Got to be birds flying higher

WIll be a little quiet...

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 16:39:30 GMT

The road to the comic expo starts now!

I have so much to do, so I'll be a little quiet and will catch up with all y'all when I can! Stay tuned to my art journal, purpleponyart as I upload pictures from 2025's orders.

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A lifer!

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:04:44 GMT

Wednesday was just another snowy spring day when this guy showed up!

OMG! A Northern shrike!!!

I was upstairs in my office when I heard the budgies flapping and didn't see the problem at first.

Then I saw this beautiful, but deadly bird!

He flew at the window and scared the budgies again, so I moved the cage away. He sat there for a good long time and flew away. He was not bothered at all by me standing right at the window looking at him.

Shrikes impale small birds and animals "for later", so I'm going to keep an eye on my bird feeder because I don't want my rose bush to become a graveyard. I haven't seen it again so far today, so perhaps the snow derailed his travel plans like everyone else lately.

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Help me solve a mystery!

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 14:10:07 GMT

EDIT: I deciphered the name! It's Kruesel! Frank is the FIL of the man my relative worked for :-D

Folks!!!

Just the other day I was tingling with excitement. I checked Ancestry, and it coughed up a border card for my long-lost great-grand aunt Katie. I've written about Katie here for ages--and it was a very hilarious series of mistakes to find anything out about her.

Was she called Kolya? Nope!

Was my cousin "Aunt" Daisy on the right track 20 years ago when she tracked Katie down to Chicago? Heck nope!

Was the family lore about Katie accurate in any way? Mostly nope!

But this...this is concrete proof that Katie existed! It's full of more facts about her than I ever knew before--she was 5'6", had brown eyes and hair, was single, and worked for a family as a domestic (one bit about family lore that turned out to be true).

I was so excited and bummed that I had to go into the office that day. It was so tempting to take a sick day, and a little searching had my imagination running wild--that is, until I realized I can't read the name of the family she was travelling with.

My initial searching revealed someone named Bernard J. Krussel, and funnily enough, one of his relatives married a Catherine Marie. Catherine Marie died at the age of 95 in 2014--which was conceivable given the long-livedness of my maternal relatives. As I have a cluster of relatives in Connecticut, I have to be broad-minded when making these connections.

ANYWAY I could not find a border crossing card for a Krussel in Ancestry, which has me looking at the card again. I could not find cards for Kreesel, Kruesel, Kriesel, Kreisel, which leads me to believe Bernard J.'s last name is not a K.

So my big ask is...can anyone please take a look at the border crossing card and tell me what the handwritten name under Stasko is?

Also, would American citizens have to fill out a border crossing card, or only non-Americans?

On a whim, I even asked ChatGPT to look at it, but it was not helpful.

At least this part checked out...the destination and name of the person they were visiting was easily verifiable. Frank F. Spring Sr. lived in Rossland, BC. He met his wife there, and they later moved to Cranbrook, BC, in 1952.

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Old Movie List

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:45:30 GMT

Google was griping about storage space, so while looking through my files, I found an old movie list.

Zip was the Canadian equivalent Netflix before streaming was a thing. Before the website shutdown, I copied the list of movies we hadn't yet watched. Some interesting choices--no judging, LOL!

Google was griping about storage space, so while looking through my files, I found an old movie list.

Zip was the Canadian equivalent Netflix before streaming was a thing. Before the website shutdown, I copied the list of movies we hadn't yet watched. Some interesting choices--no judging, LOL!

Escape From Alcatraz (1979)
Eraserhead (1977)
Laura (1944)
The Color of Magic (2008)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Edge of Darkness
On The Waterfront (1954)
Brewster's Millions (1985)
Cool Runnings (1993)
The Great Outdoors (1988)
The Long Hot Summer (1958)
I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958)
Hud (1963)
The Set-Up (1949)
2012 (2009)
Lemonade Joe (1964)
The Big Heat (1953)
Cat People / The Curse Of The Cat People (1942)
The Day After (1983)
The Manhattan Project (1986)
Wings of Desire (1988)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Space Truckers (1997)
Primer (2004)
Gattaca (1997)
Sleeper (1973)
The Big Bus (1976)
Batman Forever (1995)
Across the Universe (2007)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Grey Gardens (1976)
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Good Luck Chuck (2007)
3:10 To Yuma (1957)
Groundhog Day (1993)
So I Married An Axe Murderer (1993)
The Secret Of Roan Inish (1995)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
Stardust (2007)
Green Zone (2010)
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Cop Out (2010)
Pirate Radio (a.k.a. The Boat That Rocked) (2009)
The A-Team (2010)
Shrek Forever After (2010)
Rocky 2 (1979)
Point Blank (1967)
A Fistful Of Dollars (1964)
Clash of the Titans (2010)
Furry Vengeance (2010)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
From Here To Eternity (1953)
The Godfather Part 2 (1974)
Wall Street (1987)
The Expendables (2010)
Alpha and Omega (2010)
The Poseidon Adventure (Special Edition) (1972)
The Last Waltz (1978)
Superman 3 (1983)
Man of the West (1958)
The King's Speech (2010)
The Road Warrior (1981)

