A Shining Town

2012-02-11T09:04:00.004-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Birthday Saturday and Guilt about no Knitting Friday

OK, it's my birthday. Are the only two songs about birthdays, Happy Birthday and It's My Birthday And I'll Cry If I Want To? Oh, there's Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday which Marilyn Monroe crooned to JFK and into history.

Whatever, I was all ready for Knitting Friday with pictures but then yet another gum infection leveled me for most of the day. Today, I'm ready to roll but the pictures are on another, occupied at the moment, computer but I'm going to give you a B-day present: a simple hat pattern. (Pictures will follow next week.)

A Simple Hat
Materials: US 6 and US 8 needles circular needles, US 8 wood DPNs (5), I crochet hook, DK weight yarn
Crochet Set-Up:
With the I crochet hook, make a loop, chain 1 and work 4 single crochets (sc) into the loop. Join with a slip stitch, ch 1 and then work 2 sc in each of the 4 sc for a total of 8. Join with a slip stitch.
(You can now start working with DPNs or you can repeat the above and work 2 sc in each of the 8 sc for a total of 16 sc.)
So either with 8 or 16 sc, pick up 1 stitch for each sc around with your DPNs and divide evenly on 4 needles. Start Knitting Set-Up:
Row 1: K around (16 sts)
Row 2: K front and back of every stitch (32 sts.)
Row 3: K around (32 sts.)
Row 4: K front and back of every stitch (64 sts)
Row 5: K around (64 sts)
You can see the pattern - 1 row straight K; 1 row increases in every stitch
(I stop at 64 sts but you can keep increasing. You don't have to increase in every stitch [the next such increase will give you 128 sts] but you can decide how many stitches you need for the width, divide them by 4 and increase evenly on each DPN.)
Start Pattern: (Note: Your last row should have been K evenly around, no increases.)
(You make want to switch to circular needles now and use the traveling loop - just google the "How To". I am going to give you the pattern I use but the sky's the limit with creativity here.)
Row 1: *K into back loop of 2nd stitch on left circular tip, K into the front loop of the 1st stitch on that tip, P2*
Row 2: *K2, P2*
Repeat these two rows till the brim.
Brim: Change to US 6 needles and work the seed stitch or moss stitch for your desired width. BO loosely but not very loosely.
Tassel:
1. With I or larger hook and leaving a long tail, chain 20.
2. Starting in the 2nd ch from hook work 3 sc in each chain to the bottom.
3. At the bottom, ch 2o and repeat the process above. (The chains will curl into spirals.)
4. Make about 3 and then slip stitch them together at the base, cut yarn leaving a long tail.
5. Using the tails, work the spirals through the top of the hat and fasten securely.

That's it. You're done. Enjoy.

2012-02-08T08:19:00.007-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Apparently, Rick Santorum won the latest three Republican primaries/caucuses/whatever. I can't believe the money masters of the Republican party will allow him to be the candidate however. (But, you say, look at Reagan, he was a conservative. No, Reagan ran on the platform which won. He was never a true believer. Note: Reagan was also a lousy president.) The real Republican party (I love me that capitalism with all the tax breaks I can get.) knows it can't win with Santorum; not on the national level. It would be interesting to see Obama vs. Santorum bout though. Santorum would spout his absolutely insane beliefs on everything: government, women, sex, probably even little puppies and Obama would move more and more to the right as seems to be his doctrine of governance: meet the enemy and arrange a golf game.

But enough grousing, go to http://www.peachygreen.com/ and read about the good people are doing to save the planet: We’re here to tell you that amazing things are happening right where you live and all over the world, which make the earth a kinder, cleaner place. It’s time to put aside the doom and gloom and think positively about the people places and things that are making the world Peachy Green.

I know I don't believe the world is doing enough to save the planet and I haven't dug deeply enough to find the sponsors of this site; but there are good ideas here for going green and that can't be bad. That is, as long as you don't come away from the site believing just buying recycled goods, etc. will turn around climate change. But it is a start.

Then there is: http://www.twofoods.com/ where you compare two foods and get the calories and nutritional value of each. Yes, I plugged in apples and oranges and they are both very good for you. Then I plugged in dinner roll and doughnut. and all the types of rolls they showed were at least 100 calories less than the doughnut and had more than 3xs less fat. A bagel is a much better choice. However, a cinnamon raisin popped up with 273 calories while a multi grain bagel appeared with 2379 calories. I think some data entry person skipped a decimal.

These are fun sites. Be sure to click "Wildlife" in Peachy Green; adorable animals abound.

See you next week.

2012-02-06T05:44:00.003-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday - Red Riding Hood and more

I've been thinking a lot of thoughts lately and that's probably why I was AWOL all last week. That and the fact that movies in my Verizon movie package have been pretty horrible lately. So I started the week staring at nothing for Movie Monday and the rest of the week just tagged along.

Of course, last week in the US, saw the drama of Susan G. Komen breast cancer charity vs. the very, very evil Planned Parenthood (whose evilness apparently SGK just discovered) play out.

I've never gotten on the SGK bandwagon because experience has taught me to be leery of mega-"charities" with mega commercial tie-ins. In the end, I don't believe the "left" took Komen down (although we surely could use some victories) but rather big business capitalism did them in. Capitalism will give loonies just enough rope to play with and make pretty knots but no way will they hand them the rope so they all can swing in the wind together.

SGK is a billion dollar money machine and it's perfectly all right for their new leaders to twist to the far right as long they do nothing to disrupt this cash flow. That was Handel's (SGK new anti-abortion VP) big mistake. That and the fact that apparently 23 cents of each dollar donated to SGK goes to research; the rest to salaries, overhead and generating more dollars. Sounds like a scenario ripe for demands for one of Congress' time wasting public investigations. I'm sure the charity backers didn't want that.

Unfortunately, the SGK brouhaha brought back into focus the billion dollar generating health care industry which is allowed to exist in this country. This industry is backed firmly by SGK's pink ribbon charity which went ape-shit crazy when the recommendations for starting mammograms was pushed up from 40 to 50 years old a few years ago. Of course, medical science blinked and women were allowed to return to the radiation giving, breast torturing mammograms starting at age 40 again. For, after all, to paraphrase Calvin Coolidge: what's good for business is good for the country.

I did get to see Red Riding Hood last week. This movie was royally trounced by the critics (5.1% out of 10 in IMDb and 11% in Rotten Tomatoes.) It was directed by Catherine Hardwicke who directed the first Twilight and the only Twilight I can ever watch. As I've said before about Twilight-1, I think Hardwicke did a more than serviceable job introducing this modern day Gothic tale and moving it and the audience along to a romantically plausible (I did say "romantically" plausible) conclusion. It's just a pity they didn't end the series then.

Regarding Red Riding Hood: As some people on IMDb have said, I was surprised at the almost universal rejection of this movie. Hardwicke is a good storyteller of implausible plots and I think she and the cast more than just "come through" in this mythical/metaphorical tale of the young girl living in a medieval god-fearing village which is plagued by the unknown, this time in the shape of a werewolf.

I liked the atmosphere and tone of this movie and I didn't feel as though I was in a Hollywood set medieval village. The myth/metaphor of the virginal young girl facing the dangers of her community and the "dark" outside with all its unique dangers is one of those "down through the ages" tales. I think Hardwicke and her cast do admirable work with their take on this myth. Watch it and see if you agree.

2012-01-23T06:40:00.005-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

This is going to be short review since my neck is killing me. You know the pain you get which makes you hope that driving in the near future will not demand much turning of the head. I've heard that the autobahn is a straight run.

My 6 and 1/2 pound handbag + my zillion pound knitting bag probably haven't helped the situation. How do I know the handbag weighs so much? I weighed it; all by itself and it registered. An event which only happens over 5 pounds. So I got a Kipling bag. Very light, nylon, looks like a dollar store buy but I googled it and found out the brand is expensive and can look bag lady chic. (A denotation I think is condescending and crude but, boy, that bag is a dream to carry; and filled, it doesn't register on the scale.)

My review is for a "little" foreign film: Valentin (2002). Set in Argentina, it tells of an 8 year old boy in the 1960s who dreams of being an astronaut, has a runaway mom, distant dad and lives with a devoted grandmother. Nothing much happens to the boy for a long time, except very ordinary things but as you watch he starts to understand the world and move away from primal bigotry which can plague so many families. Rodrigo Nova plays the boy with such charm and honesty that you're hooked early on in this simple story.

I'm a sucker for foreign films usually because they know that not saying something is many times more powerful than dialogue. For example, in the charming scene where Valentin meets his father's wife-to-be, he says something in all innocence which becomes the deal breaker for the marriage. He nor the audience is ever told what it is. The young woman with him says nothing except becomes sadder and sadder. With simple gestures, you learn something has just occurred to change all their futures. Any observant viewer understands what just happened but the script has the actors never verbalize any of this. It's so much more powerful this way; and so "un-American."

Alejandro Agresti is both writer and director so he must take a double bow. He just shows us Valentin's world; he doesn't judge or pontificate. So when Valentin finally realizes that what he has been taught to hate may not be deserving of it, it happens quietly and silently. Again, so un-American.

A charming movie. Well worth a viewing. In fact, I could watch it again.

Final note: And this is always disturbing. I got on the IMDb forum where someone posted his/her dislike for this movie. Within a few replies, the postings became hateful, calling the OP an idiot, pure evil and worse (some posts had been removed.) JHC! It's only a movie! Ironically, all the hate-filled posters were defending a movie which had as one of its themes, the foolishness/hurtfulness of bigotry.

2012-01-20T06:12:00.005-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Samurai Knitter and Ravelry had discussions of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) this week. It was Samurai Knitter who mentioned that if SOPA is passed in the US, a violation of copyright by a member on Ravelry could shut down that entire site. Jon Stewart explained (and it shows what shit we're in when a satirical comedian becomes the explainer) that SOPA doesn't remove the "offending" site; it just prevents anyone from accessing it. What was even more disturbing (and once again from Jon Stewart), I saw clips of the SOPA US House hearings and watched the pathetic understanding of the Internet displayed by both Democrats and Republicans. In 2011, with the ubiquitousnessof the Internet, I shudder to think that this country (and we know it is the greatest country ever!) should be run by such clowns. I try to put in only calming posts on Friday, but SOPA is really too onerous to ignore.

On to knitting. Finally, a picture of the Advent Scarf. This is not a great picture but it's 100" long so you miss a lot. Having said that, I am soooo happy with the results. It 's 16" x 100" so I can fold it in half to make a loop and once the loop is around my neck, the ends are long enough to see the beauty of the design. As I've mentioned before, I reduced the stitches for each pattern from the 90+ range to the 50+ range. That lesson alone made this project so worth it.

Here are some notes on the scarf which I sent to interested friends and I'll probably post with the picture on Ravelry:

What the pattern calls for:
1. Lace weight Yarn
2. First stitch of every row is Slip 1 as purl. Last stitch of every row is knit.
3. Every row begins: Sl1P, K3 and ends K4.
4. The scarf starts with a spacer section which 8 K rows.
5. Row 5 of the spacer section is a beaded row.
6. If you don't want to use beads you can just K the stitches which are labeled "P" for "put a bead with the stitch" in the spacer sections.
7. After the first spacer section , you work Day 1 of the pattern, then another spacer section, than Day 2, etc.
8. The 1st row of the spacer section may tell you to increase or decrease a few stitches since the spacer section should always be 91 stitches.
9. Usually, the 8th row of the spacer section will tell you to increase or decrease a few stitches across. That's because patterns differ in number of stitches they need to work.
10. You begin and end the scarf with a spacer section.

What I did differently:
1. I worked in fingering, not lace yarn. Since this would make a shawl width as written I decreased my stitches from the 90s to the 50s for each pattern.
2, In order to keep all the patterns around 54 to 57 stitches, I used the Twisted Stitch (K in back loop of 2nd stitch on LN, then K 1st stitch in front loop - uses 2 sts) and/or the R stitch (K stitch in back loop - uses 1 stitch.) Example: Say the pattern and extra stitches add up to 49 stitches. After the edge stitches, I would work 1 TS and 1 R stitch and do the same (1 R stitch then 1 TS) at the end of the row to give me 49 sts + 6 sts = 55.
2. I used a US 6 needle.
3. I only worked 4 K rows for the spacer section (not 8.)
4. I didn't use beads so Row 5 was just K and I didn't have to increase or decrease stitches on Row 1 of the spacer section. (I did have to on Row 8 sometimes for the next pattern.)
5. I didn't follow the order of the days and I didn't use all the days.
6. I changed Row 5 in the last spacer section, the pattern row, to the pattern row in the Feather and Fan stitch (just google for it.) The first spacer section has a Row 5 pattern row to give in a scallop but I found that last spacer section pattern row just gave me a straight edge. I'm sure, with research, I could have found a better solution but F & F gave me enough of a scallop that blocking made even better.
7. My scarf is 100" x 16".

And finally, if you are just a beginning knitter you may want to check out this pattern on Ravelry. It's also an Advent Scarf but so much simpler with the most difficult stitch being a double decrease:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lace-holly

There are six short patterns to work and a cute gimmick of rolling a die every day to see which pattern to make that day.

Happy Knitting.

Next week: This winter, I'm making hats....... and spirals. Get the pattern here.

2012-01-18T04:51:00.002-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

The black, large masthead above is my feeble attempt to protest SOPA - Stop Online Piracy Act - which would allow corporations or government to shut down websites immediately; no hearing, no trial. It has tremendous corporate support and Congressional support, including big-time Democrats. Obama has made a swipe at opposing it but in the end, true to form, he'll support it. No guts.

This is a day of protest of SOPA and, as you cruise the web today, you'll see much more effective "blackouts" by Google, Wikipedia, etc. Apparently SOPA started because movie/music types just do not like copyright piracy and have the clout and inclination to use draconian methods to stop it.

To me, SOPA is manna to governments throughout the world since the ubiquitous Internet is the fastest Pony Express in history. But what an annoyance! At one time, the lapse time between governments' enactments and citizens' awareness was huge. Today, pass a bill and seconds later, the world knows. What a bother! A point so well illustrated by use of the Internet and the success of the Arab Spring. (Something Obama profusely praised and aided when it occurred "there" but profusely ignored when the US equivalent took place in the form of the Occupy Wall Street movement.)

And what a political bonus SOPA is! Congress can vote for it to help their biggest donors and also put the lid on future protests at the same time. They don't come much neater.

So, also in protest, I ditched my original website pick for today for these:

First: https://www.popvox.com/

Pop Vox (short for the Latin "voice of the people") allows you to choose the bill you care about and send your message to Congress. It says of itself: POPVOX bridges the gap between the input the public wants to provide and the information Members of Congress want and need to receive. You should bookmark this site; it's simple to use and important to do.

Then there is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/explorerflash?timeregion=7#/object_gJpTVBtSSh-rRq2QFraNMA

I'm sure I've posted BBC sites before but this link takes you right to the simplest map of history through the ages. There's a time line scroll bar on the right. Click on a time period you want and the screen will fill with links to that time. It's not your dry look at history by rather it uses social and cultural images to give you the flavor of the time.

Your first click on an image will bring up the image and a short caption. Then clicking "More about the Object" will bring you to a new page with more info and sometimes even comments from other viewers.

Do try both websites. The first in order to keep your representative governance active; the second to keep in touch with the history we are all a part of.

Enjoy.

2012-01-16T07:29:00.004-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

Well, not quite. This is a national holiday in the USA which means we have a day off to honor Martin Luther King. Unfortunately, being the USA, this holiday is unofficially called the Martin Luther King Shopping Holiday for while state and federal offices are closed and politicians attend ceremonies to pontificate about how they honor this man (some do, some don't), the rest of the country will be gobbling up store sales.

So I thought this would be a good time to bring a book to you; in fact three books: Parting the Waters, Pillar of Fire, and At Canaan's Edge. All about Martin Luther King and his times, written brilliantly by the whitest-looking white man, Taylor Branch.

I hate the term "must read" but it definitely applies to these books. Here for the first time, I learned that Rosa Parks was a active member of the civil rights movement which planned the now-famous confrontation on the bus when Parks refused to move to the back. This was not a spontaneous incident of a tired black woman just refusing to move but a well-thought out plan. (It's interesting that the "myth" of this incident makes it just a serendipitous occasion while the truth of it portrays blacks as smart and savvy about their plight.) In keeping with this incident and its true genesis, I learned that Parks was not the first choice but that was the young girl who became unmarried pregnant and the movement didn't want any such distraction/controversy - smart move.

This incident is just one illustration why these books are must-reads. I know that when truth and myth clash, myth wins. But we must keep trying to get it right. Branch, in his Pulitzer Prize works, plays an important role in trying to do just that.

Below is a link to the first book on Amazon and you can get to the other two from this page. However, I'm sure they are available in most libraries across the country.

http://www.amazon.com/Parting-Waters-America-Years-1954-63/dp/0671687425/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1326716838&sr=8-2

And finally, on a day the USA remembers a man who played such an important role in the civil rights movement (but, of course, not the only role), I'm wondering if racial hatred has finally succumbed in this country. Hell, no! Haters seem to have discovered new "hatees" to join their old favorites. Visceral hatred is tough to eradicate. Maybe we can never do it; it may be bred in the bone for many. But this is a good day to remember it's a goal worth trying to reach.

See you next Monday with that review of Valentin.

2012-01-11T07:01:00.008-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

But first, Miss L. The picture on the right is deceiving because it took a week for her to go into that crate willingly. Now, she just walks in and starts to play with her toys. Though she is still miffed that she gets locked in. She's 6 weeks old in this picture and the next.

On the right, she's asleep in my arms. She's a good sleeper and seems to catch on very quickly. Like her realization that when we approach the deck stairs, we're going in and her multiple attempts to eat leaves is coming to an end. At which point she digs in her heels (not an easy feat on patio blocks) and tries to extricate herself from her collar. .

More pictures will be coming but I like to start the record when they are so young and just forming their personalities. Next week, she's down to three meals a day. Ah, they grow so fast.

A quick pick today because today I am finally going to block my Advent Scarf. Lately, I have discovered Sudoku (long after the rest of the world did) and I love playing it on the i Pad since I don't have all those pesky erasures.

A new game for me in Ken-ken. Which is Sudoku like except with the added feature of arithmetic operations which must also be performed before solving. For example: in a 4 x 4 Ken-ken, you must use numbers 1 to 4 only one time in each row and column but unlike Sudoku there are no interior squares which must also use that rule - only one number 1 - 4 in each interior square.

However, within the total Ken ken square are areas marked off with dark lines. The areas within these dark lines can consist of any number of small squares, some L shaped, etc. In each of these "dark" areas, there is a number and a mathematical operation. For example, if it shows 2 -, it means that you must have numbers (2 numbers for subtraction in the easy puzzles) in this area which when subtracted will equal 2. If the operation is 10 +, you must have the numbers in this area add up to 10. Of course, you still must obey the rule of only 1 unique number per row and column.

Now, after I've confused you completely, try it out on this site, it comes with instructions:

http://www.kenken.com/

I think you have to type in the numbers here but I'm going to look for a site where you only click on a list of numbers. I am so lazy. (Edit: My mistake, all the numbers magically appear when you click a square - no typing involved.)

Enjoy. Time to play with the dog.

2012-01-09T05:09:00.004-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

When I see blogs not updated for years, I feel less guilty but only slightly. Sorry to be absent for a week plus but it started with absolutely no movie worth reviewing on a Monday and then Miss L arrived. (Pictures have been taken but still reside in the camera.) It turns out she's only 6 weeks old which I think is too young for separation from siblings and mom. (Are dog papas absent dads?)

She is a lab/golden mix; so tiny and fluffy; all black with streaks of gold and tiny white dots over her eyes. (You can tell I really don't like this dog!) Smart as a whip. I know, every dog mom says that. But she is. She doesn't just back off when reprimanded sternly (remember these dogs are all in training); she backs off and tries to get out of her collar to run away. Right now, she's housebroken, unless angered (that is, you leave the room with the royal bowing) when she gets pissed and pisses. She sleeps a good portion of the night and takes about 3 separate naps in the daytime. And she is so hungry.

More on Miss L in a later blog. On to the movies. In keeping with the mood of the royal bow I just mentioned, I saw The King's Speech last night. A quick summary: we watch the stutterer and future George VI of England get help for his speech problem, culminating in his important speech to the English public on the eve of WWII.

Among the principals, Colin Firth did an admirable job as a stutterer-duke/king (of course, this appraisal comes from a non-stutterer), Geoffrey Rush did his usual theatrical turn in a quirky role of speech therapist, Helena Bonham-Carter played a "normal" person well but probably not the queen mum, and Guy Pearce exuded nastiness in a historically comprised portrayal of Edward VIII.

That said: why all the fuss about this movie when it was released? It was a competent drama about a "fluff" in history. As someone said after the hoopla: Did you think England was not going to go to war if George VI hadn't made that speech?

There was a human interest story to be told here, but it wasn't. They only touched briefly on the family life of the Windsors. Both Edward and George were raised by cold parents (to be honest, coldness between parent and child was the norm for the time) and one reacted with a stutter, the other with behavior which changed the line of succession. However, Edward was not the rake as portrayed here. There are photos of him visiting the poor and accounts of his caring about their plight. For a sake a a neat Hollywood (I use the word generically) package, only George is shown here stammering through speeches to the working man and Edward is shown as besotted by Wallis Simpson.

In many ways, The King's Speech finds its roots in the god-awful historical dramas (the dreadful The Robe is now playing on my movie package) Hollywood churned out in the 1950s and early 1960s. They too played fast and loose with history, honing in on only one POV and ignoring accuracy for pomp and splendor. Even the music of TKS harkens us back to them, when important scenes were heralded by important music.

Reading reviews in IMDb, I discovered that other viewers had disliked this movie also, although official movie critics (Rotten Tomatoes) approved it by 95%. I had to search hard on that site for a negative review. Hollywood Bitchin' probably says it best with: the film never shakes the impression that it was made only to win awards.

(Note: Having nothing to back this up, I think perhaps Michael Gambon (who plays George V) may have auditioned for the speech therapist role which Rush plays. If not, he should have. I think he may have been a better choice since Rush, like Johnny Depp, unfortunately carries his Pirates of the Caribbean persona into every role he plays.)

Next week: also a small, family movie but done as it should be.

2011-12-26T07:02:00.002-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Mutt Monday

OK, it's not meant to disparage mutts (some of my best friends are cross-breeds) but it is alliterative and true. Because on January 3, the next service dog to be raised/trained is arriving and she's a mutt!. That is, she's a black lab and golden mix (apparently this is the only mix they breed to train.) All we know name-wise is that she comes from an "L" litter (all the litter names will begin with L) and, of course, as a she, she's female. So she'll be Miss L here. I can't wait to take and post pictures. And so, to paraphrase Theoden in that movie series I LOVE: On January 3, it begins.

No movie this Monday so we can all enjoy the official Christmas holiday (or should I say shopping day?) in the US. Except to say that I noticed the rating on You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger this early morning and it's R. Which means no one under 17 is admitted without an adult. Now, we all know that movie ratings in this country are so messed up and the only fast rule seems to be: most violence = PG-13 but even the talk of sex = R. Not that an R rating in any way hurts a Woody Allan movie, but what kid would even want to see YWMATDS? Wacky, wacky country.

Enjoy your day. I hope if you have to work you're getting generous holiday pay.

2011-12-23T08:07:00.001-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

I am bereft of ideas. I finished my sweater late last night, too late for pictures. My Advent scarf is about 1/3 finished. I'm working on the most luscious feeling wool shawl which is a remake from another shawl of which I said before frogging: I will never wear this. It never had this luscious feeling first time round so I'm worried about blocking. I still have a black, metallic sweater I was going to finish Xmas. Ain't goin' happen. And my green lace shawl is yummy but still has ways to go. But outside of those, I'm clueless for a blog today.

You can try this so simple pattern if you wish:
In the round: Row 1: *K1, P1* Row 2: K (this row is P if you're knitting flat)

You get the stretchiest rib which is reversible but different on each side. I worked with two skeins of Paton Classic Wool and I finished a sleeveless pullover with enough yarn left for a winter headband but my husband suggested: Why don't you keep knitting? So I did, and wound up with a below the hip sweater. So stretchy; so cool.

I'll leave you with a pattern I'm eying:

http://lovincomfortknits.blogspot.com/2007/04/suprise-from-sk-and-i-snow-white-friend.html

I know I don't want to make a triangular shawl but I spilled a mother-load of mini-skeins of leftover yarn yesterday and I got to thinking: I really should do something with this. I'm wondering about using her stitch pattern/technique and making Joseph's shawl of many colors.

OK, I must return to knitting. So little time. I wonder; could I pull an all-nighter and finish that black sweater for tomorrow? Hmmmmmm.

Happy knitting.

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

2011-12-23T07:14:00.005-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

2011-12-21T06:46:00.002-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

For this holiday season:

http://www.flixxy.com/wonderful-world-david-attenborough.htm

Start with this video and then just click around the icons at the bottom and beyond. You will definitely find something to make you smile.

Enjoy.

2011-12-19T05:40:00.004-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday - You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger and Christopher Hitchens

Chistopher Hitchens, who died last week, was a witty, acerbic Brit turned American who possessed the sharp, facile brain and tongue with which the English can so often stun an argument.

As an atheist, I agreed with much he said, but there was never agreement on his support of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. And, truth be told, I'm not really into witty, facile atheists since I don't think they produce any thing but bon mots, never conversion arguments. Because no matter how strongly I know the supernatural does not exist, I also know the human species (emphasis on species here) cannot extricate itself of the hold of the mumbo-jumbo.

I used to think that man created god after watching a violent storm or after the first death but now I don't think the species was capable of deep thought back at the beginning. So shit must have just happened for millenniums until.....

Read Julian Jayne’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind where he postulates that early man had a bicameral mind and one section of it spoke to the other. (Hearing the voice of god, anyone?) But then, 2000 years ago, the brain fused and god disappeared. (My God, My God, why have you forsaken me - takes on a whole new meaning.) And for the rest of time, mankind has embarked on the quest to find his lost god. It's a fascinating theory.

Which brings me to Woody Allen and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. Watch Sleeper or Bananas and I don't think you'd see the Woody Allen of today. Jabs at god and religion existed from the early films but age has fleshed out his thoughts on these concepts and what he is finally saying in quiet, slow tones now is startlingly comforting and disturbingly correct.

The ubiquitous narrator tells us from the start in YWMATDS that we're looking at a dysfunctional family. Helena, who has been dumped by her husband of many years, is visiting a "psychic", Cristal (love the name!), for guidance. Ex-hubby, Alfie, is searching for his lost youth in gym clubs and prostitutes. Daughter Sally supports her ex-MD, one-successful-novel husband, Roy, by working for art dealer, Greg, to whom she is attracted.

Get the picture? Helena is involved in mumbo-jumbo to assuage the pain (she tried suicide when Alfie left) and the rest of her family, while making some bad choices, is much more grounded in reality. Not giving away the plot, I'll say that members of the rest of the family are involved in some very, very bad choices. The curtain falls before disaster but you know that's what awaits them.

Helena is the key to this movie. Wacky Helena, who is persuaded by Cristal (who originally is a boon to her daughter because it gets Helena off her back) to believe she has lived before, guided by Cristal into a budding romance with a fellow thinker and finally advised financially by Cristal to a disastrous decision for her daughter. Wacky Helena, living in this crazy world of past lives and false fortune telling, comes out at the end of the movie as the only truly happy person. All the rational people live to learn sad truths: youth cannot be revisited, love is not always what it seems and crime does not pay. But Helena walks away with her balding, paunchy book seller and you have no doubt they will enjoy a bizarre but happy future.

I won't guess the message Allan is sending, I'll just tell you the message I got: In the end, the peace that comes with the mumbo-jumbo has its merits.

So Hitchens may have fought eloquently against the supernatural and Dawkins, et al, are still here to carry this torch ably. But in the end, we are just a species; no more special than the beaver who must build that dam nor the lemming who must race to that cliff. Like Lear, do we as non-believers, have to decide the wisdom of fighting the wind?

2011-12-16T09:29:00.010-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

No knitting pictures so I thought I would replay Miss M. Do dogs pray? Sure looks like she's channeling some higher power in this pic on the left. This was taken early in the game and she didn't know what a great time she would have with us.

The one on the right is from the same day. Oh, she was so cute. Still is, I'm sure. Did I tell you that she wrote us a long postcard? She made the cut as a service dog. And, someone has really helped her with her penmanship!

As I mentioned earlier this week, my Advent scarf visited the frog pond since a 91 st cast on (CO) was producing a shawl size again. And I really don't need another museum quality shawl.

Knitters have been reducing their number of CO stitches (43 sts, 55 sts) but not giving much guidance (and they don't have to) except to say something like: I had to adjust the end of the row. So I took this project as a challenge and I sat down with 15 days of patterns, decided on a CO amount ranging from 54 to 57 sts and then worked out my solution.

I won't go into all the figuring and mistakes and re-figuring and final plans; some of which had to be re-figured again as I started knitting the day's pattern. I'm only on Day 2 in my CO 56 sts rendition (which is 1/3 smaller than before) and so far, so good.

Once I get a respectable amount done, I'll post pictures and directions. This project has taught me so much. I always knew I was a timid knitter, competent, but very, very timid. I usually look at complicated patterns and eliminate them immediately or follow the chart exactly. Not this time though. I must have worked a whole day over a week with this. First, making the most outlandish changes (planning to work only half the pattern repeat or all of the pattern repeat but none of the extra stitches in the row.) Finally, I saw the light (and my math light is very, very slow at coming on) and I realized that with most of the patterns you could work them as written with fewer repeats. But more on that later.

I'll leave you with, what I call, the twisted stitch pattern: Over the first two stitches on the left needle, knit the second stitch through the back loop then knit the first stitch through the front loop. Drop both left needle stitches from your needle.

Next week, I'll explain why this simple twist is so important when you're modifying patterns. Happy knitting.

2011-12-14T07:31:00.005-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Helen Thomas said it simply and correctly re: Obama: He lacks courage. But perhaps not ego. For me, it's coming down to ego which explains his run for presidency. He ran on Change We Need. Nice and simple, but it didn't happen. The rich are still rich, the poor are still poor and the rhetoric is still hollow. I'm waiting for his justification for signing the bill to allow for the indefinite detention of US citizens. I will be surprised if he follows through on his veto threat. But I've become so jaded because even a veto means nothing; a hollow gesture if Congress has enough votes to override. And don't get me started on Plan B birth control.

Simple can be good in politics (good for getting elected, not so good for a constituency always) and it can be good with pictures. Working on the premise that none of us have much free time during this season, my website pick is:

http://500px.com/

All pictures, but many are thinking pictures and worth a long look even with the possibility of photo shopping today. Click below the picture for your language choice and then click along for all types of pictures, popular or editor's choice. Only captions to read so it's easy work.

500 px (it's really 5 followed by the infinity sign on the web page) is a site for photographers and it says about itself: 500px is a group of individuals that live and breathe photography. We like to share art with others and have the means to do so. Our small company is based in Toronto and from there we broadcast the awesomeness. We truly enjoy what we do.

You register to show your pictures; viewing is free. Just a look at In dreams I can fly by Manuela Kulpa makes the trip worthwhile. Enjoy.

2011-12-13T06:35:00.004-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Thoughts on Tuesday
(and some Movie Monday, sort of)

Well, a big weight has been lifted because I frogged my Advent Scarf. Life is good. Life is free. What was I thinking to tackle this now? More on Knitting Friday.

On Saturday, we walked to the only Barnes and Noble store with a sales annex in NJ. It's an easy walk in nice weather. Why didn't someone tell me winter is upon us? (OK, "upon us" is straight out of LOTR and yes, I have been watching it much too much lately.) I like to look at the books in the annex, sometimes I buy some and Saturday I had a "no strings attached" coupon from BN to all ex-Borders customers. Nice deal. Almost every book was a sale in the annex so I got a 1500 page literature anthology which was 1/2 of $6 + my 20% off coupon. (Of course, the cashier just scanned the bar code and said: $41.50, but we straightened that out.)

I think I've mentioned that lit anthologies are very good for upper middle school and high school. But I doubt they even exist anymore since the trend is to individual novels and usually teen lit novels. I have some anthologies from my dad and I've bought some at book sales. There are still "great works" anthologies out there; that is, 1000+ pages of classical literature with usually an introductory page for each section. But I'm talking about the anthology which presents a selection (no more than 5 - 1- pages or even a few stanzas of poetry) and after the selection presents questions for detail, discussion and essays. That type of anthology you don't see any more.

So, I was surprised to pick up this one at BN. It was a complimentary copy to the instructor (I wonder if it made the cut.) and was chocked full of works and questions.

And also, it was severely dumbed down. OK, the first selection was Frost but it was the old chestnut, The Road Not Taken. The first short play was by Wendy Wasserstein who is more culturally popular than classically grounded. There were some excellent probing questions after each selection but then there were pages and pages of student responses to the works. By page 100, I realized the author was using a lot of space walking the reader slowly through the stages of writing a good, analytical essay.

By then, I was trying to figure out just what group is being written to here. A lot of this is very basic: figures of speech, grammar, etc. Introductory college course? If so, just what did these kids learn in high school. Introductory community college course? Possibly. I'm not saying high school only because the damn book weighs so much those kids would revolt.

Now, you may have the impression that I'm trashing this book; I'm not. I am skipping a lot of the training she is giving to her intended audience and I'm concentrating on the selections and their questions. In fact, I spent the weekend polishing an analysis of Millay's poem, Pity Me Not. (A lot of the questions are: choose a work you really like and......) I did a close reading of PMN and for the first time, I saw things that previous readings (and there were many) failed to notice. It was a fun exercise. (Said by someone beyond the tediousness of school.)

