This big basket o’ glue at Staples made me happy.
Think of all the things you could glue with that much glue! I don’t remember the last time I glued anything. Glue glue glue.
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John Poses with Luvgun
About a year ago, I suffered an epic hard drive crash that made me lose tons of files. Among those lost were some good photos of Luvgun. Sad! John recently agreed to a quick photo shoot with everyone’s favorite knitted gun to replace the lost files, and I ended up liking the new photos much better than the originals!
Here are some of my favorite shots. They go from James Bondian to… something else entirely.
Thank you for modeling, John!
August 09 Movies
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
Nothing needs to be said about this classic, only that the OETA Movie Club is awesome.
Tiny Glacier
Things are bleak, what with the melting and all, but Al Gore made him a movie star!
Bag of Happiness
If you could buy happiness from a Morton Williams grocery store, this is what it would look like!
I so rarely make multiples of one toy design, so it was fun to knit up a bunch of the Baldees for sale at Schmancy. (Took me a long time to do it, though!)
It was also a lot of fun designing the tags to attach to each of the Baldees.
The reverse side shows the Baldee’s name and lists his or her attributes.
Sarah: sweet, caring, balding
Peter: smart, loving, balding
Carlos: artistic, daring, balding
Jason: rowdy, sharing, balding
Richmond: funny, giving, balding
I kind of miss having so many of these guys around! (I did keep five as samples, of course.)
Baldees
They’re cute! And friendly! And balding!
Baldees are a new Mochimochi Land toy now available exclusively at Schmancy, the Seattle vinyl and plush toy store. A limited batch of 20 Baldees—four each of five balding types—are now available in store and from the Schmancy online shop. Collect them all!
These are toys, and not knitting patterns—the pattern will be coming to the Mochimochi Shop next month.
PiCTOBiTS
A recent gaming obsession was PiCTOBiTS, the retro-style puzzle game for the DSi. It is addictive! Then frustrating! Then over. (I was sad when it was over.)
PiCTOBiTS is only available for the DSi, but you can read reviews of other cheap and free games for many systems (including your web browser) in the new biweekly Sawbuck Gamer feature that John put together on The A.V. Club website.
Snail Magnets
Here’s a neat idea from catmum on Ravelry: insert tiny super magnets in the bodies of Snails before you close them up, and your Snails can crawl up the fridge!
This is what catmum’s snails look like in a more natural setting:
The pattern is free, so give it a try!
Update: catmum kindly reminded me to mention that strong magnets are a no-no for little kids, because if they are ingested they can be fatal. Plus, Snails are a little too small to be toys for under-3-year-olds anyway.