Happy Powrie Birthday!

February 20, 2007 marks a very special day. Richard's father Ted Powrie turns 80 and his grandson Brendan also celebrates a birthday. And 2 days later on February 22nd, Ted's daughter Jennifer (Rich's sister) celebrates her birthday. Ted was in excellent spirits when we talked to him on his day.

Happy Birthday to ALL the Powries and MANY MORE!

February is
Happy Powrie Birthday month
Celebrate today!

SuperBowl ads

My brother Sam sent me this link to the the clever U.S. commercials on SuperBowl Sunday. Let me know which ones you like. I enjoyed the Moon Office (FedEx), Snickers, GoDaddy.com and couldn't believe the Toyota ramp (don't try that at home). Also enjoyed Prince at the halftime show. He did a great job in the (purple) rain...

http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/postseason/superads

Great to spend time with my book club - we reviewed Any Tan's Saving Fish From Drowning.

haikugirl at the AGO

Met a dear colleague for beer o'clock at our pub downstairs. Then over to the AGO to take in the Ansel Adams / Alfred Eisenstaedt exhibition. The photos blew me away! Incredible to think that both were contemporaries but had such different styles and perspectives. Although Ansel Adams' work is beautiful I think I liked better.

Was thinking of going to see a movie tonight at Cinematheque: LA-BAS. - Grand Prize winner at the Festival International du Documentaire de Marseille. Thought it might get me in the mood for the International Documentary Challenge which I'm going to be doing in less than a month from now: March 1-5. The premise: script, shoot and edit a 7 minute documentary in less than 5 days - but you don't get assigned your topic until 8am Thursday March 1st. A very appealing prospect and I am very excited about taking part. In the meantime I'm recruiting my crew and building my Mac editing skills so stay tuned for updates.

Another project is to start jogging. Did a couple runs in sunny FLL - tomorrow morning I will run again but it will be MUCH colder... Still need to see The Queen and Dreamgirls before the Oscars. Looking forward to some schmaltz with Music and Lyrics starring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant - starts Valentine's Day.

Golden Globe predictions

Tonight I am picking who I think SHOULD win (but maybe not who WILL win). A few select predictions (don't have time or care about everything):

I love HEROES and vote for it as best TV series and the Japanese guy in that show MASI OKA for Best Supporting Actor in a TV series. I'd love Steve Carell to win Best Actor for The Office or even Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock but doubt they can beat Keifer.

Mrs. Harris was scathing but I wouldn't give Annette Benning the Golden Globe (even though husband Warren is picking up the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement tonight). I do pick Ben Kingsley as Dr. Scarsdale from the same mini-series. I would give Best Actress to Helen Mirren for Elizabeth I (she may also win for The Queen and pick up two statues). I don't think Julia Louis Dreyfus will win either of her nominations (although I heard her say in interview she wants both). For Musical or Comedy show and actress it's Ugly Betty all the way. Go America Ferrera! And maybe Sarah Paulson from Studio 60 for Supporting.

MOVIES: Brad will take it for Supporting Actor the Babel and Rinko Kikuchi will beat out Adriana Barraza both from Babel for Supporting Actress. I would LOVE Judi Dench to win for Notes on a Scandal (she was soooooo diabolical) but I think Helen will be triumphant again. Imagine winning 2 awards for protraying 2 queens (both Elizabeth) centuries apart? Too bad for Penelope because she was brilliant but I think Pedro will have to settle for Best Foreign Language Film.

Little Miss Sunshine SHOULD win for Best Picture Musical or Comedy but Borat WILL win (why I'll never know?) I would like to see Johnny Depp and Will Ferrell win but Sacha Baran Cohen will win for Borat (UGH!) I predict Leo will win for The Departed or they may give the sentimental vote to Peter O'Toole who looks like a walking skeleton from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. I don't think it's Will Smith's year.

Catch all the action at 8 pm EST tonight (or online at

Hollywood Foreign Press Association / Golden Globe Awards

Babel and next picks

Finally saw Babel on Thursday with Pavlina. We went up to Canada Square to get better seats and a bigger screen than the Carlton but in the end the seats were just as uncomfortable and screen was probably the same small size (just seemed a bit larger since the theatre was bigger).

I wanted to see it before the Golden Globes since Babel was nominated for 7 awards. I would give it MMMm because it was only okay. It was too long, a bit boring in parts, and the Director's technique of repeating scenes to show them from different perspectives (as in 21 Grams) got tiresome by the end. I think that either Rinko Kikuchi of Japan or Adriana Baraza of Mexico could pull off the Best Supporting Actress award. Guess we'll see when the Golden Globes air on January 15th (oddly enough a Monday this year).

