I didn't think I was going to get a chance to post today but I'm taking a minute from my filing to post this week's KFF. It's been a bit crazy around here between work, movies and my b-day. Yesterday I applied for 'publicity' access to a couple of the film studios and I've actually heard back from two of them. I now have access to fancy pictures and press releases for a couple of the 'big' production companies which is super cool. My sister, my sweet, sweet sis, gave me this for my birthday:

I nearly cried when I saw it. Barker has always been one of my favourites and when I first heard about this book, I was disappointed that 1) I couldn't find it anywhere and 2) it was *really* expensive. Thank you sis.
It's fantastic. Mom and dad gave me the most beautiful flowers along with some of my favourite cream and the office folks gave me a massive bouquet of flowers. I'll have to take pictures of them. All my flowers are beautiful.

But that's enough rambling for today. I've posted my first Film Festival review today. Look for more coming over the next two weeks. And now, for today's KFF.
I've decided that there are three reasons why I love Keanu. 1) He's smart. 2) He's sexy (I can't imagine what a pile of skin and meat I'd be if I ever met him...). 3) He looks hot in black. He always looks hot but he's extra yummy in black.

It's my birthday today. This year more than any other this feels like just another day. D surprised me yesterday with a digital recorder. I've been looking at these for some time now because I'd like to start doing some more audio type posts but I was having trouble deciding between them all. Two criteria had to be met: 1) digital and PC compatible so that I can download the stuff, edit if necessary and upload and 2) external microphone jack. D picked a good one for me and we tested it last night. I'm looking forward to using it...probably tonight.

The Vancouver International Film Festival kicks off today with a full lineup of films although the "Opening Gala" isn't until tonight. I'm seeing a movie tonight and nearly every day from now until Oct. 13. I'm really looking forward to it and I'll be updating the review site daily with new reviews sometimes more than once a day so make sure you stay tuned.

Thanks to Dawn, I've finally switched over to an RSS feeder. Now I can catch up on everyone's blogs in record time. Seriously, what before took me 1 to 2 hours now takes 30 to 40 minutes. It's fantastic. I suggest you try it for yourself. I'm using Bloglines and love it.

Now on to something totally unrelated but much more interesting. I have a routine in the morning. I get off the skytrain downtown anywhere between 8:30 and 8:40 every morning and I walk down the same street to the office every day. I'm obviously not the only one with a routine because I see most of the same people every day. This week, I started seeing a new guy on the walk. My first impression was "Wow. There goes Fabio." This guy is betweem 45 and 55. Tall, slim build, sandy blond shoulder length hair and a killer tan. That first day he was wearing a white suit. At a quick glance, I couldn't help but smile at myself. How much more over the top could you get? But I've seen him every day this week and damn, the guy is growing on me. Everytime I see him he's a little more handsome. Weird how that works. I'm keeping an eye on his hands because I have a girlfriend that would *love* to know him. I may yet stop him. We'll see if I have the balls. I'll keep you posted on Fabio.

That's all for now I guess. I'm sorry the posting hasn't been regular this week. It's been a bit crazy in the office and I just haven't had time in the evenings to post but I've been reading! :) I'll be back tomorrow with the KFF.

The week didn't start off well but it's ending on a high note. I only hope that this continues into next week. The rain has managed to disappear for a few days and the weekend is looking like a good one. D and I are spending the day together tomorrow and then heading to the movies TOGETHER (trust me, this is a HUGE deal) for, prepare yourselves, Jackass 2. Truth is, I'm actually looking forward to this. If nothing else, it'll be funny to laugh at a bunch of dumb asses doing some really, really stupid stuff. Sunday is Word on the Street, a Canada wide free literary event. The Bookcrossing group always has a bit of a get together and we walk around checking out the sites so I'm looking forward to it.

I say watching a movie together is a huge deal because although we have lots in common, we can never decide on a movie to watch. Last weekend I did get him to sit through Metal: A Headbanger's Journey and he, grumbling the entire time, decided to sit with me thinking he'd watch for 20 mins and then leave but he liked it so much he saw the entire thing with me. But moments like this are few and far between. Usually, he won't even give it a chance. Oh well. I still love him.

I'm picking up my Film Festival tickets tonight. I've very, very excited. I've picked a number of interesting sounding movies. I just hope they're good!

Enjoy this week's KFF. Personally, I didn't realize Keanu was quite this built. Check out his arms! WOW.

Something happened the other week at Spain's Fashion Week. The folks over there decided that they'd had enough of bones walking around with a bunch of fabric draped on them so, they announced that 'models' who didn't meet the normal height-to-weight index as outlined by the World Health Organization, they couldn't set foot on the runway. This made headlines everywhere. I'm not sure why. It's not like this is a problem that has been hiding under a rug for decades and we only noticed now. The fashion industry is everywhere. We look at models in ads for everything from perfume to hair colour and yet, this is the first time someone has stepped out and said "You know what? These girls look sick." Hello? What the fuck was going on that it took 30 years for the industry to notice???

I was reading this article (which I lifted from a fellow blogger) and looking at the pictures, I just wanted to cry. I would post them here but I've decided that I will NOT participate in the spreading of this insanity. These girls don't even look human. Some of the designers are saying that yeah, they may be responsible. I think someone should smack them across the back of the head. If you want your clothes to hang on a stick rather than a woman, why not drape and pin the fabric on a mannequin or, even better, on a hanger with no body inside? As far as I'm concerned, seeing the clothes on a woman who looks like a sack of bones appeals very little to me. I thought the idea was to have a female shape underneath to show you how the pants sit, how the seams fit, how the folds drape over a woman's body outlining and accentuating curves. The truth is, a very small amount of the population will ever look the way a model does in the clothes and now that these girls are essentially not there, I just don't see what the point is.

What gets me even more riled up is that they're concerned about saying that the girls are too skinny. WTF? Folks walk around all the time bitching at how fat people are but you can't say the same thing to someone who's too skinny? Talk about discrimination! This disgusts me. I hadn't realized HOW MUCH this actually bugged me until I read that article. Fashion has never been something I really bought into (except for Gaultier, Ford and Galliano who – I argue – create art) and at this rate, I doubt I ever will. Thanks to fashion and the media for creating a large population of females with distorted ideas of self image. Thanks very much. I hope you're ready to shell out the time and bucks to re-educate girls on what beauty REALLY is.

Autum in Vancouver wouldn't be complete without rain. Unlike some years when we get a few weeks of dry yet cooler weather, this year the skies decided to open up and let it all out. The rain has been around for a few days now and, honestly, I'm ready for it to stop. You HEAR ME RAIN????? GO AWAY! It's not that I hate the rain because I actually find it quite refreshing. What bothers me is trying to lug all my shit around from home to work and back while trying to stay dry. I have yet to find the *perfect* bag that will allow for this. I WILL find it. I'm going to start looking this weekend.

The other thing I hate about the rain is that it always gives me a feeling of melancholy. I'm not necessarily depressed or unhappy but the drearyness and the wet make me kind of sad. But on a good note, I've been feeling pretty good lately. The little illness that was bothering me last week and over the weekend appears to be subsiding which is making me a very, very happy girl. My major concern now is trying to catch up on some reading for the Book Discussion next weekend.

So the results are in for the "Celebrity that makes you puke up a little in your mouth every time you see them." Paris Hilton won that challenge with a landslide 60%. The best comment about the whole thing was "Paris Hilton was redeemed in my eyes when South Park did a whole episode dedicated to the STUPID LITTLE CRACK WHORE." Thanks to Colleen Prime for that tidbit. It had me rolling on the floor.

I think today is going to be really quiet - YEY! - more time to catch up on a few things like writing a review for The Last Kiss which was really, really good (quite the writer eh?).

To finish off today, I'd like to share this picture with you:

This is a picture of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan. This was taken last week shortly after the birth of their first male grandchild. There are actually a couple of great tidbits of history about this family. To read more, you can check out Wikipedia. To learn WHY this grandchild is such a big deal, read this. The reason I posted the picture is because they're SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO adorable! Seriously! Don't they look like two cute little dolls?

