Eddie Izzard

So as I mentioned on Friday I was off to see Eddie Izzard's new stand-up called Stripped. He was hilarious, truly, truly hilarious. He is so quick and crazy that it takes some serious keeping up to understand what he is talking about, but if you let him take you down the path you end up in a beautiful hilarious garden of funniness.

His last couple of tours didn't receive the best of reviews so I think most people weren't sure as to whether he would be back on form, but I would highly suggest you go check him out. He is playing again at Massey Hall tonight and I will add a link to the site in case you want to get tickets.

The entire show was based around the history of the world. It was kind of a creationist vs scientist based show and if you are of the religious persuasion I would suggest sitting this one out. Luckily for me I happen not to be, and enjoyed the show tremendously, I found myself laughing very hard through most of it. I have to admit my favorite part was when the audience groaned at one of his jokes and he looked out into the audience and said 'Toronto, Fuck off'.

I think I admire him because he is so quick, he manages to wrangle everything he says together no matter how out there his opening statements tend to be. When he pantomimed a sharks vs jets, west side story style dance-off between flying fish and birds I realized perhaps being a complete maniac wasn't such a bad thing, and had to re-evaluate where I fall on the crazy person chart. I've been told I'm an 8, but if Eddie Izzard is a 10 I am definitely sliding down the scale.

Eddie Izzard has always been funny, one only has to mention the words Cake or Death to have die hard fans giggling themselves silly. For those of you who don't know Cake or Death, first, shame on you, and second here is a way to catch up 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNjcuZ-LiSY

No...I'm waiting for you to go watch it before you continue reading
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I'm right about him being funny aren't I? Yes, yes I am

Happy Monday to all of you...

Meryl xxx

Massey Hall tickets for tonight: http://www.ticketmaster.ca/Eddie-Izzard-tickets/artist/851852

Alphagetti

Alphaghetti is actually more delicious than it is given credit for, but anything edible shaped like letters seems to have a bad rep. In honour of Alphaghetti and the fact I am going to see Eddie Izzard on Sunday night this blog will be an alphabetical list of my favorite stand up comedians.

Beginning with:

A...Alan Carr / Alan Cochrane / Simon Amstell
B...Bill Bailey / Rob Brydon
C...David Cross
D...Dylan Moran / Dawn French
E...Eddie Izzard / Ed Byrn
F...Frankie Boyle / Nick Frost
G...Ricky Gervais
H...Russell Howard
I...Robin Ince
J...Jack Dee / Justin Lee Collins
K...Louis CK
L...Lee Evans / Mark Lamarr
M...Michael McIntyre / David Mitchell
N...Noel Fielding / Nick Swardson
O...Omid Djalli
P... Peter Kay
Q...Carolin Quentin
R...Ross Nobel / Russell Brand / Ricky Gervais
S...Sean Lock/ Sue Perkins / Jerry Seinfeld
T...Tina Fey
U...Umm
V...Vic Reeves
W...Robin Williams / Robert Webb
X...Really X?
Y...Gina Yashere
Z...Alex Zane

OK so this got way out of hand, apparently I don't understand the concept of one comedian per letter, it's a distribution thing, they all seem to start with the same letters. Truth be told I've watched a lot of stand up, it is one of my favorite things in the whole world! Making other people laugh for a living must be the best job in existence, not for the money, well, unless you are Ricky Gervais and can turn down a million dollar gig in Hong Kong, but just because you are spreading happiness and good energy.

Talking of happiness and good energy, my computer is fixed, which means this will be the last blog I have to type up on my phone, god these keys are tiny. A big thankyou to Rick who fixed it for me, you are my computer hero! :)

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend sunshine babies

meryl x

NEWS Review

So yes I'm reviewing the NEWS, figure that one out. The word news consists of the letters N. E. W. S - each letter representing a different direction, respectively North East West and South, so how on earth I ended up watch a 25 minute segment on the weather and a further 10 minutes on lawnmowers last night I'll never know.

I got pretty angry about it, I wasn't in the best mood to be watching the News anyway. I wanted to see if they were talking more about Top Kill, and thankfully as of this morning it seems like the whole procedure has worked. It is funny, as soon as I read the article in the paper I imagined there must be a room full of BP executives high fiving each other and sipping champagne. There is a lot of work still left to do, but stopping the oil pump leaking is certainly a great first step.

Anyway back to the NEWS. In Canada it is not uncommon for the weather to become news, and I kind of understand it when it is snowing. Snow can create traffic and road closures, people can freeze to death or slide of the road, I get it, it's news, but hot?! Last night someone was paid to walk around and ask people what they though of the 31 degree weather, and you will never guess the responses they got. It was the most ridiculous montage of people saying it's hot I've ever seen. There was a jogger who thought it was hot out, a man who worked at a dry cleaner who thought it was hot out, some students who thought it was hot out, and some old lady who was walking her dog in the park, she also thought it was hot out. What a waste of f*cking time.

I happen to know the police are in the middle of a shootout in Kingston, Jamacia because they want to extradite a drug lord, I know there is a war going on in the middle east and England is having problems with it's new coalition government. I know that the G8 and G20 are starting plans for their upcoming conferences, and that there were new terror threats in India. I am also abstractly aware that behind closed doors corporations are doing evil things to further control of the population, and government officials are using our non-transparent system to spend Canadian Citizens money on bigger houses, yet when I want to get informed I've got ten idiots picked off the street agreeing with eachother that it's hot outside.

Yeah, I think you can tell I wasn't happy, there is a specific section for weather right at the end of the news where I would have happily watched muggles embrace the heat, but with so much going on in the world I can't understand why they would fill the opening slot with fluff? My disposition took a turn for the worst when they put the lawnmower segment before the oil spill. I was calming down about weather-news because I assumed they would be talking about BP straight after the break, but they didn't. Instead they had a man mowing grass, in the city no less! They put a comparative grass segment before reviewing deaths in Kingston, to steal from Ricky Gervais 'I just don't get it'.

My poor roommate once again gave me a pitying look and asked why I was still watching, but it's honestly because sandwiched between all the stupid idiot news there are stories that I've been following. Plus I haven't seen such a stupid evening of news in a while. The last time I got this angry the newscasters were following the story of the building in Toronto whose roof lit on fire, but they were reporting on it a week later after it had been put out and nobody had died. If news isn't current then it's no longer news, it's history.

As I just mentioned, and on a more positive note there is no more oil gushing into the Gulf, so I'm going to take this small success and realize getting all hot and bothered about Toronto News is silly. The News is pretty regulated now so I don't exactly imagine they will have the expose stories of old, fluff is kind of the only thing they can do without someones say-so and even that I'm not so sure of.

The Internet is a better source for information it may be inconsistent but at least it's still free media. Not my blog obviously, it's the ramblings of crazy person, but under pressure I could find fifteen people in my office to agree it's hot - voila I'm a professional.

Meryl

PS: Bonus point for anyone who can tell me where the image at the start of this blog is from

Clue - Scorchio.

Supplementary Blog

Sometime my timing is pretty bloody impressive. This is an article just put up by the bbc

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10159626.stm

It show exactly how BP plan to stop the oil leak.

I just high fived myself

Slick Work BP

So I think I'm suffering from some sort of bank holiday Monday jet lag, because today is Wednesday not Tuesday and yet yesterday was the first day of the week. It's got my whole sleep patterns wonky. It's the weather too, it is excruciatingly nice outside, well I'm assuming so, I've only seen it through the window. Global warming is a terrible, self inflicted problem that is going to get us all killed, but warm weather in the summer is a nice silver lining to an increasingly dark cloud.

Talking of dark clouds, today I wanted to talk about the BP oil spill. (that was quite a segue) I want to know why it is taking one the largest, richest and biggest companies in the world over a month to block up an oil spill? Don't get me wrong pulling out solutions named 'Top Kill' sounded cool but knowing that it only has a 60-70% chance of working makes me wonder if perhaps 'Top Manslaughter' or 'Top Snuff' may have been a more apt description. It is causing havoc on everything and thousands of things are dying because of it, there has got to be a smarter solution than filling the ocean up with mud.

The whole donate your hair to the ocean seems a little lame, unless Rapunzel suddenly calls up for a donation but at least people are trying to do something. How is it that we are still so dependent on oil anyways, it seems like another lesson we just aren't learning from. Prince Charles has invented a car that runs on cheese and wine and still we have yet to see anyone take a serious stance on the electric car. The whole wine and cheese car is obviously a little ridiculous, you'd have one hell of an upper-crust new car genre if you took it too seriously, but there has got to be something blocking cars that run on electricity because it just seems like the way forward. It's massive corporations that are creating this road block, there is too much money and corruption in the oil industry for them to let it go. Maybe I will invent a car that runs of Mac and Cheese to appeal to a more modest, money conscious populous, the top of the bottom can use Kraft Dinner while the rest of us have to fill up with the No-Name variety. That's a weird thought even for me.

