...i was hoping winter was over...

My Thursday lived experience in mediocrities:

i) Dan in Real Life: Fails to achieve the awkwardly hysterical dysfunctional-family/romantic mix-up that The Family Stone did effortlessly. Instead, it is tepid and sentimental, contrived, and devoid of sincerity except for a few altogether brief moments. Middle daughter Cara was perfectly cast and realized as the typically melodramatic, speaks-in-italics teenager on the brink of the "love of her life". "YOU ARE THE MURDERER OF LOVE" she screams at her father, weakly played by the usually stellar Steve Carrell.

ii) First date: smart + cute + friendly + gentlemanly + perfect on paper = less than the sum of his parts. Chemistry lacking, this feels familiar. Don't continue, nip-bud.

iii) The updated Canada's Food Guide: Information not well presented or explained, could be so much better. I'm not seeing that much difference from the old guide, frankly, other than an alteration of certain serving sizes and per-day quantities. Canadian policy makers need to really start thinking about how to make ideals like healthy eating habits sexy.

iv) General Hospital, and what was promised to be an exciting sweeps-worthy week of surprises and heartrending moments: it hasn't been.