Was able to see Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook this weekend. Both were exceptional, but for different reasons. I read Life of Pi in college, and remember reading it quickly, becoming completely engrossed in it. It was quite good, a great, modern-day adventure. Basically, Pi Patel survives a ship sinking in the pacific and spends 200+ days on a lifeboat with a bengal tiger. Questions of spirituality and self-discovery ensue.
There had been rumors of the book being turned into a film since it was published, but nothing ever really came of it. Apparently, Hollywood thought it was un-filmable. In comes Ang Lee (of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain fame) and blows everyone away. The previews made it look pretty intense, but that doesn't even begin to prepare you for the entire film. Shot with the skillful (and completely unobtrusive) use of 3D, stunning images jump off the screen. One quiet moment in particular, when Pi puts a note in a can in hopes that it will wash ashore and someone will find him, is particularly stunning. It's not special effects heavy, but the way it was filmed was incredible. The movie itself was a little slow getting going, but one it gets to the shipwreck and Pi and Richard Parker on the boat, the film takes off and doesn't let up. Some will say that it's a little gimmicky, but I fell for it hook, line and sinker.
Silver Linings Playbook was a pleasant surprise. It had gotten pretty good buzz coming out of the Toronto Film Festival (it won the people's choice award, which Slumdog Millionaire (a recent absolute favorite of mine) and The King's Speech (an absolute abhorrence of mine) picked up on their ultimate journey to the Oscar for Best Picture), but I was still skeptical, especially of Bradley Cooper. Thanks to The Hangover, I've placed him mostly as that ass-hole sidekick friend. Thanks for proving me wrong. He was an absolute revelation here, and, if he wasn't already a movie star, would be giving a star making performance. The fact that he was surrounded by an excellent ensemble didn't hurt either. Jennifer Lawrence was excellent as always, and Robert De Niro heads an excellent supporting cast and gives his best performance since Casino. David O. Russell has directed a great ensemble film. Highly recommended.
The study is going well, and I'll be finishing up here on PEI next week. I'll head back to Boston for two weeks to write the final report, come back up here to present it on December 21, and then home for Christmas for a while. Back to PEI to (hopefully) begin the campaign in January 2013. It snowed a little bit here today, and Charlottetown loves their Christmas decorations (and not ugly, tacky ones), so everything looks really pretty. So come visit!
Also, not sure if anyone still watches Survivor, but for some reason I got sucked into this season. It's beyond infuriating that Abi is still in the game, and I'm convinced it's rigged. I guess they need to keep her in, because she's the only semblance of a villain, but she still sucks. I hope she's gone next week /end rant.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Happy Thanks......
So Canadian's are weird. They don't have Thanksgiving. I guess it makes sense, the Pilgrims discovered America, right? Not our friends to the north. Anyways, I'm pretty sure that they have turkey in Canada, and also have a lot to be thankful for, but I digress....
Things have been going well here. I've been busy conducting interviews for the study I've been working on, and traveling all over the island. It goes without saying that I'm not a fan of nature, but I can't help but marvel at the sheer beauty here. Today I was heading out to one of the towns on the eastern coast of the island and coming over the hill you could see the ocean, with the land dotted by small houses. It was beautiful. I'm going back that way tomorrow, so I will make sure that I get a picture.
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I moved to a new hotel and it's awesome. I booked it online through hotels.com and got a good deal ($89 a night) and made the reservation for about 3.5 weeks. When I called to see if they had a fridge in the room, they surprised me. "We figured since you booked us for about 3 weeks, you'd want something more than just a room with a bed, so we upgraded you to a suite with a kitchenette". Score! I didn't get my hopes up too high, but when I got here on Monday, it was pretty, ahem, SUITE! I've got a full kitchen (stove, oven, etc), and a separate living room and bedroom. It's not huge by any means, but it feels like an apartment. There's also free breakfast, and the wireless is 10x better than where I was previously. There's a gym and concierge here too, which is also a plus. And! You can buy beer from the brewery across the street
Yesterday I survived my first trip to a Canadian grocery store. I say survived because I nearly had a heart attack when I was looking at the prices of food - SO EXPENSIVE! And not helping is the fact that the Canadian dollar is stronger than the US dollar ($1 CAD = $1.05 USD approx), remember when it was almost 2:1 in favor of the US? Yeah, that seems like ages ago.
Excited to see Silver Linings Playbook and Life of Pi this weekend, although surprised that Lincoln hasn't been released here yet. Saw Flight and Wreck-It Ralph two weeks ago; Wreck-It Ralph was cute, and the Pixar short before it, Paperman was excellent, I could have watched a full length feature about that. Flight, on the other hand, was a little disappointing. I'm over Denzel Washington being a bad guy that you're supposed to root for. He did it in Training Day, which I thought was great, and did it again in American Gangster, which was enh. It was about 30 minutes too long, and while I though the first 30 minutes or so were excellent, the rest kind of petered-out.
Hardest thing about this job? I MISS NEW YORK! I haven't been since July and am experiencing some serious withdrawals. Hoping to get there around Christmas to see The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dead Accounts and the musicalization of A Christmas Story (fun fact, I was in Cleveland for 18 months and never went by the house used in the film, even though I drove by the street it's on about 1,000 times), and just spend some time in the city.
Hope everyone has a happy thanksgiving tomorrow, and have some extra turkey (dark meat, please) for me!
Things have been going well here. I've been busy conducting interviews for the study I've been working on, and traveling all over the island. It goes without saying that I'm not a fan of nature, but I can't help but marvel at the sheer beauty here. Today I was heading out to one of the towns on the eastern coast of the island and coming over the hill you could see the ocean, with the land dotted by small houses. It was beautiful. I'm going back that way tomorrow, so I will make sure that I get a picture.
.JPG)
Yesterday I survived my first trip to a Canadian grocery store. I say survived because I nearly had a heart attack when I was looking at the prices of food - SO EXPENSIVE! And not helping is the fact that the Canadian dollar is stronger than the US dollar ($1 CAD = $1.05 USD approx), remember when it was almost 2:1 in favor of the US? Yeah, that seems like ages ago.
Excited to see Silver Linings Playbook and Life of Pi this weekend, although surprised that Lincoln hasn't been released here yet. Saw Flight and Wreck-It Ralph two weeks ago; Wreck-It Ralph was cute, and the Pixar short before it, Paperman was excellent, I could have watched a full length feature about that. Flight, on the other hand, was a little disappointing. I'm over Denzel Washington being a bad guy that you're supposed to root for. He did it in Training Day, which I thought was great, and did it again in American Gangster, which was enh. It was about 30 minutes too long, and while I though the first 30 minutes or so were excellent, the rest kind of petered-out.
Hardest thing about this job? I MISS NEW YORK! I haven't been since July and am experiencing some serious withdrawals. Hoping to get there around Christmas to see The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dead Accounts and the musicalization of A Christmas Story (fun fact, I was in Cleveland for 18 months and never went by the house used in the film, even though I drove by the street it's on about 1,000 times), and just spend some time in the city.
Hope everyone has a happy thanksgiving tomorrow, and have some extra turkey (dark meat, please) for me!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Oh, Canada!
So I've been MIA for over a year. What's happened in those past 15 months? I was working on a project in Cleveland, which was a major life change, met some truly amazing people, and raised close to $160,000,000. Yes, one hundred and sixty MILLION dollars. It was tough being so far away from my friends and family, but I think it was the best worst decision I've made.
Which brings us to now. My new assignment is with a client on Prince Edward Island. Yes, Canada. So since I'm here in a foreign land (well, it's really not that foreign, but more on that in a minute), I might as well chronicle my time here. And I really need to keep up with writing, even if it's something as informal as this.
Anyway, I arrived on PEI last Tuesday after a marathon day of traveling. Turns out that PEI is one of those "you can't get there from here" places. Case and point - I flew from Boston to Toronto to Halifax to PEI. I went west to go northeast. Air Canada was pretty sweet, they had in-seat entertainment and ports to charge you iphone/ipad. The in-flight movie was Magic Mike, which actually wasn't terrible! It didn't take itself seriously at all, dare I say, I actually enjoyed it!
There's really not a whole lot on the island in the "off season" but it looks like it's going to be great come the summer. I was also surprised at how "American" it is. I'd been to Montreal once, and everything there is in French. I'd also visited the Canada pavilion at World Showcase at Epcot, so I was expecting lots of plaid, wilderness and Moose. Not so much.
On PEI, there's pretty much everything that is in the States (Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Home Depot), with a few differences, Dunkin Donuts is replaced by Tim Horton's (worry not, I found the one Starbucks on the island, praise Jesus), ESPN and SportsCenter are replaced with TSN and SportsCentre, they use the metric system, they have coins that are worth more than .50, and it costs a fortune to use my phone (I ended up getting a Canadian cell phone - does that make me an expat?!). However, there is free wifi almost everywhere, which is a major plus. Also a major plus? They have ABC, CBS and NBC and they're the Boston affiliates!
