Ein Baby in meinem Freundeskreis hat sich angekündigt und so hab ich meinen ersten Babypulli gemacht.
Vorder- und Rückenteil sowie die Ärmel gingen ganz gut und ziemlich schnell. Das Muster gefällt mir total gut! Nur beim Kragen hab ich Blut und Wasser geschwitzt. Nach 3 Versuchen, die Ausschnittblende - wie es offiziell heißt - nach Anleitung zu stricken, hab ichs einfach selber frei nach Schnauze gestrickt. Soweit hat dann alles funktioniert und ich bin schon sehr gespannt auf den Praxistest!
I saw Super 8 a few days ago and I would like to give my short review on the movie. I hope I will not give away too much of the plot, so this review will most likely only make sense to you if you already know the movie. There where several things I liked about it, but also a lot of things that could have been much better. All in all during the last half or the last third there were some missed opportunities to make this a really great movie and this is regrettable given that the first half is really good.
One thing that I liked very much beside the movie itself was the trailer (see above). The trailer uses practically no footage used in the film, or rather it uses one scene that is in the movie, but filmed from a totally different perspective. This is actually pretty clever because when you see the movie, you instantly make the connection to the trailer when the actual scene comes up. On the other hand it also is a teaser trailer aimed at an audience which will be expecting a great monster movie. Well it isn't really, so this might be misleading. I mean they tried to throw the monster movie at the audience at the end of the film but this is also the part that for me was the worst thing and made the whole movie only an average experience while it could have been great.
Best thing overall were the characters. They were well developed, had interesting stories and their own little project of making a zombie movie for a film festival with no money and at an age were they were not really taken seriously by most people. This is a really interesting set-up and the actors all do a great job so I really cared about them, their problems and their project. The whole romantic background of the suburbs in the late 70s was also very well designed and the beginning of the movie develops like a good growing up adventure movie like "The Goonies".
Then the train crash happens, where you are at once reminded of the trailer and the upcoming monster but you already have taken the perspective of the kids making their own zombie movie. So at this point the movie was really interesting because you expected that it would take the path of the monster plot but I really wanted to see the kids carry on with their project. I already cared for the characters and wanted to see more of that. Thankfully the monster plot didn't take over yet. The train crash was treated more like a little disruption of the children's project and the arrival of the army was a welcome background for their own movie scenes to heighten the "production value". That was perfect. Have a monster in a movie but don't care about it or the people dealing with it, but showing something different, showing a bunch of kids that live in their own little world on the fringes of the big adult stuff that is happening around them. This was new and exciting and I really liked that and at least for a while the movie went that path.
I have to admit that there is one thing I have to nitpick about, namely the train crash. A pickup usually wouldn't derail a freight train. In real life the pickup truck would be obliterated by the train. There might be a slight chance that it will cause the train to derail but even then it is highly unlikely that any recognizable piece of it will last, let alone that half of the pickup is still intact and the driver lives and is conscience. This has stretched the physics a bit far but I was willing to accept that weird coincidences might happen. Also, that the car the kids arrived in was parked directly next to the train station, which got blown up to smithereens, and still was up and running without a scratch, was another coincidence that I was ready to buy even if this was all stretched very far and could have been at least partially avoided (e.g. by parking the car further down the road).
Now to the things that I didn't like. After keeping the focus on the children for a while, on their project and on dealing with their own problems while the adults are dealing with the monster plot the movie suddenly takes a turn. Almost out of nowhere the children start breaking into the school, finding out about the alien, finding the alien hiding place, making contact and escaping the monster, which itself understands that the children are the nice guys and which only wants to go home. All the scenes from that sudden plot turn were forced and destroyed any kind of credibility. It was almost like a cynical comment of Abrahams and Spielberg to give the audience a good interesting movie and then right in the middle tell them "fuck you! We can make a Cloverfield meets E.T. movie anytime we want, bitch!" Nothing of the monster plot was interesting, new or remotely credible. Not even the special effects were outstanding so why go that way at all? Why ruin a really good set-up for such a weak pay off that has nothing to do with the first part of the film?
Maybe it was because they feared that after the trailer, the audience would expect a classic monster movie and would feel betrayed if they don't get it, but as it turned out it was a half-assed attempt in either direction, so why not risk it and make something new. I really regret that they didn't go with the plot of the first half. It would have been possible, since the children had practically no impact on the outcome of the monster plot anyway. the alien just built its ship and left. So nothing much had to be changed.
In the end credits they come back to the original setup and show the movie the children made for the festival. So basically this means that the characters really cared about their project. Not even a monster from outer space could change that. It is sad, that this original idea only finds its place in the end credits. It would have been a nice ending in itself to have them show their finished film at the festival and to let the whole monster plot completely on the sideline of the movie.
