Hay, James Spader

James Spader in Pretty in Pink

You make me want to blog again.

I know how this all started. An FB friend posted about making her very own YouTube playlist because she missed the 80s and 90s. And who wouldn't want to listen to 80s/90s music? So I happily clicked away, listened, until If You Leave played and I suddenly had the urge to watch Pretty in Pink again. And I did, that day.

The first time I watched Pretty in Pink in high school, I was a big Andrew McCarthy fan. Naturally, I was team Blaaaaane. But after rewatching this month, I thought his character was weak (while Duckie was still annoying). Andie and Blane's relationship would not have lasted long.

The most intriguing character, however, was the rich jerk played by James Spader, who for four years tried unsuccessfully to go out with Andie. Four years! Unfortunately, we couldn't do anything about it now.

There was another trivia that I just discovered. Robert Downey, Jr. could have played Duckie! I wonder...but I digress.

So that started my James Spader month. When I looked him up on IMDB, I realized I have not been a good fan. That's why I'm keeping up with the Spader movies. First, and this was something that I have been putting off for so long, was Secretary, the original 50 Shades.

Spader likes eccentric friends. Spader likes playing eccentric characters.

Then just this Easter Sunday, I finally watched Sex, Lies, and Videotape. I kind of hesitated at first because, obviously... and it was Easter. But it was just a case of don't judge a movie by its title. It's the type of movie that I really, really, really love. All talk, yes, but you would be glued to the screen. And it didn't even show any skin, which I liked.

Next, since I'm about to give up on Mr. Robot, I will give The Blacklist, Spader's current TV series, a try.

Bravo!

I've been waiting so long for something like this. And if not for people spreading this on social media, I would not have known. Just a little bit more though, particularly with the acting of extras (because what happens in the background especially if it's not done well bothers me), and it would be perfect. I loved the cast. I loved the long take. I loved the reference to Juan Luna's Spoliarium, and man, did I cry. I hope the other two movies, about Gregorio del Pilar and Manuel Quezon, of the planned trilogy get made.

I watched last night with my sister, father, and mother, on her 60th birthday.

Love is a burning thing

I have a new favorite actor. Last night I watched two period movies, both of which happened to star Matthias Schoenaerts. This man:

I realize he looks a bit like David Wenham, aka Faramir.

The first one's an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd. As always, the English countryside looked stunning. The story, however, was obviously rushed (because you can't fit in everything from the book --- the usual reason). Though I haven't read the book, the essential parts were there. Now would I read it? I'm not quite sure as I haven't gotten over my first Hardy novel yet, though it was the lightest of his writings. I can't stand reading about fickle women. I'm talking about you, Fancy Day!




The second film was also based on a novel, written during World War II by Irène Némirovsky, a French writer of Jewish origin, who was arrested and died in Auschwitz. The notebook containing the novel was kept by Némirovsky's daughter, Denise, but was never read for thinking that it might be her journal, until 1998. Suite Française became a bestseller in 2004.

"If you want to see what people are truly made of, you start a war." ~says Ruth Wilson's character

Great Cast: Michelle Williams, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ruth Wilson, Sam Riley




Then today I found this song, which reminds me so much of what I saw last night. It's "Song for Zula" by Phosphorescent.

Some say love is a burning thing
That it makes a fiery ring
Oh but I know love as a fading thing
Just as fickle as a feather in a stream
See, honey, I saw love. You see, it came to me
It put its face up to my face so I could see
Yeah then I saw love disfigure me
Into something I am not recognizing

See, the cage, it called. I said, "Come on in"
I will not open myself up this way again
Nor lay my face to the soil, nor my teeth to the sand
I will not lay like this for days now upon end
You will not see me fall, nor see me struggle to stand
To be acknowledged by some touch from his gnarled hands
You see, the cage, it called. I said, "Come on in"
I will not open myself up this way again

You see, the moon is bright in that treetop night
I see the shadows that we cast in the cold, clean light
My feet are gold. My heart is white
And we race out on the desert plains all night
See, honey, I am not some broken thing
I do not lay here in the dark waiting for thee
No my heart is gold. My feet are light
And I am racing out on the desert plains all night

So some say love is a burning thing
That it makes a fiery ring
Oh but I know love as a caging thing
Just a killer come to call from some awful dream
O and all you folks, you come to see
You just stand there in the glass looking at me
But my heart is wild. And my bones are steam
And I could kill you with my bare hands if I was free

Back to Crochet

Yay!

I'm starting with things I've never done before, like amigurumi:

Pattern by All About Ami

Little projects, like bookmarks/lace:

Big cross, little cross crochet bookmarks

Crochet lace bookmark

and granny square coasters, which I needed:

I will need to take care of my hands better if I want more of these!

JJ Feild, Felicity, and Austen

Ladies and gentlemen, meet JJ Feild (not Tom Hiddleston, not Lee Pace). He starred in two Jane Austen films: the TV movie Northanger Abbey in 2007, then Austenland in 2013.

In both these movies, he fell in love with Felicity. This Felicity:

JJ Feild and Felicity Jones in Northanger Abbey

And this Felicity:

JJ Feild and Keri Russell in Austenland

Well, it's Keri Russell. My bad!

Unless you remember her:

That just goes to show how much I miss the 90s! :)

P.S. It's been so long since I last posted that I quite forgot how to use blogger.