Week 11: Latino Film Festival

I have never been to a film festival of any sort, so when my sister was looking for company on an extra credit mission for her Spanish class, I was all over it. Last Friday, my mom and I met Meghan at the Hazard Center, host of San Diego's 19th Annual Latino Film Festival.

The movie was exactly like I expected a film festival film to be - it was quirky, bizarre, and awkwardly funny. Amador features an aging hooker with a heart of gold, a crochety old man who dies early in the film, and a rather desperate young woman who, for vaguely plausible reasons, does not report the man's death and continues to "care" for his crochety old corpse. I kind of loved it.

The only subtitled trailer I could find was subtitled in Greek, so...not helpful. Here is the subtitle-free version.                          
                             
At dinner after the movie, we did our best impression of regular film festival attendees and discussed symbolism, themes, and the character's evolution. Midge is sure to bump that 96% up to a 97% with the write-up she does on Amador... 

Week 10: Korea Town

In an effort to get to better know my not-so-new-anymore city, I made it my mission to visit and have a meal in each of L.A.'s small ethnic enclave. First up - Korean barbecue in Koreatown. According to Yelp (and Tom's Korean coworker) Park's BBQ is where it's at.

This was not only my first visit to Koreatown, but also my first foray into the world of Korean food. Korean food is very...meat centric. I can get on board with some kimchi, but I don't think I'll be making a habit of this...

Korean food also comes with a lot of accessories.

Also, Korean beer? Not that good.

Overall-Korean barbecue is not my thing, but it was a fun first stop in around the world dining.

Week 9: Tom and Devin at the Belly Up

On the last Sunday of February, I watched Tom and Devin open up for America at the Belly Up in Solana Beach. I have done this at least three times before, so that in itself doesn't qualify as a new activity. I have not, however, ever seen Tom play at the Belly Up, a stage he's wanted to play since he moved to San Diego. So that was new, and it was the first time I can remember not watching the Oscars. My grandma had Oscar's Greatest Moments on VHS, and I must have watched it ten times when she got it; I've been in love with the Oscars ever since.

{Includes such classic moments like Sally Field's "You love me...you really love me" speech, the streaker interrupting David Niven, that time Cher wore that ridiculous outfit, a Native American woman awkwardly declining an award on Marlon Brando's behalf, and many more!}

 The pagentry, the camp, the cheese, the self-congratulatory absurdity of it - I love it all and usually celebrate it with an equally cheesy theme party. This year, however, I spent Oscar night cheering on my husband instead of critiquing red carpet performances, and that was just fine with me.

Week 8: Fun with Clay

So I'm two months into this little project, and my goal of posting my new thing every Sunday is already well out the window. No matter. Deadlines aren't really my thing anyway. I'll be happy if I end up with all 52 weeks documented, besides, starting every post with some sort of half-baked excuse for why it's late is beyond dull. So I hereby renounce any commitment to scheduled updates on this matter. Moving on.

Last week, I looked to Pinterest for new thing inspiration, specifically, new crafty thing inspiration. I went in search of a project that would make use of the clay I had from my attempt at Christmas ornaments (results were mixed on that one). I wanted to attempt something slightly more sophisticated than than the ashtray I made for my non-smoking father in the fourth grade, but not so sophisticated that it would require a potter's wheel and Patrick Swayze's ghost to complete. I looked through all of the crafty things I've pinned and decided that something like this or this seemed relatively doable.

This is what I was going for.

Source: honestlywtf.com via Kate on Pinterest

My finished project looks nothing like that. In fact, it looks more like the aforementioned ashtray than that charming little bowl, and I really wanted to do it over in order to have something more presentable to share here, but... I needed to prove that a new thing was, in fact, attempted in week eight.

So, while I definitely did not create a masterpiece, it was still a fun, easy little project. I mean, really, I like any craft that can be done whilst watching Bethany Ever After or the Real Housewives of Wherever because I feel like trash TV is more easily justified when enjoyed in conjunction with another, slightly less mindless task.

Whatevs. Here's the (entirely self-explanatory) lowdown.

[Side note: I thought that a feather would make a cool pattern, so I went on a forty minute walk around my neighborhood in search of one. Nada. I did not find one single feather. For some reason, I had expected to walk outside and have my pick of feathers...probably because my soon-to-be brother-in-law seems to always have a feather tucked jauntily into his cap.

I will have to consult Buckley on the best places to find wayward feathers. Anyway feathers were a no-go, I tried leaves but they didn't really work, so I went the doily route. Side note on the side note: Do doilies have a use outside of craft projects?]

Bake. Or air dry depending on your clay.

I attempted to sand down the edges but quickly realized that my bowl was destined to be wonky. I will most likely trash it because, as it turns out, I have no real use for a tiny, shallow, wonky bowl. Nonetheless, playing with clay is fun. Took me back to the Play-Doh days.