WeatherGirl’s Station

A Story of Violent Faith. By Jon Krakauer. This story reinforces my avoidance of organised religion. Any belief system that asks me to suspend rational thought and treats whole categories of human beings as less than or other, is not something I wish to embrace or promote. I wonder how many other, older, religions have such unsteady footings in their origins. Krakauer writes with an informed and accessible style and I highly recommend this book. (I’ve also read Into The Wild and Into Thin Air.)

Current temperature: here 75F/24C, there 16C/61F

Underwhelms. So, yeah, there are lots of explosions and action and speed but as a whole I was not wowed in the slightest. Where was the sharp snarky script? The super scary evil evol villan planning world domination? Or the hot half naked men? *sigh* The script was so blah and limp, I was not surprised to see it was written by committee. Channing Tatum did not do a thing for me and had zero rapport with Marlon Wayons which led to a queasiness about how their relationship was being portrayed.

Current temperature: here 73F/23C, there 16c/61F

So for a while now, may be close to a year, my poor old bicycle has been stuck in the same gear. I’m assuming it’s fifth gear, it’s been impossible to tell exactly but overcoming inertia has been tough and any incline quickly slows me to a snail’s pace and makes me look like your eighty year old granny.

Yesterday I stopped by Hardware Hanks and they said they’d give it a whirl and see what magic they could work. Five hours later, said bike was back up and running, and available for collection. The problem was easily discovered as the gear cable had completely snapped, probably due to the fact my trusty steed sits outside unprotected from the elements for most of the year.

So now I’m a very happy camper and don’t have to struggle like a granny to get over the one hill in town.

Current temperature: here 63F/17C, there 16C/61F

Oh wow!

Current temperature: here 68F/20C, there 15C/59F

A collection of links for the Fabric as Form vessel project.

How to make gloves. (From the 1950s.)

How to make a pair of gloves.

Traditional glove pattern.

The Renaissance Tailor.

The Beautiful Cervix

So today’s Unhindered By Talent on KUMM made it into the wider world on-line but the technology between us and the transmitter appears to be broken so no one in these parts can hear us, darn it. Drat. That poor cow in a field near Starbuck is missing her groove!

The show has been pretty damn good, even if I do say so myself. My theme for the week has been: track two. Occasionally Phi has joined in too and played track two too, too, too, too, too. *Weeeeeeeeeeee*

The play list will be posted at our wiki when we’re done in 40 minutes.

Beautiful. I’m sorry I didn’t get to see this on the big screen as visually this movie was quite stunning. I also think it has a lot to say about self-deceit and the ability humans have to distract themselves from the ills of the world by hiding out in a self imposed bubble of excess. And the catastrophic consequences. (See Nero and modern day bankers.) Loved the use of ’80s punk music, the clash between sound and visuals was brilliant.

Current temperature: here 66F/19C, there 14C/57F

Watchable. I will always go and see a Michael Mann movie because you know there is a brain at work behind the camera and even when he fails he still manages to produce better movies than most of the crap being produced by Hollywood’s in-boys. This had a lot going for it and I especially enjoyed Johnny Depp’s performance. (He is always so watchable.) I actually like the use of hand held camera work here as it gave the feeling of watching events as they are happening rather than a historical re-enactment. My main problem was that I had a hard time telling who every one was. (Maybe some of that was down to the poor quality of our theatre’s sound system.) It was almost like we were expected to know who everyone was after the briefest of introductions.

Current temperature: here 68F/20C, there 15C/59F

Enjoyable. Not to be taken as good model for adolescent female behaviour however. It certainly doesn’t stand up to an serious feminist examination but as a fantasy it’s quite fun. The specially effects are pretty awful which is a surprise in this day and age. My favourite part was the father/daughter relationship, each trying their best to maintain the bond and demonstrating the strength of their affection.

Current temperature: here 73F/23C, there 18C/64F

Good. Well worth the price of the ticket. Surprisingly, not as mawkish as I was expecting and there’s some quite pointed tweaks at inappropriate white-guilt behaviour. Also a more interesting exploration of mental illness and the catastrophic effects on the individual and their family and friends.

Current temperature: here 75F/24C, there 18C/64F