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For two years I’ve been meaning to watching Waitress, but somehow our paths never collided until very recently. It’s a precious and venerable treat of a film that tells the tale of Jenna, a young woman from the south who finds herself unwillingly pregnant by a man that thoroughly disgusts her – her husband.

Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Waitress was the first time I’d seen Keri Russell in action, and her portrayal of Jenna is endearing, full of grace and a little bit of cheeky humour. Trying to find balance between pleasing her obnoxiously jealous husband, Earl (Jeremy Sisto), and serving up smiles at Joe’s Pie Diner, Jenna is more than just a pretty waitress with a knack for creating scrumptious pies. Waitress also features a delightful performance by Andy Griffith as well as a bit of rugged charm by way of Canadian actor, Nathan Fillion. I always found him rather cute in Firefly, but this film solidified his babe status in my books.

Filming and production wrapped shortly before writer, director and co-star Adrienne Shelly was found murdered in the West Village apartment she shared with her husband and daughter. While her death truly saddened me at the time, Waitress is a beautiful and inspiring film – a legacy that Shelly’s family should undoubtedly be proud of.

Even re-watching the trailer makes me a little misty-eyed. It’s true… I really am that silly.

Sometimes a girl needs a film just like this to offer a little bit of sugar-coated, heart-warming encouragement in life and love. And by the end, I even thought to myself that maybe someday it wouldn’t be so bad to have a baby. Maybe. Someday. Just maybe. MAYBE.

In July of 2001, one life would change a sleepy town on the West Coast of Vancouver Island forever.

Killer Whale L98 – more affectionately known around the globe as Luna – emerged from the ocean waters and unknowingly impacted a community, an island, a province and a country. The life Luna lived was an incredible one, and the ripple effect he had has been captured in a touching documentary entitled Saving Luna.

Photo: Byron Bay Film Festival/Mountainside Films

Knowing that I have a deep love and affinity for killer whales, Becky invited me to a private screening of the film at the Vancouver Aquarium. Naturally, I accepted in a heartbeat.

What started as a three-week journalism assignment about a curious orca calf for the husband and wife team of Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit turned into a three-year adventure.

When Luna first showed up in the Gold River area of Nootka Sound, people were perplexed how such a young killer whale was surviving at his age – let alone thriving – all alone. But soon enough, local residents were keenly aware that Luna was reaching out…

Killer whales, by nature, are social creatures – very much like humans. And when Luna found himself surrounded by creatures who were unlike him, he seemingly made the choice to communicate and show affection. While some considered Luna to be a nuisance, countless others fell deeply in love with Nootka Sound’s newest resident.

It wasn’t long, however, before controversy began to stir at a fervent rate. Saving Luna tells the tale of a whale, of the Department of Fisheries and Ocean’s decision to attempt to relocate Luna back with his pod, a community’s battle to adopt the whale and the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations’ deep desire to protect a creature that was so affectingly respected and understood.

Despite years of ongoing efforts, on March 10, 2006 Luna collided with the propeller of a local tug boat. He did not survive.

More than two years after Luna’s death, to this day no one truly seems to know why Luna graced the world with his presence. His playful antics and seemingly magical effect have been greatly mourned. Saving Luna begs many questions of its viewers: should Luna have rejoined his pod? Should he have remained in Nootka Sound where he chose to make his home and communicate with human beings? And most importantly, what does Luna represent in consideration of the love, affection and attention we as mammals all have an innate need for?

The film was concluded with a panel discussion including the film’s producers/directors, Jamie James of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht band, a member of the DFO and esteemed staff of the Vancouver Aquarium. If you’d like to find out more about this very special documentary, visit Saving Luna’s official website and view the trailer on YouTube.

P.S. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. By the time the credits rolled, there wasn’t a dry eye in the theatre.

Date nights haven’t happened with their usual frequency between Becky and I, so when we do manage to have some girlie fun, it’s that much more enjoyable. This evening her and I ventured to Main Street’s recently refurbished District 319 theatre between Cordova and Hastings. The First Weekend Club [website] was hosting an exclusive showing of the Canadian film Young People F*cking [official website], a favourite at this year’s Toronto Film Festival.

The film follows four couples and one threesome as they push and explore their personal – and not so personal – sexual boundaries. Don’t let the title fool you – it’s not something designed to grab attention. The film really is essentially about sex and the different ways it manifests circumstantially. The end result is always entirely funny, and this smart film was wonderfully and honestly acted by a fistful of Canadian talent.

Disclaimer: this video trailer contains subject matter and language that some of my viewers may find offensive. Use your discretion; it’s NSFO.

And speaking of young people f*cking (excuse that as being my most vulgar segue ever), may I proudly present to you my future niece or nephew!

Trevor and Laura were finally able to bring home some ultrasound pictures from the Dawson Creek clinic today. She’s now 20 weeks (or 5 months) along in her pregnancy, and needless to say, I’m getting extremely excited! It’s amazing to see the baby’s spine, face and tiny little fingers. My brother was overwhelmed seeing his son or daughter’s heartbeat. Hopefully more pictures will be available as her pregnancy progresses, so you can be sure I’ll be posting them here.

I can be the first to admit that I’m somewhat of a killjoy when it comes to Halloween. In fact, the last time I dressed up for the event and sweated my ass off was in 2005 at Celebrities.

I dressed as an angel. Original, right? Ha. At least back then I was 15 pounds heavier and still had tits. Oh how I miss my girls…

Anyways, as always, I won’t be dressing up this year. I will have two monsters to take care of on that ghoulish night as it is, and so I’d much rather stay housebound with some snackage and a few spooky flicks. The Boston Globe’s entertainment website recently posted a list of the 50 scariest movies to plaster screens. Here are my top three Halloween-ish treats:

3. Arachnophobia (1990) – Amblin Entertainment

Before this film, I couldn’t have cared less about the little menaces. However, this movie put such a fear of spiders in my heart that I cannot even bear to post a screenshot on my blog. I know many people “fear” spiders or think they’re just gross, but I truly fear them in every sense of the word since seeing this Jeff Daniels-helmed eight-legged fest. I fear what they could do to me, I fear the idea of their hairy legs slowly crawling on my skin, I fear them jumping at my and landing all over my body. I believe spiders were designed with the sole purpose of one day terrorizing me.

2. The Devil’s Rejects (2005) – Lions Gate Films

I love this movie. I love this movie! First off, let me say that if you can get past the content of the film, it’s packed full of fantastic performances and incredibly innovative direction. And on the other hand if you can’t, you’ll be treated to a full-on gore fest in Rob Zombie’s unofficial follow-up to 2003’s terribly twisted House of 1000 Corpses. Rejects follows three members of the Firefly family as they’re on the run from authorities in Texas, leaving an oozing trail of blood in their wake. Plus there’s a hot chick who is also super badass, so you can never go wrong with that.

P.S. The 70s soundtrack is reason enough to check this out.

1. The Shining (1980) – Warner Bros. Pictures

To this day, Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece is one movie I still cannot watch alone. Some people are frightened by blood and entrails; others are frightened by feeling absolute terror. Jack Nicholson delivers a performance of horrific proportions as a family man who brings his wife and son into the Colorado mountains to caretake at the infamous Overlook Hotel. What happens when the cabin fever hits is enough to send anyone running for the hills (or the hedge maze, for that matter).

It’s your turn: share with the class which films get your stomach churning or cause the blood in your veins to run cold…

If I had a dollar for every time over the last six months that Becky asked me “can we go snowboarding now?” then, well, I’d have about five dollars. My point is that she is just as excited as I am for the upcoming snowboard season. Mt. Washington Alpine Resort on Vancouver Island is set to kick off the 2008/2009 ride on December 5, 2008 – just a sprinkle of days after yours truly’s birthday.

Becky and I will, without a doubt, be on the slopes for opening day, boards waxed and ready to go. Keep your eyes locked on my blog over the next 7 weeks as I’ll be posting updates on the snowfall and getting you excited with snowcam shots!

And a little link love to kick off the first really rainy weekend of Fall…

P.S. A girlfriend of mine is trying to get her mitts on a vintage stove from the 40s or 50s, so if you know of one for sale, leave a comment or pop me an e-mail.

Photo: Kurt Christensen on Flickr

Original Photo: Photos Infinitum on Flickr

1. My Hair

Thank you all for your marvelous input and suggestions on my new ‘do this weekend. I suppose it comes with no surprise that “the big reveal” will take place on Saturday, so stay tuned for the drum roll…

2. The Women

Last night, after a gorge-fest on Olympia pizza and Pacific Pilsner beer (what can I say? I’m an Island girl), Amy and I burned off calories by heading across the Burrard Street bridge and found ourselves at Fifth Avenue Cinemas. In the spirit of all things womanly, we took in the 2008 remake of 1939’s “The Women,” starring, well, a lot of women.

In particular, some of those women include Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bette Midler, Candice Bergen, Cloris Leachman (who was terrific!) and Annette Bening (who is very quickly becoming one of my favourite actresses). Though I felt the movie lacked in character development, it made up for it with humour, relatable storylines and a few fabulous handbags. [website]

3. Stella McCartney CARE

I’ve now had a few days to try out the full line of Stella McCartney CARE products sent to me last week by Matchstick. My tote bag full of delicious-smelling, pretty-packaged, 100% active organic ingredient skin care has proven to be a lot of fun to try! Here’s the breakdown…

Purifying Foaming Cleanser – This by far my favourite of the two cleansers sent to me. It has a delicate and light – yet luxurious – foaming quality to it that truly leaves my skin feeling clean.

Gentle Cleansing Milk – This was the second of two cleansers I tried, and while the idea of a gentle milk to cleanse my skin sounds dreamy, it didn’t feel as though my skin was clean after (and that feeling is important to a girl!) so it’s not the cleanser I’d choose. Smells great though…

Toning Floral Water – I wish I had this a few months ago in the heat of summer! It’s a refreshing, aromatic water mist that spritzes in a steady stream, leaving my skin feeling cool, dewy and fresh.