Toy Story (1995)
Babylon A.D. (2008)
Find Me Guilty (2006)
Altered States (1980)
Convoy (1978)
Art School Confidential (2006)
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
Wanted (2008)
Zombieland (2009)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Sunshine (2007)
Rango (2011)
Drive Angry (2011)
Deep Water (2007)
Winter's Bone (2010)
Surviving the Game (1994)
Aeon Flux (2005)
Ali (2001)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
National Treasure (2004)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
The Stepford Wives (1974)
Vertigo (1958)
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)
Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
eXistenZ (1999)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
The Protector (Tom yum goong): Disc 2 (2006)
District B13 (Banlieue 13) (2006)
The Hidden (1987)
Monty Python's Life of Brian (Criterion) (1979)
Last Man Standing (1996)
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
Ghost World (2001)
Sex Drive: Disc 2 (2008)
Assassination of a High School President (2009)
The Transporter (2002)
Into the Blue (2005)
Joy Ride (2001)
Running Scared (2006)
She's All That (1998)
The Skulls (2000)
Varsity Blues (1999)
Knockaround Guys (2001)

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waydowntown

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 15:30:27 GMT

Boy, my Evernote movie folder is dusty! I forgot to LJ this. Originally, I was going to post the trailer, but someone uploaded the whole movie to YouTube.

February 10, 2025

We did something fun yesterday and went downtown for a free screening of a Calgary-made indie film called waydowntown, directed by a local filmmaker, Gary Burns. I'd watched his other movies, such as Kitchen Party and Radiant City, but somehow waydowntown always escaped me. I always thought it was a movie about people living in Calgary's Plus 15 skywalk system, which is similar to the Minneapolis covered walkway system.

Instead, it's more about office culture, which the late 90s loved skewering. It's a little bit Fight Club, little bit Office Space, a little bit this and a little bit that, and it all seems to come together and works really well. It's basically about four co-workers who work in a downtown office building.

Although Calgary is never explicitly identified as the city, the narrator, Tom, says the co-workers all live in apartments that connect to this building or to the Plus 15, which wasn't which wasn't quite true at the time. Some of the humor is a little juvenile, and I would have been so in love with this movie if I watched it when it was released. In some ways it is amazing--it was shot for $750k using local talent and was filmed a bit on the fly in some areas where they didn't have permission to film. This results in a neat voyeuristic effect, and it was a total trip down memory lane--the old skylines, old buildings, old colours, lots of warm tones, and pink granite. The movie is also Caucasian as heck (Calgary has been a top three destination for New Canadians for some time). There are things I'd forgotten, like how magazines used to have perfume ad inserts in them. One of the odd things that emerges is that a lack of fresh air causes the main characters to fatigue. The color grading in the film was a little hard to watch as it was very blue and orange, which was kind of the style at the time. Instead of looking beautiful or healthy, all the characters take on this sickly look that perhaps reflects their inner turmoil and anxiety.

The film's title actually takes its name from the idea of going "way downtown", which is to eject yourself from a building. The film is a critique so many things--interpersonal relationships, the built environment, corporate culture, etc. At the after-show panel, Gary Burns said he actually never worked in an office, but knew enough about it to make it feel authentic (TBH it's quite a broke ass office). It was quite a treat to spend time with a very engaged audience that wanted to see the film and ask urbanism questions. The audience could have stayed there asking questions all day! Bonus--we also saw our friend Lone Howler and Mom, so we sat with them and caught up!

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Zootopia 2

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 21:25:02 GMT

We had a nice Valentine's Day at the giant outlet mall North of town. The official name is Cross Iron Mills, but I call it Mallzac because it's in Balzac. We had lunch at a new Japanese place whose specialty was udon soup served up cafeteria style. A guy pulled batch after batch of noodles from this giant boiling vat! Udon soup has a fish base, so I wasn't keen on trying it. I had a fried chicken rice bowl, which was okay. The curry sauce had some sort of flavour I didn't really like, but I was impressed with the perfect rice-to-sauce ratio :-D

As luck would have it, we were just in time for an afternoon screening of Zootopia 2. It was our first mainstream movie in a chain theatre since Avengers Endgame. Part of the reason was avoiding sickness, and part of it was that there were very few movies over the past few years that we wanted to watch in a theatre. The theatre was barely half full anyway, which was just fine!

I really enjoyed the winding plot--there was just enough action, adventure, and humour to make the time fly by. I wish I had rewatched the original to refresh my memory a bit though :-)

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James Bond ahoy!

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 06:31:45 GMT

We watched a few more James Bond movies from our big DVD set over the Christmas holidays--I'm just woefully behind logging them.

We watched:

You Only Live Twice (Bond in Japan)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (with George Lazenby)

Diamonds Are Forever (Bond in Las Vegas)

Live and Let Die (first movie with Roger Moore)

Out of the four, On Her Majesty's Secret Service was my favourite. George Lazenby really wasn't a bad Bond--and maybe it was the performances of Diana Rigg and Telly Savalas that rounded out the movie so well. George Lazenby brought a bit of softness to Bond, and I was not prepared for the ending!

It goes without saying that these movies seem campy to modern audiences — I wonder if they would have felt campy when they were released. The villains are just a step above being Batman henchmen. You Only Live Twice was pretty cringey and Live and Let Die had us reading up on blaxploitation afterwards. Diamonds Are Forever felt too long, although seeing vintage Vegas was pretty cool! In some ways these movies are travelogues from a time when travel was expensive.

When people complain about some of the stunts in a newer franchise, like Fast & Furious, they're forgetting things like the epic ski chase or boat chase from Bond--both of which seem a little silly today!

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Polish ancestry site

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 14:09:22 GMT

Just plunking this here for anyone who might find it useful--

https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php

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Genealogy--your family's mystery history

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 14:46:45 GMT

The journey continues! I ordered two birth certificates from the Provincial Archives in January. There's a 100-year limit on birth certificates, but fortunately, I was able to order one for my great-grandmother and one of her sisters.

As any genealogy dabbler knows, there were times when records were not kept as accurately as they could be. My great-grandmother was born in 1902, but her birth certificate was issued in 1903 :-D She was the first child born in Canada, and possibly someone in the community said, "Hey, you have to make her official" :-D

Now, her sister's birth certificate was much more interesting--it was a re-issue dated 1965. Both documents have different spellings of the parental names.

Anyway, the 1965 document has a placename on it for both my great-great-grandparents, which today resolves to Dzhurynska Slobidka in the Ukraine.

I can only imagine how many cousins I have out there 😃Such an accidental find! Many of the documents I have reference Galicia, an area that encompasses Poland and the Ukraine. I joined a Galician family history Facebook group, and someone gave me a few more clues, all in Polish. I haven't plunked it into Google Translate yet, but I'm really enjoying the family photos in the group, as they give me an idea of how my ancestors looked and dressed! Apparently, Dzhurynska Slobidka was a Polish colony in the Ukraine, so the flip-flopping on who my family is finally makes sense :-D

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Little Amelie or The Character of Rain

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 14:34:41 GMT

We had a fun Saturday last Saturday and watched Little Amelie or The Character of Rain, a French-Japanese co-production at one of the indie theatres. It's a lovely and vibrant story about life for a Belgian family living in Japan in 1969.

I really enjoyed the beautiful colours--it felt like an antidote to all the greige we experience these days--and the simple story of love and friendship almost had me in tears at the end. Amelie exists in a vegetative state as a baby until an earthquake awakens her, and, now with a busy household with three children, Amelie's parents hire a housekeeper and nanny, Nishio.

It's not a traditional Western cartoon with a typical story arc, and the ending felt rather abrupt as such, but I also was so engrossed in the colourful world I didn't want it to end, TBH!

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Empire Records

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 05:54:38 GMT

There's a whole bunch of 80s and 90s movies I never watched because I was either too young, too old or too broke :-D In the case of Empire Records, even if I had the money, I would have passed on it. I hated movies and TV shows for teenagers when I was a teenager ;-D Part of it was because I was a snob. Part of it was that it didn't reflect anyone I knew, and yet another part was being sold something just because it had teenagers in it.

My younger self would probably find Empire Records the same as my older self--long and boring. I guess it's a cult classic for reasons I don't really understand :D It just felt like a poorly edited hot mess, and I understand 40 minutes were cut from the theatrical release. I couldn't work up any nostalgia for it. The save the record store plot felt really weak. Mitch was barely a villain, and Gina and Corey seducing Rex Manning was super cringe!

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Dune Part One & Two

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 05:21:10 GMT

Just digging through my watch notes...I felt bad we missed Dune in theatres, but hey, we have a 57" TV and the ability to pause for a pee break at home ;-D

I thought the new movie, with the expanded runtime, would help me understand more about Dune. I still haven't read the books btw.

