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SexyBack

Last night my sister, Jaime, and I went to the Justin Timberlake concert at the ACC. My sister, Lindsay, and her friend, Leslie, were also there, but we weren't sitting together (we did see them briefly just as we were passing security). Jaime and I were a little late (me coming from Niagara Falls, then having to change, accident on the Gardiner, find parking, dealing with someone at the ACC that didn't know where are seats were).

Pink was the opening act. We missed her first song (we think) and she was amazing. She is way tinier than I thought she was. She looked great. But, the sound was bad. I had forgotten how bad the ACC sound is. The first concert I saw there was Alanis Morrisette and all I heard was the band. It has gotten a little better, but I still find it hard to hear the vocals. Now, Simon and Garfunkel were different, probably because they don't have that much of a band. Bob Dylan? Well, that could go either way :)

During her set, Pink actually did some acrobatics. It was wicked. If you have ever seen the performers that wrap themselves in fabric and flip themselves around over the stage, that is what Pink was doing. Not her dancers (well, one of her dancers was also doing some of the acrobatics), but actually Pink. It was tres cool. I would definitely go see her again.

Justin was damn good. He is just so sexy. He sounded good (well, as good as he could have with the horrible ACC acoustics), he looked amazing in his black suit, and damn can he dance. I normally go to rock concerts, this is probably only my fourth pop concert (Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, New Kids on the Block). I was very impressed. the stage was in the round and they had an excellent set up. Timbaland did a 20 minute set in the middle of the show and it was very good. I'm not sure I've paid so much for a concert ticket before, but it was definitely worth it. The show was over 3 hours long and I couldn't talk the next morning because my throat was too sore from all the screaming.

Check out the review of the show: http://www.thestar.com/article/176593

The States

So, I ended up in the states this morning. Apparently I was really tired. I knew that I was falling asleep while driving, but I didn't realize that it would lead to me missing my exit. I went over the bridge, through US customs where they let me turn around and then had to explain to Canadian customs that I was really only over in the states for a total of 30 seconds.

Needless to say, I was late for work today. Not by much, though.

Out of the Blue

I almost fell out of my chair while checking my mail today. An email from Liz (and Michelle). They hadn't fallen off the face of the earth, or lost my email address, or decided I was evil incarnate (well, I don't actually know about that one).

Liz has once again come up with an amazing trip idea. For my last trip with Liz and Michelle you would have to go back to the very first blog entry to see my trip to Newfoundland. It was awesome.

Well this time they have their sights set on Nunavut. How cool is that? So, of course, I want to go. One small problem. They leave on the day of my brother's wedding. I'm not speaking with my brother right now, but that doesn't mean I don't want to be at his wedding. It does mean that I looked into options of flying out of London first thing in the morning after the wedding.

I guess this means I need to start tightening that proverbial belt and save some money. This will not be a cheap trip, but it will be a once in a lifetime experience. Wish me luck. I can not wait to add a Nunavut postcard to my collection.

Flooring

My dad was here today for dinner and we headed out to look at flooring. He is going to help me install laminate flooring so that I can finally get rid of the hideous pink carpeting (woo hoo)! We actually bought half of it (it was on sale, but they didn't have enough so Dad is picking up the rest next week at another home depot). I am so excited. I can not wait until the carpet is gone. I will definitely have a 'so long to the pink carpet' party when we are done. I think I may keep one small scrap so we can burn it at the party.

While he was here, Dad also helped hang some new paintings for me. My friend Dorie is super creative and did some painting for me. Aren't they beautiful? (The picture is against my red wall.)

Cell Portability

I'm so excited. On March 7, 2007 cell phone numbers become portable. This means I can keep my cell number, but get rid of Bell. So, I'm looking at Rogers. Anyone else have Rogers for cell service? Good / Bad? Any details would be great.

Hockey

Well, it has been awhile since I mentioned my hockey team. As always I'm having a great time playing, and as always our team is in last place. I don't know what it is about our team, but we are always in last place during the season and then we do well during playoffs (let's hope that is the case again this season). But, even though we haven't won a game yet (we did tie one), we love being out there and we aren't one of those teams that gets angry or discouraged. There are teams that we play against that when they are beating us 4-0 they start getting really aggresive. I don't understand that. Do they want us to get bitchy because we are losing? It just doesn't happen. It's very weird.

I did have a good game last night. Two shots on net (we are pretty happy when we play in their end, so a shot on net is a very big deal) and my couch was really impressed with my back checking in our end. I seem to finally be getting the idea of this game (it's about time).

This weekend I also watched a couple of movies. I watched Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock with Ingrid Bergman and Carey Grant), it was okay. Not one of my favourite Hitchcock movies. I also watched Out of Africa. This movie so makes me want to go to Africa on safari. It was absolutely beautiful. Meryl Streep was amazing; and Robert Redford was damn good looking as always.

On Saturday night, my friend Dorie made an amazing stir fry dinner and we played a couple games of Sex and the City trivia. I was finally able to help her with setting up her wireless router for her laptop and she completed some paintings that she had done for me (I can't wait to post a picture - they are awesome).

That's about it for me. This week I am off to see Justin Timberlake with two of my sisters. I'm so excited, he is just damn fine.

Parking

Well, my travel to Niagara Falls just became much longer. I have to relinquish my parking pass. This means taking a shuttle to work. This always adds so much time to the morning / evening. You have to make sure you plan / time everything just right.

I'm so annoyed. I had this at Clarica as well and it sucked.

Sisters

This past weekend I was able to get together with two of my three sisters. Unfortunately, Rach was not able to join us. Her guy (current or ex, I'm never sure), Steve, had to have back surgery so she has been run pretty ragged taking care of him. I'm hoping that the recovery is going well.

Lindsay, Jaime and their respective others, Dave and Sami, and I met up for dinner and a night of playing pool down on the Lakeshore. We have decided to try and get together every month. There was too long there when I didn't get to see them at all. As always I was pretty inconsistent with my pool playing. I made some great shots and really blew it on others. But, either way I had so much fun and can't wait to do it again. We are thinking bowling or the cottage (for snowboarding and skating) next. I'm hopeful that we can go to the cottage. I really want to get Jaime out on the slopes. She says no way. But, that's kind of how Lindsay felt the first time and now she loves it. Either way, it should be fun.

Happy Birthday Kitties

Today the kitties are 6 years old. I thought they were five, but I was wrong. As always Jason (not my brother) sent out an email to remind everyone of the bday celebrations. Six! Wow, how time flies.


Placenta Head is just as bad as ever. He really likes to scratch my new couch (which means it is still covered in the plastic it was delivered in to keep him off of it). Bad kitty. But, he is such a suck and so cute that I forget how bad he is (until he jumps on my head at 2:30am).



Noke (Princess Mononoke) is also becoming very cuddly in her old age. She isn't near as scared as she used to be. But, she still does hide on occassion (especially when there are children around).



I meant to go out and buy them treats today, but I forgot (to buy gifts, not about the birthday).



So, once again, Happy 6th Birthday to my babies!

The Falls

So, I finally made it outside to see the Falls. Yes, I've worked here for over a month and it took me that long to make it outside.

I'm stuck in the basement all day and by the time I leave I just want to get home.

The day I was able to go out and see them was after the ice storm. It was so pretty.

Then I caught the flu. Stupid flu. Of course, the flu did not stop me from hanging out in Christi's hot tub.

Snow!!

Yay, I love snow. It is so pretty outside. It's funny how the weather can affect your mood. I have this perma grin on my face today because there is snow outside. Even with the pain in my stupid ovary I can't help but smile when there is snow outside. This global warming thing better end (all of you stop destroying the environment) so that we can go back to our normal seasons.

Have fun with the snow!

Ovaries suck

The ongoing saga of my crappy ovaries continues. On Thursday I went to work and at about 10am the pain became unbearable. It appears that I am going to be in extreme pain like this every month. Personally, I wish they would just take the cyst out. Instead, my doctor has put me on the pill. She thinks that will shrink the cyst and the pain should subside. I really hope she's right. I've been hanging out on my couch for two days trying to sleep. Even the percocet wouldn't put me to sleep. When I stepped in the fire and had 3rd degree burns on my feet, I thought that was the worst pain; then when I ripped my cornea and it felt like a knife was being stabbed in my eye, I thought that was the worst pain; now I'm not so sure. I think the cornea was the worst, but this was definitely up there.

Last night, I had dinner with Mohsen, Anna and Lisa. It was really nice to see them and dinner was excellent, but I had to leave early due to this stupid ovary.

On a happier note I finally started reading again. For awhile there I really wasn't in the mood to read, which is weird for me. I've only read one book in the past couple of months and it wasn't that good of a book: The Murder Book by Jonathan Kellerman. Currently, I'm reading Predator by Patricia Cornwell. Both books are part of series that I've been reading for years. Predator really isn't very good either. But, next I'm planning to read the new Guy Gavriel Kay and I can't wait. Kay, Moore and King all have new books out this season. So, it should be a good time for reading. I have a ton of books waiting for me.

On the movie front I've watched a bunch of movies including 'Dial M for Murder' and 'Suddenly, Last Summer'. They were okay. 'Suddenly, Last Summer' wasn't near as shocking as I expected it to be. The whole build up is to the end when Elizabeth Taylor explains how Sebastian dies. Really it wasn't that good of a build up. I also watched 'Sahara', which was actually fun; and 'Pieces of April' with Katie Holmes, it was pretty good, but boy was her mom a bitch.

Happy New Year - Well not really

I am so happy to start a new year, 2006 was not my best year and I am hopeful that 2007 will be much better.

Right now, I'm extremely upset with my brother. I don't remember being this angry with him since I was in high school. I know I told some of you that I had this special surprise gift thing I was going to do and would let you all know how to join in, but that just isn't going to happen. I don't think he would have appreciated it anyway.

On to a different topic, my Great Aunt Alma (the picture is of her and her brother Glenn) passed away a couple of days ago. She was one of my mom's favourite people in the world and she will be greatly missed. My cousin Kim was married just after my mom died and as a surprise my aunt had Alma fly in for the wedding. Well, it was a bit too much of a shock for me. I burst into tears (personally, I thought Jason and I should have been told ahead of time, not that Jason needed the heads up, but I certainly did) she reminded me so much of my mom and I just didn't handle the surprise of finally seeing her after my mom's death very well. The wedding itself was pretty hard for me because my mom would have been so happy and so involved. One of my first Christmas memories is of being in Plymouth, Massachusetts when I was probably four years old. We went on a train Christmas Eve and the lights with the snow were so beautiful. My grammy, mom and Alma were there and that was the last time they were all together (my grammy, Mom's grandmother who raised her, died the next year when my mom was 25; I lost my mom when I was 24, if only I had of known how hard that must have been for mom).

The last time I saw Alma was when I was in California on business. I flew earlier than I needed to so that I could spend the weekend in San Diego with Alma. This was another trip where my luggage went missing. It really messed up the amount of time I was able to spend with her because alot of the time was spent at the airport and fighting on the phone with United. But, we did have a wonderful visit and even went to Tijuana (my only trip to Mexico, so far) and went to the beach (where I was stung by a jellyfish). We talked alot about my mom, which was really great. I always wanted to go back to see her; but the chance was never there. Hopefully, I will get to visit with her in my dreams like I do with mom (maybe we will all go shopping together, as that is normally what mom and I do when I dream). It's times like these that I want to believe that we do go to a better place and be with our loved ones. I know that my aunt Lynda (on Dad's side) believes that my grandpa looked after my mom when she died and now maybe my mom has Alma as well to keep her company.

This is a picture of Alma and I in Tijuana in June of 2001:

On a happier note, as with most weddings and funerals (not that there is going to be a funeral) I did get a chance to speak with family that I haven't talked to in a very long time. My cousin Nicole called to let me know. Nicole and I used to be very close, but we haven't seen each other very often in recent years (I did get to see her and my other cousins back in August, and that was awesome). Along with this news she reported that her mom (my cousin Chris) broke her wrist after falling off of a horse in Jamaica a couple of days ago and was going in for surgery. I then called my mom's sister, Deanie, to see how she was doing with everything. Found out that she had just gotten out of the hospital from a burst appendix and that my cousin Kim was out of commission due to knee surgery. I then called my mom's brother, Ian, who I haven't seen or talked to in probably ten years (my mom seemed to be 'the glue' and when she passed away it really did a number on this family). But, he sounded exactly the same and we had an awesome 1 1/2 hour conversation. He, unfortunately, is suffering from really bad arthritis in his knees (Jason and I better watch out, since we have such bad knees already). During our talk, I found out that mom's side of the family has even more Scottish ancestry than my dad's. This we never knew. We thought it was only Grandma that had that Scottish blood. But, my grampy (Stanley) had family from Scotland as well. My dad, is named Robert Bruce (after Robert the Bruce) and I found out that my great grandfather's family fought alongside Robert the Bruce. We can trace our ancestry back to James the 1st of Scotland. Unfortunately, we also have relatives that fought against Bonnie Prince Charlie. My uncle believes that the family has a curse due to switching sides.

My aunt Alma's daughter Lynn is hoping to have a service sometime this year when she can get back to New Brunswick. I will then meet her there and take my mom's ashes as well to be scattered on Grammy's grave as she would have wanted it. That way the three of them will be together again. Now, I wasn't really paying attention, but I think my Uncle Ian may have also indicated that my grandfather (Gerald) is no longer with us. As I said, our family really doesn't keep in touch. I would hate to think that no one contacted Jason or I to let us know. I know that we were not close to Gerald and didn't really know him, but he's still family. My mom, her sister, and brother were raised by their grandparents, so Gerald was really not a part of our lives. But, I do know that for years my mother kept a mug that she had bought him for Christmas in the hopes that one day he would show up and she could give it to him, but he never did. The only time I ever remember seeing Gerald was at my mother's funeral.

Well, that is all my sad news for today. It's been a pretty emotional couple of days, with much crying.

Christmas and Such

Prior to Christmas the Goderich gang (Teresa and Greg and their two kids; Cara and Jeff and their three kids; and Heidi and Jen) came to my place for our annual (most of the time) Christmas gathering. Teresa couldn't handle my crazy cats (allergies are not fun) and they had to leave just after dinner. Cara's family stayed until the next day so that they could go shopping. It was great to have everyone together, since it is so rare that this happens. Cara's kids


My friend, Angele, is getting married this month (January) in Mexico. Back in December there was a surprise wedding shower for her. It was a lot of fun and it was great to get to see everyone outside of work one last time before I left. Unfortunately, I won't be able to go to the wedding. I would love to go to Mexico, but I just can't afford it this year (two family weddings) and I just started a new contract.

I was finally able to pick up my Mini and I absolutely love it.

On my last day at work a group of us went out to lunch. I miss everyone. It was really sad to leave and I totally cried before I left. It's one thing to make a decision to change jobs, it's another to actually say goodbye to all the people you've worked with for so long. I miss have my morning talks and lunches with Annie. Luckily we are getting together for dinner next week.

Just before Christmas Tara and Christi invited me to a 12 bars of Christmas pub crawl. It was a ton of fun (for the most part). Unfortunately, that day my ovary was acting up and I took a tylenol 3. It appears that codeine and alcohol are a bad mix. I have very few memories after the 8th or 9th bar. Christi tried to get me to have a shot of tequila at one of the bars (I don't recall this at all). She said it was pretty funny that I had a hold of the lemon, licked the salt, and instead of taking the shot of tequila I grabbed my glass of water (it appears that I look out for myself even when I don't know what's going on). At the next bar they poured me into a cab and we headed back to Tara's. I threw up most of the evening (sorry Tara) once out of the cab. But, until that point I had a great time. Can't wait until next year. I would definitely like to go again next year, but without the codeine.

The week before Christmas Jason and Megan flew in from BC. It was great to get to see them (at some point I will publish the pictures of my trip out west back in August). On the Friday they came to Niagara Falls with me and while I was at work they went to St. Catherines to visit their friends Quentin and Martha. When I was done work we checked out the casino where I work. I'm not allowed to gamble or talk to anyone who is gambling. I had to check in with security so they could be sure that I wasn't doing anything I wasn't supposed to. It's too bad that I can't gamble because it would be nice to go play poker. After that we went to a vineyard and a bought a ton of wine. Then we met up with Lindsay and Jaime (and their boyfriends) for dinner in Burlington. It was great to see them and hopefully I will get to see them again soon.

We then headed to London to see Dad, Sue and Rach. We had Christmas dinner (with mushroom gravy and vegetarian stuffing). It was great. Then we headed to Goderich for the Woodall Christmas. As normal there was lots of drama, screaming, hospital visits and crying. Luckily, Grandma is now okay and has survived the flu.

New Job, New Car (sort of)

As some of you know I was thinking of leaving ESI for something more challenging. Well, it appears that I am leaving. A headhunter called me about a month ago looking for someone with my specific skill set. I had a phone interview and while I was in the hospital (for my stupid ovary) I found out I had been offerred the job. I start on Monday (Dec 11th) and finish at ESI on Friday (Dec 8th). Not alot of time in between, but that has never stopped me before. Besides, I'm taking time off at xmas when my brother and Megan come to visit.

So, the new job is a 3 month contract (probably extended to 6) at Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls. Which means I need a car. It also means I have to make a decisiion on where I be based. I'm going to try out the commute to start and then I will meet with my real-estate agent to find out my options and what she recommends. I have looked at student housing for a place to crash and St. Catharines is pretty cheap (and Martha and Q love it there).

First things first, find a car. I've been pretty happy with the Toyota Yaris, so that was my first stop. Heidi and Jen were in town so they went looking with me. Toyota sucks! I went in with the idea of buying a car and they so didn't want to help me and couldn't answer Heidi and Jen's questions and called me a liar (I'm not a big fan of that).

Next stop the Mini dealership, just for a fun test drive. Well, after the test drive I was sold. I wanted a mini. But, I can't afford new. So, back to autotrader to find a used one. I found a 2003 that was perfect, but the bank said no. Back to autotrader. Found another 2003 and last Friday I went to look at it in Downsview. They didn't have the 2003, but they did have a 2002. I took it for a test drive (by this point I was pretty bored with the whole shopping thing and just wanted a car). I liked the car and got Heidi on the phone for her thoughts. Negotiated a price and the bank said yes. Took the car to Canadian Tire for a safety inspection and they said it was in good shape (it needed a new battery and the brake fluid changed, but that was it). The dealership said I could have the car on Monday (provided I had the insurance taken care of).

I was super excited. The car was great; red with a white top (aching to have a Canadian flag decal put on).

Then I called RBC Insurance. I had already talked to them (and Primmum) to find out if I could afford the insurance on the mini (or the Yaris). Primmum was crazy in their pricing, so I went back to RBC. But, when I talked to them on Friday the quote was $400 more than what I had received before. I was pretty upset and told them I didn't want it. I needed to calm down and try to get the excitement back.

Monday I called RBC again. I received a completely different quote (at this point I think I had 4 different quotes for the same car from RBC). I finally said okay so that I could get my car. This meant I could get the car on Tuesday (last night).

I took a bus from work, to the go bus at square one, to Finch Go station, I hopped in a cab ($15) that took me to the dealership. I got there and the car was all pretty and clean. They brought it around to the front for me, I hopped in. I tried to adjust the seat, I tried to adjust the seat, I hopped out of the car and found my sales guy. The seat would not adjust to an upright position (no comments from the peanut gallery, please). It turns out the seat is broken. It worked fine on Friday when I went for a test drive. I don't know what happened between those two times, but I do not have a car that I can drive. So, they finally drove me home and said they would try to fix it today. When I called at 3pm they were working on it and expected it to be done by 5pm. It is now 4:16 and I am just leaving work. I will give them a call and then hop on a bus and take another two hour tour to Downsview. Let's hope this trip is more successful.

Ovaries, Do We Really Need Them?

I think I would be in less pain if we didn't. A couple of weeks ago I had this stomach pain, that was the Friday night before Wicked. I didn't feel bad on Saturday and forgot about it until Sunday night. No sleep until 4am! It was driving me crazy. Monday I went to work and Julia yelled at me (as well as you can in an email) and told me to get my butt to a doctor. Which I did. The doctor believed it was a cyst and that I should have an ultrasound. He didn't sound too worried, said they were pretty common (which I have found out, they are). He prescribed me some pain killers. Wed I headed to the ultrasound, they told me I would probably hear back in 3-5 business days. I thought, okay, no big deal, the pain isn't too bad and I went back to work.

About an hour later the doctor's office called and told me to come in right away. Hello, panic! The radiologist thought it might be something called Ovarian Torsion. Not so common and pretty serious. I read later on the internet that the ovary is saved in less than 10% of cases. This was at a walk-in clinic and they told me to go see my family doctor and if the pain gets worse before then to go immediately to the ER. I was pretty upset.

I headed to my doctor on the Thursday (almost a week after the initial pain). She went over the results and tried to get me in to see an OB-GYN. No such luck so she sent me to the ER at Women's College Hospital, because if it was torsion I did need surgery right away. Needless to say I was upset and in tears.

Things were quick at the hospital when I first got there. I saw a doctor and he sent me for another ultrasound to find out if it was torsion and if the ovary was already dead. It took a while to get the ultrasound (and it was not fun). Evil nazi radiologist who wanted to see if she could make me cry from the pain (she succeeded). But, it turns out, it wasn't torsion (it took another hour to find that out). It is a cyst, though. It's bigger than my right ovary (which means my left ovary is growing to accomodate). It's bleeding in on itself which is what makes it grow. But, no surgery is necessary (at least not yet). I go back for another ultrasound (oh joy) in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime the pain is still there. I'm happy that it doesn't appear serious and that I shouldn't lose my ovary. I've never had surgery so I'm not looking forward to that (if it happens). Of course, so many thoughts going through my head: should I harvest my eggs, will I be able to have kids, etc.

Wicked

Today I went to see 'Wicked' with my Dad, Sue, my Grandma, Lisa, Christi and Sandra. It was awesome. I highly recommend this production to everyone. I would definitely go see this again. Much better than I expected, it was great and I loved the idea behind it (especially the propaganda idea). I'm going to have to watch The Wizard of Oz. Go see this show!

After the show we all went to the Overdraught (Irish pub), where my cousin Ed works. We had an excellent time. I wish it was possible to do this more often.

AFIs Top 100 - Finally

As some of you know, AFI (The American Film Institute) came out with their '100 Years...100 Movies' list in 1998. This is a list of the Top 100 films in the first 100 years of AFIs existence. When the list was first published Lisa and I had the list on our respective fridges and Blockbuster had a handy pocket list where you could mark off those you had seen. We were very keen and thought what a great way to watch some great movies. You might not think 100 movies is alot (considering how many movies most of us watch), but this list was so hard to complete.

Well, I am so happy to say, that I have finally watched all 100 movies (it only took 8 years). The final movie for me was Charlie Chaplin's 'Modern Times' (he had three movies on the list). It was good, but I probably didn't enjoy it as much as I could have since at that point I just wanted to be done with the list.

I've been asked to give my opinions on the list and now that I am finished I feel that I can now give a comprehensive answer.

