tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65182496942227806672024-03-14T11:27:33.202-07:00Meryl's Bloggy WogMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.comBlogger133125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-22886520430876828722011-01-05T07:53:00.000-08:002011-01-05T07:54:05.928-08:00Why not just scrap Healthcare all together?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjamAFVC4cjWT-A5mICFnUPBCIXHQBRcWelZIeeZCHUZcsJxsij03C_AUp-qxD-7WxX5HsFZFQPqlzw9b1qyBVfHY6TskXj_aJ6SKzigl6FbSSh-5xuSdqfJyv6iX7qyEmW-prWxr-DUpc/s1600/epa2247l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjamAFVC4cjWT-A5mICFnUPBCIXHQBRcWelZIeeZCHUZcsJxsij03C_AUp-qxD-7WxX5HsFZFQPqlzw9b1qyBVfHY6TskXj_aJ6SKzigl6FbSSh-5xuSdqfJyv6iX7qyEmW-prWxr-DUpc/s320/epa2247l.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">I normally try and write when I am in a calm state; passion and emotion are great for devising a story but a distraction when writing one.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Unfortunately today’s blog will be written purely from a very angry place in my head, if I could title it ‘What Grinds My Gears’, and still pull readers I would, but I can’t</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The republicans took the House of Representatives. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now yes this is American politics, and No I’m not American, but anyone pretending that changes in America don’t ripple out to become changes in the world are fooling only themselves. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They want to repeal the Health Reform.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That’s where I got to before I got angry. It’s not really a revelation; they had opposed it for so long, it’s just completely mental. Why would you possibly want to repeal a reform that gives you access to Healthcare. It’s like asking for something bad to happen to you. To put the proverbial cherry on the cake they are doing it under the pretext that the heath reform is unconstitutional...yeah its mind boggling.<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">When me and my sister were little (and ok occasionally now) we used to spend hours stuck in a ‘yes I did’ ‘no you didn’t’ ‘yes I did’ ‘no you didn’t’ feedback loop, both of us forgetting what it is we were talking about and just arguing the opposite of whatever the other would say. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s how you get caught in the classic switcheroo, ‘no I didn’t’, ‘yes you did – damn it.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That’s how I imagine American Politics got to where it is at. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to repeal a reform that gives everyone access to proper health care, so maybe the republicans are trying to repeal it just because it is the opposite of the democrats? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">When I was still at school my politics teacher told me that at election time political parties walk to one side of the political spectrum and run to the middle, it made me feel like politicians had to try and cater to everyone. Somehow in America the populations at the ends outweigh those in the middle and now you have millions of people asking someone to take away their constitutional right to health care. It’s deeply unsettling. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anyway, rant over… for now anyway. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Hope you are all appreciating your free healthcare and the sensibilities that come along with said appreciation. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Meryl </div>Meryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-46244139413168222342011-01-04T11:58:00.000-08:002011-01-04T11:58:11.722-08:00We’re all going to die<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi11T9SHe8qxlWUl0a3PF-J7fqIooN827a5UhvX9HCa6Z7RE_-RTFM-zFaajfuEYLAKCfPl0Q5jCwUqpsSy0KGy74biDsAOgJp27hn2-SM3TIvnavvHoJnIDLMl8OoGFQ_myXB_u-iDdHA/s1600/t1larg.black.bird.01.katv.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi11T9SHe8qxlWUl0a3PF-J7fqIooN827a5UhvX9HCa6Z7RE_-RTFM-zFaajfuEYLAKCfPl0Q5jCwUqpsSy0KGy74biDsAOgJp27hn2-SM3TIvnavvHoJnIDLMl8OoGFQ_myXB_u-iDdHA/s400/t1larg.black.bird.01.katv.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Not my most positive blog title yes, but one of the more sensible I promise you. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I don’t know if you saw the story but on New Year’s Eve thousands, like thousands of birds fell dead out of the sky in Arkansas. The article is <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40885546/ns/us_news-environment/">here</a>, with video but to summarize, they don’t know what the hell is going on. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Obviously people jumped on the ‘the end is coming’ bandwagon as quickly as possible, and although this is ridiculous the pictures are incredibly eerie for a happening that must be based in science not voodoo. The article suggests that perhaps the birds were startled and all flew up into a thunderstorm and died, but the autopsy results are showing internal damage as a cause of death, not electrocution. It is the stuff of nightmares, and even though I am and never have been an advocate for ‘the birds’ there is something stirringly sad about thousands of them just dropping out the sky. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">My favorite bit of the article is this fellow: "I've been to Iraq and back and not seen nothing like this," Beebe resident Jeff Drennan told local <a href="http://www.fox16.com/news/local/story/Thousands-of-dead-Blackbirds-still-cover-Beebe/d0kPZezmtU2PDC2R28Xe_g.cspx?rss=315"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Fox16 News</span></a> on Sunday.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Really Jeff? No birds falling out the sky in Iraq then? Just hundreds of people shooting each other and dying? They don’t know how good they have it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Maybe Jeff’s long reaching stupidity killed the birds? I’ve always thought there was something weird about him, walking around talking to cobble stones and whatnot. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anyway, first sign of impending doom for 2011, don’t let life get in the way of living or don’t be a regretful red winged blackbird, contemplating what you could have done different as you fall out a cloud…either/ or.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Meryl </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Meryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-48153981034919068602011-01-03T11:08:00.000-08:002011-01-03T11:08:22.761-08:00..all i need is a Doctor Who Bowtie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWyvGx08CuPfB-aACn7VaZA-YCHOaFd7JVN1AlQYE8eFFVlaecZtrz3kprgXX57W0JkqtrMp15CcuI17hcNZuEC8Y42xrvezcUfawtFGH7tQFAgmH89FkCn8ChWt93uksW9rX9eikcMAY/s1600/Doctor_Who_A_Christmas_Carol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWyvGx08CuPfB-aACn7VaZA-YCHOaFd7JVN1AlQYE8eFFVlaecZtrz3kprgXX57W0JkqtrMp15CcuI17hcNZuEC8Y42xrvezcUfawtFGH7tQFAgmH89FkCn8ChWt93uksW9rX9eikcMAY/s400/Doctor_Who_A_Christmas_Carol.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I am sure you would start to question my identity if I didn’t at some point talk about the Doctor Who Christmas special, so to avoid identity confusion I am going to tell you all about it. <br />
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It was brilliant, a sentence I have perhaps over-used when talking about Doctor Who but none the less the truth. It was clever and funny and sad and poignant, but more than that it was fun and exciting and that kind of ‘silly magical’ that goes down a treat at Christmas. <br />
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Flying fish, that come down like rain, fueling themselves through the mist using the tiny electrical charges. A giant shark, and a ship full of people to save, whoever was working on this episode must have been giggling the whole way through, it felt like a story you dreamed about when you were young, except this time the Doctor was there so knew it was going to be alright. <br />
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The Christmas special was called ‘A Christmas Carol’ and although I’m a big Dickens fan, the concept has been re worked so many times that it has officially been pronounced dead by the board of imagination. Somehow the magicians behind Doctor Who spun the idea on its head, added a time machine and re-animated it like the proverbial Frankenstein. More than anything it was exciting. <br />
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It takes the writers mere minutes to set up the premise. The doctor has to convince a man (Kazran), who refuses to use his machine to allow a ship to land, that he must do so before lots of people die. There’s the trademark, ‘you don’t have much time to sort this out Doctor’ scenario that often accompanies a Christmas special.<br />
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To jump ahead, the Doctor finds some old footage of young Kazran and projects the image on the wall of the study, here you see the young boy embarking on a ‘secret project’ whereby he hopes to lure a fish into his room so he can see it. Interrupting him, his father walks into his room angry and shouting, he bans Kazran from seeing the fish and we are shown an older Kazran looking on sadly as his young self cries into his arms. <br />
The Doctor disappears into the Tardis and low and behold you hear the unmistakable sound of it landing outside Kazran’s window. The doctor walking into shot and speaking to old Kazran through the Camera tells him is memories are going to change, before he turns his attention back to young Kazran.<br />
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After an adventure with a shark, and a growing understanding of how Kazran became like his father the Doctor begins to visit Kazran every Christmas eve, of course this takes mere minutes for the doctor.<br />
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Abigail joins their group, a young girl taken by Kazran’s father as insurance on her family’s loan. She is released from her frozen state by Kazran, because like him she too had demonstrated an interest in the fish before she was frozen. Once he releases her, the Doctor and Kazran find her singing to an injured Shark and realize her voice both calms and disarms the fish. Every Christmas Eve they embark on an different adventure and as time flies an older, more handsome Kazran falls in love with Abigail. <br />
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Believing this love will change the future the Doctor seems pleased with his progress, however after learning a deep secret about Abigail, Kazran cuts himself off from the doctor, telling him he no longer wants to see him. <br />
Confused, the doctor returns to the present, Kazran still hasn’t changed his mind. He reveals that each day they released Abigail from her frozen state was a day closer until she died, and on their last meeting Abigail had told him she only had one day left to live. The Doctor realizes that this is what made Kazran the man he is today, that this is why he shut him out of his life. <br />
<br />
Finally Amy Pond turns up to appeal to Kazra. Calling herself the ghost of Christmas present she projects him inside the ship to see the people he is going to let die. Enraged Kazran doesn’t care, he laughs at the doctor when he turns up at the house telling Kazran he had shown him the past and now he was going to show him the future. Fine he shouts, show me the future, show me the crying families of the people who died, I don’t care. <br />
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When the doctor steps aside young Kazran is standing there, terrified at his future self. The revelation changes Kazran, almost immediately he softens. Everything has changed. <br />
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After a couple more glitches, and in the last possible minute before everything goes wrong, the Doctor figures out that Abigail’s special ability to sing to the fish could be harnessed to help calm the skies. He asks Kazran to release her, even though this will be the last day she ever lives. <br />
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The episode ends with Abigail singing to the skies, as it begins to snow. It gives you the warm Christmas glow you’re always looking for around Christmas. <br />
I hope I waited long enough not to ruin the episode for you, but I swear I really haven’t done it justice and you’d be a fool not to go watch it anyway. <br />
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Like always Doctor Who allows you to suspend your belief for a whole hour, not because it’s Christmas and there is magic in the air but because just for a second you get lost in the adventure of it all. <br />
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I hope you all had a great holiday, and a fantastic new year! I hope that this year brings lots of adventures to get swept up in, and that you live life remembering that it’s on a limited lease.<br />
<br />
All I'm asking for in 2011 is a Doctor Who Bowtie,<br />
<br />
Love and Cuddles out into the universe…past, future and present. <br />
<br />
Meryl xxMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-30016710633765881382010-12-29T10:01:00.000-08:002010-12-29T10:01:35.555-08:00Sausage Rock n Rolla<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05BaijIiHguBYZKpYYnoHDGNXCMcXoUvHHE1XLYvYLpPQaV1Dn9UaT9taf8VnWCqpHgUF55FsPUU3mSLW5HCe3kOyO8f-K1m4NyPkL888WAnOQf0-lODMRsFoM3aqMsJIhxNGEeDGiLY/s1600/sausage_roll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05BaijIiHguBYZKpYYnoHDGNXCMcXoUvHHE1XLYvYLpPQaV1Dn9UaT9taf8VnWCqpHgUF55FsPUU3mSLW5HCe3kOyO8f-K1m4NyPkL888WAnOQf0-lODMRsFoM3aqMsJIhxNGEeDGiLY/s320/sausage_roll.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
So I started my blog this time last year, and in the most cyclical move of 2010 just as I started the year I shall end it talking about sausage rolls.<br />
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Everyone ate a lot of sausage rolls this Christmas and it is for two reasons, 1.because they are delicious flaky puffs of happiness and 2. They are the savoury alternative to the ridiculous amount of chocolate and candy on offer. <br />
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It is sausage rolls that led to me saving Christmas.... Obviously by saving Christmas I don’t mean saving Christmas, really I mean I saved the sausage roll portion of Christmas, but you got to create your own spin on these things, plus I want to see how many Grinch references come up in the advertisements on bloggywog. I’m going to guess at least 3.<br />
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It’s not a long story, although that hasn’t stopped me from weaving a lovely yarn before (country reference, nice). To be brief, we ran out of sausage rolls, and to remedy this, my mother sent me to get more. It didn’t take me long to locate them at the local No Frills and as I reached for the last box in the freezer I didn’t imagine there would be any real further complications to the task, until the lady behind me claimed she had got the sausage rolls first. <br />
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It took me a second to comprehend the accusation, I did after all have the box of sausage rolls under my arm and she didn’t. How could she possibly be claiming she had reached them first, when they were in fact in my possession? Unlike me this reasoning didn’t prevent her from pursuing the issue. She explained that she had seen them a few minutes ago, and was just grabbing some other things before she was coming back to get them. <br />
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This follows very few social etiquette rulings, although to be honest they are always slightly vague, perhaps one can place dibs on a food entree even if it still remains within the confines of its frozen ice house. Worried that I was committing some sort of social faux pas I hesitated but at no point did this negate the huge amount of pressure placed on me to retrieve more sausage rolls. Letting greed and heroism win out, I let the Lady know in no uncertain terms that the Sausage rolls belong to me. Ok I may have said ´Well they’re mine now´ before running off giggling. Shouting expletives at me while I walked away, although deserved, was highly un-Christmassy. <br />
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Whatever you think, I came out of that gorgeous yellowy grocery store with a box of 60 sausage rolls and two bottles of coke, and the whos began to sing, it was pretty darn special.<br />
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On a less exciting note:<br />
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I would like to apologize for my absence the last few weeks, I have a brand new job and a brand new project I’m working on and poor old bloggywog got moved to the backburner. On the subject of backburners (excellent Segue) for Christmas I got a SLOW COOKER, more on that later.<br />
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Back on topic..I will try and keep up to date with the blog, I love it so much at very least I will reduce the amount of distance between posts. <br />
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Now back to the Slow Cooker. I love it! I literally cut up a tonne of veggies, threw them in the pot with some beef broth, some water and some diced tomatoes (apparently the backbone of any Crockpot recipe???)and some beef and turned it on. All night it laboured away cooking and stewing. Of course I haven’t tried what I made yet, but it smells delicious! Thank you Olie and Jenny it’s amazing! <br />
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The box said it was a set and forget cooker, and seeing as my general attitude towards cooking has always been set and forget this was the perfect gift. <br />
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I did really well for gifts this year, so thank you to everyone! I hope you all having a fantastic winter holiday and that you are all happy and successful in this coming year....THE YEAR OF THE RABBIT! It’s supposed to be a lot calmer than the YEAR OF THE TIGER that just went by (why the CAPS meryl? – I don’t know animal years feel like they should be capitalized don’t they?)<br />
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Ok love and kisses to everyone... <br />
<br />
Meryl xxMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-13006601934607476012010-11-23T16:33:00.000-08:002010-11-23T16:33:07.329-08:00Potter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEvfE986LwGTZEthcXBOgjvOE-37Z2T_08D9Kl6VZqfq5Jn6frnQ6GCUhgkLCV5AXbE4u84bmm6dV_Odcfw25NtF1W6qF170gsPpJYdld2e6SuFSv97rfbxBbEPQ05TAzEnQEV7t4aFAo/s1600/harry-potter-actors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEvfE986LwGTZEthcXBOgjvOE-37Z2T_08D9Kl6VZqfq5Jn6frnQ6GCUhgkLCV5AXbE4u84bmm6dV_Odcfw25NtF1W6qF170gsPpJYdld2e6SuFSv97rfbxBbEPQ05TAzEnQEV7t4aFAo/s200/harry-potter-actors.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>So as a self confessed Harry Potter addict this was a big weekend for me. My friend Katrine couldn’t go to see the film until Sunday, and although my inner nerd wanted to be at the midnight showing my grown up persona was able to take control and book tickets for Sunday at 7:30pm. <br />
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To be honest it was the books I fell in love with. The films are fantastic and visually wondrous, and you can tell that the splitting of the last film was more a desire to get it right than a money grab, but the books are where it started and ended for me. J K Rowling was the reason I wanted to write, she was the reason I wanted to read, for the 12th and 13th years of my life she helped me realize the power of words, the transformability of sentencing. She showed me that even though I couldn’t craft, or draw, or make a bloody money box in tech. I could still be wonderfully creative. She taught me that I could paint with people’s imaginations instead of with a paintbrush. <br />
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That being said, the movie was great. I think we take for granted how much of a film is taken up by establishing characters and that in this, the 7th film in a series, they don’t even have to devote the first few minutes to who these people are or what they are up to. They haven’t had to draw an audience in, or pander to those not in the know. They whole heartedly exclude those who haven’t seen the previous films or read the books simply because they are far and few between. Their theatre seats are filled with fans ready to both adore and abhor the material. They are about to be judged on every aspect of the translation from book to film, their work will be reveled for its similarities but scolded for its change, no matter how integral it may be to telling the story via a different medium. <br />
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All in all their seats are filled with people who feel connected to this story, who like myself have invested themselves in Harry Potter since they were also 11 years old. The successes of the films aren’t simply due to the huge fan following of the books, the success of the films are in the films themselves. J K Rowling wrote intelligent, plot driven, exquisitely told tales of three young people facing a world of danger and so it is no surprise that the films become magical, mystical blockbuster sellers. Nothing J.K.Rowling wrote was fluff, nothing had no purpose, so much so that in order to do her final book justice the movie moguls had to split this one two ways. <br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">They were right; the first one encompasses everything it needs to. Better yet it does the book justice by pausing on the banality of trying to fulfill a mission when you have no idea where to start. Even when I read the book I felt the frustration of trying to embark on a huge mission when you don’t know what to do, and rather than run from one huge battle scene to the next, the movie makers (now given the luxury of two films) were able to rest on how helpless and useless the unlikely heroes must have felt. </div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I was surprised at my sadness at loosing characters, that even the knowledge of what was about to occur couldn’t stop me feeling some sort of loss as these characters give their lives for one another. Rowling was never afraid of loosing a character, because by the end they were all so three dimensional and important. You felt the hurt and the pain but you were also able to watch these characters survive the losses and move on. I once heard JK Rowling say in an interview, it is so easy to kill of a character because everything for them is done and it is over, that it is so much harder to suffer their loss and continue your life. That rebuilding one’s life takes more courage than ending it. She, as always, was right. </div><br />
To bring the sycophantic rant to an end, go watch the film, or better yet go re-read the book. It is worth the money, it is worth the time, and it’s sure as hell is worth the effort.<br />
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Love to you all<br />
<br />
Meryl xx<br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Meryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-81361873547596417222010-11-04T12:51:00.000-07:002010-11-04T12:51:20.313-07:00Sci- Finally<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZl5ONMXLmQc8he5Q4Uzw5yYVE8dPuq-x-vUltTH6bq1D-MPKD2exP18Hwsxptt_K07ChirK9cd_KIPvhLCQJNyXAkiId8QgZPLQYl1fuOIP0zQA6VzWPw9L44l1xY-4h-cQSggOoyMas/s1600/r2-d2-princess-leia-hologram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZl5ONMXLmQc8he5Q4Uzw5yYVE8dPuq-x-vUltTH6bq1D-MPKD2exP18Hwsxptt_K07ChirK9cd_KIPvhLCQJNyXAkiId8QgZPLQYl1fuOIP0zQA6VzWPw9L44l1xY-4h-cQSggOoyMas/s320/r2-d2-princess-leia-hologram.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
So people always say that necessity is the mother of invention, which is very true, but if necessity is the mother of invention then imagination has got to be its maternal aunt or at very least its second cousin. <br />
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The coolest thing about being around in the present (as opposed to living in the past) is that all the crazy sci fi inventions that people dreamed up in fiction are being brought into actuality. <br />
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I have composed a list of a few that just seem mindbogglingly cool. <br />
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<b>The Invisibility Cloak</b>. - Harry Potter managed to get his hands on one of these bad boys, in fact he had in his possession the only real invisibility cloak in the world, well perhaps until now. <br />
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<blockquote><b>‘Scientists in the UK have demonstrated a flexible film that represents a big step toward the "invisibility cloak" made famous by Harry Potter.The film contains tiny structures that together form a "metamaterial", which can, among other tricks, manipulate light to render objects invisible.’</b></blockquote><br />
<b>Self Tying Shoelaces</b> – Marty Mcfly was mostly concerned about getting himself back to the future before he paradoxically was never born, but he was able to stop long enough to try on the Doc’s self tying, auto adjusting Nike Trainers and now Nike are patenting a pair that do exactly that. <br />
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<b>Teleportation</b> – So ok you might now believe me on this one, and we aren’t exactly close to beaming up Scottie but teleportation does exist.<br />
<br />
<blockquote><b>‘The leaps in teleportation technology lie in the transfer of quantum information: where information is transferred (or teleported) from one quantum system to another. For example, take a pair of photons that have identical spin, and separate them. If you adjust the spin of one, the other, through the teleportation of quantum information, will simultaneously adopt the adjustment. The maximum teleportation distance achieved so far is 16km’</b></blockquote><br />
<b>Hologram messaging </b>– ‘Help me OB-Wan’ It worked for princess Leia and in the not to distant future it will work for you too, hopefully you won’t need a slightly retro beeping garbage-can robot to deliver it for you.<br />
<br />
<blockquote><b>‘At its heart is a new plastic screen material that will record 3D holographic images time and time again, every two seconds. In the set up described in Nature, 16 cameras recorded 2D images of objects and people from multiple angles That information was then sent to another location using a computer connection. <br />
At the remote site, a laser was used to "print" the visual information on to the new photosensitive polymer. The 3D image composed of the 16 perspectives decays naturally, but the laser can write the next "frame" before it completely disappears.’</b></blockquote><br />
I find it all very cool, but to be fair I am both a Sci-Fi fan and a techno-geek. It’s amazing how anyone can just dream something up and someone out there will figure out a way to make it work. There is just no way of knowing how amazingly cool the future is going to look. It’s very exciting<br />
<br />
Hope you are all well<br />
<br />
Much Love Meryl xMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-78555972284482217492010-11-03T12:05:00.000-07:002010-11-03T12:05:54.713-07:00Striking News<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK89jKDLJw1KCr1d_EU_OPux6mD3HdxOph4QT-JUwbP1f-SKMtSF7r2ITbNED93A7mI8xNWeBc9R3NZmdHfpzELnOLUAqZqVCa5YLkPTBejr_bUgCCn20pw_Sa6GHP2ssKDR7mFhObUl8/s1600/Paul+the+Octopus+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK89jKDLJw1KCr1d_EU_OPux6mD3HdxOph4QT-JUwbP1f-SKMtSF7r2ITbNED93A7mI8xNWeBc9R3NZmdHfpzELnOLUAqZqVCa5YLkPTBejr_bUgCCn20pw_Sa6GHP2ssKDR7mFhObUl8/s320/Paul+the+Octopus+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaF2eCXtu9FfkY2Oiz-5xRNqINxYjIgLrqGUbZM-3DnJbdE6q7aRsvIwwcTcpEMOitbJmWbRejSwwPqW5dKJWIoI5-EKTvELxk7JhLwtZuIbhcm2PkqkFb8W7bR5-NQumUE7s0bgToAMk/s1600/Paul+the+Octopus+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div>They have replaced Paul the octopus - with Paul the octopus II (that's right, the second).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Here is the article my mum sent me</a><br />
<br />
Cheeky right, replace old Paul with a younger and to be fair cuter looking octo-baby.<br />
<br />
Is nothing sacred?Meryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-45754329743489986752010-11-03T11:54:00.000-07:002010-11-03T11:54:04.572-07:00November<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzGhhUj1W_10zKov-XEVkpPirjCxcMsQxeccJMCwKszCATl6aqKOu9QVvAedE3S93ofobnVEdLzkfif6M0fe6Rw8piINoQ6qxaPh6EicVnrEFQzGT-sgFCO8Zefmxint_t3w3k3-TJ8-U/s1600/snoopy-woodstock-autumn-leaves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzGhhUj1W_10zKov-XEVkpPirjCxcMsQxeccJMCwKszCATl6aqKOu9QVvAedE3S93ofobnVEdLzkfif6M0fe6Rw8piINoQ6qxaPh6EicVnrEFQzGT-sgFCO8Zefmxint_t3w3k3-TJ8-U/s200/snoopy-woodstock-autumn-leaves.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>So yesterday I wrote about toast, which at first seems silly but at a second glance, well I guess at a second glance seems pretty silly too. <br />
<br />
I am trying to get as much material up here as possible but I am finding myself delightfully busy writing for some other projects that are hopefully up and coming soon. I did also watch the entire box set of the boosh, so as you can imagine a hectic week. <br />
<br />
Seeing as November is upon us, the inevitable ‘where did the year go’ talks have begun, and to be honest I find myself a little overwhelmed with it all. Can you even believe 2011 looms, it sounds positively space age. <br />
<br />
2011 is going to be a fun year because there are actually a tonne of predictions that it’s when the world will end. Of course the Hollywood film suggested 2012 was the dreaded due date, but all the bible pushers are dead set that it is going to be next year. <br />
<br />
I love the apocalyptic predictions because they always manage to find some excuse for why the world hasn’t crumbled, but really how many times can you claim you calculated it wrong. It would be like trying to add 3 butterflies to 4 oranges, there just isn’t a definitive answer. <br />
<br />
I still am not sure why people need to claim that the world is going to end abruptly, we are doing such an excellent job of destroying it slowly through pollution and apathy. You would think that in fact we would suggest there was going to be some sort of smog-age where everyone has to walk around with gas masks trying to run from their self inflicted mess, but this apparently isn’t box office enough so we still believe the earth will crack in half and engulf people, or more evangelistically the skies will rain down with blood. <br />
<br />
Either way I’m looking forward to it, to the next year that is, not the arrival of the four horsemen. Or more importantly I’m looking forward to the rest of 2010. November does sound like the end of the year, but in the 58 days we have left, a whole bunch of stuff can happen, look at lost, the had discovered the hatch by that point. <br />
<br />
Alright love you all chicas will try and blog something of interest next time<br />
<br />
Meryl xMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-48127183715267954092010-11-02T19:52:00.000-07:002010-11-02T19:52:15.203-07:00Toast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxk_nviJI8-qjmRNTLt2v8E41IsXe0Ph3S2QtCxreBYnA_Hfp0-ukEdiVqIMEHw3hZrhwgRlH5UHXPtHHVTbzpvDZ3l0UVLZsmjba1zkWTbXb7-PdAkVwkmUDuK2pIJ3LCfUcgdmA5w54/s1600/toast.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" nx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxk_nviJI8-qjmRNTLt2v8E41IsXe0Ph3S2QtCxreBYnA_Hfp0-ukEdiVqIMEHw3hZrhwgRlH5UHXPtHHVTbzpvDZ3l0UVLZsmjba1zkWTbXb7-PdAkVwkmUDuK2pIJ3LCfUcgdmA5w54/s200/toast.png" width="183" /></a></div>Toast is the equalizer of all breads. <br />
<br />
A sentiment I have actually always believed (and apparantly thought about) since I was very young. <br />
Bread in itself tastes good -mostly, but people will happily debate the pro's and cons, the white vs brown of bread till the cows come home.<br />
<br />
I personally like flax bread, it is the equivalent of crunchy peanut butter in a bread-like format, it's got a nice soft white bready texture with the added bonus of tiny little nuts reminding you are almost being healthy. <br />
<br />
When it comes down to it white bread is the best. I should stress this is not an opinion even though most people would suggest it is subjective, white bread tastes the best but it unquestionably the worst type for the human body to try and digest <br />
<br />
Then comes flax bread - ok fine this is an opinion, most people are partial to a pumpernickle and I would happily tip my hat to them, pumpernickle bread is a fine choice for a second. <br />
<br />
The rest end up being equal - multi-grain, five grain, tomato infused, and plan old brown, somebody could steal my sandwhich from my hand and replace the bread with any of these kinds and I would be none the wiser. <br />
