Month: April 2018

Three sentence movie reviews: Avengers Infinity War

I wouldn’t have guessed that my reaction to the close of this movie was going to be an astonished, “What the hell?” as I was expecting this to be a bloated, overly long movie experience with too many stars and too much story. Instead, I watched a movie that deftly bounced between different players, places and campaigns, picking up stories seeded over the course of 10 years. Even the integration of the Guardians of the Galaxy–something I initially thought was going to be a schlocky spin-off tie in–was brilliant.

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: St. Johns Twin Cinema with Matt. (We were first in line for Friday’s show!)

Backyard Rehab Report: 4/22/18

We started by weeding the side yard.  No weeds are happening in the path we put in last fall, but a lot of weeds were happening between the path and the house, where things need to be planted.

Next we put up our stakes.  We have stakes about four feet apart and then rows about five feet apart.  This way, as we level we can slope the dirt 1/2″ every row. We learned that the sledgehammer is the fastest at getting those stakes in the ground.

We even had time to move some dirt from the mound to a shallow depression in the yard.  This meant moving the chunks of concrete into a yellow recycling bin. We will need to discard the concrete chunks. Perhaps by slowly adding them to the garbage.

Excavating the dirt mound also involved digging up the asparagus crowns that have grown in the raised bed since 2009 or so.  They were originally planted in Leo’s yard in 2008. It physically hurt to dig up one of those crowns and discard it.

Still, it’s good to get started on the mound going away.  I’m looking forward to having a nice backyard to hang out in.

Also!  The rhubarb has returned! Both plants.  The one on the right side of the yard, closer to the shorter fence, emerged about three weeks after the one on the left next to the taller fence.  Guess which side gets the most sun.

We try Thai Rolled Ice Cream

My first encounter with Thai Rolled Ice Cream was at the Minnesota State Fair. I did not stand in line to have some–the line was long–but I did get a good overview of the situation because they were stationed right below an escalator so I got a birds-eye view as I was headed down.

There’s a shop now in Portland, so I was excited to try this and avoid the line.  We failed at avoiding the line–it was a very sunny and warm spring day and the shop was full.  But we did get ample opportunity to watch our treat being made.

Liquid is ladled onto a very cold disk and things are added in.  I got the Oreo one, so mine had a crushed up Oreo. Then the mixture is spread into a square and carefully rolled into five rolls, which are placed in the cup.

You can then add three toppings, a sauce, and some whipped cream.

Matt opted to skip the whipped cream, and so you can see his banana and Nutella ice cream rolls much better.

While it was fun to watch the creation of this dessert, I didn’t love the flavor of the lactose-free “ice cream.”

Dishcloths: Arrow Point & Bachelor’s Puzzle

There are some good points on this Arrow Point dishcloth

I’ve just spent 15 minutes trying to figure out why the Bachelor’s Puzzle is called that, and have come to no conclusions, other than one quilter being amused that the Bachelor’s Puzzle makes a ring.

By making the ends four rows shorter on the top and bottom I can now easily get two dishcloths out of one skien of yarn.

Three sentence movie reviews: Wind River

Initially, I stayed away from this film because I was annoyed that a movie set on the Wind River Indian Reservation starred two white people.* I’m glad I watched this story of a tracker and an FBI agent searching for clues to the murder of a young Indian woman.  The story is as bleak as the snow-covered Wyoming landscape, and the performances are excellent.

Cost: Netflix subscription
Where watched: at home

*I relented because I like Taylor Sheridan’s work a lot.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2017/wind_river_ver2.html

Three sentence movie review: Dude

On the one hand, a movie about high school girls written and directed by a woman! On the other hand this movie suffers from the same thing that irritated me about Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!: The main characters are so confident and are loaded with so much good self esteem, that I wasn’t super interested in their stories. The quantity of substances used and sexual intercourse had was something I associate with well-adjusted late-twenty-somethings, not high school seniors.

Cost: Netflix subscription fee
Where watched: at home

poster from: https://www.what-song.com/Movies/Soundtrack/102511/Dude

OHS Civil Rights Exhibit

Matt and I had a date at the Oregon Historical Society to see Racing to Change: Oregon’s Civil Rights Years.

It was a good exhibit.  Both of us were left with the depressing feeling that not much has changed since the 1960s and 1970s.

An example: This is from the October 1966 Black Panther Party Platform and Program.  The Black Panthers were talking about police brutality 52 years ago.  How much has changed on that front?

Here’s a picture of houses and businesses in the thriving Black community in the Vancouver/Williams area. The 188 shaded houses and several businesses were claimed through eminent domain and torn down for the expansion of Legacy Emmanuel Hospital, an expansion that never came.  The Oregonian featured one woman’s story on July 6, 2017.  “City policy cost 98-year-old black woman her home. Here’s why she won’t get it back.”

We learned about the tense relationship between police and the black community including police officers taking part in racist harassment, being fired and the police taking part in a “Cops Have Rights Too” rally. The officers were reinstated.
An observation by Avel Gordly

Instructions for what to do when stopped by the police which are still the same instructions given today. Point #12 was interesting advice about how to sit in the police car more comfortably.

Also this great letter from the chairperson of the Black Justice Committee, who opens with an apology and acknowledgment that putting together the monthly mailing is “a big drag.”  This made me laugh.

The exhibit ends with ways to work for change.

Three sentence movie reviews: Blue Valentine

Guess who didn’t see this movie in 2010 because she didn’t think she could deal with how sad it was?* I was more able to deal with the sadness and was rewarded with this most excellent, mostly improvised film. It was interesting to note the expansive feeling of the “before” sections of the movie in contrast to the claustrophobic feel of the current story.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home

*Did you guess me?  You are correct.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2010/blue_valentine.html

Three sentence movie reviews: The Band Wagon

While the setup of this movie was similar to Singin’ in the Rain, the story and the songs didn’t gel like they perhaps should have and most of the movie fell flat for me. The “Dancing in the Dark” sequence was great, and I enjoyed the excesses of Jack Buchanan as pretentious director Jeffery Cordova. Some of the numbers were terrible such as “Louisiana Hayride”* and “Triplets” which was fascinating in it’s creepy earworm structure.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home, part of Filmspotting’s Minnelli Marathon

*Too bad, because Nannette Fabray was great.

poster from: http://www.moviepostershop.com/the-band-wagon-movie-poster-1953