Entries Tagged 'm2m on cjsf 90.1fm' ↓

Last week on M2M, Sarah Hyde and I talked about TV. Specifically, being addicted to it.

Now, I know “addiction” is not a term to be thrown around like spaghetti right before dinner, but I’ve been logging some serious TV hours even though I don’t personally own a TV. With the onslaught of entire show seasons available on DVD or online, it’s easier than ever to watch TV whether you own one or not.

With over a gazillion blogs (or at least 112.8 million), 120 000 000 videos on YouTube and over 600 feature films produced yearly in Canada and the USA alone,  you’d think TV was a done deal. But according to the few people we talked to it’s doing better than ever.

So what  are you watching?

Addicted to TV Part 1

Addicted to TV Part 2

This week on M2M, Sarah Hyde and I talk about what we take for granted.

My top 5:

5. That there will be food in the grocery store

4. That Chris Rock/Aziz Ansari/Sarah Silveman/Conan O’Brien will be hilarious

3. That cars will abide the streetlights and stop at pedestrian cross walks

2. That my toilet will work

1. That I’ll wake up in the morning.

Through doing this show, I realize I no longer take my toilet for granted. I really appreciate it and every toilet I come across that works. But weirdly enough, I don’t always appreciate being alive. I can really take being alive for granted. (Now after this blog-fession, I’m worried a huge anvil will fall from the sky…if it does, I’ll make sure to blog about it!)

We also talk to a few other people about some of the odd, big, small things they take for granted and what they try really hard to appreciate no matter what.  Including Vancouver-Quadra MP Joyce Murray, some friends of the inimitable Sarah Hyde, a few long-distance calls through Skype and my partner-in-crime Jordan who will never take another good George Lucas film for granted again.

The Taking Things for Granted Show Part I

The Taking Things for Granted Show Part 2

Sarah thinking about what she takes for granted and about that cute person who just walked by...

In honour of Mother’s Day, this week Sarah Hyde and I do an M2M Mom Show on CJSF 90.1fm. We go from the ubiquitous lumpy pancake breakfast in bed to the best and worst advice Mom has ever given us. We dial in the M-O-M area code for some sage advice, to hear everything from what to do if you hate your friend’s partner to how to make one world-affecting decision at a time.

Sarah talks to three people about their mom’s best advice, including a person with the best hair, a person with the best eye glasses and a person who created the best dance party Vancouver has ever seen.

Laurie dishes with good friend Tara over what “Sandra and Barb” would think of some of the mom advice doled out on discussion boards, giving it a yay or nay. (Sandra is Tara’s Mom and Barb is Laurie’s).

Then Sarah does a big reveal, (no, she doesn’t, but I’m still reeling over her Llama family big reveal from last week’s show). Sarah finishes the show off with what could at first seem like unusual advice but really has served her quite well throughout her young life so far.

Listen in!

The Mom Show Part I

The Mom Show Part II

Sarah Hyde and I recently did a CJSF 90.1fm radio show on names. Sarah renamed herself for a year and it changed her life in unexpected and great ways. That got me thinking about great people who change their names (Sarah’s pretty great). So, I thought of Mark Twain.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens ain’t a bad name, it’s actually pretty hefty in literary wit, presence and substance. So I wonder if the more flip, funny, shockingly concise and bang on “Mark Twain” in any way influenced what Sam Clemens was writing. A Twain would say: “Familiarity breeds contempt – and children.”  A Clemens? Maybe he’d finish if off with ‘and boredom’. Something reasonable that doesn’t smack you in the face with hilarity.

Most of us has overheard someone using a Twain quote. I have been the obnoxious-ex-smoker-do-gooder waiting at an intersection for a street light to change talking loudly to the people smoking with headphones in their ears about smoking “Quitting smoking is easy, I’ve done it a thousand times.” I’d say as I’d laugh tra-la-la, trying to cross the street with them. (Note, I’m not the obnoxious ex-smoker who doesn’t want you smoke near me- I actually love the smell of cigarette smoke- I just want to talk to you about how hard quitting is; plus, I miss talking to smokers. You’re usually such great conversationalists).  Smoking or not, I also throw this one in sometimes: “Golf is a good walk spoiled.”  haha-hilarious!

