"If it's just the same or even worse, Than reading poems to a horse"
-Poem to a Horse, Shakira
*I've never actually heard this song, but I always ask Nayeli if she's listening to Shakira. In reading the lyrics, this song is completely ridiculous...and I like how "Horse" is rhymed with "Worse"*

Sunday was my Movie Marathon Day with Dan. Approximately 6.5 hours of movies in one day! $32 later, we had seen Brokeback Mountian, The Squid and the Whale, and The Family Stone- quite a diverse line-up between epic romances (or near romances), a divorce story, and a sad family holiday comedy. This is really more like Movie Marathon Week, since I'm off to the movies tonight and plan on catching one or two more before I go home for Christmas.

Brokeback Mountain was a good choice to see. I think it will rightfully receive Oscar nominaions for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Story, and Best Actor (Heath Ledger). I think by this point in time everyone knows that this is the "gay cowboy" movie, but that's no where near what the film is actually about. It is an epic romance which spans 20 years or so and focuses on two men, while not gay, who share a love and a bond between them, how they deal with their feelings and how one summer on Brokeback Mountain affects the rest of their lives. Their long-suffering wives, played by Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway (I'll never look at The Princess Diaries in the same light) also fit into the film nicely as they either know or deny their husbands' attraction to one another. It's worth seeing, although I find that Ang Lee's directing is a bit formulatic, the cinematography is breathtaking at some points. Jerk Gyllennhalal is never that convincing as a cowboy, especially when he has a mustache that makes him look like Geraldo Rivera.

"You're to far to bring you close, And too high to see below, just hangin' on your daily dose"

Dan and I then saw The Squid and the Whale, a divorce story that's both comic and at some points disturbing. It's been a while since I've seen Jeff Daniels in anything good, so it's nice ot see him here. One disturbing part, which Dan realized half way through the film, is that Jeff Daniels played Anna Paquin's Dad in Fly Away Home. Here, she plays a young university student of his who is attracted to hima nd there are even some make-out scenes. Once Dan memtioned Fly Away Home, the film took a bizarre turn where I kept thinking about that little girl and all those geese.

"Feed your empty brain with your hydroponic pot"

We finished the evening up with some nachoes and The Family Stone, a movie which is sadder than I expected. Luke Wilson is hilarious (and also my favourite of the Wilson's I think) and I love Rachel McAdams and Sarah Jessica Parker, even though neither of them play fully likeable cahracters...Actually Rachel McAdams' character reminded me of me, and I don't know if that's a good thing. During one of the most climactic and emotional scenes, I noticed this angry pumpkin face- like a kid's Halloween construction paper pumpkin face- on the wall in the background. Once I saw that and said something to Dan, I was in tears of laughter as this angry pumpkin face was in the background of every shot while the character's on screen are crying. I'm laughing now thinking about that face. Sometimes I wish I hadn't studied film so I wouldn't notice things in the background, but get Dan and I together- two people with BA's in Film and the same bizarre sense of humour- and it's almost hysterical. Ahhh pumpkin face, the real star and scene stealer of the film, which is saying a lot since Craig T. Nelson, TV's "Coach" is also in the film.

"I'd rather eat my soup with a fork, Or drive a cab in New York, Cuz to talk to you is harder work "

That's it! Nayeli has left me. I now have zero female friends in the city. Well, almost. Leanne and Sharifa are still here but we rarely go out together, although I like them! Now that everyone's favourite Mexican (other than Gael Garcia Bernal, that is) has returned to her native home, I am all alone! So here is a Nayeli retrospective in pictures. Unfortunately, some of the funniest pictures are not digital, but regular old 35mm ones that I don't have on my computer. So here's the best ones i could find! I also convinced her to start a blog (and I made her promise not to call it The Mexican Experience...sorry ladies). I voted it be called No Habla Espanol. But we'll see...


Nayeli at Dance Cave this weekend, with my beer in the foreground.

Nayeli loves to dance. here is a picture of her dancing. Most of my pictures are of her dancing. We dance when the camera isn't on too.

This was our final night in Ottawa as a university family. We all piled into Natalie's bed, took purity tests, gossiped, and talked about nothing. You know- the usual. not one person int hat bed is in the city with me now.

Same night, more fun.

Here Nayeli is in her "Say What?!" pose at the Honest Lawyer.

Much to our surprise, she actually graduated! Okay, NOT REALLY. She's one smart girl. I'm surprised she didn't graduate sooner.

Another one of those drunken dancing pictures from Revival this summer. I have a lot of pictures of me with other people like this. I'm just camera-happy. I can't help it. But we're haivng fun!

"I bet you'll find someone like you, Cuz there's a foot for every shoe "

OVERRATED: Shakira. Then again, I don't think she's rated at all...

UNDERRATED: The ability of an angry pumpkin face to make or break a movie.

"I wish you luck but I've got other things to do"