a movie revuew

CITY OF ANGELS

 a heavenly movie...

"I would rather have a mortal life with her, than an eternity without her.."

Thus the narrative atmosphere of the movie CITY OF ANGELS  was set. It is one of the most beautiful movies I have seen so far..

 

Is the setting LA?..Maybe..Sometimes we see two of the angels sitting on top of the famous Hollywood sign, unseen just like any other spirits ..One is Seth played by Nicholas Cage...He was an angel who fell in love with a brilliant heart specialist  played by Meg Ryan.

Meg Ryan, once a star of   the Soap Opera AS THE WORLD TURNS  lent a brilliant performance in the movie. She and Nicholas Cage blend with such magic chemistry that made this remake of WINGS OF DESIRE  a modern classic of its own..She is lean, small pert and none of the bosominess  of other movie stars but the expression of her eyes and slightly turned up mouth makes her an easy favorite of many film loving fans..

Dying, in the movie seems to be an easy thing...Angels, it seems are in this earth just mainly to help others and also to accompany the souls whose time has come...One of the questions asked by the angel to the newly separated  soul is:

"What do you like most when you are on earth?"

There are various answers. And Seth has all them written down in his book...

 

When he could not help himself any longer, he decided to change into a mortal by simply falling down from the top of a skyscraper..It gives a different meaning to the term  FALLEN ANGEL..

It is also a good movie to see this Christmas..or any night of the year...

Its soundtrack is also a keeper..a touching song about angels was sang by Alanis Morrisete..

 

Did Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan live happily ever after?

 

Rent the movie..Or better buy it because you would want to see it over and over again!...

CHRISTMAS EVE 2007

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...at the St.John the Evangelist...

(December 24, 2007)--It was the day and the time again. One daughter, Bernadette came all the way from Ottawa ( a good 4 hours drive ) just to join her family (sister Michelle and us )..and to see again the house where she grew up..They arrived at about 3:30 pm, Dec. 23. On the afternoon of Dec. 24, Simon, Berna's husband brought our four grandkids to the house..

"Where are the two? ( Michelle and Berna )," I asked..

"Doing some last minute shopping.."

I have only more than an hour left. Then I would go to church again to play music. What else am I to do? It seems I can never get out of this duty ( which I love so much ) of accompanying the congregation on a Christmas eve Mass.

I asked Mia and Emma to do some last minute rehearsal of the songs we have been doing for the past 4 years...

"Look guys, worse come to worse, you might just be the ones singing tonight..But you can do it.. Try your best, and we will give you extra money.."

That's the magic word..They came to the piano beside me, sang to their hearts content while Dillon their cousin from Ottawa was dancing about to their songs..Chloe his sister snuggled close to Mia during the rehearsal, listening intently. I have a feeling she too will become  a singer  someday..She knows how to listen. Number one trait for a musician!

Then at 4:30 pm, Simon brought me to church for the 5:00 pm mass..Sara and Danica were already there. Sara and Danica are two youth singers doing regularly the 5:00 pm Saturday mass. I met them very recently when things were being reorganized here at St. John the Evangelist.

The two were good!..They were knew their stuff. We just refreshed their songs which they selected a few minutes before the mass and then, they were ready to go. No practice necessary...

The Mass commenced with a short play..Three portable houses were carried to the altar..They looked like the houses of the 3 little pigs. The church lights were off except for one spotlight perched atop a stick.Then the play began.

A member of the youth group was dressed like a postman and she delivered a letter to eachof the three houses.."I am visiting you today" the letter said..It was signed JESUS..

The play revolved on the different reactions of the three letter recepients..Whatthey did when they learned that Jesus is about to visit them...

The play was short..but sweet..

Then the mass started..The two singers selected O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL, HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING, SILENT NIGHT, O HOLY NIGHT and lastly ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH..

Sarah's voice sounded like a violin. Danica's voice was also beautiful in its own way..Their voices complemented each other...After their rendition of O HOLY NIGHT, the congregation broke into an applause...Father Joe complimented their singing immensely right before giving the final blessing to the congregation..

I was picked up after Mass by Jonathan, Michelle's husband....Arrived home to find Berna and Michelle was already there and they just have dinner.

We rehearsed the songs again..This time Michelle joined her 2 daughters..I invited her to sing..

"Why not?" she said.."Just for one song"I thought she was joking. Several years ago, she and Berna were also my singers for the mass, same church..St. John the Evangelist..

Half an hour before 8:00 after we had a little supper, we headed back to the church.

When we got there, we found out that our projection slides for the lyrics was left in the house..No worry, I said to myself..One has to be very flexible and be ready for all kinds of situations..So we changed some of the songs so the audience can participate..I picked some of the ones I did in the 5:00 pm mass.

But things worked out well. Two is a magic number: Michelle and Berna ( years ago sang with me for several years) Sara and Danica, just an hour ago then Emma and Mia saved the Christmas eve Mass that night by singing alone by themselves without fear even if 3 of their companions did not show up. But Mia was a forerunner of the church music work. She was about 8 when she started leading the congregational singing all by herself..Recently, she was admitted to Mayfield school of the Arts after a rigid screening.A week ago the school choir to which belongs sang at the newly erected Rose Theatre in Brampton..