I dug up by way of a few clicks a webpage that shares how Mark Twain unwittingly got his name. The last radio show Sarah Hyde and I did was about ‘the secret lives of co-workers’ and interestingly, Mark Twain got his name (which is really a term for safe passage on a river boat), from a co-worker. Ah-ha! (Think of me as Jason Schwartzman’s character in I heart Huckabees, making connections where none exist!)

But it gets more exciting. Sam Clemens took his co-worker’s sometimes-alias, Mark Twain, after said co-worker passed on. I like to think of it as a fitting tribute to the man Sam Clemens/Mark Twain wrote about that first started off his incredible career as Amercia’s favourite humourist.

And really, I just love that guy.

Last week Sarah Hyde and I went undercover a la Barbara Ehrenreich (author of Bait and Switch) to expose the secret lives of those we work with. We hid our lapel mics under cardigans, wore wigs and asked them all about their hobbies- just what are they up to on the weekends and evenings anyway?

Nah, we didn’t do any of that. But we did interview people who do that.

No, not even close.

We interviewed people. Great people. And what we uncovered was sweet.

• Everyone has a secret life.
• They are usually made up of hobbies.
• And a lot of them take talent and passion.
• And they’re really not-so-secret.

We asked Journalist and although-she-doesn’t-call-herself-this-I-will, photographer Kathryn Marlow all about her Photo a Day Project.

We walked Jordan to work and found out about a guy he used to work with whose main motto in life was, ‘we work to live not live to work.’

We talk to the rocknroll librarian Tara Anderson about why librarians could all secretly be rock stars.

And Sarah does a BIG REVEAL on her own secret life that her co-workers have no idea about. I’ll give you a hint, it involved the word “Llama.”

As if I needed anymore reasons to love Sarah Hyde. It’s overflowing that love and now full up with Llamas too.

All this and more on Mouth2Mouth on CJSF 90.1fm ~ Thanks so much for listening!

The Secret Lives of Co-workers Part I

The Secret Lives of Co-workers Part II

Last week on M2M on CJSF 90.1fm Sarah Hyde and I took our recorder out for a walk and visited some of the coolest places in the city.

You can hear that show here.

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Standard Podcast [30:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

One place that captured my imagination and took a little piece of my heart is called, Grace.

You can walk by this world of wonder on 2685 Maple Street day or night. The big window looking into the front room is like the rabbit hole, crossing over into a world that doesn’t quite ressemble the one outside of it.

It’s inviting and magic. Elusive, arty, thrilling, unique. I’ve spent long minutes standing in front of this window watching my perspective transform, taking in a “f gossip t-shirt” and a Mad Hatter/Dr. Seuss/Vogue magazine-esque stack of vintage suitcases careen just so. I’ve seen things moved around, new things added and marveled at the sometimes posters in the window. I’ve felt like any message posted was posted just for me.

And as the days carried on, I noticed I made sure to walk by this place and stop to peer into the window.

We all  know in this economic climate that getting a job in publishing, broadcasting, arts is akin to making a living off of designing paper cranes, it seems only the geniuses can do it. So, Grace became an anchor. A continuing possibility in a wide arrays of “not now’s/no’s/sorry’s/why-don’t-you-try-this-instead’s.

This window kept me going, ‘keep applying’ it seemed to say. You can be a part of this world, this conversation.

In yet another stab at a position, for an internship no less, I got to meet Wendy Williams Watt, the creator of Grace.  (She’s as amazing- if not even more so than the window itself). I’ll post next the little video Jordan and I shot as a part of that job application.

I didn’t get the job, but you know what? I got a ‘f-gossip’ t-shirt. How f’in brilliant is that!

On M2M this week Sarah Hyde and I broadcast from the Burrard Bridge, hang out in Kitsilano, go to a coffee shop, walk by some car dealerships and talk all about our favourite places in the city.

Some of them are surprising. Some feature a baby owl. Some have cheesecake the size of a twoonie. And like every other M2M show so far, Sarah and I talk a lot. Talking out our nuances and joking about our foibles, we try to uncover how these cool places transcend the everyday and take us to new heights of experience. (I swear only Dads are allowed to use puns, so I sincerely, sincerely apologize).

We also talk to a few people who represent what we love about Vancouver: arty magic and dancing! I stop by my favourite place in the city (a separate blog post coming up on that shortly) and speak to Wendy Williams Watt who has really cool things to say. And Sarah talks to fellow “unicorn” Quinn Peters about his favourite secret place.

