Stitches!!!

We're off today! Back in a week :)

D is for...

Dishcloths!

In 2008, I participated in the monthly dishcloth KAL. I ended up with a lot of dishcloths. :) I also found that I liked making them! This particular one was the last one of the year, and I actually made two of them, since I liked the pattern so much. The picture is simply because I like back-lit lace, where you can see the pattern.

Why I liked them? The dishcloths are good portable projects, you can use them to practice stitch patterns, and can be pretty instant gratification (even the bigger dishcloths, like I like). I haven't actively participated in the KAL last year or this, because the 20-something dishcloths I made in 2008 are still holding out for us. I do occasionally make one though, if there's a particularly pretty pattern or something I like. When this batch of dishcloths wears out, I'll do the KAL challenge again and make a whole new batch for our kitchen.

So, yes, D is for Dishcloths. Not exciting, very practical, like the dishcloth itself :p

Review: Avatar

What's this? Two new movies in a month?? Incredible things are happening! Namely, the post theater is getting movies I actually want to see on the big screen, and showing them at a time I can get there. That's pretty incredible, actually! This time it's Avatar, which we only saw last night, to that's why the review is Tuesday not Monday this week :)

Plot: One of these incredibly hyped movies of the past few months, so it'll be just a few sentences for those few who haven't kept up on recent releases. Jake Sully is a paraplegic former Marine who is transported to the far away planet of Pandora, inhabited by the Na'vi race (very tall blue humanoids). Pandora is a rich undeveloped world holding promising wealth in natural resources. Jake is filling in on a mission following the death of his brother, who was supposed to participate in research on Pandora as part of the Avatar program. The Avatars are Na'vi-human hybrids which link to a human driver, like a remote control, so that humans can move about the planet and interact with the native Na'vi. Jake gets pulled into conflicts arising from the differing goals of researcher Grace Augustine, corporate miner Parker Selfridge, and militant security head Quartich. And of course, falls in love with beautiful Neytiri, a Na'vi princess. Tested loyalties, life-changing decisions, and epic battles follow.

The acting was pretty decent. I like Sigourney Weaver. She plays a good strong, intelligent heroine, so it's always nice to see her on screen. And Sam Worthington is looking like a good lead actor in the making. Another reason I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and see the new Clash of the Titans, I suppose :)

The only real objection we (Zach and I) had in the casting was Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge, the bureaucrat in charge of all the human operations on Pandora. Not that he did a bad job - actually he plays the spineless, weak and rather oily characters pretty well - but he just looks too young for the character. He's about 36 himself, and has those big eyes and round cheeks so he looks even younger. To be in charge of such a big operation, all the mining and research and security and support personnel, he just needed to be a bit older. And there are plenty of oily, spineless, weak character actors in the 45-55 age range who would have suited the role a bit better. Not a major objection, but it really did strike both Zach and I each time his character came on screen, "Is this guy really old enough for this job?"

The story was completely unoriginal. As Anne put it, "It's Fern Gully with a budget." The human male, the female from the race in touch with Nature and who will take over as spiritual leader of the tribe, the evil human invaders bent on destruction of the trees that the female's race hold sacred. Even the male from the native race who is supposed to pair with the female and thus views the human as a rival but eventually comes to accept him. And the "twists" that come along are all tapped out fully. Like riding the red pterodactyl thing (whose Na'vi name I'm not even going to try to spell here!). Anyone who didn't see that coming is either under the age of 13 (and below the age rating for the movie anyway) or fully subscribes to the I-completely-turn-off-my-mind-to-watch-movies school of thought. And no, I'm not even going to put that way down below as a spoiler, it was that well foreshadowed! :)

There were several parts of the movie that were... well, irritating. The prayers and such for a creature killed in a hunt were focused on, but when hundreds of Na'vi die in the battles and such, it's all kind of glossed over. Seemed odd. And the anti-militaristic vibe was incredibly heavy-handed, almost comical at times how it was soooo over-the-top. I realize that Hollywood almost seems to be running out of villains sometimes, the way they focus on the military. Any soldier/Marine/futuristic military member is either the pure-hearted hero with the letter to send back to Ma and Pa on the farm during the last climactic battle, or a maniacal power-hungry nutcase bent on world destruction. But, as Zach and I were talking about after the movie, the strong military with imperialist policies (even if only commercial imperialism and not actual colonies) will always provide opportunities for villainy in stories. Goes back to ancient Greece, and will continue as long as there is any imbalance in power or situation. Human nature. It was very interesting watching the movie in an on-post theater, where there were a bunch of folk watching the film in uniform, and wondering what they were thinking of it.

