Please No More Aniston

On this day 10 years ago, the most important thing in Jennifer Aniston's career happened. She married Brad Pitt.

At the time their marriage made sense. Both were considered stars in their own right. Jennifer was burning bright with Emmy wins and "Friends" still being relevant. Brad was about to explode on the heels of Fight Club. Their romance (initiated through their agents much like TomKat) had been photographed at concerts and wandering around Italy. Seriously, I remember these things because it was big news at the time. They were anointed as the new Hollywood golden couple.

But that was 10 years ago! And, more importantly, it has been five years since it ended. Now Brad is the mega-watt star who continues to participate in an interesting mix of successful cinematic adventures. Jennifer is a sitcom has-been who hasn't been able to harness any true big screen power.

Which brings me to something that has been driving me crazy for a couple of months. I vent about it more than I should. My boyfriend can probably quote my ranting verbatim by now. All over Toronto there are these advertisements for SMART water featuring Jennifer Aniston.

They are ALL over bus shelters. They are on building side billboards. They are in the display windows of the freakin' Fairmont Royal York! They are everywhere. And it is driving me crazy because I do not understand WHY? Why Jennifer Aniston? What has she ever done to ensure such continued adoration from the public at large? Why do people love Jennifer Aniston? More importantly, why do women love Jennifer Aniston? And why do the marketing people at SMART water think (know?) that women love her so much that she will make us buy water?

And then I remember. Ten years ago she married Brad Pitt. Ten years ago the picture below was released to the world and women (especially women in their 30s/40s) have never forgotten it.

This picture is a fairy-tale. This picture is the epitome of romantic notions brought to life. It is "le sigh". And then Brad Pitt tore this picture in half and the women of the world felt their hearts break, just a little bit. Jennifer Aniston is riding along the trail of those broken heart fragments. As long as those splinters remain in the memories of the public her celebrity will have traction. Traction to sell us water. Traction to sell us perfume named after, well, HER.

But remember, Jennifer Aniston was not dumped by a skirt-chasing playboy. She was not duped into marrying a man with no integrity. She was not cast-aside for a younger, mindless playmate. While Brad Pitt did move on to a younger woman, I wager the age aspect was not the incentive. Instead, he left one relationship to partake of one that would give him children, worldly experiences and philanthropic meaning. These things he did not have with Jennifer Aniston who staunchly delayed having children (hell, maybe she doesn't want them people!), remains solidly in the USA and has no discernible profile for engagement in world affairs or charities. That is all fine with me. She doesn't have to DO those things. But I take exception to the notion that she deserves sympathy (thus, celebrity power) for her divorce when clearly there are some compatibility differences because Brad Pitt is DOING those things.

And so I have no love for Jennifer Aniston. In fact, I am almost insulted that she continues to be a presence in our celebrity culture and positioned as a 'woman to emulate' in the marketing sphere. I have never seen any strong talent, wit, presence or public contribution from her. She remains, to me, a C-level actress who is widely known for having an amazing body at 40. Well, yay for her! But who cares?

Precious Moment

Do you remember the "Precious Moments" characters? They were a line of sweet child illustrations based on Christian themes. Designed by an artist named Sam Butcher, the images became ubiquitous as porcelain figurines and they adorned everything from snowglobes to picture frames.

As a girl that grew up in the late 1970s and through the 1980s, the distinct Precious Moments look is imprinted on my brain. While I was never interested in their overt religious imagery, I have always found them to be wonderful drawings of a child's innocent joy.

Recently I got my hands on a picture of my niece from this spring. It gives me the same feelings. She even has the delicate floral-print dress. She is a living precious moment.

Full of Life

My garden continues to amaze me. After another month all of the plants have grown immensely. I have learned alot about how much a plant can grow and am glad to have my mom (and some friends) give me planting and pruning advice. I had no idea when I planted the small stocks of vegetables and herbs that they would develop into such immense greenery and abundant tastiness. We have harvested 3 zucchinis so far and are on our third pass at the lettuce patch.

Earth laughs in flower
Ralph Waldo Emerson

If I had known so much growth was on its way I would have shortened the flower bed section of the back yard and extended the vegetable garden. As it is now, it has gotten a bit squished. The space crunch is largely due to the tomato plants that have become leafy behemoths! They are taller than me! We have five solid stocks in the ground: two with regular tomatoes and three with cherry tomato clusters. I have had to add bracket bamboo sticks - TWICE! - to keep up with the growth of these plants. Now we have many green balls of goodness on the way and even more flowers sprouting.

