Annual Classic - DONE!

I did it. And I did it early this year.

I've read my classic novel for 2010. This year's selection was "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Through The Looking-Glass"

I really enjoyed these two short books, and I was impressed how much of it was actually included in the Disney "Alice In Wonderland". (I suppose that's because the Disney movie was made before everything had to be censored to avoid damaging the fragile minds of children).

Anyway...

I loved the weird Wonderland-logic and all the play on words. I loved the poetry and nonsensical songs, and I loved reading the notes in the back to see how Carroll incorporated snippets from Alice's life into his story. I can only imagine how delighted Alice must have been.

I also discovered a song in "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" that I learned in choir when I was in grade 1 or 2. I could only recall the first verse, so I was pleasantly surprised to see it in the book I was reading!

So, I give the movie ten stars, and the books ten stars (out of five, of course), and highly recommend them both.

And since I finished my classic so early this year (and since I kinda cheated and picked a really short one), maybe I'll read another ... but after I work through my current growing list of fiction!

Next on my list: a book inspired by Wonderland called "The Looking Glass Wars"

All This Post is Missing are Pictures

I had an awesome weekend this past weekend. I was out and about for both days, starting with seeing "Tropic Thunder" on Friday (just for Robert Downey Jr). It wasn't bad... I'd recommend waiting for the DVD if you want to see it. Or better still, taking it out of the library (for free).

Saturday I wandered around the Thornhill Festival, bought food (mmm... roasted yams), bugged some of my co-workers who were there representing the library... then hopped on the subway and went downtown to meet up with Dee and Pete, who were in town to see Blue Man Group.

Sunday I went to Wonderland to celebrate Corinna's birthday. We met up with Ian and Emily and Emily's sister Allison for a bit, then after all the fun roller coasters we went out for sushi.

It was lots of fun. I also got a bit of knitting done on my re-started scarf. Of course, every time I sit down to knit Hamlet tries to eat my yarn. I had to build a pillow barracade, which he took as a challenge and ended up attacking from a different direction. *sigh*

Oh, and last night I saw the TV show "The Mentalist". Originally, I thought this concept was pretty stupid, just like CSI and Law & Order, but I watched it and it's pretty good. (It helps that Simon Baker is pretty hot) ;)

Next post will have pictures of the aforementioned activities... except the TV show. You can Google that yourselves!

Dark Knight

So I finally got to go see the new Batman movie


Heath Ledger as the Joker was just *creepy*, but they did an amazing job. I found the film to be quite long (those movie theatre seats can be pretty uncomfortable after a while) but the movie did a good job of holding my attention.

Here are a few points I had about the movie:

- The hoarse voice that Christian Bale used as Batman made me wonder if the Dark Knight was getting over a really bad cold or something. I was half expecting him to start hacking up a lung mid-speech.

- Maggie Gyllenhal (I probably really messed up on that spelling) was MUCH better than Katie Holmes ... which I'm sure everyone agrees.

- I love Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman!!

There were a few other things that bothered me, but they would be spoilers, so in case someone hasn't seen it, I won't write anything down. You'll know it when you watch it.

And...

This weekend I went to Wonderland again! I love roller coasters. So much fun! I sat at the very very front of Behemoth again (this time, my heart didn't stop for quite as long). Good times. I'd go again in August, but all my free time is pretty much spoken for, so if anyone wants to go in September, let me know ;)

What I've Been Up To: The Knitting Edition

I haven't updated in a while, so I thought I'd bring everyone up to speed on what I'm knitting.

I got a good chunk of knitting done at the cottage at the end of June (which was very nice) and I've been trying to knit a little every night, but life can be pretty busy sometimes. It helps that I'm head-over-heels in love with Noro Taiyo and want to buy more.

So, I'm still plugging away at the Montego Bay Scarf (Ravelry link) made from the sock yarn Heather and I won for doing the scavenger hunt back on April Fools Day.

Yes, it's still not very long, but you try saying "no" to Noro

The colours of this yarn are beautiful!

I finished putting together my little Lamby, but sadly he is lacking eyes. He also has a bit of a club foot but I love him anyway. Not bad for my first attempt at a stuffed animal, I think. Dee, Heather, when we go sight seeing in Toronto (which I'm assuming will include stops at yarn stores), I should buy this little guy some button eyes.

My poor blind little lamb

And the current love-of-my-knitting-life, is the Capelet I'm making with the Noro Taiyo (*heart*) ... (Ravelry link). If you look at the Ravelry link, I'm planning on making the sleeves and body of my capelet a touch longer so that it doesn't look like I'm wearing a baby sweater ;)

What I've got so far... I live for the colour change!

Close up! My family was wondering why there were so many holes in this, and didn't believe me when I said it was intentional.

So there's my knitting update. I would also like to take this opportunity to point out that I went to Canada's Wonderland on Canada Day and rode the Behemoth... AT THE VERY VERY FRONT!


I think my heart stopped for a few seconds. It was AWESOME :D