2014 Week 34: God help this girl!

La De Blog - Week Wrap 2014-08-27

This week: God Help the Girl @ Music Box. Used a PTO day and moved 600 lbs. of Rani’s stuff to Patricia’s and then drove Codex to Chicago Exotics for her Revolution treatment. Screening of The One I Love @ Landmark. Double doctor. The second to last ever Dragonlady vegan korean/latin buffet. Lunch with Rachel S. @ Breakfast House. Found a wounded squirrel/arranged for pick-up by Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation. Late bday dinner for Jason @ Jerry’s. Sold Rani’s massage table. Cities of Darkscorch @ Donovan & Dillon’s. Robyn/Röyksopp @ Pritzker Pavilion.

Stressed, but checking off boxes. Busy with Renegade prep. Fun, fun, fun. Rhymes with Twee and di Palermo Body are Booth 280 at Renegade Craft Fair Chicago on September 6th & 7th.

Films watched 34th week of the year:

God Help the Girl
The Apple
The One I Love
Final Destination 5
The Way Way Back
Micmacs

Such a great movie week. Every one but FD5 is worth watching. My twee-ometer readings were off the chart while watching God Help the Girl. Tandem bicycle = check. Adorable puppy = check. Young unrequited love = check. Mod clothing = check. I loved it beyond words. The Apple was similar to The Who’s Tommy in its spectacular productions, far out costumes, and gorgeous sets – definitely worth watching!

Go into it blind. Don’t read anything about The One I Love. Just go see it. Elizabeth Moss & Mark Duplass are EXCELLENT in it. Truly the best acting I have seen this year. I still can’t believe that this is Charlie McDowell’s first feature film, granted he is Malcolm McDowell & Mary Steenburgen’s child. I loved it.

The Way Way Back was not deep, but it was a good coming of age film. Hands down, the best part of the film was when Sam Rockwell’s character asks for help by speaking the lyrics to Bonnie Tyler – I Need a Hero and now that song has been in my head for days.

Z and I hadn’t seen Micmacs since it was in the theatre, but again, this one is a favorite Jean-Pierre Jeunet film alongside Amélie.

2014 Week 14: Films watched

Films watched 14th week of the year:

About Time
The Last Dragon
Blood Simple
Jodorowsky’s Dune *

* documentary

Being a feminist, I felt like this Onion article while watching About Time and Jodorowsky’s Dune. Sure, About Time was a romcom that was fun to watch, but I could not stop thinking that the film was fairly misogynistic that only dudes can time travel and then they get to manipulate women into situations that were amenable to them. SPOILER ALERT: there is a scene where Tim first has sex with Mary and then he keeps going back in time 5+ times to do it all over again. Really rubbed my brain the wrong way. Changing the destiny of the sex of his baby by his selfish acts of wanting to time travel. There are some things deeply wrong with that film, but then there are moments of brilliance showing Tim’s relationship with father, played by Bill Nighy.

With Jodorowsky’s Dune, looking back at this boy’s club Jodorowsky pulled together to create ticked me off and, while I am sure this was the norm back then, it’s still gross to me. The only woman interviewed was The film itself was quite good and it’s clear to see that this version should absolutely have been made. Now, for what really soured me on the film. Jodorowsky makes a joke about rape in the film and the half full theatre at the Music Box belly-laughed. Z says it’s because Jodorowsky is just a crazy old dude, but I don’t buy that. He is a true visionary with a downright ridiculously creative mind. It saddens me that the only way he can think to describe his vision of Dune compared to Frank Herbert’s novel is rape; rape of a bride, nonetheless. It’s downright pathetic especially when he was a product of rape himself (source: Wikipedia).

Somehow I never saw Blood Simple. I liked it, but not my fave Coen Brothers film. I think I heard about The Last Dragon from an Instagram user. Really fun, absolutely silly 80’s movie. Worth a watch, for sure.

2014 Week 13: You say sweet potato, I say sweet potato

La De Blog - Maple Sweet Potato Pecan Burgers
Maple Sweet Potato Pecan Burgers

This week: Fat Willy’s/Muppets with Z & the Jarvises. Yuzu with Ashley. Divergent with Eliza/Jerroid. Shokolad with Gretchen & Margie. Rachel & Tanner’s wedding celebration – nice to attend a celebration filled with so much love and joy and malört. Speaking of, at R&T’s celebration, I made Malör-chata and you should try it! Just mix malört into horchata. Also, look at this amazing poster someone made –> here. Saturday was Street clean-up of Thomas from Damen to Western with small but mighty group of neighbors and we celebrated our job with dinner and drinks at Takito! For his March vow dinner, Z cooked maple sweet potato pecan burgers from The Tolerant Vegan which were a pain in the bum, but totally worth it in my opinion. Recipe here.

