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

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

My colleague, co-host and radio bestie was one of the stars of Herb Gardner’s play A Thousand Clowns, put on by the Live Theatre Society in Merritt.

That's me taking a picture of Sarah putting the finishing touches on her make up just a half hour before she show starts. The venue was packed and they were looking for more chairs. I thought I was early, but it was hopping. When I first saw her I could have sworn she was Ellen Page.

I hopped on the Greyhound and made the trip up the mountain to see Sarah Hyde shine.

Literally.

Her and her fellow thespians were rocking the stage so hard I thought the furniture might fall through. I was blown away by the audience turn out, too. Although Sarah joked in an interview about rivaling Avatar, (both the movie and the play had sold out shows) the evening I was there, it wasn’t too far from the truth.

What a triumph for theatre!  And they didn’t even need Sigourney Weaver!

Imagine a large crowd of mitton-wearing movie-goers throwing off their 3D glasses for a bag of chips and a wooden seat at the Legion. That was the spirit in the air. Like we were all doing something new together right after rushing out of the house and half-eating supper in the car ride over.

And just as impressive as the acting (which I’ll get to in a second) were the high school students. They did make up, stage direction, raffles, you name it.  I had a sense that a lot of people in the audience had a part in the show even if they weren’t anywhere near the stage. From a perfect prop donation, to food for the crew, to making sure their significant others got to rehearsals, this was a community at its best.

And all for a show.

A good show.

Here’s a little confession. I was worried the play would be boring at best, bad at worst and then I would have to tell Sarah Hyde what I truly thought. There’s a little nagging stereotype that circles my brain about every year or so that gets proven wrong again and again (Hello Fringe Festival!).

Here it is: I figure all community theatre is like Waiting for Guffman… but without the laughs.

And I am wrong.

The actors in Merritt’s Live Theatre Society’s performance of Herb Gardner’s A Thousand Clowns were superb.

Yup, superb.

And you can turn into M2M on CJSF 90.1fm, Thursday from 3-4pm to find out why.

My partner in crime, love, housing and life recently bought me a little treat. A way to say, ‘hey you had a tough week, now look for another job and eat cake’.

(There are good, delicious reasons I’m marrying him!)

And at about 10am the next day I decided to take him up on his offer and took a break from doing up yet another resume and  got out the wee bomb of a cake.

Notice my resume in the background with a very peculiar screen saver...that's Sean Connery from the movie Zardoz.

Note: sean connery's crotch and the chocolate cake, mhm, can mean only one thing: it's monday morning resume blitz time.

I won’t  lie. I ate that cake up in about 3 minutes and felt special to boot. I think I even got that resume finished by noon.  So no matter what your doctor or diabetes chart tells ya, sometimes a little something baked can pack some power.

Just take artist Allison Chamber’s Monster Cookie series.  Her cookies in the likeness of Canadian politicians are delicious and will move you to protest, write a letter or heck, send Harper or Campbell one of her cookies as a treat.

I can’t be the only wannabe do-gooder eating sugar at 10am.

And as a part of Mouth 2 Mouth’s Baking and Politics show, we got to interview Allison Chambers about where her cookies have been and where they just may go.

Eat up, er, listen up, either way it tastes good!

Before you do anything today -brush your teeth, say hello to a loved one or pet, put on pants- go to this website:

http://www.petittrianon.ca

It showcases the work of local artist Allison Chambers.

And in case you’ve already got your pants on and said hello to people then worry not, I’ll wow your eyes with a few pictures from her website.

Yah, these amazing images are cakes. Cakes! And on this week’s M2M on CJSF 90.1fm Sarah Hyde and I will be talking to Allison about cookies, specifically political ones.  Tune in Thursday from 3-4.