Needless to say, I was hooked since.

The series, was about a bored college drop-out girl named Georgia Lass (Ellen Muth), who had died from being nailed by a falling space-station toilet seat. Instead of moving on to the pearly gates, she had unknowingly become the newest member to the grim reaper team. George would be assigned souls to take by the fatherly Rube (Mandy Patinkin), and interact with fellow reaper misfits: Bitter meter maid Roxy (Jasmine Guy), alcoholic thief Mason (Callum Blue), Carefree and adventure girl Betty (Rebecca Gayheart), and vain actress Daisy (Laura Harris). George also has to work at Happy Time, a temp agency under the direction of the motherly Delores Herbig (Christine Willies), all the while spying on her grieving family, dad Clancy (Greg Kean), mother Joy (Cynthia Stevenson), and younger sister Reggie (Britt McKillip). The series was great and well written, drama were intense but not filled with cliché, and the comedic timing were usually spot on. The story had tight narratives and creatively uses subplots to tie it all together.

Unfortunately, the series only lasted two seasons, leaving fans and viewers shocked, hurt, and confused — Dead Like Me was dead, it was so young, and had so much potential.

Enter Dead Like Me: Life After Death, a movie set five years after where the TV series left off. It was a direct response to fans after a demand for a third season was made — If the response to the movie is good, then maybe we’ll see more movies, or dare I say, an new season! Yes, I know, a pretty crappy response, but I’ll get what I can get, especially these days when TV shows just seems to disappear without a trace.

Mostly every cast member returns to the movie, with the exception of Mandy Patinkin and Laura Harris, and the acting is every bit as good as the original show. The new Reaper Boss, Cameron Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) was a bit of a let down, as the writer seem to have just used him for a convenient plot device. We never really get to know Kane, and thus never really feel the threat and the complexities he adds to our reaper friends. The casting of the new Daisy (Sarah Wynter) replacing actress Laura Harris, was a miscast. Harris’ Daisy, had a sense of mystery, and often uses perkiness to hide her true feelings, while Wynter’s Daisy seem to be very melodramatic, to the point where she seemed a bit of a ditz. That said, the writing appears to be fairly consistent with that of the show.

The movie also felt like a long episode, which I thought was appropriate given the original medium for the story. However, it seems to be lacking some of the dark comedy and quirky charms that were so prevalent in the TV series, perhaps due to the lack of involvement from the original writer/producer Bryan Fuller. The story also felt a bit recycled, using themes and lessons from previous episodes that our characters have already been through and learned. The movie also leaves little to no explanation to some of story-lines of the series, and have a less than expected closure to offer. Which, I suppose, could be a good thing if MGM ever decides to revive the series, a thought that sounds more like wishful thinking than a possibility.

Watching this movie made me realized how much I missed this series. Despite some let downs, the movie is a somewhat enjoyable one. If anything, fans should treat it like a small love note rather than a letter from the writers, and be somewhat content that we at least got to see the Reapers on the job one last time.

The past week was quite the eventful one indeed. First, as said last post, I was invited by my friend Dan to go up to Montreal to attend EA’s release of their new game “Boogie Superstar”. The event was pretty cool, with lots of food, EA staff, and enough Boogie Superstar running for everyone to give it a try. The whole evening I was speaking to programmers, designers, project managers, and marketers, making me feel like I should’ve gone into Computer Science or Business, since being a Bio-Med guy there seemed pretty out of place.

Boogie was actually quite a fun game, but it was clearly targeted to the teeny-bopper crowd. I won’t lie though, I did enjoy the game when I was playing it, and I can see kids getting excited over this game. There were plenty of food to go around at the event, and we event got a tour of the studios (no photography allowed, obviously), as well as some great swag — a free t-shirt and a copy of NHL ’09! Sweet!

The next day we explored downtown Montreal for a bit, then went to Science Centre Montreal where I felt right at home. I was especially ecstatic when I got to try out an interactive game where they translate your alpha and beta brain waves into kinetic energy to move a little ball. The objective of the game is to win by moving the ball to your opponent’s side by thinking really hard. That said, I had a disastrous lost my friend Dan since I found the whole thing very amusing and could not concentrate hard enough to win this battle of the minds.

