Red carpet cat

The stars came out recently as Gonzo, the commoner cat, did the red carpet thing on her way to receive her award as most interesting pet.

The evening did not transpire without controversy, however. Gonzo made it quite clear she found the term pet, "... disagreeble, offensive and indicative of a patriarchal attitude that cannot and must not be tolerated."

She then proceeded to tear some very high priced gowns with her claws as she engaged in a hissy fit.

On another note, when asked who she was wearing for the evening, Gonzo replied coldly, "Me. It's called fur, moron."

The interesting cat

And the winner is ... Gonzo! Most interesting pet on the floor where I work.

Okay, so it ain't an Oscar and it ain't no Nobel Prize. But Gonzo managed to surmount the fierce competition for this coveted award to become recognized as the most interesting pet.

Frankly, we're both a bit puzzled by it given her generic, cookie-cutter cat appearance and mongrel ancestory. But we'll take it!

Actually, Gonzo is a bit of a practical cat. Her first question on hearing the news was, "And the prize? Is it money? There's no point in getting an award if there's no money attached. Where's the cash? What we talking here? Huh?"

Testosterone shot

Every now and again you want to see something silly, mindless but well made. Well, you could do worse than 1987's Predator. (But really, it is pretty idiotic.)

At last - American Beauty

I've always liked American Beauty. So I've finally gotten around to scribbling a few thoughts down. Unfortunately, it is scribbling. It's disjointed and incoherent. But at least I got something done. Maybe one day I'll revisit it when I'm more ... um, thoughtful?

Are we going to take it?

It is roughly 5 degrees Celcius outside. (That would be about 41 F.) It is expected to go down to 1 degree tonight. (And that would be 33.8 F.) We have it on good meteorological authority that we can expect snow. Don't believe me? Check the weather links here.

What I find discouraging is that not so long ago I was here, with all the blue. And when I was here, it was 37 degrees - quite toasty.

How quickly things change. Shall we take it? Must we? Against whom are we to rebel?

Speaking of hurricanes

With Frances slowly trundling over Florida, hurricanes seem to be the theme of the day and it brings to mind by favourite movie on this subject, John Ford's 1937 The Hurricane. (Of course, there's also Key Largo.)

The movie climaxes with what may be my favourite special effects sequence, certainly one of the best on film. It's all the more amazing because it's from 1937.

(It should be said, however, special effects are helped greatly by being in black and white.)

Who I was?

This was me. Or who the Internet thinks I was. Great tool for those who haven't a sense of their own identity.




Which 1990's Subculture Do You Belong To?

[Another Quiz by Kris
@ couplandesque.net]

Another change coming?

I may change the template of this blog. On the other hand I may not. Can't decide. In the meantime, as I struggled with this great decision, I added Arsenic and Old Lace.

Actually, it's Bow Lake

Well, on my little ramble I incorrectly identified Bow Lake, Alberta as Columbia Lake. I knew I would identify something incorrectly. I just wasn't sure what it would be. So I've updated the pages and they are now accurate - more or less.

Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo

I managed to do a movie marathon last night. Only because while watching Get Shorty they mentioned Rio Bravo ... so I went and played it. For what it's worth, here's my take on Rio Bravo.

Why live in Canada?

I suppose at least some of my reasons can be found here, in my West Kootenay ramble. It may not be the sort of thing everyone would care for but for those who do, these are images from my part of world.

Back from West Kootenay

For someone of my limited travelling inclination and experience, I certainly covered a heck of a lot of ground in the last week.

The main stop was a few days in Kaslo, on Kootenay Lake in the West Kootenays (British Columbia). Getting there from Creston in B.C. has to be one of the coolest drives a person could make. It winds around mountains with some hair-raising turns, landslide warnings and includes a ferry ride. (On the way up we had to take the long way since we couldn't get to Balfour and the ferry - a landslide blocked the way).

But Kaslo was only one part. There was the getting to Kaslo and the return trip, by another route. So we took in quite an array of mountains and mountain lakes, deer and elk, and various grizzly bear warnings.

We drove from Edmonton west to the mountains to get there. On the way back, we went south by Creston, nudged the Idaho border, up to Cranbrook, over to Fernie where we camped, then on to the Crowsnest Pass and finally to Fort Macleod where I got off and took the bus back to Edmonton.

Of all the things we saw, I think I'd have to say the Frank Slide, where part of Turtle Mountain collapsed and slid down on a coal mining camp back in 1903 (the largest slide in North America), was the most astonishing. Any pictures I've seen of this area don't really capture it. The immensity of the boulders and the breadth of the slide are ... well, astonishing. It makes you feel very small and very fragile.

Hellboy revisited

I just watched Hellboy again. Afterwards, I watched the DVD documentary. (I should say I started to. It's still playing in the background. It's about as engaging as watching the Canadian House of Commons.)

Anyway, I had to scribble this down. It's director Guillermo del Toro:

"One of the keys to the comics is to understand that even though Hellboy is six foot five, bright red, has horns and a tail and all that, he's a regular Joe."

Huh? Are you listening to yourself? This is the problem with Hellboy. It's very well made. But it's stupid! It's dumb, dumb, dumb!

This is why I rank it with Moulin Rouge as one of the best made stupid movies of recent years. (But I still like Ron Perlman in it.)

John Ford & Liberty Valance

It has taken me a while to finally get around to picking up John Ford's 1962 western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. But I finally did and I finally got around to writing about it. Actually, I wrote quite a bit. I appear to have gotten a little carried away.

But it's a great movie. A great western. If you like these kinds of films, this is a classic. A "must see," as they say.

Butch and Sundance

I would have been 13 or 14 when I first saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I've seen it many times since. The question is, why do I like it? Why does anyone like this movie? (And why did it get so many bad reviews when it came out despite the fact people loved it?)

I try to explain why I think the movie works in my review of it. (Is it accurate to call my ramblings reviews? Maybe not but I don't know what else to call them.)

Hitchcock double dip

It looks like Warner is bringing out Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train again on September 7th - this time as a two disc, special edition set.

I don't know what's planned for the set. I would guess that, like the single disc version already out, it will have both versions - the British and the American. Other than that ... I don't know. The single disc is pretty good already, except for the fact it is dual-sided (one version on each side) and in that horrible cardboard and plastic case. Knowing nothing about what's on this new set (as compared to the single), I don't know whether it would be worth getting.

But I am intrigued.

The logo irks me

I continue to make changes here and on Piddleville overall (though the real changes I'd like to make, such as css, I haven't made since - blush - I don't know how yet. (Even though I've had the sites for years!)

The most irksome thing for me right now is the Piddleville (and Burble) logos - if that's not too lofty a word for what is really just a cheap, amateurish text graphic. I would go back to the old logo but somehow it doesn't seem to fit with the look of the site.

Don't be surprised to see the image keep changing. I'll probably keep at it till I get it right (or breakdown and ask/pay someone to do it for me).

What's up with Piddleville?

You may have noticed Piddleville is somewhat quirky these days. The reason for this is simple: I'm playing around. And I have an obsessive need to publish pages even when they aren't ready. (I'm sure a good therapist could explain why.)

Anyway ... the home page has a bit of a new look as I add or update the odd thing. For instance, since adding Google in the header I can now do searches of Piddleville. This may not be of value to anyone but it is a value to me.

And what's with the news page? No sooner do I get it up than something goes wonky with the CBC feed. Either nothing has happened in Canada the last few days or there's a glitch somewhere. (I can't even access their support site.)

That's what is up. I'll probably keep playing with things for a while. Expect to see some other quirks here and there.

Perlman in Hellboy

The movie Hellboy is kind of like a TV show with a big budget. It's entertaining in its way but not particularly memorable ... with the exception of Ron Perlman. He gives a great performance as a hero who just couldn't give a monkey's behind about anything. Very dry; very good.

Mr. Blandings a bit bland?

I appear to be alone in my opinion of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. This may be due to the fact I've never been involved in building a house. I don't know. Most reviews seem to like the movie but I found it a bit dated and flat. Go figure.