*unicorn is a term one of Sarah’s friends-from-away calls people born and raised in Vancouver. I find it fitting as I really relate to Douglas Coupland’s City of Glass understanding of the place and equate Vancouver to Cloud City mixed with Gotham and Atlantis. Surreal, beautiful and hard to get into.

Tune in Thursday at 3pm at CJSF 90.1 fm.

Tales of Cool Places Vancouver Part I

Tales from Cool Places Vancouver Part II

We heart Douglas Coupland, a national treasure and celebrated Vancouverite!

Those nooks up in the far corners of the bridge? Surprisingly great (and peaceful!) places to hang out.

On this week’s Mouth2Mouth broadcasting outta CJSF 90.1fm, Sarah Hyde and I talk pseudonyms.

Have you ever changed your name?

Sarah Hyde talks about what it was like to live a year as Molly Hopkins. Turns out Molly is a whole lotta fun! (So is Sarah- she picked up a thing or two from her name-changing alter ego).

We talk to Orene Askew, who really prefers to be called “O”; Maegan Conway on changing names during a pub crawl in Berlin, Nick Kempinksi on how a name change can make a big difference and Katie K on what it’s like to catch someone using a different name. And as the world funnily turns, that someone just happens to be the same someone Sarah Hyde and I know…by a different name. I know. I know. There’s a lot to a name.

Including some silly fun. Sarah and I rename each other for a day.  And I’m not sure what she thought of my name for her but I was pretty happy with what she came up with for me, especially when we shortened it to a nickname.

So, go ahead, pick up a Sharpie and fill in that blank “Hello, my name is” box. Write whatever you want. We found out it doesn’t hurt a thing.

Until someone finds out.

The Pseudonyms Show Part I

The Pseudonyms Show Part II

Raising money for Arthritis Research doesn’t get more fun than this!  M2M co-star, Sarah Hyde, picks up the pink bandanna and gets down.

But wait-before I post the video here’s a pop-up insider-tidbit for ya: I put the call out to all the community dancers to meet at a specific time at a specific place. As the date drew closer I got worried: it seemed like no one could make it.

Did I have enough guts to dance alone?

The morning of the big meet-up, I put on my sweats and carried my flourescent posters to the beach. I got some songs cued on my ipod and tried to psyche myself up.

I waited. 45 minutes went by.

I vacillated between worry and wonder, marveling at all the dogs and do-gooders jogging by and worrying about the task at hand. The potential-solo dance routine.  I contemplated asking a group of drunk beach-goers if they’d be interested in dancing in a video with me (it was the first summery-sunny day of the year, I don’t blame them one ounce for being tipsy and loud by noon) but figured that wouldn’t look good for The Arthritis Society if someone barfed during the running man or worse, fell over. When I was about to conclude that maybe dancing for change wasn’t the best fundraising tactic,  bike wheels flashed by and stopped to my right. A familiar voice, said, “hey, I’m here”.  Radio personality, volunteer extraordinaire, playwrite and regular karokee’r Sarah Hyde came in from Merritt. She was in her sweats and ready to rock. She had to leave in exactly one hour to lead a youth camp. She didn’t ask where everyone else was. She just danced.

We didn’t raise any money that day (I think we could have danced naked and people would have been too interested in chilling out with the sun, it was such a nice day) but I got a gift worth more than uranium in New Brunswick, I got a friend’s kindness.

(And also to see a funny little pug named Mason run free as a bird down the beach, snort-chortling, his little paws like wings).

This week on M2M at CJSF 90.1 fm Sarah Hyde and I go arty and bring you a soundscape of the Olympics with a few good-natured interview clips thrown in.

So, what would a day at the Olympics sound like if you showed up downtown Vancouver and walked around with the crowds?  If you stopped in at a friend’s house to talk about Wayne Gretzy and taking the bus? If you piled out of the place where you watched the Olympic Men’s Gold Hockey Game and high fived more people than you have in your entire life?

You’re going to find out.

Close your eyes and don’t worry about crossing the street. We’re going to take you from the Chinese New Year’s Day Parade to the Memorial March for the Murdered and Missing Women to Russia House -Sochi 2014- to the Circus to Granville Island performances to the Candahar to Northern House to the Torch Relay to Granville street crowd cheering morning, noon and night.