5 Benefits Moisturizing Fluid – One of two daily moisturizers and this one has been receiving the majority of my attention. It’s a milky, light cream that locks in the love I get from the Toning Floral Water. I’m totally okay with natural, woodsy scents, so this one gets two thumbs up from me.

5 Benefits Moisturizing Cream – This is the sister product to the 5 Benefits Moisturizing Fluid and to me is really no different except in that it’s seemingly got a heavier concentration and a richer viscosity. I haven’t used it as much but have no doubt that it will be fantastic when those drying days of Winter hit.

Nourishing Night & Day Cream – Definitely not something that is necessary on a daily basis, but sometimes a girl’s skin needs a bit of extra TLC. This is where the Nourishing Night & Day Cream comes in. It’s like the 5 Benefits Moisturizing Cream on natural steroids. It’s rich, it’s deep and it’s intense. Use only before bedtime.

Radiance & Youth Elixir, Calming & Soothing Elixir and Nourishing Elixir – Ahhh…the elixirs. My absolute favourite part of the line! Remember those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books we all loved as kids? Consider the elixirs to be somewhat of a “Choose Your Own Skin Today” potion. Each is a heavily concentrated serum intended to pair up with your moisturizer for added benefits, and each is designed with a different skin goal in mind.

I’ve found the Radiance & Youth Elixir great in the mornings before applying make-up for a brand spanking new skintone and the Calming & Soothing Elixir does just that at the end of the day. The Nourishing Elixir is strong and derived of natural oils, so use it sparingly and only when your skin needs a bit of extra attention.

IN SUMMARY

My overall impression of Stella McCartney’s CARE skin care line is definitely favourable! I’ve long been a big fan of natural and organic products when available but find they often miss the mark. While I feel there is a bit of room for tweaking, I am quite sure Stella is onto something really good here.

Suggestions for the future? One absolute essential that is missing from the line is a daily exfoliant or scrub to slough off dead skin cells. Also, I am rather fond of cleansers that take off all make-up – including mascara. It was a bit of a pain in the butt to employ the use of a specific make-up remover. Sometimes a girl just doesn’t have time!

While I can’t say I would purchase the entire line, there are certainly a few pieces that I can’t imagine not having in my bathroom – in particular the Toning Floral Water and a couple of the Elixirs. Stella McCartney CARE is available across Canada at Holt Renfrew and in the United States at Sephora. For more information on the entire line of products, please visit the official Stella McCartney CARE website.

First and foremost, I wanted to let all of you know that despite the Province-wide goal of $850,000 for this year’s Paws For A Cause, over $1,000,000 was raised! A huge and humble thank you again to all who supported those walking for the SPCA…

Tonight I watched Run, Fatboy, Run and it was great and you should go rent slash buy it now, okay? It was funny, funny, funny! The website is here.

This was cute:

Priceless.

Goodnight.

While I admittedly know very little about the ins and outs of the history of modern music, one thing that I do know is that the 80s rock/new wave/techno behemoth New Order was once known as Joy Division. In 1976 in the sleepy industrial city of Manchester, England, four men brought a new sound that, to this day, is still replicated by scores of 21st century bands. The film “Control” chronicles the short years over which Joy Division rose to fame amidst the obscurity that was frontman Ian Curtis’s life.

Photo: Momentum/The Weinstein Company

Based on the memoir Touching From A Distance, penned by Curtis’s wife Deborah Curtis, the audience is presented with a picture of a young man whose aspirtations of singing on stage came from teenage years filled with David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” and the Sex Pistols. At a very young age, Ian Curtis meets Debbie, the woman who’s dating his best friend but manages to fall in love with Ian nonetheless. In the years after their teenage marriage, everything else seems to happen so quickly, from finding a home, having a baby, starting a band, signing to a label, Ian’s love affair with a young Belgian woman named Annik and a diagnosis of epilepsy.

Soon it becomes very apparent where the film gets its name from, as control is something Curtis quickly loses sight of. At the age of 23 and on the eve of Joy Division’s first American tour, Ian Curtis committed suicide. “Control” is a poignant picture, filled with moments that are both genuine and heartwrenching. To be quite honest, some of what I saw was quite difficult to absorb, particularly the duality of Curtis’s life.

“Control” was simply a black and white story with none of the glitz or glamour normally seen in rock movies. It’s been several years since I’ve seen a British film that was so rich in account while also vacant in terms of what I was presented with visually. I believe that the last film to have this kind of cinematic impact on me was 1996’s “Trainspotting.” Another crown in the jewel of the movie is that, in all scenes in which Joy Division plays live, the actors themselves actually performed the tracks.

“Control” has been labelled as the “the coolest British movie of 2007,” and it comes to me as no surprise why.

Official Website

It’s probably been at least a 67 years since I last posted a link fest, so here you go, Tuesday. Here’s a link feast…

Photo: John Bollwitt on Flickr

P.S. I love my MacBook Pro