(Dir. Douglas Trumbull) (1971) The order comes from exhausted, ravaged Mother Earth, to nuke the space farms, but Bruce Dern (a man born with a contrary face) prefers to treat that order as garbled in transmission. This is the first and best of the Green Space Operas. Trumbull, the special effects guru (2001, Close Encounters of the Third Kind) goes wild in his directorial debut: the space farms and incidental craft are an art-direction triumph; his droids (Huey, Dewey and Louie) are far more charming than those rusty, effete and annoying Wizard of Oz knock-offs from Star Wars (which P, incidentally, considers a…
Continue Reading →Updating the harmony crochet bag…..I have added the lace and crocheted the top of the bag with Stylecraft Special DK in Parma Violet and (Non-stretchy) cotton. Now to hunt out some cord for handles. It’s going to be a scary scene like something in the horror film Wuthering Heights – the Craftroom (cue hair-raising music) as I rustle through boxes and bags and throw out handfuls of braid and cord. In order to procrastinate a little more, I shall work on a post about another project I am working on – The Rime of the Ancient Embroiderer.
Continue Reading →(Dir. François Truffaut) (1966) Apart from the bone-chilling Mars-Hates-Earth story, “While Earthmen Sleep”, Ray Bradbury (22 Aug 1920 – 5 Jun 2012) – Happy Death Day Ray! – wrote a classic dystopian work, Fahrenheit 451. In a world where possessing books is illegal, Oskar Werner is a promising up-and-coming fireman whose job is to torch the western canon (451 degrees is the applicable temperature). Cyril Cusack is impressed with how well Oskar winkles out those hidden classics. Whilst the fire engines belong to a weird mix of Thunderbirds and On the Buses, and the film strikes odd, repetitive, notes, a…
Continue Reading →(by Marilynne Robinson). I had read rave reviews of this book and was so pleased to find a decent second-hand copy. I started it, but couldn’t “get into it”. I thought that was just “me”. I then found a copy of the second book in the trilogy, “Home”. Yay! When I heard that the final book was available for pre-order I skipped to my computer and ordered it. I then waited, thinking it a good idea and motivational to put off reading the first book until I had all three. That would make it all the more fascinating the second time round. So, when…
Continue Reading →Dear Annabels, you will remember part one of my progress with the Harmony crochet bag here. Guess what! Kathryn herself, the designer from Crafternoon Treats has commented on my post! It’s marvellous to have my version of her beautiful creation noted by the lady herself. Well, having been heartened by this, I got back to work on the bag, which, I must confess, had been put on the backburner due to my fear of the horrific job of finding and selecting lace for the next stage. I am afraid of trying to find lace in my craft room (known as “Wuthering Heights” because (cue…
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