Short Hiatus

See you in April! Be good and behave yourselves, eh?

In the Confessional

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It's been *mumble* years since my last confession. Through my own weakness, I have committed a mortal blogging sin, the circumstances of which are as follows.

A couple of weeks ago, Leeanna of Can We Have a New Witch, Ours Melted surprised and delighted me with both an ABC Award and a Sunshine Blogger Award! And then Kestril Trueseeker of Kestril's Rhythms and Groove honoured me with a Sunshine Blogger Award too!

As a recipient, I was supposed to come up with 11 facts about myself plus do an A-B-C meme that looked like a lot of fun. And then, of course, pass on the awards to other people.

Yes, Father, I promised the girls that I'd do so. Yes, I faithfully promised them. But I've been so christly busy -- oh sorry, Father, just add it to my list of sins -- that I haven't had time to do it and now I've run out of time and . . . and . . . *sobbing loudly* I won't be able to do it after all! And I feel soooooooooo guilty! I can't eat. I can't sleep. My hair is falling out from the stress of it all. Please, Father, give me absolution so that I can move forward from this transgression and live a productive life again!

✞      ✞      ✞      ✞      ✞      ✞      ✞      ✞      ✞      ✞      ✞      ✞

So whaddya say, Blogosphere? Would you forgive this miserable sinner? What penance should the wretch do?

Truck Nuts

Truck nuts are popular in Alberta. You can hardly drive down the street without seeing some half-ton sporting a pair. Personally, I think they're hilarious. My Rare One does not think they're funny. They really piss her off. We all have our pet peeves, I guess. What's yours?

Yay, It's Oscar Night!

Don't you just LOVE the Oscars? I do. I've watched them every year since I was a kid. Here are my fearless predictions for the top categories to be awarded this evening:

Best Supporting Actor: Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips." Just because he ad-libbed the best, most chilling line in the entire movie: "I am the captain now."

Best Supporting Actress: Lupito Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave." She is amazing in that most distressing of all movies.

Best Actor: This is a toughie but I'm going with Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club." Hollywood loves anyone who gets skinny for a role.

Best Actress: Everyone says this is Amy Adams' year to finally win an Oscar. She's not a particular fave of mine and I thought her part in "American Hustle" largely involved just showing a lot of cleavage but okay, I'll go along with majority opinion here.

Best Picture: "12 Years a Slave," if there's any justice in this world.

Best Director: Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave." That agonizingly long-held shot of the tippytoes hanging/strangulation scene was brilliant direction of unspeakable horror. Appalling and haunting, all at the same time.

So we'll see tonight how right or wrong I turn out to be! But there's no contest about the next award. The Oscar for Sexiest Butch in a Tux goes to . . . .

Trailer Park Sandwich

It's been almost 5 years since I last blogged about my beloved Trailer Park Boys but, to recap, here's a partial repost:

I know I come across as, like, kulcherd and edumacated and shit like that, but it don't stop me from fuckin' LOVING the Trailer Park Boys. Ricky, Julian, Bubbles -- they're fuckin' Canuckian HEROES, you know, so fuck off you fuckin' McKenzie Brothers, eh? Everyone on that TV show may be a fuckin' foul-mouthed dope addict, alcoholic, petty criminal or skank, but that's just fuckin' LIFE, okay? Half my shit-faced relatives could be Trailer Park Boys and the other half only THINK they're better. And I also just fuckin' LOVE that sweet Randy, even if he has a big hairy gut and trades blowjobs for cheeseburgers. You do what you fuckin' have to do to fuckin' survive in this fuckin' world, you know?

Sadly, the Boys are off TV now but they've moved onto the internet. So watch out! Plus they have their third feature film coming out this Spring! Can't wait.

And now they've teamed up with the Epic Meal Time boys to teach all you Yanks about how we eat in Canada! FUCK YEAH! Watch and learn!



Does this count as a foodie post?

I am so proud of Alberta!

In 1998 when I moved from Winnipeg to Edmonton, all my lesbigay friends were horrified, absolutely horrified, that I would even consider moving to Alberta. In those days Alberta was quite rightly regarded as the most homophobic province in all of Canada. It was the kind of place that lesbigay people moved away from in droves. And I must admit that I did have a sinking feeling and a knot in my stomach when I drove across the Alberta border and left behind all my Manitoba legal rights and protections.

But you know what I discovered about redneck Alberta? The province wasn't completely wall-to-wall bigots, it was just waaaaay behind the times -- about 20 years behind. I figured Alberta would have to catch up eventually. And it did. Kicking and screaming all the way, of course, but still.

Which brings me to the point of this post. This month for the entire duration of the Sochi Olympics, many provincial legislatures and municipal governments across Canada flew the rainbow flag to show their support of Russia's LGBTQ community and its struggle for equal rights. And Alberta enthusiastically joined right in! Here's the rainbow flag at the Alberta legislature in Edmonton:

And at Edmonton City Hall:

And at Calgary's Old City Hall:

Well! Who would have ever thought this day would come? I am so proud of Alberta right now!

I've considered myself an Edmontonian for many years, but even after 16 years of living in this province, I've been reluctant to call myself an Albertan. In my mind, I have always been a Manitoban who lives in Alberta. I was never fully convinced that my queer self truly belonged here.

But you know what? I'm going to call myself an Albertan from now on.


[Credits: Alberta sign: website here; Legislature photo: Daveberta; Edmonton photo: CBC; Calgary photo: Calgary Sun]

What a Great Olympics!

So, the Sochi Olympics are over. Canada is "brimming with pride and medals" says The Globe and Mail and it's right -- 10 gold, 10 silver, 5 bronze for a total of 25. In weighted medal rankings, that puts Canada third behind Russia and Norway. Here's a few photos of some favourite Canadian athletes in victory:

1. Justine and Chloé Dufour-Lapointe (gold and silver in skiing)

2. Charles Hamelin (gold in speedskating)

3. Dara Howell and Kim Lamarre (gold and bronze in ski slopestyle)

4. Mikael Kingsbury and Alex Bilodeau (silver and gold in men's moguls)

5. Patrick Chan (silver in men's figure skating)

6. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (silver in ice dance)

7. Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse (gold in women's bobsled)

8. Jennifer Jones Rink (gold in women's curling)

9. Team Canada (gold in women's hockey)

10. Brad Jacobs Rink (gold in men's curling)

11. Team Canada (gold in men's hockey)

In Canada, we're a little shy about gloating, but we can do it if we have to:

Oh, who the hell are we kidding?

[Photo credits: 1. John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail; 2. EPA/How Hwee Young; 3. John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail; 4. Ed Kaiser/Postmedia News; 5. AP/Ivan Sekretarev; 6. CBC.ca; 7. CP/Jonathan Hayward; 8. AP Photo/Wong Maye-E; 9. Brian Snyder/Reuters; 10. Robert F. Bukaty; 11. John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail]