A slap in the face

Posted on February 25, 2006
Filed Under Blather, politics | 2 Comments

The South Dakota bill banning abortions–with no exception for cases of rape or incest–is a slap in the face to all women. To force a woman who has been raped and become pregnant to have the child–to take away her choice in the matter–is to tell her that she is not a person, but a victim of both rape and biology.* Shame on them all.

*Not to mention her citizenship.

The Video Archives

Posted on February 23, 2006
Filed Under Blather, music, the telly | 1 Comment

Over the weekend Ezra purchased a nifty adapter thingamajig that allows us to capture video from analog devices like vcrs or an analog video camera (should we ever get one) and load them onto a computer. I have been wanting some such tool for a while, as I have something like 15 or 20 6-hour video tapes from about 1986-1994 that I’d like to convert to DVD before they disintegrate. I started the process of capturing and editing the clips over the weekend, and it was much fun. I started with one of the oldest tapes, figuring I’ll work my way through more or less chronologically. Many of my old tapes were recorded on a mono vcr and they’re well-loved, so some are in rather delicate condition. I took a certain nostalgic pleasure in dealing with all the blips and tracking issues. I particularly enjoyed seeing a 1987 MTV clip on REM in which an earnest fan says that she doesn’t think REM will ever get huge because she doesn’t think they’ll let themselves. In the feature, Michael Stipe is more on target (probably more than he knew) when he says that he thinks they’re at a crossroads.

Alas, my old mono vcr seems to have died with me only about an hour into the first tape. The mono tapes don’t play properly on Ezra’s stereo vcr, so now we have the adapter, but not the right vcr for the project. We’re working on that. If you know of a cheap mono vcr in excellent working order, speak!

Dizzy Gillespie-Manteca

Posted on February 22, 2006
Filed Under Song of the Day, music | Leave a Comment

Lambchop-Up With People

Posted on February 18, 2006
Filed Under Song of the Day, music | Leave a Comment

Come on, progeny
Indeed.

Warsaw-Transmission

Posted on February 16, 2006
Filed Under Song of the Day, music | Leave a Comment

Dance! Dance! Dance! Dance! Dance to the radio! (beep bleep bleep beep boop beep beep!)

Retro Dance Party at the Curtisian

Posted on February 16, 2006
Filed Under Blather, me and my brain, music | 5 Comments

Tonight after dinner I was feeling festive, so I slapped on some 80s retroish dance tunes, mostly from our vinyl collection. It was much fun indeed. I danced through the house to the following (not in order):
That Petrol Emotion- “Genius Move”
Missing Persons- “Words”
Siouxsie and the Banshees- “The Passenger”
The Cult- “She Sells Sanctuary”

dubby dancing
me dancing (with Bee, Celine, James, and Tim)

New Order- “Bizarre Love Triangle”
The English Beat- “Mirror in the Bathroom”
The Three O’Clock- “Her Head’s Revolving” (Thanks, Doug!)
The Psychedelic Furs- “Pretty in Pink”
Haircut 100- “Boy Meets Girl (Favourite Shirts)”
A Flock of Seagulls- “Space Age Love Song”
They Might Be Giants- “Don’t Let’s Start”
The Smiths- “This Charming Man” (from the 12″, the Manchester version)
Duran Duran- “Girls on Film”
The Cars- “Shake It Up”

siouxsie sioux dancing
Siouxsie Sioux dancing

The Cure- “A Japanese Dream”
The Police- “Canary in a Coalmine”
The Pretenders- “The Middle of the Road”
Robyn Hitchcock- “Unsettled”
Clan of Xymox- “A Day” (12″)

Bowie, the B-52’s, Devo, Yaz, The Thompson Twins and many others are waiting in the wings for the next time this urge hits me.

A couple of films I have watched in the past few days

Posted on February 10, 2006
Filed Under films | 4 Comments

Mr. Skeffington–Though not as great as Now, Voyager, this is another pretty good Bette Davis film. She plays a beautiful socialite who clings to superficial ideas of love and beauty until an illness forces her to re-examine her values and take a less selfish view of life.

skeffington

Yeah, personally, I think she looks a little ridiculous in the film’s early scenes, but it’s supposed to be the late 1800’s, so…

Once again, Claude Rains co-stars. I think I love him. I almost posted just about him the other day. He was in loads of great films, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; Now, Voyager; Mr. Skeffington; Casablanca; Notorious; and Lawrence of Arabia. Not bad.