Anyway, if you do want to donate hair or fur and save some cute sea animal babies then Matter of Trust are the people to go to, here is the link to tell you more

http://www.matteroftrust.org/contribute.html

I hope the majority of you are not at work and are basking the beautiful sunshine, but if you are see if you can sneak in a drink on a patio, after all it feels like pimms o'clock to me. 

and then it Ends...

So welcome back from the long weekend peoples. I hope you all enjoyed the sunshine, the fireworks, and hopefully the drinking. I had a great weekend, and am less snow white coloured than I normally am, which will confuse the dwarfs but is making me fairly happy. 

Lets cut right to it shall we, Lost ended. Six years, hundreds of plot twists, a multitude of character deaths, and an empty coffin. It was sad. Like many losties, I'm unsure of how to feel about this last episode. I was convinced I would have pages to write on todays blog discussing all the crazy expose moments and final conclusions one could draw but I don't. It ended well, truly it did, it was sad and heartbreaking but also joyful and sweet. When Sun and Jin remembered it was pretty special, and when Jack jumped into the air to knock down the man in black my heart fluttered, but was it the ending I had dreamt of? I can't imagine any alternative way of ending Lost so it's not like I have a handy comparison I can use to measure whether it ended well or not. Everything was tied up, the flash side-ways were explained, and the show stayed true to the characters beautifully.

They had a close up of Jack's eye closing right at the end, and the juxtaposition from the beginning of the series with Jack's eye opening really made you feel they were telling you the very end of a well woven story. They showed Rose and Bernard, something I think we had all been hoping for, and they even kept Sayid and Nadia apart because they were doomed right from the start.

I have to watch it again, there were so many references I must have missed, and so many easter eggs I'm bound to find. It is a weird feeling when something ends, you really shouldn't have any emotional reaction to it, it is after all a television show, but you do. There is a strange end of an era feel about it, these are characters you put time into, and a storyline you enjoyed watching unfold. It feels a little like when you are a child and someone reads you a story. You lie there quietly listening to an incredibly fantastical story, wondering where on earth it could go next. When it is done, and that final page is turned over, an overwhelming sense of sleepiness washes over you, you pull the duvet up to you neck, turn over, and go to sleep.

I think the word I am looking for is closure. The final episode of Lost wasn't incredibly significant, it didn't blow my mind with unexpected answers, but it did give me closure. I did understand that this was the end that nothing else would be explained or would be contradicted and really when it comes down to it, what more could you ask for in a series finale?

I do wish I had got a lost cake though, I put a picture of one up on this entry but there were a tonne to pick from. This was the other one I was contemplating putting up, it's funny eh?

Yum Cake....Happy Tuesday

Meryl xxx

Genetic Blog

My mum sent me this....I'm starting to better understand why I'm such a freak.

xxx

PS: she titled it 'Dalek's can Fly!!'

A little Lost

Sorry for the lame pun but when you get lost in a Lost episode there is no escape from it. So yes I'm still excited to watch the season finale, and yes the fact they extended it by a half an hour makes me think it is going to be immense but no, I'm not sure it's all going to be explained.

My roommate was complaining they haven't done enough back story on Jacob and the MiB, and that the whole protecting the light at the heart of the island is a little bit stupid, and unfortunately I have to agree. There were so many unresolved mysteries that I was looking forward to finding out, and only a few have met to my satisfaction. The whole Richard back story was amazing, it really worked and felt like it was conceived really early on. But why the island exists, why the others took over the Dharma village and why does everyone have such a vested interest in the island is still beyond me. Look at Whitmore, he just couldn't leave the island alone.

Interestingly Desmond was identified as Jacob's fail safe in the show but really he has become a bit of a fail safe for the writers, I'm just dying to know what the jammy bastard is up to, I think if anyone is going to save the show it will be him. I also have no idea how they are going to bring the two alternate realities together, so I'm still holding on this idea that the finale is going to blow my mind and I'm going to write some sort of apologetic blog entry about how wrong I was about everything being tied up. I guess we will see

Funnily enough my mum just send me a link about Lost, apparently they are auctioning off all the props from the show. I want the computer with the button. I would be more than happy to press it every 108 minutes for the rest of my life, or at least until a map of all the Dharma camps showed up on my wall and metal objects started flying all over the place.

If you are interested check it out here


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1279469/Grieving-Lost-fans-alive--props-auction.html

hare krishna to you all on this fine Wednesday.

hugs and kisses meryl

PS: ANNA LUCIA - amazing right?

Doctor Who Blog

Oh what a surprise Meryl is talking about Doctor Who again. I wonder if there is actually some sort of support group for people that like Doctor Who too much, I wouldn't join it anyway, if being in love with the Doctor is a sickness I'm not looking for a cure.

