If I was American...

Did you catch Barack Obama's speech the other night? I must admit, I was riveted. He's one hell of a speaker and imo, made a lot of sense. I'm not American so can't vote for him, but I'd love to see him lead our southern neighbors out of the quagmire that W. has them in.
Most of all, I want their reputation restored. As a Canadian who grew up 'looking up' to that great nation next door, it makes my heart ache to see their worldwide repution sink. They've sadly become viewed as the bully of the playground, an international joke masquerading as democratic heaven.
I respect everyone's political views/affiliations, but please, my American friends, listen to Mr. Obama when he tells you, YOU are better than the last eight years. We all know it, and would desperately love to see an administration that can put you back on top.

Well that's about as political as I ever get in public. Stay tuned next week when I share my religious views... lol

If you look two posts down (go look, I'll wait) you'll see that the Kinson's bought a tent (in case of Emergency). We decided that instead of waiting for the apocalypse/alien invasion/nuclear attack, we'd use the tent to go camping :)

So we're off...
Stay tuned.

Are summer holidays and water boarding in the same category?

I am sooooooo done with summer holidays. The kids are on each others nerves, to say nothing of the single, fragile, frayed nerve of my own. My oldest begins on Tuesday (6 days and counting) while my youngest gets to stay home with mommy until the 8th of September. woo hoo.

Yesterday we tackled school-shoes-shopping. Damn the GEOX company for their memorable marketing campaign. From the moment we walked into Kiddie Kobbler, my two started chanting "Ge-ox, Ge-ox." And every now and then my four-year old would add "Geox breathes! But water can't get in!"
I, of course, steered them to the on-sale Reeboks, the cheaper (but excellently made) Stride Rite...
You KNOW we walked (no, ran!) out of that store with Geox's on our feet. But hey - for $60.00, Geox also gives you a cheap handheld game - woo hoo.

Today we venture into Walmart for school supplies. I'm positivily giddy with excitement.
Geox doesn't make school supplies, do they? :o

In Case of Emergency, Please Pack...

Boy, once you get out of a blogging routine, it's really freaking hard to get back in!!

So the trip northwest to Thunder Bay was looong... 2 days drive each way.

Day 1, hubby and I discussed world politics, shared news stories we saw or read on t.v./magazines/internet, gossiped about family members, etc... Normal husband-wife chit chat.

Day 2 we resorted to word games, geography games (if anyone knows places that begin with 'X' - city, town, country, river or mountain range - do speak up!) and discussed plans for the week.

Day 3, the journey home, we post-mortemed the visit, which took all of two hours, and then the silence set in. By the time we passed the stinky mill-town of Terrace Bay, I was getting antsy.

I turned to Hubby and said "Some sort of crisis occurs -- war, plague, alien invasion -- take your pick. You have thirty minutes or less to evacuate your home. What do you take and where do you go?"

Believe it or not, this conversation lasted for the rest of the journey. We what-iffed and butted our way through a major flu outbreak, an atomic blast, and War of the Worlds for TEN hours!! Remember this the next time there's a conversation lull at a dinner party.

I won't bore you with our entire packing list, but I'll share the top faves and invite you to add your own.

Assuming we're heading north into isolation and only have our minivan to fill, here's a room by room breakdown...

Office: coin collection for future currency/trading. Credit cards are useless. Grab gold and silver.

And passports, just in case we have to prove our citizenship/allegiance.

Garage: tools, including axe, rope, hammer or mallet, utility knife, wire... useful outdoorsy stuff. Tent or tarp to make temporary shelter. I later added a toboggan, incase we somehow take down a moose and need to drag it to camp ;)

Bathroom: any and all medicine in the cabinet, bandaids, soap, toothbrushes, bug spray and sun screen

Bedroom: blankets, sewing kit, durable clothes (leave the 'dry clean only' stuff for the aliens)

Kitchen: vitamins, salt (moose is YUK without salt - also good for preserving meat), canned goods and pasta/rice, oil, can opener, some sharp knives, spoons, pot, pan, plastic plates, bowls, cups.

Other: couple of books (once read would make good kindling) matches, candles, batteries, portable radio.

And finally... my iPhone. Cause after waiting in line for 5 1/2 hours to buy the damn thing, I'm not going ANYWHERE without it.

Oh - and I should mention... upon arriving home, hubby picked up a tent at Walmart. Just in case ;)

Lake Superior -- Proof of God?

