Playing Catch Up

Song Stuck on the Brain: It Had To Be You

I don't know why, I don't think I've heard it recently. (Not that I have to hear it to get it stuck.) I've been in kind of a homey/old movie type mood lately. Cooking, watching classics like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The Shop Around the Corner.

I love Jimmy Stewart. I would have totally crushed on him if I had been born in his era. Him and Gregory Peck.

I've got the house decked out for the holidays finally and I'm almost done with my holiday gift projects. So, my mood is probably what prompted the song.

On a colder note, we had our first winter storm on Weds and Thurs. It started Weds. with an ice storm. Turned my little dead end street into an ice rink. Cars were stuck all over the place. Stupid me, I decided I had to at least try to get to work on my own. Unfortunately my driveway backs out onto a slight hill, meaning I had to try and climb the icy slope from a standstill.

I backed onto the street with no trouble, but once my tires met icy street they lost all traction. It didn't matter where I turned the wheel or whether I tried to brake or not. I did a few lazy donuts before coming to a stop going the wrong direction, wheels having caught the curb and just barely missing my neighbors mail boxes. I decided to try driving on down to the circle and come back with some momentum. Probably would have worked too, but there were several cars on each side of the road and I didn't want to slide into any of them, so I wasn't going quite fast enough. I made it just past my house when the tires lost purchase and I went sliding backwards again. This time I slid straight back, just past my drive before catching the curb and missing the same mailboxes again. (Thank Goodness!)

I gave up and went back into the house, leaving my car precariously perched on it's icy shelf. I called work and, since they couldn't bear to be without me, they offered to send people to help me. The boss showed up with three of the warehouse guys and we spent the next 45 minutes getting my car back in my garage before piling into the boss' four wheel drive.

Then after a very long day, I came home to a good 6 inches of snow already on the ground. It continued to snow and this morning I have about 10 inches in my yard. Jack thinks it's fun. He's been romping in it, even tasting it. Silly dog.

I was so not ready for snow. We were having great weather just a week ago. I really don't mind the snow, but I hate ice. And the snow is best when it only sticks to the yard and trees. I don't like to shovel either. Lazy aren't I?

I know I promised you all a review of Hugh Jackman's movie The Fountain. (I'm so playing catch up right now.) I saw this movie on my birthday. Really, the best part of the whole film was Hugh. He's a terrific actor and he looked really hot in the scenes where he wasn't bald. Unfortunately, that's about all the good I can say about it.

It was a very artsy film about a researcher trying to find the cure for his wife's cancer before she dies. She on the other hand is writing a book called The Fountain. In it a Spanish conquistador is sent to middle America by the queen of Spain to find the Tree of Life/Fountain of Youth. The movie flashes back and forth between whats happening in the real world and in the book. That's confusing enough, but to top it off there are all these scenes of a bald Hugh in Pajamas floating with a tree in a bubble.


The story was okay, once you got into it you knew what was happening, but I think it could have been told in a less jumbled way. His wife has studied the Mayan religion and in some ways begins to accept it as truth. She has accepted her death as the only way to live forever, quoting a story told to her by a friend who's father was buried with a tree planted over his body. His father lived forever because he grew into the tree and with every seed or fruit that was eaten or grown elsewhere, he continued on as part of the cosmic whole. There was also a belief that the spirit travels to a place called shebulba, the Mayan afterlife world that is actually a dying star.

***SPOILER***
His wife requests that he write the final chapter of her book, then she dies just as he makes a medical breakthrough that could save her. He's tormented and angry, but in a way, begins to accept what she chose to believe. He plants a tree over her grave. The final scenes are of bald Hugh and the tree that was once his wife, floating in the bubble toward shebulba. He reaches it and enters the light just before it explodes, send their essence out into the universe to create new life.

From a Judeo/Christian viewpoint, there was a whole lot to not agree with here. I find this understanding of the afterlife to be really hopeless. Is that really all we have to hope for? There were parts here and there in the movie that were thought provoking. I may not agree with the conclusions the movie came to, but it certainly made me think harder about why I didn't agree with them. So in that way it was interesting.

It wasn't entertaining though, so unless this movie sounds like it's really perfect for you, don't bother. Go see Hugh in something more entertainment friendly.

And finally, it's time to announce our winners of the ProjectingA 2007 magnetic calendars. They are:

Big Baller Ben

Nancy M.

Karen B.

Purrty Cougie

Amy R.

I'll be emailing you all soon to make arrangements for mailing your calendars. Thanks for entering I hope you all enjoy your calendars!

A.