As any of you who read this blog know, I have not been able to watch Doctor Who for two weeks because I have no computer. For ages I mused on how terrible a situation this was, but this weekend I got to watch two back to back episodes and for a short moment I wondered how terrible it would be to let the show run ahead so I never had to wait a week to find out what happened. Obviously as soon as those episodes ended I realized this was a terrible idea and there was no way I'd be missing another episode unless tiny aliens invaded our water system getting inside our bodies and killing us from the inside out. An unlikely turn of events, I'm assuming.

This series of Doctor Who is a little darker than the previous ones, and of course they can do that because they know this is their last doctor. It is weird to think that the show has been running for so very long. Of course it had a massive gap in the middle, but the British public accepted it back with open arms, and like most of them, it has been fun to watch the show as both an adult and a child. The daleks, of course, are one of the scariest sci-fi monsters ever created, but when you were little this was because they were metallic and spoke weird. Now as an adult it is their rational that is scary, they have no emotions at all and are determined to erase everything in their path. As an added bonus they can now fly, eradicating jokes about defeating daleks simply by running up a flight of stairs.

I remember the first time I saw what lives inside a Dalek during an especially scary episode of Doctor Who and I don't think the image has left me. It reminds me of when I was younger and my mum took me and my brother to a museum. At the very end they had a life sized darlek that you could climb into, and my brother was so freaked out he wouldn't even go near it.

Doctor Who still manages to have its hide behind the sofa moments, and although that is no longer my favorite course of action I have found myself turning the lights on during certain episodes. It is funny and exciting and ridiculous all at the same time and manages to pander to a hugely varied audience of ranging ages. Most importantly it is driven by imagination, the stories are magical and spectacular including story lines about star whales that save humanity and police boxes that can travel through space and time. So yes, I'm a complete nerd or geek or loser but for one hour a week I get to be little again and imagine that out there is a huge galaxy of planets populated by weird and wonderful species just waiting to be discovered

Over and Out

Meryl x

Peanut Butter Blog

So this blog topic was a suggestion by my friend Michele, well she was talking about how if she started a blog she would be worried she would end up blogging about peanut butter, but my brain didn't process that information correctly and I though what a great topic for a blog, Peanut Butter.

Essentially as soon as I heard the words peanut butter I though of the good old fashioned crunchy vs smooth debate, and to be honest I am a firm believer that crunchy is just so much better. Here in North America there are a hundred million types of peanut butter to choose from, but Kraft kind of dominate the market. Ironically I have bashed Kraft many times before in this blog, well they did steal cadburys from the British, not a concept we are massively familiar with.

Anyway, to try and help what they must assume is an idiot market they have different colour lids for the different types of peanut butter. Unfortunately although we all understand this system it seems that everyone knows one of them taste bad, but no-one can ever remember which one it is. I am pretty sure it is the blue lid one myself, but seeing as I am a strict crunchy peanut buyer I've never had to be too invested in the peanut butter code system. I have cracked it wide open and use the incredible new system of reading the label.

Another new discovery since I moved to Canada was the peanut butter and jam sandwich, or more American-ly, peanut butter and jelly (yeah I know?!). It is bloody delicious. I shouldn't like it, my brain knows that, but it can't seem to get the message to my tongue. It is sweet and salty, it just manages to work even though it shouldn't. The same logic lies behind peanut butter and apple, it is so wrong yet so right.

My final disgusting treat of the day is cream cheese and jam sandwiches. I must have been twenty years old when I first had one and it was pretty much forced upon me by a friend, but I conceded it is also delicious. It is weird and not normal, but truly scrumptious. Before you ask, yes I am ashamed of myself, today's blog feels more like a confessionary than a blog entry, but I dare you try one and not like it, literally i'll double dare you if I have to

Ok, welcome to monday universal readers, hope it's not to terrible!

hugs and kisses Meryl x

50th Blog

So for the last two weeks I have had this great idea, that when I reach my 50th Blog post of 2010 I would do a special 50th Blog edition. Unfortunately my last post was blog entry number 50 and I didn't even realize until today. So I've decided to flip convention the V's and do my 50th Blog Special on my 51st Blog entry.

So for today's very special 50th edition, I am going to give you 50 amazing facts about life, the universe and everything.

1. I stole that last line from Douglas Adams, I am in essence a word thief
2. Right Handed people tend to chew their food on the right side of their mouth
3. Honey is one of the easiest foods to digest because it has already been digested by bees
4. Knowing the above honey fact has never put me off eating honey
5. Triangles are the best of all the shapes.
6. I like the word Eagle, and yet I don't know why
7. Determination is just another word for success
8. Red and Purple candies are always the best ones
9. Jaffa Cakes were actually the subject of a legal debate to determine if they were in fact biscuits and not cakes.
10. I think they are biscuits
11. They taste really good with tea
12. I once ate a whole tube of Jaffa cakes on a plane ride home from England when I was infact planning on giving them out to my Canadian friends so they could try them
13. Coming up with 50 facts is harder than one might think
14. I had 15 different people tell me how much they also hate George Stroumboulopoulos after my last blog entry
15. This made me feel better because I was worried I'd been a little harsh
16. I wasn't actually worried I'd been a little harsh, I just imagined a better person would be worried so mimiced that emotion
17. When you blush the lining of your stomach also turns red.
18. My favorite colour is blue, or more specifically light blue.
19. Late at night I listen to the New Classical 96.3 because Meridith Lightstone has the best voice of anyone ever.
20. Stand up comedy is objectively the best thing in the world.
21. Obviously that is really subjective
22. My friends are my family, and I'm very lucky to have them.
23. The average person laughs 13 times a day
24. Taking a ruler to school with you makes you look smarter.
25. Women Blink nearly twice as much as men.
26. No matter how many times I am told, I can't seem to remember to turn the water lines off at work in the evening.
27. I have broken four computers in three years. For some reason the more I love technology the more it tries to hurt me.
28. The best game to play on the train is 'can I make you look behind you'. If you ever catch me doing it, tell me it is mean.
29. It isn't mean, it is hilarious.
30. It takes four people looking up at the sky to cause the next person who walks by to look up also.
31. I discovered this with a group of my psychology buddies and it was one of my favorite studies we ever did.
32. I hate pigeons, if I was god I would wipe 'em out.
33. I still haven't watched last weeks Doctor Who, and have mentioned it in every subsequent blog since it came out.
34. I can't believe I am only on number 34, I'm starting to think I've only got 40 facts in me
35. Frisky Dingo is one of the best animated series ever made ever.
36. Today in the news there was a woman who made a pass at Obama, if she was here I would definitely high five her.
37. Today my co-worker said 'I always finish early', and I said 'I've heard that about you', and someone double high fived me.
38. Double high fives are at least twice as good as regular high fives
39. I've changed my mind, my favorite colour is green
40. The human mind can remember 5 to 7 things at a time before they are wiped from Short Term Memory
41. My favorite word in mellifluous
42. My favorite french word is parapluie

43. Oscar Wilde is one of the funniest people that ever lived
44. I actually really like Bingo, even if it is an 'old people's game'
45. I started writing a blog as a great way to showcase my writing, but now I love doing it because it is fun.
46. I cannot believe I still am not at 50, I'm full of useless information but apparently I've gone blank.
47. My new favorite drink is blueberry vodka and seven, it was discovered by Jen by accident at a bar in Eglington.
48. It is our equivalent of a flaming moe
49. I really appreciate everyone that reads this blog, and any of you still reading through to 50 have just earned an extra special place in my heart.
50. This extra space in my heart includes utilities but there is no internet provided I however, heard there is unlocked wireless all over the shop

God that was difficult, but I have a lovely warm 'job-well-done' glow about me now. I hope you are all having a fabulous Friday, and that your weekend plans include lots of getting up no good.

If you can't be good at least be safe

all my love meryl xxxx

George Stroumboulopoulos Blog

I hate George Stoumboulopoulos. I've never met the guy, I probably never will, but I know if I did I would call him snuffaluffagus and slap him straight across the face.

I really don't think it is his fault that I hate him so much, in part it is his position in Canadian television. People outside Canada think he's our go to guy for hard hitting interviews. They think we all sit around watching the hour, wondering what interesting details will George delicately extract from tonight's guests. We don't. Lots of people hate George Snuffaluffagus, in fact most people find him acutely irritating. His lack of competition is the only thing keeping him going, the minute a celebrity has to do something in Canada their agent books them on The Hour assuming this is Canadian culture, this explains why he has had some undeservedly awesome guests come and talk to him. It is overwhelmingly frustrating, I often sit shouting at the television, because no matter how hard I try I can't watch more that fifteen minutes of the hour without wanting to punch George in his ugly little smug face.

Its become psychological, my roommate can back me up on this. I have had well over twenty dreams about being on The Hour pretending to be interested in George's awkwardly delivered questions before turning on him and embarrassing him on his own show. I have also dreamed about starting a show called The Hour You Wanted Back' and having it start only moments after his hour ends.