On Friday, some of the East-coast ex-Disney cast members came up to Toronto to see High School Musical 3 (what else?). I was intrigued as to how the movie will do on a theatrical level. The last two was acceptable for a Disney Channel movie, but way too cheesy for it to make it in the theaters. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie. Granted, there was obviously some very cheesy moment that almost made me spew the coke I was drinking through my nose, but over all it was a pretty well enjoyable movie and a fitting end to the High School Musical series if you’re willing to look past some awkward dialogue and cheese. The gang then hung out after for some desserts, a great time, as always.

The next morning I crawled out of bed to go to the gym at 7:30 in the morning. Both my trainer and I gave each other the “This is way too early” face. You know it was too early when the gym hasn’t even officially opened. That said, I found the silent atmosphere a pretty good place to work-out. In the afternoon, I went to watch the Sound of Music at the Princess of Wales, it was shorter than I thought it would be, but it was delightfully done, and every moment was filled with fun. Props to the actors and actresses playing the Von Trappe children, way too cute. In the evening, I went to Heather’s place along with my sister Tina and friend Raymond to chill in Heather’s hot-tub. Makes me want to get one in the backyard, hmmm, hot tub.

And that was that, a great way to end October, I’m looking forward to what November will bring.

Then I went downtown with Alice to first have a wonderful dinner at Joe Badali’s. The dessert — Gelato Fresco, was especially good, thanks for suggesting it Alice!

We then headed off to the Roy Thompson to enjoy the TSO and Mozart’s Symphony #40 as a part of their Mozart @ 252 Festival. Overall I found it okay, I’d review the performance for you, but I found a review in the Globes that pretty much summed up my thoughts, better writing too. I also got to play around a little bit with Alice’s new Samsung M620. It was an interesting phone to say the least, but both Alice and I thought the userbility needs some major improvements.

The next day, when I returned to Guelph, my house-mate and I went to watch 27 Dresses. The movie was pretty much your normal romantic flick fare, but it was a pretty enjoyable one at that.

All good things must come to an end. It’s only Wednesday and I’m already exhausted. Labs are finally starting, and they’re surprisingly interesting, I’m sure I won’t think so when it comes time to write up the reports though, speaking of which…

Almost February already! Where did all the time go? Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to reading week, where hopefully I’ll be able to catch a break on a sunny beach somewhere down south. Until then, I will have to find some way to enjoy this white powder known as snow… ugh.

But before that, Regina headed out with some of her own Toronto friend to catch-up, so Dana, my sisters and I decided to watch a movies: Live Free or Die Hard. I fell asleep during the movie from the fact that I’ve already seen it as an exam break, and from the shear post-exams fatigue I was experiencing at the time.

The next morning we went to Cora’s for brunch, then we went to shop at Sherway Garden, and then to bowling, which was hilarious watching everyone hitting the gutters. After that, we watched I am Legend, which was pretty awesome. Then we came home and had a hip-hop dancing lesson from Regina, you can imagine the hilarity that ensued.

The next day we woke up nice and late, and found ourselves snowed in, being the crazy bunch that we are, we decided to go out anyways, and ended up going to karaoke for the entire afternoon, after that, Regina went to the airport and went home! It was an awesome weekend, especially after my tiring week of exams, and working for the university.

Photos below, I didn’t take too much because it was just hard lugging my D80 around places, I guess sometime you just need something portable:

More photos can be found at my cousin Regina’s Picasa Photo Album

I really, really needed a break this weekend from all the essaying, studying, and producing, so I decided to catch the latest Disney flick Enchanted with my house-mate. I gone in thinking it was going to be just a light hearted, but cheesy family movie, but I came out pretty impressed.

I first heard of the movie when I was working with Disney in 2006. The premise is as “Disney” as it gets — A Disney styled Princess from the animation worlds somehow ends up in modern day New York, confusion and hilarity ensues. I remember flagrantly disregarding the movie until I saw a name which made me change my mind: Alan Menken.

