Film Meme

I found this Fun Movie Questionnaire over at Film Grotto Feel free to participatge and post it back over at the original post.

1. Name a movie you have seen more than 10 times. Star Wars, The Matrix, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Star Trek: Generations

2. Name a movie you’ve seen multiple times in the theater. Some Kind of Wonderful, Pitch Black

3. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie. Jean Reno, Juliette Binoche

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie. Oh, I don't like questions like this.... directors I could answer easily though...

5. Name a movie you can and do quote from. Big Trouble in Little China

6. Name a movie musical in which you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs. Jesus Christ Superstar

7. Name a movie you have been known to sing along with. The Sound of Music

8. Name a movie you would recommend everyone see. Whale Rider

9. Name a movie you own. Gidget

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops. Milla Jovovich

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? If so, what? No! This surprizes me to no end.

12. Name a movie you keep meaning to see but you just haven’t gotten around to yet. Gone with the Wind

13. Ever walked out of a movie? Yes. Press screening of Les amants réguliers

14. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater. Finding Neverland

15. Popcorn? Yes, but not always. Tea is always yes.

16. How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)? Currently 1/week, or more if festivalling

17. What’s the last movie you saw in the theater? Margot at the Wedding

18. What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie? tough call! Dance movies, scifi/fantasy/horror, action/martial arts, experimental/textural all rank pretty high

19. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? That I remember... hmmm I vaguely remember going to Sleeping Beauty and waiting in line for Empire Strikes Back - or was it Jedi? I was pretty wee.

20. What movie do you wish you had never seen? American History X

21. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed? Tie: Suspiria or I Heart Huckabees

Getting things in the mail - yay!

There is nothing so exciting than getting a package in the mail! Fun fun stuff. I got 2 DVD's that have been on my list for a while from director's I've seen films from at TIFF. Fun stuff!!!

Oh, that pic is rather dark.. I didn't notice that on my home computer -oops! I have to say I've already watched Killzone (aka SPL) with Donnie Yen by Dir Wilson Yip and it was awesome! Very violent though. I'm sure I'll review it over at Movie Moxie eventually but for right now all I have to say is wow! That is some kick butt martial arts!

8 Random Things About Me Meme

Suzie has tagged me to share eight things about myself which rocks because I had no idea what I was going to post today! If you'd like to participate, consider yourself tagged!

1. I rarely work anywhere longer than 2 years, and often quit after being promoted

2. I started post secondary programs for art as well as fashion, but finished neither. I took 1 GenEd course in film while studying fashion that rekindled my love of film.

3. I watch around 3-5 films a week, and have over 200 that I've seen but not yet written about (which is one of my 101's).

4. When I started my 101 I had no problem coming up with possibilies. I believe my first list was 156 items.

5. I often (haphazaradly) cut my own hair but just chopping it away in chunks.

6. I'm a total number cruncher. Give me paper, a spreadsheet, a coffee and some music and I'm a happy camper.

7. I take weird pictures. Sometimes it just happens, and sometimes it's on purpose.

8. I love elective courses. My first year of high school my 'Day 1' schedule was: Drama, Typing, Graphic Arts and French (manditory). How the hell do I remember my schedule from Grade 9? My memory is sometimes amazing, sometimes not...

Feel free to join in and tell everyone 8 random things about yourself!

SPC: What I Wear 4

Going casual at work. Well, that is every day for me...hehe.

Click here for more Self Portrait Challenges.

Click here to visit Planet Shannon.

Compelling...something...

I walk by this all the time and yet to have discovered what it actually is. To me it seems like it must be an experiment to see the pressure of the water over time and what an impact it is making. Of course if could be simply 'art'. Regardless, it catchs my eye each and every time I see it.

Sunday at Mom's!

(Grandma, 1963)

Mom invite Jamie & I over to her place today to help with cleaning some slides. Or shall I say many many many slides. We didn't get them all done but we did figure out how to do it, which is great progress. Many more to do. Mom is in the process of digitally transfering them, and the cleaning is only 1 step. I was happy to lend a hand! And, there was soup!



And of course, didn't leave empty handed (although a bunch of that I picked up... included those pistachio's, gotta love the bulk healthfood store that snack size treat was 45cents - woohoo!)




BTW - check out Jamie's post of today! She got it up just moments before me, tee hee!

Random 'round the house

The biggest bag of apples in the world! I thought it was 3 lbs, but turns out it was 3kilos (more like 8 lbs). I'm shocked they hit in my bag. Time to look for a good pie recipe! I had to take a pic with the cat so there would be some scale, although - he is a pretty fair sized cat.

It's also getting chilly and snowy around here which means lots of opportunity for fun winter pics... check out these icicles! One of the two actually fell off while I was taking the pics. I guess it's a warming up.

Ah, the luxury!!!

A little while ago I was thinking about getting a portable DVD player to watch films during my lunch at work. I couldn't decide for sure if I wanted to do it, but a lovely coworker of my actually had one and brought it in and let me test it out! Isn't she the sweetest? I gotta say I've only tried it out just the once and I loooooooooooooooooooooove it! The quality was a lot better than I expected as well, although some long shots and subtitles were sometimes slighlty pixalated but overall it was great! yay!!

Will this work?

Trying to upload a little film I took of the mini hail as it popped down all around this morning. I actually really wanted to capture the cute sound it made... pop pop pop!! (the vader-ness is me, not the hail..) Today was there first snow of the winter, we did have one day were I remember waking up to 'frost' but it was gone quick. This time it lasted the whole day. Tonight the roads were very icy, I hope everyone is being careful out there!

101 update #89

Playing some major catch up here on my 101 posting and ironically I forgot to do my Monday update post! Who woulda thought that! So, most of the updates are in and I'm not 48/101. Almost 1/2 way there! I'm getting close to being 1 year away from goal so I think I need to step it up! I wonder what I should pick next. Well, here is what's been recently completed:

#1 - Be a patron one year at The Toronto International Film Festival

#53 - Curl my toes in the sand

#100 - Celebrate Ostara, Beltane, Midsummer, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain, Yule & Imbolc at least once for the duration of the 1001 days



As always, we have the regular updates! #7 - See 1 film a week in the theatre for a year is now up to 47/52 from the numerous films seen at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 2007. I've also made progress on #14 Write something about all the films I see (for the first time) throughout these 1001 days with reviews up for: Gone Baby Gone, Rashômon and Throne of Blood / Kumonosu jô.

#38 - Keep a plant alive from 'The Auction' from one year to the next - the violet is looking a little meek, but the rest look pretty good.

#21 - Save a part of every paycheque - done!

#94 - Read every day - done!
I'm happily back to reading Sidney Poitier autobiography: The Measure of a Man. I'm hoping to be done in a few days, I think it's time for some fiction again.

#92 - Learn/Discover something new every day
Monday Nov 12/07 - how to change the time on my watch! yay!
Tuesday Nov 13/07 - my digi camera can take movies in b&w and sepia tones!
Wednesday Nov 14/07 - Trivia ... ok really that is what I wrote down
Thursday Nov 15/07 - www.freerice.com/index.php - play a game while you donate rice
Friday Nov 16/07 - where the mic is on my camera (and that holding my finger down on it means you don't record the sound - boo!)
Saturday Nov 17/07 - once I go home it's doubtful I'll go 'back'
Sunday Nov 18/07 - People line up freaking early for the Santa Claus parade



For my full 101 list, look here.

SPC: What I Wear 3

As promised - what I wear out in the world! It always freaks me out when I see pics like this and I'm like whoa! I'm short! That really shouldn't surprize me anymore... Anyhow, this is one day after work in.. what I wore.

Click here for more Self Portrait Challenges.

Click here to visit Planet Shannon.

#1 - Be a patron one year at The Toronto International Film Festival

Completed: September 2007

This is one on my list that in some ways technically was really easy (I could have bought 1 rush ticket and called it a day), I've worked there, I've gone to screenins and I'm very familiar with the festival and how it works. But I wanted to do it, how I wanted to do it and so that is how I did it. 10 days, 42 films, very little sleep and a zillion teas later this one was complete. I survived the line ups and the weather, and I got to see some amazing films and even some stars.

(pass and ticket pick up day - I did not expect to spend my entire Labour Day in lines)


(not one of my best pictures, but was one of the best performances: Andrew Garfield in Boy A)


(my first ever Midnight Madness won't be my last... although next time I would go early as you can see how far back the seats were for SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO)


(Q&A with director Julien Leclercq from another of my favourite films: Chrysalis)


(and another Q&A for Wolfsbergen, director Nanouk Leopold)


(and another! Wilson Yip, director of Flash Point)


(this was a big surpirze for me seeing Juliette Binoche!)


(My only 100% star struck moment was being mere feet away from Guy Pearce)


(and more line ups....)


(a quiet moment outside the ROM, a nice place to kick back when the weather behaves)


The aftermath: notes, tickets, and for the first time ever a offical film schedule with an unripped cover)

Check out my TIFF 07 Coverage over at my film blog Movie Moxie to see all the details! It was a great year, there were so many great films, experiences and Q&A's. Well worth doing and I will absolutely attend again.

Return to my 101 list.

Return to Planet Shannon.

Some weekend relaxation...

In between screenings and gaming I had some time to have a nice breakkie with am, which is always nice. I also found out the coolest new feature in podcasting - chapter stop points! I just discovered a new podcast called Errata, a film podcast that actually had visual stop points with titles and pictures to let you know which film or what aspect of the film they are talking about. I totally love this feature (and this is the only podcast I've seen use it so far although some provide a time breakdown), becuase so far the only thing that drives me crazy about film podcasts is that people don't turn off their internal spoiler button. I know it isn't always easy to do, but some times we don't want to know what the pivotal scene is, or that 'he died' or that there was a twist ending, etc. Anyhow, it's a pretty good podcast to boot so that was nice to discover as well!

Have a lovely Sunday! Oh - and it's the Santa Claus Parade here in Toronto so keep that in mind if you are out and about.

I was *this* close to forgetting to post - but I remembered!

Been crazy busy festivaling this week and will continue til end of day tomorrow (for more on that check out Movie Moxie), but I had some time this morning to snap a few pictures, so - here they are!

Random daily posting

It's been 'one of those days'....

Late start
Frost on the ground for the first time this ...fall? I don't think it's winter yet.
*just* missed the nice, empty streetcar
When got on the streetcar folks darted ahead of me, even though I was there FIRST

Yeah. So. Let's hope it gets better! It is Friday after all. I think it's time to hunt down some chocolate.

(picture is from a shop in Hyannis, that had gems and some joke-y/fun items)

#53 - Curl my toes in the sand

Completed: October 12, 2007 in Hyannis

Now, if someone told me I would end up finishing this one in October in Cape code when it was around 10-15C out I would have gone "Huh?", but it was perfect! Take the opportunity when it happens! I was impressed that I even got barefoot in that weather! But it was great, the sound of the ocean about and a nice patch of nice untouched sand there is nothing like that feeling. Moving those toes is always so much fun - I used to be able to pick up carpet with my toes! There is your random odd information of the day!

This was well worth doing, and I'm glad the opportunity presented itself! Now, to do the same on a sandy beach.....





Return to my 101 list.

Return to Planet Shannon.

#100 - # Celebrate Ostara, Beltane, Midsummer, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain, Yule & Imbolc at least once for the duration of the 1001 days

Pics are from this year Samhain (2007), which is the one I always celebrate. It was great to honour these holidays and learn a bit more about them. I did find I often left it to the last minute and the celebrating usually involved putting out an offering and feasting and thinking about the theme of the holidays. I've unfortunately not kept it up, and even though it's something I do connect to I find I sometimes forget. I was glad to get through them all and hope that I'll continue to do so.

Lughnasadh Celebrated: August, 2006
Mabon Celebrated: September 23, 2006
Samhain Celebrate Oct 31, 2006 (and every year before and after)
Yule Celebrate Dec 21, 2006
Imbolc Celebrated: Feb 2, 2007
Ostara Celebrated: March 20, 2007
BeltaneCelebrated: April 30, 2007 ** (a day early but I'm sure I celebrated past midnight)
Midsummer Celebrated: June 21, 2007



Return to my 101 list.

Return to Planet Shannon.

SPC November - What I Wear 2

Me at home. These are perfect digs for home, comfy jeans, t-shirt and a warm zip up. Fun stuff. They are also pretty much only for home because all of these are just a mite too wee, but I still like them. But, if I wore them outside it would be a lot of tugging to keep them at bay!

Ok, that is 2 weeks in a row at home... time to venture out!


Click here for more Self Portrait Challenges.

Click here to visit Planet Shannon.

101 update #88

88 weeks in, and still going strong! I got oodles of posts up this week for my 101, all around the same theme: #40 - Meet at least 1 online friend irl - Jarris & Rock, Melba, Jana and Firstborn. Woohoo!

#7 - See 1 film a week in the theatre for a year is now up to week 46 (almost there!!!!) with getting out to see Gone Baby Gone. No review yet for it but there are for a bunch of other films 3:10 to Yuma (1957), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), Holes, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Lonestar, which is great progress for #14 Write something about all the films I see (for the first time) throughout these 1001 days.

#38 - Keep a plant alive from 'The Auction' from one year to the next - they are all alive! Here's a select pic of my spider plant. Note to self, remember to take pics before Mondays.



#21 - Save a part of every paycheque - done!

#94 - Read every day - done!
Time for a new book! I did get though some of Looney Spoons which inspired me to make some new recipes! (like the Greek pasta salad below)



#92 - Learn/Discover something new every day
Monday Nov 5/07 - Sooooooooooo much about Microsoft Access
Tuesday Nov 6/07 - ditto Monday, even more about Access
Wednesday Nov 7/07 - def: burgeon - to grow and expand rapidly
Thursday Nov 8/07 - power out during mid day = full restaurants
Friday Nov 9/07 - sleep is good
Saturday Nov 10/07 - explored local library found the knitting and cooking books. omg, did I just say that???
Sunday Nov 11/07 - lots and lots about podcasting and equipment



For my full 101 list, look here.

#40 - Meet at least 1 online friend irl - Firstborn

(Firstborn and Me)

What a treat it was to meet Firstborn at the Creative Bizarre! This was afterwards at the restaurent and lucky me we got to sit next to each other and got to chit chat away! She is a lovely person and I was thrilled to discover that we both love film! I love reading her blog and it was great to meet :)

Check out her blog at Follow Your Bliss

Return to my 101 list.

Return to Planet Shannon