Mini Film Review: Pan's Labyrinth

FOR: The faeries. Evil Captain Vidal. A giant CG toad. Mercedes. Excellent sound.

AGAINST: A bit gory. Lots of symbolism that went right over my head.

FAVOURITE BIT: Mr. Hands-For-Face and his eyes.

VERDICT: Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea, but if you like dark fantasy you'll probably like this a lot. We did.

First ski of the season (and other things)

So where was I?

Bodyworlds? Not likely, apparently, as it was far too popular. We turned up on the Thursday evening to find it completely sold out. It had gotten so popular in the last few days that they decided to open Science World 24 hours a day from the Friday morning to the Sunday evening to allow more visitors. We checked online and found that the only times left available were between midnight on Friday and 6.30am Saturday morning. Err... no thanks. That will teach us to go to these things a little sooner next time.

Cypress? Yes! We had a great day. I did some snowshoeing, and Steph skied. We went with our friends Lauren and Woody and got there even before it opened. The morning was quite grey and misty, and visibility was poor. By lunchtime though, it turned into a very nice day. I took the camera and snapped a few photos which you'll find here. We were all shattered by the time we left, and stopped off on the way home for lots of greasy food and some beer. Lovely.

Last Sunday we met up with Ben, our friend who was here in Vancouver for job interviews. He ended up staying with us Monday and Tuesday in the spare room to save him some money on yet another hotel. He found himself a job and even signed on the dotted line before he left. He ought to be back sometime in February to stay. Good luck Ben!

We had our first two functional fitness lessons too, which is proving to be rather good. After the Thursday session we both felt more sore in the bum muscles than we ever have in our life. We are definitely using bits of our bodies that don't usually get to do anything. Today's session was the hardest yet, although our trainer tells us this is still the introductory work - the real exercising is yet to come. I'm starting to get scared.

This week I am going to a conference in San Francisco for work from Wednesday to Friday, and Steph has arranged herself a couple of "girly" nights out while I'm gone. Tsch.

Christmas and New Year photos

They are now up on Flickr at last. I was determined to sort it before the end of January :) Three small sets in all:

• My family Christmas (no pictures of Steph's family this time)
• A few pictures from New Year's Eve (sorry Tamsin and Noel!)
• Our whistle stop in Bristol

Mini Film Review: Children of Men

FOR: Michael Caine. English accents. London looking even dirtier than usual. The unexpected death of a major character. The script. Superb documentary-style camera work. Spotting the kid from the original English version of "Queer As Folk". An awesome 10-minute action shot with no cuts. Pam Ferris! A CG baby.

AGAINST: Why has Britain turned into a fascist state exactly?

FAVOURITE BIT: The low-speed dawn getaway in a car that won't start.

VERDICT: Superb! You must watch this film! Now!

...and a Happy New Year!

Okay, I guess I'm sorry that I didn't post before now. Blame Steph - she was going to post for the first time, but then changed her mind. I realise I am beginning to look like a crazy person with an imaginary girlfriend. Whatever.

Our trip home at Christmas was very enjoyable, although quite tiring. It was lovely to see our families and a few of our friends (you know who you are). Hopefully next year we can make the trip a little longer and get the chance to catch up with more of you.

So what has 2007 brought so far? Well, quite a lot of crazy weather for sure. Before Christmas, storms felled over 3000 trees in Stanley Park, and caused the roof of BC Place stadium to collapse. There's been nothing quite so newsworthy this year so far. Yesterday was actually very mild in the morning, but by the time we left work it had gotten cold and windy, and started to snow. This morning we woke up to snow on the ground, and it has been snowing on and off all day. That makes three snowfalls so far this winter. Vancouverites we have spoken to say it has never happened before. It's either climate change, or perhaps El Nino. I have a feeling its going to be another year of weather weirdness.

Also this morning, something went pop in our apartment and we lost electricity. Or at least some of it. About half our lights and sockets are out and the other half are still working. Fortunately we haven't lost anything vital like the fridge freezer or the internet (!), but tomorrow we're going to be showering in the dark. Looking forward to that.

In other news, one of our friends from England is here in Vancouver this week for job interviews, so we might see another addition to our little ex-pats club in the near future. Steph and I are also both going to try a new fitness programme organised through work. We are kind of bored and fancy a change of our gym routine. It's supposed to be all about functional fitness and developing whole body strength and stamina. That's all very well, but it is also all about an hour of exercise at 8.30am in the morning :/ Stay tuned to find out how long we keep that up.

Tomorrow we're hopefully going to the Bodyworlds 3 exhibition at Science World. The exhibition ends at the weekend so this is our last chance. I saw the original Bodyworlds exhibition in London several years ago and really enjoyed it, as well as finding it to be a real education in anatomy. Hopefully it will be similarly worthwhile this time round.

We're borrowing the work ski passes at the weekend to go to Cypress Mountain. With the weather we've been having, the conditions ought to be great. Steph will be skiing but I hope to snowshoe if I can. It'll be our first winter sports of the season - about time too.

I will try to rustle up some pictures for Christmas 2006 when I get a chance - all this text can get a little tiresome :) I've also been transferring a bunch of old photos from .Mac to Flickr. It's an ongoing process that is likely to take some time.

Here's to a superb 2007!