But really, no one is watching this movie for plot. It's all about the visuals! That huge budget they were working with was certainly put to use. Pure eye candy! I loved the dusk scenes personally, all the dark blues and greens with the glowing bugs and plants there for contrast. Very pretty. And the detail is incredible. Like seeing pupils dilate when the Na'vi join with any of the animals, or when the human drivers are pulled out of their avatars back into the human bodies. It's a subtle detail that makes it seem much more realistic. This movie did right what frustrated me so in Beowulf - a good acting cast put to use even with the CGI animation. The Beowulf animation left the facial expressions less, well, expressive. These animated characters were much more detailed in that respect. And the detail in the surroundings as well, even down to leave blown up when the birds or planes or whatever land or take off. Very detailed. And the fact that it's a lush, beautiful world that they are designing doesn't hurt :)

Funny thing about the visuals, too - better fight choreography than in the average live-action movie nowadays! The creators were obviously so proud of their work that they didn't do all of the cut-scene fight filming the way so many live action movies are done nowadays (Bourne 2 and 3, anyone?). I did get a little tired of the stag leaps that the Na'vi kept doing, but other than that it was really nice to was clearer animated fights in this movie than in many live-action movies that have come out recently. :)

Overall: 4 of 5. Unoriginal story and heavy-handed message wrapped in visually stunning and technically marvelous package. Overall, fun but don't expect too much thought or surprise - just let your eyes enjoy! Would love to see the extras on the DVD about how it was all done :)

Knitting odds'n'ends

I am finding that with homework for Stitches, I am reverting to old habits. Namely, procrastination by productivity! You know, doing laundry instead of writing that essay. This time, I'm avoiding doing all my boring swatches for my homework by doing other knitting!

The Runner's Companion I finished last week or so only used maybe 1/3 of the ball of Fixation, so I thought I'd use the rest of the ball to make the Provence Summer Breeze headband from Classic Elite Yarns. That in turn only used a little bit of the ball, so I still have about 1/3 of it left! Will have to find another tiny project to use up that last little bit :) The headband though is a very quick knit. I think the whole thing took less than two movies worth, but the provisional cast on and the grafting at the end (both of which I'm slow at) took some time because I had to look up instructions and remind myself how to do them :)

This is a picture of the headband while it was still blocking. There's something about the years of bio classes in me that saw this all pinned open as something akin to an earthworm dissection. I can't believe that I see that, but there it is. Haven't ever seen that on any of my other projects while they are blocking, but this time, with the long straight shape and the two dozen pins opening it up... you can see where I'm coming from. No? Oh dear...

Here it is once the blocking is finished, and it's actually on my head. Less earthworm-y looking :)

The other little distraction project I've worked on is a pair of Yoga Socks (available as a free Ravelry download). There are actually several different pairs of yoga socks on Ravelry - I was making the ones by Justine Turner. I've really enjoyed being able to take yoga again, now that I'm not working, but the aerobics room where the class meets can get a little chilly. Once we warm up it's fine, but on the more stretching-heavy classes (as opposed to a more intense power yoga class) it can take a little longer to warm up and in a barefoot class, you can tell! So, I'm giving these socks a try, to see if they help. Something nice and simple, so they'll knit up quick. Even if they don't work like I want, they won't have taken up much yarn or time. I've got one done now, save weaving in the ends, so when I get the other done, I'll let you know how they work :)

The last project was the Cloud Bolero, which wasn't really a distraction project, but a quick-knit, almost-instant-gratification project. Well, it was supposed to be. I kept dropping a stitch near the top, right after the sleeves started. On some projects that isn't a big deal, but with this being a top-down lace pattern, any stitch mess-ups I have would be right up at the top where everyone looks, not like under the arm or at the hem or someplace else less visible. So, I frogged and reworked. Ran a lot of lifelines the second time 'round and made sure to count my stitches very regularly, and no problems!

