Cracks

Behold, my first movie of the Toronto International Film Festival 2009, Cracks.
This movie takes place in 1934 at an all-girls boarding school in the UK. It is a very tightly run ship, where the girls are kept separate from the outside world but go through the motions of learning how to be a proper lady. The girls in the school are divided up into small teams (sort of like houses, a la Harry Potter) and the film focuses on the story of the house led by lead girl, Di Radfield (played by Juno Temple - amazing) and under the tutelage of the fabulous Miss G (played by Eva Green - smoldering, she was a Bond girl, afterall). We watch the development of the girls, their devotion and awe of Miss G and learn about life in their school setting. Add to the mix, a Spanish aristocrat, Fiamma (played by María Valverde - elegant) which uncovers a new understanding to each of the members of the team.
This was the first feature film by Jordan Scott (daughter of Ridley Scott) and I really enjoyed it. Of course there was an immediate interest in the film due to the subject matter, but I found the cinematography, location, script, and ensemble cast to be a wonderful combination which made really love the film.
Jordan Scott was on hand for the a Q&A which was unfortunately, uninspiring due to the types of questions that were asked - there were a lot of useless statements that were made as well. I suppose I cannot complain too much as I didn't attempt to ask a question. Ms. Green, Temple (looking great in a 1920s inspired dress) and Valverde (looking absolutely overwhelmed) were also in attendance and made a brief appearance on stage during the introduction of the film, but refused to come up during the Q&A.
It was an intense film, but I obviously really enjoyed it.
Oh, I must mention the venue. the screening took place at the Winter Garden Theatre, which I had never been to before. It is a wonderfully old theatre and has great character, and quite comfortable seats. A balcony, along with grand boxes to the side and I'm really hoping that I can watch a stage performance in the theatre in the future, say, Billy Elliot with the Tony Award winning cast in tow? One can always dream.
One movie down, and off to a great start!

- picture courtesy of www.tiff09.ca

TIFF09

It's coming. I can feel it. I can see it.
People from the industry are in town and I start my movie watching on Friday.
I am seeing at least 8 films this year and I can't wait to find out how great my picks turn out to be.
Wheeeeeee!

OVO

Just got home from seeing Cirque du Soleil's most recent show, OVO.
Of course, it was a fantastic show.
We lucked out and got front row tickets. For some, this may not be the
best, as for the high flying acts, you would have to crane your necks back, but for me, I would rather be closer to the stage to be able to see the wonderful costuming and make-up that the company offers.
My favorite acts of the night were the foot juggling/Icarian games, slackwire, diabolos and the aerial trapeze. I was most looking forward to the wall, and although it was really athletic and different from any acts that I've seen before, it didn't quite impress me as much as I would have liked. That's not to say that it wasn't impressive or anything.
The characters were very cute. As I said before, having a front row seat really let us soak up the portrayal of the characters by the different artists. To see their faces and every single movement was unbelievable. I couldn't believe the detail on their costumes.
Cirque always puts on a great show. What I love is how seamlessly the show is run. There wasn't as much narrative tying together this show compared to the other shows that I've seen before, but I did feel like that took away from the production. The acts just seem to start out of thin air, and it's clear that the order of acts is carefully thought out so that it builds towards the intermission and finale of the show. The music is of course wonderful and the musicians are very much part of the show as well. OVO combines the traditional style of Cirque music with a Brazilian twist. One other part of the the production that always amazes me is the smooth changes between acts, especially the set changes, or should I say, apparatuses changes. It's all carefully choreographed and the artists are always in character. Ropes and pulleys are attached, and bars and wires appear out of nowhere. There are always checks for safety, you can see the stagehands efficiently working. It is a very well-oiled machine.
Oh yes, I must mention one other thing that comes with sitting in the front row. The possibility that you get picked out of the audience for something. Tonight, I had my own moment in the spotlight. I wasn't pulled onstage, but I had all eyes on me for a smidge of an act. A little growl, a hip swivel - that is the risk you run by attending a Cirque show.
It was a wonderful evening out - I think my mouth was open for the better part of the show. Cirque never ceases to impress me. Total awe.
Of course, I highly recommend the show. I would highly recommend any Cirque show.

