I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but I love Canadian TV series. King is now sitting on my video shelves with Booker, The Border, Wiseguy and (my all time favourite) Intelligence.

Unfortunately, this cop show only lasted two series but it’s still well worth watching. Wiki says: Amy Price-Francis [is] Jessica King, a veteran police officer who gets promoted to head of the Major Crimes Task Force in Toronto after her predecessor has a breakdown on television.

Jessica is over-achieving, blunt, smart-mouthed workaholic who takes no prisoners at work. Her husband (played by Gabriel Hogan) is a Guns and Gangs detective with a gambling problem and chip on his shoulder. The marriage is tumultuous and passionate. And then there’s her colleague, Detective Spears (Alan van Sprang), demoted, lonely and kind falling in love with her. It’s messy!

Though the storylines aren’t anywhere near as compelling as Intelligence, Jessica’s relationships with those around her and enough to hook the viewer in. When her and her husband decide to try and fit children into the equation, some very real issues are brought to the table.

Probably the most interesting aspect of the show for me, was seeing Jessica’s personality played out against colleagues, family, felons and strangers. Though abraisive and arrogant she’s also loyal to a fault; the kind of person you learn to love despite her sharp edges. Oh, and the high heels – they rarely matched her outfits. But Jessica King didn’t care.

Unfortunately, like many of the best characters in TV fiction, her network abandoned her. Shame on them!

Reviewed by Krista McKeeth

(BACK OF THE BACK OF BEYOND Come and join the Party!

Through her short stories “No Pets Allowed”, “Get Me to The Worldcon on Time” , “My Sweet 286” and “Party”, Edwina Harvey introduced her readers to a world where flatmates discover the difficulties of raising young dragons in small suburban apartments, where “flying” to a science fiction convention takes on a whole new meaning, and where “the next door neighbours” on an Australian rural backblock are out of this world, but the parties are legendary.
Now collected here for the first time, these stories are interwoven with seven new tales set in the same universe.

Come and be introduced to a rural Australian landscape you never knew existed somewhere out in the back of the back of beyond.

If you had to describe this book in one word, it would be “quirky.”  The stories are short and at times made me do a double take and say to myself “what just happened?”  They are ordered in a way that makes the collection seem to be continuous narrative with character development and progression along the way.

From the very first story of trying to understand how two flatmates were capable of raising a dragon in such a small space, to the idea of traveling by air and going through a drive-in fast food restaurant to order food without landing, this collection is unique.

Each separate chapter, or story has an element of the weird, some reality and a bit of the supernatural. From a snake that tries to mate with (or eat?) a power cord, to a dragon farm, unicorns and aliens, this book really does have a variety of characters.

I am sure that many of us love the idea of moving to secluded farmland and unplugging from the outside world for awhile; cherishing the moments we do get to share with family and friends, meeting new ones and in this unusual case, getting to know an alien creature and their love for Coca Cola. Edwina Harvey provides it all.

Although I am still trying to gather all my thoughts on these stories, it is definitely a book that I will remember for years to come. Taking place in the “outback” of Australia, it is a humorous and quirky read. If you’re looking for something a little outside of the box, you should pick this one up!

 Peggy Bright Books (December 8, 2013)

Crystal. Maybach. Diamonds on your timepiece. Jet planes. Islands.Tigers on a gold leash. We don’t care, we aren’t caught up in your love affair~Lorde

Royals by Lorde seems to be the kind of song that everyone wants to cover, and some of them are damn good. I’ve pasted in a couple of the best ones below.

Meanwhile, sixteen year old New Zealander, Lorde, has a runaway hit on her hands. A song reputably written in half an hour in response to the wealth and shallowness of the Hip Hop Industry, has a simple pared down video directed by Joel Kefali and featuring Lorde’s school mates.

The video is a depiction of ordinary teenage life, limited to a few scenes of two young men getting about their very unglamorous business. Lorde features in short, interspersed flashes, singing some lines (there is a US version and an international version), and that’s about it!

Does it work? Well its got that spare, barely-choregraphed, home movie thing going for it, but I doubt that’s been enough to truly satisfy the palate of the sophisticated music video consumer. No dancing. No imagery directly connected with the lyrics and guys with zits (the latter is enough to make me like it! Love a dose of reality).

With nearly 130 million views on YouTube, it’s certainly been seen by a bunch of people. Fortunately the song is so good, my feeling is that the video neither enhances nor detracts!

Here’s the US version:

And here’s the Florda State University Capella Version:

And the Ali Brustofski version with Savannah Outen, Andrew Garcia, Caitlin Hart & Josh Golden

And lastly … the Pentatonix

Which one do you like best?