Sharkboy

Happy Pride! I painted my toes for you.

(You never know just how ugly your feet are until you paint your nails)

Before we saw Wall-E last night, we did this:

Damien at work
Notice DR in the background bored on the iPhone

All bandaged up

The bloody reveal

The final product: trasher shark
I like that it wraps around 3/4 of my leg

Just saw Wall-E.
It was great.
I laughed.
I watched in awe.
I laughed.
I watched in awe.
I laughed.
I teared up.
I loved.

The theatre was full and not a peep was heard all night except for some sniffling.
A young lady fell in the stairs, left unhurt.
Fun had by all.

Go see it.

During lunch yesterday, I headed up to Eaton Centre to go take a look at this blow out sale most of the stores are advertising. It’s hot and humid in Toronto this week, so I’m wearing my tan cargo shorts, a bright pink golf shirt from this year’s Gap collection and a cream coloured baseball cap. I step on the escalator once at the mall and this “dressed for his time and age pretentious skinny gay kid with the mirrored porn star glasses, fun haircut, capris (argggh), beach sandals and an oversize tote bag” (actually reminded me of myself when I was 18 or 19) turns to his girlfriends after seeing me and start giggling and then exclaimed loudly enough for me to hear: “Ooo bubble gum pink, edgy!”

I look straight at him and say: “I’m 44 years old, I dress for my age and the weather. I’m not going to be one of those middle aged guys that want to dress like a teenager”. “Oh, and by the way, (giving him a full on head to to once over) if you still dress up like this when you’re 45, I personally am going to come back and beat the shit out of you, and if I’m dead by then, I’ll be haunting you”.

I was expecting a lashing of the gay teenage kind, you know some screeching with the word bitch thrown into the mix, but maybe he didn’t think I’d react so loudly, they all turned facing forward and took the next corner. I continued on to Old Navy to take a look at those capris for men on sale.

CBC wake up!!! You have a hit show on your hand and you’re about to fuck it all up…

I actually feel bad. Really, I feel terrible. All last week I was telling people to watch the new CBC reality show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? The first two episodes were really good, they were taped at the audition time and perfectly edited showing a charming side of the Marias and the competition to come. The host, Gavin Crawfor was very funny, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber made a few polite and pleasant appearances (even threw in a few jokes), the judges were articulate and direct in comments and actions. They surprised everyone at the School of Marias by eliminating 10 candidates when they least expected it and continued with the top 40. At the end of the first show, they had all the remaining Marias singing together as one judge walked among them and tapping on the shoulders of the unlucky Marias, prompting them to leave but still continuing to sing… cruel I tell you… CBC Had A Hit… FINALLY!

Then they flew the remaining 20 Marias to London to perform for Lord Webber… who then invited them in groups of threes, twos and solo to be given their fate… Some cried, some were stunned, some laughed and these were only the ones rejected… Lord Webber chose his top 10 Marias and I was ultra pleased with them… My heavens above, could CBC really have a hit on their hands???

And then the first live show happened on Sunday… not only were there defective lights (the host announcing a singer completely in the dark), or sound problems (one Maria did half her number without knowing her microphone was off), or technical issues (one Maria had to literally wrestle a camera cable out of her way while belting her number), but Simon Lee decided to choose the songs for the Marias, supposedly to showcase their talent to Canada… huh… WRONG! Big mistake and totally unfair for someone like Katie to have to sing Girls Just Want To Have Fun while Donna has a power ballad from Dreamgirls or Jenna a most recognizable jazz number from Nina Simone… how could she compete and tell Canada she has talent by portraying cheap bubble gum pop on stage… oh yeah, and while this song choice was not humiliating enough, they put her in army boots, a tutu and a corset… I was sweating for her. But then again, the three judges were the biggest joke of the night… was Simon drunk or was he hysterical because of the new dentures he seems to be sporting??? The guy couldn’t sit still for one second… and why does he applaud like an extra in Planet of the Apes? No more drinks and less pills Simon please. Elaine, it’s ok to have a backbone, people like you and recognize your talent, don’t be afraid to tell the contestant how badly they are doing if they aren’t up to par, don’t be a freakin’ Paula Abdul and only try to find the positive. John Barrowman was the only judge to show show balls by telling the Marias how he felt, how else will they know where to improve if they don’t know what they are doing wrong. It’s a competition for the lead role in a major musical in a major city, not a daycare for would be actors. But John, no more crossing the arms and legs, it only says to the viewing public that your not that interested by what’s in front of you.

The worst part of it all was the voting system. Yes you can vote by telephone, yes you can text your vote, but in this household, we like voting online… CBC please take a good look at how your american friends do this because you suck big time. I manage to place 6 out of my 10 votes allowed. You have to choose a name, answer some questions, verify a key word, then hit vote. A message will appear to tell you an email is on it’s way and you must click on the link to confirm the vote. I received 5 emails to confirm before I went to bed, it took forever. DR gave up and logged off. He woke up this morning and his email confirmation was awaiting him… Not good enough CBC, if your server can’t handle a few thousand votes, then don’t offer this particular choice.

Tonight was the live result show, it was a tad better as far as live broadcast go but why are they letting A/V students run the show. The camera should be pointing at the person talking not try to guess where that person it. Simon you did the monkey applause thing again, better watch that. John the crossed legs and arms have got to go, seriously man.

This show has a lot of potential but it feels nervous, almost like they don’t remember how to put on a live show. But one thing that absolutely rocked was when they announced the person who would be leaving the show by telling her she was not Maria but her duties weren’t over just yet… Oh yes, as DR predicted, she was made to sing the famous Goodbye, Farewell song with the surviving Marias, I mean how cruel can a show get to a contestant? SharkBoy loves.

I will give it a few more tries and see if they improve their broadcast, I love the idea, I love that Lord Webber is involved and will be in Canada in July to check on the progress and I love that we are “able” (when they fix their server problems it will be better) to choose the winning Maria. Oh and I love this revised poster from the London production:

Our family has done the first year cycle since my father passed away. First Summer, first Autumn, first Christmas, first New Year, first Spring, first birthdays… All of us dealing with it in our own way, not talking too much about it, but more with certain actions.

My sister planted a tree last year in honour of my dad and this year to commemorate the anniversary of his passing she added a “memory stone” but knowing that this is a joyous event, she decided not to make it too morbid with some “In Memoriam” inscription, choosing a much more appropriate title: Father’s Tree. I loved the idea, I just didn’t know how hard it would hit me seeing it in pictures this morning:

And here is the tree in it’s beautiful setting in her backyard:

Me, well, I’ve booked another tattoo which will happen this week… I happened to have one booked at that same time last year and even if the meaning of the design has nothing to do with my dad, well, it still reminds me of him due to circumstances… The one I’m getting this year will freakin’ rock.

Today will be spent with my other dad, Ted’s father who’s finally release with a clean bill of health after the long awaited, often delayed surgery. We’ll bring him home, make sure he has all he needs to put him on the fast recovery path.

… of this show we used to love as kids. She couldn’t remember the title and I’m too much of a dickhead to just call her to tell her now that I know what it is, she’ll just have to find out here:

Bonus: Sharron MacReady / Super Girl
(She had the most amazing hair… most amazing…)

Extra Bonus: The Champions Today

That’s the street I work on… my office is right there at the very end of it: