Spooky Double Feature

Spent most of today with m'gal Ashlee. We hit MOM's for lunch and snacks for the movie and Ashlee unloaded all the bullshit that she's been going through lately. Then we headed to the Anthony Wayne Theatre to see A Quiet Place. Believe the hype, people, because it was superb from start to finish.

(photo kidnapped from screenrant)

(photo kidnapped from denofgeek)

At 9pm-ish I went to Bishop and Pax's to see Happy Death Day, a sort of 1980s slasher film-meets-Groundhog Day. It was really fun! It was the ideal late-Saturday-evening-by-the-fire kinda flick (sidebar: can you believe it's April and stil 41 degrees out?). The best part of the night was the little moment Pax and I had when Bishop overreacted to something then left the room for a bit; Pax looked at me and whispered "he's such a drama queen..." Ha! Pax is always calm and patient and it was just super funny for him to vent a little to me. I love those two fellas a whole bunch.

(photo kidnapped from empirecinemas)

(photo kidnapped from variety)

Now Playing

The Specials - A Message to You Rudy
Remy Shand - The Way I Feel
Joe Dassin - Et si tu n'existais pas
Scott Walker - The Big Hurt
Grizzly Bear - Fine for Now
Brian Setzer Orchestra - Town Without Pity
David Sanborn/Hilary James - Since I Fell for You
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Father John Misty - When You're Smiling and Astride Me
Bad Manners - My Girl Lollipop (live)
Fever Ray - If I Had a Heart
Elvis Costello - Watching the Detectives
M83 - Midnight City
Sam Cooke - Bring It On Home to Me
Kenny Loggins - This Is It
The Skyliners - Since I Don't Have You
Depeche Mode - But Not Tonight
Nelson Pigford & DeEtta Little - You Take My Heart Away
Fleetwood Mac - Bleed to Love Her

(Just a random little playlist on my iPod that I forgot all about until big brother Dave had a new battery installed in it and also replaced the screen, making it as good as it was back in 2007!)

On Bowie

I bought this in July of 2016 and am only just now cracking it open. Like all of Rob Sheffield's books, it's engrossing and moving and truly a wonderful read. I'm loving every word on every page.

(post script - I really liked the introduction of this book, which was when I wrote the above post, but it soon went downhill and I gave up on it completely at page 44. The book started to feel very rushed. I originally received the book in the mail and thought it felt like a cheap textbook and that the cover was super cheesy. The fact of the matter is the book was rushed. It reads like the first draft of a book that no one bothered to re-read to check for errors, spruce up, re-word or re-work anything. This book needed editing and several re-writes. There were so many things that were incorrect. David Bowie DID NOT have two different colour eyes. I know this because the man himself said it in a documentary I saw and it stuck with me. He did suffer an eye injury when he was younger and his one eye was permanently dilated which gives the illusion of two different coloured eyes. The truth is that the dilated one still had a thin blue rim.

I did not like that the author acted as though his own interpretations of Bowie's lyrics were what Bowie actually intended and thought when he wrote them. I detested that Sheffield over-used lyrics as sentences in between his own thoughts, and annoyingly did not italicise them so the book began to read like an article in a magazine with random poetry interspersed. It was sloppy. The absolute worst thing was when he misquoted lyrics. That's just bad. I mean, was he typing this book alone in an isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere with no access to the internet or music? Google the freakin' lyrics and get it right, dude. Even if you think you know the song inside and out, DOUBLE CHECK.

Lastly, to compare David Bowie's illustrious career, which spanned over fifty years, to effing Kanye West is an absolute insult. I am appalled that I even had to mention that person in the same sentence as an artist with the genius and humility and decency of David Bowie. There is no comparing the two. Ever. This book was an immense disappointment, except for the fact that it led me to locate the interview Bowie gave on The Dinah Shore Show in 1976. On Bowie stunk out loud and kind of, sadly, has put me off of reading any more of Sheffield's work. That Beatles book has been removed from my Amazon cart because I just don't trust his writing anymore.)

Looking Down Over the Rooftops

The view that I never ever tire of seeing.

March 2018 Donations

Years and years ago I heard about Smile Train and just HAD to send some cash their way. Smile Train is an international children’s charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate. When I receive a donation form in the mail they write how much your donation will help, such as $250 will cover the cost of one complete cleft repair, whereas fifty bucks will cover an overnight hospital stay. The before and after photos of the kids will have you in tears. It's so wonderful to see the transformation and to know that I had a small part in changing some lives.

A friend of mine had sent a text to a bunch of us gal-pals to let us know that her cousin was gathering donations for The Water Project. Clean, safe drinking water is scarce. Today, nearly 1 billion people in the developing world don't have access to it. I tend to take a lot of every day things in my life for granted and clean water is one of them. I am always grateful, but it's so easy to let things slip to the back of your mind (like living in a safe area, possessing good health, having a plethora of food choices at my fingertips, good friends and family, freedom of speech, and so on and so forth) and let complaining take over ("Ugh, I have to wait til next year to go to Positano..." "Why is my stupid internet so slow..." et cetera...). It felt good to focus on being thankful, to help Auda reach her $1000 goal, and to assist in providing clean water to someone so far away.

I kept seeing ads on Instagram for something called 4Ocean and decided to check it out. The team at 4Ocean is looking to remove all the garbage from the ocean, so as soon as I read that, I was all in. This is a disturbing fact that they have posted on their website: By 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the world's ocean. We're on a mission to stop this. Now it's my mission, too. Essentially by purchasing a bracelet (it's simple and non-gender specific) the money will go to removing a pound of trash from the ocean. I felt compelled to place an order. Now technically this doesn't count as a real donation, since I was actually buying a bracelet, or two in this case, but it was for a good cause so I'm counting it as bonus donations for the month.

Please join me in the Low Budget Philanthropy movement and help out your community and beyond in the simplest way - donating any amount to whatever charity or organisation that you care about!

Easter 2018

Easter was super fun this year. I got to chase Lucy around, catch up and talk with Syd and Zach, joke around with Jackson and chat with my three brothers and my two sister-in-laws. Mum was busy serving food and gabbing with everyone, but we caught up after everyone headed home. I even scored some pretty fab pix - see for yerself!

Xavier & Mary - the happiest married couple I've ever known. They are both so perfect for eachother.

Jax and Zach breakin' out the big smiles. I love Zach's hair - he looks like a young Brian Setzer. So hip and rockabilly.

Ain't Mama Rosie purty?

Lucy actually let me carry her around for a bit! Progress.

The "look nice in this one" photo.

Followed by the "all right be goofy now" pic.

The friggin' sun was blinding... 

Look at Syd - she is effortlessly beautiful. And confident. And smart. And ambitious. And kind. And funny. And so much more.

My three brothers (Wayne, Xavier, and Dave) with the lil guy gettin' in on the photo op. 

My Ideal Easter Basket

I so want a sweet lil' Paddington Bear just like this one...but I'm a grown up and need to stifle impulses to buy stuffed animals. But he's soooooo cute!