Babblings of a Self-Appointed Literary Genius: January 2008

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The Power of Editing

Okay so have you ever went to a movie or rented one thinking it was one type of movie and found out the trailers were completely misleading? Well there are some excellent editors out there that have made fun of this by creating & posting hilarious cuts of movies accompanied by movies to make them look like a completely different film. There are tons of ones on www.youtube.com but I've taken the liberaty of collecting some of my favorites that are of a higher caliber. Enjoy!

Friday, January 25, 2008

Heath Ledger

I was in my car heading out on an errand and I turned on my Sirius to the Cosmo station ("Cocktails with Patrick" is often entertaining if not insightful). Patrick was talking about the 'passing of heath ledger' and I was like what? Is it April Fool's? Is this some sort of sick joke? Unfortunately when I kept listening & further listened to other stations (another entertainment channel as well as Headline News on TV) it was confirmed.

I think the news is so shocking because:

1. Mr. Ledger was not one of those typical celebrities of nowadays who takes part in binge drinker, hard drugs and a fast life.
2. Heath doesn't make the headlines much in celebrity magazines except when he was being photographed with his ex Michelle Williams during their dating & with their child Matilda.
3. He was a young person to leave so soon, only 28.

4. Heath has always struck me as a genuine talent in acting, rather than just a heart throb (though I do/did find him deeply attractive). Especially as he seemed to take great care in picking each role rather than just whichever one paid the best. He took a giant risk portraying the role in 'Brokeback Mountain' proving that he was anything but typecast.

5. He seems to be maintaining a consistant career with the recent Oscar win from Brokeback Mountain and the upcoming Batman flick.

6. The original details surrounding his death were indicating a potential suicide or drug overdose both of which seemed out of style with what was public about his life.

While I couldn't possibly begin to say that I am experiencing the pain in his passing that would accompany me knowing him personally, my heart aches knowing that his family & friends are suffering - especially his young, young daughter. I am also saddened by the fact that I believe we lost an important person from this world. He had begun doing great things with his celebrity and now we'll never know what his full potential could have been. With every great person that we lose, I fear the good are leaving and the bad remain. I think part of it is also that as each year passes the reality of our mortality sinks in more and more for me.

I do appreciate the information the media brings to me & that they do it in a timely manner. However I am irked by each and every time I hear the words "Heath Ledger is Dead." Is there not a nicer way to say this? Even a minor change to it into "Heath Ledger has died" seems softer and more caring. I was also frustrated to hear the public (& police) immediately jump to the conclusion that because he's a young actor it must have been suicide or a illegal drug overdose. I cannot claim to know Mr. Ledger personally but from what I feel I've seen of his character, he doesn't seem the type to take the so-called easy way out, especially since he now has a daughter. Plus in the descriptions I heard that he was a) naked, b) had a massage scheduled & c) had sleeping pills near him. With all my CSI and Law & Order watching + crime novel reading my first reaction was to say: people who are planning to commit suicide generally don't make plans for a relaxing massage the next day & don't get naked before doing the deed. How many want their last impact on this world to be naked? (P.S. I told my theories immediately to my friend Mel within hours of hearing the news).

If, as the latest information seems to be indicating, Heath's death was an accidental sleeping pill overdose, then this story is a sad and deeply tragic reminder to all people to respect all drugs, prescription and OTC (over the counter) as well as herbal remedies. It is also the second major loss that Australia has had in less than two years, the first being Steve Irwin who's presence on Earth I also really enjoyed.

One more thing that struck me, is that it's been said that Heath's latest character, the Joker from Batman, has been haunting him. Here's a few article exerts:

#1: It is a physically and mentally draining role — his Joker is a “psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy” he said cheerfully — and, as often happens when he throws himself into a part, he is not sleeping much. “Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night,” he said. “I couldn’t stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.”
#2: Even as filming continues on “The Dark Knight,” Heath Ledger is reflecting on the character he has finished portraying. “It’s the most fun I’ve had with a character and probably will ever have.”

The second one is creepily insightful as that may have been his last major role. The joker character may have been haunting him but now the whole idea is haunting me. The following is a quote from a posting on Heath's imdb profile...it conveys how I felt that day & how I still feel:

I can't get him out of my head, hearing his voice on screen and seeing
him smile and thinking "wow, he died today."

Selected Filmography (make it a heath ledger tribute weekend):

the Dark Knight, 2008*

Casanova, 2005*

Lords of Dogtown, 2005*

the Four Feathers, 2005

Monster's Ball, 2001*

A Knight's Tale, 2001

the Patriot, 2000

10 Things I Hate About You, 1999

*I've not yet watched.

