Hilarious and Scathing Movie Review

Rather than wait for the next round-up of movie ratings, I had to share this one today, along with some quotes from the review that made me glad I don't have the job of reviewing movies. Can you imagine?

Okay, we start with one and a half stars. We've seen worse.

Cruelty to moviegoers? Well, that's new! The reviewer is not holding back.

Now, here is the question: Would you ever go see this movie? What would it take to get you there? For me, even a free ticket and free popcorn wouldn't do it.

Did you want to see it before (or not want to), and did the review change your mind?

Watching but Not Worrying; Unrelatedly, Hockey and Vaccine (separately)

As you may have heard, Tropical Storm Helene has formed and is headed toward Florida. The good news for me is that Florida is very large, and so far, the path is not aiming directly at where I am. Not that I wish a hurricane on anyone, but it has to go somewhere, and since two years ago it changed direction and Ian came here, I am (provisionally, not counting any chickens) relieved that it isn't us this time. I can deal with heavy wind and rain and flooding, if it doesn't mean power going and staying out, making hotel reservations, and packing up Mom, Maggie, and everything we need for an open-ended trip to the east coast.

Please let this all remain true.

Worst-case scenario, we'll have to bug out, and if we have to, we will. Best-case scenario, Helene will pull the humidity with her as she goes by, and we'll get at least a short break from the feels-like 100+ temps we've been having. Because much as I like hot weather, I am well ready for a break.

~~~~~

Completely unrelated, but as hockey season comes around again, finally, I have to say that one thing is making me sad. Well, two things.

1. The Bruins have not signed presumptive number one goalie Jeremy Swayman to a new contract, so he is not at training camp and can't join the team until he's signed. This actually makes me more angry than sad, but sad is part of it. I could go on and on, but I will spare you the rant. Just pay the man!
2. I am more and more happy with the social media experience on BlueSky (finding new-to-me authors! slowly finding more knitters! lots of cute cat photos!), but so far, few hockey people are there. However, as part of the recent influx of Brazilians who joined BlueSky when Twitter was taken down in Brazil, I was surprised to learn that there are Brazilian Bruins fans. I mean, why not, I guess. But what it means is that the account on BlueSky that seems to most closely follow the Bruins...is in Portuguese.

Come on, English-speaking Bruins fans and media people, step it up now! I'm happy to see black and gold on my feed, but it would be nice if I could read it. That one semester of Portuguese in college isn't helping me out much.

Also also, I got the latest covid shot over the weekend, and if you can, I would encourage you to get it. I made sure to do it on a weekend when I didn't have other plans, so I could rest if need be, or be lazy with a good excuse, depending, and had very few side effects. A little injection-site soreness, not bad enough to keep me from sleeping on that side, and as I have had with every covid shot, some swelling of the lymph nodes under that arm, making it tender but not actually painful. I believe in the vaccines, and in their power to make it less likely that I catch covid, and less serious if I do, and I hope you feel the same.

The Power of Procrastination

It certainly doesn't always work out this way, but sometimes putting off a decision ends up working out.

As I planned for my trip to Syracuse next month, I looked into renting a car, and was surprised at how many airport fees were stacked on top of the base cost. Probably the same thing was true when I last rented a car five years ago, when my grandmother died, and honestly I was not worrying about the cost then. This time, I put off making the reservation, and contemplated the idea of taking a cab to and from the airport, and getting the rental at a location in the city instead, which was a lot cheaper.

However, I get in late on a Thursday, and decided that I wasn't sure I would be able to get a cab to go out to my aunt's house at that time, nor how much it would cost. Today, I just went ahead and rented it to get at the airport, going by the idea that if you have a problem that can be solved with money that you have, and it will make things easier, just do that.

And lo and behold, for some reason it was a lot cheaper than it had been when I looked into it last month. Like, from $575 to under $450. I'll take it!

~~~~~

In other news, I took an online vocabulary test, because that's just the sort of word nerd I am, and woohoo, I am full of words! If you can't brag on your own blog, where can you?

I got avulse wrong, which is unsurprising as I never heard of the word before.

Still, one wrong out of 50? I will pat myself on the back all night.

Wound Up

The decision has been made!

I decided, provisionally, to use the Spring Tulips colorway for the shawl I want to start as travel knitting.

I don't think I'll change my mind...but no guarantees!

Before the trip, I'll cast on and get the project started, in case I need to change needle size or anything, but then it gets put aside until departure day. Anticipation! I started tweaking my packing list today.

Early Birthday Present, Part One

My mother always gives me some money to have fun with around my birthday, so when I was looking at some project bags and couldn't choose between two fabrics, I told myself, happy birthday, and got both!

The first is this:

Obvious choice for me, what with cats and books and rainbow colors. Perfect!

This one is more subtle:

"But ccr," you say, "that's just a pretty blue and white pattern!" 

Look closer...is it? See the Tardis? The Weeping Angels? That's right, a tribute to my favorite episode of Doctor Who. (Hint: if you haven't seen it and plan to watch it, don't read the Wikipedia entry on it: it's a mess of spoilers that takes the fun of the puzzle out if it.)

Anyway! These are the large drawstring bags from KnitSpinQuilt on etsy, and are well made and capacious. Remember the three skeins of yarn I'm trying to choose between? They fit in a bag with room to spare.

Did I need more project bags? Absolutely not. Am I happy to have these? Totally!

New Wheels---Well, Not "New" New

After her car was totaled, and we talked about what to do about replacing it, Mom lamented that what she really wanted was what she had had. Her car was a 2011 Toyota Corolla, which she bought new, so she knew exactly where every control was and didn't have to think about it. At 86, she didn't want to learn a whole new car with all the bells and whistles that have come along in the last decade, no matter how great the safety features might be. 

Considering how well even the 2011 protected her, I wasn't too worried about putting her in another "old" car, and in fact I wasn't wild about the idea of giving her something newer that she would struggle with, because it would be so distracting, which is the last thing she needs when driving. I checked the used cars at the local dealership, and look at this:

A 2012 Corolla!

It had one owner, and only 88,000 miles on it, not bad for its age. The dealership checked everything out, brakes and so on, put on four new tires...it's in very good shape for its age. The most obvious difference to Mom was that the clock was in a different spot, and even that was better.

Well, the other difference was that she said it drives smoother than her old one, but hers had about 50,000 more miles on it, so not surprising! 

And now she can run out to Publix, or go to lunch with a friend, any time she wants. 

Decisions, Decisions

I mentioned that I'm going on a trip in October, and I'm now firmly in the "thinking about what knitting projects to bring" stage of planning. The perfect project is one that not only appeals to me, in yarn I like, but also:

• Is in that sweet spot between so basic it's boring, and so large or complex it's not travel-friendly
• Has been started, to avoid any surprises starting it, but is closer to start than finish (because it's not like you want to finish it and have nothing to knit)

Of course, I am almost certainly going to succumb to the lure of Shiny New Project, rather than working on something already started. Though I may bring one of those as a second project (because obviously I won't only have one project with me on the trip, duh). At the moment, I'm taken with the Unicorn Luck pattern (Ravelry), which looks like a good "do these two rows until you're almost done" kind of pattern, just what I want.

As to the yarn, I think one of the long gradients from Wendy's Wonders would suit it well, and I happen to have three to chose from:

From left to right, that's Spring Tulips, Summer Citrus, and Sweet Sunshine, all in 80% merino and 20% silk.

Spring Tulips will knit up like this, according to her Instagram:

And Sweet Sunshine like this:

I don't have one of those for Summer Citrus, as I bought that one in a yarn shop, not online, but I know it will be glorious too.

So...which one? 

More Movie Ratings (part two)

And here is the second part of the movie rating catch-up, as promised.

The minion one, not surprising, but the second part made me laugh!

Ohhh-kay then.

Not a surprise, I guess.

But which meaning of dirty?

Good one.

Can violence be snide? Discuss.

You need to think of the Boston accent for that first part.

Again, sound like an R rating.

Makes a difference, I guess.

Irish rap?

Scary accents? Huh?

Well, okay, I won't be going to that one.

Oh, no thank you.

Looking on the bright side!

I don't mind profanity...gore depends...but the first part is a definite no.

Simple and to the point.

Hmm!

Did anyone see this? Want to weigh in?

Zero stars! And yet someone I know (but not well) posted on FB about how much she enjoyed it. Perhaps it's one of those where it really depends on the audience.

And again with the simple note. I guess I should say that most of these ratings are funny, but not all of them!

More Movie Ratings (part one)

Wow, I haven't done this since May? I have been screen-shotting the funny ratings the Boston Globe puts in their movie reviews, but, well, apparently instead of posting them here, I've been reading in all my free time lately (and in some time that shouldn't be free as well). I'm going to break this into two parts, so here's the first half-ish. Away we go!

Mercy, that's vivid! I am anti-gender reveal parties, anyway, even the ones that don't explode. Maybe I would feel differently about it if I had been pregnant, but I don't know, celebrating the baby specifically by what's under the diaper seems odd to me.

That's oddly specific, isn't it?

I have to admit that, putting this post together, I read the rating before the movie title, and was briefly very, very confused. Well, I'm still confused about the offscreen cow sex part. 

Sometimes that's what you want! Right? (I wonder why this one is center-aligned when they're usually left-aligned? Oops?)

As long as you know what you're in for.

Not my thing, but again, there's a time and place for it.

Ouch, all that and one star.

I don't actually know what they mean by that, but:

Not for me, thanks!

I do love bilingual cursing, myself.

Another one star, and oof, another not for me.

Umm, okay?

Good to be warned about that. So many movies I don't want to see!

That sounds like an R rating, all right.

I did think about going to see this one, but didn't make it happen.

Scary spiders...English whispers?

About time the men got some of that, right?

Oh, animal cruelty is an immediate no. Is it for you? Do you have automatic yes or no features in movies?