Friday night, I was at work a little after 5 when the heavens opened and there was a deluge. As I finished up my meeting around 6, a flash flood warning went out. That lasted until 9:30!

Now, I live quite a ways from work and do not mess around with flash floods, so I got my lunch leftovers out of the fridge as I contemplated what to do for 3 hours. Having completed 5 whole days in a row of being a respectable human after Sydney passed away and arriving at work at 7:30am that morning, I was fried.

I had a thought. You know what I can do with 3 hours? See that movie I had absolutely no interest in seeing in the theater because I didn’t have 3 hours to kill. Evidently, I do. A theater is walking distance from my office so I checked movie times at 6:30pm. There was a 6:30 showing with seats. The 7 and 7:30 were sold out.

All of a sudden (probably 6:31), I couldn’t buy a ticket online. I knew Alamo doesn’t allow late seating and courtesy of The Husband, I also knew that there were a ton of previews before this film, so I grabbed my umbrella and sprint walked through the pouring rain, prepared to beg Alamo to sell me a ticket.

My request, “May I please have a ticket for the 6:30 Endgame showing?” was met with “No, I can’t sell you a ticket for 6:30.” Crestfallen, I asked, “Really? Because I got stuck at work and it’s flash flooding until 9:30 and the next 2 showings are sold out.” I was trying not to whine as she suggested I hang out in the bar. The gentleman over her shoulder interjected, “Yes, you can. Show her the available seats.”

She complied with a graceful, “It’s my third day. I’m still in training.” I thanked them profusely, resisted lunging over the counter to hug the pair of them and practically skipped away with my ticket.

I hit the restroom and happily plopped myself in my seat 30 seconds before “NO TALKING. NO TEXTING. NO LATE SEATING.” blared from the screen. I smiled in triumph and picked up the pen to order my popcorn.

As I settled in, I realized the lower half of my jeans were wet and I was a little chilly. Thankfully, I was wearing wool socks so my feet were warm and I drank hot water with lemon to keep me toasty. I consumed 2 teapots full of hot water.

If you’ve done the math, you realize that 2 teapots of water and a 3 hour film means I’m gonna need to duck out at some point. This is where being a writer came in handy. When Thanos began his Villain’s Speech, I recognized it and ran to the restroom. When I got back, he was still talking. Winning!!!

I cried 4 times during this film. They weren’t all sad tears so that’s not a spoiler. I have to be honest. I think the fertility meds. contributed because I’m not one to cry at Marvel movies, or DC movies for that matter. On the other hand, the All is Lost moment was well done. I think learning to write is changing the way I watch movies forever. At least one of the times I cried was related to Stan Lee and one was related to a quote that triggered a Sydney memory.

Overall, I enjoyed the film and it didn’t feel like it lasted 3 hours and there was a fair bit of knitwear. We’ll get to that in a moment.

I’m finally a Captain America fan. I’ve lost count of how many movies that took. Kudos to the writing team on this one.

~SPOILERS AHEAD~
I found the way they portrayed Thor distracting and could have done without it. My brain kept asking, “is this bad CGI?”. I suppose it’s important to address mental health issues that might occur after half the people on Earth disappear in the last film, but if you’re going to have a character that’s depressed, maybe don’t have his sensitive mom make a crack about him needing to eat a salad?

Apropos of nothing, I was hoping for a Loki resurrection. It was nice to see him for a bit during the time travel.
~END SPOILERS~
The Knitting of Endgame:

Someone’s daughter was wearing an adorable stranded cardigan with swans around the yoke. I can’t tell you whose kid she is because that would be a spoiler. I can tell you the little actress is every bit as charming as her sweater.

Mark Ruffalo is wearing a plain gray shawl collared cardigan in one scene that seems quite cozy. Course it’s not nearly as delicious as the gorgeous navy cabled cardigan Chris Hemsworth is sporting at one point. I know he’s attractive and I wouldn’t kick him out of bed for eating crackers, but I gotta tell you, I’d shove him right out of the way if it meant I could take that sweater home with me.

It has me dreaming of knitting one, but I loathe working with dark yarn.

Note to self: Buy lamp.

*I stayed until they brought the house lights up to get this shot without disturbing others.

Tags: alamo drafthouse, Avengers, Endgame, knitting, knitting movie review, movie review, sock knitting, the alamo drafthouse

Turns out at least one person reads this blog….and they commented as to how I haven’t posted a full on knitting movie review in a while. Since I take my fans very seriously, I spent last weekend watching movies. See if you can spot the theme.

CHIPS
Ya’ll, Dax Shepard wrote, directed and starred in this movie. He’s officially a triple threat. Michael Pena was talking trash about Dax needing his name on everything so Dax stunt drove for the car chase scene towards the beginning of the film and the credits now read Stunt Driver for Michael Pena: Dax Shepard. This movie is funny and the story and action are solid enough to watch it over and over again. I don’t want to blaspheme, but it reminds me of Bad Boys.

That said, now I need to address a serious issue I had with this movie…the facial hair (SPOILERS AHEAD).

The two stereotypically hot actors (Josh Duhamel and Adam Brody) had gross mustaches in this movie. Adam Brody is one of my biggest celebrity crushes and all I could think was, “just no”. I’m sure the filmmakers were doing some kind of retro mustache tribute, but…..not everyone can pull off a mustache like Tom Selleck. Veto. I also wonder if Dax Shephard was looking to be the hottest guy on set? In which case, well played, Dax.


