Sparrow

I read a rather depressing novel this last week. I listened to Aleutian Sparrow by Karen Hesse. The author takes on the little discussed subject of Japanese attacks on the Aleutian Islands and what happened to the natives that lived on those islands. The Aleuts were forced, almost like the Japanese of the United States, into camps; "for their protection." The book has a very interesting, piecey style that kind feels like traditional story telling. It tells the story of the evacuation, camp life, the lives that are lived so far from home, and the eventual return to their sometimes destroyed homes and villages. Some towns were to never be repopulated with as many as one in four of the evacuated Aleuts dying of disease while in the camps. The audiobook that I listened to had an additional historical section and an interview with one of the little girls who had been evacuated from the islands.

Head Over for Ruins

I watched a new movie and an old favorite this weekend. My sister stayed over Friday night and most of Saturday. We plowed through a package of Oreos and several glasses of guava mango juice. Our company was My Life in Ruins and Head Over Heels.

My Life in Ruin had my sister and I running around screaming "Poupi Kakas" all weekend. My mother thought we were being immature. Then our whole family watched it after I made dinner last night. She laughed so hard she started to CRY when he was introduced as Poupi Kakas. The movie follows the story of Georgia. She was a professor in Greece until cutbacks left her with the only job she could get - a tour guide. This particular tour, she has a new driver (the other one eloped) and the other tour guide has made a deal with their boss: a raise in exchange for her resignation. Nico, her fellow tour guide, does everything he can to make her tour go so poorly that she quits. This tour though, there are two people that help her make it through the torture and come out on top. It was so cute, my sister and I watched it 3 times. Not in a row!!!!!! But close enough :D


 

In between watching My Life in Ruins, we watched Head Over Heels. This movie is SO cute and who doesn't love Freddie Prince Jr.?!? Amanda had had horrible luck with men and she just wants to find the one man that won't hurt her and still makes her weak in the knees. She catches her current boyfriend in bed with a model so she moves out...into a den of models! She ends up meeting the cute neighbor whose apartment just so happens to be right across from their bay of windows. Her and the models conduct an investigation to find out if he is a creep or not - that investigation takes a murderous turn and Amanda finds out that Jim isn't exactly who he said he was!

Sick

I am so tired right now. I stayed up way too late reading Texts from Last Night. That site is so ridiculously hilarious.

Besides being really tired - I think I am getting sick. ugh. that is my life update. I now have to go text my second boss to see when/if I am working this weekend since the schedule wasn't up on Tuesday.

I could really just use a day curled up in bed with hot tea and a good book.

Can I Keep You?

As I am sitting here watching Casper - I am wondering why his ghost looks nothing like his physical being.  Bill Pullman's ghost looks exactly like him and so does the evil chicks.  Casper's three uncles don't look like their 'human' selves.  I know they probably wanted him to look like the cartoon version and you they didn't exactly have Devon Sawa back  in the day when Casper came out. 

I have some intense memories with the cartoon version.  I went in for surgery on my ears and they ended up postponing the surgery for 2 hours.  I was so nervous and so hungry - I sat in the kids waiting room and that was the thing they had playing - Casper.  Weird how things like that will stay with you.

I love Casper the movie.  It is just such a great story.  I read more in my death book last night - I must say, it is very interesting the stories people make up for creation and death.  It is amazing the different explanations cultures have come up with to deal with things like death.  In Casper, the father felt the presence of his son still around - so he spent all his time developing the Lazarus.  Would you do anything to get back someone you loved? 

"The flesh that lived and loved will be eaten by plague / so let the memories be good for those who stay" - I love those lines from Mumford and Sons.  I remember listening to their album for the first time the weekend I went up to spend with my grandma after she had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in three organs. The book brings up thoughts about the afterlife and if it is something we make up to comfort ourselves or are they just ways to explain away what we don't know  .Is it a way for us to 'keep' our loved ones after they have died?  Is life after death...just like life?  Or like Whitman thought...do we just continue on through this world as constantly evolving matter?

