Surprises and Saskatoon

I got to see two friends that I didn't expect to see on my Saskatoon trip. My cousin lives in Marsden, which is en route between Edmonton and Saskatoon. Marsden is only about 1,000 people. On one trip home, I stopped in at the municipality office. I had thought that my cousin worked there. I learned from the people working there that she actually works in the office of a town about 20 minutes away. I recounted my attempted visit to her on facebook chat, and she told me that she was home and had Sesame Street characters in the yard in front of her house. So on my way home this time, I decided to drive around the town and find her. For some reason, my mind had decided that there were Mickey Mouse characters in front of her home, so I drove around the town looking for them. Finally, I found a house with Sesame street characters and chalk drawings on the driveway. I reasoned that this family had kids and definitely would know my cousin, since the town is so small. Fortunately (as you might have guessed), this turned out to be her house and we got to visit for about half an hour. It was a pretty awesome surprise for her :)


My second surprise was from [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], who is spending June and July in Moose Jaw. She posted on facebook that she and some friends were planning to drive to Saskatoon to see Antony and Cleopatra. I was really excited about this, and so I got to meet up with her and her friends and chat with her before the show. I love randomly seeing friends! And I was very happy to finally see a production of Antony and Cleopatra. I learned that the full length play is difficult to stage and clocks in at about 4 hours. The version we saw was about 2 hours and focussed more on the romantic intrigue than the political drama. Definitely worth it.

Great movies- JFK

I've gotten behind on my posting for the Great Movies project. Upon my return from Vancouver, I watched Oliver Stone's "JFK". I thought the movie would be a bit of a thriller about JFK's death, but it turns out to follow the details of someone who investigated the assassination. Kevin Costner stars as the key investigator. I thought Kevin Costner did a pretty great job, particularly in one long court room scene. Gary Oldman is also quite good as Lee Harvey Oswald, but then Gary Oldman is a bit of a chameleon and is great in most things that he's in.

Donald Sutherland, Kevin Bacon and Sissy Spacek were also great in this film. In fact, I have no complaints about the performances, just about the sheer length of this film.

I also liked watching how the need to know and the desire for truth really encompassed Costner's character and pretty much destroyed his home life. Stone also did a good job of using archival footage in this film.

My major complaints about this film were the sheer length. The film felt bloated and WAY TOO LONG. I also realized that I'm pretty damn ignorant when it comes to American history.