<br />
The only other bread worth any mention is raisin bread - which I am discounting because it is two steps up from nornmal bread but only one step down from cake. It belongs in it's own breadish cake hybrid catagory, and like dogs judged at crufts it can't really be considered a purebread stream of either cake or bread along with the others. <br />
<br />
(I should point out my two seperate uses of the word bread in that last paragraph was purely accidental, proving only that even I am unable to keep up with my own extravagent use of vocabulary)<br />
<br />
All in all, there is a definite bread hierachy that seems rather universal. (feel free to disagree, I can't hear you anyway) People definitely have a preference, but chuck any type of bread under a grill and they loose any bread-like definition and become simply 'toast'.<br />
<br />
It's a good metaphor for life, like comparing individual personality traits to the over-arching fact that we are all human. If all type of bread end up being just toast, then all type of people end up just being human kind.<br />
<br />
You may have surmised that I ate some toast today, I just can't imagine what gave it away and yes I did hold it up into the sky to phisically demonstrate that I believe it is representative of an ideology, that's just the kind of person I am. <br />
<br />
Of course i really should branch out and talk about bagels, or wraps, or even french bread but if I think anymore about toast I may find myself standing over the over like a all seeing bread god judging when each slice of uncrisped bread can officially be given it's title of toast, and that may finally be the proof that I'm insane. <br />
<br />
Instead I will wish you good night and ask you to stop, just for a moment next time you are about to slide those slices into the toaster and realize what a big moment for it, it really will be<br />
<br />
Over and Out MerylMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-81778613357648312072010-11-01T11:15:00.000-07:002010-11-01T11:15:28.132-07:00Halloween<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzv7HkqzPeKKx5iKZxSq_Zv6znfO87fN3gaSgJ4uvXfPxIBxQJN2bCDPRXLPm9FkLSkIVVlYC276xkuJWurWGp337nqJDpELmHWK6IkgLC_xOwq40gpwTCPQz0XQt3mkbz1qjQoqCx9BI/s1600/Halloween.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzv7HkqzPeKKx5iKZxSq_Zv6znfO87fN3gaSgJ4uvXfPxIBxQJN2bCDPRXLPm9FkLSkIVVlYC276xkuJWurWGp337nqJDpELmHWK6IkgLC_xOwq40gpwTCPQz0XQt3mkbz1qjQoqCx9BI/s320/Halloween.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
There are certain advantages to now living in North America and forefront of those is Halloween. People go crazy for it here; they even close off the street and just let people parade themselves up and down in their extravagant costumes. <br />
<br />
This year four of the group dressed as sugar skulls, one of us went as autumn and then Brandy was quite literally ‘hot pink’. I shouldn’t say it, as it’s vain, but we looked awesome. Not one of us looked like we hadn’t gone all out, I was proud of us as a troupe and we got the appropriate reaction when walking into the various parties we stopped in on. <br />
<br />
Of course we then got completely trashed, which to be fair has become a real Halloween tradition of mine. I am not sure what it is about Halloween but I swear the same amount of alcohol as you normally drink will make you go berserk. It is my belief that with all the costumes around you added with the reaction you are getting to your own costume, you actually feel drunk before you have had your first drink, hence that first drink feels like the fifth, and the fifth drink feels like the twenty fifth. <br />
<br />
In an equation it would look like this<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Halloween Drunk = Drink x 5 </div><br />
So the fifth drink would be <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">Halloween = Drink (5) x 5<br />
Therefore,<br />
Halloween Drunk = 15 Drinks</div><br />
It’s all very mathematical.<br />
<br />
Church Street on Sunday night was so much fun. Some on my favorite costumes included. <br />
<br />
<b>Gargamel</b> – complete with a net full of surfs<br />
<br />
<b>Double Rainbow</b> – If you don’t know you should <br />
<b><br />
Phillip and Terrance</b> – Who before I came to Canada made me wonder if Canadians really did have big slits in their mouths. <br />
<br />
<b>Beetle Juice</b> – A really good one. <br />
<br />
<b>The Entire Disney Troupe</b> – Mickey was there, little mermaid, buzz light-year, Pinocchio. Pinocchio was the best! <br />
<br />
The whole thing filled me with Halloween style Christmas spirit, and just for a moment it was nice to be part of a larger group of people all dressing up and being nice to each other and sharing an experience. All felt right with the world…. and then it snowed. <br />
<br />
The snow certainly gave it the Christmassy edge, I just still can’t believe how subject to change Canadian weather is. It may rain all the time in England but at least there is little chance the temperature will change 20 degrees in one evening. It was one of those Halloween nights where you wished you had opted for the full body furry dog suit, just so you could be huddled up nice and warm and still go to the party. <br />
<br />
All in all, this year I’m giving Halloween a full thumbs up! Even my parents got into the spirit and went as Dexter and his latest victim, they sent me a picture, and they definitely looked cool! <br />
<br />
I hope you all had a great night, and weren’t one of the slew of girls wearing teeny tiny costumes in the minus degree weather! <br />
<br />
Boo to all of you!<br />
<br />
Meryl xMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-30782820511651065852010-10-27T06:24:00.000-07:002010-10-27T06:24:42.687-07:00RIP Paul the Octopus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir01VcMzHijjvlnZzDZMDSFwTkcEloLdmRwcBPT99gJja9SVaJz4iLVqNTI4I6hrEzbTV2SXOQ40XZRAtM7W5-ZJ0jiqzpglq4jVd3XptuvbnKy0scEFeCVGcLYcBsbZRbYQknw9_LIAw/s1600/blue_octopus_by_cremecake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir01VcMzHijjvlnZzDZMDSFwTkcEloLdmRwcBPT99gJja9SVaJz4iLVqNTI4I6hrEzbTV2SXOQ40XZRAtM7W5-ZJ0jiqzpglq4jVd3XptuvbnKy0scEFeCVGcLYcBsbZRbYQknw9_LIAw/s320/blue_octopus_by_cremecake.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Paul the Octopus is dead . I’m actually feeling a little sentimental, three blog posts this lovely Octopus provided me, as well as enchanting a generation with his uncanny ability to predict football matches. Some times the things we love are taken before their time. <br />
<br />
I think the sentiment is best summarized by his agent (yes agent) when he said<br />
<br />
"It's a sad day. Paul was rather special but we managed to film Paul before he left this mortal earth,"<br />
<br />
It’s a very weird world we live in isn’t it!<br />
<br />
Meryl xx<br />
<br />
Full story <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11626050">here</a>Meryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-14438218565369919982010-10-26T11:35:00.000-07:002010-10-26T11:35:26.816-07:00Rob Ford<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQp0x0893-UAMaN0JcGQvw9OQ_Tgy3XDxG6p6Kr5XauYTju5Zdi5CHD38pPKfiR5jIjceSxbYBf1fnpW2FIB0GHDhBH0N5z36F8Euum8ZWnqyHaaLZBUJzK7H_JZuIqVmZ1l847L8ClTo/s1600/20100617+Rob+Ford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQp0x0893-UAMaN0JcGQvw9OQ_Tgy3XDxG6p6Kr5XauYTju5Zdi5CHD38pPKfiR5jIjceSxbYBf1fnpW2FIB0GHDhBH0N5z36F8Euum8ZWnqyHaaLZBUJzK7H_JZuIqVmZ1l847L8ClTo/s320/20100617+Rob+Ford.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Things that<i> Mayor</i> Rob Ford has said:<br />
<b><br />
On the Homeless</b><br />
<br />
While berating an anti-poverty activist - "Do you have a job, sir? I'll give you a newspaper to find a job, like everyone else has to do between 9 and 5<br />
<br />
<b>On Aids</b><br />
<br />
Ford argued against the city spending $1.5 million on AIDS prevention programs. Ford stated that - "(AIDS) is very preventable," and that "if you are not doing needles and you are not gay, you wouldn't get AIDS probably, that's bottom line."<br />
<b><br />
What about women you ask?</b><br />
<br />
With respect to the increasing rates of women contracting the disease, Ford said; "How are women getting it? Maybe they are sleeping with bisexual men." <br />
<b><br />
On being racist (ok fine on work ethic)</b><br />
<br />
Those Oriental people work like dogs. They work their hearts out ... that's why they're successful in life. ... I'm telling you, Oriental people, they're slowly taking over, because there's no excuses for them. They're hard, hard workers."<br />
<br />
<b>On Cyclists</b><br />
<br />
Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day.<br />
<br />
<b>So it is always the cyclists fault? </b><br />
<br />
Ford was arrested in Miami for driving under the influence (DUI) and marijuana possession charges<br />
<br />
How has this happened? How has Rob Ford won Major of Toronto? I didn’t vote for him, I imagine normal, forward thinking people didn’t vote for him so I am going to have to conclude that they counted the votes in bizarro land where up is down and left it right. <br />
<br />
What is worse than any of this is that I realize the majority of people in Toronto right now will be offended by this? Because for some reason the majority of people in Toronto decided that it didn’t matter that the man is completely bigoted idiot arsehole with a insistently red face and asked him to run the city anyway?! I honestly feel I could change the top sentence of this blog to things you’d say if you were an arse and all of them would still apply. <br />
<br />
It all makes me really sad, really really really sad<br />
<br />
MerylMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-58756301273917926852010-10-26T08:33:00.000-07:002010-10-26T08:33:29.449-07:00Paranormal Activity 2 - eek<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAr1sAvOEAskBSQ3Zo_74wAntUYIyiUuJ9Ge9uVIzt7SAh6xI1RYsceNpc_hPghdmuICqnT2FxSrcBrkQL6IcUCdilM9Zi0HdfSnQHf9VDQ84iC8V3iCg466F1ImldgpZWOozhRZHOPE0/s1600/PA2.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAr1sAvOEAskBSQ3Zo_74wAntUYIyiUuJ9Ge9uVIzt7SAh6xI1RYsceNpc_hPghdmuICqnT2FxSrcBrkQL6IcUCdilM9Zi0HdfSnQHf9VDQ84iC8V3iCg466F1ImldgpZWOozhRZHOPE0/s400/PA2.bmp" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>So it is scaaary. No I haven’t misspelled it, it is so scary that it actually needs those extras a’s just to clarify it is in a class all of its own. I don’t know how impartial I can be in terms of reviewing this film because poltergeists and things jumping out at me have always been on my list of things that keep me awake at night. I was a mess after the first film and it kept me up for a good three days. Sleep deprived I managed to convince myself the local cat was following me and told my roommate it was throwing malicious looks my way as if it knew something I didn’t. <br />
<br />
Everyone that saw me in the aftermath of Paranormal Activity 1 could not understand why I would want to go and see the follow up film. To answer them, I like to imagine it’s a similar notion to lining up for a rollercoaster ride, every time you go on it scares you but somehow this doesn’t prevent you from going on again. I managed to rope my friend Katrine in to going with me last night but gave her ample warning that I would going to be a pathetic mess and a bit of a liability while I was at the theatre. Strangely she still agreed to go and at 7pm we found ourselves walking down to the Magic Lantern wishing farewell to regular sleep and peace of mind. <br />
<br />
As if I needed any help being completely freaked out we walked into the little theatre and noticed the place was pretty empty. Standing ready to great us was a young happy looking fellow who sold us our tickets and laughed brazenly at us as we quipped about our new form of self harm. As we paid for our concessions (yes Katrine decided to buy popcorn for the horror film?) I noticed he double backed around us, and when we walked to towards the screening rooms, there he was waiting to take the tickets he had just sold to us. Having eerie flashbacks to the shinning I wondered if perhaps this gentlemen was going to play every role at the theatre and be every staff member we met and I kept my eye on him as we walked towards theatre number 9. <br />
<br />
The theatre was empty when we walked in, which was strange as we hadn’t arrived early. Minutes later the lights dimmed and I wondered how on earth I’d ended up watching a movie that was about to screw with my head in an empty theatre with a job morphing, slightly psycho looking theatre worker as my only reassurance that help was near by. Nevertheless we persevered. <br />
<br />
The film lulls you into a lovely sense of calm for the first twenty minutes or so, but immediately informs you that the events you are seeing happen before those shown in Paranormal Activity 1. The characters are introduced immediately starting with footage of baby Hunter fresh from the hospital looking slightly squishy and being welcomed to his new home. His doting parents Kristi and Dan as well as Dan’s daughter from a previous marriage run around the house excited by the new addition to the family. Hunter is introduced to his new nanny Martine and the family dog Abby and all in all you get the sense that this is a very normal, very ‘people next door’ family. <br />
<br />
The cameras you see in all the trailers get installed in the house after an apparent break-in at the home, although nothing is actually stolen and it from these monitors that you get to see the rest of the film unfold. The big shocker comes when Kristi’s sister Katie comes over and you realize that this is Katie, as in ‘scary I’m possessed by a demon monster and go missing’ Katie from the first film. I think it was at this point my eyes opened wide enough to swallow my face, it was a great way to tell the audience things were going to be crazy. I won’t say very much more as I wouldn’t want to ruin the film for those that haven’t seen it, but they intertwine the two stories really really well. <br />
<br />
The film slowly begins to escalate and the director Tod Williams manages to make every creak and every movement bone tinglingly scary. Slamming doors make your heart want to stop, and Hunters continued concentration on things behind the camera filming him make shivers run up and down your spine like the proverbial blind mice. <br />
<br />
There are about three moments where you think you are going to die, like you literally wonder if your heart can take this much stress without just giving up and killing you and I think there was an equal three moments when I asked Katrine to hold my hand. It turns out that being in the theatre alone has its advantages and we were squeaking a squealing without threat of embarrassment or judgement. Of course when I say ‘we’ I mean me, but there were a couple of moments where I think Katrine joined me on the ‘I’m never going to sleep again’ train. The ending is brilliant and unexpected right up until it happens, and at no point did you feel the usual this is all a bit silly feeling that most horror films finish up with. <br />
<br />
Trembling we walked out the theatre but it wasn’t long until I regained some composure. The film is scary but I was more prepared for that this time, so afterwards I felt more relieved it was over than panicked something was going to get me. Don’t get me wrong the sequel is as scary as it predecessor I just think my management of it is more adept. <br />
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I would highly recommend watching the film, especially as Halloween is upon us. It’s a proper chiller, no real gore or guts just good old fashioned things that go bump in the night but if you do go I would not recommend doing it alone.<br />
<br />
Hope you are all well <br />
<br />
Love and Kisses <br />
<br />
Meryl<br />
<br />
PS: In a more reality based kind of scary…Rob Ford is mayor?!?! How could this of happened? More on that tomorrow.Meryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-68427593632654246342010-10-04T06:49:00.000-07:002010-10-04T06:49:36.930-07:00Algonquin Park<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB1Di7dXh2vO4xBM3NquYyxL4ry48W7nxKNACUosGt7-qoAGFXAzZ5sCpSZ1xYAP_wW3Sl4R35dZ8vGp0WgciRQvUapHs_LCSS8rjL4T4rq3N6NOxAax7-KzSz6wy8kVuF__vQr-ykVL8/s1600/Algonquin+028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB1Di7dXh2vO4xBM3NquYyxL4ry48W7nxKNACUosGt7-qoAGFXAzZ5sCpSZ1xYAP_wW3Sl4R35dZ8vGp0WgciRQvUapHs_LCSS8rjL4T4rq3N6NOxAax7-KzSz6wy8kVuF__vQr-ykVL8/s320/Algonquin+028.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<span id="goog_350373109"></span><span id="goog_350373110"></span>So I must have made over a hundred jokes about dying in the forest yesterday but strangely enough we all made it out of there alive. Jean, my new favorite photographer took some members of her photography class out to Algonquin Park on Sunday and even though I only have a slightly pathetic looking digital camera, the long lensed, light metered real photographers let me come along. <br />
<br />
It was a little cold, but I can see why people head up to Algonquin at this time of the year, the colours are spectacular. Rapidly changing trees look as if they contain tiny fires crackling the length of their branches. Golds, browns, burnt oranges and reds litter themselves among the evergreens, creating a plethora of colour just ready to be captured on film. It’s strange, as you pass them in the car the trees look as if they are spinning revealing layer upon layer of delicious autumn hue. It was intoxicating and I was ready to give up my life in the city and stay among the foliage. <br />
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Of course then I got hungry and cold and as pointed out by the class there are no Tim Horton’s in the woods. We went on a 5.9k hike which I insist should actually be considered 6K considering we had to double back to the huge muddy bog to find Jen’s sunglasses, but even slime covered feet and shoes couldn’t damper my excitement to see such spectacular sights. <br />
<br />
It was like slipping into a painting, brushstrokes of colour surrounded us the whole day, even the mushrooms joined in stretching from bright white (which are the ones that will kill you) to red toadstools complete with fairy like white dots. Katrine, my non photog buddy bought a mushroom book from the park store which provided us entertainment both identifying the mushrooms and forcing each other to take on some of the more ridiculous mushroom names, although her ability to track mushrooms with such aplomb earnt her the name truffle pig, which kind of stuck for most of the day. <br />
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Autumn has got to be my favorite season; it is so magnificent a canvas for the weather. Even as the leaves die and cascade from the trees they are picked up by the wind and swirled all around us, I got such Pocahontas flashbacks I think I may have started greeting people with Wingupo instead of hello – of course by ‘may have’, I mean I definitely did do it. <br />
<br />
I would like to take this moment to say thankyou to Amy, Katrine, Jose, Jen and most of all our lovely guide Jean for what can only be described as a magical day. I’m excited to see all the photographs from the day especially from our more advanced photographers but I’ve put one of mine up for now so you guys can see how beautiful the place really is<br />
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Happy Monday <br />
<br />
Meryl xx<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipnJYYAUTzBi46w-XnCB2YAm-h0_mzb9vhR25kMED4PLbUcVozalCeuwU_hJKrg9LL-0DTtikz0UoFW24ZRtuGyJT8TU7viyZq9te634-4qn74y5mZC9xCXgKI4QLcVWddSLmijczK3eg/s1600/Algonquin+016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipnJYYAUTzBi46w-XnCB2YAm-h0_mzb9vhR25kMED4PLbUcVozalCeuwU_hJKrg9LL-0DTtikz0UoFW24ZRtuGyJT8TU7viyZq9te634-4qn74y5mZC9xCXgKI4QLcVWddSLmijczK3eg/s320/Algonquin+016.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Meryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-33689223496122554832010-10-01T16:49:00.000-07:002010-10-01T16:49:10.686-07:00Carpe DiemMy top five films are always changing, and why shouldn't they the world keeps putting them out and constant re-evaluation of one's top five lists is a necessary part of keeping up with the new. But no matter how many films they put out there the one film to remain steadfast even as I grow and learn is the Dead Poets Society. Does this resign me to the Robin Williams films are for girls catagory? Maybe, but it is a small price to pay to be able to shout YAWP at the top of my lungs and understand it is the very underpinnings of non-conformity. <br />
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For years I worried about being different, I worried that my over active mind and underactive filter system would forever make me a freak, it kind of did but here was a film that told me most men lived lives of quiet desperation and I'd rather be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. <br />
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I always imagine Carpe Diem to be the sentiment of a generation, of course our newest group of young people are more likely to subscripe to phases like 'that's hot' or 'just do it'. Carpe Diem is a marketing exec's dream come true. A phrase that represents the underlying fear that we will run out of time to do the things we want. If people are afraid of death it can only be because they feel it will come too soon, but if we make the most of everyday surely we can keep that fear at bay, at least long enough to realize that death is only scary because we love life. <br />
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The Dead Poets Society is so sad because it represents the dispair of wanting to do something and being unable to do it, but in actuality are the people keeping us from our dreams mearly ourselves? There are so many barriers to being a free thinker and not small ones either, fear, life, isolation why would you want to think outside the box if everyone relatable is sitting inside. It is impossible not to worry what others think of us, ok it isn't, but it is damn hard and rejection is always a good reminder that putting all your hopes and dreams into one thing can lead to dissapointment. <br />
