A great start to 2010

So my last post was lambasting 2009 as a sponging good for nothing layabout, who just brought everybody down. I vowed to do better in 2010. We're so far, off to a good start.

Yesterday I woke up feeling just a little fuzzy, more from lack of sleep than libation, and headed off for Tim Hortons coffee and timbits. The neighbour, a sweet old lady who we've adopted into our family, gave me money to do so for the family as well as her, so I took the new years treat home to everyone, who were still sleeping. Then we crashed her house to watch the NHL Winter Classic. A new year tradition in the making. What a great way to play hockey - outside. 40,000 people crowded Fenway Park in Boston to see the Bruins beat the Flyers in pristine conditions. Unlike the game in Edmonton two years ago - then they played in a blizzard. A far cry from an indoor venue where the temperature and humidity is perfectly groomed for optimal ice conditions, this was a true game of shinny, outside on the pond. That's where most of the NHL players got their starts. It really brings the game back to it's roots.

Coming home we had pizza for dinner and thought about the night's movie event. Kim headed to the kitchen to bake a loaf of apple bread while I prepared Casablanca for the evening.

The bread was incredible, even better with some cinnamon spread. We've been taking to watching old movies lately, we want to introduce the kids to the classics, give them an idea of what movies were like when good story telling was the key - not things blowing up in front of a green screen. In the past weeks we've watched West Side Story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and more. The other night Kim and youngest watched The Sound of Music. I had no desire to see that one again, so I found other ways to entertain myself - PS2.

I've never seen Casablanca. I've always wanted to, I just never got around to it. I was truly impressed, and now class it as one of my favourite movies. I love Humphrey Bogart, and here he was at his best. It's funny though, how the famous lines in the film caught the kid's attention. They got it. They realized where the iconic references come from in other films and shows they watch. One movie we watched last week - Murder by Death (1976), featured a crochity detective named Sam Diamond (played by Peter Falk). His character was a take off from another Bogart character. Falk plays him to the nines, and it's a convincing adaptation if I ever saw one. Falk never really had to try, his character in Columbo is loosely based on Bogart as well. I got a kick out of my son who got the relation. He asked if Blain was the character Falk was imitating. I think the characterization was more of a tribute to Bogart than imitation. And not just Falk's - so many actors in so many movies have credited Bogart as their inspiration, and duly pay tribute by imitation to the master.

I loved the movie, and will be chalked up into the watch again pile. My son however, realized halfway through that it was a love story. I guess he was hoping for more war movie. My daughter emphatically professed that she doesn't like black and white movies, and stuck her nose in a book. We also had to stop the movie at several points and cover the historical aspects of the movie - The Vichy French regime being something they really know nothing about.

I also realized the most famous movie quote ever, is fake. "Play it again Sam". It never occurs in the movie, as noted in a Trivial Pursuit question. It's a misquote - it's actually "Play it for me Sam". An interesting bit of useless trivia.

So New Years Day came and went. A good day all round. Hopefully a bright start to a new and hopeful year. One where we vow to make things better here at Wilsonworld. One where we will be more positive and prosperous. One where our personal well being won't be sacrificed to insane and negative situations. Bring it on 2010 - we're ready for you!

Cheers.