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Sunday, July 01, 2007

A Book, Movie, and Song Review

Book
Last weekend, a friend of mine wanted to go to a big bookstore to buy something, and while i don't typcially buy books at the major places, i knew i would find Amy Karol's Bend The Rules Sewing book. Sure enough, there it was and it's even better to look over it in person. I bought it, and the latest Readymade, and I am already excited about making several of the project and of course, a Flickr group has already been formed to share our works with each other. I have an upcoming children's birthday party to attend, and i will be tackling one of the project this weekend, as a gift. I promise to show it to you once it's been delivered so the surprise's not out.
As a lover of purses and bags, i can't wait to make this purse. I love the handles on it and i already know what fabric i'll be using. If you want to read more reviews of it, check this or this out.

Movie
Now that we've joined Zip.ca (similar to Net Flicks), we are catching up on all the movies and TV shows we've ever wanted to see. Like the series Wonder Woman for example, or SherryBaby (which is today's choice). One of the movies we finally saw, after missing it in the theatre, is Children of Men. I'm so glad we saw it. What a powerful message and it was filmed amazingly. It captured us from the beginning, and minus a need for a bit more character development and context, this set-in-the-future story made sense and was easy to follow. Unlike some others that try to hard to be abstact.

It made me both so angry at countries' immigration policies, discrimination, and it showed how we treat the earth directly impacts us to, in this case re: infertility. So the movie is about immigration, fear of terrorism, infertility, the environment, and being active in your community to right a wrong. That's my interpretation anyway. It left me angry and sad at times, and got me moved. One wonderful aspect of watching the DVD is the special feature documentary with leaders (like Naomi Klein and Saskia Sassen) committed to globalization issues. Great idea - i think everyone should watch that too. There is violence in this movie, and sometimes it is quite graphic, but it was shot realistically and with integrity. There is one scene, that i won't describe here because it'll give away too much, that is shot beautifully and with such hope. If you see it soon, just look for a scene where everyone stands still for a few moments. Brilliant.

Song

Feist's new album, The Reminder, is one of my favourite one's for the summer - and longer. I am totally devoted to it. There are mellow songs, fun dancy songs, and some quite reflective ones, but all put together, the album follows my own moods and fits in well perfectly. I especially love "1234" because it's quirky and i can't help but bop my head to the beat. The video to it is totally fun too - and i was 'this close' to appear in it as a unitard-clad dancer. If you haven't seen it, it's a great video that is simple in nature but you can tell the group was having so much fun dancing it. Now that my favourite summer show is back on, So You Think You Can Dance, dance is back in my life full force, after a bit of a hiatus from work overload.

Back to the song, i especially love the line "those teenage hopes who have tears in their eyes, too scared to own up to one little lie" because it takes me right back to high school and speaks to most of the relationships i had then. Not just to own up to a lie, but also to challenge them and to speak up for myself. My own teenage hopes ended up being with tears because of the games we all played, by choice or not. Thank goodness i've learned how to speak up and to take care of myself.

Watch the video here at You Tube. Dont' be afraid to bop around!

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8 Comments:

Blogger jen said...

how funny, i just bought that book on friday! it looks great.

so you think you can dance is my favorite show right now too. but i'm really mad at the judges right now so i don't want to talk about it.

5:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What's wrong with buying books at "major places"? Where do you normally buy your books from?

I like Feist's music too but I seldom ever try to decipher what the words are saying...I'm more interesting the the tune, sound, beat, rhythm, sometimes I even make up my own words to a song - just because :D

6:03 PM  
Blogger Allyson Hill said...

Oh good, I was hoping my local "major place" would have this book!

6:28 AM  
Blogger Carla said...

That does look like a good book! Everyone's on about So You Think You Should Dance, maybe I should check it out.

12:26 PM  
Blogger peonyshade said...

very much digging the purse. hmmm, maybe i need to add to my library

10:32 PM  
Blogger vania said...

Jodi, there's nothing wrong with big box bookstores, and the like, i just personally love supporting smaller stores, private 'mom and pop' and specialty book stores. I do love going to the bigger ones to browse around in and kill time, but if i can, i'll actually buy something at the smaller ones. There are some great stores here in Toronto that usually sell what i want, like Toronto Women's Bookstore, for example. I do this with other places too, like Walmart and the Gap - since i can afford to pay a bit more and buy local things that i know where hand made locally, etc. Does that make sense.
And, i too love making up my own words to songs, though my partner usually corrects me - except in this case with '1234' where he also thought Feist was saying 'teenage ho's' instead of 'teenage hopes.' thank goodness we learned the real words!

9:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vania,
I totally agree with you in supporting local, independent shops in the city as opposed to the big box stores. I was just wondering if it's more of a political stance on your part or something.

For books, I always check the public library first and then I will go to Book City or World's Biggest book store, if I choose to purchase a book. I never shop at the Gap and I might go to Wal-Mart twice a year to get some cheapies like toilet paper, light bulbs and other household necesessities, if I happen to be near a W-M.

Truth be known, as I am on a shoe-string budget at the moment, I do seek out cheaper products which many times can only be found in stores like Canandian Tire, Winners or Wal-Mart.

Gee, I thought that I was a rare species when it came to making up my own words to songs. Glad to hear I'm not alone :D

6:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

vania!
just wanted to say hi and happy summer!

yesterday marked our 1 year anniversary of meeting in real life!

while i was one of the few people i know who didn't like children of men, i realize it was for the things you mentioned: character development and context. it was hard to believe why he would do what he was doing, before he even knew why this woman needed saving. things like this occurred throughout, and it just kept bothering me. oh well!

11:51 AM  

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