Hair of the Cat

Yes, I saw a Trailer Park Boys film.  And to add to the shame: I enjoyed it.  I don't watch the show; however, the trailer for this film cracked me up so I had to see it.  The hilarity for me was mostly due to the use of Independent Armored Transport in the film. I work for the government licensing private security guards, so I was really getting a kick out of this.

Sooo, how to review a film like Trailer Park Boys?  I guess the "plot" is a cat-loving guy who was in jail comes home to discover his kitties have been picked up by the SPCA.  His friends try to help him raise the money to basically buy his cats back.  Of course, we're talking about drinking, pot-smoking (and growing in the series), cussing-up-a-storm losers, so naturally it makes more sense to them to try to bust the kitties out of the SPCA.  Keyword is "try".  The other "plot" is the owner (?) of the trailer park is now managing a newer, nicer park and needs to run their septic line through the trailer of one of the boys.  Unfortunately he refuses to sell his trailer to allow the septic line.  The manager (Mr. Lahey) used to be an alcoholic and eventually returns to his evil ways less than half-way through the film.  Yes, it was funny, but so outrageous that I spent a lot of time staring at the screen in disbelief.

The main problem with the franchise is that there is zero change.  No one grows. No one learns anything. All characters are static.  In a good, thoughtful film, people change, grow and learn. At least someone, somewhere does.  At the end of this film, all of the characters are right back where they started, doing the same things, holding the same beliefs, no better or worse off than before.  I did sit through part of an episode after seeing the movie, and it's the same characters in the same clothes doing the same stupid things.  It gets old fast. 

My first sweater:

Cardigan Back

The Mrs. Darcy Cardigan.  So far, so good.  There is some ribbing near the bottom that unfortunately doesn't show up very well, but it's there.  Really. 

Also my first knee high:

Knee High

 
I'm working on the gusset currently.  Yes, I'm using the magic loop method.  Very easy for the leg, but the pattern I'm using (just a basic ML sock pattern) gives zero instruction on how to navigate the heel using this technique.  I ended up using DPNs for resuming knitting in the round, then transferring back to the circular.  I hope this works out ... fingers crossed.

Also a scarf for Mike which I forgot to take a picture of.  It's a straightforward grey ribbed scarf, to be followed by a matching hat.  I also need to knit a catnip grass toy for Petrea and should probably churn out a few dishcloths before Christmas.  So much to do, so little time ...

1.  I made a Rainbow Cake.  My first attempt was made with diet pop as the recipe suggests, but that didn't work for me at all.  So this time I followed the cake mix instructions and got a nice-looking, fully-baked, colourful, edible cake.

Rainbow Cake

Unfortunately it is a mix, so the taste ... not that great.  But it is edible.  Maybe next time I'll make it from scratch.  I'm just not a very good baker.

2.  Saw Inglourious Basterds last weekend.  Don't get me wrong, I love me some Quentin Tarantino.  However, this one was over the top, even for him.  It's basically a Jewish revenge fantasy, with a small group of mostly Jewish-Americans taking on the Nazis.  They collect their scalps and brand the few they allow to live.  There is a big film premiere in a small theatre in France, and all the Nazi big-wigs will be there.  Both the Inglourious Basterds and the owner of the theatre are planning to kill Hitler, Borman, Goebbels and the rest of the top tier that night.  It's well-acted, well-written and very funny in parts ... but the level of gratiutous violence was a big turn-off.  I had to turn my head away more than once.  In fact, I couldn't watch the climactic scene in its entirety; it really was a disturbing level of blood and mayhem, serving no obvious purpose. 

3.  I crocheted a fried egg.

Fried Egg

Isn't it adorable?  It's for a swap on Ravelry.  It's not perfect but I like it, and I miss it already.  *Sniff*  Amigurumi is the bomb.

[WARNING: SPOILERS] Tried to watch Death Proof last week.  We managed to get about halfway through, then gave up.  It truly was a tedious, time-warping mess.  Crazy guy with stuntman's car kills five drunk/high young women after the audience must spend an hour listening to them blather on and on and on in true Tarantino style.  I thought for sure it was the 70s:  the cars are old, the clothes are dated, the music is bizarre ... but then one of the girls starts texting.  So I guess it's a 70s version of present day.  At any rate, you don't know boring until you try to sit through this silliness. 

I love Pulp Fiction. I love Reservoir Dogs. Even though Tarantino has disowned it, I love Natural Born Killers.  I'm looking forward to seeing Inglourious Basterds once the crowds have died down. But really, the "conversations" these women have aren't even remotely interesting, and having to sit through their rambling and awful dancing for almost 60 minutes only to have them all destroyed by Kurt Russell's death-proof car was, shall was say, infuriating.  That's 60 minutes of my life I'll never get back.  Then, fast-forward 18 months, and it's four new victims prattling away in a car, and you know they'll end up as so many body parts strewn across the road, so you stop the DVD and save yourself from wasting any more time.  The end.

Actually, one good thing came out of that film: I finished my grey afghan!

Grey Afghan Completed

This is a film that can definitely be summed up in one sentence:  A bored office drone decides to cook all of Julia Child's recipes from one of her cookbooks (524 of 'em) in 365 days, and for some reason the writers thought it would be good to throw in some vignettes of Ms. Child's life as well.  It's unfortunate they simply didn't make a biography of Child and left this Julie person out of it altogether.

Meryl Streep plays a brilliant Child, even if she does go a bit overboard at times.  I doubt the real Julia was so over-the-top 24/7; surely at some point she took a breath and acted like a normal human being.  Still, it's a great performance by one of the most versatile actresses in Hollywood.  Amy Adams, on the other hand ... she's quite the one-note performer.  Granted, I haven't seen many of her films, but of those I have seen (Talladega Nights, Night at the Museum 2, and now Julie & Julia) she plays one type of character:  plucky, perky, insufferable.  I don't think she's a very good actress as I've yet to see her bring any sort of depth to a character.  Perhaps I should rent Doubt and see if she's worth all the attention. 

Yes, had this film simply followed Child's rise to fame (keeping Stanley Tucci as her husband) and completely omitted this Julie person, it would have been a very good film.  As it is, there are a few laughs, but I really didn't care whether Julie could successfully debone a duck.

Julia Child

So I've been on vacation the last week, and it's been fantabulous.  Mike was able to be off for most of my vakay so it worked out very well. We were able to check out our fair city as tourists, and we had a friend from Maine come visit! 

This past week we've:

- checked out the Halifax waterfront
- shopped our butts off
- took a cruise on the Tall Ship Silva
- rented and watched season 2 of The Golden Girls (ahem)
- attended a Mennonite wedding (well, I did)
- tried to catch an abandoned kitty by my parents' building (couldn't find him)
- ate copious amounts of food at many restaurants
- went to the library for the first time in many years
- had fries at Bud the Spud

And my friend Petrea visited me from Maine!  Okay, she brought her partner Steve and I brought Mike, but still.  We did more touristy stuff together, like visit Pier 21, Citadel Hill and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.  We also went to a couple of pubs and wandered the waterfront.  It was great fun and I was so happy to meet them! 

Petrea and I

A great time had by all.  We were fortunate that the weather was lovely for most of the week.  Today, my last day, we're buying groceries and moving furniture so we can have our carpets shampooed.  Oh joy, oh bliss.  And Buddy's going to the vet for his vaccinations. Cross fingers he doesn't get carsick during that short trip.

For me a shopping spree is anytime I buy more than one item at a time.  Saturday I bought three items, therefore it was a shopping spree.  My first purchase (and best, I think):

Knitting Rules

I finally succumbed and bought a Yarn Harlot book (see my Links on the right of this page).  It's very funny and very informative.  And very inspiring.  It's difficult to read without throwing it aside after a few paragraphs and grabbing my needles, any needles.  Much as she espouses it though, I still hate swatching.

Item #2:  Clean Eating magazine.

Clean Eating

Generally speaking, I am not a fan of British comedies.  Fawlty Towers is the only exception that comes to mind.  (I can quote most of the episodes by heart if you want me to.)  I found this film ... okay.  I liked the idea behind it, but I'm sick and tired of the ugly fat guy (although he looks barely overweight, but apparently he's supposed to be "fat") getting the beauty.  Really, really sick of it.  He doesn't even have money, for heaven's sake.  At any rate, Simon Pegg is the protagonist who literally runs out on his fiance (Thandie Newton) on their wedding day.  Fast-forward five years and as he picks up their son for the day, for some reason he's shocked, shocked I tell you to discover she has a boyfriend (Hank Azaria, lookin' fine).  Somehow Simon decides that since Hank is running a marathon, he too will run it to prove he's a responsible adult.  Uh-huh. 

So he does.  I was far more entertained by Simon's best friend, played by Dylan Moran, who likes to go bottomless when he can and bet heavily with his poker buddies on his friend finishing the race. 

There were some funny bits, and the ending wasn't too contrived, and I'm not spoiling a thing by telling you he runs the race, finishes it, and Thandie and son think he's so wonderful for doing it (*swoon*). 

Moving on ... Seven Pounds.  We watched this yesterday while I was just feeling the effects of the Cold from Hell.  Having just had the flu I don't see why I'm being picked on here.  Anyway, I didn't really watch the beginning of the film; I was reading my new book (more to come on that).  However, I did see most of it and I'm glad I made the effort to, you know, put down my book and try to concentrate through the ball of cotton my brain was becoming. 

Will Smith is Ben Thomas, an IRS agent who carefully chooses whom he's going to help and whom he's not.  This is a very, very slow-moving and quiet film, and it takes a long time for the pieces to come together.  My mind wandered during a few scenes, but that could have just been the brain-becoming-cotton problem.  At any rate, he falls in love with Emily (Rosario Dawson), a woman with a heart condition, and does more to help her than any human being ever would.  In fact, he helps several people in ways most people would not.

It's difficult to describe this film without spoiling it.  Suffice to say I found the ending extremely powerful and moving (yeah, cliches, but they fit) and I didn't realize how invested I was in the characters until I reached for the Kleenex.

So Mike and I went away to the Annapolis Valley for my birthday weekend.  The idea was to stay in a lovely bed & breakfast, check out the local farmers markets, head to this awesome bakery in Berwick, and have lots of fun.  You know, "fun."  *Wink wink*  Unfortunately it didn't quite go as planned.  The getaway itself was great.  However, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

1.  Three days before our trip, we learned our car wasn't safe for highway driving until we bought new rims.  The rims are on order and of course did not arrive in time for our trip ... so we borrowed the in-laws' car.  They have a good car.  Too bad it's so full of dog hair, strange junk (tweezers?  Axe?) and crumbs.  Mike cleaned the car as best he could and then threw some old sheets over the seats. Oh yeah, and the car seat for their grandson came with us as we weren't messing with it.

2.  Our niece's graduation ceremony was the night before the getaway.  You know, when I was supposed to be packing.  We were invited sometime during the week.  So I had to lay out my clothes for the weekend on Wednesday as we were leaving right after my work on Friday.

3.  Thursday afternoon, before the grad and while I was at work, Tubbs scratched a hole in the back of her neck.  :-(  I knew she was itchy, but no sign of fleas.  Still, she had a hairless red spot.  The vet squeezed us in and gave us ("gave," that's funny!) a cream to put on it.  So home, spend a few minutes with the kitties, and off to the grad.

4.  The B&B, The Grand Street Inn, was the only place we could find a room; everyone else was booked solid.  Here is what our room was supposed to look like:

Grand Street Inn

The queen size bed is not queen size.  It's maybe a double.  It's very dim, old and worn.  The comforter looks like it's been used every day since 1970.  The air conditioner barely functions.  And you have to climb 100 rickety wooden steps to get to this room.  I could have swung this, though, but for the ants.  Yes, they had a bit of an ant infestation.  Once we realized we would be killing the damn things all night, we left.  The owner acted surprised.  Uh-huh.

So we get a room at the Slumber Inn.  It's clean and they've been spraying for ants twice a week it's that bad, but no ants here. So the weekend was saved, yay!

5.  The bakery in Berwick makes their own ice cream.  I'm lactose intolerant, but I can take Lactaid tablets before eating dairy and *usually* I'm fine.  I had to try a grapenut cone.  It was soooo gooood, and way too big.  Needless to say, despite the pills, I suffered the consequences.  I was up half the night with cramps.  Kind of put a damper on the "fun" that night, *wink wink*. 

6.  The rest of the getaway was great.  It was when we arrived at the Cat's Inn to pick up Buddy that our bad luck continued.  Mike had taken Buddy there Friday and we picked him up on Sunday.  Somehow both Mike and the innkeeper had failed to notice the cat vomit on the towel in Buddy's carrier.  He had thrown up during the half-hour drive to the kennel.  Halfway home he throws up again.  We stop, clean up him and the carrier, and we're almost home when he soils himself.  And it wasn't pee.  We had to wash him down as well as the carrier when we got him upstairs. 

All in all, it was a LOT of work for us to take two stinkin' days to ourselves.  I never want to travel again ... and that was only an hour away.  Fortunately Buddy is not traumatized by his experience.  He was very happy to be home and on  our his own bed. 

Recuperating