Babel was okay
loved the story in Japan
the rest a bit slow

I need to see The Queen and have heard great things about Children of Men.

Notes on a Scandal

Today was my first day back at work in 2007. Last night we went to see Notes on a Scandal with Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. WOW! JUDI IS AMAZING! Or as Mary said, "she's diabolical". I still have to see The Queen but I think Helen Mirren has some stiff competition in Judi. Her character (Barbara) is deliciously evil and unbelievably manipulative, and she gets to utter the most scathing observations in voiceover, despite how old and dowdy they make her look. Cate Blanchett (Sheba) is your typical gorgeous art teacher who can't resist the advances of a 15-year old schoolboy. The relationship between the two women develops to protect Sheba's illicit secret and we see how far they will go to protect it.

I quite enjoyed this movie and recommend it in cinema or on rental: MMMMm. I will be anxious to watch the Golden Globes on January 15 to who is named Best Actress.

Notes on a Scandal
Cate is gorgeous but tarty
Judi plays a creep

Last Friday of 2006

Last night we had a lovely evening out with friends. Started with cocktails at the swank Pantages Hotel on Victoria St. (next to the Canon Theatre)

Pantages Bar Lounge
Sleek, chic, yummy mixed nuts &
five-buck martinis

Yes, you read it right. Five dollar Grey Goose martinis no less. And who can resist bar nuts in the bar? Not me.

Then we walked to The Keg on York St. for dinner.

Hangin' at The Keg
Marci and Greg are the best
More good times next year

Merry Christmas from haikugirl!

Hope you had a great Christmas. We had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas Eve Eve, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Lots of delicious food (R is out running it off as we speak!) and great conversations with family and friends.

This Christmas Santa was very good to haikugirl and bought her a MacBook Pro - so sleek and sexy. Now I have no excuses not to make my movie! Expect big things from haikugirl and her new Mac in 2007 - starting with a new email address and website.... Stay tuned!


What a lucky girl -
Now I have a MacBook Pro
Santa is the best!

Thanks again to Santa for the biggest and best surprise ever! Guess those Mac/PC commercials are effective (not to mention the constant barrage of pro-Mac emails from my dad ;-)

Casino Royale

Casino Royale was AWESOME! Everyone's favourite adjective to describe it is raw and I would agree. This is a back-to-basics Bond with great stunts instead of special effects and I am officially printing this retraction to my earlier post that Clive Owen would be the best Bond. Daniel Craig totally pulls it off and does a superb job. This high octane movie has lots of action (check the trailer), amazing locations, fast cars and very few gadgets. I say MMMMM - WAY TO GO!

Casino Royale
Daniel Craig is a great Bond
hip, raw and sexy

4 more days & Golden Globe nods!

Christmas is coming in 4 days and I'm ALMOST ready. Today is my last day of work for 2006 (yippee!) and then we're home for the holidays.

Plans for time off include everything haikugirl loves:

movies, music, food,
shopping, cooking, hanging out
waiting for Santa

Be sure to check out the Golden Globe nominations - with trailers and make your personal picks before the LIVE telecast on Monday, January 15, 2007 at 8:00pm EST on NBC. I hope Penelope wins Best Actress but she has stiff competition from Helen Mirren's stiff upper lip as The Queen.

more haiku for haikugirl

Chris S (from the Hargrave) sent me another haiku:

MM partied large
today, is she less perky?
can she still haiku?

And of course the answers are: no, I'm fine and yes, definitely!

Work demands are high
Priorities always shift
Can't wait for time off!

gotta run... BYE!

Volver - at last!

I can't believe I'm only getting to my review of Volver now. Saw it November 26 and was blown away. I think it is Almodovar's best film and definitely Penelope's best onscreen performance ever. She has this other dimension when acting in her native Spanish and she is truly outstanding. The entire female cast deserved the award for Best Actress at Cannes. Definitely deserves an MMMMM rating.

At lunch on Friday we were trying to think about potential nominees for best actress and actor for the Oscars and naming quality female performances was tough. Penelope tops my list, they'll probably nominate Cate Blanchett for Babel (haven't seen it yet) but most of the movies this year have focused on men's stories. They may have to nominate Kate Winslet for The Holiday because there's not much else to consider. Except Catherine O'Hara in For Your Consideration, which - true to its premise - already has Oscar buzz.

haiku at the Hargrave

Saturday night we made ourselves a delicious dinner at home: thick, juicy beef tenderloin grilled to perfection by Rich on the BBQ, with yummy sides by haikugirl: garlic mushrooms, roasted mini-potatoes and crunchy sugar snap peas. I should have been a snackerazzi and taken a photo it was so good!

