Movie Review and GOOD NEWS!!!!

Dear reader, last night I watched BLOOD DIAMOND, and I must say that it was a fabulous movie. First of all I will admit that I am not a big Leo DiCaprio or Jennifer Connelly fan, but they both were surprisingly very good. The character that was played by Djimon Hounsou was amazing though. Hounsou’s first movie was Amistad, he has also had other roles eg. supporting role in Queen Latifah’s Beauty Shop, if you remember those movies, it was about Black people being over on ships to be part of the slavery trade. Hounsou’s character of Solomon is by far one of his best roles he has ever. He is a true actor, not a Tom Cruise who only plays roles that are suited for Tom Cruise. Hounsou is able to play a variety of character and convey a sense of real emotion. Some of the experiences that were conveyed in the movie, he did so well, eg. when he was seeing his wife through the fence at the refugee camp, when he re-united with his turned rebel son. He was so believable you could almost feel the pain that he was in and having to deal in his losses and gains. Leo’s role was pretty well done, it was nothing like his last role in the Departed, except for the fact that he was a shyster. He had an accent that sounded very South African but he was able to make it very believable and not sound really silly. Jennifer Connelly, she was a reporter so she was definitely into everything. The thing about the movie was that it was based on what the diamond trade was like 5-6 years ago, and honestly I had no clue it was that bad. It was a real eye opener and it makes me want to learn more about the subject because I don’t really know anything about it. It’s unreal how the rebels would run around to the villages and just killing anyone in their path, they would round up the men and then decide whether they were getting “a long sleeve, or short sleeve” and they would cut the arm to the length they saw fit. If the man or boy looked like they would be a good worker at all they would send them to a river to sift for diamonds, same idea as panning for gold only the prize was diamonds. IF anyone was caught trying to hide a diamond on their person or anything one of the majors would come over tell them to hand over the diamond and then the “thief” would be shot on the spot. The violence was brutal in the movie, I couldn’t believe it was something that could have happened in real life. Fabulous movie, I think everyone should rent it just to see where their wedding ring MIGHT have come from.

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE,

I am in talks with Matt Roloff, the dad of the family on Little People Big World, he seems to be interested in doing the online interview but the condition is that he wants to talk to my dad. He wants to talk to my dad because he is very interested in talking to the parents of ambitious children. This is awesome because my dad and I think really highly of the entire family and it would be an honour for my dad to talk to Matt. I sent him a reply email but haven’t heard back yet.

I am also in talks with Linwood Barclay, who is a writer for the Toronto Star. His column is very humourous and he is very busy right now (at a literary conference in Virginia) but he said that he would get back to me ASAP. Linwood Barclay is also an author, some of his titles include Bad Guys, Bad Move. He said that he would be interested in doing a phone interview, which would be my very first so I warned him that I am a NEWBIE so he would have to take it easy on me.

I am also pretty much confirmed for an interview via phone or email with Rebecca DiFilippo, who is the editor of Moods Magazine, which is a magazine that reaches out to the Mental Health community. I think this will be an especially interesting interview because it will reach another aspect, just like the 2 other possible interviews are getting at. Mental Health is very unknown to the population, it’s there but it’s like a giant pink elephant. I am hoping that this article will be beneficial to readers who have dealt with mental illness, or have a friend or family member who is coping with mental illness, or for just plain educational value.

The word of the day today is BALLOTMENT, BALLOTMENT means when you poke a cow (on the outside) in the uterus and you do this repeatedly for a bit to get the baby inside moving. Then you stop poking and you rest your hand on the area you were poking and you should be able to feel the baby bounce back and hit your hand.
*This word is courtesy of my dad*