So for this half-good-half-bad-movie I give it 3 out of 5 Stars.
Also probier ich jetzt mal, da mitzumachen ;) Mein Beitrag zum dieswöchigen Thema:
"Schau mir in die Augen"
Von den vielen, vielen genialen Sachen aus dem Internet inspiriert, hab ich versucht, das Auge gaaaaaaanz alleine und ohne irgendwelche Angaben zu machen. Und ich muss sagen, es ist erkennbar ;D
Angefangen mit der Pupille 2 Runden in schwarz, dann gleich weiter mit der Iris in braun (2 Runden passend zu meinen Augen, falls ich mal eins brauch ;P) und den Rest mit weiß. Es ist gar nicht so einfach, wirklich eine KUGEL hinzubekommen. Das sollte ich beim nächsten Mal vielleicht noch recherchieren. Ansonsten geht das ziemlich schnell.
Auf dem Foto sieht mans nicht sehr gut, aber ein paar rote Adern hab ich auch noch mittels Luftmaschenschlangen aufgestickt.
Zu guter Letzt: Wer wissen will, was die anderen Kreaktivlinge gepostet haben, klickt HIER.
Nachdem die Biskuit-Rolle so gut lief, griff ich zu einer kleineren Häkelnadel und machte mich an eine Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Im Prinzip wieder Fleckchen mit Festen Maschen. Die Schnittfläche ist ein langer Streifen mit etwa dreimal so vielen Maschen, wie der Rückenteil in dunkelbraun, rot und weiß.
Für die Decke und den Boden schlägt man genauso viele Maschen an, wie für den Rückenteil und nimmt dann nach und nach jeweils eine Masche auf jeder Seite ab, bis nur mehr eine übrig ist.
Die Einzelteile werden dann mit Festen Maschen aneinandergehäkelt und mit Füllwatte ausgestopft. Schließlich noch ein Schlagoberstupfen und eine Kirsche gehäkelt und aufgenäht.
Das Schwierigste für mich war der Schlagobertupfen (ein Kreis mit Noppen) und die Kirsche (in Runden gehäkelte Maschen mit Zu- und Abnahme). Zum Einen, weil es mich erstmals mit dem Rundenhäkeln konfrontierte, und zum Anderen, weil das Noppen machen direkt in nur ein paar mickrige Luftmaschen doch ganz schön schwer ist, wenn man nur ein bisschen Übung mit festen Maschen hat.
Die Kirsche und der Sahnetupfer sind etwas klein ausgefallen, aber insgesamt bin ich mit dem Ergebnis recht zufrieden.
Nach meiner langen Handarbeits-Abstinenz war diese Haube mein erstes Projekt.
An sich hab ich schon einmal mit einem Nadelspiel gearbeitet, aber das war das Erste, welches ich auch zu Ende gebracht hab.
Eine wirklich sehr einfache Haube. Der Bommel hat mir schon mehr Nerven gekostet. Für Bommel hab ich eindeutig viel zu wenig Geduld. Hier also nur ein halber Bommel ;D. Ich glaub, ich werd die Haube nie waschen können, sonst löst er sich ganz auf.
Ich gebs zu, ich hab keine Maschenprobe gemacht, dh. die Haube ist für ein echtes Baby viel zu klein. Aber so hat mein Chickin auch etwas davon. Dieses Stofftier haben wir in unseren Flitterwochen in Rom gekauft und im Freundeskreis ist es seither ziemlich berühmt und beliebt. hehe.
Mein erstes selbstgehäkeltes Stück. An sich besteht es nur aus drei Fleckchen mit unterschiedlichen Farben, wobei jedes nur mit festen Maschen gehäkelt wurde. Alle haben die gleiche Anzahl an Reihen, die Creme-Schichten haben weniger Maschen pro Reihe. Als Abschluss wird alles eingerollt, vernäht und eine Luftmaschenkette als Dekoration aufgenäht.
Ist ein sehr gutes Anfängerstück, weil es nur Grundtechniken verwendet und eigentlich sehr schnell geht. Das Maschenanschlagen war dabei die größte Herausforderung für mich, weil ich nicht gleich einen wirklich gleichmäßigen Rand hinbekommen habe. Aber echte Biskuitrouladen sind ja auch nicht mit dem Lineal gemacht, weshalb es verzeihlich ist, wenn ein Rand nicht ganz eben ist.
Hier meine erste Tasche. Wie schon beschrieben rollen sich die Ecken etwas ein, was mir nach 5 Jahren nun endlich egal ist ;D. Ich hab einfach ein paar Blümchen draufgenäht.
Gehäkelt hab ich hier nur mit festen Maschen. Einfach eine breite, kurze und eine schmale, lange Bahn häkeln und aneinander nähen. Ein paar Blümchen nach Bedarf dazu.
Leider ist mir der "Henkel" etwas zu lang geraten und ich wollts jetzt nicht mehr ausbessern. Der wird beim nächsten Mal deutlich kürzer.
Wider Erwarten bietet diese Tasche viel Platz (Ich stopfe liebend gern sehr viel Zeugs in meine Taschen ;D). Sogar A4 geht sich teilweise aus.
Derzeit trag ich sie sehr oft und kann noch keine Langzeit-Erfahrungen berichten.
The Plan is to make one challenge every two months, so I can get some rest and plan the new challenges in between. The first one is in the planning stage right now and will start in september.
Due to the delay in blogging about it (see my former blogpost) the blog will fully start at the end of september. During challenge months the updates will come daily, in the months in between I will try to make at least one to three posts a week about the planning stage of the next challenge and probably about other stuff, maybe some reviews if I find the time to do them.
Dieser Schal war die erste Handarbeit, die ich wirklich zu Ende gebracht habe.
Gedacht war es als Urlaubsreisen-Zeitvertreib im Zug nach Venedig. Wider erwarten hat das Stricken wirklich funktioniert und deshalb hab ich zuhause gleich weiter gemacht. Die Wolle hat mehrere Farben, deshalb muss man die farbigen Reihen nicht selber machen, sondern sie ergeben sich so. Fertiggestellt wurde der Schal auf dem Weg nach Rom. Ein fast durch und durch italienischer Schal ;D.
Ich hab ca. 10 Wollknäuel gebraucht, also ca. 500 g.
Als Muster hab ich 3 glatt, 3 verkehrt und alle 3 Reihen umgekehrt verwendet. Das hat den Vorteil, dass der Schal gerade bleibt und sich nicht einrollt.
Inzwischen hab ich den Schal schon oft verwendet und - in der Waschmaschine - gewaschen und er sieht noch immer sehr toll aus.
This is my third attempt to make some kind of blog with some kind of content. None of my previous projects actually got made. All of them got abandoned shortly after the planning stage.
A short history of failure!
The first idea for a blog was inspired by the micronation Molossia. I was fascinated by the idea of making my own micronation, blogging about my daily events as if I was prime minister of my own little nation. The plan was to declare my apartment as the exile embassy of my nation where my wife and I live until we can afford to found our nation on real land. Our daily lives should be converted into interesting blog posts of acts of state.
Well, I told my friends excitedly about my project, got some affirmative nods, and as the actual work started...I failed. First I couldn't decide on a name, neither on a flag...and finally after I started to create the webpage for our nation I realized I will need more pictures for it...and lost interest.
2nd try!
After the idea of the nation failed because the amount of personal dedication exceeded the expected gain in personal satisfaction, my wife and I decided to create a blog where we reviewed anything that had an impact in our life. Starting from movies, to food, restaurants, electronic gadgets, hotels, etc. The idea was inspired by the Website ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com and especially the nostalgia critic. I really enjoy his work and the fact that the people on the website seemed to be everyday normal people like you and me and not some outer worldly celebrities which have lifestyles that can only be fathomed by someone as average as I am.
The ideas for things to review were plenty and after I told everyone about the project some friends even wanted to join and make reviews of their own. I actually got as far as creating the blog, but than not much content came from my friends and I myself found it hard to make some quality-posts while working 40-50 hours a week. So the project was also declared a failure (even if I still don't want do admit that completely).
Hopefully this time it works!
The inspiration for the new project came from the website Ted.com where there are tons of interesting videos with inspiring ideas and information. Two videos from this site were the starting point for my new project. The first of them was a talk about 30 Day Challenges from Matt Cutts. His idea is to try something new and possibly life improving for 30 days. The timespan is short, so you probably won't fail, and it makes daily life more memorable. In addition to that you might get to know yourself better and probably create a habit that improves your life. So all in all there seems to be little or at least manageable effort and a lot of benefits.
The other talk that came to me as a revelation was Keep Your Goals to Yourself by Derek Sivers. His theory suggests that you are less likely to achieve a goal when you tell everyone of your friends in advance. Because than you already get some of the credit for having the idea and the plan and are less likely to actually make the hard work to reach the goal.
Looking back at my previous projects I believe this is totally true for myself. Every time I have an idea for a project I tell everyone and then fail.
The Plan!
So this time I will not tell the world what my next 30-Day challenge will be. I will keep it to myself, write down how it went for me day by day, and only after completing a challenge will I blog about it with a time delay of one month. For you the reader it makes no difference, but for me it probably is the key to finally succeeding in at least some of my projects.