However, he overlooked the drugged out son sporting an “i forgot to shave for a couple days” beard which is pretty much my ideal facial hair. I blame Indiana Jones (and 17 years with The Husband who likes to sport the short beard). I don’t know who was in charge of making Justin Chatwin (you may recall him as Jimmy from Shameless) look like a druggie, but they could have committed a little more. His mussed hair and fresh beard were perfection, so he looked like maybe he’d just been up super late at a knitting slumber party the night before.

Man up
I wasn’t sure I could buy Simon Pegg as the leading man in a rom. com. and he totally pulled it off. Must be the beard. This movie was cute, funny, and all around enjoyable. I’ve no idea why I didn’t watch it sooner.

Bonus: Lake Bell is sporting a nice cream colored knit hat with a pom pom. What do we think? Seed Stitch? I dig it!













Beauty and the Beast
My expectations were low. This film exceeded them. If you enjoyed the animated version, I think you’ll like this movie…unless you have to watch it more than once. In which case, I’m sorry.

Don’t kill me, but I would have preferred the Beast actor to have darker hair and 2 days of beard growth. The transition from Beast to clean shaven and blonde was too drastic for me. Anyone else on that boat?

Everybody Loves Somebody
I was all set to watch a nice run of the mill rom. com. when we realized this movie needed subtitles. But, not all the time. It was half in Spanish and half in English, so I ended up having to read all the subtitles because by the time I realized it was Spanish, I’d missed it. Overall, the movie was cute, and not half bad. I have to comment that Ben O’Toole is a hell of an actor. (SPOILER ALERT) To the degree that I actually wondered at one point if his wife had died in real life. (END SPOILER)

If you’re bilingual, I think you’d enjoy this film quite a bit. If the filmmakers want to manage expectations, they need to dub it in English or go back to the original title, Todos queremos a alguien.

The Spirit of Christmas
A friend of mine has recently discovered the guilty pleasure that is the sappy holiday romances. She summarizes them this way, “There’s a girl and she’s some kind of high powered professional that’s not into Christmas and the guy is a sweet hometown boy or a Christmas-loving widower and she has to sell off his factory/inn/home only he helps her realize the true meaning of Christmas and they live happily ever after. Sometimes he’s returning from war or maybe a cute kid is looking for a new mom/dad and if you’re really lucky, there’s a puppy.”

Jen Lilley sported a red cabled sweater, a cozy plain gray cardigan, a purpley blue cabled hat and a wine colored cowl-necked sweater during this film. I only noticed some of these. Probably because I’m knitting a cable pattern myself.



















No one is winning an Academy award for these films, but if you’re in the mood for Christmas romance, The Christmas Spirit will deliver and of course, it doesn’t hurt that our leading man (Thomas Beaudoin) is sporting a great beard.

Tags: Adam Brody, Beauty and the Beast, Ben O'Toole, Chips, Dax Shepard, Emma Watson, Everybody Loves Somebody, Jen Lilley, Justin Chatwin, Karla Souza, knitting movie review, Lake Bell, Man Up, Michael Pena, Simon Pegg, The Spirit of Christmas, Thomas Beaudoin

L and I took Friday off to tackle waiting in line for Franklin’s BBQ. We planned to play it by ear given the rain forecast and are not hard core enough to stand in the rain for hours before they open. (Knitting while holding an umbrella is not feasible.) We both live a bit north of Austin, so by the time we realized (via Twitter) that the line might be substantial, there was nothing to be done, but see it in person. We arrived around 10:45 and solidified that the people who say that rain keeps people away tell lies. all lies.

As advertised, there was a line monitor. We overheard him tell the couple in front of us that it was going to be 3pm before they ordered, then he left and we considered abandoning the game. But, we dutifully waited our turn. He showed back up, handed them a piece of colored paper and told them they were the last people guaranteed brisket. L and I exchanged glances as he approached us. He stated that we’d be getting to the front of the line at 3pm and we might get brisket but were not guaranteed. At that point I pretty much stopped listening and Lisa was halfway to the car as he followed up with the kicker, “I can offer you chopped beef?” Almost in synch, we said something to the effect of “um, no. Thank you!” as we bolted. You want us to wait 4 hours in line in the rain without knitting for chopped beef?!? hell, no. The people in line behind us drove in from Dallas, so we were only too happy to increase their brisket chances by bailing. L and I could not stop laughing and did appreciate that in the end, the choice was easy.

We stowed the umbrella and headed to Alamo Drafthouse – Village for Pitch Perfect 2. As we settled into the cozy dry seats, we realized how hungry we were and were thankful we were on the same page and could laugh about our Franklin fail. We’ll try again on a sunnier non-Friday.

I’d not seen Pitch Perfect, but liked the previews for Pitch Perfect 2, so I was pumped to see it. I enjoyed the music, the laughs, the company, the vibe of the audience (seeing it on opening day was a good call) and my Royale with cheese. I cannot recall when I’ve seen more net shirts in a movie, but the whole thing was good fun and I’ll watch it again.

After the movie, we hit Honey Bee Quilts because they close at 5 on Fridays and I wanted to do some browsing. I like the idea of hand quilting and plan to learn to use a machine more proficiently this summer, so it’s motivating to scope out inspiring fabrics.

Next, we swung into Coyote Yarns. She has a nice selection of Dale of Norway patterns, especially baby ones if you’re interested and many workhorse yarns. I noticed some grape colored Cash Vero DK that would make a nice baby sweater if you’ve a mind. But, as I generally stick to socks, I didn’t find anything I needed.

Overall, it was a perfect Friday and I look forward to Franklin’s BBQ – Take 2 with L.

Tags: Coyote Yarns, Franklin's BBQ, Honey Bee Quilts, Pitch Perfect 2