This Much is True

Congratulations to John Gushue, winner of the NL Bloggers Choice award. He has a fantastic blog and it’s one of my daily reads. He also keeps me up to date on lots of stuff on twitter and facebook so I appreciate John in so many ways.

This blog was in the running for the award but I didn’t promote it or say anything about it here. Campaigning is not my thing and the truth is I don’t think I post consistently enough to warrant such a distinction for this blog. I hope the NL Bloggers Choice Award got more people checking out all of the great blogs from Newfoundland and Labrador, those that were up for the award and the many others that are on the NL blogroll.

I really want to thank Stephen Eli Harris for keeping the blogroll and for all the work he did on the contest, including picking the blogs of the week throughout the year. Stephen deserves his own award for all he does to promote NL blogs and while I can’t provide such an award, my gratitude and a link to Stephen’s personal blog (well, that’s actually two links to it now) will have to do. Thank you, Stephen, and keep up the great work.

The Golden Globes should usually get an award for best awards show. Attendees, nominees and winners, sit around tables, schmooze, and drink so there’s a relaxed atmosphere. People go to the bathroom as well and admit it. Perhaps that’s because of the drinking. A famous example was when Christine Lahti won a Golden Globe for her brilliant performance on Chicago Hope but was in the bathroom so Robin Williams entertained and stalled until she could get back out and up to the stage. And there was a bathroom mention last night and some stars who seemed to have had a couple before they accepted their awards or presented so I should have enjoyed it. But I have to say I didn’t. I was a bit bored.

I was a bit distracted too, I’ll admit as I had a phone-in radio interview first thing this morning. My first live interview, so I was nervous and I kept thinking about that. Plus I was watching twitter and posting a bit on twitter and facebook while I watched so that was distracting too. Maybe those were the reasons. Others have blamed the meandering of the winners as they tried to navigate to the stage but that happens every year and every year it bugs me. So, onto some general highlights and lowlights, as I saw them, at the Golden Globes 2010.

Highlight
Mo’Nique’s acceptance speech. Who knew that one day Mo’Nique would win a Golden Globe? For acting. In a movie. Not me, at least not until Precious came out. Her touching acceptance speech was fabulous.

Lowlight
The ridiculous pre-show on NBC. It was pouring rain on the red carpet and none of the people out there interviewing seemed to know what they were doing. And Billy Bush seemed downright angry. The umbrellas were the main fashion accessory and they came up way too much in the pre-show interviews. Stuff like Bush saying “Look at you, Bradley Cooper, covered with an umbrella!”. Also Bush would keep asking people if they knew it was raining. Worst pre-show ever. Even Joan and Melissa Rivers could have done a better job than that.

Highlight
Both John Lithgow and Michael C Hall winning for their brilliant portrayals of serial killers in the series Dexter.

Lowlight
Seeing Michael C Hall looking sicker than I had anticipated. The actor is battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is in remission so I was surprised to see him looking so pale and sporting a black toque along with his handsome tux. Also, on a Michael C Hall related note, I know Jennifer Carpenter just plays his sister on Dexter and that they married last year in real life but since I only see them as brother and sister, there’s always an ewww factor for me when I see them that way, especially when they kiss. On the lips!

Highlight
Meryl Streep’s acceptance speech. She is so funny and she brought attention to both her mom and Haiti in great ways.

Lowlight
Facial hair. What is up? Is there a big Grizzly Adams or Unabomber movie coming out and everyone wants to try out for it? There were some ugly, ugly beards there last night, beards that looked uncared for and like small creatures could pop out of one at any minute. Worst of all was William Hurt, but John Hamm, George Clooney, and Jeff Bridges didn’t do much for forwarding beard love.

Highlight
When Julianna Margulies stopped to give George Clooney a little kiss (yes, even with that beard) after she won. Awwwm, it was Doug Ross and Carol Hathaway again.

Lowlight
Harrison Ford’s presenting an award. I don’t know what is up with Harrison Ford. He was slurring his words and one side of his face seemed droopy. I was afraid he was having a stroke right there on stage. Or maybe he’s had one. I don’t know but I hope he gets better from whatever caused that.

Highlight
Colin Farrell. That’s all. He was there and he was on stage presenting or something. I don’t know. I was distracted because Colin Farrell was on stage.

Lowlight
The faces of the Golden Globes. It was like looking over a sea of scary, rather unlife-like dolls. Plastic surgery, botox, collagen, or maybe people just made a face and then had some kind of plastic coating sprayed on them to keep that look intact. Going to get harder and harder to win awards when creating expressions with your face is no longer possible.

Highlight
Robert Downey Jr’s acceptance speech. Downey chose to not thank everyone and gave what I thought was the best speech of the night.

Lowlight
James Cameron’s hair and James Cameron telling us that he had to pee. I don’t need to know that James, thanks all the same.

