a problem.

But in Grand Canyon, there really were people everywhere, all the time. Really hard to get parking, most any of time of day. Really hard to get a seat at a restaurant, especially the better ones. (One we had to reserve weeks ahead, and still got only an 8:45 dining time; another we had to wait 45 minutes before being seated.) In Zion, on some trails, we hardly met anyone. Not so at Grand Canyon.

Crowd at sunset in Grand Canyon

Joining the crowd to watch the sunset at Grand Canyon

In Sedona, the trail we did was really quiet; hardly met anyone. I guess most people were visiting the little town, which was quite a bit busier. But manageable. And except for one very popular restaurant, no dining issues here, either.

Las Vegas is packed with people. Especially at night. On the streets, in the hotels, everywhere. But, great people watching, especially given the higher percentage of attractive people here (especially female, but some men as well). And of course, so many restaurants, they’re not all going to be booked.

But all in all, if this is sort of the low season, can’t imagine what it’s like in these places in the high season…

You didn’t come all this way for the food, did you?

Well, no, we didn’t. But, with the help of a few guide books, we mostly did pretty well in the dining department. It was not a big foodie focus (for once), but with about two exceptions (both in the Grand Canyon—who knew breakfast could be so dire?), all the meals ranged from decent to very good.

A real Mexican focus to the food options here, which unfortunately made us realize that we get tired of Mexican food faster than other types (despite it being better prepared there than anywhere around here). The El Tovar at Grand Canyon was touted as a five-star restaurant; I’d say that’s generous. It was good, but in local terms, I’d say it was Solé good rather than Verses good. But it was just a gorgeous place to be at; too bad it was too dark to see the view.

The beautiful restaurant at Sedona also had really good food, though with very disorganized service. Still, that benefited us one night, as they were so late bringing us the wine, we got it free! And pretty much every place we tried in Springdale was rather remarkably good.

In Las Vegas, we had supper in Paris, lunch in New York. (I just like saying that.) And back in Sedona, we did an Arizona wine tasting. I only learned on the flight over that they even made wine there. None of the restaurants seemed to serve it, but two of the whites and one of the reds were very enjoyable.

Dining in Vegas

Sorry; probably more of me than you want to see. But when in Vegas…

Leaving Las Vegas

And what did we think of Vegas, really? Worth visiting… for a day. Never seen anything like it before. But if you don’t gamble or drink your face off, it doesn’t take that long to get tired of the crowds, the noise, the smoky casinos (that all look and sound the same). And mainly what there is to do there (besides gambling and drinking your face off) is visiting big, lavish hotels and fancy designer stores. Which gets old.

But, they do have good shows. And we did get same-day discount tickets to one of those, the Cirque du Soleil Beatles Love. It was really excellent. It was compelling in itself, but I also felt it gave me new insight into the familiar Beatles music. Even at a discount, not cheap, but certainly my favorite part of Vegas.

Cirque Du Soleil at Mirage

For more photos, see http://jean-cathy.smugmug.com/Travel/Zion-Utah-Sedona-Arizona-Grand/19635036_qgqcMK#1539211510_N2cb2X3

(And Jean will be continuing to add and update that area in the coming days.)

And for a particularly detailed account of the trip: http://jean-cathy.com/cathy/photos/nevada-utah-arizona.htm

Canoe-ing together

We’re just back from vacation to Zion, Sedona, Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas. And you’ll be reading and seeing more about that from me soon. But first, I wanted to finish this post I started before leaving, about my trip to exotic Toronto. I’ve already talked about the Daltrey part of that, but not about the foodie part (the second time a Daltrey has included visits to fine restaurants. So I guess that’s a tradition now.)

First up: Canoe!

Canoe sign

We’ve been hearing about Canoe for years and years, and finally went. For lunch, because that’s cheaper.

It is a beautiful space up there on the 54th floor. Even though we had a somewhat cloudy day, it still offered an impressive view of Toronto.

We did feel slightly underdressed, as we were in our rock concert gear while most everyone else seemed to be on lunch break from their Financial District jobs, and therefore in business dress (the only nod to Friday being that many of the men didn’t have ties). Nevertheless, we received impeccable service. (And very prompt.)

For some reason this is now a two-star restaurant in Where to Eat in Canada, but to us, it was definitely three-star food. It’s not every day you swoon over squash soup, but theirs did taste divine, featuring a maple accent. Maybe even better than the wild mushroom soup Jean had, though no complaints about that one either. For mains, Jean had a beautiful goose cassoulet, and I had a salmon fillet that I’d hoped would be more smokey (it was described as “smoked”), but came with fairly amazing rice in broth. How often do you describe rice in broth as amazing?

