Between Friends Blog

Slumdog Millionaire

This film was totally off my radar.  I heard murmurings that it was about a guy in India who won the lottery.  It sounded boring.  Even after it won Best Picture I was still "eh" about it. 

I really wanted to go and see Milk and Doubt but I never got around to seeing them either.  (I will see them but it will probably have to be a rental)

A few days ago my friend e-mailed and said she had a two for one coupon for the movies that had to be used by Thursday and did I want to go and see Slumdog Millionaire?  Her daughter is going to India in the fall for three months so she was interested in seeing this movie.  I said sure.

What a movie.  It's the only film I've seen that's made me feel so bad about life and so good about it at the same time.

If you're one of the few people who haven't seen it yet . . . GO.   

Rating:  Pay to see it twice and then rent the dvd.

Read Today's Between Friends comic!

  Just a reminder that you can read "Between Friends" daily by clicking on the animated widget in the right-hand corner of my blog.

 You'll find 60 other current King Features comics on this page too, all with a 30 day archive.

AND BEST OF ALL, IT HAS A ZOOM FEATURE FOR THE BOOMER-IMPAIRED!!

Click away!

Comfort is the new Fashion

 

Even though it's snowing where I live . . . it won't be all that long before capri season is here.  This strip is very obviously a play on the " brown is the new black " expression . . . which was followed by the " 40 is the new 30 " and any other number of variations.

Weekend Thought

"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."

-Dolly Parton

Dog - Speak

Remember Newman?  My Golden Retriever puppy who almost gave me a nervous breakdown at one point?  . . . at a couple of points, actually.  He'll be two years old in April. 

That dog, that dog . . . I remember bursting into tears in my kitchen one day at dinner time over that dog.  I started crying uncontrollably telling my husband and kids that I just couldn't do it, I couldn't see the next 15 or more years of my life saddled with this animal in my house.  I didn't want him, didn't like him and  HE JUST HAD TO GO.

I couldn't give him up now.

Don't misunderstand me, if I had the chance to do it all over again, I wouldn't.  But now that's he's been here a while and I know him . . . well, he has to stay.  Even if he vomits on my living room carpet.  I just couldn't sleep at night wondering if he was happy, being treated well and getting his walks every day.  He really loves those walks.

It's funny how he understands some vocabulary.  I don't know if he's the brightest dog in the world because we need to repeat words several times for him before he'll respond.  It's probably got less to do with his intelligence and more to do with the fact that he's stubborn.

Anyway, these are the words he understands:

Come, sit, stay, heel, walkies, ride, off, treat, cookie, lunch, where's tim?, tim's home! and this low, guttural rendition of "ah, ah ah" when he's doing something that he's absolutely not supposed to be doing.

Yesterday, while I was writing, he came and sat in front of me with his head cocked and staring unflinchingly.  He has a language as well and this means, "Come on, Sandra, take me for a walk, please?  Please? PLEEEEEEEEASE?"

I just couldn't do it at that time because I had to get some writing accomplished and I only had about an hour and a half before the kids came home.  After that, nothing of any substance is going to get done in the "thinking" vein.

So I patted my notebook and told Newman in clear and distinct enunciation: Deadlines . . . deadlines, Newman . . . DEADLINES.

He didn't get the concept of course but he got the gist.  He went over and laid down in the hallway.

Welcome to my world, Newman.

Harbour le Cou

 

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll remember that my mother is a Newfoundlander.   My cousin sent me this old photo of the school/church from Harbour le Cou (where mom was born and raised).  We're guessing it's late 1800's.  The building is still there today but it's been renovated and is now someone's home. 

My mother left home at the age of 17.  She went to live with one of her sisters in North Sydney, Nova Scotia for a while and then moved on to St. Catharines, Ontario to live with another sister.  She met my father and yada, yada, yada, . . . to borrow a phrase.

She didn't finish highschool.  She was in her last year and they had a new school teacher.  Of course, standards for becoming a teacher would have been much different then than they are now and according to  my mother, many of the kids in the class knew more than the teacher.  She decided to leave because she felt she had no chance at passing the provincial exam anyway.

She said she would have liked to become a teacher.  It's too bad she didn't go back to school to finish her education when she went to live with her sister.  But . . . perhaps that wasn't an option for any variety of reasons.  I think she would have made a good primary school teacher.  She has tremendous patience and she really loves children and they like her.  She's always shown a very keen interest in the abilities of children and takes a lot of pleasure in seeing their successes.

Sigh.

Life can turn on a dime.  If she had finished highschool, become a teacher . . . where would she be now and what would she have done?  Not that her life hasn't been good and that she isn't happy . . . it's just that her life would have been different.  Stories like these keep impressing on me how much education factors into the outcome of our lives and our ability to make choices.

This post is becoming rather . . . reflective . . . or something . . .  isn't it?  I have to shake this off because today is a writing day and if I don't, I'll just end up drinking any number of cups of coffee and staring into space until my kids get home from school.  Either that or I'll be writing some very odd strips.

Anyway, the above photo is for those history-minded readers who enjoy glimpses into Canada's past.

Desire, Passion and Obsession

( Okay, let's see which Google Ads are attracted to those words )

 

My friend, Stephanie Piro (the Saturday chick of the Six Chix comic strip) has posted a little Valentine's Day graphic novel online.  It's very funny and I love the way she's incorporated actual jewelry with her art.  Go and look.  It's a mini graphic novel so it's a quick read.

(btw...read the panels side to side...I read them up and down at first, as in two separate columns)

And while I'm at it . . .here's a link to Mike Lynch's blog and a quick little graphic story he posted on his blog.  (It's like an extended comic strip)  It's about a story he overheard during his bus trip on the way to the New York Comic Con.  I loved it!

Okay, I'm off to finish off some photoshopping and then take off for the day.  It's the second "Family Day" that Ontario is celebrating . . . a new holiday instituted last year. 

Happy Family Day!

Happy Valentine's Day

 

My husband is a Funeral Director.  The fact that "Harv" is a Funeral Director in my comic strip is purely coincidental.

Flowers are not something Tim likes to spend money on because in his line of work he sees them thrown out so often.  It just seems wasteful to him.

The first year we were married, he came home with a very pretty vase of flowers for me on Valentine's Day.  I was happily surprised.  ( I LOVE flowers )  Then I began to notice that although the flowers were not exactly "wilted", they were . . . how should I say it? - not exactly "fresh-from- the- florist-perky."

You can guess where they came from.

Tim has never done that again.

Over the past twenty years, Tim has sent me roses (delivered by a real live florist and everything) or given me chocolate or we've gone out for dinner on Valentine's Day.  Sometimes we just order pizza in and rent some movies.  This morning we exchanged cards and a kiss.  He's "on call"  this weekend so we'll likely just do take-out tonight. 

Nothing special . . . and yet very special all the same.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Weekend Thought for Canadian Women and Pay Equity

"I guess, Madam Speaker, you could consider this a prop considering the fact that it should be put in the garbage.  This is the government's bill and if the members do not want me to use it, maybe that is what they think of it."

- Ms. Judy Wasylyica-Leis, NDP Canadian Member of Parliament

(Comment in response to Mr. Leon Benoit's request that it was improper for Ms. Wasylyica-Leis to use the document of the proposed Bill C - 10 in her debate because it was a "prop".  Madam Speaker ruled that since the document was actual legislation, it was in order )

Following is an excerpt from the site of Linda Diebel, political columnist for the Toronto Star, which explains the premise of Bill C - 10:

It removes any chance women in the federal civil service have of fighting for pay equity by denying them the right to complain to the Human Rights Commission, or to go to court, when they believe there is discrimination. Instead, pay equity issues are to be solved as part of the regular bargaining process but - get this! - if anyone agitates on the basis of pay equity, they face a $50,000 fine. So the Conservative regime is forbidding a woman from fighting for herself and, simultaneously, penalizing her union from fighting for her.

Once this legislation is passed, a woman working in the federal public service will have fewer rights than women working elsewhere in Canada.

Hey, Judy? You go, girl.

Women Artists Expressing Humorously

"And You Think That's Funny?" is an exhibition that is presently featured at the Woman Made Gallery in Chicago.  Its premise is described as "Works by women artists that are expressed in a humorous way."  The exhibit is jurored by Nicole Hollander, creator of the comic strip, Sylvia.

I received an invitation to exhibit my work for "And You Think That's Funny?" but I only had a day or two to figure out what was necessary for me to do.   Entering an exhibition is new to me and with anything new, I need more time to mull things over and decide what to . . . or how to do it.   So,  although I think it would have been cool to be part of this group show, I didn't manage to participate.  Maybe next time.

My friend, Isabella Bannerman, the Monday Chick of Six Chix does have a piece in this exhibition though and Nicole Hollander also has a solo show at the gallery . . . so if you're in the area, go take a look.

Anyway, even though I didn't make the exhibit . . . I did get a cartoon idea out of it.  I would have loved to send this piece to the Woman Made Gallery . . .

   

I don't know about anyone else, but I think that's funny. :)