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Friday, 08 March 2013

Another installment of things I forgot to blog here: The (inspired by Pixar's) 'Up' Skirt

Not to be confused with a different type of 'up skirt'.....

When I started out on the year-long Sew Weekly challenges, it took me a while to get into my stride and get organised enough to sew a new garment or outfit per week AND blog about it here on Fanbloomingtastic.

So here's a make I made for "inspired by the movies" Sew Weekly challenge that some of you might have seen, but others might not....

The Facts

Fabric: all scraps from my stash and leftovers from previous projects (mostly cotton, some silk pieces)
Patterns: Butterick 4686 (2nd time using)
Year: Contemporary
Notions: Value pack of Steam-A-Seam 2 $4.99 (but only 4 sheets used), a sheet of HP Iron On transfers (had a pack from a few years back), white baby rikrak from previous project, old Boy Scout badges found in a thrift store for $2
Time to complete: 5 hours
First worn: 20th February 2012
Wear again? Yes, but not together.

Total price: About $6

Film inspiration provided by: Up

The challenge: “In anticipation for next Sunday’s Academy Award 2012 ceremony, we’re using past Oscar winners and nominees as inspiration for our creations”.

I present for your amusement some Up skirt photos (which I’m sure are going to make some who land on this site after googling “up skirt photos” very disappointed, as I bet they weren't looking for a Pixar-inspired creation):

I've called it my "Using 'UP' my scraps skirt". Oh I'm such a wit.

So as you can see, my inspiration was the Pixar/Disney movie Up. It won 2 Oscars in 2010 (Best Original Score and Best Animated Feature) but was nominated for 5 in all (the others being Best Motion Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Sound Editing).

Up means a lot to our family. It was one of the movies that was showing on the airplane when we flew to the USA to move here. It felt serendipitous - permission to start a new adventure in a foreign land.

I firmly hold with Ellie’s beliefs that life in itself is an adventure and should be lived to the full. You don’t need to go to Paradise Falls to find it….it can be right on your doorstep, if you just keep your eyes open.

I found a pic of the Up house on the internet that I liked and printed it on HP Iron On Transfer paper. Using these instructions I ironed this onto some spare white cotton and put the house to one side for a bit.

I drew a template shape of a balloon and cut out multiple balloon shapes out of lots of scraps of fabric in my stash. I then placed these on one of the tacky sides of the Steam-a-Seam 2 sheets.

As you can see, some of the shapes I just used crescents instead of the complete balloon shape as I wanted to minimise the weight on the skirt. I then peeled off the paper backings of the balloons/crescents and placed them on the skirt and moved them about (they are tacky but don’t stick until you iron them) until I was happy with the shape.

I ironed them onto the skirt in rows, and before adding the final few balloons, cut lengths of white baby rikrak to be secured underneath them. I also put a rogue, floating away balloon and ‘string’ on the front and back of the skirt for added ‘whimsy’.

Pinning the other end of the ‘balloon strings’ under the chimney of the Up house transfer, I used a zigzag stitch that was very thin and very short with blue thread to match the skirt to sew the top half of the house onto the skirt. I wanted some of the house to dangle off the edge of the skirt’s hem.

For the purposes of the photoshoot, but probably not to wear out in public…..unless perhaps for Halloween…..I made an orange neckscarf out of fabric from my stash and a brown sash from an old pillowcase. On one of my regular thrift store treasure hunting expeditions I’d spotted some old Boy Scout patches and badges, a job lot for just $2 and these couldn’t be more perfect to sew onto the sash. Where I didn’t quite have enough I made extras out of felt.

And so there’s my Oscar inspired (using) Up (my scraps) skirt. Made last year inbetween trips to the dentist, oral & maxillofacial surgeon to have a huge abcess dealt with, under the influence of vicodin, and having to entertain the kids on Presidents Day. This could also explain why I forgot to blog it here!

And here’s Melchett teaching me how to climb up a ladder whilst Goth Child took the photos. Yeah, because I've never climbed a ladder before Melchie!

I've worn the skirt quite a lot over the past year, especially with this purple top...seen during last year's Me Made May:

In hindsight I wish I'd used a slightly heavier weight sky blue fabric but it's ok.....the kids I volunteer with love it when I wear it to school. It gets a better response than even my Spider-Man dress.

Hey, do you want to know one of my favourite lines from Up?

Dug (the Dog): “Hey, I know a joke! A squirrel walks up to a tree and says, “I forgot to store acorns for the winter and now I am dead.” Ha! It is funny because the squirrel gets dead”.

*childish laughing comes from Tempest's direction because she's a big kid and has a strange sense of humour*

If you want to check out other skirts, dresses, hats, coats, etc I've sewn - check out the new archive page I'm gradually constructing here.

And look at that, I managed a whole blog post without mentioning David Bowie......oh phooey...... ;)

in developing my own style, movies, Sew Weekly Challenge, sewing | Permalink | Comments (8)

Sunday, 24 February 2013

Tempest's 2013 Oscars Watchalong - Final round-up, favourite movies watched & my predictions for tonight

It's time to play the music...

It's time to light the lights....

It's time to meet the actors at the Oscars Show tonight... (boom, boom, boom)

Hello Darlinks! Well as per usual, in this year my third year of trying to watch as many of the Oscar nominated movies as possible....I've watched far more movies than I've been able to tell you about. But here's this year's breakdown:

So I've watched 68% of the movies with nominations (compared to 55% in 2010 and 52% in 2011). Not bad.

I wish I'd managed Django Unchained to see Christoph Waltz's performance (nominated for Best Supporting Actor) so I could judge whether he's better than Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln, but as 8 out of the 9 best picture nominations were still in theatres rather than being out on demand/dvd, it made it too difficult to get to see them all. Still 7 out of 9 weren't half bad (I used my "there's no way I'm going to see that" card on Life of Pi (read the book, didn't want to see the movie).

It's strange, the thing I like most about my annual Oscars Watchalong is I watch movies I wouldn't normally shell out money to see and am blown away by many of them.

This WAS the same as usual in the Documentary Features category - I love and would heartily recommend you see Searching for Sugarman (best feel good documentary), The Invisible War (most important documentary you should watch to be informed about things you might not previously have known about), 5 Broken Cameras (quite stunning film made by an ordinary man about a situation I could never imagine living in, and made by two men you might think would be enemies), How to Survive a Plague (absolutely incredible historic documentary that should be watched to remember how life was and how we should keep on fighting). Unfortunately I haven't managed to see The Gatekeepers as it's only just been released here in select cinemas....I suspect it will probably win then as that's exactly the same as when I didn't get to see The Undefeated last year ;)

But this WASN'T the case with the 9 best picture nominations.....I wasn't really blown away by any of them. Zero Dark Thirty was much better than I expected and in NO WAY glorifies torture, I've seen waaaay worse in Lethal Weapon, Casino Royal, any Tarantino etc etc and though it lets you make up your own mind about it, I think it points pretty clearly to the fact that the information that lead to the death of Osama Bin Laden had been files all along and not discovered during torture. Silver Linings Playbook was nice, not mind-blowing but you come away with that feel-good vibe. Lincoln is immense, and only good because of the telling of how votes to secure the 13th amendment were obtained....and Tommy Lee Jones, who's character's story was fab and acting perfect. Les Miserables is a movie I'm appreciating more and more the longer time moves me away from when I watched it. The costumes were good....Beasts of the Southern Wild is charming and worth watching not just for little Quvenzhané Wallis's performance, but that the superb performance by Dwight Henry as her father Wink was his first time acting....they found him in his bakery across the road....how he isn't nominated for a Best Supporting Actor I have no idea. Argo is probably the best of the bunch and one I'm putting my (non-existent) money on. And Amour, a very, very hard watch but one that you'll remember made me like it inspite of myself.

