Out of My Depp: A is for Anchorwoman

Top: Candie's, Kohl's; Skirt (a dress!): Macy's; Shoes: Not Rated, Journeys; Bag: Betsey Johnson, Amazon; Fuchsia belt: Belt is Cool, Amazon; Peach belt: Izod, Marshalls; Blue bangle: So, Kohl's; Lime bangle: B Fabulous; Coral bangle: Silver Linings, Ocean City; Striped bangle: Mixit, JCPenney

Anchors emblazon everything from cardigans to pillows to flesh (I'm talking tattoos).  But just what is it about these nautical notions that charm us into desecrating our homes and decorating our bodies?  Their promise of a glam getaway and/or safe harbor?  Their association with a simpler, more romantic time?  Or is our love for them nothing more than the product of our preoccupation with Popeye?  (All waterways, it seems, lead back to tattoos.)  In the end, all that matters is that anchors are aces.  And that I had a whale of a time incorporating them into this Bright This Ship Necklace:  

Bright This Ship Necklace

Because when you go bright, you never go wrong.  Unless, of course, your craft is so colorful that it attracts a posse of pirates who commandeer it for their rutabaga smuggling ring (when it comes to contraband, root vegetables are funnier than rum.)  If that doesn't say piece-of-Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-footage-on-the-cutting-room-floor, then I don't know what does.

Unless it's Johnny Depp dressed as a rutabaga and belting out a ribald riddle.       

By the way, I hear that Mr. Depp's bankrupt.  For enough clams, I bet he'd be down.  

Movie Moment: Dark Shadows

I don't like movies that are bloody.  Not even when the blood is cartoonish.  So why, then, did I go to see the big-screen version of the 1970s-era vampire soap opera Dark Shadows, in dazzling IMAX no less?  For the sake of a family outing, the magic of movies, and, of course, Mr. Johnny Depp.

Because it isn't really my kind of movie and because I never saw the original series, I won't tread too heavily upon Tim Burton's hallowed territory except to say that it wasn't as off-the-wall, anachronistically funny as the commercials promised.  More soap opera than spoof (and really, given its origins, who could blame it?), the film did provide some stunning visuals, giving me ample opportunity to do what I do best when confronted with something unpleasant - daydream about clothes and makeup.  Groovily gothic dresses, capelet-topped coats, and heavily beaded jewelry were set off by alternately neon and pastel eyelids paired with frosty pink lips, and in the case of villain Angie (Eva Green), smoky eyes and bold red lips.  (So inspired was I by this gimmicky glamour that I wore lime green eyeshadow for two days afterward.)  Similarly, I was charmed by Michelle Pfeiffer's character's secret passageway-style macrame storage room.  What should have been a gloomy, gory cavern turned out to be a rainbow-inundated hideaway of handmade goodness - truly, a detail any crafter would appreciate :)