Someone has to take him down, and I'm ready to roll my sleves up. Canada has so much going for it, the people are relaxed and easy going and really very tolerant. Not to mention there is a crazy amount of talent just waiting to be tapped into. The diversity of music here is mind blowing, with tiny bands making it huge nation wide. Canadians manage to be super nice and positive while maintaining an underlying level of sarcasm that could give England a run for it's money and to have George Stroumboulopoulos pretending to represent any of this is just an outrage. George was definitely the kid at school that tried too hard, that had no friends and made people feel uncomfortable when he stood too close to them. It is like he was given a chance to re-write himself, and to give him props he seems like a normal bloke, but a normal bloke who is trying to hard, who has no friends and makes people feel uncomfortable when he stands to close to them, or asks them questions while touching his fingers together.

I should be worried that you will be thinking I've gone of the rails, but I'm pretty confident a lot of you will agree with me. I once saw a guy on the street looking at a poster for George Stroumboulopoulos when the show was quite new, and his face literally crumpled like he was watching someone throw up. That's what George Stoumboulopoulos does to you, he makes you feel embarrassed, your cheeks rosy up, your nose crinkles and a creeping feeling runs down your back. Not the feeling I get when I think of Parkinson I'll tell you that much.

I feel a lot better now I've got that out of my system, a bit like after you sneeze. I think I've gone through my whole hit list now. I've already covered babe in a previous blog, and i've been told that doing a Terry Fox one will only get me in lots of trouble. You've been saved this time Terry Fox, but I will blog about you someday somehow.

hope you are all well

love and kisses xxxx

PS - just went to find a picture for the blog, look at him with no shoes on, God he's such an idiot.

Long Boring Politics Blog (as promised)

I imagine my newer friends see me as a slightly eccentric English person, but to my older friends I'm Meryl who wanted to be the prime minister of England. Yes that truly was my ambition as a young teenager. I only remember having two ambitions as a child, first was to be a dinosaur (as I have mentioned previously in this blog) and the second was to run the country. I got really into politics at school, I wasn't exactly a top student, but when I got the opportunity to take a politics class I was lucky enough to have one of the most inspirational teachers I'd ever experience take a shine to me. Miss J was one of those teachers who didn't listen to staff room gossip and specifically told us her class would be a clean slate kind of moment. Because of this I jumped right into it, and the more I learn't about the way the country was run, the more I wanted to know.

I started reading the newspaper everyday, and having long boring conversations with my dad about where I thought the country was heading, and slowly but surely I started to believe I could do a better job of it. The Iraq war happened and thus I was convinced that the only way we could move forward was for Tony Blair to be removed from office and me put in his place as the herald leader I imagined myself to be. I was 16, I really thought I knew best.

Moving onwards, politics is still a passion of mine, and although things got very interesting in Canada when the Liberals and the NDP were going to overthrow the government, the whole proroguing of parliament for months really put a damper on my politic spirit. Just in time to perk me up politics in England goes a little bonkers. In a whirlwind of decisions, Gordon Brown steps down as leader of the Labour party, the Tories grab 97 extra seats and the Lib Dems are the most powerful people in the city.

See in England there is no minority government, it is a First Past the Post system, and although I could debate it for hours, I like this better than the Canadian one. So long story short England now has a coalition government, with the Lib Dems and the Conservatives joining forces in the final hour. To me this is a little like dipping cheese into ketchup, it's not that disgusting but it certainly isn't a natural combo. Labour would have been a more natural choice for the Lib Dems, there just seems to be a more common thread of rationality running through the two parties, but Gordon Brown just didn't win over the British public, and if Susan Boyle is anything to go by it's popularity that counts.

It's Gordon Brown I feel sorry for, he stepped down in a last ditch attempt to woo the Lib Dems and in a very Britain's Got Talent type way they gave him three XXXs. It's been thirteen years since England has seen a Torie PM, and now we have one who looks like he has a bed time regiment to keep his skin smooth. Not that smooth skin is a bad thing, it's just I like the prime minister to look a little hassled, he should after all be constantly worried about what to do for his country.

It has been quite a week, and I have loved every second of it, now I get to familiarize myself with the new Cabinet and the whose who of a brand spanking new coalition government. It will be an interesting year politically for sure. There is nothing like a close election to pull a country together, when water cooler conversation turns from Coronation Street to Downing Street you know you have the country's attention. It reminds us that we do make a difference, and we do have a say, even if it is a little one.

