Channel M

This past weekend, I drove down to NC to meet my wee nephew for the very first time.

CIMG3444

About a month ago, Jenna emailed me when I was in Glasgow and asked if I wanted to be a part of their group costume. I said sure...count me in for whatevers! The theme for this year was the 7 deadly sins. I was crossing my fingers for gluttony because who wouldn't want to own a fat suit...but I still lucked out with sloth.

As I scoured the interwebs, I slowly realized the only thing out there for sloth related costumes were slutty pajamas. Meh - so I got creative and decided that I'd kick it up a notch and go as Sloth from the Goonies. Here is my Halloween in review...

The 7 deadly sins

The only sad part of the evening was that many people mistook me for Super girl. Apparently, in their comic books, super girl wears jeans, suspenders, and a condom-esque looking contraption on her head. By the end of the night, I was a little sad that very few people understood or appreciated my genius...

Sad Sloth - no one got my costume. Imbeciles

C'est la vie.

Simultaneously, on the other side of the world, T was participating in Glasgow's first ever Zombie Walk. I hate these pictures, which means they're awesome and he looked entirely too scary. He went as an emo zombie and cried tears of blood...obv. Check out his creepy zombie contacts too!

T wants your brains

According to the Dominion Post, you could help out the environment when you eat your dog. Check out this odd article on the carbon-footprint of pets and their take on going green.

The eco-footprints of the family pet each year as calculated by the Vales:

German shepherds: 1.1 hectares, compared with 0.41ha for a large SUV.

Cats: 0.15ha (slightly less than a Volkswagen Golf). Hamsters: 0.014ha (two of them equate to a medium-sized plasma TV).

Goldfish: 0.00034ha (an eco-finprint equal to two cellphones).

A Million Little Pieces

I finished book 4, A million little pieces, awhile back but just forgot to report in on it. A short and sweet summary of my standard book report would be that James Frey ruined a perfectly edgy novel (one that started with great narrative and writing style) when he went overboard on the love story. A little love in the beginning was okay, but it was as if the book lost it's appeal when it turned cliche as the love story became the central focus.

I do recommend it as one of those books you should read and judge for yourself, but I wouldn't expect it to finish as strong as it started.

Book 5 of 2009, The Time Traveler's Wife, was actually a repeat read for me. I had read it in 2005 before the buzz of the movie and hailed it as a great novel. One of my favorites according to my Facebook profile. With the movie out, I had wanted to read it again, before seeing Hollywood's take on Niffeneger's novel. I bought the book again in August, and it sat on my nightstand for 2 months before I felt inspired enough to pick it up and read it. While I wasn't psyched to read it for some reason, I started on it during my last trip to Scotland. A quarter of the way through I still felt unimpressed and wondered why I had loved this book so much in 2005. Half way through it picked up pace and was satisfied with my original love of the novel. As I neared the end I started thinking back to 2005 and I remembered how I cried my eyes out the last few pages. That however, did not happen. I read the last few pages of the book and when I had finished, I let out a "hmph". Partially a "well that was interesting enough...hmph" and a "why was I so crazy about this book...hmph".

The Time Traveler's Wife

My only conclusion as to why I wasn't as impressed with the novel this time round is that my thoughts and definitions of love have changed drastically within the past 4 years. While I think the author puts forward a nice story, it's one I associate with my more ignorant/innocent self. If anything, I smile when I think back to how I cherished the love story at that point in my life.

So what did I learn? Well, other than the fact that I've grown up and my views on love/relationships have changed...not too much. Though now I'm extremely curious to go back and read all my "favorite books" to see if they still maintain favorite status.

Next on the list and currently underway: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

ps. I think it's safe to admit that my original goal of 25 books this year (whoa...what was I thinking?) won't be happening. I'm quite impressed with 6 so far this year (and maybe 1 or 2 more), considering I probably read less than 2 in 2008.

It's catchy. Dig it.

...and get your Daily Squee

A miscommunication between two co-workers resulted in the discovery of this documentary about Botton Village in North Yorkshire. An extremely interesting social experiment to say the least. This is only part one and the video is a bit long, but worth the watch.

Here's some background info from Wikipedia.

Botton is a small village in North Yorkshire, England which is mainly a Camphill Community for people with learning disabilities. It was formed in 1955.

It has a population of 280, 130 of whom are adults with learning disabilities. All of the people who live in Botton live in large houses with one or more house parent. There are five biodynamic farms located around the village. The "Villagers" as the adults with learning disabilities are called, work on these farms with the help of "Co-workers" who supervise their work on the farm.

In the village there are many different workshops where villagers make products which are sold to the public via a number of outlets. There are also three shops: a gift shop, for visitors, with items from both Botton and other Camphill villages; a village store, which is the village food shop and a "Coffee Bar" where the villagers and co-workers congregate in the evening to chat and play board games.

Botton Village received the Deputy Prime Minister's Award for Sustainable Communities in 2005; the award cited the community's dedication to the ethos of sustainability and mutual respect, as well as their concrete achievements in these areas. Also in 2005, the village featured in a Channel 4 documentary entitled Botton, the strangest village in Britain.

While perusing Tumblr (and posting to my daily photo blog), I stumbled across this tumblog, by Gatekeeper. The blogger's post are primarily made up of images from the Chicago area that she often reblogs from other bloggers. Though not her own, many of them are spectacular.

Better yet, she often posts quirky photos that make you stop and smirk to yourself. Here's one from today that I quite liked...

Beautiful person

Saw Chairlift on Live from Abbey Road last night and they were brilliant. Quirky to say the least, but quite enjoyable.