All This and Superpowers Too

Posted by Carm at 3:43 PM 0 comments    

Labels: films

I got my new Dell laptop today. When it turned it on I realized the screen is cracked. After 30 minutes online chatting with Ravi #1 and Ravi #2 (neither of whom are related to Norah Jones, I don't think) I discovered they intend to send a repair person to replace the LCD and that person will call me in the next day or two to set up a time. I hope nothing else is wrong. I went from super excited to super sad in no time at all. This is certainly robbing me of the joy of a new exciting purchase.

Posted by Carm at 10:15 PM 4 comments    

Labels: shopping

Posted by Carm at 6:53 PM 0 comments    

Labels: holidays

Awww... Kitty! I love this movie. I'd forgotten how much until I happened upon it this afternoon. It was perfect for some blanket stitching company. I was grooving on the crafts today and a favorite animated film made the time fly by.

from IMDB... "Monsters generate their city's power by scaring children, but they are terribly afraid themselves of being contaminated by children, so when one enters Monstropolis, top scarer Sulley finds his world disrupted."

Pixar does a great job of creating a visual masterpiece as well as loading it full of fun little "easter eggs," like the Woody doll, Nemo fish toy, and it's always fun to listen for the voice of John Ratzenberger who makes an appearance in every Pixar film. Boo, however, steals the show with her pouty face, her pure love of Sulley and the trust and joy she has in him and Mike. It's a story about battling fears and embracing change as well as the story of a girl and her "kitty."

Posted by Carm at 8:39 PM 0 comments    

Labels: films

I couldn't resist decorating the holiday tree my favorite of the holidays. I was a child in love with dress-up and my joy for costumes has never faded. Also I love black. And I find great solace in cemeteries. And of my very scattered memories from my early elementary years, a song from music class remains... "Stirring and stirring and stirring my brew (sung spookily)" And fall is a great time of year. And the Halloween one is probably the best Charlie Brown special too. God Bless the Great Pumpkin.

Much of this I have collected from year to year, but if you are ever on the look out for great holiday goodies, be sure to check out the Plain and Fancy Antique Mall -- Linda from The Red Geranium there always carries such great stuff.

I even managed to find some ornaments to celebrate my Peanuts Great Pumpkin love!

Posted by Carm at 9:40 PM 0 comments    

Labels: holidays, shopping

an excerpt from Roger Ebert's article "Sign the Social Contract"

"I am naive enough to think that universal care is obviously good. I don't say how it should be implemented or regulated. I say we should implement it and regulate it as well as we can, and improve it through our votes and our legislature. This is something we owe to the future. The United States is shamefully the only Western democracy without universal health care. All of the nations that we inspired by our revolution, including France, have moved ahead on us on this.

I am told we cannot trust the government. I believe we must trust it, and work to make it trustworthy. We are told the free enterprise system will sort things out, but it has not. When insurance companies direct millions toward lobbying and advertising against a health care system, every dollar is being withheld from sick people. When it goes to salaries, executive jets, corporate edifices and legislative manipulation, it isn't going to Amy Caudle.

The fallacy of the free enterprise argument is that it assumes corporations are motivated to bring about the public good. Corporations are motivated to maximize profits for shareholders. That is the primary mission of all corporate executives, and they retain their jobs by placing the bottom line and the stock price above all else."

--read the entire article here.

Posted by Carm at 9:25 PM 0 comments    

Labels: films, healthy living, politics

And so does Ellen Page. I just love that girl.

Whip it was a predictable film that pretty much stole its plot from a ton of other movies where the main character is a parent-pleasing child who discovers his/her love is NOT what mom and dad have in mind. The lead character hides the truth from the parents until the night of the big game, dance recital, roller derby and in the end it's a choice both the hero and the parents have to make. Think Billy Elliot. Think Dirty Dancing... Hairspray... Girls Just Want to Have Fun--wait, those are all dance movies... Hmmm... Well, I know there are countless others. However, with a cast like this it really does stand out--Kristen Wigg as Maggie Mahem, Drew Barrymore as Smashley Simpson, Juliette Lewis as Iron Maven and Ellen Page as Babe Ruthless. The roller derby scenes were gritty and playful and funny and painful and generally it made me want to go out, adopt an irreverent nickname and kick some ass...

Ebert gives it 3.5 stars. I agree. Click here to read his review.

Posted by Carm at 4:09 PM 0 comments    

Labels: films

Read a book... don't BAN a book. Sheesh. I swear the world is falling apart. Some school districts and towns seem to be taking this literally as YA authors all around the country are coming under fire. And now teachers in a school in Kentucky are not allowed to wear a tee shirt with this quote on it because it constitutes political activity. Seriously? I think Banned Book Week is a reading activity. Something libraries and book stores have consistently promoted to encourage kids to read. Maybe it's time for another book Mr. Bradbury...

Posted by Carm at 8:00 AM 0 comments    

Labels: books

Candy Corn Hershey's Kisses. These are to die for.

I think I need to embrace the mustache craze and get one of these magnets...

Fairy Tale finger puppets patterns

The Meaning of Photoshop by Khoi Vinh -- an article that ponders the role photoshop plays in our perceptions of beauty, real or imagined and whether such a thing is a destructive force if not acknowledged.

Yep, reading is sexy.

Posted by Carm at 9:04 PM 0 comments    

Labels: art, books, food, links, sewing, shopping

Love Happens (2009)

Posted by Carm at 5:15 PM 3 comments    

Labels: family, films

To feed my reading habit, I'm going to take part in a reading challenge. And YOU can join too!

Here’s a brief recap of how to be a part of Fall Into Reading 2009:

• Make a list of books you want to read (or finish reading) this fall. Your list can be as long or as short as you’d like. (Also, feel free to modify your list during the challenge if it’s not working for you.)

• Write a blog post containing your list and submit it to the original post on Callapiddar Days using the Mr. Linky at the bottom of Katrina's post.
  

• Get reading! The challenge goes from today, September 22nd, through December 20th.

• Check out other participants’ lists and add to your own to-read-someday pile!

• Write a post about your challenge experience in December, telling us all about whether you reached your goals and how Fall Into Reading went for you. But remember: this is a low-pressure challenge that should be fun. As long as you do some reading this fall (and enjoy it!), that’s good enough for me (Katrina!).

Posted by Carm at 4:26 PM 2 comments    

Labels: blogs, books

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

It's been awhile since I've read this book, so comparison wasn't looming large. Usually that's a good thing when it comes to these books. The main problem I have now is separating out the stories. The last three books seemed to just blend in my mind. In this film we learn about Voldemort's past, and the hoar cruxes and yet, I was thinking that they under played all the half-blood prince stuff, while in the book it seemed like a bigger deal. It is the TITLE of the book/film, after all. I do love Jim Broadbent who is the latest addition to the Hogwarts staff, as Professor Horace Slughorn. While the film was actually pretty long, it did seem to fly by. Mike, Pam, and I enjoyed the final drive in of the season at Warren, Minnesota's Sky-View Drive In.

Posted by Carm at 5:17 PM 0 comments    

Labels: films

I was just watching part of the Ted Kennedy special I recorded a few weeks ago. Man, they just showed footage of the night Bobby was shot and I am totally crying... I hate that there are such lunatics in this country. People who hate and fear change, change that could bring good ... and people who hate it so much that they'd kill to stop it. When will it end? It all makes me a little sick.

Posted by Carm at 6:03 PM 0 comments    

Labels: politics

Posted by Carm at 4:28 AM 2 comments    

Labels: healthy living, politics

Well, I took your suggestion, Sara! It didn't take much convincing. I have been eager to see this film ever since I saw the first trailer of it. I love Zooey Deshchanel and her taste and her style and her voice and so I was convinced it had to be good and I was right.

500 Days of Summer is not your typical film which typically means I'll love it! The film is quirky in its style of delivery and it also has loads of good music and fun film allusions.

Summer moves to LA from Michigan, (Deschanel) takes a job at a greeting card company where Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is languishing, putting off the true effort of pursuing a career as an architect. It starts out as a "boy meets girl" film but quickly becomes something so much better. The chronological structure of the film bounces between days following rejection and the first few days of their budding relationship. The chronology could be a bit confusing, but it doesn't really matter. One of my favorite stylistic bits is the expectations/reality sequence that shows a split screen and that with one little scene shows so much about how people's perspectives can vary.

The brother/sister bond between Tom and his soccer playing little sis is very Phoebe/Holden Caulfield and she actually ends up offering rather sound advice. Also, I love Summer's hair! THAT was what I was thinking when I was considering bangs.

Here's the official site and Ebert's review (4 stars, he liked it too!)

Posted by Carm at 12:00 AM 2 comments    

Labels: films

Ingredients:
3 medium tomatoes (firm to the touch)
1 medium sweet yellow onion
1 green onion with the stalk (optional -- I skipped it because I didn't have one)
3 jalapenos or serrano peppers
1/2 cilantro bush (equal to about 1/2 cup or more chopped)
1 pinch of salt (or pinch per tomato, if you prefer)

Dice the tomatoes and the onions into little cubes, the cilantro and jalapeno should be finely chopped. Then toss the ingredients together evenly.

Optional: You can add a bit of fresh lemon or lime juice if you're going to serve it on fajita tacos or with seafood, I like to eat mine as a kind of "fresh chunky salsa" and serve it with chips so I like a bit of lemon juice in mine. Scoops are a great chip to use with this if you are doing the chip/dip option.

I've made this recipe plenty of times before and it's a little different every time. However, this time I used tomatoes, jalapenos, and onions from my garden. Yay!

Posted by Carm at 6:07 PM 0 comments    

Labels: food, gardening, recipes

I've been intrigued by the idea of zucchini noodles and what I call "pretend pasta" ever since I ate at Ecopolitan last May. When it came time for my garden I planted spaghetti squash so I could explore new foods.

I baked my squash at 375 for about an hour and let it cool for about 10 minutes before slicing it in half and scooping out the seeds. Then with a fork I scraped the squash away from its skin and it just naturally forms spaghetti strands--yum!



All summer I've been meaning to make pesto because I have so much yummy basil, but I had no idea how to make it. I found a recipe online and tried that one, but something didn't work. The recipe claimed it would make 3 cups of pesto but it doesn't even include 3 cups of ingredients so I should have figured that out before I tried. I may have needed more basil or more liquid. It wasn't a sauce so much as a paste. So then I tried another recipe in an effort to repair. That one called for the same amount of basil leaves but more than double the olive oil and parmesan cheese so I added more of each of those and even a tbsp of water, but it still only made about 3/4 - 1 cup of pesto sauce. Again, maybe I just needed more basil? I am NOT the pesto expert, but I'm not giving up. I will try again when my basil plants produce a bit more.

The recipe I tried for my first dose of "pretend pasta" was Pesto Spaghetti Squash with Mozzerella. It was good but it seemed a wee bit oily to me. I only used 1/2 of my spaghetti squash too. It was just soooo much squash in just half that I didn't think it would work with more. I'll save the other half for a marinara type sauce next!

Posted by Carm at 12:19 PM 0 comments    

Labels: food, gardening, recipes

loving his dried banana snacks

learning his letters while keeping his teeth trim

plotting an escape

blurry, but my favorite expression

Posted by Carm at 10:45 AM 0 comments    

Labels: hamster

I'm trying to spend them well. It actually seems like we've had nicer weather since school started than we've had the entire month before. Typical. Earlier today I made a trip to the Farmer's Market with my pal Kristine and I splurged on fudge to give my sister Ashley. Kristine picked up a strawberry/rhubarb pie after discovering juneberry pies were "out of season." The stalls were loaded with produce but my garden is too. At least it's starting to be.

The day was breezy but still beautiful for a walk. We followed the bike path to Lincoln Park and it was fun to show it off to Kristine who'd never walked that way before. I pointed out the labyrinth and the wildflower/sculpture garden and on our way back to the downtown we discovered a new shop K had read about in the newspaper--The Twelve Houses--A Spiritual Healing Center, Gathering Place, & Metaphysical Store. Now, Kristine is convinced we need to go back to get our palms read. Not sure how I feel about that, but I'm game. Why not?

Posted by Carm at 9:00 PM 0 comments    

Labels: healthy living, shopping

My mom's favorite flower is the gladiola. Here are a few that bloomed. If she wasn't out of town for the weekend, these would be on her kitchen table. I love them more because they make me think of my mom and my grandma, who would often create an arrangement like this only nicer and bring it to church each Sunday so there would be fresh flowers decorating the front of pulpit.

I love dahlias. They don't last as long as I'd like them too and I wish I'd planted more colors, but they are lovely, lovely, lovely. And if I had to pick just one color to have, well anyone who knows me knows, it would be red!

My spaghetti squash seemed to grow overnight. And the tomatoes are ripening on a regular basis now. I may grow tired of cucumber slices in vinegar, but not yet. I've picked some onions, beans, and carrots too, but I didn't manage a picture.

This squash is a whole lotta food. I need to figure out what to do with them because this is the first of many soon to be ready!

Here are two bell peppers growing in my window box at the apt. They are meant to be orange. I suspect they'll be ready soon!

Posted by Carm at 10:25 PM 0 comments    

Labels: family, flowers, gardening

Posted by Carm at 11:38 PM 0 comments    

Labels: films

Books read in August 09

Epistolary novel

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

I rather enjoy epistolary novels. It would grow tiresome if every novel employed that technique but once in awhile I find it fun.

