Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Once again, a fast post since I'm in PNS (pre-newsletter syndrome) since this is really the absolutely last, drop-dead day I have to punch up this baby. Plus, I am so addicted to blocking, I'm going to have to get my fix of blocking another shawl today or I will be a mess.

My website pick:

http://nedhardy.com/2011/03/10/34-cleverly-designed-inventions/

Cute site. Love his cat logo. This Ned Hardy's site. Ned bills himself as "the self-anointed curator of the internet." Sounds like it fits him and we all know that the internet could sure use one! Right now, as of 3/10/11, he has 34 Cleverly Designed Inventions (with 73 comments, I might add.) Take a look at them. Many are really very cleverly designed. A lot of them, I wish I had. Hit the "Tags in the right column for archival stuff. Click on the Blogroll on the right for other blogs Ned recommends.

An interesting read and look since it's basically picture and video heavy (and pictures done well are always a plus for me.) As always, approach with caution with little kids standing around.

Enjoy.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday: Mildred Pierce HBO (only the first 2 parts; continues next Sunday on HBO)

Watching the HBO Mildred Pierce as I type, I'm wondering why is this movie mini-series so not connecting to me? Oh, there are moments, especially when Mildred interacts with her next-door, worldly-wise neighbor, that the characters come alive and do more than just walk through well-researched, but Hollywood stage set scenes.

It's funny that the opening shot with Mildred preparing a birthday cake sets the metaphor of the movie. During this scene, we meet Mildred, Veda, and Ray. Dialogue happens. The scene advances. But the whole time, I'm watching that damn chocolate cake because I'm waiting for something to crash it to the ground. (And this reaction is anticipated by the director since Ray dangles her skates over the cake - needless to do but she had to be directed to do it.) So, when I should be engrossed in the scene, I'm distracted by a cake, which is not even a McGuffin (as Hitchcock called a useless device which advances the plot) since it never advances the plot.

While the cake disappears, it set up my emotions for the rest of the movie: I watched but I didn't engage. I do think this may be the director's (Todd Haynes) style because he can pan a street in pre-Roosevelt depression USA showing men with placards looking for work, many men selling apples, and Mildred looking for employment and none of it feels real. It's, well, it's just too clean. This is Hollywood's view of the Great Depression. Or rather Hollywood's technicolor view of the Great Depression.

Then there is the movie's pace. So slow. Minutes pace the scene where seconds would work. Some critics have said that one or even two hours could be lobbed from the movie. I don't think even that would help; you would just have two fewer hours of a dully paced movie.

For me, the pace is doubly deadly because I think if makes you lose sight of some interesting themes. Like the similarity between the monster Veda and her mom, Mildred. Were they two sides of the same coin, ambitious women pursuing big dreams only with Veda, due to her mom's obsession with her, this dream turns nightmare for everyone? However, I think by the end of the 6 hours I'll be saying: Who cares? to this and all thematic questions.

Remakes are always a problem, especially when you're competing with the iconic 1945 Joan Crawford's Mildred Pierce. This 2011 version has been touted as much truer to the James Cain book and I don't doubt it. However, I've read Cain and he can be like reading paint dry. Hollywood may have tweaked and pushed and shoved and squashed many of his plots before (Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce) but these original film noirs were taut and tight. Perhaps this version does show the Great Depression as Cain wrote it but it still doesn't connect me to it. It's presented like an historical fact. Mildred isn't actually suffering; Mildred doesn't interact with depression-affected people either. So, my question is: Why does Haynes even include it? He's only paying lip service to it. Is it just a needed time filler? Six hours is a very long time.

Re the performances. They're definitely worth watching. Some pluses: Wally is fat. Wally has sex with Mildred. Fat people score with beautiful women! Mildred is not a goody-two-shoes. She doesn't shy from playing Wally like a violin. I liked that this Mildred shows feminist qualities without any of them feeling false. Winslet is able to nail Mildred without the bravado of Crawford. Some grousing: Well, see above. But why aren't Mildred and Wally naked in sex as Mildred and Monty are? Mildred and Monty look good naked, that's a given. But Mildred and Wally would have been real life.

Bottom line: Slow, draggy. Good performances. It's a TV movie so you can do something else while watching. You can even skip scenes. HBO is very good with hype and this will probably get another Emperor's New Clothes reaction from most critics. But if you have HBO, watch it. Lately, HBO has had much, much worse on their schedule.

Final Note: Is Mildred Pierce's central theme (which I assume will be explored more fully with the grown-up Veda next Sunday; hoping Veda is finally grown by then) of a mother's obsessive love for a hateful daughter going to resonate today?

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Late and fast today. it's been a crazy week but I'm going to end it (and begin it since this is my one and only posting for the week; mea culpas to come later) with pictures.

The first picture is the cotton and silk yarn I got in Carlisle, PA. I hope you can see the size of that yarn ball. I know, I should have used a coin for scale but take my word for it; this baby is big. And, it's very soft and fine so you really don't want any mistakes and have to rewind. This is going to be one of my simple shawls since I don't think the yarn has enough structure for a garment. At this point, the project has its own canvas bag and I'm very deliberate with my knitting since, as I just said, I don't want any rewinding. Worse than that, I don't want any yarn breakage.

