Movies I’m Looking Forward To

The Christmas Holiday Season usually brings a few good new releases to the movie theatre, and there are three in particular that I’m looking forward to.

1. True Grit is what I would normally call a “man’s movie”.  It’s a remake of the 1969 Western (originally starring John Wayne), this time made by the Coen brothers, starring Josh Brolin and Jeff Bridges.  Usually this wouldn’t interest me, but No Country For Old Men was soooooo good.  And True Grit has Matt Damon.  That’s enough to get me to the movie theatre.

2. Black Swan is the latest film from Darren Aronofsky, who I usually like (and who Ian usually hates).  So I’ll probably have to wait for video for this one.

3. The King’s Speech. I love Colin Firth.  And I love British movies.  Done.

And, because I’m a super-nerd, Tron: Legacy could be worth shelling out a few bucks for.  I’ll wait to see the reviews on that one first though.

Australian Beach House

It’s chilly willy and there’s some snow on the ground here in Toronto, so when I saw this posting on Desire to Inspire, I was overwhelmed with real estate envy.  This beach house in Noosa Sound, Queensland (Australia) has such a gorgeous blend of modern design with beach-house casual coziness.

If you have an extra 5 million, it can be yours… here’s the real estate listing.

Jonathan Adler Pipe Match Strike

I know this is ridiculous.  Even though it has a function, I can totally live without it.  But I can’t help loving this Pipe Match Strike.  It would look so good on my mantelpiece!

This is my favourite Jonathan Adler product since the Giraffe Lamp.  And it’s a lot cheaper.  That’s it, I’ve decided, if I see one of these, I’m picking it up.

PS – did you see this photo gallery of Adler’s work over at House and Home?  Swoon.

Julian Schnabel at the AGO

On Saturday I went to see the Julian Schnabel exhibit at the AGO.  It was fantastic.  I haven’t enjoyed an art exhibit like this in a long time.  I think it was the scale of his paintings that really appealed to me – most of his pieces are over 20 feet tall!

The exhibit is on until January 2, 2011.  I recommend you check it out before it’s gone.

On My Christmas List: Classic Movies

There are a few classic movies that I just love, and will watch over and over again.  And now that we have a Blu-Ray player (it’s part of how Ian talked me into getting a PlayStation 3 game system), I’d like to have these films in my home collection.  Both North by Northwest and Dr. Zhivago have special anniversary editions available on Blu-Ray.  These are definitely on my Christmas List this year – I have a feeling we’ll be spending many evenings watching movies this winter (as I get bigger and bigger).  And there’s nothing like curling up with Dr. Zhivago on a cold winter night!

My faves from the One of a Kind Show

Kinnon and I hit up the One of a Kind show on Sunday.  I was very very good – I didn’t buy anything!  But I did collect a handful of business cards for online shopping later.

Here were my five favourite artisans from the show:

Ceramik B: gorgeous handmade ceramics by Basma Osama.  When we walked by, both Kinnon and I went “ooooooh”.  We just had to pick up some of the bowls and mugs… the organic shapes were calling to us.  The interlocking shaker set (pictured above) was amazing.

Flakes Paperie had a tiny booth set up, and were mostly selling Holiday cards and 2011 calendars.  I’m okay in those departments, but I always love me some pretty paper.  Flakes has an Etsy shop, but there’s only one product there… I hope they add more soon!

Mizzonk has a few different products, but their paper art is amazing.  Wouldn’t you love to have this art print (above) hanging on your wall?  Watch the video on the product page of their website and see the piece in its 3D glory.

And of course, I fell for some of the baby clothing and accessories at the show.  My favourites were the 100% natural, soft, simple sleep sacks by Poids Plume, and the baby kimono onesies from Redfish Kids Clothing.

If you’re heading to the One of a Kind show, check these out, and let me know what your favourites are!

Update: Many of my faves from the show were also favoured by House and Home magazine.  Check out their blog post on the show here.

It’s Cyber Monday!

I’m sure you’ve heard about Black Friday – the largest retail shopping day of the year in the States, on the Friday following Thanksgiving Thursday.  But did you know about Cyber Monday?  It’s the Monday following the Thanksgiving weekend, and there are many deals to be had online.  Cyber Monday is mostly an American thing, but many American online retailers will ship to Canada, so we can enjoy the deals too.

Apparently Cyber Monday is catching on – according to the Huffington Post, “Cyber Monday was the second highest spending day of 2009, with buyers charging nearly $890 million during the special shopping event.”

So, you ask, where are the deals?  I’ve seen a few good ones this morning:

Amazon.ca (yep, the Canadian dot ca website, not just the American dot com) has deals across their entire site – books, DVDs, electronics… check it out.

Moo.com: Buy a pack of Holiday cards, and then receive 25% off your entire order (including the Holiday cards and anything else you want, like business cards, postcards, stickers, etc).

TigerDirect.com has some insane deals on laptops, external memory, and other electronic goodies, including $60 off an 8gig Flip Video Camera.

If you want insider tips on the best Cyber Monday deals, head over to Twitter and follow @CyberMonday, @bestCyberMonday, and @CyberMondayNews.

Good luck and happy shopping!

[image via Daily Word Buzz]