In other news

This has been another crazy busy couple of weeks. I've been working longer hours and by the time I get home I am just ready to crash. So, once again I'm making excuses for not writing any new articles. Hopefully I'll have some new reviews soon. I've been reading some interesting things that I'm going to share later. In the meantime, here are some more random snippets of news, observations and free-floating hostility.

The loser cruiser. I've started commuting to and from work on the bus and I'm absolutely loving it. It gives me a good 30 minutes in the morning and again at the end of the day to unwind, listen to music, stare out the window. The walk home from my stop takes another 10 or 15 minutes, so I feel it gives me a bit more exercise too. Not sure how much I'll like it come winter but right now it is great. When I'm on the bus, I feel like I'm doing a good thing and besides, I really don't care to drive as much as I used to. I'm gradually freeing myself from the slavery of the automobile. My mind wanders on the bus too. I look around at the other people, these commuters all going off to fulfill their designated roles in society and I start to question my own place in it. I guess it gets a little deep.

Unfit parent. Today I was mistaken for an unfit mother. And yes, I probably would be if I had any kids. Today I ran into a friend and her 6 month old son. We talked for a while, then she told me she was on her way to the market to meet someone for lunch however, the elevator was out of order so she couldn't get the stroller there via the pedway. As plan B she was going to walk outside but it was teeming rain, so it didn't really seem like an option either. I offered to help out: one of us go up the escalator with the baby, the other with the stroller. Given the choice, naturally I opted to take the stroller. So, off she goes with the baby. I try to take the stroller up the escalator but the wheel base is too wide to fit. Of course, a small line starts to form behind me. I'd rather carry it up the stairs but it's a big, awkward stroller, too unwieldy for one person to carry. Thinking that I'm some helpless mother all by myself, some good Samaritan offers to help me carry it up the stairs, so she grabs the front and up we go. She quickly notices that the stroller is empty. "Where's the baby?" she asks. Seeing my friend coming back down the escalator I reply "Probably right behind us." The lady looks. "I don't see any baby...?" To which I reply: "Oh. Then I don't know." She gives me a slightly horrified look. At this point, she's probably thinking that, at best, I'm some crazy lady pushing around an empty baby carriage and at worst, that I've neglectfully let my toddler wander off into a crowd of strangers to be abducted. A quick glance around I see my friend's lunch date over in the corner holding the baby. So I did point him out to her.

"Mad about the boy..." My obsession with classic movies continues. I've been revisiting a lot of them in my off-time lately. This week my copy of the "Centennial edition" 2-disc version of "Sunset Boulevard" finally arrived. It is one of my all-time favourites, and watching it again I remembered why. (Note to self: I should blog about the awesomeness of it and film noir generally later.) It was the first time hubby had seen it and frankly I think he was more than a little horrified by it. Now he's finally seen the source of many of my creepy Norma Desmond-isms and jokes about our older woman/younger man relationship that I've been teasing him with for the past 8 years.


















Red thumb? The house has been taking up a lot of my time and energy lately too. Specifically, I am obsessed with improving the backyard and I will not rest until it is done! This is only aggravated by the ridiculous amount of rain we've gotten this summer. I am gagging to stain the deck and fence and plant something in that mud hole back there but the weather will not co-operate so I just can't get at it. When it does stop raining everything is dripping and mucky, and any activity just stirs up the bugs. It's not like I have a "green thumb" or any idea what I'm doing back there... I just know that it's f-ugly and it bothers me. I have a vision in my mind of what I want it to look like. Whether I have the skill to bring it off is doubtful. If any of you out there have any gardening skills or a particular flair for landscaping, please let me know! Last weekend I had a window of 2 hours of sunshine. I went out with my rake and got bitten by a huge mosquito and later, bitten by a spider. I'm still waiting for the proportional strength and web slinging to kick in.

I realize we've been neglectful about inviting people over to see the new place. We don't mean to be rude, we've just been busy. Honestly, it works best when people just invite themselves over! And I've been obsessing that certain things (like the backyard) are not up to standards yet and I'd like people to see them only once they are.

It's a total Disaster!

"There's a moment you know

You're fucked."

- "Totally Fucked" from Spring Awakening

Do you remember the trend of disaster movies from the 1970s? "Airport", "The Poseidon Adventure", "Gray Lady Down", "Earthquake"...the list goes on and on. Usually they featured a large ensemble cast of big name stars, and the plots followed different "threads" of characters that eventually pull together in the end as they all try to survive. I remember seeing quite a few of these movies at the drive-in as a kid. I wonder what was going on in the culture at the time that made these so popular? Did it have something to do with the Cold War? Was there a growing distrust of technology? A fear of mass transportation? Some reason to think "the end is near"? I'll have to bone up on my 70s history. I'd be interested in figuring it out.

The other night I brought out "The Towering Inferno" for our movie date night. Actually, this one was pretty damn good. And despite the inclusion of OJ Simpson, has a great cast. Although surprisingly low celebrity death toll in it. (I certainly didn't expect Fred Astaire to dance his way out of that one!) This movie is such a huge homage to firefighters, I'm frankly surprised that no one in Hollywood attempted to remake this one after 9/11.

In the 90s, there seemed to be a revival of the disaster movie: "Titanic", "Twister", "Armageddon", "Deep Impact" to name a few. People have always been fascinated with tragedy, and the more epic the scale the better. (Notice the introduction of disasters from outer space, so we don't just have Mother Nature or human stupidity to worry about anymore!) Hollywood loves to tap into our fears and paranoias, doesn't it? In the conflict of Man versus Nature we are horribly outmatched. Unlike the 70s disaster movies, these more recent movies seemed to focus on small groups of characters or individuals, rather than the big superstar casts. Looking back, I wonder if it was the fear of Y2K and the anxiety of the impending "end of the world", and the growing awareness of our ecological problems that sparked the interest in disaster movies again?

Similarly, movies and television in the 70s were fascinated by "the Bermuda Triangle". I often recall it as an often used plot device: airplanes mysteriously vanishing into the Bermuda Triangle and the travelers are gone forever. It was the geographical equivalent of oblivion. Whatever happened to that? Has our modern technology finally outwitted the ominous Triangle? Does anything disappear into it anymore? I just don't seem to hear about it as much anymore.

Count Dracula's Secret Ice Lollies

Finally, I feel validated.

For years I've been harping on about the short-lived "Dracula" ice cream bar from the 70s. As I recall they were a purple (grape?) popsicle shell, vanilla ice cream filling and a red jelly type of centre. I only remember having them a couple of times and then they disappeared. Whenever I'd get into one of those "do you remember..."/"whatever happened to..." conversations I'd mention them but no one else could recall them. I was starting to think I'd invented the things!

Not anymore.

As it turns out, they were actually called "Count Dracula's Secret". Whodda thought?

http://cobwebbedroom.blogspot.com/2007/08/count-draculas-secret-ice-lolly-ads.html

Thank you Paul from the Cob Webbed Room, David from the Do You Remember forum for the picture and to Christian, Lawrence and Karyn for helping me finally track it down!

Of course, at the same time I now feel a slight tinge of sadness. Yet another of my life's elusive mysteries solved. Without the seeking, what is left?



Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.
- T.S. Eliot

Update

Ok, so I haven't forgotten about this blog! I've just been super busy lately but I hope to settle down & write something new soon.

What I will say for now: Home ownership is both satisfying and very tiring! It takes a lot of time and hard work to make a house into your "home".