(I was) watching: In Cold Blood (1967). This is a movie that I always think of as being "pretty good" until I see it again and remember that it's actually "pretty amazing". I mean, how many times can you watch a crime film? The mystery is gone after the first go-round, and why would you subject yourself to all that trauma over and over again? Right?
In Cold Blood is the answer. I need to just buy this on DVD. Personally, I like the acting. I can't speak to their accuracy, obviously, but I think the characters are believable and interesting, human but scary. However, even if they don't like the characters, everyone (over a certain age) needs to see this for the fimmaking.
I found out recently that the first film to use free-standing pop music (that is, not written as an orchestral score for the movie or as custom songs for a musical film) was Easy Rider (1969). I think I'm glad that In Cold Blood was made before this because I think that, if anything, this is the one movie I've seen that could do with less music. It's a movie about at least one, and possibly two, sociopaths--the bleak, wide-angle cinematography (which absolutely deserved the Oscar), unforgiving high-contrast lighting, and detached, no-histrionics, storytelling are perfect. The background music is fine, but I think that actual songs might have suggested ideas and emotions that would have interfered with the film.
There are films that do not, or did not, need to be remade--Psycho, of course, and I'm gearing up to avoid the comedic bastardization of The Rats of NIMH--and this was one. The TV adaptation is not the worst thing I've ever seen but it is not art. This is art.
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I'm just squeezing this in between projects since I have Butterick 4948 out already:
This was inspired by the 1920's Hallowe'en novelty dresses I've seen online. Those are usually orange with black appliques of cats, moons, witches, etc., and I think some of them may have been crepe paper, but whatever. I might wear this not-just-for-Hallowe'en, but it's pretty ridiculous.
A friend gave me this skeleton fabric years ago and I've held off using it for anything (the skull lace was ordered off of Etsy):
I wasn't sure I'd have enough fabric so I planned to alter the pattern for a lower skirt panel and a bodice yoke. As it turns out, I have enough, but it's so busy I stuck with the two-tone plan. It will probably only have one row of lace on the skirt, though, since the lace is pretty wide:
Skull buttons, also from Etsy:
I re-drew the pattern with an pared-down version of the extended shoulder line borrowed from one of my 1948 patterns. This shoulder was the in thing in 1948-1949:
So far:
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