A month of months

Movies & TV

2025-10-13T13:56:55Z

Sinners (2025) - Vampire movie with Michael B Jordan playing twins. And I would like to say thank you to Ryan Coogler for casting him(s). I really enjoyed this movie. Two brothers in the 1930s, who may be gangsters?, return to the deep south purchase a sawmill from a racist white man in order to open a gin joint. Their young cousin is the son of a preacher and a great guitar player, so obviously, they need him. There are so many layers. Schloky 80s horror, a moving reflection on cultural history, love and loss, great music. And a good story!

Fantastic Four (2025) - I love the visuals in this one! The retro-futuristic 60s style? Yes, please. I'm not familiar with the comics, so not sure if that's how they look, too. The story was enjoyable, from what I remember.

Superman (2025) - Another entry to the Superman franchise, struggle of man's inner self with a bit of humor, skosh of white saviorism, hopefulness, incredible work by one of my favorites Pruitt Taylor Vince in a too-short scene, and Mr. Terrific, being, well, terrific.

Wednesday S3 (2025) - I still like this.

Happy Gilmore 2 (2025) - I really wanted to like this, but D and I fell asleep during it and neither of us are really interested in picking it back up. :(

Freaky Friday (2003) - Did this really come out 22 years ago? I think this is my favorite of all the body-swapping movies I've seen. D and I watched it in preparation for Freakier Friday because he'd never seen it. Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan were both so good in their roles. The little brother was also really good, and I wish something would have come out of the setup at the end where he might have swapped with the grandfather.

Freakier Friday (2025) - Didn't have quite the same charm as the original for me. I think they tried to do too much by having a four-way swap. It did still have funny parts though, like when the young woman in Jamie Lee Curtis tried to get up after crawling around on the floor. "I'm telling my legs to get up, and they just won't!" I thought the Chad Michael Murry character started out perfect, but then turned into a punchline.

Freaky Tales (2024) - SO GOOD! I highly recommend this. Four interwoven short stories taking place in Oakland in 1987, with a very subtle supernatural flavor. It's a nostalgic nod to the era. Good music, good storytelling. I found out after watching it the stories were all based on true events. Be aware it is violent.

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Movies

2025-03-16T23:14:03Z

Movies
Mickey 17 (2025) - A black comedy about a dystopian future (or now?) where a religious political leader sets off to a new planet to create the ideal white utopia. In order to do that, they have Mickey, who volunteered to be an expendable to escape a desperate situation, who repeatedly dies while being put into dangerous situations so no one else has to die. He gets reprinted and his memories downloaded into the new body. It's a neat premise, but a bit heavy-handed and beats you over the head with "classism is bad". From the director of Parasite, so the classism thing wasn't surprising, but the heavy-handedness was. Based on a book, which might be a better experience.

Fly Me to the Moon (2024) - A fictionalized account of the first moon landing by the US. NASA is struggling, so the president hires a PR expert to turn it around. I thought it was very cute and entertaining, but slow in some spots.

TV
My Life is Murder S1 (2019) - Lucy Lawless, who in addition to being ridiculously watchable, plays a retired police detective who gets pulled back in to solve a mystery of the week. Comfort TV like all the other detective shows.

School Spirits S2 (2025) - Peyton List stars as Maddie, a ghost trying to solve her own disappearance. This is so good! I can't really say anything else because spoilers. Based on a graphic novel.

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TV and Movies

2025-01-23T17:27:45Z

TV
Bad monkey S1 (2024) - A series based on Carl Hiaasen's novel of the same name. A detective gets demoted to a restaurant inspector, and is given the task of transporting an arm from a suspected murder to the coroner's office in another county. For me, the show misses the mark in translating HIaasen's newspaper reporter's snappy writing, biting satire, and contempt for corruption to screen, but Vince Vaughn makes the character of Andrew Yancy his own and charmingly annoying and likeable. Also, it is a gorgeous show - it's filmed in the Florida Keys, Miami, and the Bahamas.

Andor S1 (2022) - A prequel to Rogue One which is a prequel to the Star Wars ~~saga~~. Series. It follows Cassian Andor's journey to Rebel spy. I struggled to figure out what was happening for about the first three episodes, but it sucked me in anyway. I don't understand how storytellers do that. I really liked it. I got hints of Cool Hand Luke and Die Hard.

For All Mankind S1 (2019) - This is an alternate reality series where the Russians beat the US to the moon in 1969. They continue to beat the US in space travel and the US has to scramble to keep up. The first few episodes filled me with hope and wonder and had me fantasizing about the possibilities that would have brought about. It had a good balance of good and bad things happening. The last few episodes were very dramatic and were one bad thing after another. Like Charlie Brown and the football, it was frustrating. I understand the consensus is this show jumps the shark in later seasons, and I can see how that would happen.

Movies
Red One (2024) - Santa Claus is kidnapped, the head of security in the north pole teams up with a hacker, who made said kidnapping possible, to rescue him. I feel like everyone was under-used in this, except for J.K. Simmons' guns. His arms were noice. The best thing about this movie is that local Portland knitter Jessica Spiegel made Santa's hat, and the pattern is available on ravelry!

