Spring Begins

Published March 24, 2015 by lorimuma

I can’t believe my last post was so long ago, lots has been happening since the September. I am still on my job hunt and looking to see what my future holds. It has been a year since I lost my job and with the exception of a few months in between its been tough.

One thing I decided to do was go back to night school and take something for me. Not something that I felt would help me in the career I was in, but something that I have always wanted to learn that could possible lead to a new career.

In December I decided to enroll into the Special Effects Make -Up program at Ryerson University. Its 2 nights a week from January to September (and no I haven’t seen Face Off, but I will) I have made burns, worked with latex and currently trying to make a moustache with real hair. I am looking forward to see what opportunities that brings. I am also happy that I was able to tell my Grandma that I was taking this in the hospital before she passed.

I am hoping that with the spring coming I will be able to get out of this funk that I have been in since my birthday in November. Which is one of the reasons that I haven’t blogged at all. I had no energy, but as I look out my window as I write this I see the sun is finally out. Tons of people are out walking, although that probably has to do with the subway being shut down.

Plus Madonna is coming in October, so that gives me something to look forward to.

Maroon 5 – Air Canada Centre, Toronto

Published March 24, 2015 by lorimuma

Last week I was able to attend the Maroon 5 concert in Toronto. For those you don’t know they are also known as Adam Levine. I was looking forward to it for a couple of reasons. Mainly because I was able to catch up with some old friends before the show and also to see what all the hype with Adam..I mean Maroon 5 was about.

They have a ton of pop hits, ones that I know all the words to, yet I don’t have own a single song on my iTunes or can even remember watching a single video. Why is that?

The show started right on time and with the exception of a brief power outage went just as planned. Let me just say this. Maroon 5 likes smoke machines, like Beyonce likes wind machines. Fog was everywhere, maybe to keep all eyes focused on Adam. All the hits were sung, Adam had all the women and one guy with a hair bun beside me screaming. It was a typical pop show. Nothing too exciting, nothing too bad. Overall entertaining, but not life changing.

Adam spoke, Adam tried to dance and Adam played a green guitar. Its what Adam didn’t do that has bugged me since I left the show. He never introduced the band! Not even a mention, not even a nod. NOTHING. The Rolling Stones for god sakes introduces the band. Adam Levine doesn’t seem to have the time, or maybe he doesn’t know the names?

Does anyone have any clue who is in Maroon 5? Did anyone even know there is a black guy in the band? That there were 4 other people in the band? No, and it seems like Adam didn’t remember either. I am pretty sure that the next time Maroon 5 comes to Toronto, it will be called Adam Levine.

Who are these other four people?

Adam sings to his admirers

Be quite, I am trying to sing a song that all of you will know

Maroon 5 – 3/5

TIFF14 – My Review

Published September 27, 2014 by lorimuma

I want to start by apologizing for my delay. I have been offline for a better part of September, but I am back now and finally here with my reviews of the movies and events that I saw at TIFF14. I have decided to rank them in order of how I liked them, instead of the order in which I saw them. As most know, I am really only interested in movies with “names” in them, so you want see any Finnish coming of age movie here. I don’t read when I go to the movies!

1) Nightcrawler. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, a guy who is a loner, borderline thief and overall weirdo . He figures out that he can make easy cash by becoming a “Nightcrawler” Someone who goes to crime scenes or car crashes (preferably before any first responders get to the scene) and film them. Then goes as sells the footage to any news station that will pay for it. In this case its Rene Russo’s last place station The bloodier the better. He becomes obsessed at getting the story and making a name for himself,and will go to almost insane length to do it. He also can talk himself out of any situation or into any situation depending on the need. Jake Gyllenhaal does an amazing job in this movie and I hope he gets some sort of recognition for it. He is creepy, terrifying and left me totally freaked out by his performance.

2)Top Five. This is Chris Rock at his best! Not only is he the director and screenwriter, he also stars. This is not a family comedy. It is inappropriate , cringe worthy ( a certain scene with Cedric the Entertainer) and a totally hilarious movie. Chris Rock stars as Andre Allen, a stand up comedian and movie star who is in desperate need of a big hit to jump start his career again, all while planning a wedding to a “reality” tv star on her show played by Gabrielle Union. He decides to do an interview with a journalist, played by Rosario Dawson (who has a couple of cringe worthy/ hilarious scenes herself) to help in his re-branding. I have to metion all the great cameos of great comedian in this movie – Kevin Hart, Adam Sandler,Tracy Morgan, Jay Pharaoh, Whoppie and Jerry Seinfeld I am sure that missed some. If you life Chris Rock, and who doesn’t go see this one when it comes out later this year.

