Let's go fly a kite

Objectively - Saving Mr. Banks is terribly one-sided, the Disney version of a Disney story, with all the ladles-full of sugar that entails. 

Then again, I didn't like Travers' Poppins anyway. I remember reading the series as a kid, and thinking the author must have had a horrible childhood to have come up with that stuffy nanny.

So would I recommend watching Saving Mr. Banks? Meh, I like it when the classic songs come on, but all the movie's good moments are showcased in the trailer. You may as well watch the original. 

Come to that - watch Sound of Music, instead. That's where my real loyalties lie.

RIP, old friend.

I treated myself to my first grown-up laptop yesterday. To put that in context, all my laptops so far have been slightly bigger than the average tablet. They've come in fancy colours, or had cute stickers on them - and yes, I realize that makes them sound like they belong on Hello Kitty. 

My latest laptop, which turned 3 years old on Friday, is a shiney red thing that weighs less than my average library book. It was the DJ at our wedding, the theatre on our in-home dates, and the place where the very first draft of my very first full length novel sat. Of course, it went into a coma and I no longer have any record of any of that stuff. You'd think I'd be resentful, but it's hard to get annoyed with something that pretty. We've had some great times together. The laptop had surgery and chugged along bravely for a while, but the speakers don't work, and it only stays on when it's plugged onto the charger, and it just seems kinder on both of us to let go. 

(Respectful pause). 

This new laptop, which arrived just in time for Christmas, is a no-nonsense black beast that weighs as much as all my previous laptops combined (not that that's saying much). It's slightly initimidating, in that I'd to Google how to make it work. Way to make me feel old, laptop. Not to sound all bring-back-the-90's, but I'm not a fan of Windows 8. It manages to seamlessly integrate all that's annoying about Google Now & Macbooks without retaining any of the (considerable, it has to be admitted) goodness. This is going to take some getting used to, but I'm optimistic. 

Ten years from now, when I write out a eulogy for B.B.*, I'm sure we'll look back on this day & laugh.

*Just because it's an adult laptop doesn't mean it'll go unnamed.

Icicles & other miracles

Freezing rain makes trees look like something out of a Disney movie (until they topple over from the weight of the icicles, anyway). The weather has the additional advantage of wiping out electricity in many parts of Toronto, including my office. 

So here I am, warm at home, with a glorious white picture-postcard view, merrily doing my work, knowing that no one can email me last minute anything because everyone's internet connectivity is down.

Best. Monday. Ever.

Humbug

Everyone I know is in a stable relationship... which is great, except that no one has any giggly new-crush stories any more. Boo.

Vertigo

Here's how I've felt this week.

...It was easier to put that drawing together than it will be to get out of bed. Now I know what an alcoholic feels like, and it makes me more determined than ever not to drink.

12 Days of Christmas

For the longest time, I thought it was a partridge in a petri.

I figured the blood lust with which that last line was roared was entirely in character. After all, these same people had gleefully gloated about eating a turkey whole in the recent past, why would a partridge expect a different fate?

I image-searched a partridge in a pear tree this morning, and I really think the petri may have been more comfortable. The fact that the image above exists on the internet is proof enough that I'm not the only person who thinks so.