Friday, April 30, 2010

Another post about movies

I consider myself to be a bit of a film aficionado ... I like foreign and indie films ... plus the old classics. I even took a film class in college! Not that this makes me an expert or anything ... but I find it strange that I usually like movies that get really BAD reviews!

Why is that?

Take for example, "The Lovely Bones." It's a film adaptation of a best-selling novel by Alice Sebold (which I did not read ... which also may explain why I liked the movie).



This brings up a point about book-to-movie translations. Should we view it as a comparison, or look to each as an entirely separate entity.


My Mom has started reading the Harry Potter series on my urging. She and my Dad are watching each corresponding movie as she finishes the book. My Dad really likes the movies, but my Mom is distracted by the differences from the books.
Anyway, back to "The Lovely Bones" --- basically, it's about a young girl about to get her first kiss and is in that key point in your life where you're leaving behind childhood and stepping into the great unknown ahead. She lives an idyllic family life with loving parents and a few siblings.

She is then murdered by a man in the neighborhood and enters a "purgatory" or fairyland of sorts of her own creation. She gradually realizes she is dead and has to help her family deal with her passing and her father solve her murder.

Here's what my favorite paper, The Guardian had to say about it:

How does one make a PG-certificate film about the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl? Director Peter Jackson provides an answer of sorts with The Lovely Bones, which leaves the murder unseen and the rape unmentioned.

His reward is a blushing mainstream entertainment that was tonight deemed fit to be introduced to polite society at a royal premiere in Leicester Square. Our reward is anyone's guess.

The drama ushers us through the afterlife of Susie Salmon (Atonement's Saoirse Ronan), a small-town kid in 1970s Pennsylvania who is killed by the local pervert (Stanley Tucci) and looks down on her scattered, shattered family from her place in limbo. She sees her mum (Rachel Weisz) flee the coop and her dad (Mark Wahlberg) come apart at the seams. From this celestial vantage, she starts to fear for the safety of her little sister (Rose McIver), whose jogging route leads her regularly past the killer's suburban home.

It's not that The Lovely Bones is a bad movie, exactly. It is handsomely made and strongly acted, while its woozy, lullaby ambience recalls Jackson's work on the brilliant Heavenly Creatures, before he set forth on his epic voyage through The Lord of the Rings.

Here, he audaciously conjures up heaven as designed by a teenage girl – a kitsch spread of sunflower fields, spinning turntables and the sort of airbrushed waterfalls that could have spilled straight off an Athena poster. All of which is entirely fitting, and often captivating. The problem, though, is that The Lovely Bones also gives us a real world as designed by a teenage girl. The land that Susie leaves behind is so infested with cartoon archetypes and whimsical asides that, at times, it scarcely feels real at all.

Might the fault lie with the source novel? Alice Sebold's best-selling book similarly held up Susie Salmon's innocent fancies as a kind of talisman to ward off evil. It dared to spin a sentimental fantasy out of a grisly tragedy, offsetting the tang of sulphur with the sweet taste of candyfloss. The difference was that Sebold's novel was not scared to look the central horror in the face. This ensured that it at least part earned its subsequent flights into the ether.

The screen version, by contrast, is so infuriatingly coy, and so desperate to preserve the modesty of its soulful victim that it amounts to an ongoing clean-up operation.

Gone is the dismembered body part that alerts the family to Susie's fate. Gone is her anguished mother's adulterous affair with the detective who leads the case. Gone is all mention of what really transpired in that lonely 1970s cornfield. Is this really the best way to secure a crime scene and retrieve the victim? Jackson turns up with his eyes averted, spraying cloying perfume to the left and right.


Anyways ... I forget what I was going to say about why I liked it ... but I did.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Beating the dead Austen horse.

( Oh no ... not another blog about Jane Austen!)


I managed to curb my Anthropologie compulsion (for now) at least. Instead, I dropped $100 at the Target on a nice cotton tank-dress, black leggings, some dishwasher detergent, and a couple new bras. YAY! Much more useable and financially responsible stuff.


I'm still looking at those sandals though. Generally, I wear birkenstocks throughout the entirety of summer ... so it's probably time for a change.... sigh.


And I know this post is probably a bit of the old "kicking the dead horse of Jane Austen" ... but .... I just happened to watch the 2005 version on TV last night. I think it was on E! or something.




