Valley of the Dolls

This is Petal, so named for her floral print dress.

We started with a fabric homunculus bought at the crafts store. Then Kelly and I sewed her outfit together, and we sewed a wig out of prepackaged hair. This is, I suppose, a representation of Laura Ingalls Wilder, since Kelly is doing her book report on a biography of that worthy.

But in the end, this looks less like a character from Little House on the Prairie, and more like someone you might see playing shuffleboard on a cruise ship. Still, I had fun making it with Kelly, even if tempers ran thin now and then.

Aces Go Places

This is the movie I loaded onto my iBook to watch during this morning's acting class.

As the linked review says: "Sure it's dated, but it's also quite entertaining. That is, if you can get past the fact that's it's dated." Actually, it's not only dated, but comes from that same school of forced jollity and madcap wackiness that the My Lucky Stars movies also sport.

I guess I was more in the mood for it this time, as I enjoyed this one enough to give it a tepid thumbs up. I may actually go ahead and get Aces Go Places II at Expo this summer!

Funny, originally, I thought this movie starred Jackie Chan, but the lead is Sam Hui (Koon Kit), who bears a familial resemblance...

Kung Fu Hustle

Apple's got a trailer up for Kung Fu Hustle now, and news is that it's getting a theatrical release in March. Sony Classic Pictures is handling it, so maybe it won't get the Miramaxe treatment.

For those of you who don't know, this is Stephen Chow's latest movie, which is breaking Asian box office records left and right. I've been a big fan of his for a long time, and own a few of his movies, foremost of which are God of Cookery and Shaolin Soccer. Needless to say, I'm rather excited that there'll be a (possibly well treated) theatrical release of this, and I'm planning to see it, even if I have to take vacation time to do it!

Vitals

I finished reading Vitals by Greg Bear last night. I read it on the strength of Dead Lines. Looking back on my notes on that one, I find that both books suffer from weak endings. He wants to end with mystery, but instead it seems a bit of a copout after the fine elaboration of the premise. Still, I enjoyed it mostly.

Jiang Hu

I forgot to mention that I finally got around to watching Jiang Hu. This was a present from James, one of my anime buddies. He bought it at last year's Anime Expo (held every year over the July Fourth weekend), so that should give you an idea how long I can sit on a DVD.

I actually enjoyed this movie, though I watched it in patches, usually on my laptop while waiting for Kelly to attend one class or another. When I finished it, I didn't get quite the buzz I had watching Zatoichi, but that's hardly a fair comparison.

Is it worth watching in general? Probably not. Only a hardcore Asian film junkie will appreciate it, and even that worthy may walk away disappointed.

[P.S. - I'm posting this from the parking lot of Kelly's dance instructor. Wireless rocks!]

Sew So

Kelly and I attacked her prairie dress project today, in earnest. We did the bodice, or upper part of the dress. Lacking a functional sewing machine, all sewing was done by hand. So all our stitches look like basting stitches, and I don't hold out much hope for the thing holding together longer than it takes to do the show and tell.

Even though this is a Simplicity pattern, I had to read the directions several times to figure things out, and we still have some exposed seams, and one reversed piece of fabric. I'm hoping the skirt portion goes a little more smoothly.

As for the bonnet, I'm hoping Kelly will lose interest before we get there!

Today's Dish Is...

Cashew Chicken. It turned out quite tasty. Jean thinks it has too much garlic (is that even possible?) but still seems to like it. She wants to try another recipe we found online that emphasizes cabbage next week.

About my only complaint with this recipe is that it created so much, but since it's tasty, that's not much of a complaint.