Medicare For All

Movie Monday

I was going to review a children’s movie today and then the 29 year old woman was found in CA and suddenly my view of children’s movies went haywire.

Aberrations in news get everyone’s attention and nothing was more out of the ordinary in the U.S. in the past week than the discovery of a woman who had been kidnapped 18 years before at the age of 11. The fact that her kidnapper was also her rapist, father of her two children, 11 and 15 and a registered sex offender, and the fact that she and her children lived in a make-shift slum of tarp tents and out buildings on a property with near neighbors, and the fact the police had been alerted to these structures, had visited the home, admonished the man about the illegality of having people live in them, and then, as in every parent's worst nightmare, just feet from the kidnapped woman and her daughters, they had walked away, their duty done.; all these facts and all the others which are being revealed make for a surreal situation which is almost beyond human understanding.

All this turned my mind to the first line of For Maddox Ford’s The Good Soldier, “This is the saddest story.”.

For this tale of the girl turned woman, kidnapped, now found, is truly a saddest story. My mind shudders at the grief and guilt all innocent parties must feel at this junction: the daughter now apologizes for not trying to escape, the step-father whose marriage was destroyed over this horror but who is, as he said, for the first time in 18 years is not a suspect in this case. All the destroyed lives. All the sorrow and nightmares which will go well into the future which may or may not contain closure.

Of course, I am not naive enough to believe this is the saddest story. Unfortunately horrors and horrors to children occur every day throughout the world. But events like this, for me, bring our treatment of children in an industrialized society (the only one I happen to know) so much more clearly into focus.

And what medium shows this treatment to the most people? Television possibly, but movies for sure.

I was first going to look at Over The Hedge with which I have some serious problems. But that is a children’s movie with furry little creatures. Then on Saturday night I saw Her Majesty, a New Zealand film about a young girl in early 1950s who starts a letter writing campaign to have the newly crowned Elizabeth of England stop at her New Zealand town during a world tour.

On the lighter side, you see the girl befriending an outcast Maori woman, experiencing the travails of a crush on a male teacher, and standing up to blatant bigotry. On the lighter side, good does triumph over evil; her father overcomes his prejudice; the villain of the piece is royally hoisted on her own petard. On the lighter side, the girl’s parents are caring and not stock characters and her friends do not all put conventional prejudice above friendship.

And then, there is the darker side. Most commenters on IMDb liked the movie; only one saw what I did but to a lesser degree; only one mentioned sexual innuendo but I think he/she was talking about when Elizabeth (New Zealand girl, not Elizabeth II) visits her teacher.

Not to be any more cryptic: it was with the depiction of Elizabeth’s brother that I had a problem. And a serious one. What convinced the director and the screenwriter to include this pathological twit into this pre-teen tale? Did they sit around the table and muse: Hey, there is a big psychotic movie-going element out there. This is how we can pull them in.....

One commenter said she was disturbed that the brother was so mean but thought it would have worked if the character was a next door neighbor.

Hell, no. This kid was growing up to be a serial killer. Here are some of delightful things he does during the movie: gets fired for being lazy; throws a rock through the Maori woman’s house, tries to set fire to the same house; rips down and burns his sister’s pictures of Elizabeth II; attacks his sister with two friends; and tries to run down his sister’s friend while she is riding a bike.

Now to delve into just two of these acts. First, when he tries to burn down the house. His sister confronts him with a shotgun and he is stopped momentarily. But in real wimp fashion, just as he taunts his sister to shoot while still holding the flaming lighter and she must make this decision, the Maori woman as deus ex machina appears. The lighter mysteriously goes out and the scene is diffused. So somehow it's OK to put kids in dangerous situations just for the shock factor. No moral issue explored. Just: OK, bring in the Maori woman and let’s wrap this scene.

Second, and so much more disturbing is the scene where the brother (did I mention he was an older brother) appears with two friends to accost his sister. The two friends pin the girl back and the brother threatens her. It was a very disturbing scene and here is where I saw the “sex” since it was an incendiary mix of angry older teens and a young girl with a brother who had already been depicted as so unstable that rape would not have been out of the question.

But....the scene fades into the next one where you realize all the boys did was lock Elizabeth is a backyard fenced area! Take about defying belief.

The fact that our last view of the brother is in handcuffs in the back of a police car does not excuse the inclusion of this seriously warped character into the plot.

I watched this movie with a young girl and a younger boy. The boy bailed early and went to play with Legos. The girl stayed and enjoyed the movie. I spent “after time” explaining how abnormal the brother’s behavior was, which sort of diffused what I’ll assume was the theme of the movie: standing up for what you believe in. That theme was worthwhile for children.

Next week, continuing the look at children’s movies: Over The Hedge. Cute, maligned forest creatures or terminators in fur?

Medicare For All

Knitting Friday

What an eventful week! My newsletter is done, drafted and proofed. All that remains is preventing a computer melt down and I am good to go.

In fact, I just sent a copy to myself so baring Noah’s flood or nuclear winter, I can breathe that proverbial sign of relief.

Also during this week, my husband’s office chair broke, proving once again that Einstein’s 15th Law holds: One adult and two children cannot occupy the same space. Kudos to Einstein but it meant yesterday we shopped almost a full working day (OK, we did stop for lunch) searching for a new chair. Staples had the answer and right now, I’m typing on his new office char which is a pretty neat chair in that it’s comfortable. Imagine that, office chars are comfortable. And don’t have to cost half the national deficit to be so.

