cyclo

As usual you are able to articulate the big picture Samantha!

SP's see lots of "other" men. That's obvious. This is their business, but they try to make each of their clients feel special. Most clients see "other" sp's and hopefully we all treat our sp's respectfully and also try to make them feel special. Sometimes an sp and client "click" a bit more than they do with others, but if you're mature about what's going on, this can't be confused with any kind of exclusive relationship. I think some of the men who see sp's haven't really absorbed the fact that women, just like men, can separate sex from emotions. That may lead them to feel uncomfortable asking for a recommendation. Obviously as many have pointed out, that shouldn't be the case. In fact my experience has been the opposite. Many of the women I've seen have in fact recommended other sp's to me! What could be better! Or we know the same people through this business. That's fun too. It's always nice to know some one in common. Any one who is uncomfortable asking for a recommendation should spend a little more time on here reading the comments from the sp's ro spend time while you are with your sp talking abou the business. You won't see any competition between them or any expectation of exclusivity by their clients. Many of the them know and respect each other or are friends. The women are very open minded and mature about this business and the nature of their relationships with other sp's and clients. As a client, the sooner you adopt the same attitude, the sooner the door will open for you to a wider range of companionship.

I agree that we should support artistic integrity and the ability for artists to produce their work without censorship. They often use offensive terms, scenarios etc to highlight issues through the use irony or satire etc, which was the case with this song. We should also have access to offensive artistic works. Being outraged at the recent industry decision may be a little late and misplaced. The original version of the song has hardly ever been played on radio in the past 25 years. There's a "radio edit" version, leaving out the verse in question. The radio edit is what is normally played. It's also the version which is on the Greatest Hits cd. Radio edits have been used for decades. How often have you heard the n***** word on a radio playlist? Never. But it has been scattered throughout rap songs for decades. Cee Lo's F*** You is transformed into Forget You. Black Eyed Peas Let's Get Retarded becomes Let's Get Started. The list goes on. In a pluralistic society, I think we have to acknowledge that certain terms, which have always been offensive to a portion of our population, eventually become unacceptable to the larger population. That's a changing cultural norm. It's not banning something or restricting artistic freedom. The work is still produced, available and freely consumed. This reminds me of George Carlin's old routine "7 Dirty Words". It was a funny routine, but raised serious questions around this issue. In the end, in both Canada and the United States, you are allowed to produce and consume offensive art, but the airwaves are deemed to be a public space and there are often restrictions on what you can do in a public space. But once again, in this case, the government didn't restrict the broadcast of the original song, it was the industry, responding to changing social norms.

I think a quick clarification is in order before this thread takes a wrong turn. The CBC hasn't banned the song. The members of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, a self regulating industry association, have decided not to broadcast the song. From their website "The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) is an independent, non-governmental organization created by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) to administer standards established by its members, Canada's private broadcasters. The Council's membership includes more than 730 private sector radio and television stations, specialty services and networks from across Canada, programming in English, French and third languages." http://www.cbsc.ca/english/index.php

Garden of Eden. They are a Toronto agency. Many of the women also travel to cities throughout Canada.

I've seen several women from GOE. As a matter of fact I just saw Roksi today on her fairwell tour. The pics are all real. In addition to being beautiful, all of the women I've seen have been smart, warm, fun, ambitious and great conversationalists.

I've booked through Carmen Fox several times. They're a very reliable agency. I've never had any problems. Reliable booking. Accurate photos. No bait and switch. They offer outcall, and incall at the Fox Den. The Fox Den is not as attractive or clean as it appears on their web site, so I'd recommend outcall.

The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de sus Ojos). I had never heard of this movie but took a chance on renting it last week and didn't have any real expectations. A group of us watched it together and when it was over we were all quiet for a moment and then everyone starts saying "Now that's a good movie!" On the surface it's a standard police procedural involving a murder investigation spread over 25 years. It's also got corruption and incompetence in the justice system. But, it's actually about unrequited love, passion, committment and living a full or empty life. There are some plot twists that you'll never, ever see coming. Some times when this is done, the movie involves leaps in logic and the characters do things that don't make sense. In a bad movie you figure this out while you're watching it. In a better movie you see the holes when you think critically about it afterwards. In this movie, everything makes sense while you're watching it and it makes even more sense when you think about it afterwards. This is a spanish language film with subtitles, so if you don't like subtitles or foreign movies, this is definitely not for you. It's set in Buenos Aires Argentina during the seventies so that gives it a different look and feel as well as logic for judicial incompetence than the thousands of crime movies set in New York or LA. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film last year. If you were happy that The Hurt Locker won for Best Picture instead of Avatar, this is a movie for you. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100421/REVIEWS/100429994 I loved Memento too. A number of years ago I had a head injury and like the character in the movie I lost my short term memory for a lengthy period. Also like the character, I started taking notes so that I could remember things... unfortunately unlike the Memento character I could never remember what my notes meant when I read them!

I just heard a new cover and it's so good, I thought I'd resurrect this thread. It's not easy to do a Beatles cover because their music is so ingrained in everyone's consciousness. This cover of Because by Melody Gardot is a beautifully intimate version. She draws you into her performance by undersinging and changes the melody just enough to keep it fresh and surprising. The video is from an Abbey Road 40th anniversary show that was taped last year but I just saw it for the first time last week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FZNT7NEsIc

I've seen Monique several times. She's a wonderful woman. Attractive, smart, sexy and fun.

Hi Kyra. I've never been to the festival, but I asked a friend who is a certified wine judge and he recommends the festival, especially if you're not an expert. It's geared to people who know a bit about wines or are just getting into it. Apparently the afternoon sessions are the best to go to since it's not as crowded and you have more of an opportunity to speak to the wine makers who will be present. He highly recommends the dinner. His point being that wine is meant to be consumed with food and the chef who has done the dinner the last few years (from Onyx restaurant) is extremely good at pairing wines and food. Now to top this off, September is the nicest month in Nova Scotia. We've had a fabulous summer and it looks like September is going to be great (give or take the odd hurricane :roll:). So what are waiting for... book that flight and pack those bags :wink:

I don't know how I overlooked this one. It's an amazing reconception of a worn out classic: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings doing Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land as an R&B soul blast. They even include some of the more political lyrics, which when left out reduce the song to a glorified travelogue. This version was used in the opening credits of George Clooney's "Up In the Air". Three versions: studio; live with the typical folky/troubador version followed by the Dap Kings; and acoustic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpXapOZt2Yw&feature=related

A really great cover can make everyone forget the original: Aretha Franklin doing Respect, originally by Otis Redding. The song is transformed from a male complaint into a female anthem. Santana doing Black Magic Woman, originally by Fleetwoood Mac. Add Santana's latin spice and a nice, but pretty basic song is transformed. Jimi Hendrix' All Along the Watchtower, originally by Bob Dylan. I know there are lot's of Dylan fans, but this is no contest. Isaac Hayes' Walk on By, originally by Dion Warwick. You cannot help but be taken in by the long version with Isaac's deep baritone. Then, there's totally original takes: Toots and the Maytals doing John Denver's Country Roads as a reggae tune. Once you get over the initial shock and stop laughing it's incredible how West Viginia is transformed into West Jamaica. The Neville Brothers redoing everyone's version (Peggy Lee, Elvis...) of Fever. Insetad of slow and sultry, it's hot and sweaty speeded up with with all those New Orleans rythmns. Marvin Gaye doing the Beatles Yesterday. This is one of the most recognizable and recorded songs of all time and Marvin manages to imply the melody throughout the song without ever actually singing it once. It's beautiful. No groundbreaking, just great covers: Norah Jones and Charlie Hunter doing Nick Drakes The Day is Done. Very, very cool sultry version instead of folky. Talking Heads doing Al Green's Take Me to the River. New wave meets funk and soul. Emmy Lou Harris doing the Beatles Here, There and Everywhere. Emmy Lou isn't a prolific writer, so most of what she does is covers and she's a greta interpreter. This is just a very nice and gentle take on the song. Shelby Lynne doing Dusty Springfield's Just a Little Lovin' in the Mornin'. Slow, slow, slow, all morning long. Could be someone's theme song. Jim Hendrix doing The Troggs' Wild Thing. It's a garage band rave up and Hendrix just raves it up even more at his breakthrough Monterey Festival appearance!