Jim Fulton

Ode to James R Fulton, a man who touched the lives of others with indescribable exhilaration, joy, and awe. 

Jimmy, you have lived the lives of a thousand men, harnessed a thousand dreams, given us hope and something to believe in when everyone said there was none to be had. 

You made things happen. Positive change. Tackled the impossible without fear. Told us it wasn't beyond our reach. Given us belief in a future brighter than anything we could imagine. Showed us there are no limits to the imagination. And proved to us again and again, that all things are possible.  

The enormity of your heart and soul, your boundless energy, and spirited life force is incomparable. You have walked with giants Jimmy, and humbled them all.

I am both blessed and honoured to know you. There is no one can compare with you, now and forever. 

I miss you already, the kindness in your heart, your generous and compassionate soul, and the warmth and love in your bear hugs.

love now, and forever...

moot or hooey?

Jim once walked into parliament with a spawning salmon stuffed down his pants, to prove a point.

Sean Penn at the Huffington Post

Sean Penn has got a bad rap over the years. He's walloped reporters for getting too close to loved ones, been criticized for being too political, but think of the guts and gonads that takes. 

He's not only a phenomenal actor and director, but has proven to be a talent in the writing field as well, articulate and smart, as you'll see from the article below.

He's fiercely loyal to what and whom he believes in, and he's not afraid to stand up for those people and beliefs and say the things or ask the questions most people shy away from.

I believe the more people like Mr Penn there are, who are willing to stand up, speak up and boldly move forward, the more likely we are to be inspired to believe in the reality of the power of the voice of a single man.

check out Penn's article/essay, Mountain of Snakes  as well as a multitude of others at the Huffington Post.

moot or hooey?

more significant change has been made by lone advocates.

because my father was a veteran and a cowboy

 

dad (left) and his friend Joe.

dad and friends from the army.

 

dad (left) and army friends out for a ride.

 

more friends join the group for a ride.

 

dad's favourite cowboy.

 

dad, Helene on dad's horse Jetty, and Kenny.

   

Marie the sheep, Sporty the mutt, Harold, Grandma, Clara, dad (15 yrs old), and Helene.

walking down memory lane for my dad.

moot or hooey?

memory is magical.

Nosbeeratu

this is hilarious!!

moot or hooey?

Nosferatu's real name is Graf Orlok.

before you vote

TheStar.com Party Game

hey check out the link above. if you're unsure of who to vote for, it might help, or not...

moot or hooey?

40% of the population closes their eyes when they vote.

have a look at this fabulous video!

HISTORIA DE UN LETRERO (THE STORY OF A SIGN)

aint this a corker! for the first time in 28 years a Canadian film will be opening the Cannes Film Festival !

It was six years in the making for Canadian script writer/actor/director Don McKellar (The Red Violin, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, Highway 61) to adapt Jose Saramago's "Blindness" .

Brazilian Fernando Mereilles (City of God, The Constant Gardener, The City of Men) directed the film starring Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. If there was ever a year I would shave my head to attend... !!!

I have misgivings about Moore playing the role of "the woman" though. For me she just doesn't carry enough weight to do it justice. ouch! I apologise. But this story almost made me puke it was so intensely good. The only other book that has had that affect on me was John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath".
Anyway, I would have liked to see them really work hard to cast it a little... more accurately. It would have been a lot truer to the dialogue in the book, as well as the vulnerability and ferocity that emerge from that character, if that role had been filled by someone like Shohreh Aghdashloo , Meryl Streep, or Glenn Close and while we're at it why not Christina Ricci or Mila Kunis as the young girl...

Regardless, I will wait with baited breath until its theatrical release!!

moot or hooey?
In the film "Michael Clayton" George Clooney gets his character's age wrong.

green green bags of home

Everywhere you look these days, people are getting on the hydrogen train to planet organic!

It's awesome watching people opt for reusable mugs, trade in their plastic bags for recycled, reusable grocery bags, take the bus or ride their bikes instead of drive, to name a few.
There's an incredible palpable pulse of change happening in the lower mainland these days.
Of course there has always been a small percentage of people doing these things for years, but recently these simple yet environmentally fundamental changes seem to be spreading like wild flowers, positively beautiful !

This year on Earth Day (Apr 22nd) the concentration seemed to be on eliminating the use of plastics bags.

Starbucks offered free coffee and a cloth shopping bag in exchange for using your own coffee mug. Safeway offered a free cloth shopping bag if you brought in your old plastic ones. Capers/Whole Foods were giving out free cloth shopping bags and basil seeds. Everywhere you looked people were making a difference!

It's been interesting talking to people about what they've been doing as individuals. Most people seem to be right into getting rid of their plastic bags, however, one of the most common dilemmas heard from people re-using plastic shopping bags as garbage bags, has been "if not plastic, then what".

There are indeed alternatives as some of you may know, but for the average layman, they aren't always obvious or clear. And it seems that somewhere during that train ride to petroleum-free euphoria, someone neglected to blaze the sister trail to the shelves of alternative household supplies.

