My take on 'Avatar: The Way of Water'

Saw 'Avatar:  The Way of Water" last night.

Before I get into my thoughts on the movie, let me preface by saying that the show I was about to watch was being compromised by 20 minutes of relentless COMMERCIALS.  Drug commercials, car commercials, tech commercials... with ATWOW being in excess of three hours long, sitting through this many commercials was making us pissed off.  It put a lot of us in a mood that was not exactly favorable before the movie even got to start.  This was the longest, most painful length of time we had to wait before the movie started.  Once the film began to roll, after waiting over 20 minutes, we now had over three hours still to come.  This shit is insane and needs to stop.  We pay enough money as it is for two tickets in 3D to have to be subject to relentless commercials.  I'd be a bit better about it if I knew the commercials helped lower the ticket prices, but that'll never, ever be the case.

SO... that being said, ATWOW started, and it's back to Pandora ten years later, and Jake Sully and Neytiri now have a family.  I don't want to give too much away, but the first length of the film is primarily on the familiar grounds of the planet we saw in the first instalment.  A familiar villain rears his new, ugly head, as he and his amassed army begin the hunt for Jake, in what appears to be more or less a revenge tale.  There is another plot device involving hunting a whale-type species which have fluids deep in their bodies that actually halt human ageing, making just a test tube of the stuff ridiculously valuable not unlike the unobtanium mineral that was so sought after in the first movie.  The military are painted as being a vile, greedy, cocky bunch that, not unlike in the first film, kind of mirrors the Persian Gulf wars era in our recent history.  Earth, they explain, is nearly finished as a habitable planet because we basically ransacked the place since the industrial revolution.  

Jake is now older, mature and tougher ten years on in the saga.  Neytiri is his stalwart wife, and their family continues on in the ways of the Omatikaya, until inevitably the "sky people" (humans) show up and once again ravage the land as Jake is being hunted for his sins against humanity.  This section of the film is engaging and fun to look at, but has an air of deja vu and been-there-done-that - but, is necessary to prime the viewer for what comes later.  The clan wind up relocating themselves to another section of the planet, where the indigenous clan there is more privy to the waters and oceanic life it inhabits.  They've even actually evolved physically to deal with their surroundings.  This is where the film really leaves the ground - or sinks, in this case, but in the best way possible.  I've never seen visuals this astounding since the last Avatar flim, but this even exceeds what we saw then.  In true Cameron form, the story wrenches at the heart at times, getting you attached to characters and leaving you wondering ultimately whether or not all of them will survive to the end of the story.  For the vast majority of what you see, the CGI is virtually indistinguishable from the practical.  And not once did I feel like I was watching some kind of animation.

The quibbles with the show I have are minor - I found the score to be lacking in the absence of James Horner, who composed the music for the original film, but died a few years ago.  So Cameron hired who was essentially Horner's understudy, Simon Franglen, to fill in.  And 'fill in' is kind of all he really did.  The music doesn't ruin the film for sure, but neither does it stand out the way James Horner used to make it.  It's altogether forgivable, though, because Horner is a pretty high bar to clear.  Another bit of a problem I had was the action... as great as it is to watch, it kind of follows the Marvel credo of cramming perhaps too much into the screen, leaving whatever important things there are to see kind of lost in the mix, or detracted from.  But it's hard to fault Cameron for wanting to give the audience their money's worth, and he sure as hell does in this movie.  It's just that some of the things here don't resonate the way you'd hope because of the excess busy-ness.  One last gripe is the Na'vi people - I found them sometimes hard to distinguish, and confusing to connect names and bios to.  Still, by the end of the film, you feel like you've made at least some connection with the characters, and with how absolutely gorgeous this film looks, you'll want to go back again to re-watch what you liked, and wind up seeing what you missed the first time in the process.  I should add, too, the marine life, in particular the whale species, steals the show.

All in all, it's good to see Cameron back in the saddle again building more spectacle like no other filmmaker can quite do.  I look forward to more Avatar chapters in the near years ahead.

Ramble on...

December 20.  Peter Criss' birthday - the guy that first introduced the idea that I should play drums, after listening to my brother Rick's 'KISS Alive!' 8 track on my sister Cindy's stereo.  

That's neither here nor there as far as this post is concerned, I just recognize that date as such.  It's 6:40 in the morning on this chilly Tuesday, and once again I've been up all night, save for maybe an hour and a half.  I'm having a hell of a time snapping out of this miserable sleep cycle of being up during the night and asleep during daylight.  Not that there's much daylight this time of year around these parts.

I thought what I''d do is one of my random thoughts-type posts, or start one anyway.  With these particular entries with the somewhat flippant subject matter, I often start it, then get back to it as more of it comes to me.  Where I don't know whether people read these much or not, it at least acts as a diary or journal of sorts for me to look back on in the future - a time stamp, so to speak.

So let's begin!

