You've Got A Friend In Me... Toy Story 3

Just when you think movies can't possibly get any better, along comes a movie that is absolutely perfect -- and wonderful. The Munchkins and I went to see Toy Story 3 today, and the only word I can use to describe it is enchanting.  And, whatever did we do without 3-D viewing?  It brings the audience right into the picture and makes us part of the action.

All the usual characters are back -- Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head -- and a few new ones, including Barbie and Ken, and a very wicked, evil, truly frightening baby doll known as Big Baby.

We have all had toys we've loved, and toys that were our companions.  When I was a little girl, I had two favorite toys -- a small piano just like Schroeder's in the Peanuts cartoons, and a life-sized doll with red hair, named Patty Kay.  My toy piano used to get "lost" quite frequently, and then would magically reappear after a couple of days. It took me years to realize where my piano disappeared on such a regular basis -- the top shelf of my mother's clothes closet. I played my little toy piano whenever I could, and to this day I still love pianos. My Patty Kay doll was my best friend when I was little, and she stayed with me until I was about 10, when I finally had outgrown her.  After seeing Toy Story 3, I realize how sad Patty Kay must have been when I discarded her. 

If you have ever owned a toy, or know anyone who has ever owned a toy, you will love Toy Story 3.  It's one of the most magical movies I have ever seen.  Be sure to watch it in 3-D; you'll get lost in the enchantment.

Cirque du Soleil ... Kooza

In case anyone is wondering why you haven't seen me around the blogs lately, I have visitors for the next few days, and we've been very busy -- having fun! Yesterday we went to Cirque du Soleil "Kooza". I have seen a couple of Cirque du Soleil shows, but this is by far the best, and puts the "spectacular" back into "spectacle". I am usually a very polite spectator, and I clap graciously at all the right moments, but yesterday I heard someone hollering "whoo...! whoo...!" and I realized it was me.

Me...!

What an amazing show.  It's colorful and exciting, and ... amazing. If you have a chance to see this performance, grab some kids and take them to see it. You'll all love it.

I surreptitiously taped one of the acts, it was so wonderful.  I know... I know... As my friend Susan says, people have been fried at the stake for less, but I wanted to share it with you. Oh, and that "whooing" you hear? That's me...

Mission Impossible ... Doin' The Dance Of Joy...

Yesterday I went to Phinnaeus's concert, and it was wonderful. The theme of the concert was "Themes", which I thought was quite imaginative. They played the theme from "Mission Impossible", "The Muppet Show", "Wallace and Gromit", and various cartoons, including "The Flintstones". My two favorites were "Hawaii 5-0" and "Peter Gunn". The kids all did a fabulous job, but more importantly, they had fun.

The concert was in a perfect setting in a beautiful outdoor park. I was able to get some pictures and videos, but just as I was about to video Phinnaeus's solo, a woman -- complete with a video camera on a tripod -- plopped herself directly in front of me. *Nooooo....* I guess she didn't get the memo that traditionally those cameras are supposed to be used from further back, so they don't disrupt other folks' views. Oh, well... I happened to glance over and saw a little girl who was definitely enjoying the concert. I mean, she had moves...! Talk about the dance of joy. Watch out, Lady Gaga, there's someone close on your heels.



It's a beautiful summer day here. I hope you all go out, have fun, enjoy yourselves, and do the dance of joy.

Colonel Mustard In The Study With A Rope...

We have all played that wonderful game of "Clue", wandering through the hallways of the Boddy Mansion, trying to find the clues as to who might have dispatched Mr. Boddy.

"Miss Scarlett in the billiard room with a knife..."

And most of us have watched at least one of the CSI television franchises about forensic detectives who use DNA and other evidence to solve cold cases. By the end of the hour, the detectives have solved the case using 21st century forensic technology, some of which has not yet been invented. But, what the heck, it's television and, like the game of "Clue", it's meant to be entertaining.  It's not real life.

Occasionally, though, there is a mystery in real life that is so bizarre, it sends up red flags, even to the most unsuspecting people.  Two relatively young married folks -- Brittany Murphy and Simon Monjack -- die within five months of each other of exactly the same thing, acute pneumonia and severe anemia, both of which are relatively rare conditions in people their age.  Both are discovered in the same place in their home, by the same person.  What are the odds?  Something just doesn't feel right, and if I were a detective, my money would be on a suspicious third agent, either animal, mineral or vegetable.  I don't know much about either of these two people, but I think we have the makings of a CSI show here, or at least a good, rousing game of clue.  Stay tuned...

"Professor Plum in the conservatory with a candlestick..."

Me...? The Prime Minister of Canada...?