I'm pretty excited to spend some time here. I'll be here for the next 3-4 weeks conducting a feasibility study, and then if all goes well, the campaign will start in January and run through early to mid July, 2013.
If you feel like getting in touch with your inner Anne of Green Gables (I swear, that girl is EVERYWHERE on this island), or want some really good mussels, come visit. For those of you that can't, feel free to live vicariously through this blog.
Until next time....
Which brings us to now. My new assignment is with a client on Prince Edward Island. Yes, Canada. So since I'm here in a foreign land (well, it's really not that foreign, but more on that in a minute), I might as well chronicle my time here. And I really need to keep up with writing, even if it's something as informal as this.
Anyway, I arrived on PEI last Tuesday after a marathon day of traveling. Turns out that PEI is one of those "you can't get there from here" places. Case and point - I flew from Boston to Toronto to Halifax to PEI. I went west to go northeast. Air Canada was pretty sweet, they had in-seat entertainment and ports to charge you iphone/ipad. The in-flight movie was Magic Mike, which actually wasn't terrible! It didn't take itself seriously at all, dare I say, I actually enjoyed it!
There's really not a whole lot on the island in the "off season" but it looks like it's going to be great come the summer. I was also surprised at how "American" it is. I'd been to Montreal once, and everything there is in French. I'd also visited the Canada pavilion at World Showcase at Epcot, so I was expecting lots of plaid, wilderness and Moose. Not so much.
On PEI, there's pretty much everything that is in the States (Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Home Depot), with a few differences, Dunkin Donuts is replaced by Tim Horton's (worry not, I found the one Starbucks on the island, praise Jesus), ESPN and SportsCenter are replaced with TSN and SportsCentre, they use the metric system, they have coins that are worth more than .50, and it costs a fortune to use my phone (I ended up getting a Canadian cell phone - does that make me an expat?!). However, there is free wifi almost everywhere, which is a major plus. Also a major plus? They have ABC, CBS and NBC and they're the Boston affiliates!
I'm pretty excited to spend some time here. I'll be here for the next 3-4 weeks conducting a feasibility study, and then if all goes well, the campaign will start in January and run through early to mid July, 2013.
If you feel like getting in touch with your inner Anne of Green Gables (I swear, that girl is EVERYWHERE on this island), or want some really good mussels, come visit. For those of you that can't, feel free to live vicariously through this blog.
Until next time....
Monday, August 15, 2011
Cleveland Rocks
I've made a major life change - I've moved to Cleveland. Yes, Cleveland Ohio. Well, that's somewhat of a misnomer. Last week I started a new job with a consulting firm, and my first assignment is working on the campaign of the Diocese of Cleveland. I'll be here for about a year and a half, until December, 2012. I figured that since I'd be away from home, it was a good excuse to start blogging again. So here goes.
I'll be working with numerous parishes across the Diocese helping them raise money for their own parish as well as the diocese as a whole. First up, I'll be working with some parishes in Akron, home of the one and only LeBron James, for most of the fall.
It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm really excited to start something new. I think it will be incredibly rewarding, both professionally and personally. And the contacts I'm going to make and experinces I'm going to have are going to be priceless.
A fellow co-worker and I arrived this morning. It was an interesting (and somewhat depressing) ride from the airport in my rented Toyota Carolla. I felt like I should be peddling and it's a pretty small car. For the first few weeks I'm here I'll be staying at a hotel while I find an apartment, which I hope to do this week. It's a nice hotel, and the room is ENORMOUS.
Coolest thing about Cleveland so far? The Avengers is shooting right next to my office! Apparently, it's cheaper to close off a main street in Cleveland and dress it up to look like New York for a month than it is to actually shoot in New York. I will say, the attention to detail is pretty incredible. And I saw a giant explosion today when I was waiting at a light - it was pretty neat. AND! On the way to Akron I passed a White Castle and a Waffle House. Must make it a point to stop there in the not too distant future.
I'll be working with numerous parishes across the Diocese helping them raise money for their own parish as well as the diocese as a whole. First up, I'll be working with some parishes in Akron, home of the one and only LeBron James, for most of the fall.
It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm really excited to start something new. I think it will be incredibly rewarding, both professionally and personally. And the contacts I'm going to make and experinces I'm going to have are going to be priceless.
A fellow co-worker and I arrived this morning. It was an interesting (and somewhat depressing) ride from the airport in my rented Toyota Carolla. I felt like I should be peddling and it's a pretty small car. For the first few weeks I'm here I'll be staying at a hotel while I find an apartment, which I hope to do this week. It's a nice hotel, and the room is ENORMOUS.
Coolest thing about Cleveland so far? The Avengers is shooting right next to my office! Apparently, it's cheaper to close off a main street in Cleveland and dress it up to look like New York for a month than it is to actually shoot in New York. I will say, the attention to detail is pretty incredible. And I saw a giant explosion today when I was waiting at a light - it was pretty neat. AND! On the way to Akron I passed a White Castle and a Waffle House. Must make it a point to stop there in the not too distant future.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Hey Baby - I Think I Wanna Marry You
Well, I'm not marrying anyone, but someone IS getting married. Last Wednesday morning I was awakened from a blissful sleep by my obnoxious alarm right on cue at 6am. As I do every morning, I check my phone to see if I had any missed text messages. Turns out I did. I had two missed messages from my sister. I clicked on them, and the first picture was of a fancy looking ring, followed by another that said "i'm engaged!". I sat upright in bed and read it again just to make sure - yep, my little sister is growing up and getting engaged. I had figured it was coming, but it still caught me totally off-guard (maybe it's because I saw this all before 6:05am). I frantically called my parents to confirm, and they said yes it's true.After my initial shock wore off, I was really excited for her. Matt is really great, he treats her right, and she's incredibly happy. When I saw her afterward, she was beaming. I've never seen her so happy.
The plan is for sometime next May with a low-key ceremony/reception somewhere out near my parents. And I get to be a groomsman - huzzah! I told Matt how much it meant for him to ask me (I think Jess and I have grown a lot closer as we've gotten older), especially since they're only each having 3 people in the wedding party. Sure is exciting, and I know that my parents (and me too) couldn't be prouder. I guess I have to get to work....
Friday, February 4, 2011
Is it just me, or is it hot in here?
I'm sure most of you have heard of Groupon. I don't usually buy their deals (even though they're usually pretty ridiculous) unless it's a. a restaurant I've been to before or b. something that I might actually use. Anyways, last week they had an AMAZING deal, $20 for 20 classes (retail cost of $240) at Bikram Yoga Merrimack Valley. I had heard a lot about Bikram Yoga, and how it was supposed to be really good for you, stretches your body, good injury prevention, etc, but had never tried it. So I decided, "what the hell, might as well try it, and even if I go once, I'll have made it worth it."
Last Saturday morning Miss Alison Hay, Meggin Elizabeth and I hauled over for their noontime class. The staff were extremely welcoming as we entered the studio. I knew it was going to be hot, but I didn't really know how hot. Apparently, 105 degrees hot. We put down our mats and towels and waited for class. There are 29 poses (I think) that are performed twice during the class. Some are simple (Cobra, or something, where you lay on your stomach and lift your feet) and others are ridiculous (Lamppost, balancing on one leg and holding your other leg straight out in front of you). But, the good thing is, as long as you try, that's really all they care about. It got pretty hot (I think at one point it got up to 113) and I sweat. A LOT. I was tried and sweaty when it was over (90 minutes) but felt pretty good. Meg and I went back on Sunday for round 2.
I weighed myself before and after class on Sunday and I lost 1.5 pounds. Awesome and kind of gross. Will I keep going? Probably - it will increase my flexibility and I'm hoping it will help with the running injury prevention. This may just be the honeymoon phase of our relationship, but I'm going to ride it out while it lasts...
Last Saturday morning Miss Alison Hay, Meggin Elizabeth and I hauled over for their noontime class. The staff were extremely welcoming as we entered the studio. I knew it was going to be hot, but I didn't really know how hot. Apparently, 105 degrees hot. We put down our mats and towels and waited for class. There are 29 poses (I think) that are performed twice during the class. Some are simple (Cobra, or something, where you lay on your stomach and lift your feet) and others are ridiculous (Lamppost, balancing on one leg and holding your other leg straight out in front of you). But, the good thing is, as long as you try, that's really all they care about. It got pretty hot (I think at one point it got up to 113) and I sweat. A LOT. I was tried and sweaty when it was over (90 minutes) but felt pretty good. Meg and I went back on Sunday for round 2.
I weighed myself before and after class on Sunday and I lost 1.5 pounds. Awesome and kind of gross. Will I keep going? Probably - it will increase my flexibility and I'm hoping it will help with the running injury prevention. This may just be the honeymoon phase of our relationship, but I'm going to ride it out while it lasts...
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