TToT: Created, Creative, Creation – Boourns, #10Thankful

“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

–Sylvia Plath

I’m spending my Easter Sunday under the weather, so I will be making this list uncharacteristically short and abbreviated, but I’ve been thinking a lot this week about creativity.

TEN THINGS OF THANKFUL

For drumming.

Our creation “Don’t Look Back” is all done. My brother has a friend who is a brilliant drummer and he agreed to play on it.

He wanted to be a part of this project so much he even took the morning off work to record his drum part for the song.

It definitely has a different sound to it with drums added. It fills it out and it is so beautiful.

Once my brother presents it in class I hope to be able to share all the hard work we all put into it. After all, what else is making music for but to share it with people?

For now and then.

I spent time this week hanging out with my youngest nephew, sitting in his favourite spot on the couch, while we watched a movie.

As we sat there, I couldn’t help thinking back to the first time the two of us sat in that corner of that particular couch. I held him in my arms when he was only days old, while he slept, nearly three years ago.

For family fish and chip dinners.

A lot of fun is had when you get a family, people all the way from two to sixty, around a dinner table.

We all crowded into one van, on a rainy Wednesday, and off we went.

For humour.

With all the crap going on around the world, sometimes it’s nice to just laugh a lot. My brother, father, and myself did just that, for a few hours the other night. It felt good.

We watched the Jerry Seinfeld series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” and if you have not seen it yet, you really should check it out.

It’s available online, on YouTube and on a free streaming website:

http://www.crackle.com/about

Basically, Seinfeld goes out and rents a car, fitting to the comedian he is about to have coffee with. He then spends the first few minutes explaining what kind of car it is and why he chose it. Then he picks up his coffee companion and they go for a ride in the car to the coffee shop, discussing everything from show business and comedy, to family and hobbies, and cars of course.

We watched episodes with people like Jim Carrey, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, Will Ferrell, President Obama (one of the best episodes in my opinion, but they couldn’t acquire the proper security clearance to leave White House grounds), a few of Seinfeld’s former co-stars, and Howard Stern.

For literacy, education, and the grandpa there to pick up his granddaughter from school.

When I read about all the young girls around the world not allowed to receive a proper education and so many people who’ve never been given the chance for literacy I am particularly thrilled to know my niece is getting the opposite of all of that.

She’s learning to read and she has a good school to go to every day, with teachers who happily teach her, help her develop her own gifts and creativity.

And she has a grandpa who can pick her up after the day has finished.

For rain.

Okay, so I wasn’t really prepared to consider this one as a positive at the time.

I love to go for a nice long drive, but if rain is falling hard on the windshield I can’t quite relax in the same way.

This was our drive home the other night, in semi heavy traffic, but on reflection I realize I was lucky to make it home safe and even hard pouring drops of rain are something of beauty.

For another Friday up on Good Men Project.

For the second Friday in a row I had my writing featured on the site:.

Where Are We Since International Women’s Day Last Year?

Sure, being that the subject again involved the issues surrounding feminism, I received a few more somewhat angry comments from those who took my writing to mean I don’t think men around the world suffer at the hands of oppression and discrimination, or that I don’t believe men and boys deserve the same attention as women and girls and the issues we face.

I should expect a little backlash when writing about something that seems to divide many of us. I am still thankful I got my message out there and I know in my heart that I believe in fair treatment of both genders. You can’t possibly make everybody happy, all of the time anyway.

For date night.

I am thankful one couple in particular could have one night away, in a beautiful spot, as they truly deserve that.

I am happy that others can enjoy Niagara Falls like I do and they deserved some time to themselves now and then.

For inside jokes, group texts with brothers.

It’s nice to have a Friday evening group text with myself and my brothers, about a cherished eighties band (Duran Duran) and that we can share an inside joke that most people would be utterly confused about if they heard it.

For mendacity.

Feeling unwell of late has given me a lot of time to watch some films I’ve never gotten around to watching before.

This included one, based on a play, I’ve always wanted to see. I was aware of the main character, but I was unclear on just exactly what the storyline was for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”.

Well, I like returning to those films that are mostly all dialogue. Of course, I was watching one with descriptive narration, but it would have been unnecessary really.

