Our furry friend shown here is cousin to two newly-famous-again lapins, the White Rabbit and the March Hare of Tim Burton's version of Alice in/through Wonderland/(Underland)/the Looking Glass.
Our snowshoe hare looks much less dithery than either of the cousins.He's dignified and wise looking. and even though his coat is glossy and clean you just know he's seen more than a few moults. He's the kind of hare you'd want as leader in a crisis. In spite of his years you get the feeling he'd stand up to a crafty weasel or even a slobbering dumb-as-a-post hound. A rabbit is a rabbit but a good hare is a potential PM.
As for the movie; it's complicated. But in spite of the complications we are utterly transported to Underland and Through the Looking Glass, led and followed by a spectacular cast of actors and voice-actors.There could have been more of the flamingo-head croquet by some people's reckoning. You just want to hug Tweedledum and Tweedledee before you give them a good smack. The Mad Hatter is just that and delightfully so, in the spirit of Captain Jack, in "Pirates..." and Roux in "Chocolat." Helena Bonham Carter is deliciously evil and spiteful as the Red Queen.Alan Rickman would be a truly authentic hookah-smoking caterpillar of any colour and Stephen Fry was born to smile without a face.
It's difficult not to make comparisons with Avatar but how detailed does a completely fictionalized world have to be before it seems "unrealistic?" That term has been used in reviewing movies in our household ever since one of our children dubbed the all-rolled-up-into-a-ball black little boy who was one of Peter Pan's "Lost Boys" in "Hook" as "unrealistic!" So, you forget about the meticulously rendered fictionalized plants and insects and you think about the story. Alice has the better story - hands down. Alice has more believable characters. Avatar Avarice far outweighs any Alice Avarice. No one should be sorry that Alice beat Avatar last weekend at the box office, least of all James Cameron. It's so unseemly for a Canadian to be so greedy.
Toyota Tim - It may just be a typo or a slip of the old clutch but I thought I saw that the new Roll up the RIM contest features 31 000 000 Toyotas as prizes. That solves a few problems all at once.
Avatarest? - Say it ain't so Jim. Say it ain't so. You are not really going to re-release Avatar in an extended version in summer 2010, are you? If you do it will just have to be Avatar Avarice. There's no other name for it.
EDT - We in North America have been living with early Daylight Time for a few years now and I must say it's improved my life immeasurably
I have an extra hour to get the car out of the mud hole that once was a driveway.
I have an extra hour to really perfect my slice at the driving range.
I have an extra hour to work on my roll cast to use at the creek on opening day
I have an extra hour at the Mall because I don't like driving in the dark.
I have an extra hour to use those low energy compact light bulbs.
LCBO for SALE? It appears that Ontario's Liberal government is seriously considering the (at least) partial sale of the LCBO., which might soon stand forLavish Corporate Bonuses Often. Put your hand up if you think this move will bring the price of booze down? Wave if you think this will lead to business decisions that will promote domestic wine and spirits over imports which are flooding our markets currently. Honk if you think that Ontario taxpayers and consumers will actually be better off after the sale just like users of the 407 are better off after Mike Harris' yard sale.
Consider this a continuation of yesterday's post since it is going to be about a puzzle too. Let's have a look at another one of those number puzzles I mentioned earlier. The last attempt at an explanation wasn't really very good so, here goes again!
Here's a sample puzzle with four given numbers and all the totals of rows, columns and diagonals. We want to find a row or column which can only accommodate two ones or two nines. Look at the second column. A total of 6 must be added in 3 digits. These digits could be 4,1 and 1. Place the 4 above the 7 and the ones in the last two spaces of the column.
Now check out the second row from the top. It contains two fours, leaving 26 - 8 or 18 tto fill into 2 spaces. Two nines are the only possibility. We see that the placement of the 9's and ones confirms the four placed in the second column. If that 4 were a five, one of the ones would have to be zero but that's impossible. If the four were a three one of the nines must go up to ten, also impossible.
Search for other similar situations with the remaining numbers and blanks.
The third column needs a total of 6 to complete so try a five and a one with the five in the top row. Now a nine is needed in the top
Sarah Palin - Some Alaskan Republicans Are Hypocrites Publicly Admitting Leeching International Nursing
Wow! It almost defies belief.Sarah Palin speaking in Calgary admits to stealing health care from Canadians and now she's been criticizing our system. Her family crossed the border from Alaska to Yukon to get publicly funded health care from clinics in Whitehorse. That would be considered Free Trade wouldn't it?And they have the gall to complain about some 2x4s we try to sell in their market. But maybe Sarah Palin is on to something here somewhat the way she mistakenly used the word irony correctly. Instead of going to all the trouble of creating a new American Healthcare System, the US could just give us a couple of trillion dollars and they could all use ours. We might need a few more bridges and border crossings but that would create thousands of construction jobs. There could be an entire Healthcare zone along the border with a hospital or clinic every few kilometres. Imagine the spin-offs! Thanks Sarah.
The past few nights have been wonderful for Stargeazing. The next few promise to be as clear and bright so take the time to look. The winter sky gives us some spectacular sights that should not be missed.
You don't need a lot of equipment to go outside at about 10:30p.m., face West and look for three bright stars aligned in an almost-horizontal row. These are the stars of Orion's Belt, Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. (There will be a test.). These three also form something of a pointer, to the left, to Sirius, one of the Dog stars and the brightest star in the winter sky. Not to far above the Belt is a bright, reddish star, Betelgeuse, pronounced "Bettlejooze," unlike the Michael Keaton movie, Beetlejuice.
Almost immediately overhead is another reddish, or slightly orange object, the planet, Mars. Nearby, slightly to the right of Mars is a pair of nearly identical stars quite close together. These are the twins, Castor and Pollux, the "stars" of the constellation, Gemini.
Turn to the Southeast and look about 40 degrees above the horizon to a bright, yellowish object. You'll be looking at the planet, Saturn, the one with the most prominent rings. You'll need a telescope to see those.
If you watch Mars and Saturn for a few nights you might notice that they move against the background of stationary stars. This occurs because they are much closer to us than any stars and the planets move in their own orbits around the sun.
When you get home tonight after that meeting don't forget to look up, way, way up and enjoy some of the wonders of the winter sky.
It seems that no matter who is hired to host the Oscar Show it turns out to be a disappointment, Some time ago Billy Crystal tried and he may have actually hosted two shows. Where is he now? John Stewart was going to save the show but his stint didn't lift him very far out of the late night pit. Last year Hugh Jackman started out really well but then just seemed to run out steam.
Tonight's hosts could well be heading for a major train wreck primarily because of Steve Martin. What was he thinking when he took on Pink Panther? That one was measured in megatons so why would he ever do another that would go down in gigatons? Let's hope his judgement has improved and we see again the brilliance he brought to films like "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Roxanne." Alec Baldwin could go either way.
OSCARS - Oscar Shows Cinema Awards Reward Success
Avatar has to win Best Picture. It has just made too much for the industry to be ignored. Case closed. Sorry, to underdogs everywhere.