As it was, while I finished the first movie, I still have an hour or so left to go on Part Two, and I don't think I'll ever finish it. The movies didn't excite me as a science fiction fan. I only felt slightly more informed about the Dune universe. Part Two actually gave me a headache and made me feel constantly uncomfortable.

One thing the movies succeed at extremely well is forcing viewers to pay attention to the screen. It's technically excellent, yet just missing the special something to make it an epic.

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Two apps for the new year

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 12:59:03 GMT

Cronometer
https://cronometer.com/

Cronometer has been around for a long time--and it's one of those super nerdy nutrient tracking apps. I've used it on and off because it's so good at doing what it does. It's also Canadian, which means many Canadian brands are in the barcode scanning system. Manually entering nutrition labels was always a huge pain in the ass, and Cronometer's latest version is so easy peasy--photograph the food and it does the work for you.

Cronometer is great if you want to gain, loose, or maintain weight. I use it mostly to track my iron intake these days. You can use it however it works for you :-)

Finch
https://finchcare.com/

I've been using Finch for just over a year. An artist friend raved about it, and it turned out that a lot of people I knew were also using it. You rasie a virtual bird pet from baby to teenager by completing quests. After I had my first iron infusion in December 2024, I really needed to get back on track with life and looking after myself. It's a delightful combination of birds and cuteness. There are many habit forming apps out there, but I never tried one before.

It's a gentle app that will help you accomplish anything you set out to do, whether it's moving more, trying some breathing exercises, or building a daily habit. It's helped me keep up with my rotator cuff exercises and now I'm determined to floss daily :-D

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[PODCASTS] The Birthkeepers

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 11:57:25 GMT

How two influencers made millions radicalising pregnant women around the world. And the tragedies that followed. A year-long investigation by Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne

Just when you think you've heard it all...along comes this very distressing podcast about two women grifters who sold women worldwide on the idea of unassisted "free birth" (birth without assistance, medical, traditional or otherwise), defrauding women and leading to the unnecessary deaths of many children :S

HUGE content warning for grief, death, and maternal harm.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-birth-keepers-the-guardian-investigates/id1731314182

https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/the-birth-keepers

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My Little W!

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 14:24:52 GMT

When I bought my S22 phone, I splurged on wireless earbuds.

They were not cheap.

I always used them at home bc I was afraid of losing them. But, I did take them on vacation in 2024, and couldn't find them anywhere when we got home 😭😭😭

My best guess was that they popped out of my bag on the plane. I didn't buy a new pair bc 💲💲💲

Well, yesterday was my lucky day!

I was searching for a particular cable in my tech drawer (which I did find), and found an old blue tablet case.

You can guess the rest of the story! My earbuds were still fully charged and everything! Here I was always kicking myself for losing things and losing an expensive thing when I was a responsible adult the whole time :D

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31 days of questions, Part 1

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:02:04 GMT

Grabbed from kazzy_cee

1. What’s the first thing you think of when you consider the year ahead?

Finances :-D

2. What’s the weather like today (warmer or cooler than average)?

It's been cold enough for hoarfrost to persist several days--

3. There is a Wolf Moon tonight - it will be the fourth supermoon in a row. Have you seen a supermoon before?

Nope! I missed the Wolf Moon.

4. Do you have any travel plans arranged for this year?

No grand plans--we have to pay off our new siding.

5. Are you looking forward to any TV shows this year?

Not really--I don't watch a whole lot of TV these days. We have the local channels, Netflix, and YouTube. Is there something I should be watching? LMK!

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Seven Samurai

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 15:13:23 GMT

We've been meaning to watch the classic Seven Samaurai movie for ages and crossed that off our bucket list last night. For years I've always read how it was such an influential movie and it's easy to see why--and also hard to see how amazing it was at the time of release because it was so influential!

Every heist/caper/assemble the team movie traces itself back to this 1954 movie. We watched a subtitled version. I feel like the movie could have been trimmed by a half-hour, but that's a modern movie viewer talking. The cinematography and lighting is so beautiful as well as the framing of shots, close-ups of faces. It's really a movie that forces you to pay attention.

I watched The Magnigicent Seven years ago and I kept looking for comparisons the whole time.

Although Seven Samaurai is a very long movie, it is well worth it for the multiple stories it tells with action and humour. In some ways it's more of a movie about social classes than conflict.

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The Muppet Christmas Carol

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 15:38:36 GMT

I planned to watch more holiday movies this Christmas break, but I got caught up trying to binge Shadowhunters, a trashy young adult urban fantasy series based on a young adult book series before it left Netflix :-D Oh well...

