Trying Again

I feel that my attempts at blogging are doomed to fail.  I just don't have anything interesting to say.  I could talk about TV shows, movies and music but so many have done it better and continue to do it better.

I do have something to share on the whole, "being Scottish" thing.  My darling husband has come up with a way of dealing with my contrariness.  When I do things that are upbeat and positive I am Canadian Christine and when I'm pessimistic and negative I'm Scottish Christine.  He puts the pessimism down to living in a country where it rained most of the time.  He's hilarious!! No more does he say that the glass is half empty or half full, he just says, "Oh it's Scottish Christine today!!"  Scottish Christine tells him that no we can't afford to do all the things we want to do on vacation because it is too expensive.  Canadian Christine says, "Fuck it we'll use a credit card!!"

We are going to Scotland four weeks today and I am more excited than I ever thought I could be.  I haven't been home for 7 years so this is a big event.  Paul has never been to Scotland so he will be introduced to the places that made me.  I do think that we are very much influenced by place and he might understand the negativeness after this trip.  Or maybe Scotland has changed and I'll have to admit that I too can change and become Canadian Christine all the time!

This will be my first time travelling to the UK as a Canadian citizen and I feel like I have betrayed my roots somehow.  But at least I get the opportunity to vote here now and that is very important to me.  The very first election that I voted in was the one where Margaret Thatcher was elected.  A grim day and the start of a grim decade for the UK.  She died last week and I won't speak ill of the dead but I can't speak well of her either.  She's gone and that's that!!

I decided this week that I was going to set up a Facebook page for my cousins.  There are 15 of us on my mum's side and although we have never really been close, we are family and I wanted to bring us all together before alzheimer's takes away our memories.  I was chatting to one cousin on Facebook, my cousin Alison and I enjoyed chatting so much that I wanted to reach out to the others.  I don't have kids but most of them do and perhaps the kids want to know more about where their parents and grandparents came from.  So I created the group, invited the cousins and a few have joined and have added some of the next generation already.  I hope everyone gets involved.  We live all over the world, some of our parents are gone and we have a blood connection.  Canadian Christine thinks it will be a wonderful success and may even lead to us all getting together one day.  Scottish Christine thinks no one cares and they won't join.  Time will tell.  It was fun creating it anyway.

Change again!

So the whole movie thing was a bust. Now I think I'll just write about stuff I do and how being Scottish affects what I do. More to follow!

Postcards from the Edge

From the moment that Meryl Streep looked directly at the camera and said, "Fuck," I was hooked. I know its Carrie Fisher's story and that interested me, I mean she was Princess Leah after all, but its Meryl Streep's performance that makes me adore this movie. Who knew she could sing??? We know Shirley McLean can sing and we know Meryl Streep can act but the singing was a pleasant surprise. I never read Carrie Fisher's book so I'm not sure how close to the story the movie actually is.  I suspect it is not all that close but the story is of the troubled daughter of fame and from what I've read of Carrie Fisher, at least that much is true to life.

The movie is full of memorable quotes, from the life imitating art bit to Aretha saying that she was off to weave a basket and many more others that I keep dropping into conversation.  Still looking for the opportunity to use, "They're blanks, asshole," in everyday conversation but perhaps the chances are limited. I'm sure my darling husband, Paul, would prefer that I never have need to use it.

Suzanne, Meryl Streep's character, makes her way from drug addict to singing sensation and on the way repairs her relationship with her mother, has a short lived relationship with a writer who cheats on her and confronts her demons with wit and sarcasm.  The phoniness of Hollywood is on display not only in the people but also buildings move to reveal that they are nothing but sets.

As I said before, this movie makes me smile and I have watched it dozens of times. I don't know of anyone who likes it as much as I do. Most folks say it is ok, not a classic but alright.  No one ever said it would be a classic but I will still watch it and if it comes out on Blu ray, I'll be first in line!!

Thanks for listening.

My first blog

I wanted to start a blog but each time I try to do something like this I have no idea what to write about.  I was sitting in my basement looking at my DVD and Blue ray collection and I thought to myself that I would like to share my thoughts on the movies in my collection.  I have very catholic tastes when it comes to movies. Basically I like what I like. A movie will mean something to me, it will excite me, it will amaze me, it will bore the pants off me, I will hate it, I will love it, I will rave about it or I will warn people not to watch it.  I guess that is exactly what the movies makers want. A reaction. Any kind of reaction. They want to make money so they try to create something that will entertain and cause us to react. If I love a movie my first reaction will be to want to own it as soon as it comes out on DVD and more recently on Blue ray. I will want to watch it again.

So every DVD in my collection is something that I would watch more than once? Um, not quite!! I have been given some crap movies as gifts. Sorry, but Me, Myself & Irene was a gift from my then 16 year old niece and it is shit with a capital SH!! I appreciated the sentiment so I can't bring myself to get rid of it.  Then there are the movies that the critics loved and I bought without having seen them. Never do that!! It's not worth it.  Having sat through the first hour of Lost in Translation, I can honestly say that the critics have no idea what they are talking about. I mean what the fuck was that all about. Bill Murray is a comic genius but this was bad, see above re SH!!

I will mention sequels only briefly at this point. There are some amazing sequels. Godfather II to name but one. Should I even mention the third Matrix movie? I don't own that one, I wouldn't have it on my shelf, it would tarnish the others next to it.

I am not a writer, I'm a media junkie. My grammar sucks and I quote and usually misquote movies whenever I can. I don't want life to imitate art, I want it to be art. Name the movie!! No, can't get it, well it's Postcards from the Edge and will be the first movie that I review. It's not a classic, it's not my favourite movie, but I like it, it makes me smile.