It was one of those not so great weekends. Saturday was just a BAD day. D and I went out for lunch and then a day of shopping. I was waiting outside for him to pay for lunch when he pokes his head out the door and tells me that his bank card isn't working. I go in, try to use mine and it doesn't work either. He walks over to the bank only to discover that the Credit Union interact system is down. So much for shopping. We did go to the mall for a couple of hours and walked around but it was saddly uneventful. He then dropped me off at the Skytrain so that I could head downtown to meet a few of the movie group folk for The Black Dhalia. I was already running late but I got to the theatre right at 7. I'm waiting in line to buy my ticket (because my bank card doesn't work) and when I finally get up to the front (10 minutes later) I notice that the movie isn't playing. I'm at the wrong theatre. A hussled my ass to the right theatre but was really late so I watched something else. After that, I met the girls for the laser show. Now, I'll be the first to say I'm not much of a drug user - never have been. I can drink nearly anyone under the table but I'm a light weight when it comes to the drugs. Maybe I should say featherweight because two puffs and I was feeling the effects. Yeah, I'm a cheap druggie. So sue me. Make fun all you'd like but I had a great time.

Sunday I had a hard time getting out of bed and when I finally rolled onto the couch, I refused to move. D did manage to get me out for a couple of hours to do some grocery shopping and that was about it. I'm still feeling a bit overly tired today but better than Friday. I'm off to have a good $11 nap tonight thanks to de Palma. Hopefully it won't be all that bad but all suggestions indicate that it IS that bad.

Last week I saw something which cracked me up. It's a list of annoying personalities. See the list for yourself:

I loved it so much, I decided to let the readers poll. Who's the ONE person that makes you ill????? If they're not on the list below, let me know in the comments. I'm curious.

It's been a great week for attracting new readers (hi folks...nice to have you on board the Marina boat) but that's been the only good thing this week. I've been feeling kinda gross all week and this morning I woke up feeling disgusting. My nose is plugged up and my head feels like the drain backed up into it. I'm having a hard time concentrating, I have a slow and quiet continuous pounding in my upper neck and I feel groggy (like I've had 10 too many beers). I was going to head home after work but I'm just not sure I'm up to going home and moping around so I'm still planning on attending the Friday geekout but we'll see. Anything could happen between now and 6PM.

The only other truly great joy I had today was picking the picture for the KFF (Keanu Friday Find for the new ones of the bunch). I've been saving this picture for either my birthday or a big holiday but today has been such a crappy day I needed something to cheer me up so, here we go. I don't usually post them this big but hey, it's my blog and I wanna see it BIG. Wiccachicky...you may want to be sitting for this one...

I hope everyone manages to have a great weekend. I'm planning to load myself up with drugs on Sunday if I'm still not feeling well. As for tomorrow...I must remain alert. I have a hot date with some girl friends, Pink Floyd, lasers and (if all goes well) some of BC's best MJ.

I naively thought that we were beyond this in this great land we call Canada. I guess I was wrong.

Days left to my birthday: 15

I can't believe how quickly the month is going. It seems like just yesterday was the 1st of the month and we're nearly halfway throu it! It's been a quiet day so far. The MIL left this morning at 5AM. D got up to see her off. I had been planning on getting up but when the time came, I just couldn't move. I stayed in bed, curled up in the sheets while the poor hubby got up to see mom off. He came back to bed sometime just after 5AM but tossed and turned until the alarm went off for work. He complained that he didn't get any sleep between 5 and 7 and when we left he looked beyond tired. Poor guy. I hope the day goes quickly for him. The visit was better than usual this year. The few times we all went out were very pleasant and MIL appears to be in a better place this year than she was last year (she bitched a lot last year). We may actually go out there for a few days next year. I wouldn't mind getting away for a few days...that's for sure.

I'm still having problems commenting on some of the pages. This is soooooooo frustrating! I just want to pull my hair out. The worst bit is that some of the movie folks I read regularly probably think I've fallen off the face of the earth! WAHHHHHH! I hope they fixt this bug soon!

I was at the video store over the weekend and picked up a DVD of one of my favourite shows of all trime. When I was growing up in Venezuela and Portugal, sis and I watched a few shows including Tom and Jerry (the original with no talking), Bugs Bunny, He-Man and She-Ra. Those were the only 4 shows that we could watch in both countries but my favourite by far was She-Ra, Princess of Power! I noticed a few months back that He-Man is now out on DVD but I hadn't seen a She-Ra DVD until this weekend when I picked the "fan favourite episodes" in a DVD set with the She-Ra movie. Yes, there was a movie (it was called "The Secret of the Sword"). Now, I liked both She-Ra and He-Man but she was soooooooooooooo much better because she was a girl kicking butt! While boys my age are drooling over Transformers, I go a little bananas for She-Ra. I have yet to watch any of this DVD but I can't wait for the opportunity to revisit this much loved childhood flashback. I hope she still kicks as much ass as I remember.