How many times have we seen someone and we’ve said, “I recognize the face, I just can’t place the name...” It has happened to all of us occasionally. Like fingerprints, no two faces are alike -- every face is slightly different. Almost from birth, babies are able to recognize faces, even subtle differences in faces. However, there is a small percentage of folks – about 2.5% -- who cannot recognize faces at all. This condition is called prosopagnosia and can be inherited, or can be caused by a brain injury. People with prosopagnosia often cannot recognize even their own face, but they often can identify people by touching their features.

Have you ever been told “You look just like such-and-such-a-person...?” Oh, goodness. I remember once my mother met one of my brother’s friends on the street, and had a long, chatty conversation with him. “How is your mother? How are you doing in school this year...?” The only problem was, it wasn’t my brother’s friend; it was a complete stranger, and he had no idea who my mother was. I was so embarrassed for my mother, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her, as she and I strolled merrily on our way.

Yesterday I went shopping after work, and it became an exercise in frustration because everywhere I went, no one had any of the items I needed. The Bay – my good old standby – has discontinued just about everything I like. So, by the end of my fruitless expedition, I was tired, my feet were sore, and I decided to take a taxi home. I strolled over to the Four Seasons Hotel taxi stand, and was immediately treated like a celebrity. Well, I know the folks there are polite, but this was ridiculous. They practically rolled the red carpet out for me. When the taxi rolled up, the doorman held the taxi door open for me and said, “Have a wonderful evening, Ms. Campbell...”

“Ms. Campbell...!?”

And then it dawned on me. They had mistaken me for Kim Campbell, who had once briefly been the Prime Minister of Canada. I don’t think I look anything like Kim Campbell, but I have been mistaken for her before, so I suppose there are enough facial recognition points in our faces for people – strangers – to think we look alike.

Has this ever happened to you?  Have you ever been mistaken for someone, or mistaken someone else?  Who do you look like?

The Invisible Blogger...

For some reason lately, my boring-little blog has become invisible in the blogging world.  I think something strange has happened, and my posts are not visible on Google Reader anymore.  Anyway, I am going to take this opportunity to get outdoors, do some painting, go to the beach, get away from the computer for a while ...  I will be back to visit you.

In the meantime, here's a fun little quiz I borrowed from our friend Calvin at Realm of the Lone Grey Squirrel. You can paste a sample of your writing into it, and find out which author your writing style is most like. I have never read anything by David Foster Wallace, but I think now I will.  Apparently I write like he does.  Interesting ... who knew!  Give it a try, and see who you write like.

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Have fun, everyone!

The Theory of Six Degrees

The theory of Six Degrees of Separation is one that has always amazed me. It refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth. ...

Phew...!

I grew up in a small town on the edge of a forest and my friend Helen* lived on the other side of the creek from our house. We spent all our time at each other’s houses, playing hopscotch, skipping, swimming, playing with dolls and doing all the other things girls do. We went through elementary school together and we ate lunch together every day. We would often trade lunches, and I always looked forward to the days when Helen’s mother made her chocolate bar and banana sandwiches. They were delicious.

Helen and I grew apart as we got into high school and found we had different interests. Helen was very athletic and involved in basketball, where I was more involved with the school choir and arts. We went our separate ways and didn’t see each other again after graduation.  Helen became a teacher and moved to another city, and I got married. After my husband died, it was necessary for me to go back to work, so I became a legal assistant with a large law firm. I worked for a senior partner and his junior assistant, a young articling student named Paul*.

Paul was a very sweet young man and everyone liked him. He was dark, attractive and sort of self-effacing, but he was a very promising articling student. However, he had made one serious mistake in his personal life, which required a formal hearing before he could become a lawyer. When the hearing concluded, it was agreed that Paul could become a lawyer and practice law, but on the condition that he move to a law firm in another city.

In the meantime, Helen had been diagnosed with a medical condition that required surgery. The doctor who performed the surgery botched it, leaving Helen in chronic pain. Helen sued the doctor but she lost the lawsuit. And, by a strange turn of coincidence, the firm representing Helen's doctor was the same law firm where Paul now worked.

Helen was frustrated with the outcome of her case, and after exhausting all appeals she set out on a mission to take justice into her own hands. She drove to the law firm that had represented her doctor, with the intent to shoot the lawyer, and she accidentally shot Paul instead and killed him. She was on her way to shoot her doctor when she was captured. After a lengthy trial, Helen was found guilty of murder.

At the time this happened, I had not yet heard of the theory of six degrees of separation. Two people whom I had known at different times in my life, had their lives intersect with each other in a way that would turn out to be devastating for them both, and neither of them knew I was their one degree of separation.

Pear Shape Or Apple Shape...? Can You Remember...?

Two Women Running on the Beach
Pablo Picasso
1922

As if women didn't have enough reasons to worry about their weight, according to CNN, here is one more:

The more a woman weighs, the worse her memory, according to research released this week from Northwestern Medicine at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The effect is more pronounced in women who carry excess weight around their hips, known as pear shapes, than women who carry it around their waists, called apple shapes.  The reason pear-shaped women experienced more memory and brain function deterioration than apple-shaped women is likely related to the type of fat deposited around the hips versus the waist.

"We need to find out if one kind of fat is more detrimental than the other, and how it affects brain function," said Dr. Diana Kerwin, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine and a physician at Northwestern Medicine. "The fat may contribute to the formation of plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease or a restricted blood flow to the brain."

"The study tells us if we have a woman in our office, and we know from her waist-to-hip ratio that she's carrying excess fat on her hips, we might be more aggressive with weight loss," Kerwin said. "We can't change where your fat is located, but having less of it is better." ... CNN

What about if you happen to be a little bit chubby all over? Does that mean you can remember some things and not others?  How on earth does where a person carries weight affect how their memory works ... unless both are related to a sedentary lifestyle.

I remember another "scientific study" about 20 years ago that concluded with the finding that women with larger breasts have smaller brains.  That caused quite a stir, and was eventually disproven.  I think the only conclusion one can reach from these studies is that -- once again -- women are being stereotyped according to body shape.

Oh, goodness... how silly.

Airing The Dirty Laundry...

When I was a really little girl, I used to love reading about movie stars. To me, they were like royalty. They lived in beautiful houses -- with swimming pools -- they wore gorgeous clothes and generally had perfect lives. Or so I thought. Any hint of impropriety was just that -- a hint. It was all part of the fantasy. Movie stars didn't live "normal" lives like the rest of us. They were never the noisy neighbors who got drunk and had fights, while the rest of the neighbors closed their curtains and pretended they couldn't hear them.

Or so we thought.

I'm not sure I like the new transparency that has been forced onto celebrities by the paparazzi and by sleazy media sites such as TMZ and Radar Online. But the genie is out of the bottle, and we are given a view into these folks private lives. Having said that, wouldn't you think they would want to present a better face to the world? Don't these people care that everyone can see their dirty laundry? Unfortunately, there is no such thing as privacy anymore. When Alex Baldwin or Mel Gibson leave repulsive and sickening messages on folks' voice mail, don't they realize it will go viral in a matter of minutes? When Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton, or any other bimbo du jour gets drunk or stoned, throws up and passes out -- on camera -- don't they realize that those pictures will be on the internet -- forever? No amount of cosmetics or plastic surgery can enhance a mug shot.

What are these people thinking?

I don't know about anyone else, but I prefer not to see people -- anyone -- descending into dissoluteness. It should be kept private, whether it's the neighbors or the previous year's Oscar winners. If I hear one more news story about Lindsay Lohan's addictions, bad behaviour and jail sentence, or Mel Gibson's dirty laundry and foul mouth, I think I will throw a shoe through my television set. And then I'll probably get arrested for violence.

Watch for my mug shot.

What's Your Name...?

For the first few years that I was blogging, I always responded personally to everyone's comment on my blog. But in recent months I have stopped doing that, because I was never sure if anyone checked back to read my responses to them. It seems to be sort of a mixture of folks who respond, and those who don't. I prefer an interactive sort of exchange, and I miss doing that. So, I will probably resume the practice of responding to those wonderful folks who do take the time to post a comment on my boring-little-blog.

Having said that, there is one thing I would like to know. "What is your name?" I would prefer to address people by their names, rather than -- say -- "Lollipops and Roses", or "Fear of Clowns", or "Terrific in Timbuktu", or whatever your blog title might be.

If you scroll down my blog -- way down there on my sidebar -- you will see I have added as many names as I know to all of your blog titles. Maybe you don't want folks to know your real name, and I understand that.  But if you don't have a problem with it, I would love to know your name -- first names only.  I have found over the course of blogging that I have gotten to know some of you very well.  Your "voices" are all definitely very different.  Blogging can be very personal and at the same time it can be almost detached.   It's a strange dichotomy.  We become close friends with people whom we may not recognize if we were to pass them on the street.  We see people come and go, we watch new bloggers blossom, while others die on the vine -- sometimes literally -- and we always feel a sense of connection.  We find ourselves caring about the things that happen in their lives, with their jobs, their families, their hobbies, their health -- all the while not knowing most of their names.  So, if you feel comfortable telling me your name, I would love to able to address you by your name when I respond to your comments.  It doesn't have to be your real name.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

   ... William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet