Movies August 13, 2009
Posted by A in Entertainment, Life, Society.Tags: men, movie, Society
add a comment
I really don’t like going to the movie theater much. It has everything to do with rude people who answer their phone, text, eat noisily, or open up a scrunchy bag of snacks. I hate the little noises. But I figured that if I go to a late showing and on a week day, the chances of those things happening is greatly dimished. I love it when I’m right.
So today I went to see the new chick-flick, Julia and Julia. I liked it. It was just a very heart-warming, charming, almost nostaligia-inducing movie. Almost makes me want to go to Paris. Almost. I know, I’m crazy for not having Paris at the top of my list, but it’s not. And I even took French in high school with the sole purpose of going to France someday (though at the time, I thought “some day” would be the Junior year trip, which I didn’t participate in).
The other reason I really liked the movie is that it’s a rare gem where an American male who is white, a husband, is portrayed in a positive light. There were two such examples in the movie. Both husbands were depicted as loving and caring and really believing in their wives. They encouraged them when they needed it, they wiped the tears and listned when it was needed, they were there and they paid attention. How much of that was true to life I don’t know, but it was good to see a positive representation of a man.
Girls’ Day at the Art Museum March 15, 2009
Posted by A in Art, Entertainment, Friends, Hobbies, Life, Western Civilization.Tags: Art, Friends, jan lievens
add a comment
I’ve been wanting to check out the museum’s new exhibit for quite some time, and today I went with 2 of my girl friends. The exhibit was displaying Jan Lievens’ work. I’ve seen other painings in this style (by van Dyck, Rembrandt, and Rubens) so I knew I’d like the artwork at least to some degree. I have to say I liked it quite a bit.
To me, this is art. It was beautiful, it required quite a bit of skill as well as tallent and training. The people in the paintings seems to be alive, like they’d just walk off the frame and shake your hand. The eyes in the portraits look alive and intelligent. The objects in still life paintings (Stil life with books – this one was my favorite, I think) look so real you can touch them. That pitcher, the highlights, and the books. The books look so real that I can almost smell the dust and the leather of the binding. You can almost feel the grime on the musical instrument that’s in the background.
I was completely shocked at how he depicted cloth. In one painting, Profile of an old woman, the gauzy head covering is stunningly painted. You can see how the organza folds and the shimmer and gold highlights. In another painting, he shows his mastery by painting silk in such a way that makes it glow.
We took our time at the exhibit and walked through it slowly, savoring the experience.
After this, we deicded to visit the rest of the museum and see what’s there. I haven’t been to the museum for a few years, so it was nice to see what else they had. I didn’t enjoy the rest of the museum as I enjoyed the Lievens’ exhibit. Let’s just say that my idea of art and many people’s idea of art varies wildly. Some things look more like an engineering braintease yet others are just canvases colored in a single color, and some are just like something a first-grader could paint. I don’t know what it’s supposed to make me think other than I could have done the same and gotten paid a lot of money. It doesn’t inspire me, it doesn’t make me think, it doesn’t uplift, and it looks like it takes no skill whatsoever. If you painted a wall at any point in your life, you could have painted some of the things on the walls of the museum. But to some it’s art. To me, it’s not.
A surprising find – The Paramount Restaurant March 6, 2008
Posted by A in Dining, Entertainment, My Favorite Links, Random, restaurant.Tags: breakfast restaurant, grafton restaurant, paramount restaurant grafton wisconsin, restaurant, restaurant review
3 comments
I’m not a breakfast person, but I’ve been craving breakfast food recently. So I asked around the office for recommendations and received a few of them. Last weekend, I decided to try out the Paramount restaurant (http://theparamountrestaurant.com/). The restaurant was beautifully appointed and the music was great (it was, after all, a recording studio). Since I’m not a morning person, or a breakfast person it’s really hard for me to find something I like (I hate omelets and scrambled eggs and such things). Yet I managed to find deliciousness at this place. Here, I found a scrumptious french toast with an apple filling. Just melts in your mouth.
YUM!
Dining adventure – Tulip restaurant March 3, 2008
Posted by A in Dining, Entertainment, Life, Random, restaurant.Tags: birthday, milwaukee restuarants, restaurant, restaurant review, review, tulip, turkish restuarant
1 comment so far
For my last birthday, I decided to invite friends to a restaurant. I wanted an up-scale, elegant, nicely decorated, and reasonably priced place with excellent food. Since I live in Milwaukee, finding such a place was harder than it sounds. So searching on-line for local restaurants, I stumbled upon a review for Tulip, a Turkish restaurant. (http://www.tulipmilwaukee.com/)
I’m not an incredibly adventurous person, but decided to take a risk and made reservations. (more…)
Another Scarf December 4, 2007
Posted by A in Entertainment, Hobbies, Life.Tags: alpaca, eve's rib, Hobbies, knitting, scarf
1 comment so far
I just finished another scarf tonight. Here is the PDF to the pattern of the scarf I knit. My version is a bit rougher and less polished, but hey, it’s my 2nd project after more than 10 years of not knitting. For some reason, getting started on the rib pattern gave me tremendous difficulty. Actually, figuring out that pattern took longer than knitting the whole scarf (after I figured it out).
I love it, and might wear it tomorrow. It’s certainly cold enough, and it will give me a chance to test out how warm alpaca wool is. It is certainly soft.
Fire November 15, 2007
Posted by A in Entertainment, Life.Tags: fire, fireplace, Life, relaxing
add a comment
I just love relaxing by the fireplace on a cold night. It’s beautiful, calming, relaxing, and mesmerising. A fireplace will always be something I require anywhere I live. If I had a backyard, I’d love to have a fire-pit too. But I don’t think my downstairs neighbor (nor the condo board) would appreciate it if I were to set a fire-pit out on my wooden balcony.
Knitting November 14, 2007
Posted by A in Entertainment, Hobbies, My Favorite Links, Random.Tags: crafts, Hobbies, knitting
1 comment so far
It’s been ages since I’ve actually done a knitting project (at least 10 years). A friend of mine got into knitting recently, and she gave me a ball of yarn and some needles and my hands seemed to have remembered most of what I knew way back then.
I started this project (a scarf) just for practice. I want to try to make a few scarfs or wraps as gifts this year.
So far, I’m doing OK, but the whole counting and keeping track of things…… with that I’m not doing as well as I should. Oh, and knitting on the buss might not be the best idea I’ve ever had. Crocheting would probably be OK, but knitting is a bit trickier.
I’ll probably post a picture of the scarf I’m working on later.
Prosperity Offends April 10, 2007
Posted by A in Celebrity, Entertainment, Morality, Politics.add a comment
Hurley’s Indian wedding an insult, Hindus tell court
This post is in reply to the article linked above.
It is disturbing to me that there are places where there are laws against “insulting tradition”. (more…)