Pineapples

Last night I chopped up some peppers, onion, and pineapple - this topping a piece of cooked chicken!  Fantastic.  It was just something I threw together in a pan with a little bit of olive oil!  What a great meal.  I forgot to thaw the pork chops I wanted to originally cook with it, but the chicken was good too!  I had to learn how to cut a pineapple though - weird!  I tried growing a pineapple I bought from Ikea once....it didn't make it! :(

Three Musketeers

Yesterday, as I was blogging, I was thinking: "Hmmm...I know there is another movie I wanted to talk about....oh well." Then it hit me - The Three Musketeers!!!!!! I went with my sister on Friday for my birthday present. What better birthday present is there - Matthew MacFadyen (whom shares my birthday day)! It was a really good movie. I am a HUGE fan of the older version with Chris O'Donnell and - ugh- Keifer Sutherland. I don't know why I detest Keifer...I just do! *Side note: Donald Sutherland is WAY hotter than his son!*
The film follows D'Artagnan who joins up with the Three Mustketeers: Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Athos has been betrayed by his love and the designs for a flying ship slip into the hands of the English. The Cardinal of France is plotting the taking of all power in France - by controlling the dimwitted King of France. The main drama of the film takes place when the Musketeers are sent to England to retrieve the diamonds that were stolen from the French Queen - a plot to convince the king that she has been unfaithful. They must retrieve the diamonds and get back before the king's ball.

Flying Aeon

I watched several good movies this week/weekend: Aeon Flux and The Flying Scotsman.


Aeon Flux is a future story of human existence. A mass disease comes up to destroy the whole of the human species, but one man finds a cure.  This man, Trevor Goodchild, must then spend his time trying to cure the side effect of his "cure."  The people of this society are haunted by things they cannot explain.  Certain people in that society desire to rise up against the regime the Goodchilds' have set up to rule over them.  Aeon is one of those people - she is sent to kill the scientist...little does she know, she will discover something so much greater than what she had originally thought!  I have to say, Charlize Theron...lucky!  Not only did she hit the beauty jackpot - Stuart Townsend - sigh!  He only turns up in the movie to make out with her and slip her a pill that reveals a secret message!

The Flying Scotsman was a really good movie.  It really opens up the world of mental disorder and how much depression can screw you up.  Jonny Lee Miller plays Graeme Obree, a Scotsman who loves cycling.  He designs his own bike to try to beat records for cycling - like going over 32 kilometers in an hour!  He reaches that only to have his record beaten the following week.  He is a very driven man and he goes on to become the World Record holder in another short distance biking thingy. The World Cycling Federation (or whatever bollix it is) decide that he shouldn't be allowed to win anything, so they keep inventing new rules to disqualify him or make him change his bike to a more conventional contraption.  I think one of the most touching things was seeing him overcome his demons and the judges constant challenges. 

Gorged!

Relationships: I swear to God, my sister and mother are relentless.  My mother actually google stalked a strange guy to find out about him because my sister had said he'd be perfect for me.  They're sweet to care so much, but come on!  I'm about ready to hand them the song from Brigadoon where the girl tells all her sisters - I marry a man, when I find one worth marrying.  Gah! 

Health:  Oi - I think I ate myself sick on candy today.  I had resisted quite well all week long, but today I broke down and ate a ton of the candy that sits in the bowl in front of me at work.  I worked 9 3/4 hours today and it was a busy day.  I was meeting myself coming and going - not to mention, my lunch was a bit later than usual and I couldn't resist the draw of the candy anymore. 

Career:  I like my job...I'm just happy I don't have to do my CA training again this weekend!

What's the password?

I was thinking the other day...as I typed in my umpteen millionth password...what a person from the middle ages, or even the early 20th Century, would think about all these stupid passwords we have to enter.  I think with the age of the computer came the age of the password.  I have a page of passwords just for programs at work and those change every few months.  We aren't getting to sneak into speakeasies or secret parties...nope - access to a bunch of programs.  Oi!  And you can't use all the same thing for everything or else you'll get hacked. I remember when having secret passwords was something fun, now I have to wrack my brain every time I sit in front of the computer.