Well, I enjoy old movies, with dialogue so different from the films of today, and so many issues of the day, late 50s were interesting to me.

I also learned a new word. I’d heard of “menacing” but “mendacity” was a new one, repeated multiple times throughout. It means deception. I love learning new words.

It’s funny I started off the week watching “Ray”, one Jamie Foxx film and I ended it watching “Django Unchained”, which I’d heard was harsh and raw but to be expected when having to do with slavery, but Fox was so good, not to mention all the other actors.

It did really show how cruel we humans have been to one another. I’m sure this could lead directly into the themes of redemption surrounding Easter, but unfortunately I am far too tired now to explore those any further this year.

Check this out. Creativity and just lovely.

And Happy Easter everyone.

I’m starting to feel warm again so I think it’s off to bed with me. Have a good week.

Music Makes Me Happy, #1000Speak #InternationalDayOfHappiness

“Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.”
–Oscar Wilde

“Aw, Dobby’s sad,” my three-year-old nephew says about my dog, sounding sad too.

I am constantly in awe at how very small children sense sadness in other people and in animals. They sense it, feel it, and acknowledge it, hoping the big people in their immediate vicinity will recognize it and make it all better, like their parents do for them.

Sadness is the opposite of happiness?

I guess, but there are many shades of both.

On this,

International Day of Happiness,

I wonder if I am happy, if the world is all that happy either.

Standard of living, poverty, oppression all play a role, but I believe there are those who have very little (in material possessions) yet are happier than some who have more.

Scars – Emmanuel Jal Feat. Nelly Furtado

Of course material possessions don’t automatically guarantee happiness. This got me thinking on what does make people happy, all across the world, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s one universal thing, other than love I’d think, and that one thing is: music.

This week I did what I never thought I could. I wrote lyrics for a song. I know my singing talents are few at best, but I know I can write, can convey a feeling through words.

Soon after I’d written and worked with my musician brother to set them to the song he’d written, he and a singer recorded it. I’ve heard a rough draft and, after the shock I felt at hearing my words laid out through song, I felt pride and happiness.

Music comes in so many forms and it evokes so many, varied, unique yet universally applicable feelings and emotions. It connects us all around the world. It brings people together. How can any of that not produce happiness?

So, as I’d seen recently on Facebook that people were listing the albums that most affected them, I thought I’d try it. Maybe someone will discover some new music that makes them happy or will be recalled to a time, of happiness, or something else, but at least we’re feeling something. I believe that is important to realizing we’re all human, fallible, deserving of love.

(These are all listed, not in the order of their original release, but in the order of which I feel happiest upon hearing them.)

🙂

First, Jann Arden even has an entire album she’s dedicated to the feeling of the day, as the album is called “Happy”, but here are ten other albums that don’t need to say it, although sometimes they do, to make me happy.

***

No Need To Argue – The Cranberries

“Unhappiness where’s when I was young, and we didn’t give a damn

‘cause we were raised, to see life as fun and take it if we can.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Need_to_Argue

I discovered this Irish group at a time when I was very confused and scared. This album in particular brought me peace from the storm that was raging in my world. Peace was much needed. Listening to this one, still to this day, makes me happy.

Heart of Stone – Cher

“Memories haunt you, feelings you won’t forget
Learn to live a lesson in love, walk away without regret.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Stone_(Cher_album)

Nostalgia is not a big enough word for what I feel about this Cher album. I listen and I am immediately brought back to a simpler time, to happy childhood days.

Vespertine – Bjork

“I have a recurrent dream
Every time I lose my voice
I swallow little glowing lights
My mother and son baked for me”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespertine

This album is a favourite of my youth. The lyrics are wonderfully weird and I feel wistful wild happiness when I listen.

Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette

“I’m broke but I’m happy. I’m poor but I’m kind. I’m short but I’m healthy. Yeah!”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagged_Little_Pill

I was still a little girl when this hit album was released, but it made me happy, even if I didn’t understand a lot of the things she sang about at that time. It got me through a really hard time and it helped me feel happy, sad, angry, scared. It taught me a lot about self expression.

Halcyon – Ellie Goulding

In March 1011, when asked about the album’s musical direction in an interview with gossip website Dean Piper’s World, Goulding stated, “It’s started to sound very dark and very weird. This album is going to be even more emotional (…) I wanted to make it so there is hope. I want to make an effect whether it’s happy or sad.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halcyon_(album)

Without sadness I don’t think happiness would mean nearly as much as it does. I feel both emotions, in quick secession when I’m listening to it.

Songs from the Big Chair – Tears for Fears

“And I believe that if you’re bristling while you hear this song
I could be wrong or have I hit a nerve?”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_from_the_Big_Chair

More nostalgia with this one. Simply a kick-ass bunch of songs. It is from my favourite decade of music, released almost exactly one year after I was born, and I consider to be a gift my father gave me. Well, my father or my big brother, but which one doesn’t really matter because they have both made me who I am. They both have done so much that has made me happy.

Surfacing – Sarah McLachlan

“Make me a witness. Take me out, out of darkness, out of doubt.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfacing_(album)

Being a teenager is hard. This album brought me happiness through its powerful lyrics. It’s imprinted on my mind and heart.

It’s Not Me, It’s You – Lily Allen

Don’t you just love the title of this one? Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode. Know which one I mean?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Not_Me,_It%27s_You

Jagged Little Pill was written when I was still a little girl, but I discovered this album when I was finally grown. It sort of became my outcry on so much I saw as I was now a grown woman myself. It makes me happy to hear it and to know I can do this. I can get past so much. I can handle whatever life throws my way.

Left of the Middle – Natalie Imbruglia

“‘cause intuition tells me that I’m doin’ fine
Intuition tells me when to draw the line
Should have turned left
Should have turned right
But I ended up here
Bang in the middle of real life”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_of_the_Middle

This one reminds me of my first taste of independence. I loved it then, it made me happy, and I will love it always.

Rumours – Fleetwood Mac

“Don’t stop, thinking about tomorrow. Don’t stop. It’ll soon be here. It’ll be here, better than before. Yesterday’s gone. Yesterday’s gone.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumours_(album)

Before my time, again, but I like it for the classic record it is. It makes me happy to listen to its snappy beats and its catchy melodies.

***

There you are. There were the ten albums that make my list, music to make me happy.

I am listening to music as I write this post. It’s increasing my level of happiness. I do it often.

Now, I realize this, of course isn’t always possible. Since Bobby McFerrin told us to simply “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” in the eighties, it sounded like a good solution to all of our problems. Unfortunately, not all that practical all the time, but I hope there exists, somewhere out there, a piece of music…or an entire album for that matter, that makes you happy.

And so I hope everyone can find a little piece of their own brand of happiness, on this day set aside for that very thing, if not all the days of the year.

I have no doubt there is a deep connection between happiness and compassion. When we are happy we want to spread it around, (like the sharing of a song), which is compassion in my mind.

I am happy also that I can take part in yet another

1000 Voices Speak For Compassion

The Corner Gas Movie: Movie Review

“I love this stupid town and I for one think it’s worth saving.”

Nobody could have said it better than Brent.

DOG RIVER FOR CANADA’S QUAINTEST TOWN?

It’s like no time has passed at all.

Dog River, Saskatchewan, the place where nothing ever happens.

We here in Canada have no blitz and glamour of Hollywood, no bright lights of Broadway, but we do have plentiful humour and Corner Gas.

The show ran from 2004 until 2009 and five years later comes The Corner Gas Movie.

We aren’t known in Canada for our celebrity film world, but with such institutions as TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) we are slowly gaining traction.

Corner Gas, the show and now the movie, they have become a bit of a Canadian staple, but the citizens of Corner Gas and the events of the town could be those to be found in any town, anywhere in the world.

It all started with an idea from creator, writer, actor Brent Butt. He wanted to write a show, based in Saskatchewan, in a fictional town known as Dog River, and with the centre of the town being the gas station.

Brent’s character runs the station, along with his employee Wanda.

Wanda is a tough little lady, always with a fowl mouth, backdoor scheme going and an angle to work.

Brent’s parents are Oscar and Emma, probably the worst example of a married couple there is. HE’s useless at just about everything he tries and she’s often embarrassed by what her crazy husband might be up to. The only way they have clearly survived this many years together…well, the both of them are just plain mean and miserable old geezers.

His favourite catch phrase is the ever popular: “Jackass!”