Violent Night (2022) - A burned-out Santa (Dave Harbour) is done with Christmas, but gets roped back in when a family is held hostage. Lots of violence and gore. Interesting lore on where Santa came from, but could have been more. Just realized I did a bunch of rhyming.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) - Nicolas Cage plays movie star Nick Cage who does a private party because he needs the work. He gets caught between the mob/mafia/? and the CIA. Like all Cage films, this was a combination of "whoa", funny, and dramatic. Pedro Pascal is great as the superfan who hired him. I always like Tiffany Haddish. I would absolutely watch this again.

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TV and Movies

2024-12-02T19:19:15Z

Movies
The Substance (2024) - Demi Moore stars as an aging ... star... trying to hold on to her stardom and youth by whatever means necessary. This is not something to see if you have a fear of needles. I had to look away for quite a bit of the movie and I'm nauseated just thinking about it. Demi Moore's performance was pretty stellar and I think she should be getting an Oscar nod for it, but this was more of a (body) horror film, and those don't usually get nominated. But wow, she was good. The desperation and depression portrayed by her eyes alone - you could see the pain of ageism and unrealistic beauty standards just eating at her. And Dennis Quaid was great at being just SO GROSS. This movie has layers, folks.

The Wild Robot (2024) - The book was charming, the movie slightly less so. A storm at sea causes an unboxed new robot to crash-land on an island or shore solely populated by animals. The robot's programming adapts to the animals and it rescues a gosling.

Blackcoat's Daughter (2015) - A dark, slow, atmospheric horror film taking place at an all-girl's Catholic school in upstate NY. It's over winter break, two girls are stranded, and there's a nefarious presence. Lots of blood, violence, and suggestions of violence crammed in at the end. I liked it.

Better Watch Out (2017) - A Christmas horror film. A young woman about to leave for college takes one last babysitting job for a 12 year old boy who has a crush on her. A home invasion starts the action and then this movie goes in a totally unexpected direction. I thought I had seen this movie when I heard the description, but it was a different film, and I figured it was a trope. It is, but not in this film! This was so good. I want a sequel. It could go in so many directions.

TV
Only Murders in the Building S3&4 (2023 & 2024) - More delightful seasons with forgettable mysteries, which I am so totally fine with.

We Are Lady Parts S2 (2024) - I wish there was more of this show! It's a fictional story about an all-female British-Muslim punk rock band and the members' trials and tribulations, with fantastic music (including a great cover of Oops I Did It Again). It starts with Amina having a self-declared Villain Era, and setting boundaries with her boss and standing up for herself, and I am here for it.

What We Do in the Shadows S5 (2024) - This show is getting a little silly for me, but there are still some laughs. A mockumentary about vampires living in a house and trying to be roommates for over a century on Staten Island. I'm glad it was more Guillermo-centric, this season.

A Man on the Inside S1 (2024) - "Charles, a retired man, gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a private investigator and becomes a mole in a secret investigation in a nursing home." - imdb. The first two episodes made me laugh, but there are poignant moments, too, and the rest of the episodes were a little subdued for me.

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Movies and TV

2024-04-16T23:11:45Z

Argylle (2024) - An author who writes thriller spy novels gets things so close to right that she is targeted by actual spies. I feel I wasted an inordinately long amount of time watching this. Like out of proportion to how long it actually was, which was over 2 hours. I found out after that it was made by one of the same people who made The Kingsman, which I also thought was a complete waste of time.

3 Body Problem (2024) - Set in a world very much like ours, five scientists who were students together try to figure out what is happening with strange phenomena and science that has stopped working. I liked it for the most part. It was terrifyingly bloody in one episode. It starts out with a really violent scene. I found out after that this was made by the same people who did Game of Thrones, which I stopped watching because of the violence.

I also tried to read the book several times when it first came out over a decade ago. I couldn't get through the first chapter. So I switched to the audiobook, and same thing. I don't know if it's the writing or the translation.

Queens of Mystery S1 (2019) - English countryside murder mystery. A young woman raised by three aunts, who are all mystery authors, becomes a police sergeant detective constable person (I can never remember the titles), and gets help solving crimes from them. It's benign and quirky enough to keep my interest. The episodes are a skosh long for dinner watching.

Dune pt 1 and 2 (2021 & 4) - Political thriller set in the far future on distant planets. After AI was outlawed because society almost collapsed (?), humans found other ways to survive, but still in a very caste-like way. The visuals were amazing!

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TV

2024-03-12T14:16:45Z

Beef (2023) - Two people get into a road rage incident and it starts to take over their whole lives. When I first started watching this, I thought, "I thought this was supposed to be violent, but it's not and it's actually pretty funny ." Well, that changes. Ali Wong plays a woman who has built a successful small business (still not sure what to call it - it deals with plants and it's very chic and she's part of the "brand") and Steven Yuen plays a struggling contractor. They have an altercation in a parking lot and end up chasing each other in their cars, and boy does it spiral. The ending is ambiguous (are they really dead?). Ali was so good at portraying someone who feels she has to keep everything bottled up, and it's worth watching for that alone, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

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TV

2023-12-11T23:42:29Z

Ted Lasso (2020-2023) - I finally watched this and love, love, love it! An owner of an English football (soccer) team hires an American coach (Lasso) to deliberately drive the team into the ground in the hopes of getting back at her ex-husband. Ted ends up charming everyone. This show is just so feel-good in just the right way. It's refreshingly anti toxic masculinity.

