Feast

I drank at every vine.
The last was like the first.
I came upon no wine
So wonderful as thirst.

I gnawed at every root.
I ate of every plant.
I came upon no fruit
So wonderful as want.

Feed the grape and bean
To the vintner and monger;
I will lie down lean
With my thirst and my hunger.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Golden Compass

The first book in His Dark Materials trilogy is being made into a movie and the trailer is out!* It looks quite good, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high because they could still mess about with it enough to make it just good, rather then spectacularly good (compare the LOTR movies to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for an example of this). I think Daniel makes a formidable looking Lord Asriel, just as should be; though I'm torn over Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter. There's something about her that's just so... vanilla. Kind of boring, not enough edge. Mrs. Coulter is a very tricky character - you're always uncertain whether she's good or evil or a mixture of both. I don't know if Nicole Kidman will be able to play her and show all of her... nuances, I guess. Hmm, let's see... If I were to have cast Mrs. Coulter, my top choices might be...

... actually, Angelina Jolie comes to mind and won't go away. You know that half-smile she's so good at (and usually over uses)? Well, that would actually be perfect for Mrs. Coulter... And she's definitely lushly beautiful enough...

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*Actually, the trailer may have been out for a while, but Karina just discovered it today!

The Ballad of High Noon

Do not forsake me, oh my darlin'
On this, our weddin' day
Do not forsake me, oh my darlin'
Wait, wait along

I do not know what fate awaits me
I only know I must be brave
And I must face a man who hates me
Or lie a coward, a craven coward
Or lie a coward in my grave

Oh, to be torn 'tweenst love and duty
S'posin' I lose my fair-haired beauty
Look at that big hand move along
Nearin' high noon

He made a vow while in state prison
Vowed it would be my life or his'n
I'm not afraid of death but oh
What will I do if you leave me?

Do not forsake me, oh my darlin'
You made that promise as a bride
Do not forsake me, oh my darlin'
Although you're grievin', don't think of leavin'
Now that I need you by my side

Wait along,(wait along) wait along
Wait along, wait along
(Wait along, ,wait along, wait along, wait along)

Sung by Tex Ritter in the film High Noon
Written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington

Bad civics

I forgot to vote (well, I didn't get a voter registration card and I forgot to call in about it) on Tuesday in the provincial election.

Fortunately, the NDP have won anyway!

*phew*


(I really do feel guilty about not voting. How can I be (annoyingly?) opinionated about everything if I don't do what I say we all should do? Argh.)

P.S. This is also really cool: Record number of female MLAs elected

The Movie Game

The Claw tagged me for this quiz/meme thing a while back, so here goes...

Instructions:
1. Go to IMDB.com and look up 10 of your favourite movies.
2. Post five (5) official IMDB "Plot Keywords" for these 10 picks.
3. Have your friends guess the movie titles.
4. Then tag three people.

* * * * * *

1. eye patch, saloon, Quaker, beautiful woman, revenge

2. deja vu, infatuation, beach, dyed hair, surreal

3. sorrow, disease, insanity, male nudity, subterranean

4. one night stand, religion, twist in the end, flashback sequence, based on novel

5. brothel, boarding house, historical, undressing scene, Oklahoma

6. archeologist, cross dressing, dog, based on autobiography, American

7. star crossed lovers, fishing, death, shotgun, prison

8. New York City, drug addict, nightmare, confession, mask

9. remake of French film, courtroom, imposter, historical, tobacco

10. Shakespeare References, horseback riding, inheritance, atlas, resignation

I tag... Jared, Melissa, and whoever else wants to play and actually reads this and actually has a blog. :P

Since I found the "hints" others left in there memes really hard to guess at, I tried to make mine extremely easy. Guess we'll see!

