Knitting And Stuffs

Oh my goodness, actual knitting content. Here's Pinky modeling the Back To Basics Winter Hat. This was a very quick and easy knit. I made it for the Bundles Of Joy group over on Ravelry. They make baby stuff for one of the OB wards on the Reservation. Apparently they're having a baby boom on the Reservation lately so they need all the hats, mittens, socks and blankets they can get. I tried making a pair of mittens on the weekend but they're too tiny and fidgety. Me no likey. I think I'll stick with hats. I've already cast on for the second of these hats.

I made yellow paste in the crock pot yesterday. Actually, I think it was supposed to be Hearty Split Pea Soup. The flavor was very good, the consistency ... thick. Soup is not supposed to resemble pudding. The rats really enjoyed it though so it wasn't a total waste.

I adopted a little brown rat on Friday. His name is Moses. On Sunday I discovered a lump on his side. I think God is trying to tell me something.

More Farewells

Sadie

Sept. 2008 - Feb. 17, 2011

R.I.P. old girl, you were much loved by your Dad.

Jordi

Dec. 2010 - Feb. 17, 2011

R.I.P. Little Man, you were gone too soon.

Up, Up And WALL

As we all know, I work at the most hideous job imaginable. I don't mind doing accounting, it's something you can pretty much do on autopilot which leaves lot of time to daydream. I like to daydream. But what I don't like is the two hours a day I spend commuting and the insane people I am forced to work with.

I like to write. A lot. I've written a few articles in my time and, believe it or not, been paid for them. Not much, but enough. So in an effort to get out of this hell hole, I've decided to restart my freelance writing career (and I use the term "career" VERY loosely).

Yesterday I applied for a contract job working as a copywriter for an online company called InteractMedia. Part of the application process was to write 500 words or more on something you considered yourself an expert on. The only thing I'm really an expert on is fish. Not the kind you eat, the kind you keep as pets. Perhaps you've come across my ground breaking work, "Goldfish - Beyond The Bowl"? How about "The World Of Siamese Fighting Fish"? No? OK, well whatever.

Once you submit your article, the nice people at InteractMedia will read it and a) decide if they want you and b) assign a rating out of 5 stars to your article. Thankfully I passed the test. Annoyingly, they only gave Guppies Are Great 3 out of 5 stars. Forkers. That article was EPIC. Someone suggested that perhaps the nice people at InteractMedia don't care for guppies. I think I should have included more sex.

So every day you're supposed to check the Job Board to see what's available. There I was, all keen and ready to go and .... there are no jobs. None. Nada. How rude is that? Then I went over to another website where I'm also a "Content Producer". All they want are articles on how to increase the size of your penis. I'm not really an expert on that. Needless to say I'm sorta stuck right now. I will persevere though! Stay tuned for exciting developments. And if anyone out there knows how to increase the size of your penis, please feel free to shoot me an email.

Audtion - A Review (Japanese with English subtitles)

Filmed in 1999, “Audition” puts to shame every American horror movie ever made.

Shigeharu Aoyama has been alone for the last seven years, following the death of his wife. At his son’s urging, “Dad, you’re looking old”, Aoyama teams up with his friend Yoshikawa to find himself a new mate. Yoshikawa is in the film industry so the two of them decide to send out a casting call for a non-existent film. In Japan, apparently all you need to do is send in a resume with a picture attached if you’d like to be in a film. Once all the resumes are received, Aoyama sits down to choose the girls he’d like to screen.

Auditions begin in a very proper Japanese way. There is a lot of bowing and “Yes, Sir, No, Sir” as each girl is presented to the two men. Of the 30 women selected, only one has the characteristics that Aoyama is looking for. But is Asami Yamazaki really who she appears to be? Or is she the Japanese version of Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction”?

This is no in your face blood and gore slashfest. Subtlety is the key word here and director Takashi Miike is a master. The first hour moves a little slowly as we watch the very formal courtship between the two main characters. However, it doesn’t take long for Aoyama to make up his mind that Asami is the girl for him. And that’s when all hell breaks loose.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would recommend it if for no other reason than it’s interesting to see the difference between American and Japanese horror. A very solid five stars out of five.

Umm Yeah Here What

This has been an epic Monday which has left me a bit discombobulated. People not showing up at work, people showing up late, people not doing what I've asked them to do and then pretending they never heard me in the first place. It's all a bit much for the first day of the week. Not to mention that I lent my car to the boyfriend today which meant he had to drive me in to work. He is a chatty boy, the boyfriend. Even at 7 in the morning. So much for easing into the day.

