We will, of course, be sending out actual thank you cards to folks, but I just wanted to throw some thank-you linkage towards Amy (who sent us two great Star Wars cookbooks), Max (who rounded out our Harry Potter DVD collection with Prisoner of Azkaban), and Moire (who came through with the always-appreciated cold hard cash). You guys are wonderful and we appreciate you thinking about us!

Nominations are open for the Best of Blog Awards 2004… which includes a category for Best Knitting/Craft Blog. I’m just sayin’.

Both Marci and Kevin pointed me towards the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory trailer, and I admit I’m a little torn in my first impression. My actual inner monologue was like, “Hey, they made Johnny Depp look slightly older and less handsome; that’s good. And heh, the kids and Grandpa Joe look fine. What’s with Mike Teevee playing videogames? On one hand that’s not strictly what the book says, but on the other I think it’s a fair modern interpretation of the character, since nobody watches Westerns on TV anymore. Ooh, the boat looks good! What’s with Willy Wonka in the jungle? Hmm, I wonder if that’s Loompaland and he’s swatting some snozzwanger. The Oompa-Loompas look… weird, but at least they’re not orange. I guess it’s fair to reinterpret them, since Dahl himself did. I love Violet and her mom wearing matching J.Lo tracksuits. But what on earth is up with that Austin-Powers-like rock band scene? Yes, the Oompa-Loompas sing, but they didn’t perform friggin’ music videos…” And then I went through on slow-mo and looked at every single scene, and the more I thought about it the more I realized that if I was seeing this trailer for the first time without any reference to the book, I’d probably think it looked really awesome. I just find it difficult to reconcile with Felicity Dahl’s (and everybody else’s) statement that they wanted to be “faithful” to the book. It looked too Tim Burton. (And I’m still unnerved by the IMdB credit for Christopher Lee as “Willy Wonka’s father.”) Unfortunately I think Peter Jackson has set the bar too high for most film adaptations of books. So like I said, I’m conflicted. It’s not that I don’t think the movie will be good; it’s that I resent it being marketed as “The One True Movie of the Book” when it’s blatantly not.

Just found a great link on MetaFilter: Chicago Then & Now. A photographer attempts to reproduce some photos taken of the city from over fifty years ago. It’s interesting to see how some shots look almost the same (some buildings even have the same signage!), while others are depressingly different. As I read recently, architecture is the only form of art which is regularly allowed to be destroyed. My dad mentioned to me recently that the Sun-Times building has been demolished to make way for a Trump Tower. That’s just sad, people.

I just spent, like, an hour and a half reading this recounting of the Azaria Chamberlain case. It’s fascinating stuff, especially to an American whose only previous knowledge of the case was based on Elaine Benes sneering “Maybe the dingo ate your baby!” According to the Snook, up until very recently most Australians still felt that Lindy was actually guilty. It’s just mind-boggling.

Apologies for not blogging much lately (and not putting up our trip photos), but I’m absolutely knackered. I came back from holiday and jumped right into a Hell Week at work. We have officially moved Tapestry Craft to its new location at 50 York Street. It’s only about ten doors down the road, but sheesh, do you know how many products we have? Like 30,000. Oh, and we already sent out cards telling all the customers we were opening this Saturday. The move itself would have been difficult enough without the additional problems of the new shop not being, you know, completed. I felt like ass from my cold but it really was an “all hands on deck” situation, so I worked pretty much ’round the clock. Friday night was a haze of painting, cleaning, carrying, and stacking. I staggered home at 3:30 am for a couple hours sleep before our opening at 9. It was, to put it mildly, a disaster. The stairs between the two floors weren’t even done, which meant that customers who wanted to visit the knitting section had to walk all the way around the block to the back door. The computers weren’t set up (which meant we couldn’t look up any prices) and the cash drawers weren’t connected (which meant we were making change for customers out of our pockets). We also seriously underestimated how many rubberneckers would show up on the first day so we were pretty busy the whole time. At least it made the hours fly by. I couldn’t even go to sleep when I got home; I’d already agreed to go to a friend’s for dinner. By the time I hit the sack last night, I was practically a zombie.

So yeah, that’s why I haven’t been posting. I’ll be recovered soon.

Okay, seriously, Notre Dame’s Alumni Association are scaring the crap out of me. They’re like the Catholic Mafia or something. First incident: earlier this week I received the annual ND “Christmas-card-and-donation-plea” but was surprised to see it addressed to both myself and the Snook. How in the hell did they know we got married? I didn’t tell them. That’s spooky. And then today I got an e-mail asking me to fill out an alumni survey… addressed to my Gmail address. I’ve never given them my Gmail address. How do they know this stuff? How is it that members of my own family don’t even know my address over here but Notre Dame has me under total surveillance? Am I the only one?

I got an e-mail this morning notifying me that the new Knitty is up, but before I could even settle down into it Andrew forwarded me a link to this pattern. Heh. (Based on the URL, I thought it was going to be a wombat.) Maybe I’ll knit him and Kathleen one for a wedding present? 🙂

Later: Okay, now that I’ve had a read, there are a couple other patterns that caught my eye. This hat is adorable and I love the little skiers. This cuff may tempt me into trying bead knitting. I’m always up for more socks. And I know the Snook would love a tux penguin! But my absolute favorite is Belle Epoque. *swoon* Sooo Elizabeth Bennet.

Place the State. How well do you know your US geography? My score: 96%, 8 miles, 319 seconds. (I really only messed up one or two at the beginning and then the rest were all perfect.)