Somehow, I missed watching The Muppet Christmas Carol up until now. It was on sale on Google Play for $4.99, and figured that was a good year after year investment ;-D

I kinda wish I had watched it when I was younger--knowing this movie came out the year after Jim Henson died made it bittersweet for me, and the main song, "It Feels like Christmas" gave me so many feels! It was hard to watch it through a child's eyes, and instead, I saw through my art student eyes, marvelling at the range of puppets, and noticing how well the old CGI held up. More interestingly, I noticed the scale of the sets and the angles of the buildings. And yes, pairing Michael Caine with Muppets was such a good choice! One thing I've always loved about Muppets is how you don't see them as puppets, but bona fide actors.

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Mr. Mercedes (Season 1)

Sun, 14 Dec 2025 21:06:41 GMT

I thought Mr. Mercedes was going to be a solid crime thriller about a retired cop and his one unsolved case, but wow, it was so much more!

There are three seasons available on Netflix, and, TBH, after reading a synopsis of S2, I'm just going to stop and enjoy S1. S2 frankly sounds like a turd. I understand audiences often want more of the same, but sometimes a story is just fine stopping at a certain point and I don't want to feel let down.

I didn't know until about halfway through that it was based on a Stephen King work, and then some of the stuff made sense. It's a very detailed show, and I enjoyed the suspense, callbacks, and chills!

Fair warning though--there's some gross sexual abuse, and things get a little squishy in parts.

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The World is Ours Alone

Sat, 29 Nov 2025 18:01:00 GMT

A BG3 fan fic written by a friend :-D

https://archiveofourown.org/works/73300221/chapters/191055321

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Christmas cards kinda sorta?

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 14:28:19 GMT

I didn't send a Christmas card call this year because I wasn't sure if Canada Post would be striking. If you recall, they were on strike last Christmas and it was a bummer! Chances are good that if you live in Canada, you'll receive your card on time.

If you live elsewhere, you'll probably get a New Year's card.

Admittedly, I am a little late out of the gate sending cards out! My address has not changed, so if you have it, you're good to go :-D

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[PODCASTS] Wild Things: Siegfried & Roy

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 05:57:09 GMT

Over the course of nearly half a century, Siegfried & Roy performed 30,000 shows for 50 million people and generated well over $1 billion in ticket sales. Although the German-born illusionists and pop culture icons were mega-famous, much about their private lives, eccentric public personae, and tragic final show remained shrouded in mystery…until now. Emmy®-winning filmmaker and journalist Steven Leckart, in his very first podcast, takes you behind the velvet curtain to reveal shocking moments, surprising details, and hidden truths about two men who were lionized by millions of fans, lampooned by the media, criticized by animal welfare advocates, and endlessly scrutinized by the public.

This podcast landed shortly after the Tiger King hype died down, but it's still a great listen. As an animal-loving teenager, I totally would have jumped at the chance to see Siegfried & Roy live--and they were still performing in Las Vegas when we went there for the first time in 2007. Probably a good thing--this podcast is a great reminder that many animal acts aren't always in the animals best interests.

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/wild-things-siegfried-roy/id1599176021

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Cornmeal Butter Biscuits with Chive Butter

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 18:00:17 GMT

I emailed this recipe to myself, but never tried it--never hurts to save it in a couple places :-D

https://www.countryliving.com/food-drinks/a43049920/cornmeal-butter-biscuits-chive-butter-recipe/

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Local Love: 4-2-6, 5-0-5-0...

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 01:15:08 GMT

x-posted to vintageads

...if you're hungry, call The Lydo. FREE DELIVERY!

Eventually, the Internet coughs up everything--and apparently, seven months ago someone found and uploaded a ubiquitous hometown ad to YouTube. The local earworm was heard on TV and radio throughout the 80s. I shrieked with delight last night to hear the jingle; it had been decades. Although I sang it to myself at times, it was just not the same.

The Lydo was a legendary Chinese restaurant, located at 9203-111 Street NW, which opened in 1966 and closed down in 2003. The food was not great, yet somehow it managed to stay in business until family problems forced the closure in 2003. Today, the building is a sleek catering business.

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[PODCASTS] Havana Helmet Club

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 17:48:54 GMT

A mysterious sound blights the lives of US spies in Cuba. Is it a covert attack?

You haven't heard the last of Havana syndrome, especially after listening to this podcast.

What is it?

What could it be?

Despite numerous investigations, there is no consensus on what caused it--but it's all too real for people affected by it. Great podcast from the BBC!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0lgrwds

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