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato."
Lewis Grizzard

My three cucumber plants had worked their way into a tangled mound. Their tendrils were pulling the plants out of the bed and across the lawn. I put together a small lattice (that needs to be reinforced already!) for the plants to climb. There are many flowers but the cucumbers are only just beginning. My mother has already harvested some chunky green tubes from her garden so I wonder why mine are so slow. But my fingers are crossed that they will prosper in the end.

"To see cucumbers in a dream denotes that you will speedily fall in love. Or, if you are in love, then you will marry the object of your affection."
Richard Folkard in 'Plant Lore' (1884)

The herbs exploded so fast we did not get the chance to take advantage of them all. Sadly, I missed out on using the full, leafy coriander. It has now gone to seed, but I am hopefull that a resurgence may arrive late this season. The dill is in full flower and the basil has gradrupled in size. I am looking forward to making a succulent basil, tomato and mozza salad in the next week. I will be taking some time to trim the herbs and set them out for drying this weekend. Then we can enjoy the sage, thyme, chives, et al. in the darker seasons. Afterall, isn't that what growing for yourself is all about?

If you've never experienced the joy of accomplishing more than you can imagine, plant a garden.
Robert Brault

Selling the Dragon Tattoo

An interesting article and slide show about selecting the iconic book cover for the "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" can be found here at Wall Street Journal online.

How much does the cover of a book sway you?
What if they had used a version of the book's original Swedish title: Men Who Hate Women?
Do you think they made the right choice?

As the dragon tattoo phenomenon continues (the second Swedish film is being released this month) the debate continues over who should star in the Hollywood-ized version of the novel. Reports say that an entirely new script is being developed rather than translating the screenplay of the Swedish version.

Daniel Craig is, supposedly, confirmed to play journalist Mikael Blomkvist (my mother is happy with this choice although her top pick was Stellan Skarsgard). Personally, I think Craig is a bit too manly for the role. Blomkvist is a bit more average. Part of the joke is that he is not studly but still a ladies man.

The role of Salander will be a coup for any young actress with Carey Mulligan currently in the lead for the part. I just don't see her in that role. Many reviewers say that noone can replace Noomi Rapace (from the Swedish films) as Salander. I found her performance strong but off. She was a bit too mature for the role since Salandar is supposed to look like a teen and not the women in her twenties that she is. I have a feeling that the leading lady might be a no-name or up-and-comer as this tends to be the trend for these types of roles.

I have, of course, my own dream team cast for these excellent roles:

Blomkvist: Aaron Eckhart

Handsome but not too handsome. A gift for the gab, full of charm and the serious presence that the character needs. Check out Thank you for Smoking or his two Neil Butte film roles if you need to be convinced.

Salandar: Ellen Page

She has the youth and the edge. If anyone saw her in Hard Candy, there is no debating that she could handle the material.

Turnovers & Interceptions & Safties ... Oh My!

My CFL season has finally begun. Although the actual season began a month ago, I finally got to watch a game. And a live one at that! It has been 3 years sice I have gotten to watch the gridiron live. My delay in the televised version is attributed to my recent move that means:
1 - being quite busy with visiting and evening activities
2 - no longer having TSN in the house to my link to live broadcasts is gone

However, the move to Toronto has also brought a benefit that has been unavailable to me for over 10 years - access to a CFL franchise! Hurrah! I say. And so, without any question, I bought a ticket to the home opener of the Toronto Argonauts. To my great pleasure the first at-home opponent was my favourite team: the Calgary Stampeders. Touchdown for me. A live game featuring my favourite team and my new hometown team. What a treat.


I went to the game alone. CFL-fandom can be a lonely place and finding fellow fans is not the easiest. But I was not to be deterred. My seat was perfect. I was nestled in a stadium pocket on the 20-yard-line and only 3 rows back from the field. It was definately the closest to the action I have ever been and it only cost $30! (Plus the popcorn and water for $11. I abstained from the beer which was over $10 a can!)


It was a perfect night night with a clear sky and late evening sun shining down into the Rogers Centre's open roof. The CN Tower loomed over head with an all-encompassing view of the proceedings. The stadium was randomly full with the more expensive sections only containing a smattering of viewers. This reality makes me sad. Empty stadium seats are a sore sight for a true fan's eyes. But my little section was crammed full and the seat beside me was taken by an energetc Argos fan who was more than willing to share a bit of rivalry throughout the game. There we were, two ladies out alone for a game of football. Who says this is a man's game?


OK, so the field is full of men. Mighty professional football men including lots of the players I have been watching over the past couple of years on TV. What a great experience to see them - for realz! - on the turf. I would like to say that the evening ended with a win for my team but I guess I can't have everything. A tie game developed into a Stampeders lead only to devolve into back-n-forth turnovers and intercpetions that produced an Argos victory in the end.


Like any football game it was the details that mattered. The Stampeders gave away safety points that would allow the Argos to topple with fewing scoring drives. A couple of strong red zone holds by the defenses kept each team from scoring. Both Burris and Lemon were sacked. These are the elements that make fans tear their hair out. With just over a minute left Calgary would receive a gift to re-do a play after a reversed interception call. The chance was a failure and the Argonauts would seal their fate as the evening's winners. For my part, I felt like a winner just being there.

Sing Me a Song

This weekend I took my boyfriend "home" to partake in a family tradition. We braved the Friday night vacation traffic out of the city en route to northern Ontario where the Northern Lights Festival Boreal was holding its 39th annual folk festival.


Since the festival's inception, my family has been a part of its development and operation. We have served as volunteers, event coordinators, board members and even paid staff. In 1991 my family was honoured, en masse, with the volunteer appreciation award. However, in the last few years our contribution has lessened as we have moved away, found demanding jobs, started families, gotten older and we have left the festival work to others.

As paying guests, my family has visited the festival in a changing collection of pairs and groups depending on who was available for the second week in July. this year became special because, for no real reason, everyone was available and everyone was making the trek to the festival grounds (okay, 97% of us!). Some of us were there for a couple of hours. Some made it to every hour of programming they could. But for all of us the festival formed a nexus point for the family to reconnect. For me it was a chance to introduce the festival to my boyfriend (who, thankfully, enjoys festivals) and to once again share the event with my Mom (who gave me my festival passion in the first place).

Of course the event offers exposure to great independent Canadian music in the folk tradition. Below are some of the talented Canadian acts I had the privilege to see and would totally recommend.


Amelia Curran
I saw Amelia Curran for the first time last summer at Stanfest - the famous Nova Scotia folk festival. Immediately she caught my attention. Since then her star has risen across the country and in April she won a Juno for best roots traditional solo album. For an introduction, check out her song "The Mistress". It is her most prolific song for sure but it was the one that hooked me and hopefully it will capture you too!

Faye Blais
I discovered Faye in the women's acoustic workshop over the weekend and fell in love with her voice. She sounds a bit like Norah Jones crossed with Feist. The next day she had a private concert and won me over again.


The Sadies & Matt Foy
You would think that after living on the east coast for 4 years I would have gone to see The Sadies. Well, ummmm, no. You would also think that after spending my youth in Sudbury that I would have seen musical jack-of-all-trades Matt Foy at some point. Ah, well, uh-uh. So I had to check it out when the group and the artist were paired up to play an homage workshop to "Big Daddy Roth and Link Wray" (ahhh, who? music gurus to the surf sound and power chord instrument - I looked it up!) It was loud. It was groovin'. It was the best workshop I saw all weekend.


Danny Michel
I have been hearing about Danny Michel since 1998 when one my Katimavik colleagues talked about him endlessly! Still, I had never had the opportunity to hear this poetic musician for myself until this weekend. What a treat. Solo, in a late afternoon show, he braved the heat to deliver a wonderful performance of songs and stories that make are catchy and sweet. He is also very easy on the eyes! Even my boyfriend liked him and my mom immediately skipped off to the merchandise tent to buy his CDs. He will be in Toronto in October doing shows at the Glenn Gould theatre if you want to check him out.


Cuff the Duke
I have been trying to see Cuff the Duke for a few years but I never got the opportunity. Just my luck then that they were the headliners for the festival's Sunday night show. Of course by Sunday evening I was sun-baked, over-visited and cold-cidred into a sleepy daze and I didn't want to go out anywhere. Thankfully, my boyfriend made me go out. He knew what was best. What I really wanted to do. And it ended the festival weekend on a fantastic note.

Kayak Kids

My boyfriend took some on a sunny Saturday morning to share his kayak skills with my niece and nephew. They each took a turn at the controls with really positive results. Who would have thought a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old would be such naturals!

Reminder Notice: My Guy is Awesome

A couple of weeks ago I went out for dinner with my boyfriend. We had spent the day doing things that we loved (I gardened, he cycled) and late that evening we put on some nice clothes and went for a schmancy dinner together. We went to one of my favourite restaurants that makes mouth-watering goodies of all kinds. It is an instant YUM! place. I had wanted to do this dinner together as a moving celebration - but it never happened. So I thought we could do it for our anniversay - never happened. But that night - it happened - and I sat across the flickering candle light from my beau I had to smile.

My guy really is a most excellent man. His patience and kindness and love of me constantly amazes. I feel good around him - even when I feel my most useless in regard to the rest of the world. Those are nice feelings. But sometimes when I think of those feelings I can get made at myself for being a bad girlfriend. You see, I get anxiety over being a frustrated partner sometimes. I hate that I can be a negative nelly more than I want to be and yet it persists. Anyone who has met my boyfriend comments on his easy-going and welcoming nature. They will say: "How can anyone NOT like him?" Which means he is pretty awesome, no?

So why do I find myself focusing on the non-awesome? Why do I blanche at his tardiness rather than relish his carefree nature? Why do I bemoan his lacks in motivation and forget to celebrate his personal passions? Why do negate all the days he has done the dishes (which I loathe doing!) because of one day when they are not? Why do I complain about the forgotten toilet paper when he brought flowers back from the store?

I seem to have fallen into a trap and become that girl who never sees the good things. And then I go out for dinner and see the smile in my guy's eyes and I can't remember what I was worried about. Sometimes when I let my over-thinking get too far I will spew out a bunch of pent-up concerns and he will listen, calmly, and then tell me it will be alright. There is a plan. He will be there. How great is that?

I know that, overall, I am struggling with finding my relationship identity and that most of these stresses emerge from my own mind trying to reconcile with what I think should be happening with what is happening. I feel the need sometimes to shake my head free of the romantic notions swirling around and whispering to me that "a good relationship is...", "partnership means...", "the right man will..." when those constructs aren't real to the man I love and the partnership we are creating.

And so I try to be more positive about it all. To trust it more. To be able to enjoy a fabulous dinner with a special man who: does the dishes because I don't want to; wants to make our dreams come true; buys flowers for our home and, even though he might be late, will always be there for me.

Action Plan

"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."

Dwight D. Eisenhower

This quote came my way today and it made me feel great. Finally, a perspective that resonates with, what my boyfriend kindly calls, my "need to plan". Eisenhower has it right. It is not about the plan itself because I never believe the plan will come to be as designed. However, the act of planning is my greatest asset. It is what allows me to be spontaneous. Planning gives me the information I need to be flexible. The planning process is a pre-emptive tactic that can motivate action and support me in defeats. So I will continue to plan away knowing that my battles will not be won by the plan itself but what I learned along the way.

The Thing about the Twilight Series...

OK, first things first, full disclosure is only fair:

1 - I have read the entire Twilight series (twice)
2 - Eclipse was my favourite book in the series
3 - I am resoundingly on Team Jacob
4 - I don't consider myself my a "Twi-hard"
5 - I planned to write a movie review for Eclipse but it became this commentary on the overall series instead and what the movies could have been.

Eclipse is a mediocre movie and a fantastic Twilight film. The best way to understand this distinction is to understand the books which contain the same inherent problem as their feature film offspring: they are not stand-alone stories.

The truth, and perhaps the driving force of the tween/34teen obsession, is that ALL FOUR BOOKS comprise ONE story. The elements of storytelling: plot, character, conflict, setting/atmosphere and style only make sense when the entire series is read and assessed as a whole. Within themselves each book is not a story and because of this fact each movie based on an individual book fails to satisfy as a cinematic story.

To illustrate:
The Twilight series adaptations are often (controversially) compared to the film versions of the Harry Potter series with the HP entries consistently being voted superior for their storytelling and ability to engage a non-reader audience. But the HP films are provided with self-contained stories (adventures) in the source material. Even though an overriding evil is present throughout the books, each novel has its own clear tale to tell and own specific conflict to resolve which translates to a more compelling film in a direct book-to-screen way. Another example would be the Chronicles of Narnia which contain setting and character linkages but each book is a distinct adventure. The Twilight series does not function this way.

The Twilight-verse is built on a story that flows through four novels with the ultimate problem being developed along the way. Thus, the plot, the characters, the conflict do not advance all that much within one book but are quite satisfying across the entire quadrilogy. A better comparison of the how the Twilight books work - and how the movie versions should have been contructed - is to look at the Lord of the Rings series. (OK - Nobody kill me for this comparison. I recognize the difference in calibre but elementally both series are very similar.)

LotR is physically structured into 3 books but the actual story spans across them all with smaller narrative tales and character reveals embedded within them. The sub-threats in the LotR story are all tied to the larger context of the main story through character choices and/or plot developments. The division of this epic tale into the physical books is somewhat thematic but largely practical.

The same is true for the Twilight series which is why the stand-alone films built directly (painstakingly so!) upon a specific book have failed to impress. In the end, these adaptations are only a fraction of a story, that, in the case of the second film (New Moon) is flat without its bookend narratives to support it. Eclipse has shown to satisfy film audiences more because the actual book has the most traditional and complete story structure but it still requires an understanding of the Twilight universe to be compelling.

Perhaps, if the producers of the Twilight films had some foresight (vision? inspiration? artistic intent?) that could have taken a note from the Lord of the Rings production and fashioned the Twilight films in a similar fashion. Realizing that the core of the audience would be highly aware of the ENTIRE series and ravenous for visual details, they could have played with the overall series story to make better narratives for the cinema.

For example, LotR moved the battle with Shelob from the physical book two into the third movie making the cinema story-telling more balanced without omitting a main story point from the source material. This process of crafting contained movies from the full series could have allowed for character flashbacks earlier in the series instead of following Bella's book path of introductions and a new audience would have gotten character depth and fans would have gotten more character coverage overall. The LotR approach would also have worked to bring the themes of the books into greater focus rather than the emphasis on plot tasks the audience is handed out now. Of couse this only applies in hindsight and the first film was optioned and produced while the series was still a cult, rather than worldwide, phenomenon and so I can only lament at the missed opportunity.

I suppose this rambling is said to give pause to the wealth of critics who have derided the books, the films and the fans for the Twilight-mania. True, Stephanie Meyer is not a goddess fo prose. But, her writing has an addictive quality that invites you to follow along. For those readers who make it past the chaste christian messaging the books offer an intriguing tale of loss of innocence and rise in personal power at a time in life when everything feels like the end of the world and asks: so what if it really is forever?

Coming back to the films, I think it is time to stop judging them as original artistic works that require some cinematic merit. I think I have established above that the opportunity for that has been squandered. So accept the films as visual enactments of a fractured story built for fans who are carrying all the glue to put it together. If non-fans of the book never see the movies or gain entrance into the Twilight world, who cares? There are obviously enough fans around the world to give the franchise a positive return on investment so just let them have it.

As such, the only true challenges for the movies are:
1 - did the actors give justice to the characters?
2 - were all the key moments played out?
Finally, Eclipse has managed to deliver on both of these details which is why it is a perfect Twilight film.

QE2

The Queen's visit to Canada arrived in Toronto today. Thanks to my job with the provincial public service I was apprised of her visit time and able to go stand among the throng to watch her pass by. I figured it was worth the attempt since the opportunity will likely not occur again. It was a VERY hot day and, sadly, The Queen chose to walk down the path opposite from my side so I only got to see her back for the most part.



I do wish I had the chance to see her face to some degree. If for no other reason than to be able to see her hat better as it appears adorned with some kind of fantastic squiggle! And yet, it was an intriguing hour in my life all the same. I am not a royal watcher but I have spent my whole life living in a commonwealth country and to actually SEE the women whose face graces our currency was a chance to be taken my lifetime. The vision of her made me think about the woman behind the title. So I looked her up to discover:
She was born in 1926.
She was only 26 when she became the Head of the Commonwealth.
She fell in love with Prince Philip when she was 13. They were married in 1947 (He was also at the walkabout I attended but I didn't get a photo of him).
She is the third longest reigning monarch in British history at over 58 years - and counting! - on the throne.

First Pick

The first fruit of my labour arrived today. The super zucchini plant has been in full bloom for a couple of weeks and the little green tubes of tastiness had begun to emerge. A couple buds had been attacked by little beaks and tiny claws so I lost a few casualties.

But then I saw one - a green, lean, shiny tube. Under the fan-like leaves it grew...and grew...and finally I picked it! This one is going to be chopped up and served with red peppers. I will put in a tinfoil package with olive oil and some of our fresh herbs and - ta da! - zucchini for dinner. YUMMY!