I Guess the Rumours Were True...

Well, Vancouver is all a buzz this morning - big, Big, BIG news: Bertuzzi, Auld and Allen have been traded to the Florida Panthers for Krajicek, a 6th round draft pick in today's draft and... Roberto Luongo, who's touted to be the next Roy or Brodeur. Only time will tell I guess.

Does Vancouver finally have its star goalie it has been searching for, for the last 36 years?

Here's my original blog entry regarding this "rumour":
http://shivb.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_shivb_archive.html

I Need to Build a Time Machine

Seriously. Where did June go? I could swear it was my birthday only yesterday, but June started 3 weeks ago. I thought I was busy last June because of a new job, the last couple of months of wedding planning, a shower, a stagette and two weddings to attend. Not sure what my excuse is this time around.

Work has been insane. Life at home has been very busy, especially with the kittens. I have had no time to say boo. I am looking forward to an enjoyable, relaxing weekend. But, I already have both my Saturday and Sunday booked. I plan on doing a thorough car cleaning - washing, vacuuming, the works. I have be waiting for a sunny Saturday for some time to do this, and it looks like this weekend will deliver. On Sunday Colin and I will be spending the day at his parents enjoying the pool and bbq. I also have to find time early next week to go through Air Care since my insurance expires June 30.

Let's just say I am really looking forward to my upcoming, long 4-day, Canada Day weekend. But that is fairly jam packed as well...

Meet Wellington and Tiki

I got a wonderful surprise for my 28th birthday - Colin and I adopted two kittens: a brother (Wellington) and sister (Tiki)...

I have a few more individual pictures of Tiki at this point in time, as Wellington is a bit of a scaredy cat and keeps running away when you try to approach him...

Tiki

Wellington

Wellington & Tiki

They Got It Wrong... Again

It may be early in the day in Vancouver and we are one of the last places on earth to see the sun set (apart from Hawaii and a smattering of Pacific and Polynesian islands); but it is already tomorrow in Australia, and guess what... we're all still here. Yet another apocolyptic prediction down the toilet.

I must say though that 06/06/06 made for a fun drive to work this morning: both Jack FM and Rock 101 were only playing songs that had the word devil or Beelzebub or any other demonic name in it.

However, you can only play the "Devil Inside" so many times - I heard it twice in a 30 minute period.

Canada's Next Top Model

Last night was the much anticipated (well, for me) airing of Canada's Next Top Model. I have watched America's Next Top Model since it first aired in the summer of 2003 and admit I absolutely love this show. However, it is the only reality TV programming I prescribe to. I have now even had enough of the Amazing Race...

How was it? Good. Slower paced than ANTM. Canadian.

It definitely does not have the glam and fast paced feel of ANTM, but this is only the first episode of season 1. So in that respect I will have to give it time. Unlike ANTM which is set in America's fashion meccas of LA and NYC, CNTM is not set in Toronto, nor in Vancouver, but in Victoria. It is, however a truly beautiful back drop: the CNTM house is superior to any house the models have stayed in in ANTM. It is a gorgeous, West Coast-style mansion, with cedar walls and slate floors, and the view, well the view is spectacular. As one of the girls said last night as they enjoyed their boat ride (yes, boat ride) to their new abode, "Beautiful British Columbia...".

On first glance CNTM appears to be the same as ANTM, much like Canadian Idol seemed to be the same is American Idol. It is like looking at one of those puzzle-games with two pictures side by side that appear identical, but once you begin to look deeper, you begin to see the differences.
Sure the name is the same (just sub in Canadian for American) and the concept is the same: whittle a group of girls down to one who has the most top model potential by judging her based on her ability to work the catwalk and photo shoots; but then you begin to see the 'cultural' differences.

I remember the first day of my Canadian Federalism class at UBC: our prof posed this (humorous) question: What is the difference between a Canadian and an American? A Canadian is an American with healthcare and without the gun. This was back in a time (the late 90's) when no one was really sure what defined us as Canadians, until Molson stepped in with "The Rant" and other "Canadian" adds. Is that Canadian? Having our unidentified culture, identified by a beer company? Maybe.

But while we are are stereotyped with beer, hockey donuts and Mounties there is (I believe) an inherent Canadian personality: politeness and on many occasions being reserved. Both of these Idiosyncrasies appeared among many of the CNTM cast, including host Tricia Helfer. The first person to go had amazing potential, but she had a bit of an attitude. But that attitude had nothing on Jade or Eva who made it far (and in the latter case won) ANTM. On CNTM, the rude girl got the first boot... if she was on ANTM she probably would have made it to the top three.

Hopefully, as the show continues, the barriers will break down and the penchant for politeness will dwindle and we will see some good drama and cat fights, because that's what makes ANTM so darn good (besides the modeling).

On a side note: I had no idea Mr. J was Canadian - that's cool.