I will have to add this to my growing list of WW II reads in recent years. I picked Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book based on the quirky title and the fact it kept showing up on Goodreads and other lists. I didn't expect the setting or story at all.

I now feel like I know a bit more about the Channel Islands between France and Britain. And again, I've a slice of WWII life from a different angle.

The novel is set in the year following the war and it's about a young British writer, Juliet, who stumbles upon a story, actually a rich collection of stories, when a young man, Dawsey, decides to write an inquiry about Charles Lamb. Incidentally Charles Lamb has come up a fair amount in the past year and I wonder if this book has anything to do with that!

I enjoyed the characters, the spirit of the story and am happy to have read this book!

Sci Fi/July's RRVWP Book Club Pick

The Diamond Age, or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson
We read this book for July and I was about half done when we met to discuss it. It seems I'm about half a book behind at every book club meeting because the same thing happened this month with Thunderstruck. (Am determined that I'll be back on track for September!)

This was one "messed up" book. I liked it and I didn't like it all at once. It's a post-cyberpunk novel and it's really the story of Nell, a young disadvantaged girl (a thete -- person without a phyle) living in a futuristic version of Shanghai in a world that no longer has countries but has people groups, also known as tribes or "phyles."

John Percival Hackworth, a scientist, is part of the Victorian phyle and he creates an interactive primer, the likes of which have never been seen before, for the daughter of his superior, but not before making a copy for his own daughter. When his copy falls out of his hands and into Nell's he is forced to create one more.

The story follows Nell as she uses the Primer, and to a lesser degree, two other girls who receive similar books, named Elizabeth and Fiona. The Primer reacts to its owners environment and teaches them what they need to know to survive and grow.

The difficulties I had with this story were more of a stylistic nature. I found some of the dense description to be unwieldy and actually unclear. His murky descriptions of things in this futuristic world left me unable to visualize things and at times I wasn't really clear on where the various characters were in the world and how they got there. The terminology is to be expected with a sci fi book and so I wasn't surprised by the vast number of words I needed to add to my vocab in order to navigate the Stephenson book, since all books of this genre do this, but there were times when it just became a bit much.

The book plays with the notion of education, the role of a teacher/mentor, with communication and the idea of a "group-mind or hive-mind." It explores nanotechnology, seed technology, artificial intelligence and its failures and the sociology of a world without countries.

It's an interesting book and while I didn't love it, it still proved to be a good book club choice simply for the discussions that emerged


History/August's RRVWP Book Club Pick

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson (in progress)

Having read Larson's Devil in the White City, I expected to enjoy this title too. Thunderstruck is a book which interweaves the stories of Hawley Crippen, a murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi inventor of wireless technology. I am finding it to be a less gripping story than The Devil in the White City and it's not moving as quickly for me, but it's also been a really busy time of year. Expect a review to follow next month!

Films watched in August 09
Bolt (library rental)
Mamma Mia (rental -- rewatched)
The Ugly Truth (theatre)
Happy Go Lucky (library rental)
Fool's Gold (borrowed)

Music listened to in August 09

Mostly My Chemical Romance as I prepped my classroom for the start of school

Posted by Carm at 5:06 PM 0 comments    

Labels: books, films, in review, music

via Le Love

When I was young I often had the occasion to spend the night at my hometown grandma's house. Thinking of those times summons all sorts of sensory images:

Kitchen: Sun shining in, prisms casting dancing rainbows on the wall, the floor. Fresh flowers on the table.

The room was warm, friendly, the heart of the home. Grandma was a great cook/baker, but her cookie jar always had Oreos inside.

Living room: Black Forest cuckoo clock. Jade, ivy, rich flowering violets. A china cabinet with Coalport figurines.

"Mine" was named Kelly, because she was a teacher and green and lovely and prim and Grandma said she reminded her of me. While I've no urge to collect china dolls for myself, I spent many childhood hours looking at her figurines and pouring over the import catalogues that featured them.

The Front Entry: The Tupperware animal toys, Lincoln logs, Jeans Beans and other dolls. On the shelf, out of reach were board games: Chinese checkers, Whot, Scrabble, and more. Hanging in the closet were her coats -- including a worn fur she'd had for years.

I realize now, my grandma was not only a stylish lady but my own hero when I was young. I held her world and possessions in a kind of awe that hasn't faded. I saw her every day of my life, but she was always someone special.

The Basement: Cool, damp, scary open stairs, a small enclosed root cellar that smelled of potatoes and onions and earth. Canned goods, vases waiting for flowers, and old toys. My favorite was an old baby buggy that my aunts played with in the early 1940s.

