Month: February 2014

Three sentence movie reviews: Prince Avalanche

This was a very pleasant movie to watch in that way one gets when they have ample time and don’t really care so much if the movie has a ton of stuff happen in it and everything.  The characters were interesting and time passed along.  However, I could not help thinking the following repeatedly throughout the picture: this is totally a film that would never, ever be made with women cast in the lead.

Cost:  $2.00 from Videorama
Where watched: at home.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/prince_avalanche.html

Vintage Cakes: Gingerbread Icebox Cake with Mascarpone Mousse

Or make that “mascarpone” mousse as I had plans to make my own mascarpone, but the shop that sells the cultures was closed due to snow.  I needed a pound of mascarpone, which would have cost me $10.00 at New Seasons, so I went with the Internet cheat of cream cheese, a bit of sour cream and a bit of whipped cream.  Viola!  “Mascarpone”
I made the cookies on the Friday of the snow and the party was moved from Sunday (because of ice) to Monday.  So Monday I assembled.  Ten layers of gingerbread cookies with the mousse dividing them.

“But how will you cut this cake?” every single person at the birthday party asked me individually.  The plan was that the mousse would soften the cookies and it would be easy to slice.

And it was!  Isn’t it fun?

Delicious too!

Three sentence movie reviews: Spring Breakers

I’m not sure if I can correctly summarize the intense loathing I feel for this movie in a mere three sentences.  Suffice to say it’s 90 minutes of the absolute worst parts of US culture and edited in a looping image way just so you get to see bits of the scenes on repeat.  If I had a daughter,* the roles depicted in this movie would be my greatest fear for her namely the longing to be an object and not a person.

Cost: $2.00 from Videorama
Where watched: at home.

*Or for that matter a son. There were no good role models in this movie, and I realize that that is the point, but that didn’t make it a good movie.  Just gratuitous.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/spring_breakers.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Hombre

I got this movie partially because it’s an Elmore Leonard-written Western, but also because the main character, John Russell, (played by Paul Newman!)  happens to share a name with someone I work with.  It was odd to hear that Elmore Leonard dialogue that I associate with hardened gangster and other urban underbelly people coming out of the mouths of frontier denizens, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable.  Diane Cilento was great fun to watch as the hardened, scrappy Jessie, and it turned out that the name John Russell was featured prominently through the movie including the dramatic ending, so I had myself a very good time.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1967/hombre.html

Wardrobe Architect: Proportions and Silhouettes

I hated this exercise.  It involved spending a ton of time clicking through images and not finding what I wanted.  It’s everything I hate about shopping, but with no actual clothing to wear in the end.  Plus, my pictures are very large and I want them to be smaller.  Alas.  Onward we must go.

Let’s start with the names I gave to each picture.  They were something like Winter 1, Fall/Winter 2 etc. But really, when you get right down to it, in Portland for about 51 weeks of the year I can wear the exact same thing.  I don’t wear shorts, so the dresses and skirts and short sleeves get augmented by tights and cardigans and the sandals switch out for shoes with socks or boots and there you have it, a 51 week wardrobe.  There are four days in the summer where you wear the super strappy dress and there are three days in the winter when you have no clothing for the incredibly cold temperatures, but other than that, it’s the same thing year round.  So ignore the Winter/Fall/Summer designations I gave.

Here’s my first combo.  Bright dress, (and why the back view, I have no idea) tights (though not in summer,) black shoes I can walk in.  I like bright colors, or fun prints in dresses.  Dresses need to be at least knee-length, should be fitted through the bodice and flared through the skirt.

This is the usual weekend thing.  Jeans (or pants,) fitted shirt, black shoes I can walk in.  The shirt can have most any neckline, the sleeves need to be long for winter, but shorter for summer.  I like stripes a lot, but solid, bright colors are good too.

Here was something I remembered while doing this.  I like FUN clothes.  I particularly like plaid pants.  So this outfit is the “oh yeah, I like fun things” reminder.  The shirt has fun detail, the pants are a fun print.  Again the shoes are black and I can walk in them.

Here’s the dress in the summer variety.  Fun print, good color, black shoes I can walk in.

Here’s my last one.  Black skirt (but with fun detail) bright shirt, which gets tights and a cardigan in the winter, black shoes I  can walk in.

So that’s it.  I know I like fitted uppers, with flaring skirts, that I can do straight pants with fitted tops.  That I like fun clothing and black shoes I can walk in.  There’s probably more, but I’m tapped out.

Three sentence movie reviews: People Like Us

I grabbed it for the Chris Pine eye candy (and good acting skill) but loved it because of Elizabeth Banks’ subtle skill portraying Frankie.  This was a solidly built drama with good performances throughout.  While I enjoyed the movie as it spooled along, the end convinced me I had wisely invested my time.

Cost:  free from library
Where watched: at home while the ice was raining down on our snow accumulation.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2012/people_like_us.html