Saturday fun

I was able to trace out a pattern today. I had three vintage patterns on the shortlist and Ian picked one, so I'm working on that one first. This first pattern is for a knee-length A-line dress with the yoke and sleeve in one piece, and with center front and back seams and bust and hip shaping darts. The pattern also includes the cutest little short jacket with elbow- or three-quarter-length sleeves to go with the dress. It's the jacket that makes the outfit; the wedding will be outdoors and some kind of cover-up is needed.

The person who had the pattern before me had cut out only the jacket and it looks like that person didn't line it (it's supposed to be lined, and if this pattern works out, I'll definitely be lining the jacket)... and it looks like the person cut off the extension for the lining on the back jacket piece. After reading the instructions and checking the pieces, I was able to correct this problem on my traced piece. I'll put a note in with the pattern noting that this piece has been cut off.

I'm hoping that the whole ensemble looks good, but if it doesn't, I have other patterns to try out.

This evening we watched S. Darko. It's sort of a sequel to Donnie Darko, which is a favourite movie of ours (and which has a huge cult following). S. Darko hasn't lived up to the expectations of the Donnie Darko fans, for whatever reason; I'm not sure what those expectations were, but it's clear that they're not being met because many of the reviews for S. Darko by Donnie Darko fans are bad.

S. Darko is the story of Sam, Donnie's youngest sister, who is traveling across the country with her friend. The two are stranded in a small town on their journey. Sam has been sleepwalking and while in this town, she sleep-visits the local outcast. Time travel stuff happens, too, as in Donnie Darko.

While there are connections to the first movie via some of the characters and the time travel idea, but the movies are not the same. At the end of Donnie Darko, the universe is reset and the bad things that happened are undone... but that's not exactly what happens at the end of S. Darko. It's implied that some of the bad things are still happening or going to happen, but maybe not in the exact same way. One of the other crucial differences between the two movies is that Donnie Darko starts off weird and gets scary and intense as time goes on, whereas S. Darko has a lighter feel. It isn't as creepy or scary - it's more interesting, as though it was a drama with time travel stuff. I do wish that some of the events had been explored more fully... like the meteor's effects, the fireworks show, and what happened to the kids. I'd love to see a sequel explaining all of that.

So we actually liked S. Darko because it wasn't exactly like Donnie Darko and because it had an interesting story with interesting characters and good acting. I don't know that you have to have seen Donnie Darko to get S. Darko, because there isn't that much crossover, but it probably helps in getting some of the subtext or background pictures. The only thing that might not make sense if you haven't seen Donnie Darko is the tube-y thing that shows where people will be walking.

Whether or not you've seen Donnie Darko, S. Darko is well worth renting. It's an interesting, quirky movie that we liked very much.