Highlight
Ricky Gervais as host. I heart Ricky Gervais and I wish he’d been on there more. But I guess he was a bit out of control and made jabs at people so they didn’t like it. Some of those jabs made me cringe, but they hit the mark too. Ricky said it best when he joked, after implying that perhaps a Golden Globe could be bought, “I’m not going to do this again anyway”. If you missed it, here’s a video of Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes.

A while ago, I mentioned about the growth of book clubs in Newfoundland and Labrador. Well, such book clubs now have the chance to get free books and totes in The Rock Reads contest from CBC Radio’s Weekend Arts Magazine (WAM). The Rock Reads is searching for the best book clubs in Newfoundland and Labrador to host meetings celebrating this year’s Canada Reads selections. If your book club is chosen, you’ll ge given a random book of Canada Reads to create a book club meeting around, including the cuisine, costumes and culture from the book. Your meeting will be recorded by CBC Radio and each of the five book clubs picked will receive a full set of the Canada Reads books and tote bags. One group will win, based on votes from WAM listeners and they will receive a a $100 gift certificate from The Bookery on Signal Hill. Email wam@cbc.ca and tell host Angela Antle why your book club is the best.

Need a calendar for the new year, say one you could download and print as you wish? Want some gorgeous pictures on that calendar? And you want it free? Well, you’re in luck because CBC Newfoundland and Labrador has such a calendar. Even if you don’t print it, download it and have a look at some extraordinary pictures from the beautiful province of Newfoundland and Labrador. I think Lorie Penton’s Tilting is a ready-made postcard. Just go to CBC’s Calendar page, Right-click the Download Calendar link and save it as a file.

With all this talk around here about Republic of Doyle, I forgot to mention a couple of things about a real Doyle, one by the name of Alan of Great Big Sea. First, and yes this is related to Republic of Doyle, Great Big Sea’s “Oh Yeah” is the theme song (opening song??) for Republic and I love it. I had somehow missed this song but now it’s being played a lot on the old iPod Touch. You can download it yourself  on iTunes.

The other thing is that I was watching the People’s Choice Awards for a few minutes the other night (which is really all I can stomach of that particular awards show, even though I’m an awards show junkie) and they showed a preview for the upcoming Robin Hood movie. Alan Doyle is in the movie, playing one of Robin’s merry men, Allan A’Dayle. Not sure how merry the men will be as it looks pretty dark but it also looks really good. I like Russell Crowe’s acting and recently really enjoyed him in the movie, State of Play (which started with a scene of Russell Crowe driving and singing along to Great Big Sea’s “The Night Pat Murphy Died“). And Cate Blanchett will no doubt make a fabulous Maid Marian. Alan as Allan will play the lute in the movie (and sing, maybe??)  as he’s the troubadour of the merry men. Watch for this one when it comes out this summer.

I’ve written and rewritten parts of this post a number of times now. I wrote about Republic of Doyle the other day and feel the need to follow it up with a review but I was having trouble figuring out what to say. I wanted to be kind and say I love it and that it was a great show, because there are so many people getting work from this production and it’s so cool to see people eating Ziggy Peelgood’s on TV. What I’m going to say is that I like it and I think it has great potential and a lot of positive things going for it. It’s the pilot episode and as I’ve said before about pilot episodes, they don’t really let you know what a show will be like. They introduce you to everyone and give us a bit of background. And the pilot for this one was good and it made me want to come back and see it next week.

But, yup, there’s the but, I wanted to admit that, to me, it lacked spark. It had all the ingredients to provide spark but whether it was between Jake Doyle and the constable who maybe will be a love interest or even between Jake and his dad, there wasn’t a lot of spark. These were my initial thoughts, along with my gratitude that Hawco and his fellow writers have decided to not make the characters stereotypical, over-the-top “Lard Jesus, b’y, what’s we gonna do, me son” people. But then I thought maybe that’s what I perceive as lack of spark. It’s not the show or the writing, it’s the fact that I’ve been programmed to expect this over-the-top stuff from television representations of us. These are regular people doing regular things in this extraordinary place. There’s no quirky missus with a hair net over her rollers, smoking a cigarette in her housecoat out on the steps, there’s no beer-guzzling drunk being loud and stupid. Not that all shows and all characters from here have been like that but I find it hard to remember a show coming out of here that didn’t have some of that, that didn’t play into the stereotype at least a bit. Republic of Doyle is about people who work, and act (fairly) respectably, and don’t swear all the time, and don’t even smoke. They figure things out, and protect their friends, and are from other cultures, and go to see lawyers in office buildings, and drive cool cars, and live in nice houses, and own their own businesses. They’re like most of the people I know. They are characters and not caricatures. And I really like that.

I also like the look of the place. I don’t know what kind of filters can make the city look quite so beautiful, bright, rich, and vibrant but I would like one on me at all times, thank you. I want everyone to have to see me through that same filter. I think the characters are pretty good and none of the accents really struck me as too fake (although I could hear Sean McGinley’s Irish accent come through a few times, most people outside Newfoundland probably wouldn’t notice the difference). My favourite character is actually not played by a Newfoundland actress. She’s Lynda Boyd as Rose and I liked almost everything about her (her accent wasn’t the best but it’s such a hard one to do). One more thing I have to say, and it’s really not fair since he can’t help it, but Allan Hawco is so damn good-looking that I found it distracting. Something about his eyes pulls me away from everything else happening in a scene. I’m sure if he tried to scruff himself up, it wouldn’t help a bit and would only make it worse, making him even more gorgeous.

I hope Republic of Doyle continues the things it’s doing well and even gets better as it gets its footing. I want to see more.

I’ll admit it. One of my favourite shows is one from CBC. Oh, I don’t mean one of the news type comedy shows that CBC has been doing great for years and it’s true that the Dragon’s Den is a no-miss show for me, but I mean a dramatic show from CBC. One with a plot. I say that because for a long time, I didn’t like many, or probably any, of the plotted shows CBC would offer us. They were, well.. boring. Not all, of course, I can’t say every single thing was boring but except for the occasional over-the-top comedic offering, there wasn’t much to keep your interest. But in the past couple of years CBC has gotten much better at providing us with shows we care about and want to follow. Little Mosque on the Prarie, for instance, is an international success and Being Erica is one of my favourite shows. I remember seeing the previews for Being Erica and thinking that it would be a cliche-driven, predictable show. But it’s not. It’s vivid and thoughtful and touching and funny and suspenseful and what more could you want in a show? So, I have great hope for Republic of Doyle, but I’ll get back to that in a minute.

I think part of the reason for these new and interesting shows is that new people–actors, directors, writers, and producers–are joining the process. For the longest time, I could look at any show on any network or any movie anywhere and know right away whether or not it was filmed in Canada, because the same half dozen or so actors and actresses were on it and it was like a big, blaring flag that it was a Canadian product. It’s a natural thing when there’s a small pool of people who excel at their field (or seem to, according to the right people) as is the case in Canada. But more and more there are excellent shows and movies coming from Canada, with Canadians at the helm and in the starring roles, who are not from that small pool. And a new generation of creative forces are coming into play. Then comes along Allan Hawco who pitches the idea of Republic of Doyle to CBC then creates, writes (along with co-creator and co-writer Perry Chafe), and stars in the show about a private detective in St. John’s. Newfoundland. The trailers make this show look great so I have high hopes for the show, as do so many people around here who are getting work on the set. It looks like St. John’s is a big part of the show in that the beauty and unique characteristics of the place can’t help but catch your eye, rather than that Hawco spends his time jumping around saying “look, b’y, I’se a Newfoundlander here on da rock”. The show starts tomorrow night on CBC and you should check it out. It could very well become one of your new favourite shows. And if you miss it, CBC will no doubt have it on their website.

Well, while Christmas was a busy time for me, it was also a busy time for my book with a couple of reviews coming out for A Few Kinds of Wrong in the week before Christmas. Both were great reviews and lovely presents. You can check out some quotes from them on my reviews page.

Of course, Christmas was about family and presents and remembering how grateful we are for all we have. Santa was super-busy with not one but two visits–one to Nanny and Poppy’s house in Aspen Cove and one to Nanny and Poppy’s house in Ladle Cove and was even kind enough to drop by and leave a gift each for the boys in the small boxes Sam left under our tree in CBS. Needless to say, two Christmas mornings of presents from us and from Santa left us tired, “spent”, you might even say. I think I might do something different and review some of the presents in another post since everything I buy means a trip to the Internet first and checking on reviews others have posted. Maybe my opinions could help other people. The big hits, I’ll tell you now, were the night-vision goggles, Martian Matter, the Hexbug Nanos and habitat, and Elmo Live.

New Years Eve found us, as always at our friends, the Holletts, for supper, fireworks in the backyard, birthday cake to celebrate Pam’s birthday, and clinking of glasses at midnight. I couldn’t help thinking that ten years before we were celebrating the end of the millenium down at the waterfront and we didn’t even know the Holletts or what good friends they would become to us. Back then, if someone had told me that in ten years I would have quit my job at a detox centre to return to university and do IT, then worked at that university (Memorial University of Newfoundland) in IT, would be married, would have two children, would have two books published, would have won an award for writing, would have quit work to stay home with my kids, and that ten years from then, I would be truly happy, well, that’s a lot to take in and I, of course, would have laughed my ass off at your silly predictions. You never know, do you?

Happy new year everyone and may this new year bring you joy, laughter, and health. Don’t forget to celebrate the small moments along with the big ones.

My wish for you in 2010, is for you to be overjoyed. As the brilliant Christine Kane sings

All of the world is designed to remind you
All of the light you could find is inside
Under all of the noise
Here’s your chance to be overjoyed

This song, like others by Christine Kane, is available on iTunes. (Also check out the vid of No Such Thing As Girls Like That. It’s a hoot.)

Yes, that’s snow falling on my blog. Most of the blog is white so it doesn’t disturb reading much so I decided to do it. I like it. And I don’t have to shovel it. It’ll just be snowing on my blog until after the new year.