This is one of those WHY? projects. I really don't need this shawl. I really didn't need this purchase but it's a reminder of Carlisle. Once I dig it out, I'll post of a picture of the scarf I made from wool I got in the LYS in the town of Carlisle. Now that I have my blocking wires, I'm realizing that I may be able to stretch this baby big time.

The picture on the right is variegated cotton from Mill Ends at AC Moore. Right now, Ravelry is having a lively forum question: What do you think about mill ends? I commented that I'm happy with Moore's mill ends as long as I stick to cottons or wacky acrylics. Most of the time, you're getting Sugar N Cream DK weight so it's pretty bulky; though I have knitted a sport weight shawl in black cotton. I'm using this top-down shell to wear over short sleeve tees in the summer and I'm at the stage where I have to try it on to see if I "stick a fork in it"; that is, I'm done. It was a quick knit and the second project I made from the same pound of cotton. Plus, I still have one skein left from the pound.

That's it. Short and sweet. Happy knitting.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

I wasn't going to post today because I don't have pictures and I thought you really didn't need me to blather on about knitting without pictures. Then I got my Berroco free pattern (you get them and some other stuff every Friday if you give them your e-mail) and I thought that this really shows what I was talking about last week re: bulky, useless sweaters:

http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/buckland/buckland.html

(You might not be able to access the pattern without giving your e-mail but I think you'll be able to see the picture.) It's big, bulky and so V-necked that you have to wear a tee under it. This model looks happy, but why is she wearing a deep V-neck with a lot of bare skin while wearing a bulky, winter sweater? She's going to freeze going outside. I figured out that you could make these and wear them indoors when you have friends over. I can just imagine having a "bulky sweaters-to-be-wore-only-when-I-have-company collection." Perhaps, I'll start a feature of "bulky sweaters - what good are they?"

OTN: Right now, I'm working on a basketball sized skein of cotton and silk yarn. About two years ago, on the way to Pittsburgh, we stopped outside Carlisle, PA at a LYS. (And I should add that we stopped JIT because the woman was in the process of moving out and leaving the place [a converted church] to its new owners whom, she said, may or may not continue the yarn shop.)

Anyway, she had a tremendous spool of this yarn which I bought and then proceeded over the course of almost a month to roll it into the basketball it now is. Then I starred at it for about a year when I opened the basket it lived in. I really didn't have a use for this impulse purchase (as if all yarn purchases have purpose) but I finally got out US 10 needles last week and very gingerly (it is fragile) started to make one on my simple lace shawls.

And.....I love it! The yarn is so soft and the simple pattern with the white cotton thread with a strand of black silk weaved around it works well. Of course, this isn't a portable project (it's one heavy basketball.)

Next week: pictures. Happy knitting.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

OK I’ll bring a note from my mom, but I really, really did try to post a movie review on Monday. I was even logging into this site when the shit hit the fan - figuratively. You see I wasn’t at home, nor was I on my computer; and I forgot the damn password. Well, I remembered the password, just not the order of the words. I gave it three tries before I quit because I know that come computers “freeze” if you take too many potshots (what does that word mean?) in password tries. It’s probably a good security measure since the computer starts thinking: Just who is this bozo trying to access this site?, but I didn’t want to mess up a friend's computer. Which was probably a good idea because I spent the hour watching Jerry and Tom before the kids got home early from school. Unfortunately, I had to leave it before the ending (definitely not suitable for kids) but that’s one good movie.

Today, I’m about to prepare a “cheat” sheet for the boy’s social studies test on the southern US states. No, he’s not going to write the answers on his palm. He’s having an extensive test on these states on Friday and the study guide came home yesterday. It’s a half page sheet of topics; beauties like: explain the significance of the Missouri Compromise and discuss the origin of jazz. JHC! Now remember that this kid is in 4th grade. The significance of the Missouri Compromise! The origin of jazz! Even got the hubby to say this time: His teacher’s a moron! We have been studying for this test for about a month now; identifying the states, going over the pages in the text (I question, he answers.) As with the last states test, when the study guide finally gets home, I prepare all the information in short paragraphs and we repeat the question/answer sessions for the next three days.

As the girl pointed out at the last such test: We were making poster boards for those topics when I was in the 4th grade. I wonder if teachers in NJ even know or care that 9-year-olds are not high schoolers or even middle school kids. There cognitive skills are developing. This is the time to teach them how to learn; not zing them into frustration.

Enough said. But I’m typing really fast because this task looms large. What did we do before the Internet?

http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-civilizations-that-mysteriously-disappeared.php

In keeping with my “the world is going to hell” ennui (Those poor people in Japan!), the above site is another one of my favorite of favorites: lists. This selection gives you civilizations which have disappeared and what’s really neat is that clicking on the hyperlinks within the sections brings you to more related lists. Now, I haven’t done any research to see if all their facts and conclusions are right but I do recognize these peoples who have disappeared. Well, most of them since I never heard of the Aksumite Empire in Ethiopia. Wow! Take a look at the edifice they left.

