Thursday, April 9, 2009

Film Club: Round 3

For round 3 of our film club, I chose Breakfast at Tiffany's, an old favourite that Julia also wanted to see, especially after hearing that it was one of Blake Lively's favourite movies. I love Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, that sappy Moon River song, but most of all, I love Cat.

Julia chose Twilight, newly released on video. She'd read the entire series and had already seen seen the movie at the theatre with a friend, but she wanted to see it again and share the experience with me (or so I like to imagine). We watched it together with her former schoolmate who was visiting for the day. It's fun, romantic, escapist entertainment, especially if you like watching very pale, serious young people giving each other long meaningful stares (and glares) across the screen. As soon as we were done with the movie, it was Earth Hour, so we got to sit in the dark and contemplate vampires for a while, until some friends invited me for a walk to Starbucks.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Sunday Craft Update

I've been trying to work on five knitting projects simultaneously, which means that I'm not making any significant progress on any of them. However, I did manage to finish a bunch of hats with the tons of yarn I had left over from Alysha's hat. Shown above is a nightcap that I made for Fei Min's daughter, Kirin. I haven't had time to write out the pattern yet, but that will appear on this blog eventually.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Film Club: Round 2

A few weeks ago, we finished round 2 of our film club, but I've been rather negligent in updating the blog. Julia chose Gus Van Sant's Elephant, which follows several characters throughout the day of a school shooting and is partly based on the Columbine high-school massacre. Despite being somewhat repulsed by the theme, I loved the camera work and the use of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise. I was worried Julia would find it hard to go back to school after watching the movie, but this gave us a good opportunity to talk about such events and how truly rare they are. Sadly, a couple of days later, we heard about the school shooting in Winnenden, Germany.

After this highly disturbing selection, I figured it was time for something light-hearted but not without substance. I chose Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility. Of course, the 6-hour BBC Pride and Prejudice series is far superior, but given the typical teenager's attention span, I thought it best to give her a gentler introduction to Jane Austen. With a cast that includes Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman, you can't go wrong. After the first half-hour, Julia admitted that she didn't quite "get it", though she was enjoying the film. I told her that was OK. A lot of adults don't get Jane Austen either. However, by the half-way point, she seemed engrossed (and was finally "getting it"), and even Kate and Todd (despite dismissing this as another "chick film") stayed to watch the film with us.