But since this is Knitting Friday, enough about me and more about me and knitting. This week I made a top down raglan cardigan and finished it to the point were I had only the sleeves to do. You know, the place where you try the beauty on? And so I did. In front of the mirror; and I noticed that the front edges were heading to the floor while the back remained hoisted to the ceiling. And, all the pulling in the world wasn’t changing that configuration. Did you happen to hear the sound? Yes, it was “Rip it, Rip it.” back to the frog pond for this beauty. I really do like that Red Heart Plush. It is so soft and also no worse the wear after frogging. So right now, it’s making its way into a raglan pullover. This knitting is really auto-pilot knitting once I cast on and joined. I think the markers went after 8 - 19- 8-19 for the two sleeves and the front and back. I worked the first row flat to make the joining easier and am using a Kfb (knit front and back) instead of YO (yarn over increases.) I have great hopes for this try and I hope to have finished pictures next week. I’m also hoping that this success (yes, I am optimistic) will lead to a break from shawl knitting for a while.

Talking about shawl knitting, I did have that garment in mind when I was in Michael’s yesterday (OK, we chair shopped, had lunch, and stopped at Michael’s and Wegmann’s - full disclosure) with that “burn a hole in your pocket” 40% off coupon. The siren call doesn’t grab me often in Michael’s because after their disappointing yarn department make-over there is little I want to purchase yarnwise in this store. The only positive addition for me is the Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool (which is definitely not their “old-fashioned” version of this wool; this new stuff would make a fisherman blush,) It’s 465 yards which makes a nice size shawl so I don’t mind buying individual skeins. (The only other yarn I buy at Michael’s is Patons Classic Wool but that’s seldom on sale and one skein (220+ yards) is not enough.

But then, as I’m standing there with the Lion Brand wool in my grubby hands, I think: what about a sleeveless vest? Would 465 yards be enough? A quick look at the pattern books there told me it would. So now I’m thinking that this will be my next, or my next to next project, since the weather yesterday necessitated a light sweater or jacket and I’m thinking: Fall, she is a-coming!

OK, don’t stop reading, there was more knitting done this week. I finished my foulard. I bound off my foulard. I tried on my foulard. I ripped out my foulard. What was I thinking? Yes, it did look crinkly and cute and stretchy and fun. But...... Perhaps it was because this was really a triangular shawl masquerading as a foulard. A foulard should be a square shawl folded into a triangle. There is a big difference in those two looks especially when you are working with crochet thread as I was. Although, I had to visit the frog pond again with this garment, I’m not discouraged. I have the same thread in beige but this time I have a lot of balls. So I’m thinking about another attempt with smaller needles but sticking to the pattern as written.

On the right is what the pink thread finally became - the ubiquitous ch3-3dc cluster shawl. What would I do without that stitch? It’s a modest 50" x 23" (center tip) but it’ll do. I have some pink linen blouses and a pink tee which need a light wrap. Take a look at the amount of yarn I had left. It's less than a yard and that was after I changed my final row to ch-3hdc clusters. And, I do apologize for the ratty towel - time to linen shop.

Before I drift back to my knitting, here’s a pattern link you may like:

http://madelinetosh.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/mara-v3.pdf

It’s called the Mara shawl and be sure you are looking at Version 3 since the others had a error. This is a top down garter shawl so it will stay on your shoulders and be reversible. It has a really neat ruffled edge. With US 7 needles, it takes about 675 yards but I’m thinking about US 10 and cutting that amount down to 500 yards. And, once again, I don’t think I’m going to use the YO for the increases.

I’ll let you know how I make out. Now, it’s back to knitting.

Medicare For All

Ted Kennedy died. I’m not one to believe that the hero myth will take you far but perhaps, just perhaps, someone close to Obama could say at this time: Ted Kennedy was a champion of national health care reform, what say we use his death to return some focus and fire to this issue and regain the talking points. Just saying. Unfortunately, the capitalistic quagmire trumps the hero every time.

Website Wednesday

This is newsletter prep week for me and I’ve decided that this week, once a month, sinks into a black hole every time. Ask me what I did this week and I would answer: I had a large dose of angst. But the baby is now in draft stage and out for proofing. So for the short time I have before the corrections hit my e-mail: I’m free.

And in keeping with this silly, school girl giddy I’m enjoying right now, let’s have a fun website:

http://www.dailycognition.com/

Now the name, Daily Cognition, belies its contents. It’s not daily but current being about a week behind in postings and you don’t want to use cognition in its most formal sense of: A term referring to the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension, including thinking, knowing, remembering, judging, and problem solving. These are higher-level functions of the brain and encompass language, imagination, perception, and planning..” http://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/g/def_cognition.htm

Because it’s all fun and silly and interesting and bizarre and worth it. The web subtitle is: Blog of Unusual and Funny News Worldwide. And it is.

Take a look at at Top 10 Funniest Typos Ever, for example.

http://www.dailycognition.com/index.php/2009/08/16/top-10-funniest-typos-ever.html

You know what’s coming but it’s still funny.

Daily Cognition has text, videos, pictures, all types of mediums you can put up on a web site.

Watch a video of a fire extinguisher fight in a Russian subway. Dig into the archives (Monday, 31 Mar 2008) for: This Is What ____ Looks Like! (Amusing Pictures) and tell me that you didn’t crack a smile here. Or get serious with The 25 Greatest Action Films Ever! (Sunday, 22 Jul 2007) Don’t know if I agree that Die Hard is #1 though.

This is a site to cruise. Don’t like one entry? Try another. Some thing (many things) you’re going to like is here.

Still have some spare time? Click on the “Play Free Games.” The playing screen is smallish but the games are legit. Some links are broken; some games are not in English, which makes instruction reading impossible for me. (Yes, I know, my inability to know another language puts me in the ugly American category.) A lot of the games are old favorites: Grow, Poker, Hangman. Oh, and did I learn that I'm bad at pool. Probably should have read those instructions first.

So bookmark this site for its fun and try to return often.