3) While We’re Young. This movie it the complete opposite of Nightcrawler’s and more subtle with the humour then Top Five. Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried star in this movie about 2 couples. One are in there 40’s, married, no kids and wondering if they missed out on anything. The other couple are 20 somethings living a sort of hipster life. With the exception of a middle part that dragged a little too long, this movie is enjoyable and very funny. The acting is great and I feel Ben Stiller takes the movie. I am not sure this will win any awards, but its a good Sunday afternoon movie that I highly recommend.

4) Cake. This is Jennifer Aniston’s “I want to win an Oscar” movie, and she is really good. I was even surprised and I love Jennifer Aniston. I will say it right from the start. This is not a feel good movie. It’s depressing. It’s sad and will leave you at the end going “so now what” Don’t watch this movie if you are in a sad mood. It will make it worse. Aniston plays Claire a women who is suffering from chronic pain, due to a horrible car crash we learn. She not only has physical scars, but mental ones as well. I won’t go into that as it is a major plot development in the movie. Her husband left her, her friends don’t know how to help her,her support group kick her out and she is addicted to pain medication. Basically her life sucks. By the end of the movie, is her life any better? Sort of I guess. This is not a movie that you will leave going “I love that movie” no, its a movie that you may think about after and realize that your life is not that bad.

5)The Drop. This was the first movie I saw at TIFF14, and it is also the last movie that James Gandolfini made. Tom Hardy, who not to hard on the eyes, stars in this movie. He plays Bob the bartender, at the bar that his cousin Marv (Gandolfini) owns, well used to own. Now the Chechen mob owns it. The bar serves as the place where the new owners “drop” laundered money. Throw in a Pit Bull that Bob rescues from the garbage of a soon to be love interest and you have an average suspense movie. I would wait to see this on Netflix,it was good, but not amazing.

6) Men, Women & Children. After watching this movie I came to a conclusion. I really like Jason Reitman, however I really don’t love Jason Reitman movies. I may be one of the few people that turned off Juno, thought Up In The Air was overrated and Labour Day was just ok. So why do I continue to go see his movies? I truly have no idea. The movie looked promising, in fact my friends that I saw it with LOVED it. I thought I was more depressing than Cake. It is about how Social Media has destroyed our lives. A married couple feels they are not loved anymore and go searching out for an affair, thanks Ashley Madison! A teenage girl becomes anorexic because she wants some high school football play to like her. Thanks eating disorder blogs. Another mom wants her teen daughter to be a reality star/beauty queen she never was. A teen guy looks at porn too much and sprinkle in some depressed, plays video games too much, mad at the world teens and you want to believe this world we live in has gone completely mad. This movie is just expressing what has been happening since everyone went to high school. Its only the platforms have changed. With a pretty high profile cast, Adam Sandler, Jennifer Gardner, and Judy Greer I am sure this will be nominated for something, but it just was my kind of movie.

7) The Sound and The Fury. This is a James Franco attempt to yet again, write, star and direct a movie. He plays a mentally challenged man who as other reviews have said. Does his best Tropic Thunder impression. Look it up and you will get what I mean. I will spare you the details, but this will be a movie that most people will NEVER see, its not the worst movie, but it will probably end up on Super Channel or some movie channel that nobody watches. The most exciting thing about this movie was that Wayne Gretzky was at the screening? Now why would he be at a James Franco movie. His wife was a producer of it and paid..I mean played the mother in the movie.

That is a wrap of my TIFF movies, overall I was happy with my picks and look forward to seeing some of the other buzzed about movies in the theatre soon.

Well Done!

Published September 2, 2014 by lorimuma

I was so happy that finally Mindy Kaling is finally getting the long overdo attention she deserves.

Most people will remember her for The Office where she played Kelly Kapoor, but want most don’t know was that she was a writer and producer on that show.

I was also a fan of her book, “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?” It’s a great read about her going up in the 80’s and obsessed with pop culture. I can’t wait to read her next instalment that should be coming out later this year.

I recently started watching her show, The Mindy Files with past month on Netflix. I admit I was late to the show,(I have no idea why, but I’ll chalk it up to I didn’t know when it was on.) Now going into its third year, it has quickly become one of my favorites.

Then to see her make the cover of Flare was a great surprise. For some reason Leah Dunham seems to get the covers as the new “it” girl comedian, but honestly seeing Mindy is quite refreshing.

I can’t wait to read the full interview this week, when Flare is on the newsstand (or on my iPad, which how I will read it)

Well done Flare.

Comfort Zone?

Published July 20, 2014 by lorimuma

One of the things that I have wanted to do this year is go out of my comfort zone. It started in January when I decided to “try out” for a chance to dance with Madonna. I didn’t make it to the final, but I gained new friends and discovered the joys of cardio dance. So it seemed like the obvious next step when my gym Hard Candy in Toronto offered a 8-week Dance workshop for its members. I was in yet another transition period of my life, so I figured why not!

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The 8 Dance Workshops that I was about to embark on!

I was not sure what to expect, but I was not only was it a great workout, it was probably more fun than I have ever had at the gym. Did I look ridiculous – absolutely, but never once did I revet doing these classes. Prior to this I have never heard of Wacking or never thought that I would be taking a Dancehall class, but here I was. I was only sad knowing that after this Sunday they were all done.

The instructors are professional dancers in the Toronto community,along with being HCFT instructors and they could have not been better to learn from. It was also great to lean that these workshops will hopefully be added to the regular class schedule.

Out of all 8 workshops Dancehall and Wacking were my favourites. The 90 minutes flew by and I didn’t even realize that I had been working out. I never would have thought that would be doing this, but it has been a fantastic experience.

As I am writing this I keep wondering what my next activity is I should try. I mean if I could attempt Burlesque I could try anything. It’s all about steeping out of your comfort zone and try something new!

About to start.1st class of 8 Dance workshops

Happy Canada Day!

Published July 1, 2014 by lorimuma

This has absolutely nothing to do with Canada or July 1st, but it was probably what made me stop and stare for quite some time.

Just a preview of David Beckham’s new H&M campaign. Enjoy!

A real “A” list wedding

Published May 27, 2014 by lorimuma

You can fly to Paris, then you can fly to Florence, but only an “A” lister could get married at Downton Abbey.

This is how George Clooney rolls when he decides to get married. I only wonder if he will work a walk on role to Season 5.

Stop Avril. Please Stop

Published April 24, 2014 by lorimuma

The track is co-written by Avril’s husband, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger. That was the first sentence that I read just as I was about to watch this disaster, sorry I mean the video for Avril’s new song “Hello Kitty.” I was not expecting much from it, but basically was curious about all this publicity the song was having. Everywhere I turned on Facebook, Twitter etc, I was reading the headlines about this supposed racist video.
Have you ever wanted to see a career implode in front of your eyes. Well congratulations, in the next 4 minutes you will see just that!
This mess of a video took me four, yes four time to get through it. I had to stop after 40 seconds and take a break. Was it because I was so offended by the racism? No, but I was offended. I was offended as someone who could hear and see.

Why the hell was this song made? Why was this video made? Why does this women still have some sort of career? How could it have taken two grown adults to “write” this. It makes anything Justin Bieber does look like a masterpiece.

Have a look, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Lori

Drunk in Love for the Summer?

Published April 16, 2014 by lorimuma

Will they or won’t they. All morning speculation has been growing that Queen Bey and Jay Z would be be going on a summer stadium tour that would take them to 20 cities. Lets hope this is true, it seems like an obvious choice. Fingers crossed.

Here a couple for photos I took last summer.

( Taken from the Mrs. Carter Tour at the Air Canada Centre Summer 2013)

(Taken for the Legends of Summer Stadium Tour, Rogers Centre 2013)

Lori

Drake in disguise

Published April 11, 2014 by lorimuma

Last night Drake appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Now I’m not the biggest Drake fan,but this is quite funny. I especially like the guy who questions is “started from the bottom” line. I actually would like to see this as a reoccurring segment