Vertical

Our dinner restaurant was a no-star listing in Where to Eat, and was indeed not as impressive as Canoe. Still, Vertical is not a bad place to go. It has fun, lively-looking bar area, and a quieter dining one. We were there quite early in a bid not to miss any of the concert, and our waiter was quite accommodating in not rushing us through the order selection process.

The meal was fine but not outstanding, except for one item: the haddock ravioli with truffle and chanterelle. Which sounds totally weird. But it was just delicious, with pasta of perfect texture, and a fantastic blend of flavors.

Le Petit Déjeuner

I don’t usually go on about breakfast, but I feel a need to mention Le Petit Déjeuner, on King Street East, because it had the most amazing scrambled eggs. Really—scrambled eggs. I’d never had such amazingly light, fluffy ones before. (The waffles were also quite delightful.) We got to wondering how they achieved this texture. Jean’s been studying the matter with the help of an egg cookbook written by a French chef. He’s getting closer…

Tawse Winery

The next part of this weekend getaway actually took place in Niagara-on-the-Lake, as part of a work thing of Jean’s. Included was a group tour of Tawse Winery (sometimes Jean’s job is really tough). Jean and I had visited before, but that one was the typical step up to the bar and try out a few tastes of wine type. This one featured four different wine stations, each with a food item that suited the wine being tasted, followed by a visit to the wine cellar where we could try any other wines they made. And, we were led on the tour by the vintner himself.

All the little appetizer items were very nice on their own, and did suit wine being highlighted. And those were all good, except that the Pinot Noir just wasn’t quite there yet. (The vintner agreed; we were tasting it before it was ready to be bottled and sold.) We got a full explanation of their wine-making process, and how it’s different from most other wineries, so I did come to understand why Tawse wines cost more than many. Despite that understanding, though, we still bought only one bottle each of their two cheapest wines, the Riesling and the rosé.

Vineland Estates

Our one winery stop on the way home was at Vineland Estates, in Vineland (would you believe). I wanted to go after having enjoyed their wines at the Solé dinner, but in the end, we didn’t even do a wine tasting here—they seemed a bit busy, and we didn’t want to wait. But, we did have a fine lunch. They have a very beautiful room with a view, enjoyable even on this day, which was gray and rainy. And all the food was very nice. We went totally seafood, sharing mussels to start, then Jean had the bouillabaisse while I had the smoked trout (which was as smokey as I’d hoped). Nice job on all the fish for being so far from the sea.

 

Roger Daltrey presents The Who’s Tommy

It was a long piece, but I knew if we could get to the “Listening to You” chorus, we’d be all right. We’d have them.

—Pete Townshend on performing Tommy

The raison d’être for Roger Daltrey’s latest tour—apart from his continued desire to keep performing for as long as he possibly can—is to present the Tommy album live in a way The Who never did: Playing the entire thing, in order, with the full complement of harmonies and keyboards and everything included on that iconic album.

Witnessing this Friday night, it became clear that there are a few problems with that approach. The original album is sequenced a bit weirdly, both story-wise and musically. And even with the dropping long, instrumental “Underture”, it’s quite long. So while you would certainly build and gain momentum through some sequences: 1921, Amazing Journey, Sparks, Christmas… Or particularly, Pinball Wizard, Tommy Can You Hear Me, Smash the Mirror… Momentum would then somewhat be lost by the necessity of then performing a lesser track like Sensation or Sally Simpson.

(“Is this still Tommy?” Jean asked, about three-quarters of the way through.)

That said, there was still plenty to enjoy about the live performance of this opera, and it wasn’t all the expected stuff. Like, for example, seeing Roger Daltrey, for the first time (that I know of) taking on the villain’s roles in “Cousin Kevin” and “Fiddle About”. He seemed to really relish those two roles (maybe nice to finally not be the in Tommy/victim role), and sank his acting chops into the interpretation. I can honestly say I’ve never enjoyed either of those songs more.

Tommy under Cousin Kevin's foot

30 years after being under Cousin Kevin’s boot, Daltrey finally gets to turn the table

Another surprise was just how enjoyable the silly little “Tommy’s Holiday Camp” song was—possibly because it is perhaps the only giddy moment in this rather grim little opera. It was totally fun.

And the songs you expected to be great… Really were great. Last time I saw Roger in concert, the microphone twirling was very limited and approached rather gingerly. But clearly the old man’s been practicing, because it was whipping around like nobody’s business during “Pinball Wizard” and the finale. It was impressive. See:

And speaking of that finale… I’ve seen many videotaped versions of The Who leading the crowd toward what seems an almost religious experience after Roger Daltrey sings the “See Me / Feel Me” chorus for the last time, and then everyone joins in on the “Listening to you / I get the music” chorus. But I’d never participated in that. And this crowd was fantastic. The second that moment came around, everyone was on their feet, rushing the stage, pumping their fists, singing along… It looked, sounded, and felt amazing. The ovation at the end was huge. Daltrey appeared really touched by it.

But how was the voice?

Last time I’d heard Daltrey perform, two years ago, the voice was not good. He’d even had to cancel some performances. So I felt grateful to have seen him perform at all. But that whole show, he was singing through a thick, nearly hoarse, rasp.

It was much, much better this time out. This isn’t to say it was perfect. Despite the humidifier going, the water, the tea, the strictly enforced smoking ban in theatre, the voice did crack on some of the high notes—for example, on the See Me / Feel Me part of “Christmas”. But it sounded beautiful on others — for example, on the See Me / Feel Part of “We’re Not Going to Take It”. And in the lower ranges, there were no issues at all.

(By the way, entire tour performances available from http://www.livedownloads.com/. I hear can now confirm that the Altanta show was particularly good – no voice cracking. )

The concert, Part 2

The second half of the show featured a variety of songs among the now rather large catalog Roger and his band have rehearsed. And where the Tommy had some unavoidable lulls, the second half was nothing but highlights, including (but not limited to):

  • A bluesy version of “My Generation”
  • A lovely take on my favorite Who song, “Behind Blue Eyes”
  • The Simon Townshend spotlight song, “Going Mobile”
  • An incendiary version of “Young Man’s Blues” (which Roger seems to love the irony of singing, now that he is the old man with all the money), complete with some highly showy microphone twirling, and integrations of the relatively rare Who track called “Water”.

Also fun was his solo track, “Days of Light”. And on “Baba O’Riley”, when he unbuttoned his shirt all the way (as the Toronto Sun’s [female] writer said, “it was an impressive display.” It’s not normal to get even more fit and muscular as you age, is it?), raised his arm, and his full head of hair was backlit, you were definitely reminded that this was the iconic rock God of the seventies, right there, right now, still.

Roger Daltrey - Baba O'Riley

Still a rock god

We want to be on stage, but we don’t want to be on a pedestal. We’re like you. I’m like you. That’s what this song says to me.

— Roger Daltrey, Toronto, September 30, 2011

Since I knew that the playlist for the second half varied from night to night, I was trying not to get my hopes up about any particular song being performed. But in truth, there is one I really wanted to hear: “Without Your Love”. [Because I’m a sap!] I was not to be disappointed on that front. He did a lovely job with it.

After that, he explained that they had a strict time limit for this particular performance, and performed one last song, the lovely “Red Blue and Grey”. I was feeling slightly miffed at apparently getting a shortened show, but you know, the thing started before 8:00 (with a quite good opening act), Roger and band took the stage somewhere between 8:30 and 8:45, and it was nearly 11:00 when it was over. No breaks.

I supposed 2-2.5 hours is a reasonable length of concert for a 67-year-old man who just had throat surgery.

Our seats

Though I tried not to fret overly much before attending this concert, one thing I did wonder about a bit was just how good our seats were, really. Turns out, they were really very good. We were in the fifth row, and though not right in the center, you could see everything really well. The only problem, really, is that is not very good seats for taking pictures and video. There was always a light right behind Roger’s head, which just washed out his face on film.

Roger Daltrey photo

One photo that didn’t turn out too badly

Fortunately, there were hundreds taking pictures and video there, so I’m not going to be deprived of that.

We did get talking to people before the show started. The guy beside us was kind of funny, as he didn’t seem entirely sure what he was about to see. And his question about how much the seat cost confused me a bit as well. Maybe he won his in in a contest? But, turns out he’d bought tickets from a scalper minutes before, so that explained that. He was a very friendly American from Florida, who’d last seen The Who perform around 1979.

And the people in the row in front us of turned out to be from Waterloo as well. But they’d bought their tickets on Tuesday! This Tuesday! Ticketmaster, I bought my tickets the day they went on sale. Why did these people get better ones, four days before the show? (They said it wasn’t from a reseller or anything.)

[Almost forgot about some lady behind us—apparently not such a big fan—who was nearly freaking out at having been told how long the show would be. Kind of funny.]

