So Knitsheady has tagged me for a meme, which is a new concept for me! I don't have enough people in my neighbourhood to tag (it's supposed to be 5-6), so I might have to do some searching to find a like-minded stranger to tag. But here are my answers to the questions posted by Knitsheady:
1) What were you doing ten years ago? Hm, ten years ago I think I was working in a Sears call centre that no longer exists.
2) Five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today: Wash clothes, sheets and towels (we'll see what actually gets done), work on square for afghan, work on face cloth #4 for Bryony House.
3) Snacks I enjoy: Choooocolate. And Doritos.
4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Open a non-profit animal shelter and buy my parents a house.
5) Places I have lived: Halifax, and Dartmouth and Bedford, NS when I was too young to remember.
6) Jobs I have had: Call centre rep, media monitor, and a string of admin jobs. Right now I'm a licensing clerk.
7) Peeps I want to know more about: Destined2B and Matriarch ... and whomever else I tag!
Halifax's World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKIPD) is taking place on June 14 on the lawn of the Spring Garden Public Library, and they will be collecting donations for Bryony House, which is a shelter for abused women and their children. Since they also accept non-monetary donations, I'm making some cotton face cloths for them. However, the pattern I've chosen calls for knitting the first and last two stitches on either side (the rest are K1 P1), and I don't know if it's the pattern or my knitting, but the side edges are stiff and not nearly as flexible as the rest of the cloths. So I've blocked and pinned them to my ironing board. I've managed to make them, well, more square and less curved, so we'll see how they dry. Cross fingers ...
Lust, Caution is difficult to watch in parts, depending on your taste. The cartoonish violence in most films doesn’t affect me; someone is shot and they die. [SPOILER AHEAD] In Lust, Caution a man is stabbed again and again, falls down a flight of stairs, and doesn’t finally die until someone breaks his neck. I occasionally glanced at the TV through this scene; I don’t have a stomach for “real” violence.
Fortunately, there is little more violence, as this film is more about an affair between a woman who is a member of a resistance group and a minister working for the Japanese. It is the Second World War and Japan has invaded China. Student Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) plays the part of “Mrs. Mak,” a wealthy woman whose husband is always away on business, to infiltrate the home and heart of Mr. Yee, who works for the government and tortures his countrymen in the name of the occupiers. It works; the pair begin sleeping together and “Mrs. Mak” reports everything back to her group of assassins. It is a matter of waiting for the right moment to murder Mr. Yee, but in the meantime the affair intensifies.
This definitely deserves an NC-17 rating; the sex scenes are so explicit you may as well be watching a porn flick. Fortunately it is much more tasteful. However, their lovemaking portrays much of what they cannot say or show in public and is not gratuitous. In fact, it is during these scenes we learn the most about Mr. Yee and the kind of person he truly is. The cast is extremely talented and director Ang Lee handles them with a deft, light hand. My only issue is with the last few minutes of the film; after so much intensity, passion and a final act of loyalty, I felt very disappointed with the ending. Fortunately it is only five minutes out of 2.5-hour film that is otherwise fully enjoyable.
So I'm on my way with making this afghan. I'm not even close to following the pattern; it's more of a guideline. Yeah, that's it. ;-)
And a picture of Buddy I took this morning. The groomers came yesterday to brush him out, clip his claws and shave the hair around his bum. He puts up a huge fuss, but I think he ultimately appreciates it. I know I do, since he won't let me come anywhere near his claws with the clippers.
The Lives of Others is a critically-acclaimed, Oscar-winning German film starring several veterans of the big and small screen. These actors have extensive resumes on imbd.com; however, I just wasn’t feelin’ it in this film, with one exception.
It is 1984 in East Germany, aka the German Democratic Republic. Of course, there is nothing democratic at all about the GDR; it is a Communist state. Georg (Sebastian Koch) is a playwright endorsed by the Party; his girlfriend, Christa-Maria (Martina Gedeck), is an actress who performs in his plays. A Party big-wig lusts after Christa and decides to get rid of his competition by bugging their apartment and listening for any reason to have Georg arrested. The man assigned to the surveillance is Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe), a hard-nosed bureaucrat who has always toed the party line.
Wiesler becomes privy to their every move, every secret, and soon finds himself involved in their lives. It is Wiesler’s transformation from a lifeless, lonely automaton to a man with a heart, a soul and his own will that is truly fascinating. He has been trained to express no emotion, and this makes his internal changes all the more intriguing; he exhibits very few extrenal cues. Christa and Georg are merely a means to this end. It is Wiesler’s reactions to their lives that is interesting, not their lives themselves. And Mühe is the only actor who convinced me; Koch and Gedeck may as well have been in an extra-long episode of Days of Our Lives. Both just seemed to plod along through the script – time to act surprised, time to act horrified.
Overall the film held my interest, but outside of Wiesler himself there is little worth watching.
Yes, I admit, I am fascinated by Adolf Hitler. Lenin had passion, personality and the courage of his convictions; fortunately he died before he could do any more serious damage to the people of Russia. Stalin picked up where Lenin left off; however, it was his ruthlessness, fearmongering and paranoia that kept his sheep in line, long enough for him to be responsible for the deaths of some 25 million Russians.
With Hitler, you have a fascinating mix of hubris, indignation, courage of conviction, opportunism and calculated risk. You also have willful ignorance, waffling opponents and western countries who did not take him seriously until it was too late. My favourite question regarding the Holocaust and even the Second World War in general is: how? How could one person convince an entire nation it's a great idea to throw themselves into another "Great" War and destroy an entire race while they're at it? Despite some grumbling and outright protesting of the Nazi regime, the majority of Germans stood behind Hitler, waved their flags and willfully died for their country. I read to find a solution to this mystery.
I've just started Mein Kampf. My father-in-law gave me a 1939 copy of the English translation. Tedious? You bet. Fascinating? To me, it is.
In the US, what sport has screaming fans, cheerleaders brandishing giant score cards, inspirational music and biographies of the players, and the feel of the Super Bowl?
Bowling.
I'm watching Bowling's Clash of Champions. This must be seen to be believed. Here in Canada, bowling is also popular. Sure, we have championships. But the players don't wear shirts with more logos on them than race car drivers. And of course, because Americans use duck pins and balls so large they had to drill finger holes in them, it is unusual and disappointing when a player somehow doesn't get a strike.
The cheerleaders though, they throw me off. Scantily-clad, heavily makeuped (if that's a word) girls holding up placards with players' scores as if they're announcing which boxing round it is. And the players are totally digging it. Arms pumping, pandering to the crowd, waving to everyone as they are eliminated (by getting anything other than a perfect score). And the audience screaming and knocking together those inflated batons you can buy at hockey games. Stanley Cup? No.
Bowling.
... and a squinting cat. I woke her up and she wasn't too happy about it.
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