So without further ado, here's my picks (and yes, I'm aware that some of these have no chance, but I like 'em, so nerrr) for this afternoon/evening's awards:

Picture: Argo (though Lincoln's going to win)

Director: Steven Spielberg - Lincoln (though it should be Sam Mendes for Skyfall)

Actor: Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln (I'll eat my stovepipe hat if he doesn't)

Actress: Emmanuelle Riva - Amour (and it's her 86th birthday, what a party!)

Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln (no Christoph Waltz, no Tommy Lee Jones...ok, sticking with that one. I think)

Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables (I'll eat 5 baguettes and sing a jaunty cocker-ney ditty if I'm wrong, cor luv a duck guvnor)

Animated Feature: Brave (hopefully winning in memory of Miss Ariel Rose)

Cinematography: Skyfall (possibly the one I'll be most upset about if wrong, and I will be, Life of Pi will win this)

Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran for Anna Karenina (though if Eiko Ishioka posthumously wins for Mirror Mirror that would be lovely)

Documentary Feature: The Invisible War (this is the hardest category to choose a favourite - all so different, all so worth seeing. The Invisible War is the one I'd like people to see from the publicity of winning, In Search of Sugarman or 5 Broken Cameras will probably win though)

Documentary Short: Mondays at Racine (confession, I haven't been able to find a way of watching any of the 5 nominations yet....really annoyed they're not released on iTunes to buy like the other shorts, but from what I've been able to read or trailers on youtube, Mondays at Racine is the one that appeals to me the most)

Film Editing: Zero Dark Thirty (though Argo will win)

Foreign Language Film: Amour (well if it's good enough to get a Best Pic nom....though I wish I'd been able to find a way of watching A Royal Affair....which seems to have been available in the UK for ages)

Makeup and Hairstyling: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (if simply for Bombur's plaited beard)

Music (Original Score): Anna Karenina (though Life of Pi will win)

Music (Original Song): Skyfall - Adele (though I love Everybody Needs A Best Friend from Ted too)

Production Design: Anna Karenina (though it felt like watching a perfume commercial, and the movie over-driected, it was beautiful and quite spectacular)

Short Film (Animated): Paperman (surely? surely....please...pretty please?)

Short Film (Live Action): Curfew (my fave, but I suspect all the hype around Buzkashi Boys might not actually be hype and they'll win it)

Sound Editing: Life of Pi (just based on Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton winning for Hugo last year...this is my least convincing guess of the night)

Sound Mixing: Les Miserables (surely with all the singing live to a accompanying piano before later mixing in the orchestra to the original performance alone is impressive enough?)

Visual Effects: Life of Pi (if everything I read about it is to be believed...I'd like The Hobbit to win, but I always wanted Harry Potter to win stuff or even be nominated too)

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Argo (this is the best worst prediction I've got)

Writing (Original Screenplay): Zero Dark Thirty? Amour? erm.....let's go with Amour, it's late and I need to put my pretty frock on for the red carpet.....who am I kidding, I'm donning my leopard print onesie and a big bag of cheespuffs.

Phew. Done.

Finally, the two movies I enjoyed the most? (I couldn't pick just one) Skyfall and The Sessions.

OK, see you on the other side...

in movies, Oscars 2013 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sunday, 17 February 2013

Tempest's 2013 Oscars Watchalong - Best Actress category

Don't worry, it's nearly all over ;) Just a week now to the Oscars Ceremony, and only a few more posts before I get back to sewing, Bowie*, DIY and other silliness posts. I promise ;)

I knocked off 2 more of the Best Picture nominated movies last week, so here's my current Oscars 2013 Watchalong tally:

Movies nominated for Oscars 2013: 53

Movies I've now seen of these: 25

And Tuesday coming is a big day, Argo, Anna Karenina, and the 15 shorts are released onto iTunes etc, so I'll definitely be renting these and getting them watched. I know there were less movies in total to watch this year but so far (providing no huge emergencies happen like Mr D's kidney stones on the flight to Chicago last year), this is going to be my best yet for watching all the nominees.

Annnnyway, onto Best Actress, or Actress in a Leading Role as I think I'm supposed to call it:

Emmanuelle Riva in Amour - I think I said it when I reviewed Amour, but Emmanuelle is my favourite for this category.

Her withering from a vibrant, stylish French woman to a knarled, shell of a person is quite stunning acting. Amour is not a fun movie to watch but there is something incredibly warm and loving about it despite its hard watch.

And I'd quite like her to win not only for her performance but that it will be her 86th birthday on the night of the Ceremony and I suspect she'll look a stunning example of advanced beauty.

Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty. Whereas Emmanuelle is my favourite to win, Jessica is the one I'd put money on to walk away with it. Her performance of a woman totally determined in her quest but worn down by 10 years of brutal living (what she sees and what she experiences) is really quite something.

My only concern that she might not win is that Sally Field in Lincoln was nominated for this category whilst Anne Hathaway's Fantine was nominated for Best Supporting Actress category. Jessica Chastain's Maya IS the leading actor of ZD30 (as the kid's say), the whole movie is about her character. Sally Field, though showing some of the male actors what real acting is in her movie, is really only in a supporting actress capacity. I do wonder if the Lincoln juggernaut and the simply wrong judgements about Zero Dark Thirty 'glorifying' torture, might rule against Jessica winning. I'll say more about the movie generally in a few days when I post my thoughts on Best Picture.

I have to admit this year there were 2 movies I used my 'get out of jail free' card on - Life of Pi (I've read the novel, I don't want to see that in a movie) and The Impossible for which Naomi Watts is nominated for Best Actress.

Although I can watch highly violent movies, put me in front of a movie where a mother is separated from her children by an event and I'm finished. I watched the events of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day 2004 on 24 hour rolling news channels....I can't bring myself to watch the Impossible. Especially as Mark Kermode's review says the realism of the action makes you feel these things really are happening whilst watching.

Whether she deserves an Oscar? I've read some tremendous reviews of her performance that think she really should.

And little Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild, who keeps getting bigger, including during her movie, then getting smaller again ;) I'm sorry but that's the difficulty you have with a 5-6 year old, they change fast, sometimes from week to week. I cannot deny that this little girl gives a wondrous performance. I don't doubt that she's worthy of her Oscar nomination. But I don't think she should win. Most of her acting seems to be re-acting to situations and circumstances in the movie. Admittedly they're quality reactions, but I'm not convinced they're of the same quality of acting as Emmanuelle, Jessica or Naomi.

So, who would I like to win Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva

Who do I think will win: Jessica Chastain

What do you reckon? Who are you going to be cheering for on February 24th at the Oscars?

If you want a list of all 53 movies up for an Oscar of any kind this year, I've made a list you can print off here.

in movies, Oscars 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday, 14 February 2013

Tempest's 2013 Oscars Watchalong - Progress Report & Best Actor opinions

Tempest's 2013 Oscars Watchalong - Progress Report:

Total movies with Oscar nominations: 53 Movies watched so far: 22

Movies going to watch before Feb 24th's ceremony: 17 to 21

Movies not available before Feb 24th or that I'm avoiding (including Life of Pi): 10

Movies blogged about (here's the bit where I'm lacking): 8....

......so in an effort to get more blogged about, and to not bore your RSS feeds with 45 posts in the 10 remaining days, I'm going to wait till I've seen all the films in each category AND then blog about the category nominations rather than individual movies. Like I did for the films up for Best Animated Feature. Will that keep us all happy? Yeah, that'll do (pig), that'll do.

So here are my thoughts on the actors (and their movies) up for the Academy Award for Actor in a Leading Role:

The nominees are:

Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln

Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables

Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

Denzel Washington - Flight

Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook (my thoughts here) is OK, although as I said in that previous post he's totally overshadowed by Jennifer Lawrence (up for Best Actress) and in some ways Robert De Niro (up for Best Supporting Actor). It's a sympathetic, understanding portrayal of bipolar (though we only really get to see him in the manic) that doesn't solely rely on the character's mental illness to push the plot along. For more thoughts of the movie, check out that previous post. It's not going to win him the Best Actor Oscar though.

Unfortunately, I haven't yet seen Joaquin Phoenix in The Master as it's not out on dvd release/itunes/VOD etc until February 26th, after the Oscar's Ceremony and I missed it last summer in theatres. So I can't assess his chances or whether I liked his performance. Here's Mark Kermode's thoughts on the movie. I'm guessing with his competition, he'll be unlikely to win.

Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables is very, very good, and bare in mind I didn't really like Les Mis but I'll tell you more about why when I do my Best Picture category post. He's probably the most believable in the movie and his character has such an incredible journey. I think he's the reason that Les Mis is such a good movie (blimey, did I just say that? If you saw my tweets straight after I'd seen it and how it killed a little bit of my soul haha...but more of that another day). If you need convincing that he is a serious contender for Best Actor, watch this:

I really, really liked Flight and thought Denzel Washington's acting in it superb. I think his nomination for Best Actor is rightly deserved and was totally convinced by his character's failings and amazing abilities despite these failings. Unlike Mark Kermode, I didn't think the outcome could be seen from an event early on in the movie (here's his review, but don't watch it if you don't want spoilers). I was genuinely gripped by his story and his acting and was very happy having spent the time watching this one......but he's not going to win either.

Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln is probably going to win, don't we think? Of the five men here, I would argue he IS the best actor (just look at his body of work and how diverse the characters he's played have been). It's interesting that in a film where I actually think the story about the politics, compromise and skullduggery in passing a nation-changing amendment, and where Tommy Lee Jones's character's journey is FAR MORE interesting and central than the person of Lincoln himself, Daniel Day-Lewis still shines resolute like the Lincoln Memorial watching over us all.

Again, I'll say more about Lincoln in next week's post on the 9 movies up for Best Picture. But I was totally convinced that Daniel will win when I was reminded of how he normally talks and moves during his BAFTA acceptance speech compared to his complete transformation in the movie. Heck, you just have to look at that movie poster above, DDL IS LINCOLN. Could anyone else have done this?

So, who do I want to win: Daniel Day-Lewis

Who do I actually think will win: Daniel Day-Lewis

Yeah, I know, it's rare that I actually want the favourite to win ;)

What do you reckon? Who are you going to be cheering for on February 24th at the Oscars?

If you want a list of all 53 movies up for an Oscar of any kind this year, I've made a list you can print off here.

in movies, Oscars 2013 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Friday, 08 February 2013

Tempest's 2013 Oscars Watchalong - the Animated Feature nominees: Brave, Frankenweenie, Paranorman, Wreck-It Ralph & The Pirates! Band of Misfits!

D'you know, I think the 2013 animated feature nominations are the strongest I've seen in a few years. Let me qualify that, some years there are 3 noms, some years 5.....but there's such a clear winner the rest just pale into insignificance (Up, The Incredibles, Toy Story 3....hang on, they're all Pixar aren't they.....hmmm).

I'm going to be very controversial in my choice of favourite from this year's:

Brave

Frankenweenie

Paranorman

The Pirates! Band of Misfits (or in the UK: The Pirates! In an Adventure With Science!)

Wreck-It Ralph

I know that lots of you aren't going to agree with me, and I probably won't choose the actual winner on February 24th.

Up until last week, Wreck-It Ralph would have been my favourite. I saw Wreck-It Ralph at Christmas with the family not expecting very much because the trailer hadn't wowed me.....but it's a nice movie and I'd recommend it if you've got a family or you're a big kid and have either liked gaming or American candy (lots of the puns would have been lost on me as a Brit, who grew up with sweeties, if I hadn't lived America for 3 years and now am aware of candy brands). It's a lot better than I expected. It has a nice story with nice twists, good voicing, and the animation is ok. So yes, it's good.

I give it 8 out of 10.

Plus it's worth going to see it in the cinema if you can (I hear it's opening now in the UK) because an Oscar nominated animated short Paperman is showing before it.....and that's very, very good. Mind you, if you want to watch the entire 6.33 mins right now and need a smile/warm fuzzy moment, you can see it here, and then you'll have knocked off another of the 53 movies nominated for Oscars this year....you're welcome ;) But I'll be talking about that more later in the month when I've seen all the animated shorts.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits we watched as a family at home probably around October. What can I say, it's Aardman, so as a Brit I'm biased. I hear that it's not gone down as well outside the UK because like the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics there are a lot of in jokes. But we liked it. It's getting increasingly difficult recently to find movies that are adult enough for Goth Child (15) who wants full-on action movies or rom coms, yet won't damage the 'innocent' eyes of Melchett (10). Pirates (and Wreck-It Ralph) kept both happy. It's not going to win but we liked it. I'd call it good road-trip or in-flight watching, if that makes any sense. It's pleasant.

I give it 7 out of 10.

Paranorman.....this is where I'm going to start losing you and you're going to start telling me I'm wrong. I did not like this movie. It was weeeeirddd. I didn't like the look of the stop-frame animated characters. And, don't get me wrong: I love classic horror movies (ones that major on suspense and dread not sell-out on gore and things flying at the camera), and I DO like movies that treat kids with respect, knowing they can handle sad things happening and like to be frightened (hiding behind a cushion watching a movie/Doctor Who episode is a rite of passage)...but there's a whole extended scene in Paranorman with a young witch and about the persecution of witches that was very scary and flicked my 'oh gosh is this feminism/PC preaching coming?' button to off. I wouldn't say don't watch it, because I know I've heard loads of people say they love it....Melchett even likes it.

I give it 6.5 out of 10.

Frankweenie.....uh oh, if you disagreed with me about Paranorman, you're going to start throwing stuff now......I REALLY didn't like Frankenweenie....I thought it was boring. Again, don't get me wrong, I adore homages to horror classics, I love Vincent Price, I adore Plan 9 from Outer Space, actually if you know me well, you know I love bad movies.....but Frankenweenie bored me. The stop motion animation annoyed me, the stylised jerky movement and the terrible movement of the mouths to the dialogue. I actually preferred the references to classic horror movies in Paranorman. Of all 5 movies, this is probably the one I'd be least likely to recommend watching.

I give it 6 out of 10.

And now, as I hide behind the settee to avoid the huge amount of stuff being hurled my way, I'm going to upset you the most. I loved Brave. Which was weird, as I'd been avoiding it until this week because of all the luke-warm and negative reviews. Perhaps it's because I'm a Mum of two daughters.....it might also have something to do with me being born in Edinburgh with lots of Scottish relatives....and can any movie that has Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson and Julie Walters in, even just as voices be bad? So for me, Brave is the best animated, the most rounded story and had none of the disappointment I expected watching it. I found it heart-warming, beautiful and uplifting. I loved it.

I give it 8.5 out of 10 and this is the only one of the five I think I'd watch again.

So....

Which movie would I like to win the 2013 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature?

Brave.

Which movie do I actually think will win it?

Frankenweenie.

Ok, you can start telling me I'm wrong in the comments.....I'm woman enough for it, and I have a strong cup of tea ready to fortify me.

Want a list of all 53 movies you need to watch to see everything with an Oscar nomination in 2013? Check out my printable list here.

So far I've watched 19, but I'll soon up that number with the 15 shorts, which will beat my record from 2011's watchalong of 32 nominated movies watched before Oscar Night (this year Feb 24th), plus I've got some iTunes rentals still waiting in my queue.

Onwards....and stop hitting me.....