Tripin 'into Christmas

...came across this cozy drawing on DeviantArt and thought that it was a nice way to get the holiday season started...

Summer of Secrets ~ Rosie Rushton

Do you recall the gothic grandeur of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey? Well, put Catherine Morland and the rest of the secretive brigade in the twenty-first century and you have ‘Summer of Secrets’.

Caitlin Morland is a talented young artist who craves excitement and a foothold in elite society. Blighted with a no-frills-and-fancies family, she is ecstatic when she wins an art scholarship to Mulberry Court School. She sheds her humdrum existence and makes glamorous friends in the influential Izzy Thorpe and the mysterious Summer Tilney.

Caught up in the wave of the jet-setters, Caitlin is soon off to Italy to spend the summer at the Tilney family home. An added bonus is Summer’s handsome brother, Ludo. But Italy turns out to be more than just lazy sunshine and shady olive-groves . Summer’s mother, Elena died two years back under mysterious circumstances. No one talks about it, and rumour has it that Sir Magnus Tilney (Summer’s father) and his live-in lady friend, Gabriella (who at one time was Elena’s close friend) are behind Elena’s death. Caitlin is soon drawn into the web of lies, deceit and secret assignations. Will her loyalty to Summer stay strong? Will her attraction for Ludo reach fruition? And… will she unmask the gory details?

Summer of Secrets is light, a tad predictable but enjoyable nevertheless. Caitlin is a refreshing teen-heroine. She is feisty, not riddled with self-doubt and her perceptive mind is constantly abuzz with ideas and solutions. Rosie Rushton has smoothly tugged the ensemble cast of Northanger Abbey into modern-day Italy and woven a tale that ironically enough is fresh in it’s treatment.

Mike Ming's Artwork on Dell Studio Laptops

Dell Studio's 15 and 17 laptops have been touched by the hand-of-Mike Ming. Adding a splash of individuality and a burst of colour, these designs are wickedd-d and very, very fresh

James Dean Poster

Cleopatra and Her Asp

History has never been this much fun! The Dead-Famous series is Dead-Funny and a totally enjoyable trip.

Cleopatra and Her Asp takes you down The Nile, without an oar but armed with enough facts, gossip and tales of sauciness to put any of the modern-day soap operas to shame. The life of the Queen-who-bathed-in-ass's-milk is succinctly put together in a collection of ‘secret’diary entries, newspaper (or tablet) scoops and whinging letters that travelled back and forth between the Egyptians and The Romans.

The illustrations are the icing on the cake…they are droll, replete with word-play and an absolute delight.

For all those who like their history put in a simple and interesting format (me!)…who love illustrations, especially the phased-out ones(me!)…and don’t mind the odd twisting of fact in non-fiction(yep, you guessed it-->me!)...this is a must read.

SHEL SILVERSTEIN'S Poems

Shel Silverstein’s poems can transport you into a different world…a world which is not always sugar-coated…and more-often than not is quirky and down-right wicked. Here are a few of his gems:

ANTEATER
"A genuine anteater,"
The pet man told me dad.
Turned out, it was an aunt eater,
And now my uncle's mad!

ONE INCH TALL
If you were only one inch tall, you'd ride a worm to school.
The teardrop of a crying ant would be your swimming pool.
A crumb of cake would be a feast
And last you seven days at least,
A flea would be a frightening beast
If you were one inch tall.

If you were only one inch tall, you'd walk beneath the door,
And it would take about a month to get down to the store.
A bit of fluff would be your bed,
You'd swing upon a spider's thread,
And wear a thimble on your head
If you were one inch tall.

You'd surf across the kitchen sink upon a stick of gum.
You couldn't hug your mama, you'd just have to hug her thumb.
You'd run from people's feet in fright,
To move a pen would take all night,
(This poem took fourteen years to write--
'Cause I'm just one inch tall).


THE LITTLE BOY AND THE OLD MAN
Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."
Said the old man, "I do that too."
The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."
"I do that too," laughed the little old man.
Said the little boy, "I often cry."
The old man nodded, "So do I."
"But worst of all," said the boy,
"it seems Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
"I know what you mean," said the little old man.

Ellie's Badge

Remember how as kids, we used to hoard our earthly (and grubby) treasures in a shoe-box? They could be anything from a pressed leaf or flower…ticket stubs from your first movie with friends…a feather from a bemused chicken…a brightly patterned paper napkin flicked from a posh dinner table or even the metallic badge, garily painted and worn proudly on every.single.outfit, be it the trusty dungarees or the Sunday-best (much to your mum's chagrin)

When I saw UP the other day, I was transported back in time. Ellie, as a scrappy l’il tomboy had a Grape Soda Bottle-Cap Badge which according to her represented the highest honour an adventurer can receive. It was a memento that Carl carried into his adult life..a something-small that bound him to his lovely Ellie...

Native American Prayer

Oh, Great Spirit,whose voice I hear in the winds
and whose breath gives life to all the world,
hear me.
I am small and weak.
I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes
ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand
the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength, not to be superior to my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.
Make me always ready to come to you
with clean hands and straight eyes,
so when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit will come to you
without shame.

~american indian - lakota - chief yellow lark - 1887

UP!

Carl Fredrickson is a chubby,nerdy lil boy in awe of the intrepid adventurer, Charles F.Muntz. Sharing his enthusiasm is the talkative tomboy Ellie. Ellie hopes to someday fulfil her dream of moving her clubhouse on the legendary Paradise Falls in South America.

As time goes by, Ellie and Carl get married and have an almost-idyllic life. Despite their inability to have children (or maybe because of it), they hold on to the dream of someday reaching the elusive falls. But financial obligations always intrude and just when the cherished trip is within sight, Ellie falls ill and passes away.

Carl is now a lonely, crotchety old man hanging tight to his memories and his cottage. All around him, the concrete jungle is laying down roots and threatening his little space. An unfortunate altercation with one of the site-men and Carl is ordered by the court to move into a retirement home.

But Carl (who was once a balloon salesman) has other plans up his sleeve. He uses what seem a like a gazillion helium balloons to lift his house UP and away from it’s foundations. He intends to fulfil the promise he made to Ellie. However he is unaware that he has an hapless stowaway in the form a Russell,
a Wilderness Explorer trying to earn his final merit badge for "Assisting the Elderly".

Together the two set off on an adventure of a lifetime, encountering a tropical flightless bird, Dug the dog with a talking-collar and an unlikely villain complete with a snarling team of henchmen (read:dogs).

UP is beautiful in it’s simplicity. Using an aging man as the protagonist, PIXAR weaves a tale that touches even the grittiest of hearts. One of the truly memorable bits is the montage of Carl and Ellie’s married life…silent shots accompanied only by the strains of a haunting melody, it leaves you with a knot in your throat.

And in the midst of the reaching-for-the-tissuebox moments, PIXAR does what it does best….full-on action, breathtaking animation, quicksilver dialogue. What you have is a film that offers something for all ages.

UP - Ellie and Carl's Life Montage