Silly announcement

I am now obsessed with the designs of:

Alexander McQueen

Charles James

Christian Dior

Marguery Bolhagen

Elizabeth Hawes

Charles Frederick Worth

This is....astounding: http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections?ft=*&what=Gowns Try the zoom button.

Another mine

So, we've all been hearing hints that a huge chunk of Alaskan wildland may be turned into a gold and copper mine. Apparently it is planned to be two miles long, and as deep as the Empire State Building is tall. It would also be dug in a known earthquake zone. Aaaaaaand, humans win yet another point for being completely insane!

Anyway, if you want to try to prevent this ridiculousness, go sign a petition:https://secure.nrdconline.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2593

It seems that the populace has to be constantly on their guard against this kind of thing.

"Down with this sort of thing!"

This is inspiring: http://www.savebiogems.org/timeline/

Bristol Bay looks like a charming place. A bit like Scotland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Bay

summer approacheth

Well, the time has come in my seaside town where all the people from away come tripping happily back and start swarming the streets. I can't say I'm particularly thrilled. Gone are the wonderful winter days of sloth-like enjoyment, gone is the knitting by the fireside, the hot cocoa, the beautiful snow (although we didn't get as much as last year, pity).

78 degrees today. And so it begins.

However, the primrose and pansy and lamb's ear are all popping up out of the ground, which warms my heart. Spring, I greet thee! Since there is nothing I can possibly do to prolong the seasons, except to move somewhere in the southern hemisphere (New Zealand perhaps) I might as well accept them as they are.

Film, film, film

Perhaps it is because I have recently seen some pretty lousy films or perhaps it is because films are akin my other reality (seriously, who could live without them? I love that we can see Europe and the rest of the world while sitting in a chair knitting), but I seem to have lots of posts revolving around them lately. Hopefully that will change soon, but for the moment I'm not going to fight the role. So! Some interesting film-related lists.

I d not exactly agree with the AFI's lists (come on, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid only in position 7 on the Western list?) although I was happy to see that Alfred Hitchcock came in first on the mystery list (I would have picked Rear Window instead of Vertigo though), and glad that To Kill a Mockingbird came in first in the courtroom drama category.

Most Expensive films no surprises there...

highest grossing

Classics

Not all old classic movies are good. People always talk about them as if they are amazing, but sometimes I don't understand how they were popular when they first came out in the 40s and 50s. Maybe you just had to be there.

When we saw Gone With the Wind, I was extremely excited because it has so much history and drama wrapped up in it, and I ended up really disliking it.

Most of the black folk were whiny, the leading males were full of themselves, and Scarlet O'Hara was impossible to relate to. My favourite characters all died before the end, of course. On a good note, the burning building scene was impressive, the Southern plantation house architecture was imposing, and the music was sweeping and suspenseful. The costumes weren't bad either.

Breakfast at Tiffany's. Although the big glasses, beehive up-do, and long cigarette holder are all delightfully iconic, I was confused most of the way through the movie and, again, although she wassometimes quirky and funny, could find nothing to relate to in the main character. I was also put off by, although I've liked him in many other movies, Micky Rooney's odd portrayal of a Chinese landlord. It was a bit disturbing.

Dirty Dancing. I mean, what......? The new one is much better.

Am I just being hypercritical and obnoxious, or does anyone else feel this way?

Quote #9

"Real education must ultimately be limited to one who insists on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding." ~Ezra Pounds, American poet, 1885-1972

actors

I wonder how actors feel when their character dies in a movie. Like a bit of them has died? I remember hearing an actor say that you must have a firm idea of what you're made of so that after a role you can go back into yourself. Another reason to respect actors. They have to know precisely who they are before attempting a role, something that takes a whole lifetime to figure out! Amazing.

a fine example of hate

I despise bullfighting. I don't care how many people argue that it is a highly perfected art, or that it is just another tradition. Animal rights activists can get frenzied and crazy defending animals. No, I'm not on their, or any, "side," I just think it's terrible. I don't care that the matadors attended prodigious schools where they went through rigorous training. How can you look an animal in the eyes, one that's already been provoked by pricking and taunting, and drive it to even more humiliation and anger? And then the finale to all of this is to take the bull out of the ring and kill it. That's right bull, you can't win. Either way you're going to die. But just go on fighting for our entertainment.

It makes me sick. That said, the same goes for dog fighting, cock fighting, the hopefully now extinct bear fighting that was such a popular pastime in Elizabethan England, and any other similar "sport".

I am not ashamed to say that when I see a matador tossed up in the air, I'm pleased. They're asking for it.