Our Flag Means Death S2 (2023) - Stede and Bonnet are on the rocks, off the rocks, Izzy has an arc, things blow up, there's partying. The costumes are still historically inaccurate, but I like them.

Rez Dogs S3 (2023) - Such a great ending to such a great show. This season was all about being at peace with change and moving on. It's hard to even know how to sum this up. There's an episode about boarding schools that was particularly powerful. We get more backstories of the spirits and elders. And it was funny and heartwarming and... just really good.

The Afterparty S2 (2023) - I like the premise of this show: a mystery that takes place at an afterparty, where each person's version of events is told in an episode filmed in a unique style. I liked the first season better, but this one still delivered a mystery that kept me guessing until the end. There's a Wes Anderson style episode, and a heist movie one. Fun.

School Spirits S1 (2023) - This one sucked me in right away. A high school student goes missing, and she awakens in some sort of afterworld - stuck in her high school - as a spirit, and tries to solve her own mystery. Is she really dead? Where's her body? A dead teacher runs spirit support groups. Peyton List, the badass from Cobra Kai, plays Maddie well. I did not see the end of the first season coming.

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TV and Movies

2023-09-18T15:22:44Z

Wow, I have not been keeping up with what I've been watching. I thought I had posted about several of these already. And there's stuff I know I've watched since... checks entires... March.

Save Yourselves! (2020) - A neat indie film where a young couple in NYC, addicted to their phones, decides to unplug and spend a week upstate. Things don't go quite as planned when an alien invasion happens. I liked this one a lot for how their relationship is shown, as well as the ambiguous ending.

OVNIs (UFOs) S1 (2021) - A failed rocket scientist gets put in charge of the French equivalent of SETI in the 1970s. I really enjoyed this! The slightly kooky characters as a foil to the straight-laced scientist trying to actually run the department was perfect. And the set design and film style were so good.

Halt and Catch Fire S1 (2014 - 2017) - This is a rewatch for me, but I don't remember a whole lot, other than it was good. And how can you go wrong with casting an actor with the name Scoot McNairy? Anyway, it's a fictionalized version of the PC ... wars? of the 80s. The subsequent seasons focus more on the women, which I'm looking forward to. Lee Pace, Mackenzie Davis, and Kerry Bishé round out the great cast.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) - Miles undoes a "canon event" in one of the multiverses, things start collapsing, and he gets trapped in the wrong world. I was bored during this in some spots.

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) - I'm glad he finally gets to rest. It's hard to remember when watching these films that they take place over only a few days. It's an ass-kicking movie. Lot's of ass-kicking.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) - This was fine. The de-aging CGI still looks really off to me. A very gruff Indiana is just retiring from his university teaching job when his estranged goddaughter shows up looking for an artifact. The Nazis are also trying to get it. We find out why he's so gruff and get an ending that made me tear up.

Asteroid City (2023) - I think this was too arty for me? It's a play within a film, set in a retro futuristic 1950s Area 51-like place in the desert. Kids are at a Stargazer conference. An alien shows up. ???

Joy Ride (2023) - I don't enjoy gross-out humor and we walked out of this one. I think the funniest scene was in the trailer. A Chinese adoptee with white parents travels with her best friend to China for business, and tries to track down her birth mom while there.

Mandalorian S1-2 (2019-2020) - So cute!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S1-2 (2022-2023) - Or Captain Haircut, as G calls it. This is another pre-TOS franchise and is about Captain Pike (who has such great hair!) commanding the Enterprise before James Kirk. I just really like the hope this show has. I'm glad I had at least seen some Lower Decks so I enjoyed the crossover episode.

Resident Alien S1-2 (2021-2022) - I don't want to like this show, but I do. Alan Tudyk plays an alien in human form who was tasked with destroying the Earth, but because he's in human form, seems to be becoming human. He's the doctor for a small town and gets by with looking things up on YouTube, and is often foiled by children. Tudyk makes the character mostly on the brink of likeable, and is, just often enough.

Star Trek: Lower Decks S1 (2020) - This is a funny show, but not a funny Star Trek show. It was not for me. It's an animated series about the people on the lower decks of the Enterprise. Or some other ship.

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022) - A pragmatic woman (Tilda Swinton, yay!) and a djinn (Idris Elba, yay!) fall in love while she navigates the very tricky territory of her three wishes. It was good and thought-provoking. Directed by George Miller.

Polite Society (2023) - By the same people that brought us Lady Parts, this was a martial arts comedy about two sisters, one who wants to become a movie stuntwoman, and the other who has lost her confidence in her art and dropped out of college. They foil an evil plot. I think the best thing about it is the scenes where the sisters are being sisters.

Barry S4 (2023) - Dark. So dark. So good. Sarah Goldberg, who plays Barry's girlfriend/wife, is such an amazing actress in this, especially in this season. Barry escapes from prison (of course) and is hiding out with Sally and his son in the desert. Or maybe Kansas. It had a surreal quality to it. Everyone seems harder in this season and it ends with only one person being ok, seemingly.

The Power S1 (2023) - Based on a book where women have an extra organ that gets "woken up" (maybe for evolutionary reasons) that allows them to control and use electricity. They start feeling safe from men for the first time in... history? and the worlds reaction is very similar to the way people are trying to control women's bodies in the real world. However, characters behaving out of character in the last episode really turned me off.

