The Bog of Lost Scholars

27 September 2005

Expanding My Movie Horizons

Filed under: Film and Media — Castiron @ 18:58

One of the many great things about my boyfriend is that he has different movie tastes from me. I’d never go check out cheesy old monster movies, or indeed many classic Hollywood movies, on my own, but since he likes them, he’ll bring them over for us to watch. (In return, I’ve subjected him to Jane Austen flicks, which he tolerates quite well.)

Movies we’ve watched recently:

  • The Wages of Fear. Grim, gritty 1955 movie about four men who take on a dangerous job in the hope of earning enough money to leave the dead-end Latin American village they’re stuck in.
  • Diabolique. After a man is murdered by his wife and his mistress, weird stuff starts happening. I correctly guessed what was going on, and the climax still creeped the heck out of me.
  • The Lady Vanishes. One of Hitchcock’s early movies; very creepy, but unlike many Hitchcock films, it has a relatively upbeat ending.
  • The Wolf Man, with Lon Cheney. Classic cheesy horror film.

24 September 2005

Recent Reading

Filed under: The Castiron Reading Journal — Castiron @ 13:57

Shannon Hale, The Goose Girl. A retelling of the fairy tale; definitely an interesting world, although I didn’t buy the revelation about Ani’s love interest. I don’t love it like I love the McKinley fairy tale retellings, but I’ll probably buy this if it shows up in the used book store.

Georgette Heyer, The Unknown Ajax. A fun romp of a story about an unexpected heir meeting the rest of the family, and having fun with their preconceptions of him.

Steven Brust, The Lord of Castle Black, Sethra Lavode, Teckla. The last two in the Viscount of Adrilankha trilogy (excellent, and the end of SL was very sad and very appropriate), and the latest in my slow Vlad Taltos reread (not my favorite, but still good).

Alexander Dumas, The Page of the Duke of Savoy. Most people never read much Dumas beyond The Three Musketeers and possibly its sequels or The Count of Monte Cristo. There is a reason for this: some Dumas is really badly written.

Actually, the book has a lot of good elements. But I can’t see anyone getting away with the structure these days.

The book opens with this large group of adventurers. We spend a few chapters finding out about them and trying to keep them straight. And then the book suddenly jumps to this guy Emmanuel Philibert, and we don’t hear a thing about the adventurers for nearly half the book. As far as I can tell, they’re only there to give the viewpoint of the besiged in the Saint Quentin chapters; several of them disappear along the way, and several story threads are left hanging. Unlike Count of Monte Cristo, where the disparate characters and story lines finally link up in the end, Page never quite brings them together into a whole.

I like Emanuel Philibert, and some of the incidents are interesting; I also found the character of Queen Catherine interesting, having gotten a different view of her from The Stars Dispose. But overall, the only reason I can see rereading this book is if I ever volunteer to scan it for Gutenberg or some such.

23 September 2005

Scarf and Shirt

Filed under: Crafts — Castiron @ 17:49

The Celtic Scarf is done. As I rather expected, the center knot is smaller than it was supposed to be; I’m also not 100% happy with the join, and the thing rolls like crazy (then again, it’s largely stockinette, so what should I expect???). The lacy part is quite nice, though, and it’ll certainly be the right warmth for our local excuse for winter.

Shawl — I’ve almost finished the third of five repeats of the horseshoe pattern. I don’t dislike the pattern as much as I did on the first repeat; in fact, the “lace” rows I like working. But I’m still a little annoyed by the k9p1 rows. Anyway, I’m looking forward to reaching the third lace pattern; the original uses a pattern called Diamond Madeira, but I really don’t like the way it looks, so I’ll likely be substituting one from another pattern in Gathering of Lace.

The yarn for the nibling gifts is ordered and on its way. I’d like to start another pair of socks too, but I’d probably better get a little further on the shawl first.

Cross-stitch: I’ve started my 2005 ornament, Solstice Sun, an old freebie from Witches Stitches done on gold perforated paper. It’s coming along well; I’m a couple evenings from finishing it. (Alas, the perforated paper ripped a little in my bag, but as I’m planning to glue the piece to a backing anyway, I’ve decided not to worry about it.)