Mouseworld adventures & the impermanence of reality

I haven't been writing on this blog much (no kidding, hey?) because I've been writing on our Disney trip blog instead. I saw a sign in a museum today that said something like "in the end, all we'll have left are our memories." Not a very cheery quote. At least, I don't think so. I've always been rather terrified over the fact that memories will someday be all that I have left because I don't think I have a very good memory. At least, that's my fear - that my memory is sub-par. In reality, my memory is probably average. But I feel like its not good enough. I want to be able to remember the details of everything. And of everyone who has been important to me. Maybe this feeling has been even more enhanced because of the many people who now only exist in my past, in my memory.*

Or, right now, it could be because I've been reading about Buddhism for my Exploring the Religious World class (which I love so far). According to Buddhism, everything in life is inconstant and impermanent, there is no such thing as a permanent identity, and suffering will always exist and affect us - no matter how much we might try to avoid it. And "even in the midst of pleasure, we often recognize that pleasure is fleeting... Try as we might to put everything in our lives in order, disorder soon reasserts itself. In the midst of happy experiences, we may worry about the people we love..." (Molloy, p. 127)

Anyhow. I didn't really mean to have that long and melancholy preface. All I intended to say was that the quote got to me and as a result I'm trying to write down the details of our trip. Its not exactly exciting stuff - just the things we did each day. But it feels good to write it down and to know that next year, or years from now, I'll be able to go back and read and really remember what it was like. Instead of just having a vague, foggy recollection (as is the case with other voyages I've taken).

Oh, and I had a good time, by the way. Maybe too good of a time. It made coming home a little sad at first. Its a bit of a letdown to have to go back to the real world. But at the same time its also nice to be able to relax and not have to rush everywhere.

Yep. That's what I'll keep telling myself.

:P

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* Well, technically they do still "exist" in the real world - somewhere. But for me, its as if they don't exist. And vice versa, I guess. (This goes back to the exJW thing.)

Song for the Mira

Out on the Mira one warm afternoon,
Old men go fishing with black line and spoon
And if they catch nothing they never complain,
I wish I was with them again.

As boys in their boats call to girls on the shore,
Teasing the one that they really adore,
And into the evening the courting begins,
I wish I was with them again.

Can you imagine a piece of the universe
more fit for princes and kings?
I'll give you ten of your cities
for Marion bridge and the pleasure it brings

Out on the Mira on soft summer nights
Bonfires blaze to the children's delight
They dance round the flames singing songs with their friends;
I wish I was with them again.

And over the ashes the stories are told
Of witches and werewolves and Oak Island gold
The stars on the river they sparkle and spin;
I wish I was with them again.

Can you imagine a piece of the universe
more fit for princes and kings?
I'll give you ten of your cities
for Marion bridge and the pleasure it brings

Out on the Mira the people are kind,
They'll treat you to home-brew and help you unwind.
And if you come broken they'll see that you mend
I wish I was with them again.

And thus I conclude with a wish you go well,
Sweet be your dreams, may your happiness swell,
I'll leave you here, for my journey begins,
I'm going to be with them, going to be with them,
I'm going to be with them again.

Allister MacGillivray


There is a beautiful scene in New Waterford Girl in which a group of Nova Scotian kids sing this around a campfire. (It may sound cheesy but it was actually very heart-wrenching.) Thanks to Sarah for showing me the movie. It was interesting.

Gone Fishing

Summer Storm

We stood on the rented patio
While the party went on inside.
You knew the groom from college.
I was a friend of the bride.

We hugged the brownstone wall behind us
To keep our dress clothes dry
And watched the sudden summer storm
Floodlit against the sky.

The rain was like a waterfall
Of brilliant beaded light,
Cool and silent as the stars
The storm hid from the night.

To my surprise, you took my arm–
A gesture you didn't explain–
And we spoke in whispers, as if we two
Might imitate the rain.

Then suddenly the storm receded
As swiftly as it came.
The doors behind us opened up.
The hostess called your name.

I watched you merge into the group,
Aloof and yet polite.
We didn't speak another word
Except to say goodnight.

Why does that evening's memory
Return with this night's storm–
A party twenty years ago,
Its disappointments warm?

There are so many might have beens,
What ifs that won't stay buried,
Other cities, other jobs,
Strangers we might have married.

And memory insists on pining
For places it never went,
As if life would be happier
Just by being different.

Dana Gioia