Faster than you can say Jack Robinson

I went home two weeks ago (during the President's Day weekend) and mom and I went to a local quilt shop and we saw this really cool pattern that I said would be good to show off interesting quilt material. And then we went on to look at the material at the shop and I mentioned that for some reason I really like the 60s-ish retro quilt material a lot and I would love to use them to make a quilt but I would really want to show off the material. Since my mom is a genius she remembered the quilt pattern that we admired earlier would be perfect to show off the material. So after about 20 minutes of determining which material to use, mom and I went home and cut and sewed the patches together. Mom and Lucy helped me layout the quilt. I wanted the quilt to be pretty random and Lucy wanted there to be a pattern (I won out, reminding Lucy that the quilt was for me and not to worry, the quilt that I have in mind for her has a definite pattern). Mom helped me pin and sew the rows (and smartly marked the rows in order) and I sewed the rows together this weekend:


I'm not sure if I want to add an outside border (it is just big enough for my double bed with a little bit of overhang) and I don't know what quilting pattern to use (I'm thinking maybe a triangular Celtic knot) but I'm open to suggestions. I may try to get a better picture of it.

Arrrghh...

I might as well as have been wearing a eye patch because my depth perception today was totally wonky. I whacked my arm against a door knob (not once but twice) and I hit my shoulder on a wall of my cubicle. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. It will be Friday and I get Monday off due to President's Day so I am looking forward to a nice long weekend at the farm.

"This is no time to go easy on these punks. That's the mistake their parents made." - Hank

Disappointedsville, population: me

I watched Lawrence of Arabia last night on TCM. I've wanting to watch that movie for a while due largely to its reputation of one the best "epic" movie made. I thought the cinematography was excellent (did you know that the lens used to shoot the mirage scene of Omar Sharif is now known as the "David Lean Lens") and the music certainly matched the epic scale of the desert. But I was still disappointed in the movie because I found it really boring. The movie just goes on and on and on (and on and on). I don't have a problem with long movies (see the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice which is 310 minutes or the two Anne of Green Gables movies, one is 194 minute and the other is 240). But holy moly Lawrence of Arabia is a long movie. The action scenes seemed really short and then were long interludes of basically nothing, no character development, no talking. The casting really bothered me too. Alec Guiness is not Arabic, and neither is Anthony Quinn (he is actully Mexican). I liked Peter O'Toole in the role but he looked very odd with his super blond hair and really blue eyes against his really tan skin (apparently Peter O'Toole is much taller and better looking than T.E. Lawerence). I do apperciate that a majority of the extras in the movie are actully Arabian (King Hussien lent a brigade of the Arabian Legion as extras in the film; he also visited the set often and met his second wife on the set). So overall, I was a disappointed in the movie. But after Lawrence of Arabia, Casablanca was on so the evening ended on a high note (the Great Escape was on at 11:30 and that was a little too late for me!)

Trifecta

I've been really bad about writing the book reviews on a weekly basis. But I've also been bad about writing post in general for most of the month of January. I will try to do better (I am currently triple booking with The Sea Lady, The City of Ember, and Up the Down Staircase so I should be able to write another review next weekend). Anyway the book for this week's review is "Double Indemnity" by James M. Cain (which is the source material for the movie starring Barbra Stanwyck and Fred McMurray). The book is really short (115 pages) but it really packs a punch! It is the story of an insurance salesman who falls in love with a married woman and is persuaded into killing her husband after taking out a life insurance on the husband (with a double indemnity clause if the death occurs near a railroad track). I love film noir movies (since I saw Murder My Sweet) so I was intrigued to read the book before seeing the movie. But what I think is the most amazing thing is that James M. Cain also wrote two other well known film noir movies: "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (which I got from the library a few days ago to read before seeing the movie) and "Mildred Pierce" (I've seen the movie already, which I didn't like too much, so I am hoping that the book will be better). If you like film noir, I definitely recommend reading this classic in the genre.

100 years at the movies

I've seen this a couple times on TCM (during the 31 Days of Oscar) and I love it every time I see it. And notice the clip of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the end!

The most wonderful time of the year

This is one of my favorite times of year because of TCM's 31 Days of Oscar. And this year, TCM has done a really cool marketing idea making the TCM University. So the movies are arranged by type based on what academic department they would be in. For example Friday's theme is the Physics department and the day is split into three subjects: Astrophysics (and showing The Black Hole, Forbidden Planet, and 2010), Aerodynamics (showing Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Only Angels Have Wings, Flying Tigers, and Strategic Air Command) and Nuclear Physics (showing Seven Days to Noon, Dr. Strangelove, Lil' Abner, Crimson Tide, and The Atomic City). I have to say marketing department at TCM has had some genius moments as evidenced by this ad for Ben-Hur: