High points of the Canadian entertainment scene

Though we normally live a relatively quiet life, for the past week I have really been hitting the town in an attempt to up my Can-con street cred.

Last Sunday Jeannette and I attended a screening of the made-in-Saskatchewan movie Corner Gas: The Movie (obviously a spin-off from the similarly named TV show Corner Gas).  Though ravaged by a Globe and Mail review (that hardly discussed the movie), Jeannette and I both enjoyed the experience and thought the movie was pretty much what you would expect from a TV to movie translation of the show.

On Tuesday Jeannette and I attended the annual Vinyl Cafe Christmas show (an event we also attended last year).  This is the third time I've attended a Vinyl Cafe live show and the third time I have enjoyed the performance.

On Thursday a friend was kind enough to invite me to the Regina stop of the Trailer Park Boys Christmas tour.  Though not the greatest theatrical event of the year, it was nice to see Ricky, Julian, and Randy in person (while living in Halifax Mr. Lahey could routinely be spotted near our apartment and Bubbles could be seen at Bubbles' Mansion events - like the shopping car race we once happened upon).



[Embedded video]

This weekend, if I can get my act together, I hope to catch one of the Cirque du Soleil shows happening in Regina.  Because of Jeannette's clown phobia there's no way I'll convince her to attend and as I haven't made any attempts to find someone else to attend with if I do end up going I think it will have to be alone.

And if I really wanted to 'do it all' I could also attend the upcoming Tom Jackson Huron Carole event (though at this point it seems very unlikely that I will be going this far in a quest to consume as much Can-con as possible).

It was also new snow tire day

Just as the installer was finishing with our new garage door, I was making my way north to our snow tire installation appointment.

This winter, our third in Regina and our third with this car, we decided to switch from the all-season tires that came with the car to dedicated snow tires.  Though we hadn't had issues with the tires over the past two winters, we were assuming that as the tires aged/wore they would be less effective in Regina's winter conditions.

Pleasantly, the installation process was quick (even though the vendor, apparently, hadn't properly booked our appointment and then had to squeeze us in).  Conveniently, it was also the case that it was snowing on the afternoon of our appointment so I had the pleasure of driving on our old tires to the appointment and then our new tires from the appointment.

Almost as soon as I started driving on the new tires I could feel the difference.

Of course, since the tires were installed we've hardly had any new snow (and for the past few days it has even been above zero).

New Garage Door Day

Even when we moved in to our house just under two years ago our garage door didn't shut properly (our neighbour later told us that it hadn't shut properly in the twenty years he's been living nextdoor).  As we didn't plan on storing our regular sized car in our small garage this wasn't initially a problem. 

The issue came to a head this summer when one of the mechanisms that held on side of the door became detached from the garage structure. I reattached the arm briefly but the old rotten wood just could not withstand the preassure of the spring loaded door mechanism (and another neighbour hinted that this kind if opener may no longer be considered safe). 

So once we finally realized that our garage door was no longer moveable (it could stay in either the open or closed position but not move between the two) we agreed to buy a replacement door. Because we don't plan on using the garage as a garage we went for the cheapest uninsulated garage-openerless door we could find. 

We eventually lucked into a sale and managed to find what we were looking for for only a few hundred dollars (installation included). The only downside was that they did not have the door in stock and once it arrived we would have to fit ourselves into the installer's schedule. 

So now, over two months after we originally ordered the door, it is being installed. Unfortunately for the installer it is snowing steadily. The only good news for him is that it is a small, light, opener-less door. He isn't expecting it to be a long job. 

That said, I'm quite excited to see the finished product after this long wait. 

A Few Quick Notes 616

-Today has been see-sawing between sunny periods and grey periods.  Despite the less than perfect weather, it is much warmer and generally much nicer than when we arrived in Regina at this time of year two years ago.  At the time Wascana Lake had already frozen and it wasn't until Spring that we had temperatures this warm.

-Yes, we've now been in Regina for just over two years (though three Halloweens).  Last night we had dinner at the restaurant we first visited on our first night in town.  The time has really flown by.

-Yesterday we went to Moose Jaw for the day to participate in an Ultimate tournament.  Because we're too old for that kind thing (though we did manage to beat two younger teams) we're really feeling the effects today in a bad way.  Hopefully we won't be in too much pain by the time we need to head to work tomorrow morning.

-My Margaret Wente pumpkin was a bit of a bust - not a single kid (or parent) commented on it.  Maybe today's kids just aren't up on their national newspaper columnists?  Or maybe I did a bad job carving her likeness? Or, more likely, both?

Reverse synergy?

Over the course of the past few years I have listened to several episodes of podcasts about terrible movies.  Unfortunately, I've found most of these explorations of this topic have been rather underwhelming and really aren't what I was hoping for.

These discussions tend to be rather superficial and just discuss aspects of the movie that didn't work/how they are bad.