Films watched 13th week of the year:

Muppets Most Wanted
Divergent
Goodfellas
Pete Smalls is Dead

MMW was really fun and I liked it more than the first reboot Muppets movie. You know what one of my fave cameos ever in a movie was? Pacey & Joey in Muppets in Space!

Divergent was a nice DIVERsion. I also finished reading Allegiant over the weekend. I enjoyed the series, but the last book is my fave, by far, and I think that will make one awesome movie. The first one; not so much. Jerroid said something like: “I had idea what was going on for the first 3/4 of the movie” and he had not read the books. It seems to be doing well at the box office though, for some reason. Casting for Tris was great and Four was stupid.

I thought I had seen Goodfellas, but apparently not, because I only remembered little bits here and there. I had no idea Ray Liotta was even the star. Wah wah. I used to love gangster movies and I guess this one was fine.

Peter Dinklage not used to the best of his dinkability in Pete Smalls is Dead. Not really worth a watch. Mostly, I wanted this movie to just be Peter Dinklage hanging out with his awesome pittie Buddha.

2014 Week 9: Oscar(t)

La de Blog - Vegan Waffles
Vegan Waffles, With Earth Balance, bananas, and maple syrup

Finally filed all my paperwork Wednesday for my passport. Fingers crossed that the paperwork doesn’t come back because I am smiling in the photo – the lady at CVS didn’t tell me not to, so think good thoughts, people! Took Z to Publican for his bday dinner. Vegetarians, take note – they can accommodate us – there is a secret delicious vegetable plate for $18, but it is truly only vegetables, so it’s kind of like getting a big plate of sides. Tiny Z bday celebration at Cleo’s. Went to our beloved Chiditarod. Brunch with LCB @ Bite. Music Frozen Dancing – yes, I saw Pie-a-see-a Planet @ Empty Bottle. 🙂 Movie with Eliza! Her @ Landmark and Yummy Yummy with the boo. Oscars @ Kimmi’s. Somehow this week I still made time to make those vegan waffles above and whipped up cadbury creme egg vanilla buttercream frosting to go on z’s bday cupcakes. Pat = back.

Films watched 9th week of the year:

Miss Minoes [ Netherlands ]
Cutie and the Boxer
Captain Phillips
Wolf of Wall Street
Her
Dallas Buyers Club

** foreign language

Cute award goes to Miss Minoes. If you even remotely like cats, you will love this movie. It’s something like the Dutch Amelie, filled with fun capers and twee whispering and a bad dude getting his due. OF COURSE I loved it. Cutie & the Boxer was also cute, but thanks to Noriko Shinohara and not sourpuss Ushio Shinohara. Come on you curmudgeon, let Noriko get her due!

Honestly, out of all the Oscar Best Picture Nominees, I had no interest in watching Captain Phillips, but on Friday night, I decided I would take a stab at watching the other 7 films I hadn’t seen. I watched this on Amazon on Saturday night, starting it and believing I would only watch the first half and then go to bed. WELL, that’s how I stayed up until 2am Saturday night. This film was incredibly riveting even though I knew that he lived. It was so tense. Highly recommend.

Wolf of Wall Street. Is it a result of watching so many films that this film barely had any shock value for me? Gruesome like American Psycho and with a story like American Hustle. Actually, the storyline is so much like AH that I keep confusing the two. Slime of the earth dudes swindling people out of their money and some terrible (and some great) outfits; both getting their comeuppance, but still winding out just fine in the end. Ahh, true stories.

I loved Her and Z thought it was OK because he doesn’t get that this is absolutely going to be a thing that happens. Like Lars and the Real Girl, there are some, I’d even go so far as to say many, people who are incapable of being in a relationship with another human, but there is still that longing for a connection that they will do whatever it takes to have one. It was beautiful and heartbreaking, but in a hopeful kind of way. Why is it strange that a computer would help a person become more human?

Great acting by Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club and a story that is unbelievable. You don’t hear many stories of homophobic dudes in this day and age, all of a sudden changing their stripes to help the LGBTQ cause, let alone the 80’s. However, I’m in the “cast a Trans Woman to play a Trans Woman” camp and I do not think Jared Leto deserves all the praise he is getting. Also, with the other nominees for hair & makeup, I am SHOCKED that this won.

