Ah, English class!

I saw this book advertised and it gave me a really good laugh. It also made me think of University.






How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read

by Pierre Bayard

Have you read Shakespeare? Proust? War and Peace? Moby Dick? Middlemarch? Ulysses?

(Has anyone actually read Ulysses?)

Let’s face it, you can’t read everything. You probably don’t want to read everything.

So what are we supposed to do when the polite conversation turns to a classic book, or the latest Atwood, Ondaatje or Vassanji we haven’t actually read?

Fear not! Professor Pierre Bayard is at hand to save us from literary humiliation and social ostracism with his book, How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read.

“It’s totally possible”, he assures us, “to carry on an engaging conversation about a book you haven’t read — including, and perhaps especially, with someone else who hasn’t read it either.”

In fact, “it is sometimes easier to do justice to a book if you haven’t read it in its entirety — or even opened it.”

With examples from Oscar Wilde, Graham Greene, Montaigne, Umberto Eco, Marcel Proust, and even the movie Groundhog Day, How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read steers us through the social minefield of literary conversation (what exactly is the proper course of action when you meet an author whose book you haven’t read?), and offers advice to turn sticky social situations into opportunities for creative brilliance.

Charming, erudite, and mercifully irreverent, How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read is a must-have for anyone with reader guilt (or a dinner party to attend).

I love Jon Stewart

Top 5 favourite Jon Stewart moments of the night:

#5- “Democrats do have an historic race going, Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama. Normally when you see a black man or a woman president, an asteroid is about to hit the Statue of Liberty.”

#4- "In case you're wondering what we all do here during the commercial breaks, mostly we just sit around making catty remarks about the outfits you're all wearing at home"

#3- "I happen to have taken Spanish in high school. I believe he told his mother where the library is."

#2- (with regards to Barack Hussein Obama's unfortunate name) "It's not easy to overcome. I think we all remember the ill-fated 1944 presidential campaign of Gaydolf Titler."

#1- Getting Markéta Irglová back up on stage to do her acceptance speech after she was unceremoniously cut off. Totally classy, and she gave the best speech of the night.

"You know, it's not so hard being a film cricket"

Just a quick note. I did not do a "should win"/"will win" kind of thing. I mostly discussed this in my blurb of each section. I have also only commented on categories in which I have seen at least 60% of the films in question (with one exception).
* denotes the movies I have not seen.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: MY OPINION!



Best Actor in a Supporting Role


*Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

*Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War

Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild

Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton


This is not my being anti-no country, this is sctrictly routing for a deserving under-dog. Bardmen was convincing enough that when I see him at awards shows on TV I want to shout to the actors around him "Get away from him, he's a maniac!" (on the flip-side I hope that Ben Mulroney and Ryan Seacrest will ultimately sheild the stars from the attack). Anyways, Tom Wilkenson rocked my world.


Best Actress in a Supporting Role


Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There.

*Ruby Dee, American Gangster

Saoirse Ronan, Atonement

*Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone

Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton


I'm rather partial to Cate Blanchett, it can't be helped. I am also partial to taking risks in acting and this has got to be one of the big ones. Though I suspect her big competition is Ruby Dee and I have yet to see American Gangster, so I will reserve judgement if Cate is not victorious.



Best Actress in a Leading Role


Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Julie Christie, Away From Her

*Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose

*Laura Linney, The Savages

Ellen Page, Juno


Okie-dokie, here it goes. Julie Christie was brilliant, no doubt about it- but a huge part of why her performance was so moving was Gordon Pinsent. I understand why he wasn't nominated, but he was a huge part of why that movie and her role worked so well. Ellen Page on the other hand carried Juno. She was Juno, and will have a hard time transcending that role. She acted brilliantly despite some sketchy writing here and there, and her age. She showed a depth and maturity in tackling that character that would be difficult for anyone. I love Julie Christie, but the nod's to Page to me.


Best Actor in a Leading Role


George Clooney, Michael Clayton

Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

*Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah

Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises


Le sigh. Daniel Day Lewis will win, but let's be clear, just because he was ROBBED in 2003 from his Gangs of New York oscar, doesn't mean he gets it now. Same goes to Johnny Depp, who is not allowed to win just because they wanted to give it to him for something artier than Pirates of the Carribean. I thought Viggo Mortenson was brilliant. BUT I would like to give an honourary mention to someone who should at the very LEAST be on the list. James McAvoy gave far and away the best performance in Atonement, and was probably the best thing about the movie. Given more screen time (rewrite! rewrite!) he could easily have been on the list.





Best Achievement in Directing


Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men

Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton

Jason Reitman, Juno

Julian Schnabel, Scaphandre et le papillon, Le


The Coen Brothers are poised to take it and I agree that they should. No Country was a well paced, well acted, well shot movie, and I will be damned if I admit that it should be best picture. So this is what you get instead.



Best Adapted Screenplay


Atonement

Away From Her

*The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

No Country for Old Men

There Will Be Blood


Quite frankly anything apart from Atonement should probably win. It will become clear as this list goes on that I was no great fan of the Oscar favourites this year No Country and There Will Be Blood so I suspect that's shading my opinion of the writing. Away from Her is beautifully written and it's an absolute shame that Sarah Polley isn't up for Best Director so I'm defaulting to giving her the writing oscar.


Best Achievement in Cinematography


The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007): Roger Deakins

Atonement (2007): Seamus McGarvey

No Country for Old Men (2007): Roger Deakins

Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007): Janusz Kaminski

There Will Be Blood (2007): Robert Elswit

This is a no brainer. Whatever I liked and didn't like in No Country, it is undeniably well shot and well paced. It is absolutely an "achievement in cinematography".



Best Achievement in Art Direction


*American Gangster (2007): Arthur Max, Beth A. Rubino

Atonement (2007): Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer

*The Golden Compass (2007): Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007): Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo

There Will Be Blood (2007): Jack Fisk, Jim Erickson


My brother and I will disagree on this, but I'm a big fan of Sweeney for this one. I thought that it was a visually fantastic movie, and while I agree that it was (as Scott brilliantly put it) "Tim Burton at his Tim Burton-est", it was the artistic elements of the direction that stood out (as opposed to the acting and pacing elements that made No Country so excellent)



Best Achievement in Costume Design


Across the Universe (2007): Albert Wolsky

Atonement (2007): Jacqueline Durran

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007): Alexandra Byrne

*Môme, La (2007): Marit Allen

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007): Colleen Atwood


I'm seriously divided between Sweeney Todd and Atonement on this one. As you know I tend to look at the Academy Awards in context of "What really stood out about that movie?". For Sweeney Todd I think that the costuming was a big part of is, but Atonement's military garb was spot on. I wasn't that convinved at the period authenticity of Keira Knightly's green dress though, so I suppose that tips it for Sweeney Todd.



Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song


*August Rush (2007): Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack, Tevin Thomas("Raise It Up")

Enchanted (2007): Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz("Happy Working Song")

Enchanted (2007): Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz("So Close")

Enchanted (2007): Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz("That's How You Know")

Once (2006): Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová(“Falling Slowly” )


This was a pretty cool movie, and the best part of it was naturally its music. I recommend it, unless you really can't handle poor production quality (I couldn't help whispering "Buy a fricking tripod" to my brother when we watched it). But obviously this has no effect on the music. Right. Still see Once.






Best Animated Feature Film of the Year


Persepolis (2007): Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi

*Ratatouille (2007): Brad Bird

Surf's Up (2007): Ash Brannon, Chris Buck


I suppose the favourite is Ratatouille, so I ought not comment on Persepolis's vast superiority. Though I inevitably assume it :)



Best Documentary, Features


*No End in Sight (2007): Charles Ferguson, Audrey Marrs

*Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience (2007): Richard Robbins

Sicko (2007): Michael Moore, Meghan O'Hara

*Taxi to the Dark Side (2007): Alex Gibney, Eva Orner

*War Dance (2007): Andrea Nix, Sean Fine

This time around I've only seen one of the pictures, but I felt the need to comment. I watched an illegal copy of Michael Moore's Sicko before it was released in theatres. It was very Moore in fashion: basically tells you a lot of what you already know, makes some statements that are bold, some gutsy, some unfair. What I will say for Moore is that he had a lot of balls taking 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba for the free medical treatment they couldn't receive in the US. Some will say that he painted an unfair picture of Cuba- I argue that it makes one consider how bad the American health care system can be that Cuba can ever be made to look like good-guys.


and finally...


Best Picture


Atonement

Juno

Michael Clayton

No Country for Old Men

There Will Be Blood


Away from Her



Fine. Michael Clayton. Just because I liked it the best. And because it has no chance of winning. It's like my Toronto Maple Leafs of film.

Finchy is a Death Eater

Those of us who are fans of the British Office have known it for years.

Ralph Inerson, who plays Chris Finch (the travelling salesman) on The Office (Gervais's), will be playing Amycuss Carrow in the final two Harry Potter movies. If anyone else has seen The Office Christmas special (again UK), and read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, you'll appreciate that I now have a very clear picture of Professor McGonagall telling Amycuss Carrow to "Fuck Off"

Now I know some people are going to say "Liz, by bringing up his role on The Office, while talking about his newest casting project, you are just encouraging people to see Ralph Inerson as his character and not an actor". Well maybe you aren't saying it, but I still want to weigh in on this particular acting issue.

Personally, if I do ever become a famous actor and I have one particular role follow me around the rest of my life, I will take it as a great accomplishment to have so embodied that part that people are so attached to. Granted I do kind of feel sorry for Mackenzie Crook getting called "Gareth" on the street, but he should know that it's because he's fricken awesome.

I was thinking about this last night as I watched Family Guy. Something I don't make a big habit of doing, but there was nothing else on. James Woods was the guest star, and the plot was that he had taken over Peter's identity (props to Family Guy: they had James Woods say "it's just like that time..." and Peter go into a rage that he was stealing his "cut scene" jokes). The whole time I was listening to James Wood's voice on his animated body being evil...






I'm sure that James Woods does not consider this the pinnacle of his acting career, but it's my favourite thing he's done... possibly apart from being a clerk at the Kwicki Mart.


I love character actors. Even actors who have a great "range" have at least one character that they are often identified with- A recent favourite character of mine has become Dr. House played by the incomparable Hugh Laurie (are you listening David Yates? Rufus Scrimgeour!). Yes, Hugh Laurie is a remarkable actor with a lot of range, but House will probably follow him everywhere from now on. I have a sneaking suspicion that he'll still get work. He's a pretty amazing actor. Plus I want him to look at my charts and figure out what I'm allergic to. I'm sure he can.

Shortly I will be weighing in on the Oscars, and I'm sure the topic of acting will re-surface. The question of whether or not an actor has stretched themselves, created a memorable character, and whether they maintain that character without slipping into THEIR character (*cough Sweeny Sparrow* cough*) always surfaces amongst critics around Oscar season. I am renting Elizabeth this week, and hoping to get out to see There Will be Blood before Sunday. By Saturday I ought to be well versed enough to make a few predictions. Until then!

The Litmus Test of Music-Dickery

The Are You a Music Snob? Quiz
an original quiz by Liz Buchanan

Pick the answer that is the most right for you.


1. When you download music you use:

a) Puretracks <1>
b) iTunes <2>
c) Kazaa, Limewire, or something else free <3>
d) I don't listen to Mp3s, they will never surpass the great sound of vinyl <4>


2. As a musician the highest honour you can recieve is:

a) The Cover of the Rolling Stone <2>
b) The Polaris Prize <3>
c) A Grammy <1>
d) Not getting ripped to shreds by Pitchfork.com <4>

3. Music to you is:

a) What makes life worthwhile <3>
b) Not that important <1>
c) Something you really enjoy <2>
d) The purest expression of the soul through the rythm of the human spirit <4>

4. You rock out to:

a) Angels and Airwaves <4>
b) The White Stripes <3>
c) Greenday <2>
d) Celine Dion <1>

5. The best musical guest star on the Simpsons was:

a) The Smashing Pumpkins <3>
b) George Harrison was pretty cool <2>
c) The Simpsons jumped the shark a long time ago, who even watches that anymore? <4>
d) Starland Vocal Band <1>

6. Your favourite part of Juno was:

a) Haven't seen it <1>
b) When Ellen Page and Michael Cera play quitar at the end. Nice cover. <3>
c) The fact that she named her guitar Roosevelt "not Ted- Franklin. You know, the cute one, with polio." <2>
d) When she rips on Sonic Youth. <4>

7. If you owned a music store it would most likely resemble:

a) A Sunrise Records <2>
b) Empire Records. Damn the man, save the Empire! <3>
c) Rob Gordon's record store in High Fidelity <4>
d) I would just franchise an HMV <1>

8. The most tragic death in modern music history was:

a) John Lennon <2>
b) Kurt Cobain <4>
c) Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper <3>
d) Britney Spear's career <1>

9. Jim Morrison was:

a) Pretty Cool <2>
b) The Greatest Musician Ever <3>
c) Over-rated <4>
d) That guy from the Doors, right? <1>

10. If your all-time favourite band's name describes you, you are a:

a) beetle <1>
b) led zeppelin <3>
c) rolling stone <2>
d) tool <4>


Scores:

(10-15)

Music is defined as the art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre. American popular music is largely traced back to its african and european roots, reflecting both traditional folk music and african beats and syncopation. To learn more about music and it's place in popular american culture buy a fricken radio.

(16-24)
You have your tastes in music and other people have theirs. You are mostly familiar with mainstream music and you enjoy listening to the radio. Nothing wrong with that, but you might enjoy expanding your tastes and developing a broader range of musical choices. You have the good sense to listen to what you like, but not rip on everyone else for disagreeing with you.

(25-34)
You've probably got "good taste in music", whatever the hell that means. You won't just listen to any crap because it's popular, but you aren't going to be an ass about it either. Make sure that music stays fun, and you're as open-minded about pop-music and country as you are about rock. You don't have to like it, you just have to be reasonable.

(35-40)
You're a music snob. It's OK, I kind of am too. But seriously... Angels and Airwaves? Have you seen their new album cover? What a bunch of dicks. That aside- dude, get over it. There's always going to be someone who knows more about music, has more discerning tastes and is a bigger douche than you. I suggest a cleansing. Go put on K-Lite FM for a half an hour and make yourself sing along with "So you had a bad day". Seriously, it'll be therapeutic. Or torture. Either way...


You should consider these results legally binding, as I am a certified Music-personality-ologist.

In the meantime however...

Don't get me wrong, I support the WGA- but you can't write late night TV this great:




PS: I have made it to temporary Word Sandwich glory:

Today´s top five
rank name city score date quickest avg
1 terrio Hayward 13402 2/5/2008 6 10.2
2 Liz Toronto 12582 2/5/2008 7 11.4
3 peter hartford 12396 2/5/2008 10 12.4
4 Vainamoinen Kalevala 12264 2/5/2008 11 12.6
5 smilla seattle 12216 2/5/2008 8 12

indicently not my best score, but my best record of the day... what the hell time is it?

A Call for Submissions

I have decided to have a theme for February's posting here. I am going to examine my own, and other people's influences. This is a look at the things that move me, be they artistically, politically, personally, whatever.

My first project is Words that Move. So I'm giving everyone here 1 week to think of their favourite segment(s) from a book or play that have had an impact on their lives. It can be any book or play regardless of genre, with the exception of a quotionary, as I am doing spoken word later.
I am then compiling them and we shall take a look at themes, sources and overlaps.

Thus please do not be afraid to submit anything from Milton to Munch, Shakespeare to Seuss. No one is judging your literary prowess here, I already know everyone here has a degree/Masters in English and/or reads at an 800th grade level (why else would you be at my blog?- ha ha).

Just show me the passages that make you love this great passtime we call reading.

"The so-called Mysteries have been with us forever. There is not a society on the face of the earth that does not and did not have its own version of what these Mysteries reveal of the Great Spirit, God, the gods and their relationshio to our lives- and our lives to theirs...
In modern times we call such Mysteries art. Our greatest Shamans of the moment are Rodin, Stravinsky (much as I hate his music) and Mann. And what else are they telling us but: go back and look again. In time, these shamans will be replaced by others- but all speaking in a single voice. It was ever thus. But no one ever listens." -Pilgrim, Timothy Findley

Power Thirst

This video from CollegeHumour.com does not require any set up from me. I simply invite you to enjoy:

#5

**** apologies to everyone who tried to read the previous version of this as a spelling nightmare. It was late and I did not double check my sentences for errors and edits ****

I have a new occupant on my list of "freebie list".

By "freebie list" I am of course refering to the Friends episode where they talk about having a list of five celebrities that "you can have sex with and no one can get upset".

It is well known that Ewan McGregor is #1 on my list, but of course who would get upset? He is my boyfriend.

#2 is Jon Stewart, #3 is Matt Stajan (who is as of today a forward on the Toronto Maple Leafs). Recently I added a new number 4 in the person of one Jason Isaacs. If anyone can do campy villain sexier than that... well I guess they can steal his spot.



Tonight I decided on a new #5. Past occupants have included Dave Matthews, Wynton Marsalis, Dave Chapelle, Johnny Depp and that guy that plays Warrick on CSI.

But my new #5 is...


drum roll please






I think that Stephen may be replacing Jon slowly as my comedic crush. Just as Jon once replaced a 1970s Alan Alda who replaced a 1960s Micheal Palin.

Mind you if I do ever perfect that time machine I started in grade 11...



** Also, on a more serious note, read Angelo's blog as he has posted a very nice tribute to Heath Ledger

Phew

Which Office character are you?



You are most like Pam Beesly, the friendly voice of reason in a sometimes chaotic workplace. The bright spots of your day include pulling practical jokes, playing FreeCell on your computer and making people happy by doing extra, unnecessary work.


That quiz could have gone a lot worse.

May the Farce be with You

Strangely, I wonder if his ability to impersonate Frank Oz characters ever made George Lucas consider double casting him as Yoda:

Word of the Day

I need a new home page. I currently have a personalized MSN homepage with links to this web log and Farcebook, as well as a news feed from CBC, TSN and MTV. This is all fine. What I really ought to get rid of is my MSN Encarta word of the day.
I started writing them down when I noticed that the overall difficulty seemed to be decreasing:

hubris
fallacy
charlatan
debase
congenital
catharsis
impertinent
moniker
omniscient

while they are undoubtably very fun words, and I am not calling anyone who does not know their meaning foolish, "Word of the Day" is supposed to specialize in teaching me words that are obscure and out of common usage, the kind that will help me win in Scrabble and look smart when I post. Not words I had to write definitions to in Grade 10 English. Mind you, I should probably try to use "moniker" more often.

Well even if I don't get rid of Encarta I have to do something about my horoscope:

"You may feel like you are walking a young puppy that just does not want to stay still, dear Aries. The puppy is curious and at times rather reckless, as he does not know of the dangers of cars or a twisted leash. You have a great responsibility to teach this dog some lessons while at the same time giving him a bit of free rein to go out and explore on his own. Earn the respect of others by tempering discipline with fun."

I'm going to go ahead and file that under "WTF?"

"Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens"

Little Angel Liz on right shoulder: Elizabeth, don't forget, you promised your web log readers that you would post today.

Little Devil Liz on left shoulder: Oh for crying out loud, like anyone's even going to notice.

Little Angel Liz: I'm sure her readers have noticed a slight improvement in her posting of late, and are now holding her to a higher standard of writing.

Little Devil Liz: Oh please, just stick a cute animal picture up and go back to your decaf and Futurama Season II DVD.

Little Angel Liz: I'm sure that Liz would never stoop to something so broad and banal when she's working so hard on improving the quality of her web log.




2 hours later:

Lyrics of the "Is it really THAT late?"

"The New Year" -Death Cab for Cutie

So this is the new year.
And i don't feel any different.
The clanking of crystal
Explosions off in the distance (in the distance).

So this is the new year
And I have no resolutions
For self assigned penance
For problems with easy solutions


Someone feeling a little bitter? Hee hee hee.


Better post tomorrow. I promise. Call it a resolution of improvement on this post.

2007: A final look back (Stolen from Angedrew)

IN THE BEGINNING OF 2007...

Where did you begin 2007?
In Falcon Bridge at Luke D. Norton's

Did you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
No.

How old were you?
23

What was your outlook on the world?
Meh.

How were you doing at school/your job?
I was mostly bemused to discover that no one at work seemed to notice if I was there or not.

What did you most look forward to?
Getting home at night to watch Simpson DVDs

Did you make New Year's Resolutions?
I'd like to think that the answer is no. Otherwise it bodes very poorly for my stick-to-it-iveness.

What was your biggest worry?
That no one at work seemed to notice whether or not I was there. Exactly how long would I decay at home before anyone worried?

Who was your best friend?
Jenny, Andrew and Steph

What did you do with your spare time?
DVDs, Gameboy, Guitar on occasion

Describe your birthday?
I worked a double, and was then treated to DQ and Charlie Chaplin.

IN THE MIDDLE OF 2007: THE SUMMER!

Did you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
No. I sense a theme...

Had your outlook on the world changed?
Actually I was a great deal more cheerful

What did you spend your summer doing?
Filming a movie, working at Easter Seals Camp Woodeden, and standing in line for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Did you get a tan?
A little.

Who'd you hang out with?
Zach and Yvonne, my family and on a rather notable evening Andrew and a young man who required an endless supply of stories.

Did you go visit anywhere?
Stratford

What was your biggest worry?
Money.

What was the most fun event that happened?
I was so pleasantly surprised my enjoyment of the Simpson's movie I seem to always think of that. I also had a lot of fun at camp.

AND AS THE YEAR DRAWS TO AN END...

Still got a significant other?
Stupid questionaire thingy

How old are you?
24

Any new additions to your family?
Not quite yet. We have a new comer August 2008 marrying in. That's right. Some people actually chose to join!

What music will you remember 2007 by?
The Arcade Fire

Best movie you saw this year?
Fido

What major changes have happened since the year began?
I've been through several jobs, and am now at one that I actually enjoy. I entered and exitted a college program I loathed and I've moved to Toronto.

Is your life any different from when it started this year?
Quite a lot. I am much happier and less anxious. I had a good summer, which helped get me back on track and more serene.

What thing that happened stands out in your mind?
Going back to Woodeden had a very good effect on me, but truthfully the thing that effected me the most was having my best friends all move to Paris.

How have you changed?
I'm a little less ridiculously pessimistic. Mind you ask me how I feel about life next time I'm menstrating and this quiz might look a lot different.

Are you happy with how the year went?
It is the first summer that I have enjoyed in years. The last half of the year went OK I supposed. Meh, like Angelo said: It happened.

FOR 2008...

Do you think it'll be better or worse than this year?
It'll be more interesting.

What do you plan to do next year?
Get out of debt. Ha!!

What are your New Year's resolutions?
To make at least some effort at actually acting.

AND TO WRAP IT UP...

What's one thing would you like to say as the year is done?

I am going to Bonnaro this year, regardless of financial capabilities. Who's with me?

Oh Eight

I have absolutely no doubt that this year will be an eventful one.

My new years resolution is to make a real effort at acting.

I have this amazing job at ErinOak, but I don't get enough hours. It is time to force myself to take acting seriously and try to get work. If only the infamous words of Homer weren't ringing in my ears. "Trying is the first step towards failure".

None the less...

I am also determined to quite playing the hermit. I have been spending too much time brooding alone in my apartment in TO. Good for reading, blogging and general geekdom, very bad for friendships and attracting the opposite sex. Would you believe that most men do not list "Skills at Nintendo Wii" or "Watched Seasons 4-7 of the Simpsons with commentaries on" on their "Attractive Attributes" list? Something about having a good personality and breasts... whatever.

And here's a very special episode of Scrubs:



I heart Scrubs.

Elliot: Can't we just go home, put on our PJs and watch Grey's Anatomy?
JD: I do love that show, it's like they've been watching our lives and put it on TV

That's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown

This story is reprinted from this weekend's Hamilton Spectator:

Truce 'a short peace in a terrible war'

Mark McNeil
The Hamilton Spectator
(Dec 22, 2007)
It has to be the most moving Christmas story of the past 100 years.

"Beginning Dec. 24, 1914 German and British troops in Belgium laid their weapons down, and crawled out of their trenches to celebrate Christmas with carols, gifts and an impromptu game of soccer in No Man's Land.

And while the story from the First World War is well known -- what is less known is that two letters that describe the historical event are kept at McMaster University's archives.

They were written by a soldier named Gerald Blake who served with the London Rifle Brigade, British Expeditionary Force.

The letters are part of a collection of more than 60 notes he wrote to his mother and brother Clive between November 1914 and June 1916. McMaster acquired the letters as part of a larger purchase of military artifacts decades ago, apparently without knowing about the references to the Christmas truce.

More recently, researchers working on a digitization project took a closer look at the collection to find that Blake participated in the famous temporary armistice.

"It began with the singing of various songs by the Germans who also had a cornet and concertina going. Our fellows cheered each song and the two sides shouted Christmas greetings," Blake wrote in a letter to his brother dated Dec. 27, 1914.

In a letter to his mother, dated Jan. 7, he retells the story and also mentions hearing a German soldier call out "are you as fed up with the war as we are? ... A very quaint proposal was made to us that England and Germany should call it a draw and divide France between them."

Alan Cleaver, a newspaper journalist in Britain, and his partner Lesley Park host an extensive website dedicated to collecting and transcribing letters about the Christmas truce.

Through a network of Internet volunteers, they have transcribed more than 500 letters over the past four years, many of which are included in the book Not a Shot was Fired.

"I think (the story) still strikes a chord with people because it offers hope," Cleaver says. "In a world bedevilled with hatred and war, the story of the Christmas truce offers people with the possibility that one day men might simply lay down their guns, cross no man's land and shake hands."

Yet Gerald Blake is almost matter of fact in his letters. Going from killing to celebrating and back to killing again is an irony that seems lost on him.

As researcher Justina Chong writes about the Blake letters, as part of the digitization project of McMaster archives called Peace and War in the Twentieth Century:

"The peculiar thing about Blake's account of the Christmas truce is that it is inserted so casually, almost dismissively, amongst his detailed reports of other military and naval matters. Why is such a miraculous interlude described in no more than half a paragraph?"

Unfortunately, little else is known about Blake. McMaster has no picture of him. Chong's case study says it's believed he was later captured by Germans and it is unclear what happened to him after that."




Snoopy was certain that this was the end
When the Baron cried out "Merry Christmas, mein friend!"

Christmas bells those Christmas bells
Ringing through the land
Bringing peace to all the world
And good will to man

Finally a musical that makes sense.

After watching Sweeney Todd, I can come to only one conclusion: Across the Universe needed a lot more slashing at people's throats with razors.

Musicals always have the difficulty of being taken seriously, so making a horror story into a musical is the only logical solution. I suddenly have the desire to see Evil Dead the Musical. The film was ridiculous, and musicals are ridiculous. It's kind of the equivilent of "two wrongs make a right".

I was also very impressed by Alan Rickman's singing ability and capacity for creeping the hell out of me. I propose another film make the transition to musical, following the success of The Lion King, Spamalot and Evil Dead. Die Hard the Musical.

Yippie-kay-yay indeed.

Um

There's a brilliant site on the internet that has comic book covers that are well... um. Yep. Um.

There's an entire section on Propoganda in Comic Books that is especially... um.

Firstly I shall link you to God comics. I haven't even begun checking them all out, but I can't imagine I will find anything to top this. It is. Huh. Um...

Mind you there is a more recent comic that I discovered. It's called Liberality. I hope that the ultimate villain is Jon Stewart.

I'm going back to see if anything tops that God Comic. I pray that nothing will.

*******************

And now I've been laughing non-stop for like an hour and a half. The actual inspiration for this site is apparently "Superman is a Dick" a section of comics depicting Superman... well being a dick. There are over a hundred of them. This one however, has a sepcial place in my heart. We finally identified the second shooter. Seriously, check this site out. You'll laugh til it hurts. And believe me it will hurt.

2007 in Review

After reading TIME Magazine's 2007 "lists" I decided to make a quick list of my own.
Favourite movies of 2007, favourite TV episodes, favourite albums, favourite books, favourite plays and favourite days.



MOVIES

#1 Fido
This was not my toughest decision, but it did have some competition. Eastern Promises is my current Oscar favourite, and whatever anyone says I thoroughly enjoyed Pirates of the Carribean III. But Fido stands above the rest simply because I'm making observations about the world around me. I think it's healthy.
Seriously see it. I'm not going to tell you twice.




TV Episodes

#1 The Imaginationland Trilogy of South Park

I know what you're going to say "Cheat!". OK, fine, "Imaginationland III". If you want to know how I feel about Religion, Children's stories, Christmas and Art in general listen to Kyle's speech at the end of this episode. If you're wondering, my other nominees were not just South Park episodes. I was pretty impressed by the CSI "Dead Doll"/"Living Doll" episodes, but I am still mad at the direction of the former. From The Office "Grief Counselling" (pretty sure that was this year), and I am counting the Sir Ian McKellan episode of Extras, since I could not technically have seen it until this year here in Canada. Also high on the list was the episode of the Colbert Report where Jane Fonda is his guest. If you haven't seen it, do so. But watch Fido first.



Album

#1 Neon Bible, the Arcade Fire

A VERY tough call. I also loved Modest Mouse's Before the Ship Even Sank and, of course, The White Stripe's Icky Thump. I suspect that "You Don't Know What Love is, You Just Do as Your Told" is my single of the year, although Feist's "1,2,3,4" is also very good. Neon Bible just has the best obsessive replay value for me. There are several songs dominating my iTunes "Most Played List" the most prominent being "No Cars Go" which seems to cause me to automatically turn the volume up on my car radio no matter how loud it was to begin with.



Books

#1... ok so you've probably guessed that by now...




Yes, I really loved Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Unlike a lot of critics, I liked it the best of all of the books. Interestingly, and I don't think that this is normally true, the other books that I read this year that are actually new books of 2007 were probably my favourite reads of the year (as opposed to books I read that were published in the past). Douglas Coupland's Gum Theif was not his best book, but I did thoroughly enjoy it and Stephen Colbert's I Am America and So Can You is pretty much awesome in every possible way. I have begun to stick his stickers of approval on my book collection. I am trying my best to find books that really expemplify Stephen's notions of literary excellence (like Catch 22, 1984, Contact, Michael Moore's Stupid White Men, etc.)


Plays

#1 Facebook of Revelations

OK I'll admit it. Second City is not evil. In fact that play was pretty excellent. And it is the first play that I have ever seen that had previews. I just can't wait to see "Safe Bet: The Musical" featuring popular rock songs and a love story. I wish I could say that this had more competitors, but I have seen tragically little theatre this year. The biggest one would be a rendition of Samuel Beckett's Not I, which I saw performed at Stratford, as well as The Merchant of Venice. Apart from that, I must simply see more theatre next year.




after trying to pick a best day I have come to a conclusion:

2007 is the best summer I've had since before I started University. Actually, make that "in recent memory". Between going back to camp, filming the movie with Zach and Yvonne, seeing a bunch of shows at Stratford and seeing several movies (in particular the Simpsons Movie), I'd say the summer may have actually redeemed 2007.

and finally

Best Concert.

Actually there was no real contest there. You Say Party We Say Die. I just wanted to mention how great they were.