Alright lovely readers, I'm done I promise. I still have no computer, and I still haven't got to watch the new episode of Doctor Who. I did watch lost yesterday and it was good, really good. Still no closer to having any idea what is going to happen, but it certainly answered questions they had set up right at the beginning of episode 1. Got to admire good writing.

Top Model Finale Tonight - GO TEAM RAINA

peace and love always

Meryl x xx

Rush Blog

So I am rushing around like a headless chicken right now, which is a phrase I truly want to poke fun at but don't even have the time to do so. What I will say is that what has gone down politically in the last 24 hours of modern Britain is blowing my mind. The Tories are in power? Really? Not to mention the Lib Dems are about to realize that they are only a pretend force in the all mighty government in which they have 57 seats.... God damn it, I don't even have time to get into this either.

In the next three hours, I have to make a cake, have a shower, rewrite a pitch and calm down enough to watch Lost. I am vowing to write an extra long, annoyingly opinionated, politically themed blog for tomorrow. You will be begging for it to end, I'll promise you that.

Lost is going to be great! I hope I'll be satisfied...that's what she said...no time...but she did...no time

Meryl xx

Black Wii Blog

I don't know how I have been bamboozled into thinking the black Wii is cool, but I do. It is exactly the same as a white one, only, well black. It makes me think of this documentary I once saw, totally randomly about Vodka. There was a vodka company who were looking to invest in black vodka, simply as a marketing gimmick. You see what they thought was, eventually people would come up to the bar, ask for some vodka and the server would say did you want it black or white. This is obviously a spin off from coffee, and to be fair people do ask for their coffee 'black' or 'white' but I'm just not sure if the same can be said of Vodka. It's just not an everyday purchase, well, except for a lucky few.

The Wii has been so heavily associated with white, even as an educated technology geek I let it fall into a Mac computer category in my brain. Plus the black plastic has got me thinking Darth Vader type of thoughts, and even I'm being tempted to the dark side. It will now mirror the other gaming consoles like the PS3, and looks a little less cuddly and Mario-like than it used to. I think I'm a just a sucker for new things, and this small change in colour is making me look at the Wii in a whole other light, which is ironic because Black by definition is devoid of light. - There is some reflection-ary humor there, you can thank me later.

Am I going to go out and get one? No, I'm not, but I'm sure as hell going to visit anyone that does. The bubble will burst pretty quickly I think, it is after all exactly the same operating system in a different casing, but I'm protective of my enthusiasm because it is actually a little cool. Apple have dominated the markets for years simply by colouring in their MP3 devices so why not let Nintendo have a try right?

So just a short one today, I'm typing on my phone as my computer is broken. Yes that does mean I didn't see the new Doctor Who yet, and people wonder why I'm cranky. xxxx

Jimmy and Beans Blog

So this weekend, two of the most amazing people in the whole world are having a party to celebrate their engagement. It is so exciting! This will be the first time I go to an engagement party where I can say I was there at the beginning of the relationship. Jimmy and Beans totally belong together, they are both huge amounts of fun, slightly crazy and a great team, best of all they got engaged in Figi, yeah I know, life is not fair.

This weekend is also mothers day!! So I wanted to take some time in this post to tell you about my mum. She is a little bit mental, and a complete nerd, but she is one of those people who laughs at everything. She likes to theme dinners, making sure the food and table are red for valentines day, green for christmas etc. She threw a plastic frog in the bath when me and my sister were really little, and shouted 'Frog' at the top of her lungs. She also used to feed us icicles that would form outside the windows in the winter. She let my sister keep snails as pets even though they used to slither away in the night and gets the names to every movie she watches wrong. She made great play dough when we were little (even though I always coverted the expensive real version that came in tubs) and she made sure that the house was full of fun all the time.

She is also a massive Trekkie. She has a picture of herself superimposed into the star fleet team, and went to the convention in America last time it was about. She loves the matrix, stories about murders, and lives on the internet, in essence she taught me it was OK to be a complete nerd, but you have to commit. She is also a fantastic mum, and I am very very lucky to have her.

Long story short I love you ma, and can't wait to see you on Sunday.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Love and kisses to all the mums out there.

Meryl


Special Shout-out to Grace who is the best mum I know, Tianna is so very lucky to have you!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

General Election Blog

So today is general election day for the British peoples. It may not be an obama-style event but its pretty exciting because it is pretty close. Politics in England is actually really fun, people are committed to their parties and for the most part the English are prepared to speak out against them if they think they are screwing up. Gordon Brown has already been described as the 'worst prime minister ever' but I think people are just saying that because Thatcher is going to die soon and making jokes about her would be inappropriate. They should just go all south park on her arse and make 'too-soon' jokes.