No other counted-work progress, but my speed on the ornament is reminding me of the fundamental rule of crafts — if you work on it, you’ll make progress, and if you don’t, you won’t. I’d like to at least see if I can finish the crane and the pentacle this year (especially the crane, since I’d once thought I’d finish it last year, and it’s still sitting there….).

Sewing: I finished the turquoise shirt. I need to schedule another big cutting session sometime. There’s still a lot of sewing projects in the queue, and sewing is definitely one task that’s suffering from my near-total lack of child-free at-home time, but I should at least be able to cut something out one night after the boy goes to bed.

(And I really, really need to test-drive my new bobbin lace pillow!)

21 September 2005

Houston

Filed under: Random Ramblings — Castiron @ 17:27

I loved living in Houston.

Of course, one reason was that I had an incredible group of friends there. But beyond that, I just loved the city.

College life. Weird buildings. Cool restaurants. Little stores tucked into surprising places. Seeing an adult bookstore half a block away from an Episcopal church. The symphony. The opera. The museums.

Yes, the weather was muggy and hot. But I saw more incredible sunsets there than I ever have anywhere else. For the first two years after I moved from Houston to Austin, I missed it fiercely; I was probably the only person in Texas who would admit they liked Houston better than Austin.

It’s a different city now; it’s always being rebuilt and changed. The last time I visited, I drove down a street I’d often frequented, and if I hadn’t seen the street signs, I wouldn’t have known where I was. I no longer have the urge to move back there.

But it is still a city I love, and will still love even if the skyscraper I saw being built is shattered on Sunday morning.

20 September 2005

Fling, Fling, Fling

Filed under: Dejunking and Organizing — Castiron @ 17:52

It’s Super Fling Boogie time over on Flylady, and I’m celebrating by buying three new knitting books….

Actually, I’ve gotten rid of a few things. I dumped a large pile of mending that, on a closer look, was too far gone to really fix. (If I haven’t missed the item in three years, I didn’t need it that badly anyway….) I gave a shredded sheet and some cheapo quilted fabric that I really wasn’t going to use to a coworker who was collecting old linens for an animal shelter. I went through my son’s clothes, culled all the stuff that’s getting too small, and gave it to my old officemate for her son. And while it’s technically after the Super Fling ends, I’m putting a few items out at the beginning of October for the bulky trash collection — a broken mirror, a grungy beanbag, possibly an old trunk (I’m wavering on it, because it’s got great sentimental value, but the bottom is broken and it’s got mildew inside, so I’m unlikely to store anything in it).

In one of her emails, Flylady suggested that when we look at an object that we don’t use, instead of thinking “I might need this someday”, try “I might need this someday, but I don’t need it now, and whenever I do need it, I will be able to buy it.” That resonates with me; we’ll see if that thought helps me unload more stuff.

I also want to make a list of things I’d need to take if I had to evacuate my home suddenly; we’re not in a weather problem area, but it never hurts to be prepared, and that’s a good way to focus on what things I need and what’s just nice to have.

(And I’m unloading one old knitting book that I’m never going to make anything from. Two to go!)

16 September 2005

Craft update: Still knitting

Filed under: Crafts — Castiron @ 18:54

Knitting update: Still chugging on the Celtic Scarf — I’m near the end, because I’m almost out of yarn. (And I’m almost at the end of the pattern; we’ll see which runs out first. Fortunately, the way I’m making it, as long as I can get through the crossing bars of the knot it’ll look okay; the center knot will just be a little smaller than it’s supposed to be.)

On the shawl, I’ve almost finished the first of five repeats of the second pattern, the traditional Shetland Horseshoe. I’m finding I’m not that crazy about the horseshoe pattern, actually. I think it’s because of the knit 9, purl 1 rows — just enough work that I have to think, but not enough variation to be interesting.

My next planned knitting projects are nibling gifts — wool pants and a cotton blend sweater.

Cross-stitch update: another thread on the pentacle. I’m planning to start my 2005 ornament soon.

No other craft progress, though I looked at a couple fabrics as possible borders for the cat quilt; need to hunt through my stash a bit more.

9 September 2005

On Poverty

Filed under: People, Culture, and Society — Castiron @ 18:56

I’ve been pondering John Scalzi’s Being Poor ever since I read it.

On “it’s their own fault for bad financial management”: Off the top of my head, I can think of three acquaintances who have bad spending habits — routinely buying items on credit that they can’t pay off at the end of the month (unneccessary things, at that!), limited or no budgeting, impulse buying, etc. Yet to the casual observer, two of them would appear to be doing well enough financially, while the third is clearly in woeful shape.

Acquaintance #3 is managing money the same way as acquaintance #1 or #2 — but #3 makes $15K/year, and #1 and #2 each make about $60K/year. That extra money cushions a lot of errors and setbacks. If #1 or #2 had a catastrophic illness that made it impossible for them to work, cost hundreds of thousands in medical bills, and put them into utter financial ruin, most people would shake their heads in sympathy and consider it bad luck; if the same happened to #3, a lot of folks would shake their heads in disgust and consider it no more than #3 deserved for irresponsible behavior. But #1 and #2 are just as irresponsible; it’ll just take a bigger mistake to ruin them.

On being poor vs. not being poor: Having read the article and the comments, it’s clear to me that I’ve never been poor. I’m certainly not rich. I often have to put off fun purchases because the money’s not there this month. I don’t have cable or DSL, and if I get a cell phone it’ll be because they’ve gotten cheaper than my land line, which I’ll then drop. My PDA just broke, and I’m not going to replace it for several months if at all. And I’ve occasionally been really limited on funds — I remember, when I first moved to my current city, walking several miles to a feed store to buy a cheap tapeworm remedy for my cat because I couldn’t afford a proper vet visit (and certainly not a car). But I’ve never been poor. I had well-off parents who paid my rent while I was in school and would certainly help me if I’d had a financial disaster. I’ve never had to eat ramen. I’ve never had to worry about which bill I could pay and which I’d have to let float.

On luck: Damn straight it plays a role on whether you’re poor or not, and whether you can get out of it or not. Sure, one’s own decisions play a role too. (I would be much poorer if I didn’t regularly track my spending and force myself to stick to a budget. I would be much richer if I hadn’t wasted a lot of money on craft supplies that I’ve never used.) But luck is most definitely involved. I didn’t choose to be born into a well-off family who could afford to live in a good neighborhood with good schools when I was young, and to help me out as I started out on my own. I didn’t choose to be healthy, or white. And on the other side, I didn’t choose to have a mentally disabled child. (For that matter, my son didn’t choose to be mentally disabled.)

8 September 2005

Organic Goat Cheese!

Filed under: Food — Castiron @ 17:06

August was Eat Local Month, but I didn’t do anything for it; I figure, the best way for me to celebrate it is to try to actually use more of the food in my veggie boxes. (I’m getting better at finding recipes and ways to use stuff, but I can’t get through all the eggplant before it goes bad, and the only reason I’m not throwing away okra is because I give it to a coworker to cook for the department.)

Still, I’d like to buy more meat, cheese, and eggs raised locally or nearby. So this weekend I bought one I’ve wanted to try for a while: Pure Luck goat feta cheese. Yum. It ain’t cheap, but if it doesn’t go moldy in the fridge too quickly, I should be able to make it last a few weeks. And it makes amazing omelets.

7 September 2005

Blue Jay done!

Filed under: Crafts — Castiron @ 17:56

The blue jay is done! Hurrah! (And I’m probably never going to do needlepoint on silk gauze again; it was fun, and the effect is cool, but I’m not desperate to repeat the experience.)

Knitting update: I’m chugging slowly on the Celtic Scarf. I’ve finished the first lace pattern on the alpaca shawl and have started the second.

Sewing update: I’ve sewn the shoulder seams and the cowl seam on the turquoise shirt.

Everything else: Still waiting for me to get to it.

6 September 2005

Double Feature

Filed under: Film and Media — Castiron @ 21:39

Recently I went out to see two wildly contrasting movies back to back: March of the Penguins and The Aristocrats.

I enjoyed both, although March is the only one I’m planning to get on video eventually. March of the Penguins is a good nature documentary with few punches pulled and lots of nifty penguins. It’s suitable for kids, though if you have a sensitive child, be warned that there is death (from storms, seals, and carnivorous birds).

As for The Aristocrats, a documentary on an obscene joke, decidedly NOT suitable for kids — what I’ve been telling friends is that if you like South Park, you’ll probably like this movie, and if you find South Park horribly unfunny, you’d better skip it. Occasionally there were versions of the joke that had me ashamed to be laughing, but mostly it was good filthy humor.

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