Which Actress Could Play Mara.

Mara is an in-depth character. She's tough, sarcastic, opinionated and all the things that Luke Skywalker would end up geting irritated at first with, but falling in love with eventually. Now a lot of people would cast Nicole Kidman, or Uma Thurman because they're focussed on the physical resemblance. But a part of the Mara role would be whether or not the actor could come up with the innate traits that Mara has, her abrasiveness, the bitterness that stems from being a pawn in the machinations of Palpatine. I don't feel like Nicole Kidman has the experience in her repertoire to play a tough, abrasive, bitter ex-Imperial assassin. Gillian Anderson has that innate toughness.

And her looks do match...especially in this pregnancy photos.

Now ideally it would be nice to have Shannon McRandle do the character of Mara as she was the one that was originally picked to be Mara Jade for the CCG. But in case they could not get Shannon to do it, with her family requirements, I would say that Mara would next best be served by an actress who gets the gist of the character and has had the experience playing the angst-ridden, sarcastic, former assassin who falls in love with Luke Skywalker.

I think this painting of Mara Jade was influenced a lot by Gillian Anderson

A few more links of photos of Gillian Anderson with long hair

Maxim Photoshoot
Gillian as Mara after the Nirauan drenching?
Gillian as Mara in a little black dress? Hmmmm?
Gillian in a green sweater Would be nice to see her in a black bodysuit.
Another shot of Gillian.

Yes, she definitely would work as Mara Jade.

Annoying Commercials

Annoying commercials are a part of the advertising lexicon. They tend to grab you by the ears and make you take notice, whether you want to or not. Here's a couple for your perusement.

The singer in this Heineken commercial (is it just me or are Heineken commercials the most annoying commercials on TV as of late? I can barely understand what the f*ng hell she's singing, let alone understand why they've got that song on the advertisement to begin with.

Now using a Bollywood song "Jaan Pahechan Ho" to symbolize a "date in Chinatown" and advertising GERMAN beer????? WTF were they thinking????!! Figures ad execs can't tell the difference between Hindi and Cantonese.

This ad, La Vie Grand Marnier (The Life Grand Marnier) and it's inbred cousin "Apres-Ski" (After Skiing) are earworms enough to make you want to scream and run for the hills. The liquor may be nice, but the advertisement makes me want to bash a full bottle of Grand Marnier over the ad exec's head. "Yeah...Bonjour Monsieur??? F* YOU!!!!"

Sure, freak the poor gramma out. Then she'll have a myocardial infarction, kick the bucket then you won't be able to feed her your cereal. I can't find the one Kashi ad that really pisses me off, but in that ad there's this woman who speaks pedantically, "This is a strawberry, a real strawberry..." as the camera pans over a strawberry...then "This is an almond, a real almond"...No fucking shit...I thought it was a kumquat!!!

Training Ideas for the Canucks?

How to get the Canucks players to become Zack "Smaassh"ian clones. How to train our goalie for playoffs. Poor Lu's gonna cry.

I think this is a great idea!

Mini Goalie, Mini Player - Youtube.

Gotta love these McDonald's ads. ~evil grin~ Time for playoff hockey in 18 more games.

More Funny Signs.

Yep...gotta find more signs

2012 - January Almost Over - New Plans

It seems as though 2012 is an year of renewal. I feel a renewed vigor in my psyche that I have never felt in the last few years. I'm looking forward to this year whereas January last year, I felt like the whole roof caved in and I was looking at "what the hell can happen to me now?" Well, this year we finally set our plans in motion and make concrete steps towards achieving our goals. When I say OUR goals, I mean OUR goals.

Heather plans on taking university courses to get her Bachelor's degree in Criminology and Psychology. She is hoping to also go down and see her mother and in the meantime, she is helping me to save up for the Nikon AF-S VR 600mm f/4 IF-ED.



I forge ahead in the aim to get a burgeoning photography business in wildlife photography off the ground. And it looks as though I will make headway. Two images have already sold. I look to add a few more sales this year before the year is out. I'm looking at a game plan to try to book a table for some arts & crafts fairs and try to get some stock footage out in print so that people can come out and take a look through my stuff and see if it is good enough to them to buy. Stuff like:



In any case, I'm glad that I chose my camera wisely when I first started to seriously look at getting a DSLR. I chose Nikon (mainly because I was familiar with their menu system thanks to Heather and I choosing a Nikon Coolpix E2200 way back in 2005 after my old 0.35 MP Agfa got toasted by my oldest son (when he was a toddler) dropping coffee all over it. In 2006 when I upgraded to a Nikon D50 (my first DSLR) it was more camera than I really needed. But eventually, I mastered the D50 and now, I shoot with a Nikon D300s and my first professional calibre lens (the 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII). I will always remain a Nikon shooter, because for me, Nikon is the camera that is best suited to my needs. My wife also shoots Nikon as well. I don't need to say any more than this:





Starting September 2012, the save up commences for the Nikon 600mm f/4 lens and will last 36 months from that time. The wildlife shots that I have always wanted in my inventory will come to fruition then. I'll leave off with "I can't wait for September 2015".

Baroque Bach on a Glass Harp

Or otherwise known as "Tickling the Wine Glasses". An absolutely commanding performance of Bach's famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis 565 by the Glass Duo.


Toccata in D-, BWV 565


Fugue in D-, BWV 565

Thanks to my "brother from a different mother"...Paris Saizan who originally found this.