September? Really?!?

When did that happen? I missed the memo that summer was almost over! LOL The university campus is so calm in August: no line-up at Tim Horton's, quiet bathrooms that are clean even at the end of the day, the ability to walk the corridors without pushing anyone/getting pushed or hit by a bag or an elbow,... In two weeks, all of a sudden, the place will be flooded anew with students. Little 17-year-old freshmen will be wandering around, looking lost and a bit scared while older students will catch up boisterously with friends they haven't seen in a while. As much as I appreciate the calm of summer, it is nice to see the campus come back to life. The beginning of a new year always fills me up with a little extra energy and enthusiasm.

In other news, the price of a litre of gas has reached 1.35$ in Montreal. Holy cow, Batman! I long for the days only a little over a year ago when people complained about paying 0.90$. Just to put that in perspective for my American friends, 1 gallon is equal to 3.8 litres. So we're basically paying 5.13$ per gallon.

This Is Not Good...

Today has been not the funnest day. I woke up with a headache, which didn't go away until I took Advil. My right foot was also a bit sore when I woke up because I walked a lot yesterday. I should have been smart and put on my sneakers but I find my flip flops more comfy in the summer so that is what I wore. No big deal. However today, as I was packing my work bag to come to the lab, I dropped a heavy book on said right foot. Then, I had a bunch of errands to run, and I was lugging my laptop and books I had to return so it was heavy. Hence, my foot is now most unhappy. So yeah, this is not good.

Incidentally, it reminds me that I've stolen "This is not good" from the show Made in Canada. Well, not so much as stolen as borrowed from that moment on. LOL For a whole season, all the episodes of Made in Canada ended with that sentence.

I must say, however, I had a great day yesterday. David and I went exploring some corners of Toronto, and then, I tried to kill him by taking him to an Indian restaurant for dinner. LOL ;) Innocent vegetables + really hot spices= a lot of choking. I'm sorry again for that!

That's it for today's report. My database work awaits!

What is Your Humour Style?

Kiddo posted this humour style quiz at her blog. I cannot resist taking know-it-all quizzes so without further ado...my results! LOL

The Three-Variable Funny Test

You are: the Wit

(61% dark, 38% spontaneous, 26% vulgar)
your humor style:
CLEAN COMPLEX DARK


You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.

I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer.

Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.

You probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais

I think that's fairly representative of what makes me laugh. But then again, it is a silly test. LOL

Create Your Own Bad TV Movie Title

Remember the 80s and 90s when cheesy TV movies were all the craze? I remember that they used to fill Saturday and Sunday nights. The best thing about TV movies: they tend to have very cheesy titles. So someone created the Lifetime Movie Title Generator. You can now find out what the title of your TV movie should be. You can enter some "movie" info, and bam a title. It came up with "God, Don't Leave Me Terminal: The Truth About Jennifer", which made me giggle.

This Blog Is Turning Into TV Land.

I was just looking at my latest posts, and I realize I am in one of my TV phases right now. I apologize if I'm getting carried with my discussion of TV-related topics. I must say that I haven't been this gripped by TV fever since the mid-90s, which were the heyday of my The X-Files/Friends/Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman/ER/Ally McBeal bug! Well, I did have the few passing weeks of Dawson's Creek obsession in 2003, which I blame entirely on Pacey (LOL), but that didn't lead to too much rambling since I was too ashamed. LOL I think having found 3 witty shows at the same time on TV (The Daily Show, Arrested Development & Gilmore Girls) makes my brain happy. Plus, I do think my brain is bracing itself for the return of my crazy schedule in 2 weeks. I'm loopy on decent nights of sleep and home-cooked meals. LOL

As long as I am talking about TV, I found this old interview with Stephen Colbert in my links the other day. In it, Stephen discusses that he co-created/co-wrote the Ambiguously Gay Duo with Robert Smigel. The Ambiguously Gay Duo has always been my favourite cartoon on Saturday Night Live so it is funny to discover he wrote it. Stephen Colbert was the voice of Ace, and Steve Carell was Gary. I wish I could see it again; it has been years since I saw them. I don't really watch new SNL episodes/old SNL reruns though; the only 2 episodes I saw this year were the one with U2 (for the awesome musical performance!) and the one with Jason Bateman/Kelly Clarkson.

The first show I remember watching religiously was Beverly Hills 90210, when I was in grade 8. What was your first TV love?