Ah, Chris Cuomo... I was going to start with "let's get after it!"  But I've kind of soured on CC as of late. He's returned to news media in the U.S. on a station called News Nation, anchoring a show there like he did with his popular "Cuomo Prime Time" on CNN, before they canned him for nefarious reasons.  CNN has dive-bombed in the ratings since - and is almost unrecognizable to a lot of us, since now it's being run by devout republicans.  There are clips available of Cuomo's new show at NN, which I saw some of, and I was quite puzzled when one of his interviewees was republican congressman Jim Jordan, who staunchly defends soon-to-be-indicted Donald Trump and his coup attempt a couple of years ago.  Cuomo soft-balled the interview and let Jordan off easy, which I found shocking, because CC was known to me for his hard-hitting style of interviews.  It drew the line for me, and I stopped following CC promptly; hoping that maybe one day he'll return to form.  But right now, he's far from it.  See...the fact is, Fox News is a corrupt organization that leans heavily toward the far, far right, so a station like MSNBC, to me, is justified in its outright liberalism, as the far right Fox needs to be countered, especially where Fox is so vitriolic and hateful.  In fact, in the spring, Fox News founder and owner Rupert Murdoch will have to answer in court for the lies he and his network perpetuated in the media when they face Dominion in court, a company that builds voting machines that were used to tabulate the 2020 election, which saw Biden and the Democrats win by over seven million votes.  Dominion was dragged through the media by Murdoch and his empire for falsifying the election, without any shred of proof whatsoever.  In fact, recounts suggested that it was the Democrats that were short-shrifted in the final tallies when there actually was a difference.  Many republicans have a lot to answer for in court in the coming months.

Why am I so concerned about American politics over Canadian, you might wonder.  It's simple.  Whatever happens there tends to eventually happen up here.  When Reaganomics took over in the 80s, it spread to Canada via the Mulroney government - exit the middle class.  In the 90s, Bill Clinton took over, erased their deficit and brought prosperity back for the working class; while in Canada, Jean Chretien took the reigns and did exactly the same for Canada.  Thank God Chretien was in power when GW Bush took power in the early 00s, or we would have lost innumerable troops in the facade that was the Iraq war.  Obama took over in 08, but Canada slunk to historic lows on the world stage via Stephen Harper through his austerity measures when he failed to see the oil crash in the teens.  When Trudeau came up in '15, Canada's reputation was somewhat cleaned up, but he had absolutely no experience, nor a clue, how to handle himself or a government, installing a pretty much 'woke' cabinet that didn't seem to know their asses from their elbows.  And it's worse today and keeps getting worse.  When Trump came to power in '16, Trudeau hid behind deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland's skirt at every turn when it came to dealing with the Trump regime.  I would have loved to see how Chretien would have handled Trump, as he reviled GW Bush for his botching of the Iraq war and ballooning deficit; and in fact, the deficit in the States always goes nuts when any republican government is in power.  Anyway, with Trump installed in '16, it heralded a new wave of hate-borne politics and populism not unlike Nazi culture, while he hid under the false guise of being a champion for God and abolishing abortion.  The name-calling and lying was so pervasive from Trump and his ilk that he infected nearly the entire republican party to a point of no return, leaving former colleague and republican Liz Cheney to call him out and take him down, which is happening as I type this.  Flip over to Canada... we have Pierre Polievre, or as I call him Trump Lite, who actually hired Trump's publicist to use the same tactics to gain power of his own.  Now the hatred spewed by republicans in the south has infected Canada, and is spreading; which is bad on a number of levels.  For one, PP supported what looked to be a copycat insurrection bid when a small minority of conservative truckers hijacked Parliament Hill, with one of its leaders gesturing a bullet to the head of the prime minister.  As inept as I find this current Liberal government, violence and hateful rhetoric is scary to see, as we've been primed for it by our neighbours down south.  We actually need a functioning Conservative Party in Canada to keep Liberals in check, but not in the style of Harperites like PP.  So... that is why I watch the U.S. political scene so closely.  It's too often a harbinger of what's to come for us in Canada.  The Biden regime in the U.S. is on a path to pave the way for a green energy revolution, literally while our proposed Keystone XL pipeline expansion is bursting with dirty oil and contaminating land in the States.  But, but, they insisted the pipeline was safe, did they not?  Of course it's safe!  Until it isn't.  Here's the thing... it never was.  If it doesn't contaminate the ground, it will contaminate the air, and poison the world.  With Biden's green energy initiative, it will force Canada to do the same, whether we want it or not.  The customer base for the tar sands' filthy bitumen product is shrinking, and the U.S. was our biggest customer.  Canada only owns a minority of what the tar sands produces.  The time to change and look forward is now, lest we just rely on supplying all of it to China.  And Canada teaming up with China makes for terrible optics.

On a lighter note, the wife and me are looking for some new TV to watch these days, now that baseball season is over for a few months.  We've given a couple of shows in particular a try:  HBO's "Euphoria" and Netflix's "Manifest".  "Euphoria" season 1 was a shocking head-turner; at times glaringly ugly as a car crash, but necessarily so, as it examines the lives of modern teenagers in the big city suburbs while they attempt to come to grips with drug use and sexuality.  I can see it being too much for many.  It's pretty much HBO Shock that they're much known for, not pulling any punches on the subject matter - but the result leaves you feeling exposed to a world you never really knew existed, but that you should know, especially if you're a parent.  It shows us how difficult it really is to grow up in this age of judgemental darkness, especially when kids don't have the support system that a lot of us Gen X'ers and Baby Boomers had, though Gen X'ers saw their support system begin to slip away gradually to what exists today.  We're in the midst of season 2 now, and though it's the season that won so many awards, I find it so far inferior to the first.  It's got a kind of rap music video quality to it that not everyone would find appealing, I don't think, but this show is catering to a specific audience.  Which is a bit of a shame, because as hard and tough as the subject matter is, it can be informative and eye opening to a world that a lot of us would rather turn a blind eye to.  Season 2 up to this halfway point that we're at could be argued as being soft-core porn at times.  Envelope-pushing can be good, but it can also be detrimental if it turns off people that it should be exposed to.

"Manifest" on Netflix, on the other hand, in comparison is a squeaky clean show.  I'd read about it here and there on some entertainment sites where it's been hyped, and thought we'd check it out.  The premise of the show is, what would happen if people got on a plane on a trip somewhere, only to land five and a half years in the future, where everyone thought they were dead because they thought the plane vanished?  It's a fascinating hypothesis.  The passengers from the plane land to find out that over five years on, some of their lovers have moved on to other relationships, while others died during that time, and in one instance, a pair of twins, a boy and girl, were separated with the plane trip, where one of them aged five years while the other did not.  The boy on the plane in this case is central to the story, as he gets vivid "callings", as they're noted as, where he attains some degree of clairvoyancy.  Other passengers also experience these callings more as the show goes on.  The show has a finite future to it, because many passengers claim to have seen their "death date", a time in the future in 2024 when they perish.  They strive to figure out how they can change this future, running into several hurdles along the way, the main one of which seems to be top-secret government oriented as to why their plane vanished to begin with.  Sounds good, right?  Well, the story more or less is.  The drawback to this show is the acting, which is just horrid at times.  It appears to be a somewhat low-budgeted show, with various plot holes, and some allusions that it might be a faith-based program.  If that's how it winds up, I'll be pretty disappointed, even angry that I wasted any time on a show that winds up being preachy instead of entertaining.  But I'll hold out hope.  The wife loves it, even though I tune out when I find it gets a little too silly.  The stars are soap-opera calibre actors at best, and even the story seems as much at times.  But the idea that they're hurtling towards the "death date" is a promise that's too enticing to give up on.  We're two seasons in out of the four currently available.  It's worthy to note that Robert Zemeckis has a hand in this show as producer - he who brought us "The Silence of the Lambs" and Jodie Foster's "Contact", among lots of others.

"Avatar - The Way of Water" is out in theatres now.  We've yet to see it, but we will I think next week when the initial release wears off slightly.  If it even does.  Because James Cameron's movies tend to have a long, long life at the box office.  "Avatar" itself made nearly $3 billion in theatres, after all, and popular word is that this instalment is even better.  I love how everyone underestimates Cameron's shows, as I've heard through the past number of years how nobody wants an "Avatar" sequel.  Well, after this one, there's at least three more on the way, coming out every two years.  "Avatar 3" is pretty much ready to go, just waiting for release.  Its success will determine whether there will be a pivotal "4" and "5".  Then there's "Oppenheimer", Chris Nolan's next crowning achievement.  I wasn't nuts about his "Tenet" film initially, but wow... upon repeated viewing (and subtitles), it leaves me wanting a sequel - not that Nolan is much for sequels.  He did the Dark Knight trilogy, but you could tell by the end of "The Dark Knight Rises" that he'd had enough of that franchise.  Then there's Henry Cavill, the Man of Steel himself, whose namesake movie was written by Nolan.  The DC film universe is upended these days because of new ownership and management, and Cavill has been let go of his Superman role as a result.  Even "Wonder Woman 3" was shelved.  And The Rock's "Black Adam" bombed so bad that it's been permanently canned, too.  We'll see what comes of this mess, but it's leaving a lot of us fans pretty upset.

