Canada Reads Some More: Day 2

I managed to avoid CR spoilers today, mostly because no one that I interact with really cares.  But I care!

Oh! No! The defender of Fall On Your Knees totally just brought up a major plot point that I'd forgotten! Sucky. That, combined with her anti-fish comments yesterday, is doing nothing to endear her to me.

Interesting question: which character (of all the books) will you remember the longest? That's a hard one, and so far I kind of agree with everyone's - except for the one who picked a character from Jade Peony. And I hadn't thought of the connection between Nikolski  & Generation X before - that's pretty insighful.

Sadly, I think Generation X may be first to go. So unfair. The vote is coming up - I'm getting nervous.

Wait - what? We have to wait until tomorrow to find out what got voted off? So cruel.

Canada Reads Day 1

I'm throwing all the enthusiasm I usually spend on Rrroll Up the Rrrim into Canada Reads this year. I think, in the end, it will be far healthier for me.

So, I've never followed CR, so this should be fun. For me, at least. I really have no idea how it works, not technically. I suppose I'll find out. I'm 3 minutes into the first broadcast, but so far it's all introductions, and awkward banter that reminds me of the Jeopardy talk-to-the-contestants segments.

Okay, I think we're getting started! They're making their book pitches. (Everything I say from now on may make more sense if you a) read the books and/or b) watch the sessions).

Jade Peony should be the first gone. The prose wasn't all the "powerful," in my opinion. Nikolski - it was an interesting story. So far, the guy isn't selling it that well. It won't win though. Good To A Fault - is apparently the underdog. Hhm, I do like a good underdog. Generation X - yeah! Go Coupland! (I'm waving my giant Coupland foam finger). I like the defender of Gen X. And the winner will be, Fall On Your Knees. Sorry, Doug. But that won't be officially until Friday.

Someone has already brought up the disappointing ending of Nikolski. (That same person just dismissed fish as being uninteresting?! WTF?). Nikolski's defender says that it's not a book that gives you the answers, that you have to work at it. That doesn't sound like something most Canadians are going to want to do. And someone just brought up how disconnected the stories in Jade Peony feel. I completely agree. I hadn't noticed that Good to A Fault had bad grammar, or that it was too detailed. But I did read it awhile ago now.

Okay, so that's it for the first session. They vote off a book tomorrow.

Martin>Baldwin

I'm watching the Oscars. I don't know how long I'll stick with it. It's only been on for 7 minutes. So far, Steve Martin is doing better than Alec Baldwin. Although, I'm probably bias. Steve Martin will forever have a place in my heart because of this. And because I read one of his books and it wasn't that bad.

So far, it's pretty boring. I think Dr. Quinn is in the audience, though. Odd. The John Hughes tribute was nice, I guess. But, man, some of those Brat Packers have not aged well.

Yeah, I'm going to bed. Although, I officially hope that Carrie Mulligan wins her category because An Education was a fantastic movie, and she was also in one of my favourite Doctor Who episodes.

Ellie and the Mystery of the Shelterless Shelters

I’ve come to a realization about the HRM Metro Transit’s Bridge Terminal. For those of you not in the know, the Bridge Terminal is a very important hub in the plague of hopelessness that is Metro Transit (MT). Any bus travelling either direction between Halifax and Dartmouth on the MacDonald bridge stops there, as well as numerous routes that don’t cross the bridge. I’d hazard a guess that it's the busiest terminal in HRM. 17 of Metro’s approximately 52 standard routes go through there. On any weekday, thousands of Haligonians will use the terminal.

My camera is dead, and the only pics I could find on the internet are courtesty of Google Street View:

My realization regards the two bus “shelters” that outfit the terminal. I realized that MT never intended to have shelters at that bus terminal.

Sorry, Sid

Okay, so I'm totally sorry. I admit I was mad at you for the entire game. It's just that you didn't seem to be doing anything. Then we went into overtime and I blamed you. It's unfair - I know. But you're the only player on the team whose name I know, so you kind of get the brunt of it all. (Okay, so I also know Chris Pronger's name. But I just don't like him). 

Anyway, you showed me. Way to get the gold medal goal! I think pretty much everyone in Canada loves you now, not just Nova Scotians and Penguin fans. You should capitalize on this, maybe open up a chain of coffee shops...

Don't let Cole Harbour down, Sid

OVERTIME??? WTF???

41 Year Old Email

Webmail sucks, I've covered this before. I shouldn't be surprised by anything that it does anymore. I'm fully aware that, sometimes, it likes to hold on to emails for a couple of days before giving them to me. But this is new:

Did they even have email in 1969?

Stressful

Just thinking about the Gold medal hockey game makes me nervous. I don't know how I'm going to manage to watch the thing. I suspect there will be lots of watching-through-fingers. And swearing. Perhaps I'll throw something.

Just because it's on a t-shirt doesn't mean it isn't true

Canadian Girls Kick Ass.

Dog People

My dad does this crazy thing where he's always trying to reason with the dog. Like, if Moby chases some kids on bikes, Dad looks him in the eyes and tells Moby that it scares the kids when he barks and runs at them. Moby never seems to get the message. I mean, maybe one day he will, but Moby isn't the smartest pup in the litter. Although, what he lacks in smarts he makes up for in cuteness and abandonment issues.