Anyways. I think I need to get a few clothing pieces that are regency-inspired. I ESPECIALLY love the sort of long sweat/jacket in the bottom left picture. LOVE it.


In fact, I think I need to start modeling my entire wardrobe around movie roles Keira Knightley has played. Am I spelling her name right? Whatever.




Here she is in "Edge of Love" with AWESOME Wellington boots and floral skirt..... and also with a whichgoose-inspired hair piece! Then to the right ... I think that's from "Atonement" --- another great movie.



Here's my hand at making something a bit more on the proper Austen side of things ... kind of fun, eh? :)



Tuesday, April 20, 2010

aaannnttthhrroooppolllooogggiiieeee




Ohh... Anthropologie. How I love thee.

This is how I spend my down time...

1.) I will fill my "shopping cart" with everything I love in the catalog until the total is like $7,000 ... then I go back and meticulously decide what I can do without until the total is more like $1,000.

2.) I let it sit .... let me mind marinade it over .... get it down to about $500.

3.) I look at my bank statements, my checkbook, my bills (get it down to $200.)

Here's what I'm left with:

This cardigan ---


and these sandals ----


Now I'll wait another week or so ... debating the pros and cons.

I probably will never buy either of them ... but it's the HUNT. I think this is a bit of a look into my natural huntress state ... I am an Anthropologie woman. Hear me roar.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

DUCKS!!! (and a new shop.)

OMG!!! DUCKS!!!!



While I was at the park today, taking some photos for my NEW SHOP --- WHICHGOOSE&CO. --- I met this sweet little duck family!!

I think they thought I had food .. sorry little guys :(


Tuesday, April 13, 2010

"Under Pressure"

I wear this shirt even when it's dirty, I love it so. ETSY SHIRT.

And really, what other job is there where I would want to wear a shirt about it?

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The actual blog post is below ... I felt the need to have a photo though :)

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Tax Day is looming. I finished my actual TAXES back in January. But now, as a self-employed crafter ... April 15 means ESTIMATED TAXES! Boo.


Did you know I have to pay money on sales I "plan on making" this year! Isn't that crazy. SO... the good progress I though I'd been making isn't really that great once I take this chunk out of my checkbook.


Not that I'm complaining! It's just another one of those "things" that make being your own boss not as all-the-time fun as you'd think it would be.


It's all those annoying money things that I wish I had someone to take care of ... like a boss ... but who didn't tell me what to do. Anyone want to be my free accountant?


Sigh.


Here's a list of some of the negatives of doing Etsy full-time.


--- When people ask what you do, you have to go into a 5-minute explanation including "No, 'Etsy' like 'Betsy.'

--- The end of the work day is only when you go to bed. (not including working on the laptop while under the covers.)

--- Some days I forget to brush my teeth in the morning (don't tell my mom.)

--- I have to pay $250 a month for health insurance.



Okay, well, this list was a lot harder to write than a thought it would be.


I guess the positives FAR outweigh any little annoyances and money woes I am experiencing.


The main thing is to keep FOCUSED. EYES ON THE PRIZE baby. :)


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p.s. Rich and I have started watching the HBO series "Deadwood." Has anyone seen it?? Only seen the first two episodes so far, but it's pretty good!!


Friday, April 9, 2010

Spring shoe sale!

I love a good sale.

And spring is the season for something new!! Snag yourself a pair of embellished shoes for the warm skirt weather :)

All are 10$ off!! You can see right on the listing what the old vs/ new price is! FUN. :)







Sunday, April 4, 2010

It's craft time!

Happy Easter!


Sorry I haven't been a good blogger lately. But the weather has been SO nice! And after our apocalyptic winter here, I've been trying to enjoy it a bit more than I usually would :)

BUT! I've got a fun crown you can try making while gardening and cleaning up your yard this spring!

Rich's parents had some vines for me to scavenge this weekend, and I got some nice thin honeysuckles, some grapevine pieces and ... these things!



I forget the name of them now ... but it's a sort of ground cover that has little purple flowers.

Making a crown out of vine-like things in your garden is a super fun way to get a little creative in the garden!

So, take a leisurely walk around your yard, or local park, and see what sort of natural whimsy you come up with! :)