The Twesume... really??

When I was in journalism school my instructors suggested that we be a bit more careful about what we put up on social networking sites because our future employers would likely find it.  Just as social networking sites such as LinkedIn, facebook and even twitter are used to check out future employees,  they are being increasingly used by job searchers.

Enter the Twesume; that's right you can now tweet your resume.  Mashable.com has a detailed article  on it.  Basically get a twitter account, and tweet your professional achievements, and what your career goal is; it can even include whether or not you want to relocate.  According to the article, it's recruiting using social networking or social recruiting is considered the next trend in job searching in 2012.

Now, I'm a fairly active user of social networking sites- I use mainly facebook, twitter, and LinkedIn.  But I think this is going a little too far.  Tweeting a resume?? Granted it does force job searchers to focus in a little more on their field, say directly what they want without wasting any words.  But how do you sum yourself up in 140 characters?  I don't think it's possible.

Take me for example; I mainly tweet about politics- but I have other interests, and I don't like being so serious all the time.  I tend to be a little less guarded on Facebook, using it mostly for socializing.  On LinkedIn, I'm professional focusing in on my career related experience in Journalism.  And again I feel I've done enough that I can't exactly sum up those experiences in merely 140 characters.

What is facebook but a snapshot in time? What is Twitter but a lingering thought to be shared with the world? People are more  than facebook, more than twitter.  Arguably you can present yourself any way you want to online, and you can never get the full picture of someone.

Don't get me wrong, technology, and social networking are both great.  Just keep in mind job searchers are more than their online profiles, and definitely more than 140 characters.

My Top 5 Wishes for television in 2012

Everyone is providing their top lists of what they want to see happen in the world of television for 2012.  Here's mine

1. The Death of Reality Television: I just want the concept to die.  I'd argue there's no such thing as true "reality" some of it always ends up on the cutting room floor.   "Dancing With The Stars" it seems reaches increasingly for the dregs of Hollywood food chain the longer it goes on.  American Idol is getting so that I can predict who they'll take based on the stories at the auditions- "the Single Mom" "the sick one," etc.  And there are the serial reality contestants- Clay Aitken won on Idol, and is now on Celebrity Apprentice.  "Boston Rob" has done Survivor at least twice, and the Amazing Race once. He's now is hosting some kind of car-related shows.

2. A Return to Scripted Dramas:  A return to relying on well-crafted scripted dramas.  One of my favourites this season has been Once Upon A Time.  It's like someone took the world of fairytales put it in a blender and turned it on.  The Evil Queen from Snow White, is friends with the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty... who'd have thought?  I've loved the twists and turns of it; those who watched last night's episode know what I'm talking about... see Rumplestiltskin (aka Robert Carlyle).  Pan-Am the show about the airline of the same name should be given another chance; what I saw of that it was smartly written, and stylishly presented.  It's got some of the same names attached to it on the production side as West Wing did and that show was classic.

3. A Torchwood return? I got watching a Space marathon  one day over Christmas where they ran the last two seasons (Children of Earth, and Miracle Day) all day and I longed for that show's return... especially after "Miracle Day"'s ending.  However only if it's more like Children of Earth; Miracle Day's story was good, but didn't have nearly the tension in  the story as Children of Earth did.

4. This one is more of a hope; That CBC keeps the Murdoch Mysteries the same as it is right now.  I've just really started getting into that show watching it on DVD, and the writing has gotten better every season- the dialouge has had more of a crispness to it every season.  And I really like that it keeps me guessing.  I'll be watching it, and have it reasoned out who the murderer is.. then baam there's a twist that completely changes it.

5.  A Return to Soap Operas: I've read elsewhere online that the ratings for ABC's pair of lifestyle shows aren't the greatest.  My wish is that they return to the land of soap operas.  I've watched parts of "the Chew" and found it disjointed.  I hope network executives realize people don't really want to watch that.  If they do, then they'd flip it to the Food Network.  People want that daily dose of escapism that only Soap Operas deliver.  If they do come back, hopefully someone will realize that these are driven by storyline.  Without a decent storyline, everything else falls by the wayside.    

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Review

For me this movie was about expectations.  I went into it expecting a fun adventure-mystery, that's generally what I got.  Robert Downey Jr (Holmes), Jude Law (Watson), and Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler) all reprised their roles for this one. Added to the  cast was Noomi Rapace as they mysterious Simza  Heron a fortuneteller, and Stephen Fry (Wyecroft Holmes). 



The story led Sherlock (or Sherly as Wyecroft insisted on calling him), and the gang across Europe in a quest to stop Holmes' archenemy Moriarty (Jared  Harris) from causing a World War.  Along the way Downey Jr. displays his surprisingly good comic timing as the audience is left wondering what crazy disguise Sherlock will think of next; he appears as everything from being dressed as a woman, to an old Chinese man.

There's no shortage of action; the characters are always running, jumping, shooting off  guns, being thrown from trains.  The action is offset with the intense scenes between Holmes and Moriarty, that show there is potentially a good story there; and that it isn't just an action movie.  Even though this is a plus, it's also a negative; those scenes are like gems  within the film itself; brief insights into Holmes, and Moriarty.  You're often left wanting more wondering what makes these characters tick;  what's driving the rivalry between these two men so ideally matched?  Why are they so ruthless in their pursuit of one another?  I guess all of that is fodder for a sequel.

The movie has an open-ending; the audience knows of Holmes' fate, but nothing of Moriarty's. I would have made it more subtle and left Holmes' fate unknown as well, and just left Watson with a mysterious clue.

If you're looking for an escape this  holiday season go see Sherlock Holmes: Game Of Shadows.  On a scale of 1-5 I'd give it a solid 3.5 out of 5.

Falling Out of Love with Grey's Anatomy

It's one of my many guilty pleasures in life; or at least it was.  At first it was almost Shakespearean- Meredith and Derek as star-crossed lovers, backed by a cast of memorable characters.  And then, they were gasp; happy for a little while until the end of last season- everyone else had the drama.

Now they're not.  And now, coincidentally I'm not.  I don't know exactly when it happened, but I fell out of love with Grey's Anatomy.  Scratch that- I do know when it happened; the musical episode last season, when everyone sang.  I know for a while it was the fashion- every show had to have the musical episode, but really I can't think of a less apropriate show than Grey's Anatomy for it.  If other shows jumped off a cliff would you?.  It was painful to watch, and at least in my opinion was a huge shark-jumping moment.

Last season's season finale was so-so.  The storylines moved forward; but the old drama, the intensity was gone.  I tuned in last week hoping it would be better, and sadly it wasn't.  The way the episode started; with the big sinkhole accident; the focus should be on how the characters dealt with it.  The way the husband had to cut the wife's leg off was intense; there was drama there as Owen had to go down into the sink hole to help them.  But it seemed to be missing some of the human interaction.  Grey's is at its best when those smaller characters like the couple stuck in the sinkhole, and the other accident victims interact with the show's regulars, and each other.  Everyone seemed too wrapped in their own problems to do any of that.

Meredith taking Zola?? That was out-of-character for her. She has stated several times she wants to be a good mother.  That went completely the other way.  And Christina wanting an abortion is consistent with her character; surgery is obviously her defining characteristic.  I just wanted Meredith to tell her off about how Christina should realize how lucky she was she could get pregnant.

Grey's Anatomy was once one of my favourite shows- it was appointment television for me.  Now I'm starting not to really care if I watch it or not.  I'll give it a few more episodes to see if it gets better.  

Summer Reading: My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon, and "Anna Strong" series

Generally I read anything that sounds good from the synopsis on the back of the book.  Lately I've been on a supernatural/ horror kick.  One of the books I'm reading now is "My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon," a collection of short stories by different authors edited by P.N. Elrod.  It's been a great way to sample different writers, while not being tied to following one storyline- it gives me the freedom to skip around if I want. 

I've also discovered the  "Anna Strong, " novels by Jeanne C. Stein.  I was looking at the library for a book to take with me on a trip and stumbled upon the third of her series "Blood Drive."  I ended up reading the whole thing in about five days.  The main character Anna is a newly-turned vampire trying to adjust to her new lifestyle as one of the undead.  The stories are told from Anna's point of view, and written with equal parts sarcasm and emotion as Anna struggles to stay in touch with the human world.

If you're a fan of the supernatural, and looking for something to read that's pure escapist, then check out both of these.

The Demise of Soaps

Daily Soap Operas are everyone's favourite guilty pleasure.  We tune into find out who the daddy is, who's shacking up with whom, or who's blackmail whom; or what long lost sibling son/ daughter have shown up now- it's a piece of escapism.  And bit, bit these shows are dying off.  First CBS cancelled As The World Turns, and Guiding Light, replacing them with lifestyle programming, and now ABC is at the cancellation game; about to do away with One Life To Live, and All My Children.  They'll replace them with two lifestyle food shows, one featuring Mario Batali.  And now the network has announced it's inked a deal with Katie Couric for her very own talk show; and this is rumoured to spell the end of its third network soap opera: General Hospital.

I think it's a trend.  The networks will start running the reality programming, and talk shows, and then the minute after the ratings start slipping they'll yank the shows and have nothing to replace them with.  Then soaps will be back, and according to fans at least, all will be right with the world.

  I admit, when I work at home, I don't watch television during the day, but I do tape General Hospital daily and watch it later. The presence new talk shows, and lifestyle type programming won't make me change my habits.  When faced with the option of that, or turning off the television, soap fans will probably do the most powerful thing they can think of; they'll probably turn off the television.


Soaps are expensive television

Today in History: D-Day.. fighting then, and now

June 6, 1944 was D-day.  The allies stormed the beaches at Normandy and began their campagin to liberate Europe after nearly five years at war.  Canadian troops fought at Juno Beach, and a group of them gained the most territory of any allied soldiers.  They fought in Italy, France and liberated Holland. 

One war began its ending 67 years ago, and a second begins its ending today.  It was announced on the news, Canadian troops fought their final battle in Afghanistan.  Canada will pull out of its combat role, reverting to humanitarian, and training role.  It was planned by their Afghan National Army allies, making it oddly poetic that it should happen today of all days.  But it is an appropriate reminder that we haven't always been the peacekeepers we'd like to think of Canadians as. We've been fighters; doing the impossible, and doing it well.

It's a saying we repeat every Remembrance Day: "We Will remember them."  We should remember them; the glories of the past, and what our soldiers continue doing now.