Wednesday 26 August 2009

More about books

I got a book in the mail!

And now I get to read it and blog about it! Never done a book review before, so it's a neat idea for me. The author is Andrew Peterson who I know first as a musician. In fact, I have a sticker in my room (stuck to a container of files) that says "Andrew Peterson is my friend" that he gave to me after a private concert I had the privilege of experiencing. I don't even remember what year it was, but it was before his album Love and Thunder came out because I remember him introducing the song "Tools" and talking about his grandpa. I had really only just been introduced to his music and these friends had heard wind that Andrew was playing in Grand Island, NY. A little vanload of us headed down for the show, only to encounter a two-hour delay at the Queenston/Lewiston border crossing! :( When we finally arrived to the venue, the place was empty and we discovered that the concert had started a couple hours before it was advertised as the start time! There had been some kind of promotional miscommunication. A whole second sitting of people came for the time that we were aiming to be there and Andrew and his crew were kind enough to put on a second show for them! And then our van pulled up.

I don't think there was anyone else left but Andrew, his crew (including Ben Shive and maybe one person closing up the venue. They were packing up and saw us pull in. Again, Andrew was willing to play us another concert and we all sat down on the grass and listened. A great song-writer, musician and story-teller, it was a memorable time!

I keep an eye out for other shows of his (or others of the Square Peg Alliance like Jill Phillips or Derek Webb) to come somewhere close, but it doesn't seem to happen! Not too much representing in the Great White North. I would love to see and hear the "Behold the Lamb of God" Christmas tour, but the closest one this year is still about 5 hours (somewhere in Michigan or one somewhere in Ohio)!

Anyway, considering the knack for story-telling that I observed in that memorable private concert of Andrew's and considering my renewed interest in fiction and even in kid's/teen's books (Harry Potter, Twilight, Lemony Snicket), I got a copy of the first book in the The Wingfeather Saga as soon as it came out and now I am looking forward to continuing the story!

I'm right in the midst of moving, settling into a new job (trying to learn the ropes around a Health store--supplements and all that jazz), wrapping up the summer (road trips to visit family) and preparing to go back to school BUT, I WILL get to reading this book. Expect my official review between Sept. 14 and 18 (which also happens to be my first week of school) to be part of the "North! Or Be Eaten" blog tour.

Tuesday 18 August 2009

Movies @ the cinema

I'm moving soon and am taking some time this week to pack. You know you're a bit of a nerd when the majority of your boxes are books and cds! This morning I've been going through paperwork and through a tin of random things. It's interesting to see what things I have saved. I try my best to not be a pack rat, keeping a policy to get rid of an item of clothing every time I get a new piece for example. I think this is a by product of the first two years that I lived in Kitchener-Waterloo, when I packed up and moved (either abroad or to another rental place in town) eleven times!!

Anyway, in this tin I mentioned are things like old (and current) passports, extra sets of car keys, Canadian Tire money, business cards...and...saved cinema stubs! I'm not sure when I started this habit, but I think that I have saved stubs from nearly every movie I've seen in the cinema for at least ten years. Why? I can think of two reasons. The first is because I remember that a friend once told me that Jumbo Video would give out free rentals for your cinema stubs. Do I have a Jumbo Video membership or do I ever go to the one location in town? Nope. Second, I was never allowed to go to the movies as a kid. The first time I ever went to the cinema was for a class outing to see Romeo and Juliet for grade eleven English class; it happened to be the year that Leo and Claire did their version of the story. Shortly after that, I remember that I was somehow able to convince my parents to let me go and see the re-release of Star Wars in cinema and that was where my cinema movie viewing began.

So, I've decided to throw the stubs out today. But before I do, I want to look at them and record just what movies I saw. Since the local independent theatres don't have stubs, this list will not count all the films I saw there. The order is not chronological and again, I have no idea how many years this goes back, but here they are:
Chronicles of Narnia
Superman Returns - Imax
Star Wars Episode III
Spiderman III
The Queen
Marley and Me
X-Men
Quantum of Solace
The Bourne Identity
Cold Creek Manor
Sweet Home Alabama (wow I saw that in Burnaby, BC)
Freaky Friday
Bridget Jones 2
The Forgotten
Hero
Farenheit 9/11
The Manchurian Candidate
Troy
The Stepford Wives (hmm, that cinema isn't even open anymore--Cinema 4 in Collingwood)
Shrek 2 (I think that was the first movie I went to by myself--and it was my birthday)
Spiderman 2
Return of the King
Love Actually
Matrix: Revolutions
A Beautiful Mind
Castaway
Lord of the Rings (I think it's The Fellowship of the Ring)
Chicago (and that cinema is gone now too--Kings College in Kitchener)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
13 Going on 30
Star Wars (can't read which one)
Green Mile
Romeo Must Die
Mission Impossible 2
Riding in Cars With Boys
Rat Race (I remember seeing that on my birthday, the same year I watched Shrek 2)
Spiderman
Catch Me if You Can
Along Came Polly
Chicken Run
The Passion of the Christ
Star Wars - The Phantom Menace
The Proposal
Star Trek
Made of Honor
What Happens in Vegas
Sex and the City
Pirates of the Caribbean

Hmh. That's it. You'd think there'd be more. I guess those are just the ones I saved. It was hard to read some of them, so maybe I threw out older ones once before. I wonder if the list reveals at all what kind of person I am.