July WIPocalypse

 This one will be short because the Olympics are on and I get obsessed and am not willing to spend spare time on the computer.

The question of the month is Have you ever attended a stitching retreat? If so, tell us about your experiences.

I have not, but it sounds like fun so maybe someday.

Due to my Olympics obsession I am doing the Olympics challenge and have, of course, chosen the Marathon – pick one piece, and dedicate yourself to progress on that single piece for the duration of the Olympics.

And at the halfway point of the games I am here on Winter snowfall

As for what I watched

Critical Role - Exandria Unlimited a summer mini series while they prepare for Campaign 3

Game of Thrones Season 1 - Such and epic start to the series.

Blind Spot Season 3 

The Pirate Movie - Back in the early 80’s Canada had a Movie Channel called Showtime, which like all movie channels of the time played the same movies over and over again.. This was one of them, and I watched it every chance I got. I still have the thing memorized. It’s a spoof on Pirates of Penzance with some of the original songs and some new ones, and it’s fun and hilarious and I adore it.

Pixar Shorts Volumes 1 & 2: Just what it says, a collection of the short films from Pixar, I prefer the ones that aren’t movie tie-ins, but they are all cute, and For the Birds is amazing.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl - When Disney first announced it was going to make a movie based on a ride, everyone thought it was a joke and would be horrible, instead they produced this cinematic masterpiece 

The Hidden - A low budget thriller from the late 80’s, and it’s a really smart one.

And of course the aforementioned Olympics 

June WIPocalypse

 This is very late as I didn't want to post until I got to a certain point in Lion King, and then I forgot. I blame the heat, the very, very hot heat.  Now I get cranky and tired if it goes much about 25ºc so needless to say the 40º+ weather made me very unhappy and to tired to even stich, and that was for nearly a week at the end of June.  This town has never been that high before. 

But eventually it cooled down and I'm happy and stitching again.  

The Question of the month is Half-year recap:  How are you doing with your goals so far this year

Which is just my regular update actually, I still am stitching Winter Snowfall 

And the good news is I got to the half way point in The Lion King. it only took me a year and a half.

As for what I watched

Critical Role - The end of Campaign 2  and the beginning of Exandria Unlimited a summer mini series while they prepare for Campaign 3

Sleepy Hollow Season 3 - A surprisingly solid season with a decent bad guy

Game of Thrones Season 1: Watching the commentaries first as I like to do

Pacific Rim - I grew up on Mecha so this movie hits all the right buttons

Pacific Rim: Uprising - As enjoyable as the first, probably because the leads are so likable

Inferno - Another Robert Langdon movie and  but I have not read the book of this one.  It’s a solid adventure movie with some good twists and turns, but I’ve never been a big fan of Tom Hanks playing Langdon.  There is apparently a new version coming I wonder how the new guy will be

Paint Your Wagon - This is a westernish musical starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood, and involves such things as the California Gold Rush, kidnapping prostitutes, a women with two husbands and a really unique way of mining gold, it’s silly and fun and Harve Presnell singing Mariah is amazing 

Patriot Games - This is my least favorite of the Jack Ryan movies, partly because it’s just a revenge thriller with far less of the political intrigue of the other movies and partly because I never did like Harrison Ford for the roll of Jack.  On the other hand the music is gorgeous. 

Percy Jackson: The Lightening Thief - This is a great example of how not to make a movie based on a book, but if you turn your brain off and disregard that there was source material, it’s not half bad, at least it’s fun.

Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters - You have to admire the gall of a series after killing of the books main bad guy in the first movie and then realizing you need him for the second by explaining away his death with the line “ I can swim”

Pete’s Dragon - This one is an old school Disney movie, very sweet, the good guys win, the bad guys get run out of town and everyone ends up happy.  I haven’t seen the remake yet. I’m a bit leery of it since I love this one so much.

The Philadelphia Experiment - An experiment to make a 1943 warship radar invisible goes awry and the ship disappears completely, two of the sailors onboard are sent to 1984.  It’s a pretty smart movie. 

The Phantom Of The Opera - The movie of the musical, this was a well done adaptation and as always the music is phenomenal 

Police Academy - One of the few slapstick comedies I really enjoy, but it is very dated now.

In The Heights - A solid musical and more importantly the first movie I’ve seen in a theatre in a year.