The crafty me: Pen holder

This is really a longish exercise. Really to do on a dull weekend or if you really really want a handmade penholder. But a great activity to do with kids :)

You will need:
Newspaper - tear small strips around 4-6 inches long and 1 inch wide
Water
Glue
Plastic cup the size of the pen holder - this will be your mould
Vaseline
Acrylic paints
Brushes

How to:
Dip the newspaper strips in water and leave for a few hours.
Rub a little vaseline on the outside of the plastic cup. This avoids the paper sticking to the mold.
Cover the outside of the plastic cup with one layer of newspaper strips.
Spread a layer of glue on this layer and cover with another layer of strips.
Put the strips overlapping each other and in a criss cross manner for them to hold better.
Repeat this process 10-15 times and leave it to dry in shade for a 1-2 days.
When the paper is dry take out the plastic cup. The inside will still be a little wet. Cover any stray strips of paper with more glue.
Glue a cardboard round to the inside base of the holder to give it more stability and leave to dry for another day.
The top edge of the pen holder will be a little rough, cut it with scissors to even it out. The holder is now ready for you to paint in any color and pattern

Go Goa Gone... I wish I hadn't

I am always deluded in to thinking that I've seen the worst movie of my life, but someone proves me wrong again. And this time it was Go Goa Gone. I've never seen such utter load of s*** ever before. Or maybe I am just too old and this probably resonates with the 90's generation, hence the rave reviews.

The movie began well enough, and though the dialogues were an attempt at good humored banter, they just fell flat because the actors couldn't make it seem natural. Anyway, if the movie had continued in the same vein, there may have been some saving grace. But then the second half happened.

That was truly made of the zombies, by the zombies and for the zombies. Ketchup and flour covered people in various hippie garbs limping away with stiff limbs was just so not my idea of humor or horror. And I really don't know what to say about Saif who's a Delhi guy pretending to be a Russian don. And once we discover that he is well versed in Hindi and can do MC, BC with the best of them, one wonders why he still keeps on with the Russian accent in English? As for the heroine; she has only one agenda, to assert over and over again that she is a good girl.

The zombies never eat anyone completely and you wonder why considering they are so hungry. Also, though a drug has made them zombies, if they bite you, you become one too. How? the drug is flowing through their teeth? The writers definitely have their mythical creatures mixed up. And by the way, if you throw more drugs at them, they petrify!

No one knows why Saif is saving these 4 morons and not leaving them to die on the island. And if he saved these 4 then why not more.

Finally they escape from the island and the worst is yet to come (for the audience I mean). When they reach the main land they discover the zombies have already reached it. It's anyone's guess how, since there was no ferry, no boat, nothing. And they couldn't have swum over since they could barely limp. It just means there will be a sequel.

And to quote the movie "what do we know and what have we learnt" - it's the most brainless movie ever made and never ever in any circumstance go for part 2!

Dan Brown and Dante

If not Dante's I've finally read Dan Brown's Inferno. Made quick work of it, 6 hours on a beautiful Sunday with endless supply of munchies and tea. Now I'm wondering if my Sunday could have been better spent? But that's the thing; once I start a book, it's tough for me to put it down, no matter what the content.

So Mr. Brown's formula wins again. Find some artists from the middle ages. Find some common things they worked on. Spot them in churches (this time a mosque too). Mix, match, run across countries and cities followed by gunmen who ultimately help you (you'd think Robert Langdon would have learnt that by now given that he solves puzzles so quick!). It's interesting how the characters always have time to explain the history and the story of the artists and mull over their various works... I mean hello, you have a world to save!

In any case, the story is entertaining and of course I like that unlike movies the destruction is not solely aimed at the US of A (honestly I was sick of THAT - I mean ETs always land in the US, 2012 happens there, Armageddon is tackled by them and god knows what not. Seriously, it's annoying... there is the rest of the world too people. And more populated than the US. Sheesh!). So anyway, we now have a new epicenter for fanatics, Italy. And lots of question on the ways of the church, which I being an atheist, am quite OK with.

With Inferno, Dan has made an attempt at education (telling us that the world is coming to an end - which again I agree with), criticized the world institutions - WHO, governments and the church (fine again) and given a cure to the world's ills - mass sterilization (:D super cool). All this while accompanied by a hot, young, super intelligent chick who as usual falls for Mr. Langdon's charms.

Getting a mixed review? Ok, to sum it up - the read is entertaining as always, but the story is nothing new. It's the same formula as his previous books. So if you are ok with that, and with his interpretation of Dante, by all means pick it up. I for one hope that he tries another formula now, this concoction is getting a little 'been there done that'

The crafty me: Bread Flowers

To while away time when I am bugged, I resort to some sort of art. This was my experience with bread flowers long ago when I was into decorating clay pots. So here is how you can make them.

You'll need
White bread - 2-3 slices
Fevicol or any white glue - approx 1 tsp glue per slice
Oil paint - a few drops of desired colors (red, green, yellow etc)
Thin sticks to use as stems - cover these sticks with green/brown paper or paint

How to:
Remove the brown crusts from all the bread slices. We will not be using the crust. Break the bread slices into small pieces. Mix the bread pieces and white glue together in a bowl to make a dough. If the dough it tight add very little water to make it pliant.

Divide the dough into parts and add a few drops of different color of oil paint to each part and knead. If you need a darker color, add more paint and knead again.

Make small balls of the dough and flatten to shape like petals. If you have cutters you can also roll out the dough and cut from petal stencils. Take a small dough ball as the flower center and attach the petals to it with dabs of glue. Attach the ready stems to the base of the flower center and leave to dry in shade for a day or two.

Once dry, dip in clear varnish to give a long life to your creation.