Funner (sic)??

How did we all cope without peanut butter slices wrapped in cellophane?

I dunno. Maybe I'm just getting old.

It's all about the pie...

find your inner PIE @ stvlive.com

When come back, bring pie.

July 28, 2004 at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Film 101

Joseph Stalin: not your ordinary film buff.

June 21, 2004 at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Long time, no see!

Hum -- I didn't realize it had been that long since I'd posted here, until I had to deal with some spammers in the comments.

Have been busy. Many changes in the works around here. I'd actually decided that maybe I would write a movie blog, and came up with the neat name of Cinefille (play on words, cinephile, a lover of cinema, cinefille, cinema girl).

But it already exists. This is the first time that this has happened, that I've come up with a good blog name that already exists.

So I've been rethinking, and designing a new blog in my mind -- The Other is finally in the process of building us a new PC, so the actual *work* will happen once I can get back to working on it, rather than the Mac.

So, in the interest of writing something remotely amusing, here are the latest search terms that brought people here (with the exception of one. I went through a period where people who didn't care particularly for a certain southern Ontario city searched and ended up here. A lot.)

The best of the rest:

"phantom louvre dan brown" -- okay, we all know what book it refers to. Interestingly, since I manipulated the city search, the louvre is now my all time number one search.

"Poetry in Stitches kits" -- I have some. Thought I'd wrote about that over on the knitting blog. Hmm...

"100% pain Kayser" -- another frequent search. It's a good book. Should I get off my duff and write about bread over on the food blog? It's been on my mind a lot lately, even took a workshop one evening.

"knit counterpane" -- how did they know I was thinking about this? And why isn't all this knitting stuff over on my knitting blog?

"my knitted counterpane" -- oh, sorry, I don't know which one is yours.

"Frangipani yarn" -- yummy stuff. Ran across three cones in Raspberry whilst looking for things to take to the guild yarn swap the other night. Must find a use for it.

"Exxon Valdez wreckage" -- oh dear. No, my wreckage is the kind that doesn't harm the environment.

And that's it, folks. More soon when I come up for air.

June 18, 2004 at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Signifying Nothing

"Amidst all the sound and fury, I don't expect right to prevail; I don't expect wrong to prevail, either; I just expect the sound and fury to prevail."

~ Richard J. Needham, columnist.

Day Two of the federal election campaign, and I'm ready to blow a blood vessel.

I'm thinking that the only way to make it to June 28th will be to turn off the television.

May 24, 2004 at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

some odd thoughts with no discernable thread

There seems to be several trillium plants in the back garden. I have no idea how they got there, if, indeed, they are trilliums.

The yard is lumpy and bumpy and a royal PITA to mow. The back yard is worse than the front, because the trees, a red maple in particular, have sent out so many roots that the grass is balding and lumpy.

Something must be done about the back yard. The lawn must go. There must be No More Need For Mowing there.

I have no idea what to do to make this happen, but happen it must.

I am craving fresh strawberries and watermelon. I refuse to buy anything not local.

I am constantly hungry these days.

I have been playing "Vanina" by Dave (number one for 30 weeks in 1974, a cover of Del Shannon's "Runaway" that is better than the original) over and over again on the CD player.

Note to The Other: Dave (love the bouncing head on that site) is playing the Olympia this weekend. I would have made you take me, you know...

I'm also dying for some rhubarb.

I've got very itchy feet these days -- they're longing to travel, but have no place to go.

Francis Cabrel's new CD is due out Any Day Now! If we had satellite TV, we could watch Vivement Dimanche on TV5 this Sunday -- Francis is going to be Michel Drucker's guest... D'you know, I've never seen him "en live"? He's going on tour soon with this album...

I need to lose weight. Sigh.

My hands are all blistered from mowing the front lawn. Not to mention the aches where I didn't even know I had spots that could ache.

I need something to do with my life. I'd say "make ice cream", but that would involve finding the Musso ice cream maker I'm coveting here in Canada, rather than having to order it from the US.

May 14, 2004 at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yowza

Remember all that stuff from the other day about forgetting about the Smart, about the long waiting time, yadda yadda?

Well fugeddaboudit.

I have in my possession an Official Order Form. The Other went to the dealer the other night while I was at my guild meeting.

I find this all highly amusing. The fact that the Smart, a small, dependable, fuel-efficient and cost-effective car is under the Mercedes-Benz umbrella means, of course, that I am entitled to the same impeccable M-B service, without actually forking out for the cost of a Mercedes.

Not to mention the entertainment value, as we keep breaking into Sargeant Schultz-type German accents to talk about the car.

I am now in Permanent Anticipation Mode. I am hoping that Mercedes will see that we Canadians are ready to snap up their Smart little cars, and will throw a few more our way before a year's time.

In the meantime, I am dreaming about my Stream Green Smart, with power windows (even The Other doesn't have power windows!), a CD player, and maybe a sun roof. Maybe.

And about, as George Michael so aptly sang, Freedom! Freedom!

May 13, 2004 at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Wasp Woman* Rides Again

There are two things on my mind this muggy Wednesday: the Cannes Film Festival and the Vespa Scooter.

Cannes, because today is the opening day, and I miss being in France right now, miss watching all the hoopla, miss the opening of all the films. Today the latest film from Pedro Almodovar is being screened; it also has its opening day in cinemas across France. There is a selection of Almodovar films at the heart of my DVD collection, and La Mala Educacion, his latest, is right up there on my list of Must See Films when it finally arrives on this side of the planet. Either in a theatre, or when I order the DVD.

As an aside, I'm also waiting for La Flor di Mi Secreto to be re-released on DVD -- I didn't snap it up when it first came out, stupid me, so now I'm waiting...and oddly, I couldn't find Almodovar films when I was in Spain last fall. Most of mine are either French or British releases.

Anyhoo.

And the Vespa, because I got mulling over scooters after the Smart thing seemed to fall through.

Oddly enough, I can connect these two dots, a kind of Kevin Bacon game variation, if I throw the Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti into the mix. Firstly, because of his film Caro Diario (Dear Diary/Journal Intime -- for which he won the Best Director award at Cannes 1994), in which he spends much of his time riding around Rome on his Vespa. The Vespa also makes an appearance in the film Aprile (April/Avril), sometimes considered a suite to Caro Diario, though it deals with different themes.

I love Nanni Moretti. I connect to his neurotic approach to life in a way that is almost frightening. He even chooses music for his films that is to be found in my CD collection. If I could make movies, I'd make movies like Nanni Moretti.

Vespa riding is thinking time for Moretti, so it makes sense that he spends much of the film Caro Diaro on his Vespa, and those moments when he needs to think about things on his Vespa in Aprile.

Vespa's stopped being brought into Canada in 1986 (emissions-control legislation issues), but they're back. Mind you, there are also Vintage Vespas.

On the other hand, a scooter requires a motorcycle licence, and there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'm going to do *that*, so this Wasp Woman will probably just haul out the bike.

(You did know that Vespa is Italian for Wasp, right? Of course you did...)

The bike is also Italian, just not Really Cool. Nor will you find Nanni Moretti wandering around Rome on the back of a Bianchi.

But sometimes a Wasp Woman's gotta do what a Wasp Woman's gotta do...

*just in case you were wondering, The Wasp Woman is a B-Movie from 1960, in which the head of a cosmetics company insists on being the test subject for a new queen wasp royal jelly type rejuvenating product, with, depending on how you feel about B-Movies, either hilarous or horrifying results. The film's tagline? "A beautiful woman by day -- A lusting queen wasp by night."

May 12, 2004 at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

800

That's the number of Smart cars coming into Canada this fall.

And they are All. Sold. Out.

We visited what passes for the local Mercedes dealer (because it is, in fact, located in the city next door to us) on the weekend, where they had just taken receipt of a model to show off to people.

They are taking deposits. For delivery, at earliest, this time next year. That is, if you happen to be one of the lucky people on the waiting list who gets one of the cars alloted to the dealer.

So I've pretty much given up on getting a Smart. Alas. I sat in it. It is Just So Tiny and Perfect.

But if I have to make due without a car for a year or more, I might as well make due without a car, you know?

May 11, 2004 at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Green grow the rushes,

oh.

Maybe. Wait, no rushes in the garden. I think.

You see, I'm not much of a gardener. Put it down to living in apartments for pretty much all my adult life. I did attempt a balcony garden in France, and the only thing that survived, oddly enough, was the lemon tree, the most difficult and fiddly thing I had. Even the lavender bit the proverbial dust.

Now I find myself living in the house previously owned by someone who knew a thing or two about gardening. She left me with a spreadsheet of what's where and what to do with it, with instructions about separating and pruning and whatnot. Separating? Pruning? Okay, pruning is a concept I understand, but as to actually HOW to do this, well, forget it.

My sister has a theory about gardening. She doesn't put anything into her yard or vegetable garden that can't survive neglect or drought. This theory appeals to me, except that it would require knowing what types of plants can't survive neglect or drought...

I'm thinking about all this because I just finished listening to gardening guru Mark Cullen on television, promoting his latest book ("Mark Cullen's Ontario Gardening").

Cullen claimed that gardeners are, generally, happy people with bright dispositions, who have a bright outlook on things.

Now, I'm beginning to see the problem here. But it's a chicken and egg problem, I think -- am I generally not terifically happy, with a less than bright disposition, with a generally pessimistic outlook on things BECAUSE I am not a gardener?

Or am I not a gardener BECAUSE I am, generally, a bit of a stick in the mud?

And if I throw myself into the garden, will it change my outlook?

(The pessimist in me says no. The pessimist in me suggests that there is probably nothing that can be done.)

I already know that trying to put in a vegetable garden is going to be a challenge, because of the large number of trees in the yard, and the mass of roots they've put out. It has been suggested that we might want to have them taken out. I shudder at the thought of the cost of such a venture.

But a vegetable garden appeals to me. I'm big into local produce (though at this time of year it's difficult not to give into the temptation of Peruvian asparagus or Chilean strawberries -- what holds me back is the knowledge that they would taste like wood) and self-sufficiency, so having a garden to produce some of what we need in a manner that is good for the environment, well, that just sounds so right.

I also ran across the Grow a Row organization the other day. I'm still looking into it, but the idea is to plant extra in your garden and donate it to a local food bank or soup kitchen -- having made sure, of course, that the food bank or soup kitchen is prepared to take what you've grown. Mainly, you're supposed to set up a local network of gardeners and organizations.

This type of idea appeals to me, mainly because I like the idea of a community taking responsibility and making connections with its various members. I like the idea of giving something back to your community, and I like the idea of community taking care of all its members.

Another organization that impresses me is Foodshare. Foodshare looks at the system of food: how it is produced, how it is distributed, and how it is consumed, all underscored with a committment to building community. Foodshare participates in community and urban gardening projects in order to re-establish and reinforce our connection with the food we eat.

I couldn't help thinking that there should be some kind of link between Foodshare and Grow a Row -- encourage community gardens that give back to the community, that help to feed those members of the community who just don't have the means to do it for themselves.

Finally, I can't but see a connection to the Slow Food movement. Slow Food began in Italy in 1986, and its orginal goal was "to counter the tide of standardization of taste and the manipulation of consumers around the world." If I remember correctly, the founder, Carlo Petrini, was appalled at the opening of the first McDonald's fast food restaurant in Italy, at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome.

Today Slow Food's aims have expanded. They catalogue and safeguard native animals, plants, and agricultural heritage (traditional ways of producing food). They believe in biodiversity, sustainable agriculture. They safeguard not only traditional methods of productions, but the products derived from them, be they food or drink. Slow Food emphasizes our connection to our environment and the pleasure it gives us in the form of sustenance.

So there we are. I believe in all this stuff. I believe in looking after the environment (next step, setting up the composter, with a little help from the Composting Council of Canada (who are, perhaps not surprisingly, a partner of Grow a Row). I'm just not good at keeping the plants alive.

We'll see how this goes. Er, grows...

May 4, 2004 at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)