someecards.com

Hilarious ecards.

Found via A1Great.

I finished reading this book several weeks ago just before an interview at the National Arts Centre with Michael Ondaatje. In face, I believe I finished it mere hours before seeing him speak.

I had never read an Ondaatje book, and felt that I should, given the fact that I was about to see an hour long interview with the man. I chose In the Skin of A Lion based on this thread on Ask Metafilter. Lion came up several times as the Quintessential Canadian Novel (something I find interesting, given the fact that it’s written by a man who moved here from the UK at 18 or so).

While I would see it more as the Quintessential Toronto Novel, there’s something about the way Ondaatje writes these characters, especially Patrick, that make them as recognizable as the landscape. While you recognize the Bloor St. aqua ducts, Kingston Pen, and small town northern ontario, you also recognize Patrick and all the characters that thread in and out of his life.

Ondaatje doesn’t write this story in a truly linear fashion, so if you don’t like a little guess work this probably isn’t for you.  But I highly recommend it.

I just had some of the best soup ever.  A friend and I just ran out for a bite to eat, and ended up at (the new) Pho Bo Ga La on Somerset West (north side — the original restaurant is apparently a block or two away on the South side).

Pho is my absolute favourite bit of asian cuisine.   And quite possibly my favourite food ever.  But, oddly enough I had never been to a restaurant that specialized in it — and there are tons in Ottawa.

Anyway, this place was brilliant.  I had the S6 special, which was rare beef with noodles in a spicy Thai tomato broth.  I think I fell in love.  Between two of us we had 2 pops, 2 sets of spring rolls (one pork, one pork/crab/shrimp) and two soups and the bill after taxes was $26.  It’s pretty hard to beat that.

I came away with a bit of a headache though, and I wasn’t sure why, until I spotted a review on another blog where they referred to the “inevitable MSG headache” so I’m guessing that was it.

YUM.

I saw this movie the other day at the Bytowne.  I had never heard of it, but a friend invited me along, and I generally don’t turn down invitations

I am so glad that I went.  This movie is getting rave reviews for a reason.  It’s the directorial debut of Canada’s own Sarah Polley (who also wrote the adapted screenplay, based on a short story by Alice Munro, which I will now have to read), and it has a stunning cast who act beautifully.

And it is easily the saddest thing I have ever seen.  And that’s saying a lot.

Away From Her is a very simple story at heart, about a man who must put his wife in a home when she begins to suffer from Alzheimer’s.  A story that is far too real for many people I’m sure.  But there’s more to it than that; without giving anything away, I’ll just say that what happens once his wife is in the home will break your heart into a thousand pieces.

I highly, highly recommend seeing this if you can manage it.

But they should, because when I have a cold with a sore throat these are two staples of my diet. I don’t think it’s too much to ask to have an ice-cream flavoured cough syrup. I doubt anyone would want cough syrup flavoured ice cream, but then what do I know?

Clearly exciting things are going on in my life. This is what I post when I don’t want to do laundry.