Terry Fox park

Okay, so one pile of dirt that I've been staring at for two years from my place has turned into a park. I wonder what the other pile of dirt is going to be and when.

I want to be a part of it...

New York, New York.
In Manhattan and using the free internet in the Apple Store, Meatpacking District.
Had bite-sized cuppy-cakes for breakfast this morning and hoping to catch a show on Broadway tonight.
Ready to drool over designer goods in the boutiques and showrooms now.
Will post more upon return.

Oh, my inner tween melts

Thanks to the 501 streetcar and a red light, I got an unobstructed view of the Jonas Brothers making an appearance at Much Music. So many screaming tweens. So many.

Today

After three weeks of getting up early-ish in the morning, I can't quite sleep in anymore. This is not a bad thing.
So, this morning, I had a couple extra hours to get odds and ends done before heading out for the day. I even made myself some breakfast. Oatmeal to be exact. I used to just eat two meals a day back when I slept in all the time. It's probably better for my system to be eating three meals a day again.
Went out for waffles at Starving Artist, this new trendy place in the Bloor/Lansdowne area. I'm not really sure why they decided to wafflise their bacon, but it tasted pretty good. I was expecting that my plate would have baconised waffles and then the normal bacon that comes with my order as well, but it turned out that my bacon was wafflised and I still had waffles with my order. It was a little much, but it was still tasty. Especially when doused with maple syrup.
On the way back home, I stopped off in Chinatown to get some groceries. The Toronto Chinatown Festival was going on, so I thought I'd wander around a little bit before loading up my shopping bag. I was really tempted to try the deep fried ice cream, but I was still full from brunch. Darn my slowing metabolism. I'd never seen it before and it looked kind of cool how they were globbing the crunchy ice cream on the marble slab. Oh, how I wanted to try it. Sigh.
After picking up my groceries, I hopped on the streetcar and somehow missed my stop. It was strange. There's always someone that gets off at my stop so I had just assumed that I would follow the crowd and someone else would ring the bell. By the time I realized that no one had rung the bell, it was too late. Ooops. Oh well, I got to watch a plane landing on the island because of it.
Oh, and I have at least 7 different mosquito bites from last night. Gross.

Found

I'm sure it's been claimed by now, but two weeks ago, on a rainy Saturday night, a fish was found. That's right, a fish. A big fish, in fact. Lying on the side of the road. How did it get there? To whom does it belong? Where was it heading?
I mean seriously, it's a fish. A really big fish. Lying on Front St. West.
You can't tell me that this is normal by any means. I mean, look at the size of it.

AGO

Awhile back, I went to the AGO to check out the Surreal Things exhibition. I remembered this exhibition from the V&A Museum a
previous trip to London. At the time, I decided that I want to take advantage of the free admission to London museums so I didn't pay the admission to see the special exhibition. I was pretty happy to find out it was coming to the city, and included in the admission price.
The big Dali painting blew me away. The weirdness of it, the details, it was crazy. I also liked the jeweled lips and teeth.
We didn't really see too much of the rest of the gallery. We'd all seen it
before and none of us were too eager to stay a full day and overload on art. We did hang out in the beautiful open wooden atrium on the north side of the gallery and walked up the enclosed spiral staircase. It's such a great space and the AGO did such a fantastic job with the renovations. It was definitely worth the two year closure, in my mind. Well done.