Library...oh Library

This testy Tuesday has left me tested.  I have spent the last two days with a large bowl of candy sitting in front of my face.  OI!  I don't know if I can make it another two weeks with the candy bowl by me.  My co-worker and I keep eating more and more.  I'm happy to say I limited myself to just 2 things today.  Hopefully by the end of this month I won't have gained 50 pounds!

I am also testing out what it is like to type this up at the library.  Library facilities are becoming better and better.  It is actually quite pleasant.  It is a little bit slower than my parents computer, but if I don't want to spend every night or afternoon at my parents place using their computer, it is nice to know I can take a pleasant walk down to the library and use the wonderful technologies that are available...and hopefully I can make it out without grabbing 20 books to add to my already enormous pile!

Birthday Reading

I started reading some books I used to read like every summer...and I'm hooked.  Off to read some more of it for my birthday!!

Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies!

I'm quite excited right now!  I just bought the stuff for my Halloween costume!   I'm going to go as a Jane Austen zombie. Why not?!?  I've only been hooked on Jane Austen stuff for the last couple of weeks. 

This weekend I watched Mansfield Park.  It had both Jonny Lee Miller and James Purefoy.  I was slightly disappointed that you hardly ever get to see James's face!  He looks much different with sideburns and without the suit of armor. Mansfield Park is about Fanny Price.  She is taken in by her more well off aunts at a young age - taken in at Mansfield Park.  She has a flare for telling stories and is constantly writing to her little sister Susie about the things she's learned, the news of the family, and all the stories that pop into her head. When Fanny has matured, Mr. Crawford and his sister move into the parsonage and begins to take notice of Fanny.  She finds him disingenuous and still has her heart set on the one man she has loved all her life: Edmund.  Edmund though, has begun to take notice of Miss. Crawford and can see her as "the only woman he could ever think to call wife."  Fanny is sent back to her family upon her continued refusal to marry Mr. Crawford. She is called back to help heal Tom, the eldest son at Mansfield Park.  Drama ensues, as it always does, and things turn out as they should be.    I think if I ever get a horse, I shall name it Shakespeare!  It was a great movie, but then again, BBC always treats Austen very well.

I also watched Byron.  What a horrible movie to watch...unless you feel like being horribly depressed.  Poor messed up guy.  I can't help to pity him, despite also wanting to vomit at the thought of some of the things he did.  Byron tells the life of Lord Byron and it was crazy: he was a molested child that grew up to be sexually confused and promiscuous in every possible way...including sleeping with and falling in love with his half-sister.   



I played Stardust for my sister last night after we finished re-arranging my living room.  She ended up loving it as much as I did.  Tristan, a young man trying to find his place in the world sets off an a mission to collect a star for his beloved.  He is surprised when the star turns out to be an actual woman.  He sets off on a quest not only to bring her back to his precious and fickle Victoria (in order to keep her from marrying another) but to save her from the witches chasing her for her heart.  They run into the Princes searching for a diamond to restore to the ruby that will bring one of them the throne and sky pirates.  The pirates end up helping them.  Twists and turns occur and all ends well.  I especially love what happens to Victoria!

I Feel like Dancin

Oi - this coming week I am going to be having another birthday! This weekend is my "birthday weekend." My birthday happens on a Monday, so I need to party it up while I can! I am not sure what all I will be doing to celebrate, but hopefully it will be something epic.

Relationships: I'm excited, my little literature society will be starting up soon. I can't wait for us to start meeting. I'm also having my "(gay) boyfriends" over for dinner and a movie this weekend. My sister likes to add the little bit in front of boyfriends. I don't care, I love them to pieces!

Health: I haven't worked out nearly as much this week. Soccer mom duties and migraines have blocked off two days, but I'm feeling good. I'm a little sore from last weekend. My siblings and I rented Just Dance 3 and I kicked there butts at every song! Apache killed my arms, but was the best song on there, other than I Don't Feel like Dancin'.


Career: Things are going really well at work. New software is killing me! I have to go through and enter nearly 3000 people into the new program. Oi!

