I bought my seeds for this year’s garden today. How exciting! I’d gotten catalogs from several companies: John Scheepers, Seed Savers, Seeds of Change, but not Baker Creek. (Apparently, Baker Creek had more catalog requests than expected, and they haven’t shipped the second set yet.) After looking over the catalogs, I decided to go with John Scheepers, as they carry the specific cherry tomato that I wanted by itself.

Here are some of the things I ordered. If we need any more, or the seedlings don’t do well, I will supplement what we have with transplants from the farmer’s market or garden center. Most of these are varieties I’ve never planted before.

Jade Green Bush Beans

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TAKE THAT, MUSIC INDUSTRY!

I just digitized 4 LPs that you never bothered to put on CD with some help from Toast, mp3splt, and turntables. (I admit some of these are on CD. Still, they are generally HTF.)

Because I have to share my sometimes dubious musical taste, I’m posting a couple blurbs and images here. (images taken from flickr users and linked back to the photo page)

Various Artists: Dance, Be Happy!, 1957

I think my sister originally bought this, either at a thrift store, The Great Escape, or the man I bought lots of records from as a teenager (aka “The Record Man”). I think this was inspired by Swing Kids. Eventually, she tired of it and it drifted to me. It has lots of great songs and well-known band leaders such as Benny Goodman, Percy Faith, Duke Ellington, and Xavier Cugat. Definitely worth a listen if you can find it!

Bobby Sherman: Bobby Sherman, 1969

Oh, Bobby and his gorgeous blue eyes! This album actually belonged to my father. My sister and I just loved the songs: Bobby has a great voice and these are very catchy tunes. It includes the hits “Seattle” and “Little Woman”, along with some tunes written by Bobby himself! One of my favorites is “This Guy’s in Love with You”, written by Burt Bacharach and originally performed by Herb Alpert. (Don’t worry, I have some of his albums to digitize, too!) Just sit back and gaze into the bluest eyes this side of The Sound of Music.

Petula Clark: My Love, 1966

Amazingly, this is the only Petula Clark album I own. I can’t recall where I got it. This has her hits “My Love”, “Sign of the Times”, and other good tunes such as her cover of “We Can Work it Out” by the Beatles and “If I Were a Bell” from Guys & Dolls.

Burt Bacharach: Reach Out, 1967

I remember why I bought this album: I had heard the delightfully strange “Bond Street” (from Casino Royale, I think?) and had to have my own copy of it. This features Bacharach playing his own songs as well as instrumental versions… one standout is “The Look of Love” . I think my favorite might be “Lisa”, which is really quite lovely, even if its lyrics are rather insipid.

As you can tell, I have a great fondness for 1960s pop and music from before then. I don’t say that my taste is impeccable, but I do derive much joy from the music I love. Even if it is cheesy. I love cheese! Now I’m off to find that cd full of Price is Right themes…

WATCHING

Chef! starring Lenny Henry

IN THE BACKYARD

snow

cardinals

chickadees

tufted titmice

various sparrows

a few Eastern Towhees

downy woodpecker

red-bellied woodpecker

brown thrasher

eastern gray squirrel

and all are very hungry!

I am recovering from a 2-day migraine by sitting inside, eating, watching TV, and watching birds.

City Lights (prod. Charles Chaplin), Part Four: The Perfect, Problematic Ending Of City Lights.

I have loved this series of posts on City Lights, one of my favorite movies of all time. The last post is all about the ending which always reduces me to tears: tears of joy and pain. It is so bittersweet, and I enjoy the ambiguity of the last scene.

Then again, I am sentimental at heart and love that part of Chaplin and his films. I even love Limelight!

Do not read the entry if you don’t want spoilers or haven’t seen it. But if you haven’t seen the film: why not!?! It truly is a marvelous work, and one that is often recommended to people who have never seen a silent film before.

In other news, I’ve been watching Bravo all afternoon. I can so easily get addicted to their realit shows. Today it was Tabatha’s Salon Takeover, wherein Tabatha comes in to turn around failing salons and get them profitable again! My favorite today was the ovary-phobic all-male 30-minutes short-cut high-end salon… HA! It illuminated what you sometimes find in exclusively gay male environments, the feeling of “EW, GIRLS!” that isn’t that far removed from the misogyny in hetero male culture. Well, she changed that and things actually got better and the stylists enjoyed working with women.

I also caught several epsiodes of Launch My Line, wherein non-fashion designers work with designer experts to launch their own fashion lines. Most ridiculous so far is the architect who chose blacks and lavenders as base fabrics, which made everything he did look like some modern version of mourning dress. But another is the DJ Club impresario who somehow impresses the judges enough with his barely competent designs. Wow. My favorite is Merle, because she uses great colors. I also admit I love a convertible design, which is what Merle is all about. I blame my weakness for them on my Day to Night Barbie!