Shakespeare in the Park

Last night, I went to Shakespeare in the Park, presented by CanStage. This year, they put on a production of The Tempest, a play that I knew nothing about.
I kind of perused the synopsis, but didn't really seem to take any of it in and put faith in the company's ability to make the plays accessible to people of all ages and people who have no clue how to understand Shakespeare's nonsense. They succeeded once again.
I know that there were a lot of moments that went over my head, but I got the main idea of what was happening and that's all that really matters to me. For the most part, I thought the casting was done quite well. The main characters all had strong actors, but some of the supporting cast seemed a little bit useless.
I always enjoy going to High Park to watch Shakespeare, because it's a nice venue for the show and as I said, a very accessible way to watch something that I really don't have much interest in. I'm trying to expand my horizons, okay? Sure, every year of high school, we studied a work by Shakespeare, but it wasn't until other people in the class or my teacher explained what was going on that I understood what he was talking about.
I also enjoy the fact that it's Pay What You Can experience. Another way to make it accessible. I admit that I don't pay the full suggested amount, but I do pay something each time I go. It can be pricey to see a professional theatre production of any kind, so this is a great idea. It's great to show up early, stake your claim to some grass (it's not assigned seating or anything, just an open grassy amphitheatre) and have a picnic dinner. Last night, there was a lot of take-out cartons, blankets and lawnchairs, as well as swanky basket kits and a communal corkscrew for opening bottles of wine.
It wasn't too busy last night, but I'm willing to bet that's because of the gloomy grey skies that were around all day long. We got a little bit of a shower before the show started, but it cleared up in time for the show.
The one crappy thing about the experience, for me, are the bugs. I did put a little bit of bug repellent on before heading out for the day, but still ended up with one mosquito bite (at least that's all I've discovered so far). How annoying.

Prep, prep, prep

It's been awhile since I taught full day stints. I'm always amazed at the amount of time it takes to prepare lessons. I mean, really prepare lessons. It's exhausting, yet I love it. There's so much room for improvement, but I'm also quite proud with that work that I've created. I don't know how teachers can rest on their laurels. My greatest fear is being caught in front of the class unprepared. I couldn't fall asleep last night. My mind was racing of things that I could do with my students and how I would have the themes being presented flow nicely. I literally had to get up, out of my bed to add to my lesson plans. Multiple times.

Crazy, cool

I think if I were to visit this place as seen here, I would probably be content sitting on the floor and just staring the whole day. I was pretty mesmerized at the Oceanário de Lisboa, so I can just imagine how much more awestruck I'd be.
Amazing.

- via funkaoshi.com

Ooops, but still good!

I got the hankering to make gaspacho. I bought a couple things that I thought would go in the soup, and as it was getting late, I quickly chopped things up an tossed them into a pot. As things were simmering, I decided to take a look on the internet and see what experts put in gaspacho. In everything that I've ever cooked, I never use a recipe. I look at it to know what ingredients to use, but then I experiment with the quantities and just throw it together. I don't think I've ever really made anything that really requires going by the recipe exactly, so it's worked out fine so far, but I'm sure at some point, I'll need to actually read the recipe.
Anyway, so I'm looking online, seeing if the ingredients that I guessed were in the soup were correct or not, and whether there was anything else that I should add. After adjusting my ingredients in the pot a smidge, I continued to read the recipe and every single one that I looked at, I never saw any mention of heat or cooking the ingredients.
Ooops.
I had thought to make a hot chunky soup and then stick it in the fridge to let it cool, but apparently that's not actually what you're supposed to do.
Luckily, my version tastes amazing.

Good start to the day

This morning, I put my sneakers on wand went for a run for the first time since March. I haven't worn sneakers since then. Strange. I wore them almost every day for such a long time and all of sudden, cold turkey. I just had no reason to wear them. Strange.
My string of "free" sneakers is also over. I need new ones, but I'm wondering if I should even get a pair. And if I should invest in nice ones to start the trend over again. We'll see.
Anyway, I ran on the path by the waterfront, and it was a beautiful. One of the reasons I decided to run in the first place was because it was such a nice day outside.
Caribana was getting set up, and since I'm music-less when I run, it was nice to have blaring music to run to. Caribana has such a nice vibe. It was just getting set up, so it wasn't too crazy, but I took advantage of the music and people watched as I jogged by.
There was also a huge crowd of people waiting to get into Ontario Place. That's what happens on a beautiful day.
On the way back, I saw a strapping athletic lad put down his basketball to play ring around the rosy with two small children. It was the sweetest thing.
I didn't make it to the market today, but I don't mind. I've actually got a little bit of a backlog of food in my fridge/freezer so I didn't want to be tempted by the market.
Chatted on the phone with someone whom I miss and went to a condo open house which kind of rejuventated me. It got me thinking, for sure, but I'm still optimistic that everything will work out for the best.
I'm off to the Distillery District to continue this great day. See ya!

