JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Our previous post on tote bags made of vintage inabel fabric got a bit more attention than we’d expected. Thanks to your interest, Rene has been designing more tote bags out of the Iloko textiles he’s been hoarding collecting for many years. Here are some of the new bags out of old fabrics.

Vintage abel tote bag with lime green stripes, Php800. Sturdy, can carry computers and books.

Vintage abel tote bag—larger than the one we showed you a couple of weeks ago, Php700. Bonus attraction: For some reason the fabric appeals to cats, who like to rub their faces in it. Must be the texture. And the fact that it was a blanket.

Banderado tote bag with denim handles, Php1200. Could be a work bag, school bag, grocery bag. Also, unless you run into us, you’re not likely to see it being carried by other people.

Rene designed this nursing mom bag for the artist Pam Yan Santos who gave birth recently. It’s made of hardy inabel of course, with a pretty lining and many pockets for feeding bottles, cloths and whatnot. It’s called the Georgia O’Keefe (Php2,000).

Why is it called the Georgia O’Keefe? Because the interior (with the pockets open) looks like this.

To order these bags, contact Rene at rene.guatlo@gmail.com. There are only a few pieces per item, but if you’re not in a rush he can have more of them made.

Dear Auntie Janey,

I found a picture of his ex girlfriend in his old Hickok wallet. The wallet is slightly tattered, but it is something I would still use compared to the black one he had when we went steady. This black wallet can be folded in three, like the brown Hickok and the Seiko he just bought. But it was coming apart in all sides, looking out of place amid my smiling graduation photo.

Read the rest in Auntie Janey’s own blog, where you can post Comments and speak to Auntie Janey directly.

If I’ve seen it once, I’ve seen it a thousand times. I’m referring to a student’s writing a sentence like:

You need a comma after “movie” because this and only this is Mr. Allen’s newest movie in theaters, and before “Jessie” because she and only she is the writer’s oldest friend.

Read The Most Comma Mistakes by Ben Yagoda in the NYT.

Michael Stuhlbarg as a resident alien and Will Smith and Josh Brolin as agents in Men In Black 3. Stuhlbarg and Brolin starred in the Coen Brothers movies A Serious Man and No Country For Old Men, respectively. As far as we know Smith hasn’t done a film with the Coens, but MIB3 was written by Etan Cohen, no relation to Ethan and Joel. Nothing, just babbling.

We thought the Men In Black phenomenon had been played out, but we are pleased to report that Men In Black 3 is still fun. As time travel yarns go it’s not Back to the Future, but nothing is.

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones could probably phone in their parts, but the movie gets a dose of pep from new characters. There’s Josh Brolin doing an excellent Tommy Lee Jones impression as the young Agent K, Emma Thompson who looks great as Agent O, Bill Hader as a certain Pop artist, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Griffin, a sweet alien who can see all the different possible futures (It’s Exhausting). Pay attention to the screen at the MIB headquarters: among the aliens being monitored are Carly Simon and Tim Burton.

Good thing we were enjoying the movie because these were on the seats to our left at Power Plant cinema 3.

Feet. On the seat backs and armrests. Yucch. The feet were attached to foreigners in their teens or early 20s. We devoted 30 seconds to the question: Should we tell them to take their goddam feet off the goddam seats?

We decided it was pointless; our issue is with the people who brought them up. In the 5 minutes we would spend trying to modify their behavior, we would miss 5 minutes of the movie. Could be cultural differences: in their country it may be acceptable behavior to put your feet up like that. They did not seem to think it strange that someone would photograph their feet inside a dark movie theatre.

(Our friend who grew up in a small provincial town recalls that when they went to the movies, they had to put their feet up against the seat in front. But they had good reason to. There were rats roaming the theatre and giving patrons the occasional nip.)

Conclusion: We are not the etiquette police. When we try to be the etiquette police we end up feeling bitter and ancient. We ignored them and watched the movie. Let someone else have apoplexy, we quit.

Every week this month we’re giving away 3 signed copies of License To Pawn: Deals, Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver by Rick Harrison, proprietor of the World-Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop at the center of the hit History Channel series, Pawn Stars. To win a hardcover copy signed by Rick Harrison, all you have to do is answer the week’s question.

Last week’s question was: What is your favorite episode of Pawn Stars and why do you like it?

The winners chosen by the History Channel rep are: henyo, mak, and japz20. Congratulations! Please post your full names in Comments (They will not be published) and we’ll alert you when your prizes can be picked up at our usual drop (National Bookstore in Rockwell).

Update: Winners, please pick up your prizes any day starting Sunday, 27 May 2012 at the Customer Service counter of National Bookstore at Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, Makati. Just give them your full names.

This week’s question is: Of the scores of interesting items people have brought to the shop in Pawn Stars, which one would you like to own?

Post your answers in Comments. (Yes, you may rework your answers from last week.) The winners will be announced in 7 days.

Have you gotten your priority pass for the Mark Millar signing on Saturday afternoon? It comes with purchase of selected Mark Millar titles at National Bookstores. One pass entitles you to have one book signed. No, you can’t bring your friends’ libraries. The signing is on 27 May 2012, 1400 at the Glorietta 5 Atrium; registration starts at 1100.

In preparation for the signing we’re taking a review course in Millar’s oeuvre. Our geek guide to graphic novels Budjette has recommended three titles in particular: The Ultimates, Kick-Ass, and The Authority.

We’ve read Kick-Ass (and Wanted) so we’re cramming The Ultimates # 1-13, the Marvel universe’s reboot of The Avengers. Its influence on The Avengers movie is clear (There’s even an introduction by Joss Whedon), from the tone to the villains to the casting decisions (Samuel Jackson is already Nick Fury, and this series started in 2002). The characters even discuss which actors should play them in the film version: Brad Pitt as Captain America (He does not know who Brad Pitt is, naturally), Johnny Depp as Iron Man, Matthew McConaughey as Hank Pym who had many superhero incarnations, Lucy Liu as the Wasp. Bruce Banner walks in just as they’re discussing his Hollywood avatar: it’s a toss-up between Woody Allen and Steve Buscemi. This causes problems.

We’re relieved the film adaptation did not include the other Avengers we remember from the old comics: Ant-Man, the Wasp, Vision, the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver…

Yellowjacket of the Golden Age Avengers. Ooh, scary. Don’t forget your antihistamines.

Mark Millar is interviewed about The Avengers here.