For Cloud, I used two skeins of Lion Brand Homespun, which I know will pill a bit, but it drapes nicely and I had the two skeins left over from two different projects. Same colorway, different dye-lot, of course! So I got to play with the two rows alternating method of hiding different dye-lots. Gives it a very subtle striping, which I like. :) To make the longer version of the shrug (which I saw several people do on Ravelry, and I really liked) I ended up using all of the two skeins. Good stash-buster project, I guess! I don't have any pictures yet , since Zach hasn't been around to take pictures of me IN it (the finished piece itself doesn't look like much if it's not on someone), so pictures will come when I get a chance.

PS

While in the theater for Sherlock Holmes, we of course had previews beforehand, including one for the new Clash of the Titans. There were shots of the Kraken, of course, as one of the major special effects of the movie. These shots were at the end of the trailer we saw, as an obviously big focus. So the theater goes dark at the end of that preview before the next begins, and a guy a few rows ahead of me pipes up "Did you see the size of that desert tortoise!?"

For those of you not living in the desert, the desert tortoise is an endangered species in this area, and we hear a LOT about them. After the coyote, it's the mascot critter for this area. If you watch the trailer all the way through, at about 2:05, the Kraken does look very turtle-y. You know, right before he roars :)

Oh, and it doesn't look like the little mechanical owl will be back for this Clash. A shame ;)

In all honesty, I am trying to keep an open mind about this one. The original (though playing VERY fast and loose with the mythology) was a classic, campy bit of fun. As was Jason and the Argonauts, while I'm on the subject. We'll see if Hollywood can keep it fun without getting lost in the special effects.

Review: Sherlock Holmes

The new one. We finally get a good movie showing at the post theater, and Zach had to work. Just my luck. Not to be defeated, though, so off I went. Yup, the only girl there on her own at a movie on the Saturday before Valentine's. Oh, well - still had fun. Here are my thoughts on the newest Sherlock Holmes.

Plot: It's the familiar characters, but a new adventure, not one of Conan Doyle's original works. A recently hanged mass murderer is supposedly back from the dead and planning for mass destruction in London. Standard crazed villain trying to take over the world, with a good dose of magic and secret society activity thrown in.

To be honest, I went into this movie fearing the absolute worst. As I might have mentioned before, I love mysteries, particularly classics. I started reading Sherlock Holmes in 6th grade (the Red-Headed League was a short story in our English text, so that's how I remember). Started reading Agatha Christie at about the same time, come to think of it. So, as when Lord of the Rings was filmed, I had a combination of hope that they'd do a good job, and apprehension that someone in Hollywood was about to destroy childhood memories and beloved books. Guy Ritchie is a director I enjoy, but one more known for slick, flashy, edgy action films, and seeing him treat Holmes and Victorian London was something I was wary of. Add to that an American playing Holmes, even a talented one, and yes, I was worried.

But, thankfully, no need to be!

My biggest gripes were with the female characters, which yes, I do understand some liberties had to be taken for the sake of characterization, providing a love interest, and so forth. Doesn't mean I have to like it all! :)

Mary Morstan was the lady who married Watson, but she did not have to be introduced to Holmes as she had come into their acquaintance as a client (The Sign of Four). Her character in The Sign of Four was indeed a governess, as they mention here in the movie, but she was an orphan. Her mother had died when she was young, and her father's death was one of the events which started the investigation in The Sign of Four. So it did actually bother me when Watson kept fussing about missing "tea with his future in-laws."

Irene Adler is a good choice for Holmes' love interest, if they have to include one. I was pleased, though, that the relationship was all in the past, not a current thing for the characters. Had there been a big passionate kiss scene, I think I would have walked out of the theater right there! Still, Irene Adler was a strong female character in 'A Scandal in Bohemia,' one who can hold her own with Holmes, so she was a good character to use. I admit that, albeit reluctantly. And no, I had no objection to her being in men's clothing the second half of the movie, as it was stated in the short story that she was an actress and used to men's costuming.