Something I have that's really, really annoying is a fear of travelling.  Yes, travelling.  Not driving by car to go somewhere, that's the easy thing, although I won't do that without a GPS.  Ah, GPS's... maybe that should stand for Great Profiting Scheme.  I think most newer cars these days come with those installed already, but for those of us with older models - ours is a 2010 Elantra, fully paid for - we have to buy the old GPS units that used to be all the rage.  Here's the problem... we own, it must be four or five of those damned things.  And we keep having to buy new ones because the software becomes outdated, and when you go to connect it to the web to update them, they say you can't because, well, you can't.  It's maddening.  Those things become obsolete before you know it.  So I'm loathe to buy a new one, knowing I'll get shitcanned by the company that makes it in a year or two.  Nowadays, they're kind of rare, so they're way more expensive when you do find them.  Buying them second hand is risky, because a lot of people try to unload them on unsuspecting buyers who think they work like a charm.  Anyway, this makes me having to use Google Maps that I have to print out on the computer.  I refuse to buy data for my cell phone, so I won't get a GPS that way.  Hell, I hate even carrying a cell phone.  I rarely do.  Anyone who's tried to get a hold of me on it does so at their own despair, because I hate the idea of being tethered to technology everywhere I go.  That's just one thing about travelling... the next thing is hotels.  I have no friggin' idea about hotel etiquette, like tipping bellhops - that's probably my biggest anxiety about them right there.  We tend to get motels when we do travel because there's less interaction with people.  There's a place called Red Roof Inn in Mansfield, Mass., that we stay at whenever we go see Red Sox games.  There's considerably low fuss and not much to deal with, but the tradeoff there is that it's not exactly a high-end place.  A few years ago, the wife and me went with our friends Tim and Marley to Toronto to see a show on his dime - it was an extremely generous gift on his part.  I got more and more uncomfortable when I sensed the price tag increasing.  Of course, we were thankful beyond description, but I imagined me handling dealing with it all, and it triggered my anxiety slightly.  We all did it again later, travelling to Portland, Maine to see King's X, and it was a little different I think because it wasn't the big city thing, plus we paid for ourselves.  Tim's a globetrotter, he knows his way around that stuff, so if there's a next time I'm going to have to get him to 'train' me on handling that stuff.  Plus, with the big cities, driving and transit is pretty intimidating to me.  It never used to be when I went to Toronto a lot when I was younger, but I was always with friends who knew their way around.  Janice is considerably smarter than I am, so I feel a lot better when she's with me.  We often combine what we both know to get things done.  Still, when the prospect of travelling comes up, knots form in my stomach because of all the above issues.  That's not good, because I actually like going places.  Maybe the anticipation of going is worse than actually going.  But with my high intolerance for anxiety in the mix, it kind of compromises my wits.  Perhaps familiarity is key here, but also, we can't really afford to travel a lot anyway.  The last time we actually paid for a flight was back in the early 90s when we saw Madonna's Girly Show tour at the Big O.  Flights were fairly affordable then.  Now, post 9/11, it's a huge pain in the ass to fly, and crazy expensive, at least to folks like us.  Last time we flew was when Tim took us to Toronto, and when we went to check in, I couldn't get through the scanner because it kept detecting something on me.  The only thing that kept me from getting my anxiety triggered was imagining myself as David St. Hubbins in Spinal Tap when he stuffed a cucumber wrapped in foil down his pants!  For me, it turned out that I had a foil-lined lens wipe for my glasses in my pocket.  I giggled through the whole thing with that in my mind.  Anyway, I doubt we'll be getting on a plane anytime again soon, if ever.  We love flying, though.

I'm reading this book, very slowly as I'm a slow reader, that was given to me by my nephew/friend/BFAM Shawn called The Book Of Joy, with the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  He gave me this book years ago, and being the non-reader that I was, I dragged my ass on reading it until I finally retired from work and started picking up reading more.  What a great read this is.  I'm halfway through it, and it's already begun changing my mindset for the better.  If there's one thing I'm guilty of in the past more than anything, it's negative thinking, whether it's about myself or others.  This book is very inspirational in fixing that way of thinking, indeed.  I have another blog page called The Gravy Pot that I kind of gave up on where I was going to review it as I was reading it, but I saw that no one was visiting that page, so I just kind of let it go.  With this, Ragnar Station, it acts as kind of a record of my life, so it doesn't matter so much how many looks it gets, although I'm actually pleased to see that it gets a fair number of views and feedback.  One relative of mine even told me personally that me sharing my struggles with depression and anxiety actually helped him, so that just made me want to write more.  But anyway, this book makes me review how reactionary I can be at times.  Truly, everyone can be too reactionary in many instances, right?  But these two fellows converse throughout the book about how to handle these kinds of things.  I find it brings a lot of peace to the mind.  Janice wants to read it when I'm done, because I rave about it to her a lot.  If you're interested in it at all, you can find it at Amazon at this link.  I can promise you, you won't regret reading it.  Regardless of your faith.

So, right now it's Wednesday, December 21, and the days now start to get longer.  That's the best way to look at the winter ahead, to me anyway.  There's not a lot I like about winter at all.  I don't like the snow and ice and freezing rain, the cold, the illnesses that all go around, and especially when I worked in retail, I hated it.  On top of the shovelling at home I had to do, I had to do it at work too, as that was part of my job as a receiver, clearing the doorway and bay entry areas for trucks and their drivers.  Plus people are so much crankier in the winter!  I get it.  When the daylight is so sparse, and it's a pain in the ass sometimes just to get out the door, there's not a lot to be happy about unless you're one of those outdoorsy types who like skiing or sledding or skating or whatever.  Snow is involved in all of that, so that's a nope from me.  What's worse, is there's no baseball!  Damn it.  I have a grudge against winter particularly for that reason.  Oh, and if you're Canadian, hockey is constantly in your face everywhere, so you're a bit of an outcast if you're not into it.  I used to be, back in the 80s, but when a strike happened, I fell out of it altogether.  Then I kept noticing guys getting clobbered an concussed on a regular basis, fighting like junior high schoolers, while kids in the stands were cheering more for the fights, it seemed, than the actual game.  In baseball, you have the occasional brawl, but nothing in comparison to hockey.  We raised Alexandra in training her in taekwondo, and that's as violent as it gets, as the sport itself is about self defense, not fighting.  I don't even watch boxing anymore because my eyes opened to its brutality.  I think because of the awareness of head injuries and what I've gone through personally with it all, I fear for anyone who's in a sport where the object is to knock your opponent senseless to the floor.  Chronic Traumatic Encephelopathy is something many athletes are left with when their careers are over, and I just don't think playing any sport where that's a possibility is worth it.  "What about wrestling?" you ask.  Pro wrestling is an exhibition, where the 'fighters' actually look out for one another and don't intentionally try to harm each other.  They're storytellers.  They're actually tougher than boxers or UFC fighters because they do it far more often, and head injuries in pro wrestling are taken extra seriously these days.  Although, granted, some wrestlers go overboard.  But none of the injuries are intentional.  It's a bit like Cirque du Soleil, where you have highwire acts for people's entertainment.  No one plans on getting injured.  I know a lot of folks will disagree with me on the whole hockey issue, but men's hockey could take cues from the women, who hardly fight at all.  In fact, I found the women's Olympic hockey often more exciting than the men's.  Less fighting and more actual gametime.

I guess that's enough rambling for now.  Thanks for reading this, if you've chosen to do so, and have a safe, happy holiday season!  Let love rule.

A Moving Movember to Remember

 As a lot of my facebook friends know, I just finished up a run in the Movember fundraiser to help bring in funds for men's mental health, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.  I thought about doing it for months ahead, debating with myself whether or not it was a good idea.  My big fear was, "what if nobody wants to donate?"  I didn't want to look like a fool partaking in a task like this, only to make myself look like a fool.  Hey, I have mental health issues myself!  So the inherent risk there was plenty enough for me to take pause.

I knew that if I joined in on Movember, I'd have to shave the beard and re-grow a moustache.  That's the easy part... if you forget that my facial hair takes a pretty friggin' long time to grow.  The other part of the challenge, for those who wish to partake, is to pledge to run or walk 60 kilometres within the month of November to drum up support to raise money for the movement.  "Eehhhh..." I thought to myself in a bit of a Bugs Bunny voice... "I can try that, doc."  I'm a regular gym goer (no body builder or anything either, I just like to go to encourage my wife - and the added benefit that it makes me feel good), and I don't have a Fitbit or any other fitness tracker thing, and never will.  I hate being tethered to technology.  I very rarely even have my cell phone with me and interact on social media at the end of the day on my laptop.  So, I opted to take pictures with my wife's phone of my progress in distance on the treadmill every time I would start to rack up the km's, and pledged to do it almost every day.

That turned out to be quite the endeavour.  Because I wanted to post on my Movember facebook page every day what my progress was and keep any would-be donors informed of my progress.  I'd be at the gym for anywhere from 2 to 3 1/2 hours nearly every day, doing weight routines and using the cardio portion of my workouts for distance accumulation in the fundraiser.  I became a little obsessed with it actually, perhaps even overdoing it some days, to the point where I was acquiring some pretty painful sores and blisters as a result of my efforts.  I did some research and commentary daily about prostate and testicular cancer as well as mental health disorders to try to bring more awareness to the issues I was trying to raise money for.  Plus I wanted to post a daily picture for folks to see the progressive growth of my moustache.  I didn't smile a lot in those pictures, because I'm one of those people that just doesn't like smiling in photos.  There are a lot of us like that.  People like us are self-conscious of our smiles because it makes us uncomfortable and uneasy to expose our less-than-perfect choppers.  That's just how it is; if you're chronically mentally ill, it's a bit harder.  Smiling with the lips is usually the best you'll get out of us.

Doing this every day was at times exhausting and even trying, but certainly worth it in the end.  If I was going to do it, it would be with both feet, pun intended.  I don't like doing anything half-assed, or else why bother?  I wasn't going to ask someone to sponsor my efforts if I wasn't going to care about it myself.  Ultimately, I wound up running/walking over 200 kilometres, not really setting a goal in that department, but I even shocked myself when I got that far.  The reason I did, particularly, was because of the ongoing support from each donor that backed me up.  Every donation I got put more fuel in my tank, and I just kept going and going.  

