The Sunday Rundown

Reading:

I'm working on "The Infamous Army" by Georgette Heyer that I received free from MiniBookExpo. If you live in Canada and you're interested in receiving and reviewing free books, then look them up. It takes place during the Napoleonic wars and is set in Belgium. I'm still a little confused as to events because I only know the very basics when it comes to Napoleon's return to France after his exile.

Watching:

I actually ended up watching "Forbidden Planet" last night in the park, graciously put on by the Victoria Film Festival. It stars Walter Pidgeon (A Canadian!), a very young Leslie Nielson and Anne Francis as well as Robby the Robot.

It was very campy and hilarious considering some of the dialogue and implied innuendo. I highly recommend it.

The trailer here is hilarious because the story the narrator tells is different from the actual film.

Thinking:

I got a chance to watch the closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics and the Chinese must have spent a billion dollars just on fireworks. It was an awesome end to a games where our athletes surpassed the COC's expectations.

There was controversy and triumph, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, unexpected injuries and disappointing losses. I throughly enjoyed the whole thing and CBC, I love you for all of the coverage and the videos posted online for when I was too lazy to get up at three in the morning to see events.

I was sad to see CBC hosting their last games for a while but they sure stretched out their exit. I had to wait through two hours of highlights and musical montages to get to the closing ceremonies.

Several things. London, your mayor looked a little too laid back when he came out into the Bird's Nest. An unbuttoned jacket paired with hands in pockets does not spell professional. Come on man! You needed to be "on" for less than half an hour and you manage to fudge it.

Also, your presentation for London 2012 was, in a word, god awful. It looked cheap and tacky. I mean, a bus that folds down to reveal fake topiary? It was as ridiculous and lame as our presentation at the end of the 2006 Turin Olympics. We had a snowmobile, snowshoes, ice fishing, curling, hockey, lacrosse, a styrofoam Inukshuk and Avril Lavigne. Ugh.

But China you don't get off that easy. Your opera soprano star, Song Zuying who sang a duet with Spanish tenor, Placido Domingo, practically blinded me. She was dressed like a hideous Christmas tree topper from the 1970s, all garish and gaudy. Sometimes less is more and I'm sure that the light reflecting off her costume could be see from space.

Listening to:

This is "Never Again" by The Midway State.