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Well, don’t undersell yourself, Rusti, with the skill and quality you obviously put into these afghans. While it may not be a hassle to do one, you still spend hours on them. Don’t want to be making near-slave wages. Trades are a good idea though. 😉
Oooh, cross-stitch is another one I love! I’ve got way too many unfinished projects though. Anyone else do rug-hooking? Needlepoint? Embroidery? Um… macramé?
Ok, even I don’t do macramé. ;D I’d be surprised if anyone here did, even occasionally. Though I suppose it’s making a comeback…
*snort!* You don’t WANT to know how many cross-stitch kits, patterns and stuff I have in my closet… far more than five, but fewer than two hundred perhaps…
Yeah, very realistic visual gore and violence… beatings, shootings, er, decapitatings… again, not the worst I’ve ever seen, but it’s pretty intense. I found the close camera shots and vivid detail was what drove it a little too far.
I agree with the realism; I can’t stand a Disney-verse where everything’s all happy and perfect. But I felt there was no need to overdo the violence. We all know a civil war with cruel dictators/militant folk is a horrible and dark experience with lots of brutality. It seemed like an attempt to make the bad guy as evil as possible so you’d be sure to hate him (I HATE manipulation), and as an attractant for movie-goers who like that kind of thing. Felt a little sensationalist in a way, which was disappointing given the more deep, artistic feel of the rest of the story.
There’s just different ways of depicting the violence, or different degrees of it I guess. Perhaps not such close-up, detailed shots would have worked. They do thankfully ease off on the graphicness for some of the most dreadful of events, switching scenes or performing the act slightly off-screen at the right moment. Again, people have plenty enough imagination to figure out what happens without needing it depicted in gruesome detail, I feel.
By the same token though, I hate those films that are themselves too squeamish to show ANYthing, always alluding to death and violence in highly suggestive fashion only. My thinking is, if you are afraid of crossing that line in your films, don’t bother adding those scenes at all.
Yeah, I gotta say SPark, you might be better off waiting to rent or avoiding it altogether if that’s the case. It really did take a lot of my endurance to get through this one; and I’m a big fan of Akira! o.0
Thankfully, those kinds of scenes are fairly well-spaced out and it’s not endless violence or squeam-inducing moments. I was just so shocked by the degree of graphic depiction! I couldn’t keep reading the subtitles for a short while after the first instance because I was so distracted by what I saw…
It’s not the first movie to do this of course, but given the content, I didn’t see the need for so much intensity (some, yes, but…). It asks an awful lot of one’s audience.
I just got back from a preview showing of Pan’s Labyrinth (free tix too!). I had only watched the official trailer, and knew very little else about the film… including any reviews it had gotten. So here’s my amateur and personal opinion-based review!
First off, I quite enjoyed it, and LOVED the creatures. Nothing like good old traditional costume design, with just a touch of CGI. Don’t get me wrong; I love good CGI, but I feel it has long since grown far too overblown and overused. To me, a few tweaks here and there are welcome if they add to the overall experience. I went to the film mainly for the faun, and was in no way disappointed by his appearance and performance! 🙂
Visually, it’s spectacular in every other way as well (scenery, period sets, etc).
I found the story to be too predictable (and a bit perplexing at times) for my tastes, and the ending I felt was a mild disappointment in its execution. The pacing was nice though, and it’s neither a slog nor a hectic whirlwind to sit through.
A warning to those who have an aversion to violence and gore (and who also have not read any reviews): it is an almost shockingly graphic movie. I have a very high tolerance for both–however, Pan’s Labyrinth left even me feeling somewhat disturbed and nauseous at times. It frequently seems over the top and unnecessary to the story.
One thing I found amusing… it has a certain scene that looks to have been taken straight out of the Silent Hill game series. This was both a delightfully disturbing and macabre moment, but ultimately eye-rolling for me. Maybe if I were not already familiar with the game, it would have seemed more novel. It was still pretty intriguing psychological horror.
