French films

I really want to make a concerted effort to post here. Upon re-reading my last post, though, I realized I wasn't saying too much and kind of dancing around topics, so I also want to be a bit more obvious without using this as a platform for rambling about every thought that crosses my mind ;)

So. Currently, or maybe as an on-going thing, I'm really into French films. This may or may not be related to the fact that I just watched Amélie this past week, it is hands-down one of the most insightful, creative films I have seen, plus it's got a good dash of romance in there, and the French do know how to put something romantic into a film. It's funny, though, that culture- it's a mix of subtle gestures and also overt affection, quite a paradox when you think about it.

I thought I'd share with you a few of my absolute favourites:

-Amélie - I love how it was directed (by Jean-Pierre Jeunet), and it's just so layered with good moments.

-Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (I've Loved You So Long)- Kristin Scott Thomas is phenomenal in this film, and it even makes me, a notorious non-movie-crier, shed a few tears. To be fair, when I watch it with Liz, she's in a puddle of tears next to me, so that helps ;)

-Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis- downright hilarious, if a bit hard to follow at times. It bears close attention or the accents lose you a bit. Dany Boon is wonderful, and so is the whole cast, really.

-MicMacs- another Dany Boon, directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet. Another winner, extremely quirky and smart and just enough of the odd factor as well.

-just about anything with Juliette Binoche. I'm kind of obsessed with her right now. Sometimes I'll watch something just because she's in it, which has led to some really strange films, some which felt like a nightmare that wasn't mine, in some kind of film noir genre. In general, though, she is inspiring in her performances. If you can sit through it, try The Red Balloon. It's long and seems disconnected but its images stay with you.

I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind from what I've seen recently. Then there's all the other foreign films/independent films that explore culture, like the movie Bella, among others. I don't know many Québec movies but I have seen Père en flic which was pretty funny, and also Bon Cop, Bad Cop with Patrick Huard and Colm Feore, which wasn't as good as other films of its genre but I enjoyed the back-and-forth banter in French and English, a clever premise anyway.

Have any of you seen any from the list? Do you have any favourite foreign films?

~à bientôt, mes chéries! ~

In like a lion?

Is that the saying about March, in like a lion, out like a lamb? I hope it turns out to be true because we've been having some crazy winter weather and I just can't wait for spring.

On Saturday, I got the one goal in soccer (woo hoo!) even though we ended up losing, and I got a goal in ball hockey last night, which was also exciting because it's really not a familiar sport to me- I only started in the fall.

I'm hoping to get back into running, at least running once a week on top of sports, because in April I have a lot in a short time. One Saturday night I have a playoff game for soccer, the next morning, a half-marathon (that I have yet to sign up for...oops...), then that Thursday will be the CN Tower Climb for WWF Canada (that's world wildlife fund, not wrestling, heheh). That's right, I'm doing the climb again, all 1,776 steps, and hoping to beat my time from 2009. I have to, because I'm competing with a friend from work:)

The City is putting on a poetry contest in which the chosen poems will be displayed on the city buses for awhile. Isn't that exciting? I'd really like to enter one, but we'll see...I'm so picky in choosing poems to enter in things, but I find the idea charming.

Lately, I've been coming across the same concept more than once, through a blog, a sermon at church- it's the idea of dreaming big, and praying big, and not being afraid to pray for what is on our hearts. It's a challenge to me, because so often I think I can't bother God with those things, when really it should be my first response. That's what I'm thinking of these days.

Life is so busy right now, but it's also the time that I'm trying to make some fairly significant decisions regarding education, community involvement, etc. Wait, this sounds familiar, have I said that before? (heheh) So I sound like a broken record sometimes. It happens. Anyways, these things take time to sort out, so much time that I am hopeful the end result will be something happy, something that months of work and research and wrestling with ideas and my own mind will pay off in terms of something just right.

Sound vague? I know. It is. I'd love to share more but something keeps holding me back. Fear? Indecision? A strong sense of privacy? Maybe a bit of all of those. Isn't a blog supposed to be a forum for sharing? Maybe I'd better figure out once and for all what my point is with this blog.

In the meantime, I'll keep rambling... thanks for your patience...

~Anon~

Happy New Year!..I mean, February:)

Hello again! I'm taking the plunge into blogging again. Recently, I've been mostly reading other people's blogs because they're far more interesting and anyway, I didn't want to get into what's been keeping me from my own blog.

However, I'm getting over it...time to be a big girl, hahah...

I think that first of all, I would like to look back on the past year, because I want to make more of an effort to be grateful for the people in my life, for what I have and to celebrate accomplishments.

Some highlights from 2010:

-made positive steps to pursue further studies
-travelled to Alberta/BC to reconnect with some friends and family and PRBI folk
-got a personal best in a half-marathon in April, then beat it in May (and participated with Liz)
(ran 3 half-marathons in 2010 plus a 14.7 km race)
-got 3rd in my age group/women in the Glen Tay Block Race
-travelled to PEI for the first time in the east coast with my friend Laura
-pursued courses in Early Childhood Education
-my sister Liz got engaged & married
-started writing a story for an online writing mentorship
-made a more active effort to participate in the arts in my community, and to shop more consciously in regards to where my food comes from
-joined a rec ball hockey league with my roommate

There are probably more, but anyway, I think it's helpful for me to look back and think of what has taken place in the past year.

Now, for this coming year...it seems rather daunting and I just don't know what it will hold. One of the reasons I've been distracted is that I'm trying to make some more plans for further study, and so far I've been foiled at every turn for how I'm trying to go about this. The beginning of January was pretty stressful for that reason, and I guess I let it get to me a little more than necessary. (It was a pretty big deal at the time, years of work out the window, essentially.)

Taking a step back from that, I'm choosing to focus on the positive; it's forcing to me find creative methods to do what I want to do in life or what I can be good at, what would make a difference or make me feel alive (or, hopefully, both). I feel like I'm in highschool again and, unlike some, I don't care to revisit that era!

Okay, enough navel-gazing! It's a new year. A time of uncertainty, in light of the current political climate for so many, and in the midst of disasters and floods and earthquakes and storms. For me, all this means it's time to reevaluate what's really important- cultivate and cherish relationships- truly live out a philosophy of life, not wear it like a label- figure out what is faith, and how does that impact those around me- I could go on for a while, but that's a bit of what I've been thinking about.

Wishing you all a lovely, meaningful year, my dear blogger friends.

xo

A quick note

Hello!

I know it's been a while since I posted...eeps...I don't usually wait this long between entries, but it has been a fairly busy few months. That, and I've been writing quite a bit more outside of here, so that has been a fairly significant focus which I'm excited/terrified about- and various other emotions, depending on the day or stage of development of what I'm trying to do:)

This post was started back in December...I think I'll write a fresh one though, because now the dates are all mixed up.

Ciao for now!

LOLAfest

Two weekends ago, here in London, we had a ripping good time in the form of London Ontario Live Arts festival. If you weren't there, you truly missed out, but you can come next year:) It was a delightful blend of visual art, sculpture, various forms of instrumental and vocal music, and all of these combined. What's great is it was all free, since they had a corporate sponsor as well.


In case you can't tell, I loved every minute of it!

I volunteered to show the art, and also at the info booth, and the rest of the time just enjoyed the shows and the people mingling around the stages. Some friends of mine that I get my organic produce from had a table there, and I visited them from time to time as well.

The first night kicked off with a show featuring Jamie Lidell and also Zeus. I love love love Jamie Lidell and find him to be a musical genius- you should check out his myspace. That man has style! A style all his own.

Throughout the weekend, I attended the shows of Leaf Bird, Land of Talk, Caribou, My Brightest Diamond, and others which I am not remembering at the moment. I felt very alive, standing there, alternately freezing and being really warm (on the different nights), surrounded by a crowd of hipsters in skinny jeans, toques, and plaid. Many were students, many had bicycles. There was a tremendous sense of energy in the crowd that warmed me up in spite of the evening chill, and even though I couldn't see the stage all the time, it was great to be there with friends old and new, and meet people who are so creative and artistic- it was inspiring overall.

I guess that's what I'm trying to say- rather than just be a great music festival that you look back on with fondness, it does so much to promote the arts in an ongoing sense, inspiring those involved to create, themselves. I went home and wrote some poems afterward, and still have some simmering under the surface that I need to flesh out.

The fun thing was I have a friend who played a huge role in the whole shebang and it was neat to hear about it ahead of time and then see what came to fruition after a ton of effort and hard work. And may I say, the committee has great taste:)

Well, that's enough of my ramblings...Photos to follow...

Ah, fall!

I've been taking another break from writing, but have now accumulated events to talk about:)


This past weekend, my friend Lisa and I participated in the Scotiabank Waterfront Half-Marathon in Toronto, where they block off a chunk of Lakeshore and some downtown streets. I was feeling pretty grim about the whole thing, because I've been injured for the past month, and didn't love this race the last time I did it.


We stayed with Lisa's family and they drove us to the start and watched us along the way, which was really thoughtful. It was Lisa's first half and I have to say, she did incredibly well!


I made the mistake of leaving my sports watch at her house so had NO watch the entire run! I was pretty stressed about this, because even though I wasn't expecting a personal best, I didn't want to be too slow just because I didn't know the time. The funny thing is, I beat my time from the other year by almost eight minutes and did quite well overall, so I was pleased with that. (It doesn't mean I'll leave my watch at home from now on, though!)


This Friday, my new roommate is moving in, and although we are still ironing out some tenant/landlord dynamics, it should be a go! It's all happening pretty quickly, but it will be good to have a roommate again I think, once I get used to the change. When I'm living alone, I love the quiet but sometimes it's too quiet; when I'm living with someone else, it's good to have them around but then I sometimes miss the quiet. It may take us a little while to find the middle ground, but I think it will turn out well.


Now I remember what I was going to write about- LOLA! Check out the next post for that:)

Family and Food

This past weekend, my dad and three younger brothers came to stay the night with us after dropping off our other brother at college on the way. The boys had never been here so it was exciting for them, and fun for me, too, to have them here.


On Saturday, I bought some organic veggies at the market that I'm hoping to cook up tonight- some kind of eggplant-tomato-cheese concoction, as I love that combination and it reminds me of Italy- and was given some tomatoes from some friends' garden as well. I have to cook them up in the space of a few days since, being organic, they go bad more quickly, so I have to stay on top of it better. Don't they look delicious?

Now for the fun stuff- I finally made another batch of macarons, which I've been thinking of for a while but got lazy when thinking of all the prep work. I don't have a food processor, so it takes a few steps to get the icing sugar and ground almonds fine enough to use, but I was very pleased with the results I got this time by sifting them through a colander.

I made a bittersweet chocolate toffee ganache that I have made previously, but the toffee bits must have been a bit old and I found it tasted kind of gross, so ended up caving and using PC Dulce de Leche. Originally I'd hoped to put together a salted butter caramel ganache, but by this time it was close to midnight and I went for the easy alternative. I'm looking forward to trying it next time, though.

For some reason they didn't turn out very round...maybe I should just invest in a pastry bag instead of cutting a corner from a Ziploc freezer bag :)

I hope you all had a great Labour Day weekend!