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I have come to believe that being strong comes from working through disapointment and from enjoying the bad as much as you can from worrying less about what people think of you and more what what you think of yourself. Strength comes from pushing forward when all you want to do is retreat. Carpe Diem, sieze the day, it doesn't mean that if you do it will end well, it just means you did it anyway. Or more elequently put 'to gather ye rosebuds while you may'. <br />
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Perhaps this is just the poet in me struggling to get free, the elequent rearrangement of words to give them more meaning. I refuse to live a life of quiet desperation and if the only way to do that is to be loud about it, then that is what I will do. People always talk about not wanting to put their thoughts into words and I understand why, as a race we are continuously looking to save face. If we leave our hopes and dreams in our heads no-one will know if they don't come true. <br />
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When Niel's father asks him what it is he feels it is the one chance he has to verbalize what he wants to do, and he backs down because in the end he doesn't feel like it could ever happen. If there was ever a message to learn from Mr Keating it was that anything is possible that you can't let anyone tell you that it's not.<br />
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O'Captin my Captin <br />
<br />
MerylMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-87406916120445787942010-09-22T14:25:00.000-07:002010-09-23T08:44:53.219-07:00Third Star on The Right and Straight on Till Morning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2dDOFQ5QNLgU_nFuGBMWgY09qJP7-xnhQ7sMlN7h_wfubXDQiFMizfubELJJMULreerRZm19dOqTT9eBtgnTCuzuAPwLuBghkiKyn4GOUB8wCWxIroFp6bLRkwjWLLNNfRa6NfkxdUY/s1600/peter+pan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2dDOFQ5QNLgU_nFuGBMWgY09qJP7-xnhQ7sMlN7h_wfubXDQiFMizfubELJJMULreerRZm19dOqTT9eBtgnTCuzuAPwLuBghkiKyn4GOUB8wCWxIroFp6bLRkwjWLLNNfRa6NfkxdUY/s320/peter+pan.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The foray into adulthood is so unceremonious that I think it takes people a long time to realize that they have ventured into it. For me, I realized there would be no defining moment and no sense of achievement while I was walking down the road in a business suit and sensible high healed shoes. Here I was dressed like the very adults I had admired while heading to school in London. I looked like an adult, I was presenting myself as an adult but I felt very much like a child playing dress up.<br />
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There aren't really any defined parameters to being an adult, other than the obvious achievement of living for over eighteen years. I have always thought, to consider yourself an adult you have to be living on your own, and making enough money to pay your bills, but I certainly understand that there are exceptions to these clauses. <br />
<br />
I think when I was younger I was under the impression that everything in life just falls into place once you get older, that being an adult would be one of those milestones in your life that are marked by celebrations and certificates. What I failed to realize is that growing up and growing old is all about learning who you are and where you want to be. <br />
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Socailly we are kind of told that getting a great job is tip top most important, number one priority in life, which to an extent can be true. But as I learn more about the world, I keep thinking that perhaps being an adult is more about turning childhood dreams into functional realities. It is easy to get lost in a need for money and status but I think the two things prohibit our ability to really think about things. I know that a lot of my thoughts are obscured by an instant need to make money to live, and really how could they not. It is easy to be adventurous, care free and spontaneous when you have the money to back it all up. Finding a balance between the two is what is hard<br />
<br />
I have talked about balance so much in my blog, and so I worry I am becoming a little cliche. Perhaps my blog entries are becoming a little too self endulgent. I write about these things because I truly wonder if people have the same conflicts running inside their own minds. If there is no marker to tell you you have become and adult how do you really know that you have?<br />
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My biggest fear is that being an adult is accepting that life is essentially treading the same steps as those before you. Living a hugely similar but slightly differing life to the social norm. It makes me feel like peter pan, running away from adulthood because it seems so incredibly dull. Unfortunately there is no never never land, but perhaps I can try and bring a little of it's ideology here. Maybe I have it all wrong and growing up doesn't mean assimilation instead it is a practical aplication of ones abilities to meet one's dreams. <br />
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Seeing as I have no answer I shall just have to put every ounce of effort I have into doing what I love, which is writting and have enough determination to not give up on it until I succeed. Maybe I will have to put aside my desire for some concrete congratulations on growing up, and worry more about who I am than where I am at. Whatever happens if I really get in trouble all I have to do is follow the third star on the right and straight on till morning and then my biggest problem will simply be pirates. <br />
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Love to all of you out there. <br />
<br />
MerylMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-28638370077653820572010-09-21T07:08:00.000-07:002010-09-21T07:12:05.519-07:00Spice Up Your Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP1WRvpMOrMHlViPUCcz9htvRfukgYEPjjQjA2YbiMkq4AuO0VrIlMNOAbHyFcOqt1_KHIfgu02HS7dFIcQxpIhMvPlfUqYbHvCinsd8OWdV2j7Cv5U4Dgp2kRDSQ-n44bdQ1z5B9fN5Y/s1600/Spice-Girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP1WRvpMOrMHlViPUCcz9htvRfukgYEPjjQjA2YbiMkq4AuO0VrIlMNOAbHyFcOqt1_KHIfgu02HS7dFIcQxpIhMvPlfUqYbHvCinsd8OWdV2j7Cv5U4Dgp2kRDSQ-n44bdQ1z5B9fN5Y/s320/Spice-Girls.jpg" /></a></div><br />
It was the mid nineties and the entire population of England was unashamedly enthralled by two words that would change the face of feminism forever….Girl Power. <br />
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I was 9 years old when the Spice Girls first released Wannabe and it was from that moment that I realized that girls could be loud, brash and naughty and people would still love you for it. So the Spice Girls were of course a manufactured, well researched, mostly auto tuned pop band, complete with five distinct personalities that different girls could relate to, but they were an inspiration to millions of young girls, and boys all around the world. <br />
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The spice girls get a lot of flack for the rise of girl gangs in England at the time, and not the ‘lets all braid each others hair’ type, the let’s go down the high street and mug people kind. I don’t think that is what the Spice Girls represented at all. They were a group of friends who were having a laugh, who didn’t need men to make them happy and who would put each other first. <br />
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If you want to be my lover you gotta get with my friends, wasn’t a beautifully written lyric line no, but it was a great message none the less. <br />
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The Spice Girls had a resounding effect on young ladies everywhere. Yes we all bought into the merchandise, and if I remember rightly very few desks weren’t littered with spice girl rulers and pencil cases that year, but more than that we bought into the idea that perhaps girls did have power, that we could zig a zig ah without transgressing any socially dictated conventions. <br />
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For me it was ginger spice…funnily enough it also was for my brother. She was giggly and mouthy and kissed Nelson Mandela on the cheek when she met him. I thought she was brilliant and glamorous and amazing and when she left the group I was devastated. I actually got to meet her once when I went swimming with my brother, and he’ll hate me for saying it but he was just as excited about it as me. We also walked to Emma Bunton’s house to drop a note asking for tickets to the Spice Girls tour, something that makes my cheeks go red when I think about it now. <br />
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But the reason I bring up the Spice Girls is because my birthday made me realize how lucky I am to have these strong independent ladies around me now. I still find myself being inspired and changed by these great role models who look after each other and me everyday. I doubt all of us have the Spice Girls to thank for not being meek, gentile and unadventurous people, and perhaps they were just a product of changing times. What I do know is having the confidence to find happiness in ourselves and not expecting to find it in other people is definitely what Girl Power was all about<br />
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Over and Out<br />
<br />
Meryl<br />
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PS: If you are wondering if I went to see the reunion tour then the answer is yes. Me and my sister put our hair in pigtails covered ourselves in glitter and sang every word of every song until neither of us could talk...twas magical xxxMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-89625502441100742932010-09-17T13:26:00.000-07:002010-09-17T13:26:36.055-07:00The Tale of Two Cookies.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlBZIau3fT5A-U7yfWgiCk8yF3v6KvUOelIMA8ZzQP8vWqg7JUfeS4PfOZdBZDozUv5bgX9sPoNO5uXwJxfaaZPL8Gh55NirtcVpAjJOR0BlZFN3Jm6uNJtmM7PB6DjiZZqnBPtluIm0I/s1600/cookie-monster3-7769871237963363.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlBZIau3fT5A-U7yfWgiCk8yF3v6KvUOelIMA8ZzQP8vWqg7JUfeS4PfOZdBZDozUv5bgX9sPoNO5uXwJxfaaZPL8Gh55NirtcVpAjJOR0BlZFN3Jm6uNJtmM7PB6DjiZZqnBPtluIm0I/s200/cookie-monster3-7769871237963363.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
So yesterday was my birthday, and it was a truly fantastic day! Birthdays are both special and a bit weird, there is no real difference between that day and any other but even the sight of the date makes it feel foreign and exciting. September the 16th to me always looks different from every other date because in its own strange way it represents me. Obviously it only does this to me, and maybe my family. No one else see’s the 16th of September and have me pop into their brain….or do they.<br />
<br />
Fade to black<br />
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Fade in.<br />
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(Exciting)<br />
