Baguley 4 Mayor...of Farmville!

Municipal elections are coming up! Who is excited?

OK, so it's not a terribly exciting topic. But I want to talk about how my vote was swayed by a good deed.

I decided early on NOT to vote for Barb Baguley for Mayor. She's run and lost before, and last time there was a vicious rumour that she was on board with the idea that Innisfil should become a part of Barrie. But the thing that cemented my plans to NOT vote for her was simply her signage:

"Baguley 4 Mayor" with a lovely, giant, airbrushed of her looking like a corpse. I've seen much nicer air brushing jobs on "Six Feet Under" reruns. And I'm sorry, but when a person is running for political office, any printed literature sent out should act as a resume. Would you ever intentionally misprint a word on your resume? I'm not sure whether she saved two cents per sign by cutting two characters on each one, or if she thought replacing the word "for" with the number would come across as trendy. This is not twitter, Barb Baguley. You're not sending a text message. If you were running for Mayor of Farmville, you might have some kind of reasonable campaign here.

So, by default I decided to vote for Gord Wauchope (even though his wife is a total cow. She was the worst teacher I ever had, back is grades two and three.)

I have a friend who has diabetes. Last week he was about half an hour away from home without his medication. With no warning, he found himself with a big medical emergency. His blood sugar dropped to a dangerous level, and he needed his meds right away. He asked a police officer for help and she refused him. He began to panic.

Gord Wauchope happened to drive by at just the right time. He pulled over and picked up my friend, and then took him home to his medicine. The next day I requested a Gord Wauchope for Mayor lawn sign.

My vote is concrete now. Yay for good deeds!

There's a guy in Stroud who really pisses me off.

He's a mechanic, which automatically makes him crooked. My Dad is probably the only honest mechanic in the world, but because I don't want to bother him every time any little thing goes wrong with my vehicle, I use this guy in stroud sometimes. Let's call him Mr Swindler.

Mr Swindler attends church with my mother in law, and he's got the Sandy Cove market cornered. All the old folks think he gives them a GREAT deal on car repairs.

This morning I took my Caravan in to Mr Swindler's garage to have a tail light and a head light fixed. He had known I was coming. I called him Friday and he said he'd be totally free to work on the car Monday. As soon as I got there he explained the complex procedure such a job entails. Of course fixing a seized lock is the single most difficult thing that could ever be done by anyone. EVER! Seriously, brain surgeons think they have it rough! Brain surgery is a WALK IN THE PARK compared to the delicate business of freeing a seized van hatch! Then he told me that the seized lock was entirely my fault and that it would take all day to fix. Fixing it would require cutting a panel away with a saw and replacing it, of course. So I went across the street to Tim Hortons and grabbed a coffee.

I've never been to Saskatchewan, but I imagine that it looks a LOT like Stroud. Stroud is the land that time forgot. All corn fields and highway. Aside from the Tim Hortons and the KFC, there's not much of anything around. There hasn't even been a single house built for the past 30 years. It's really...odd. Not a place you want to be stranded with no escape. So I got on the GO bus and went to Barrie. (I haven't been on a bus since I was about seventeen. It was an odd little adventure).

Anyway, I spent the day in Barrie and arrived back in Stroud to check on my car at 2:30.

Long story short: Mr Swindler told me that he was waiting for a part that was accidentally delivered to Midland, and it would be another hour before my car would be ready. I told him to put the car back together and I'd be on my way. In the five and a half hours between the time I dropped it off and the time I picked it up, he'd managed to change a lightbulb in the headlight.

I won't be going to him again. Today I came to the concrete conclusion that he's incompetent, and probably scamming the old people of Sandy Cove. I've never payed him less than I'd expect to pay at a proper business, and his service is terrible. He's a drama queen who thinks he's the freaking Lone Ranger, bailing people out of terrible trouble with his amazing light bulb changing skillz.

Loser.

Cheryl made a...Video?

Heeeyyyyy!

Well, I really should blog more often. Sorry 'bout that.I have something fun to talk about right now, though. See? I'm not a lazy blogger, I just choose to NOT waste your time by blogging when I have nothing constructive to say. Isn't that considerate of me?

