Visit the sjr81 blog

I created a companion blog to this site. Visit http://sjr81.blogspot.com to see the latest reunion discussion.

Be sure to forward the e-vite link to anyone we've missed and check back for the latest RSVPs!

Reunion e-vite

Now it's official. This week SJR finalized the date for the 2006 Homecoming and this morning Hardev called to discuss the Class of '81 Reunion plans.

Now the e-vite is live so please save the date in your (electronic) calendars and be sure to join us in Winnipeg on September 1, 2, and 3, 2006! Wouldn't it be nice to exceed the 80% turnout rate that the Class of '80 achieved last August? I personally want to see all those people I haven't thought about in 25 years...

Where are you Class of '81?
And what are you doing September 2nd?

Enron and Flight Plan

Picked up these 2 movies from Blockbuster to watch Saturday night. The guy around the corner from us went out of business so we have to go further afield to rent movies now.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is an interesting exposé of the Enron scandal. Lots of interviews with the author of the book of the same name and several others who were at the company at the time (surprisingly several women). It's stunning to see the Enron execs incriminate themselves as they reassure not only investors but employees to keep their stock while unloading their own. A fascinating portrait of hubris and treachery done with more flair than Michael Moore. MMMM

Flightplan - not so cerebral. The movie trivia is more interesting. Jodie Foster is okay. Peter Sarsgaard is good at being bad. Bad guy Sean Bean takes a turn at being the good guy pilot. MMm

Caché

Saw Caché (Hidden) at the Cumberland Friday night with Mary and Pavlina. This French film was at TIFF 2005 but we couldn't fit it into our schedules or get tickets. Overall, I liked it but parts of it really bugged me. Nevertheless, it does spark a lot of discussion and theorizing.

Caché stars Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche as a married couple who receive a series of videotapes showing their tony French apartment under surveillance. The tapes are accompanied by violent but almost childish drawings. At first they dismiss is as a prank by one of his fans (he plays a famous TV talk show host a la Bernard Pivot) but the tapes persist and it adds to the conflict in their already-strained marital relationship (we never see them kiss or touch - only argue).

Now, if this story took place in a major North American city, most of us would have gone to the police after the first tape. Somehow Auteuil refuses to contact them but lies to everyone telling them of course he's gone to the police. In fact, he goes off solo to confront the person he suspects (someone from his childhood that he wronged). Would any one of us ever show up ALONE at a low-rent apartment to confront a stranger we suspected of terrorizing us? Of course not. This is why this film starts to get infuriating, like my most frustrating movie of all time: A Simple Plan.

As frustrating as this movie can be, it is chilling and thought-provoking as we start to connect the dots and concoct our own theories about who's behind the tapes. And the stark way Michael Haneke shot and directed this adds to the suspense. See it, but you'll have to suspend your disbelief if you are a CSI fan like me. MMMm

Straight Dude's Guide & Brokeback to the Future

First there was The Straight Dude's Guide to Brokeback:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10342237/

Then there was Brokeback to the Future. It's pretty funny to watch this video. I can't believe someone would take the time to go through all 3 versions and splice together these scenes.
Make sure your sound is on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfODSPIYwpQ

Star Sighting at Starbucks

This morning I was getting my traditional Grande Non-Fat Extra-Hot Extra-Foamy Latte at the Yorkville Starbucks (Bay & Cumberland) when I saw Clive Owen walk in behind me. After I ordered I turned to tell him: "I loved you in Closer and thought you should have been Bond." He said "Thank you" and ordered his Grande Skinny Cappucino. He looked his typical rugged self but pretty good for 9:00am and was wearing a white down parka and jeans. Seeing him certainly cheered up my morning.

What's been keeping me up at night

I have been working on an e-learning project with people in the Office of the Provincial Controller (OPC) in the Ministry of Finance (MOF) - former colleagues when Modern Controllership Training was still in that ministry.

It's been a long, hard road. We started last June with a plan and didn't get humming until November and December 2005. Now we are almost finished building the course and it has grown to 100 pages online. The toughest part was getting all the content together in enough time - the main SME or Subject Matter Expert was still giving me pages to add on Thursday. Definitely not cool but my consultant/developers (former colleagues from Sun) have been amazing at turning around the endless changes.

The e-learning course looks amazing and when we launch this coming week (after a pilot with representatives from other ministries) we hope it meets the goal of helping all 25 ministries to complete their procedures at year end.

Olympics in HD

It was quite something to see the Opening Ceremonies live from Torino on Friday night in glorious 16:9 HD. The spectacle was so imaginative and surreal. And hearing Pavarotti sing was very moving - I thought Nessun Dorma was a good choice. The only problem is, it looked like he was lip synching like Ashlee Simpson on SNL because the sound and picture were not synchronized. On Saturday's coverage, it was the same story - and just as distracting. But only on English CBCHD. The French SRC had it synched. I know it takes coordination (Richard says HD poses even more problems than a normal TV feed) but HEY. You got the contract so make it work! I will update this post if I see CBC has resolved the problem. Stay tuned (or post a comment if this is a problem for you!) I remember watching the Opening Ceremonies from Nagano in 1998 (obviously pre HD) and the Japanese hosts organized a worldwide relay with different groups singing Beethoven's Ode to Joy. It was unbelievable how everything was perfectly synched and nobody missed a beat (I remember Peter Mansbridge marvelling at this on air too). And now 8 years later Canada seems to be struggling with the new technology. Guess we'll have to wait and see how this turns out...

ed. note: by Sunday Feb. 12 they had this bug worked out. Even Don Cherry was in sync ;-)

Alison's 40th

Alison and her husband Paul hosted a perfect party - a wine tasting evening in celebration of her 40th birthday (officially January 29th). Her parents, in-laws and several friends came from Montreal. Paul even flew in Alison's sister Lisa and her family (husband Mike, daughter Lucia and baby Henry) from London, England as a surprise! I'm sure it was as big a thrill for Alison to see her extended family as it was for her kids Ethan, Emily and Sophia to hang out with their cousins they don't often get to see. The evening was so SMART:
Spectacular organization
Memorable wines (5 to sample - everyone had a different favourite)
Amazing food (the birthday cake was divine)
Riveting conversation (especially about movies & music with David XXX Ray)
Terrific party!

Alison and Paul
Awesome hosts with super wines
Thanks for a great night!

Looking forward to Alison's birthday dinner later this month with les Filles...