How are people this stylish?

I only recognize one of the people in this picture. I don't follow Bryanboy's webpage. I find him a little bit over the top. It's clear that he really enjoys fashion, but I feel like he's trying too hard. Maybe it's just the flamboyance that I'm reading the wrong way.
Still, I think all of the tots are impeccably dressed. How do people so young know how to put themselves together like this?
I'm pretty sure that unless you've got a fashionable relative to look up to, it does take a lot of effort to be an individual. I'm pretty sure that Bryanboy's life revolves around that world. I'm not trying to rag on him, I'm just sayin'.

Finally

So it's sunny today.
We haven't had a stretch of sunny weather for a long, long time. This summer's had the poopie-est weather. Lots of rain. Lots of days wearing jackets and sweaters. Seriously.
I think I'm going to go home and sit on my balcony. I haven't done that in almost a month. That's how bad the weather's been and you know how much I love to sit outside.

Celeb spotting

I'm horrible at spotting celebrities. Well, especially if I don't really follow what they do. Today, I saw a member of the band, Coldplay. I had to google it, and now I know that the person I spotted was Jonny Buckland...I think. See how bad I am?
Anyway, it's not like it's a big deal, but it seemed to be a big deal to the person whom I was talking to. She got all flustered and stuff. I just judged his outfit and admired his accent.

Cold Stone Creamery

I've finally tried it.
I went into one of the three Canadian Tim Hortons locations that was testing out the famed frozen treat and immediately became confused.
So many ice creams, so many toppings, what's a girl to do!
I ended up getting cake batter with Butterfinger.
It was quite tasty, but nothing more than a glorified McFlurry or Blizzard. I do admit that there are more options for flavours (which I do appreciate), but in terms of the result, it's just about the same.
It was a little bit of a novelty watching them make my dessert. Scooping the ice cream with two metal paddles, putting it on the frosty marble slab, adding my portion of Butterfinger candy bar on top, cutting/smushing/mixing the Butterfinger with the ice cream and finally smearing the concoction into the cup.
In an attempt to use up my gift cards from Tim Hortons, I'll probably go back and create some other combinations. I mean, I might as well, since there's nothing else that I would regularly get from the company except for chocolate milk.
In a taste-off with other ice creams (Greg's, Greg's, Greg's!!!), Cold Stone Creamery would not win, but that's not to say that I don't enjoy it.

SYTYCD Season 5 finalists

What is America thinking? I have no idea what they're doing and why they vote the way that they do. I guess the good thing is that it really doesn't matter in the end who wins, because all the right people out there know what's up and will give opportunities to the people who deserve them.

Tainan, Taiwan (May 15th - 20th, 2009)

After Taipei, I took the train south to Tainan. It was nice to see a more rural part of the country and getting to know true Taiwanese culture.
I had a great time going back to my roots, learning more about my family and seeing where my relatives grew up. It was great.

Here we go:

A twist on the famous hot pot. We had the option of seafood (which we all decided to go for), but could have meat options as well. The difference with this restaurant was that they gave you this crazy basket of greens. I believe that they grew them on the roof of the restaurant. It was a very healthy meal. The teas were herbal and stuff, even the other things that you could choose to put in your hot pot were healthy options. I was so full from that night. Wait, I was so full from that whole trip. All I did during the trip was eat. I loved it.








More market goodness. Hopefully this doesn't gross anyone reading this out too much. You can see that they really don't waste any parts of the animal. I wonder which inner bits go first. I would love to take a science class to the market. It reminds me of my experience watching a goat getting slaughtered in Kenya. Seriously - it was quite the learning experience.









