Hockey Night In Canada

The Hockey Night in Canada theme song has been offcially released for download on Puretracks.
Some people have billed it as Canada's Second national anthem.

I'm sure this song will be a popular download purely for its sentimental value, for others...it might serve as a good reminder in case someone asks you to hum it. ;-)

American Idol 3: Barry Manilow Week

This may sound dumb, but for the longest time i got Barry Manilow and Barry White mixed up. Geez...how is that possible??? They're so different. ;-) Anyways...here's Debbie's recap of Tuesday's show ..

Barry Manilow week. hmmm...I'm not a big fanilow and only a couple of his songs i.e. Copacabana. This week wasn't too entertianing for me but here's my weekly recap:

Diana DeGarmo--I can still here the illness she's been nursing for the past couple of weeks but I think she do a good job. I think the comment Randy gave about her choosing songs that are just slightly over her range rang true. She has a wonderful big voice and I love her confidence on stage but maybe she is a little too young to convey the emotionalness of the songs she chooses.

George--I didn't think he was that good.

Jennfier--Nice to see her coming along. She's on a roll and can very well be in the final 3 with La Toya and Fantasia. 3 outstanding divas.

Jasmine--great job Jasmine! It's getting closer to the final and I while I think she has a beautiful voice too, I don't think she can compete with the other 3 divas in the room.

La Toya--once again, great! She is soooooo good.

Jon Stevens--a familiar song but did not like it. I hope he goes. Conan's time has ran out. I hope America hears it.

Fantasia--my VCR stopped during the middle of her performance. I bet she was good. Fantasia has been nothing but be consistently good.

Bottom 3 for me: George, Jon and I guess Diana. I hope Jon goes but I think America's likes Jon better than Diana.

Next week's judge, Hear is Gloria Estafen. Ms. Estefan seems like a really nice lady but I don't think she has a nice voice at all! I can't believe she was in one of those Divas live show singing the almighty Aretha Franklin. I don't think she can hold her own with the likes of Ms. Franklin and Ms. Dion.

For Real??

Has anyone seen that commercial for Powerade featuing Le Bron James? It shows what seems to be game-day footage of James practising his shooting and draining about 4 or 5 of them in a row from 80 feet while a reporter says to his cameraman, "Do we have that? We have that, right?".

I've seen it a couple times, and I'm still not convinced its real. I don't think anyone can shoot from 80 feet out straight on with barely any kind of jump. Most guys have to do a run-up of sorts to get it that far. But even if its digital effects, its a pretty darn cool commercial, that's for sure...

Sun Run

So I did the Sun Run -- the first time I've ran it since moving to BC in 1988. Since I was still nursing a sore knee, I was only able to walk/jog the route. Nevertheless, it was great feeling to cross the finish line along with 45,000+ other runners, and experience one of Vancouver's most famous annual events. I'm paying for it today though...my back and hip is sore as heck. I hope i didn't aggravate my knee too much either...i'm itching to play some basketball.

Life is like a Roadtrip

What is your life metaphor?. For example, is it a house party? A play? A Club scene? A box of chocolates? I liken my life to a grand roadtrip, where I'm driving a car (a "virtual" purple-metallic six-speed 2004 BMW M3 :) ) and there are countless junctions, exits, turnoffs, roads, highways, alleys that i can choose to take at any time. Sometimes it makes sense to take a highway because its the fastest, most direct route. Its the route that everyone tells you to take -- and for most of my life so far, that has been the path I've taken. But sometimes you chose to take the little country road that takes you off the beaten path. Sometimes that country road leads to a dead end, so you may backtrack and get back onto the freeway, or chose another road. Once in awhile, you get on a road that goes right through a barren and desolate desert. You may feel lonely, lost, helpless, and maybe abandoned. You question, why you went on this roadtrip in the first place. And when things look really bad, you might suddenly see a lucious, green oasis with water in the distance. But when you come to it, its all just a mirage -- it was never real. But yet, you stay in your car, and you keep driving -- knowing that you're almost THERE...wherever THERE is. So you just sit back, turn up the music and relish in the solitude of the moment -- and be thankful that you have air conditioning and a great sound system ;-).

