An Idea Is Bulletproof

Christmas was lovely this year. My family apparently all decided to spoil each other. Some highlights for me were: my new homemade Harry Potter scarf (with my initials on it!), my brother giving me his old Nintendo DS system, lots of distraction there :), Getting both the Serenity travel destination postcards and the currency pack! (browncoat_2x2 when you got these did you get 2 boxes? I've only opened one of mine and I'm not sure if the other is going to be the same or something different), the Christmas at Ivy Cottage book which I didn't know existed 'til this year, a stack of Buffy comics that my parents found at Value Village all in fantastic condition! and the Done The Impossible DVD. I surprised my Brother with an accordian (a small one) which I'd brought back from NYC this year. He'd been trying to guess what I'd bought him at the Royal Wood show earlier this year and he totally guessed an accordian and I managed to convince him that there was no way I'd have brought an accordian back from NYC. Hehe :)

On Boxing Day my Mom, Brother and I went out to see Sweeny Todd. Without spoiling anything I can say that it’s like Sondheim light. Not bad, I quite enjoyed it, but very much simplified. Johnny Depp was by far the weakest singer in the cast, but he held his own and what he lacked vocally he made up in acting which obviously is his forte. Helena Bonham Carter did really well, apparently she had to do a LOT of vocal lessons so no one would complain that she got the role just because she’s married to Tim Burton. Visually the movie reminded me of Moulin Rouge only darker and with that Tim Burton flare. My mom said it was like watching an opera. I’ve informed her that no, it was like watching a Sondheim show. She's trying to deny that she liked a musical.

There was one woman in the audience who was clearly not well, she would scream at the screen when the movie got tense. Whoever was taking care of her did a great job of quieting her down whenever she had an outburst but I kept thinking that if she reacts this strongly to stressful situations on screen then perhaps Sweeny Todd was not the best pick to see on the big screen, especially not when it's just opened and the theatre will be busy. That being said I was more annoyed with the girl who was there with her Mom just down the row from me who said "this is terrible, I hate it" after the first line Johnny Depp sang (which is all of 2 minutes into the movie.) I couldn't tell if she thought it was terrible because he's not as good as the people who are in this show on stage or if she thought it was terrible because she did not like musicals. I'm guessing the latter though. At least her Mom told her to get out right then or stop bitching and she shut up.

Then yesterday Viv came over and we did our gift exchange and chatted and played with Hermes (the cat) who was being a big suck all night lol.

Yesterday was an awesome day! Rainy and gross but awesome nonetheless. I'm going to break this up into two entries, 1. for the Catfish contest (wait that will make sense momentarily) and 2. for the Browncoat Shindig last night.

Catfish day:

I went to my parents house to see my Dad in this catfish cooking contest that he'd entered. Now by the time it got down to contest day I do belive he was the only non restaurant contestant entered. As in, everyone else entered was there pretty much promoting their restaurant/store or had chef experience, my daddy just likes to cook. So we were pretty much braced for him not to win, despite having a fabulous recipe, just because he was going up against really tough competition.

Daddy went to cook, my mom and I hit up Value Village for some shopping. People there yesterday were rude like woah. I think it's Hallowe'en, more people there and so many were pushy, twice I had people try to bud in front of me to get a changeroom, however that was not happening lol. I found some very cute clothes and the perfect pair of shoes to wear to the Slean concert tonight! They apparently were just meant to be on my feet :)

Then my Mom, Brother and I headed back to watch my Dad cook for the last bit of the day and to see the judging. It was raining and my mom was being a total stage parent talking about what the other teams were doing and again about how unfair it was that my dad was competing agains professionals (which yes, that's an unbalanced competition but once you're there you shut up about it) so my brother and I bailed from that scene. We saw some of the artists who were promoting their work. There were some very neat pieces. One collection which was certainly memorable was this girl who took pictures in graveyards and then wrote a small fictional blurb about the person who'd died. They were very neat, but the idea is one that I think I've toyed with when I was an angsty teen, ergo I'm doubting it was as original as it seemed.

My brother and I also hid out inside the rec center for a while to stay dry. It's the exact same as it was when we went there as kids. No new paint or anything! Parks and Rec clearly need more funding!

Then back for the judging of the catfish contest. I took lots and lots of pictures for my Daddy so he'd have a record of doing this since it was such a fun experience for him. AND he won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Second place! It was a fantastic surprise and the whole neighbourhood cheered for him because it's always fun to see the "little guy" win instead of the professionals.

My brother took me to see Narnia tonight, and his work gave me a nifty free Narnia poster that was supposed to be only for kids seeing the movie but I argue that my inner child wants a poster ;) Also the back of the poster is a map of Narnia which is much cooler than the movie ad side, so I'll be displaying that :)

I liked the Narnia movie but the BBC mini series was still better by far. Also the over analytical English major in me wonders if having the White Queen's sleigh be pulled by polar bears during the battle was any sort of dig at Phillip Pullman....? I'd actually like to reread his books...and then watch Narnia again (probably when it's out on dvd) and see if there were any other possible references to PP and his stories. Oh how interesting it would have been had the Dark Materials movies come out at the same time.

Also for a movie preview we saw the PotC2 trailer. Johnny... pirate... big screen. July 7th, I'll be there :D

Then during Futurama tonight my brother and I had our Bertie Botts Every Flavour Bean eating contest. We tied. The only one we couldn't force down was sardine flavour.... that was NASTY. I still feel like I may be sick. We left a bowl of the gross flavour ones out for our parents (sweetest kids ever we are...) but actually I know my dad will be curious to taste a few, he's just like that :)

I feel spoiled :)

My major present is the one I knew about which is the Buffy Chosen Collection which is so pretty! I even held off on watching Amends last night (my Christmas Eve tradition) so that I could watch it from my new shiny dvds today :) Oh and my dad wrapped the box all cute. Instead of a bow he made a cross with a little stake and a piece of garlic attached to it! I want to frame it!

My brother's awesome wrapping job was a dime in a little metal tin wrapped in MANY layers of newspaper and then some wrapping paper which symbolizes that he will buy me a new hard drive. He rocks. In retaliation I wrote him a certificate for a sushi dinner and wrapped it around a half full water bottle and then put it into a box and then burried it with styraphome lol so when you shook it it sort of sounded like a snow globe. Next year I plan to use jello as a packing aid... mwahahaha :)

I also got lots of fun Harry Potter candy (no I will never grow up) and an awesome NYC tote bag which will be perfect for weekends of travelling. And a lovely assortment of books, and socks, and chocolate, and bath stuff and a little bit of money which will just help me pay for my bus pass and osap (I over shopped a bit yesterday but it was for presents so it was okay) this month :)

Holidays were not so bad this year. Also for the first year in FOREVER we did not have a Christmas where the presents were mainly from my parents to each other which is cute BUT eventually it gets boring just watching them open up presents from each other. At least put more than one thing into a box you know? lol.

Just dinner to get through and it's regular turkey tonight (which I'm still not eating but I'm also not revolted by it so that's a bonus ;) )

ps my brother got some little gameboy/nintendo thinger (it has a touch screen and is red... that's all I could discern about the thing) so I don't think I'll be seeing him for a few days lol.