Anyway. The important thing is I was really close to Roger Daltrey again, and in fact, even managed to go stand right in front of the stage by evening’s end. (Even though we didn’t make eye contact this time.)

The band

The set list was actually somewhat similar to that of the 2009 Use It or Lose It tour, but it sure has acquired a professional sheen on this tour. In introducing his band, Roger said that they were “the best band I have ever played with.” Now, I don’t know if he’s including The Who among the bands he has played with, but there is no denying he has assembled a fantastic group of musicians here. They provide beautiful backup harmonies throughout, and completely solid musical accompaniment.

I also kind of met them before the show. As I was asking Jean if he remembered seeing what was likely Roger Daltrey’s limo drive past us when were walking over to the Orillia show two years ago [he didn’t], a big limo bus pulled up to the stage entrance of the Sony Centre. So we ambled over to see who would get off. Clearly, we did not meet Mr. Daltrey, or even the young Mr. Townshend. But we did see the keyboard player, and the drummer, and musical director and lead guitarist Frank Simes was particularly nice with all the fans.

Meeting Frank before the show

The famous-only-by-association Frank Simes

Our buddy Frank

Our buddy Frank on stage

The crowd

I’ve already mentioned them a few times, but it was a great crowd. (The place looked sold out to me; I don’t know if it actually was.) Mostly boomers, of course, but a number of them brought their teenage kids, so that made for a nice younger contingent. I could sense (and hear, in all the singalongs) a real diehard Who crowd. Jean, who didn’t have such a constant laser focus on the man onstage, spent more time actually looking at the crowd and enjoying how much they were enjoying it.

And I’ll leave the last words to Jean.

You know, I didn’t hate that. I didn’t hate that at all.

It’s really high praise.

Worth the gamble

At our last dinner at Verses, several of us agreed that while Sole restaurant had many fine qualities, consistently good-quality food wasn’t one of them. You could get a pretty good meal there. Or you get a pretty mediocre. It was a bit of a crap shoot.

But, anytime I’ve been there for a special wine-food pairing dinner, they’ve always done an excellent job. So I was willing to try their September local food special, which is as follows:

“Sledgers” Organic Micro Greens
… hemp seed and lemon vinaigrette, fresh peaches, “Pingue” natural prosciutto

2009 Semi Dry Riesling 3 oz

Jumbo Scallop
… beet marinated, sweet pea and mint puree, pancetta cup

2010 Unoaked Chardonnay 3 oz

Tomato Mille Feuille
… roasted “Elmira’s Own” cherry tomatoes, “Woolwich” goat cheese, puff pastry, dill pesto

2010 Pinot Meunier 3 oz

Ontario Duck
… Roasted “Brome Lake” duck breast, zucchini fritter, heirloom carrots, red currant compote, cassis jus

2009 Elevation Cabernet 3oz

“Rosenburg” Blue Cheese
… green apple sorbet, pear chips

2008 Cabernet Ice Wine 1 oz

Five Course Preset Dinner $ 50 per person, Wine Pairing $ 30 per person

I have to say, everything was just delicious. The scallop was perfectly cooked. The mille feuille had a great texture and nice balance of flavors. The cassis jus nicely accompanied the medium-rare duck. The green apple sorbet was a highlight of the dessert.

The wines were lovely, too. I wasn’t that familiar with Vineland Estates, but now I’m interested in checking them out. The off-dry Riesling and the Pinot Meunier (wonderful nose on that one) were highlights, but they all worked well. And I’d never had Cabernet Sauvignon ice wine before.

The service was very prompt and very friendly. We are a little spoiled, though, as we were somewhat expecting a full explanation of each dish, but they don’t really do that at Solé. So we just kept asking questions:

  • What’s the sauce?
  • What are these things on the scallop?
  • Which type of wine is this?
  • What year is the wine?

And so on. Occasionally our waitress could answer, but very often she had to go running back to get the information. She always did, though.

The only other minor complaint was that the serving sizes could have been a tad smaller, for five courses. But it wasn’t crazy sized, and in the end, the only dish that I couldn’t manage all of was the duck.

So, I’d say this one is a good bet (and a good deal) at Solé. You have five more days to try it out.

Fall means new TV

Last year at this time, I was complaining that so many summer shows were still on, I had no time to check out any new programs. This year, that’s not the case. Both dancing shows are done (one permanently—sniff!), Mad Men is not on until March or something, Flashpoint took a hiatus… My PVR’s been near empty for weeks.

But I need a distraction from the news, which I’ve been particularly depressing of late. So I’ve decided to audition a number of new shows, to see if any are worth sticking with.

Best new show (so far)

Completely unfair to judge this yet, as I haven’t even watched all the new shows I intend. And just one episode isn’t much to go on. Nevertheless, I feel I should mention CBC’s Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays (which, confusingly, actually plays on Wednesdays) as I suspect most haven’t heard of it. It’s a half hour comedy, pretty simple premise: Michael has been in therapy for 15 years for various social phobias. His doctor is writing a book about it.

Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s funny. And feels true. And it has women characters as well, and they even get to talk to each other (not about men). And it’s fun spotting the various Ottawa locations in use. And being Canadian, it’s both unlikely to overstay its welcome, or get cancelled prematurely—at least this season. CBC has no doubt ordered a certain number of episodes, all of which it will broadcast.

New shows I’m checking out only because of the cast

1. The Secret Circle

Because it features the delicious Gale Harold, whom I loved in Queer as Folk, here playing a very nasty warlock. It’s a show about teenage witches in a small town. And based on one episode, it’s… exactly what you’d expect a show about teenage witches in a small town to be. So far, not promising to be more, à la Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But still, enough entertainment factor there for me to return for more episodes and see how it goes.

2. Ringer

Speaking of Buffy, Sarah Michelle Gellar is back in this new series, playing identical twin sisters. Boy, has this one received mixed reviews, some really dire. And sure, the premise is fairly ridiculous, but again based on only one episode, I’m willing to give it a few more views to see how it develops.

3. New Girl

This one stars Zooey Deschanel, and its main selling is most definitely that it stars Zooey Deschanel. It is totally running on her personal charisma. I found the first episode OK. It had some funny moments. I know feminist me is supposed to be offended by her manic pixie dream girl persona, but in a season also giving us a redone Charlie’s Angels and The Playboy Club, (and I’m not so sure about Pan Am, either) it’s hard to work up the outrage.

Returning shows I’m looking forward to

1. The Mentalist

This is one I never would have picked before. Not that I dislike The Mentalist, but it’s more Jean’s show, just one I also don’t mind watching, because the characters are fun and have good interaction.

But I have to say that last season’s finale really blew me away. It was completely gripping in and of itself, in a way that show isn’t usually, it apparently resolved the Red John storyline that had underlined the series since its start (but had become increasingly and a somewhat absurdly convoluted), and in way that I really didn’t expect but still didn’t seem unrealistic at all.

Now, I just can’t wait to see how they get Jayne out of this, and back to helping the CBI solve crimes. (They promise it won’t all have been a dream.)

2. Big Bang Theory

Here’s another show that went out last season with an ending both surprising and realistic, and it should be great fun watching all this unravel. I love this show for its consistent ability to make me laugh out loud. For real.

3. Battle of the Blades

Because the only hockey players I want to see are those wearing figure skates.

Returning shows I’m not sure I’ll keep returning to

I’ve already decided to drop the too-uneven How I Met Your Mother, and I’m not sure about these two:

1. Glee

Because in the past, no matter how bad this show sometimes got mid-season (and it could get pretty bad), it always seemed to pull together a finale that made me love it again. But last season? Holy geez, that was crappy. Replaying the Quinn-Finn-Jessie-Rachel love triangle again? Seriously? It’s the night before Nationals, and they haven’t even written the songs they’re going to perform yet? What?

And having made Coach Sylvester a total cartoon then decided we all needed to cry over her sister, what the heck will they do with her next? And apparently they had some reality show this summer to pick new cast members.

I don’t know, Glee. You’re sitting on the PVR there, but I’m not feeling in a big hurry to press Play.

2. Bones

Brennan and Booth and baby. Boring!

And for a bit of dancing

I have been checking out Nico Archambault’s Ils Dansent, focusing on the training of 10 male dancers. With no dropping of one dancer each week! Just learning new and increasingly complex choreography. Nice-looking show. And I can certainly use the weekly exposure to the French language.

Movie reviews: Two films based on novels

One that I’ve read, one that I have not (but now think I’d like to)…

*** A Single Man (December 2009) – Rental
Colin Firth, Julianne Moore. A man decides to end his life after the accidental death of his partner, and enjoy his last day.

She says: I found this movie really compelling while watching it, and feel even more impressed after thinking back on it more. It’s very simple, really, all taking place on one fairly ordinary day, but rendered special by the main character deciding this day will be his last. I’d never seen the subtle but effective use of color tone to reflect the character’s mood. And the whole movie is gorgeous; get the Blu-Ray.
He says: That’s two hours I’ll never get back.

