Watched Things

John and I are Antiques Roadshow fans. I like the stories behind small artifacts in people’s lives; he likes to make fun of how the “jackpot” winners pretend that they are not going to immediately sell their grandmother’s vase that they had always thought was ugly anyway.

The finds on AR are often ugly, or beautiful, or confusing—they’re rarely cute, like this neat-o 1920s Navajo rug featured on last week’s show.

I love the geometric shapes and the simplicity of the figures—especially the minimalist faces.

As I was oohing and ahhing over it, the appraiser mentioned that the Navajo were reluctant to make these kinds of weavings for commercial purposes because they contained religious motifs. That made me think twice about getting too inspired by it, except in a general way. There’s something a little uncomfortable about the thought of using a motif because you think it’s cute and pretty when it has sacred meanings to a group of people. I think it’s unlikely that I would unintentionally cross this kind of line, but it’s interesting to think about nevertheless.

By the way, the rug ended up being worth between three and five thousand dollars. It’s not getting stepped on anytime soon!

Update: It looks like John will be reviewing Work of Art weekly on the A.V. Club! You can read all of his reviews here.

If you’re a fan of Project Runway-style reality shows, you might be interested in checking out tonight’s premiere of Work of Art, a new “creative challenge” show, on Bravo at 11 pm.

I’m pretty unsure how well an art-based competition show will work over the course of a season, but that’s part of what intrigues me about it. John reviewed it on the A.V. Club website, so you can see what he has to say before setting your DVR. (I caught a peek at the preview copy the other day as he was watching it, and thankfully the scary clown on an easel is not the best it has to offer.)

August turned out to be a big movie-watching month for me. Here are the movies I saw and what I thought upon seeing.

In the theater

You, The Living

The rave reviews that this “quirky” film from Denmark received seemed too good to be true, and it was indeed pretty unpleasant! I will never enjoy the tuba again. And the vignettes! No more “vignette” movies for a while.

Julie & Julia

Meryl Streep as Julia was delightful and amazing. As much as I love Amy Adams, though (and I do), Julie could have choked on a duck bone for all I cared about her story. But then the movie would never have been made, I guess. It was a pretty good movie.

On DVD

Persepolis

This is the 2007 French animated movie about a girl growing up in Iran. The animation was great, the Iran stuff was interesting, the main character (and her English voice acting) was just-OK/bordering-on-annoying. I recommend it.

Gold Diggers of 1933

The perfect economic downturn movie! Everyone should see this before the year is up and the recovery is official. It opens with showgirls decked out in “sexy” costumes made of coins and singing “We’re in the Money.” Classic Busby Berkley, with musical numbers that are both brilliant and very odd. The plot is stupid, of course.

Heavenly Creatures

This is Peter Jackson’s movie about two girls who murdered one of their mothers in New Zealand in the 1950s, starring Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey (pictured). The fantasy sequences reminded me of the kinds of movies that I watched over and over again as a kid, like Labyrinth and The Princess Bride. The film’s commitment to getting into the girls’ lively imaginations made the murder all the more disturbing, and I probably liked Kate Winslet in this more than in anything else I’ve seen her in.

On TV

Annie Hall

Nothing needs to be said about this classic, only that the OETA Movie Club is awesome.