Elegance

My grandmother and grandfather outside the Vatican.
Gosh she was a classy, beautiful lady. I miss her bunches.

Favorite Films

This is: A list of my favorite films.
This week's awesome topic by Hokey.

It's pretty much impossible for me to pick one favorite film. I enjoy different movies for a variety of reasons, and these ones listed don't even really cover all my favorites. Some of these are quite embarrassing to share, so I think I better explain. To make it a little more sensical I will organize by category, even though most of them cross into many/all the categories I've made.

Favorite animated films from my childhood:

• Secret of N.I.M.H - Everything from the animation to the storyline is amazing in this film.
• An American Tail - By the same writer/director (Don Bluth). Almost as incredible as N.I.M.H.
• The Last Unicorn - I've always enjoyed the low chromatic aesthetic and sombre/fantastical tone of this film.
• Wallace and Gromit - Pure genius. Endearing and honest. I enjoy trying to smile like Wallace from time to time. Basically just attempt to expose as many teeth as I can.

Favorite films for the distinct aesthetic quality:

• Amelie - Me and everyone's dog loves this one. It's a no brainer.
  
• Eternal Sunshine - I wish I could draw how some of the scenes are constructed/de-constructed, if that makes any sense.
• Rushmore - Wes Anderson is of course a master at creating distinctly visually pleasing atmospheres. This movie also has some great acting and is incredibly well written: snarky, vulnerable, charming.

Favorite comfort films:

• A Little Princess - This is a favorite of mine since childhood. The story/quality of the film captivates me. It also never fails to squeeze out a few tears.
• Zoolander - I hated this movie the first time I saw it. The second time around I accepted it for what it is and laughed a lot more. I put this on when I am looking for pure mindless entertainment.
• Lilo & Stitch - Super cute and quirky. The unique style (especially for Disney) impresses me.
• Harry Potter - Hahaha, I love to put this movie on and fall asleep to it. Not because it bores me, but because I find it incredibly soothing.
• Pride & Prejudice - I loved the book and the movie doesn't disappoint. This film satisfies me when I'm in a mushy romantic mood.

Agh, there are even more than these listed that I am just thinking of now. There is a whole category for musicals that I didn't even get around to, but I am out of time to share all the details!
I need to go to school and paint! Toodles!

The alligator represents sharing

Today was one big productivity fail.

Final Farewell

Two polaroids from the summer. Can't say I'll miss that hot, humid season.
In other news, today is a sad day for us Canadians. I think I've lost faith in my country's judgment.

Little Girls & Friends

I bought a new pen, it's a pretty colour.
I've been having a bit of a drawing block, but I think I'm gradually thawing out of it.
For all this, here's a page from my almost done sketchbook.

Preservation

For the first semester in photography class I think I will focus my energies around the idea of food, and the ridiculous lengths we go through to preserve it. Furthermore, I want to address how detached western culture has become to that which we consume, how food has become an almost magical entity, which magically appears on the shelves at our grocery stores. I am still roughing out my concepts and ideas, but I wrote this little blurb on the topic:

In order to preserve our bodies we preserve our food, in order to preserve our food we destroy our environment, which in effect is destroying our bodies. Our desire for self preservation conflicts with itself.

We'll see where this takes me. To engaging places, both conceptually and aesthetically, I hope!

Self Love

I never posted this here, but I created this image last summer when I had just a little *too* much time on my hands. It was inspired by an internet pal who had a little rant about how she hates photos of heterosexual girls kissing other hetero girls. I then oddly connected that with me kissing myself and wondered if that image would make anyone angry. I was also thinking about the concept of masturbation, and how to take that to a ridiculously narcissistic level. Even though it's a bit old, I thought there would be no harm in sharing it with my readers here. I giggled the whole time I was creating this. It is not meant to offend, but to amuse. The fact that it doesn't even look realistic makes me lol too. Please giggle along!

Heartache

Examining maps kind of breaks my heart. There are so many places I wish to visit in this small yet incredibly vast world. So many places I know I never will. It's not so much the hot spots like Paris, London, Rome, Sydney, or Tokyo that get me down, because I have small hopes that I may visit those locations someday. Moreso, it's discovering all the little cities and towns, the expanses of country, the special places by the sea. It's difficult to articulate, but I get sheepishly emotional when looking at geography. I wonder if anyone has ever been everywhere? Of course leave it to the romantic to wish to accomplish the impossible.

I've also noticed that I get a sickly claustrophobic feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think about the idea of living in the middle of a continent. I really love living on an island, or within a 24 hour drive of an ocean coast. I feel relieved that I am currently accomplishing both.

Beautiful Day

Today was an exceptionally beautiful day for no reason in particular. Everything just seemed so stunning, as though I was hyper aware of my surroundings. I wish more days could feel this beautiful.

Also, breakfast for supper is the best!

This is...my favorite children's book

I've decided to give the 'this is...' meme a shot. I always enjoy reading others entries, so here I go! For this week we were asked by pottymouthmama to share our favorite children's book. I have many childhood favorites, everything from Beatrix Potter to the Berenstain Bears. But one that I always really got a kick out of is 'Manners Can Be Fun' by Munro Leaf. The illustrations are kind of horrible in a really great way, and I feel as though I appreciate them in my adult life far more than I ever did in my childhood. I must have read through this book thousands of times with my brothers as a kid, and I'm not really sure if it ever taught us any better about manners, but we did end up calling each other out whenever we behaved like any of the not so nice kids in the book: The pigs, the whineys, the noiseys, the me first, the bragger, the show-off, the won't wash. Whew, and that is just to name a few.

Here are a few photographs from our version. This book got so much use that the spine has almost completely withered away and is being held together by tape! The copy of the book that we own was stolen from our elementary school library by my older brother. Talk about bad manners!