It’s actually a pretty simple insult, but it has become his catch phrase after all this time.

There’s Dog River’s resident jack-of-all-trades (lousy at them all), chronically unemployed best friend of Brent since childhood, Hank.

Then there’s the Ruby Cafe, owned and operated by Lacey. She’s the sweet one and probably one of the sharpest tools in the town shed, if not a little on the bossy side sometimes.

Finally, the whole town is policed by dynamic duo Karen and Davis. They spend most of their time policing where none is truly necessary. It isn’t quite clear what it is they do actually.

I was hoping this movie would feel like the show before it. I went to see it in its limited time release, extremely limited.

It was playing in theatres from Wednesday, December 3 to Sunday, December 7th only.

Before the start of the film is a live and interactive opening with Brent Butt himself and games such as:

Who said it?
Obama or Oscar?

The town is in a shambles when the movie opens: power, hydro, water, garbage are all piling up and falling into disrepair. Dog River’s mayor has been negligent and careless in his mismanagement.

In the condition Dog River is in, to be awarded the title of Canada’s Quaintest Town is their only hope, but its going to take a lot to become qualified.

This movie has more hijinks, as usual, but a softer side of Emma’s character. She is longing for a grandchild this time.

The show was never known for its romance and now Brent doesn’t seem like the best son to bet on for a hopeful future grandmother. Unfortunately, he is her only son. Maybe love really is in the air.

As things appear to look bleak for the town, Oscar is riding around on a horse, some mysterious real estate agents are going around offering people money for their homes, and Wanda is running an underground saloon/cassino behind Brent’s back.

A rift has opened between best lifelong friends Brent and Hank. Hank has come up with another one of his harebrained schemes and has just assumed Brent would back him.

Alliances seem shaky between police partners and pals Karen and Davis when his contract ends and he takes on a PI business, leaving Karen alone and pregnant and trying to police a dying Dog River.

All seems dyer and beyond all hope. Luckily this is a movie and not just a half hour show. More time to find a resolution.

🙂

I got what I wanted. It felt like one long version of the TV show and I think that’s what all good movies made from television shows should be. Plus, no Canadian film would be complete without a brief clip, a little Kim Mitchell and Go for a Soda.

🙂

The dry and sarcastic humour of Corner Gas and its entirely Canadian creator are clearly still the keys to the success and the familiarity here again. All the beloved characters are back and just as crazy as ever.

The movie only aired for five days and within two weeks it’s being aired on network CTV television.

At the heart of this film is Corner Gas and the man who runs it. Brent cares about his home and the people who live there. He may even be in love with one of them, the destruction of Dog River causing him to fear losing either Lacy or Wanda to a better life in the big city if Dog River is no more.

There is subterfuge and spy tactics afoot with a neighbouring town and perhaps the fate of their own could be left in the hands of townspeople such as Hank or Davis.

Meanwhile, back in dog River Lacey has been appointed leader of the Quaintification Committee.

It’s going to take more than a screw-up-of-a-town-mayor to destroy Dog River, not with its citizens all doing their best and being themselves, all in the name of saving the home they love.

As for this show and the subsequent movie, you may need to be Canadian to get the joke, but this Canadian is pretty proud of what we’ve got here.

I’m a sucker for romance and, no matter who ends up with whom in the movie, creator Brent Butt and costar Nancy Robertson (Wanda) met on set a few years after filming premiered. This gives Corner Gas an underlying love connection and special place in my own heart.

I love Brent’s unique writing style and his dry witty sense of humour, which resinates in everything he does. I was glad to see something like this made by Canadians and it was sweet to see, corny though it was at times, the audience who knew the theme song by heart and who sang unashamedly all around me in that theatre.

I don’t mean to suggest any true comparison, to any hardcore Seinfeld fans, but Corner Gas, in show or film version, is a show about nothing, but it’s the characters and the town’s overall personality that makes it memorable.

Corner Gas is the quintessential story about quaint Canadian life in a quaint Canadian town. After five years since the show rapped up, this made for the perfect one last hurrah, showing that community, friendship, family, love, and tradition are important Canadian values. Also, that Brent Butt knows how to write just as interesting a story and a highly sweet movie as was his TV show all those years.

“Jackass!”

Enough said.