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Bangs are Hot AGAIN This Year

It is the return (as if they went anywhere) of the hair bang. Many celebrities are adding a full hair bang to their hairstyle for an updated look.  Wispy and side swept bangs are also popular.  See Liz Hurley, photo left.

This siren of the screen carries off this classy look to perfection. Liz's hair has been layered to create a soft and full style which boasts body and bounce. The soft bangs have been parted on the side to create a softer look for the face, and is a flattering option for longer face shapes and high foreheads.

Monthly Wallpaper - February 2011: Best Actresses

With just under a month to go until Oscar night, this month's Movie Dearest Calendar Wallpaper takes a look back at the Best Actresses, the legendary leading ladies who took home the Academy's gold man in years past.

These iconic performances of unforgettable characters include Cher as Loretta, Sally as Norma, Katharine as Eleanor, Diane as Annie, Frances as Marge, Meryl as Sophie, Barbra as Fanny, Elizabeth as Martha, Jessica as Daisy, Charlize as Aileen and more.

All you have to do is click on the picture above to enlarge it, then simply right click your mouse and select "Set as Background". (You can also save it to your computer and set it up from there if you prefer.) The size is 1024 x 768, but you can modify it if needed in your own photo-editing program.

Flower Earth Natural

Natural Animals Beauty

An apple a day

So, you haven't canned, frozen or dried a bunch of Saskatchewan fruit for winter enjoyment?

Try this -- dried apples from Petrofka Bridge Orchard. $3 at the Saskatoon Farmers' Market.

Also available at Souleio and the Bulk Cheese Warehouse.

MD Poll: If You Picked the Oscars 2010

It's that time of year again! Time for you to pick what movies and performances you would vote for if you were a member of the Academy and could vote for the best of film 2010 in the actual Oscars.

Last year, you correctly matched the real thing in three out of the five major categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.  But remember, this isn't about predictions, you are voting for who you want to win!

There are five separate polls, located in the right-hand sidebar, so be sure to vote in each one. The polls will run from now until Oscar Eve, February 26, when the winners of the MD Poll: If You Picked the Oscars 2010 will be revealed!

UPDATE: This poll is now closed; click here for the results, and click here to vote in the latest MD Poll.

Earth-From-Space

Reverend's Reviews: The Rite Ain't Right

The Roman Catholic and other churches use a time-honored, usually effective Rite of Exorcism prescribed for casting out demons. The genre of movies that deal with the subject of demonic possession is a much more mixed bag. There is one true classic, 1974's Oscar winner The Exorcist, but a number of shoddy sequels and prequels to it (although I consider 1990's The Exorcist III underrated). Despite occasional entries such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose and last year's The Last Exorcism that are both cinematically and theologically accomplished, most are exploitative and nonsensical.

The Rite, which opens nationwide today, unfortunately falls into the latter category. It's a misbegotten mess of haunted house clichés, Vatican mumbo jumbo, and Anthony Hopkins channeling Hannibal Lecter (for the umpteenth time) as well as Linda Blair!

In The Rite, "inspired by" a book about exorcisms by Matt Baglio, Colin O'Donoghue (The Tudors) plays real-life priest Michael Kovak. O'Donoghue represents the youngest and hottest but most reluctant wannabe exorcist ever. Ordained a Catholic deacon after four years of seminary, which he entered as an escape from his mortician father, Kovak is coerced into going to Rome and taking exorcist training classes taught by Fr. Xavier (the great Irish actor Ciaran Hinds, giving the only truly credible performance in the film). Like many a skeptic before him, however, Kovak is convinced that so-called demonic possession has more to do with mental illness than Satan. That is, until he meets Fr. Lucas (Hopkins), an "unorthodox" yet successful liberator of the truly possessed.

The movie is directed in thoroughly heavy-handed fashion by Mikael Hafstrom, who previously made the much better suspense yarns 1408 and Evil. According to Hafstrom and screenwriter Michael Petroni, nothing signifies the forces of darkness so much as frogs, cockroaches and even feral kittens, plus the occasional red-eyed mule. They and O'Donoghue also take great pains to assure the audience that Kovak is heterosexual. When Kovak first tells his best friend that he is entering seminary, the shocked buddy replies "Is this your way of telling me you're gay?" Once in seminary, Kovak is offended by some seemingly too-close physical contact between his neighbors. Finally, Kovak develops a pseudo-romantic relationship with a lovely, undercover journalist (Alice Braga, niece of Brazilian actress Sonia Braga of Kiss of the Spider Woman fame) out to expose "the truth" about exorcisms.

Despite great cinematography and its authentic Roman trappings, The Rite gets pretty much everything wrong about Catholicism, the Rite of Exorcism and effective horror movie-making. Demonic possession may be an enduringly fascinating topic but the Vatican, which reportedly endorsed this film and is now collaborating on a reality-based TV series about exorcisms, needs to better screen those who claim to want to do the subject justice. I doubt even the Devil would approve of The Rite.

Reverend's Rating: D

UPDATE: The Rite is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Wallpaper Fresh Natural

Know your oats - Oat vocabulary

When can you eat cookies for breakfast? When they're mostly oats! But first, a lesson in oat vocabulary.

• Oat groats or whole oats are the oat seed with the outer hull removed. They take the longest to cook and are often pre-soaked.

• Steel-cut oats (also called Irish oats or Scotch oats) are oat groats cut into smaller pieces. Also pre-soaked.