Columbus the Killer

I am sorry for everyone on Columbus day getting off on bashing Columbus.  He was a dick that did some horrible things - and Americans continued to do shitey things to the natives of the Americas; however, why is Columbus the only explorer/conqueror that we bash?  We praise the Roman Empire and their might, we call Alexander "the Great" because of his conquering half the known world!  Genghis Khan was a pretty horrible guy - he liked to have people torn apart!  I think one of my favorite lines from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is: "I came, I saw, I conquered, and I feel really bad about it." He did some horrible things, but he also opened up a whole new world to everyone! Besides, if it wasn't him, it would just be some other poor schmuck who'd had the vision and bravery to attempt to sail to the edge of the world to find the sea route to India. 


I was having a discussion with a business consultant the other day and I find it amazing how dumb the government finds us.  I can't decide to quit a health treatment plan (like chemo, dialysis, taking a prescription, etc.).  According to the law - the patient is stupid and as the doctor or the doctor's staff, I am required by law to "educate them."  If they refuse after being educated, the doctor must legally release them from care.  If I don't take all of my prescription and I get sick again, it can be held against the doctor or their staff.   When did the freedom for me to do whatever I want with my body change in the land of the free?  If my choice does not match set notions of the correct treatment...I am stupid and need to be educated.

Ladies or Ladies' - that is the Question!

Ugh - can I just say - my "twin", Angelina Jolie (as my friend likes to call me, I don't see the likeness), is so freaking lucky. She married "Sick Boy," aka Jonny Lee Miller. I am quite curious as to how that relationship was...we obviously know how it turned out!

This weeks testy Tuesday has mostly to do with me attempting to start a "Ladies Salon Society." It took me a long time to reason between "Ladies" and "Ladies' " since both are correct; however, you typically see things like the "Ladies Aid Society" without the apostrophe. I have designed a little flyer to post around town and had several discussions with my co-host. I am quite excited to hopefully get a group of girls gathered for a fun time discussing literature and movies!

Emma

After watching the movie...several times...I decided to pull out my copy of Emma and actually read it. I'm about 100 pages or so into it and have another 100+ pages to go, but I am loving every second of it. Jane Austen's stories are so very interesting; however, I tend to fall asleep on them. If the book isn't smacking me in the face I'm typically slouched over onto the book! It has nothing to do with my lack of interest, but more my tired eyes cannot keep up with the verbose Victorian style.

I have also been keeping up in my Intellectual Devotional and I am now nearly caught up. I did not know that cows could even dream prior to reading this book, let alone did I realize that they couldn't dream while standing. I already knew that cows could sleep while standing, but apparently they cannot dream and sleep while standing - to enter REM sleep (the state in which you dream) they have to lie down.

I am also working on a book about death rituals, customs, and beliefs. I haven't gotten to far into this book, but from what I have read so far, I find it very intriguing. On the Pacific Islands, some tribes have life sized dolls they make and leave outside the tomb to represent the dead. I had no idea there were so many different perceptions on when the point of death actually occurs.

Emma has been Sourced

This week my sister and I got Source Code to watch and drool over Jake Gyllenhaal. It was a really interesting movie. I thought it was very interesting the theories after death after just starting reading a book about death and its rituals. The movie is about Cpt. Colter Stevens who is being sent back to figure out who is bombing the train. He is a gallant soldier that does his best to figure out who is bombing the train and who is planning an even bigger attack on the city of Chicago. He also begins to solve "his" problem. I had it figured out relatively early on - the first time they explained what the "source code" was, I new! I don't want to give too much away, but it is interesting comparing other peoples' ideas of death (when it happens, when the body is no longer a person) and this movie. I thought it very interesting, especially after had I had read about Hindus believing that the person is not fully dead until their head splits open on the funeral pyre.
Anyways, it was a very good movie with a surprise ending that is both happy and sad at the same time.


I also go to finally finish Emma! *Sigh* I have no idea why Jane Austen is so perfect at describing amazing men. It's probably because she had a whole lot more time to contemplate the perfect man. Oh, the Victorian romance novel it is - I am absolutely sure that Jane herself fell in love while dancing. Every single one of her stories has some sort of pivotal moment while dancing. The only thing I know about Jane's life is what I have learned from Becoming Jane; I'm not sure how much you can trust a movie version of her life! The movie was quite amazing and will have every girl smitten with Mr. Knightley. I so need this on DVD!

Fruition?

I totally forgot to mention my favorite part of Ironclad - the Buliwyf (Vladimir Kulich) was in it!  I saw him and I SCREAMED "BULIWYF!"  I swear, my neighbors must think I'm crazy. 

Relationships: This week, I have an friendly older gentleman telling me my "just friend" guy is going to become something more.  I was laughing because my "just friend" is gay.  That is about the extent of my relationships this weekend.

Health:  I've been working out for 30 minutes after work and I've already lost 3lbs.  I'm quite excited to be getting healthier.

Career: Nothing new at all - still working on how exactly to bring my dreams to fruition.

Vacation

I totally want to go on a vacation!  I want to go to Yosemite and hike around or go to someplace tropical and lounge on a beach! Time to get away and relax sounds so amazing. I am excited to say that this weekend - I am FREE for the whole weekend. 

So in other words - go do something really relaxing this weekend.  It is actually supposed to be warm and sunny this weekend!  I can't wait to get out and get some sun!

Cullen All Cookie Lovers!

Today has been pretty exciting in terms of new: working with new software at work and getting a new fridge!

Despite all this new, I have to discuss the recent invention a friend of mine and I came up with - Halloween special. A sugar cookie with toffee chip eyes, white chocolate nose and fangs (dipped in red food coloring), then, you sprinkle the thing with edible glitter - thus, the Edward cookie was born! We are contemplating ways of making other Halloween type characters into cookies.

Captured

I finished reading The Capture by Kathryn Lasky. The Capture is the first book in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. This book follows Soren, who is shoved out of his nest and snatched up by a patrol of owls from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. He meets several owls at St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls and they plot ways to stay themselves and escape the evils of St. Aggies. Soren meets Gylfie, an Elf Owl, and they become great friends that help each other survive the perils of St. Aggies.

This book is really interesting and has fantastic use of language. I love Twilight and his witty use of words, rhyming, and poetry. He may be an "uneducated" owl, but he's got spunk and wit. Gylfie is incredibly intelligent - her and Soren make a great pair for figuring out riddles. This is a great book for kids and even adults.

Better Get Your Gun

I was pleasantly enjoying watching the Masterpiece Theatre's version of Emma this afternoon. I left to go grab my clean laundry upstairs and bring it down to fold - AND IT WAS GONE! There was some weird movie on with Buffalo Bill and a creepy, dirty lady with a gun. Turns out, it was Annie Get Your Gun. I stopped to watch it, hoping maybe PBS had made a mistake and would switch back to Emma at any moment. Oh, Mr. Knightley! SO CLOSE! Anyways, I recognized several of the songs and continued to watch. I was also too busy being dazzled by the lyrics - rhyming - smittin', sittin', knittin', and kitten. And -

"But a man never trifles

With gals who carry rifles

Oh you can't get a man with a gun."

It was actually a pretty good movie - if you get over the fact that Annie is pretty much a complete basket case.

I also watched The Timekeeper. It is a rather intense movie. It is kind of weird and a lot gory. I never really expected to see a man take buckshot to the face and continue to gurgle on many hours after being shot. It follows a young man that is now penniless after his father's death. He goes to a railroad camp in the middle of no where Alaska/Canada to be the recorder of worked hours. He's an honest man, so he runs into some trouble with the not so honest foreman. Him and "the wild ones" develop a plan....

I watched this French film a few weeks ago entitled: 400 Blows. It is an interesting movie about the life of a young boy in Paris in the 1950s? He gets in trouble at school and with his parents. He ends up getting shipped to a reform school of sorts. The boy is really smart and savvy. I had just one issue with the movie. He looks at something off camera and has this inexplicable expression on his face - I want to know what he saw! It's probably like what Scarlett Johansson whispers to Bill Murray in Lost in Translation; forever lost to us.