Of course, this site is not only known for erudition, so click on the main site:

http://www.toptenz.net/

and be greeted by the current first entry: Top 10 Beautiful Athletes Who Posed for Playboy or, just two down from this one: Top 10 Reformed Porn Stars. But don’t be put off by frivolity; there's a lot more on this site dealing with educating and entertaining.

So go take a look. I bet it'll produce more learning that this stupid social studies test will. Got to go, the Missouri Compromise awaits me. See you next Wednesday.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Just some grousing today (Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!) because I forgot to take pictures and also I don't have any wow knitting pictures. I hope to be starting on the body of my brown (Why do I knit with brown? I look lousy in brown!) shell by next Friday and I think that's a pattern worth listing. But to the grousing, in no particular order:

1. Why, whenever someone comments on Ravelry about the great yarn bargains they got at a big box store, other commenters have to chime in: But don't forget check out your LYS. JHC! The original poster doesn't say: What do you think about my shopping at a big box store? but others seem to think that every mention of those stores necessities a response of: Oh, but you must support your LYS. No people, I mustn't. (This time, other commenters said the same time and I had a good time clicking the "Agree" button.)

2. What is it with all the beautiful shawls being made? I mean the lace shawls with exquisite designs. Now, as you know, I love shawls. I wear them every day. In fact, I have made two exquisite shawls (no mistakes miraculously and one the girl says she wants to wear at her wedding) but they are packed away, wrapped in a white linen cloth. I just don't get where people wear all their beautiful shawls. Obviously, they travel in different circles from me. But also, I guess I would feel uncomfortable wearing these beauties. I would look at it as I'm fishing for a compliment. OK, I got that off my chest, on to:

3: Bulky sweaters. Now I know this is probably climate related but I don't think I wear a sweater over a tee without a heavy/fairly heavy jacket for more than a handful of days in the year. First, bulky sweaters are not warm in cold weather unless you cover them with a shawl and I don't like that look; or that look doesn't like me. I would rather wear a shawl (and I'm talking warm shawl, not fancy, lacy shawl) over a blazer in such weather. Second, bulky sweaters don't work under today's warmer winter jackets. (With them, you can usually just wear a tee and a light pull-over.) And, bulky sweaters don't work with the "out-fashioned winter jackets either (Navy pea jackets) since you look like your mom has bundled you up to go out and build a snow man. I just look at the underarms on some of the bulky garments put out in Vogue Knitting and think: That is never going to fit under any winter jacket I own.

So that's it. My three grouses for the day. I'm sure I could think of more but I'd rather be knitting. See you next Friday.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

I’m noticing that the comments to articles in liberal blogs (I don’t think I’m including The Huffington Post in this category anymore since it’s gone from glitzy progressive to glitzy tabloid - big time.) are getting darker and darker: No future for the U.S. Our economy is doomed. Obama sold out.

It makes me pretty discouraged to read that. I may be an existentialist but I guess, like Dumbo and his crazy feather, I always thought some human would come up with a good idea. Silly me. I really did know that when Obama spoke on National Prayer Day saying he wakes each morning and thinks about Jesus that it was all over. Christ on a crutch! The POTUS should awaken each day and if he thinks about anything, it should be the Constitution. The P is POTUS means president, not pastor.

So as the thinking in the heartland gets darker, my website picks get lighter. No writings of Kierkegaard today.

First, a YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY1Lr-yGtd8

Once again, a painter, but watch this guy. At first, I thought he was a local graffiti artist but the finished picture belies that thought. Like that crazy cooking show where the contestants were given a pear, a salmon and lima beans and told to make a meal (I miss that show!), here the artist uses common objects, trash objects and produces art that’s a Wow.

Then:

http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/

You know the pictures of “separated at birth”? We all get a chuckle from them. Here, the photographer takes the same person at childhood and then at adulthood in the same pose and the same clothes. It’s extremely interesting and gives me the wacky thought that with enough time to shop for vintage clothes, I could photography such pictures of my family. (Well, I couldn’t be the photographer since I’m world famous for my unintended photos of ceilings.) Now that would be an interesting family album. Hats off to photographer, Irina Werning. Be sure to click the links in the right column. This is a photographer with panache.

I’ll leave you now, I hope in a happy mood. See you next Wednesday.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

Robin Hood with Russell Crowe and a lot of other good actors reminds me of the "feudalism" in my banner, for you can't say "Robin Hood" without thinking "feudalism." Or, at least, you shouldn't. Mythical Robin Hood existed as England was coming out of the Middle Ages and the opening explanatory posters tell us that he lived in the 1200's. Though I know that directors and screenwriters play fast and loose with history, I'm saying this is all happening before 1215 when King John is forced by his nobles to give them some powers in the Magna Carta.

