It's My TV….It's My Peanut Butter

This time vampire is one that I will never repeat (if I can help it).  Truth be told, I knew it was a bad idea.

Once upon a time, a dude named Kevin Sullivan made two fabulous miniseries portraying much of the Anne of Green Gables series.  It was not completely true to the books, but the creative license taken was forgiveable.

Then came a third series.  We try not to talk about this one.  It diverges to far from the actual books as to make it a travesty.  Rather than use the plethora of material in the books and bring to life the characters we knew and loved, this third installment utterly screwed the timeline (moving Anne a full generation later) and had no characters or plot remotely resembling the real thing.  I own the DVD ONLY because I could not obtain the original two mini-series without it.

So, when I found out that Mr. S was making a prequel to Anne, I knew this would be a train wreck.  After all, the pre-Green Gables period in Anne’s life is summed up in a chapter in Anne of Green Gables and a tiny pilgrimage in Anne of the Island.  In order to build a prequel, we would again be subject to completely non-canon material.

I avoided this one like the plague for several years.  But, when I stumbled on it at the library today, it jumped out at me.  After all, I’d gone through the other travesty and survived.  I might as well complete the full cycle, right?

ZOMG.

WRONG.

The scenery is gorgeous (as one would expect–it’s the same parts of Ontario as featured in prior productions).  And the cast is quite good (Shirley MacLaine is always awesome, of course, but there’s no weak link in the cast–even the kids do a good job).  But no amount of scenery and acting makes up for the weakness in the material.  The timeline is still screwed up, it’s full of anachronisms and multiple key moments in the show are clearly cribbed from either prior Anne series or Jane Eyre.  Even the relationships themselves are clearly shadows of those in the real Anne series (Mrs. Thomas and Anne is a poorly drawn Marilla and Anne).

If I was able to completely set aside everything I know about Anne and treat this as a true stand alone story, it might not be too horrible (other than the anachronisms, but even those could partly be overlooked).  A family-friendly kind of costume drama.  The trouble is, they throw the Anne part in your face so much with those cribbed moments and copied snippets of dialog (and the care to cast the same Mrs. Hammond).  It’s like  Anne is being used as a marketing tool to sell something that someone wasn’t sure would stand up on its own (when, really, without that, it may have done better).

More than two hours hoover’d outta my life to see one of my favorite literary universes subjected to a Mary Sue prequel.  This is to Anne fans what Star Wars I-III were to those of us who grew up in a world that started with Episode IV.

Today is CBC Radio’s 75th Birthday!  Huzzah!  It goes without saying that I am a tremendous fan of CBC Radio.  Radio 1 is what I wish I heard when I turn on NPR (but never do….they lack a Shelagh Rogers or Anna Maria Tremonti), and I shudder to think of my life without some of the fantastic music I’ve encountered through CBC 3.

That list of songs and artists is incredibly long, and it was difficult to identify one song this week that tied with the birthday message….until I recalled what CBC Radio 2 (which is great, and I should probably listen to it more than I do, but there are only so many hours in a day….) commissioned a birthday song for another Canadian milestone, the 100th Anniversary of Parks Canada this summer, from a favorite artist I discovered through Radio 3, Sarah Harmer.

It’s simply called “The Parks Song”  or “Chanson des parcs” for the Francophone set.  It immediately puts me in mind of a conversation with a friend of mine from BC about Canadian identity.  She pointed out a penchant for sitting around campfires and singing songs as being strangely ubiquitous among Canadians….and–to her mind–strangely absent when she visited other countries.  This song is perfectly suited to friends around a pit of dancing flames, swaying back and forth and singing along.  It just fits.  And CBC Radio having a hand in adding this beautiful tune to the campfire repertoire of their listeners just adds to the laundry list of awesome they already possess.

It’s probably a bit chilly to still be gathering around a campfire for a song, but should you be in a climate conducive to such an activity this evening, give this tune a try and give a little shout out to the radio network to the North that’s nice enough to share it with all of us.

Sadly, I am stuck posting from my phone again, a situation that is hardly conducive to writing the kind of review my most recent Earworm deserves.

“Dying of Another Broken Heart” combines the kind of simple, clear county sound with a kind of well, adorableness.  I hear this song and it seems cute.  I mean, cute for a song about yet another broken heart. 

That great tune and cuteness was catchy enough to start me exploring more from Ortega.  Her album Little Red Boots is currently $5 from Amazon’s mp3 store, so I gave it a shot.  It was totally worth it. 

Also, it contributes to my Canadian country music part of the playlist on Radio 3….always a plus (so you can test drive several tracks there if you don’t want to part with $5 on my poorly constructed recommendation).

Despite my attempts to make sure I don’t overdo the Canadian connection here, I couldn’t help but have another Canadian song this week.  There’s been so much talk lately about the new Said the Whale single, “Lines” coming relatively close on the heels of their documentary Winning America, I’ve been on a Said the Whale kick lately…..

Heaviest on the rotation?  ”Camilo (The Magician)”.  What can I say about this song?  The song is fun, the guitar is great.  Much like last week’s pick, this is on my “Chair Dance” playlist for work–the kind of upbeat song that reenergizes a slow day and has me bobbing my head and tapping my feet.  If I weren’t in an open cube farm, there might even be air-guitar.

And Camilo is similar to Cammy.

If you’ve not given Said the Whale a try and you like a solid pop-rock song, “Camilo” is  a great starting point (then try the new one “Lines”).  You can try it out at Said the Whale’s Band Camp page (see below), or, as usual, on CBC Radio 3.

The first thing I thought of upon hearing this most recent earworm is, “Wow, shades of The Miami Soundmachine.”  And apparently I’m not alone because the very same day, CBC Radio 3 Bloggers and Radio 3 host Grant Lawrence were all voicing similar opinions of this new song from the band Hey Ocean!  It’s not a remake or anything, but the sound  brings back some great memories of “Conga” just based on the way the refrain is delivered in a kind of rapid-fire way.

On top of this, it’s very peppy and very upbeat.  It’s now at the top of my “Energize” playlist for those times when I find myself slowing down too much at work.  If you do not feel compelled to tap your foot to this song (at an absolute minimum), I recommend contacting your physician immediately.  It’s a song about dancing that actually achieves the goal of making people want to dance.

The lyrics are not overly deep or meaningful.  This is bubble-gum pop stuff, but that’s not a bad thing.  Saddling people with deep, thought-provoking lyrics would kind of detract from the way the music drives you to get up and move your ass.  Besides, Hey Ocean has plenty of other fantastic songs which have the lyrics covered–this one is fine to be fun based on pure sound.

As usual, you can hear the song at the CBC Radio 3 page, AND, at least for right now, Hey Ocean! has made this track available as a free download on their Facebook page (you can also stream some of their other tracks–I also recommend “Fish”).  Load it up, revel in the memories of 80s Miami Sound Machine Goodness in a shiny new Canadian package…and make a new dance up.

I’ve been “held captive” by yet another song on repeat.  It’s one I should have known about much sooner, but was only introduced to earlier this month as I’ve been re-establishing my quality time with CBC radio 3.

Sarah Harmer’s “Captive” is poised to become the song of the summer for me.  Within just a few listens, I was out buying the album (“Oh Little Fire”) because I had to have this tune.  It’s catchy, upbeat and just plain fun.  It’s going  into my road-trip mix and is already on my playlist for working out.

After all my usual go-to Sarah Harmer songs like “I Am a Glow” and “Escarpment Blues” and “The Hideout”, “Captive” is a departure.  Where the others are definitely heavy to the acoustic and folk side (which I love), “Captive” is refreshingly pop.  If you want something to dance around the house and sing along with, it’s tailor-made for the occasion.  That’s not to say the other Harmer pieces aren’t just as good (if you are in the mood for some great acoustic folk, check out any of those others–”I Am A Glow” is a particular favorite of mine).

The music is definitely the draw here.  Lyrically it’s a fun love song (“I wanna be held captive/Forget the way I acted”….”As long as there’s a view to look to/Fence me in and keep me close to you”), which is all well and good, but the real fun is in the beat and the “Oh-oh-oh-ohs” (ever notice how songs with things like that are automatically more fun to sing along with?).

And, bonus, there’s a fun video.  A whacky visual piece with late 1800s/early 1900s costumes, some trampoline-style acrobatics (without the trampoline) and streets turned into canals.  It’s nice to know people still make music vids, even though the crappy cable channels never play them.  In this case, you get the fun of watching AND it gives me an easy (and legal, since this is posted by the record company) way to share the song* with you, gentle readers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV2Ab0hE4HE

Have a look, have a listen and let yourself be held “Captive.”

*You can also listen, as usual, on the CBCR3 Page.

*Okay, here’s the thing:  Elves in Tolkien?  Definitely tied to the whole Norse thing.  Vikings?  Explored to the west, over the sea.  Elves?  Go “Into the West” over the sea.  So I’m thinking Leif & Co. were in charge of mass-transit for the Elf exodus to the Grey Havens.  They were totally making for the Americas!  And do you think any Elf in his right mind would stick around in Newfoundland when they could book it south to Cancun?  That’s right.  The Elves & Select Friends were carted over by Leif and are currently running several very high-end resorts along the Mexican Coast.

First, Happy Canada Day!  Hope our neighbors to the north had a great celebration.  I marked the occasion rocking out to the annual Radio 3 “Sing For Your Song” podcast special, followed by a lot of back podcasts of Shelagh Rogers’ “The Next Chapter.”

Second.

My squash really are going to kill me.

Last year it was the tomato plant that went nuts.  This year it’s the squash.  I actually spent time whacking off leaves today because they’re choking out the eggplants, the cherry tomato and the Hungarian pepper.  Even the separate container of dill had to be rolled further away to escape the encroachment.  This damn stuff is working toward a manifest destiny in which all of Missouri is covered in patty pan squash.

I lament that I didn’t get a chance to post this earlier, or I’d run out and take photos of these beasts.  I may yet come back and update this with some visual aids.  I’ve helped out with a lot of squash plants in my life, but these are proving to be more….aggressive.  And I swear they really are headed closer to the back door every day….

On the upside, there were 3 ready to be harvested and tons more lurking on the way.  Normally I would have photographed these initial yields from the garden, but I was hungry, tired and lazy and opted just to sautee and eat them (yes, part of this hurry was out of a slight fear that they might eat me first).

So if you y’all don’t hear from me for a long period of time….call the police, tell them to bring glyphosate and be prepared to question the squash heavily.

Update:  I braved the plants to take the following.  Not sure I’ll try it again.  They’re now in cahoots with the mosquitoes.  I can’t win against that kind of power.

My hand trying to push back the encroaching squash plant. That's not the largest leaf...

I’m ashamed that I haven’t taken the time to put this recommendation down any sooner.   There are any number of reasons I could recommend Grant Lawrence’s book Adventures in Solitude, What Not to Wear to a Nude Potluck and other stories from Desolation Sound, which made it that much harder to focus on putting a meaningful and worthy review down on paper.  A recent trip back home to Texas crystallized the element that meant most to me:

It’s about a place.

For some of us, me included, places play a role every bit as important in our lives as people.  They have moods, characters, and as much an influence in the plot of life as any human being.   Lawrence captures this brilliantly in Adventures in Solitude.  The picture he paints of his family’s remote property in Desolation Sound, British Columbia is more than just a setting for events–it’s a character in and of itself, shaped by the land, the sea, the weather and the oddball mix of people crazy enough and hardy enough to cling to its rocky shore.  Lawrence does not stop with just a vivid picture, but injects his own feelings about the place in a way that adds the discriminator turning Desolation Sound from location to character.  From Lawrence’s initial dislike, to an acceptance, a breakup, a reintroduction and a renewed love of Desolation Sound, his own feelings toward this place only serve to make it more of a dynamic player.

For Lawrence, Desolation Sound is cast in a principle role in the story of his own journey from painfully geeky West Vancouver kid, to rebellious punk rocker, to the voice of Canadian Independent Music.  The family cabin and its surrounding landscape is an extension of his family–the teacher in his youth, the thing against which he rebels in his young adult years, and the steady constant he comes back to in maturity.  Along the way he reveals some of the more famous (and infamous) tales in this history of the place in a parallel to his own moments, and moments of others who’ve come under the spell (or curse) of the area.

All of this is accomplished with incredible humor .  Lawrence has a great writing style.  If you’re a fan of his CBC Radio 3 show, or the CBC Radio 3 podcast (which, you damn well should be), you’ll recognize his voice right off.  There are moments of laugh out loud hilarity (snarf warning:  I had at least two instances of beverage-through-the-nose discomfort on the first reading and one on each subsequent reading) at Lawrence’s completely honest, unsentimental descriptions of his initial impression of the property he would come to love, and of his own painfully nerdtastic beginnings.  And I was pleasantly surprised to find that the man even managed to bring the funny in photo captions–it’s a pet peeve to endure crappy photo captions, so the fact that Lawrence made the captions not only something more than a cut & paste from the taste, but actively funny is worth its weight in gold to me.

And for those who pick up this book solely for the Canadian Music factor, the title alone (taken from the New Pornographer’s song “Adventures in Solitude”) should tell you that the book is not without sufficient nods to the music that plays into Lawrence’s life almost as much as Desolation Sound.  My copy of the book actually came with a “Backstage Pass” on a lanyard giving the Adventures In Solitude Playlist–where the songs listed are also found as chapter titles.  For the music connoisseurs with a keen eye, you will probably find other references.  I know I spotted a line or two from Joel Plaskett and a bit from a Great Lake Swimmer’s song in my first read.

The book held up for 4 reads already, which ought to tell you a lot right there.  I had initially pre-ordered the book from Amazon, but they fucked-up, I wound up going to Lawrence’s website and ordering direct.  In my haste to make sure I had the book before I travelled to Australia (plane reading is essential), I didn’t realize that the books from the website were, at least at that time, coming signed from Grant Lawrence himself.  For this long-time Radio 3 fan, that was the kind of pleasant surprise that resulted in a squeal that sent the cat running for cover.

I encourage anyone to seek out a copy.  If you’re a fan of humor, you’ll get a great laugh at the way it embraces absurdity.  If you’re a fan of Candian Indie music, you’ll get insight into the chief Evangalizer of that fabulous category of tunes.  But most importantly, if you know what it’s like to have a love for a place in your life that ranks up with the love you have for some of your family, you’ll find yourself in good company.

Adventures in Solitude
What Not to Wear to a Nude Potluck and other stories from Desolation Sound
by Grant Lawrence
published by Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd.

This is yet another week when I’m reminded of the Canadian Music invasion.  It started with hearing a Dell ad that definitely featured Malajube’s “Montreal -40C“–yes, kids, even French Canada is after us.

The other issue was that I’ve had Wintersleep’s “Weighty Ghost” stuck in my head.  Admittedly, there are worse fates to suffer than this.  Even 2 days of this running through my head hasn’t ruined it–but I can’t help but wonder what kind of sinister Canadian plot this could be.

To own the truth, it took hearing a cover of this tune for me to really fall in love with it.  Back before Glee, radio 3 did a feature on a music teacher in the Maritimes who had his kids singing arrangements of Canadian pop music (think PS22 from Staten Island).

It feels strangely like an anthem (which is why I think it translated well to the school chorus–you can totally stamp your feet and clap your hands to this one), and yet, it’s basically about fading into nothing….and it’s humorous–I love the repetition of the line “..sick of those God damned clouds…”–but kind of depressing in that it’s talking about death and disappearing.

Between the strange dichotomies and the over all catchy-nature of the music, it’s no wonder it gets stuck in my head.  Well, that, and the Canadian Music Invasion Conspiracy.  I give it 6 months before I hear this on an American commercial, too….