The actresses for each did a decent job, considering the smaller roles they were given. Even Irene Adler is relatively a smaller role - in any Holmes story, the two characters that matter are Holmes and Watson. If you have a good pairing there, then the movie will work well.

Downey surprised me as Holmes. I liked him better than I expected. The manner and mannerisms and such fit well. He had the quick, high energy flow of speech and thought which I liked. One of those faster brains dealing with the slower minds around him. And yes, Holmes did sleep on the floor and fire shots into the wall (VR, like in the books - nice touch!) and feed things to Watson's dog, so all of that rang true. It really boils down to Downey doesn't look like Holmes. Despite his bohemian living quarters, Holmes was fastidious in his own appearance, so the disheveled Holmes was more than a bit out of place. And beyond that, the nose is wrong. I know it's silly, but Holmes is supposed to have a lean, hawk-like appearance, sharp nosed, that sort of thing. That's how he's described in the stories, and it's present in all interpretations of the character, going all the way back to Sidney Paget's drawings with the original publishing of the stories. Downey looks more hound dog than hawk. Little things, I know, but it was something I had to overcome to watch the movie and accept this Holmes.

On the other hand, Jude Law's Watson was a good take, and fit well with my mental image. This being earlier in the Holmes-Watson partnership, it makes sense that Watson is younger and more active. I like the interpretations of Watson as a stronger character in his own right too. Sometimes Watson is seen as a bungler, a hanger-on, or blind devoted follower to Holmes (think Nigel Bruce in the old Basil Rathbone Holmes pictures). But he's not - he is a doctor, has his own practice, has intelligence in his own fields. He is not Holmes, but he is not supposed to be on his level. Watson appreciates and learns from Holmes, but he is not an idiot. And I liked that they included Watson's injury, with the walking stick and limp, though they never really talked about it much in the movie. And the banter fit between the two - in the books, Holmes was always teasing Watson about his sensational take on their adventures and so forth, so seeing them quibble as they were living together worked well. And just as a fun bit of trivia, one of Jude Law's earliest roles was a small part in the Jeremy Brett version of "Shoscombe Old Place" :)

The camera work was definitely Guy Ritchie. The modern moving-about slick, 'cool' sort of style. You know what I mean. There were a few points where it really irritated me. The slow-motion explosion was slow-motion for a little too long. Was definitely thinking "alright, already, we get the point." And there was a fight scene early on that was hard to watch, jumping about a lot. I honestly don't know if it was the filming, though, or our sad little theater on post having trouble again.

There were some nice touches to the film making, too. I really liked the fight scenes at the beginning where he thinks through his whole attack, what moves he will use and how they will harm his opponent, even recovery time and lasting damages. And then he puts it all into action. Because Holmes really did box and study martial arts, so that suited the character just fine. I just liked it as a nice combination of Holmes' mental and physical activities. I was actually a little disappointed that they abandoned that technique after only 2 fights. Ritchie did play up the action, obviously, to appeal to a modern audience, but he did a good job overall in not making it totally incongruous with the existing characters and the world they live in. The Victorian London he filmed was a grimier one, but not bad. And I was so happy I nearly squealed in the theater when they introduced Baker Street - it was almost exactly the same shots as in the opening credits to the Granada Sherlock Holmes series (the Jeremy Brett version). Totally an Easter egg for the die-hard fans! Am such a dork...

Thinking of dorkiness, too, there were TONS of references for die-hards. Anyone else catch the dog's name is Gladstone, both the name of a Victorian Prime Minister and the type of bags doctors use? I had fun watching and trying to catch as many as I could :)

And it doesn't really count as a fan Easter egg, more like a open ending for a sequel, but Moriarty is mentioned. A sort of foreshadowing? Rather like the playing card at the end of Batman Begins. It's open for a sequel, or just open for those who appreciate the stories.

The music is great. Hans Zimmer, what else can you expect? And they included one of my favorite songs - The Rock Road to Dublin - in the boxing scene. So, I've been singing it all day...

Overall: 5 of 5. My gripes were ones that with additional viewings can be overlooked. The movie was fun, the banter fit the characters, there were some nice touches that I really enjoyed, and if it brings more people to enjoy the Conan Doyle canon, that's even better.

The following posters are included because (a) I like them, and (b) there's a spoiler discussion down below :)

Two things down here in the SPOILERS section:

In the final fight scene, Irene runs off with the canisters and heads away from the Parliament through the sewers (the fight began underneath Parliament). She pops up in under a minute at Tower Bridge (under construction at the time). That's like 2 miles upriver! Yes, that honestly did distract me, because I remember that trip downriver from a boat ride during our last trip to London.

I was very pleased with the handling of the Magic elements. The story itself is at the more extreme end of the type of case Holmes dealt with, but how it was handled, that aspect of the plot was actually in sync with the Holmes stories. Lots of smoke and fear and distraction covering up for a simple scientific solution. Yes, the explanations for several of the deaths were kinda glossed over, but that wasn't the focus of the mystery. It wasn't the how but the how-to-stop-it, so to speak. The adventure overall reminded me very much of the Hound of the Baskervilles - lots of legend and fear and superstition, but all comes down to a very large trained dog and phosphorescent paint! So, yes, if they have to create a story, this one works well with the existing stories Conan Doyle had created.

Joshua Tree (and no, not the album)

I know I just finished talking about visiting a bunch of national parks last week, but this past weekend we had a quick jaunt down to another one! We both needed to get away from post for a bit, and Joshua Tree is only about 3 hours south of us here, so off we went! We only gave ourselves the weekend to visit, as it's another desert park, and we see plenty of desert as it is. Though, there is definitely a reason that some stretches of desert are national parks and some are military bases!

To start with, the craziest part of the weekend was the weather. As all our friends, family and other loved ones back east are getting slammed by yet more snow, we are having roads washed out from all the rain we're getting here. In the past month, we've had more rain than we've had in the past two years altogether! And, yes, it was raining again when we went down to Joshua Tree.

Now, this wouldn't be quite so funny, except for my family's 'curse.' On both sides of my family, it rains every time we go camping. Dad used to laugh that the only time he'd gone camping when it hadn't rained, it had snowed, and one of Mom's camping nicknames is Monsoon Mary. From this proud lineage, my sister and I carry on the tradition. Living out here, Zach and I have managed to have a few camping trips where there has been no rain. It helps when you're camping in an area that hasn't had rain in months, but who's quibbling?

So as we left to go camping, we expected the rain, since we were driving down in it. However, the thunder (not artillery practice, but actual thunder!), lightning and HAIL did surprise us. Yes, lots of hail, too, as a matter of fact. My thought is that the weather imps who control the family curse saw that I was finally camping at a time when there was enough chance for precipitation and decided to milk it for all it's worth. I just thought it was funny as all get out. :)

The rain and cloudy weather suited the Joshua trees, though. They are such twisted and oddly shaped trees that the mist flowing in and around them looked very appropriate. The Joshua tree itself supposedly got its name from early Mormon settlers in the Mojave, who saw the tree as similar to Joshua reaching to the heavens. Thus, they dubbed the tree the Joshua tree, which caught on more than other names for the tree. At least, that's how the story goes. Personally, I have yet to see a Joshua tree which reminds me of a person reaching up to heaven, but maybe that's just me.

The other comment I have about the Joshua trees in the park there, is that they are so much GREENER than the ones up here! I don't know if it's because they are in the park and protected from nearby cities, or if all the rain has helped this spring, or if they are naturally greener than the ones further north, but there you go - greener they indeed were. Granted someone from Oregon or West Virginia or someplace similarly Green probably wouldn't notice the difference in the trees here and the ones there, but Zach and I both noticed it.

Overall, Joshua Tree wasn't our favorite park to visit, even of the desert parks. If we were rock climbers, that'd be another story, because there were some absolutely fabulous climbing areas. Instead, we are hikers, and though there is lots of space at Joshua Tree to hike in, it was just desert, not something that we enjoy hiking in. Still, glad we did see it while we were out here. Another spot checked off on our life's list!