Goodness gracious, humans can be cruel, disgusting specimens.

a little rant on Pride and Prejudice

No, unfortunately I won't be giving us all a break and stepping gaily forth into the world of Jane Austen in this post, but it is related, don't worry.

I know that there is a prejudice against Jane Austen and her times/lifestyle, partly because people criticized her back then, and partly because when someone sees you reading her novels they instantly associate you with those book groups who compare their own lives to Emma's or Elizabeth's or their own husbands and boyfriends to Mr. Darcy. Now, I'm a relatively fair person and I know that not everyone assumes this about "us," but I'm certain some people do.

So some people have this idea that women back then were frivolous, meek, and silly and were only after marriage to a wealthy dude. Fine, fair enough, maybe, because of societal pressures and norms and not wanting to "fall into destitution", they did want good marriages.

However, I do not believe that women in the 18- and 1900s were any less smart than the highly independent and successful women of today. Perhaps in the pursuit of a good husband or perhaps because it was the natural thing to do, they learnt to sing, play the piano extensively, speak properly, speak fluent French, and more often than not Latin, Greek, and sometimes German. They could draw, paint, had impeccable manners, and read some pretty deep stuff. Anyone who does all of these things today is considered some kind of saint, and is set up on a pedestal. The one thing that they may have been lacking in is a political view (apart from the Empirical one put forth by the British in pursuit of world domination) that was balanced and unbiased. You were expected to have immense pride for your country and to not criticise it. That said, I am not so sure that women today have a clear sense of what is going on in the world either. No wonder: it is very confusing.

Mark Twain was a harsh critic of Austen's writing and, mostly, characterization. He went as far as to compose an essay containing his most searing comments, which you can look for online. Everyone loves that he said "every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and hit her over the head with her own shinbone." Some people say that he acted like a schoolboy trying to impress a girl. However, since she died 18 years before he was born, I am dubious. Not that love can't transcend lifetimes or anything.

Here is a delightful essay encapsulating some of the most snarky insults from one author to the other. http://www.examiner.com/book-in-national/the-50-best-author-vs-author-put-downs-of-all-time

Although I really should not enjoy authors stabbing at each other with pens, I can't help it. It seems as though they were all so sure their own work exceeded that of any one else's. They were all so enraged, it's really very entertaining.

I am proud to belong to that great legion of Jane Austen readers, no matter what people say. And I have read some Mark Twain and can now say that he had absolutely no right to go and criticise her. However, since I honestly believe that he enjoyed doing it, I don't mind. If I could have spoken to him I would have told him that I love his work and Jane Austen's. So put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Twain.

I admire Twain for his rough, comical, and real portrayal of life, and Jane Austen for her romanticised version. I consider his writing to be what life was like, and her's to be what life should be like. When I read a Jane Austen novel, I don't read it because I'm in love with all the characters. I read it because the writing is clear, clever, and beautifully phrased.

Basically the conclusions of this posts are that:

Everyone has different tastes, people are always going to disagree about things, and you can easily like two authors who vehemently opposed each other.

Another shocking discovery: George Bernard Shaw despised Shakespeare! I adore both of these men's writing as well.

Zinn Remembered

When I first started this weblog in 2010 (was it really that long ago!) Howard Zinn had just passed away. I saw a short interview with him in a movie the other day (the movie was The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, highly recommended). He had such a wonderful way about him, how he talked with such good manners, grace, and clarity. He reminded me of Tolkien, and I just had this horrified thought of 'wow, these people aren't here anymore. They're like fallen giants. We need people like this in the world.' They are here through what they wrote, of course. I can't believe that people go so quickly, and sometimes unnoticed. Well, history is made up of death and birth so I really shouldn't be surprised.

Not another knitting post

Because I want to knit but am supposed to be doing other things, I guess I'll settle for wasting time writing about knitting instead. H-oh boy. I forbade this weblog to turn into a place where I just go on and on and on about where I saw what yarn, for how much, and what I'm going to make with it........But you know what, since all my posts have been nothing but gloom and doom lately, or more accurate, for always, I'm entitled to some fun (that excuse needs to not crop up so much in my life. Ah well. Whatever, we only live once (........Or do we? That's for another post I think.))

My list of things to knit (just so you know, all these lists? My life revolves around lists, better get used to seeing them on here).

Loveday's Scarf from The Secret of Moonacre

Anna's sweater from Blame It on Fidel

Tristan Farnon's green sweater from All Creatures Great and Small

Norwegian mittens

Anything on Ravelry that strikes my fancy.

I may not get to these soon, but at least I have it documented for when I'm an old cat-lady spinster and run out of knitting ideas.

Ravelry

I absolutely love the fact that millions of knitters are so in love with just knitting that they don't care whether they make money off patterns, and they put them up for everyone, for free! The knitting community is really a fabulous world to belong to. Ravelry, I bow down to you.

The Awkward List No.1

OK, so the deal here is: this is just a random list of things that I personally find awkward. Situations, actions, places, objects, etc. Feel free to make suggestions.

1. Using any kind of tool (scissors, can openers) that is made for a left-handed person when you're right handed, or vice verse.

2. That horrible pause in a conversation in a noisy place when the other person expects you to answer, but you haven't really heard any of what they've said. You've really just been nodding along the whole time to be polite.

3. Crowded beaches.

4. Trying to make an introduction when you're not sure of either person's name.

5. Being confused about a restaurant menu when everyone has already ordered and the server stands there and waits for you to make a decision.

6. It's one in the morning at a bar-like place, you're nodding off just because you're tired, and someone asks if you're drunk. No, but you clearly are. You spend the rest of you life making sure that you don't fall asleep in other peoples' company. 

7. Trying to browse in department stores with overprotective, paranoid cashier ladies.

8. Trying and failing to explain unschooling/homeschooling to an adult.

9. The seemingly eternal pause when a teacher asks you a question you don't know the answer to.

Thoughts on Fashion

With the onset of pants, around 1920, in the fashion world of women, things became much less creative. Let me explain. From about 1790 to 1800, the dresses changed dramatically, and continued to do so every ten years. What changes in fashion have we seen over the past ten years? None, besides the clothes getting tighter and more impractical (seriously, what's the use of a jacket that has the fur of an entire animal around the head but barely covers your midriff?)

Of course it's wonderful that we women have the freedom of pants and comfortable shoes and can choose whatever style we wish, but sometimes I feel like things have become a lot less interesting in the world of fashion. Everyday fashion, at least. It makes me very pleased when I see modern designers hearkening back to old times in their works. It's as if they're saying, "See, they had the right idea then."

I'm not sure where we can go next clothes-wise, unless, and judging by Lady Gaga and Katy Perry we have a fairly good start, we all start wearing things like the richy people in The Hunger Games, Tron, etc.

crazy video: http://www.smartplanet.com/video/the-future-of-clothes/430363 Not sure how I feel about electronics being embedded in clothing fibers. Just having this machine in front of me or a cellphone in my pocket for five minutes is bad enough.

Thoughts on Food

I love how certain foods are linked to shows, books, movies and places.

cereal-Calvin and Hobbes

pudding-Seinfeld

hot chocolate and bread with butter and honey-A Very Long Engagement

toast and eggs-Sherlock Holmes

strawberries with biscuits and cream-North and South

roasted potatoes, mint candy-A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

tea-Downton Abbey/England around 4 in the afternoon
The declaration: "More toast"-Midsomer Murders 

mood

It is remarkable how a mood can change the aspect of....well, anything and everything. Pictures, music, experiences, can be viewed in a drastically different light from one mood to the next. Another annoying quirk of human existence.

What I've Learned from Wood-Carrying

Just a quick list of things to do and not to do whilst carrying firewood from the outdoors to the indoors.

Don't rush. No one's going to freeze before you get the wood in (unless you live in Siberia or Antarctica or something. Then you might want to worry....)

Find firm footing before loading up (especially if the wood is on pallets with big gaps).

If you're working on a pile that's lower than the others, think strategically about where to get the criss-crossed wood from so everything doesn't fall on your head like Jenga blocks.

Watch for icy patches on the ground.

Practice alternating the supporting arm every couple of loads.

Lift from the centre of your body, don't over-reach, stay balanced.

Don't pick up a piece from the end unless it fits easily inside your hand and you can get a firm grip. Don't pull finger ligaments or anything.

Take the wood from the farthest-from-the-house pile first, just in case there's a massive snow storm and the pile by your door is as far as you can go.

If you think you can't carry another piece, don't.

Special carrying-at-dusk tips:

Don't think about scrunts or hounds or chupacabras.

Sing loudly.

I know this is all probably common sense, but it's also to remind myself. I feel ridiculous putting it on my weblog.

Ah, speaking of supernatural things like scrunts and the Grimm and such-I adore humans for inventing this stuff. How did they ever come up with it? Who saw the first "hellhound"? Why does nighttime make things terrifying? You wonder if people who live in the South Pole or Northern Alaska go without fear because they learn to operate normally in those dark months. Maybe we just don't get enough practice with the unknown and the dark.

Kid's Books

Here are a few well-loved books of my childhood!

The Adventures of Minnie (the girl) and Max (the cat)

Junie B. Jones (bad grammar, big laughs)

Sea Legs (mayhem on board a cruise ship)

There are others too, like The Wind in the Willows, Swiss Family Robinson (hence the obsession with houses in the trees), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Brothers Grimm, The Olive Fairy Book, The Littles, etc., but these three are the ones that come to mind.

Anyway. I really recommend them.

Life thoughts

I know I've done a post before on pre-determinism and free will, etc., but it's a big question and I keep thinking about it, so here are a few more thoughts on the subject.

I wonder, does everything happen right when it should? Sometimes in my life I feel as though opportunities and such come along at just the right time, and everything clicks perfectly into place. Other times fate seems to have some master plan to ruin my life.

Speaking of fate, do you believe in it? Many logical people don't, but sometimes it feels very real. Maybe it's all just coincidence. If that's the case, then lots of odd things have happened lately that seem very coincidental. If you have the attitude that every single thing that happens to you is the result of choice, there is a large margin for insanity. I believe in fate at least a little. That and the fact that there are constantly circles overlapping around you and sometimes things happen as a result of this that are just plain puzzling.

I strongly hope dreams have no real influence over happenings. I recently dreamt I was being chased down by an enormous cat.

Film: The Whistleblower

I am going to recommend to you a film that is heart-wrenching, sickening and nightmare- inducing. Just so you're prepared and don't blame me if you see it, note that you are forewarned. As much as it is all of these things, it is equally true, intelligent and very, very important for anyone of a mature and an aware age to see.

The Whistleblower, by director Larysa Kondracki, is about human trafficking, or sex trafficking, which is, according to wikipedia, a "lucrative industry," "the fastest growing criminal industry in the world," and "second only to drug-trafficking as the most profitable illegal industry in the world." 2.5 million people around the world are trafficked today, with that number growing steadily. The film is set in Sarajevo, the capital of post war Bosnia-Herzegovina, in 1999.

The New York Times mostly approaches The Whistleblower as though it is high entertainment, saying that the main character, Kathryn Bolkovac, is "paranoid" (goodness, why would she be; she only has scores of gun-toting pimps and severely twisted UN "peacekeepers" threatening her) and a "party-lover" (she attends only one party during the film). They also say that she is "blindly immune to intimidation." I believe that horror and anger are some of the biggest motivators out there, and that Bolkovac is driven on by her concern for the young women who were victims of the trafficking. As, I hope we all agree, any morally sound person would be. Bolkovac certainly has courage, determination, and a sense that the issue needs to be publicised, even at the cost of losing her job and protection.

The NY Times picks on what they think is a "choppy, fumbling screenplay" rather than focusing on the director's goal, which is to propel this horrific topic into the light. The paper also says that The Whistleblower fizzles at the end because it withholds any sense that justice was done. Perhaps because in reality it wasn't.

Rachel Weisz, as usual, is brilliant and completely owns the part of Kathryn Bolkovac. Benedict Cumberbatch also stars in a very small role in which he plays an American. I'm never sure why these wonderful British actors play Americans. Our accent isn't particularly attractive. He must have thought the movie was very important.

Vanessa Redgrave and David Strathairn also appear.

You can read some of the film reviews here. The New York Times review has some "spoilers"; beware.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human trafficking

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/the-whistleblower-20110804

http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/movies/the-whistleblower-with-rachel-weisz-review.html

trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ohEeat7Lww

See this movie with lots of comforting things like food, blankets, and tissues. Since I'm at a loss of what to do about this horrible problem in the world, I'm telling you. At least we'll all know and won't have our heads in the sand. Although the roots of this matter lie in large, nearly untackleable things like wars and power struggles between countries, it's really the people in the midst of it all who suffer and who need help.

Critic

I wonder what critics think during a film. Would it be annoying to have to analyse everything? I saw a really bummer movie the other night, which tried to be all fancy and uppity by including things like Elizabeth Barrett Browning quotes, awesome bluesy songs about NY, and pretty autumnal colours. Even with all of these things, the movie was still dreadful. The most fun thing about it was the opportunity to exercise my extremely limited acerbic wit by keeping up a running commentary. The movie was called Autumn in New York, by the way.

This all got me thinking about critics and whether or not they have the right to blab their opinions to everyone else. I suppose they do. Heck, I'm one of these blabbers. But should we just let people make their own judgments? Everyone has different tastes, after all. I suppose the way it is is fine. It just makes me angry when big to-do newspapers or magazines put out reviews of good movies saying that they are terrible, and then everyone just figures "Oh, well, I suppose this review is accurate, I'm not seeing this movie," when really it's just one person's opinion.

So in my (hopefully) next post, I shall assert my views of a film on you readers. Feel free to see it or no.