Here is a random picture of Stevie who loves to play in the bucket in the bathroom. Behind him we can see the handle of the toilet plunger which is slowly being chewed in half by my beaver like rats. Isn't Stevie a handsome boy? I just love him to pieces, we have a great time in the bathroom (aka The Rat's Play Room). While we're on the topic of the bathroom I have finally discovered what is causing my leg to ache most painfully. Sitting on the nice hard linoleum floor while the rats play. I didn't do rat play time either Saturday or Sunday night and my leg is FINE. And before my lovely masseuse, Jen, yells at me ... Yes, Jen, you did tell me four months ago that sitting on a hard floor was the worst thing I could do. Now I need to find a chair small enough to go in my small bathroom or a really comfortable BIG pillow for my BIG butt to sit on. If anyone has any great suggestions, please pipe up. I can't not have rattie play time every night.

I made Zesty Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken yesterday with the help of the boyfriend's 8 y.o. daughter. She did a great job, it's too bad the recipe wasn't all that great. My sauce was a little on the watery side and the chicken was a bit overcooked. The kids liked it though and we made mashed potatoes which I consider a meal in itself so it all worked out. I also watched a Japanese horror movie which I need to write a review for. But not today, today is too confusing.

Brain Hurts

Seriously. This film critique stuff makes my brain hurt. Which either means this isn't my true calling or that I need more practice. However, Associated Content did publish my review of "The Town" but then Associated Content isn't exactly known for its high standards. Basically if you can string three sentences together, they'll publish whatever you write. So I'll keep practicing but I'm gonna include my movie reviews at the end of my blog posts so you don't have to suffer through them.

Crock pot news! Since the delicious stew, I've also made fantastic chili and wonderful beef stroganoff! I am VERY pleased. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this slow cooker stuff. In fact, the stroganoff was so good, the boyfriend's 9 y.o. rather picky son ate two plates.

In knitting / crochet news it's all about the squares. I've only done 24 though so I'm kinda bummed about that. I just have far too many rats to entertain and far too many movies to watch. I don't crochet while I watch movies anymore, instead I take notes. What the heck do I think I'm doing? My priorities may be all out of whack. On to the review ...

Theoretically, "Twelve" refers to the Ecstasy like drug being sold in this movie. However, it could also refer to the number of subplots going on in this hot mess.

Narrated by Kiefer Sutherland (Damn it, Jim, I need more time!), we first meet the main character, White Mike, played by Chace Crawford (Gossip Girls). Still reeling from his mother's death of a year ago, Mike has taken to the streets to sell drugs in an effort to help his father pay his mother's medical bills. Mike's best customers are the snooty Upper East Side kids he once attended high school with. There's Chris (Rory Culkin) who's guarding the family home while his drug addled mother and father cruise the seven seas. Unfortunately for Chris, his juvenile delinquent brother, Claude shows up, having made his escape from the latest in a long line of boarding schools. Next there's Esti Ginzburg who plays Sara Ludlow, the hottest girl in school. Sara's never met a man she couldn't manipulate and she's got her eye on Chris' parent's house as the perfect spot for her 18th birthday party. Last, but not least, is Molly (Emma Roberts). Molly has been in love with Mike since they were preschool pals.

But apparently the lives of rich kids do not a movie make so there's a murder thrown in there as well. Charlie, Mike's cousin, is gunned down in a drug deal gone bad. Mike's obviously not having a very good year. To underscore this, we are regularly subjected to scenes of Mike at his mother's funeral, Mike at his mother's bedside, Mike looking longingly at his mother in her casket. Which apparently all took place in a white room, in case there was any question about the significance of this event. To add to the visual confusion, director Joel Schumacher (St. Elmo's Fire, The Lost Boys, Flatliners) films every scene involving drug use as a 60's acid flashback.

Based on the novel written by Nick McDonnell, this is a story about excess. In this day and age, there's nothing new about that.

Goings And Comings

R.I.P. Elliott

September 2009 - February 7th, 2011

Best snuggle rat ever.

Welcome Scruffy Neil

Just because you were on A&E's Hoarders doesn't mean you can keep pooping on me.

Disappointing

After eight years spent in prison for insider trading, Michael Douglas returns as Gordon Gekko. I kinda wish he'd stayed there. I loved Wall Street #1, released back in 1987. In fact, I might go so far as to say it's one of my favorite movies. The character development was outstanding and you got a real feel for what drove each person to do what they did. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps was, for me, like sitting in an accounting class.

Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf) plays an up and coming Wall Street trader who coincidentally happens to live with Gordon Gekko's estranged daughter, Winnie (a very whiny Carey Mulligan). The film takes place in 2008 just as the financial structure of America takes a sudden dive south. Jake goes to see a lecture given by Gordon and introduces himself as "the man who's going to marry your daughter." And so begins the typical Hollywood drivel.

Will Gordon and Winnie reconcile? Will Gordon steal Jake's soul? Why does Winnie blame Gordon for her brother's suicide? Because he wasn't "around"? What kind of claptrap is that? Why does Jake feel compelled to keep bailing his mother (Susan Sarandon with a very amusing New Jersey accent) out of her many financial difficulties.? Do we care? No, no we do not. Because we're spending waaaay too much time hearing about bank bailouts and things like CDS, CDOS, and other financial terms that mean absolutely nothing to the average film goer. Two stars out of five. Very sad.

In square news, I'm up to 12. Or is it 13? Making 'em all out of Wool-Ease since I have oodles of the stuff. Ooo, ooo, ooo, I got my Wollmeise yesterday! It's in a cellophane bag and I'm too scared to take it out of the bag. Pictures tomorrow because I need to take my little skein outside and photograph it in the sun to do it justice. Exciting!

Not Again

I'm sure you'll all be thrilled to hear that I am once again making ...

... squares. And taking phenomenally crappy pictures of them as well! My word, can you believe the hideousness that is this picture? Out of focus, washed out, over exposed, I hit the trifecta of bad photography with this baby. Any way, the Pine Ridge Elders group is focusing on squares for the month of February. I will try to keep photos of squares to a minimum (especially bad photos) but ya know, sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

I typed that last line with a Boston accent as a clever segue into today's movie review, so go back and re-read that line, k? First and foremost, 5 stars out of 5 for this amazing movie. Ben Affleck stars as a career criminal by the name of Doug MacRay who specializes in bank jobs with his three childhood friends. But this movie is more than just a shoot 'em up cops and robbers film. It's about redemption. (Doesn't that sound all film critic-y?).

During the course of a robbery, the boys take a young bank manager, Claire (the lovely Rebecca Hall), hostage. Although she is eventually released unharmed, there is still concern that she may be able to identify one of them. It falls to Doug to "scope her out" and see if she remembers anything incriminating. Eventually, this being a Hollywood movie, they begin to develop a romantic relationship which leads to Doug questioning the direction of his life. Once a promising hockey star who succumbed to the lure of drugs, Doug is now 12 steppin' it and rethinking his career.

But not everyone in Charlestown is on board with the idea of Doug going straight. His boss, Fergie, played by the incredible Pete Postlethwaite, threatens to do to Claire what he did to Doug's mom. And so, Doug plans what he hopes is his final heist.

The movie also stars Jon Hamm, of Mad Men fame, an FBI agent who always seems to be ten minutes too late. I was concerned that all I'd be able to see was Don Draper but kudos to ol' Jon, he did a fine job. And last, but certainly not least, there's Jeremy Renner, who is up for Best Supporting Actor, as Doug's closest friend James Coughlin. His performance alone is worth seeing the movie for. The proverbial loose cannon, you never know which way Jem is going to go. Usually, it's the wrong way. So there you have it, my first attempt at a movie review longer than 10 words. In closing, see this movie. You won't be disappointed.

Lights, Camera, Action

I like movies. A lot. When I was a teenager and school would break for summer, I would sleep all day so that I could stay up all night watching old movies on TV. Because, way back then, the VCR hadn't been invented, let alone DVD players, Blu-Ray, High Def, blah, blah, blah. It would be 4 in the morning and my Mom would be standing at the top of the stairs yelling, "April Elizabeth, turn off that TV NOW!"

Not only do I have a Netflix account, I also have a Redbox account. I'd probably have a video store account too if there were any left in this area. I love going to the movies as well, preferably by myself. I've got two theatre passes in my purse as well as a Groupon coupon for two more passes at home. You could probably say I love movies as much as knitting. And they go together so well!

What I don't love so much is writing movie reviews. Because I suck at it. I'm not very good at analyzing movies, I just like to watch them. I pretty much take everything at face value. Obviously I can tell good acting from bad and what defines crappy cinematography (Hello, I can't SEE anything) but I'm not very good with the, "What did he really mean by that?"

But it would be SO great if I could learn to write reviews. This weekend I watched all the movies pictured here. It's all part of my plan to see all ten of the movies that have been nominated for Best Picture. There's a potential blog fodder gold mine goin' on here. Four movies, four blog posts. But for now all I can say is Winters Bone - 2 out of 5 stars, Inception - 4 out of 5 stars, The Social Network - 5 out of 5 stars and The Kids Are All Right - 2 out of 5 stars. But despair not, because today I ordered this:

You can call me "April Ebert."