Movie Monday - 2/27/2018

James Baldwin was an American writer of novels and social commentary. The only book of his I've ever read was Go Tell It on the Mountain. We read it in my senior English class. Sometime before he died in 1987, he started a book that examined the assassinations of three of his friends, (Medgar Evans, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King). He died before it was completed. I Am Not Your Negro is filmmaker Raoul Peck's attempt to tell that story. It was really good and, sadly, still timely.

In The Post, Meryl Streep gives a wonderful performance as Kathryn Graham, who as the publisher of The Washington Post, was the first female publisher of a major American newspaper. The film is set in the early 1970s when The Post and The New York Times were in a race to publish the Pentagon Papers, thus exposing the decades long massive cover-up of government secrets. Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk and Carrie Coon also star in this political thriller. It was good.

I really do not understand why Get Out was nominated for Best Picture and Daniel Kaluuya was nominated for Best Actor. It's a horror film, and except for the underlying theme of social commentary regarding racism, it wasn't all that and a bag of chips. Full disclosure, I don't like horror movies - most of them are campy, with thin plots and bad acting. (Maybe, that's the point.) I'm probably not in the target market for this movie either. That being said, it's getting great reviews from critics. I say see it, because YMMV, but I didn't like it.

MK out.

FO Friday - 2/23/2018

The needles have been clicking.

Pattern: Elwood by Jenny Wiebe
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in Spaceneedle and In the Navy

Comments: This pattern was well written. The only modification I made was adding another buttonhole - I like having an odd number of buttons. This project fulfills one of this semester's Loopy Academy assignments.

MK out.

FO Friday - 2/16/2018

I think I may have hinted that I finished the Liesl cardigan. I blocked it and it grew some sideways, maybe not quite enough. I don't know. BUT, it grew quite a bit longwise. I didn't have a photographer today to take pictures of me wearing it; so I can ask your opinions. I'll wait til next week to go into all that.

I do have an honest-to-goodness FO though.

Pattern: Jodi  by Joji Locatelli
Yarn: Garnstudio DROPS Alpaca in Creme, Gray and Purple Violet Mix
Comments: I love this pattern. I will likely make it again, because the knitting goes quickly. I've seen so many gorgeous color combinations on Ravelry....and speckles...and tonals! I'm a little jelly. Mine is a little bland, but I am determined to use stash first! 

Also, my shawl is a little smaller than the pattern intends. The pattern calls for DK. The company lists the DROPS Alpaca as a sportweight. Most people think it's more like a fingering weight. Anyway, I used up some stash and have a nice neck thing. I'm good with that.

MK out.

Movie Monday - 2/12/2018

In Phantom Thread, Daniel Day-Lewis plays an internationally known fashion designer, Reynolds Woodcock, who dresses the elite in the 1950s setting of this film. He's very persnickety and rather abusive to his underlings at times. His sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) is in charge of all the pesky details that make the House of Woodcock run smoothly...until...Reynolds meets Alma (Vicky Krieps). She becomes his muse and eventual wife...then things get interesting, and not in a good way.. I loved the fashion and the acting was great, but the movie takes you down a winding path and drops you off at weird. Meh.

Now that I've seen All the Money in the World, I wonder why they ever cast Kevin Spacey as J. Paul Getty. He's a good actor, one of the best, but Christopher Plummer was excellent in this role. The film is based on the true story about the 1973 kidnapping of J. Paul Getty, III and the subsequent machinations to secure the ransom money and ensure the safe return of Paul to his family. Michelle Williams, Mark Walberg and Charlie Plummer also star. It was good.

Alicia Vikander is such a good actress. In Tulip Fever, set in the 1600s, she plays a wealthy woman who falls in love with the painter (Dane DeHaan) her husband (Christoph Waltz) commissions to paint their portrait. The lovers set out to strike it rich in the tulip market in order to fund their future. The story was good, although I found myself getting restless with some of the plot points along the way. The acting was very good. I liked it.

MK out.

Start Something Sunday - 2/11/2018

Because I don't have enough to do, I started a baby cardi:

I finished something yesterday. Here's a sneak peak:

Something is getting closer to completion:

MK out.

WIP Wednesday - 2/7/2018

I've got WIPs coming out the ears...

...but my yarn for this semester's Loopy Academy has arrived...

...and I'm itching to start all the things.

MK out.