Let's start off with the movies that I didn't feel should be on this list:

• Annie Hall - I hate Woody Allen, I don't find him funny and I don't understand why everyone loves this film.
• West Side Story - I love Nathalie Wood (I was almost named Nathalie because my mom liked her so much, yes, I would have been Nathalie Woodall), but I don't think it quite ranks up there with some of these other films.
• Duck Soup - I really don't get the Marx Brothers. Parts were pretty funny, but I didn't really like the movie.
• Unforgiven - this is the only Clint Eastwood movie on the list. I find that odd. I would have thought one of his other movies would have made the list. Of course, I've never been a big Clint fan (I did really like 'Play Misty for Me', though). I guess I can't say whether or not his other movies were great. But, I suspect they put this on the list because he didn't have any others.
• Fargo - now, I love a good wood-chipper scene, but I suspect that the only reason this film made the list is because it came out the year that they were voting on the list.
• The Searchers - John Wayne already had a movie on the list (Stagecoach) and I thought it was a very good movie. But, I hated this movie. He is so racist and the movie is so long. Don't bother, watching this one.

Now, the following are movies that I understand should be on the list, but I really didn't like them:

• Ben-Hur - Great film making in this one. The chariot race is pretty amazing, but you know me, I'm not a big fan of religion. I didn't realize that this was a movie about Jesus, but it is, in a very weird way.
• 2001: A Space Odyssey - I can just imagine my brother yelling at his computer when he sees this. Now, I love the scene with Hal, but other than that, I'm really not a big fan of this film. I think there were some amazing parts to this film and I agree that it should be on the list, but not my cup of tea. But, I could listen to Hal again and again.
• The Jazz Singer - I think I expected something more from this film. I didn't dislike it, but I did expect there to be more spoken word. I really didn't realize that it was a silent film with the songs actually synched. Apparently, the entire movie wasn't in sound because the producers didn't think the audience wanted a talking picture. I did find out many interesting film facts while watching these movies.
• Bringing up Baby - Katherine Hepburn already had multiple movies on this list. This just wasn't as good as the others.
• Birth of a Nation - I just don't know where to start with this film. Is it the white woman dressed in black face acting all crazy for the camera (to show that black women are all crazy); or the fact that the movie is about how awesome the KKK is (and how everyone - well, the white race - will be saved by the KKK); or how Griffith didn't want to employ any black people, so most of the black characters are actual white actors in blackface; there are just so many things wrong with this movie. I had put off watching this movie for so long (I thought it would be the last movie in the list that I watched), but I do understand why it is here. The stuff that Griffith did on the screen is amazing. Watch this just to see how crazy he makes the black people seem. You just won't believe it.

Here is a list of the movies that I was really surprised by and I highly recommend them:

• The Wild Bunch - I think this was the movie I was most surprised by. I absolutely loved it. It's a western and is so beautifully shot. It took my breath away.
• Shane - Maybe I secretly love westerns. But, whenever I see that final scene I just start bawling.
• Singin' In the Rain - I had to go out and buy it right after I saw it. I love Gene Kelly.
• All About Eve - probably my favourite on the list. Just an amazing movie.
• High Noon - once again another western. Maybe I just didn't expect the westerns to be any good.

Now, the list of my favourites. Well, actually I can't really pin it down. With the obvious exceptions above, I really enjoyed the movies on this list. I highly recommend checking the list out: http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/movies.aspx

• Star Wars
• The Godfather
• Gone With The Wind
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• From Here to Eternity
• American Graffiti

These are just some of my favourites. It was a great list and the other lists that they have (top villains / heros; screen legends; etc) are really interesting as well. A great way to find movies that you may otherwise have not picked up.

Happy viewing!

Stuff

Since April I've been feeling like crap (as many of you know). In July my doctor prescribed some anti-depressants for me. For the most part the drugs appear to be working, but I still have some really crappy days. The last two days have been pretty good days. I took today off work to think about some stuff. I'm going to start looking for a new job. I really like the company I work for and the people I work with, but I need a new challenge. I'm really looking forward to moving back to a city.

But, on a much happier note I bought a new computer. I had my laptop for 6 years and it was about time for something new. This one is wireless and I love it. I'm sitting on my new couch in front of the tv posting my blog. It's awesome.