These kinds of shows are why I don’t need to have cable in my house. Too much time lost to marathons!

Currently, I’m watching Poirot adapations with Suchet: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Cards on the Table. I rented them from the library (yay!), and had recently read both novels again. I did do some investigation on bridge for that book, as I had no idea what it was beyond complicated 4-person game that Omar Sharif wrote about for the papers.

I am always disappointed in the tv versions of Christie works in that they always change things or make things more dramatic, especially the endings. The same thing happened tonight in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I suppose poison and suicide wasn’t good enough for an ending!?! I am not sure why in this adaptation of Cards on the Table that they changed Inspector Battle to Inspector Whosit and Colonel Race to Colonel Sahib, though. ETA: And why did they make so many other things different? Rhoda and Ann, Mrs. Lorrimer, etc. DAMN folks, just keep it the same… why change things so drastically?

But one way in which I am never disappointed with Christie adaptations is seeing so many familiar faces in the cast. There are always people from Austen adaptations, Harry Potter, Jeeves & Wooster, Sherlock Holmes, and many other BBC/Granada/etc productions turning up in these. I always pull up IMDB after or during one of these films.

Now that I have finished my first semester of grad school, I’ve been on the hunt for leisure reading. After going through a few more Agatha Christies, I decided to pick up one of my books on early sound films. Specifically, The Speed of Sound by Scott Eyman. It is a well-researched and relatively thorough depiction of the times that is very good about explaining how sound films developed and the differences between the sound-on-film and sound-on-disc systems. I have a few problems with the book (mainly Eyman’s dislike of musicals, his desire to brush off the possibilities of anti-Semitic behavior, plus the rather homophobic description of certain things, such as F. W. Murnau’s tragic accident that ended his life.)

However, I still enjoy the book and have re-read it many times. This time, re-reading sparked in me the desire to look on youtube and the web to find out if any portions of these films were available online. I already knew some users on youtube had uploaded musical sequences from early sound musicals, but I had not checked for any non-musical films.

One of the films mentioned that particularly caught my interest in Eyman’s book was 1929’s Bulldog Drummond, starring Ronald Colman, Joan Bennett, Lilyan Tashman, Claud Allister, Montagu Love, and Wilson Benge (who seems to have played a butler every time he made a picture.) It was directed by F. Richard Jones, and art direction was by William Cameron Menzies.

“Bulldog Drummond matches a polished, sophisticated, hero against polished, sophisticated villainy, something Hitchcock was to do for the next half-century, and whenever the tone threatens to get too trivial, Menzies’ ominous, expressionist sets serve to ground the proceedings and keep the film from floating away on arch clouds of stiff-upper-lip Englishness.” Scott Eyman, The Speed of Sound

Bulldog Drummond is the hero of a series of British adventure novels from between the wars.

Captain Drummond finds himself bored after WWI, and puts an ad in the paper advertising his services for just about anything, as long as it is exciting.

He gets a pile of letters, and responds to one from Phyllis, a beautiful and mysterious blonde who is worried about he care her uncle is receiving at a local “hospital” from Dr. Lakington & Co. (including heavy Carl Peterson and devious gal pal Irma, as well as a gang of roughs).

Along for the ride are Drummond’s upper-class twit pal Algie and faithful butler Danny.

Dr. Lakington and Co. (male versions) are suitably creepy and menacing.

Irma is tough, seductive, and strong.

More gory scenes like Dr. Lakington injecting drugs into Uncle Travers or Bulldog fighting with Dr. Lakington are done in silhouette, which I rather liked.

The sets are very nice, with lots of shadows and interesting effects. This is the vestibule at the hospital.

The nefarious lab

Algie attempting to chat up Irma

Tied up with planks!

A happy ending?

This film lived up to my expectations and even more so. Lots of wit is to be had, as well as shooting, jumping in and out of cars and buildings, and many attempts by Algie to get Irma’s phone number. The sound is quite good, although Joan Bennett’s enunciation is not very clear and it is quite difficult to figure out just what words she is saying, particularly in the beginning. Ronald Colman is just as dashing and smooth as ever, and the rest of the actors have relatively clear voices for a 1929 production. The camera moves more than others I’ve seen, but is still static in some cases. However, there are some good outside shots and shots featuring moving cars, featuring both the inside and outside of the car.

There’s even a couple song interludes with the barmaid and her beau downstairs at the inn.

The picture quality is not too bad, with lots of contrast between light and dark and few if any shots where you’re left wondering what the hell it is on screen.

There are quite a few more in the Bulldog Drummond series of films, with at least one more starring Colman. I highly recommend this one. Maybe even go up and pick up one of the books the movies are based on. They’re just as much fun as James Bond.

