FO!
Another weekend done and gone. Why do they go by so quickly, when they're so much fun? Ah, the answer is in the question. I saw this movie this weekend:
Very, very cute. The story is about a rat in Paris who is a bit of a foodie, unlike the rest of his colony who eat garbage. This means that he doesn't quite fit in with the colony and is a little bit of a disappointment to his father. He also takes very dangerous risks to put together meals - like going into kitchens where humans may discover him and try to kill him. There just aren't a lot of great ingredients for creating masterful meals in the garbage, though. His hero is the late French chef, Gusteau, whose philosophy was that "Anyone Can Cook". The rat of course embraces this philosophy and begins to see visions of Gusteau's ghost after he's separated from the rest of the colony. He ends up in Gusteau's restaurant and through a series of events, he creates a soup that is a hit sensation, but everyone thinks the garbage boy created it. The rat is able to communicate with the garbage boy that he knows how to cook and they figure out a way for the rat to become a chef by controlling the body of the garbage boy. It all sounds very complicated, and of course it is, but it's charming and entertaining. There's good drama - will the garbage boy be discovered as a fraud? Will the rat be discovered and killed by the humans? Will the rat be reunited with his family and colony? There are some delicious bad guys - the chef who runs Gusteau's, who used to be Gusteau's sous chef, and has dreams of millions of Euros made exploiting Gusteau's reputation and celebrity in a line of frozen dinners. There's also a food critic who scoffed at Gusteau's populist philosophy and could ruin what remains of the restaurant's reputation (and probably a bit of a poke at film critics as well). There's even romance in the form of the garbage boy's relationship with a line cook who takes him under her wing when he's elevated to a cook position. The animation is beautiful of course - right up there with the best Pixar films. My only problem with the film is that I was very grossed out at any scene where the colony is all together and has to scramble away. Seeing all of those scurrying rats is really disgusting. Even if they are charming.
I finished up the painting in the living room and got almost everything back in place. I did end up getting rid of a lot of stuff to avoid the clutter. It felt so good! I still have some DVDs and CDs that are overflowing the racks I have. I'm not getting any more racks, so I need to cull down what I've got and get rid of stuff I don't listen to/watch any more.
I also did some baking this weekend. We've had a gorgeous, cool week around here, so the idea of heating up the oven wasn't disgusting. I belong to a CSA and we got a bunch of zucchini this week, so I made zucchini bars with cream cheese frosting for book club. They were delicious and a bit hit with my fellow readers. Since I had the oven on, I also baked up a banana bread - one of my favorite treats.
I also finished up my Shimmer Socks:
Project Name: Shimmer Socks
Designer: Meg Croft
Pattern Source: Magknits
Yarn: Lorna's Laces (Rainbow colorway)
Yarn Source: Coldwater Collaborative at Yarnover 2007
Date Started: 5/26/07
Date Completed: 7/15/07
Comments: I am really pleased with the interaction of this pattern and this yarn. It's my first time using Lorna's Laces and not the last. It was also my first time doing a short row toe and heel and I really like them. I think they fit quite nicely. Here's the obligatory sole to sole shot, so you can see how the heels fit:
I also think the heel looks very pretty. These were a Project Spectrum project - I started them at the end of May, so the green and yellow fit into that and I didn't finish until July, so the red fits into that Perfect! Here's one final shot of the finished project. As usual, I knit the legs shorter than the pattern called for:
Very, very cute. The story is about a rat in Paris who is a bit of a foodie, unlike the rest of his colony who eat garbage. This means that he doesn't quite fit in with the colony and is a little bit of a disappointment to his father. He also takes very dangerous risks to put together meals - like going into kitchens where humans may discover him and try to kill him. There just aren't a lot of great ingredients for creating masterful meals in the garbage, though. His hero is the late French chef, Gusteau, whose philosophy was that "Anyone Can Cook". The rat of course embraces this philosophy and begins to see visions of Gusteau's ghost after he's separated from the rest of the colony. He ends up in Gusteau's restaurant and through a series of events, he creates a soup that is a hit sensation, but everyone thinks the garbage boy created it. The rat is able to communicate with the garbage boy that he knows how to cook and they figure out a way for the rat to become a chef by controlling the body of the garbage boy. It all sounds very complicated, and of course it is, but it's charming and entertaining. There's good drama - will the garbage boy be discovered as a fraud? Will the rat be discovered and killed by the humans? Will the rat be reunited with his family and colony? There are some delicious bad guys - the chef who runs Gusteau's, who used to be Gusteau's sous chef, and has dreams of millions of Euros made exploiting Gusteau's reputation and celebrity in a line of frozen dinners. There's also a food critic who scoffed at Gusteau's populist philosophy and could ruin what remains of the restaurant's reputation (and probably a bit of a poke at film critics as well). There's even romance in the form of the garbage boy's relationship with a line cook who takes him under her wing when he's elevated to a cook position. The animation is beautiful of course - right up there with the best Pixar films. My only problem with the film is that I was very grossed out at any scene where the colony is all together and has to scramble away. Seeing all of those scurrying rats is really disgusting. Even if they are charming.
I finished up the painting in the living room and got almost everything back in place. I did end up getting rid of a lot of stuff to avoid the clutter. It felt so good! I still have some DVDs and CDs that are overflowing the racks I have. I'm not getting any more racks, so I need to cull down what I've got and get rid of stuff I don't listen to/watch any more.
I also did some baking this weekend. We've had a gorgeous, cool week around here, so the idea of heating up the oven wasn't disgusting. I belong to a CSA and we got a bunch of zucchini this week, so I made zucchini bars with cream cheese frosting for book club. They were delicious and a bit hit with my fellow readers. Since I had the oven on, I also baked up a banana bread - one of my favorite treats.
I also finished up my Shimmer Socks:
Project Name: Shimmer Socks
Designer: Meg Croft
Pattern Source: Magknits
Yarn: Lorna's Laces (Rainbow colorway)
Yarn Source: Coldwater Collaborative at Yarnover 2007
Date Started: 5/26/07
Date Completed: 7/15/07
Comments: I am really pleased with the interaction of this pattern and this yarn. It's my first time using Lorna's Laces and not the last. It was also my first time doing a short row toe and heel and I really like them. I think they fit quite nicely. Here's the obligatory sole to sole shot, so you can see how the heels fit:
I also think the heel looks very pretty. These were a Project Spectrum project - I started them at the end of May, so the green and yellow fit into that and I didn't finish until July, so the red fits into that Perfect! Here's one final shot of the finished project. As usual, I knit the legs shorter than the pattern called for:
Labels: Movies, Shimmer Socks
rdladd@arnan.com