So, long story short, if you can tolerate brutal depictions of violence, it’s worth seeing for its other qualities. This one’s NOT intended for children; it’s most definitely a fairy tale for adults. Your kids would have to be pretty unusual (like I was, only even more so) to be able to process the information behind all the violence and disturbing imagery.
I know Keplilly, I’m sorry! I realised afterwards the only thing giving me away would be my avatar! My bad…. -_-
Oh yeah and thanks for the cookies but… I am now full of cake. Wonderful, leftover birthday cake (not mine, a friend’s… well, SOMEone has to help eat it! 😉
Agh! *is tackled by a SPark* Yes, I am here. *grins* Thought I’d come stir up trouble. hee… ^_-
Aww, I like to think I might be interesting, BiPolarBear. And more than a bit crazy. 8)
Ooh, ooh I crochet! Not all the time, but I’ve taken to it much better than knitting (at least where more elaborate patterns are concerned).
Sadly I don’t have pics of the afghans I’ve been doing lately… I gave them away as gifts. I’ve done several in the same pattern, and while reasonably complicated, you can finish this one in a week or two in a few hours a day if you’re dextrous enough.
As for making triangles: asinnamon has the right idea. Don’t forget that last ‘hidden’ stitch at the end (whether it requires one or more stitches in it)! It’s easy to miss, and for awhile I couldn’t figure out why I kept losing one stitch at a time, getting shorter as I went. *grumble*
Yes, Chessie, I was indeed the mysterious commenter. *G* However, I may be a lurker, but I am never a stalker. 😉
Thanks, GB! My website is my pride and joy… the first one was sort of ‘menh’. I always insist that a graphic designer at least does the design of their own site (otherwise, why be a designer?). I am in the process of improving the CSS/HTML structure and layout as we speak (it’s had flaws for over a year) and will have edited info and new portfolio stuff by the end of this week (hopefully). Time to get scanning some big-arse artwork! 😀
Why thank you Skigod… somehow I knew you’d be the first to reply. *grins*
Thanks Lokie! Heck, thank everyone in advance!
No worries, Nambroth… they were a good start for me. I had been already self-taught in the use of Photoshop for painting, and needed just a little demo on Painter to really get me going. I’ve since developed my own style and method of working in it, which is of course, the goal. 😉 Thanks for being willing to share! I will likely do the same to help others out too. The more info or methods available, the better! 🙂
Hello all,
I am a longtime fantasy and Windstone fan, though I admit I have only a modest collection (male Peacock, Peacock hatchling, ‘dark blue’ Peacock Oriental, small bat-winged Flap Cat, black male Unicorn). Still, this seems like a fun, friendly place for fantasy fans and artist types alike who share a love for Melody’s work.
I haven’t belonged to many forums or groups in the past, and I probably won’t be TOO frequent a visitor, but I look forward to joining all of you. I admit I’ve been lurking around awhile (you might have noticed my comments in your Gallery works as “Guest_Lurker”), but only recently decided I visited often enough to warrant having a membership/identity here.
So, a little more about myself! I am a freelance graphic designer/illustrator, and dragons are my specialty (even my business name had to have ‘dragon’ in there somewhere ;). One day I hope to be doing more fine art than justifying text and waxing eloquent about fonts, but for now I pay the bills and practice my digital painting. I actually have Nambroth and her wonderful site full of tutorials to thank for teaching me some of my newfound painting skills in the digital realm (and I LOVE her art!)
I am already known by a few of you here (eyes SPark and Keplilly), and in fact, I am familiar with the written and illustrated works of Watergazer. I used to be a prepress tech at Trafford Publishing–I remember seeing several of her titles pass by my desk during the production phase! Talk about small world…
Anyway, I’ve made this long enough. I feel like I know a lot of you already, so I figured a proper intro was in order by now.
See you around!
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