An old ladys' curse

Drag Me to Hell. Thank goodness I didn't waste $$$ in the cinema verison!

Was quite disturbed after watching "Drag me to Hell". No, I wasn't even spooked with the movie! As some people know I just don't like watching horror movie coz of the spook factor that lingers on. I stayed away from movies like Saw and Hostel. Am still spooked with Nightmare on Elm Street series!!!


Now why am I disturbed with this particular movie? You'll have to watch it to find out what I mean. The following comments are ONLY MY PERSONAL VIEW. IT IS IN NO WAY TRYING TO BE FUNNY WITH ANY OLD LADY AND THIER "BLACK MAGIC".

First of all, Christine Brown as the character. Ok, she's a bank loan officer at a bank in LA. I for on will not EVER employ this person as the loan officer. Why? Cause she is NOT a person with eye for details. When one works with numbers, one has to be detailed, be it as in checking certain things twice, making sure that certain statements/paper works are in order. I may not work with numbers, but having influenced by parents' need for detail, and their most preferred line "a black & white" due to their line of profession (a mechanical design engineer & an accounted clerk, I say this is a no-no in banking.

Then there's the CG of the movie. It sucks. Notice how fake the eye balls and the hand of the old lady. One wonders if the old lady is a robot! Freddie Kruger has more realistic scars and what nots that. The story line is not really realistic in a way. Something is just missing. For example she's a vegan, OK. But is being a volunteer at a puppy shelter got anything to do with being a vegan? DUH!?! Don't get me wrong, but it just sends out the wrong signals. I love animals, even own dogs for that matter but I eat meat.....

So apart from being shocked & surprised, being scared on a scale of 1 to 10.... Well, for me it'll be a 3.

So I'll have to stop being a critique for this movie here, as to not to offend any Gypsy old lady who would give me the Lamia curse!! *shivers


As far as curses are concern, I come from a country where black magic/dark arts are practiced. That doesn’t mean that I totally believe in them and it also doesn't mean that I don't believe it exits. It does but then again, if one leads a correct path of life to the Almighty and do not offend any persons (by being arrogant, cheat, lie etc), I don't believe that curses will work on these people. But I do believe that the person who puts a curse on others will get what is waiting for them later.... What goes around comes around. By the way, people who dabble with curses/black magic etc are playing with fire while adding more oil onto the fire.

Neighbourhood Patchwork Expo

Happy dance...

I was quite surprised to received a flier saying that it'll be in a school cafeteria, running for a week starting from the 16th till 24th October . Since the school (middle school) is just basically across the street, I decided to go have a look.

And turn....

And SMILE!!

Its free entrance (YAY!) and all the lovely work done are made by a regional patchwork club. the lady at the entrance I think was quite taken by me as I was the only Asian there and she kept on asking me if I'm into quilting etc etc... I told her that I'm just a beginner trying to learn the ropes from books and "sifus" at NNC! LOL! Told her as well, it was an enriching experience having to frog and redo some (well a lot) of blocks on Owens' quilt. Took me ages but I did finish it in time for winter.... LOL!

The patchwork/quilts were sooooo...... LOVELY! There aren't words to describe them. The use of other materials like beads, feathers, organza, wool and ribbons were really what made some pieces stand out in terms of theme. There's two with Japanese theme, teapots, scissors, African, flowers, reflections..... I would say about 80% of them were hand quilted! I mean WOW! I don't think I can spend all my attention hand quilting a piece. I don't have that kind of "stamina", if you know what I mean....

Then there's this particular piece with miniature flowers that were actually hand sewed! Man, I am just lost for words with the attention to details that lady has. There's one thing though, I didn't know that one could piece together using metallic threads... And also by using variate colour threads... Hmmm, I learnt something today! ;)

As with most art expos, there are bound to be some pieces being put on sale. But the question is how do you put a price in a piece that take long hours of pin pricks and painstakingly put together? There's one GIANT quilt (about 173x220cm) is selling for CHF3500.-!!!

And BTW, I didn't go with Owen. God knows he'll be running around, touching those lovely pieces and as if we weren't poor enough, mummy has to fork out a fortune to buy a piece that he solid with his grubby hands! *shivers

So instead after my walk around quilts, I brought him out to walk amongst the falling autumn leaves and to the park. He had fun making noises while walking (or rather stomping) on them. Then he picked up some leaves and start dancing around with them! LOL! It was fun watching him having fun....

PS: FOR FULL PHOTO REPORT PLEASE CLICK HERE!

The end of De Fil en Aiguille?

Just got news that my favourite mag is closing shop (thanks Rose of NNC!). Its so SAD!! So I went to look up on other French bloggers to see if its true. Here's a letter from the editor herself to a French blogger :

http://clarelis.canalblog.com/archives/2009/10/07/15337128.html

This is a copy/paste thing, please use the Google translator...

A nos chères lectrices,

Toute la rédaction a appris la semaine dernière (à notre grande surprise) que nous étions en cessation de paiement.

Nous avons, pendant 12 ans, essayé de donner le meilleur de nous même à nos lectrices, et avons toujours fait ce métier avec passion.

Nous savons peu de choses sur notre avenir : la direction nous a informé qu'un liquidateur judiciaire allait reprendre les comptes de la société et c'est lui qui prendra désormais toutes les décisions.

Croyez bien que nous sommes toutes désespérées de cette situation pour nos lectrices, et pour toute la grande famille de passionnées du fils que nous étions.

Depuis que la nouvelle s'est propagée, nous avons reçu un certain nombre de témoignages de soutien, de compréhension, très chaleureux, de la part de nos lectrices. Nous en sommes très touchées et chacun d'eux nous va droit au coeur

Merci encore pour votre fidélité et encore une fois, croyez bien que nous sommes navrées d'avoir ce sentiment "d'abandonner brutalement" nos lectrices contre notre volonté.

Sophie BESTER (rédactrice en chef) et Judith DESSONS (rédactrice en chef adjointe)

Looks like I'm gonna have to look for another cross stitching mag to buy from now on. So sad that its such a sudden end to a 12 years running magazine. Its even worst I think for the employees and designers attached to the mag, that the directors of the company decide just to drop the bomb. I hope subcribers could get their refund....

Here's one kept mag that I find quite good. Main & Merveilles by Les Editions de Saxe, its a little bit more expensive than DFA. Why I like it? Partly its because there's Isabelle Haccourt-Vautier (French XS designer). I love her charts... ;) BTW, to those following Isabelle's mystery sampler chart, there's part 5 and 6 out now for down load. Any one wants to do a RR on that?