It’s one of those movies where not a lot happens, but the actors convey a lot of emotion and plot through what’s going on with their faces. Overall, it was an uncomfortable watch–nothing really goes terribly wrong, but everything is on the precipice of crashing and burning. The characters are awkward and likable and it’s always about to rain.
Cost: $10.00
Where watched: Kiggens Theater
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2018/outside_in.html
Hey look, it’s the story of a white guy coming of age, this time in 1950s England in the army!* I watched this for Callum Turner, who was fine, though I found that Caleb Landry Jones** tended to overshadow him. It wasn’t a bad movie, but by the end I found myself wanting my 114 minutes back.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home
*What a novel and not-at-all-overdone concept! Meanwhile, he’s got this vivacious older sister and where is her story? Also, the quantity and location of brother/sister kissing in this film was weird.
**That guy–I know him as the psycho brother in Get Out–can really steal a scene.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/intl/misc/2015/queen_and_country.html
Sara writes that this postcard is being written while her computer is not behaving itself. More than a few postcards have been traded between us this year while our computers updated and restarted. She will be getting a new one.
This is a mystery postcard because the painting is from the Art Institute of Chicago, and Sara has never been there. It’s also not really Sara subject matter, so I’m sure she didn’t buy it.
You can knit and make pictures of things! I had never done such a thing. It’s not unlike counted cross stitch.
At this point I realized I had skipped a bunch of dishcloths in the book. I’ve dates of completion to each set of directions and will now working my way back through the ones I skipped.
An amusing tale of a switcharoo scenario set up by the callous and wealthy Randolph and Mortimer Duke. For being an early-80s film, this doesn’t contain very many cringe-y 80s film moments.* It’s also amusing and there’s a good message buried in the plot.
Cost: Netflix subscription
Where watched: at home. (I watched this because it was mentioned by Tasha Robinson on Filmspotting episode #675 as part of the Top 5 Movie Homages)
*Exception: boobs. So many needless boob shots everywhere. The 80s were such a boob-focused decade.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1983/trading_places.html
(Fold marks!)
John Huston’s adaptation of B. Travers’s novel makes for a very good film. Not to mention Walter Huston’s performance as Howard, the gold miner who has seen everything and is surprised by nothing. This is a classic for a reason!
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home as part of my scratch-off movie poster project.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1948/treasure_of_the_sierra_madre.html
(The artist for this poster was fairly inept. It isn’t a very good likeness of Humphrey Bogart and the pictures of both Water Huston and Tim Holt look nothing like the actors.)
Our scratch off poster gave me two duds and a cool one.
Dud #1: The “before” is cool, but it leads to not much.
Dud #2: I was initially confused what had been added before I realized the umbrella wasn’t there in the original. And yes, there is rain, but this is such an iconic image from this movie, my brain had filled in the rain automatically.
Now we’re talking.
Do you want to scratch your movie poster itch? Get the scratch off poster here.
This postcard suffered a bit from the Portland rain. Drops took their toll, but it was still readable. Sara reports that it had snowed three inches in Minneapolis. On April second. Poor Minnesotans.
I’m taking classes to obtain a Copyediting certificate, and my course is four quarters long. After the first quarter, I decided to finish the course using an every-other-quarter approach. This turned out to be brilliant, because it means that I spend three months doing schoolwork and then have three months to complete a house project. Projects that would normally be started and then put off get done because I’ve only got three months until homework takes over my free time.
The side yard was the project between Grammar Lab and Copyediting I. Now we will redo the back yard as a bridge between Copyediting I and Copyediting II.
Here’s what we have to work with. In the fall I gave away the espaliered apple trees and we made a mound of dirt in the back corner because we had to excavate dirt from the side yard in order to put in the path. In the late winter I took down all the poles where the espaliered apple trees were and I also took down the bat box. We also disassembled the raised beds and the boards are still sitting there. Plus, the wheat I didn’t mean to grow last year has spread.
In short, the backyard needs some cleaning up before we start on the project.
A view from the edge of the new side yard path. On the left will be new plantings of asparagus, doubling the asparagus production for the yard. (!!!) In the middle will be hardscaping of some sort. Maybe flagstone? We shall see what the budget allows.
From the back corner. The right side will be the aforementioned asparagus. The left side will have something planted that is yet to be determined. The already existing raspberry bush, blueberry bushes and contorted quince will stay.
I might be overly optimistic, but I think this might be an easier project than the side yard. It’s a smaller space, for one. Also, we know better what we are doing when laying stone.
It was a long wait to see this movie as I had to wait for my DVD player to break so I could buy a BlueRay player and get the disk from the library. The long wait was worth it, because Gugu Mbatha-Raw was so very good in her role as Dido Elizabeth Belle. The subject matter was quite interesting especially because sumptuous costume dramas are not usually concerned with race.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/intl/uk/2014/belle.html
When a movie is still this good the third time through, it’s a classic in the making. I still marvel at the deft spinning between comedy and drama. And I love watching Ronan and Metcalf spar.
Cost: $3.00 (Last second-run show at the Laurelhurst)
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater with S. North.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2017/lady_bird.html
