Mail Holder
I am a huge fan of Netflix. I know they’ve had issues recently with changing the name, price hikes, etc, but so far I still love them. There are a ridiculous amount of movies I want to watch that they have, and it makes checking the mail fun again. Unfortunately, those red envelopes are always getting buried under junk mail on the coffee table, so I wanted them to have their own special place where they won’t get lost.
The materials I used are a light bulb box, because it was made of really sturdy cardboard, left over paint, and a post card. I found the original idea that inspired this on pinterest using a cereal box.
First, trim the top of your box to look like this:
I used a nail to punch two holes at the top to hang it from.
I painted it blue, and let it dry overnight. I wanted to use this postcard to decorate the box, but I don’t necessarily want it on there permanently. I have these tiny plastic picture mounters that I used.
You can barely see it, but they are little plastic triangles that fit over the corner of your photo or postcard, and are sticky on the back. I put one each on the upper right and lower left corners, lined up the post card, and stuck it to the box. I then added the mounters to the other two corners.
I tacked it to the wall near the TV so my movies are always visible, and conveniently located for enjoyment.
My new Netflix box is hanging next to this set of framed movie monster postcards, and they look great together.
Double Movie Review: Discworld
I love Netflix, not just because it gives me an endless supply of movies and TV shows, but because it suggests things I might like. One of those suggestions was Hogfather.
This movie is set in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. He has written a whole series of books set there, and this movie was made from one of them. This movie is set on the night of Hogswatch, which is similar to our Christmas Eve. Someone is trying to destroy Hogswatch, and Death’s granddaughter has to try and save it.
I think the best way to describe the series, is a fantasy series, with lots of humor thrown in. Kind of like the land of Narnia, but with clever, funny bits woven throughout. If you’re a fan of Terry Pratchett, or Douglas Adams you’ll enjoy this.
If you’ve already seen this one, or you trust my advice so much that you’ll watch anything I tell you, another Discworld movie is available. Horray! It’s called The Color of Magic, and it stars Sean Astin and Tim Curry.
Sean Astin plays Discworld’s first tourist, and he teams up with the most terrible wizard on the Disc and has hilarious and ridiculous adventures. They even explore beyond the Disc! Tim Curry is actually good in this, rather than horribly distracting as he can be sometimes.
There are some animated movies of Discworld available on Netflix as well. I didn’t find those to be as entertaining, but Hubby enjoyed them. I plan on finding some of the Discworld books so I can immerse myself in all the humor and detail. I’ll let you know how they are. On the Clever Chick Scale, these both get a “I will recommend these to friends, and eagerly await new ones”.
Movie Review: Auntie Mame
Last year for New Year’s, Hubby and I had the idea to watch all of the AFI top 100 movies this year. Somehow, we’ve only watched a few, though they have been pretty good, for the most part. Yesterday we finally watched Auntie Mame, which has been in our Netflix queue this whole time.
Some older movies can be kind of stiff, or even unintelligible just due to the passage of time. This movie was actually really funny and entertaining the whole way through. It’s longer than most current movies, but there weren’t any boring parts. Some of the effects were a bit campy, but that’s to be expected. Hubby and I both laughed frequently, and completely enjoyed it. Like Bridge on the River Kwai I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe these old movies aren’t as stuffy and boring as I always thought? We’ll see. I still don’t like Citizen Kane.
How to simplify?
So today I’m just sitting here thinking to myself, what should I do? I didn’t get up until noon, I’ve had lunch and played all my facebook games. The problem is there’s plenty of crap around the house to do, but it’s all laundry and other horrible boring crap no one wants to do. So instead, I’m filling my time with the meaningless “accomplishments” on facebook. I get my character to work on yoville, and plants my strawberries on farmville so I can level up, but what have I actually accomplished?
The problem with the games is the same as in real life. Purchasing things is a hollow accomplishment, and it leads us to have to work more, or retire later, because we are fixated with material things. I feel I’ve been able to divorce myself from a lot of material possessions, although I am hard pressed when it comes to the thrift store. I get frustrated because Hubby can’t seem to separate from his need to own things. He doesn’t collect a lot, but what he does builds up in storage bins and just sits there. He’ll buy a DVD and never watch it, whereas I use Netflix for everything, and don’t see the point in owning DVDs, since I can get them whenever I want. I canceled cable for the same reason.
I read this book about how to live simply, and a big part of that is not to spend money on stupid crap. We walked through the mall the other day, and I thought back to all the cheap plastic, trendy garbage I brought home from malls in my teen years. My father must have wept for the amount of my income I spent on stuff I no longer own, that I could have put toward a car, or college, or retirement.
I’m looking around my house now, and I have HUNDREDS of books. Literally. Most of them are from Half Price Books’ clearance shelves, or the thrift store. I picked them up because they were so cheap and looked good at the time, but now they look like homework. I have to read them all, because I don’t want to miss out on anything, but will I remember what I read next week?
I have started to clear out books. I have 30 or so listed on half.com, but they seem to take forever to sell. I’ve sold about 5 so far I think. It did enable me to take a stack to Half Price Books to sell though.
Why do I feel obligations to my stuff? Why do I feel like I have to hold onto it? I blame Disney. I have spent my whole life watching their anthropomorphic creations, singing and dancing, and having feelings just like people. Won’t my Rock Band drum kit miss me if I sell it (even though it’s for PS2, and I have Xbox)? Won’t it trek across the city to come back to me, like Woody and Buzz? Damn you, Disney!