Yellowjackets S1 (2021) - A plane with a high school girls soccer team crashes in the woods and they don't get rescued for a long time. The show switches between them now and then. But for me, it's a big "No" on the cannibalism.

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Notes on pants Lida Baday McCalls 9371

2023-08-28T14:29:25Z

Lida Baday oversize jacket, halter top, skort, and pants

The waistband facing is supposed to be eased in, but I don't know if that's because the SA is 5/8", making it harder to attach than if it were 1/4".
The hems need to be interfaced, so the top stitching looks better
The hems need to be at least 1" shorter, possibly 1 1/8"
Use interfacing tips from deconstructed dress

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TV: post apocalypse extravaganza

2023-03-23T21:56:08Z

The Last of Us (2023): This was my introduction to the Pedro Pascal bandwagon. I get it now. The show is pretty good, maybe not as great for me as, apparently, a lot of other people. The concept is: What if the same kind of fungus that invades ants and wasps and controls them, so it can propagate, jumped into humans? It is based on a video game, and I don't play them, so it was nice to have to have someone to watch it with who was pointing out all the tropes, so I didn't get too overwhelmed.

Station Eleven (2021-2022): I read the book when it first came out, and remember bits and pieces of it, but not enough to know where the show differed, but apparently it did quite a lot. A flu sweeps across Earth and kills most people. A young actress gets rescued by an audience member, and twenty years later, travels with a Shakespearean troupe putting on plays for survivors. There is an unhinged survivor who wants to destroy anything having to do with The Before.

I watched The Last of Us concurrently with Station Eleven and kept getting confused about which characters were in which. Station Eleven unfolded smoothly and had a nice arc. It had a good, mostly happy ending. I liked that it hinted the post-apocalyptic world had its idyllic moments. The Last of Us was like a journey with a lot of stops along the way, and an undercurrent of fear.

Shadow and Bone S2 (2023): I read the Six of Crows duology before I even knew the Shadow & Bone trilogy existed. Six of Crows was SO GOOD. Shadow & Bone was fine. I don't know if that influenced my preference for learning the Crows' fate in the show, or if it really was a more interesting story line. They have more of the 'heist' plot points. The world is similar to ours, but there is magic. A Grisha (magician) created The Fold several hundred years ago. It's a dark place with creatures that kill humans. Alina is a Grisha who can destroy The Fold and that is what she aims to do in this season.

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My first pair of sandals -- success!

2023-02-01T22:05:01Z

I had these really great sandals in the 90s, made by Bass. I guess I should say, I really liked them, not that they were great. They didn't fit at all - they were made for someone with much more volume in their feet. I took my sewing machine to them at one point to tighten up the back of the heel, which helped a smidge.

Cut to the 2010s, I got these sandals out to wear and the soles just... disintegrated. They were foam, and just crumbled into powdery chunks. It was pretty disgusting.

With my increasing desire to learn to make shoes, I decided to try to remake the sandals. I had gotten Make Your Own Shoes by Mary Loomis, and while it was about making your own high heels, which I had unsuccessfully done, I decided to forge ahead.

I used saddle leather and cork for the soles and reused the straps, just making them shorter, and the footbeds. Saddle leather is not soling leather, and those sandals tore to pieces the first time I wore them.

Then I took the shoe-making workshop with an actual shoemaker, and more people are making shoes and publishing better instructions. I found a book called The Sandalmaking Workshop by Rachel Corry and decided to remake my sandals from scratch. She used to be located in Portland, has since moved to California, and has kits you can buy with various supplies from her website Rachel Sees Snail Shoes.

The process is a bit different than making shoes, and I felt so much more confident having the book. The instructions are very good.

The leather comes in different colors, but I chose natural so I could dye it myself. I tried to carefully cut the straps, but there is some variation in the widths. I then burnished the edges just with water (I *just* threw out all my gum tragacanth, which is the stuff you're supposed to use), put the straps through the footbed and adjusted the fit, then dyed them. I then dyed the footbed.

I decided to put an extra layer of leather in the sole to make them a little more robust, and to cushion my feet from the straps folded under the footbed, as suggested in the book. The actual soleing leather is much easier to cut than saddle leather.

Sanding the edges of the soles to get them smooth was a lot of work. I had an adorable little belt sander purchase specifically for that reason by D, and I really needed something bigger. But it worked!

One thing I learned was not to put leather dye on the sides of the soles. It swelled the fibers and negated a lot the work I did sanding the edges. Edge Kote is thicker and does not soak in.

They are so comfortable. I don't feel like I'm going to trip when walking in them because the straps actually hold the soles snug against my feet. Because they fit! I'm looking forward to wearing them this summer. Yay!

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Movies: winter 2022/3

2022-11-13T20:48:10Z

Brazil (1985) - I finally watched this! A comedic study in bureaucracy and classism, it is peak 1985 aesthetic - that brief period of retro 40s noir influence. "A bureaucrat in a dystopian society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams." I saw notes of Max Headroom, Metropolis, and The Dark Crystal. It's directed by Terry Gilliam.

Punk the Capital (2019) - A documentary about the beginnings of the D.C. punk and hardcore scene. Or harDCore. Considering I hung out with people who were into punk and hardcore and lived in that area at that time, I knew nothing. Bad Brains was a D.C. band? And they basically started the whole punk movement there? Youth Brigade? I thought they were an LA band? Dag Nasty?!? I mean, I know I was willfully ignorant as a kid, but wow. And Dischord is DC-based. The one thing I did recognize was the old 9:30 Club, and fondly remembered the one show I went to there before it moved.

Happy Death Day (2017) - By the same guy who made Freaky. I really liked it. We watched this after one of my friends said she wanted something light on Thanksgiving. A groundhog day style horror film where a college girl tries to solve her own murder.

Bullet Train (2022) - Everything in this movie seemed forced. The dialog, the plot, the chemistry between characters. I usually like Brad Pitt in comedy roles, but this just fell flat for me. The plot was... assassins trying to get a case full of money on a bullet train in Japan and... ???

While You Were Sleeping (1995) - I didn't actually see this because I fell asleep 5 minutes in, and woke up as the end credits were rolling. So I was true to the title, haha *snerk*

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TV

2022-11-13T20:27:52Z

Barry seasons 1-3 (2018 - 2022) - This show is really good, if a little dark. A hit man (played so well by Bill Hader) in LA decides he's done and wants to become an actor. He develops an unhealthy relationship with his acting teacher (also played so well by Henry Winkler) and his new girlfriend (Sarah Goldberg is also absolutely fantastic), in addition to his already unhealthy relationship with his handler (played frustratingly well by Stephen Root. I wish he'd go away, but not really, but really). I think my favorite character, though, is NoHo Hank (played by Anthony Carrigan). I love him so much. The show careens between funny and dark and surreal so fast I can't quite keep the story straight, but that's ok. However, with everything going on, I need something a bit sunnier. Oh! Like maybe an all-NoHo Hank season.

Inside Man (2022) - I wanted to like this because David Tennant, Dolly Wells, and Stanley Tucci, but I could barely get through the first episode and am not going to watch anymore. An inmate (the Tooch) solves crimes that he deems interesting enough. A vicar (David Tennant) may be pushed into murdering someone. *sigh* I think maybe I just don't like Steven Moffat/Sue Vertue productions anymore.

Wednesday (2022) - This is pretty cute. Wednesday Addams gets sent to a private school for outcasts after she stands up to a bully in her normie high school. (Admittedly, putting piranha in the swimming pool was a bit much.) She discovers a mystery at her new school and sets about solving it.

1899 (2022) - By the same person/people who did Dark, which I stopped watching part way through. This might be the type of show that, like Lost, unfolds too slowly for me. A multinational group of people on a cruise ship in 1899 experience very weird things, and start questioning reality. Watch with subtitles and the original language, because everyone is speaking a different one, and it makes no sense dubbed.

Con Man (2015 - 2017) - Alan Tudyk's crowd-funded show, about a struggling actor whose one big hit was a sci-fi show several years ago. Sound familiar? I was meh on it.

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My friend died

2022-09-11T21:33:33Z

My friend C died this morning. She was old school and we would chat for a half hour every Saturday, me on my smart phone, she on her flip phone that she had trouble putting on speaker occasionally, right before Svengoolie and during the commercials. She was a huge horror and sci fi nerd, and had seen most every movie he showed growing up.

Early in the pandemic, I was going out of my mind not being able to hang out with anyone, and I asked if she'd want to hang out on the phone and watch TV together. She suggested Svengoolie, and we kept it up for just over two years. Even a couple weeks ago, when she was too weak to really talk, we chatted for a few minutes Saturday evening.

I will miss her cackling at his corny jokes, and her dark humor in general.

My favorite story she told me was from when she was working as a legal secretary in a law office. She had the news on one morning as she was making her coffee getting ready for work, and heard her boss's name. He had been murdered, and I believe, found in the trunk of a car. She said in her inimitable, schadenfreude tone of voice, "Couldn't have happened to a better man."

I'm so glad I told her several times over these two years how much I appreciated her company and how much it helped me.

It's never too early to tell people how much they mean to you.

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TV

2022-07-13T14:49:30Z

Sandman (2022 - ) - Graphic novels are not a format that conveys information into my brain. I remember I "read" some Firefly comics back in the day, and upon finishing, promptly forgot I had read them. I only remember this because I had been going through my day, trying to figure out what I had accomplished, realized I was missing two hours, and had to do some serious sleuthing to figure out where that two hours went. I was so shocked when I figured it out. I still don't know Book's story. *eyeroll* The only graphic novels I can read are by Brian K. Vaughan. If someone can explain that to me, please take a crack at it.

So I was super-excited when I heard Sandman was going to be adapted, and that Neil was going to be involved. The visuals are stunning, and I'm so glad I was able to digest the story.

Never Have I Ever Season 3 (2020 - 2023) - Devi is still playing the harp, yay! She gets in her own way as she tries to navigate her junior year of high school. This is sweet and funny and sad and bright and cheery. And I forgot John McEnroe is the narrator.

Locke & Key Season 3 (2020 - 2022) - I think I may have had this complaint about the previous season: The characters kept making obvious bad decisions and the "standing around talking while they should be running" got really, really frustrating. I'm kind of glad this series is over.

Our Flag Means Death (2022 - ) - The premise is a rich guy in the 1700s decides he wants to be a pirate, and buys a boat and gets a crew, who he pays wages and encourages to talk about their feelings. The rich guy is played by Rhys Darby, who I always find hilarious, and he meets Blackbeard, played by Taika Waititi, who I really like with long hair and a beard, surprisingly, but not surprisingly. And they fall in love.

The costumes are not remotely historically accurate, but I really like them.

Stranger Things Season 4 (2022) - I fell asleep during this, and woke up to the ending where everything is wrapped up. I didn't feel the need to go back and watch it, if that tells you anything.

Ghosts (2019) - I enjoyed the American version, and so tried the original British version. While I like both, I think I like the American one a little better. A young couple inherits a country estate and through a near death experience, the woman can see all the ghosts inhabiting the house. Hilarity ensues.

The Boys (2019 - ) - I watched this because Jensen Ackles got hired for either season 2 or 3. It's about corrupt superheroes and the people trying to stop them. I knew going in the superheroes behaved badly, I just didn't know how badly. It was a little much, but good.

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Movies: summer 2022

2022-07-13T14:42:25Z

Prey (2022) - This was amazing! I really liked Legion and Amber Midthunder's character. She's a badass. I also really like the Predator movies. I think this may tie with the first one as the best. It may even be better. The premise is the Predator creature-thingies have been coming to Earth for hundreds of years and in this one Comanche Nation people have to deal with it, as well as the invading white people. Naru (Amber) takes it and them on and, unsurprisingly, kicks ass.

Studio 666 (2022) - This was a silly horror film, which I highly recommend, carried mostly on the charm of all the members of the Foo Fighters. The band needs to find an awesome recording location for their 10th album, and get sent to a mansion where murders took place in the 90s. I think my favorite goofball besides Dave Grohl was Pat Smear. He looked like he was trying not to laugh the entire time, and every line he delivered made me giggle. It was also a bittersweet watch, RIP Taylor Hawkins.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) - A bit darker than the previous Tom Holland Spider-Mans, but still charming and hilarious in bits. I really like the chemistry between the three leads.

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) - The only reason I saw this was because I needed to be somewhere with air conditioning. It was a fun movie. Christian Bale's villain was surprisingly uneven. The goats made me laugh Every. Single. Time. they were on screen. Highly recommend for escaping the weather for 2 hours, or whatever else you have going on.

North by Northwest (1959) - I couldn't believe I hadn't seen this movie, and only realized I hadn't seen it after watching a youtube breakdown of the set by Marina Coats (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=284iZJ0zzts). I tried to watch this every evening for the past 3 nights and fell asleep every time. But that doesn't mean it's not thrilling (it just probably would have been even more if I had watched it all in one chunk). Cary Grant stars as an ad executive who gets mistaken for a government agent by a... mobster? Then gets tangled up with a woman played by Eva Marie Saint. He tries to clear his name and just gets deeper into trouble. And the set design is pretty great!

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TV: The Afterparty (2022 - )

2022-05-16T22:56:58Z

I will watch anything with Sam Richardson in it, and this show upholds that statement.

A mega-music star is murdered at the afterparty for a high school reunion. Everyone is interviewed separately by a detective (Tiffany Haddish, who is utterly fantastic here), each interview is an episode, and each episode stylistically different. For example the show is live action and one episode is animated.

(On Apple TV)

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Movies: spring/summer 2022

2022-04-17T21:55:39Z

I'm Your Man (2021) - A German film starring Dan Stevens (a British actor) as an android who moves in with a woman as an experiment so she can give feedback on how good his programming is. It was good? I enjoyed it? I think I'd recommend it?

Metal Lords (2022) - This was a fun coming of age story about a kid who is obsessed with death metal and ropes his best friend, who is definitely not a metal head but does play drums in marching band, into trying to win their high school's Battle of the Bands. They try to recruit a clarinet player as their bassist. It's a little better than the typical Netflix fare. And there are some cool cameos from metal luminaries.

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) - This was so good! It was surreal, funny, and heartwarming - a difficult combination to pull off, I think. Michelle Yeoh plays a harried laundromat owner whose reality gets split into several alternate realities. Stephanie Hsu, as her daughter, was amazing. Ke Huy Quan (Data from the Goonies!) was also amazing as her husband. I watched an interview where he talked about not having a lot of opportunities for acting after his roles as a kid, and how he stepped back from acting, but after seeing Crazy Rich Asians, he thought there might be a place for him. Representation matters. Jamie Lee Curtis looked amazing, too.

Loving Vincent (2017) - Such a visually beautiful film! It is an animated film, but the medium is oil paintings. Each of the 65000 frames is one painting. Not surprisingly, it took 10 years to make. It focuses mostly on the events surrounding his death by way of the son of a postal clerk trying to deliver Vincent's last letter to his brother Theo. It raises some questions as to whether he actually committed suicide.

Senior Year (2022) - I'm embarrassed to say I watched this. It was so bad. Rebel Wilson plays a girl who went into a coma her senior year of high school, wakes up 20 years later, and finishes her... Senior Year. Sam Richardson was in this, and the one scene he and Rebel are trying to be funny in, is actually funny.

The Babadook (2014) - An Australian psychological horror starring Essie Davis (of Miss Fisher Mysteries fame) as a single mother with a difficult child, who lets in the Babadook who makes her do Bad Things. I ended up watching this during the day(s) in three shifts, because it was a little intense. No more so than other horror I like, it was just a lot right now. It had a neat ending.

Dance Craze (1981) - Billed as a documentary about, but ended up being just concert footage of, Two-Tone era ska bands. Selecter, Bodysnatchers, The Beat, Bad Manners, etc. It was fun to see the bands (and attempt to sing along where nothing was in any key I can hit), but the information nerd in me was a little disappointed.

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My test boots are finished!

2022-03-30T17:23:56Z

I made boots!

Possibly one of the worst gifs ever made

( Read more for the making of )

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Waffle Patterns Momiji rain jacket

2022-02-21T19:35:31Z

I had a waterproof breathable jacket that I think I made from fabric purchased when you were still allowed to use the Goretex brand name. It was a Burda pattern, super simple, and super annoying. It was a pullover (NO), had no pockets for my hands (NO), a kangaroo pocket (ok), an ill-fitting hood (ok), raglan sleeves (yes), an asymmetric closure (yes), and was color-blocked (yes). The capital NOs outweighed everything else.

It delaminated from age. And the arm holes would rip out regularly because of the whole putting-it-on-over-my-head thing.

I decided I would be environmentally conscious, and use waxed cotton canvas for the replacement. It turned out to be not remotely waterproof, except that it was another layer for the rain to soak through before it got to me.

So the replacement replacement had to be waterproof breathable fabric, have the same interesting asymmetry and color-blocking-ness, a kangaroo pocket is fine, a taller front collar, and pockets for my hands.

Enter the Momiji Jacket from Waffle Patterns!

I stumbled across Waffle Patterns a few months ago (or years, whatever). I was immediately drawn to the designs because they had interesting pockets. Like, there are so many pockets she has a pattern collection of just pockets. Yes, please.

This jacket pattern is either just a stand-up collar with a kangaroo pocket and tabs on the cuffs, or a hood version with with many pocket variations, also including a kangaroo pocket, but with a hand warmer pocket built in, a chest pocket, a ticket pocket on the sleeve, and a knit cuff. You can mix and match pockets and details between the versions. Both have the asymmetric closure.

I chose view A with the hood and maximum pocket-age, and just a plain cuff. This ticked all the boxes.

For the fabric, I decided on a blue called Wedgewood and a black ripstop W/P/B. Since the pattern calls for all one color, I had to estimate the amount needed for each block. I got 1.5 yds black, and 1.25 yds blue. I could have bought .75 yards of the blue and had enough.

For the pockets, I used a .5 yd piece of leftover reflective fabric from the previous rain jacket project. It's not high vis reflective, but it definitely has a bit.

For the zippers, I wasn't quite sure what gauge I should get, and ended up with #6 for the kangaroo pockets, and #4 for the ticket and chest pockets. Since I wanted zipper pulls that rotated, I had to buy zipper by the yard. I really wanted plastic zips, but the fabric store had more selection in coil. I also got a prepackaged plastic zip for the jacket closure.

I wish I had thought more about it and purchased only bottom stops for all the pocket zips. They don't need to open at the top, and I'd actually feel a little more confident with them closed at both ends.

The pattern pictures have additional details not covered in the instructions. To the chest pocket, I added a little reflective ribbon tab with a D-ring to hang my compass on.

This is a slim-fitting jacket. I muslined it and went up two sizes to be able to wear a sweater underneath it (as recommended), and still needed to add 2" to the circumference of the biceps!

The first step in the instructions was to make the chest pocket. Through no fault of the pattern, I had to remake it SEVEN times. Then one of the kangaroo pocket zipper heads disintigrated. It was just one of those projects. I fixed them both, but it took me days.

The plastic closure zip was an inch too long, so I cut off some of the top teeth with wire cutters, and wow, those things really fly off to parts unknown! I'm sure I will be finding them in the years to come.

I realized I put the ticket pocket on the right arm, meant to put the ticket pocket on the left arm, and refused to fix it. No more 7-try pockets.

I modified the sleeve cuffs with a couple buttonholes to accommodate an elastic cord and toggle, so I could snug them up over gloves if needed.

Despite being very careful, I managed to reverse the left and right sleeves in the lining. At least it wasn't in the shell, and I can't tell when wearing it.

Seam sealing really slows down the process of sewing, too. I'm glad I had a lot of sewing knowledge. This was very challenging.

The jacket looks great (imho) in the above pictures and while wearing, but It's a little awkward to put on - I have to twist around to get the zipper lined up, For the same reason, I don't like to wear it with the zipper fully open. It hangs a bit oddly. For ventilation, so far, it's been fine just having it open to the waist.

I wish I had put more reflective material into this jacket while making it. But I refuse to put any more needle holes in the W/P/B that I have to seal! My next project is to get some peel 'n' stick fabric fuse, which despite the name, involves no fusing. It is a way to make stickers from fabric, and I have black and blue high-viz reflective fabric.

I could see making another one of these jackets, maybe out of wool, or something else warm.
...........................................................................................................................................
Started: 1/19/22
Finished: 2/7/22
Cost: ~$100

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Movies: winter/spring 2022

2022-02-04T15:47:04Z

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) - In a theater! I like all the Mad Max movies and I forgot about the cow fur car. Not hide, FUR. And the costumes were sparking a bit of nostalgia for me - not that I ever wore or saw anyone wearing their like, but they just had that aesthetic.

Candyman (2021) - Beautifully shot. An excellent continuation of the story (from the 1997 film). There are so many layers looking at racism. This is one of those films that I keep thinking about for a while after I see it.

Just Like Heaven (2005) - The Marvel movies turned me on to the gem that is Mark Ruffalo. I needed something light and frothy and this fit the bill.

Free Guy (2021) - I feel like I'd seen most of the movie from the trailers, but that was ok. But also, because of that, I had already laughed at most of the jokes. This was definitely fun, though.

The Lost City (2022) - In the theater! I was expecting more from this based on how much I laughed at the trailer, but it was still fun. It was like a light Romancing the Stone jungle adventure. Sandra Bullock is such a great physical comedian. And Brad Pitt! omg. I'd like to watch it again with subtitles - there was a lot of "two people talking over each other".

That Golden Girls Show: A Puppet Parody (2022) - Ok, not a movie, but certainly worth a mention. Puppeteers control and voice torso puppets of the 4 fabulous ladies of Miami and reenact a couple episodes. The puppeteers are acting along with the puppets, but are in all black, so not the focus, but still added a lot to the show. It was utterly delightful. The voices they did were great. The woman that did Blanche/Rue McClanahan was spot on, and so was the man who played Dorothy/Bea Arthur.

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Movies: Bad Samaritan (2018)

2022-02-03T00:43:41Z

I wanted something to watch while trying to get the muscles in my neck to relax, and while not wanting to concentrate on anything, and it had David Tennant and Robert Sheehan in it, and it was free on the library app, and it was filmed in Portland.

David Tennant plays a mentally disturbed individual who is obsessed with horses and women and Robert Sheehan's character accidentally figures that out and tries to rescue one of his captives. It was slightly better than what I expected, but also David Tennant usually does better accents than that.

And I came to this conclusion: I need to stop passively watching so much tv.

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TV: Star Trek: Discovery S3 2020

2022-01-31T16:44:41Z

I really like this show. It started out slow for me, and I had to give it a second try. Season 3 also started out slow for me, and I was wondering during the first two eps if I was bored of it. But then, once again, it didn't disappoint and picked back up. Saru is like, the best boss. I always find the message in this show of "why not try diplomacy and non-violence?" and how that is a viable solution, to be so comforting.

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Movies: Werewolves Within 2021

2022-01-14T15:58:34Z

Based on a video game murder mystery where the people of a small town get snowed in at the local inn, and werewolves attack. Or do they? It's horror/comedy with not a whole lot of gore. It's more Agatha Christie than straight up horror, imo. Sam Richardson plays the new forest ranger in town. I really like his... aesthetic? What is it called - the way a person delivers lines and moves and gestures? Anyway, I really appreciated his rant about choosing to be nice.

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Movies: fall/winter 2021

2021-12-23T18:54:02Z

Spider-man Far From Home (2019)- I find Tom Holland's Peter Parker and Zendaya's Mary Jane to be utterly delightful.

Love and Monsters (2020) - Seven years ago an asteroid accident caused some animals to mutate and wipe out most of humanity, and now Joel wants to travel the 80 miles to see his ex-girlfriend. This was so much fun!!! Thinking about it now, I kind of want to see it again.

Tenet (2020) - I'm still not sure what I watched, but it was really good. I always forget that Robert Pattinson can actually act. He was almost unrecognizable in this.

Freaky (2020) - A horror twist on Freaky Friday. Vince Vaughn plays a great teen girl! And the ending was very satisfying.

In Time (2011) - In the future, everyone has a clock counting down your remaining life. Unsurprisingly, the rich have a lot of hours and the poor do not. The aesthetic was great! I want at least one of the cars. And Ethan Peck was underutilized.

Big Top Pee-Wee (1988) - The second Pee-Wee film, I'm not sure what it's about other than a circus crashes into Pee-Wee's house. I saw this when it first came out. I can't remember if I liked it then, but I couldn't get through it now.

UHF (1989) - Weird Al inherits a TV station. I can't believe I hadn't seen this before. It was exactly as wacky as I wanted it to be.

Strange Days (1995) - A dystopian thriller with Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett that was strangely prescient for its time. It was really good.

Fanboys (2009) - A group of friends plan to break into Skywalker Ranch in 1999 in order to watch Episode I before one of them dies. I wasn't really expecting to be bored by this one, but I was.

Europa Report (2013) - A really good documentary-style story of a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa and what might be beneath the ice.

Dead Like Me: Life After Death ( 2009) - A grim reaper sets things right with her family. A nice end to the ended-too-soon show.

Safety Last (1923) - I also can't believe I hadn't seen a Harold Lloyd film before, especially the one with the iconic hanging-from-the-clock-face scene. There were a few bits where I laughed out loud.

Free Solo (2018) - I didn't find this documentary about a guy climbing without ropes in Yosemite to be as nail-biting as everyone else who recommended it. Maybe it's cuz I was knitting during it, or maybe I cared as much for the guy as he did the people around him.

Frozen (2013) - This was on TV, and I was taking it easy that day, so I kind of hate-watched it (I do NOT like musicals, but I heard that the costume design was amazing (It was)). I like the twist on the "true love" story.

Escape From New York (1981) - Another classic I never got around to seeing. I saw this one in an actual theater! It's got the Mad Max plot: go somewhere and come back. And it's very, very good. And... does that tattoo go all the way down? ; }

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