Then we headed out to the Christmas Party at our local pub The Hargrave on the Danforth. Lots of fun, dancing, chatting, even penning a few haiku:

Party at the 'Grave
Mary Margaret got her groove on
she got it on, now

Christmas time again
Hargrave Party with our friends
Chris writes great haiku

The evening ended on a high note: in the 50/50 raffle we won a fantastic down parka (XL with a Guinness logo on it) Yay MM and Rich! Chris wrote:

Mary Margaret won
Richard got a new jacket
Richard owes her sex

The Holiday and Pavlina's Birthday

Had a Girls Night for the Film Club on Friday: went to see The Holiday. A charming movie that put us in the mood for Christmas and New Year's. Kate Winslet is lovely and Cameron Diaz does fine as Amanda. I just want her job/life/LA home with built-in recording studio that she uses to edit movie trailers. Jack Black's at-home studio is the new model for ours upstairs (complete with Herman Miller chair.) He plays a guy who scores movies and he does this great bit in the film where he walks through the video store with Kate Winslet and points out all the great soundtracks. Lots of sweet moments in the film - especially for Kate Winslet's and Jude Law's characters. I sometimes felt Cameron Diaz was a bit out of her element with the other acting heavyweights but her wardrobe is da bomb.

After the movie we headed to Il Fornello on the Danforth to have dinner and celebrate Pavlina's birthday. She was sick all week so we were happy she felt well enough to come out for the evening. We had yummy food and even sang Happy Birthday with a candle in the creme brulee. Bonne Fete Pavlina!

Christmas Classics

Are you in the Christmas Spirit yet? A colleague found this funny link:
It's a Wonderful Life in 30 seconds re-enacted by bunnies
-- a perfect capsule summary of the 2+hour movie.

It's not Christmas until I've seen How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the ORIGINAL , NOT the Jim Carey version) and A Charlie Brown Christmas - here's an interesting article on how it came to be...

Christmas is coming
lots of TV specials on
nothing beats The Grinch

Lucy's birthday

We celebrated Lucy's 40th birthday on Saturday, Dec. 2nd at Mimosa Bistro on Yonge St. What a lovely party! Her husband Dave organized everything from the menu, invitations and even cut her a rap video: "everybody stand up and cheer, Lucy's turning 40 this year!" It was a wonderful night, as you can see by the photos...

Gordian Knots and Sudoku

My clever Risk Management friends in government offer help to public servants struggling with their own Gordian knot. Their 1-day Risk Management courses - like their movie recommendations - are superb but, alas, only available to fellow Ontario Public Service (OPS) colleagues.

And now: today's haiku (after wrestling with my own Gordian knot this morning:

haikugirl enjoys
solving sudoku puzzles -
her morning mind stretch

Perhaps I should be calling myself sudokugirl now? Not until I can complete a diabolical puzzle without cheating.

City Vote 2006

David Miller won
TO's Mayor once again
4 years like Congress

Watched Citytv's slick coverage of the municipal elections across Ontario. The results looked great on CP24 and Rich did a fantastic job making the countdown timer work. Yay Rich! It's all at citynews.ca

mirror neurons - COOL!

Spent an energizing day at the CSTD conference where Dave Chalk gave an enlightening presentation about his challenges growing up with dyslexia and how mirror neurons can play a role in learning. He calls it the most significant scientific discovery since DNA. The implications are definitely fascinating.

Mirror neurons explain our ability to empathize with others and to see an action and repeat it, like monkey see, monkey do. There's a study of dancers showing how the visual brain and the movement control brain (pre-motor cortex) respond to watching movement - truly fascinating stuff. It made me remember my years of Ukrainian dancing when our instructor would say "mirror image me" and we'd have to follow him on the spot, and somehow we did it.

Google it and research for yourself. Let me know what you come up with.

Where's Volver?

Our Film Club was all set to see Pedro Almodovar's Volver on Friday, November 3rd but it was nowhere. Babel was finally released in Toronto and none of us could face a 143 minute movie after a long week of work so we bailed and agreed to hold out for Pedro. Still trying to find out when it will be released in TO so we can plan our next movie night.

Anybody know
when Volver is in TO?
It might be Christmas