Skip to main content

Silent night...

I haven't done much this week to be honest, as on Tuesday I had to go out for the day for something potentially important. I did however manage to finish the latest cross stitch. I changed it up a little, so I thought I would show you what it should have looked like compared to my finished piece. First, the original...



And here is mine. I'll be honest, the colours are different because I didn't have the ones needed, but I have so many other threads I thought a substitution would work.

It's not as pastel as the original is it? Personally I prefer the colours on mine for the most part, but I am not the recipient, just the stitcher, so only time will tell.

sound of honky tonk,
a story in black and white,
no words are spoken

This week's 'thing' was silent movies. I actually borrowed a couple, but so far this week (busy week!) I have only managed to watch one. The one I chose to watch first was Metropolis, by Fritz Lang.

For those who haven't seen it, it's a tale of interclass relationships, uprising against the upper classes, a rich 'boy' who realises the error of his ways when he chases a woman he fancies, a slightly nutty professor, with a few disasters and robots thrown in for good measure.

The first thing I will say is that it is a lot harder watching a silent movie than what we watch nowadays. The simple fact is, with audio you have the ability to look away, yet still keep up with the storyline. Look away at the wrong moment in a silent movie, and you could miss something crucial. It's amazing in this particular film to see the scale of some scenes, and the effects. This was in the 1920's, before CGI could whip up a crowd at a moment's notice, so every person who is there is actually there. Maria the robot is flawless in effect, and the woman who played both the human and gynoid versions was a fantastic actress to portray the vast alteration of persona for the false 'maria'. The acting may seem a little hammy to people watching it now, but they had to overact in order to portray the emotions they were feeling without words. Sure, there are a few words put onto the screen for important parts of the plot, but for the most part the actors had to rely on portraying what they needed to without that which we hold so dear. Interestingly, Hitler was so impressed with Fritz Lang as a director that he requested he make Nazi propaganda films for him. Mr Lang disappeared the very next day, running away rather than working with the Nazi's.

Sorry for the small post this week, I hope to make a few more things next week.

Ems



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Milestone birthday

Not mine, but an uncle, who turned 60 this week. I made a card using some tim holtz dies. I quite like the colours I used for the skull, gives him an aged quality.  I've also been working on the stitch. Here's the latest update  Still looks a bit of a mess at the bottom with no discernible images, but it'd getting closer to what it should be with every stitch.  Until next time Ems

What to do when you hit a wall?

Sorry guys, this is gonna be another pic-lite one. This is for two reasons. The first is because I decided to be a complete idiot the other day and crack my head open on the door at work, so I have to take things easy for a couple of days. The second is strange. I woke up the other day and it was as if someone had flipped a switch. All of the self-confidence that I had built up through my crafting over the last year has disappeared - just like that. I've spent the large majority of my life thinking that I am not good enough; in what I do, what I say, in short, in who I am. With crafts I was finally starting to believe in myself. So it is very hard at the moment, as I feel that I am right back at square one. I am hoping that this is temporary, and that I will soon feel myself again. I have to remind myself that I am very early in my crafting journey, and there are bound to be bumps along the way. I am aware that it is probably linked to my current state of high anxiety, as susta...

Drawering a crowd

So, this week I've done something a little different. This is before... This is after.... Obviously there's two of them! These are my mums bedside drawers, which are over 30 years old and now have a new lease of life.  I've also been working on the stitch. 31% down now. Until next time Ems