What I keep hoping these these will be are real discussions of how experienced companies can have so many major multimillion dollar projects go so far off the rails. (One brief interview I heard about the making/meddling of Jaws 3 was quite enlightening.)  It would seem that in some instances some form of groupthink so overwhelms the process that reverse synergy (or synergy that brings out the worst features of a project rather than the best) dooms the project.

Of course, I suspect that one of the major problems - if not the major problem - is that anyone who could speak to these matters authoritatively could only do so at the risk of damaging their career in the industry.  Consequently the viewing public is left with Hollywood's true movie magic - no meaningful explanation of how experienced movie studios/makers allow themselves to regularly produce truly horrific duds for staggering sums of money.

It's happening - 22

After a long weekend of work we are finally at a stopping point, though we will have a few thing to tidy up tomorrow. 

We ended up throwing a quick coat of green on the primed wallpaper above the cupboards and then cleaning off the excess grout from the backsplash. Of course, we also moved all of the furniture and appliances back into place.  

Tomorrow we will have to toss up another coat of paint and also seal the tiles. Hopefully that all that's left. 

It's happening - 21

The grout has been floated (if that's the term). According to the instructions on the package we are now supposed to wait a few hours to give the tiles a good scrub to remove any excess grout. Hopefully these instructions are good. 

Now onto dinner and pie before we return to the grout work. 

And we've finally given up on waiting for the oil-based primer to dry today. We'll just have to see where it is tomorrow. 

It's happening - 20

In an attempt to speed things up with our slow drying oil-based primer we have cranked the heat and are also applying directed heat to some specially selected sections (i.e. blasting portions of the wall with a hair dryer). 

It would be quite nice if we could start the painting sooner rather than later as we still have grouting and feasting to do. 

And in other news - I just made a pumpkin pie (well, I made the filling and slapped it into a frozen crust). The main course is to be mushroom and barley soup. 

It's happening - 19

The second coat of green on one side the kitchen is now up. Sadly, we are still waiting on the oil-based primer to dry before we cover the tour two walls in green. 

We are hoping that by about 5:00 we'll be able to throw up the grout and the final few coats of green paint. If all goes exceptionally well the whole project should wrap up by early evening. 

It's happening - 18

We are now into the third day and still working hard. This morning we woke before 7:30 and had a first coat of green up before 8:30. 

The real bummer of the morning was discovering that our oil-based primer isn't yet dry from last night's second coat. 

Now we just have to wait for paint (and mortar) to dry. 

It's happening - 17

We are taking a quick dinner break at our local sushi shack. Our kitchen is in a state is disarray making food prep a bit of a challenge. 

Once we get back we'll try to finish priming and then call it a night (at least as far is work on this project is concerned). 

It's happening - 16

Well, the tiles are up an it's not even 6:00 PM. Aren't we proud of ourselves?

Once the mortar dries we can move on to grouting tomorrow evening. 

Another bonus is that our first coat of primer should be dry - so we can switch back to painting now. What fun. 

It's happening - 15

First backsplash tiles are now in place.

Only a bunch more to go. 

It's happening - 14

And on to positioning the backsplash tiles before we apply the mortar. 

Before we know it we'll have tiles up and mortar drying. 

It's happening - 13

For what seems like the 12th time in the past two days one of us will soon be heading to the store to pick up some supplies. This time I'll be heading out to get some painter thinning agents to aid in the clean up of our oil-based priming operation. Last time it was to grab some masking tape. And earlier today Jeannette had to get some other stuff - which at this point is so distant I can't even recall what it is she went to buy. 

My uninspiring dream of the moment is that this will be the last such trip of the day/project. 

It's happening - 12

We've just finished our first coat of primer. Unfortunately, the wallpaper that we're painting will require at least two coats. 

As it stands now it's clear we don't have enough paint on the walls. 

It's happening - 11

After a successful masking tape run and unsuccessful coffee run (one of the coffees had milk and sugar) I'm back and ready to work.

While I was away Jeannette sanded some of the plaster she put up earlier.  Now I need to finish taping and sanding.  After that we will be on to painting. Yum!

People shouldn't be allied to have this much fun. 

It's happening - 10

After hours of diligent work by Jeannette and a bit of work on my part we have now finished the stripping process. 

As soon as Jeannette gets back from the store we'll start patching the wall and getting ready to paint. After we're done with the painting we will have to start preppin the areas for the tile backsplash (which won't actually be located behind the sink).

We certainly have many hours of work ahead of us today and tomorrow. 

It's happening - 9

Somehow it's already tomorrow morning and Jeannette's been hard at work for hours. Like magic most of paper behind the stove and microwave have been removed. Now we really just have several inches and two small patches to finish. 

It's happening - 8

After attending a comedy show/fundraiser we can back and went to work stripping that wallpaper. It's now two hours later and I feel that we don't have all that much to show for our work. 

The only good news is that most of the square footage of stripping is done - we just have the finicky bit left.