Hubby and I loaded up the kids and drove north-west to my hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario 10 days ago. We weren't looking forward to the drive... I mean, two days in the car with two youngsters who were bound to harrass us with "Are we there yet?" isn't my idea of a fun kick-off or ending to a family vacation!

We set off in the morning rain, intending to stop in a place called Sudbury, which is about 5 hours north of Toronto, for lunch and a visit to their acclaimed science center -- which Light (eldest, gifted son) would no-doubt LOVE. Alas, a major and sadly fatal accident occurred moments ahead of us as we approached the ramp into Sudbury. The highway was closed down and we spent a hungry 2 hours in a traffic jam and detoured around the far side of the city... leaving no time to daly at the science center.

Despite the rain and delays, the drive was scenic and lovely; farm land, quaint towns and the occassional glimpse of rivers that flowed to Lake Huron, just beyond our view. We found accommodation in Sault Ste Marie, which is on St. Mary's River -- the river that joins Lake Huron and Lake Superior.

Now comes the god part (spelling mistake -supposed to say 'good part' but I'm leaving it): The drive between the Sault (pronounced 'soo') and Thunder Bay, around the north shore of Lake Superior was breathtaking. I've NEVER seen such beauty, and I've lived in Bermuda, so that's saying a lot ;)

Rugged rocks rich with minerals making them a rainbow of colors - pink, grey, green, black and bright red. There are forests as far as the eye could see in multitude shades of green. We passed over hundreds of rivers and creeks with names like Blind, White, Spanish, Dead Horse, Mink, Ruby, French, Montreal, Goulais, Two and Half Mile, Ten Mile... next time, I'm going to write them all down.

(Pictured right: that's my sister on the sailboat we chartered to cruise around Thunder Bay Harbour)

Towns, (mostly mining or paper mill based) were far and few between. The lake, so big you can't make out its far shores, sparkled in front of us as we rounded corners in the road and I couldn't help but envy those who spent months and years in that wilderness blasting through the rocks to lay the highway across Northern Ontario.

Yes, it was desolate... but peaceful. Intimidating in its great vastness but inspiring. Scary but inviting. Both DH and I fantasized about owning a chunk of that wilderness, just because it would be incredible to stand on that land and call it your own.

(pictured right: Hillcrest Park, Thunder Bay - the famous Sleeping Giant is just visible in the distance on Lake Superior and those two little people on the hill are 4 yr old Sweetness and 8 yr old Light)

Got me thinking... I think every Canadian, at least once in their lifetimes, should endeavor to travel coast to coast. To be honest, I started out by commenting to family members that every immigrant/new Canadian, should have to travel coast to coast (gov't funded, of course) so they could see the beauty of their adopted country, until my brother in law confessed to never being out of his own province!! *gah* Others spoke up and confessed the same. So I changed the 'If I Ruled the World' policy to All Canadians :)

And me? Yes - I've been from Prince Edward Island to British Columbia, thanks to my folks, who dragged my sister and I, kicking and screaming, on road trips. Once we got there, I loved every minute :) and I look forward to dragging my own kids across the praries, over the Rockies and beyond. Maybe we'll even go north 'til we run into a glacier.

How about you? Have you seen your country? Your province/state? Share your thoughts...

Very Bad Blogger

Hey kids! Go get your mommy 'cause Wylie's going to use big bad words...

Did you all read the racking-fracking bruhaha over the non-released book "Jewel of Medina"? There's a very thoughtful commentary on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, but the snip-sniping comments (there are over 300 of them) is an amazing time-suck, blood-pressure-raising experience. Go HERE to check it out, if you have 2 hours ...

My take: I'm okay with this book because it's A) FICTION!! and B) an author's right to write and publisher's right to print and a reader's right to buy. Or not.

Christian's took exception to The DaVinci Code,

Catholics took exception to The Last Temptation of Christ,

Jews to The Passion of the Christ,

Pamela Anderson takes exception to meat.

My point? We all have sensitive points. If you don't like it, don't read it, or watch it, or eat it. Mass signings of petitions, bannings, book burnings, bomb threats, violence... NOT necessary. Just don't spend the money to support it. Is that so hard?

Meanwhile, the press machine is LOVING it, and it only serves to provide even MORE publicity to the thing you are against.

For instance, I would have passed this book with nary a thought to purchase. Now,... I can't wait to get my hands on it!! At full price, for the hard-cover :P

I've been a very bad blogger, I know. I had every intention of doing up a whole post-RWA convention posts but I find myself time-less, getting ready for another trip (don't be envious... have you ever heard of Thunder Bay, Ontario? Hardly a Disney vacation), and still very buried under laundry.

And hey -- the writing thing! Yeah, Wylie has a book to finish... (switching povs) I got a request for partials from lit agent, Caren Johnson (very cool) and Dorchester Pub's senior editor Chris Keelser (head-exploding cool).

The conference was amazing and fun and overwhelming and wonderful... and I do want to talk about stuff, like the awesome authors I met (with awesome sauce on top -- hello Gwen!) and post pics, and say more about the pitches, the Ritas, etc... but it'll all have to wait.

I did put a few pics of Ellora's Cave authors HERE, and I will add this pic of Nora (just because, how often will I get to stand 2 feet away from the woman who has THREE HUNDRED MILLION books in print (yes, they reckon there's one Nora Roberts book sold every 26 seconds)

Also must add that I had the PRIVILEDGE of hearing the new president of RWA, Dianne Pershing (sp?) speak at the President's Luncheon and she totally ROCKED. Impressed the socks of li'l ol' me, anyhoo. The theme of her speech was 'Things I learned at the boardroom table' and a few of her points really spoke to me. This one imparticular (paraphrasing):

I am responsible for my actions,

not the reactions of others.

This is my new mantra -- both for my writing career and personal life.

I just realized how nicely that ties in with the 'Jewel of Medina' crap.

Off to Thunder Bay imminently so I'll say goodbye until the end of August. Hope you're all having an amazing summer.

Too tired to talk about Nationals, kind of...

Nationals is over :(

I'm home, I'm exhausted, and I can't wait to share conference news.... when my eyes lose the blurry fuzz...
Meeting people was definitely the highlight -- Karen Erickson, MG Braden, Jennifer Leeland, RG Alexander, - hell, ALL THE DIVAS!!, Jennifer North, ROBIN ROTHAM!! (finally!), Anne Calhoun, Elizabeth Baxter, Denise Rosetti, Kimberly Frost--all authors in different stages of their careers, in all genres. What a phenomenal experience.
I did go fan-girl on Joanna Bourne, Meredith Duran, Debbie Macomber, Eve Silver (sorry Eve, but your talent tongue-ties me... ) and if Michelle Rowen was one ounce more funny, friendly and personable I'd bump off Bonnie Staring to fill the BFF role (so hold yerself back, MR!)

And hanging with my TRW buddies without having to sit through a meeting (hee) was just the best. C - put me down for rooming-duties next time!

And now I'm going to crawl into my son's Thomas the Tank Engine bed, just to smell his hair. *sigh*

Until next time,...

While We're Gone... Contest

Hey kids,

The Six Degree of Sexy gals are holding a contest beginning this Monday, July 28th.
For six days, while we're studiously honing our craft *ahem cough-cough* at the Romance Writers of America National Conference in San Francisco (thanks for the correct spelling, N), there will be one question posted per day. All you need to do is drop by, answer the dead-easy questions and cross your fingers that you're name is pulled from the magic hat.

That's SIX days, SIX questions, SIX prizes!!
Oops, I really didn't mean to do the 666 thing.
Okay, TECHNICALLY, there are EIGHT prizes because both Christine and Red have Ellora's Cave cards to give away. 668? Yeah, that's better.

So visit Six Degrees of Sexy from Monday, July 28th through Saturday August 2nd for a chance to win books by
Red Garnier
Robin Rotham
Renee Field
Amy Ruttan
Christine d'Abo
and yours truly :)

T -2 Days and counting, The Dark Knight

Two days until I get on a plane for the RWA conference in San Francisco. Panic has officially morphed into resignation. No, I didn't finish the book, still have the synopsis to complete and my pitch to practice.
So let's ignore all I didn't do and talk about other things...

Like The Dark Knight. Wow - what a movie. Hubby and I enjoyed it thoroughly. All that stuff they're saying about Heath Ledger, how great he was, how he should win an Oscar? Well... they're not just saying that because he's dead (bless is soul)... He really was THAT amazing. I wish I was eloquent enough to draw an accurate picture of his interpretation of the Joker, but I wouldn't do Heath any justice. With a character like the Joker, there's a fine line between greatness and OTT (over the top). Heath managed to pull it off with psycho-scary brilliance. Every jitter, facial expression, flick of the tongue, dart of the eyes was dead-on perfection. And his one-liners were delivered with accurate sarcasm without camp.
The entire cast was very good, but he shone.

The story was good, too. In the past, it seems to me that comic book/super hero focused more on the hero's angst/lovelife/personal-journey and let the plot serve as mere background. Not so with this latest Batman. In fact, I felt a bit cheated that we didn't get MORE Batman (can't please me, can they - LOL). The story was central and more along the lines of a proper police/crime drama (someone else compared it to The Departed and I have to agree).
I've very glad I saw it. And it should be experienced on a big screen!

Have you seen it? Thoughts??

Who ya gonna call? STRESS BUSTERS!

Did you read my post about Busting Stress last week?
If you did, and left a comment, you might be interested to know that I compiled the answers and turned them into a Thursday Thirteen.
It's appearing over at Six Degrees of Sexy, so go check it out.
Hey, even if you didn't contribute, you might find something useful on the list ;)

Button reviews for Red, Christine and me!

I'm up on top of the world, looking down on creation, la la la la la-la la la la la laaaaaa....

Now that I've got you singing along with The Carpenters (probably for the rest of the day -- just try and get that song out of your head!!) I'm going to torture you further with some self-agrandizing...
Law of Averages got an A+ from Simply Romance Reviews. And SQUEEE.... I collected another one of these cool little buttons



to add to my sidebar. And everybody knows... it's all about the buttons!! LOL


And congrats to sistah-friend Red Garnier, who also got a 'button' review for her sexy Exotika book, Seven Sinners.
And more congrats to s-f Christine d'Abo who got 'button' reviews from Joyfully Reviewed AND Simply Romance this past week.
Woot woot gals! Now sing with me: We're up on top of the wo-orld, looking down on creation...

Contest Info -- it's a biggie!!

Psst... go over to Six Degrees of Sexy cause I've just announced an amazing book-giveaway contest put on by the Toronto Romance Writers. Amazing authors, a stellar line up of books(signed!!) in a multitude of sub-genres. Go! NOW!!

Menage: Wylie Kinson, Cora Zane and Ron Jeremy?!?

So a few months back, I got an email from an editor at The L Magazine (New York) asking me to comment on life in the 'sex industry' (whatever). I'm sure quite a few of you erotic-romance/erotica authors were hit with the same request.
I had a few minutes on my hands so I complied and it looks like they lifted a few choice paragraphs for their article.

What really makes me giggle is that fellow author-blogger Cora Zane and I can now say we're on the same page as Ron Jeremy -- and WE'RE ON TOP!! *hee*

btw -- thanks for outting me, Leah ;)

Enquiring Minds Want to Know: How do you bust stress??

Isn't summer supposed to be a lazy time to kick back, relax and enjoy the sunbeams?
Yeah, well... I'm doing something seriously wrong because I've been in frantic mode since mid-June.

I had a nice long chat with my TRW (Toronto Romance Writers) buddy Christine d'Abo over dinner the other night and she's in a very stressful place as well, for different reasons. I've got ten years on Christine so tried to share some of my own experiences in handling stress in the workplace, which is ironic since she's already much better equiped to handle it than I was ten years ago!! Also, I've gotten myself into my own personal stress-rut so who'm I to dole out advice?

So give it to me people... WHAT DO YOU DO when feeling overwhelmed, can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, or find yourself in circumstances that you don't have the power to change? Other than self-medicate, I mean ;)

I used to loose myself in a good book, but I just can't find the time to crack a novel, let alone Christine's latest release (The Bond that Heals Us, second in the Bond series... so freaking good!!) and even THAT'S stressing me out!! What the heck kind of supportive sistah-friend am I that I can't find three or four hours to jump into the Davin/Sara story that I had been chomping at the bit for?! *bows head in shame*

On a sort of related topic, Leah Braemel brought up the subject of writing and hobbies on her blog today, so go visit and share your thoughts.

Recommended Read?!?!?!

Just when I'm second guessing everything I write, telling myself I'm absolute CRAP and have no right to show my face at Nationals, I stumble across another review of Law of Averages...

Jambrea at Joyfully Reviewed gave it a RECOMMENDED READ!!! Woot -- thanks Jambrea!! :)

Here's a little bit of what she said:

There are a few touching scenes between [Gabriel and Megan] as well as the hot
sex and that is why I am Joyfully Recommending Law of Averages. It has
everything I love in a story; sex, tenderness and laughter with a hint of
the mystical thrown in for good measure.

You can read the whole thing HERE.
And me? I'm going to write!!

Writing goals and not reaching them.

The RWA National Conference is only 21 days away and do I have my novel finished? NO.
Have I done my synopsis? NO.
Practiced my pitch? NO.
Shopped for appropriate 'professional' clothes? NO.

