The Capture of the Green River Killer (2008)

The Capture of the Green River Killer chronicles the investigation that ultimately led to the arrest of Gary Ridgeway. What really got Ridgeway was the DNA evidence. Go technology!

So so. It interested me enough that I watched the whole two part series and it was loonngg. It dragged on, much like how the real investigation dragged on close to the two decades mark. It has Tom Cavanagh, so that was a plus.

All those scenes of Cavanagh burning the midnight oil was inspiring. I was drifting off, while I watched, that an academic life is probably the best for me. I'm an introvert, and might as well take advantage of my natural inclinations.

Cosmetic Wish List

Today marks the end of my month of not buying any cosmetic products. I celebrated it by purchasing something I soon regretted. More on that later, but now, I got a wish list. I'm obsessed with travel sized stuff.

I've long wanted wanted a travel stippling brush. Japonesque brand is significantly cheaper than MAC, but it's so hard to find. I'll have to purchase it online.

I'm still in search for a L'Oreal True Match that actually matches. Oh the irony. Currently, I have the sun beige and it does not match. Next time I'm going to purchase it at a store where it's returnable (if it doesn't match); plus bring my costlier Smashbox foundation, which is a perfect match, for comparison. Brilliant.

A lovely travel cosmetic bag. I can't afford Paul & Joe cosmetics, but I can't help it. Urban Outfitters is the only place I know that carry Paul & Joe, and P&J even got this cosmetic binder. It's dreamy.

The Retro Show

So I was watching French Food at Home again, and she finally made something that looks like ghastly aspic. She put half an egg inside it. Now, I'm sort of interested. It looks similar to this ...

(photo:Joanne Witt)

It's part of her retro episode, which reminds me of A. Bourdain in his New York City episode where he's in an old school French restaurant, filled with old timers elegantly ruining their lungs and livers.

Like the simple idea of the crispy toasts that went with her aspicy thing. The edges of the triangular toast were dipped in cold clarified butter and then dipped in parsley or something green so they had buttery green edges. I salivate to this.

Looker (1981)

(photo:dvdbeaver)

A thriller, with a social commentary on the objectification of women in advertisement, by making film objectifying woman. Oh and Michael Crichton. It makes sense then.

It was dumb. I'm still not sure what the whole point of killing the models ... because obviously, authorities were bound to find out something fishy was going on. I watched it for the oh so 80s vibes of it.

Australian Story: Right As Rain (2009)

An update on Peter Andrews work on dealing with soil erosion, water issues, etc. in Australia. He's a wanted man now. Even the Middle East wants him; something about greening the desert.

I liked it. It's more drama and human aspect of Andrews' dealings with water conservation, etc. Going online to his site Natural Sequence Farming held more information, even slides. All that stuff he's been doing makes sense intuitively. I'm reminded of a lecture I watched about developing swampy riparian areas is so much harder now that scientists and government officials in the US, realize the significant effect wet lands have in lessening the effects of flooding, storms, hurricanes, etc.

There are other videos I watched, mostly unofficial and readily available online, about Peter Andrews that I like. He increases the ground surface which water flows through. Does this by placing tree limbs and rocks as obstacles in course the stream, therefore slowing the downward speed of the water. Take the energy out of the water, so it can sink in. Such simple placements, with dramatic effect.

Dirt: The Erosion of Civilization

Talk by Dr. David Montgomery at Nicholas School at Duke University, 2010.

I didn't like it, mainly due to the fact the lecture involved the speaker referring to slides that weren't shown. I think the slides would definitely kept me from getting sleepy. Yale, Standard, Berkeley have better lectures online. Suck it Duke.

Montgomery used Greek as his example. Yeah I know it was only 50 minutes, but I wanted more details.  I'm interested enough in soil erosion to maybe even read his book. I'll put it on my list.

Mesopotamia: Return to Eden (1995)

Mesopotamia - Return to Eden is part of the series Time Life's Lost Civilizations. Unlike other documentaries I've watched on Mesopotamia, this had a theme connecting Bible passages to actual events and places, leading up to the search for Eden.

I liked it.  I felt, for some reason, melancholy after watching. Something spiritual. Of losing the garden, and hence losing paradise and innocence. Man within nature, becomes man outside of nature.  Gilgamesh's story is very much like Adam's. The snake in the paradise that is Dilmun. The snake steals away the flower that bestows immortality, and so Gilgamesh had to leave the garden to die. There's speculation Dilmun must have been Bahrain. There are humans bones there, leaving evidence of bigger, healthier humans, living in lush paradise.

I can't help but think of agriculture, ecological degradation, permaculture. Humanity's awareness of itself, coinciding with the rise of agriculture. Agriculture giving the stability for the rise of civilization, and with civilization, is humanity's growing awareness of itself. It is the apple bitten, the flower taken.

The Sumerians and other ancient people were very religious. Then and now, people aspire for eternity. Our minds being able to plan and predict, something very few animals can do. And with this, we can predict our own demise. With our eyes open, there's sadness in the knowledge, that this will also end. And the grand burial chambers and hoards of all the great mighty ancient kings, merely showed their vulnerability, because they too feared of being taken back to the eternity of nonexistence.

Iraq, The Cradle of Civilization (1991)

Part of Legacy: The Origins of Civilization. The documentary made around the first Gulf War, highlighting comparison of present Iraq and earlier Mesopotamia. Focuses on the Sumers as opposed to later inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia.

I liked it. I've been on this obsession to learn more about the effects of earlier forms of agriculture on the land. The facts are not pretty. It ties in with what I heard from lectures by either Michael Pollan or Toby Hemenway, as well as Geoff Lawton's projects close to the Dead Sea.

Interested in its demise of the ancient Sumerians, due to ecological degradation. Why is the Fertile Crescent so not fertile? Earlier methods of farming and irrigation had laid waste to the land, making it too saline for agriculture. It made most things impossible to grow, and so the desert took over. When the wheat could no longer tolerate the salted land, barley was grown, until barley too could no longer grow. If anything, it showed me the fragility of civilization. No matter how eminent it may seem, the factors to its demise (irrationality, arrogance, greed, ignorance) is ever present.

The Rag Nymph (1997)

(photo:GenevieveValentine)

Millie's prostitute mother gets taken in by an evil pimp, resulting in mother committing suicide. She's left in the care of a woman who sells rags for a living named Aggie. Also living with Aggie is a teenage hunchback Ben. Even as a little girl, evil pimp can see potential in Millie, and so the ever lurking danger of getting kidnapped leads Aggie to sends her away to be educated. After her schooling, she has a stint being a governess. She gets invited to a servant's party, where she meets a young gentlemen, Bern, played by the man famous for playing Mr. Bingley.

I didn't like this. I cheated and watched the last four minutes or so and didn't like the ending, and decided not to watch the rest. Millie ends up with Ben, which is disgusting. They grew up together. They're practically like brothers and sisters. I found this even more disturbing than the kissing cousins of Mansfield Park, even though the cousins where blood-related. I was more repulsed about Ben's mullet in the second half of the story than the fact he was a hunchback.

I read more about the parts I no longer wanted to watch, and understood why Millie didn't end up with Mr. Bingley, but omfg it's Mr. Bingley. I blame the 1995 Pride & Prejudice  for ruining my cinematic enjoyment.  Considering the harsh gender inequality and general shithole existence of that time, I would have rather been a gentleman's mistress than be his wife. Dignity is overrated.

Favorite part is Aggie screaming after jealous Ben, "No amount of education will straighten that crooked back!" I like it, because that's something my mother would say ... with a straight face.

The Cazalets - Part I (2001)

(photo:PBS)

A large British clan from the upper-class comes to live in their ancestral home during WWII. I've seen the estate in the film used in another show The Black Books. My family doesn't have an ancestral home in the country. I've heard my grandfather sold it. We sort of had one in the city, but a gambling aunt sold it for chum change.

Liked it enough, I might watch the second episode. Liked the character of Clary Cazalets. I wish I was her when I was younger. Zoe Cazalet seems the most complex and developed character and her story was the most engaging. Some of the stories sicken me, but hey, that's life.  I got loads of family that sickens me.

The Secret Diary of Miss Anne Lister (2010)

(photo:BBC)

Her predatory manner not really shone in its full light when it came to her interest with Miss Walker. If made her a more likable character.

Isabella's character largely made up.

Could had more impact by showing the truth, like the documentary was better at portraying Lister as way ahead of her time, or maybe showing Lister and Walker having their private ceremony in an actual church was too much even in today's standards.

Should have shown how their social rank made it impossible for them to be censured.

Antique Writing Boxes

I became intrigued from a Northanger Abbey (2007) film still. Catherine Morland is writing her letter on something I haven't seen before. It's a writing box, popular during the 18th and 19th century, before the advent of typewriters.

(photos:hygra) 

My favorite are Anglo Indian boxes with sadeli mosiac. Boxes can also include locks, for added privacy. I think they are charming. I want one. I'll write my novel on it. Haha.