Sunday, May 31, 2009

May 2009 Books and Movies

Three Cups of Tea
Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

This is one of the best stories I have ever read. Not the most spectacularly written book, but the content makes you forget about it. Mortenson's story is so inspiring, it made me what to think about how I could bring about the same kind of change. Essentially, he tries to climb K2, gets lost and almost dies, stumbling into a little village in Northern Pakistan, in an area called Baltistan. The Balti people in that small town of Korphe nurse him back to health and he promises to come back and build them a school. From that small beginning, he now runs a not for profit organization building schools all over Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. He worked in these regions prior, during and after 9/11, firmly believing that one must fight terror by providing non biased education to all, especially girls. I hope that many read this book, and are inspired to help out anywhere they can. You can click here for more information.

Star Trek

As a life long Trekker, I was so glad to see that they didn't make a mess of this movie. Great special effects, well cast, lots of clever dialogue, throw back references to other movies in the ST universe, Leonard Nimoy sewed up this neat little package. My favorites were definitely Chekov (I have a super huge celeb crush on Anton Yelchin :0) and Scotty. Really looking forward to the next installments of this franchise, but am a little freaked out by the "new" Star Trek universe. Go see it to find out what I'm talking about!

Q & A
Vikas Swarup

This book was even better than the film, and Slumdog Millionaire was really amazing. The questions were totally different, the story behind how Ram Mohammed Thomas knows the answer were completely different. Each episode was riveting, yet with a common thread that makes this book a pleasure to read. What a brilliant first novel, I'm looking forward to another outing.

Fool
Christopher Moore

Hmmm, well, it's not one of Moore's best, but still pretty funny. I think that's the mark of a good writer, that even is "bad" books aren't that bad. Pocket is a good character, and the ending is peachy. It stays pretty close to the Lear plot as well. Some of it is a little dry though. It's a weird departure for him, but I guess with Lamb, that was pretty out there too. Anyway, it doesn't matter, I'll still read anything with his name attached to it!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

So You Think You Can Dance

Ok, since I can't stop twittering about this show, I thought I'd better blog about it. I absolutely love this show. There's only one other reality TV show that I love better and that's The Amazing Race (TAR) and it's only because of the world travel. It's weird, because I'm a singer, one would think that I'd prefer the Idolverse, but I really don't. The singing is often uninspired copycat performance and the auditions are horrendous because I suppose they get more ratings when they show the delusional people. SYTYCD, on the other hand, shows more good auditions than they do bad. This show actually inspires me to be a better dancer. Out of the "triple threat" dancing has always been my albatross. I'm not great at picking up choreography straight away, although once I know it, things are fine. Unfortunate when you only get 16 bars to show off your steps in a musical theatre audition. I'm much better at picking up ballroom and latin choreography, so maybe I should should just stick to that! :) I'm so looking forward to the top 20!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Victoria Day Long Weekend

This has been a really great weekend. I've spent some of it alone, some of it in the company of great friends, gone for 3 runs to a total of 13.1K, done a bunch of household chores (including cleaning my stove) and reading. Tonight I'll be watching the fireworks from my rooftop. It's sad that the long weekend is fast coming to a close, but hey it ushers in a short work week!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

First full 5K!

5.22K to be exact! Down to Cherry Beach and along the MG Trail to the bridge.

Unfortunately, there were a couple of stops in the beginning, due to lights, but other than that, I ran straight through.

First off, it's a looong way. I know seasoned runners would find that paltry, especially marathoners, but I find it a long way, at the moment.

I also walked back from my destination point, making it 10K worth of exercise. My quads are pretty sore, that's for sure!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Back in running shoes!

After seemingly endless weeks of being sick, injury and general fatigue, I laced up my runners and managed to get in a great run in between downpours. I took the same Don River route as before, but extended it so I ran alongside the river until the stairs to Riverdale Park. I knew I should keep running to get to 5K, but I was pretty tired and hadn't been out in a while. So it ended up being a 4.09K run. Once I figured that out, back at home with the computer, I was a little bummed that I hadn't kept running! :) Oh well, there's always next time. I had a very extended cool down walking home from the park. I even saw some cute cows in the zoo!

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Brahms Deutches Requiem

This afternoon, I had the privilege of singing a great Romantic work, Brahms Deutches Requiem with a fantastic orchestra, the Talisker players. It went really well, which is great, because it's such a tough piece. Our choir has been essentially learning it since the start of our season, because it's that tough. The only disappointing thing was that not one of my friends or family showed up for the concert, even though I've been talking it up all year. We worked so hard, so it would have been nice for people to show up. Looking forward to next season as well, we're doing my absolute favorite Mozart Mass, the one in C Minor. Can't wait!