LAST WORD:

Upon looking for some quotes for this blog I came across another piece of shocking information: the lesser known actor Brad Renfro (b. 1982) also died a few short days ago on January 15, 2008. Allegedly committing suicide. Brad is nearly 2 months older than I. Correction, was.

This led me to wonder if other famous or quazi-famous people had passed that I was unaware of. Here are the ones I don't remember hearing about:

Pavarotti - Sept 6, 2007

Ike Turner - Dec 12, 2007

Similarly I also didn't know that Nicole Ritchie had a baby boy (Max) and that Christina Aguelara (sp?) had a baby girl (Harlow).

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Home Party Girl

So I think I am officially the home party girl. I just last night/today signed up to be a Partylite consultant. Here's my story of how I signed up for Partylite:

My friend Vanessa had an incredible party at her house with sales os over $1600 so she was able to get a free kit + $1400 in free product if she signed up. She is a very cautious person & didn't want to sign up with partylite as she feels there are too many consultants in her area (peace river) & she just signed up to do home & gift under me (woo hoo). Anyway I told her she was crazy not to take it as it was such an awesome deal. She was like "well do you want it" so I said "Sure! Why wouldn't I?" So the deal we made was that I got the free kit & we split free product & 1/2 price items & I would sign up as a consultant. So for very little committment or energy on my part I just got a free partylite kit, $700 in free stuff + three 1/2 priced items. Sweet deal eh? So if you every want a partylite party or want some products I will hook you up. However I think I will be my own best customer as I am a partylite freak!

Have you every heard the saying "Jack of all trades, master of none?" Well I'm beginning to worry that, that is where I am headed. So for all of you that are wondering, here is my master plan...

Partylite: Have people aware that I sell it so if they are interested in booking parties or purchasing product I can be their contact. Abuse my position to get wicked deals for myself and spend only about 5% of my time on this business line.

BeautiControl: Continue introducing people to the product as I love it & believe in it. The sign up is a minimal committment for others and a huge bargin so I will definitely be sharing that with everyone and also if they just want to purchase products, allowing that. Spend about 15 - 20% of my time pursing parties and leads as the rewards & perks with this company are A-MAZ-ING (more to come on what I've gotten so far!).

Home & Gift: Ultimately this will be my main focus. For me it is the easiest to book parties for and it is more in my comfort zone. Plus I have been successful with it so far so I believe that forecasts future success as well. I'll be allocating about 75% of my time to this.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Offspring Responsiblities

Okay so my brother-in-law Tyrone is staying at our house this weekend along with his 1 1/2 year old Kira. My mother-in-law Mary & her boyfriend Robert are here also. For those of you familiar with our house Tyrone is staying in our purple room, named appropriately so because of it's liliac purple walls. This room happens to be my baby cuz it is very feminine, has beautiful 'woman' colors and is decorated with the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Betty Boop and butterflies.

Well today Tyrone is off in a crib tournament with my husband and my mother-law-in was charged with babysitting (presumably I am incapable of babysitting but it is fine cuz I was able to sleep into the afternoon this way LOL). When I finally got up Kira was napping so she wasn't around. After tidying up the main floor I decided to go upstairs & work in my office as Mary & Robert were in the middle of a movie, Bourne Ultimatium, and I didn't want to see what happened as I haven't seen the first two! So while working there I heard Kira get up. I figured Mary would hear it too so I didn't respond right away. However the TV was cranked pretty loud so she must not have heard Kira banging around. Finally I got up to check on here & as I forced open the door the stench that hit me was overpowering. The smell of nasty, dirty diapers. I looked down & found Kira diaperless but all smiles. I took Kira to Mary who took care of her but I think the smell is coming from a pile of diapers in that room. So...

1. Why wouldn't Tyrone take the diapers & put them in our outside trash can?

2. Especially cuz he has been sleeping in that room all weekend.

3. I am freaked out cuz that room is carpeted & if it still stinks when they leave I will be very frustrated & upset.

4. What if there are poop or pee stains on my carpet? :-(

I am pouting. I am also flabbergasted. As a guest in someone's home, would you not make every effort to leave the house as you found it? Clean & in good order? I mean not only does the room smell but it also looks like a bomb hit it cuz there are clothes & stuff flung everywhere!

The "bomb" look extends to the rest of my house as well. Common also when Kim & Tyrone were together, they let there stuff lie where it falls, toys strewn everywhere, dirty dishes all over the house etc. And they wonder why they aways forget things. Comments?

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Haircuts!

My boys (the male dogs I treat like babies) got haircuts recently. I wanted to document this on my blog because I think their cuts are quite dramatic. In fact I feel like I have different dogs until their fur growns back, I love them the most in their crazy furry stage. But for them it is easiest when they are trimmed short.

BEFORE:

Dominic! (He has grinch hair)

Charlie, looks like an Ewok

AFTER:

And no their eyes are those colors, they are a basic black/brown but they photgraph green & blue for some reason. But aren't they scrawny? Maybe I should fill their food bowl LOL

My parents won the lottery and all I got was a lousy big screen...

Just kidding! We are completely greatful for our new tv. So here's the deal. Shortly before New Year's my dad got a call saying he had won 2nd place in the Cars for Christmas lottery = 2008 Chrysler Aspen a.k.a. an SUV. The lottery value of said vehicle was $64,000 however if my parents wanted cash from the dealership instead of the vehicle they could only give them $37,000 (hmmm, I wonder if that is their basic cost?). So, smartly my parents took the vehicle cuz they had some interested parties who had heard about their winnings via the grapevine. They ended up pawning if off very quickly for $40,000. They might have been able to haggle more from people but the idea of a quick sale + good karma won them over. My parents are fairly generous people so they wanted to treat each of us kids to something with their money, but they are also smart & conservative people so they weren't offering us a 1/5th share! My sister requested her "share" be put into the bank for college (shocking I know!) and my brother's was used to bribe him to go get his learners (he's 19 & for some reason has never gotten around to getting it). I'm happy to say my bro is now the proud owner of a legal ID for driving with a licensced driver!

Anyhoo, Tyler & I were given a budget & told to go pick out our tv as my parents know how anal we are about details & that we (well Tyler) have much more patience shopping around for the best deal. We ended up getting a Samsung 40" LCD Widescreen which was the best deal for our needs. We wanted a flatscreen but didn't want to pitch in extra money of our own as this is just for our main floor. Eventually when we build our "theatre room" in our basement we'd like to get a projection screen & projector to complete the theatre feel (at least that's what we think we want, we'll see when it happens).

I'll attach a picture of our cool new tv with what else on it? My Sims for Nintendo! P.S. in case you are wondering we had a basic 27" toshiba before that now resides in our unfinished basement.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

New look for a new year!

Changed the background again as I love change (when it's initiated by me that is)!

New post below:

Confessions of a Shopaholic Housewife #1

Repeat after me:

I will not get hooked on daytime TV and I will try to shop less.
I will not get hooked on daytime TV and I will try to shop less.
I will not get hooked on daytime TV and I will try to shop less.
I will not get hooked on daytime TV and I will try to shop less...

So far the first half has been easy as I've been sleeping until noon and then rushing around each afternoon to remain somewhat productive. The second half has not been so easy as 1) I now have 2 home businesses & the reason I am a consultant with them is cuz I love their products & I really LOVE the products @ a discount, 2) I've decided that I need to go to Texas for a woman's conference and I HAVE to have two dresses for it (one dressy & one springy) so I need to find those as I obviously don't own any dresses other than my wedding dress & my grad dress. If I knew the ladies better I might have tried to get away with that combo (as it does fit the bill) however I think it would alienate me more than making them my comrades! 3) I honestly have an addiction/sickness and you need external support to kick the habit. You also need the desire to kick the habit and I am lacking there also.

Hmmm, so my big hurrah for 2008 was getting this time 'off' and having a chance to really get my house & life in order. Between September & November I was uber, fantastically busy with Home & Gift and my office became a disaster area, as well as my basement & as well as my bookkeeping. My task list is montreous & I can't believe how long it takes to cross a couple items off! So needless to say I am frustrated with my slow progress. Oh well! Getting up at a decent time would help. For instance today I:

-took the boys in for their haircuts @ doggy do's for 8am (yes i was still in my pj pants & hat),

-went home to shower & pretty myself up

-went to your supper solution (add a www & .ca on it to check out the website) for 10am to assemble some meals. came out of there with 12 meals & 2 side dishes that i did plus 3 from the previous month that were already done.

-had a quick orthodonic check up at 12:30pm.

-got a book from the library.

-picked up a parcel.

-picked up my dogs.

-called home & gift to ask 3 questions i've been meaning to ask.

-now am home writing on my blog again (another goal). & it's only 3:11...awesome! i also plan to cook dinner, make marshmellow treats, unpack an order & possibly watch a tv show before tyler gets home. go me, it's your birthday...

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Writer's Strike

Since I'm not a big News watcher, I don't really listen to the radio & I think newspapers are boring I tend not to hear communications at the same time as everyone else. We I noticed that most of my favorite shows were in re-runs I figured that Hollywood was just taking bigger advantage of their "hiatus"s. Apparently there is/was a writer's strike on. If you're anything like me and didn't really know that here's a video (or two if I find more) that help you to understand why we shouldn't curse the writers but more the "fat cats" of Hollywood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ55Ir2jCxk

From my favorite show the Office's writers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6hqP0c0_gw

And the facebook group you should all join:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7476916262

Babblings of a Self-Appointed Literary Genius