Then her sister Emma was born and she was also endowed with some musical gifts. She is gifted with a wide vocal range and she reaches the high notes very easily. When they were in Florida, she participated in a singing contest and she won first prize with her rendition of DANNY BOY. She is half Irish, by the way.

Then in a recent local competition in Ontario, she won a gold, a silver and 2 bronzes for 4 songs which she entered. Singing is not new to them.

During the mass, Mia did the psalm. During the communion song ( a medley of Night of Silence and Silent Night ) Michelle joined her two daughters in the singing. Then they did O HOLY NIGHT after which the congregation broke into an applause.

Then all of us went home after church..Recieved accolades as we passed out of the church..Some old ladies said they were happy to see and hear my two grand daughters back.

I was so glad when the mass was over. Never had I felt so good because I realize that even if the chips are down and problems spring out,, God is always around to help !!

Mia giving Chloe a buss

 

Chloe checking what Santa gave her..Penny for your thoughts, Emma..:)

 

Grandparents do love their grandkids...:)

 

Grandma's Delights...

 

All Dillon wants for Christmas is a front tooth..Say Merry Christmas, Dillon!

 

Chloe. I call her baby Berna..She is very similar to her Mom, including the way she sucks her thumb...:)

 

Last but not the least: Boppy!!! He had lots of Turkey  for Christmas dinner..:D

 

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS, ONE AND ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

movie making in BC

Lights..camera...action!

BC style...

..And I thought that Toronto is Hollywood North ( at least that is what the press agents say re: my city ) until I learned a large number of movies were shot in B.C.

Many were good, a few were stinkers...

In 1971, Robert Altman directed the western McCabe and Mrs. Miller.. This was shot in the Lower Mainland. So was The Accused with Jodie Foster and also I, Robot the sci-fi thriller with Will Smith that grossed about 350 million $ worldwide..

In one of our walks downtown, Rain pointed out to me a restaurant/hotel which is the hang out of many Hollywood celebrities when they are doing some film work in Vancouver..

Of course, there are also some turkeys, e.g. Are We There Yet?..Vancouver International Airport doubled as Oregon city's airport. Yes, it was Ice Cube's attempt to do a comedy which was not at all funny...

Fairmount Hotel Vancouver ( 900 West Georgia st. ) was the scene of a shootout involving George Segal and some baddies. Of course, they were using blanks. The film centered on a plot to assasinate Soviet Premier Alexi Kosygin and the climactic gun battle took place in the hotel's famous green rooftop. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the title. It was Russian Roulette.

At 750 Hornby street, you will find the Vancouver Art Gallery. This is better known because of its Emily Carr and Group of Seven Paintings..The venerable Gallery was renamed Coolsonian Criminology Museum in the movie Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.If you grew up watching Scooby Doo cartoons on saturday mornings, you might love this movie which sometimes feature fart- related jokes..:)

Lucy Liu one of the recent Asian actresses who made a name as a good swordswoman was filmed in  a movie here called Ballistics: Ecks vs. Sever..In the Vancouver Public Library ( 350 West Georgia st. ) her character wipes out a bunch of Defence Intelligence Agency baddies who are pursuing her. And I thought there should always be silence inside public libraries...

Gastown was also the location of Halle Berry's characterization of Catwoman..Halle looked seductive in her tight leather outfit ( according to some reports, many times her pants wouldrip at the wrong places forcing the director to shout "cut" because just too much skin is revealed ) ..The leading man is Benjamin Bratt ( Law and Order ).

Did you like Catwoman?Miami Herald's Connie Ogle wrote "Catwoman does not belong to the big screen. It belongs to the litterbox.." I liked it, because I like to see STORM wearing tight leather pants and bouncing off sky scrapers..:) Story wise, I do agree with Connie Ogle.

See?..I really wished I stayed in Vancouver longer than 6 days..Six weeks will be more like it..Beyond six weeks, I may hate to leave the place already ----#

 

Flight from Toronto to Vancouver

Air travel is not what it used to be..But all things fair, first let us look at the bright side and hear  the good news....

The night before my trip, I printed my boarding pass in a laser printer in my basement. And I am glad I did  because it saved me several minutes in the lineup. Passengers who hated computers have a long line up because they still want the airline staff to print their boarding passes for them.. There is a separate line up for those with preprinted boarding passes. First a receptionist would scan the bar code on the Pass and match the name to my ID with a photo..Next, I would drop off my check- in luggage to be weighed, leave it  on the transport belt, then proceed to the Security area with my carry on luggage.

And again I subjected myself to that humiliating exercise of being frisked and poked with a metal detector by a gauntlet of guards who think you are carrying an explosive device to blow yourself up inside one of their planes. Surprise,surprise,  I came out clean as a whistle.

Then inside the plane I found the seat written on my home made boarding pass... There was a small LCD monitor that shows the map of Canada from Ontario to British Columbia.  And for 5$, you can watch a new movie to make your trip less boresome... If you doze off while watching the film, I do not think your money will be refunded.

