MyTunes Monday: Lullaby (Chester See)

Bear Problems

I've spent the last couple of days re-watching one of my favourite shows, "Happy Endings." This was a great show (which takes place in Chicago...we'll circle back to that shortly) that was cancelled WAY too soon (after three seasons). I'm about halfway through the second season so far. So funny (actually, as I was writing this, one of the lines had me laughing so hard I could barely breathe). Anyone who has seen this show LOVED it. It's just a damned  shame there weren't enough of those people while the show was in production.

Another great show premiered earlier this month called "Sirens." This show is also hilarious in many of the same ways as "Happy Endings" and I have loved watching it so far. This show also just happens to take place in Chicago.

The thing about watching these Chicago-based shows is that inevitably, characters go on and on about how awesome the Bears are, or Mike Ditka (former coach of said Bears) is, or something like that. First of all, no to ALL of that. Second, I'm a fan of the Green Bay Packers. The Bears and the Packers have the oldest rivalry in National Football League history. Amongst the fans, this rivalry can get pretty brutal. As far as the shows go, every time the Bears get mentioned, I cringe and throw up a bit in my mouth.

At least there is "That 70's Show" which took place in Wisconsin. GO PACK GO!!!

FWP

Happy First Day of Spring!!!

MyTunes Monday: Dance of the Knights (Sergei Prokofiev)

I've listened to this SOOOO many times in the last few days that it's ridiculous. Watching live (or live-ish) classical performances never gets old, especially when the musicians are very animated like that one violinist (trust me, you know which one I'm talking about...he's also kinda cute).

Happy Valentine's Day

The Scene at the Store

There is a major snow storm headed to my neck of the woods. In fact, as I’m typing this, the flakes are falling and have been for about an hour. It started accumulating immediately. I was mostly prepared but there were just a couple of things I wanted to get while the getting was good so I trotted off to the store.

Mad. House.

It wasn’t frantic, but there were hoards of people there. Completely understandable. There things that I found laughable and things that I found downright perplexing. I jokingly made a Facebook status a few days ago about getting prepared by making sure I had wine (and yes, I do have the wine, as well as some bourbon because…reasons). However, there were lots of people buying alcohol. The guy in front of me in the queue had two cases of beer.

On the other hand, there were people buying frozen food. Lots of frozen food. That guy who was in front of me had three frozen pizzas. Keep in mind that the forecast has my area getting 10 inches of snow give or take. It may also be a rather wet and heavy snow, so power outages are not beyond reason. What exactly do these people think they’re going to do with these frozen foods, because preparing them would be out of the question?

And of course the bread aisle was absolutely ravaged and there was no such thing as a short line. That was particularly annoying given that I was waiting with just two items.

I wish I had thought to bring my camera with me on this trip to the grocery store (it didn't occur to me until I was halfway there) because it was definitely worth a few pictures.

BELATED UPDATE: As I said, about 10 inches were in the forecast. It ended up being 24 inches officially. Outside my door was 19 inches.

Wayward Weatherman

This was supposed to have been posted two weeks ago but...things. With another storm on the horizon, it seemed to be pertinent.

Somewhere around grade three or four, I became obsessed with weather. Seriously, while boys were getting into sports, I was watching The Weather Channel nonstop. Almost everything I learned about weather I learned then. I would watch the clouds and try to predict the weather. I drew tons of weather maps. I read tons of books on weather. I even kept track of hurricane season year in and year out. This stuff came in handy. In June when I was in grade four, I was in my grandmothers room and the weather started to turn really bad. I looked out the window and up and saw a funnel cloud. Immediately I started running towards the basement. Unfortunately I (and my mother and grandmother) didn’t get very far before…let’s just say it seemed like a bomb went off. We did make it the basement shortly thereafter. Whatever it was - a tornado, microburst, or something else - it didn’t last long, but it did take out a tree in the backyard (luckily it fell so that it missed the house, otherwise…yikes). Years later, my dad would be surprised that I didn’t major in meteorology (that would have required me taking more chemistry which…no).

I was pretty much always on top of the weather. I was always prepared. The faces on TWC were very familiar, almost like old friends (damn, that sounds pathetic).

Meanwhile yesterday, it started snowing. I didn’t know that would happen. It kept snowing and started accumulating. That was a shock. At around 8:30pm, there were maybe 2 inches on the ground. I did NOT see this coming. The day before started out surprisingly warm when I rode my bike into work. Six hours later when I left (keep in mind the Sun was still fairly high in the sky), it was frigid. The temperature had dropped 20 degrees. It turns out that the morning warmth that got me to work was the high of the day.

Somewhere along the road, one of my primary interests fell by the wayside and I’m very out-of-touch with the weather. It’s strange sometimes to think back on the things that interested us when we were younger only to realize that as the years pass, those interests change, sometimes without us noticing until it is brought into specific relief by a jolting event. That makes me wonder what - ten years from know - I will have left in my past, and what I will have picked up in its stead.

Olympic Disappointment

Normally I really look forward to the Olympics with excitement. However, with the opening ceremonies mere hours away, I find myself really disappointed.

As you should know by now, the Games are in Sochi, Russia. Russia last year passed a bunch of anti-gay laws that make the country quite dangerous for gay people and LGBT allies. Free speech and freedom of association have gone out of the window there. This, however, is old news (yet still sad of course).

Pretty much every story I’ve heard about the conditions in Sochi are terrible. There are stories about stray dogs being rounded up and systematically euthanized. It sounds like a canine Holocaust. Also, the hotels are in terrible condition. People who worked on building the venues, many of whom are Uzbeki people driven into Russia, have not been paid. This depressing list goes on and on, and it has taken away most of my usual enthusiasm for the Games this year.

I will say that there is one part of this Games that I’m still looking forward to: the Ice Dance event. I’m really hoping that Meryl Davis and Charlie White win the gold. They’re the reigning silver medalists (the reigning gold medalists will be competing too), they’re the reigning world champions, the reigning Grand Prix champions, they’re undefeated this season. They have put together some really great programs and I love their skating to bits. My one wish for the outcomes of these Games is that they bring home the gold. I’m far too invested in this for my own good. I’ll leave you with the programs they’ll be bringing to the Olympics (these performances are from U.S. Nationals, which they also won.

Short Dance:

Free Dance:

Other than this, I'm pretty much checked out of these Winter Games. Call me again in 2018.

MyTunes Monday: Once Upon A Dream (Lana Del Rey)

So beautifully dark.

Basic Audience

Tonight I watched one of my favourite films with a couple of people. You would think that I had fun given that this is one of my favourite films...right? Not so much. The problem was that one of the people with whom I was watching this film - who had never seen it - had ZERO appreciation for the film and kept voicing that. Don't get me wrong, I get that not everyone has the same taste in films that I do and that's perfectly fine. The thing is that this film is not a "lowest common-denominator" kind of film which is part of why I like it. Films like this demand things  of the viewer such as attention, thought, etc. They are not simple films. A lot of effort went into these films which actually have something of substance to say. Even though I can get this person not liking the film, the disrespect that was shown was undeserved and annoying. Basic people who aren't up to watching films that require thought should stick to the likes of Twilight. Even though there are plenty of "simple" films that I like or even love, I tend to prefer films that require functioning brain cells and have something to say, not to mention that when the various elements are put together well it just makes it even better. Luckily my love of this film is still intact (or maybe it's even stronger).

Kids these days don't appreciate a good thing when it's staring them right in the face.