On a lighter topic, I didn't wear a jacket today, I thought today would be day 1 of not wearing a jacket, but now it is freezing cold and apparently it is going to rain. Really when I took the umbrella out of my bag I should have realized this act would be relayed to a satellite device, which would beam the information across to a tiny man whose job it is to burst clouds. It is one of those Murphy's law thing-a-ma-jigs, it sounds so cliche, but it does seem to rain the minute I take my umbrella out of my bag. There is also never a cab when you really need one. Oh and someone is always around when you need to pee behind a bush. This Murphy, sounds like he was really onto something. His life must have sucked.

America's next top model was good yesterday, thankfully Raina is still with us. It was nowhere near as good as lost on Tuesday, it was a super emotional episode marred only by my roommate chanting, 'are you going to cry' at me through the second half. He's such a compassionate soul. To be fair it was the only thing keeping me from having a little bit of an emotional moment, damn those lost writers they know how to get ya.

OK, love to you all my beauties.

Special hello to Zina, who should be working very hard so she can become a pip pip person... hugs and kisses Meryl x

 

ANTM Blog

So firstly how crazy is this sandwich? I found it so randomly too. I'm pretty sure I wasn't googling Rubix Cube Sandwiches but one can never tell.

Secondly, I feel very young today. On Monday I started a course entitled, 'Television and Situational Comedy Writing'. How bloody cool does that sound right? Anyway I went in knowing it would help me learn to format my sitcom, as well as give me an great spec script to keep on file to send off to become a free-lance television writer. What I didn't realize is that it was going to be one of the most creative spaces I've put myself in, ever. I like to think that you can glean material from anything you experience. Just sitting in an office you are able to come up with some of the most elaborate story lines ever. The small things that happen are what make a show relatable, and up until Monday I couldn't imagine a better place to derive inspiration that the big old wide world.

However, being in a room with ten other people aspiring to do the same thing, really gets the ball rolling. While being torn between amazement at these incredibly creative people, I felt an overwhelming sense of competition that I've never felt before. I'm not a massively competitive person, I've always been distracted by having fun to really push myself ahead, but here I was in a room full of strangers thinking, be funny, be funny!

The adrenaline was pretty cool, it certainly makes you think quicker, and more intensely, although I swear after class was done it took me a good hour to calm down.Why do I feel young? - Because now I have homework. Good old fashioned, do it or you are in trouble, homework. I kind of like it, I have to sit down in the evenings and get stuff done, I'm starting to feel like I'm going to have to get my mum to sign off on it or something, lol or was that just for when you were in trouble? Either way, this time around I am going to take it more seriously, no copying someone else's on the train, and no my dog ate is style excuses when I get to class. As long as I have a ruler and a pen I should be good!

But the name of this blog is ANTM blog, and that is because today is Wednesday, and after work I get to go and hang with some lovely ladies and watch America's Next Top Model. My favorite to win is Raina, she is definitely the best one, but that never bodes well for them, Tyra is a bit of a tart for controversy so the normal ones tend to go first.

Alright hope your week goes well, and don't forget Mother's day is on Sunday so if you are going to buy gifts do it soon or face the consequences

peace

m xxx

Pub Quiz Blog

I have been moaning about wanting to join a pub quiz team for just under a year. Now it looks like my dreams are coming true. Less sarcastically put, I made a new years resolution that I would join or create a pub quiz team. Why? Because it combines two of my favorite things, quizzes and pubs.

I'm pretty good with trivia and very good at drinking, and the challenge of doing the two things at the same time was too tempting to give up. Now if I was still living in London, finding a pub quiz team would be as simple as finding a pub, but here in Canada it is more a niche group thing.

Thankfully I found the following website. http://www.tpql.com/  It is for the Toronto Pub Quiz League, yes league. Now after a moment of wondering if I really could 'play with the big boys' I e-mailed the creator of the site and asked if there was space for a new team, when it started, how long the league was and bla bla bla. And I got a response.

So there is no space for a brand new team (damn you procrastination) but there are spaces for spares, and by George I think I'm going to do it. If any of you lovely people care to join me please visit the website, just think how fun it will be to answer questions and win money, or answer questions get drunk and win money. Ok so it may be answering questions and getting drunk and not winning money, but even that sounds like a laugh.

Ok love you all, you beautiful people. Gosh darn your all so beautiful, enjoy the weather xxx

Baby Foal Blog

Hello Baby Foals? This is micro-pigs....you win.