So much for that list of goals I made up in January!
The novel is progressing, but not nearly as quickly as I'd hoped. The paranormal, Elements of Attraction, that I began in January ended up getting shelved after 40,000 words. It wasn't working, the flow was off, I dunno... I just know that I struggled to get every word on the page and writing began to feel like a horrible nightmare of a chore. I will go back to it, someday, because I love the idea, and the characters. I just don't think my talent was equal to my ambition.

So I began my current wip (currently untitled) in mid-May, weeks before the kidlets were due to be set free from school. Not great timing on my part, but at least I'm enjoying writing again, when I manage to grab a few quiet moments. My hero is a professional soccer (football!!) player who gets roped into running his sister's bridal salon while she's busy having a baby. Sound like fun? I hope so :)

Also on the plate, I'm judging two writing contests (I know, I know... what was I thinking?) but it's been an interesting and educational experience. There's some amazing raw talent out there and some entries have me thinking - why aren't these people published?! Others are... well... meh. These are the most valuable to me because I can analyze their mistakes and (hopefully) learn how to avoid/correct them in my own work.

That said, I'm retreating back into the cave. Not the Writing Cave, but the Kid Cave -- where glue, Webkinz and minigolf rule!!

Oh - almost forgot... Law of Averages got a pretty decent review from The Good, the Bad and the Unread. *squee*

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day!

May the spectacular explosions of

tonight's fireworks take your mind off your gas bill... ;)

More Movies! The Bucket List, The Bee Movie, The new Bond trailer for Quantum of Solace

Hubby's still away and I just need to take this opportunity to shout out to all single parents out there. How the heck do you do it?? *bowing*
Yes, the kids are mostly my responsibility all day long anyway, but it's always nice when the DH emerges from his work cave to hang out with the boys while I cook dinner, or dash to the grocery store. And DH always puts one of the kids to bed as they go at different times. With just me, the little one is getting to stay up extra late and I'm putting them down at the same time.
Four more days until co-parenting resumes!
And of course, I miss him for other things...

like cleaning the cat litter ;)

More movies!!
I love watching movies and my watching habits tend to come in clusters. I can go two or three months without seeing anything longer than a sitcom, then I need my fix. Here's what I saw this weekend:

Kids and I had our camping night (waaaay too many s'mores were consumed) and we hunkered in the basement in a mound of blankets and watched The Bee Movie.
I wasn't expecting much as I remember the reviews being sort of meh. I was pleasantly surprised -- it didn't suck. In fact, it was highly enjoyable. Don't know what all the 'meh' was about, except that I guess people expected something shiny and brilliant because Jerry Seinfeld is some sort of comedy god. Ha - remember how the world frowned upon the final episode of Seinfeld (I liked it just fine, btw).
So yeah, The Bee Movie was a hit for us. Funny, nice to look at, touched on a few social issues but nothing too far above the understanding of the kids, so it worked for us. :)

The Bucket List -- after a very long day of mini-golf and Chuck E Cheese, I sat down the other night and watched Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson in this dramedy.
Very enjoyable -- a couple of laughs and a few tears.
Though it deals with death, it isn't morose and I didn't find I was being hit over the head with "do it before you die" message.
It was actually more of a relationship movie... a bromance without the naughty...
Two people that need each other in order to find the missing pieces of their lives.
They begin as friends, go travelling together, have deep conversations in which they eventually open up and share personal details of their lives, and discover a deep connection.
See? A bromance! And a good one. You should see it.

Today I'm taking the munchkins to see WALL-E, so you'll doubtless hear more about that on Thursday. In the meantime, I leave you with the new trailer for the highly anticipated (by me) new Bond movie, Quantum Leap.
Wait, no. I'm having a 90's flashback.
Quantum of Solace or some such. Whatever. Just watch the trailer. And lament with me that Daniel Craig isn't wearing a speedo. Damn.

Summertime, S'mores and Blockbusters

ACK!
School is OUT!
Hot summer days filled with playparks, mini-golf, and backyard shenanigans begin. I may as well say good-bye to the blogworld now, at least for the next 2 months, because between kids and travel, computer time will be severly limited.
What little time personal time I can squeeze will be filled with judging entries in two contests (why oh why do I volunteer for these things?! It's not that I'm unenthusiastic, it's just that the timing always seems to SUCK!), the next assignment in the children's lit course I'm STILL doing, research/submit a completed story to children's mags, and alas... trying to get a few words into my current contemporary-romance wip.
Not to mention preparing/packing/manicuring/shopping for my mid-summer trip to the RWA National Conference in San Fransisco.
Sing with me now "Oh where, oh where has my sanity gone, Oh where, oh where can it be?"

I'm a single parent this week as the DH has gone off to Mexico on business. Tough life, eh?
The kids and I have BIG plans this weekend. We're going camping!!
In our basement.
Yup -- sleeping bags, s'mores, and scary movies!!
And indoor plumbing is only a flight of stairs away :)

I'm always looking for whacky ideas to amuse the kids, so if you've got any, please share in comments...

Summertime also means a crop of new movies. Two that I'm looking forward to are Hancock (looks hilarious and I love Will Smith) and Wanted (James McAvoy - yum, and Angelina kickin' ass -- it's got to be good). I'm unsure about the new Batman movie. Can't decide if I can sit through a couple of hours of Heath Ledger at his creepiest, for obvious reasons.
What summer movies are you looking forward to?

Happy summer everyone. Blogs will be spotty at best until September, but don't give up on me!

More in movies: Stardust, Fool's Gold and sex appeal in general

EEKS! How did it get to be Monday so quickly??

First - go ye to Red Garnier's website. She's having a contest and there's a $50 gift certificate up for grabs.

Last week I blogged about movies and someone (was it you Grammar Geek?) recommended Stardust. Well I rented it for me and the 8 year old to watch and we LOVED it.
It's a lot like The Princess Bride, in terms of uniquely wonderful characters (Robert DeNiro as a 'poofy' pirate was hilarious) and fairytaleish qualities. The comic relief was as plentiful and satisfying as the fights and romance. And low and behold, who did I spy playing a very minor (2 scenes only) character but my new obsession, Henry Cavill. Even playing a pompous wigged ass he was adorable ;)
Pictured left is Charlie Cox who plays Tristan, the romantic lead. Claire Danes is the female lead, but who want to see her, right?

Also caught Fool's Gold with Kate Hudson and Matthew Mc... McConau.. whatever. You know who I mean.
It was enjoyable, but I'm glad I didn't blow $12 (+popcorn) at the movie theater. Then again, if seeing a shirtless Mattie on my large HD was satisfying, maybe it would have been worth the theater cost.
That man is eye-can-dy! Woo ha.
I really didn't buy the whole romance angle of the story and I think I'll blame Kate. Though I think she's cute as button and seems like a fun-loving gal, she just doesn't seem to have the sexual chemistry vibe with any of her co-stars.
Some actors have it, some don't.
Take Halle Berry, for instance. Gorgeous, great actress. But I've never found her to exude sex-appeal on-screen. Why is that?
Then you take someone like... (thinking)... Angelina Jolie (I know, I know, she's a love-her/hate-her example) but you can't deny that woman is walking sex.
Or for a less controversial actress, how about Catherine Zeta Jones? Remember her in Zorro with Antonio... hot. Or with Clooney in that one about the divorce (the name escapes). Even as a bitchy, anal, ocd chef in No Reservations, she still managed to cook up some chemistry with Aaron Eckhart.
Opinions please? The floor is open...

Late to the party, but I'm here... with Hedley and Simple Plan

Since kids became the predominant time-suckers in my life, I feel like I'm late to the party where music is concerned. Blame it on years of sacrificing the radio for kid-friendly cd's in the car.
Oh,... and the fact that the radio stations in Bermuda suck and are stuck playing "Hits of the 70's 80's & 90's!"

So here I am, back in Canada, trying to play catch up. One of my new faves is homegrown Hedley, led by Jacob Hoggard, the 3rd place runner up from a long ago season of Canadian Idol (long before I got here, anyway...

Here's the song that's being played ad nauseum in my iPod lately:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38w_dSdMhOE
(damn it! They've taken the embed feature off the YouTube clip. WHY?!)

Hedley's newest release, It's Never Too Late, is uber-catchy and has my 4 year old singing along. If you spent any part of your formative years in the early 80's, you'll love the video and will recognize it immediately. Watch the clip here, then come back... I'll wait: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l_h8_mbZsc


Did you recognize it???? The clothes, the hair, the body paint, the overall CHEESE??
If not... here's the original:


Ah... Flash from the past. Feels like yesterday ;)

Here's another band I'm loving -- Simple Plan. And this is just a coincidence, I promise... but I just found out that they're Canadian too!!
Have a listen...



Have you had any recent musical discoveries? Tell me about them...