Across the Universe

Last weekend I had the chance to watch "Across the Universe," a film by Julie Taymor who also directed one of my favorite movies,"Frida." Across the Universe is a musical based on 33 of the Beatles songs. I was a little hesitant at first because it seems pretty daring for someone to re-record these ledgendary songs. I thought it would be as bad as a sequal is to an original...but I was wrong! It was so eye popping! Each scene was paired with a Beatles song that defined that era of anti-war, struggle for free speech and civil rights, mind exploration, and rock 'n' roll. It seemed sort of warhol-esque. It moved from realistic to very surrealistic. I guess whimsical would be a good way to describe this. I usually am not a big fan of surreal musicals, but with this one I can not get enough of it. I am normally not much of a film critic, but more of an art critic. This is so artistic I think that is why I have so much to say about it.

One of my favorite parts, I guess you could call the climax of the movie, was Jude's artwork with rows of bleeding strawberries that turns into a hallucination of strawberry bombs being thrown into Southeast Asia. Symbolism: at the same time shows Max and the other soldiers in war. Also another good part with super creative choreography was the "I Want You!" with Uncle Sam while Max gets recruited into the army. So much fun to watch, it had to have taken forever to perfect that.

The music and vocals were fantsastic. I watched the special features and they expressed that all the vocals were captured live on set rather than pre-recorded and lip-synced.(did I spell that right?) :) Well anyways...I hope you all get a chance to see this movie. I did not live in the 60's, but the history and overall impression seemed very accurate.

Brilliant Batiks

I dedicated the last part of this week to sewing a quilt with these beautiful batik fabrics that I have had since July. (yes, I said July!) When I am at the fabric store I always see something that I get super excited about for my next project....well "next project" usually turns into maybe a few months down the road. I always have so many projects going at one time that they never get finished! Anyone else have that problem?

.....well anyways, I had so much fun sewing this together; the colors really are brilliant! I used a pattern by Cozy Quilt Designs called "Sunshine," but I ended up changing a few things. I never seem to follow a pattern completely from start to finish, I tend to explore too much. :) It is obviously not quilted yet, so hopefully I won't wait another 7 months before getting that done. :) Ahh...it does feel nice knowing I got something accomplished. Here are a few more pictures of the batiks up close. So pretty to look at. :)

First Pictures

Ok, so I have been having a lot of fun with my new camera, but I can not wait to get outdoors and enjoy it. It has been super cold here (winters always are in the midwest), but this year it has been snowing everyday and is super gloomy. I can't wait for spring!!!...So I spent my Saturday afternoon taking pictures of our apartment. I still have a lot to learn(the lighting is not the best in some of these), but this is a good start. You can see me experimenting with my canon in the mirror. :) It is always fun to share the space that you live in. You can find the rest of my apartment pictures by clicking here.