We first meet Robin fighting with John's older brother, Richard, who, while the king at the time, has been away from England for many years fighting in the Crusades. Ah, the Crusades! Don't get me started on that coconut. In fact, Richard and Robin when we first meet them aren't in the Holy Lands but rather storming French castles. Just let me say, I liked the look Ridley Scott gives to the Middle Ages. I like the depth of his royal characters. Although, Richard, John, Eleanor (queen mom) and Isabella (John's French tart and wanta-be future queen) are minor players, they do play important roles and Scott fleshes them out so you're interested.

For example, when we first meet Richard we see immediately that he may have the appellation Lion-Hearted but he should have the one: Foolishly Stupid. But he is regal and knows his powers. He asks Robin about a recent capture of a town and is told that it was a genocide and placed the king on the side of evil. Does Robin get a reward for his honesty? Does the king have an epiphany with this criticism? No way; the next scene shows Robin and his men in the stockades awaiting further punishment for insolence which will come after Richard captures another castle.

It's a nice touch and it happens again and again when Scott deals with the royals. When Eleanor confronts John back in England about his whoring with Isabella (who is the French king's sister, by the way) while he has a wife. John successfully counters her criticisms ending with: She's (Isabella) is my Eleanor. A witty swipe at his mom's sullied past. When Eleanor is later told John will lose England if he doesn't shape up, she's astute enough to approach Isabella as her messenger of bad news and Isabella catches on immediately.

Again and again, Scott shows character arcs in the royals. He is able to make them multi-dimensional; they may show villainy but it's with panache.

I wish I could say the same about Robin, Marion, and Walter (I won't even mention William Hurt's character. What a waste of a good actor!) Unfortunately, with them we get the Hollywood story of man and maid which is such an old, old chestnut. Robin, after his adventure returning Richard's crown to the John, sets off to return the sword of Marian's husband to his father, Walter.

Faster than you can say: Let the cat out, I can't stand its howling, Walter suggests that Robin pretends to be Marian's husband. Sweet, howling banshees! Why? OK, he has a feeble reason but we all know this gets Robin into Marian's bed chamber and they begin to play the courting dance which I assume leads to the after-movie (you just get a passionate movie kiss) "roll in the hay".

WTF? This movie was made in 2010. Not only could this movie have sex between principals without Code violations, it would have so been in keeping with the Middle Ages when forcible sex was still more common than courtly love. Even passionate foreplay without consummation because Marian says: Hey, if I get pregnant, we're in for big trouble, would have given more authenticity.

Don't present Marian as a "modern" woman (She even joins Robin in battle in armor near the end of the movie.) and then pull back to the innocent titillation which substituted for sex in the time of the Code in Hollywood.

I guess what gets me pissed is that this movie had a lot of promise in character development, just not enough daring.

But with all my grousing, watch it. Even disappointments are good time fillers.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

I didn't so much forget Website Wednesday (and I did have good picks) as much as I was just too tired to blog when I got in at noon from my "gig" which began at 4 am that morning. OK, it really wasn't that bad; just long. But I realized that I really don't like to blog after the early morning hours since those hours are my laziest of the day.

But I'm not going forget knitting today. What you see on the right is my fingering weight Knit Picks yarn (Palette) which was the sky for my Super Mario projects. I obviously "saw" much too much sky in those creations for I still have enough of that color left for another shawl and probably a shell.

I'm showing this picture because I have been wearing this shawl for about a month before I blocked it yesterday with blocking wires. Yes, it had been blocked before I wore it blocked for a month; but it had only been wet blocked and then stretched using glass rocks to hold it taut.

Let me tell you that this method is NG. I was hoping that I had posted an earlier picture of this shawl but I didn't and I forgot to take a picture of it before this second blocking so you just have to take my word for it that blocking wires are fantastic.

I went from a shawl which could be stretched by hand to momentarily show a wider lace but which would immediately bounce back to a closed looking stitch. Now, the lace is wide open and the measurements went from 65" x 19" to 82" x 27". This is one wide baby. And, I walked into Sam's Club today and got a: That's a gorgeous scarf. First time that even happened.

To recap the simple, simple pattern: Row 1: K; Row 2: P; Row 3: *YO, K2tog*; Row 4: *YO, P2tog* Of course, that's the bare bones. Remember, I knit all the shawls I can on the diagonal so I have a stretchy bias. You can knit any 2-stitch pattern on the diagonal; working the increases, then increase and decrease (in the straight middle section); then decreases on Row 1 and 2.

But I really wanted to show this shawl, not for the simple pattern, but for the look that blocking wires produce. They are worth the investment and while I'd like to offer a cheap, generic solution when buying them, I do think that Knit Picks' price of of $20 for 15, 32" wires and 15 blocking pins (you will need more, trust me) is probably one of the most reasonable prices. If you're a lace maker, buy them. I think you'll be as happy as I am with them.

Next Friday: 100 skeins of yarn. What to do? There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

First a word about the Oscar awards from last night, which I didn’t watch but when did first-hand experience ever stop an American from commenting on a subject?

To approach this circumlocutiously, I’ve been watching a lot of movie credits lately. I’ve decided this is because I’m knitting more complicated stitches and can’t stop to reach the remote as the credits roll. What I’ve found, even assuming one-third of those listed on only getting paid by having their name placed in the credits (no money changes hands but this is a bullet for a resume), is that all movies are small businesses (less than 100 employees) and many, many are big businesses. (I think I counted 100s of names in the POTC credits.) So you can say that when a movie goes into production, it’s creating a new business which may be in existence for a year or more.

Using the laws of commerce and not the laws of art (Art has laws?), it makes sense that the Oscars award those movies which are going to bring in the audiences and thus keep these businesses going. That’s why the Oscars almost always play it safe and very, very seldom do dark horses, small indies, get an award or even a nod at nominating time.

Looking at The King’s Speech and Colin Firth as Best Actor, you see a perfect example. I like Firth but I see him, the person, in every role he plays. He’s entertaining. A Single Man from last year looks interesting but I’m still watching Colin Firth play a gay man. But then, establishment movie making really doesn’t care how good an actor the winner is. This movie and Firth have had such a positive PR spin well before the movie came out that unless Firth went out on a drunk spree with Mel Gibson he and the movie were headed to Oscar gold.

I’m sure I’m going to like this movie when it gets onto my movie package. I liked The Queen, though I think that Mirren is a quirkier, more interesting actress. This movie has pre-WWII tension (though as someone commented: Do you think if George stuttered through that speech, England was going to sit out the war?), royalty, the common man (Rush, the speech therapist) as savior, and cursing. Wow! How could they lose?

Which brings me to The Runaways. It’s a small movie about Cheri Currie (Dakota Fanning) and Joan Jett nee Larkin (Kristin Stewart) who were lead singer and song writer respectively in the 1970s popular all girl band, The Runaways. Although it’s Jett who pitches the idea of a girl band to over-the-top record producer, Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon), and who writes their songs, it’s Currie as the lead singer who gets the publicity and brings on the jealousy. For a 15-year girl, it’s that and her drug addiction which finally leads to the band’s break-up.

Why should you watch this movie? For me, for the first time I really understood the appeal of “raw” rock music on teens. In just a few minutes, as Shannon, Fanning and Stewart work on a song, drawing deep, primal singing out of Currie, I got the connection which this music has with the angst every teen experiences. It was a “wow” moment of understanding and a “wow” moment of watching good acting.

Since the movie only focuses on The Runways, you get little mention of Jett’s later fame after the band’s break-up. Yet the last scene with Jett dressed very Reagan-era establishment doing a radio interview and Currie calling in from her job in a bakery captures quickly what the future was each of them.

A flawed movie? Yes, but raw, brutal, and real with great performances. Be ready for expletives, lesbians, masturbation. It’s not your grandma’ music. It’s an indie which is not afraid to stretch.

Trivia: See if you recognize Cher's mom. I didn't. Hint: She's an Oscar winner.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Just a fast post today because it's a traveling day but I feel so guilty about not posting last Friday when I did have the time but I just lazed around all day knitting and blocking. It was heaven.

Because I had that time last Friday, all my projects (but one) came off the needles. There was nothing left to finish except my mitered square remnants shawl which was has been hanging around for a few years and I really should finish.

However by this Friday, I have two shawls in the works and two tops. One shawl is a purple (why did I buy that color?) mix of wool, mohair and acyclic. I didn't realize the mohair can be coarse so this purples went from a warm top (because mohair is also warm) to a trinity stitch shawl on US 13. It works.

The tops are both brown hues, a color I seldom wear so obviously the wool was on sale.

And finally, a picture of the Advent Calendar Shawl. The one on the right shows it being blocked. You can't see it but the dining room table has been extended and the chairs at the ends both have laundry baskets on them to hold up the mats because while the width blocked to 27", the length blocked to 100 ".

All this showed me that I need more blocking pads. However, using the table did save my back this time.

On the left is the blocked shawl with no wires on a darker background. Once again, I'll give you the web site for this shawl.

Advent Calendar Lace Shawl/Scarf:
http://www.von-stroh-zu-gold.de/muster/?p=40

Remember, you don't have to make a shawl but you should download the 24 lace patterns. I only worked up to Day 14 in the patterns and by then I was skipping around so I think the Day 14 spot is filled with the Day 18 pattern. (And, if you make nupps [I love nupps!], use the crochet hook method.)

Happy knitting.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Today, I got an e-mail warning me of the terror of the Muslims. Last Friday, I watched my last Real Time with Bill Maher. Last time because I really can’t listen to a guy who shoots propagandistic drivel that all Muslims are bad husbands. That’s just crap and stupid. So I won’t be watching Maher (oh yeah, that boycott should bring him to his knees!) and I just sent a “Reply All” to the e-mail saying that was I ashamed to read such propagandistic, bigoted drivel. Thus reducing my TV choices and my friends/acquaintances during the same week.

Oh, and the US just vetoed the UN resolution condemning the illegal Israeli settlements (although the US does admit they’re illegal.) The illogic of our Ambassador Rice stating the reasons for this veto was breathtaking! So I guess this is the final nail and I can sit out voting for the top of the ticket in the next presidential election. This administration just hit the home run in the area of “same old, same old” in foreign policy. (And don’t get me started on the banks and Wall Street bailouts.) The Nobel committee gave this guy a peace prize? Wow!

But I am happy with my websites this Wednesday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6egUsZvWu4

Yes, this is You Tube. I guess you could call it: Variation on Watching Paint Dry. Words don’t do justice to it; just watch and listen to the music. Creative and relaxing.

http://murphed.com/

I came across this page by navigating from Some Law To Live By:

http://murphed.com/2009/03/11/some-laws-to-live-by/ - which is a compilation of those wacky “laws” of life like:

Things get worse under pressure - Murphy's Law of Thermodynamics
Sometimes it takes several years to recognize the obvious - Sy's Law of Science
If you are in a hole, stop digging - 1st Rule of Excavation
There is no issue so small that it can't be blown out of proportion - Ruckert's Law

-which state what we all think, but states it so much better than we think it.

From “About”, we learn: [via diclib.com] All the humor on here is found somewhere else. I just pay the bills and post the material.

Click around on the topics in the right column from the main site. I chose: Economy and got sent to Proof the Economy is in Recovery. A click there sent me to a Wendy’s restaurant billboard with the words: Now Hiring One Person.

It’s not nuclear physics but it’s not fart jokes either (well, I didn’t find them ------yet.)

Humor can make you do more than smile; it can make you think. Take a look at Murphed, many times. And does someone know the music from the YouTube video?

Enjoy.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Movie Monday

There's a old movie, The Last Angry Man, with Paul Muni (well, it would have to be old since the guy has been dead a long time) which was on TCM about a year ago (possibly during their Oscar-movie film time.) This is not a typical Muni movie. Any film buff could tell you that Muni made his name by playing "others" and usually famous others: Pasteur, Zola, the farmer in The Good Earth, Juarez and still always looking like Paul Muni. Now that's a gift!

In The Last Angry Man, from what I remember and it isn't much, he played an MD as an honorable man, the "last angry man" against injustice, who was the object of a TV documentary. The one scene I remember well is when he walks downstairs from treating an angry, verbally abusive boy. Before he leaves, the boy calls him back upstairs and you think the kid has seen "the light" but he hasn't. He's just an abusive and the walk back up the stairs gives Muni a fatal heart attack.

What I also took from this movie is: good guys get screwed.

Fast forward to today and a blurb in Balloon Juice about an online book group which is reading Nixonland. People who had lived through Nixon's reign had comments about the depression they feel when they relive this time through the book. This comment by Frosty summed it up and surprisingly brought back my memory of TLAM:

Essentially, my entire adult life has been fighting and losing the same fucking battle against the same evil people.

I said that I would look at some themes you could discuss with young girls re: the Twilight movies today. I was pretty optimistic when I wrote that last Monday but speaking with the girl later made me realize that you are talking into a paper bag if you think that young girls want any uplifting social values from these movies. I think the question of eternal life as a young, beautiful person is fascinating. I think it might lead to a discussion of the shallow values which Western society praises. Why would you want to live forever? Doesn't Rosalie have the best take on this when she votes "No" to Bella's wish for eternal life: This was not a life I would have chosen for myself. I wish someone had been there to vote "No" for me.? I still think the Twilight movies, shallow though they are, do have important talking points. Unfortunately, I don't think this is talking which will accomplish anything with infatuated teen girls.

Gotta go. A busy morning and evening (afternoon's a cake walk.)

Next week: Kristen Stewart in The Runaways.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

All during the protests in Egypt, I would ask the girl: Did you discuss Egypt in your history class? And the answer would be: No. And I would show her the pictures of the protesters. Fast forward to the day after the Grammys and I asked her again: Did you discuss Egypt in your history class today? Answer: No. Next question: Did you talk about the Grammys? Answer: Oh, yes. Scroll to last night at dinner. Question: What unit are you on in math? (Note: this is 7th grade regular math class.) Answer:.........

Well, I didn't get the answer because it sure wasn't anything I had done in math in the 7th grade, nor high school, nor college. Also, I know that her regular math class is really very advanced. How do I know this? First, some of her sections are well into advanced algebra and second, the boy, at 9, just in 4th grade in regular math, is already working with math concepts I'm sure Piaget would say: This is much too early in age to introduce. And probably add: Don't you know anything about maturation points, you dummy??!!

I'm coming to a fast conclusion that math is OK to delve into because it's non-controversial (though I am positive there is some yahoo here in the USA who doesn't like 2 plus 2 equaling 4) but history in the making, that's verboten.

However, I see myself as becoming quite sanguine, especially that in spite of the world being on fire, my website choices are sooooo cool and fun today. First, the more imaginative one:

http://typeisart.com/

Type is Art presents you with parts of calligraphic-type letters and by enlarging, minimizing and/or rotating them you can produce original medieval manuscript drawings. It's very relaxing to do this; like calligraphy without the leaky pen. You can "erase" back to the beginning; unfortunately it's a global undo. You can print your work (didn't try this though) but it looks like you can't get a "clean" page with only your drawing. A nice feature is the the explanations of the pieces of type which appear when you place your mouse over the tiny, tiny script under each one. Plus, there's another set of characters (P22 Stern Pro) available to work with. An imaginative, fun and easy-to-work site. Oh, and you can learn a lot more about this site by clicking the hyperlinks.

Second website:

http://www.bored.com/game/play/151056/Kamikaze_Blocks.html

Now, I read a lot of reviews which describe a game as "addictive." In fact, I paid for the app, Lost Temples, for my iPad because so many people in the reviews said the game was addictive. Well, it's a fine game, but addictive?

However, I do think Kamikaze Blocks from Bored.com definitely deserves to be called addictive. I'm basing this on generational evidence. That is, I spent yesterday morning shooting my way through the levels and then showed the game to the kids during homework time. Can you say: Bad idea and where can I get a crowbar to pry these kids from this game?

Blocks can be played as a puzzle, limited number of shoots, option or as an arcade, devil-may-care, take your time, you have unlimited bullets, option. I've tired both and the puzzle option is quite easy at the beginning though I can imagine this option becoming a cursing, hair-puller when you get to the spider web level. You can easily reset the level for a do-over and switch between the two options. Now this is an app I would pay for. (Bad news: As yet, it's not offered as an app.)

Go to go. Kamikaze Blocks in singing the sirens' song to me. Enjoy!

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Movie Monday - Clash of the Titans (2010) - why?

Long before I sort of went "dark" on Movie Monday (that is, the Mondays were occupied with snow shoveling and kids home from school), I had decided to review the latest Clash of the Titans. The earlier COTT comes from 1981 where on IMDB, Roy Harryhausen is listed as producer. Harryhausen is an iconic special effects master in earlier mythical, sci-fi, fairy tale movies. He could take a paper clip and a rubber band and produce screen miracles. What today, special effects guys brush off with elaborate CGI, Harryhausen gave birth too with real ingenuity. If you've never seen a Harryhausen movie, take a look. But look for the special effects; the plots are pretty lame.

Fast forward to the 2010 COTT. What a mess! Now, this movie has some good talent, not the least, Mads Mikkelsen. OK, I'm a sucker for Mads. (What a name!) If you read my review of After The Wedding, you know I liked that pic; the first and only time I saw Mads. But a Danish movie star! I was impressed. Unfortunately, Mads, nor Liam (Neeson), nor Ralph (Fiennes) can save this puppy.

Now, myths are very, very difficult to bring to the screen. You can play them straight (LOTR); you can play them camp (Alice in Wonderland.) It's the directors/screenwriters choice. But first and foremost, you have to play them right.

LOTR got it right because Jackson knew to tone it down during the dramatic scenes. Watch Boromir's death scene. Corny as hell but listen to the music. Shore brings on a dirge. As the action intensifies, the audio drops a notch. Watch the first screen meeting of Aragon and Arwen. This is the love story of the epic but a light squeeze of Arwen's hand and a brief look at Aragon's face are used to convey their relationship.

AIW takes a different tack. Eliminating the out-of-place, sop-to-feminists beginning and ending, Burton plays it over the top and it works. Depp is just as strutting as Captain Jack but the Mad Hatter is mad (which is an historic fact; hat makers did go mad from the chemicals they used.) Alice is used as the anchor to reality for all the CGI. Whether it's the March Hare nervously arranging his knife at the table when Stayne arrives looking for Alice or the absolutely delightful appearances of the Cheshire Cat (Oh, I would so love a Cheshire Cast stuffed animal. Like Chesh says about the Hatter's hat: I would give it a place of honor. And I don't even like cats!), the CGI is expertly meshed with live actors. It works as fantasy and fun.

But Clash of the Titans... It just doesn't work. It's not camp, not even bad camp; that is laughs-a-minute at all the wrong places camp. It's lousy as straight drama. Even the poignant story of Medusa's journey from rejecting maiden to hideous monster lays flat. And everything else is so annoying: When did Polly Walker get that breast enhancement?; Why was the wandering street prophet played like a queen in a flamboyant gay parade? Why didn't they trim Neeson's beard? Why did they even use the Kraken? (OK, so maybe he's mythical but after POTC; he really can't make a surprise dramatic entrance.); Why must everyone declare their sentences like gems of wisdom? Why is it a big deal that Zeus gives Perseus a coin for Charon after Perseus rejects his offer of asylum? (Was Zeus the only place to get money in the world of myth?) My list is endless.

Bottom line: Watch a good fantasy. This isn't one. Oh, and don't make it Prince of Persia, The Sands of Time.

Next week: Are there some good themes to discuss with teens from the Twilight movie saga?

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings

Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

Well, it's my birthday; which comes once a year. I woke up in a cold sweat the other night thinking about my b-day/Valentine's day present from hubby: 100 skeins of Palette yarn (fingering weight) from Knit Picks. It's sort of a sale/sucker bait deal. You get $20 off the regular price (that's the sale) and you get what looks like a bouquet of flowers with all the different colors (that's the sucker bait.) For in the real world, the practical world, what the hell am I going to do with 100 different colored skeins of yarn!