I'm trying to get myself all prepped for doing audio and live posting from the Vancouver Film Festival. I've scouted out the majority of the local coffee shops around the theatres that have free internet as well as some areas outside where I can set up shop and connect to a wireless network. This will be my first year of live reporting and I'm *really* looking forward to it. The only thing now is that I'm also trying to get the video in there but this is turning into a bit of a problem because I don't actually have a video camera and I'm not sure I can pull it off with the webcam but I'm sure gonna try!

I actually have some work to do this morning so I'd better bugger off. Hope everyone is having a good hump day!

I don't know what the hell I was thinking but late last week (I think it was Friday afternoon) I changed over to Blogger Beta and I tell you, it was the worse thing I ever did. Everything seems to be working well but I'm unable to comments on anyone's blog which only has blogger comments enabled because the beta version hans't been integrated into the regular Blogger accounts and, therefore, I'm not a "Blogger" member and can't comments. If you're site is listed on the sidebar, be assured that I'm still coming by daily, I just may not be able to leave you any feedback! ARGH!

The weekend was great. Sis and I went to see the Brian Jonestown Massacre on Saturday night. They were bloody amazing! They actually managed to stay on stage without fights or collapse for over 2 hours and though they took an insanely long time between songs, they were awesome. Everyone was impressed, especially considering that last year's show only lasted 20 minutes before it collapsed into complete chaos. I drank more than a little too much and had a bit of a headache on Sunday morning but it was a generally good evening. Sis didn't fare so well. She promised she wasn't going to drink too much but when all was said and done, she had much more to drink than I did and you could tell. As we left the club, she stuck a nearly full opened bottle of beer (which she had just started drinking) in her bag. As is custom in our outings, something had to go wrong. The entire bottle spilled inside her bag. She had her camera, phone and mp3 player in there. On the cab ride home, she was weepy and sad and I tried to reashure her that the stuff might work if she just let it dry. Turns out I was kind of right. Though her phone and mp3 player are officially dead, the camera appears to be in excellent working condition. Poor girl. This sort of stuff always happens to her. I just wish she would have listened to me when I asked her to leave the beer behind...

I picked up a really great t-shirt at Walmart (of all places!) yesterday. It says: "Duct tape is like the force, it has a dark side and a light side and it keeps the universe together". I loved it so much I had to get it. I can't wait for opportunity to wear the darn thing.

I'm off to see Hollywoodland tonight with a couple of the girls from the movie group. Should be a good show. The VIFF has posted a full listing of movies on their site so I'm now off to sear the endless pages for possible movies.

Days left to my birthday: 20

It has been a rather uneventful week. Work has been rather quiet and life at home with the MIL this week has been pretty good, especially considering that I haven't really been home in the evenings and we only talk in small 20-30 minute spurts at a time. THIS is the type of visit I LIKE!

I did go out and watch The Illusionist with a girlfriend on Wednesday. Yes, again. This is my favourite movie of the year so far. Even after the second viewing and knowing what was coming, I still loved it. I can't wait to get my little hands on the soundtrack.

The weekend is going to be an interesting affair. Tonight I'm heading to my weekly sci-fi dinner and we're celebrating Star Trek's 40th anniversary by watching a couple of award winning episodes of the original series. Saturday is still up in the air. I have a bunch of things I need to do (like make a couple of music CD's), movie group outing and a concert with little sis but I'm not sure what D and the mom are up to. They're talking about going down to the States but nothing is for sure yet. As for Sunday…who knows? I guess we'll wait and see. This is one of the first weekends in a while where I don't have any solid plans for both days. I'm one of these people that knows where I'm going to be and when - I like to know my schedule ahead of time. For the most part. Occasionally I like to let things fall how they may.

And one more funny thing before this week's KFF. I saw this news story yesterday about a single mother who's on strike. Yes, you heard right. She's fed up with her kids not pulling their weight around the house so rather than take some action, she's set up a tent in the front yard with a big sign "Mom on Strike". I have problems with this story on so many levels I'm not even sure where to begin. Needless to say, this woman has some serious issues if she can't control her 3 kids, all of which are under the age of 12. Lady, if you can't handle them now…what the HELL are you going to do when they're all teens? You can read about the entire debacle here.

