F Scott would be pleased

Years ago, I sat down and watched Gatsby.  I think I read the book (note:  I'm not a fiction reader, I prefer a textbook any day) but it's the movie I remember.  Robert Redford played Gatsby.


Yeah, him.


And now we have Leonardo:


Slightly believable.  Brad Pitt would have convinced me on looks, but I think Leo will play it best.  Well cast.




Then we had Mia Farrow playing Daisy



And now we have Carey Mulligan

I'm not sure I believe it yet.  But proof will be in her acting.




Then it was Sam Waterston who played Nick Carraway.

Yeah, Sam from Law & Order.



Now we have Tobey Maguire.

Completely seeing this character emerge already.


I'm not a fan of the movie theatre, but I could see myself going to see Gatsby.  How about you?  What's on your list to go see at the movies?

signed, the willow

My Attention Span is Waning

When this blog began, I wrote.  The odd photo appeared as a novelty:  from my own collection, my family, my own imagination.  Then, something changed.  (My lifestyle, most likely.)  I began to morph into so many other blogs out there.  Post a picture and write a caption. Copy. Paste.  Repeat.

Then *Steve* came home this week with a printed copy of my blog.  It was contained in a very large 3-ring binder and *Mila* and I began to pour through.  Some memories ruffled my feathers.  How could I be so silly to worry about all the menial things I worried about.  No excuse.  Somewhere in my journey of copy and paste (and that crazy life), I became grateful.  Time was again on my side.  I met some wonderful people that were very supportive and recognized many others who had been for quite some time, and yet I had not realized this.  

So, back to the big book of blog.  Like Elaine's big salad.  (right here I was suctioned into the world of Seinfeld only to re-emerge 20 minutes later), I realized how much substance I was adding.  An expression of myself, as pathetic as that may seem to some.  It was my outlet when I wanted to scream.  It went away when I channeled my energy onto a window display, a 6 mile run, P90X, or raising my child.  Then *Steve* put it to me quite bluntly, "You used to write.  You don't do that anymore."  Why?  My attention span was waning as was the rest of the world's.  I found that one paragraph was enough to read.  So, why would someone want to read more than one paragraph?  I'm taking the time again.  For me. Maybe I can paint, or document to some degree, write a tad, photo-journalize my life, blog it, print it, and take time to read it and ENJOY IT.

And now for something completely different.

Little Red SumaDog. 

Twinkie sitting there waiting for some love or bunny crack, which would be this stuff.

You can be sure that this story doesn't have an end.  Only had a brief rest period from the prose and written jargon.  As The Terminator once said "I'll be back".  And, he did come back for Terminator 2  and Terminator 3.  That's for you *Steve* ;)

signed, the willow

Swim in to RIFF

At the Reykjavik International Film Festival, audience members were able to swim up to watch the movies.
Imagine?  You'd be as shriveled as a prune by the end of the movie.  And then they'd try to slip you into the vinaterta!  Sorry, little Icelandic joke there.


Swim-in cinema Never Ending Story from RIFF Festival TV on Vimeo.



signed, the willow

The Bespoke Ent

My little *Mila* (who is still 5) took this using my camera.  I let her experiment with black and white, sepia, zooming, etc.  But it was really important for her to take this picture of the "tree with a face".  See, that matters way more to a 5 year old than it does to you or me.

I have to say that one of my most favourite places in Ontario is Hidden Valley Park in the Aldershot neighbourhood of Burlington.  This photo doesn't even capture all that it has to offer.  The trail, the trees.  There are Shagbark Hickory trees here that just stun me.

And of course, we love love love La Salle Park in Burlington as well.  The swans, the geese, the ducks, the sailboats and our walks on the trail that just could go on forever with laughs and gigles along the way.

So, my list today is my 5 favourite places in Ontario:

5.  Grindstone Creek, Hidden Valley Park, Burlington, Ontario

4.  Dorset tower in the Fall in Dorset, Ontario

3.  Stratford, Ontario by the Avon River

2.  Dundas Valley Conservation Area

1.  My parent's lakeshore property on Pelican Lake in Sioux Lookout that looks across to Sioux Mountain

signed, the willow

I just suck

Really. I suck. If I were making money at this I'd probably say "you suck". But I'm not and so it's me that sucks. Let me introduce you to the successful bloggers.


There's Dooce. She makes like thousands of dollars a day.


Then there's Fussy. She's so cool, she's an "org".

Her Bad Mother is sure not "her bad blogger". She's good too. Then again "Bad is the new good". She said it, not me. Did I mention she's Canadian. That's good too.

There's Three Kid Circus, Sweetney, Surrender Dorothy, I am Bossy and then there are the design blogs...


desire to inspire. Again, 1/2 Canadian, 1/2 Australian. That's so good, it's like saying it's 100% Canadian. Even better.


design sponge.


design milk.


poppytalk. Did I hear you say Canadian? Yup!

Let's not forget Dear Ada and the artsy group of globbers. Like a good idea on paper. And of course the eye for all things art deco, art deco. Kiki and Polly rock. Uppercase Gallery dot ca! Yes, again Canadian. We really have a thing going on up here in Canada. Why is not "down here" in Canada? There must be a small nation of Arctic Circle folk reading Canadian blogs. Or are they Canadian too? Gosh, I should brush up on my geography.


signed, the willow

Rule #8 of Fight Club

"If this is your first night, you have to fight."

What are your Top 10 Favourite Movies of all time?

Here's my list with links to IMDB:

10. Twelve Monkeys
9. Lord of the Rings (all 3)
8. Fight Club
7. So I Married An Axe Murderer
6. Snatch
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey
4. Sixteen Candles
3. 300 (TIE)
3. King Arthur (TIE)
2. An American in Paris
1. Pulp Fiction


signed, the willow

Life was a song, You came along, I laid awake the whole night through

February is turning into a movie month around here. I don't have the chance to watch a movie, mostly because any kind of movie plot will keep me up all night believing it could happen to me AND *Mila* is awake past nine-thirty and I'm out like a light at eight. Don't worry, *Steve* puts her to bed. After they eat a 12-pack of donuts and down a 2 litre bottle of Pepsi, it's really no wonder they are night owls.

So far this month I have endured a Hilary Duff movie with *Mila*, and last night Suma and I enjoyed "Singin' In The Rain" with my "Hollywood dead boyfriend", Gene Kelly.

Okay, so maybe she slept through it.

And maybe Gene fell in love with this girl.

I love the part when the newspapers spin in with the hottest news! Big Bonanza for Diction Coaches. Were they like Speech Pathologists?

I want like 10 of these vowel posters.
When Donald O'Connor dances beside Mr. Kelly, it becomes obvious that Gene has lifts in his shoes.


Then Gene has to go and kiss this girl.

And then he sings and dances in the rain.

It's the over-bleached blonde on the right that Gene is supposedly involved with and his to film all his movies with (like Brad & Angelina). But she talks like a midget trapped in a closet with a sinus cold. If only they had a plan to make the movie work with Blondie and her annoying voice. Does anyone have any good ideas? Then Donald O'Connor comes up with the new contemporary plot of the movie. It involves a sandbag knocking somebody's skull so that they can have a French Renaissance dream.

So they get Gene's brunette girlfriend to dub over Blondie's voice. Great! Her again!

Thanks to Donald, they can include some more gratuitous scenes of Gene tripping the light fantastic.

Voila!

The singing and dancing numbers keep me tuned in. This must have been filmed in glorious Technicolor.

Gene tips his hat at me...

...says goodbye to the policeman who is about to arrest him for splashing in the puddles.

Oh Gene! Goodnight. I'll see you in Paris next weekend.

signed, the willow

I feel connected, protected

If you can make out the pink Barbie Diamond Castle doll in *Mila's* hands, you will know that the darn thing sings. So, she puts her Barbie Diamond Castle movie into DVD Player 12 (that is not the version, that is the number she is on in terms of portable dvd players), then pushes Barbie's hand and the movie, doll and real live girl sing in harmony. It's just b-e-a-utiful (the first three times).

signed, the willow

I give in

The weather is cold. We've done our outings for the day. *Mila* was cooperative at school, so we rented a Barbie movie for her, popped some popcorn and cuddled up next to 55" of Sony and watched the "Princess & the Pauper". My bloodstream is full of coffee and sinus medication. I'm trying my best to not be sick, but I give in. I just can't fight it any more. I need a blankie, a movie, warm cup of tea and a big fat dog curled up on my feet. I've rented "Beowulf" for *Steve* and "Across the Universe" for me. I doubt I'll get to watch it before I have to watch Barbie trade places with Erica while *Mila* dances in front of the tv another 48 times. Whatever.

signed the willow

He met the Walrus

Last night I fell asleep before the end of the Academy Awards. I was able to record the Bravo!FACT presentation of "I Met The Walrus" on CTV. This short animated film was interesting as it was animation set to the interview with John Lennon that Jerry Levitan, a 14 year old boy at the time, had recorded in 1969. It was timeless, creative and just amazing. Jerry was Canadian and 14 when he snuck into the Toronto hotel where John & Yoko were staying and recorded an interview with John on a reel-to-reel tape. Can you imagine? Reel to Reel? If I even mentioned that to my 4 year old, she'd say "Huh? Can I have a chocolate now?". He lugged that thing in there with ease I bet. Eager to interview John Lennon, who would speak of peace and in a very contemporary manner that we, the people, are responsible for creating peace. Not the government. We elected them after all. You could have taken that conversation and related it to 2008. Setting this interview to animation was genius. It made perfect sense and 20 years from now, or 30, when *Mila* is interested in it, it will be timeless then again. But, she won't know who John Lennon is. I remember when he died and I thought he was a politician spelled Lenin, not a Beatle spelled Lennon. Then again, I was pretty sure that Casey and Finnegan did live in that treehouse out behind Mr. Dressup's house.

signed, the willow

My head is made from glue and I have coconuts in my closet

Just what I needed. A coconut bra for my daughter and a grass skirt. There are remains from this hay skirt from Hawaii (made in Indonesia) all over the house. My head is made from glue due to another germ infestation.

Here is what I'd wish for today: A cozy warm blanket to curl up under while I watched a sappy movie with Brad Pitt, a warm dog by my feet, a husband who was home to take his little girl out for some afternoon fun, all this while I drank a hot steamy cup of tea.

Instead, this is the reality: my blanket shrunk in the wash and doesn't cover my feet, my dog has a gimpy leg and is curled up with *Mila* and not me, my tea is luke warm and the movie *Mila* chose for us this afternoon is 'Hercules' and sadly, there is no Brad Pitt in it (although they did mention Achilles).

signed, the willow

Voting and Celebrities

First of all, if you haven't done so already, please vote on Steve's blog. He's taking a poll on which movie you prefer. Just go and vote. I don't care if you haven't seen the movies. Just pick one that sounds good. If you do know the movies and you hated both to choose from. Whatever. Just take a dart and throw it at your computer screen until you finally hit one of the movies and then click on it. Or let your dog pick for you.

Heath Ledger was found dead in a NY apartment. I won't speculate. I liked Heath Ledger. He reminded me so much of someone that was once in my life and left. That little boy charm that made you just smile when you saw him.

That's all I have for today. I have to go and tell *Steve* to pick up Brokeback Mountain (see Heath's movie-ography above) on his way home.

signed, the willow

Stuffed

Today in history Mickey Mouse debuted. It was 1928.

We had a little party tonight in our basement watching 'Shrek the Third' eating snacks. I feel like Mr. Creosote, due to explode at any second. I'm absolutely stuffed now and just too lazy to turn the channel, resulting in a Celine Dion dance-off on the AMA. Why does she try to be serious? Celine, please stop the dance moves. I can't mock her singing, because she can sing and doesn't miss a beat. No lip synching there. Just stop dancing, Celine, you're going to make me crack a rib or explode or something. Age must have kicked in too, because I keep looking for LL Cool J, and he never shows up on these shows. I don't know the rappers anymore. Do they call them rappers still?



This is *Steve* telling me how to operate my camera.


This is *Mila* not responding to being told what to do.


Me listening to the camera instructions....YOU TAKE A PICTURE THEN MR.SMARTIE PANTS...with *Mila* showing us the trauma her Kinder Egg Surprise endured in the fridge.

signed, the willow

It's in the cup

We went for our usual journey to IKEA. I cannot tell you how much I love IKEA. What I don't love are some of the people who decide to venture there. It is understandable to have no idea what is going on on your first visit, or even your second (if this is a foreign IKEA to you). But, don't come to IKEA to put a tent in my daughter's eyeball. And don't walk into my 99 cent frozen yogurt cone, or bowl me over in the living room display section. And the worst part is, you were the same guy! *Steve* calls me "hyper-sensitive" or "overly sensitive". I don't care what my "problem" is, some people are jerks and don't deserve to be on this planet. That includes the pushy, rude and arrogant. Anyhow, we went for a Strippa shelf and ended up leaving with a mattress pad and these great IKEA +365 cups and saucers:

As for Mr. Pushy Rude Dude, follow my rules of IKEA!

I woke up to a big red puffy eyelid and I think there is something in the eye, but I can't find it. *Steve* is afraid of having his own eyes touched, so he won't dare lift my lid and peer in. I know it. So, I will have to struggle all day/week with a big puffy eye. I hate it. I feel like a creature. Now I know how "Simon Birch" was made to feel - being different. If only God had a plan for me in this life, like Simon. We were up until 2 a.m. watching that moving last night and I was bawling all over the place, so that in all likelihood didn't help the left lid. My parents had been out in Lunenburg, N.S. when it was being filmed as a Disney production with a working title of "A Small Miracle". Apparently, Elora, Ontario was another location that they filmed in. Which is making perfect sense to me now since Elora is close to our home. Go out in your jammies and rent this one. It's a story where everyone can identify a piece of themselves within the plot.