Seeing this anthology, I realized that they still can be used as teaching tools and the argument of: Oh, we'd lose the kids if we do, is false. Obviously this text was including the students in the process. We may have to dumb down our lit but we don't have to abandon the classics. I'm not arguing to give them War and Peace instead of The Giver. I'm arguing, slip in a mix of the current and the classic. Bring back the anthology. It's a perfect way to present a panoply of literature in one place. But please, use lighter paper.

Which, if we're still talking about the dumbing of America, brings me to The Adjustment Bureau. We have a star (Matt Damon), and actress (Emily Blunt) and the keystone kops. What were they thinking? Watch it for a laugh. Or don't.

2011-12-09T15:41:00.000-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

I'm still in the throes of the Advent Calendar Scarf (started last Thursday so no Knitting Friday last Friday or Movie Monday this Monday but there was a Website Wednesday.) Right now, I'm on Day 6 and the pattern is on Day 9 so, again this year, I'm a little behind in my work. But it coming along very well. No nupps as yet but there is a glaring, but not that important, error in the first spacer section - identical small sections between each pattern day. (The errata didn't appear till after I was finished with the next day's pattern so it was Day 1 pattern - Day 1 spacer section with the mistake - Day 2 pattern - Day 2 spacer section w/o a mistake.) No way was I going to tink back. I'll just repeat the extra rows on the last pattern's spacer. Once again, this scarf will be a shawl since my needles are US 6 (I do love Chia Goo Lace. But I also think Knit Picks interchangeable nickel and Harmony wood are almost as pointy for lace.) and my yarn is fingering, not lace. No way will I get to Day 24. Perhaps, for a deep winter project I will take the days I don't get to use and work a scarf in lace.

I have no idea why my masochist streak comes out during this holiday season but this is the second time I'm working on a time-sensitive, intricate knitting project, plus, this year, I made two scarfs for hubby. (He does like them.) And, I still have about 10 projects OTN. And, I'm looking at this hat:

http://knitaway-one.blogspot.com/2011/12/goodie-bag-hat.html

because I think my headbands are not going to cut it this year and this hat looks funky. I'm thinking nightcap funky. Just how will my hair look coming through the top?

A knitting tip and then I must get back to my Advent scarf since the next clue (Day 10) comes out in an hour. The tip: When it calls for markers between pattern sections (very important in this scarf) wend a long piece (48") of yarn from the back to the front and then front to the back throughout the rows. For example: If the pattern starts 5 stitches in, start the yarn thread there. Then work a pattern repeat and at its end, place the yarn thread between the end stitch and the beginning stitch of the next repeat. Work this way along the row. You still have to count the stitches in the repeats as you go along but you'll find that beginning or ending yarn overs are much easier to count this way. Since my pattern repeats are the same RS and WS for each pattern, I usually weave the yarn along on the RS row, keep it in for the WS row, then remove it and lay it again for the next RS row. Try it; it really does make your work move along faster.

Oh, I forgot. I bought Knit Pick Harmony needles and then arrived yesterday. I'll tell you about them next Friday and also the sad, short life of my beautiful KP shawl pin.

Happy knitting.

2011-12-07T04:59:00.002-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

OK, I must make this fast and happy today because I am in the middle of my Advent Calendar Scarf which is being made by an atheist and is definitely going to be shawl, not scarf sized and will get much too big so I can't include all the 24 days of Advent patterns; but outside of that it's coming along swimmingly. (Quick background: A very generous German woman posts 24 different knitting pattern samplers [24 rows] for each day of Advent. She charts them and writes out the directions [sometimes the English translation has German phrases so we get a bonus language lesson] and we follow along knitting one pattern a day [Ha! I'm 2 days behind already.] and chatting on Ravelry re: our progress.) My every spare minute is spent knitting. If you check the calendar you'll see that the first day of Advent was Thursday, December 1 and my blog just fell off the edge of the earth after that.

But in the midst of Obama finally finding his voice (and his sincere voice this time, I'm sure) and addressing the 99%ers in America to tell them that they have been royally screwed during the first 3 years of his administration (but not by him of course, or any Democrat running in 2012) and the fact that this is the holiday season (and our species does need holiday cheer), I thought I would present two happy choices.

OK, maybe the first won't make you happy because it's a two foods comparison chart:

http://www.twofoods.com/

You plug in any two foods and the site spews out the nutrition guide for each food based on similar weight. I didn't believe it when they listed a small McDonald's FF and a plain baked potato as close in calories but a Google search proved them right. So keep this site handy as you imbibe and indulge this holiday season. You'll be the life of the party pulling out your i Phone and telling everyone their calorie consumption.

And then there's this:

http://www.peachygreen.com/wildlife/incredible-wildlife-photography

These are amazing wildlife photos from Peachy Green which appears to be a site dedicated to making the earth greener but making people feel good, not guilty, about doing this. So after you take a look at this pics, cruise the site; there's a lot to read and see here.

Now, it's back to my knitting marathon. Enjoy.

2011-11-30T04:07:00.002-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Last night, PBS had a show on about the Navajo and the cruelty shown them by the US government and basically most of the US citizenry they came in contact with. I have trouble watching this type of show because I always get so angry to the point of physical revulsion.

Peter Coyote did a good job as narrator. Without editorializing there was no doubt he was telling you about another horror imposed human on human. Unfortunately, the true metal, or lack of it, on the part of PBS (as they try to appease the US constituency and influence which embraces racism and violence) shone through in the form of one of their talking "experts" who after we heard about the horrendous deeds of Kit Carson from both the narrator and Navajo descendants, said (in paraphrase): Well he (Carson) was only using violence to advance his cause as was customary in the 1800s.

Jesus H. Christ! And we still wonder why the rest of the world hates us? To pull out the old worn chestnut, I wonder if this expert would have been allowed to say re: the Nazis: Well, they were only using violence to advance their causes as was customary in the 1900s. Never, if he were saying it about the Jews. Unfortunately, the Nazi victims of gays, disabled, socialists, etc. would probably still be fair game for, we have, as a country, a bizarrely schizophrenic system of morality.

Which in a small way shows up in my website pick this week, GQ:

http://www.gq.com/

Wikipedia says of the magazine:

GQ (originally Gentlemen's Quarterly) is a monthly men's magazine focusing on fashion, style, and culture for men, through articles on food, movies, fitness, sex, music, travel, sports, technology, and books. It is the male equivalent of Vogue.

No, it's better than Vogue. I'm sure GQ is aiming for the same financially demographic audience as Vogue but it, fortunately, lacks Vogue's elitist tone and articles. For example, I don't think I would find The Carnivore's Guide to Cooking Vegetarian at Vogue nor The 25 Least Influential People Alive (more on this later), nor Oscar Bait and Switch: A GQ Guide to 40 Must-See Movies This Fall.

OK, the G does stand for Gentlemen and you get the dose of sports and woman but while I would hesitate to recommend some of my "women's" pick to men, I do think GQ has a lot of stuff for all sexes and interests. I'm not going to cruise you around this site since the fun is to wander on your own and come across such gems as America's 25 Douchiest Colleges. They're big on lists (something I love) and the lists are interrupted with a few very quick ads: it's worth this annoyance.

Now, to get back to the 25 least influential people article which does tie into the PBS Navajo show tangentially. Obama comes in as #25 and the blurb reports that he wasted the capital he gained from ordering the raid to wipe bin Laden "off the face of the earth." Well, that raid which ended in the point blank assassination of bin Laden was only capital for a tyrant. I guess we forgot trial by jury like they had at Nuremberg. And now with the "Obama doctrine" of killing our enemies (even US citizens) where ever we find them, we're just sinking deeper into our schizophrenic morality. Just like in centuries past with native Americans, blacks, immigrants, the poor, the new hate meme for the US today seems to be just about any damn person(s) we choose.

But as Sam says in LOTR: Even with all the darkness, there is some light in the sky. We all have to believe that.

2011-11-28T13:21:00.005-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

OK, I admit it! I ordered something online today, Cyber Monday. I'm not proud that I succumbed to the siren call of capitalism. I'm not even sure I really wanted my purchase (hued lace yarn.) But it's done. I will be knitting till I die and beyond (neat trick for an atheist.) But, at least, I'll be using good yarn - and it was on sale!

Spent Saturday working on my newsletter. For some reason it was a 7 hour project which was spent in the kitchen on the laptop and the TV turned to the weekend marathon of The Lord of the Ring. (Could this be why it took so long?) I started watching at 8 pm Friday night and continued into the wee hours of today. Since this its 10th anniversary, they also showed the extended version of the trilogy (I think about 3 times total.)

What do they call LOTR junkies? I'm one for sure. But even after 10 years, the damn thing holds up. Not so much the CGI, which Jackson once said would one day become dated, but the acting out of the story. The little vignettes which suck you into the characters' lives. I'm happy Jackson didn't go for star power (rumor is that Sean Connery was offered the part of Gandalf - not a good match.) Instead, by using good, solid actors, Jackson made what may be the best ensemble epic of all time. Think about it: most epics pivot around one character and his/her interactions with secondary players. Gandhi, Lawrence of Arabia, Ben Hur, Avatar, the list is endless. With LOTR, there is hero's journey but both Frodo and Aragon are making equally important ones. There are "sidekicks" but they are all unique: Sam with Frodo, Pippin and Merry with Theoden and Gandalf and Legolas and Gimli with Aragon. There are the "waiting women" but both have unique personalities: Arwen who watches and protects and Eowyn who chafes that she can't fight as her men do. And there's so much more but this is not the my movie for Monday. That honor, or perhaps dishonor goes to, The American with George Clooney.

If the world were going to end today and you had never seen any movie in your entire life and The American was the only movie available, I would say: Read a book instead.

The American lacks everything except gorgeous scenery. The acting is bad, the plot is wacky, and apparently from IMDb reviews, the mechanics of building an assassin's rifle were all wrong. It seems obvious this film was going for the ennui of the over-the-hill assassin which European films have a knack for nailing. Clooney doesn't.

Clooney is an American actor through and through. It's not a bad thing but the closest he ever came to the weary pessimism found in European films was Michael Clayton. Being talented with a comedic spark, Clooney is able to "phone in" some roles, as he does in The American. Never is the audience engaged in this man's life. We start with a mystery. He and his girlfriend are in Sweden. They walk into a snow covered field. Someone is following them. Clooney shoots the man, send his girlfriend to call the police and as she walks away, calmly shoots her. Wow!

Next scene, he flees to Italy, calls his boss, says he wants out. OK, says the boss just one last job. It's to make the gun for the killer, not to be the killer. There's a lot in this setup but it goes nowhere. It's established that he frequents prostitutes but then, bingo, he falls in love with one. Of course, he still has this gun to make which he does and then the movie engages in the longest, most boring sequence of "taking the gun out for a test run." Remember the tautness of The Day of the Jackal where the gun is made and tested. It all done tautly with a minimum of talking and in the back of the audience's mind is the question: Will the Jackal kill the kindly gun maker has he done with other helpers? Perhaps the director was trying to repeat that scene. He doesn't. And so The American just goes boringly along. Even twists and betrayals fall flat.

At first, I thought the movie was based on the Henry James novel of the same name. It isn't. But I always remember James as being so boring. I know he was supposed to be deep but I could only go so far with a James novel (he was better with the short story) before I felt like I was swimming in the molasses of triviality. Sort of how I felt by the closing credits of The American.

2011-11-25T06:21:00.003-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

I was an absolute waste this week re: blogging since family health issues, school half-days and gobble-gobble day took up all my time. So I thought: Let's not make the week a total waste. Let's blog on Black Friday when the whole nation is sitting home, drinking coffee and reading my blog.

But before I get to my very, very short knitting blog, if you have Verizon cable TV, this weekend you get Starz and Encore free (channels 340 to 362 in NJ) and tonight you get to see LOTR, all three movies, without commercial interruption (that means you don't pee for 9+ hours.) I'm sure there will be other noteworthy but all three LOTR!!!! Wow!'

On to knitting. Hubby wants a second scarf and he decided on the color and the pattern (deep brown and a flat stockinette stitch with twisted stitches throughout.) It's coming along very nicely and I'm using the needles recommended on the yarn, US 6. So I'm getting a chance to try out my US 6 in the Harmony from the Knit Picks sampler pack (US 6, 7, 8 in wood, plastic and nickel, 2 different-sized cables for $20.) and I'm loving these wood needles. Really sharp.

But I wasn't that happy with my cast on so I thought: What about an I Cord CO? Which brought me to the following Berroco site which I want to recommend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl550vquOCY

After practicing with the video and using her cast on of 4 stitches, I wasn't pleased with the thickness of the I Cord. You really don't want an I Cord that's "in your face" at the bottom of a scarf. So, still following her directions I only cast on 2 stitches. And, when I got to the required stitches (the pattern CO stitch number) I only made one extra stitch (the video says make 3 extra stitches.) Then I took that extra stitch and the last required stitch back to the left needle and knitted them together (the video has you taking 4 stitches back to the LN and K2tog two times.) The video's bind off gave the I Cord a bump I didn't like.

Another observation I had: you have to use straight needles or two circs (trust me on this) and you seem to be able to make the I Cord on the same size needle as you need for the pattern. Maybe you could even go down one size but not up. I'm planning on making the I Cord bind off on two stitches to match the CO. I haven't even tried this process yet so if I get to 65" and discover it ain't goin' to work and my scarf ends aren't matching, you will hear my primal scream wherever you are.

Enjoy your shopping, eating leftovers, whatever, today. Happy Knitting.

2011-11-16T07:04:00.006-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Every once and a while, in order to maintain your sanity, you have to look beyond the dross humans create for other humans and see the patches of beauty and the patches of fun which exist all around us.

So, on a rainy, dank day in NJ, I present:

http://alligator-sunglasses.com/

Love the name: Alligator Sunglasses. Does he put them on himself? Get help? They are cool shades.

Currently, you get a picture of a baby polar bear with the heading: Just A Baby Polar Bear. But, being human, we anthropomorphically attribute to this infant mammal who will soon grow into a vicious killer all the smiles and chuckles we would heap on our own progeny. And, then the cute kitty one picture down. Oh, so cute. (And I'm NOT a cat person.) But AS then brings us back to reality with a printed monologue by Dave Chappelle where he talks about girls dressing like whores but not being them.

Alligator Glasses is part of the PBH Network and if you click on the top bar at AG, you'll be sent to other PGH sites.

Click on The World Around Us in the top bar for some stunning pictures. It's really 3-D in 2-D. Also, in this topic is a map of McDonald's around the country. (Tip: If you want to trip over a McDonald's, live on the east coast.) A click on Politics & Culture will bring you to the midnight raid on OWS in NYC. And also, Chapter 1 of The Mormon Diaries by the AS cultural correspondent.

I had to google to find out about PBH; here's what I got:

The original PBH Network began in 2005 with the launch of Prose Before Hos, Well Placed Pottery, and Disgraceful And Sexy. In 2009 and 2010, PBH2, Die Hipster Die, Alligator Sunglasses [Formerly PBH3], All That Is Interesting, Runt of the Web, and Die Guido Die were added to feature new content.

and more:

Prose Before Hos (PBH) is an open forum for news, humor, and writing. PBH features personalities, dailies, reviews, and a vast array of columns and updates from authors.Well Placed Pottery (WPP) is a website in expressionist effort, labeled by the creator as an ‘artistic endeavor’. The website is primarily centered around thought and abstract creations. Disgraceful And Sexy (D&S) is a media centered website. This site, as the title implies, is a humor driven focused on multimedia including pictures, movies, and miscellaneous internet humor.

Nothing about AS; but you get the picture. PBH is beautiful, funny, thoughtful, and...... well you fill in the rest. There's a lot of see and read here so plan to stay for a while. Oh, and much of it is not child friendly. Enjoy.

2011-11-14T06:31:00.005-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

I was thinking about what is systemically wrong with the US and I guess, if the essay says: Give only one reason, I would have to say it's that we made capitalism, which is only an economic system, into a code word for our representative government ("They are trying to destroy capitalism, the very fiber of our way of life."); and then we spun that wacky belief into the meme that capitalism is sacred like religion and you know we never disparage anyone's religion (Well, anyone we think is OK, that is.) in this county.

Not encouraging thoughts but I like to understand how everything works.

Which brings me to my movie review this Monday, which is not Dogville (as promised two Mondays ago) but it does involve Nicole Kidman (who stars in Dogville) and Lars von Trier (who directed Dogville), so I'm getting there.

I want to end up reviewing Melancholia but let's start with The Hours. For which, Nicole Kidman won Best Actress Oscar for her role as Virginia Wolf(!!!) Oh, the horror! She did wear a false nose and that's the equivalent of "losing yourself in a role" in Hollywood terms. But, what a depressing movie! Apparently, there's a book, The Hours, which won the Pulitizer Prize(!!!) which is the basis of this movie. The plot spans the time from the early 1900s to modern times and, using Woolf as the linchpin, traces the lives of three lesbian/bi-sexual women and their interactions with husbands and a past lover. What a drag! Meryl Streep plays her role with her usual acting smarts; Julianne Moore fights back tears throughout her extremely depressing turn as a pregnant mom of an adorable little boy who is fighting her desire to leave her family and kill herself.

And, then there's Kidman as Woolf. Oh, the angst! The only time she acts believably human is a short scene when she selfishly orders her hard-working cook to leave her preparations for lunch and travel to London to get a food she wants. The rest of the time she's angsting about. OK, I am on a tirade here and that's because I decided to revisit Woolf. I couldn't find her novels at the time but did find a book of essays. What a witty, bright, articulate woman. Nothing of this is in the movie however, and we come away with a gross misconception of a great, innovative female writer from the last century. What a waste.

OK, the above was just a mini-tirade; now to a review of Melancholia which is the story of the destruction of earth without any of the fanfare. It's centered on a dysfunctional family with Kristen Dunst as the clinically depressed sister (and she nails the depression) who fucks up her life royally almost immediately after the film starts and then we watch her, her sister, nephew and brother-in-law as they wait for the end of the world.

The film has a very European in flavor, in that good European films usually play out very slowly and the denouncement is more a whimper than a bang. Same here is some ways for (SPOILER ahead) the world does end but very quietly and beautifully. No CGI, only minor hysterics; it's sad but it's also soooo quiet.

But then, it lacks the length which good European films need since they explore subjects so much more quietly (there's that word again) and philosophically than their American counterparts. I would have liked a longer movie. More exploration of Dunst's relationship with her parents; more exploration of her relationship with the husband she dumps on her wedding night; more exploration of the depression which defined her life. Von Trier likes streamline metaphor (Dogville) so perhaps this is the cut he wanted or perhaps this is the cut which he knew would be the money shot (they loved Melancholia at Cannes.)

Bottom line: Go see Melancholia. It's beautiful to the eye; it has stuff to say; it has stuff we all can think about (example: why are men so peripheral in this movie?) Be warned, it has a slow European pace, not American freneticism. Surprisingly, it's less depressing than The Hours.

2011-11-11T10:29:00.004-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Pretty much nothing new, except: my man's scarf is practically done (the man just has to try it on for length); the pink lace small shawl I was knitting in the pattern I posted last Friday has been frogged, and Wolkistchen from Ravelry has started another Advent Calendar Scarf KAl, this time for 2011. Website below:

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/advent-calender-scarf-2011

First the man's scarf: hubby asked for it and I love it when someone asks for a knitted project (the last being the boy's requests for a Mario blanket and a Mario pillow) so I decided on a *K3, P3* row and a *K1, P1* row pattern. It's a very simple pattern and it probably has a nice name. All I know, it's reversible and looks like ribbing with design.

Second, the pink lace shawl. Well, I looked at it last night and for some reason the pattern meandered. That's usually OK, but it was for just about 5 rows about 2" into the shawl. Something I did wrong, I'm sure. It did frog nicely, however and I'm now working with a J hook on the crochet version of my shawl (scroll back a few Fridays for the pattern.) I know this one comes out big and airy after blocking and I'm using long threads on each side in the last loop to be worked since it's just too easy go around the neck edge and work another loop.

And finally, the Advent Calendar Scarf. If you're religious, go for it; if not, don't be put off by the word "advent." I made the 2010 version last year (one clue on each of the 24 days of Advent) with some modifications since I was at 100" in length on the 18th day. Wolkistchen does excellent charts (plus written instructions) and the KAL members are very helpful. 2010 was when I first worked crocheted nupps, (what an easy variation); and, I first worked only from charts (how did I only read the directions all these years?)

I think you must join Ravelry for this KAL, (which I'm assuming is free as last year's [Ravelers can be so generous]), but the easy registration is sooooo worth it. Now, I have to search for the right wool, probably purple, because, well, because I have it! But I do have three pairs of Chia Goo Red Lace needles, US 6, US 8 and US 10, (did I tell you how much I love my lace Chia Goo?) so I think I'm ready in the needle department. I'm assuming since it's a scarf, it'll be a rectangle so I'm thinking another shawl since that is usually an easy stretch.

OK, enough typing. I've got to start finishing some WIP since on December 1, we start getting one clue a day.

But finally before I forget, we heard from Seeing Eye and Miss M made the cut and is entering her final training. We will be able to see her before she's placed but, of course, there will be no contact. I'm missing her more now than when she first left. Go figure. But some happy news, a new batch of puppies are coming in for placement. Though no one can replace Miss M, just as no one will be able to replace the second pup.

Happy knitting.

2011-11-09T05:43:00.004-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Sorry for no Movie Monday but I entered the third stage of my dental implant (they cut the gum and insert another piece of the titanium rod) and I was whipped. Surprisingly, because stage one and two were the proverbial breeze. But two days of ibuprofen have me back in action.

Now, I don't like to go into metaphor too much (insert a big guffaw here) but reading the comments to the Paterno/Penn State football/"let's cover up the raping of little boys" scandal, I find the metaphor for the USA staring me down like the deer in the headlights.

For those who know nothing about this scandal: In 2002, a graduate assistant at Penn State, PA entered the shower room of the football building and saw a naked football coach (Jerry Sandusky) in the shower raping a 10-year-old boy (listed as Victim 2 in the grand jury report.) He reports this incident to his dad who advises him not to go to the police but to report it to the legendary Coach Paterno (don't know the guy but apparently he's legendary, that is, he wins football games.) Well, the legendary coach reports the incident to his superior at Penn State and that seems to be the end of it. Apparently, the rapist loses his keys to the locker room as punishment.

Fast forward to 2011 and a PA grand jury issues a report of the horrible, graphic incidents of child sexual abuse/rape perpetrated by Sandusky before and after the shower room rape incident.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/06/sports/ncaafootball/20111106-pennstate-document.html

So America has produced another monster, you say. Surprised? No, but I'm surprised at the reaction. First, the reaction of the graduate assistant. He told his father? His father said don't go to the police? (What, do we treat young boys as the play thing of sick men in this country? This was not a horrible crime?) Then the legendary Paterno (after reading in the Penn State faculty handbook, I assume, on "What to do when you hear something really, really bad") reports the incident to his superior and just walks away from it. Jesus H Christ! The GA saw the child being raped. It wasn't a second or third hand account told to him in a town bar after a night of drinking.

But back to the comments. Of course, there is outrage. That's to be expected. But there is also a good amount of: Well, Paterno reported it. Why are you complaining? attitude.

And that's where it gets so typically American; so typically and hypocritically American. We sure do love our sports; we sure do love our heroes; we sure do love our values. So whether it's applauding the assassination of people without due process, the dropping of drone bombs on innocents, or the raping of children, we can dig into our vast top hat of moral justifications and pull out a plum. What a country!

My website pick is: http://www.openculture.com/

Have you ever thought: What book(s) would I bring with me to a desert island? Well, Open Culture is the only website you need to bring as long as you're wired for WiFi. Open Culture has audio books, audio and video courses, movies. What more could you want? There are language lessons, free e-books, and links to cultural icons you should know about. I see good cheese, good bread, grapes, good wine and Open Culture on this island. It sounds like heaven to me. Enjoy!

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

2011-11-09T04:50:00.002-05:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Sorry for no Movie Monday but I entered the third stage of my dental implant (they cut the gum and insert another piece of the titanium rod) and I was whipped. Surprisingly, because stage one and two were the proverbial breeze. But two days of ibuprofen have me back in action.

Now, I don't like to go into metaphor too much (insert a big guffaw here) but reading the comments to the Paterno/Penn State football/"let's cover up the raping of little boys" scandal, I find the metaphor for the USA staring me down like the deer in the headlights.

For those who know nothing about this scandal: Earlier in the 2000s, a graduate assistant at Penn State, PA entered the shower room and saw a naked man in the shower raping a 10-year-old boy. He reported this incident to his dad who advised him not to go to the police but to report it to the legendary Coach Paterno (don't know the guy but apparently he's legendary, that is, he wins football games.) Well, the legendary coach reports the incident to his superior at Penn State and that seems to be the end of it. Apparently, the rapist lost his keys to the locker room as punishment.

Fast forward to 2011 and a PA grand jury issues a report of the horrible, graphic incidents of child rape perpetrated by this man (Jerry Sandusky) long after the shower room rape incident.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/06/sports/ncaafootball/20111106-pennstate-document.html

So America has produced another monster, you say? Surprised? No, I'm surprised at the reaction. First, the reaction of the graduate assistant. He told his father? His father said don't go to the police? (What, do we treat young boys as the play thing of sick men in this country? It's not a horrible crime?) Then the legendary Paterno (after reading in the Penn State faculty handbook, I assume, on "What to do when you hear something really, really bad") reports the incident to his superior and then just walks away from it. Jesus H Christ! The GA saw the child being raped. It wasn't a second or third hand account told to him in a town bar after a night of drinking.

But back to the comments. Of course, there is outrage. That's to be expected. But there is also a good amount of: Well, Paterno reported it. Why are you complaining? attitude.

And that's where it gets so typically American; so typically and hypocritically American. We sure do love our sports; we sure do love our heroes; we sure do love our values. So whether it's applauding the assassination of people without due process, the dropping of drone bombs on innocents, or the raping of children, we can dig into our vast top hat of moral justifications and pull out a plum. What a country!

My website pick is:

http://www.openculture.com/

Have you ever thought: What book(s) would I bring with me to a desert island? Well, Open Culture is the only website you need to bring as long as you're wired for WiFi. Open Culture has audio books, audio and video courses, movies. What more could you want? There are language lessons, free e-books, and links to cultural icons you should know about. I see good cheese, good bread, grapes, good wine and Open Culture on this island. It sounds like heaven to me. Enjoy!

2011-11-04T06:32:00.007-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

In my determination to get this posting up, I've even putting down my knitting to type. First, here's a picture, finally:

Some specs: 75" x 20", Wool-Ease doubled, US 15 needles, before blocking
This is the first shawl I've made with the modification of my pattern. The pattern uses the Wisp pattern: http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer07/PATTwisp.html but you can use any 2 stitch pattern (right now, I'm working with Row 1: *YO, K2tog*
Row 2: *K*.) It's the ends of the rows which matter to get the shape.
The pattern with modified increases:
Row 1: K1 front and back (fb), 2xs *work pattern* K1 fb, 2x
Row 2: K1fb, 1x *work pattern* K1fb, 1x
Work to length.

That's all there is to it. You can work a 90 row pattern but you must repeat the increases as written until you get to your length. And what do you do at length? The beginnings and ends of every row become K2 as in: K2 *work pattern* K2.
It's that simple. Once your shawl is wide enough, bind off. What you see in the picture at the long ends of the shawl is the area you work without any increases.

I'm wearing the shawl as I type in a cold house. Sitting, it covers down to my thighs (fastened with a chopstick shawl pin) and I'm cozy warm. Originally, I had increased so it fell down to my knees (not good for sitting or standing) so I ripped back and I even could have ripped back more.

Re the change I made in the increases: You get a crescent shaped shawl with original Kfb, 2xs at the beginning and end of every row. Which is great for summer shawls that I want to wear around my shoulders and not my neck. However, you can see from the picture you get a very tiny triangle area (from a CO 4; I'm sure a larger CO would eliminate this) with the pattern modification. The shape is much more rectangular which allows inside wear as a shawl and outside wear as a thick scarf.

Why do I like this pattern? You can easily modify this shawl to match the amount of yarn you have. Unlike the diagonally knitted rectangular shawl where you must have enough yarn to fill in the top part of the rectangle, here, you can end any time once you are knitting the pattern without increases. So, with every project I attempt with this pattern, I know I'm going to have enough yarn. I might have to increase my needle size to get more "mileage", I might only get a scarf size and not a shawl size; but I know I going to be complete the project.

Observant pattern readers will see that working to length (with the modification), I'm using 2 beginning and end stitches on row 1 for increases and only 1 beginning and end stitch on row 2. On row 2, I start the pattern with the second stitch and all works well. Could I work: Row 2: K1fb, K1 *work pattern* K1, K1fb? Probably but I haven't tried it. Could this change allow me to work patterns with different stitch counts? Maybe. As I've said before, this is a work in progress.

So I hope you take this template pattern and run with it. One day I may post it on Ravelry. I hope I don't get snark because I have eliminated the traditional middle of the shawl increases.

Happy knitting.

2011-11-02T06:24:00.003-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

I keep waiting for Obama to do the one thing that might justify my voting for him in 2012. But nada. This week we removed our funding from UNESCO because it seated the Palestinians as a member. Jesus H Christ! Yes, I know that US had to do this because Congress in the 1990s in honor of the dead Tom Lantos decided what the world needed for world peace was a law saying the US could not belong to any UN group the Palestinians were a part of. Great thinking, guys, as usual.

So Obama pulled the US plug on the group, quietly of course, without announcing: Hey, folks, I know this is stupid but my hands are tied (and don't expect me to do anything to untie them.)

But, I think the nail in the coffin was the White House's rejection this week of a petition to legalize medical marijuana. The mind boggles at the stupidity in high places.

Which leads me to my pick this week: People of Influence

http://cliptank.com/ab/PeopleofInfluencePainting2.htm

First, this is one big picture so you may need to refresh the screen before it all appears. Then you may want to scroll around identifying all the famous faces. And finally, the fun begins. Click on each person and get sent to his/her biography. It seems that Wikipedia is the only source for these biographies but all throughout the bios are links to more secondary source material.

The people pictured range through the centuries with the important (Stalin, Da Vinci) to the entertaining (Shirley Temple. Bruce Lee.) There's a real Asian influence since the painter are Chinese: Dai Dudu, Li Tiezi, and Zhang An and can be found in the upper right by Dante. Which is probably the most appropriate spot for them since the title of this painting is Discussing The Divine Comedy with Dante.

It's interesting to see whom the artists allowed to make the cut. Examples: Arafat and Sharon, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Bill Gates and Marlon Brando in his Godfather garb. I bet you don't know Norman Bethune. Here, you can read about this Scot Canadian's medical care journey which finally led him to China.

So let me stop typing so you can start reading. It's not a one-stop visit this time. And don't forget to click on the non-human and inanimate objects; most of them have interesting stories to tell.

Enjoy.

2011-10-31T06:22:00.003-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

Now, I totally punked out on Knitting Friday in spite of the lie I spewed the Friday before that I would have pictures. Liar! Liar! Pants on fire! But Friday morning I had a tooth pulled; a front tooth pulled. Unbelievable in this age of Save Everything but it had received a bad injury when I was a child, had had two root canals and now was causing abscesses every time I stopped my regimen of antibiotics. So on Friday, I started the long process to repair that section of my mouth. Right now, I'm sporting the tiniest little tooth on a bridge. Easy to use but I'm not eating with that in so I'll check back with you on weight loss in a month.

As you know, lately I've been thinking too much about the human species (maybe 24/7 news coverage is a bad thing) and I'm coming up empty. That is, empty of any reason for the species' existence except that evolutionarily species develop and species die off. We human just happened and then we globbed onto the fact of: Boy, ain't we special. And that's when the wackiness began. I would start the wackiness meter on zero at the time religion developed. Because at this time the species got a higher purpose and unlike the zebra who looked over the horizon at a pack of raging lions and said: Shit! Good bye world, we looked over the horizon at the shit coming at us and said: Oh, God will provide.

But this posting isn't about my angst, it's about the movie, Red.

Red is a caper movie with a twist. It's wacky, it's editorially inconsistent (just how did Urban and Willis wind up in the same room at the CIA?) but it's unbelievability hits you at such a speed that you just gallop along with it.

The cast sports your uber-tough guy, Bruce Willis but he's matched with the wit of Mary Louise Parker, the easy charm of Morgan Freeman, the always solid performance of Helen Mirrin and the virtuoso crazy man turn of John Malkovich.

For whatever reason, Hollywood suits made this a movie about CIA retirees with not a teeny-bopper to be seen. The youngsters, Urban and Parker (though in real life she's only 9 years younger than Willis) work well with the old-timers and you get to see a meshing of generations, not a clash.

The stunts are wild and crazy. In fact, one of those reality TV shows tried the stunt where Malkovich's bullet stops a rocket launcher missile (don't try this at home, kids) and they proved it wouldn't work. But while the stunts punch up this movie, it's the human relationships (Willis and Parker, Willis and Freeman, Urban and his family, and finally Willis and Urban) which allow the film to cross genres.

Good acting from all though I though Rebecca Pidgeon was wasted. She has a distinctive acting style more suitable to a Mamet production. Brian Cox, Ernest Borgnine and Richard Dreyfuss occupy smaller roles but play them seamlessly.

I know a lot of reviewers have gimmicky review meters like how many times did I look at my watch. I guess I have one of sorts too. First, there are the thematically worth-while movies like The Road, Dogville, or The Human Stain. Those are in a special category because they discuss the human condition and should be watched. They're the education part of the film craft.

Then there's all the rest, the entertainment which many times forms the background noise in my life, and, as with all noises, some you just want to shut off.

Red doesn't fit into in the shut-off category. Judging it on its knit ability score (that is, I can watch it again and again as I knit), it ranks very high. Unlike Prince of Persia which while just as wacky, is always a pass for me when it appears in my movie package.

Next week: Dogville. I think I should start practicing my angst mood again.

Happy watching.

2011-10-26T04:17:00.007-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Sorry for no Movie Monday. There I was in a strange hotel room looking at the internet connection plug (which I had pulled out the night before) and having no idea where it fit into the doodads on the side of the laptop. So, rather than fry the whole system (can you still do that?), I didn't post. But I did "X mark the spot" when I was shown where to plug in so here I am today

Being in Rockville, MD is an experience. A lot of sidewalks. Many of them bordering, crowded highways with fast moving cars. I see it as really walking in the shoulder of a major highway except your walking area is very slightly raised from road level. One distracted driver, cell phoning, reading the paper, putting on make-up, the list is endless, and you could have a pedestrian disaster.

Half a block away, there is what I thought was a Metro entrance. But the stairs just go down one level (way to short for the DC metro.) There's another identical "Metro entrance" opposite it across the highway. So I'm thinking its an underground walkway under the highway. But I don't see any people going in or out (they instead run across the highway usually ignoring the little man signal which tells you when it's your turn to cross) so I'm not taking any chances and I'm treating it like the roach motel. You know: roach go in but don't come out.

TV is better here than Arlington, VA. There are 2 HBO channels and the RT channel. What's RT? Well, that's Russian Television. An interesting, liberal, social-conscious channel. Nothing like our lazy MMM. I look at RT's extensive coverage of the Occupy protests and think: I wonder how this plays to the world? For this channel obviously is not guided by our domestic mantra, America uber alles.

A little history about my choice for today, A Don's Life:

http://timesonline.typepad.com/dons_life/

Anyone who studies US history should have heard of Charles and Mary Beard, husband and wife historians from the first half of the 1900s who fostered the view that American history was guided by economic principles not moralistic ideals. For example, they traced the causes of the American Civil War to a clash of economic cultures rather than a desire by the Union to end slavery. I've collected a few of their books at book sales and they're quite readable, telling history without the modern day historian's approach of: Washington awakened to a grey dawn. (Talk about chalk scratching a blackboard!)

As I understand it, Beard was a liberal and vehemently opposed the US entry into WWII. The opposition ended his career. And, something I didn't know: he is a co-founder of The New School in NYC.

So when I saw the name Mary Beard as a reviewer for The New York Review of Books, I thought: Daughter? Grand-daughter? Then I found the tidbit that she was one of people asked by TNYROB after 9/11/01 to comment. To paraphrase, she said something like: After the first wave of disbelief, I think most people think that America got what she deserved. Because a bully, even a well-meaning one, is still a bully. Wow! What a gutsy lady.

And that's how I got to her blog, A Don's Life. This Mary Beard is English and seems to be no relation to my Charles Beard. She teaches the classics at Cambridge and she blogs (40,000 hits a week) about them and her life and thoughts.

I like reading about the past. I especially like her links to primary documents. Right now, she's talking about the collapsing walls of Pompeii but scroll down to a posting about what first assignment she gives to her first year students. Click the links there to read the account of an ancient Greek's courtroom defense as to why he was justified in killing his wife's lover. Or go back to 8/26/11 for a discussion of Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, it's Roman ruins and more.

Beard's blog is hosted by The Times Literary Supplement, and a right column entry clicks you to another TLS blog by Peter Stothard, one of their editors. Scroll down his postings to the one on the writer/"historian" Robert Hughes (Robert Hughes: a reply?, 10/21). Double wow! I haven't seen Hughes' book but if Stothard is correct, it's a piece of unbelievably sloppy history.

Well, I guess it's time for me to go and for you to start reading. Enjoy!

2011-10-21T17:33:00.003-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Not much today because I'm packing for a small trip (sometimes more difficult than a big trip) and dinner room table is suitcase laden; so no pictures, nuthin'.

Except for all you knitting addicts out there (as I am), I've reworked the knitted shawl (pictured last Friday) so that 2 stitches are increased each side on the first row and 1 stitch is increased each side of the second row. If you remember, I originally said that you should increase two stitches each side until you get to your length. Now, I think it looks better with 6 stitches increased every two rows, not 8 stitches increased every two rows.

These new increases limit your pattern for the body of the shawl since with four stitches increased every row you could work a 4 stitch pattern in the body. Now you can only work a 2 stitch body pattern and perhaps a 6 stitch (and multiple of 6 stitches) pattern but I haven't worked this out yet.

I decided on this increase change as I was blocking the shawl pictured last week. (It really is a wide scarf because I just got bored with the simple pattern. But I did add a corkscrew stitch crocheted fringe to the short ends. Pictures next week.) The curved area (neck area) was much tighter than the crocheted version. That's when I realized I wasn't really crocheting two extra loops each side every row for 8 increases every two rows; I was working 6 increases every two rows. So I was working the crocheted version looser than I thought. I'm knitting a lace weight pink shawl this way right now and I can feel there is more ease in the neck area.

OK, got to go and pack.

Happy knitting.

2011-10-19T07:27:00.004-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Owing to the fact that two, obscenely monster-large hospital complexes are almost completed in my area. (Screw you, America for thinking health costs will be controlled, love, the medical - pharmaceutical industry.) Add to this the fact that I must visit my MD tomorrow for a semi-annual BP check-up. (I despise going to MDs!) My mood is rather foul.

So, I thought: What better website pick than one on fashion.

Now, I like fashion. I'm not a slave to fashion and things like In Style magazine which I started reading when it really had some good fashion tips and stopped reading when it became a showcase for red carpet events throughout the world really piss me off. I love Joe Zee from Elle and his show All On The Line. He's helped me think "out of the box" in my approach to knitting. But I don't need fashion leaders telling me (especially in a worldwide recession) that pink is the new black. No, pink is pink and like all vibrant colors, it tires you quickly. Good for the fashion business; not good for the consumer dollar.

Then I started a google search for fashion sites. Wow! That was an eye-opener. Almost all the sites were hyping designers and expensive trends. What's with these new high heeled shoe? Are women really supposed to wear those things with their 5 inch stiletto heels? Orthopedists and cobblers must be ecstatic.

After a long search, I wound up with a very old stand-by, Glamour magazine:

http://www.glamour.com/

Now, Glamour is also in business to get the consumer to buy into fashion trends but their articles are much more sensible. For example on the shoe question: the article, 10 Shoes Every Woman Should Own, does recommend the wacky high heels but also it suggests flats, boots and sneakers.

The site is full of sensible fashion articles like: Are You An Over-Powderer?, one on healthy afternoon snacks, and Women In Tech: We Really Do Need More.

Of course, you're not getting articles written for Nature or Science nor are many of the topics more than fluff. But there's a lot there for a fast read and/or a fun read. For example, the article on women in tech gives mini bios of tech women and their accomplishments and the healthy snacks piece comes with doable recipes. (Note: Some of the ingredients look pretty exotic but they may be mundane to Glamour readers.)

So go and read about some fashion and don't forget to scroll down to Visit our sister sites. That must be one wacky family! Enjoy.

2011-10-17T06:57:00.008-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

As I look at the Occupy protests in the US, I really don't see much hope for the rise of economic progressive policies without an economic regime change. And that ain't goin' happen without a lot of violence. Just how do you rid the US of its oppressive capitalist system? A system which has been falsely but cleverly tied to our political system so that so, so many Americans believe that a blow to capitalism is a blow to representative government.

Occupy protests are not like the Vietnam War protests (which were also met with police brutality and government indifference) in that the VW protests were largely eliminated when the draft was ended; which basically removed the affluent college-aged student out of the killing equation which war always is. The poor became the military recruiting pool and the rich went on for advanced degrees - no blow to capitalism there.

Today however the Occupy protests are gnawing at the clay feet of capitalism. They dare to raise voices against banks and the financial markets. While capitalism will throw some of their sacred babies to the wolves in order to keep their status quo, I think they see the Occupy threat as a possible fatal body blow to their brand of capitalism, which it may be, and, to their dying breath, they won't let this happen.

Movies may show us that the little guy does win in the end (Meet John Doe); reality shows us differently.

Which is a long way to bring me to my movie pick: Even the Water and again, it's a foreign (Spanish) film. A film crew goes to Bolivia to make a realistic movie of Columbus' enslavement of the native population he found in the new world and they get caught in violent anti-government, anti-US protests when Bolivia sells water rights to American corporations and the corporations decree that the natives can no longer collect rain water. (This is based on a true event.) It's obvious that the film crew wants nothing to do with the protests but when their lead native actor becomes the lead native activist in the protests, they find they must protect him in order to protect their project.

We, the audience, get the Columbus inhumanity/corporation inhumanity comparison early on but it wasn't the message of the rich and powerful are bastards down through the centuries which hooked me. It was the fact that the "hero" who emerged from the film crew was your least likely candidate. Even the Water allows one character to verbalize progressive, humanitarian ideas but when the going gets tough (and it does get tough); he bails and the least likely person takes on the hero mantle.

Which, for me, makes this a realistic morality tale. It's not the crescendo music, Hollywood ending of the average-man hero walking forward into a bright future, arm around the woman he loves. It's a tale which tells me people can make changes if they are willing to endure perhaps savage hardships. It tells me that the least unlikely people will do the right thing sometimes. It gives me a faint hope, a very faint hope, that America can change.

But don't see this movie because I got some message of hope from it. See it because it's well-acted, realistic and adult. It's definitely worth a viewing.

2011-10-14T07:58:00.004-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

This has been a week of finishing knitting projects. Three shells are done and three shawls. It's so bad that I have a brief trip in a week with no substantial bring-along knitting.

This a.m., I pulled the weed whacker cord (excellent for blocking crescent shaped/round shawls) from my white wool crescent shawl (see 9/16/11 post for the pattern) which measures 100" x 32". That is one big mother! I was always planning on wearing it as a very large open scarf since with make-up (including lipstick) no way can I wrap a white shawl around my face as I do with my dead-of-winter shawls.

Right now, I'm soaking the knitted crescent shawl I talked about on 9/23/11. However, from then till now, a lot has changed.

First, I learned that P3tog can get tricky with lace yarn and no lace needles. P2togs, K2tog, seem to work OK, but that extra stitch w/o lace needles can prove a disaster. And an disaster is what happened. I was tooling along with my trinity stitch (*P3tog, K-P-K in one stitch*) happy as a lark until I did a look-see and saw and one of the stitches in the P3tog running free, many rows down.

Bad news: I sent the shawl to the frog pond. Good news: I ordered three Chiagoo Red Lace needles in US 6, 8 and 10. (Side note: I've read a lot about lace needles on Ravelry and the consensus seems to be that Chiagoo lace needles are the pointiest. But if you want Chiagoo lace, make sure it's the Red Lace needles, not the Red needles.)

So there I was with two skeins of Knit Pick lace in a variegated green and no pattern. I stumbled on a Vogue shawl pattern which was only a basic pattern I use all the time. Three rows of K and one row of *YO, K2tog*. I usually make my shells with this pattern but I thought: The picture is pretty. Why don't I try this as a shawl?

I started my ubiquitous crescent shaped shawl but, wouldn't you know it, pretty soon I noticed a free roaming slipped stitch about 4 rows down. I did a lot of grumbling but finally decided to visit the frog pond again with this yarn.

And then the miracle happened. With all the stitches pulled from the needle and my hand ready to start ripping, I put the shawl on my shoulders and looked in the mirror. Talk about a last minute reprieve! This simple pattern looked great! Here's a picture of it, early on in the knitting. It was not much to look at then and even soaking right now, I can't imagine what size I'm going to get. However, no way did I ever expect that white shawl to get so huge.

I decided to block first and then add a border of crab stitch. I'll let you know how that works.

Right now, I'm waiting for a weather change so I can wear some of these beauties. I sorted my winter clothes from summer about two weeks ago but the weather didn't get the hint. I find I never have the right outerwear for that short period when spring just hasn't moved into summer or fall hasn't gotten the memo to let winter in. My dream is to find the perfect spring and fall coats that look hot with shawls. Maybe I should go shopping.........

Happy knitting.

2011-10-12T06:59:00.001-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Not feeling optimistic. Obama is cracking down on medical marijuana? What? Just where does this guy stand? Only with the healthy and the rich?

My mom got a call from Obama headquarters asking for money. They told her that she could pay by credit card right away. She told them to have Obama ask Wall Street for the money since he had done so much for them. They didn't like that. Feisty mom.

But then I found this website:

http://www.good.is/

which has been around since 2006 and says of itself: GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward. Since 2006 we've been making a magazine, videos, and events for people who give a damn.

It's nice to find people who give a damn about the world. They may be naive and be trying to turn us into Martin Buber's ultimate human relationship, I and thou, and away from the cold human contact of I and it. (Google Martin Buber I and thou and it'll all become clear.)

But I'd rather have people listening to the Robert Kennedy quote (traceable to Shaw) of: Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not? than listening to the line from the Miniver Cheevy poem: Miniver sighed for what was not,/And dreamed, and rested from his labors; (Edwin Arlington)

GOOD is informative and fun to read. You'll learn about current stuff like that black lab who helps his deaf sister, or why Occupy Wall Street needs friends among Democrats, or last nights' GOP debate.

There are community feedback articles like What would you have on your bucket list? or Where do you want to see America in 10 years?

They have a lot of informational charts (ex., women's health) with sources, slide shows (ex., marginalized religions) - I LOVE slide shows, and videos (ex., Khan Academy) - and I love KA also.

So take a walk around GOOD. There's a lot to see and read. After all, we all need some good in our lives. Enjoy.

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

2011-10-12T05:46:00.004-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Not feeling optimistic. Obama is cracking down on medical marijuana? What? Just where does this guy stand? Only with the healthy and the rich?

My mom got a call from Obama headquarters asking for money. They told her that she could pay by credit card right away. She told them to have Obama ask Wall Street for the money since he had done so much for them. They didn't like that. Feisty mom.

But then I found this website:

http://www.good.is/

which has been around since 2006 and says of itself: GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward. Since 2006 we've been making a magazine, videos, and events for people who give a damn.

It's nice to find people who give a damn about the world. They may be naive and be trying to turn us into Martin Buber's ultimate human relationship, I and thou, and away from the cold human contact of I and it. (Google Martin Buber I and thou and it'll all become clear.)

But I'd rather have people listening to the Robert Kennedy quote (traceable to Shaw) of: Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not? than listening to the line from the Miniver Cheevy poem: Miniver sighed for what was not,/And dreamed, and rested from his labors; (Edwin Arlington)

GOOD is informative and fun to read. You'll learn about current stuff like that black lab who helps his deaf sister, or why Occupy Wall Street needs friends among Democrats, or last nights' GOP debate.

There are community feedback articles like What would you have on your bucket list? or Where do you want to see America in 10 years?

They have a lot of informational charts (ex., women's health) with sources, slide shows (ex., marginalized religions) - I LOVE slide shows, and videos (ex., Khan Academy) - and I love KA also.

So take a walk around GOOD. There's a lot to see and read. After all, we all need some good in our lives. Enjoy.

2011-10-05T05:28:00.004-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

OK, I guess I'm in the nesting mode because what attracted me to this section of the iVillage website:

http://www.ivillage.com/home-organization-ideas/7-b-328549#328549

was their 50 unique organizational ideas, with comments. I love to look at how others store their stuff. Take a look at the 5th slide: that is one neat office. Of course, I wonder how much work gets done there, outside of constant straightening. Or the library in number 6. Look at all those neat books and extremely uncomfortable chairs. There are 52 slides and every type of room seems to get representation, even a three-bed small attic dormer bedroom, with storage.

You probably know that iVillage is owned by NBC Universal, gets about 34 million unique visitors a month and is the largest community-driven website for women. (Wikipedia) Sorry guys.

So you also probably know that iVillage ain't only about storage ideas. So grab a cup of coffee, (I would love to add: and grab a bagel and butter but, their Diet and Fitness section is shouting: NO! NO!) and click away along the top bar. You won't be disappointed.

Gotta go. Knit and Crochet Today is back on the PBS Create channel in a few minutes. I have become such a nester this week! Enjoy.

Next week: How about: Preparing your backpack for a trip down the Amazon in a canoe?

2011-10-04T06:01:00.004-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Thoughts on Tuesday

When I read yesterday (Huffington Post) that Obama considers himself the underdog in 2012, I nearly lost it. He's the underdog? Wow! And how could he have possibly gotten there? It reminds me of that classic defense when the boy who killed him mom and dad throws himself on the mercy of the court as an orphan.

I remember vividly the angst I felt almost three years ago to the day when the presidential election was a month away and specter of a McCain/Palin victory was still a possibility. Of course, I didn't know until well after the election that the Democrats knew from polling that by October 2008 they had captured the presidency. So, I dutifully donated even more money that October for as my husband said: How will we feel if we don't donate more and he loses?

He should have said: How will we feel if we do donate more and he wins?

During the Bush/Kerry election cycle, I spent so much time waiting for Kerry to respond to accusations. For example: he got "swiftboated" and didn't mount a vigorous denial and counter-offensive. So I said: Well, it's summer. The news cycle is dormant during the summer. Wait until after Labor Day. Then Labor Day passed and I said: Well, voters have short memories. He's going to mount a blitzkrieg publicity offensive in October. I guess we all know how that election turned out.

I was excited when Obama got elected. I thought his election night speech was electric. But it didn't take me long to realize he was great with speeches but even greater with appeasement. And I mean appeasement, not compromise. Whether it was his insane belief that he could work with the medical/pharmaceutical establishment and achieve a health plan beneficial to the average American, or his "making nice" with a Republican congress both before and after the 210 mid-term elections while looking for a payback, or his bluster speech to Israel telling them it was about time they got serious about Middle East peace; when things got tough and push-back was needed, he bailed.

His recent speech before gay rights groups where he condemned the booing of a gay soldier at the Republican event was an easy pot-shot at his opponents. That didn't take any balls.

Making a lightening visit to the Occupy Wall Street protesters, shaking some hands and saying he understands their problems would have been ballsy. Of course, it didn't and wouldn't happen.

So Obama will just keep lamenting his hard road to reelection. Bemoaning that the progressive base of his party just doesn't understand him or is just too radical to have its views considered. Never understanding that when you lead with the personality of a golden retriever all you get is your belly rubbed and a ball to chase.

What a pity. Not for Obama, but for any hope this country had that Americans, other than the rich, would have a representative government.

2011-09-30T11:36:00.002-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

I'm posting without the promised picture but with a boring explanation and also, as a bonus, I hope, some knitting thoughts of value.

First, the explanation: Well, I'm discovering my shawl pattern design (2 stitch increase, each side, every row) works better with crocheting than with knitting. My original knit pattern of just rows of *YO, K2tog* produced a very tight and puckered edge. Which, of course, makes sense since the 2 K edge stitches produce a much tighter gauge than rows and rows of *YO, K2tog.* So that pattern, which was going to be my picture for today, returned to the frog pond.

Then, I began again on the old reliable trinity stitch and worked along quite well until I found a P3tog which was picked up as a P2tog some rows down. So this became another trip to the frog pond. (More on this below.)

Finally, I found the Vogue pattern Symphony. No, I'm not going to link because it's really the old stitch pattern I use in so many sweaters: 3 rows K; 1 row, *YO, K2tog.*

That pattern is working finally and I promise a picture next week. (It's too little right now to have it's picture taken. )

And, now on to a few random knitting/crocheting tips:

1. For waits in MD offices (or in my my case, DDS offices) bring crocheting (if you can crochet) not knitting. Not even simple knitting. Why? Because for all the faults knitters may find with crocheting, it's an easier craft to rip out. And, believe me, because I know from much hard experience, that you will make mistakes knitting in public. Especially in situations where you move from one area to another, dragging your project along.

2. Knit Picks nickel-plated interchangeable needles are really nice but P3tog needs lace tip needles. You can do P2tog,, K2tog, or ssk on regular tip needles but working lace without lace tip needles on combinations of three or more stitches joined together can lead to disaster. You must be very, very careful to gather all three stitches together and I don't look as knitting slow as knitting fun.

3. If you are a serious knitter and can afford it, buy the best needles you can. You don't have to go the whole 9 yards and buy every size in expensive needles (good needles are not cheap but they do range from moderately priced to high-priced.) Just get good needles in the sizes you use. For me, that would be US, 8, 9. 10, 10.5, and 11. Though I use US 13, 15, and 17, I think I can make do with the big store brands here. I would also get a US 6 in a lace tip and I would probably start with the US 8 through 11 sizes in lace tips though I might add the regular tips to these sizes also. Tomorrow, I'm going to AC Moore to check out the new Susan Bates line. I know it's a Big Box store but with my coupon (the new Susan Bates run $12 and that's moving up to Addi needles prices), I'm going to try only one size to start.

OK, gotta stop. I've been writing this blog since before lunch; just too many interruptions. See you next week.

2011-09-28T07:03:00.006-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

As I tell everyone who will listen (or at least pretend that they're listening), I worked hard for the election of Obama almost 4 years ago because I was hoping with his election, I won't have to emigrate to Canada.

Now I'm four years older and I might be revisiting such a move since Obama may be a one-term president. That's one reason Obama is not on my "invite him to the party" list at present.

He, like Corzine (previous NJ gov who lost to Christie), fought hard to get to the position in which one failed and one has (as a former adviser said) a Titanic struggle to win reelection. Corzine left an oh-so-safe Senate seat to run for NJ gov and Obama fought hard against Hillary Clinton for his party's nomination.

Then, they both governed like they knew nothing about the art of power. They squandered achievements, ignored necessary political sound bites and watched a sea of red politics engulf them lacking the wherewithal to stem this tide.

Now, everything is converging into perfect symmetry as Christie, acting like the shy virgin at her first prom, insists he is not running for the Republican presidential nomination while making speeches with bon mots like: (Obama) still has not found the courage to lead.

Wow! Even this non-candidate knows how to eviscerate a potential opponent. Christie, bully that he is (and I don't dismiss that as a minor fault), has reduced Obama to the defensive mode, and the battle hasn't even started.

So that's where I am, folks. I haven't been a happy camper for a long time. Forget about climate change wiping out our species; Americans are going to dumb themselves to death long before that happens.

But I do have a great website pick:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

This is the Smithsonian Magazine online and it's a treasure trove. And assuming Smithsonian = federally funded museum vs. tax-phobic Congress = budget cuts, you'd better take long looks at this site before it becomes a slashed line on next year's budget.

Where do I begin? Currently, you can read about the jaguar (that is one magnificent animal) freeway proposed from Mexico to Argentina. It's a five page article with pictures (not a USA Today summary article) written as a first person feature article so you get the folksy tone with a lot of facts.

Or read a retrospective of Willem de Kooning and be sure to click on View More Photos for over 30 examples of his work. On the last page you'll learn that the author of this article, Mark Stevens, is the co-author of a Pulitzer Prize book on de Kooning.

Check Trending Topics in the right column. One topic lists 38 articles on the US Civil War. Be sure to go through all the categories listed at the top of the page and then check the Editor's Picks (right column) for each category.

OK, if you've read these Wednesday picks before, you know the drill. Just click around and enjoy the reading and the pictures. You won't be disappointed.

2011-09-26T07:03:00.007-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

OK, not to beat a dead horse (what a horrible image!) though I'm about to. I'd like to revisit The Other Woman, this time with spoilers. I watched it again yesterday being mad at myself again for crying; not tearing up but just this side of bawling.

I guess I want to look at this movie for a second week because I think it shows what's wrong with American establishment cinema: the lack of character development, the plot moves and the actors just follow.

In bad movies, you see these flaws immediately but good actors can take you along for the ride and you find yourself giving a rating of 5 stars without even knowing what happened. (Let me clarify something: I can like a bad movie. I can watch and enjoy one; in fact, I've done so many times. The Land of the Lost comes to mind.)

It's not that American movies don't have important themes; it's just that these themes seem to be hammered into you with too many examples or just allowed to float into the ether without a second glance.

Let's take some themes from TOW: infidelity. Jack is as "guilty" as Emilia here. She's attracted to him. She visits his house and walks into the room where his son is watching TV. She knows she's breaking up a family. Soon, we discover Jack will accompany Emilia out of town for some routine law work (Why is a partner doing this type of work? Emilia asks - my paraphrase) and then he accompanies her to her hotel room (But we passed your floor. Emilia says.) So both conspire to betray Jack's wife.

There's a theme here, folks: young woman pursuing/being pursued by an older, wealthy married man and only considering their immediate pleasure. OK, I'm not planning to moralize about this but I do wonder: Jack blithely betrays his wife with a 20-something. Only once? Doesn't anyone think he'll be betraying Emilia in time? Does Emilia (Harvard graduate and attorney) even once think about this possibility?

Then there's the wife, Carolyn. Lisa Kudrow nails the professionally successful, bitter, spiteful woman, who is a very good mother. A fact which is lost in the cloud of her bitterness and hostility towards Emilia. But, why shouldn't she be? This young woman arrived and destroyed her marriage and she now has to share her son with the bitch. However, she is the only adult who is able to rise above her feelings. When her son is upset because Emilia thinks she smothered her 3-day daughter, Carolyn, goes out of her way (and works past her intense dislike) to research the autopsy results thoroughly and then meets with Emilia to put to rest her fears. She still loathes the young woman but she is able to think of her son's needs.

And that's more than Jack does. The movie never explores the tremendous guilt and grief a SIDS mom feels. We see the motions - looking at Isabel's pictures, participating in a walk of hope - but when Emilia, still filled with grief, lashes out at her father in front of everyone, Jack's reaction is not one of understanding. And, Jack's lack of understanding just escalates when Emilia realizing she is not guilty in Isabel's death wants a reconciliation, Jack refuses.

Wow! Infidelity Infant death. Grief management. Anger management. I'm not even going to go into the step-family dynamics and much more. All powerful themes, yet all treated like a Lifetime movie (not that there is any wrong with those.)

But some much of this is what's wrong with American cinema of this genre. We haven't moved out the 1930's mode of problems, angst, resolution, and a happy ending. We're still rewriting that script for the zillionth time.

There must be a middle ground worth exploring between saccharine and life's a bitch and then you die. It's called the middle ground where real people live but America cinema is not ready to go there. Pity.

2011-09-23T05:36:00.008-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Not a picture today. In fact, not much of anything because I just realized that September does indeed have only 30 days and if I don't work on my October newsletter ASAP, I can probably kiss that month goodbye.

However, I do have some random knitting thoughts to share:

1. My top-down wool vest in a very simple lace pattern (*YO, K2tog) using four different colors of KP Palette is coming into the home stretch. (Oh, how I love those sport allusions!) I started with the darkest color for the neck band. Then I followed that with stripes of white, very, very light beige, light beige, medium beige, and then the darkest color (dark beige) again. This wool is a dream to work it and when I finish this project, I'll only have 92 full skeins of Palette left.

2. I realized that as long as the pattern has a resting row (an all K or all P row), I can work a multiple of a 4 stitch pattern for the shawl I posted last week.

Last week, of course, was a crocheted shawl with 2 increases each side on every row. Here's a quick pattern for the same type shawl in knit which I'm making now.

CO 8 stitches.
1. K in the front and back of the first and last two stitches of every row until the shawl is as long as you want it.
2. When you reach your length, just K (no increases) the first two stitches at the beginning and end of every row.
3. When your shawl is the width you want, bind off loosely.
4. And what about the shawl pattern in-between? Right now, I'm working a variation of the trinity stitch which is:
Trinity Stitch Variation: Multiple of 4 sts.
Row 1: *(K, front, back, front in one stitch), P3tog* Note: this row can be worked with the P3tog first.
Row 2 RS: *P*
That's it. Just be sure you don't increase within the pattern. That is, if you work an extra (K, front, back, front in one stitch) at the end of a row. If you do that, your pattern won't line up properly and your shawl shape with be wonky. Be sure that your P3tog "bobbles" line up on every other Row 1.

Row 1: xxx B xxx B xxx
Row 2: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Row 1: B xxx B xxx B
Row 2: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Row 1: xxx B xxx B xxx
Row 2: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Row 1: B xxx B xxx B

See how it should look?

While this knit version seems to be working well, it is much slower, especially in lace. Now, I want to search for more 4 stitch patterns and practice with heavier yarn and larger needles.

Next week, I'll post a proper pattern and a picture.

See you then. Happy knitting!

2011-09-21T05:04:00.005-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Lately, I've been thinking (not always a good thing to do) that the human species really has no value except perhaps as a stepping stone genetically to a species which does have some value. Of course, by saying this, I'm talking about human moral values which I believe provide a glimmer of a "soul" we may truly possess one day. But evolution is a tricky thing and the next step for mankind is a genetic crap-shoot. I can hear baboons saying as they look at man: This is an evolutionary step forward?

Of course, being an atheist I can have this thoughts. That is, I can look at the world humans have created and sink into massive depression while religious people would have to look at the shit-hole so much of the world is and just offer up another prayer. Thank god I'm an atheist!

Along the thread of this thought process, let me present my website pick:

http://www.infocobuild.com/books-and-films/social-science/terry-jones-medieval-lives.html

It's a series of videos on groups of people in the Middle Ages: peasants, damsels, minstrels, knights, outlaws, etc. It's narrated by Terry Jones of Monty Python fame so it's rather light but it looks historically accurate. Jones starts out with peasant life and then segues into the Peasant Revolt. If you remember that scene from MP and the Holy Grail where the peasants discuss philosophy and then offer the observation that you can tell a king from a peasant because he doesn't have any shit on him, you'll understand the tone and purpose of these videos: breaking down some medieval myths with humor.

Americans are long on opinions but short on historical knowledge. Unfortunately, I don't think I ever taught a kid who came into class liking history. The closest I ever got to wonderment about history was when a student was stunned that I knew so much about the Middle Ages. Implied in that astonishment was the feeling: Why bother about stuff that's not in your present world? (Except for help in passing tests, of course.)

So take a look at these videos. They're about 30 minutes each do don't forget to bookmark the site unless you have a large chunk of free time ahead.

Look at these videos as an easy way to brush up on your history. Since, like it or not, you'll living history right now and what you and I do here will affect our children's and the world's future. If we learn about our past we may be able to avoid those historical blunders which have unforeseen consequences. (Repeal of Glass-Steagall ring a bell?)

Enjoy.

2011-09-19T05:43:00.004-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

This should be a month when we remember Richard Gere in Chicago (where he literally tap dances around the evidence in Roxie's diary in order to convince the jury she's really innocent) as we watch the USA tap dance around the facts trying to convince the rest of the world that the Palestinians don't deserve statehood.

Remember when I commented that Obama's seemingly even-handed speech re: Israel and Mideast peace was a good start but we had to watch for the follow-up? Well, folks, the follow-up never came or rather did come in the form of more Israeli illegal settlements. I guess Obama can add the Mideast peace process to his list of "Things I'd Rather Not Tackle During My Presidency." It must be a very long list by now; I hope he has enough paper.

But let's approach two indie films, one USA and one Australia, where we can see even here how the US is out of touch with the rest of the world. The first film is The Other Woman starring Natalie Portman; the second The Japanese Story with Toni Collette. Both deal with emotions and sadness, but there the similarity ends. For in the American made TOW, we get a Lifetime channel soap-movie. It deals with family problems - infidelity, loss of a child, the step-mom - but it seems to tell us only to listen to the the female characters - Portman as the step-mom; Lisa Kudrow as the first wife (who is given the only dialogue with an edge) and Debra Monk as Portman's mom. The men just appear to be acted on. In fact, the only male who makes a difference is Portman's pre-puberty step son (no way do I believe that kid was an adolescent as stated in the blurb) who proves the deus ex machina ending American directors seem to love.

Oh yes, I cried during TOW; not teared-up, I cried. It plays on the fear of all moms but that doesn't make it a good movie. Perhaps a happy ending is so ingrained in the American psyche, especially when dealing with our sacred cow, the American family, that even with indies, if you're making a typical family drama, you had better end it happy or at least with the hope of happy.

The Japanese Story doesn't go that route. While we're not dealing with mom and apple pie here, (Collette plays a pissed off geologist who is given the job of chauffeuring the scion of the Japanese family which owns her Australian employer around the outback.) this is still is human emotion story. And when the wallop comes about 2/3 in the film, I thought: OK, that was scary. How are they going to fix it? But, of course, they don't. No deus ex machina appears. A relationship which was advancing suddenly stops dead. Shit happens and we have to deal with it.

Of course, it doesn't hurt the movie that we're treated to breathtaking scenes of the Australian outback. Perhaps that scenery was the sucker-bait; we're lulled into the beauty and danger of the country (they almost die when their jeep gets stuck in the dirt) as these two people of different cultures grow to like each other. So, while we're expecting a troubled ending (the guy is married), it's not the troubled ending we get.

Maybe that's why I can sit through foreign films, subtitles and all; foreign realism is realism (Oh yes, I know that foreign films are not immune from the boredom odometer); while US realism is just hurdle on the way to a happy ending.

How did we culturally get there? That's a field for deep study, but I do know our movies spent the Great Depression (1930s) presenting a lot of sophisticated fluff when the world was on fire and today, as the US sinks into second world status, we're keen on producing over-the top CGI movies or adolescent boys' frat movies.

So take a look at The Japanese Story. It's a small movie and worth the look. Skip The Other Woman or wait until it comes to Lifetime.

Final question: I watched as much of The Green Hornet this weekend as I could before heaving. The question: How do these dogs get financing?

2011-09-16T08:10:00.004-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

What a lousy blogger I have been! Do you want excuses? Or how about a pattern? Let's go with the latter:

The picture on the left is the shawl I have been heralding for some time now. It's my own pattern, but it's so simple that I'm ashamed to call it such. I was working along with a typical top-down shawl pattern with increases in the center and at the ends. I always have trouble with those because by Row 7, I'm forgetting if this is the row I increase both center and ends or just the ends.

So, out of laziness, I said: What would happen if I increased two stitches each side on every row?

My first project was with thin cotton crochet thread in beige and I got a summer shawl which I wore all summer. Then I bought a skein of Aunt Lydia's crochet cotton in black. I wasn't happy about this purchase because Aunt Lydia and I had never been BFFs (no problems with her products, I just didn't know her) but she was a dream to crochet. You're looking at the shawl done in 1 skein of AL on the left. As you an see, I got the crescent shape and wonder of wonders, it stays on your shoulders.

My latest crochet version of this shawl was done in Coats and Clark nylon thread. Pictures of that on another Friday but with that one, I added picots along the bottom and the crab stitch along the top.

I've made this shawl also knitted but at this point only with US 17. I want to work it out with smaller needles before posting the knitted version.

But on to the Easy Lace Crocheted Shawl:
Materials: 1 ball Aunt Lydia mercerized cotton #10, 350 yards
H hook, (Note: I was interested in making an open summer shawl. If you want a winter shawl, you can adjust the hook size to match the yarn.)
20" middle depth, 51" from tip to tip; makes a stay-on-your-shoulders, crescent shape
Increase Section:
Row 1. Ch 5 and join for a loop.
Row 2. *Ch 5 & work 1 single crochet (sc)* in loop, 2 times (xs). You have two loops. Turn
Row 3. Ch5 & 1 sc in each loop, 2 times. You have 4 loops. Turn
Row 4. Ch5 & 1 sc in 1st loop 2 times, *Ch5 & 1 sc* only one time in each loop across. Last loop: ch 5 & 1 sc 2xs. Turn. You increase (inc) 1 loop in the 1st and last loop every row. Work Row 4 to 76 loops. End your last row with 2 increases in the first and last loops. Turn
(Try the shawl on and if it's the length you want, proceed to the straight knitting. If not, continue to increase each side as above until you are at your desired length.
Straight (no increases) section:
All rows: *Ch 5 & sc* in each loop across. Turn (No incs in the 1st and last loop.)
Continue this straight section until your shawl is the width you want.
You can end the shawl by just finishing the last row or you can add picots or any other edging you want.
Blocking:
I blocked my shawl on an ironing board by stretching it out over a towel and wet blocking it with a soaking wet linen handkerchief and a hot iron which barely touched the shawl.
Once the entire shawl is blocked this way, work blocking wires or flexible tubing through the top of the shawl and hang from a clothes line to dry completely. (Note: Blocking really opens the loops. I didn't block with my nylon shawl because the weight of the thread opened the loops.)
Weave in the starting and ending yarn and it's ready to wear.
This is absolutely the easier shawl in the world to crochet. Also, it's a great traveling project and gift project. Enjoy.
(If you find any mistakes in the directions, please tell me.)

2011-08-24T05:56:00.005-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Autism.

No, my pick has nothing to do with autism. In fact, until about 10 pm last night, I didn't even have autism in mind. Then I saw a segment on autism on HD Net. I have no idea about the philosophy of this channel, though my husband watches a lot of very good travel show there. The segment on autism was part of a 60 Minutes type show. The segment seemed current and also even-handed since it did not dismiss the autism/MMR connection but rather it presented creditable reports from both sides of this issue.

For those who have no reason to follow the alarming growth rate of autism in the US (2010, CDC: 1 in 91 kids with autism spectrum disorders), signs of autism usually appear about 18 months, just at the time most children receive the combined measles, mumps and rubella shot (MMR.) And, for those who don't follow the MMR shots. Originally, all three diseases were vaccinated against individually. Your kid got the measles shot and the physician said: Call me if he/she gets a reaction. Then your kid got the mumps shot and the physician said......, well, you get the picture. Many parents say that the problem of autism began when the pharma companies decided to bundle three shots into one since the pharmas/MDs felt that this was a way to assure kids got all three shots.

And then, after receiving the MMR, parents began noticing that living with happy, healthy children changed almost overnight into lifetimes of hell and sorrow for all concerned. Pharmas have always pushed back with their data and studies saying: It's not our MMR, it's genetics, it's the environment. Genetics, which come from the parents; environment, which is established by the parents. they should just say: Hey, we're immune from liability, live with it, after all, it's all your fault.

Yes, I am bitter. Perhaps because we, as a family, have credible evidence that the MMR is a factor in the autism spectrum. (This is a story for another day and it does have a happy ending which is what makes our experience even more creditable.)

This autism/MMR controversy is a bitter, fighting issue. So much so, that when someone on the Off-Topic forum at Ravelry asked for any stories regarding autism and the MMR and I told the story I alluded to above, the responses to me were so heated (cripes, they were asking for our stories!) that not only did the moderator close the thread (which sometimes happens when things get heated) but Ravelry totally eliminated the Off-Topic forum and replaced it with a closely monitored Adopt-A-Topic forum.

The argument has always been by pharmas and their health official allies, that unbundling the MMR would lead to a rise in these childhood diseases since kids wouldn't get all the shots. Well, there is a such a rise in these diseases now since parents are opting out of the MMR in fear. So why don't they do a study of bundled shots vs. unbundled shots and track the autism rates? Why don't they blood test toddlers because giving the MMR to make sure they don't already have an immunity to one or more of the diseases? (And, yes, this immunity is real.) And finally, autism groups have got to get a PR shark and change their campaign to something like: Autism, a modern American genocide.

But my website is a fun one. Since I need some fun and you do too:

http://lokwi.com/

Lokwi is filled with silly, primitive (arrow use) games, silly pictures (not all child friendly) and wacky videos. Watching the videos on the out-of-control kiddie duck car ride was a hoot. And I do think the video of the guy hitting his head with a guitar multiple time was real. If he wasn't insane before the video, he sure was after it. The Close Call Compilation has to be seen to be believed. Talk about luck!

So why did I post my autism comments and this website pick? Because I guess it just emphasizes that our world can be cruel and senseless but we have to find pockets of smiles and laughter or it will all just become insanity. Enjoy.

2011-08-22T06:21:00.004-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

I'm thinking about taking the summers off from blogging. The days are really just too hectic and I'm just too lazy.

Before I get to my movie(s) pick, here's a comment from Eric on Deus ex Malcontent. He's talking about Steve Jobs but it's a fantastic generic answer to all the rich and wanta-be rich who bitch about paying taxes:

Even so, it is morally right that Jobs ought to pay higher taxes. Sure, he's earned his money; but this is something he was able to do because he received the benefits that go along with living in a stable, functioning republic in which there are good roads, an educated and mostly healthy public, and little chance of a revolution or invasion. He has benefited more than most people from the civilization he inhabits, and he had more to lose than most people and he has more to lose if it all goes to hell.

But instead of holding up a mirror to those-who-can-pay when it comes to their contributing to the general welfare, we get cute pictures of the Obamas on a date night.

Jesus H. Christ! We're hemorrhaging here, folks.

C-Span had an author talking about the fact that the "culture" centers DC, (He obviously has never gotten off the tourist roads in DC if he's calling it that), NYC, etc., have bounced back better economically than the rest of the country so our political and financial gurus really don't get what the heartland is experiencing.

But enough of my general grousing, let me get to the movies and my cinematic grousing. Remember I reviewed The Tourist and didn't find it as ghastly as the rest of the world? Well, I still think it's watchable (unlike The Road which is vastly superior movie but I still can't sit through what I will call the "shoes" scene.)

Then I caught Anthony Zimmer last Saturday afternoon on my movie package. What a title! Folks, Anthony Zimmer here and I have a set a knives for you which are sure to become your culinary favorites.

Anthony Zimmer (2005) pre-dates The Tourist (2010.) and both visit the same plot. So now I find out that The Tourist is another Hollywood knock-off. AZ is in French and it's with people who can act reading dialogue that sounds real.

Watching the passionate make-out scene at the end of AZ, I realized that Jolie and Depp couldn't pull this scene off at this stage in their careers. They have both become plastic icons way beyond playing the nitty-gritty roles that were so promising for them earlier on.

No feature film is real but good ones give you that empathy lifeline which is so necessary between the movie and its audience.

Take a look at Anthony Zimmer. As you know, I'm fascinated by the pull of foreign films on me. Unfortunately, I see the metaphorically significance in all this: It's just another example of America's proclivity for dross. What a pity.

2011-08-17T05:00:00.005-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

I'm pretty depressed right now. Sunday night, I was watching Inside Job, a documentary about the worldwide financial collapse of 2008 and ten minutes before the end I get a call from the Obama campaign asking for money. Well, I was going to post the movie for Movie Monday but the call sort of added a new dimension to my review. (It was quite a call!) So I packed it in Monday and started to think about puppies and flowers.

The puppies part makes me sad though because today is the day Miss M is returning to the Seeing Eye trainer and she will start her training as a service dog. On Monday, we did a movie with her and the kids. I know we're going to be sad, but what about Miss M? You hear about dogs who travel miles to return to their former owners. How is she going to feel when after a week (she has been away from home during vacation times) she's not returned to us? Do dogs cry?

For my pick today, I decided to go to pictures because pictures can be so evocative and take your sadness to joy; and, of course, also do the reverse.

http://vi.sualize.us/

VisualizeUs says of itself: VisualizeUs is a social bookmarking website for visual contents - VisualizeUs (read visualize us) allows you to remember your favorite images from all over the web, and share them with everyone.

Sometimes, you are looking through pictures and one of them catches your eye. You know you want to remember it and been able to look at it again in the future, but it's not that easy: downloading to your hard disk is as useless as bookmarking the website in the usual way.

....The power of VisualizeUs resides in the possibility to share your bookmarks with the rest of the world. That's where the key of "social bookmarking" is. And at the same time it's the explanation of the term: bookmarks that you don't keep privately in your browser, but are shared with everyone.

This seems similar to the Ravelry feature where you can share your completed pattern pictures with the rest of the community

It looks like you don't have to register to see the pictures, only to post them. I checked the registration and it seems like a typical one: user name, password and e-mail.

Scrolling around I found Tumblr under Architecture. It's just the picture of a room but it's such a warm and cozy one that I'm sure my biorhythms (whatever that is) tilted to the positive side. Then I clicked on Funny and the first one, Bad Friend, removed all my frown lines.

Be warned: there is a Nude section where a lot of the pictures are labeled unsafe and fuzzed out so they need a second click to be shown, which I didn't give them

I enjoy seeing what the the world likes in pictures. Hope you do too. This is a good one-stop-shopping place for that. Enjoy.

2011-08-12T08:28:00.002-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

This is a travelling day and it's been so long since the last one that I've almost forgotten the drill. I was very good and got the picture of the shawl I wanted to show you today but it's on the other computer so I'm typing sans pictures. (Oh, I love to use one of the three French words I know!) So, I'll wait till next week for the picture and the directions for my mystery, oh-so-simple shawl.

I do have to say that if you want a lace summer shawl which could probably be crocheted (the knitted version will follow later) in one day of heavy work, get a H hook and one skein of Aunt Lydia mercerized cotton # 10, 350 yards by next Friday. Michaels sells Aunt Lydia (what smooth feeling cotton to work with) so don't forget the 40% off coupon. My black shawl cost me $1.79. Talk about a bargain!

I'll leave you with a Ravelry shawl pattern this week just because it's one of the very few I printed out.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/amys-scarf-2

It's made up of lace squares and is listed as a scarf but the repeats are 34 stitches and I think it would make a lovely shawl.

Enjoy.

2011-08-10T07:15:00.007-04:00

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Website Wednesday

I think you're going to say: What the.........? when you see my choice for today. Yes, it's all about the theater, its history, selected monologues, and a very small selection of full length modern (last century and up) plays.

It is, however, a treasure trove of theater history and well worth the read and then the re-read because, when you think about it, humans have been dramatizing their lives since almost the beginning of time.

http://www.theatrehistory.com/

But I do think you deserve some background info on my thought process for this selection. It all started when President Obama spoke to the nation the other day after Standard and Poor's downgraded the USA credit rating from AAA

The money quote from that speech, that is the one copied around the world was something like: The USA will always be AAA.

And I thought: Jesus H. Christ. Here's the president of the USA addressing our nation which is on the brink of dire economic changes and his memorable line sounds like a coach rallying his football team in a smelly locker room.

Now, perhaps other parts of that speech were as eloquent as I had a dream or Ask not what your country can do for you........ but it really doesn't matter if you pepper it with even one inane quote as he did. That's the one which becomes the shot heard around the world.

And that got me thinking: Words do matter. And what better place to understand the staying power and the carrying power of words but in the theater.

So start with the essay on the Egyptian "Passion" Plays under Ancient Theater and travel up to modern times. The essays are short but you're on the Internet so you have the world's largest reference book at hand for more research if you want.

A lot of humans used and use words very well. Enjoy this site.

2011-08-08T06:31:00.003-04:00

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Movie Monday - The Tourist

I know that Starz and Netflix are having some sort of grudge match to the death but why does Starz have to spit on its movie package customers at the same time? I say this because my Starz/Encore/you name it movie package has reached the nadir in selections in the last 6 months. I'm lucky to eek out one movie a week which is worth watching. And this is from a selection of almost 50 movies. Reese Witherspoon as a washed up baseball player in How Do You Know!

Therefore, hearing the reviews of The Tourist, I was ready to pass on it. In fact, I gritted my teeth through the first 50 minutes, looking at it as a remake of Charade, which in itself was a barely watchable fashion-driven May-December thriller romance between Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.

The Tourist is in the genre of Charade: a classy thriller with beautiful settings and half beautiful people (Jolie is gorgeous; Depp seems always ready to slip into his Jack Sparrow demeanor.) At least, the age difference didn't glare and I like the touch of the note Jolie receives at the beginning of the movie: Board the train at Lyons. Pick someone who looks like me and make them (the police who are watching) believe it's I (they used "me" but I like to use good grammar when I know it and remember it.)

I liked that touch because the whole absurd adventure which follows and becomes the core of the film is given a reason. Jolie is the huntress and Depp is the hapless tourist whom we watch escaping killer Russians in his pajamas across the roof tops of Venice.

Really silly stuff with the de rigueur twists and turns necessary in such thrillers.

So I was able to stay tuned beyond the grinding teeth first 50 minutes and I was ready to write a C grade review - until I got to the end of this saga.

And here we get the final twist, and for me, it moved the movie up into a good solid B grade for this type of sophisticated thriller. For here I am, at the end of movie saying: I think I should watch this again. Which I did and that one piece of denouncement knowledge changed my perception of everything. It is worth watching two times.

If you're like me, you're going into this movie agreeing with the Rotten Tomato rating of 19% favorable. And the critics are probably right given the star power of this movie. But this genre, even done well, always insults reality so lower your standards and I think it might be an enjoyable hour and 43 minutes.

Grousing ahead: I was looking at IMDb and saw that remakes of Fright Night, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and new additions of Mission Impossible and Spy Kids will be released soon. These will be added to the mindless actions films which arrive each week. Is there not one original idea left in Hollywood?

2011-08-05T07:59:00.004-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
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Knitting Friday - and where have I been?

Almost a month since my last posting. A lot of guilt but no energy to post. It's a long summer with the kids, who are very good, but the school day is an unspoken covenant between education officials and parents: give us your kids for our bureaucracy and we'll give you 5 days a week. Summer changes that.

Also, I'm pretty depressed because almost 4 years ago, I helped to elect Obama for not the least selfish reason being that a McCain/Palin election would have had me researching Canadian citizenship. Now, I'm almost 4 years older and I may be having to start that research.

I never thought we were electing H. Rap Brown with Obama though his stump speeches had some of the passion of the '60 black leaders. However, I never, ever thought we would wind up with Clarence Thomas. (OK, OK, I know Thomas is just an angry, small man; but what a waste of promise with Obama.)

I have been knitting though. I have a closetful of sleeveless, open weave summer tops to wear over camisoles. I'm working on a shawl design which is think is unique. It can be knitted or crocheted so that the shape is almost rectangular but the top curves to stay on your shoulders. I discovered the design by one of those famous "what ifs" of history. I just tweaked the increases on a simple shawl and amazingly I had the shape. Right now, I've only made these shawls in my typical *YO, K2tog* pattern variations or in *ch 5, join with sc* variations. I want to stretch my patterns a bit before I post anything. But it's sooooo simple. Like socks first, then shoes.

I'll leave you with this pattern to ponder:

http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/WebLetter/202/Issue202.php

Yes, it's a shawl but take a look at the Japanese Feather stitch pattern. It's 11 stitches on 28 rows and I like it because it has two sections of resting rows (just stockinette) which makes it easy to bind off and on for armholes. I'm thinking about using just this pattern in a top -down pullover or cardigan. What do you think?

Happy knitting.

2011-07-13T05:50:00.005-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

OK, I'm a very private person (and, just what does that mean, really?) but I'm going to share a guilty pleasure: I love reading reviews. Especially book and movie reviews. Not too guilty, I guess, but I love reading bad reviews because I do think you can learn so much more from reading the negative. Like the Twilight series whose reviews can be found as part of my pick for today:

http://www.goodreads.com/

The positive reviews are pretty gushy and teenager-like but the negative reviews go to the jugular of this pedestrianally written but phenomenally successful series. It's good to know that there are discerning readers out there.

Goodreads says of itself: What Is Goodreads? Goodreads is the largest social network for readers in the world. We have more than 5,300,000 members who have added more than 160,000,000 books to their shelves. A place for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads members recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they've read and would like to read, form book clubs and much more. Goodreads was launched in December 2006. Our Mission: Goodreads' mission is to get people excited about reading. Along the way, we plan to improve the process of reading and learning throughout
the world.

Wow! I fell like I'm recommending a literary Habitat for Humanity! Take a long look at Goodreads and be sure to cruise away from the home page. It's all reading this Wednesday, no pictures, but if you enjoy reading books, you'll get a lot of good critical analysis here. Oh, and don't forget to hit "More" at the end of the review since usually you're only looking at the first part of the review.

And now, for a minute, back to The Social Network. I've seen it again and I still don't get its high rating (96%) on Rotten Tomatoes. However, I can flesh out one major criticism, the camera work. I think it contributed to my disengagement with the movie. For example, the scene where the Winklevoss (I love that name!) twins and Zukerberg's roommate realize and then discuss how he has royally screwed them. Director Fincher shoots the scene in close-ups. Instead of a wide-angle shot (and truth be told, I have no idea what that is but I think it's a shot which takes in all the actors in a scene) he focuses on close-ups. First, one twin speaks, then there's a closeup of the roommate speaking, then the other twin.....you get the picture. I know this is an easy way for pick-ups since you only have to call back one actor but you lose dramatic impact this way. These were young men who had been royally screwed by Zuckerberg; in fact, the ensuing lawsuit by the twins is a pivot point in the movie. It's a scene with good dialogue but it works like a TV scene, not a movie scene. TV just moves the plot along; movies, especially movies that want to be seen an intelligent, should work harder for empathy.

2011-07-11T08:16:00.003-04:00

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Movie Monday - The Social Network

Why? Why 96% approval on Rotten Tomatoes for this movie? Why a rating which puts this movie up there with Pulp Fiction (94%), The Godfather II (98%) and Citizen Kane (100%) ?

For those in the world who know nothing about TSN, it's about the rise of Facebook, focusing on its co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and the lawsuits against the company in its nascent stage (circa 2003.). Though I do think the Winklevoss twins are still suing.

The movie is based on The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal,2009, (now there's a title which says it all) by Ben Mezrich.. So, I guess Mezrich's lawyers vetted for libel and I also realize I'm watching a fictionalized real story.

It's not a bad movie in any way. It's intelligent but not engaging; thorough but not boringly so. Based on the movie, I would say that Zuckerberg has Asperger qualities: very bright but lacking effective social skills. In fact, we're first introduced to him as his girlfriend is breaking up with him. Despondent, he starts blogging while drunk and blasts her to the Internet world. And at the same time, he starts posting pictures of girls with the question: Which one is hotter? He gets so much traffic that he crashes the Harvard network......and, yes, folks, this is the seed of the idea which will grow into Facebook.

The actors are all very competent with Justin Timberlake given the juiciest role of the bad boy, Sean Parker, founder of the infamous Napster, and early advisor to Zuckerberg. (His greatest advice probably being call it Facebook, not The Facebook.)

Jesse Eisenberg nails the distant, brain-always-churning look which fits how Zuckerberg is presented. Even at the end, we never learn if he is really as devious as others believe.

What bothers me throughout the movie is that I'm never really engaged with the characters nor their situations. It's like I'm reading a well-written news article on an interesting topic. At the end of the movie, it's thanks and good-bye. Not much more.

And that's why I can't understand its almost perfect critical acclaim. Movies with such ratings should be innovative (Citizen Kane) or out-of-the-box (Pulp Fiction.) I just wouldn't put TSN, a good, solid narrative of a cultural meme, in this category.

Now, if the screenwriter and director had tied in the metaphor of Facebook: worldwide human connections which, since they are only electronic, are really not "human" nor actual connections I could understand its ratings. Facebook and its ilk may have changed our social fabric for the foreseeable future. With its invention, we may be moving closer to the stay-at-home, pajama-clad society as seen in Surrogates. Now, there's a story. But watch TSN. Then go have coffee and discuss stuff.

Note: Two things I did bring away from the movie: I'm not joining Facebook and I'm not sending my kid to an Ivy.

2011-07-06T05:29:00.003-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday - Good

http://www.good.is/

OK, even though I'm about to use the word good for a third time this week, this website was too good to pass up, for many reasons.

My Good choice today seems to be used as a adjective like in Good Intentions or Good Ideas. But in its About section, it just calls itself Good and says:

GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward. Since 2006 we've been making a magazine, videos, and events for people who give a damn.

What’s not to love? Currently, you can read about such things as the US annual hot dog eating contest, NASCAR and solar panels, and “shilling” the male birth control pill. Scroll down and you’ll see a headline saying that anti-war protests could be counter-productive.and the article goes on to discuss the sunk-cost effect based on recent research from psychologists from Washington University. They found that when people have invested in a lost cause (Afghan war) they don’t want to walk away from their investment (lives and money) but would rather pour more money and lives into it to prove their investment was worthwhile.

You get a lot of out-of-the-box articles like that from a video on how creativity can be nurtured to an article with 20 quotes on rape showing after the DSK scandal how different people around the world think about rape.

Good stuff here. (Damn, I can't get away from that word!) Go, take a look.

2011-07-04T07:11:00.007-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday - Good

I thought Good would be an appropriate movie review choice for the US holiday of July 4th. It’s not a perfect movie, probably no movie can be which has a best-selling book or play as its parent, but it’s a well-acted, adequately constructed movie which looks at the effects of Nazism without resorting to the sledge-hammer approach. (Note: I'm saying "adequately constructed" because there were scenes where I felt I needed to know missing back-stories.)

A general complaint first: the director seems unable to take this movie out of its stage setting. He allows a staged, static quality to pervade. Even when John Halder participates in Kristallnacht, the mayhem in the streets fails to capture us.

And then there’s the imaginary metaphoric music that Halder hears in time of stress. I haven’t read nor seen the play but I bet that music comes from there, probably as an identifying mark, like Rosebud in Citizen Kane. But it doesn’t work in the movie. It could work on the stage where the viewing venue even with the best plays always reminds you of your separation of the stage. There is a special power in movies however so that the best of them “join” with us. Unfortunately, the recurring music in the movie, Good, is the most glaring reason as to why I never connected to it.

OK, after damning this movie, let me tell you why I think it’s worthwhile movie to see. Remembering that I have no history with Good (no play knowledge), I watched it as a well-acted morality play. I watched John Halder, the everyman for all good people, get sucked into a vortex of a fascist government like the proverbial frog first placed in the cold water.

I didn't look at Good as yet another Nazi genocide movie, as many do, but rather as a movie which asks the question: When must good people take a stand? And I’m not talking about good people as heroic people, for John Halder is no hero. We meet him as an adequate college lecturer and slightly befuddled husband and son who assumes household duties as his wife spends hours piano playing and his terminally ill mother moans in the background.

The first scene shows him being driven to Nazi headquarters in the early 1930s. A frightened Halder assumes this summons bodes ill for him and then is relieved that Nazi official, Bouhler, (played by Mark Strong, who seems to be replacing Basil Rathbone as the “good to” villain) only wants him to write a position paper on euthanasia since Halder had written about this topic earlier in novel form.

Of course, the audience hears bells and whistles going off at this point since we know how WWII progressed. However, if you can remove that piece of information from your brain and just look at Halder’s situation as it’s happening you will just be seeing any educated citizen, in any country, at any time. The Nazis, at this stage in their power, want Halder for the cover his academic credentials give their policies and Halder is a man so needy in the areas of love and praise. Well, he gets both, and fast. The succubus of Nazism and Anne both appear at the same time and he lets them both in.

The best parts of the movie are the conversations between Halder and Gluckstein. Mortensen and Issacs are good actors and they both play imperfect people very well.

You’ll miss a lot if you view this movie in the context of Nazism. It’s really a movie about all of us, then and now. And that’s why it’s my choice for our July 4th. Celebration of your country’s representative government should not be flag waving events. They should be times of introspection. The Declaration of Independence was only a fledgling step (and a step only for an elite class.) What have we gained, what have we lost in our march to the present? The music is not the metaphor in Good; John Halder is the metaphor and as such, he is the metaphor for all of us.

2011-06-07T13:21:00.009-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Thoughts on Tuesday

Maybe it's the heat but my blogging schedule is really messed up. Movie Monday, Website Wednesday, Knitting Friday - what me worry? I'll probably get back in the groove soon but until then, I'm afraid it's blogging only when my guilty conscience flares its ugly head.

It was Chris Matthews however, who inspired today's posting. Not that I watch him (I know, the classic excuse like: I only read Playboy for the articles.), but the husband can sit in front of the screen when his image or even Jim Crammer's is gracing that 52" beauty. I, however, was just passing the TV last night (honest!) and I heard Matthews explain Anthony Weiner's behavior as the juvenilization (Oh please let that be spelled right!) of America. And I thought: Bingo! He's right.

For if you look at the mechanics of Weiner's actions, you're looking at a teenage boy not a grown man. It's stupid, doofus dumb, internet sex play. Something horny, teen boys and men who haven't been able to move into the grown-up world do.

Then you look at America and you realize that we really value this wacky, dumb teen time in sexual development. Our movie industry is aimed at this audience, our advertising industry wants them young and younger. Our fashion industry is delusional in selling to a non-existent rail-thin, teen market and even our grandmothers buy the meme by still dyeing their hair as they approach the grave.

There are no benchmarks to tell us that growing up means maturing and while youth can be for mistakes, adulthood must be for control. I'm not saying the adult male wouldn't think about stupid, dumb, sexting; I'm just saying that a truly adult male should have that warning bell which warns him: Bad idea, and that he listens too.

So I guess we can say that Weiner was living this juvenile sexual fantasy behavior. Unfortunately, he was living it as an adult and a member of Congress.

2011-05-30T08:04:00.008-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday?

I can't believe that my Verizon movie package (Starz, Encore, etc.) advertises a new movie every Saturday and then fails to deliver. It's been about three weeks since they have had a new move touting like: The Saturday, for the first time on TV, Pirates of the Caribbean, XXXVVVI.

But the girl and I did see Salt on Saturday. She loved it and was mesmerized by all the twists and turns. It's always fun to watch a movie through the eyes of a child. (Though I would swear to the death that "child" was a misprint if she ever reads this.) It's a still a ludicrous movie (we did have a mini physics lesson re: falling onto the top of a moving truck) but it's still good fast-paced adventure and as technically well-made as it is physically inaccurate.
I did get to see a 5 minute clip from the end of WWII on C-Span on Saturday. I got to hear Harry Truman and listen to the narrator intone about the people of Europe going to church to thank god for ending the war and watched old women kneeling in pews and blessing themselves in a synchronized fashion. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday! (The boy taught me this delightful way to curse.) They were praising god for ending a war! What were they doing for the 6 years he was allowing it to continue?
So without a movie to review and this being Memorial Day in the US (when we remember our dead in wars), I thought it would be fitting to depress everyone with Kevin Drum's piece in AlterNet:
http://www.alternet.org/rights/151108/why_the_democratic_party_has_abandoned_the_middle_class_in_favor_of_the_rich/

He basically tells the American voting public why their votes don't really count to either party since both have hitched their stars to the real money in this country.. It's a good insightful analysis and you get to see a glimpse of how the US might have been different if things hadn't changed in the early 1970s. But they did and I doubt the genie is going back into that proverbial bottle.

Drum offers no glimmer of hope, just explains how the world of the "average" American has changed and not for the better. Pretty depressing. But, hey, that's why god was invented.

Enjoy the day.

2011-05-27T16:20:00.005-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Joe Zee, the creative director of Elle magazine, has a reality-type show called All On The Line on the Sundance channel. Now, I'm not a fan of reality show (confession time: I did suffer one season of Project Runway) but I like this show. Not so much for what he's trying to teach his "pupils" but for what he's teaching me.

The premise of the show is that Joe uses his years of experience in the fashion design business to help new designers or older designers who have lost their "hotness" or good designers who just haven't been able to make a splash in the business. It's not all smooth sailing or happy endings and I know that there is editing for dramatic effect.

Designers are creative people and their ego can get ahead of their talent but Joe meets the challenges with good grace. And what has he taught me? To stretch. OK, that might sound trite but I've always considered myself a creative person, not an artistic one. That is, I can load the needles with stitches and produce a praise worthy garment but being creative, I can then reload those needles a thousand times and reproduce the same garment. An artistic person, I believe, makes the one-of-a-kind product.

So, in honor of Joe Zee, i present my first "stretch":
Wow, you say, it's a top-down summer tank. How original! But the pattern is different. I used a Japanese Pierrot lace stitch and modified it to work as *K1, YO, SSK, YO2TOG, YO, K1*
I know, it's a simple 6 stitch pattern but I'm writing out the pattern for next week.
So, thank you Joe Zee. Now, I'm looking at the zillions of skeins I got for my b-day/Valentine's Day present and I really think I'm going to go something artistic, not creative, this time.

See you next week. All On The Line has a new episode on Sundance every Tuesday at 10 pm.

Oh, what's with the $5 bill? That's for scale. I hope it's effective since my husband insists I know nothing about scale. This is 2011 so, in the future, if they shrink that bill, I guess the scale changes.

2011-05-23T07:55:00.002-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

Although I had high hopes for a new movie (well, new in terms of my Verizon movie package) I only managed to watch The Fall from 2006. At first, I thought I was watching a Camus novel but its title is literal: a movie stunt man in Los Angeles with girl friend issues injures himself in a stunt fall which was really too dangerous to attempt. Directed byTarsem Singh, the hospitalized stunt man tells a fantastical tale to another young patient (ala Baron Munchhausen.) The little girl is enchanted by him and his tale, however, the stunt man has an ulterior motive. Weaving events and people from the hospital into his story, we and the little girl hang on to this fantasy as it plays out. Does it all end well? I'll let you decide. Definitely worth the IMDb rating of 7.9 and perhaps that was even too low.

The week started with my reading:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/philip-roth-booker-prize_b_864536.html

Apparently, Shivani criticized Philip Roth's Booker Prize and this article delves into the richness of foreign literature vs. the shallowness of US lit. I guess I as I think, the best foreign literature writes metaphor; even the best US lit still writes in simile. Shivani titles his article: The Insularity of American Literature. It's a worthwhile read and discussion point. Of course, the American insularity has been on the radar of critics for generations, even centuries.

Which, in the same vein, brings me to a Roger Ebert mea culpa piece:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2011/05/my_mighty_hammering_over_thor.html

Ebert had the umbrage to criticize the new movie, Thor, and did he get flak for that. He was royally "taken to the wood shed" for not realizing (and thus forgiving) that the plot holes in the movie are all explained in the Thor comics. Talk about insular! Talk about rabid fans! Poor Roger. I guess the movie-goers give a lot of slack to their comic heroes. And, their movies-based-on Disney-World-rides considering Pirates 4 with a Rotten Tomato rating of 33% (now, that's rotten though not as rotten as Priest at 15%) is #1 at the box office.

Maybe Shivani should add "insane" to his adjective choices for American media, culture and (based on the ballyhoo over the recently wrongly predicted Rapture) American society in general. Enjoy!

2011-05-18T09:27:00.004-04:00

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

I'm in the middle of listening to a class on Measure for Measure and I'm loving it. It made me take another look at this play and I can't believe it is such an easy read. I have an hour plus left to listen on this play and then I have to get started with Othello for the next session. This is the free Harvard course from 2007 I mentioned last week.

Then the boy has to memorized the Mountain West states for Friday. At least there are only 6 of them so with states, capitals and postal abbreviations he will only have 18 blank spaces to navigate this time. He seems to like the studying (read that as memorization) for these test thought I don't know what the retention rate is going to be.

My pick today is wacky and fun:

http://www.oddee.com/

Oddee says of itself: Oddee™ is an entertainment blog on oddities, attracting well over two million unique visitors each month. Focused on the odd, bizarre and strange things of our world, its daily articles and sections explore subjects from Science to Advertising and Technology; over 15 million pages are read at Oddee™ every month.

I look at it as a "grab a cup of coffee during a few spare minutes and check it out" type of site. There are a lot of annotated lists and that's a real favorite for me. You can read presently about tattoo, chairs, urinals, or fruit carvings - and that's only a small section of the lists.

Take a look. It's worth it. Oh, 60% of their traffic is male. Should I say "beware?" Enjoy.