Canadian photo takin'

You wanted 'em? You got 'em.

Vancouver - January 2008

I forgot to take pictures of plenty of places -- Stanley Park, the Granville Island Public Market, our amusingly enormous hotel room -- but here are a few that at least show you how pretty, and pretty damn cold, it was.

The week in culture: Jan 21-27

Watched:
Stardust
27 Dresses
North and South (BBC, not Swayze)
Hairspray
Atonement
Wallace and Gromit (their three short films)

Read:
Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase (oh the shaaaame)
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Heard:
Natasha Bedingfield's new album, which is OK.
The Psych theme song in Spanish, which is awesome.

Pop Culture Zen of the Week:
The Men of Jane Austen. Yum! Darcy is where it's at, but Wentworth from Persuasion ain't too shabby either.

Random Cultural Observation:
Over the past few years, I've become less and less involved with the awards shows. I still like to look through the magazines to see all the stylish duds, but it feels less critical to me to see all the nominees and figure out in my head who will/ought to win. As the years pass, it seems more evident to me that awards show recognition doesn't exactly mean quality as it does industry clout, and that many worthy shows, films, and actors are left out. Hard to muster up enthusiasm when it seems that the things you think are great are straight-up ignored. (The Emmys being the worst offender in this category.)

Soccer Update:
An awesomely fun time this week, playing in the rain on a grastroturf(?) field that wouldn't get wrecked or turn to mud. It was alternately sprinkling and solidly raining while we played, and the field didn't have completely proper drainage so it was rather soggy and slippery, but it was still quite delightful -- even when I fell in the grass and suffered completely sodden shorts as a result. We lost, 5-3, but I scored a goal so I wasn't entirely bummed by it all. No indeed!

The week in culture: Jan. 14-20

Watched:
The rest of season 4 of The Wire (best season yet, IMHO)
Eagle vs. Shark (quirky-crappy indie flick)
The Bourne Ultimatum
S1 of Friday Night Lights (rewatch with Josh)

Read: (from Pulitzers to trashy romance!)
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Cooking for Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser (Abbey you ought to borrow this)
Goddess of Spring by P.C. Cast
Unmasked by C.J. Barry

Visited:
Vancouver! Josh and I spent a long weekend in this pretty coastal Canadian city. Pictures to come!

Random Site of the Week:
Mad About Martha, which just got a rockin' new columnist. Her latest post is rather "Best Week Ever" and it's giving me a new appreciation for the domestic arts. ;)

Random Factoid of the Week:
Josh's grandma, who lives in Brentwood, will apparently be getting a new next-door neighbor soon: Conan O'Brien.

Could I be smarter?

I just peeled a grapefruit that I thought was an orange.


In my defense, my coworker and I had just been talking about blood oranges, and how we had them in the kitchen, and I thought it was one of those.

Still, could I be smarter?

Yes. Yes, I could.

The week in culture: Jan 7-13

Watched:
Juno
The Wire, Season 4 (not a movie but wanted to be clear that I haven't avoided the screen entirely)

Read:
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (so interesting, and a bit chilling)
Restless by William Boyd (I'm really into spies lately -- any recommendations?)

Heard:
Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths
I Don't Want to Be in Love by Good Charlotte

Events:
Golden State Warriors vs. Memphis Grizzles, 1/11
(The Warriors were victorious, happily. Isn't b-ball so much more entertaining in person? Especially if you have good seats.)

Random Culture Moment:
Battling superheroes (click the 'defeated by' error to scroll through 'em)
My fave might be the Magma Carta. HARR.

The Week in Soccer:
A new season has started. I think we tied? Or we might've won by one point. I didn't score, but I also didn't play the whole game (we had subs), so I'm trying to console myself that if I'd played a bit longer I could've put one in the goal.

The week in culture: Jan 1-6

Here I go, posting my weekly consumption of books, film, and whatever else lies in the pop culture domain. I'm going to try to keep up with this, and we'll see how well I do. Expectations are not high!

(Note that it's an abbreviated week this time because the year just got started, and I'm leaving 2007 in the dust.)

Movies Watched:
The Lives of Others
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
The Kingdom
My Brilliant Career
Ratatouille
BEST: The Lives of Others

Books Read/Finished:
Can I Keep My Jersey? by Paul Shirley (it was a slow week)

Songs on my playlist:
"Last Train Home", Ryan Star
The Reminder, Feist (late to the party, I know)
"Breakin' Dishes", Rihanna
"Wonderful World", Sam Cooke (a classic)

Random Pop Culture Joy of the Week:
These daily puppies. I cannot decide which is the most adorable. The husky-corgi mix? The great dane? The samoyed? It pains me! DEATH BY CUTENESS.

What pop rocked your world last week?

Guess what I saw this morning?

A tumbleweed.

I was driving to work this morning and just passing the big empty field next to Charleston Park when I saw it bouncing into the road, propelled by the high winds heralding an impending storm. (We've got some lovely dark clouds now too.) I think it must've come from the field -- there's a lot of dry brush and whatnot there -- and it was heading towards Shoreline Amphitheater. Maybe it wanted to see a show.

Why do I like tumbleweeds? I don't know. There is no logical reason. Maybe because they seem like such a goofy phenomenon. Maybe because they remind me of long childhood road trips with my family through otherwise unbroken, boring terrain. Maybe because I have somehow oddly anthropomorphized them into having 'aw shucks' travelin' cowboy personalities.

I'm kind of weird, huh?