More bookbinding, several movie reviews

I wrote a few days ago that I'd made a book and some collages. The cover of the book is fabric.

When you glue something you start at the center of the piece, whether it is paper or fabric or leather or cardboard, whatever. And you work the glue into the item in outward strokes, applying some pressure so the glue seeps into its holes, nooks, and crannies. The items will stick better and more evenly if one takes care at this early juncture.

The problem with fabric is that as you press the glue to the edges and beyond, the threads at the edge come apart. The fabric looks like it needs a haircut trim.

I always think that something needs a border. The cover looked unfinished to me. So I added a border. This was a doo-dad that a friend had given me in a box of ephemera. (God bless friends cleaning out their attics!) The color matched and I liked how the circles picked up the circles in the fabric's pattern. I cut up the collages to make bookmarks, lol

I also made  this: it is a single signature, softcover small notebook with a collage on the front.

This is a multiple signature, hard cover with a spine, and a collage on the front.

I've been watching movies each evening. They were all excellent. It is such an advantage to have the internet these days, and I can look up reviews and rating of a film before investing time or money into it. And can switch it off after a few minutes if it's objectionable (Like the tv show satire of politics, Veep, starring Seinfeld alum Julia Louis-Dreyfus politics- CLICK!)

An Unfinished Life, 2005. Starring Jennifer Lopez, Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman. Movie blurb: "A down on her luck woman, desperate to provide care for her daughter, moves in with her father in-law from whom she is estranged. Through time, they learn to forgive each other and heal old wounds."

Beautiful scenery, great acting, understated and moving, nothing objectionable, some scenes of or references to domestic violence, necessary to the plot. One or two curses. Recommended.

The Butler, 2013. Forest Whittaker, Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr, Clarence Williams III, Robin Williams, John Cucack, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Mariah Carey. Based on a  true story. Movie blurb: "As Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society."

Incredible acting, dramatic history, yet despite the thirty year sweep of a most turbulent time in America, a deeply emotional, personal, haunting movie. Nothing objectional, if you discount the racism and actual historical scenes of KKK firebombing kids on a bus...anyway, no terrible language, no nudity. N-word used in historical accuracy. Intimation of rape (off screen), drinking, smoking.

How To Steal A Million, 1966. Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole. Movie blurb: "Romantic comedy about a woman who must steal a statue from a Paris museum to help conceal her father's art forgeries, and the man who helps her."

Two hours, two minutes long. Set in Paris the scenery couldn't be better, except the scenery fades into the background every time Audrey Hepburn appears. Luminous and compelling the woman simply was gorgeous. Her clothes are given by Givenchy, the cars are classic and incredible, and Peter O'Toole couldn't be more handsome and commanding. The story drags a bit in the third act, I skipped ahead 20 minutes with no loss. The Butler is actually ten minutes longer but feels 40 minutes shorter. Needless to say, there is nothing objectionable in the movie with regard to profanity, nudity, or adult situations, discounting the movie's premise, which is a life of crime.

Despicable Me, 2010. Animated. Voices of  Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews. Movie Blurb: "When a criminal mastermind uses a trio of orphan girls as pawns for a grand scheme, he finds their love is profoundly changing him for the better."

Yes it is funny and good and clean. Not even any double entendres that some animated filmmakers put in to keep the adults happy.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1955, black and white. (TV anthology show). TV was clean in 1955. The FCC prohibited "obscene and indecent" material. It still does, but definitions have changed. In one of the early episodes in the 1955 season 1 of AHP, a married couple was depicted as sleeping in separate beds. The wife was later attacked in the episode but there were not even any bruises showing. The angle of the camera, music, and acting had to do the work of what today would simply be a garish visual.

Movie blurb: "Series of unrelated short stories covering elements of crime, horror, drama and comedy about people of different species committing murders, suicides, thefts and other sorts of crime caused by certain motivations; perceived or not."

Hitchcock was intelligent, and the language of his introductions and closing was brilliant. The writing in each episode is also brilliant. And I love the twists. It's an enjoyable 26 minutes.

It's the weekend for all of you who are not on vacation or don't work in education. So...happy weekend!