But one thing I was sure about when I did my daily summaries of my treks was to tell every donor that I'm running on behalf of them.  This was OUR journey, not just mine.  When a donor joined in, they were part of my team, not just someone who chipped in money, and I would be nothing without my team.  We were doing this together.  And I saw it as my obligation to do them as proud as they did me.  To see people join in the way they did was very heartwarming to me - it's one of those times in my life that will always stand out.

Another thing I pledged to do when it was all over was to write this blog entry, thanking each and every individual donor.  Every one of them kept me going!  It was the least I could do and I'm holding up my end of that bargain.  Gleefully!

Let me get started on that task, in no particular order.  They are ALL champions:

Tim Churchill - If there's truly a brother from another mother, Tim sure fits that bill for me.  We've known each other all the way back to my days at West Lane Green Gables in the mid 80s, and boy, the two of us together were a handful!  I don't want to mention dollar amounts of each donor, because every one who pitched in are all equals in their support.  I do, however, have to mention that my man Tim blew the doors off my initial goal before I even publicly announced I was doing it!  This guy always has my back.  He's one of the most generous and caring people I've ever known, or will know, and this gesture of his made my heart smile a mile wide.  It was like getting a head start in a marathon before it even starts.  Thank you, Tim, my awesome friend.  You keep doing things for me I can't hope to ever repay you for.  The graceful thing about that is, you know that.  I love you like my own brothers, and I'll always be grateful for everything you've ever done in my life - and you've done a LOT!  You're an amazing, thoughtful man to everyone who knows you, and I'm proud to be on your list of friends!

Chris Cook - A nephew of mine, and another guy who's always had my back.  Actually, that's going to wind up sounding redundant, because pretty much everyone on this list has my back.  And Chris really stepped up when I announced I was doing this.  Chris and his brother Shawn were little buddies of mine back in the day when we were growing up, I'm only seven and nine years older than them, so I saw them as little brothers that I never had, where I'm the baby of seven siblings.  I'm enormously proud of Chris for how far he's gone in life.  Talk about a driven man!  His dad, my brother Roy, did a wonderful job raising these guys.  I know how proud he is, and it's warranted.  Really, I wish I could have been as good a guy to him as he has been to me, but that's a real friggin' tall order.  It's a standard that's hard to match.  Chris, my good friend/nephew/brother, I'm proud to be your uncle, and I'm so gratified and what you've done in my fundraiser here!  

Shawn Cook - Might as well keep Roy and the kids together on this!  Shawn is the younger brother of Chris, and those two guys are the epitome of what two siblings should be.  Back in the day, a lot of people used to say that Shawn was a carbon copy of me when I was younger.  In a lot of those older pictures, I can see that, but he's really grown into a vibrant, intelligent, driven man like his brother.  I remember way back when we were kids, I was a huge KISS freak - still am, really - and I wound up making these two bros of mine big lifelong fans as well.  I have great memories of us three digging into KISS fandom!  Both those guys have the same huge hearts.  Honestly, I don't know why Shawn and his brother took such a liking to me, because I just don't measure up to either of them in any way, but I'm flattered and beyond grateful for them both.  Shawn, my man, my other good friend/nephew/brother, you have to know I appreciate you more than I can say, and I thank you for your support, as always!

Roy Cook - The father of Chris and Shawn, and my Best Man when Janice and me renewed our wedding vows in the Catholic Church.  The second in command in the Cook family, and one of my go-to's for advice on countless subjects for his wisdom.  When I was very young, when my Dad was ill with alcoholism, Roy often brought me to his house to hang with Chris and Shawn when Dad hit the bottle a little too hard.  I have wonderful memories of being with Roy at the old Brunswick Downs racetrack on Saturday nights with the other brothers of mine, it was fun for me just to watch the horses race with my brothers.  I was always in his line of sight if anything went wrong, and he'd be there to prop me up if I needed him.  He also did that with this fundraiser.  As the years go by, too quickly I might add, he keeps getting wiser and more understanding like every human should, but certainly not all of us do, but he sets an example.  I appreciate your support, Roy, in this fundraiser and in life.  I love you, brother!

Kim Melanson - A friend of mine for the last 36 years (!), Kim came into my life at a time when things were at their darkest for me up to that point.  We dated for a short time before we became friends and never looked back.  She's been kind to me endlessly in a lot of ways, and this would be no different, when she contributed to my fundraiser here.  She's one of those give-you-the-shirt-off-her-back types and has genuine concern for those close to her experiencing adversity, as is exemplified here!  It's actually pretty wild now that I think of it, that we've watched each other grow through the decades from young adults to where we are now.  I appreciate your kindness through the years, Kim, and I'm glad you endured my own mental illness challenges that strained other relationships of mine through time.  Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness here!  

Cynthia Mayo - My dear sister and second last sibling to leave 136 (I was the last), God knows the torture I inflicted on her as a kid!  Not unlike a lot of large families, add to that how small our house was, housing up to nine of us.  I take responsibility for testing her back in the day and being a little shit disturber, dealing with me in the early stages of my own mental health crisis.  None of us really put it together how 'off' I was as to the reasons why, as clear as it is now.  I wanted to explain that, because we ultimately grew closer over the years, and she's watched out for me, the way siblings always do.  This is no different - stepping up to support me in donating.  Her and her husband George are better than average folks in the generosity department, as I know they're always, always doing something for someone.  Today, she helps give me perspective in many matters in life, and I'm extremely fortunate.  Thank you so much, Cindy, for backing me up yet again!  I love you, my dear sister.

Trevor Goodwin - The husband of my niece Alycia, my brother Pete's daughter, this guy works tirelessly for the downtrodden.  You might see him in the news from time to time, as he's fighting for the benefit and the rights of the poor and the homeless, and he seems very reluctant to bathe in the limelight in recognition of it.  That's not going to stop me from singing the praises of him, though.  I really admire what this guy does.  He's as super kind as I'm making him sound, too.  Donating to my Movember cause is a big deal to me from a guy like him, and I'll always be full of gratitude for this wonderful gesture.  Thanks so much, Trevor, and I'm really happy to know my niece has such a great partner in life.  You're a rock solid guy that the world needs so much more of.... Seriously!

Alan and Lisa Cormier - Friends of mine for decades, and never out of sight.  I can't say enough about these two.  Back in my band days in the 80s, very often they would be around to see us jamming and supporting our efforts, encouraging us even when at times we weren't always that good.  Al is a marvelously benevolent guy, always on the lookout for anyone around him.  If you ever ate at Hines' Restaurant, there's a good chance Al's the one who prepared your meal.  Lisa was there too at one point at least.  She's kind of the gatekeeper of that circle of friends of ours, rallying us all to support any one of us who's ever in any kind of distress or trouble.  How noble is that??  I've always admired her for her caring, protective demeanour, as it benefited everyone around her, even beyond that.  I know these two are strong, loving, caring people for a number of other reasons that make this whole world a better place, including my own.  I'm beyond grateful and happy to have them in my life, and admire the constantly selfless nature of their deeds, including supporting me here.  Lisa, Al, you two have my utmost respect and admiration, and gratitude, always!

Kelly Mockler Verriere - Kelly goes back a long time with Janice and me, when we met her when Tim and her were an item back in the 90s.  Of course, we're all still great friends to this day.  Kelly is special here in the sense that her husband is fighting off a recurrence of prostate cancer, which ironically came to the surface just when I started this fundraiser, so it touches her especially close to home.  Her man, Jean Marc, is a kind, sweet guy who'd never hurt a fly - might actually even save it! - and he's been on my mind every time I hit the gym to rack up the kilometres for the fundraiser.  No doubt Kelly knows we all have his back with his battle, and thankfully, his doctors believe they have the upper hand.  Kelly deserves any help she ever needs because that's all she ever does is help others, selflessly.  If you know her, it's a given that any time you're around her, you'll always walk away smiling and feeling enriched that she's in your life.  Thank you for supporting the cause, Kelly - much, much, much love to you and JM!  I don't doubt the next Christmas season will be better!  

Matt Cook - My brother Greg's son, who's inherited his dad's heart of gold.  Matt's always had an eye out for me, and like Chris and Shawn, I can't really understand why, because I just don't feel like I deserve it.  He's done way more for me than I have for him.  But that doesn't seem to matter to him, he's just one of those kind, bonafide, unflappable people that only wants the best for those around him, even beyond that.  And the guy's brilliant!  Just like all my nephews and nieces.  Matt steps up to the plate on anyone's behalf, when they need it, and my wish for him is that he gets at least as much as he gives.  I'm awfully proud to have you as a nephew, Matt.  I really feel like I come up short as an uncle, being somewhat detached from the family through the years of fighting my own health issues, but you have to know, my good man, that I respect and love you and only want the best for you.  Thank you so much for recognizing my efforts in this fundraiser and donating!

Jana Veltheim Cook - The wife of nephew Chris also donated separately, a sweet and thoughtful gesture that's one of those above-and-beyond kind of things.  I actually never got to be around her for as much as I would've liked, but there's still the future ahead of us.  Whenever the family does get together and we talk, we always have lots to chat about through our common interests (she recommended 'Game of Thrones' and 'The Handmaid's Tale' to us, two all-time great shows), and I even got exercise advice from her, where she's an expert in that field.  It seems she didn't even pause in contributing to my Movember, not realizing Chris already did!  That's a remarkable note on her generosity and thoughtfulness, and the fact that this is a cause to support men's health is especially telling of how big her heart is.  You have to know, Jana, I was deeply touched by this wonderful gesture of yours, and I thank you so much for it!