I'd talked a little bit about the scooters I'd seen in Taipei and here's more evidence of just how many there are. They're literally invading the space of the road. I can't imagine how two cars going in opposing direction could get through this space. It's was also interesting to see people wearing face masks. I was there around the time of the biggest swine flu hype, so this could be part of the reason why I saw people wearing, by I think that I would have seen face masks even if there was no swine flu. This street also shows just how busy the streets are. Many people were out grocery shopping, the shops were quite narrow and you can see how crowded the signage is and stuff.

I visited a couple schools in Tainan, and they are massive compared to Toronto. The schools have ~1000 students, and this is at an elementary
school. It's just crazy to see the difference, and I kind of wish that I could have seen classes in session. I think I would have really liked to compare it to classes that I know. I did watch school children leave for the day at another school and I was in awe at how orderly and pleasant they were. I got a lot of weird looks. I was obviously a tourist, and most tourists probably don't sit and watch school get let out of the day.








Inside one of the temples was a God for students. You can see the number of students who went to pray for good fortune on their final exams.




Look at these stone tablets. I like how they're on top of turtles.





Some pictures of another temple. I enjoyed visiting temples to look at the architecture, colours and learn a little bit more about the culture.
























While in Tainan, we took a side trip to Alishan. All I knew about this area was that there's mountains and there's a song about the ladies there. I just wanted to see more of the country. I'm glad I went.









I liked walking through the forest. I don't think that I've been hiking since living in Switzerland. What a beautiful part of the country.




Look at this old tree stump. Do you see anything?








How about here?







Wow. So tall. I want to see giant sequoias sometime.







Wasaaaaaabi. I don't know what I thought wasabi was. It's definitely a root. A gross tasting root.



An old train. I kind of wish that I took a ride on it, but walking is much better. It was a good hike and great exercise. I kind of miss hikes in the forest. A chance to be closer to nature, getting your heart pumping and letting your mind go completely blank.





More old trees.








Do you see anything here?





One morning, we woke up super early to see the sun rise over the mountains. It was supposed to be this amazing sight ad after standing in a light rain shower and seeing the sky get lighter and watching the vendors set up their tables to lure in us tourists. Anyway, apparently we didn't get to see the sunrise because there were too many clouds. Boo. I think it's during the fall, but there's something else that I'd love the chance to see. They call it the waves of Alishan and it's the clouds blowing over the tops of the mountains and it literally looks like the rolling sea. We saw a video of it, and it looked uber-cool.



We weren't the only ones hoping to see the sunrise. Oh wait, I did take one of the old trains. We took the train up to the top of the mountain.




The tops of the mountains peeking out from the cloud cover. I like being above the clouds. I like being a cloud. This never happens in Toronto.



My last night in Taiwan, I crossed off yet another thing on my list. I drank bubble tea in Taiwan. Amazing. I mean, it wasn't different tasting than in Toronto, but I wanted to try it from the source. I also had the chance to ride a scooter. We took a little tour of the city. It was so much
fun. I even got the chance to try to drive it myself, and while it was not difficult, I didn't do a very good job of driving. I was going super slow, and luckily on an empty, residential street, yet I almost crashed into a car on a turn. I wasn't quite getting the feeling of steering the thing. Maybe I should re-think the idea of having a Vespa. I think I just wasn't used to the idea of accelerating with the hands. I guess sort of like when you first learn how to drive and you're unsure of how hard to press the
gas and brake pedals. And of course, as you can see here, I went to yet another night market. Can you tell I love them? It's crazy to think that this market is here just just a couple hours once or twice a week and at other times during the day it's a different type of market. And other times? Hmmm, I don't really know. Another type of stall at these markets (along with the food, clothing, knick-knack vendors) was an auction stall. They had tons of different objects up for auction and an auctioneer running the show. Most of these stalls were very empty with the auctioneer needing to take items off the block unsold.

Obviously, my trip to Taiwan was a wonderful experience. I saw a lot of things for the first time and learned a lot about, everything. I know I'm repeating myself, but I can't wait to go back again.