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 |  A blog for all things personal, informational, educational, and fun. |
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Here at my personal blog Thoughts & Things, I share a wide variety of, you guessed it, thoughts and things. Anything that sparks my interest is up for discussion. For those who are uncertain of what that might cover, I'll generally talk about reading, writing, books, movies, music, games, history, current events, and feminism. I talk about my personal emotional and health struggles from time to time. I'm also a big fan of lists. This is the place here at WDC where you can get to know me best, as I talk about the things that interest me, impact me, and amuse me. |
Just a couple months ago, I spoke of "Invalid Entry"  . Now I would like to talk about cartoons as medicine. As I struggle through many personal issues (as my physical health, associated issues with being on long term sick leave, and serious, life-threatening illness in the family), there are a few things that I know I can always rely on to comfort me when times are tough. Cartoons have been one of those comforts for a long time.It doesn't seem to matter what's going on in my life, cartoons are something I can handle. When things get tough in real life, I can retreat to a world where things either work out in the end, or feel comical and whimsical when they don't work out in the end. I can recall many times when I was a little girl where I would toss on a cartoon when bad things happened in my life. Cartoons offer a way to escape from reality from the comfort of my house. I don't need to go anywhere or do anything. I don't need to think or focus. I just have to hit play. I have always kept some of my favourites on DVD for comfort purposes, and it's even easier now that Netflix is around. My favourite cartoons are only a click away. Unlike my favourite live action shows, they are often unlike reality altogether. Instead of real people in believable situations, I can watch a neon yellow family avert nuclear disaster, I can watch ponies use magic, I can watch secret agents fumble at their jobs. Even when cartoons deal with realistic subject matter, it still offers a great deal of escapism because of the lack of real people performing on the screen. Cartoons offer the perfect form of escapism, and can be found in almost any genre, or targeted towards any audience. As the things in my life feel like they are crumbling around me, I know that my favourite cartoons will always offer me that bit of comfort. |
| I love Anne of Green Gables, and I have since I was a small child. I had numerous copies as a child, and still keep a couple as an adult (one as part of a boxset that I keep for reading, one with a fancy green velvet cover). I actually don't even remember the first time I read it. I read it more times than I can count. I remember religiously watching the cartoon as a child, and being absolutely in love with the CBC miniseries. I had the great pleasure of even getting to visit Green Gables when I visited PEI with my family as a preteen. There are so many reasons that I fell so in love with the story, and I wanted to share a few of those reasons today. 1. It's Canadian. LM Montgomery is Canadian. Anne Shirley is Canadian. Green Gables is in Canada. Not only do Canadians (like me) have an unnecessary amount of pride in things that are Canadian, Anne of Green Gables represents the best parts of historical Canada. Anne of Green Gables also makes for one of our most enduring pieces of classic literature, which makes it even more dear. 2. Anne is a writer. As someone who wrote all through childhood and adulthood, it's hard not to connect with an imaginative young girl who can put those ideas to paper with her friends, even (maybe especially) if their writing isn't always the best. I have read very few books starring young girls who write, so this aspect always touched a special place in my heart. 3. Anne is a dreamer. While Anne did apply her dreaming to her writing, I see the two as a very separate thing. She didn't just dream up what to write down, she could dream anything. She could dream for a bright and optimistic future for herself in a dark world, she could dream up friends and family that she would have, and she could dream about mischief to get into (and then get into it). It's hard not to appreciate that kind of dreaming, especially as someone who grew up with her head in the clouds. 4. Education is important to the characters. As a child, and as an adult, learning was always so important to me. It didn't matter if my education was formal or all on my own, I loved to learn. Bookish traits are not always present or appreciated in characters, and so I always find a special connection with characters who value their education. Anne eventually becoming a teacher, my ideal career path as a child, cemented my fondness for her. 5. Anne's friends and family are just as important as Anne. As the titular character, Anne is obviously the main character. However, the full cast of characters is a big part of what has always brought me back to the book. Matthew and Marilla are wonderful. Gilbert is wonderful. And I always had a special fondness for Diana, as she was the bosom friend of my imaginary bosom friend. 6. Everything is so pretty. Prince Edward Island is genuinely one of the prettiest locations I have ever been to in my entire life. Montgomery did an incredible job of bringing the location to life. You could absolutely envision Avonlea and Green Gables, and the sites just take your breath away. Visiting Green Gables even managed to live up to my very high expectations. 7. Plucky orphans make for good reading. This is an indisputable fact. Plucky orphans solve mysteries, develop powers, go on grand quests, and ultimately make their mark on the world. All of this is despite the fact that they are orphans, and, in part, because they are plucky. Anne Shirley is one of literature's finest plucky orphans. 8. Novels starring women and girls make for awesome reading. I love books by and about women. As a child I was really into "girl power" (it was the nineties) and as an adult I am a feminist, so it makes sense from that perspective. Outside of that, books that are by and about women are books that I connect to most strongly. Anne is a character that I see some of myself in, and Anne of Green Gables offered me one of the first relatable heroines I had ever read. 9. It adapts perfectly to other types of media. While Anne of Green Gables is an incredible novel, it also made for incredible media of other types. The miniseries from back in the 80s is probably one of the best miniseries ever televised, and the cartoon from the early 2000s was one of my favourite things to watch as a kid. Anne is such a lively character that she deserves to be brought to life, and Green Gables is too stunning a place to not be presented by more than words. 10.It's a classic. Being a classic doesn't necessarily mean a book is good. That said, Anne of Green Gables manages to have everything else on this list, and still be a classic. This is the book that taught me that classic literature didn't have to be boring, could be by and about women, and be so many other things than what people might have me believe. |
| October is the spookiest month of the year. We are firmly within the fall season, the air is cool, the leaves are falling, and the days grow shorter. Halloween approaches. It is the perfect time to get into the Halloween mood and celebrate the fall season by watching movies and TV shows that get us in the mood. Without further ado, here are the things I watch every October. Hocus Pocus While Hocus Pocus may be a bit cornier than some prefer, it has most definitely become a cult classic. The perfect amount of spooky and silly that all things Halloween should be, Hocus Pocus sets the Halloween mood perfectly for anyone who enjoys this time of year. With all the standard Halloween tropes, and a fight against evil witches, it's hard not to get sucked into the fun. Halloweentown While still along the lines of cornier Halloween content, Halloweentown is a film I have enjoyed since my childhood. Like Hocus Pocus, it encapsulates the mixture of spooky and silly that makes Halloween so much fun. It's hard to resist the charm of witch characters battling evil in a town where everyone and everything is a Halloween costume or prop. The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror Specials Ever since the second season of the Simpsons, they have been running an annual Halloween special that has come to be known as the Treehouse of Horror (after the first special, which featured the children telling scary stories in the treehouse). Many of the early specials in particular featured masterful parodies of horror and Halloween flicks, that made for a great deal of fun. Whether Homer is selling his soul to the devil for a doughnut, or Bart and Lisa are fleeing cannibalistic teachers, Treehouse of Horror is a blast. I make sure to watch at least a few of them every October. The Rocky Horror Picture Show The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the ultimate campy cult classic. With a bizarre cast of characters, vibrant costumes, wild song and dance numbers, and a plot filled to the brim with mayhem, RHPS is yet another perfect Halloween flick, without having anything to do with Halloween. I have somehow never attended a showing at the local cinema, but it is my ultimate Halloween dream. At Least One Classic (Anything Before 1970) Horror Flick October is Halloween season and therefore the time for horror. I am a big fan of the classics, and I try to make it a policy to do at least one of said classics during October. I have box sets of the original Frankenstein, Dracula, and Wolf Man films, which all make for great Halloween watching. This year I may try to go for a couple I haven't seen before, such as some of the Hitchcock films I have missed (maybe Rear Window or The Birds), or something else along those lines. At Least One Modern (Anything Since 1970) Horror Flick Watching at least one modern horror flick in October often leads to heading for the latest horror flick at the cinema, but I try not to confine myself to that. While I do enjoy the modern classics (Nightmare On Elm Street, etc), I have a few more recent ones that I enjoy the rewatch of, such as Cabin In The Woods or Sinister. This year, I may try to catch up on the Japanese horror flicks I have missed out on. |
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I hate sad endings. They make the best stories though. I guess I'll make reading William Shakespeare my New Year Resolution for next year or something I'd write for Dear Me 2018. 