Broken Flowers Review

I was unfortunately disappointed by Broken Flowers, the new independent movie starring Bill Murray. I found it funny at times in a very deadpan and/or pathetic way. The acting was not at fault at all. All the actors did a great job. It just felt too self-important a movie for what it had to say. The director was clearly in love with his camera, which made for beautiful shots, but it seemed for the sake of nice shots rather than tell a story. The overall story was that Bill Murray found out he may have a son but is not sure who the mother is. So he goes back to visit them to investigate this mystery. It's another of those man-in-a-midlife-crisis story. A friend, who came to see it with me, said: "It feels like "Sideways" and "About Schmidt" mixed together but much inferior to both those movies." I have to agree. I love both of the latter movies because they were about more than just midlife crisis. Others could be touched by it. In this movie, Bill Murray is put in all these odd situations where he must confront former flames. But nothing happens, not even from an introspective point of view. It's slow paced, which I usually don't mind, but here it felt like it dragged on for no good reason. I was hoping for another "Lost in Translation", which was a wonderful reflection on loneliness, but sadly, it ain't. It wasn't a bad movie but it was a satisfying movie either.

At least, the evening wasn't a total bust. I saw a friend I hadn't seen in a while, and we rifted on books, TV shows, and movies. It was fun.

Monday Mishmash!

This is going to be a quick entry because I don't have an spiel on anything tonight. LOL And I'm about to go watch TDS. Yesterday, I spent the day out and about with my friend David, which was great fun. We walked a lot around the city. We then had pad thai, which was just lovely. I love thai food! Sadly, I was sporting a lovely shade I like to call "lobster red" when I came home last night! LOL My vitamin E cream did the trick because the red had mostly vanished this morning.

I am dealing with a psycho kitty tonight. My cat is running like a madwoman across the apartment, and nothing is stopping her! Oh well... I'm currently listening to Carole King's recent live CD called The Living Room Tour, which has all her hits, and is distracting me from psycho kitty. It is a great album. :) I knew a lot of her hits, but I can't believe she also wrote songs like One Fine Day, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, and Hey Girl. She even wrote Locomotion! My 2 favourite songs of hers though are probably Where You Lead I Will Follow (now the Gilmore Girls's theme song) and (You Make Me Feel) Like A Natural Woman. But she also has So Far Away, It's Too Late, You've Got a Friend so I must say, the whole album is just awesome.

In the movie critic corner, saw Bewitched. It is so disappointing that the movie is so bad seeing as I love all the actors in it. I'm glad I saw it for 3.50$ because it was not worth any more than that. I'm seeing Broken Flowers with one of my friends tomorrow night. I shall comment on that later this week.

I have a week of readings, meetings, and database entering ahead of me. Go me!

Storm & The 40-Year-Old Virgin: Non Sequitur or Hidden Dirty Joke? You Decide! ;)

Well, it could be a joke but in this case, it's actually just a combination of things that happened to me today. LOL We had this massive storm this afternoon. Just insane. There were flooded areas around the city, which I hadn't realized until I read the news online after I came home. When I was finished at the lab, the rain had stopped so I decided to go to the movies. I went to see The 40-Year-Old Virgin since it was starring Mr. Steve Carell, whom I find very funny. I went to this one cinema located in a mall, but sadly, the roof of part of the mall had collapsed/taken water (?) and caused a mini-flooding in it so they had shut down the mall, and the cinema with it! The nice thing about a big city is the number of theatres so I went elsewhere. :)

The movie, just wow. Jon had praised it on TDS when he interviewed Steve Carell earlier this week, and he wasn't exaggerating. It was THAT good. I hadn't laughed that much at a movie in a really long time. Steve Carell's acting was top notch; I didn't know he had that in him. He was not only funny but touching. I just wanted to hug him at some points in the movie.

Overall, the movie was really funny & raunchy. I'm actually surprised they got away with a 14A rating in Ontario. It was sweet though, and it didn't feel like mean-spirited humour. Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, and Romany Malco, who played his 3 friends, were all really good. The ending was just hilarious. People applauded in the theatre! Kudos, Steve Carell and Judd Apatow for a well written movie. I hope it really becomes the big success it deserves to be. :)

Weird Dream Alert!

I was going to wait to write this down later but if I wait too long, I'll forget. Anyway, I had a weird dream I had to write down just because it left me feeling out of sorts today. I partially blame TDS for their apocalyptic reporting last night, and an article I read in Vanity Fair about Iraq for this strange dream.

