Games, Doyle and licence plates

1. Apologies for the lax posting...but between work, getting caught up in some books and the gym, my evenings have been a bit busy. Plus I'm normally tired when I mean to sit down and start writing.

2. The reading in question was Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games". I bought the books for Cathy a couple of Christmases ago and just never got around to reading them myself. I figured with the movie coming out in a couple of weeks, now might be a good time to read them because the movie looks quite good.

Well, I'll say this much for Collins, she knows how to build a body count. I though JK Rowling had quite the serial killer personality, but not many characters manage to survive this series, it must be said. And I enjoy the occasional bleak ending, but Jesus...

I also understand that is mostly meant for teens, especially teen girls, so I'll forgive the whole "which boy will she choose" because I'm obvious not the target audience. But as a role model for young girls...I dunno. Yes, Katniss is strong and looks after her family, but she also spends large chunks of the books hysterical, drugged and manipulated. They're page-turners, but deeply odd. I'm curious if they make the last book into a movie if they'll keep the ending the same. It's pretty bleak for a Hollywood popcorn film.

3. The gym continues to go well. Still maintaining the schedule of five days a week, for at least an hour with a mix of the elliptical and different weight machines. The weight, alas, is not coming off as quickly as I would like, even with the changes in the diet and portion-size. Still, this a two year plan. No one said it would be easy.

4. I did actually sit down and watch Doyle on Wednesday night. Thought about doing a full review, but promptly stayed up to 12:30 finishing one of the Hunger Game books. I watched mainly because Gordon Pinsent was in it. Pinsent is one of the few actors who get an automatic look in whatever they do. I won't always like it, but it gets the benefit of the doubt.

So it was a fun enough episode. The flashback from multiple perspectives worked, although I'm glad they only did it for the first half of the show. If it had been for the entire show, it would have become a nuisance. But it was amusing for the first part of the show. Actually, the bit from Mal's perspective was the most amusing. More Pinsent would have been nice, but I'll just have to settle for watching this instead

There was also actual detective work done and Jake actually went and got a cop to make the big arrest at the end. Well, will wonders never cease. The ending was also certainly poignant, but we are quickly reaching the point where it's idiotic that they're not together.

In other subplots, the Walter/Kathleen romance has potential to be vastly amusing. God, anything with more Walter in it. Jake tells Walter he's his best friend, but we never see the character in the show. And the Des/Tinny relationship continues to drive deep into the waters of the idiotic.

5. The other news out of Nunavut was the announcement that we have new licence plates. Ever since Nunavut split from the Northwest Territories we've had the same polar bear plate - it's iconic and looks kind of awesome. However, because of various weirdness, we can no longe use that licence plate. So there was a competition to see what the new one looks like, which you can see here.

I confess I'm not thrilled with it and the reaction is mixed to say the least. My issue is that it looks like the kitch tourist art you can buy at Arctic Ventures that was inevitably created by someone from Alberta based on what they think the north looks like. I don't know how you can have a licence plate with a polar bear, an inuksuk and northern lights and not feel northern, but this plate manages the trick.

I always thought they should have just adapted something by Kenojuak Ashevak (with her permission, of course). You would have gotten something unique and distinctly northern.

Oh well. Let's just say I'm glad we have the licence plate we do on our car and that we're keeping it when we sell the car many years from now.

Last Five
1. Can't walk away - The Monday Nights
2. Tournament of hearts (live) - The Weakerthans*
3. Map of a city - Ian Foster
4. In traffic - Andrew LeDerew
5. Lake fever - The Tragically Hip