Lawrence of Arabia–I can’t say enough about how great this movie is. I think it’s one of those films that people hear about all the time, but it seems like many people today haven’t actually seen it. This may be partly because of its length. I have to thank Ezra for talking me into going to see it at the Brattle several summers ago. It’s hard to describe how absolutely fantastic and awe-inspiring this film is on the big screen. The desert scenes are just amazing. Today’s adventure films, however technically fancy and ambitious they might be, rarely come even close to being as magnificent (not a word I use lightly). It was the last film to be shot on 70mm film, rather than shot on 35mm and then enlarged, so the visual detail is stunning.

Lawrence of Arabia

Anyway, Lawrence of Arabia is much more than an adventure film. It sounds silly to even try to explain it. The film won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score–all well deserved. Peter O’Toole lost the Best Actor award to Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird). I’m a bit shocked that Omar Sharif didn’t win Best Supporting Actor. The cast is incredible–O’Toole, Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Claude Rains, Alec Guinness… And this was one of O’Toole’s first films, and Omar Sharif’s first English film. There’s only a single woman in the whole film–a nurse who just flashes through one scene and is uncredited–an interesting content point in itself. The internet tells me that the real T.E. Lawrence was indeed gay.

O'Toole and Sharif

Anyway, if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend setting aside time some weekend to watch the whole thing, start to finish. If you ever get the opportunity to see it in the theater, go! You won’t be disappointed.

Obama wins Grammy

Posted on February 10, 2006
Filed Under And another thing..., friends, politics | Leave a Comment

Mere days after I lauded his oratorical skills, Barack Obama won a Grammy award. No kidding! Thanks to Ez for the heads up.

Picastro-Fifth Wall

Posted on February 8, 2006
Filed Under Song of the Day, music | Leave a Comment

This actually should have been the song of the day several days ago, so make this one a bit retroactive.

Hillary Says What a Bunch of Us Have Been Saying for Years

Posted on February 8, 2006
Filed Under And another thing..., politics | 1 Comment

In a recent speech, Hillary Clinton talks about how the Bush administration has used fear in attempts to maintain power and silence critics. The quotable quote for me is: “Since when has it been part of American patriotism to keep our mouths shut?”

And here’s my added thought: Surely I can’t be the only person concerned about creeping authoritarianism in this country. Don’t think it couldn’t happen here.

keep looking »

Song of the Day

Devo-It’s Not Right 

Photos

My Photos on Flickr


The Knitting Turnip

On My Needles

Rhapsody in Tweed cabled pullover for Ezra! using Tahki Donegal Tweed in Forest, from Fall 2004 Interweave Knits. I've just picked this one up again, so it's moving up in the queue!

Sweater with Cable Patterns pullover using Araucania Nature Wool Chunky in Mauve, from Rebecca Magazine Number 28

Heather Pullover using Classic Elite Wings in Larkspur, from Rowan’s A Season’s Tale... This needs the knit doctor. I'm going to have to frog back a little bit and redo the shoulder area. Long story.

Hush Pullover using Jo Sharp DK wool in Wine, from Rowan’s Calmer Collection

Recently Finished Projects

In the Groove boatneck pullover using Manos del Uruguay in Black and Cheek (pale pink), from Fall 2006 issue of knitscene. SWEATER IS DONE!

Stash Stealer Scarf for me, using delicious yarn that darling Amy let me raid from her stash. I made up the pattern--a couple of wide ribs rimmed in moss stitch. It's soft and fuzzy and DONE!

Moss Stitch Jacket with Collar for Hope using Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo in Ivy, from Quick Baby Knits by Debbie Bliss. JACKET IS DONE!

Next in line

Brompton cardigan using Noro Cash Iroha in Jewel Green (my name for shade #100)

Eyelet Yoke Pullover using Debbie Bliss Merino Aran

Under consideration

Loads!

More scoop on my knitting endeavors can be found at my home on Ravelry (clicky here).

Links


Recently


Categories


Archives