My mother, my brother, and I were driving aimlessly around Toronto for some unknown reason, and it was raining a lot. I'm not sure why my dad wasn't there though, but I don't remember having him around. Anyway, we decided to go back to our hotel, probably because of the weather. I knew we were staying at the hotel at the corner of Yonge and Bloor (in real life, it would be the Marriott) because it connected to the stores there. It was weird because although the city was pretty faceless, it also combined key features of Montreal and Toronto in an odd blend. I should also mention that the dream had a futuristic look to it; it seemed to take place in the future although my mo and bro looked the same as they do now. Anyway, the fact that it took place a long time from now might explain why I had to stay in a hotel instead of my own apartment.

My mother and brother went ahead of me in the hotel since I had to park the car, and then, I was left searching for my hotel room, looking through the open doors as I went through the corridors (it had the feel of a dorm rather than a hotel in that way). But I was panicking because I just couldn't find them. After a while, I found my brother. He said my mom was somewhere else in the hotel, and all was fine. My brother and I had a long talk while each sitting on our bed (I don't remember what we discussed). Then, my brother went to see my mom in her room but not long after, someone came in my room, saying the apocalypse was coming. The informant was talking about earthquakes, torrential rains, fire everywhere, the works. LOL For the moment though, the only things happening were things were being swallowed into the ground, and torrential rain. All of a sudden, everyone started screaming and fleeing the hotel. Instead of trying to take things with me or figuring out where my mom and brother were, I got let myself be pushed by the crowd and ended up in the mall part that is connected to the hotel. I wanted to go back to see my mom and bro but I kept walking forward for some reason.

At some point, I saw a refridgerator display case (like they have in shops), and it was identified as being my water/juice ration during this ordeal. There was a girl meddling in her ration next to mine, and hers was much bigger. She was bragging about it, and lauding how organized and good at managing it she was. Then, she noticed my fancy sparkly aqua keychain and purse (your guess is as good as mine on what that means! LOL), and asked if I had come from the hotel. (Somehow the purse tipped her off. LOL) I said yes, and she offered me a lot of money to get my hotel guest pass. She said that hotel was built to withstand earthquakes, and everybody would want to hide in there since it was clear the worst was yet to come. There would be flooding so she needed to be high above the ground. I looked in my purse, and saw my guest pass but I lied to her, saying I didn't have it on me. I wanted to be able to go back to look for my mother and my brother and get all my stuff (I had my purse but not my money for some reason) but the money wasn't worth not seeing my family again. I said we might cross paths again in the future, and I would certainly have my pass with me by then. I bid her good luck, and went on my way. It was just totally chaos around me. I was really scared but then, I resolved to return to the hotel to find my family. I was walking against the current of people exiting the hotel, which made it very difficult. I had to push really hard. I started roaming the hallways of the hotel endlessly but they all seemed empty... But then I woke up.

I wished I had a better ending to this but sadly no. I was so scared and freaked out though when I woke up. It was one of the most disturbing dreams I had in a really long time. I need never to go to bed with apocalyptic thoughts in my head again.

I've Got A Fever & The Only Prescription Is More Cowbell!

I've always enjoyed Christopher Walken's guest hosting appearances on Saturday Night Live. The cowbell skit, referred in the post's title, is one of the funniest things ever on SNL. It has been so popular t-shirts were made about it. Now, Mr. Walken has decided to join the 2008 presidential race. The mind, it boggles. He would be the. Creepiest. President. Ever. This could be a goldmine for TDS though so hee. Edited to add: After looking more into it, it appears to be a hoax. I can't believe I got fooled since I'm usually skeptical of these things but didn't take the time to research it on the Net like I usually do. Ah well, it was funny, regardless.

Talking about TDS, it was nice having Steve Carell back for an interview tonight. I was actually wondering if they were going to sit in silence for 5 or 6 minutes. LOL I'm happy to see his acting career is going so well because I find him positively hilarious. It's just too bad he's not on TDS anymore. Steve Carell & Stephen Colbert together were just so good together especially when they did "Even Stev/phens", their recurring segment where they would yell and insult each other to try to make a point on topics like religion or politics. It was a sort of parody of Crossfire and other ridiculous pundit shows. Colbert and Carell also made what is probably my favourite report ever. It was called "In The Spirit of Spring Break". It was a parody of those journalists who put themselves through stupid ordeals just to report on them. In the report, Stephen Colbert got Steve Carell drunk. Colbert was doing the moralizing throughout the piece, which was hilarious, while also trying to make Carell touch his eyeballs, and various other things that are not particularly funny unless you see them. The funniest part of it though is that I always thought Carell was just acting drunk. Unfortunately, he has mentioned in interview that he wanted to do it all the way, and he paid for it dearly. He got sick in Stephen's car on the way home, and had one of the worst hangovers ever, all for the sake of fake journalism. Now, THAT is committment. LOL Wish that clip was still online but it isn't...

While googling to find the clip of "In The Spirit of Spring Break" was fruitless, I found this instead. Awe. Jon looked so young and geeky. The hair. Hee. Craig Kilborn though is like a creepy Ken doll. He doesn't age, and still comes across as a sexist pig to this day. Yeah, never was a fan of Kilborn.

Arrested Development! NewsRadio! Favourite Songs & Albums! Kittens & Puppies! All About The Love, Baby!

I rented the first DVD of the first season of Arrested Development. I never doubted it was a show that I would like but I always forgot to watch it. It was really right up my alley. I love irreverent comedy. Just how I like them. It reminded me in many ways of the kind of humour on NewsRadio (still pimping those DVDs!) although the format of AD is different because it is filmed with hand-held cameras & has a fast pace...

My previous post had current songs I like but I thought it was time to do a top 10 list of my favourite songs & favourite albums of all time. I hope other people post their choices too. I love to read about great albums I might not know.

Top 10 songs (in no particular order)

1. Like A Prayer-Madonna
2. Tiny Dancer- Elton John
3. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant- Billy Joel
4. Bridge Over Troubled Water- Simon & Garfunkel
5. Let It Be- The Beatles
6. I'll Stand By You- The Pretenders
7. With or Without You-U2
8. The Path of Thorns (Terms)-Sarah McLachlan
9. New York, New York by Frank Sinatra
10. Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours- Stevie Wonder

Best cover ever: Bob Dylan's "To Make You Feel My Love" covered by Billy Joel.

Guilty pleasure: "Brian Wilson" by the Barenaked Ladies

Top 10 albums (in no particular order) from the last 25 years. I decided to focus on more recent albums because a) it was just too hard otherwise, and b) I mostly own compilations when it comes to older artists.

1. Little Earthquakes- Tori Amos
2. Surfacing-Sarah McLachlan
3. The Joshua Tree-U2
4. Jagged Little Pill- Alanis Morissette
5. Play- Moby
6. Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live From Central Park- Sheryl Crow
7. White Ladder- David Gray
8. This Way- Jewel
9. Rumors- Fleetwood Mac
10. Welcome Interstate Managers- Fountains of Wayne

Warning: This Post Contains All Kinds of Musical Gushings

I actually have very existential thoughts going on in my head but I might come back later tonight to lay them out on paper. Exorcism of a sort.

For now, something more fun....Per my fellow blogger Kiddo's instructions: List ten songs that you are currently digging. It doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're no good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog.

Only 10 is difficult. Basically, most of these songs are from artists whose albums are constantly spinning in my CD player these days.

1- Keane- Everybody's Changing
2- Liz Phair- Red Light Fever
3- Gwen Stefani- Hollerback Girl
4- Beck- Qué Onda Guero
5- Jackson 5- I Want You Back
6- Fountains of Wayne- Mexican Wine
7- Melissa Etheridge- Come To My Window
8- Coral Egan- State of Grace
9- Sarah McLachlan- Fallen
10- Diana Krall- The Look of Love

I've also recently rediscovered my CD by the Dino Martinis, a swing/jazz band that never fails to put me in a good mood. Oh, and I want to get the new double, live-in-concert Carole King CD.

Talking music always improves my mood. :)

I Have a Dream...

But unlike Martin Luther King's speech, mine is a pragmatic and materialistic dream. I dream of having a whole 2-bedroom apartment to myself. I could then have a bedroom and an office. In separate rooms! What an amazing concept. I miss living in a house sometimes. I didn't have to try to fit everything I owned in my bedroom. I have so many books & papers (even after a major purge), and yet, a tiny room and closet. I have a bookcase in the livingroom but still... Anyway, I am really looking forward to having space one day. Once I get a spacious room/condo/house, I shall revel in it. And it shall be my own. To be decorated as I please!