The Front Yard: Bird bath, hummingbird feeder, lilac bushes, tiger lilies that would stain your clothes, babies breath and gorgeous flower beds.

The Back Yard: Rose bushes, a small garden, clothes line, mint plants, honeysuckle, and a shed full of all kinds of treasures -- old hats and gloves, things from grandma's past.

I remember being fascinated by "taking one's garbage out" and how it was picked up by someone. We just had "the burn barrel" and an entirely different garbage routine at home.

Guest room: firm mattress, cool sheets, new nighttime noises

I grew up on a farm inhabited by nature sounds at night and found the sounds of town unusual and distracting when it was bedtime for mini-me. Of course now, I'm trained to ignore the loud clanking of the trains that pass 1/2 mile from my house and the whistles as they blow through the center of town at all hours of the night.

Grandma's bedroom: the wooden jewelry box, her drawer of handkerchiefs, her kissing angels and lilac perfume. I loved to just put my nose to the bottle and inhale deeply. That smell was incredible to me when I was young. Grandma always had a Bible and a small book of devotionals by her bed.

Bathroom: Dove soap, ceramic wall hangings, a wooden toilet seat, a towel hamper built into the wall where we'd hide as children when playing hide and seek. It's so small I can't imagine ever fitting in there.

The inspiration or seed for this blog post came from the picture at the top of the post. It reminded me of the medicine cabinet mirror at my grandma's house. Truly, MY first home. What I think of as my grandma's house was actually my parents first home where they lived for about eight years before taking over the family farm.

Sometimes when the bathroom gets really steamy, one can read a message on the mirror written forty years ago in shaving creme. My memory fades and I can't quite remember what it said. I know there was a heart and it might have just said I love you, I think there might have been names or initials. Mom says she's not sure who wrote it -- her or dad. She thinks Valentine's Day may have played a role. It doesn't matter. I just know that I loved that steamy mirror message. I loved that 20 years later it would still show up, forever imprinted on that mirror surface.

The house was sold about a year after Grandma died. All sorts of memories are linked to the physical bits of that place, but I have them in my heart too. I hope that steamy mirror message still appears spreading its love.

Posted by Carm at 10:47 AM 0 comments    

Labels: family

Posted by Carm at 9:40 PM 0 comments    

Labels: films, hamster

Posted by Carm at 12:15 AM 2 comments    

Labels: family, shopping, wordless wednesday

On Sunday, my pal Mike invited Pam and me to his place for some quality time with ABBA. I'd already seen the Mamma Mia film and while it wasn't my favorite movie, I do love the music. I was hesitant at first (remember my karaoke phobia). Howeverl, I actually KNOW these songs inside and out and it was quite a different experience for me. A good time was had by all--wine helped! (Pam, could you tell me the name of the wine? I want to remember that one)

Posted by Carm at 9:19 PM 1 comments    

Labels: films, music, wine

Couldn't resist posting a few pics of some of my favorite kiddos. We had a blast shopping and snacking and being secret agents while mom and dad were away. We even solved a mystery right in my building. The case of the misplaced letters was solved by this trio of crackerjack investigators. They created their own FBI badges and we dusted for fingerprints and interviewed neighbors. We communicated by code-names with two-way radios and tested suspicious liquids found in the laundry room!

You can find all kinds of fun stuff for kids here, and here

Posted by Carm at 10:34 PM 0 comments    

Labels: babysitting

Posted by Carm at 1:54 PM 0 comments    

Labels: gardening, wordless wednesday

Posted by Carm at 8:26 PM 0 comments    

Labels: films

Last Friday night, Pam and I attended the Crimson Creek Players performance of Hair at the Empire Theatre. Since it's one of my favorite musical soundtracks I got a big kick out of it. I had to resist the urge to say, "oh, I love this song" or "this is my favorite song" to about half of the songs in the show. Truly, though, my favorites tend to be as follows:

Aquarius
Air
Ain't Got No
I Got Life
Hair
Manchester, England
Easy to be Hard
3-5-0-0
Good Morning, Starshine
The Flesh Failures (Let the Sun Shine In) as the final number is very moving and powerful every time I hear it...

I recognized a number of the cast members from other local productions and I have to say that Jared Kinney did a fine job as Claude and Tyler Rood's Margaret Mead performance was priceless. Of course, they were all terrific, but those were two of the standouts for me.



Here's the link to the new Broadway version of the show with some clips too.

Here's a link to some of the history of the musical.

Posted by Carm at 8:54 PM 0 comments    

Labels: films, music