Oh hell, one more thing! I was reading one of the local ragmags this morning and I found the coolest little thing I've heard about in a while. It's called Tiki Bar TV. It's a locally made, low budget TV show that is distributed for free. I was snooping around the site this morning and it looks HILARIOUS. My understanding is that this is like a Dr. Phil except it's a bit of a joke because the guy who's the doctor isn't really a doctor and he prescribes his advise over drinks at the Tiki Bar. HAHAHAHAHAH You can check it out for yourself at www.tikibartv.com.

Ok. And now on to what you're all here for, this weeks KFF.


Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Days left to my birthday: 23

I hate to start the week off like this but I just have to let this all out.

D made reservations for us to take the MIL to the horse races on Sunday. So, Sunday morning we pack the MIL, the BIL, D and myself and head out to the PNE for the racing (which started just after 1pm). The hostess had told D that we could park in the racing parking lot and we wouldn't have to pay for parking or for entrance to the PNE. We pull up to the parkade and D tells the attendant that we're there for the races. "Sorry sir, unless you're with one of the teams, you'll have to pay for the parking". Instead of arguing, he pays the $15 for parking. We walk over to the gate and he tells the attendant that we're there for the racing. "Sorry sir, you still have to pay the PNE entrance fee". $15 per person and $5 for the senior. $50. D is starting to get irritated but says nothing. I'm having a caniption. We walk up to the race track and take the elevator to the restaurant. We knew that the buffet was going to be $15 per person (which is actually a really great deal) but we weren't ready for what came next. We walk up to the desk, D asks for our reservations. "That's going to be $25 please". "Oh," says D. "Did the price go down?" Blond bomshell behind the counter "No sir, that's the cover cost." "The what??" says D, getting visibly irritated. "The cover charge." says bomshell "We charge $5 cover for every reservation." Holly shit people. I was LIVID. I totally lost it. "You mean I have to pay $5 just for making a reservation? Why don't you just charge $20 for the food and call it a day? No one mentioned anything about a cover charge! And now that I'm at it, whoever we talked to also told us that parking and PNE entrance were free! We had to pay for all that!!! And WHERE THE HELL IS MY FREE PROGRAM?" Oh boy. Everyone there was looking at me like I was freakin' crazy. WTF man! I spent $90 before even eating! Never, ever, ever again.

Once I got past the money, I was a bit better. I managed to win one race (thanks to D's uncle who joined us a few minutes later and has a permanent horshoe up his ass). I asked him what to put my money on and his suggestion won me $40. No fortune but all of the money I'd lost up to that point. After the races we took a walk through the PNE and just before leaving we stopped into the casino. The uncle with the horshoe decided to play a couple of hands of blackjack. D also decided to put in his last $20. At a $10 table, that lasted 6 minutes. I gave him another $10 and he managed to stay in for a few more and then busted. After watching uncle play for a while I decided to play my luck and sat down next to him with my last $20. In ten minutes, I'd made $60. I walked away while I was ahead and managed to walk out with $80 at the end of the day. Not too shabby.

I did take some great photos of the sand sculpture competition and of a very, very very cool car. You can check out all the pictures here.

Sorry again for the rant. Should be back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow!

Days left to my birthday: 27

Yes, the countdown to the next big number has started. I figured I'd let you all know that yes, I'm getting bloody old. God dammit! I still haven't met him. YEAH HIM!!!! You know who I'm talking about! Maybe between now and 40 I'll become a HUGE movie star and meet him. Sigh.

Grandama came home yesterday. Went over to see her. She looks fantastic. She always looks so much more relaxed when she comes back. It's like all she does is sleep there (which is FAR) from the truth. It's nice having her back. Really nice.

I'm not sure how else I'm going to fill my day today. I'm bored out of my mind. I'm going to have to settle for some filing. God I hate filing.

The MIL comes in tomorrow. Sunday is off to the horse races and the PNE. Those are the big plans for the weekend. Exciting eh? The good thing is that D and I are planning a little outing to the States for next week. Probably Sunday. That would be awesome. It's been years since I last went accross to Belingham. Can't wait to do some shopping! I need new shoes. Nice shoes. Just not shoes that cost $140.

That's enough ranting. Here's this week's installment of KFF: