chezmax

I still have various small things to get as part of the reno -- towels, plates, flatware, glassware. I have sheets that I got on Boxing Day sale.

One of my goals is to harmonize with the colour palette of the designers, particularly by avoiding pure white or silver. This is easier in some things but for flatware a challenge: everyone just assumes nickel forks in either satin or shiny. The Crate and Barrel empire to the rescue: across their various brands, they offer "satin gold" and "brushed black" as options. Today I lean towards CB2's "Rebbio", but there's still time to change my mind.

For plates, I find the IKEA GLADELIG the most appealing option so far. The deep blue glaze is great, but even for stoneware it still feels a bit...cheap? Too light, maybe? I'll have to think about this some more.

Glasses are glasses, I'll pick some up somewhere. Ye olde 10.5oz rocks glass is what I think of when I say "drinking glass", and finding something in a smoked grey or even a colour instead of plain clear is not hard.

One thing I have no idea where to go for is towels. Simons, maybe.

And a mattress, too. I guess I could try one of the mattress-in-a-box options. Last time I had to do this I took my own pillow to Sleep Country and wound up buying the first one I tried (after trying something like eight more to confirm my choice).

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) edition.

I recall seeing this when it came out, but that almost certainly would have been on home video, so in the year 2000. The past really was a different time: Rene Russo gets chat about this movie still for having the audacity to show the goods at 45. Just like drinking green juice, that was out there for 1999.

That aside, the rest is well-done. The cinematography in particular is cleverly cut at several points, the soundtrack is good (despite being a little late-90s synth heavy), the mains all have at least a little depth to them (props to Denis Leary for a restrained performance). The heist relies a little strongly on "magic" to happen in the end, but I'm willing to forgive.

For some reason I have never forgotten the detail about matching paintings by their edges, and the film's use of Magritte's The Son of Man also left an impression.

Anyhow, 4/4. Brosnan was at the height of his power here even if his Glasgow accent was implausible (why not make Crown from Ulster?).

One thing about watching a lot of woodworking content on YouTube is coming to realize how useless the shop classes I had in school were. They could have taught basic stuff like how to use a handsaw, elementary chiselling, when to predrill screws, maybe a little basic joinery, planes and/or mortise and tenon for advanced students, but no... instead (as I recall) we were largely left to our own devices with little guidance or instruction and a pile of dogshit knotty pine.

I mean, look at this:

Inside of eight minutes, Paul Sellers rips down what must be at least 15 inches of pine on an angle, barely touching his sawblade to keep it straight, comes off his line but in a way that doesn't matter, pops out huge chunks with only a chisel (no hammer!), measures by dead reckoning, and then mounts a box perfectly square. Now that's skill.