Things I Like This Week

RocknRolla Soundtrack
I enjoyed this movie, but the one thing that really stood out for me (other than Gerard Butler) was the kick-ass soundtrack. It's a great CD to pop in the player when I'm bopping around the house doing nothing in particular. Cuts from bands like The Clash and The Sonics are interspersed with audio clips from the film. Two of my favourites: The Stomp (The Hives) and Rock 'n' Roll Queen (The Subways).



Odd Hours
I love a good summer read, something that will grab me from the first chapter and refuse to let go until the last word. During the winter months I like to read books with a little more weight, something to occupy the long evening hours. During the summer I just want something that's fun. This week I finally picked up a copy of Odd Hours by Dean Koontz. Odd Thomas is one of my favourite characters in black and white. Odd is a fry cook from the small California town of Pico Mundo, who sees dead people and then does something about it. I have followed him through his Odd Thomas debut, his return in Forever Odd, and his turn as Brother Odd. Odd's latest adventure is the perfect indulgence for a warm day spent lounging on the deck.


Tote Bags
For shopping trips there are cute handbags, for nights out there are dainty little clutch purses, and for everything else...tote bags. I have a bag that a friend made for me and I take it everywhere. It is full of everything I will ever need (or may not ever need). It's big enough to carry all the essentials of a day out; wallet, moisturizer, camera, book, notepad, sunscreen. It has pockets for smaller things like keys and lip balm. It can hold snacks and toys for the kids, or an extra t-shirt and hat. Plus, you can carry around those things that you sometimes need but never think to bring, like bandages, safety pins or dental floss without worrying that they will take up space. I can't tell you how many times I have come to the rescue with a bandage. My tote bag has made me a hero.


Pretzel Bites
Three movies in one week and I have become addicted to these tasty little morsels. Better than popcorn (they don't get stuck in your teeth) they have become my favourite snack at the cinemas. Butter, salt and caramel dipping sauce...mmmmmm.

Reflecting on Things Broken

I pulled to the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere in particular, on a long drive to somewhere I've forgotten. I found there, in the middle of nowhere, a shattered mirror, partially buried in the dust and gravel. Some shards were scattered, catching wayward rays of light, others clung to the frame as if hoping things would be put right again.

I wondered at the implausibility of finding this damaged thing in this desolate place. It occurred to me that if this were a scene in a horror film, and the intended victim stumbled upon this mirror, the broken glass becoming a weapon of opportunity, the audience would groan with incredulity. Yet there it was, on the side of that barren road, in the middle of nowhere in particular.

The world is full of lonely broken things.

Foreshadowing

I walk quickly, hunched against the bitter and barren cold. A lone crow flies overhead, his cry an ominous echo in the stillness of the early morning; One for sorrow. The distant sun casts long shadows on the white and beige of winter’s territory, and I can see the crow’s dark shape following my own, hovering above my shoulder like a bad omen. I quicken my pace and rush inside, away from the remoteness, the hostility, the wretchedness - the madness - of the day. Soon, the warmth of my home seeps in, the smell of coffee perks my spirit and I smile to myself.

That crow is not the boss of me.

Things I Like This Week

Warm Weather
After months of snow and wind and slush it is so nice to throw open my windows, get outside and get rid of the smell of house. I'm extra excited that this wonderful, warm weather had arrived in May and not June or July as it sometimes does. The past week has been full of lovely double digit weather, and those double digits have been in the twenties. Drinking coffee on the deck, taking nice long walks...ahhhhh. This is a nice segue to the next thing I like.

Long Shorts
The most wonderful oxymoron. I'm not the skinny teenager I once was and I refused to wear the micro-shorts of the past few seasons for fear of displaying things best left to the imagination. This season, women's fashion designers have finally realized that there are more people buying clothes than Britney wannabes, and these people want clothes that cover them. My favourite shorts are long and black and look a little skater chick, but oh they are comfy.



Rimmel Volume Booster Lip Gloss
I'm a lip gloss girl, not a lipstick girl, and I have found a gloss I love. Rimmel's Volume Booster gloss has no perfumey taste, has a great applicator brush, and has a pleasant tingling sensation when first applied. I have this gloss in Tease and Seduce, and I think everyone can agree, those are some great names.






Ewan McGregor
Last but not least. I've always enjoyed Ewan McGregor, mostly for his name which is great fun to say. He was amazing in Big Fish, and especially Moulin Rouge. He was a very convincing Obi-Wan. Despite this enjoyment, I never fell into the whole "OMG! Ewan McGregor!" thing. Until this week. Yesterday I saw Angels & Demons, and I'm sure this is all kinds of wrong, but Ewan McGregor in a cassock - Holy Hotness! So wrong, and yet, so right. I may need therapy.

Ewan McGregor - say it out loud. You know you want to.

Wolverine

I finally, finally went to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine last night. To say I have been waiting a long time would be a Hulk sized understatement. Shortly before the third installment of the X-Men franchise, Last Stand, came out, I heard rumblings that there were plans to make a Wolverine centric film. I dared not hope that it could be true, yet the rumours persisted and eventually were confirmed - Hugh Jackman had signed on to play Wolverine once again, this time focusing on the character himself. So I waited, and waited, and when the release date was announced I marked it on my calendar. That's when I realized, horror of horrors, that X-Men Origins would be released during Etcetera week. I let out a primal roar that would put Wolverine to shame. I was up to my eyebrows in costumes and props and show programs and I knew there was no way I would get to see the opening night showing. I didn't get there the entire first week. The pain was excruciating.

Last night the wait was over, and I don't care what the critics say, it was worth it. There were many things in the movie that did not mesh with the comics, but I knew that going in and it didn't bother me at all. I see the movies as a separate entity, to be enjoyed on their own merit.


Of course, because of my delay in seeing the film, I was subjected to many reviews on how this one held up. There were grumbles that it was mindless action, over the top and unbelievable. Hello? It's a story about a mutant out for revenge. What part of that is supposed to be believable? It saddens me that people have somehow forgotten how to suspend disbelief and just enjoy a movie about an adamantium clawed mutant hell bent on creating a path of destruction. But I digress.

I enjoyed the chemistry between Schreiber and Jackman, brothers (Sabertooth/Victor and Wolverine/Logan/Jimmy) who stick together until Jimmy is disturbed by Victor's blood lust, and the plans of Major Stryker. Jimmy leaves, goes his own way, stands shirtless on a mountain top, the wind blowing in his thick, dark hair...then some other stuff happens. Victor, who is now really pissed at his brother, returns and does some pretty bad things. Stryker also returns and promises Jimmy a chance for revenge by making him indestructible. The result is Weapon X, an unyielding force that is now really pissed at everyone involved in this whole racket.


The story continues, stuff blows up, there is slicing, dicing, and a whole lot of cool mutant powers at work. One scene in particular is intense to the point of being superfluous. There are army vehicles, helicopters, and numerous personnel, all reduced to ashes as Wolverine struts away on those long, long legs. For some reason I forget what happens next.

Anyway, the end of the movie is pretty good, with the return of Ryan Reynolds who we saw earlier, only now he is less boyishly handsome and more creepy bad-ass. I was excited to see Deadpool on the roster for this film, and I thought Reynolds did a great job, but I would have liked to have seen more of him. A little more character development, a little more action. It was also great to see Gambit on the screen, but disappointing that my second favourite mutant was barely a blip character-wise. How petty is it that I wanted him to have a stronger New Orleans accent?


Oh well, the movie ends on a high note, with Wolverine coming in to save the day, all angsty and feral, powerful and dirty and...he did some stuff.

The conclusion was a little anticlimactic, but in the end I was satisfied with the action and with Hugh Jackman's ability to carry the weight of a character burdened with a tragic past and uncertain future.