***½ The Help (August 2011) – Theatre
Viola Davis, Emma Stone. A white woman and a black housekeeper convince a group of other black housekeepers to contribute to an anonymous book about what their lives are like in 1962-ish Mississippi.

She says: I have no idea what this movie is like for someone who hasn’t just read (and enjoyed) the book. But I had, and I really enjoyed this adaptation. I thought they did a good job of capturing the essence of the novel, even with the necessary simplifying and condensing necessary for a movie. And it was a great job of casting.
He says: They did a good job with that, didn’t they! [He also just finished reading the book. Or whatever it is you call listening to the full audio version, which is what we did together on our last road trip…]

Ontario votes

My bold predication for the Ontario election: Elizabeth Witmer, MPP for Kitchener-Waterloo, will retain her seat.

When voters turned against the Mike Harris, when they ran from John Tory’s school funding proposal, Ms Witmer, Progressive Conservative, still handily won her seat. She’s been in there for something like 21 years. She certainly not going to lose now, when the PCs are riding a “we’re tired of the Liberals!” wave.

This means, under our most undemocratic of electoral systems, me voting is just a waste of time. I am not voting PC, but whether I vote Green, Liberal, NDP, or Marxist-Leninist, whether I spoil my ballot or just sit at home watching TV, the result will the same. Ms. Witmer’s most votes will give the whole seat, and the choice I made will make no difference at all in who runs Ontario.

I will say I don’t have any particular issues with Ms. Witmer. Generally, I think she has been a good representative. And if Ontarians had been smart enough to change their electoral system four years ago, when they had a chance, I might have even have considered voting for her as my MPP, while selecting another party with my second vote.

But, Ontarians didn’t want more democracy, so we have the system we have, and a vote for Ms. Witmer is a vote for Tim Hudak. And I can’t do that.

I’ll grant that my distaste for Mr. Hudak was perhaps not on the most solid basis, initially: The man is just horribly boring to listen to. All he does is repeat sound bites, that nearly always contain the word “tax”. Tax grab. Sneaky eco-tax. Taxman. Tax on home heating.

It’s the most excruciating thing to listen to. (I’ve heard that Queen’s Parks reporters routinely leave his press conferences early, since all he does is repeat his boring lines over and over.) Four years of that? Not sure I can handle it.

Since then, though, he’s given some reasons of more substance to not vote for his party.

The numbers don’t work

As pointed out by that paragon of lefty, socialist thinking, The Toronto Sun, the PC’s economic plan doesn’t add up. Tax reductions and no cuts to education and health sounds great, but how do you pay for it? Truth is that after education and health, there isn’t a whole lot left to cut. So what’s the plan, here? Letting the deficit rise exponentially? Praying for miraculous growth in Ontario’s economy?

(Yes, all the parties are being somewhat unrealistic in their fiscal promises. The PCs are just the most so.)

Update: A rather damning and very detailed examination of just how much the numbers don’t work, courtesy of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. Graphs in Conservative Changebook misleading: At least three of the graphs present data that is clearly false. All of the others contain major errors.

Taxes probably will go up under Hudak

I’m not saying he’ll raise provincial taxes or the HST. But as several have pointed, he will not say whether he will continue to take over the cost of certain municipal programs, as the Liberals plan to do. If he does not (and remember he does have to cut somewhere), it is likely our municipal taxes will increase. OK, they always increase. But they will increase more. And unlike with provincial and federal taxes, which give credits for things like RRSP and charitable donations, there’s nothing you can do to protect your income against those ones.

Addition: The anti-green energy stance

Mr. Hudak wants a better world for his daughter (which I believe), but he’d cancel every green energy project he could? While there do seem to be some flaws in the Liberals handling of the alternative energy file, from what I’ve read, I still applaud the general direction. I believe it’s one of the most progressive in North America. It’s even earned a rare, specific endorsement from David Suzuki!

Xenophobia

Why are politicians allowed to bald-faced lie during elections campaigns, again? In election ads, which can’t be dismissed as an unfortunate slip of the tongue?

Because nothing, nothing has been more appalling to me than this party’s response to the Liberals plans to give tax credits for immigrants who are having trouble finding jobs in their field.

Hudak calls them “foreign workers”. He says the funding will go “outside Ontario”. “Ontarians need not apply.”

But only Canadian citizens would qualify for this tax credit—being a landed immigrant would not be enough. And it’s only for jobs in Ontario.

Hudak is just lying, and in the most xenophobic, divisive, hateful way possible.

Now, I don’t know that the Liberal plan is that wonderful. That professionals who immigrate have trouble finding work in their field is a real problem; I’m not sure how much this would solve it. And I don’t think comparing the PCs to the Tea Party is all that helpful a response, either.

But I do know that all Canadians are equal, no matter how long they’ve been Canadian. And if one group is being particularly discriminated against, it is reasonable for the government to see if something can be done to rectify that.

I won’t vote a party that promotes near-racism.

Unfortunately, what I do won’t make a difference.

Rest of Ontario: Good luck to you. Sorry I can’t be more help.

Twinning

On the long weekend, we happened to see two productions involving the concept of doubles.

Another Earth posterFirst up was the movie Another Earth, in which a mirror image of our planet suddenly appears in the sky. It seems to be identical, right down to the cities. Who are the inhabitants? Are they duplicates, too? A millionaire runs a lottery to allow the lucky winners to get a trip there to find out.

Though it all sounds very sci-fi, it’s really more of an indie drama. The focus is on the main character, Rhoda Williams, whose inebriated self gets so distracted by the appearance of Earth Two that she crashes into another car, killing a woman and child, and putting a man into a coma. She goes to prison; the man eventually emerges from the coma. All this happens in the first 15 minutes or so.

The rest focuses on Rhoda’s post-prison life, and her attempts to make amends. She visits the man to apologize, but loses her nerve and says she’s offering a cleaning service instead. She ends up his regular housekeeper, and they get to know each other—the secret remaining concealed. Meanwhile, she’s fascinated by the idea of Earth Two, and maybe starting over there.

It’s an uncomfortable film. It starts with a terrible tragedy and continues with a deception that you know has to blow up at some point. But it’s intriguing as well, and stays with you, pondering the big questions. All on a small budget.

If you can handle the premise, I’d recommend it.

Twelfth Night at StratfordNext was much lighter fare: William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, as directed by Des McAnuff at Stratford. That is the one with the twins, Viola and Sebastian, who get mistaken for one another after Viola disguises herself as a man.

The production is excellent. Just hilarious, set in a kind of 60s era with a soundtrack to match, with a strong cast, including Brian Dennehy as Sir Toby. I admit I was a bit daunted at its 3 hours, 7 minutes running time, but it goes by really quickly. Highlights include the Viola / Sir Andrew sword “fight” (mostly sword avoidance) and the choreographed spying on Malvolio as he reads the love letter he believes to be from Olivia. Ben Carlson as Feste also has a lovely singing voice.

Now, the whole thing does require one to ignore the scientific knowledge we now have that identical twins cannot, by definition, be of different genders. But the very distinctive outfits Sebastian / “Cesario” wear make that work OK (particularly from our cheap discounts seats).

And as many Shakespeare comedies, one has to accept character that are remarkably flexible in their romantic affections. Orsino is supposedly desperately in love with Olivia throughout the production, but can switch to Viola on a dime once it’s clear she’s not a dude. Olivia is not the least upset that she’s actually married to Sebastian despite thinking she married “Cesario”. Though particularly delightful is her reaction to seeing both Sebastian and Cesario for the first time: Double the fun!

Anatomy of a high school reunion

The impetus for our trip earlier in August was my Grade 13 high school reunion. Upon hearing I was going to that, people had some funny reactions.

“Are you nervous?”

Which I just found confusing. Nervous about… What, exactly? It’s not like I had to give a speech, or hang-glide, or compete in a test of skill. It was just go there, meet people, eat, drink.

But I now realize this is a by-product of the high school reunion being such a popular culture trope, the occasion where dramatic things happen: Where old hurts are avenged. Where one attempts to hide what you’ve actually become (Romey and Michelle’s High School Reunion; that episode of Taxi where Louis has Bobby pretend to be him). Or, where one attempts to show you’re no longer that loser you were in high school (as Liz did fairly recently on 30 Rock).  Or where old romances are rekindled. Or time travel occurs (Peggy Sue Got Married).

For the record, if there was any avenging /deception /bragging /romancing / time travelling going on that weekend, I wasn’t involved.

“Why would you want to see those people again?”

How about this: I’m not on Facebook. So, I was kind of curious how people turned out. High school wasn’t altogether wonderful, but Grade 13 was definitely the best year. A smaller, closer group of people that I was curious about.

I have to think it will be so different for the Facebook generation (which is spreading to every age group, really). With virtual reunions going on continually, how necessary will actual ones be?

The stats

I was quite impressed with the organization of the whole event by the small committee who took it on. One thing they did was put together a spreadsheet of contact information, from which I could glean the following:

  • Original class size: 80 (though I don’t think quite all made it through the entire year)
  • In attendance at the reunion: 37 (46%)
  • Deceased: 2

Remaining numbers are just for those in attendance, plus 4 who provided info via email after—bold for the group I’m in:

  • Married or now divorced: 40 (97%)
  • Child-free: 7 (17%)
  • In the medical profession: 11 (26%)
  • In education: 12 (29%)
  • In high tech: 3 (7%)
  • Living in Timmins: 19 (46%)
  • Living in Ottawa: 5 (12%)
  • Living in KW: 1 (2%)
  • Living in Toronto: 0 (0%)

How we looked

Kind of like this:

Class photo

My brother said that people at a high school reunion looked like the same, only with “swelling”. Funny, but not totally true. Sure, there was some swelling, but some seemed to have lost weight since high school, and many looked to be about the same size as then.

And at any rate, it was hair that really made the difference. The only people I had trouble recognizing were those with much less hair, different colored hair, or more facial hair.  This resulted in a number of conversations with people who clearly knew me, who I also felt I recognized, but couldn’t quite pinpoint—until partway through the conversion (and after the welcoming hug). Very strange feeling.

Did other schools do this?

Other parts of the excellent organization included:

  • Showing a recording of our Grade 13 talent night
  • Re-creating our Grade 13 room (now a storage room) at the high school, and allowing us to restore our autographs to the wall (as they were rudely painted over)

Which led me to wondering, did other schools do those things? Did everyone in Grade 13 get a special room to hang out in? Did everyone put on a Soirée des Treize?

Working on the talent night is something I definitely remember. I believe the purpose was to raise money for our Grad celebration. I wrote a sketch for it that actually proved controversial. It was an ad for a 20-minute workout featuring celebrities. They were fine with the Queen (me) leading everyone in a royal wave, and even with Mick Jagger demonstrating some vigorous pelvic thrusting (well, it was a French school). But the Pope having everyone bend down and kiss the ground? A little dodgy for a school full of Catholics. And Pierre Trudeau giving everyone the finger? Turns out that means the same thing in French as in English.

So you see, I’ve always been a rebel. 🙂

I think in the end we got to keep the Pope (even though the enthusiastic performer was practically French-kissing the microphone in his performance of the move), but had to substitute in a smoking René Levesque for the swearing PET. (Interestingly, the cigarette in the hands of high school students was not considered the least bit controversial then.)

Notes on folks

A lot of the old gang was there, the same but different.

MJD, still sweet and pretty and fun, but also now a well-loved family doctor whose move from Timmins to Ottawa made it into a nation-wide story on the CBC.

IC, still fun and funny and outspoken, but also abandoned a law career for some volunteer work in the third world, and then his own contracting business. An interesting person, then and now.

FLB, the old boyfriend, as gorgeous now as he was then, but having dismissed thoughts of the priesthood (!) and acquired three university degrees, now settled into a long-term marriage with four kids, and long-time employment with the same high-tech company.

With these and others, it was funny how easily we fell back into the groove (and the old crowds, in large part). One of the teachers there recalled our year as a “special” one—and I think that was meant in a good way. I believe it could be true.

Movie review: Three we agreed on

***½ Toy Story 3 (June 2010) – Rental
Tom Hanks, Tim Allen. A transitional period in the toys’ “lives” as Andy prepares to go to college.

She says: Nothing to complain about in this “kid’s” movie which, to my amusement, was happily watched by four adults, no kids. It was by turns funny, touching, and exciting, all edited into a story that held together beautifully. Proof that sequels don’t have to suck, even when they get to number 3.
He says: What part was supposed to make me cry?

Friends with Benefits poster*** Friends with Benefits (July 2010) – Theatre
Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake. Tired of failed romantic relationships, two friends decide to add sex to the mix without the complications. Then it gets complicated.

She says: I find both Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake very appealing as actors, so was willing to go along and root for them as they went through the romantic comedy plotline, even as their characters openly mocked the romantic comedy. No must-see, but doesn’t insult your intelligence, and not bad characters to spend time with.
He says: That was a chick flick. [She says: So, you didn’t like it?] I didn’t say that.

*** Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (July 2011) – Theatre

Daniel Radcliffe, Ruper Grint, Emma Watson. It’s the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort.

She says: I think this one was oversold to me. It certainly wasn’t bad. It looked great (this would be the 2D version), it had the fine cast of British actors, as always, and I definitely wasn’t bored by it. But the claim that it was so much better than any other in the series? I didn’t find that.
He says: It was just OK, right? It lacked suspense and narrative drive. I’ve liked some of the other ones better.