Movie Critique: The Hangover 2

Dumb.

My criticism isn't even because it is exactly the same movie as the first one. It's because...The pacing was slow. The situations weren't funny. And well, that's it.

I do not recommend.

Movie Critique: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

My dad loved these movies, so growing up I watched the originals. They never really kept my interest, but then again I was young. We picked up "The Rise of the Planet of the Apes" from Redbox last night to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised to like it as much as I did. 

I believe this movie is meant to reboot the franchise, and is taking a more "science" based approach than "sci-fi"; in this franchise the apes get their intelligence from modern science in the form of experimental drugs. Obviously the film is still science fiction, but the plot is easy to swallow, no time travel or astronauts or spaceships. Another difference is that instead of using humans in make up to play the apes; motion capture CGI was used for the main chimpanzee, Caesar. Andy Serkis, was the man in motion capture suit, which has to make him an expert at this point, but my one criticism might be that I could see Gollum in Caesar. 

I once heard that good science fiction reflects social and/or political issues of the times, this movie meets that requirement, giving heed to advances in medicine and the fact that "some things aren't meant to be changed". Aside from it's moral, there are some real heart stirring moments when Caesar asks if he is just a pet and when the family Caesar has always known is taken away from him. 

I liked it. I recommend it. If you've seen it, let me know what you thought. 

My last project of 2011

So this was my first attempt at recovering a seat to a chair. This is something I helped my mom with once upon a time, I've seen on numerous TV shows, but never tried myself. Actually it's pretty easy, it's kinda like wrapping a present...in fabric...with a staple gun. Here's the break down--

1) Take an old chair. (I scored this one at a thrift store for $5.) Unscrew the seat from the legs.

I liked the chair right away, but the fabric just wasn't for me. 

2) Remove old fabric. Cut new fabric to about an 1-2 inches of overlap. I did two inches, but after it was all said and done I realized it didn't need to more than an inch of overlap. And, I actually cut the new fabric and a white piece of muslin, so I was attaching two layers to the chair. (I got my new fabric from Hobby Lobby with a gift card from the holidays; 2010 holidays to be exact.) Tip: When cutting the fabric make sure that you are getting the part of the pattern where you want it on the seat. 

3) Start by stapling a single staple in the "north" and "south". Fabric should be taut, but not stretched. 

4) Now do the same on the "east" and "west" side of the seat. Flip it over and take a peek. 

5) On to the corners. Staple the very corner at a diagonal. Again pull taut but do not stretch. 

6) Neatly pull to the left and right of the corner up, and staple. 

7) Finish up by stapling all along the edges, filling in from the corners to the first staples from steps 3 and 4. 

8) Reattach seat to chair, in this case with screws. 

While I did the re-upholstery, my hubby gave the chair a good cleaning with wood cleaner. Here's the end product...

Boom! A new chair I love for about $5. Perfect to go by the shoe and coat closet to put on those winter boots. 

So here's what I've been watching over my vacation...

So as many of you know, we do not have anything besides basic cable; well that except Netflix and now On Demand, which is more than enough for us.

Here's what we've been streaming...

*More of The League...so hilarious I can't even stand it.
*Hubby has finally come around to Parks and Recreation
*And the stand by for a while now, 30 Rock
       
As for On Demand, I've been watching a lot of the following...

*American Pickers...I've gotten past how annoying the guys are just love watching what they find.
*Cash & Cari...Love the estate sales and especially love the refurbishing.
*Hairy Bikers...I kinda want to love this show more than I do. I love the travel part for sure.
*American Restoration...with the restoration team from Pawn Stars

So that's it. But I'm looking for other recommendations too. We're done with the available League, Parks and Recreation, American Pickers, Cash & Cari, and American Restoration. I noticed Mad Men is on Netflix Instant now, anyone like that one?

Our Entry Way...it's like a museum of us!

We've hung pictures in our entry way, and I love them! It reminds me that we live here.

We didn't plan out our pictures first and just took a more creative approach, and started in the middle, and moved towards the ends of the hallway. The really nice thing about not buying additional things to decorate our new space is that all of  our belongings are on remix! At our house the color frames were in one room, the black frames in the hallway, and the "Keep Calm and Carry On" canvas was in my office at work; now they all go together and I am really happy about the result. Many of the pictures are from our wedding, trips and travels, and good friends--it makes me really happy to see everything on a daily basis again.

It was kinda hard to shoot the long narrow hallway, but here are my best attempts. Let me know what you think, I love comments :)

Moving In & Getting Organized

So we've been unpacking, and unwrapping all the things that we all too recently wrapped and packed up to move. I've decided to not buy anything new for our apartment here in Bloomington, with the small but awesome exception of the Charley Harper prints I now having hanging in our living room/dining room. Charley Harper is my favorite artist, many of this pieces have to do with animals and wildlife, and these in particular where commissioned by the National Park Service, another favorite of mine. I love them, love them love them--and got them for a great deal at the U.S. Government Bookstore. (I found them from a tip on Retro Renovation and hopped on the internet to order straight away.) This is how they look, let me know what you think...

Yes, that is Matlock on TV 

And as always, I like to show a few pictures of the process. Lots of figuring out placement, measuring, and sinking anchors and screws. 

We also hung my hubby's Great Aunt's painting above the fireplace. I think it looks great!

Lots of Christmas decor on the shelves and mantles, maybe I'll even go back and take a few pics after Christmas has cleared out and everything is set up "permanently". And speaking of Christmas, one, the JOY decoration on the fireplace was made by my bestie, Kelly, owner of Petals by the Shore, I just love it! And two, here's an obligatory picture of our Christmas tree.

I really hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Back to the Blogosphere!

Hi everyone! So it looks like my last post was in late August, and it is now just before Christmas, so yeah, I'd say it's been a while. But so much has been going on! My hubby was offered and accepted a job in central Illinois, Bloomington-Normal to be exact. So we put our house up for rent (selling didn't seem to be a great option), found a place to rent down here, started moving down, rented our place, put in notice at my job, and moved everything down. The last few months have been a lot of driving, a lot of packing and unpacking, a lot of cleaning, oh, and a lot of stress. But the end of all the headache is near. I am currently on two weeks of leave, then I'm back at my job for a little less than two weeks and then, I'll be with my puppy, kitties, and hubby full time. And I'll be blogging more again! So stay tuned.