The film can be found in a couple places, as it is in the public domain now. I watched it on Hulu, but was greatly annoyed by the commercials playing every 7-10 minutes. There is also a partial copy at the Internet Archive, but it conks out at about 42 minutes, far short of the original 90 minutes.

Another review link: Best Actor Of 1929-30: Ronald Colman (Bulldog Drummond)

One of the readings for a class some weeks ago was Christine Rosen’s “The Age of Egocasting.” It’s a fascinating article, and we all had something to say about it, whether agreeing or disagreeing. I recommend everyone read it, as it’s bound to start a train of thought and interesting discussion.

I was speaking with one of my classmates about how much technology we allow into our lives and have found myself thinking about a tech/non-tech life balance ever since. How far do we allow technology and personal devices into our lives?

It’s amusing, as I think I’m getting a reputation in class as a techie. We were asked what services and/or computer-y things we do, and I was one of the 2 people who raised our hands to almost every question. But I don’t think of myself as a techie. I suppose I’ve always thought of tech people as people who enjoy technology for technology’s sake. Perhaps I’m a part of that after all. But I’m not interested in building the technology or making new technology or getting behind the scenes with it at all. But I do like using technology to explore things I enjoy. I’m a practical user of technology, but also one who enjoys trying out new things if they can do something useful and interesting. This is some sort of tenuous distinction, I admit.

I currently use these social networking services (some under my real name, some not):
facebook
flickr
last.fm
youtube
librarything
etsy
livejournal
dreamwidth
google reader
delicious
tumblr
kaboodle
netflix
iPod
myspace (dormant)
twitter (dormant)

I am an advocate of open-source software and love customizing my computing and web experience. We have Ubuntu on 2 laptops (this one and my netbook, which is dual-boot XP & UNR capable), love firefox and its add-ons and userscripts, and generally advocate the “information wants to be free” idea. I also have this website and blog and have made some short videos and plan to do more since I am in The Studio every week. So I suppose I could be considered a techie (but not by techies themselves, because I am a gurl.)

I agree with Rosen in some ways: I don’t enjoy listening to tvs when I’m in a restaurant, or piped-in music when I’m outside, or hearing everyone’s cell phone conversations when I’m anywhere. I would love to tell the world to SHUT UP some times and just let me think, or hear, or see, or smell by myself. I don’t need the constant input from the media or other people.

So, I’ve made some choices as to things I don’t do with technology:

texting
watching broadcast/cable tv
DVR-ing
always talking on the phone
surfing the web on my phone
listening to my iPod all the time

so I can have some peace. And most people I know do this as well. It all depends on our comfort level with the technology and how much we enjoy doing what it enables us to do.

Example:
I don’t listen to my iPod most of the time, because I like hearing what is going on. Not only will I be able to interact with people on my journeys, but it is also safer to not have something blaring in your ears when you need your senses to figure out what’s going on. Even when I’m gardening, I don’t take my iPod with me. I want to hear the birds chirping or my neighbor saying hello.

I also consciously choose to do activities that don’t involve the internet or media. Gardening doesn’t require a streaming video feed to keep me interested and watching the birds in the backyard doesn’t need real-time comments to be fun. When N and I go on a walk, we take along the Sibley’s and that’s it. Sometimes when we see or hear a new bird, we can’t precisely identify it even with the Sibley’s, so we check out Cornell’s awesome All About Birds. So the web does help in non-web activities, but I still try and structure time away from the internet and electricity if possible.

So I think the way to avoid the catastrophe that Rosen seems to think is inevitable is to pick and choose what we use, how we use it, and when we use it. And doing that is very hard, because it relies on us as individuals to tune out of some things and stop blindly following the ads and what the corporations and media want us to do (consume, consume, consume!) and use our minds and hearts and really pay attention.

I am toying with the idea of reformatting this blog and changing the focus to be a bit more personal and updated more regularly. I am going to play with the format and see what I can do with this.

What’s the point of this blog if not to keep it updated, right?

I suppose this blog is officially defunct, as I am no longer updating it and have no textile-related posts.

I did get into grad school, and we will be moving to Knoxville in a couple months or so.

Perhaps I will make this a library school blog with a side of crafts in the future. Thanks for sticking around, if you’re still here.

I’ve added some pieces to my etsy shop, in time for the holidays!

Click any of the photos below to get to my etsy.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of leading the silk scarf staining workshop at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. I had a whole room of amazing artists, even if they didn’t believe themselves to be so at first. I think many people were surprised by how creative they are, and how many beautiful things they made. I’ve uploaded some images of the artists at work and their creations. I’ve included a couple in this post (click on the thumbnails to see full-size), and you can see the rest here.

Ladies, it was such a pleasure to meet and work with you all. Thank you for being present, fun, and creative!