I know my knitting creativity got bumped up alot when I finished that green hued shawl recently. It was just wool yarn spliced together randomly but it looked so good blocked (more on blocking later.) Then Knit Picks decided to adorn their web page with the 100 skeins of Palette deal and I was so sucked in like a whirlpool you can't avoid. I'm thinking shawls like the green one and striped tops and........ I think I need a course in imagination.

On to blocking. Have I mentioned enough times how much I love my blocking wires from Knit Picks? A little back-tracking: when I made the boy his Mario blanket and then his Mario pillow (I have finally found the perfect in-house pillow to cover with it), I wound up making three orders to Knit Picks. It got pretty pricey since you need a $50 order for free shipping and I would have to add single skeins of yarn (lace) to just get over the $50 mark. Therefore, the pink yarn which is pictured here as a shawl, entered my life.

Now, I made this triangular shawl about a year ago. It's only from one skein, 440 yards, and it really was a weird shape. The body was too skimpy and the tails were too long so it didn't look good as a shawl or a neck wrap-around. Enter the Superman of knitting, blocking wires, and you can see the beauty on the right stretched as a medieval rack with all it's length and width pulled out. Now, it's a 70" arm span and 30+ inches from tip to top. (The hat's for scale.)

How do you wear it, you ask? Well, still has a neck wrap-around but now it ties and falls so luxuriously. It's gone from something the rat dragged in to an accessory I would grab to give that extra punch to an outfit.

Today, as I b-day present to myself, I may block my Advent Calendar Scarf. I was waiting for the extra 60 T pins I had ordered from KP to arrive and they're here now. (Note to self: You can get along with one order of 15 blocking wires but the 15 T pins which come with it are not nearly enough. I used 80 with a shawl smaller than the one pictured.)

Finally, a shawl link for today. And some background on this too: a few years ago, I saw the only other shawl ever which was worn by someone who was not I. We were waiting to go into a Parents' Visitation Day at the school so we were crowded in the hall by the main office and a women ahead of me had on a beautiful grey shawl. It wasn't handmade but it was memorable.

Fast forward to today and I found this shawl called Abyssal:

http://1petitbazar.canalblog.com/archives/2010/09/23/19134980.html

It's from a French site but scroll down for the English translation, if you have to. This shawl is the closest match to the one I saw that day. Unfortunately, the comments about it on Ravelry (yes, it's also on Ravelry) are mostly in French and the one VG one in English complains bitterly about the problems with the short rows. I'm thinking about re-working the short rows or eliminating them completely. Plus, if you decide to make this shawl, it might be wise to work a few rows of non-curling stitches (that is: no stockinette) before you bind off. Curling was another complaint.

It really is a very easy pattern to work up and short rows are not scary as long as you wrap and turn to avoid the dreaded holes. Annis at Knitty was suggested as an easier alternative to Abyssal but that edging is lacier with nupps - not the look I remember from my "inspiration" shawl.

Happy Knitting. See you next week.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

Well, the newsletter got printed and delivered on Monday. Now, no bitching for about three weeks when I have to start the process all over.

I did watch the Superbowl on Sunday. It was a fairly exciting game, especially with my I Pad and knitting to fill the time during all those commercials and pre-game time, half-game time, three-quarter's game time shows (you name it.)

Today, my picks are pretty eclectic. I thought this one was rather peaceful feeling:

http://weavesilk.com/

I made a Z on the screen and then their program took over to color in and expand the shape. But it was still Z-looking.
I don't think clicking other links on the site is productive but this feature is quite zen.

Living in a country which seems to accept supernatural as real and science as doubtful, here's a fairly easy site for non-scientists:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/

Scientific American is not Science, which is a magazine for scientists and where I sometimes understand the summary of the article; but not always. SA, however, is very good for the non-scientist (or the scientist slumming it) because it tackles some high-brow subjects like: 'Next-generation' machines sequence single molecules of DNA and Mathematics' Nearly Century-Old Partitions Enigma Spawns Fractals Solution. I had no idea what I should be expecting here but I did scan the second article and it was quite easy to understand.

Truth be told, I linked onto this site because the lead article then was that the old adage that moms have told daughters through the ages: play hard to get, may actually be true: A Scientific Dating Insight: Create Uncertainty. (Good Valentine’s Day advice?)

Finally, some fun:

http://www.riddlenow.com/

If you click the riddles or the murder mysteries, you’ll get an assortment of choices. If you click the Chinese IQ Test or the Brain Teasers, you’ll only get one option to answer. (Both CIQT and BT are well-known puzzles.)

I do hate riddles because they can be so tricky. These riddles are more logic than riddle “got you!” puzzles. Like, figuring out the one statement the convict can make so the judge has to release him. The murder mysteries tell you a story and show you pictures and be sure to look at them carefully.

Well, that’s it for this Wednesday. See you on Knitting Friday when I will wax so enthusiastically about my blocking wires.