New York City is still there. It's still big and noisy and dirty, and I still love it, even though New Yorkers re-elected a mayor who seems to have nothing but disregard for them.
It was great to see friends and family. Everyone is doing well and I had fun all around. But I loved coming home. Home to our cozy little house, home to my loving partner and our wonderful dogs, but also home to Canada. I like showing my Permanent Resident card at the border, seeing the Maple Leaf, driving back on the QEW. Nice.
Two good things happened while I was gone.
V, our new dogsitter, had another successful Buster session. She came in while no one was home, leashed up the dogs and took them for a walk, all with no problems. This means Buster has fully accepted her - which means we're all set, we can go away for US Thanksgiving. Hooray! Patience, plus the advice of our great trainer in New York, paid off.
It's important for us to be able to go away without the dogs, but it's also wonderful for Buster to make new friends. I always felt bad that he lost his human friends when we moved. Cody will make friends with everyone and anyone, but Buster's circle is so small, his life is so restricted - I hated to take him away from anything that made him happy, from anyone he loved. So I'm very happy that he now has a new friend, a wonderful person who cares deeply about animals and really wants to bond with him. Plus we can get out of the house!
And it looks like my editors and publishers have gotten it together, and I can finally begin the next Ancient Civs manuscript. I haven't finished my Kids On Wheels assignment yet, because people I have to interview are lame and won't call me back, but I purposely kept my work for this issue very light. It shouldn't be a problem to juggle both until the KOW is finished, then concentrate exclusively on Ancient Civs. More about that as it develops.
Allan taped Rick Mercer, but - uh-oh - said it wasn't funny. I haven't watched it yet, but will soon. Was the season opener typical?
11 comments:
Hooray for Vera! We are so glad you will be able to leave Buster and Cody in capable hands, so you can join us for Thanksgiving!
I wasn't that impressed with the first show either. I watched it but sat there wanting more. I didn't see the entire series so I can't answer the question.
I didn't see the show, but I do know Mercer uses a lot of nuance which just isn't funny at all if you don't get it.
For example, this blog post of his seems just bizarre, and this sentence is incorrect (which I think in itself is supposed to be funny):
Apparently Justin recently took a break from taping his wildly popular CTV show Canadian Idol and actually canoed across the Nahinni in a boat.
Ben Mulroney, the son of a different PM, is actually the host of Canadian Idol, not Justin. And I know nothing whatsoever about the Nahinni. So yeah, not funny.
Then there's the case to be made that socio-political and regional commentary by nature of what it is just doesn't bring the laughs...
was the skydiving bit supposed to be funny?
i'm impressed he did it -- i think i'd literally die of fear -- but what was the point?
we'll try it again next week.
I don't think it's so subtly nuanced that you're missing any points. In my view, the show's sole purpose isn't to be funny, but to show us Canada through the eyes of a funny, smart guy. (Who happens to be a big fan of the military, so expect lots of time spent with the troops.) I really enjoyed the In My Riding segment because, hey, that's my riding too, but it didn't have me rolling on the floor.
I guess you'll either find it funny or you won't -- it's not required.
In my view, the show's sole purpose isn't to be funny, but to show us Canada through the eyes of a funny, smart guy.
Ah-ha, that's interesting. We've been under the impression it's hilarious comedy. In any case, we're definitely going to watch more. I think it might be required, I'll check my immigration papers.
Now THAT's funny, because I was going to make a joke along those lines myself. Thanks for stepping up to the plate. :)
I think we may have misled you by lumping the show together with Air Farce and Red Green. (Not that those are necessarily hilariously funny either, but they try.) Rick Mercer is smart-funny, while those other shows are lowest-common-denominator-funny, is how I see it. 22 Minutes falls somewhere in the middle, I guess.
Just catching up here, but tijo - that whole post is Rick talking about his new speed reading skill. He goes on to say he reads articles much faster now, but misses "some of the nuances, but all the facts are there" - then he goes on to totally screw up all the facts. Funny stuff no?!!?
He calls Justin Trudeau the son of former PM John Turner, and throws Ben Mulroney in there somewhere too. It was actually Justin that canoed the Nahanni in NWT (not Nahinni as he calls it!) with others and a film crew a summer or so ago in order to bring awareness to the area and climate change/global warming and all that.
He did NOT mention draining it!!! Nor paving... :-)
Thanks for the link to Mercer's blog btw - it' looks great.
I thought the show was pretty good (not his best ever though), and yeah, it's not the busting out your sides kind of funny. It's maybe a bit of a warped sense of humour? Give it a few episodes.
Thanks for stepping up to the plate. :)
And you claim you don't follow baseball. :)
I think we may have misled you by lumping the show together with Air Farce and Red Green.
The words "hilarious" and "beyond funny" would have added to that confusion.
But we'll definitely give the show time. Hey, I haven't even seen one episode yet!
Ben Mulroney, the son of a different PM, is actually the host of Canadian Idol, not Justin. And I know nothing whatsoever about the Nahinni. So yeah, not funny.
There's a connection between Pierre Trudeau and the Nahanni River, which is probably why Mercer made the link. PET created the National Park at the Nahanni River in the NWT.
Recently, there's been plans to rename Virginia Falls on the Nahanni after PET.
>The words "hilarious" and "beyond funny" would have added to that confusion.
But I think the show IS those things, at times ... and some other things as well, like thought-provoking and cynical.
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