Medicare For All

Movie Monday

I’ve decided you really can’t review a good movie (or perhaps any movie) unless you see it twice. (Of course, LOTR and now Pirates 3 seem to need a zillion viewings.) The first viewing is for plot. The second for, let’s say, all the other stuff.

That’s what happened with After The Wedding (2006). Or rather Efter brylluppet as it’s called in its homeland, Denmark.

I have no idea what first attracted me to this movie. Perhaps the subtitles since I’m a sucker for subtitles which change slowly enough for me to read them. Perhaps Mads Mikkelsen (now there’s a first name you don’t see every day in the U.S.) with his precisely chiseled facial bones.

Whatever. After the Wedding is a fast, concise, little melodrama with all the best strum und drang of a U.S. soap opera but it's done so, so well.

My first viewing was to answer all the whys: Why was Jacob brought back to Denmark from India? What was Jorgen’s agenda? Was it benign or evil? Was Jacob really a good guy? What kind of relationship would Jacob and Anna have? There were a lot of questions. Soap opera questions to be sure but even great literature is soap opera but done better.

Then for the second viewing; this was the “Oh, I see.” viewing. The second time you recognize the clues and the movie puzzle either meshes finely and you have a good movie or it hangs limply and you just wasted your money and time.

This movie meshes finely. Perhaps all the pieces join too tightly in the end. Perhaps it is the ultimate “Where Are They Now?” ad where you find your past and it fits nicely into your future. But the twist is there. That ubiquitous twist that moves competent movies into a higher plane.

For this movie has all the elements for corny sentiment. Hell, it even has a deus ex machina (and this time he looks and acts like one) pulling all the strings.

But then..... Then everyone pays the price. Even the deus. No one comes out of this plot unscathed. Perhaps Jacob has the most heart-wrenching choice since he must decide between his two families but Jorgen pays an ultimate price. When Jacob tells Helene that rich people don’t have ideals he doesn’t know Jorgen’s secret and neither he nor we will learn what angst went into Jorgen's decision to contact Jacob in the first place.

OK, I know this sounds so very cryptic but the plot is the secret (or rather two secrets) and the secrets make the theme. So watch it. It’s a very short 120 minutes. Watch and find out what happens after the wedding. It will hold your interest.

Medicare For All

Knitting Friday

I still can’t beat my obsession with shawls. I think it’s because they are so fast to make, unless you go in for elaborate lace. Also, they take so little yarn. At right is a shawl I made in one night with a K hook and 2 strands of crochet cotton thread of indeterminate yardage in a simple ch3-3dc cluster stitch. The ball of yarn was less than softball size. I know, I should have weighed it but I was really crocheting and thinking: This is going to the frog pond. There is definitely not enough yardage here. I was wrong. It made a 53" x 22" center tip shawl. I wore it yesterday over a sleeveless dress and it was perfect.

Then there is my foulard.
http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/knitting/knit_a_handy_scarf_with_case.php

Doesn’t it look like crinkly thin noodles? This is the simplest of patterns (Kfb, *K* for every row) and my most difficult. Sometimes, with plain garter stitch in a thicker yarn, I get lucky and I’m able to fix a messed -up stitch a few rows down. But most of the time with that weight and all of the time with the weight here (thin cotton), I cannot fix a garter stitch mistake. Stockinette stitch? No problem. I’ve gone down 30 rows to successfully fix a missed stitch. Perhaps it’s the tension with garter; the fix always sags. So I’m almost as diligent as when I knit lace with this project.

But do like the look at the foulard pattern. It reminds me of an EZ Shetland shawl. Truth be told, I’m really not making the pattern as written since I don’t have enough yarn. Pulling out a ball of this pink cotton (DMC Cebelia 50g - no yardage listed) from among 8 balls, I was sure I saw two more pink balls. I didn’t. I saw one ball of pink and 7 balls of beige. Thus, I’m making the foulard but my way. It won’t be a square (with just one more ball it would be) but a typical triangle. Plus, I dropped down to wood US 10.5 needles since my US 11 needles were metal and much too slippery for the job. In spite of my having to be diligent with this knitting, this cotton is heavenly to work with.

There is one non-shawl project in progress. A friend asked if I knew of a pattern for a curved “potholder” for the knob on a cooking pot cover which she had seen. My google searches came up empty but the great people on Ravelry came up with the answer within minutes:

http://www.crochetnmore.com/lidgrabberhat.htm

It’s called a Lid Grabber Hat which was nothing near the search terms I was using. I think I have my “stocking stuffer” gifts for this year.

And finally, pictures of my brown-hued Knit Picks lace “walking on a cloud” shawl and my “I’m so happy I finally made this shawl but why am I not finding any places to wear it?” black shawl.

Both are in the ch3, 3dc crocheted cluster stitch. Yes, I know. I am stuck in a rut with this stitch but you know I knit most of the time in public and this is a great traveling stitch. I love both shawls and I know I’ll be using the brown one a lot this fall and winter. You may remember this brown yarn. The dog was wearing it a few months ago when I made a one skein triangular shawl with it. This time I made an oversized rectangle. Great for winter wear.

The black one? I don’t know. Every time I put it on I look like I’m ready for a fancy outing. It’s a good length and width - 62" x 19". The shawl was a mill end labeled as 100% cotton. It looks very similar to a Bernat cotton (remember the one I didn’t buy at A.C. Moore because I forgot the coupon and it was $6.99 a skein and the next week they had no black left. In fact, the line has disappeared altogether.) The Bernat was distinguished by a shiny look; what I got is also. I like the shawl but the jury is still out as to whether this one will get much use.

