New poncho in progress

It looks like it's about 1 1/2 inches bigger than the old poncho. Knock on wood that it fits better. It still feels good.

I watched "Talk to Me" last night, a movie with Don Cheadle playing an ex-con named Petey Greene. It was based on a true story. This guy was the voice of black Washington D.C. in the 60's and 70's, and he used the radio to voice his frustrations with the lack of civil rights then, the Vietnam War and other issues. He's credited with keeping Washington from totally destroying itself when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Petey was just cool, y'all.

That movie was awesome! I sat there and watched it from beginning to end, then I watched all the extras that came with it. It had some great black actors I've seen in other movies too, and they were cutting up! Petey was a trip!

Taraji P. Henson played Petey's wife, Vernell. She was sassy and hilarious, and always had Petey's back, except for that one time she caught him cheating. She's also the actress who played Shug in Hustle and Flow. She was awesome in this movie, just strutting her stuff. She's also been in some episodes of Boston Legal.

Then there's Chiwetel Ejiofor (good luck pronouncing that if you haven't learned how already. It's on the DVD. ;-), who played the man who got Petey on the air in his job as producer for WOL radio. Dude hit a range of emotions in his role, and I could identify with him on many levels. He owned his role, too!

The only other thing I wanted to see on the DVD I rented was real life photos of Petey and Dewey and Vernell. That would have been a cool addition to the Extras section of the DVD. Maybe there's more online.

Here's a link to the movie page on IMDB. As much as I love it, I didn't do it justice:

Talk To Me

Don Cheadle's good in everything I've ever seen him in. There are a few movies of his I haven't been able to finish or start watching: "Hotel Rwanda" and the TV movie, "A Lesson Before Dying."

Any movie where black people are being lynched and murdered and raped and beaten and abused are very hard for me to finish, especially when I know the end of somebody's life is coming. Then, I get this hopeless anger going because some of it happened so long ago, there's nothing I can do about it.

A case in point -- When I was a little girl, I watched some of the Roots miniseries. After a few days of being mad at the world and people who no longer exist, what am I supposed to do, take it out on the white people at work, who haven't even done anything like that to me? No. That's why I haven't even watched Amistad and a few other black slavery movies.

There's also a point when I wonder what kind of person I would be if I had gone through those kinds of things. Based on personal experience, I'd probably put up with whatever I had to just to survive. When it came down to actual retaliation or revenge, I'd be too scared I'd get killed in the process.

Another problem I have with all the slavery movies is that a lot of it happened 200 years ago. There's a whole lot of black people who have done a whole lot of things in the past 200 years--where are those stories? Especially movies that aren't all about drugs, gang shootings, black-on-black violence, white-on-black violence, racism and mostly naked women draped on everything?

Can you imagine how cool it would be to have as many black movies today as you do white movies showing in the theaters and have them be on the production level of Pride and Prejudice and the like? I know part of it is about money, and another part about power, and another part about racism, but I'll continue to hope for the best.

By the way, I know this has nothing to do with knitting. I'm just saying, it would be nice to have even more choice than I do now. That's all.

I think I'm going back to the drawing board

on the poncho. It's giving me a hard time. It's still too small. I think I'm knitting too tightly and it's throwing things off, then I knit too loosely, which throws it off even more.

I think it will just work out better all the way around instead of doing it piecemeal here and piecemeal there.

I made it to another year

with the majority of my knitting ego intact. I learned a few things about myself.

Thing 1: I can do a big project if I set my mind to it. The rest of life may go to hell in a handbasket in the meantime, housework doesn't get done and worthier things (a job, a life) may fall by the wayside, but I can do it.

Thing 2: Whatever it is, it will get done, and it will get done well, even if it takes me days longer than anyone else. As long as it gets done, I will be fine, and the rest of the world will get over it.

Thing 3: So what if I keep adding things to my future projects queue on Ravelry? I only have 10 projects or so in mine (right now). More prolific knitters than me are going to be in triple digits before the first half of 2008 is over.

Thing 4: Wanting to do things better for other people than for yourself is sometimes a good thing. When I get done with this poncho, it's going to look really good on my friend, like it was made especially for her by someone who cares about her her great deal. It was, and I do.

Thing 5: I don't have to play every Nancy Drew game in the known universe. I can make do with 3 or 4 of them. Next on the list is Danger by Design, set in Paris, France (the main dealmaker for the I-want-itis.) I have to finish Blackmoor Manor first, though.