And don't forget the people you meet on the roadtrip. The city people, townspeople, the villagers, the hitchikers...all of whom provide some education, some joy, some sadness, some insight, and even some levity! Some people are best left where you find them, others may be lucky enough to have you take them for a ride (or vice versa). But of course, there's always that one PERSON you pick-up that you'll take everywhere on your road-trip (if they say yes), and then it becomes a trip you BOTH share.

Like roadtrips, life isn't always easy, its easy to get lost, especially if you don't have a good map. And unlike a real roadtrip its always hard to answer the question, "Are we there yet?". So even though you may question where you'll end up, you know you'll end up *somewhere* -- (and hopefully somewhere pleasant, like a sunny tropical island in the middle of the pacific), so you just sit back and enjoy the ride!

MC Hammer

Our AI3 critic also had this to say about a recent show she saw.

Debbie:So I was watching Much More Music--the more adult orient-ed Much music a la VH-1 and they have this show called listed. I'm not sure if it was originally a Vh-1 thing but anyway, they did a top 20 "dance" acts of all time. Number 1 and 2 were Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson rightfully. However, I was astonished that they listed Hammer at 20. What??? Excuse me? Yes he was cheesy but he could dance and he entertained everyone. They listed Backstreet Boys (Nick Carter is pretty bad) and New Kids on the Block (well Jordan Knight was a really good dancer) ahead of Hammer. Isn't that ridiculous?

Me: That doesn't make sense to me either! Who else was above the Hammer? Britney Spears? Christine Aguilera? Maybe MC Hammer just had too much style for his own good? Was it those shimmering puffy party pants that detracted from his dancing? I think not. (I had a pair of pants and shoes like those once...but lets not go there) Yah, it might have been cheesy looking back, but he could definately entertain.

That said, my favorite dance video of ALL time to this day is Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation.

American Idol 3: Movie Week

So some FOX executive decided that George Bush was apparently more important than AI3 and bumped it from its Tuesday slot to Wednesday. ;-) I missed the show, again..but here's the rundown from Debbie...

Good night tonight but I have to say, I enjoyed last year's show much more than this year. I guess I am just a bigger Rueben and Clay fan than this year's hopefuls. They're still good but personally I thought last year's people were more fun. Here's my rundown:

George: Corey Clark sang Against All Odds last season and was much terrible. George faired better but it felt a little flat. I think a better song choice for him would have been "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King.

Jennifer: Sister Act 2 her favourite film? What??? Anyway, picked a classic Whitney song and did justice. Good job Jennifer!

JPL: Jailhouse Rock? Who would have thought to pick that song? Anyway, I thought it was a good song choice for him. It was a fun and spirited performance. Again, this guys isn't strong vocally but he is very engaging. I think he's still pretty safe.

Diana: ooo...unlike Jennifer, she didn't do Celine's song justice. Celine is soooo hard to do. She was good but fell flat. Singers should definitely stay away from the Whitney and Mariahs and Celine song b/c they are so recognized. If they aren't supergood good, it just reflects poorly on them. Another comment I had about Diana is that I think Simon was sort of onthe right track with her. She's not presenting herself as her own age. She very mature. I love Diana and I am a big fan but I agree, I think people are having a hard time identifying with her.

Jasmine: Good performance, not great. My comments for Jasmine is the same for Diana. Maybe they're they're just a tad too young to convey some of the maturity these songs require. They're going to be awesome singers but right now they may need to experience life a bit more to understand the passion of these songs.

John: This was an easy pick for him. Juct pick a song that has this old time vibe and do your thing. HE did his thing. He was good. I think this kid is long over to get the boot but I think he's staying for another week at least.

La Toya: Great performance! Wonderful! Bravo! Excellent!

Fantasia: WOW! Amazing...my favourite tonight. She performed the song with such emotion and vulnerability. Awesome job. AS for Rnady's comment about that being the best performance hands down from all 3 seasons, I beg to differ. Still got to root for my girl, Tamyra.

Predictions: Bottom 3 for me is Jasmine, Diana & George. I like all three and I hate to see any one of them go at this point. I'd rather see JPL or John go but I think they're safe unfortunately. I think it's going to be Diana.

Grouse Grind

The Grind is open as of today!! Woo Hoo! Now you can hike up the mountain, and then strap on your snowboard to come down ;-) I'm gunning for a sub-45 min time this year (came close last year). I gotta get this darn knee to heal though...doctor says I've got some bruised tendons from last week's bike ride. Which explains why, I've been watching so much TV lately.

American Idol 3: Elton John

If you missed last night's show, like me, here's Debbie's lowdown on last night's showdown.

Elton John is truly on a level on his own. Last night's show was pretty bad and in my personal opinion, one of the worst shows (on a whole) in the past 3 season. These people tried oh-so-very-hard but didn't really pull through--I mean, the only one that can do Elton is Elton, last night's show was just an average karoke (sp?) night. Here's the rundown of the performances:

Fantasia--She was pretty good. She's bit arrogant and starting to bug me but that's my problem not hers. She can sing anything and in the words of Ms. Abdul "makes it her own". I'm not sure I liked how she came from the audience but I understand that she wanted to interact with them. It just reminds me of Ricki Lake or Geraldo walking up and down the aisles during their talk shows.

JPL--um, I thought he was all over the place vocally. I agree with Simon that he needs voice lessons to add some texture to his voice. I think he'll stay though b/c some crazy women really dig him.

Jon Stevens--ooooooo.....awful, kid, awful. But you know what? I thought he was worse last week. He tried and he tried to show he had some stage presence and that he was having fun and I'll give him that but he was bad last night. I don't know what the capital H-E-double hockey sticks happened last week b/c he should have gone but he SOOOOOO deserves to be in the bottom 3 tonight. He royalled sucked the last two weeks.

Camile--She was bad too last night. Now, I've said this over and over, i love her voice. I think what her problem is is that she picks awful songs for herself. It's all about song choices and she makes really bad decisions. She could go night.

Diana--I like her lots too but she wasn't in the zone last night. She kept coming in and out. After her performance we found out she was under the weather. She wasn't awful but pretty bad considering her track record. it just wasn't her best performance.

George Huff--Good. One of the bright spots of night for me. On the opposite side of Camile, George has made great song choices that reflect his style and ability as a singer and performer and it shows through. He needs to keep it up.

Jasmine--I thought she was good last night. She is most definitely a balland crooner. I think she picks songs that suit her voice and style too but I think she's a bit safe. She needs to change it up slightly and do something a bit different to knock people off their feet like Fantasia does.

Latoya--great. While I think Fantasia and Latoya are the top 2 right now the way they carry themselves is very different. Latoya carries herself more professionally than Fantasia. She style and a graceful elegance to her--she's poised whereas Fantasia is a spunky, energetic, almost like a diamond in the rough.

Jennifer--I thought she was absolutely the best from last night. Best song choice for her vocally and her best performance of the competition. I hope she continues with this success. She has always been on the verge of being eliminated so I hope America cleans out their ears and listens to her. On another note, my brother was saying how he likes her voice but doesn't like the way she moves. I told him, I think it's the high heels. I don't think she's moves gracefully across the stage either in high heels but if she's got a lower heeled-shoe I think she could move around with more fluidity.

Bottom 3 picks for me are: Camile, Jon and JPL. I think it will be between Camile and Jon though. I'd prefer it would be Jon but Camile hasn't proved to anyone yet that she belongs to be there.

Me vs. The Mountain

Having been blessed with yet another glorious sunny day, i decided to go on my first mountain bike ride of the season yesterday. So RT, WW, WL, and I met up at Mount Seymour base camp at 3:30pm (just off Northlands Golf course at the base). After getting all geared up, we proceeded to make the climb up the main trail. Most people actually "shuttle" up the mountain (one person leaves a car at base, while another drives everyone with their bikes to the top -- it helps to have a pickup), but us pain-lovers decided to go for the gusto and do it the hard way. So began the ride up the mountain, with WL leading the way, and WW&RT bringing up the rear, with me in between. Normally, we'd only go about 400m, to the entrance of Old Buck Trail, an easy, X-country trail. This time, though, WL suggested we go up to a trail called Ned's Atomic Dustbin. He said it was just "a little bit" further up the trail. Well.. actually it was a whole lot of "little bits" strung together, and WW and RT were clearly getting a little impatient (and tired). Meanwhile, my lower back was killing me, and my legs were feeling really heavy... I jokingly told WL, that he'd be getting a few weeks of silent treatment from his friends for making us do the climb. But, we stuck it out, and about an hour later we made it to mid-mountain.

By now, it was 5:30pm, and it was gonna be getting dark soon. We weren't able to find Ned's trail, and instead found Pingu which i vaguely recalled doing last year. The entrance of the trail featured a "pleasant" one-foot drop -- just to get us in the "mood". We all managed to get through it ok, and so we were all pretty pumped. Our minds (and bodies) quickly changed its tune though... While the trail is wider and more scenic that the ones on Burnaby Mountain, I soon remembered why Pingu is was one of the more challenging trails around, with its numerous dropoffs, curving ladders, and long skinnies. RT had the first "incident", when his brakes locked up during a landing..and went he flipped over his handle bars. Now, I didn't get to see it first-hand, but I can imagine. RT always seems to manage to fall without anyone seeing him, and if he does he gets up really fast, trying to appear if nothing happened. But I didn't laugh, cuz i knew i was in for a doozy of a fall -- and sure enough it came about 20 min into the ride. I cleared this curved ladder section, but upon landing my front tire caught the face of a big rock stuck in the ground. My bike came to a grinding halt, and thanks to wonderful laws of physics, my body kept moving through the air. For a brief moment, I was airborne, and touched down rather ungracefully on my forearms and chest. Fortunately, my body armour protected me from serious injury , but i had the wind knocked out of me. My knee also hit the ground, and until now its pretty tender (i suspect i bruised the underside of my knee cap). Needless to say, I was pretty shaken up by that fall, and i was tentative the whole way down..and decided to walk many sections, that i otherwise probably would ridden. I did manage to clear this 30' foot long ladder skinny across a stinky wet bog. THAT was a rush. WW tried to clear it too, but ended up walking most of it until the last section. She fell, but fortunately she didn't end up in the pond (which smelled like rotten eggs). Of course RT, was their to pick her off the ground (albeit with some light laughter :) ).

ANYWAYS...Pingu turned into Pangor's trail which wasn't any easier..but we realized that we'd best not doddle as darkness was starting to fall upon us. Plus, some of us were getting really hungry and cranky. So we started hauling some a$$ down the trail (mostly with our bikes in our hand ;-) ). The trail was becoming somewhat unfamilar, and we just knew we had to keep heading down. We eventually came upon a T junction. WL and I had to make a call, and we decided to head RIGHT. EHHHH! WRONG!!! After a couple minutes, WL asked a hiker who'd happened to be running the opposite way for directions. Sure enough, we were supposed to head left. [What is it with guys and not being able to ask for directions, huh? sheesh!!! ;-)] We finally made it back to the parking lot at 6:30pm. We were sooooo happy to have made it. It was such a rush to be able to finish...especially after riding uphill for an hour, where you not only have to fight that little voice inside telling you that you should turn back, but also testing your patience, stamina and the strength of your friendships too ;-) However, next time we're gonna start a earlier in the day, so it won't be such a race against time (and darkness).

Admittedly, the mountain served me a can of proverbial whoop a$s yesterday -- it definately got the better of me . And I'm paying for it today. Nevertheless, we all had a AWESOME time, and I'll be back for more.

Here's to the 2004 freeriding season! Ride on!