Movies by year: 1977

(Watch your step, mild spoilers ahead)

Life was simple when I was seven. Movies were mostly simple that year too. Demon Seed had the nightmarish scenario of a teched-up house taking on a life of its own and deciding reproduction was the way to go. Why Shoot The Teacher? had Bud Cort in the worst school district ever during the depression. Superman had the caped crusader being generally charming, handsome and funny, but then ruining it by TIME TRAVELLING BY FLYING AROUND THE EARTH. That still stings a bit. Slap Shot proved what we already know about hockey: it's not fun until there's blood. And, of course, Star Wars came out. No, I'm not going to write about that one. In the end, there's one that really stands out for me:

Movies by year: 1976

(Run, runner - there be spoilers!)

Things were moving at a pretty good clip in Hollywood in 1976. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind was my first 'grown-up' movie I saw in the theatre, with just my Mum and Dad and not the Boys, and it was really visually stunning. The Man Who Fell To Earth (otherwise known as David Bowie's autobiography) gave us a sideways view of the dangers of distraction. And Murder By Death paid a wonderful homage to film noir whodunnits with a fantastic cast (Clue would later send up this send-up). But my choice for this year would be:

TTC: good on paper

Ridin' the Rail. (Mine)

The recent transit study that everyone’s talking about — the one that ranks Toronto as having the best transit in Canada — was compiled by Walk Score, which helps people find places to live based on ‘walkability.’ The study ranked city transit on ‘how well a location is served by public transit’ — how many kinds there was, the number of stops on routes and the frequency of the scheduled routes.

Of course Toronto ranks high in these areas — the Toronto Transit Commission is vast, I would never argue with that — on paper, we’ve got an amazing system, covering the entire city and connecting with the surrounding cities. You can get basically anywhere in the city on the TTC.

The problem is this: the study doesn’t in any way take into account travel time, ability to actually board vehicles, comfort, cost or customer frustration. In other words, the actual usability of the system.

Cranium bouncers

No, not bouncers that keep unwanted guests out of your head (although I must use that sometime) - no, these are just random thoughts that have been careening around my noggin today.

Movies by year: 1975

(Duck, spoilers!)

We're mid-way through the 70s now – everyone makes music when they walk with their corduroys and bell-bottoms, David Bowie's starting to get freaky and there are some pretty good movie choices out there. A generation learns to fear the water because of Jaws and The Rocky Horror Picture Show had us all taking a jump to the left. But there's one clear frontrunner for 1975, for me:

Movies by year: 1974

(Avast: here be spoilers, be ye warned!)

We're up to 1974 now, and I had to ponder a bit before deciding what film to share with you. Albert Finney starred as Hercule Poirot in Murder On The Orient Express, which was delightful, and The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three answered the question 'is it possible to take the passengers of a subway car hostage?’ (hint: YES) – but in the end I decided on:

Movies by year: 1973

(Warning: here be spoilers, but seriously come on, this movie's 41 years old now!)

How has the weekend been for you guys? Did you, by any chance, watch any of my 'life movies' yet? No pressure :) Okay, now we're up to 1973, which was an interesting year for movies. Leonard Nimoy was a psychic race car driver (yes) in Baffled!, which never turned into a series; Linda Blair puked up pea soup in The Exorcist (and I became a lover of the soundtrack); and Yul Brenner planted the seeds for The Terminator as the unstoppable black-hatted cowboy in Westworld. But my choice is based on a sort of true story:

Movies by year: 1972

(Warning: here be spoilers, but seriously come on, this movie's 42 years old now!)

We're up to 1972! I thought about writing about Deliverance, which is hard to watch but has Burt Reynolds actually acting, or Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid To Ask), which served as a wacky anthology of stuff that made me laugh, but I didn't get until later in life (I first saw it when I was seven), but instead I decided to go the hippie route:

Movies by year: 1971

(Warning: here be spoilers, but seriously come on, this movie's 43 years old now!)

Time for another movie! We're up to 1971, and there are plenty of excellent films we could discuss - The Andromeda Strain, Bananas, A Clockwork Orange, Harold and Maude, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory - but instead I'm going to tell you about:

Movies by year: 1970

(Warning: here be spoilers, but seriously come on, this movie's 44 years old now!)

My Life Songs project inspired me to do the same with movies. I'm going to pick a movie per year of my life and just introduce you to it briefly. Not necessarily my absolute favourite of the year (though it will be among them) or the smartest or the most poignant - just an interesting one. So let's start with 1970:

Happy Anniversary, Doctor Who!

Cinedork

It’s finally upon us, the day many of us doubted would ever happen – tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the first time we saw the strange man with the secret and that dimensionally-transcendent police box that took us away on so many adventures.

Doctor Who was first broadcast November 23, 1963, and in the decades since then it has survived replacement of its lead actor, changing heads of broadcasting, cancellation, film destruction and attempts at Americanization, to come out as one of the most popular shows ever created.

50 years of awesome

50 years ago, on a stormy New Brunswick day, Arthur and Geneva said their vows and cut their cake.

Life Songs: 2010–2012

I’ve been putting off writing about the more recent life songs because, to be honest, I don’t really listen to the radio anymore so I’m not as familiar with newer stuff. I know, I know, that makes me sound really old. Well I am, live with it.

That said, I can think of a few I’ve heard and like...

Love it: Shakespeare in the rough

So this evening Jennskoot and R and I went to see CanStage's latest summer Dream In The Park production: The Taming Of The Shrew.

Seven years ago

Some things that happened up to today, seven years ago:

Jake

Jake in Killarney 2009 (mine)

So less than an hour after hearing the Peter Capaldi news, my excitement was completely dampened by awful news.

Another day, another Doctor

Know what I like? Police officers who do their job without being a dick. Also veterinarians who are really nice to your pets (T and I are at one right now with Jake, it's not fair to get sick when you're on vacation, aaaw).

Aaah...

T and I are all settled in at the cottage, the cats are meandering and all is well. The forecast for tomorrow is already 2 degrees warmer than it The Weather Network predicted this morning, so I have high hopes!

Apparently there was a big Dr Who-related announcement, I haven't gone online to find out what it is yet. And 12th DOCTOR ANNOUNCEMENT on Sunday, excited! Peter Capaldi has recently been getting bookie attention…

20° Sunny

---

later

So the announcement was that there was going to be an announcement on Sunday. Feh.

Love it: WonderPens

A few days ago I stumbled across WonderPens online and let out a little squeal of delight – a fountain pen shop for everyday people, right here in Toronto! I feel uncomfortable when I visit most pen shops, underdressed and just not rich enough – but reading Jon and Liz Chan's blog (it's their store, a labour of love by the sound of it) I could tell that wouldn't be the case here.

Visiting the vampires

Owie.

I'm at the blood clinic near my office, waiting for my turn to donate. I've been putting it off for a couple of weeks for no good reason, just too lazy to drag myself in here I suppose - I've already been poked in the finger and I'm good to go.