This past weekend I made my debut as a director! I wrote and directed a video! I won't talk too much about the content because the video will be online soon and you should watch it for yourself. But I will say that it was FUN to make. And my awesome Second City friend Andreas came from Toronto to kick ass, as well as Rayne, who appeared in The Closer with me a few months back. Even Tom appeared in the video, and he was tortured most of all. His costume involved a LOT of make up. I think what I did to him might qualify as spousal abuse, but he was a great sport.

Thanks to everyone involved! I'll post a link here as soon as I have one.

Love to all!

This Was Amazing

Check out some pics from this thing we went to.

Nuff Said.

Cheryl's Peddling Another Good Cause

People! There's a new contest going on, and it's really cool!

Check it out! http://confederationofwizards.org/

They're raising money to send two people to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Two deserving people who wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise.

This is a promotional site of theirs. The thing that initially won me over: http://confederationofwizards.org/VoldyBox/

Entrants will make a youtube video describing why they are the most deserving. When the money is raised, the decision will be made by vote.

I have the highest belief that this will prove to be another example of EPIC things happening when a bunch of regular people who happen to be fans of the arts come together for a great cause.

Please pass it on.

This is...weird.

The weirdest thing is happening. I don't understand it at all.

Could it be that my husband is becoming a successful blogger?

I know, millions of people across the world spend hours in front of the computer screen, pouring their hearts out or documenting the results of an odd new hobby. But rarely are the blog writings of unknown people ever read by a large volume of strangers.

Here's the thing: Tom's been writing song lyrics for years and years. He doesn't write music, but in the past he's teamed up with musicians to create and record songs together. It's just been a hobby for him.

A few months ago he set up a blog as a place to keep a collection of the pieces of his work he likes best. Whenever he writes something he especially likes he posts it on his blog, and then he posts the link as his facebook status. As is the case with the blogs of nearly every unknown person in the world, he rarely got views. Months went by and his counter remained low. He had around 30 total hits. Until just a couple of weeks ago.

Suddenly, BAM! His hits are going up and up and up, and now he's got 137, just over a short period of time. His facebook friends jumped from, like, 60 or so to 517! Which, I'll point out, is a lot more facebook friends than I have, and I spend a lot of time using facebook.

What happened? Well, I do have an explanation. His blog was read buy some guy named Bernie Taupin who, for years, was Elton John's lyricist (Apparently he's written for current people as well, like Gaga.) It snowballed from there.

Every time he logs into facebook he gets PM's from some crazy woman who thinks he's a celebrity. It's very...odd.

Anyway, check out the blog that's making Tom a facebook sensation. (And leave him a comment. He likes to have his ego stroked. ;-)

http://lyricwiz.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

I'm excited. And exhausted.

For the past month the HPA has been competing in the Chase Community Giving contest, AKA HPAFTW. The entire staff, plus a temp staff of, like, a bagilion people, worked every day to get votes from friends and family. This past week a team of us worked insanely long hours to get the attention of fansites, celebrities with twitter accounts, Youtubers, anyone and everyone we could think of.

The contest ended this morning at midnight. I practically flew my vehicle back from Uxbridge in order to be here for the end. WE WON!

This wasn't luck. We won this contest, against 500 other Non Profits, because of great planning, management, and the support of LOTS of amazing people.

If you voted for us, thank you. And, although I'm sure they won't read this, thanks to everyone who posted on their websites.

And to the team of awesome, fun, full of DOUBLE RAINBOWS people I've worked closely with this past week.

Now I'm on to my next project. I'm going to be doing the play "Noises Off" in Uxbridge this fall. I'm playing Brooke, and yes, I will be going blonde and appearing onstage very scantily dressed. If you know the play, I'm sure you can imagine that it'll be challenging. Looking forward to doing elaborate stunts dressed in next to nothing.

Do it! I Know You Want To!

Hello Hello!

OK, show of hands. Who here is familiar with Chase Community Giving? Nobody? Well, neither was I until a couple of days ago. I think it's an American thing.

The HP Alliance is in the running for a HUGE grant from them. $250,000US.

What?

Oh, you didn't hear me? I'll speak louder.

$250,000US.

But Cheryl, what will the Harry Potter Alliance do with so much money?

I'm so glad you asked!