Next week: I’m going to start a funky short sleeved cardigan. I picked up 3 skeins of Red Heart Plush (yes, it was a siren-call sale) in beige. First, I was imagining a pullover but then I took a good look at my horde of black cotton long-sleeve shirts for the winter and realized I didn’t need another top at present. I have two possible patterns, Kaya from Crystal Yarns or a classic top-down raglan from a Spinnovations 4 book I picked up at a garage sale. Decisions, decisions. More next Friday.

Happy knitting.

Medicare For All

Website Wednesday

I spend a lot of time researching my choices for Website Wednesday because I don’t like to disseminate wrong information. And, as we all know, there is sooooo much wrong information on the Internet. But I also think that wrong information is not always detrimental to learning since it’s important to pick through mental dross to understand mental gems. Logic classes must love it.

Unfortunately in the U.S. there are so many people who seem to believe in delusional ideas. Or perhaps there are not that many people but we get to see that type over and over again because our media sure seems to love the tin-foil hat wearing crowd.

(That’s why it was so refreshing to see the video where Barney Frank (D-VT) rebuts a woman who compared Obama to the Nazis with: On what planet do you Spend Most Of Your Time?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/19/barney-frank-confronts-wo_n_262682.html

So I hemmed and hawed before I decided to post my pick this week. Almost all of my sites are fun or fact. This one blends both in the area of science:

http://www.zmescience.com/

ZME Science is a science site with a twist. This is a science site written by non-scientists and, well, even high school kids.

It says about itself: ZME Science was established in the summer of 2007. It’s not just another science blog, as one might believe at a first glance. It’s a place for those who know little to nothing about science related issues to start learning; it;s a place for those who know quite a lot and want to find out about the latest studies, developments and inventions. It keeps you informed and gets you involved in the processes that define our planet.

And it goes on: These are crucial times for everybody, and we feel that there are two important things that you can do to make a difference: stay informed and get involved. Guess what: you can do both these things; and we’re here to help you. You can help us too, by sending us your news or studies or even essays (if they’re related) by using the contact page; just think about something that really means a lot to you, and think that by sending it to us, you’ll be making sure it gets seen by tens of thousands of people.

And that was my dilemma. Here’s a site that admits it's presenting popularized science. Not a good idea, I thought. But then I thought: Isn’t that where science should start? Throwing out ideas out for study and confirmation or refutation? OK, scientists call it peer review but there’s obviously an audience of reviewers (commenters) out there for this site. Just read the comments for “8 totally awesome natural phenomena you probably didn’t know about.” (Great photos.)

http://www.zmescience.com/totally-awesome-natural-phenomena-you-probably-didnt-know-about-000033

The author (the founder of ZME Science) gets accused of photo-shopping by some commenters; defended by others. There are 84 comments for this article alone. The readers are “on their toes.”

Then there’s the Mermaid sightings in Israel lead to 1.000.000$ reward:

http://www.zmescience.com/mermaid-sightings-in-israel-lead-to-1000000-reward

with the gorgeous back view of the red-headed mermaid (wearing, I might add, a lovely conch shell in her hair and a most attractive blue, green tail - your typical mermaid.)

Phony-baloney you say? Well, OK, I’ll give you the picture but google “Mermaid in Israel” and you’ll see this is hot current news.

Or take a look at: http://www.zmescience.com/komodo-dragons-are-venomous What a great shot of the inside of the mouth of a Komodo dragons. My dentist would love him.

So while you won’t get pure science on this site you will get the interest. And really that’s what science is all about? I can imagine this site getting school kids really interested in the world of science. I can imagine a bright kid going from a topic here to primary source material. (Ask a group of scientists and you’ll find most of them started their interest in the field with popularized science material.) I can imagine any age kids or adults being interested.

They may be science-lite here, but they are also science-passion. Kudos to Andrei for starting ZME Science.

Go take a look and bring your kids.

Musings on Monday

Medicare For All

As you know, I’ve been wondering a lot about why so many people in the U.S. are opposed to a national health care system, “Medicare for all.”

After you peel away the racist (who will never get their minds around a mixed race President so they have a knee-jerk “No” response to everything he proposes); the living-in-the-past-century type where socialism (except of course for their beloved Medicare) is always an anathema; the any-change-is-bad crowd and the really stupid people who could be convinced to gnaw off their own leg even if it wasn’t caught in a bear trap, you still have a hard core and influential group of Americans who oppose a national heath care system.

Health care. Jesus H. Christ. What more fundamental right is out there? Once the fallacious argument was: Well, we pay a lot but we have the best health care system in the world. Then as the facts to disprove this statement hit even the Yahoos like a ton of bricks (U.S.- 47th in highest total life expectancy; 43rd in lowest infant mortality rate, down from 12th in 1960 and 21st in 1990. Source: http://www.healthpaconline.net/health-care-statistics-in-the-united-states.htm) they just moved on with: We don’t need no stinky facts.

But I really don’t care about all the opposition. I care about the feeble job the Administration has done to sell national health care reform. Just a few annoyances:

1. You don’t sell a program by having to put out forest fires the opposition starts. For example: having to respond to and refute the ludicrous charge of “death panels” delays and diffuses your opportunities to rally support.

2. You don’t try to reason with crazy people. I know that politicians hate to anger any walking pulse that may vote, but there are crazy people out there in this debate who are way beyond any reasoning. You don’t cajole them. You say: Your behavior is not the American way; Americans disagree and discuss. You got an issue? Let’s discuss it. You want to scream; find an empty room. And you say this over and over again. You don’t let the Hitler-comparers or the death panel nuts have a second to come up for air. Hey fellas, these guys are out to destroy. Don’t reason with the charging bull elephant.

3. You, not your opposition, get the memorable phrase. Medicare for all, not death panels, must become the meme. Americans like it short and simple. Al Gore discovered that too late. Give them your program in no more than 4 words. And repeat it again and again and then again.

4. When you are trying to institute any phenomenally important change you must have the proverbial “fire in the belly.” This must be your passion, your raison d-etre. Not just another policy decision concern.

This is a battle to the death, perhaps figuratively and literally. You could pare it down to dedicated die-hard idealists versus the American capitalistic system. And this ain’t no Hollywood movie with the arrival of the deus ex machina before the credits. Realistically, as the days head closer and closer to the 2010 campaign season our prospects dim even more. This may be a fool’s fight, but it is the right fight.

As Andrew Cohen says:
It takes guts and integrity of motive to fight the good fight. It takes a passionate interest in life itself. It’s easy to stand on the sidelines, shaking your head and commenting on how tragic things are. But if you really care, you are going to be in the ring, trying to make the world a better place.
http://www.andrewcohen.org/quote/?quote=308

(Next week: Movie Monday returns)

Medicare For All

The Huffington Post leads with an article about income inequality in the U.S. where they report: Income inequality in the United States is at an all-time high, surpassing even levels seen during the Great Depression, according to a recently updated paper by University of California, Berkeley Professor Emmanuel Saez,

Other bloggers say we are past the point of meaningful health care reform in the U.S. I don't know. Capitalism fettered can work; we, however, we have capitalism unchecked. I think I'm looking for the pony under the manure but I would like to keep hoping.

Knitting Friday

It wasn't until I awakened at 10 a.m. (well, that was after wake-ups at 1 a.m., 3 a.m., and 4 a.m. for my ridiculously early breakfast) and did a final rubbing of the sandman out of my eyes that I realized that I must be on vacation.

Then I discovered that my camera accompanied by a human had gone on a long photo shoot. Unfortunately, said camera departed with my knitting shots for today.

Oh well, I did tell you this was a vacation day. (First sleeping late in 10 years. I wonder if that's a Guinness Record?)

So I am going to pack in my Knitting Friday blog fairly quickly and discover other things you are supposed to do on vacation.

First, to report: the black shawl is done. And, yes, a picture will follow. What did I discover? About 100 rows in I took a good look at the pattern. OK, it was my own creation but the damn thing was going so slowly and in no way was this shawl going to turn out as a "Wow" creation.

Guess what happened next? Rip it! Rip it! I picked up a K hook and in an hour I had more done than the one I had just frogged. Within two days, the shawl was done. It was then I realized why I hadn't looked for a black shawl to wear all summer: it's too formal looking. Too evening. But it looks good and it's done.

On Shrugs: Yesterday, I would have said "Never again." to them. I had spent the entire week attempting and riping shrugs. Too big. Too ugly. Nothing worked. And I tried them all. But hope is eternal and there is one more (and I mean only one more) shrug attempt in the near future. Not one of those "smart" ones where you knit in one piece with no seaming. This last attempt with be a lace rectangle (again!) with added cuffs.

And now, let me leave you with Lion Brand patterns:

http://www.lionbrand.com/content-knittingPatternIndex.html

All Lion Brand patterns are free at this time. This may change so do your searching ASAP. People report the site has gotten very slow and sometimes is not reachable because of all the hits.

When you get your list of patterns, search for "Download" in the list. These are the patterns which were "Downloadable after Paying" before.

I must have gotten on before the rush because I got to look at all the patterns I wanted to. However, I didn't find anything I hadn't seen in other places where they were offered for free, always. Disappointing. You may be luckier than I.

Happy searching and knitting.

Medicare For All

OK, I told you this was a banner in progress. I like “Medicare For All” better than "Single Payer National Health Care Now." It’s so much simpler. They didn’t invent KISS (keep it simple, stupid) for nothing. I think Obama would have done much better if he had brainstormed the catch-phrase for his national health reform push early on. The whole world knows that Americans like it simple. I won’t go into the stupid part.

Website Wednesday

Oh, I was so smug a half hour ago. I had my website picked and was ready to go. It was a history site; a lot of pictures, time-lines, etc. That was good. Then I went to their points-of -view page where they claimed to have a diversity of opinions. But I really didn’t see a diversity (as defined as differing from one another); I saw points of view without refutation. To me, this is always a very dangerous way to learn.

So while I was willing to stretch your minds again (after brainz.org last Wednesday) even though you deserved a fun site this week, I wasn’t willing to promote this site.

It soon became frantic time: What to do? Help! Help!

Remember that old Paul Newman movie, The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! ? Well, the Russians did come and come to my rescue. Not only is this site Russian but it could almost be considered a “fun” site.

http://yuricle.tululuka.net/ - the site of Yuri Matrosovich

Clicking above will get you to a light blue page with a centered small icon of what I see as a felled pine tree which perhaps has a bullet hole in it.

Your choices are on the bottom. If you read Russian, click the blog; it’s up to date. Or click to get pictures of signs, post boxes, cars, doors, manholes...... from around the world. Yes, these are mundane subjects. But not everything coming from Russia is the Battle on the Ice.

Matrosovich takes you on a Moscow by Car tour. See if you are amazed, as I was, at the cleanliness of the place. Other photos take you to places around the world.

But don’t leave before you click Alco. This is The Museum of Anti-Alcohol Posters from the Soviet era. Each photo has an English translated caption. I had always heard that Russia had a serious alcohol problem. I didn’t know they tried to tackle it this way.

Now I, a photographer who always gets a big chunk of ceiling in every shot, may be no judge of photos. But I think this site is definitely worth a look. Look at a visit as promoting glasnost. Remember that?

Single Payer National Health Care Now

What you do you think? I’m going with it for now. It’s not perfect but I don’t think I can wait any longer. With the Congress playing “duck and cover” both literally and figuratively it seems when they have town hall meetings on health care, this is not the time to wait for the perfect national health care banner for my blog. I’m still open to suggestions though. I’m also still open to inspiration but I see to be dry in that area so I’m rooting for the suggestions.

Movie Monday - The Incredible Hulk, Tropic Thunder, home vs. movie “theaters” and some of Appaloosa.

I think I came to this conclusion late: movie house movies and living room movies are not the same; even when they are the same.

I’ve been spending an awful lot of time on CGI movies which my 6 viewings of the Pirates 3 brought home to me. I’ve watching movies I would never look at in a movie house even if the tickets were free and so was the transportation, even if they carried me to my seat and then went out and got me pop corn.

But have these movies playing in my cable movie package during the day and I might willingly plop myself down in front of these semi-dogs (no offense to dogs I hope) and watch them.

The operative phrase, of course, is “during the day” for when these movies appear in the middle of the night, when my eyes are too tired for knitting and my arm is too weary to reach up for the lamp all I do is lament the miserable assortment of movies available to me.

So I guess that saying: “life happens when you’re doing something else" can be tweaked here to mean: lousy movies are bearable when they are shared with desirable activities.

For me, of course, it’s knitting. At the end of the day, or rather the movie, if I knit, I have accomplished something worthwhile. So, I sat through The Incredible Hulk (I like Ed Norton and I’ll always root for Liv Tyler after her heartfelt portrayal of Arwen. Plus after his turn in A History of Violence I love the quirkiness William Hurt brings to his roles.) So I sat in my home and enjoyed this CGI behemoth with it's sorry ending. (But let’s be honest: do you know of a movie where the hero gets transformed into a mutant form that ends happily? Even X-Men had a lot of casualties.) When you watch this type of movie you know it’s a roller coaster ride to disaster. However, I’m beginning to find it easier to take this ride than movies like Atonement. I’m finding it more difficult to sit through sadness which could be real.

When brings me to Tropic Thunder. This is a bawdy comic satire which will not stay with you. I doubt there’s a coffee house discussion in this movie. The real gem is this movie is its biting, caustic cutting edge which it almost keeps throughout. (An exception was the cute toddler who turned into a vicious killer. The satire got softened when you saw that he came to no harm after Stiller gave him a deadly but necessary toss into the air.) Jack Black spews lines to make the most jaded school marm blush; Robert Downey Jr. got the Oscar nod through some of this dialogue was unintelligible, and Tom Cruise..... Well, Tom Cruse was there but yet he wasn’t. It wasn’t until just before the credits that I realized that actor I was watching ham and curse throughout was Cruise. Great acting, though I don’t think it helped his next movie’s box office gross. (Note: One movie topic I plan to tackle [promise] is the actor’s performance vs. the actor’s personal antics.)

And now: Appaloosa. I knew that the wee hours of the morning was not a good time to view this movie. Especially with a house full of guests so I couldn’t move in another room and put up the sound. So there I was, only being able to watch and pick up 7 words out of 10. And that’s not mentioning the fact that I awakened and turned on the TV about 20 minutes past the beginning. But the movie lived up to my positive movie trailer review (remember them?) I gave it. I guess I would call it an atypical Western with metaphors. A lot happens within a slim storyline. Physically, Zellweger is not my image of Allison French. I find her face distracting but she played the role well. Mortensen and Harris play the quintessential Western sidekicks taking the meaning of laconic to a new height, with Mortensen making the ultimate sacrifice for a friend at the end but with a twist. I don’t like the Western genre but this one I’m going to watch again; this time with full sound.

OK, that’s it for today. All my guests are awake with stomachs growling. It’s chow time.

Knitting Friday

I awakened this a.m., cut up a watermelon, put on the coffee, fried an onion, added chopped bacon and frozen hash browns. (Bought a Wegmanns, no fats, no nothing, just hash browns-to-be and I guess whatever is needed to make them stay white.)

Big deal, you say, That’s called making breakfast. OK, but I did it at 4 a.m. and except for the watermelon and coffee which I would consume then, everything else would wait for the patter of little feet. So, I am all coffeed up by this hour. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy.

I still have not come up with my pithy health care bon mot. All I have is: National Health Care Now. Which I may have to run with if the brain cells keep sleeping.

I’ve been watching the staged protests to any health care town hall meetings the congressmen-in-recess are having. Rather spooky to see people screaming and shouting down discourse. When did Americans get so stupid? Or scared? We seem to live in fear of the “they” which we believe is always poised ready to harm us.

But on to knitting. Or throwing out. For that is what I did this week. Any knitter, any crafts person, reading this knows how difficult the throwing out is. The mind of a crafter can rationalize anything: But if only I add buttons, or flowers, or the American flag....... They can always find a reason to salvage. That’s why I threw it in the waste basket; emptied the basket in the trash; and didn’t look bad.

And what you ask did I abandon to the landfill? It was a shrug. I have made only one successful shrug in my entire knitting career and that one was admired so I gave it My latest bright idea for a shrug is a long rectangle with cuffs. Nothing original in that, However, I learned with my recent throw-away that I can’t do this with a short sleeve shrug. It just looks yucky. (Disclaimer: I did make the throw-away in cheap yarn since it was a prototype and I didn’t want use my good yarn on a sample. This may have contributed to the lousy look.) I’m beginning to think that I and shrugs don’t mesh . However, I recently saw a picture of a freebie shrug online and it was obvious that the neck was too big. (Also, did you ever notice that a lot of garments are shown only from the back or only from the front. OK, I’ll stop it; I’m not a conspiracy shrug theorist....... but do take a look at some pictures......)

However, I am going to make one more attempt at the shrug. I will be using “good” yarn this time and it will be a long sleeved shrug knit cuff to cuff with no seaming - I hope. You may be able to hear my screaming if this one is a flop.

Rather than get out of this editing window and check what I promised from last Friday (and I know it's an easy to-do but I'm so lazy today); I’ll just wing it. The black cotton shawl is still OTN. I’ve made king-sized blankets faster. As I’ve said, the simplest patterns seem to stump me the most. First, I was frogging constantly when I hit Row 30, now I’m at Row 100 and the frogs are again croaking in full force. Thank goodness the yarn has the slightest bit of stickiness because a lifeline every other row is not practical.

But my pride this week is my brown lace shawl. I love Knit Picks lace. I remember being told that travelers should have a garment to warm their shoulders, be able to be folded into a pillow or be spread out for a blanket. Well, this shawl is it; and it’s so soft. The only thing missing: I don’t travel. Well, I do travel but they are talking about plane travel and I’m phobically afraid of heights. But it’s a damn nice shawl.

No pictures until it’s finished but here’s a recap of the pattern ( You can scroll down to a previous Knitting Friday for more information of the pattern.)

I’m using a K hook on Knit Pick Lace. I think this one will take about 1000 yards but I wanted this one big so I think you could make a nice shawl at 2 skeins (800+ yards.) I’m using the *“ch3 - 3 dc * cluster stitch and I’m knitting on the diagonal. Each cluster is 1" wide and 3/4" long. (But this a very stretchy shawl.) The shawl is 29 cluster wide for approximately a 29" width. The length will be my height, which I’ve read is recommended (Not my height, but the knitter’s height.) I may edge the entire shawl but I don’t think I have to. There is no need to block. (Hooray!) I don’t know why, but the shawl reminds me of a Goya picture (not The Third of May, one of the women.) I should be finished today so I’m post a finished picture next week.

And now, that I’ve been up 6 hours (awake at 3 a.m.; cooking at 4 a.m.) it’s time to get the proverbial move on.

Happy knitting.

Website Wednesday

I try to get my facts straight. I try to untangle urban myths whenever I can. So I was hesitant to talk about Cato the Elder. You know, that Roman statesman so named to distinguish him from Cato the Younger; the Roman equivalent of our: Big Guy, Little Guy.

I had always remembered that Cato included in every Senate speech the phrase: Carthage must be destroyed. Like he would be talking about the wheat harvest: Blah, blah, blah, and Carthage must be destroyed. With “the Google”, I was able to confirm that my memory was correct. Good old Cato twisted the sword in the Roman consciousness every time he spoke and, sure enough, one day they thought collectively: Say, this guy has something here. Maybe Carthage should be destroyed.

Of course, Cato goaded the Romans into the third Punic War against Carthage in which Rome would finally destroy that nation.

OK, before you ask: where it all this going?: I’m trying to think of a pithy saying for each posting page regarding national health care reform in the U.S. You know how I believe hope for reform fades each day as we move forward into that long, grueling and seemingly never-ending season of campaigning when doing the right thing runs smack against the pathetic supplicant genuflect politicians make to wealthy lobbyists - insurance, health-care providers, and pharmaceutical - for needed campaign funds. Even I am not naive enough to believe that the good guys win in that shoot-out.

And so I wrack my brain cells for a Catoesque quote. If you have any suggestions, please send them along.

All of which, probably by stretching the logic like taffy, morphs into my website pick:

http://brainz.org/

You know I like logic, cripes, I tell you enough times, and I want to learn as many new things as I can. 'Cause when I’m engaged in my typical conversations of: Say, did you try out that new restaurant? I want to pithily retort with: Did you know that Firefox has 25 new, great features? Let me start with number one...... I do know how to clear a room. And I love annotated lists.

Brainz gives you annotated lists. Hordes of lists ranging all over the map. You don’t like reading about the world’s most prominent atheists you can read about Oprah’s top 12 mistakes, lies and embarrassments or about the Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush breakup.

Brainz says of itself: Brainz is a different kind of website. We go deeper. We are all about engaging your brain from multiple angles and stimulating your mind with fun, unique, interesting, challenging, thought-provoking, and funny content. Our goal is to provide you with all of the information you could possibly want, but to go as deep as possible, giving you lots of different ways to dig deeper and explore the topic. From games and quizzes to gadgets and software, Brainz has you covered.

Stay tuned: we're only just getting started.

It does what it promises, but it has no “About Us” page. So although I know many of their facts are accurate, I can get no handle on their POV, if they have one. There is sourcing for a lot of items but, as you can probably guess, I would like more. So, as with all information you read anywhere: reader be aware.

Having said that: Enjoy. It’s an entertaining, informative site. It’s an up-to-date site because beyond the lists is has a “light” breaking news section* with items such as: Obama’s birthday plans, Demi Moore’s “mohawk” and the Cash for Clunkers program.

OK, got to go and channel Cato to see if he can help with my pithy health care reform bon mot. See you Friday.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. Each Brainz page pops up with the black and white picture of a brain at the top. Don't let it bother you. After 6 viewings of Pirates 3 (Sparrow in cell on Davy Jones' ship scene) I didn't even notice it.

*This section is sourced.

Movie Monday

I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End six times last week. Maybe I needed the fantasy because I fear the bastards with the money are going to win the health care debate and the U.S. will continue to suck health care into the coffers of capitalistic profit. (Bill Maher said it right: not every thing has to be for profit.) But whatever the reason, I saw it two times with the kids; two times on TV as part of my Movie Package and two times from the recording I made of it on my Verizon recorder. Truth be told, only one viewing was complete, the recorded version, but still that’s a lot of hours devoted to fantasy in one week.

Six times, and I know I’m behind the curve with watching it. (It has already grossed almost $1 billion dollars world wide.) Plus, on so many levels it’s not a very good movie but - I loved it. (Yeah, I know I’m depressed about health care but even in my deepest depression I don’t think I would watch a bad movie six times.)

I’m sure you’ve read all the reviews you want but I’m going to throw in another one.

First, what I didn’t like:

1. I didn’t like Johnny Depp’s performance. There were flashes in his performance of the fine actor he can be but it was more of a “been there, done that, going through the motions” for him. In interviews, his fellow actors in the picture said it was his picture. I liked it better when he was only one of the important actors in a scene.

And what was with that effeminate walk? I know he’s done this walk since Pirates 1 but he’s a pirate for crying out loud. What convinced him to play a powerful, cunning, prancing pirate?

2. There was much too much verbiage. This was an action movie: show me, don't tell me. I watched the beginning three times to make sure I didn’t miss Governor Swann’s death scene. No, I didn't; it wasn’t there. Beckett announces that perhaps they didn’t need the Governor any more and the next time he appears is among the dead in the small boat brigade. Then the Cracken (sp), which was the major player at the end of Pirates 2, appears suddenly dead on a beach. And once again, the only explanation is Beckett intoning to Davy Jones: remember when I told you to kill your pet. I do understand that a three hour movie must cut a lot . However, for an action movie I think I spent too much time listening for explanations rather than watching the action.

3. All this movie lacked was a herald in every scene reminding Will and Elizabeth that their love would have to pay a great price. I picked up that clue early on and then later on and then later on again...... you get the picture. I sure got it. I pieced this and “the Dutchman must always have a captain” together fairly quickly. I knew this was not going to end happily. They didn't have to beat me over the head with that fact.

4. It took me almost all 6 viewings to understand the plot completely. I don’t know how happy I would have been with one $10+ movie ticket viewing. There was absolutely too much in the movie. However, if producers are going for DVD sales, this problem is easily resolved with the rewind button.

5. The pirate chicanery needed a score book. Sparrow was double crossing whom? Or better still, was he double-crossing different people at different times? Was Will working for Beckett? Was Will was working with Sparrow to double-cross Beckett?

6. The director missed a dramatic opportunity in this movie. I know, these are farces but this one had all the elements of important metaphors. Like Harry Potter, which turns darker as the series advances, I think Verbinski could have challenged his audience's thinking with Pirates 3. It's there, but he pulls back into farce each time.

7. I didn't like the pirate hangings which included a small child that was the first scene in the movie. As the soldier read the civil rights which had been suspended just before the hangman pulled the lever, I thought: Is this an indictment of George W. Bush and his suspension of rights in the U.S.? With that I had no problem, but why hang a child? The mood of somberness was established without it. And then this somberness was quickly reduced to farce. (See #6 above.) Also, this scene took up valuable movie time. Time needed for other events. (See #2 above.)

And now, for what I liked:

1. I loved the music. OK, it wasn’t Howard Shore in TLOTR but it was great for this pirate adventure.

2. I had no problem with the chemistry between Elizabeth and Will. I saw their drama as being played out on a duty vs. romantic love level. I guess I was looking more for choices than chemistry.

3. I thought Naomie Harris played Calypso to perfection. This was a role which could have become a stock character quickly but with her voice and gestures she empowered the human Calypso into a troubled, loving, and finally vengeful creature.

4. I liked the change in Norrington. He was a villain for me from Pirates 1. He did redeem himself.

5. I liked Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa. Perhaps Depp’s problem was that Rush got dibs on his approach to a pirate captain early in Pirates 1. Depp couldn’t just be his doppelganger. Rush played “ham” the way “ham” should be served.

6. The pirate captains' meeting scene was over the top but enjoyable. Though once again, I got Barbossa and the iron balls without having Sparrow react to them. Keith Richards played his cameo with more restraint than Depp; that was a twist.

7. The "dance"/fight scene with Will and Elizabeth where he proposes and they marry was way over the top but it fit and worked.

8. I liked Elizabeth's St Crispin’s speech to the pirates. Good succinct writing here with a believable ending in "Hoist the colors." Shakespeare would have approved and Keira Knightley delivered it very well. And mentioning Knightley, I loved that her teeth were not perfect. It’s good to see a human face in acting.

9. I had no problem with Elizabeth's arc of development from damsel in distress to pirate lord. Historically, women were pirate leaders.

10. I don’t know if this is a "like" but I was sad at the ending. Not the first ending with Sparrow on the docks sans ship, but the coda which comes after the 6 minutes of the credits roll. I guess I was sad because human relationships are tough to get right a lot of the times and even when you do, life can intervene with some awful demands for payments.

Which brings me to some final observations:

Putting aside the absurdity of a human having his heart cut out and then returning to life but doomed to an existence of “10 years at sea, 1 day on land.”, the metaphor was powerful. As Arwen learned as she watched Aragon die (book, not movie) life is the price humans pay for their happiness. Will’s price to pay for being able to spend any time with Elizabeth was to become the Captain of the Dutchman. Elizabeth would raise a son alone which Will would see every 10 years. Though Verbinski ends the movie by distilling the sadness of Elizabeth and Will's parting with a cut to a humorous scene of Sparrow in the dinghy, the theme which was established at the beginning of the movie stays with you: there is always a price you must pay.

Having said that, I’m disappointed to read that there will be a Pirates 4 without Elizabeth and Will. I’m afraid it may be just another a rollicking, mindless, profitable romp without them. If ever a movie ended with a perfect segue-way into yet another sequel it’s Pirates 3. We know from the final scene (before credits) that Sparrow’s next stop is the Fountain of Youth; you know, drink from it and you remain young forever. And, even those with minor math skills have to realize that Will will be returning to an aging Elizabeth with each 10 year stopover. See the connection here?

Fellas, how about helping out Elizabeth and Will? Remember them? Your companions for three blockbusters.