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[At the office, early morning, interior shot]<br />
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So I got a great gift from my friend Grace yesterday in the early morning, and I get to see all these lovely messages on facebook through out the day, but all in all I’m trying to get through my large pile of paperwork so the day feels like most others end up feeling. All of a sudden the doorbell at work rings and there is a man standing with a box that has my name on it, he looks at me and in a rather unenthusiastic singsong tone he says ‘Cookie Gram’. <br />
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Low and behold there in the box is a massive cookie (pizza sized at best guess) with Happy Birthday SMAGE written on it. Now to quickly explain, my friend Sian has called me Smagel for years due to an unfortunate bagel misunderstanding that the Ivers family will never let me forget, but Smage is a new name and I was laughing at the mistake while feeling lovely and warm inside that Sian would work out a way to get a cookie delivered in Canada to me on my birthday all the way from England. It was a great surprise and a great gift beat only by one event. <br />
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Cookie number 2. About an hour, and fifty bbm’s of thanks later there is another ring on the doorbell, and standing there as if there were a glitch in the matrix is another gentlemen with a white box in his hands who smiles at me and says, cookie gram. <br />
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Two cookies ladies and gentlemen, for one birthday. <br />
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Turns out while Sian was trying to book cookies from England her confirmation hadn’t come through and worried that it wouldn’t turn up, her and her brother Kieran had scowered the internet to find another company that made cookie grams and ordered it through them. The second cookie gram was beautifully wrapped and when I opened it, it was really well decorated. There in the center of it written in Capital letters was HAPPY BIRTHDAY SMEGAL. Two cookies and neither could manage an accurate spelling, not to mention the slack I got from my co-workers about being named after a character from Lord of the Rings. Either way cookie grams are amazing, as is Sian. Thank you so much for making my birthday so very special and delicious. For the first time ever I really understood the psyche of the cookie monster. I became cookie centric. <br />
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Big thankyou’s to everyone that made my birthday so special. For my gifts and for my messages, they were amazing. I must be the luckiest person alive to have the friends that I have, which is not what I was thinking when they devoured my cookies in less than an hour. No I’m just kidding you are all beautiful! <br />
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I hope you all have exciting plans for the weekend! It’s my birthday party on Saturday and I intend to post pictures and blog about the event. If I can remember it, and don’t drunkly loose my camera…at this point what could happen is anyone’s guess. <br />
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All my love to those of you also celebrating your birthday this month, including my good friend Caressa who I adore and cannot wait to see on Saturday!<br />
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Love and kisses as always <br />
<br />
Meryl xMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-59260573850924040062010-09-14T10:51:00.000-07:002010-09-14T10:51:21.404-07:00It's like they made it just for meIf this wasn't made for my blog then it should have been<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11284054">Click here</a><br />
<br />
M xMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-65828429196898306722010-09-09T06:47:00.000-07:002010-09-09T06:47:58.129-07:00TTC Blog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTDk9dTGg_3uarcngoHMrcWhC_sDHefI7M8BncJhecV_wpEeYkZs9RG1Ohzj2s8IGAYv4gcIidaJQX72TLcwDIeE9lM6K0f1HfsXtnpHgo6chWqx9DEycfvJYmHLumV8KaLToDuYBCwA/s1600/TTC-Logo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisTDk9dTGg_3uarcngoHMrcWhC_sDHefI7M8BncJhecV_wpEeYkZs9RG1Ohzj2s8IGAYv4gcIidaJQX72TLcwDIeE9lM6K0f1HfsXtnpHgo6chWqx9DEycfvJYmHLumV8KaLToDuYBCwA/s200/TTC-Logo.gif" width="200" /></a></div>I’m back on the TTC. After almost a year of being driven to work moving has left me right back at square one taking the subway every morning and afternoon during rush hour. It’s not so bad really, it’s a bit squishy and smells bad but it is certainly a great way to get to work without harming the environment. It is delays that get to me. <br />
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Having spent a majority of my life taking London transport to school I am no stranger to delays, but London has a million different lines to accommodate your sudden route change, Toronto has two. It was this morning, as I stood pressed up against the glass trying to find some personal space while the train lingered in the dark tunnel that I realized I have spent a lot of my life holding hands with a subway pole. <br />
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It’s not a big deal really, but the familiar sight of a silver subway pole between my fingers makes me realize how much of your life just slips away right before your eyes. I won’t be the first person to observe that you spend more time with your work colleagues than anyone else in your life. Or that you walk the same piece of pavement or sidewalk everyday until you leave some sort of physical mark there. I used to let my imagination run wild as I walked to the subway, trying to imagine what the area would look like if every step I had taken in it was highlighted blue. If I could retrace my steps over the last year, yes they would take me to India but then they would bring me right back to the very area I walk around like a caged animal pacing. <br />
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When I first came to Canada I was far more adventurous. I would get off at different subway stations just to have a little look around. It also helped me get to grips with the city a little quicker. Now that I have moved I get a whole new area to discover which is exciting, although I am sure it won’t even be a month before I’ve devised a standardized route to get to all the things I need. Routine shouldn’t really be mocked though; I think I may be too hard on it. We create routine out of both necessity and enjoyment. We return to the places we liked and we find efficient way to get to places we need. That’s hardly a bad thing is it? I guess if I were to give myself advice it would be to try and mix up the two. To appreciate routine for the necessary part of life it is, but also to try and find new and exciting things to do and to see. <br />
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On the topic of breaking routine, Happy New Year to all the lovely Jewish people out there, I hope you have year filled with Happiness, Excitement and Success<br />
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Love to all of you xxxMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-51308241882874525912010-09-07T11:06:00.000-07:002010-09-07T11:06:03.850-07:00Thirty days has September<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg11jdp3OBTQZqx5COJvxqI-wgDWa3YAYCP1ixnZ-q4PnUCpnLQX7KUJtKSIuEcS4BaJxTNStidDl_DqATgLFnqdxLO5rMzjhZzQP42ZcTGbdV5WST5lmeIiczEAIrMdNFpATuw7Xb5970/s1600/cute.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg11jdp3OBTQZqx5COJvxqI-wgDWa3YAYCP1ixnZ-q4PnUCpnLQX7KUJtKSIuEcS4BaJxTNStidDl_DqATgLFnqdxLO5rMzjhZzQP42ZcTGbdV5WST5lmeIiczEAIrMdNFpATuw7Xb5970/s200/cute.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>September is my favorite month of the year. It is a little self serving because September happens to be my birthday month too but that is not the reason I love it so much. Lots of things happen in September. The weather changes, the kids go back to school, drinking starts happening inside and new television shows are premiered. This predominantly is why I love September. Ever since I was young I had knack for making my imaginary successes accurate, and when I imagine having my television show on the box it would always be premiered in September along with the rest. September makes me feel inspired because I know with a little (or a lot) of hard work it could be my turn to see my script come to life. <br />
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September for the last six years has also been my month for moving. Once you get locked into moving in September it is not uncommon to continue doing so. This happens because you sign a year lease and are moving again the same time only a year later. I have stressed how much I dislike moving in September because all the students are trying to do the same only more aggravatingly and expensively and they get in my way, but overall it means September has become the start of something new, and pairing this with new shows and new opportunities I slide into the more introspective and philosophical Meryl I hide away for the rest of the year. <br />
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Talking of which the apartment is coming along really nicely. Nearly everything is in place. My kind, loving and sympathetic parents bought me a new netbook for my birthday and more importantly Charlie is back in town. I had asked my parents to look after the dog for a week, just so I could get everything packed up and moved without freaking him out, and he has spent a week in a big house with a big yard eating chicken my mother cooked for him. I missed him a lot while he was away. I think he is settling in, but my new place is a lot smaller than the old one and I think he feels a little peeved that I have downsized especially after spending a week in a dog equivalent all inclusive. Unfortunately for him he is a tiny little dog, so his options are rather limited and I am sure he will be used to it in no time.<br />
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I am going to keep this blog short because I am working on an ending to a story I found while clearing out data from my old netbook. It’s just a short story but I can see where I was going with it and feel I need closure by ending it right. If you are really good I will post it for you to read, fine if you are bad I probably will too.<br />
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I hope you had a great weekend, I went to second city on Saturday for the new show and it is hilarious, check it out if you can! I also watched a couple of newly released movies. The Runaways, which was poor and had very little happen for most of the film. I will say Dakota Fanning is really a great actress and brought a lot too it, but that was the only real positive to the whole thing. I would skip it if I had a do-over. I also watched Happy Tears, which is one of the weirdest films I’ve ever seen. For some reason I liked it, but it is hard to remember why, hmm if you have seen it let me know what you thought because to be honest I’m not quite sure. <br />
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Ok my pretties. Speak to you all real soon xxxxMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-81674023508451630902010-09-03T10:32:00.000-07:002010-09-09T06:49:41.866-07:00Why I love Ricky Gervais, Steven Merchant and Karl PilkingtonFor lots of reasons, most predominantly <a href="http://www.rickygervais.com/skyseptember2010.html">this</a>.Meryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-6133385043680942442010-09-03T06:49:00.000-07:002010-09-03T11:02:38.698-07:00Change<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8sMVWHm0ICWtYYBEacBkr66OPrhAs8btg_av71HHQU3B9jG0qifBAuhmpbtJg29BmhpxoycSoTJGgdba_Z2sqRGd70PsiEBiLuDaNeMYyuxlKzK86hsd7OMxxwE9Lb9ygcUO3Z0KZ20s/s1600/matilda_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8sMVWHm0ICWtYYBEacBkr66OPrhAs8btg_av71HHQU3B9jG0qifBAuhmpbtJg29BmhpxoycSoTJGgdba_Z2sqRGd70PsiEBiLuDaNeMYyuxlKzK86hsd7OMxxwE9Lb9ygcUO3Z0KZ20s/s200/matilda_l.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>If I close my eyes really tight and wish on a shooting star, do you think there is a possibility the rest of the boxes in my house will unpack themselves…yeah I didn’t think so. <br />
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If I was <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujc71mev9qc">Matilda</a> this wouldn’t be a problem. <br />
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Anyway onto brighter things, today I want to talk about change (I know, how Obama of me right). Change is really important in life and yet it is one of the things that make us panic more than anything else. As a western civilization nearly everything we do works around routine, we are quick to ‘settle in’ and feel weird before we do. I am trying very hard to do the opposite, to use this change of address as an opening to change all the other things I wanted to but didn’t. <br />
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Ok so not all the other things, but lots of them. When Obama talked about change he promised a lot of things he himself may not be able to deliver and I know there are lots of people who are disappointed that he hasn’t really followed through on a lot of his policies, but for me Obama talking about change was more about mental state. For the first time in a long time the American population recognized that perhaps what they had going on wasn’t working for them, that proceeding in a both needless and endless war didn’t make any sense. American’s can be so great, but they are also blindly patriotic believing that being American is supporting everything the government decides to do, even if they think it is wrong. For the first time they had a leader saying, we need change, we need to grow and get better and re-evaluate. <br />
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And that is how I feel. I absolutely loved my time in Ossington, I have had a great last two years and met lots of people who I adore and are so important to me. I got to live with great people and have lots of fun but it changed my focus and allowed me to enjoy routine and procrastination. I’m ready for a new adventure. I’ve got my own place, I’m downtown in the city and I’m ready to spotlight my focus and write my arse off. This coming year is going to be different, because like Obama I want change.<br />
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So after re-reading this perhaps my comparisons between one of the most powerful men in the world running a country and me moving house are a little presumptuous, but I’m going to stand by them because that’s the kind of arrogant tosser I am.<br />
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Love to all of you x<br />
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PS: A big shout out to my Grandma and Grandpa on their 56th Wedding anniversary, and to my Uncle J and Aunti S on theirs too! Meryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-12224847570017638682010-09-02T07:06:00.001-07:002010-09-02T07:07:09.366-07:00Box City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSS3YgCLs-RJm693xEgnr5t9jHKr3KfrxCHFnR0W9IWO4lXMnbCyqz4r9xCX5vK4Ot3bk3mrLoMvZWlzS9BUKy3yCfXnP8CKMxatTtrRYWBrrGaN4qGrzx7itFLCdD4s4mygwQIO2Apg/s1600/box+city.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaSS3YgCLs-RJm693xEgnr5t9jHKr3KfrxCHFnR0W9IWO4lXMnbCyqz4r9xCX5vK4Ot3bk3mrLoMvZWlzS9BUKy3yCfXnP8CKMxatTtrRYWBrrGaN4qGrzx7itFLCdD4s4mygwQIO2Apg/s320/box+city.JPG" /></a></div><br />
Hello Bloggywoggers<br />
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So I’m moved in. I can’t believe it’s all moved in, well I can because of the 6 hours I spent in the 33 degree weather shifting boxes and beds around. All in all it was a bit of a nightmare. It was stiflingly hot which is awful moving temperature and there was just the two of us moving everything. I will never do it again ever. Next time I want 10 strong men packing and moving my stuff while I lay leisurely on a soft chair eating grapes. On the plus side we managed to move for a whopping 30 dollars each, which is quite a saving. <br />
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Or is it?<br />
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No it isn’t. <br />
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Why? <br />
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Because I managed to smash my computer the night before we were due to move.<br />
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Let me set the scene for you readers. It is nine o’clock the night before moving day and I’m trying to stuff the last of my rubbish into boxes and bags. My brain is trying to concentrate only on packing, but it is being distracted by worry that I won’t be able to move the heavy boxes I have now packed. I’m running around the house like a bit of a loon concerned I’m going to leave something behind. I grab one of the lighter boxes and lay it on top of a pile of clothes and it slowly slides sideways and onto the floor hitting a hanger which unearths another box which causes my bed side table to collapse sending my computer flying and with a smash it hits the hardwood floor. <br />
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The worst part is that the screen was facing down when it fell, so I have to walk over to it not sure if it is going to be dead. As I turn the poor thing over I’m silently praying to the god I don’t believe in to make it be ok, and unsurprisingly after no divine intervention three quarters of the screen has gone black. On the plus side one quarter of the screen is functioning perfectly so I know the actual computer is still working and all my info isn’t lost. This will be my fifth computer in three years so I’m starting to think it is me and not them. <br />
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By the end of moving day, I was sweaty and hot, I looked like crap and my arms were aching, and the after effects today are kind of worse. I can barely lift my arms up and I’m covered in bruises and of course now don’t have a computer to write my blog on. Again you will have to put up with the spelling mistakes associated with writing blog entries on a blackberry. I do feel happy and calm though. My new apartment is all mine, and although it looks like box city right now, I can see how it is all going to take shape and I’m going to love it. I can’t wait to get it in order. <br />
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I want to say thank you to my room mate Mike who really took the lions share in moving stuff, I like to think I did as much as I could but all in all he was the hero of the day. I would also like to thank Dave for driving that huge truck and not taking out any lampposts on the way (scraping one doesn’t count). Oh talking of which how strange is this, while in the middle of moving we had our photo taken yesterday. We had decided to take a break because we were just getting so hot and Dave ran and got us all icecaps from Tim Horton’s. We all took a seat on the end of the truck, feet dangling boxes and chairs scattered in and around us. All of a sudden we see a flash and some man is taking photos of us. To be fair we probably looked like a Tim Horton’s commercial, all ‘stressful day, take a break and cool of with an icecap’ like, but it was a little strange none the less. <br />
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While I am doing thankyous, I would like to thank everyone who checked in on me throughout the day, although it was all very hectic it was nice that people were thinking of how horrible I must be feeling moving in the heat. A massive thank you goes out to Jen for feeding me dinner and letting me sit in her air-conditioned apartment she is the best neighbour ever. <br />
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Also if any of you want to donate a computer to me, don’t even bother I wouldn’t take it if it was free. Yes I would, yes I would, somebody? anybody?<br />
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MerylMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6518249694222780667.post-78428098367995307012010-08-30T12:10:00.000-07:002010-08-30T12:12:27.521-07:00Brain Dust<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz5RXyIk6FikQ0xopONJ-I7o5mq6zhpw86AFdZRRruFY2pPaQw8ePh70Klk3JaY-OP23WTq8OsnG3hGB3us7AV0N1Sb5mVXqp7Ge6DaTfCOV4KJt0Yk1oJFMOZDA9ebfYtQbOjT2ADQXU/s1600/little+princess.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz5RXyIk6FikQ0xopONJ-I7o5mq6zhpw86AFdZRRruFY2pPaQw8ePh70Klk3JaY-OP23WTq8OsnG3hGB3us7AV0N1Sb5mVXqp7Ge6DaTfCOV4KJt0Yk1oJFMOZDA9ebfYtQbOjT2ADQXU/s200/little+princess.bmp" width="200" /></a></div>So if I am being honest today I am a little frazzled. I’m generally a really calm person, well unless you sneak up on me in the house to which I will jump as if you are a ninja. I know moving does that to people so I’m not overly worried it is abnormal but I have a bunch of other little things to sort out that make me feel like I am trying to juggle fire sticks (not technically the right name for them).<br />
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The best thing to do when really stressed out is to take a moment to breathe. There is very little in this life that cannot be sorted out and taking a second to think everything through will stop you from panicking or feeling overwhelmed. I am breathing lots and lots today, all the time in…out…in…out and so forth. Ok so I would be doing it anyway so I could stay alive but this breathing is focused, it’s special breathing I promise. <br />
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Due to the insane amount of packing and sorting out I have to do, this is where this blog ends. …<br />
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Haha ok, all my special breathing has caused dust to go into my brain and its making me silly. Today's picture is how I want my new apartment to look ...........It won’t :(<br />
Love you all <br />
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Meryl xxxMeryl Manninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01101235730987366959noreply@blogger.com1