2013 Week 40: Farewell, Saturday spin class. I knew ye well.

La De Blog - Zachary waiting

It’s funny because I am pretty sure Z would have called me a weirdo if I did this exact same pose while waiting for the Shanleys, but nope, he thought this was perfectly normal.

Found the perfect present for a parent gift for both of our parents. Started searching for the perfect readings. Evened out placecard holders on one lunch break with a band saw! Placed flower order. Dentist appointment. Dinner with Shanleys @ Handlebar. Bought cellophane bags to use as welcome bags and part of what we’ll put in them – we’ll give out at rehearsal dinner since nearly everyone is staying all over the city and not at our host hotels. Dinner @ Fat Willy’s Rib Shack – their veggie burger is unexpectedly outstanding! Made labels for cookie table. Made table numbers. Made menu. Bought frames for memorial table and finalized photos with Z. Started making banner for card box. Had a migraine that started Saturday afternoon and I only feel 100% 3 days later. I celebrated my actual 10-year anniversary in Chicago by ordering my standard artichoke/garlic pizza from Pizza Metro 2 and watching The Walking Dead, Season 3. Probably contributing to my stress. Derp. 🙂

When I went to spin on Saturday morning, the sign-in sheet had a name other than Julie on it. I didn’t panic, because occasionally a sub will fill in for an instructor. Then when the instructor Kayla said she’d be our Saturday instructor from now on, I held my breath trying to process this information. Julie turned me from someone who ABHORRED exercising to someone who LOVED getting exercise in the SPIN room. For 9 whole months, I saw her almost weekly and she was a huge inspiration to me becoming a more active person; a happier person. Hell, I could have given birth to a SPIN baby in that time. So, having a different Saturday instructor who had a VERY different style that I was not a fan of; pushing the resistance to the max, no heart rate monitoring, 9 minute climbs and NO SCHEDULED RECOVERY; felt like the rug was pulled from underneath me. My plan of dragging my bridal party to a Julie class the day of the wedding is kaput. To add insult to injury, the only class Julie is now teaching at WPAC is at 5:30 A.M. Yes, A – M. Gross. After the wedding comedown, I need to try out the Sunday class instructor. I’ve heard she is good, but Julie is my exercise spirit animal.

Films watched 40th week of the year:

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters *
Scream 4
The World ** [ China ]
A Dog Year

* documentary
** foreign language

If you are an animal lover and film lover, you should bookmark that page: Does the dog die?. Sometimes I am not good at maintaining my Netflix queue and things wind up at the top that I am not ready for. We received How to Die in Oregon right after Jeff killed himself and it sat around for 3 months until I just mailed it back. I still haven’t watced it. Similarly, I received A Dog Year not too long after Shadow passed away. I looked up on that handy website and saw that a dog died in the film and I was still too fragile to watch it, so it sat on the dvd pile for a couple of weeks. It ended up being pretty great for a dog movie. Yep, I still teared up, but at least I was ready. Thanks, DTDD?

I wish I had seen Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters on the big screen. His photographic process is inspiring and the end result is simply stunning. I also love that he brings commerce to what seem like sleepy little towns. Reminded me a lot of Marwencol. Even though Gregory Crewdson and Mark Hogancamp’s photography styles are polar opposites, they seemed to have obsessive processes when it comes to getting the perfect shot. Kind of like me and not being happy with the guestbook I made for the wedding and waiting until it was perfect to me. I know that practically no one would notice, but *I* would notice. I’m only getting married once, so it’s going to be up to the high Rhymes with Twee standard, okay!?

2013 Week 33: Buck(town) up, kiddo!

La De Blog - Me, Steff, & Heidi
Me, Steff, & Heidi outside Margie’s Candies

This week: Continuation of ACA tradeshow. Wednesday & Thursday were visits to customers of my dayjob. Z picked me up Thursday night and we went straight from Midway Airport to Dimo’s – whoa my gosh mac & cheese pizza. Friday dinner with Z, Dave & Megan @ Greek Islands. Spin Saturday & The Canyons @ Facets / Trader Joe’s. Sunday I biked to an estate sale and yard sale. Brunch @ Takito with Kimmi. Dinner with Heidi & Steff @ Quesadilla and ice cream @ Margie’s Candies.

Hopefully I’ll be back to blogging regularly on Sunday. Traveling for work threw my schedule out of whack for a bit there. This weekend on Saturday and Sunday from 11am – 7pm, find Rhymes with Twee at Booth 25 at Bucktown Arts Fest! I am excited to be doing this show again!

Films watched 33rd week of the year:

Beauty is Embarrassing *
The Canyons
Touki Bouki [ Senegal ] **

* documentary
** foreign language

Beauty is Embarrassing is one of the best documentaries I’ve watched this year. Wayne White is an AMAZING artist/puppeteer/musician/storyteller and I cannot believe I had not heard of him before. Sure, I LOVED Pee-Wee’s Playhouse when I was a kid, but I never knew anything about the artists behind it. This documentary sat on Z and my Netflix instant queue for months and months and I kept skipping past it because I had watched a lot of “art” documentaries at the time. This eclipses all of them. Wacky, inspirational and worth many watches!

Speechless at how incredibly terrible The Canyons was. Picture The Room without any funny parts and even worse acting and you’ve got it! Mostly, I was offended that the “film” wasted 99 minutes of my life. Z feels even worse than me about it because he kickstarted the gosh darn POS.

I am starting to dig deep looking for countries I’m missing from my different country each week new year’s resolution. Touki Bouki was this week’s pick from Senegal. Young person angst set against a Senegalese background. Good watch, but it lost me a bit at the end when it started getting dream-sequency. You can actually watch the entire film here!

2013 Week 12: Every day, in every way, I am becoming a better feminist.

La De Blog - Rhymes with Twee @ Urban Folk Circuit @ Logan Square Farmers Market

Z snapped this photo of me in front of my Rhymes with Twee booth at Urban Folk Circuit @ Logan Square Farmers Market. Met some lovely people today and ate yet another delicious grilled cheese sandwich from Gayle’s Best Grilled Cheese. I wish that Urban Folk Circuit could sell through the entire farmer’s market season. I heard that from a number of shoppers today what a good pairing it was and I agree!

This week: Went to dinner @ Bite with Anna. Hala Kahiki with Gretchen & Z. Made from Epicurious with strawberry sauce instead for a coworker’s bday. Dinner with Kimmi/Jon @ Quesadilla. Spin, spin. Worked on more tax stuff – I’m rounding the bend! Dinner with Z @ Thai Village. Sold @ Urban Folk Circuit. Also, I made this:

La De Blog - Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie with Carrot Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Topping
Sweet Potato Carrot Goat Cheese Mash Shepherd’s Pie from A Cozy Kitchen.

I bought nearly everything for this recipe at Plenty Grocery & Deli except for goat cheese which I had from Trader Joe’s. For the “meat”, I subbed in one pack of Upton’s Ground Seitan. I used sweet potatoes instead of russet potatoes in the topping. I used heavy cream in place of whole milk. I didn’t use any flour since I wasn’t using real meat. I used Annie’s worcestershire sauce and vegetable broth in place of beef broth. This was one of the best things I’ve ever made. Zachary loved it too. Thanks #instacookingclub!

Films watched 12th week of the year:

Dreams of a Life *
That Evening Sun
The Three Stooges: The Movie
North Sea, Texas ** [ Belgium ]
Girl 27 *

* documentary
** foreign language

North Sea, Texas was one of the best gay movies I have ever seen and I watch a lot of gay movies. A lot of them are terrible. This one was poignant, tender, and beautiful. Definitely a MUST-see.

I posted the following on my Facebook page: Just finished watching the documentary dreams of a life. Honestly, it was one of the most chilling things I have ever seen. To have someone in this day and age die and not be discovered in their flat for 3 years is unthinkable. To have no family or friends report her as missing, no one in her building report it, utilities not reporting it. My heart hurts for this poor girl. While watching, I couldn’t stop thinking about my friend jeff barszcz who took his life last may and posted about it on his blog so that his cats would be taken care of. if he hadn’t, how long would it have taken for him to be found? I knew only a handful of people had his newer address. It still saddens me there was never a obituary for him. I don’t even know how to end this post. I would love to talk to someone about it. Watch the film. It is on netflix streaming.

I have read a great deal about Steubenville and the judgment that came down. At this point, I have read something like 25 articles/blog posts. I have wept a lot this week because justice has not been served. Why is our society deteriorating in such a way? I also watched Girl 27 and it was a good bookend to the week. This week was all about strong women who did not deserve the hand they were dealt. Every day in every way, I am becoming a better feminist.