Dead Geraniums

Recent Netflix views

1) Everything Must Go (3/5)

This is a recent one with Will Ferrell in a (mostly) serious role. Stranger Than Fiction is one of my top 5 movies, so I was excited to see this one. It was okay. It’s about an alcoholic who comes home to find his wife left him, the locks changed, and all his stuff’s in the front yard. A few funny moments and not a total bummer, but I didn’t love it.

2) Wendy and Lucy (3/5)

This one stars Michelle Williams as a drifter whose car breaks down and her dog goes missing. Reviewers said it was slow, and it is, but I felt like it was a pretty believable character study. Every time I read a Kerouac book, I feel like bumming my way across the country. If nothing else, this movie makes me realize it’s not very glamorous at all.

3) Kurt Cobain: About a Son (3/5)

I’m not a Nirvana fan, but this film is a series of audio interviews played over  scenes from in and around Seattle. I’ve visited Seattle several times and even toyed with the idea of moving there. The interviews with Cobain are interesting, but the videos of the Pacific Northwest make me wonder if it wouldn’t be too depressing to live there. I do like cloudy weather, but…probably not every day.

4) The Off Hours (3/5)

Reviewers didn’t seem to like it, but I gave it a chance. It’s about a promiscuous waitress in a small town in Oregon who’d like to leave but isn’t very motivated either. It’s another fairly slow-moving character study that felt pretty genuine and held my interest. I don’t necessarily relate to her, but I got some insight into an unfamiliar, yet common, type of person.

5) Chop Shop (5/5)

This is probably my least favorite of the three Ramin Bahrani movies I’ve seen, but it’s the only one streaming on Netflix right now and it’s still great. I’d describe his movies as fly-on-the-wall dramas. It’s fictional, but it feels like a documentary where the cameraman is invisible. It’s like an all-access, yet outside, look at an everyday person you never pay attention to. These movies don’t glorify the working man at all, they just make you pay attention to them for the first time. I like Man Push Cart and Goodbye Solo even better, but all three really blow me away. 

6) Portlandia (3/5)

I don’t have cable, so I haven’t seen this show until now. I spent a week in the hipster-y part of Seattle (okay, it’s all pretty hipster-y) and that was enough to know how much this show rings true. It’s not uproariously funny, but it’s growing on me. I’ll be sure to watch the second season once it goes on Netflix.

7) Festival Shorts Collection (3/5 or 5/5)

The collection overall is only okay, but the short entitled “El Gran Zambini” is amazing. No dialogue and almost no facial expressions, it starts slow but tells a great story in only 15 minutes. And the ending is killer.

8) The Fighter (3/5)

Meh. The last part of the last fight scene got me pumped up, but the rest of it just seemed to follow a very familiar story arc. The acting was good, but the story didn’t do much for me, even though it’s based on a true story.

9) A Very Long Engagement (4/5)

This stars Audrey Tautou from “Amelie,” which is one of my favorites. It’s a little long, but it looks good and has a nice story. Recommended.

10) Dark Days (4/5)

This is a great documentary about homeless people in New York who live in an abandoned subway tunnel. It’s amazing to see how normal they are, they just happen to live in squalor. Highly recommended.

11) Meek’s Cutoff (3/5) (spoiler alert)

This is another Michelle Williams movie based on a true story of some settlers on the Oregon trail who tried to take a shortcut but got lost. It’s pretty slow and ends before you find out whether or not they made it out. History gives the answer, and I think maybe the director just wanted to focus solely on the settler’s uncertainty. It’s decent, but not great. 

There doesn’t seem to be a ton of great stuff streaming on Netflix right now, but maybe you’ll find some of these to be interesting. Please send your suggestions, too, if you have any.

sawdustanddaisies asked: Hello Scott! I'm Ashley. I also do some woodworking, but my projects don't turn out nearly as impressive as yours have. Incredible--good job!!

Hello, Ashley, and thanks! I can think of a dozen or so things wrong with that table, but my dad liked it, and I won’t make those mistakes again. Just have fun and keep getting better.  

Hello.

Since I posted my last two woodworking projects, I’ve gotten quite a few followers, whereas before I had maybe two. 

Hello, my name’s Scott.

Thanks for looking at/liking the stuff I make. Generally, they have no audience other than the person receiving them, but I post pictures anyway to make a little scrapbook of how I spend my free time.

By trade, I’m a copywriter at an ad agency. If you’re curious, the only similarity between my job and Mad Men is that clients do, in fact, shoot down ideas for no apparent reason. 

I’m afraid I’d be too lazy to keep an Etsy store stocked, but if, by any chance, you’d like me to build something for you, feel free to ask. 

I got into leathercraft because of Teppei at Truman Handcrafted, so be sure to check out his store. I’ve also found Matt at Wood & Faulk to be a great inspiration for building stuff, as he often posts step-by-step instructions for his projects. He has a store, too, so check it out.

That’s pretty much it. Ask me something if you’re curious. If you’re not, just wait for the next wood or leather object to appear in your dashboard. Thanks either way.

Cheers,

S