If you think you’ve never heard of Menken’s work before, you’re wrong. You’ve probably heard many, many of his works, especially for Disney — The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast are just some of the few works he did for Disney. Menken has received eight Academy Awards to this dates — making him one top-notch composer.

Anyways, the movie was quite light hearted, and really charmingly funny throughout. The musical numbers, although few, were greatly executed. Disney did a good job making fun of their own princesses, and the subtle references they sprinkled throughout the movie — from the poison apple of Snow White, and the “Bella Note” pizza shop nod to Lady and the Tramp, to the glass slipper of Cinderella and the ball-room dance homage to Beauty and the Beast, it was entertaining, and fun to pick out for a Disney geek like me! The entire movie was romantic, and fun. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending as it was a bit forced, not to mention predictable. Nevertheless, I had fun, and it was the break I needed, and I would highly recommended anyone who needs a quick “time-out” before the exam to go and see it.

Anyways, here’s a song from the movie: “So Close” performed by Jon McLaughlin, enjoy!

You’re in my arms
And all the world is gone
The music playing on
For only two
So close together
And when I’m with you
So close to feeling alive

A life goes by
Romantic dreams must die
So I bid mine goodbye
And never knew
So close was waiting
Waiting here with you
And now, forever, I know
All that I want is to hold you
So close

So close to reaching
That famous happy end
Almost believing
This one’s not pretend
Now you’re beside me
And look how far we’ve come
So far
We are
So close…

Oh, how could I face the faceless days
If I should lose you now?

We’re so close to reaching
That famous happy end
Almost believing
This one’s not pretend
Let’s go on dreaming
Though we know we are
So close
So close, and still
So far…

The first version of Toy Story 2 turned into a disaster. The story was extremely predictable, and everyone knew that Woody would go back to Andy at the end of the story instead of becoming a collectible item. John Lasseter decided to work with Randy Newman after pulling the plug on the production and restarting it, just nine months prior to release date. He had this to say about the song:

“When I met with Randy Newman to talk to him about the scene, I said, ‘Randy, this song does not have a happy ending. This is about dearly loving someone. Your lives are so intertwined you can’t imagine life without them. But they grow farther and farther and farther away from you to the point where they just discard you altogether.’ And he wrote an amazing song. Being in Vancouver to hear him record it with Sarah MLachlan was one of the greatest moments in my entire career. It was just… Magic”.

The song in itself also added depth to the story, it made Woody’s decision to stay as a collectible item instead of just a toy meaningful, because the choice no longer seemed an easy one — Woody was given a human dilemma, and a complicated one, laced with sadness no matter what the outcome — On one hand, Andy will evantually give him up, and on the other, becoming a collectible toy will mean a life of storage behind a glass casing, never to be played with by children again.

The song went on to be nominated for an Oscar in 2000, but ultimately lost to “You’ll Be In My Heart” by Phil Collin for another Disney movie — Tarzan.

I wrote an arrangement of the song, it will hopefully be recorded in the next few weeks, but I thought it’s nice enough of a song to share, enjoy.

When somebody loved me, everything was beautiful
Every hour we spent together, lives within my heart
And when she was sad, I was there to dry her tears
And when she was happy, so was i, when she loved me.

Through the summer and the fall, we had each other, that was all
Just she and I together, like it was meant to be
And when she was lonely, I was there to comfort her
And I knew that she loved me.

So the years went by, I stayed the same
And she began to drift away, I was left alone
Still I waited for the day, when she’d say “i will always love you.”

Lonely and forgotten, never thought she’d look my way,
She smiled at me and held me, just like she used to do,
Like she loved me, when she loved me

When somebody loved me, everything was beautiful,
Every hour we spent together, lives within my heart
When she loved me.

Then once in a while, a movie comes out and the most of us will wonder…

WHY? (and WTH were you thinking?)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I regret to inform you about the upcoming release of Meet the Spartans

I am Legend on the other hand looks rather exciting, definitely seeing that after my exams, anyone wants to join me?