Brazil

Not the country, Terry Gilliam's film, which ADC and I watched tonight. ADC has seen it before, but apparently the American (truncated) version, as opposed to the European (director's cut) we saw on Netflix. This was the first time I watched it, although I think I must have seen clips from it, as the first scene at the records department seemed very familiar.

I won't go into the plot, such as it is, as the atmosphere is much more important (and I am really tired). I guess Brazil was an important influence on steampunk (eumelia, help me out here), with all the exposed ducts and the Enigma-style computer consoles. Definitely not surprised to discover that the planned title was 1984 and 1/2, as the comparison with Orwell's book and Fellini's film are obvious. I was intrigued how similar the design was to Quadrophenia, which is very much set in the (then) real world - the workers at the Department of Information dress very similarly to those at the advertising firm in which Jimmy works. And Robert deNiro was clearly having a great time - an early version of his Captain Shakespeare character from Stardust, I thought.

Has anyone else seen a good movie recently? We are coming tothe end of our wishlist on streaming. 

Last day of school

Today was the last day of elementary and middle school in Mayland. Since A has finished 8th grade and S has finished 5th grade, today was devoted to their promotion ceremonies - a new usage to me, BTW. I had not previously run across "promotion" in this sense. I would have just said "finished primary school" and/or "finished junior high".

Anyway, we split up, with ADC attending A's ceremony (12:30-14:00) and me attending S's (11:30-12:30, clap-out at 15:15). It sounds as if both ceremonies were very similar: the children marched in, speeches by the principal and student representatives, a musical number, prizes, names of each student read by homeroom teacher. A's ceremony, from his report, was of course more elaborate, with a PowerPoint with pictures of all the children and a short film with all the teachers wishing them luck. The TPMS principal apparently spent her day going to various promotion ceremonies, elementary schools in the morning and the middle school in the afternoon. S received his certificate in his classroom. While everyone was milling around before the children had a picnic lunch (parents were sent home and returned to clap the mortarboard-wearing children out of school at the end of the day), I took pictures of S and his teacher and best friends on my cell phone. I hope they are viewable. ADC said the same for his pictures of A's ceremony, taken on a real camera and by a far better photographer.

On another note entirely, I spent my free minutes today and yesterday crafting: I finally finished my Tofino shorts, which I decided to lengthen by adding a cuff (just in time to go rafting tomorrow), and I swatched my next Miette cardigan. It seemed oddly appropriate to be knitting while watching Brazil. Very excitingly, when I logged into Ravelry, I saw I had a message from the designer of the baby blanket I knitted for my latest neice, asking permission to feature my project on the pattern's main page. Admittedly, I knitted the blanket in December, but only added the pictures (again, ADC must be credited) a few days ago. What a compliment!