Well, you know all of the awesome and amazing things we've already done? Like the Accio Books campaign, which provided much needed reading materials to children and adults in the Mississippi Delta? And Helping Haiti Heal, which raised $123,000US, enough to send five planes full of life saving supplies to Haiti? Well, with $250,000US, we could do things like that and a WHOLE LOT more!

So, if you're my friend at all, you'll click the link below and vote for the Harry Potter Alliance. It's what all the cool kids are doing. :-)

http://bit.ly/hpaFTW

I wanted to post a picture of my Patronus, also known as Pit-Pat, just because she's so cute and I love her so much. Yay Pit-Pat!

Artistic Thoughts on the LOST Finale

I'm recovering from the ending of LOST.

The reason I'm writing about this is not to talk about my feelings about the last episode, but I'll start by getting that out of the way. I really liked the last episode. It was epic, moving, and everything we've come to expect from the show.

But I'm more interested in talking about the artistic and storytelling choices made by the writers.

**Spoiler Alert**


I don't have a direct quote, but Stephen King once said that it's really difficult to spend 500 pages making people care about a character only to kill him in the end.

I gotta say, the LOST ending was risky. The emotional moment between Jack and his father, and the reveal that the whole lot of them are dead made the impact on my that I'm sure the creators were hoping for. But what really sticks with me is the final series of shots. Of Jack laying on the same jungle floor where he first regained consciousness after the crash of Oceanic 815. The pan shot of the wreckage. The implication that there were no survivors. Ever.

The artistic style there was incredible, and heartbreaking.

The writers have always been incredible storytellers, and to choose a 6th Sense style ending took guts.

I'm not going to pretend that I understand everything. I don't know whether the events on the island happened and they all died at a later time, or if there truly were no survivors of Oceanic 815, and the events on the island all happened between the opening and closing of Jacks eye (as I believe the symbolism implies). But I do know that after six seasons, it'll be hard going back and watching this show knowing that the ending is so grim.

But I'll take comfort in the knowledge that, even though they're all dead, John Locke did walk again. Ben Linus found forgiveness. Sayid Jarrah found Shannon again. Claire Littleton was reunited with baby Aaron. Richard Alpert was finally set free. And Jack Shepherd made peace with his dad.

A Satirical Monologue, By Cheryl

Here's a satirical monologue I wrote recently. I decided to post it here, because isn't the idea of a blog to spread the word about what you're doing? I'm going to start posting my work here often.

So, read it. If you like it, please send the link to a friend! Love you all!

****

Something that annoys me more than almost anything in the world is when grocery store cashiers ask for money for charity.

It's not that I'm opposed to charity; I dedicate much of my life to activism, and charity is no small part of the work I do. How many times have I driven my seventeen-year-old daughter to the Petro Canada to participate in her soccer team's fund raising car wash weekends? Just last week, I drove her. It was the hottest day of the summer so far, and the air conditioning in my car has been on the fritz. I thought I would die from the heat, but I still drove her, didn't I? And while we're on the topic of my own personal contributions to the betterment of the world, I think my strongly worded letter to the town officials, who cut back on park funding resulting in the cancellation of the plans for the goldfish pond installation in Heritage Park, is also worth noting. So, of course I support worthwhile causes. I just believe that there is a time and a place for charity.

Grocery store cashiers asking for money is a different issue entirely. by asking each and every customer who comes through their store for money to support a charity, the store is assuming that everyone can afford to make the donation. Right now the world is struggling to recover from a massive recession. Unemployment statistics are still alarmingly high. Some people have had to sell things of value. My own brother, who was laid off from the Honda factory a few months back, was forced to sell his entire collection of Fraggle Rock toys from McDonalds, and he's been collecting them since 1982. So, as you can see, while a two dollar donation to the Heart and Stroke Foundation might seem like a small sacrifice to most of us, there are many people in our communities who are struggling to feed their families, and even a small donation is just not possible for them.

Think about how much money two dollars actually is. For two dollars, one could buy a two litre bottle of Coke Zero. Or a Snickers bar. Or a box of those great low calorie Crystal Light flavour mixes to add to bottled water. Or, in a really desperate situation, one could stand on the curb outside the store and use the toonie to bum a cigarette from a kind passer-by. Two dollars is a ton of money.

And now that I've pointed these issues out, it's clear to see that it takes nerve for cashiers to ask customers, many of whom are unemployed, for money for charity. So, what's the result? Unintentionally, those who can't afford to give are made to feel uncomfortable, or even embarrassed, while their crime is nothing more than trying to shop for food in peace. To just scoot into the store, buy their orange cranberry muffins and Perrier, and return to the safety of their own homes, away from the prying, judgmental eyes of the public.

In addition, not everyone manages to buy everything they need for the coming week in a single shopping trip. One person might visit a store many times during a single campaign, and be asked for a donation each time.

I'm a busy person. My job, at the risk of sounding slightly immodest, is incredibly important. If I weren't there to greet the Wal-Mart customers and hand out carts to people in need...well, disaster could follow. I spend all day working hard, and I rarely think to make a shopping list before going to the grocery store. The result, sadly, is repeat trips to Sobeys. When a checkout campaign is happening, I am often asked for donations several times. And while the donations are often only two or three dollars, how many times should I be expected to donate to Easter Seals before it becomes too much to ask? Am I an awful person for not wanting to spend two extra dollars each time I forget the Oreos and have to return to the store? To look at this logically, a two dollar bag of Oreos cost four dollars to someone who is forced into a charitable donation as a result of the purchase.

Don't even get me started talking about Girl Guides, hockey teams, and Cadets. They congregate in front of the stores, selling eight dollar boxes of cookies, or hot dogs, or apples. Saying no to these kids makes a person look like a world class jerk, but for an unemployed person, eight dollars would likely be considered too much to spend on a box of cookies. No to mention that kids are spoiled rotten nowadays. The last Girl Guide who tried to sell me a box of cookies told me that they were fund raising to subsidize a trip to Europe. When I was a Girl Guide we went camping in my friend's back yard. And we didn't need to sell cookies in order to afford it. Needless to say, I didn't buy any cookies from the jet setting Girl Guides.

Cadets aren't as difficult to avoid as the other beggars. They give out those cardboard tags that you're supposed to carry around to show that you've already given, so that the next group of Cadets won't ask the same people to give again. I keep one of those tags in my glove compartment, and take it out when I see the Cadets standing outside the stores ready to pounce.

The problem is, aside from Cadets, money grubbers in stores are much more difficult to avoid than homeless people who ask for money on the street, or squeegee kids who come to your car window. At least with homeless people I can cross the street and walk on the other side. With Squeegee Kids, I can rev my engine and pretend I'm going to try to run them down (and let me tell you, the little buggers can move pretty quick given the proper motivation!) . Girl Guides are surprisingly aggressive little bitches. They'll get in a person's face.

Undoubtedly, the overall intention of charity is good. As I've said, I work hard to support charity. But there's a time and a place for it, and I refuse to give to charities that try to force people to give at grocery stores. By singling people out this way, in many cases these organizations may be doing just as much harm in a community as good.

I have a super quick thing to blog about. I'll keep it short. I promise!

The non profit organization I work for is in the process of redistributing everyone into teams, so that we can each become experts in a certain field. I'm the Team Leader for Fandom Research, and tonight we had our first team meeting.

It was stressful, because we're at the very beginning of setting up a brand new area of work. It's hard to know where to start, right fresh with no existing goals. Everybody with their own expectations, but no real idea of what we're doing.

I was responsible for running the meeting, because I'm the leader. At the time, I felt like I was struggling through. I had made a list of things to talk about, of course, but I was trying to find a starting point for the group. You know? When you're about to take on a massive project, it's hard to know where to start. I felt...weird about it. Like, I wasn't sure whether or not it was going well.

After the meeting, the lovely team member who volunteered to take notes sent me the meeting minutes. As I read them, I felt WAY better about the whole situation. Looking back, the meeting was actually well organized, and we even managed to end it with a short term goal in place, as well as a slightly longer term goal! What more could I ask for?

My moment of insecurity is over. I'm back to feeling awesome again. :-)

The Greatest Place on Earth

Hello boys and girls! I'm having a lovely day!

I went for a walk this afternoon. I wore jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a vest. I nearly died from the heat! It's sooooo beautiful outside that I feel the overwhelming need to overuse my exclamation points! It was lovely!!!

As I was walking, I came to an epiphany. I live in the greatest place on earth. Here's why.

I spend at least 50% of my time in Toronto, and there are undoubtedly aspects of a huge city that I love. Like, the fact that there's often literally a coffee shop on every corner. And the fact that there are world famous buildings everywhere I look. And that the sushi restaurants are way better than the ones we have here. And the streetcars have always struck me as bizarre. I don't like to ride them (they make me a little queezy) but when I watch them go by I feel like I'm in a 1950's movie. They just seem so odd and archaic. I love that.

As I was walking down the 7th line today, it struck me that I also LOVE the peacefulness of a small town. The millions of trees, and the fresh smell (let's face it, Toronto stinks in the summer), and the grass and weeds and fields, and the elaborate gardens my neighbours put in every year. I love the traditions. I love sitting in my backyard drinking beer with friends. I love Summerfest, and look forward to it all year long. I love going to the drive-in theatre with friends, and staying there all night for the dusk-till-dawn. I love visiting my family and chatting on their back deck (they have the most beautiful back yard I've ever seen, truly). I love barbecues. I love going to the beach, and I love the fact that the water in Lake Simcoe is still clean enough to swim in. Not that I ever do.

This is the part where I come to my conclusion: Sometimes I love being in a massive city, and sometimes I love being in a small town, so where I live is the most perfect place in the world: A small town right near a massive city.

It's so simple I'm not sure why I'm bothering to write about it. I guess I'm just trying to pass some time before I go to Toronto to do some writing.

In conclusion, I'm happy to be here.

Haven't I Read This Before?

I just finished reading a book called "The Hunger Games," by Suzanne Collins. I can't praise it enough. Even though the writing style seemed a little odd to me (it's written in first person, present tense...I kind of prefer third person, past tense), the story is so captivating that I couldn't put it down.

And to think I nearly didn't buy it because the cover had a stupid shiny sticker with a recommendation from Stephanie Meyer on it! The last book I bought that she recommended was awful. I didn't even finish reading it. Not to mention that Stephanie's own work is pretty brutal itself.

Anyway, The Hunger Games was fantastic, but it occurred to me that this is a story that has been told before. As a matter of fact, Stephen King told it twice before. The first time he published a story like this, it was called The Long Walk. It's not exactly the same as The Hunger Games, but the premise is extraordinarily similar. Then, a few years later old Steve published a book called The Running Man, and that one is nearly identical to The Hunger Games. Both were published under his Richard Bachman pseudonym.

It's odd that I can enjoy a book so much when I know that the idea isn't the least bit original. It's well known that most ideas are reused, reinvented, and reworked, but this is an extreme case. Even Stephen King enjoyed it, and wrote an article recommending it in his EW column. Didn't he recognize it? Was he so drugged up in the 80's that he can't remember what he wrote back then? Or did he enjoy the book so much that he doesn't care about the close similarity?

Regardless, it's a fascinating story and I've enjoyed reading a new version of it. I can't wait to read the second book in the series. Everyone should pick up a copy, and while you're at it, read The Long Walk, and The Running Man too.

Bits of my Life

I've been so busy lately, and I feel like I have nothing to write about. That doesn't make sense. Everything I've been doing is really interesting!

I've been busting my ass to pass the exams for my fight class. One of my partners is...someone who has been very difficult for me to work with, but I've been working extra hard to compensate. Yeah, this is stressful, but it's almost over.

Back to improv this past week, which is super fun. Ohhh, I have a story to tell here. I started taking improv classes at one of the other theatres in town. I did this because they have some advanced stuff that I really want to get into, but they have a policy that everyone involved at their theatre has to start at the very beginning with their 101 class. So, I'm in this class with people who have never done improv before. Let me tell you, this is doing AMAZING things for my ego. I look brilliant next to these people! Saturday we were doing an exercise where we had to establish the "who," "where," and "what" in three sentences. When I delivered my last line the entire class, including the two instructors, all said "Niiiccceeee." It was cool. Not that I'm especially genius or anything, I'm just being compared to people who are inexperienced.

I started the Comedy Writing program too. I was given homework, which was awesome. I had to write a story inspired by a photo I was given in class. It really got me writing again.

Accio Books is still going on! We're half way through now, and the Slytherin team is in second place! This is really more awesome than it sounds, because Slytherin usually holds steady in a distant last place. I've been organizing livestream events to promote the whole thing. I've been talking to awesome people in awesome bands!

Vicky is playing Mario Kart, one of the levels where you pick up the coins, and she's singing "Money, Money, Money," be ABBA. It's hilarious.

Cheryl, Queen of the Fairy Geeks!

For the first time ever, right here on my blog, I'm going to reveal the true extent of my geekdom. I'm not ashamed. I'm a dork. Deal.

I think by now most of my friends know that I work with an organization called the HP Alliance. The idea of the organization is to help children to understand and get passionate about important world issues by using themes from Harry Potter. Trust me, this method works. The organization managed to raise a fortune for Haiti last month. I can't remember what the final count was, but it was over a hundred thousand dollars. Even as I type it, I can't believe it. This is truly an incredible organization, lead by a guy who is talented, and knows what he's doing.

I'm currently co-leading a book drive for the HP Alliance. The project is called Accio Books! (In the near future I'll be hitting everyone I know up for a book donation, so you might as well start going through your closets and shelves now.) The books collected will benefit the Mississippi Delta. The campaign is set up like a contest. Four teams: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, all competing for the House Cup. Each team has a Head of House. Each Head of House is a celebrity - three of them are from bands, one is a famous author.

As part of this, I'm trying to put together a series of four livestream shows. Each show will have a "House Theme." For example, our head of Slytherin is Brian, on his show he will talk about why Slytherins are the AWESOMEST, and why they will, of course, win the House Cup. Same goes for the other four Heads.

The head of Hufflepuff is a young woman named Lauren Fairweather, and when I was told that she had agreed to participate, I had to admit that I didn't know who she was. Everyone I spoke to about her was SUPER enthusiastic and excited that she was jumping on board with us.

So, of course, I googled her, and I found tons of info online. She's from a band called The Moaning Myrtles, and she also is part of a video blogging project called Five Awesome Girls. Check her out.

http://www.youtube.com/fiveawesomegirls#p/u/2/ZNhjFShZ0rY

laurenfairweather.com

I spoke to her on the phone tonight, and she was very sweet and accommodating. I've spent a fair amount of time on her website, and I'm becoming a fan. Please support her, if you can.

On a side note, one of the other Heads is someone who I'm a massive fan of. Seriously massive fan. Actually, Vicky is a massive fan, too.

Excitement!

Oh, and BTW,

http://www.thehpalliance.org/

Don't Mind Me, I'm Just Your Trusty DD

After a fabulous evening of Improv-ing last night, the bunch of us went out to drink. OK, I didn't drink because I had to drive (and I will take this opportunity to grudgingly give Christine one point in the great Car vs. Subway debate). I sat and chatted while everyone else drank.

It's OK, I don't need to drink in order to have fun. I'm not seventeen anymore, after all. *Sigh*

Anyway, a guy we know, Ming (cool guy, I like Ming) told us that he doesn't know who John Candy was. Of course, we all jumped down his throat and screamed things like "What do you mean you don't know John Candy??? Uncle Buck, Canadian Bacon, Cool Runnings!!!"

Ming is an immigrant to Canada (I think he said he's from China), and he's lived her for, like, years and years. 20 years, he might have said. Don't quote me.

What's my point, you ask? I'm so very glad you did ask!

Clearly Canadian broadcasting is sadly lacking if people can live here for such a long time and not encounter any of his work. Why are John Candy's movies not on TV more often? Why is SCTV no longer on? Everyone who lives in this country should know John Candy. He was a Canadian icon. I'm sad about this.

Maybe I'll write a letter to...somebody. The Comedy Network?

This will require more thought.

Things Cheryl Hates, Volume Two

Ok, I can admit it. I'm a huge, huge, HUGE fan of "Lost." Of course, there are plenty of things to hate about the show. Many of the characters are annoying, the story rarely makes any kind of sense at all, and just when you think it's all leading somewhere, they hit a time warp and end up at the beginning again, just to name a few. I enjoy the show immensely, despite all of these things.

Here's my rant of the day. It really annoys me that for the past season or so, the character formally known as "Sawyer" is now called "James." Yes, I understand that the character's official name was always James Ford, and that Sawyer was a nickname. But every other character called him Sawyer in every single episode until around the end of season 4. Why do they now call him James?

That's bad writing. Once a character is established, the name used until that point is that character's name. There's no changing it!

I also miss the former awesomeness of the character. I used to sit in front of the TV and wait for Sawyer to come on, because I wanted to see which book he would be reading. Funniest moment of the entire series: Sawyer sitting on the beach, mismatched glasses on his face, Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, by Judy Bloom in his hand. ROFL!

Also, in previous seasons he didn't go through a scene without giving someone a hilarious nickname. He does that less often now. :-(

End Rant.

Drives me Freaking Nuts!

I've finally found the single thing that pisses me off more than anything else on the planet. It might sound like a silly, petty complaint, but I just can't tolerate this anymore, and I'm forced to sever all ties with anyone and everyone who does this. Are you ready for it?

I hate it when people (adults, specifically) refer to the fourteenth of February as "Valentimes Day." I know that it's ridiculous that I'm complaining about something so insignificant - and, of course, that I'm a total bitch for writing about this, because many of my friends and acquaintances are guilty of this common mispronunciation - but it never ceases to amaze me just how many people I encounter each year who mispronounce the word.

People, this inane, over commercialized day is actually called "Valentines Day" and not "Valentimes Day." Why does it seem as though at least fifty percent of the English speaking population does not understand this? Have these people never seen the word spelled on a piece of paper or a calendar? Have they never received a card with the word printed, V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E! Or do people simply not pay attention?

If you've got a minute, google "Valentimes," and shake your head at the insanely high number of results.

Oh Jimmy, why do you laugh every time?

So, about the NBC lat night talk show problem...who else thinks that it's entirely Leno's fault?

My theory is that when he announced his retirement years in advance, he hadn't expected those years to move so quickly, and suddenly he was like, "OMG, it's 2009, what will I do with my life once Conan takes over?"

The dude changed his mind about retiring, plain and simple. Look at the trouble he's caused. If he hadn't announced his retirement he would have remained on the Tonight Show, Conan wouldn't have given up Late Night, and poor, poor Jimmy Fallon wouldn't currently be on a downward spiral towards obscurity. (Of course, Jimmy would never have climbed his way out of the obscurity hole in the first place, so it's a trade off.)

I think I have a talent for predicting the downfall of talk shows. I remember when Tony Danza got his show a few years ago. I watched the first one and thought, "He's so cute and funny, and proud to have this show. Too bad the show is doomed."

I knew the moment Leno's primetime show was announced that it wouldn't get the ratings it needed.

I felt the same way about Jimmy Fallon. Conan is a hard act to follow.

But Jimmy is so cute, I'm routing for him. I loved him on Saturday Night Live. He was funny because he never got through a skit without laughing. Seriously, he laughed every time. If anyone can find a single clip of Jimmy Fallon on SNL not laughing, please, send it to me.

He's great. Go Jimmy!

Lost is Awesome, and it Really Shouldn't Be.

Last night Tom and I once again fell into the nasty trap of staying up all night, watching Lost DVD's in bed. We watched the first three episodes of season 5.

It occurred to me that, while this show is awesome, to explain the total amazing-ness of Lost to a non-fan would be impossible to do fairly, because in synopsis it sounds terrible.

At the end of season 4, Ben Linus "moved" the island by turning a giant wheel, whilst a thoroughly constipated look graced his evil face, and the island dissapeared into the ocean. The new season started with the survivors moving through time spontaneously, encountering the actual Dharma people who had been dead for decades. The Oceanic Six were back in the United States, living hellish lives, and it's three years later. It sounds like a terrible, impossible to follow show, but it's truly fantastic.

Lost is the best show that's been on TV for ages. I expect a few late nights while I work my way through season 5.

I have an enormous amount of respect for any show that ends while still at a high level of popularity. As a kid, I was a huge fan of the show Road to Avonlea. The producers ended the show voluntarily at the height of its popularity because it was largely based on the children in the show, and the children were growing up.

As much as I adore Lost, I'm thrilled that the producers are ending the show after the sixth season, because their reason is noble. They have an ending planned, and they're not going to allow an entirely un-artistic thing like the opportunity to make more money interfere with their story. Good for them.

Lost is awesome. More power to them.