Week 3
Last Friday night, Red and I checked out the new Waterpark of America. We didn't have much time, so we didn't actually ride on the slides, but it looks really fun. We'll definitely go back for that when we have more time. We also checked out the attached hotel - Grand Lodge. It looks very nice - it really does look like a lodge. I would recommend this as a place to stay with kids if you're visiting the Twin Cities. It's right by the Mall of America, too. What we did do is spend some time in their videogame arcade. We had a ball - playing air hockey, skee ball, racing cars and motorcycles as well as other games. Fun, fun night. Check it out if that's your type of thing.
Saturday was Talk Cinema and we saw this film:
This is one of the finalists for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. It's about a troop of North African soldiers fighting for France during WWII. It's sort of a cross between Glory and Saving Private Ryan. The men are fighting for a country that they consider the motherland, even though they have never been there and are treated as second class citizens. It has some of the same realistic battle scenes like Saving Private Ryan. I liked it, but didn't love it. The actors were all very good and I was really engaged in what was going to happen to these men and really cared about them. But I did feel like I had seen this type of thing before and felt that the characters were all somewhat "symbols" - the guy who's well-read and idealistic and keeps believing that if he just proves himself one more time, the French will finally respect him. They guy who is escaping poverty and depravation. The guy who joined for the opportunity to loot and pillage. The guy who wants to see the world. We've seen these characters in war movies before. The great thing about this movie is that it actually made a real difference in the world - at the end the director pointed out that the North Africans who fought in WWII had not been paid their pensions for years and after this film came out, the pensions were finally paid.
In knitting news, I received another sock club skein - this time from the Sweet Sheep Club:
It's All Things Heather yarn this month and the colorway is called Winterberry. THIS is one I LOVE! The gorgeous reds and browns are beautiful and I always love Heather's yarns.
I finished up another mitered square - only two more left!
And finally, I haven't shown you my Knit Blue KAL project:
This is the BFF Sock pattern in the Fleece Artist yarn I got in the Yarn Aboard box. LOVE this pattern and this yarn! The Fleece Artist is soft and cushy, but not too soft to make a great cable. I love the colors, too. It's hard to photograph, but I think you can kind of see it's blue, purple and brown - so much fun to see the colors change.
Saturday was Talk Cinema and we saw this film:
This is one of the finalists for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. It's about a troop of North African soldiers fighting for France during WWII. It's sort of a cross between Glory and Saving Private Ryan. The men are fighting for a country that they consider the motherland, even though they have never been there and are treated as second class citizens. It has some of the same realistic battle scenes like Saving Private Ryan. I liked it, but didn't love it. The actors were all very good and I was really engaged in what was going to happen to these men and really cared about them. But I did feel like I had seen this type of thing before and felt that the characters were all somewhat "symbols" - the guy who's well-read and idealistic and keeps believing that if he just proves himself one more time, the French will finally respect him. They guy who is escaping poverty and depravation. The guy who joined for the opportunity to loot and pillage. The guy who wants to see the world. We've seen these characters in war movies before. The great thing about this movie is that it actually made a real difference in the world - at the end the director pointed out that the North Africans who fought in WWII had not been paid their pensions for years and after this film came out, the pensions were finally paid.
In knitting news, I received another sock club skein - this time from the Sweet Sheep Club:
It's All Things Heather yarn this month and the colorway is called Winterberry. THIS is one I LOVE! The gorgeous reds and browns are beautiful and I always love Heather's yarns.
I finished up another mitered square - only two more left!
And finally, I haven't shown you my Knit Blue KAL project:
This is the BFF Sock pattern in the Fleece Artist yarn I got in the Yarn Aboard box. LOVE this pattern and this yarn! The Fleece Artist is soft and cushy, but not too soft to make a great cable. I love the colors, too. It's hard to photograph, but I think you can kind of see it's blue, purple and brown - so much fun to see the colors change.
rdladd@arnan.com