Rick Cook - The brother and sibling I consider the conscience of the Cooks.  Rick is unwavering in his patience, love and support for anyone connected to him, especially when it comes to family.  In fact, I'd almost wonder if he has a sixth sense which he can detect when somebody needs help with something.  He's helped me with everything throughout my whole life, from bailing me out of my lemon car troubles (countless!), bringing me places when I was a kid in his big red Plymouth, celebrating whatever occasion there might be cause for, and really just being a supporting, loving brother.  I got my driver's license because of Rick.  He gives and he gives and never looks for anything in return.  His support for my fundraiser is no different - every time I posted an update, I know he saw it, and he's always encouraging me.  What makes this especially remarkable is that Rick's had more than his share of hard luck in life, but never ever hesitated in helping someone else in need.  He has my Dad's handsome looks (dead ringer actually!) and my Mom's giant heart (again... dead ringer!).  Boy, am I lucky to have him as a brother.  Rick, I love you and thank you for helping out in my fundraiser and for all of your support... for everything!

Greg Cook - I would have to think that if there were pictures in the dictionary beside words to help describe them, my brother Greg's would be there beside the word "generous".  Whenever I'm around Greg, all there is in the air is this feeling of welcome-ness, love and understanding.  As a kid, once my Dad passed, all of my brothers stepped up and each played 'Dad' in their own way, and Greg's efforts here are prominent.  He'd bring me bowling a lot, take me out on trips, bring me to his place, go to see horseraces with the rest of my brothers, and always was looking for ways to make sure everyone was having fun and felt happy.  I'm a drummer because of Greg, he bought me my first drumset.  When Janice and me got married, we went to Montreal to see KISS and he let us take his brand new van - who does that??  I wasn't always the best of brothers to him, though, and that brings me to proclaim how forgiving he is.  Like, excessively forgiving, if there is such a thing.  He'll do whatever it takes to make somebody happy, even if it means he winds up with less.  Making people feel good seems like a mission in life of his, and nobody's better at it than him!  I'm so grateful to have your support and generosity in this fundraiser, Greg, and I'm beyond happy I have a brother like you with a heart as big as the sun.  I love you, brother!

Kim LeBlanc - Kim's a friend and co-worker of Janice and Alexandra's, and a friend of mine too, I just don't get to work with her like the other ladies do.  Janice's post office at SDM is staffed by a grand total of three people... Janice, Lexy and Kim.  If you ask me, that's a lot of undue pressure for three people to work that department, especially where Kim works only one shift there and the rest at the store front.  But Kim is invaluable to them in that with her learning to work in the post office kiosk, NOT an easy task, it provides my wife and daughter with that much needed breather.  So I'm very grateful to her for that.  And despite barely even knowing me, she insisted on supporting my Movember cause by chipping in to raise the total.  That's thoughtfulness at its best, and Kim, I appreciate it so much!  Thank you!

Peter Cook - The King of the Cooks.  He being the eldest of us, he's also arguably the wisest, and I use that fact to try to gain knowledge to get me through life sometimes.  Or a lot, actually.  I can remember as far back as I think the late 60's, Pete had left the house to pursue life in Ontario, planting roots there and making a pretty good living for himself.  Other siblings would wind up relocating to Ontario after that.  When Pete would come home to visit at Christmas time, or for summer vacation, he'd bring me this jar of pennies that I thought was a king's ransom as a four or five year old, and I remember how important I'd feel!  I have memories of driving with him in his Toyota Celica that he kept in amazing like-new condition, bringing me to his place in Ontario in it for road trips that makes for a lifetime of memories for a kid.  Talking to Pete was always invaluable to me, as I'd always take his advice and put it to good use.  Something I really enjoy with Pete, is talking about music and movies with him, because I can't really strike that conversation up with a whole lot of people like I do with him.  Pete always, always had my best interests at heart and is always showing me the way.  Participating in this fundraiser was no different!  I love you, my good brother, and I thank you for helping in my Movember, and for being in my life!

Kim Roberts-Landry - This lady is another friend and co-worker of Janice's, who got wind of my fundraiser rather late, I guess, and wanted in on The Team.  Hey, there's always room!  Kim gets a lot of due credit at SDM for her friendly banter with customers and willingness to do what it takes to please people.  She's basically the de-facto ringleader of the staff there, ready to stand up for anyone who's having a rough go of things and make the load lighter.  She's got quite a hearty laugh with a smile to match that makes everyone feel welcome, whether you've known her for ten years or ten seconds.  I appreciate very much your thoughtfulness in doing this, Kim, and thank you so much!

That wraps it up for my donors - I did have two people attempt to make a donation that couldn't that I want to mention:  Heather Fallon, whose husband, Mike, dealt with prostate cancer himself, and who I thought about a lot as well through this thing; and also Ginnie Madden, a woman I've been friends with since I worked at the corner store while I wrote to pen pals through rock magazines, along with her friend Juanita.  I appreciate that you ladies made the effort, and it did not go unappreciated or unnoticed!

This pretty much seals the deal for Movember.  Thank you all who participated with me, supported me in any way, donated, everything.  The more people that joined in, the more it warmed my heart, and I'm so grateful you stood up for men's health.  I take it very personally!

I hope you all have a great, happy, safe and blessed holiday season.  And remember... you are ALL heroes to me!