Instead of a movie.I opted for a "fresly made" cheese sandwich offered by the air line for the price of $6. The cheese tasted like soap.

Then came the take off. The Captain seemed to have been a stand in comic before he got his wings.."Please do not smoke inside the wash room," he quipped.."If you do, you will be asked to leave the plane through a special door in the left wing and jumped out without a parachute..."Nobody laughed because I do not think anybody is listening to these precautionary advices.

At first we were traveling inside an endless cloudbank. There was no turbulence anyway so I continued staring at the map on the monitor in front of me with the small plane ( that's us ). The plane's speed at that time wasaround 550 miles and hour. As boredom set in I started looking at my watch frequently or look at some quaint cloud formations imagining a group of angels watching us . But once I looked down, I saw an Air Canada plane slid by below us traveling in the opposite direction. And the plane looked big! Means the paths of the two planes were pretty damned close! My boredom was shaken off. But there was nothing I can do.What, tell the next passenger to me I believe there had a been a close mid air collision?.

Maybe it was not so good looking outside after all. I went back staring at the stupid map. The plane was already over Alberta..

A few minutes later the cloudbank dissapeared. The view below was gorgeous. One minute you would see some lakes and rivers in a plain of pure snow. The highways look like thread laid down in a staright line going in and out of nowhere. Then the rivers and lakes dissapear into one endless plain of snow..Not even city clusters or even a single barn or silo. But the view from the top is absolutely enthralling...

Yes, I did take this shot from my seat as the plane passed over Alberta..

Then the plains started to grow mountains. At first there are just small ones with some lakes in between.  Then  the mountain ranges started growing bigger.Half an hour before touch down, I saw nothing below but mountain peaks covered with snow and ice, like gigantic mounds of ice cream.Or small sandhills made from white sands usually found in Boracay.

The view of the Canadian Rockies from 34,000 feet was so majestic and astounding that one could not help ( upon seeing this arial view ) but remember a paragraph from the hymn  "How Great Thou Art.."

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

'Tis the season to be ....?

ANATOMY OF A MANGER----The "building" itself is a speaker enclosure..The woofers & tweeters are dead but the box itself was still in good condition. I ripped the innards out, then put in the creche I got from Goodwill for a couple of bucks..The other background is an old facade of a "palace" a remnant of a bigger artwork,, It was a discard so I got it only for a buck..I used this as a background for the 3 magi..I got the 3 kings from some old boxes in my basement..

 

MANGER IN A BIRDBATH--This birdbath stayed in the backyard the whole summer. Then it fell  and one of the birdie tails broke off..No problem. Fixed it with glue..THen I saw this Jesus, Mary, Joseph figures, one of th earliest manger set I had ( I now have at least 6 sets ) and put them there. These figures are small, mind you. But the the Sony Digicam I placed it close to the figures. The MACRO of the lens feature kicked off and it gave a decent  close up shot of the figures...The MACRO is a lens feature that enables you to get sharp looking  close up shots of miniatures..Assuming you have a steady hand...:)

 

..Same subject, different angle...

 

THE GLASS MANGER SET--A few days ago, I set up this manger set outside our front door. I "glued" the glass figures on the concrete slab with water..It was simply pouring ample water on the slab after the figures are there..With a sub zero temperature, the water turned to ice and "glued" the figures to the slab. Including the artificial hay ....

 

That afternoon the first major snowstorm in Toronto came...At first, the whole set was covered with snow..I simply brushed off the snow, then built a "wall" at the back...Thenfixed some lights around the set.  The very bright lights are plastic angels covering the tiny light bulbs..Plus some colored lights that came free if you surrender some old fashioned Xmas lights that are  not electricity savers..Ontario Hydro is now doing everything to conserve energy..especially this Xmas season..:)

 

Same subject, without any flash...

decorations, part 2

the true meaning of Christmas...

Suddenly a great army of heaven's angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God:

"Glory to God in the  highest heaven and peace on earth to those with whom He is pleased.."

All of these angel decors were bought AFTER CHRISTMAS when they are slashed in price rather than be brought back to the stock room..Some have lights, some don't, but they are garbed in breathtaking costimes are their faces are..how can I say it in a better word, angelic...

 

When the angels went away from them back into heaven, the shepherds  said to one another,  "Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the angel has told us.."

The manger persons I bought from a Carlton card store in Toronto a few days before Christmas and I had to wait in line. The price was already marked down at that time.  I also was lucky having bought the last box ( with all the pieces tucked neatly inside ). The "house"  was bought somewhere else, and the sheep were bought from  a Dollar store...

 

 a night view of the Manger....no flash from the camera

 

So, they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and saw the baby lying in the manger. When the shepherds saw him, they told  them what the angel had said about the child. All who heard it were amazed at  what the shepherds said..

This decor ( a one piece manger with all the characters glued together ) I bought from a Goodwill store..The price was an amazing 2.50 $..But its value is one hundred times more than its buying price..

 

Mary remembered all these things and thought deeply about them. The shepherds went back, singing praises to Godfor all they have heard and seen; it has just as the angels have told them..---#

AMEN, ALLELUIA....!!!