I'm leaving soon for my Christmas get together in Nowheresville, aka Smiths Falls. I don't know how December slid past so quickly - most of the stuff I meant to do is still in my to-do pile. Oh well. Here's hoping I don't forget any critical gifts, and that my sister's heating doesn't conk out on us like it did two years ago. 

I hope to be able to check in occasionnally but my sister's internet connection is dodgy and we're going to be pretty busy. So just in case, here's wishing you and yours all the best. Stay safe! Talk to you in the New Year.

The Olympic Torch reached Toronto today and was scheduled to arrive at City Hall around 7 PM. With the evening's entertainment kicking off at 6, I decided to arrive early for a good view at 5. Then of course the Torch was nearly an hour late, so what started as a fun evening with friends eventually turned into a bit of a pushing and shoving match as thousands and thousands of people kept on arriving. So eventually my view got constricted to the tiniest sliver, but I still got a half decent shot considering how dark it was.
Brrrr - I've been home for nearly two hours now and I'm still cold. Haven't yet built up my resistance to winter weather.

( more pics under the cut )
Less than 2 months now to the opening ceremonies, which just so happen to fall on my sister's birthday. I'll be visiting her in Whistler and can't wait to soak up the Olympic atmosphere. This will be the 4th games I've attended: Montreal, Atlanta and Sydney being the others. Whistler's solution to the perennial transportation problem is to allow no cars past Squamish unless you're a local - that's why the Transportation Team I'm volunteering with is going to play such a crucial role in the games. Can't wait!

Thanks everyone for the snowflake cookies! It really helps put me in the Christmas frame of mind. Still no snow here in Toronto although it's starting to look possible.

If you want to see a whole bunch of snow, check out the vids here from Whistler. They had a record month in November - 18 feet!

And if you're at all interested in the Olympics or the sights of Canada, here's a vid of the torch relay as it passes through Atlantic Canada.

This is my entry for jeannev's hiatus project, where I include 20 pics that sum up why I love Smallville.

( Of course I had to cheat by making a few collages! )

Hi flist! If you're in a crossword puzzling frame of mind, I've posted another one here http://crossword.info/jlvsclrk/SmallvilleMisc - many of the answers are names and places associated with Smallville. It's an interactive puzzle using Java, so should run in most browsers. Let me know if you'd prefer a PDF version - although you can't get hints that way.

Hope you enjoy, and please let me know if you spot an uh-oh.

This is a difficult episode for me to evaluate. Parts of it worked very well, but parts of made me ask questions that threw me out of the storytelling. Most importantly, I feel Clark was rendered largely irrelevant for much of the episode and that is never acceptable to me. Still, I thought it somewhat better than Kandor so give it a perhaps too generous A-.

( Kneel before ... )

I was tagged by christina_kat. I borrowed her idea of adding in a few photos.


( Q&A under the cut )

Say something to the person who tagged you.

This was fun - thanks for tagging me!

Oops, nearly forgot to post this one! Kandor was a good episode that had the potential to be great, which makes me harder on it than a piece of fluff like Rabid. I give it a B(+).

( Read more... )

This is my entry for Team Krypton in the smallvilleland picspam challenge, featuring Kryptonian superpowers.



( Picspam below the cut )

Excuse me while I gush over the second or third best racehorse I've ever seen in person. Number one by open lengths was Secretariat in 1973 - yes I'm old enough to have seen him in his final start. The number two spot is a much more competitive race but Zenyatta's performance today in the Breeders Cup Classic cemented her place in my heart. First of all, she just dusted the boys, becoming the first mare to ever win the Classic. She did so with her electrifying turn of foot that just leaves race fans gasping for breath as she zooms from last to first. She also looks the champion - big and fierce and yet still very feminine. And she has the most amazing personality - she knows she's good. Her signature move looks like dancing - in fact, they did a little spoof on the show about featuring her on Dancing With the Stars.



( Here are some pictures I took of her last year. )

I've seen a lot of great reviews for this episode, mostly positive, some neutral and others negative. The odd thing about it is I can totally understand all the differing points of view. Crossfire has something for just about every Smallville fan to like, but it probably had something for just about everyone to dislike too. For me, the positives definitely outweighed the negatives so I give it an A.

( Of course I care - I bought a new tie! )

I had extremely low expectations of this episode and even so it managed to disappoint. I don't like Ollie so that was already a few strikes against it, but the way this episode played out had Power looking like a masterpiece to me. Certainly deserves consideration for the worst episode ever IMO. An unqualified F.

And there's nothing under the cut because I don't have anything whatsoever positive to say about the episode.

This review is late because I've been mulling about whether and why I liked Echo more or less than Rabid. Both episodes had their flaws but they also had some really great scenes as well. So I eventually came to the same grade for both episodes, an A-.

( Thanks dad )

Hi there! I'm just back from a looonnggg weekend with limited internet access. Just a short review this time, more for the sense of completeness than because I really have anything new to add to the discussion.

I can't remember an episode that I've enjoyed this much despite the huge number of flaws. The good bits were just so good that I'm prepared to overlook the hideous waste of time and space that is Oliver Queen's arc, not to mention the even more perfunctory than usual "science" of the cure. So I'll give it an A- and rewatch it frequently, but always with the remote in hand to fast forward through the ugly bits.

( Details under the cut )

I'm still bouncing with excitement and delight after the second viewing of Metallo - it must be love! I absolutely adored this episode and it ranks up there with the best ever in my books. A+++
( More fannish enthusiasm under the cut )

Smallville returns for its ninth season with a real burst of energy. It wasn't quite as good as my fondest dreams, but not nearly as bad as my worst. In fact IMO, it's the best premiere since Arrival, so I give it a solid A+.

( spoilers under the cut )

This is further to a suggestion by quiet__tiger to post about nine reasons I keep watching Smallville.  http://quiet--tiger.livejournal.com/498419.html I could actually be very shallow and just list my favorite Tom Welling body parts starting with his lips and that light-up-the-world smile, but I'll try to be more substantive.

( Nine reasons to watch, below the cut )

Sorry I've been largely silent lately. I've been in a funk and my sleep cycle is totally messed up. I was saying to my sister that it feels like I'm turning into a vampire, or perhaps a cat. Definitely nocturnal.

I've had a very slow summer. I lost my job a while back and took it easy thanks to a severance package, but am now finding it difficult to go through the job search routine - very depressing. Maybe that has something to do with the sleep cycle thing. At least I got some renovations done to my condo - walls repainted, bathroom redone. I want to change the carpets but with three cats I figure what's the point? They do shed a lot, and treat the carpet as one giant scratching post, not to mention the occasional hair ball. Oh well.

I have been on a few short trips, mostly for stargazing purposes. You have to drive at least an hour to get away from the light pollution of Toronto so I like to go north to Georgian Bay or Algonquin park. No pictures to share sorry - astrophotography is a complete crapshoot for me - I've only taken about five good photos in all my years of trying. I prefer to sketch actually - its a better representation of what you see with the naked eye.

I also took a brief trip to Saratoga for the Travers a couple of weeks back - I do love my horseracing almost as much as Smallville! Here's a snap of Summer Bird as he flies to victory - it was a great day even though it rained on and off throughout. If you want to see more photos, here's a link to my facebook album http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=108627&id=619487292&l=99df6bb5cb

Speaking of Smallville, I'm looking forward to its return even as I'm kinda sorta dreading it. Like so many of my friends, I felt burned by the last half of S8 and just have trouble trusting the showrunners to get it right this time. After all, PS are a very hit and miss writing team and don't seem to have any respect for continuity as witness Veritas and Eternal. But I have seen the trailers and the slowly emerging promo pics and I have to say its looking promising.

That's all I can think of for now. Take care y'all!