One of the solutions to the dilemma is biodegradable garbage bags. They can be found at most grocery stores, anywhere from Safeway to Choices, and come in all sizes for all purposes.

So, to top off all the fabulous efforts by all participating establishments and ice the organic carrot cake this Earth Day, and every day for that matter, it would have been fabulous to see a huge bin right next to those easy to reach gum and magazines, filled to the brim with bags upon bags of these biodegradable alternatives.

Perhaps then people might be more likely to reach over and pick up a green, green bag for home.

moot or hooey?

80 percent of "at the cash register pick up puchases" are spontaneous.

gone baby gone

Sergeant Thomas George Prince, who?...


Long Tack Sam, who?...


Lenny Breau, who?...


Portia White, who?...

moot or hooey?

even brain damage doesn’t seem to affect semantic memory, so why... i’m just saying...

back to the future...

well after all my moping and hum/hawing about how much i missed the south of france, (see tuscany calling) it looks like i’m destined to return.

out of the blue a man i used to date through those glorious french summers tracks me down by googling me... thanks google... i mention this not because it’s a good thing. more to vent my exasperation. the last time i saw eric i spent the better part of the day dodging around buildings and stone walls (below) trying to escape.

the second to the last time i saw him he had casually invited me to coffee during a break in classes and i spent the next two days his captive in the forests of god knows where. ah those french!

this time around i’ve been accepted to a writers’ workshop/retreat in a small village just outside of avignon (scarily close to eric). i’m hoping the angst will come in useful when approaching the second plot point.

moot or hooey?

the difference between an obsessed partner and a stalker is that in the case of the latter, the person at the receiving end is their "prey". 

mr right

A girl I know at work has stated several times that there simply aren't any good single men in Vancouver. She's been single since I've known her, which is creeping up on eight years now.

I recently got back from an extended trip to Ecuador. There was anything but a lack of great single men there, of all ages. I'd consider myself a pretty average looking woman but I couldn't go far without someone sitting down beside me and striking up a good conversation. And age didn't seem to matter. Young ones, older ones, it just didn't seem to be an issue. Some of them would blatantly hit on you sure, but some just wanted to talk, and they all seemed to have a way of engaging you that made you feel beautiful, interesting, and desirable.

I'd experienced a similar thing in other countries as well. Spain, Cuba, Chile, France… all very different countries with very different standards of living, lifestyles and etiquette.

Ecuador is a particularly friendly country, with particularly lovely men. And what finally occurred to me, was that the fundamental difference with men in Canada was that they never engaged you. Oh sure, you could probably go to a bar, slam back a few drinks and talk your face off to someone itching to get in your pants and I'm sure they'd be willing to "engage" you all night, but generally speaking, men simply never,well, en-ga-a-a-a-ged you… in any way. Blank stares, no conversation, what does she want? can't get too close or make eye contact for too long or she'll assume...
There always seemed to be this unconscious psychoanalysis as they looked at you trying to sum you up without the effort of words… (sigh).

And just to kind of balance things out here a bit. It's not like the women in this country make it any easier for the guys. We're just as bad ladies. Maybe even worse. How long does it take a girl to roll her eyes, yawn, giggle to her friends, or cut someone off if she thinks for even a nano-second he might not be "the guy"? we're not exactly inviting. whatever happened to just communicating, for the sake of communicating...

So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't agree with the girl at work. There are plenty of great single guys in Canada… Vancouver even… we just need to pull out our mighty snow shovels and after we've cleared a nice safe path to our front doors, take those same shovels and scrape away some of the shit that's been piling up between us.

moot or hooey?

A good conversation is a powerful aphrodisiac for most women.

tuscany calling

i'm here in one of the most beautiful places on earth and i don't want to leave. La Fortuna, Costa Rica. i could curl up in one of the hammocks and forget the rest of the world with little trouble. so, why do i feel so restless...

read about a million books these past few weeks. the latest is a book by Frances Mayes called Under the Tuscan Sun. my friend Sandy produced the film of the same name so i was curious to see how closely they'd followed the book.

i remember a few years ago when i'd spend summers in the south of France in a little village called Chantemerle-les-Grignan.



stone buildings set on a small mountain overlooking rolling fields of lavender and sunflowers.

my friend Matthew had convinced me one year to hop a train over from Austria for a weekend 'fete'. the fete lasted for four glorious summers, dining in open fields, traveling to Sete et Nime for the oysters, wine and mussels on the sandy beaches, and l'amour... we simply cannot forget l'amour... some the best times in my life were during those summers.

so i crack the cover of Tuscan Sun and at once am transported back to that glorious place.

i know, it's Italy not France, but the stone houses, the small villages filled with friendly locals, fresh produce, rolling fields... the ambience seems so familiar. i read through the first few chapters and am hit with a strange sense of longing. a longing to return to Europe, to the countryside and disappear into the hills.

so here i am in a Costa Rican Shangri-la dreaming about somewhere else. go figure.

moot or hooey?

"the grass is always greener on the other side" is an expression invented by someone with way too much time on their hands. that, and an extreme lack of perspective.