Oh, and I want a big kitchen. Lots of counter space to chop veggies and put all your bowls around you. I also need a double sink because it is so much easier to do dishes that way. That's pretty much it. I don't dislike my current place; it just is a bit crowded for 2 people. Although, as my choir conductor was saying yesterday at dinner (the choir went out for beers and burgers after my concert): "Toronto apartments are bigger than Tokyo's. Never forget that." So I shall meditate on that. LOL

Concert was fun yesterday. I hadn't exactly mastered all the tunes (having a bit lax in my practice this summer) but I still had fun. Which I guess is the point.

How I Love The Smell of Garbage In The Evening.

It's a hot summer so Toronto is slowly rotting. Tonight was garbage night on my street so coming home from running errands was fairly unpleasant. Mind you, I grew up near fields so it would sometimes smell like manure but that only happened a few times a year.

I did a major cleanup in my bedroom, which I had been meaning to do for weeks. I needed to throw out a lot since I was being swallowed by all the paperwork. I can tolerate only so much chaos. I wished I had more space, since it would help to keep things organized, but oh well, I need to work around that. It's not quite done yet (I had lots of paper!) but still it's already so much better. The beauty of it all almost makes me cry.

While I was doing all this cleaning, I was watching some of the crime shows on A&E. I love them crime shows but I really should have skipped Cold Case Files because seeing the case of a serial rapist and murderer is never anything to make me feel secure and relaxed. I guess it is the reality of it all that scares me because I didn't use to be scared by The X-Files even when, as a teen, I watched them by myself while babysitting on Friday nights. Or maybe I've forgotten that it used to scare me. Who knows? LOL

I didn't mention it in my previous post but the kitty had a vet appointment for her annual vaccines yesterday morning. She is always shaken up by being taking out of her home more than anything else about the experience. Mind you, not that she likes to be injected in the hind leg either. As a matter of fact, she spent part of the day trying to cool her hind legs on the bathroom ceramic floor, something quite challenging to do since it is so bloody hot. But she was very cuddly so we had a nice mommy-kitty day yesterday. :)

Fall Is At Our Doorsteps...

Not that you could tell from the weather we've been having. LOL It's positively sweltering around here. But I was watching TV last night, which I hadn't really done much over the holidays, and they've just started promoting the bejesus out of their fall schedule. I don't have any TV shows I watch religiously anymore besides The Daily Show but I am certainly looking forward to the return of Gilmore Girls, which had a great cliffhanger at the end of the season. I had never watched that show until recently but I started watching some episodes of the older seasons on YTV at night so I watched some of the episodes of the latest season in the spring. It's a well done show. I am hoping Luke agrees to marry Lorelai. And I can't wait to know what happens to Rory with the stolen boat incident and the dropping-out of Yale.

In other news, I had choir rehearsal tonight. Our concert is this Sunday. How exciting. The program is quite difficult but it's still fun. Let's hope the day is not overly hot though.

Signing off for now...

Back in Toronto

I'm now back in the city of the CN Tower. I'm always sad to leave home but such is life. I had a relaxing time. Today, I'm just trying to get my apartment back in shape (it's been chaotic in my bedroom for too many weeks now), run errands, and get some work done. Tomorrow morning, the kitty has a vet appointment so I need to get up early for that.

My roommate left this morning for a cottage up north so it'll be peaceful in here for a few days. Hallelujah! I can be up to no good. ;)

Sadly, I was back just in time for a big thing to fall out of the sky. Actually, thank God, it turned out not to be the catastrophe it could have been. It really is a miracle everyone survived!

In lighter news, I had to admire Jennifer Aniston's zen musings in face of the Brad-Angeline tornado: Aniston "Shocked" About Pitt and Jolie. The best line of the press release is: "That said, she manages to get in a final zinger about Pitt's new bleach-blond hairdo, saying 'Billy Idol called, he wants his look back.'" That is hilarious because that is exactly what I said when I saw his hair. Brad is cute but the hair...is not so happening. Give me a call, Jen, and we can have a bitch session! LOL

Gina, darling, I love that Live From The Archives CD. Acoustic versions of so many songs I like. I lurve Melissa Etheridge's Come to my Window, Sarah McLachlan's Fallen, Alanis's Everything, Nelly Furtado's I'm Like a Bird, and Gavin de Graw's I Don't Want to Be. But really I love the whole thing. Diana Krall Live is also awesome. She has been a big hit at the Montreal Jazz Fest for years but I've never had the occasion to go see her.