Month: August 2014

Three sentence movie reviews: Camp Nowhere

Not a bad film, for what it is, namely a popcorn flick that was designed for adolescent viewing on cable.  Enjoy identifying child actors who are still working, and also enjoy the plot.  Get angry that the “fat” girl is barely even normal sized.

Cost:  free via some magical thing that lets you choose movies from a list.
Where watched:  At the Wolf Pack’s house in Kansas, where they have several choosing movie things that I don’t understand.  It was like living in the future.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1994/camp_nowhere.html

Fort Leavenworth

My visit commences!  After a smooth flight, a trip through the Kansas City airport, (which I hadn’t seen since 1995), Heather (who I haven’t seen in the flesh since 1997) picked me up and we picked up some barbecue for a taste-off.  Not surprisingly, the place with the sauce in the prepackaged pouches did not win.  Also not surprisingly, the sauce without so much vinegar was my favorite.  Although that place didn’t have pulled pork.  Anyway, yum!
We went for a walk.  Here’s where Heather and her family live on Fort Leavenworth.  They have one half of the building.  It was pretty awesome, that house.

Most of the older houses have informative signs telling you how long they’ve been around.

Nice detail here.

There was a lot of brick, which I was a fan of.  And a lot of good detail, like on this porch.

And a lot of zoom things like this bird’s nest, which can be seen in the above photo at the top of the right-hand column.

The original wall of the fort, with rifle slot for defense.

It curved, that original wall.

We saw a fox!

My zoom was a little shaky, but there he is.

There are a lot of historical markers.  I also like this photo, because both Heather (on the right) and myself (in shadow) are in it.

Patrick and E.

The mighty Missouri.

Back side of the chapel, which I liked because there are three kinds of building material used on this end: stone, cinder block and wood.

More good detail.

And this.

There were a lot of flags, not just US flags, but from all over.

Big houses.

This is the commander’s house.  Faaaannnncccy!

These cannons have never been fired.

Nice clock tower with this building.

For some reason, the thickness of this drainage grate fascinated me.

This is the “beehive”. More on that in a later post.

Good window detail.

This is Heather’s porch.

Flag and tree.

Just tree.
Digital cameras are a good way to entertain a youngster.  I would take the picture and the show her the image.

Three sentence movie reviews: A Life Less Ordinary

Part of the Ruby Oliver Film Festival.

Though I want to be an Ewan McGregor fan, mostly he leaves me cold as an actor.  But not in this very bizarre movie which I really liked. I mean, there’s a random dance sequence in the middle, how could I not be a fan?

Cost:  free due to Heather’s magical movie thing. (Though she may have had to pay?)
Where watched: at Heather’s house in Kansas.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1997/life_less_ordinary.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Friday Night Lights

I have now completed the Friday Night Lights circle* and can say this was a fine picture in the Friday Night Lights Cannon.  I’m a Kyle Chander fan over Billy Bob Thornton, but Billy Bob brought good stuff to his role.  It was amusing to see Connie Britton as the coach’s wife in both film and TV series.

Cost:  free from library
Where watched: at home.

*read the book, saw the movie, watched all five seasons of the TV show.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2004/friday_night_lights.html
I really like this poster!

Three sentence movie reviews: Warm Bodies

Oh my goodness was this a romantic comedy for me.  Romeo* and Juliet with zombies instead of parents to keep the young lovers apart.  Very cute and clever and includes a positive message and with that big-eyed girl from Crazy Stupid Love** playing a supporting role.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.

*Can’t get enough of the dude who plays Beast in X-Men?  He’s the male lead.
**Analeigh Tipton

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

Random song. fun. without Autotune

I love fun.  Despite the fact they have a stupid name that constantly causes confusion.
Example:
 “I’m going to the fun. concert tomorrow.”
“Oh good.  Who’s playing?”
“fun.”
“Is that a band?”
“Yes, they are called fun.  But with no capital ‘f’ and a period at the end after the ‘n’.”
“Huh.  Never heard of them.”

But they have, of course.  That “We Are Young” song was everywhere for an entire summer and “Some Nights” took over the following autumn.  People have heard them, they just don’t know it.

Their first album, “Aim and Ignite” was full of quirky and well, fun songs with non-standard pop music instruments (trombones anyone?).  I loved it a lot. They reminded me of Queen in their playfulness.  So I wasn’t really that excited when their second album “Some Nights” seemed to have been taken over by the Autotune.  It was out of control, espeically on later tracks.(What would be “side two” if we were still listening to albums)  At one point while I was listening to “Some Nights” the boyfriend yelled from the back of the house, “Are you listening to Autotune the News?”  Not the greatest thing to be confused with.

Where was all the great singing I heard on the first album?

So I was happy to find the above video taken by a cell phone wielding college student at the University of Rochester on October 2, 2011. It’s the same song from the album, but minus the Autotune.   I’m hoping their next album will be more of what came first and less of what came second.

Also, here’s my favorite song from “Aim and Ignite”  It’s chock full of lyrics (unlike the catchy-but-overly-repetitive “We Are Young”) it seems to be about the lead singer’s parents, and is very sweet.

Pop Up Project Finished. Capes

I’m visiting Heather in Kansas and she is the mother of two girls.  So I used those blue satin sheets from Goodwill and made capes.  (Don’t worry, I laundered the material before I got to sewing).
The pattern (found online)was a circle skirt, essentially. You cut two circles (four in my case) drafted a Peter Pan collar, sandwiched everything together, sewed, turned, and then stitched around the outside.

I bought buttons you could cover so they had matching closures and embroidered a monogram in each one.  I’m really happy with how these turned out.

Guess who wants to monogram everything she owns now?  Me! I see where Laverne had the right idea about that particular topic.

Here are my templates. I found a font I liked, blew up the letters in Word to the right large size, and then printed and sliced out the black part.  
And guess who still has an entire blue satin sheet left?  Did you guess me again?  You are correct.  I have notions of a circle skirt with a monogram.

Random songs from Guardians of the Galaxy

Aside from being a charming and funny film full of misfits, Guardians of the Galaxy has an outstanding soundtrack, as my postcrossing blogging friend pointed out in her post.

My favorites:
Escape
I can’t not like this song, even as cheesy and stupid as it is.  Plus it takes place in Boston!  Or thereabouts.  Heather introduced me to this song back in high school.

Hooked on a feeling
Much like Kathleen (the aforementioned postcrossing blogging friend) I love this song.  It was used very effectivly in the trailer for the movie and in the movie itself, it is playing when we see our heroes being disinfected while in jail.  (read: the beefcake Chris Pratt scene).  I love the horns (the #1 way to get me to like a song) and how many different parts you can choose to sing.