Politicians are stupid

So I just found out that there was going to be a Caribbean Federation of Islands in 1960, but the guy running for Prime Minister in Jamaica convinced the population that it was a bad idea. This guy was elected as the new Prime Minister shortly thereafter and then guided Jamaica to independence. A Federation of Caribbean islands would have been AWESOME! It would have cut down on travel costs, would have formed a universal currency, and made the Caribbean a more politically stable place, but NOOOOOOOOO. This jerk had to shake everything up, and not in a good way.
I would have moved to the West Indies Federation if it had formed. Boo!!!!!!!!!!

Cold and not sunny,

-Laur

Sky High

So this post is to preach the wholesome goodness that is the movie "Sky High". I have now watched it 27 times. I'm actually not exaggerating, I really have watched it 27 times. It seems that since the boys (Matthew and Benjamin Bongard, the two boys I babysit on Saturday and Monday nights) got the DVD from their parents, it's the only movie they want to watch. And the scary thing is, I never get sick of it. It's an awesome movie. I absolutely love it.

Sky High is one of those movies that was canned by the critics but had kind of a cult following after it hit the shelves. Basically it's about a group of adolescents who have just started high school, but their high school floats thousands of feet above the earth and the curriculum is for either superheroes in training or "hero support", A.K.A. sidekicks. The kids are the progeny of super parents, and the main character, Will Stronghold, is the only son of The Commander and JetStream, his super strong dad and flying ninja-like mother played by the hilarious Kurt Russell and the always lovely Kelly Preston. His friend Leila can manipulate the growth and movement of plants and is a cutesy tree-hugging pacifist. Their other friends can glow, shapeshift into a guinea pig, and melt into a puddle, respectively. There's only one problem: Will's powers haven't appeared yet. He's designated as Hero Support with the rest of his friends when the school coach, played by Bruce Campbell (ALWAYS A WINNER!) discovers that he has neither super strength or flying abilities. When things can't seem to get any worse for Will, he learns that he already has an enemy; Warren Peace, a dark and dangerous firestarter, is the child of a superhero and a supervillain, a supervillain who Will's father defeated and put in super prison when Warren was a kid. During an explosive showdown in the cafeteria, Will's powers emerge when Warren threatens his friends and everyone finds out that Will has super strength. He wins the heart of the student body president, Gwen, but as we soon find out, something sinister is happening at Sky High.

Sky High is as clever as it is cute; Principal Powers is played by Linda Evans, formerly of Wonderwoman fame, and games like "save the citizen" are played in PE class. Dave Foley plays the Hero Support teacher, All-American Boy (or Mr. Boy) and the kids who play Will's friends are hilarious.

Anytime you need a light-hearted laugh, Sky High is definitely worth a rent.

Other noteable kids movies that are good for grown-ups, too: "Night at the Museum", "High School Musical", "The Karate Kid", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Flushed Away". And anything to do with the Muppets, PERIOD.

-Laur

Winter's Fall

For those of you living far away (because I won't send you a copy of the paper, I'm a poor student) here is the link to the Excalibur website, specifically to the page that contains my winning contribution.

http://www.excal.on.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2916&Itemid=99

The poem by Adebe DeRango-Adem is great too, make sure to give it a read.

Enjoy!

-Laur

I win

Well, I entered a short story contest in Excalibur, York's student-run newspaper, several weeks ago and today when I opened the new edition to the literary supplement, I discovered that I had won. After my initial shock and great pleasure, I was somewhat upset that I had received no warning from the Excalibur offices, but now I realize that I'm happier not having known.
The story is pretty PG because the theme of the contest was the Seven Deadly Sins, so I won't post it to this blog. If you would like to read it and you don't go to York, I plan on scanning the page of the paper with both my winning story and the winning poem, written by a classmate of mine from Gender Studies.
I entered the contest as a diversion. Suffice to say I'm quite surprised that I won. I wonder what this means for my future literary career.

Pondering,

-Laur

My very first internet video (don't get the wrong idea)

Look what I created!!!! I went to this awesome website that I read about in Cosmo (the bible) called www.onetruemedia.com and created this awesome video of Shannon and I and our adventures in Cancun last year!

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Tell me what you think!

-Laur

Sentence adverbials and other scary stuff

I'm studying for my grammar test right now and all the while I keep thinking "what possessed me to take this course? I could have taken a post-colonial and satisfied all my area requirements, but NO!"

I think you can tell how I feel about this course.

Anyways, I'm sitting here, re-typing my handwritten notes into a chart on my computer and it's boring as all hell. Who made up all these rules? I never believed all my ESL friends when they said that English is one of the most confusing languages in the world. It comes so easily to me, especially in speech, that I could never fathom how any language could be easier. Apparently I was wrong. None of the rules that apply to writing the English language make any sense. Each sentence has so many parts, verb phrases and lexical heads and prepositional phrases and all that. Why didn't they teach us grammar in high school? BOOURNS!

Anyways, today I have class from 2:30 to 5:30 and then I write this test at 7. Hopefully I can get home at a decent time tonight so I can work on analyzing a passage from Macbeth. I watched most of Polanski's 1971 film version of the play yesterday in SMIL, and am now thoroughly traumatized. Apparently he made the move right after his wife was murdered by Charles Manson, so I can see why he may have been disturbed as a director. Scary stuff.

What dagger is this?

-Laur

An ode to Jason Statham

O Jason Statham, you are so beautiful

Whether it's in The Italian Job as Handsome Rob

Or Frank in the Transporter 2,

I'll go see your movies despite your acting non-skills

Just to see you drive a car and save the world.

Not my best work, but I think it gets the point across. If you're not looking for anything cerebral, check out Transporter 1 or 2, or Crank. If you want something a little more witty, check out The Italian Job.

Now, out of my fantasy world and back to work.

-Laur