Dogfight

If you have never seen the movie Dogfight, please do. I watched it last night for the umpteenth time, and I loved it just as much as always.

I love this film because I believe it. I believe the characters. Lili Taylor is especially amazing.

It's about the moments in which we become the people we are.

5/5 stars.

My last name

My last name is Friesen. I've never really loved it. Apparently it may have come from von Riesen at some point, and I think that sounds really nice, and thought about changing it back to that for a time...

I have a white board outside my room where I can post messages, and people can leave me notes and drawings. I love having it. Recently I came to my door that someone had changed my name from Angela Friesen to Angela Free/Zen.

Free.

Zen.

I love it.

Blissful things

I think this will be a new feature:

(Woo! A feature!)

Recommended blissful things.

Today:

Find a sauna. Take a bottle of cold water in with you. Sit in the sauna until you're really really hot. Open the water bottle and poor bits of the water onto your head. Shiver delightfully. Repeat.

This is especially great with a group of people.

You're the best! Woo!

Whenever I send myself an email (not for fun, although I should - when I send myself a document to print, or something like that), I add a nice little note to myself - something along the lines of the title of this blog post.

I highly recommend this.

Everything's Gone Green

Um, if you really want to make yourself homesick over Thanksgiving, when everyone else you know has gone home for the weekend, watch a movie set in your hometown.

I enjoyed Everything's Gone Green (screenplay by Douglas Coupland), but the experience was bittersweet. I spent the entire time being like, "Look how pretty it is!" There were all kinds of beautiful mountainous vistas ("Look! There's water! And Mountains! In the same place!") and trees and the number eight and the Grouse Grind and glass buildings... I had forgotten how beautiful it is. And how open.

I guess when you feel closed in by a place you don't notice how open it actually is physically.

So the movie was not bad, but worth watching just to experience Vancouver on screen, actually playing itself for once.

3/5 stars.

Waiting for Guffman and Thanksgiving

If you have never seen Waiting for Guffman please go watch it right now. You should have tomorrow off, that would be the perfect time.

I'm on campus for Thanksgiving, and so are a bunch of students, so I decided to host an evening of fun entitled "Nothing says Thanksgiving like Chinese food and a movie." The best part of my job is that I get to do "programming" - which just means I get to have events with food involved and they will give me money to pay for stuff. It took me ages to decide on a movie to show, and finally I had a flash of inspiration. Waiting for Guffman.

Among the most likeable, nay, lovable films I've ever seen. Everyone who asks me what movie we're watching is like, "What's that?" My response: "A most hilarious comedy about a small town theatre group who invites a New York City theatre critic to come see their show. " I don't think I actually phrase it that way, although I live at a University where that would be entirely acceptable.

So yes. I am grateful for movies, chinese food, friends, family, books, love, white sheets, wood, trees, leaves, TV on DVD, brunch, water, breathing, apples, colours, lavender oil, pillows, and on and on.

Happy Thanksgiving! What are you grateful for?

I want to be her friend

I've spent all day listening to her talk about words!

She blogs about dresses! She blogs about dictionaries!

And she's a great speaker too!

I wish we were friends.

The Other Man

One of my favourite music videos ever.

Sloan - The Other Man | Music Videos | SPIKE.com

Also: Did you know this song was written about Feist?