• Rolled or old-fashioned oats are whole groats flattened in a roller. They cook more quickly than groats.

• Quick oats are steel-cut groats flattened in a roller. Because they are small and flakey, they cook quite quickly.

• Instant oats are precooked so they can be prepared simply by adding hot water and are often pre-flavoured and sweetened.

Learn more about Saskatchewan-grown oats from my article in Star Phoenix.

Chocolate Oat Clusters

Gleaned from the website of Only Oats, a gluten-free oat processor in Regina.

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

6 tbsp cocoa

3 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp vanilla

On medium heat melt butter, sugar and milk in a saucepan until it boils, stirring often.

Add remaining ingredients, mixing well. Remove from heat. Drop by the spoonful onto wax paper. Cool completely.

Toon Talk: Horseography

When it comes to sports biopics, the subgenre breaks down into two camps. First is the warts-and-all, blood-and-guts variety best exemplified by Raging Bull. Then just about everything else, from The Pride of the Yankees to Hoosiers to The Blind Side, easily fall into the second type: the “inspirational” kind. Filled with “rags to riches” stories, training montages and slow motion moments of triumph, these films are no doubt crowd-pleasers. Yet, after you’ve seen a few, they also become rather predictable, even interchangeable.

With its Disney brand and tame PG rating, it’s not hard to figure out what category Secretariat fits into; and while the film (now available on Disney DVD and Blu-ray) is definitely a family friendly one, you’re likely to feel that you’ve seen this race before… even if you haven’t seen Seabiscuit.

As the “super horse” that, in 1973, became the first racehorse to win the US Triple Crown in twenty-five years, Secretariat certainly could run fast, but he doesn’t say much. Therefore, the movie leans heavily on his owner, Peggy Chenery (played by the always welcome Diane Lane) to carry the story. Unfortunately, as a main character, Peggy is a bit of a cipher. Her motivation to race Secretariat, tied to fulfilling some unspoken dying wish of her father (Scott Glenn), is barely tangible, while attempts to show her as a “woman in a man’s world” fall flat. Subplots about the strain on her marriage and family (including, quite awkwardly, a wannabe hippie daughter) and her reluctance to speak in public go nowhere.

To compensate, director Randall Wallace (the Academy Award nominated screenwriter of Braveheart) and writer Mike Rich (who based his script on William Nack's book Secretariat: The Making of a Champion) try to throw some more obstacles in her way, mainly conflicts with her quirky horse trainer, Lucian Laurin. A French-Canadian former jockey who fancied loud outfits and unconventional training methods, Laurin is played by John Malkovich, the go-to guy in Hollywood for quirky characters (that is, when Christopher Walken is unavailable). Alas, Malkovich pretty much sleep walks through the role, relying on a string of goofy hats and sporadic outbursts in French for character development...

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of Secretariat at LaughingPlace.com.

Ode to Oats

Did you know? Canada is the largest exporter of oats in the world, and much of those oats are grown here in Saskatchewan.

The bulk of Saskatchewan's oats are shipped to the United States and processed into the brand name cereals and granola bars you find in the grocery stores.

You can also buy oats from smaller local companies, like the package of organic oat groats (in the picture) that went into my morning oatmeal. The brand is Willow Creek, which is based in Watson, Saskatchewan.

Apple Honey Oatmeal

Find local dried apples at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market.

1/2 cup steel-cut oats
2 cups water

1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup dried apples, chopped
1 tbsp honey

The night before, mix steel-cut oats with water and bring to a boil. Simmer 5 min. Remove from heat, cover and leave out overnight. In the morning, add another 1/2 cup water and bring to a simmer. Add the salt, cinnamon and dried apple. Cook, stirring, until desired porridge consistency is achieved. Stir in the honey and eat!

Argentina Football Team Images And Clip

The Argentina national football team is the national football team of Argentina and is controlled by the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA).Argentina is one of the most successful national football teams in the world, and currently #1 in FIFA ranking, having won 2 World Cups in 1978 and 1986. Argentina has been runners up twice in both the 1930 World Cup and 1990 World Cup. Argentina has also won the Copa América a record 14 times, tied with Uruguay. Moreover, Argentina has also won the Confederations Cup and the gold medal at the Olympic football tournament in 2004. Prior to that occasion Argentina had obtained two silver medals in the 1928 and 1996 editions. On other levels of international competition Argentina has won the FIFA U-20 World Cup a record six times. The FIFA U-17 World Cup is the only FIFA international competition yet to be obtained.

Messi Argentina Footballer

Argentina Football Team play

All Argentina Football Team Group Photo

Argentina Footballer After Goal

Argentina Football Team Group Picture

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

There can be few doubts this season that the continent's, and indeed the world's, best two teams have reached the final to produce what looks on paper to be the most mouth-watering final in years.

And as a bonus, the two players widely regarded as the greatest talents currently on show in world football will stand opposite each other.

United's Cristiano Ronaldo is officially top dog, having won both the world player of the year crown and the Ballon d'Or in 2008, benefiting no doubt from his team's sensational run to Champions League, Premier League and Club World Cup glory.

lionel messi and cristiano ronaldo

lionel messi and cristiano ronaldo image

lionel messi and cristiano ronaldo pic

lionel messi and cristiano ronaldo

lionel messi and cristiano ronaldo pic

lionel messi and cristiano ronaldo

lionel messi and cristiano ronaldo