Happy Thursday! It's getting cold! Except during the day, when it's still summer. But my house stays cold, which is not so wonderful. Good thing I have these super fuzzy yellow gloves to wear!!
I'm going to be Speed Racer for Halloween. !!! I threw it together this last week mostly from the mall--the thrift stores seemed very picked over, my only guess is that everyone was looking for costume material. Not a phenomenon we run into during the summer. I have everything I need except for the shoes and a helmet, but I can get shoes easily enough and I'd only really need the helmet by next AX. If only costume-preparing could always be this easy.
Well, the gloves aren't perfect, either, being as they're made of fleece and were from Old Navy, and one would assume Speed's racing gloves are most likely leather. But I have perfect pants and red socks and a shirt I just have to pin up and I'll be ready to gun the car around the track (and jam down the pedal like I'm never coming back.).
This week's television was much more quality-filled than it has been this season. DOLLHOUSE is finally the show it was meant to be all along, which is a great relief. It's actually been performing quite nicely since it started back up, and I like to think that now that they got the network-dictated first season out of the way, they're free to go about their business as creative geniuses. I hope that Fox doesn't flip out and feel like they have to cancel it because they don't understand it. They have a history of that, though, so, best of luck to DOLLHOUSE.
FLASHFORWARD is finally a show that feels like a show. Two episodes in a row now that were solid and professional. Granted, the twists at the end of last and this week's episodes were less than shocking, but those twists are no longer the last-ditch effort to get you to come back next week. The show carries itself. I'll admit to having a minor epileptic fit at the previews for the coming episode, when Callum Keith Rennie promised to make an appearance. You may know him as the sole reason I started watching "the Canadian show" I'm always trying to get you to watch. So that's exciting.
HEROES went from bad to weird to just plain bad again. I really wonder how long they can keep it up.
THE OFFICE was solid but 30 ROCK had me roffling quite a bit.
Man, today all I did was watch INTO THE WILD, STRANGER THAN FICTION, OCEAN'S 11, FLASHFORWARD, THE OFFICE, and 30 ROCK. Whilst doing that, I cut and sewed. Before that, I went on errands to procure sewing supplies. So it was a pretty chill day. (and chilly)
Speaking of BSG (Rennie is also the Cylon known as Leoben), THE PLAN was sort of interesting. On the one end of the spectrum, it's simply a glorified clip show, but on the other, it's a brave take on many of the unattended co-occurrences. It does explain how certain things came to pass, although none of the answers belonged to questions that were still haunting people. It made a lot of narrative sense, though, more than you might expect from an after-the-fact cobbled together grab bag, and the way they blended new footage with old is a testament to their archivists. Or possibly Jane Espenson's fannish obsession with fact checking.
Hahah, this is what it looks like when I type in the Speed Racer gloves. Oh, I'm doing it rather well, akshully. Well, I think I'm going to go do something cool like see if HIMYM is online yet. Or watch DEXTER or SPEED RACER. I'm cool.
-Steph
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
He's A Demon on Wheels
Happy Thursday! It's been a busy week! But also a good one even if it could have been better.
I spent the weekend at Beth's in Pasadena since I had a whole four days off. Unfortunately, I also spent it with a massive head implosion of allergies or something. It's still trying to drain. Here's what we did:
wandered around at night and found the best taco stand in the world
ate at Kansai
watched old episodes of Speed Racer
ate at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles
watched The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl
went to every used book store
went to three downtowns that were parallel universe versions of each other
ate mystery desserts at Famima!!
made up so many inside jokes--19 pomegranates????
I went to school on Monday, too, and had wonderful lunch with Sam who had a very busy weekend. I also saw Shayfer and Parham and Michael but I avoided the last one. And then I hacked into the school computers and played Bejeweled for a while on Facebook!
So it was superfun.
The Speed Racer we watched I got from the store, episodes 1-11. I just today found out that Hulu has EVERY EPISODE online for free, so I can die happy. I didn't know that I would like this old wacky show that much, but I should have known better. There's something about campy old shows remade into modern movies that I can't resist. Batman, Star Trek, and I was watching that Scooby Doo movie from a couple of years ago and felt the same about it. Must be that if "camp" were a genre, then it might be one of my faves.
High School Musical, anyone? (Sharkboy, for that matter? Josie and the Pussycats?)
The difference between the original 60s shows and their modern counterparts is that the style of storytelling and filmmaking from back then was very direct, while I would argue that today's styles favor subtlety and shades of ...understanding, if that makes any sense. By today's standards, Speed Racer seems very unsophisticated, not just in drawing style but in pretty much every regard. Granted, it was only intended as a children's cartoon, but even stuff for kids these days has a much higher standard of quality.
So we look back on Speed Racer's insanely fast dialogue, Captain Kirk's overly dramatic posturing for the camera, Batman's ridiculous tights, and we laugh. With the exception of the old Batman show, none of what we laugh at now was meant to be humorous back then. That's what makes it campy, the idea that at the time, people were doing what they were doing and it was srs bsns. I think what I like most about those sorts of things is that I can enjoy both what it looks like now and what it was trying to be at the time.
Listening to the SPEED RACER soundtrack over and over in my car (does not make for safe driving), I can't help but realize that that movie is one of my all time favorites. It's just something that clicks with me, on multiple levels, and my fondness for it does not take into account the opinion of anyone else. Watching the source show only makes it better, seeing all the little things that, blended together, form the guts of this story. Like having a favorite uncle and then reading his diary about all his adventures that made him who he is. I don't know.
You try explaining why you love something when all you know is that you do.
-Steph
PS
BSG THE PLAN comes out on Tuesday. So it's sitting on my table downstairs, ready to get its Cylon watch on.
PPS
Blogger had a freakout (bX-5eka1d) so for right now this note is Facebook-exclusive. Cool, huh?
PPPS
This ppps is Blogger-exclusive. Cool, huh?
I spent the weekend at Beth's in Pasadena since I had a whole four days off. Unfortunately, I also spent it with a massive head implosion of allergies or something. It's still trying to drain. Here's what we did:
wandered around at night and found the best taco stand in the world
ate at Kansai
watched old episodes of Speed Racer
ate at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles
watched The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl
went to every used book store
went to three downtowns that were parallel universe versions of each other
ate mystery desserts at Famima!!
made up so many inside jokes--19 pomegranates????
I went to school on Monday, too, and had wonderful lunch with Sam who had a very busy weekend. I also saw Shayfer and Parham and Michael but I avoided the last one. And then I hacked into the school computers and played Bejeweled for a while on Facebook!
So it was superfun.
The Speed Racer we watched I got from the store, episodes 1-11. I just today found out that Hulu has EVERY EPISODE online for free, so I can die happy. I didn't know that I would like this old wacky show that much, but I should have known better. There's something about campy old shows remade into modern movies that I can't resist. Batman, Star Trek, and I was watching that Scooby Doo movie from a couple of years ago and felt the same about it. Must be that if "camp" were a genre, then it might be one of my faves.
High School Musical, anyone? (Sharkboy, for that matter? Josie and the Pussycats?)
The difference between the original 60s shows and their modern counterparts is that the style of storytelling and filmmaking from back then was very direct, while I would argue that today's styles favor subtlety and shades of ...understanding, if that makes any sense. By today's standards, Speed Racer seems very unsophisticated, not just in drawing style but in pretty much every regard. Granted, it was only intended as a children's cartoon, but even stuff for kids these days has a much higher standard of quality.
So we look back on Speed Racer's insanely fast dialogue, Captain Kirk's overly dramatic posturing for the camera, Batman's ridiculous tights, and we laugh. With the exception of the old Batman show, none of what we laugh at now was meant to be humorous back then. That's what makes it campy, the idea that at the time, people were doing what they were doing and it was srs bsns. I think what I like most about those sorts of things is that I can enjoy both what it looks like now and what it was trying to be at the time.
Listening to the SPEED RACER soundtrack over and over in my car (does not make for safe driving), I can't help but realize that that movie is one of my all time favorites. It's just something that clicks with me, on multiple levels, and my fondness for it does not take into account the opinion of anyone else. Watching the source show only makes it better, seeing all the little things that, blended together, form the guts of this story. Like having a favorite uncle and then reading his diary about all his adventures that made him who he is. I don't know.
You try explaining why you love something when all you know is that you do.
-Steph
PS
BSG THE PLAN comes out on Tuesday. So it's sitting on my table downstairs, ready to get its Cylon watch on.
PPS
Blogger had a freakout (bX-5eka1d) so for right now this note is Facebook-exclusive. Cool, huh?
PPPS
This ppps is Blogger-exclusive. Cool, huh?
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Octobey
Happy Thursday! Right now it's warm outside, which is strange. But all day it was almost hot, which is strange. Yesterday it rained, and the day before. Everyone's status updates on Facebook made it sound like the world was raining.
Today was the seventh day in a row that I worked, and tomorrow will be the eighth. Then, wonderfully, I have three days off, which I will spend hanging out in A/P-town because I can. Got a fatty paycheck so I can afford the gas.
Funny story about fatty paycheck. I like to walk to the bank because it's close and it's a nice exercise. It's nice to go on Sunday because then you can walk through the parking lot and not get hit by cars. Only when I got there, the ATM was down. "Go to the other one," my mom says. "But that one's only for cars," I says. "Just stand behind the cars," she says.
So I wait for the cars to stop going to the drive-by ATM. Except they don't. Just when one's about to leave, one pulls up. Finally I watch a guy park and I wait for him to see the ATM's down and go drive through the other one. Except he goes and walks around to the one I'm waiting for. So now I'm waiting for another pedestrian at the drive-by ATM. Then he leaves AND
that ATM's not accepting deposits. :<
So I walked home.
The end.
Today is my sister's Thursday Blackjack Birthday! Happy Thursday Birthday! I would have called, but I was sleeping and also I can't find my phone. I hope you opened your box already!
And yesterday was my tiniest niece's birthday, she's six. I'll also give you a call when I find my phone!
I'm wondering what it would be like to transition this blog into a one-topic blog. Since it's strictly once a week, it tends to cover a wide range of things that may or may not be interesting to anyone who isn't me thirty years from now. The blogs I read, they have a topic that they are about, and each post tends to stick to one particular related to that. So maybe I'll try some posts that are about something specific and see how that looks. I've done it before, of course, when I have something to say.
I could try having something to say every week. Hm.
My foodie tip of the week is to add 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon to your rice crispie treats. It makes them the best ricey crispoes in the world.
Okay, I'm going to go look for my phone. Wish me luck.
-Steph
Today was the seventh day in a row that I worked, and tomorrow will be the eighth. Then, wonderfully, I have three days off, which I will spend hanging out in A/P-town because I can. Got a fatty paycheck so I can afford the gas.
Funny story about fatty paycheck. I like to walk to the bank because it's close and it's a nice exercise. It's nice to go on Sunday because then you can walk through the parking lot and not get hit by cars. Only when I got there, the ATM was down. "Go to the other one," my mom says. "But that one's only for cars," I says. "Just stand behind the cars," she says.
So I wait for the cars to stop going to the drive-by ATM. Except they don't. Just when one's about to leave, one pulls up. Finally I watch a guy park and I wait for him to see the ATM's down and go drive through the other one. Except he goes and walks around to the one I'm waiting for. So now I'm waiting for another pedestrian at the drive-by ATM. Then he leaves AND
that ATM's not accepting deposits. :<
So I walked home.
The end.
Today is my sister's Thursday Blackjack Birthday! Happy Thursday Birthday! I would have called, but I was sleeping and also I can't find my phone. I hope you opened your box already!
And yesterday was my tiniest niece's birthday, she's six. I'll also give you a call when I find my phone!
I'm wondering what it would be like to transition this blog into a one-topic blog. Since it's strictly once a week, it tends to cover a wide range of things that may or may not be interesting to anyone who isn't me thirty years from now. The blogs I read, they have a topic that they are about, and each post tends to stick to one particular related to that. So maybe I'll try some posts that are about something specific and see how that looks. I've done it before, of course, when I have something to say.
I could try having something to say every week. Hm.
My foodie tip of the week is to add 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon to your rice crispie treats. It makes them the best ricey crispoes in the world.
Okay, I'm going to go look for my phone. Wish me luck.
-Steph
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Russo-riffic
Happy Thursday! I think I should do some writing after this, because I'm noticing my typing is not all it used to be. I keep hitting random things and generally misspelling things in quite a shocking manner. It must be related to the brain thing I'm sure I have where I'm starting not to be able to speak properly anymore. Must be.
Last weekend I baked cookies. And do you know why! Because I took them to Pasadena to share with Beth and then on to Azusa to share with Sam and Gareth! Sam was in Evita at school, which was wonderful. The kids are seniors now, how the time flies. (Beth is still a senior. :<)
Spent the night at Beth's place, which was great because she is in walking distance of both Pasadena's Famima!!s. In fact, we went to both on Saturday. Pasadena is like a polite, small scale version of LA, and I wish I lived there. One day, one day.
I made maple cookies for them, which is my go-to guy for falltime snacks. I'll make you some. I ended up flipping through the trusty Betty Crocker book for additional autumnal treats, and I bookmarked so many things. Holidays, beware!
The other day, for instance, I was going to make a pumpkin bread. But the only can of pumpkin we had was way too big, so I was going to go to the store to buy a more manageable one. What the heck, I thought, if I'm going to the store, I should pick up stuff for dinner. It's my day off!
So I flicked through Betty's yellowed pages and settled on a "quick and easy" hamburger stroganoff. I took to the internet to figure out what culture stroganoff came from, and what sort of side dishes were appropriate. Long story short, I also made latkes (potato pancakes), "Russian potato salad," Russian tea and Russian tea cakes.
They were all some of the best things I've ever made. Particularly I recommend to you the potato salad, because it was surprisingly delicious and also very simple. It's like regular potato salad only it's got cucumbers and pickles and carrots (boiled) and ham. Next time I'll try it with a sausage product. And it was also good with just a dash of mustard.
Russian tea cakes aka Mexican wedding cakes are also simple and simply amazing. I'm sure you're all familiar with them at least visually--they are round and covered in powered sugar. I plan on making color-coded flavors for Christmastime. Like minty green ones and so forth.
Geeze, I'm starting to think I should have a foodie blog instead of this, huh.
But I never did make that pumpkin bread. Today, though, I made us walk out to Big Wave Dave's Pumpkin Patch (which transforms into Big Wave Dave's Christmas trees after Thanksgiving). They'd mailed us a coupon for a free pumpkin, so how could we not! The free one he said was good eating pumpkin, so perhaps we'll get that bread yet.
I've run out of tv-on-dvd, so I watched two movies today. I didn't love them. I think the problem with me and movies is that I don't love movies. It has to be a very specific sort of movie for me to even enjoy it. I go into every movie expecting it to be terrific, and when it's just average, I'm usually disappointed. If it's not terrific, I feel like I'm wasting my time--unless it's so bad it's great. But mostly they're average, and that saddens me.
APPALOOSA is not average, but it's not so bad to be great. It's just regular bad.
I don't think I'm going to review HEROES for you anymore. It's...not worth anyone's time. :/
FLASHFORWARD continues to irritate me. My biggest UGH--NO moment this week (which unfortunately lasted for most of the episode) was when the German guy said in his flash forward he was having breakfast. Except that the flash.......oh my. Now I'm going to apologize to the show, and then gripe about the same thing again. Except the flash forward happened at 11 AM Pacific Standard Time, so it wouldn't be morning in Germany-----except everyone in LA's flashes were at night. So I suppose the time frame they saw could be 9AM German time, and like midnight LA time. EXCEPT the other one was on a beach in Hawaii during the day, and it wouldn't be afternoon in Hawaii if it were midnight in LA. SO THERE. AND. It couldn't even be all the same day, because 8PM in Hawaii and 9AM German would be two separate days, not April 29th. But I guess they think that LA and Germany have the same day, as the agents in both places were carrying on phone conversations with each other at the same time of day. And if you think that was a lot of words on one subject, just imagine all the other little things I have words for. It irritates me.
Well that's enough griping for today. Come over some time and I'll make you dinner.
-Steph
Last weekend I baked cookies. And do you know why! Because I took them to Pasadena to share with Beth and then on to Azusa to share with Sam and Gareth! Sam was in Evita at school, which was wonderful. The kids are seniors now, how the time flies. (Beth is still a senior. :<)
Spent the night at Beth's place, which was great because she is in walking distance of both Pasadena's Famima!!s. In fact, we went to both on Saturday. Pasadena is like a polite, small scale version of LA, and I wish I lived there. One day, one day.
I made maple cookies for them, which is my go-to guy for falltime snacks. I'll make you some. I ended up flipping through the trusty Betty Crocker book for additional autumnal treats, and I bookmarked so many things. Holidays, beware!
The other day, for instance, I was going to make a pumpkin bread. But the only can of pumpkin we had was way too big, so I was going to go to the store to buy a more manageable one. What the heck, I thought, if I'm going to the store, I should pick up stuff for dinner. It's my day off!
So I flicked through Betty's yellowed pages and settled on a "quick and easy" hamburger stroganoff. I took to the internet to figure out what culture stroganoff came from, and what sort of side dishes were appropriate. Long story short, I also made latkes (potato pancakes), "Russian potato salad," Russian tea and Russian tea cakes.
They were all some of the best things I've ever made. Particularly I recommend to you the potato salad, because it was surprisingly delicious and also very simple. It's like regular potato salad only it's got cucumbers and pickles and carrots (boiled) and ham. Next time I'll try it with a sausage product. And it was also good with just a dash of mustard.
Russian tea cakes aka Mexican wedding cakes are also simple and simply amazing. I'm sure you're all familiar with them at least visually--they are round and covered in powered sugar. I plan on making color-coded flavors for Christmastime. Like minty green ones and so forth.
Geeze, I'm starting to think I should have a foodie blog instead of this, huh.
But I never did make that pumpkin bread. Today, though, I made us walk out to Big Wave Dave's Pumpkin Patch (which transforms into Big Wave Dave's Christmas trees after Thanksgiving). They'd mailed us a coupon for a free pumpkin, so how could we not! The free one he said was good eating pumpkin, so perhaps we'll get that bread yet.
I've run out of tv-on-dvd, so I watched two movies today. I didn't love them. I think the problem with me and movies is that I don't love movies. It has to be a very specific sort of movie for me to even enjoy it. I go into every movie expecting it to be terrific, and when it's just average, I'm usually disappointed. If it's not terrific, I feel like I'm wasting my time--unless it's so bad it's great. But mostly they're average, and that saddens me.
APPALOOSA is not average, but it's not so bad to be great. It's just regular bad.
I don't think I'm going to review HEROES for you anymore. It's...not worth anyone's time. :/
FLASHFORWARD continues to irritate me. My biggest UGH--NO moment this week (which unfortunately lasted for most of the episode) was when the German guy said in his flash forward he was having breakfast. Except that the flash.......oh my. Now I'm going to apologize to the show, and then gripe about the same thing again. Except the flash forward happened at 11 AM Pacific Standard Time, so it wouldn't be morning in Germany-----except everyone in LA's flashes were at night. So I suppose the time frame they saw could be 9AM German time, and like midnight LA time. EXCEPT the other one was on a beach in Hawaii during the day, and it wouldn't be afternoon in Hawaii if it were midnight in LA. SO THERE. AND. It couldn't even be all the same day, because 8PM in Hawaii and 9AM German would be two separate days, not April 29th. But I guess they think that LA and Germany have the same day, as the agents in both places were carrying on phone conversations with each other at the same time of day. And if you think that was a lot of words on one subject, just imagine all the other little things I have words for. It irritates me.
Well that's enough griping for today. Come over some time and I'll make you dinner.
-Steph
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Dusty
Happy Thursday! Today is October first so I can no longer even sort of pretend that it's still summer. To rub it in my face, the dry awful winds picked up and are tormenting me and my sinuses. I remember having to do PE during the Santa Anas and those were some of the most unhappy times of my life. :<
Lemme tell you about the miracle fish. So all the babies but one got eaten, yeah? To safeguard the sole survivor (accidentally dubbed Pepito -- he's a bad hat), I installed a tank divider. Everyone was fine. Then I come to clean the tank.
I net out little Pepito for fear of throwing him out with the bath water, so to speak, and set him up in the goldfishes' old box. I wash all these marbles that Carolyn gave me to put in the tank. I mix the detoxifiers with the new water and prepare to dump that in. Then I pull the filter off the back of the tank, to dump out its water reservoir and see what kind of junk is built up in there.
Dumped into the sink! And who should I see among the marbles--rapidly sliding towards the drain--but flashes of orange, rice-sized shapes somewhat familiar and altogether shocking. I pull the stopper but I don't think I was fast enough to save one. I quickly net out the guy who's basically standing in the film of water strung between the marbles, and spirit him away to the safe side of the tank.
Stuck to the inside of the filter, not washed out with the water, is another one. I pour him out into the sink (safely plugged, and adequately watered) and net him away to safety. Carefully I refill the filter and dump it out again, and sure enough there's yet another. Another refill and dump, but I didn't see any more.
SO, Pepito is now the proud leader of a gang of four. There's one guy almost as big as he is (not so good nutrition being sucked into the filter, I guess), and the other two are puny and mostly see-through. But now I have ten fish, which is my max for my tank, so now I just have to wait for them to grow up. And that's the story of the miracle fish what got sucked into the filter and lived because of it.
My week so far has literally been work and DEADWOOD. Did I tell you that somebody quit and somebody else is on vacation? That I have five times the hours of the lowest part of the summer? Oh my gosh. It's like I live there. Today's the first day off I've had since....some point last week, I'm sure.
Finished DEADWOOD, so I can go back to DEXTER. Need to snap through season three (like that's going to be a challenge) so I can watch season four in real time.
HEROES needs no commenting on other than that I actually liked Sylar's bit--from now on the "usual" will be overall D-, Sylar bits A+ --even though I knew what was going to happen. But that actually helped because I thought "it would be cool if it were really like this" but I didn't imagine the writers to be that savvy, but they were! So that was a pleasant surprise. To see the twist ahead of time. Yep, this show is bad.
HIMYM was full of fun. Loved Alyson Hannigan's extra role. Lolarious.
Oh, finally caught the DOLLHOUSE premiere, and can I just tell you that that was was this show needed to be all along? What it could have been all along? Startlingly powerful, that episode is. I recommend it even (or especially?!) if you didn't catch season one. Seriously, go to http://www.fox.com/fod/play.php?sh=dollhouse and watch Vows, and if you have any questions afterward, I'm full of answers.
(Megan, I especially recommend this to you, since not only Jamie Bamber but Alexis Denisof guest starred. It was like a BSG/Angel reunion. Now they just need to drop Summer Glau in there and it could be a Firefly one, too.)
The OFFICE made me laugh several times, especially at the end. And Creed. He's so very underused. But if they used him more, would he be overused?
FLASHFORWARD. Or is it two words. This show irritates me. What gets my Irish up the most is how they slop together these highly inconsequential lines of dialogue (and the uninformed deliveries don't help, either) that are presented as compelling and mystery-unraveling scenes when actually they are irrelevant, uninteresting, and uninformative. Who's directing this? It's like these people are having three different conversations exclusively with themselves. In any case, it's not standard writing, maybe not sub par, but not avant-garde, either. It's just grating.
And to top it all off, they tag on something truly shocking at the very end, just in time so as even though you're at the point of "well I ain't wasting my hour on this next week," your mind is suddenly and irrevocably changed and it really has nothing to do with the strength of the show at all. You may like this show just fine, but it really irritates me.
(AND THAT LITTLE GIRL AND HER CHILD ACTING YOU CAN FIND QUALITY CHILD ACTORS THESE DAYS YOU DON'T NEED THAT ONE)
Okay. I'm going to calm down, feed the fish, sneeze my brains out, watch DEXTER, and go to sleep. Catch ya on the flip side.
-Steph
ps
Firefox's suggestions for the misspelled word "avantgarde:"
Ermengarde?
advantage?
Hildagarde?
roofgarden?
Lemme tell you about the miracle fish. So all the babies but one got eaten, yeah? To safeguard the sole survivor (accidentally dubbed Pepito -- he's a bad hat), I installed a tank divider. Everyone was fine. Then I come to clean the tank.
I net out little Pepito for fear of throwing him out with the bath water, so to speak, and set him up in the goldfishes' old box. I wash all these marbles that Carolyn gave me to put in the tank. I mix the detoxifiers with the new water and prepare to dump that in. Then I pull the filter off the back of the tank, to dump out its water reservoir and see what kind of junk is built up in there.
Dumped into the sink! And who should I see among the marbles--rapidly sliding towards the drain--but flashes of orange, rice-sized shapes somewhat familiar and altogether shocking. I pull the stopper but I don't think I was fast enough to save one. I quickly net out the guy who's basically standing in the film of water strung between the marbles, and spirit him away to the safe side of the tank.
Stuck to the inside of the filter, not washed out with the water, is another one. I pour him out into the sink (safely plugged, and adequately watered) and net him away to safety. Carefully I refill the filter and dump it out again, and sure enough there's yet another. Another refill and dump, but I didn't see any more.
SO, Pepito is now the proud leader of a gang of four. There's one guy almost as big as he is (not so good nutrition being sucked into the filter, I guess), and the other two are puny and mostly see-through. But now I have ten fish, which is my max for my tank, so now I just have to wait for them to grow up. And that's the story of the miracle fish what got sucked into the filter and lived because of it.
My week so far has literally been work and DEADWOOD. Did I tell you that somebody quit and somebody else is on vacation? That I have five times the hours of the lowest part of the summer? Oh my gosh. It's like I live there. Today's the first day off I've had since....some point last week, I'm sure.
Finished DEADWOOD, so I can go back to DEXTER. Need to snap through season three (like that's going to be a challenge) so I can watch season four in real time.
HEROES needs no commenting on other than that I actually liked Sylar's bit--from now on the "usual" will be overall D-, Sylar bits A+ --even though I knew what was going to happen. But that actually helped because I thought "it would be cool if it were really like this" but I didn't imagine the writers to be that savvy, but they were! So that was a pleasant surprise. To see the twist ahead of time. Yep, this show is bad.
HIMYM was full of fun. Loved Alyson Hannigan's extra role. Lolarious.
Oh, finally caught the DOLLHOUSE premiere, and can I just tell you that that was was this show needed to be all along? What it could have been all along? Startlingly powerful, that episode is. I recommend it even (or especially?!) if you didn't catch season one. Seriously, go to http://www.fox.com/fod/play.php?sh=dollhouse and watch Vows, and if you have any questions afterward, I'm full of answers.
(Megan, I especially recommend this to you, since not only Jamie Bamber but Alexis Denisof guest starred. It was like a BSG/Angel reunion. Now they just need to drop Summer Glau in there and it could be a Firefly one, too.)
The OFFICE made me laugh several times, especially at the end. And Creed. He's so very underused. But if they used him more, would he be overused?
FLASHFORWARD. Or is it two words. This show irritates me. What gets my Irish up the most is how they slop together these highly inconsequential lines of dialogue (and the uninformed deliveries don't help, either) that are presented as compelling and mystery-unraveling scenes when actually they are irrelevant, uninteresting, and uninformative. Who's directing this? It's like these people are having three different conversations exclusively with themselves. In any case, it's not standard writing, maybe not sub par, but not avant-garde, either. It's just grating.
And to top it all off, they tag on something truly shocking at the very end, just in time so as even though you're at the point of "well I ain't wasting my hour on this next week," your mind is suddenly and irrevocably changed and it really has nothing to do with the strength of the show at all. You may like this show just fine, but it really irritates me.
(AND THAT LITTLE GIRL AND HER CHILD ACTING YOU CAN FIND QUALITY CHILD ACTORS THESE DAYS YOU DON'T NEED THAT ONE)
Okay. I'm going to calm down, feed the fish, sneeze my brains out, watch DEXTER, and go to sleep. Catch ya on the flip side.
-Steph
ps
Firefox's suggestions for the misspelled word "avantgarde:"
Ermengarde?
advantage?
Hildagarde?
roofgarden?
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The 200
Happy Thursday! Today is, in fact, the 200th post to this Thursday-exclusive blog. So Happy 200th Thursday Day!
This week should appropriately be my DEADWOOD review week. Seeing as I've burned through the first two seasons in a little over a week (not that much of a feat, running 12-episode seasons (and I also fastforward through plotty bits)), it's something that I have analytical opinions about by this point.
DEADWOOD is, for those of you who don't know, an HBO western that ran three seasons at some point in the recent past. It's set in the mining camp of Deadwood in the Dakota hills, at a time where laws didn't reach that far and saloon owners did a lot of conniving. I only picked it up because it's one of Megan's favorites and we happen to be writing a western these days.
Strictly speaking, DEADWOOD is not one of my favorite shows. Specifically, there's only three or four reasons I watch it, all of those reasons being characters, some of whom are dead now. And it took me a great deal of investment just to build up an investment; i.e., I slogged through the first five episodes just because I had them, not necessarily because I wanted to.
Like the town, the show was not initially very welcoming. Characters had their bubbles and they stuck to 'em, lonely little satellite communities revolving Ian McShane's character who only just recently warmed up at all. His character pulls the majority of the strings and can rightly be considered the main character in this ensemble play. But (until recently), he was not presented in a sympathetic manner and you couldn't relate to him. He just was who he was (he still is, but now you're used to him). So I fast forwarded through him and whenever plot was happening, because it invariably involved him.
Then people started intermingling, and by the second season it had really become a town, a whole community. And if you want to learn about the art of the character-driven storyline, here's the place to study. There's almost not one thing that simply happens to a person--these people take action and they take it often. The drawback of this (to my sensibilities) is that it becomes almost "slice of life" in its temperament; very naturalistic and paced in relation to who feels like doing what. So sometimes ripping along but more often just plodding. In the first season there really was no overarching theme or tribulation that encapsulated those episodes. Not epic. And I like my things epic.
The second season focuses on a camp-wide danger (muffled and distorted and exaggerated by various parties for their own agendas), and ties more than one season-long arcs off at the end, which I appreciated. And it's not like they don't know how to pull a heartstring. But I still fast forwarded through the talky plotty parts because I only needed the gist--the show is about the characters and I only needed to watch the ones I cared about.
Still, most anybody I've brought it up with will swear by the show. It's very popular. And I'm not at all saying I don't like it; I'm picking up the last season tomorrow. But if there's one thing I've learned from my dabbling into cable shows (DEXTER, WEEDS, etc) it's that I don't want my show to be so down-to-earth gritty. I don't need the language and the harsh situations. I'd prefer to present something more stylized and refined. Like BSG was gritty and harsh, but I could still watch it with my parents. It had scope that I find absent in DEADWOOD (and WEEDS).
My regular shows are starting come come back on, like flowers emerging delicately from the snow. The OFFICE is off an running, steady as usual. HIMYM made me giddy with happiness, and HEROES was just as bad as I would have thought. DOLLHOUSE tomorrow, and I'm sure there was something else that premiered that I missed and will be sad about when I remember.
FLASH FORWARD, today, was interesting. I kinda wasn't into it very much, until something completely unexpected and irrationally creepifying happened and creeped me out real bad. AND on the imdb boards there's a whole thread dedicated to people saying how it creeped them out. If you saw it, you'll know the moment. My question is: how on earth was that so creepy? I don't know why it creeped me out. But I feel that if I knew the answer, if I could learn to wield that power, I would be unstoppable.
In more fishy news, one of the fish had babies, although by now only one as not been eaten. I'm gonna try and section off the tank for it tomorrow. If it's still there in the morning.
I also got (helped get) my dad Beatles Rock Band for his birthday, so we've been jammin'. Fascinatingly, both my household and Carolyn's separately constructed mic stands out of tripods and cardboard tubes. The universal subconscious at work.
Here's the most bizarre thing that happened to me all week:
Me and Brian are standing around at work, nothing to do. We start up about these dumb little energy drinks that never sell. He says he bought one once. I say that must be why there's one missing. No more than fifteen seconds later, a guy walks in, grabs two, and goes to check out. "I only came in here for these," he says.
Inexplicable.
-Stephanie
This week should appropriately be my DEADWOOD review week. Seeing as I've burned through the first two seasons in a little over a week (not that much of a feat, running 12-episode seasons (and I also fastforward through plotty bits)), it's something that I have analytical opinions about by this point.
DEADWOOD is, for those of you who don't know, an HBO western that ran three seasons at some point in the recent past. It's set in the mining camp of Deadwood in the Dakota hills, at a time where laws didn't reach that far and saloon owners did a lot of conniving. I only picked it up because it's one of Megan's favorites and we happen to be writing a western these days.
Strictly speaking, DEADWOOD is not one of my favorite shows. Specifically, there's only three or four reasons I watch it, all of those reasons being characters, some of whom are dead now. And it took me a great deal of investment just to build up an investment; i.e., I slogged through the first five episodes just because I had them, not necessarily because I wanted to.
Like the town, the show was not initially very welcoming. Characters had their bubbles and they stuck to 'em, lonely little satellite communities revolving Ian McShane's character who only just recently warmed up at all. His character pulls the majority of the strings and can rightly be considered the main character in this ensemble play. But (until recently), he was not presented in a sympathetic manner and you couldn't relate to him. He just was who he was (he still is, but now you're used to him). So I fast forwarded through him and whenever plot was happening, because it invariably involved him.
Then people started intermingling, and by the second season it had really become a town, a whole community. And if you want to learn about the art of the character-driven storyline, here's the place to study. There's almost not one thing that simply happens to a person--these people take action and they take it often. The drawback of this (to my sensibilities) is that it becomes almost "slice of life" in its temperament; very naturalistic and paced in relation to who feels like doing what. So sometimes ripping along but more often just plodding. In the first season there really was no overarching theme or tribulation that encapsulated those episodes. Not epic. And I like my things epic.
The second season focuses on a camp-wide danger (muffled and distorted and exaggerated by various parties for their own agendas), and ties more than one season-long arcs off at the end, which I appreciated. And it's not like they don't know how to pull a heartstring. But I still fast forwarded through the talky plotty parts because I only needed the gist--the show is about the characters and I only needed to watch the ones I cared about.
Still, most anybody I've brought it up with will swear by the show. It's very popular. And I'm not at all saying I don't like it; I'm picking up the last season tomorrow. But if there's one thing I've learned from my dabbling into cable shows (DEXTER, WEEDS, etc) it's that I don't want my show to be so down-to-earth gritty. I don't need the language and the harsh situations. I'd prefer to present something more stylized and refined. Like BSG was gritty and harsh, but I could still watch it with my parents. It had scope that I find absent in DEADWOOD (and WEEDS).
My regular shows are starting come come back on, like flowers emerging delicately from the snow. The OFFICE is off an running, steady as usual. HIMYM made me giddy with happiness, and HEROES was just as bad as I would have thought. DOLLHOUSE tomorrow, and I'm sure there was something else that premiered that I missed and will be sad about when I remember.
FLASH FORWARD, today, was interesting. I kinda wasn't into it very much, until something completely unexpected and irrationally creepifying happened and creeped me out real bad. AND on the imdb boards there's a whole thread dedicated to people saying how it creeped them out. If you saw it, you'll know the moment. My question is: how on earth was that so creepy? I don't know why it creeped me out. But I feel that if I knew the answer, if I could learn to wield that power, I would be unstoppable.
In more fishy news, one of the fish had babies, although by now only one as not been eaten. I'm gonna try and section off the tank for it tomorrow. If it's still there in the morning.
I also got (helped get) my dad Beatles Rock Band for his birthday, so we've been jammin'. Fascinatingly, both my household and Carolyn's separately constructed mic stands out of tripods and cardboard tubes. The universal subconscious at work.
Here's the most bizarre thing that happened to me all week:
Me and Brian are standing around at work, nothing to do. We start up about these dumb little energy drinks that never sell. He says he bought one once. I say that must be why there's one missing. No more than fifteen seconds later, a guy walks in, grabs two, and goes to check out. "I only came in here for these," he says.
Inexplicable.
-Stephanie
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Fireball
Happy Thursday! I'm so tired but it's great. I got up at 9! Oh my gosh, early, haha. It's still been great and warm, so I'm a happy kitten. My irregular cat Donnie was staring at the sky meowing at the crows today. He's so irregular.
Um, last night Megan drove up and spent the night. We fangirled over BSG and other things, and I showed her the first episode of DUE SOUTH, which I think she liked (who wouldn't?!), and we stayed up late hanging out.
Today we had a Ventura tour, hung out downtown and at the boardwalk and discussed television and our futures within it. We are now going to write a show called FIREBALL, the space western I may or may not have mentioned. We have so many great characters in need of names!
Developing a television show is hard work. Even if you have an idea you're toying with, you have to explain it to someone else. And then, if that person is going to help you, they have to come up with ideas of your own and then you all have to figure out what everyone is talking about. It's sort of exhausting. But super fun. I look forward to the dynamic of a writer's room where everybody throws ideas off everybody else, and the best ones make it in. That way your first and maybe not so good ideas get swapped out for something better, and then you stay in business.
Also, please do not to be confused with the Sci Fi channel original movie of the same name. :<
My last gold fish died. So I got new babies lol! Four neon tetras by the names of Freddie, Mercury, Figaro and Galileo. Toronto doesn't care that they're there, and Holland likes to sit next to them and harass them. The Bohemians school together and dart around in a nervous pack. Maybe tomorrow they'll feel more at home.
It was actually pretty cool to hang out with all my aunts and uncles over the weekend. They're a rather eclectic bunch. I sorted through grandma's fabric with a couple of my aunts, and now I have a jackpot of things to sew. Look out for those pictures.
Sorry about last week's crazed message. Didn't want it to be the unluckiest week. DID YOU KNOW that next week's will be the 200th blog post? That's because I've been emailing for four and a half years, and maybe three or so of those are documented at this blog. Well actually according to math it has to be 3.8 years, so there you go.
Michelle flew away to Seattle on Monday so we had an exciting airport excursion. The only cool place to go is the international terminal, so we hung out there for a bit before she had to go. How are you up there?!
Mm okay now I'm going to go research names and/or read a Batman comic. Good night all!
-Steph
Um, last night Megan drove up and spent the night. We fangirled over BSG and other things, and I showed her the first episode of DUE SOUTH, which I think she liked (who wouldn't?!), and we stayed up late hanging out.
Today we had a Ventura tour, hung out downtown and at the boardwalk and discussed television and our futures within it. We are now going to write a show called FIREBALL, the space western I may or may not have mentioned. We have so many great characters in need of names!
Developing a television show is hard work. Even if you have an idea you're toying with, you have to explain it to someone else. And then, if that person is going to help you, they have to come up with ideas of your own and then you all have to figure out what everyone is talking about. It's sort of exhausting. But super fun. I look forward to the dynamic of a writer's room where everybody throws ideas off everybody else, and the best ones make it in. That way your first and maybe not so good ideas get swapped out for something better, and then you stay in business.
Also, please do not to be confused with the Sci Fi channel original movie of the same name. :<
My last gold fish died. So I got new babies lol! Four neon tetras by the names of Freddie, Mercury, Figaro and Galileo. Toronto doesn't care that they're there, and Holland likes to sit next to them and harass them. The Bohemians school together and dart around in a nervous pack. Maybe tomorrow they'll feel more at home.
It was actually pretty cool to hang out with all my aunts and uncles over the weekend. They're a rather eclectic bunch. I sorted through grandma's fabric with a couple of my aunts, and now I have a jackpot of things to sew. Look out for those pictures.
Sorry about last week's crazed message. Didn't want it to be the unluckiest week. DID YOU KNOW that next week's will be the 200th blog post? That's because I've been emailing for four and a half years, and maybe three or so of those are documented at this blog. Well actually according to math it has to be 3.8 years, so there you go.
Michelle flew away to Seattle on Monday so we had an exciting airport excursion. The only cool place to go is the international terminal, so we hung out there for a bit before she had to go. How are you up there?!
Mm okay now I'm going to go research names and/or read a Batman comic. Good night all!
-Steph
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The System is Down
Happy Thursday! The internet is broke and I'm using my sister's itty bitty laptop to steal a nearby internet that isn't really working either! So this will be quick.
I got a 10 gallon tank in which to house tropical fish. Did you know that you cannot put tropical fish with goldfish? I did not. Now I do.
Setting up the tank is like a fun chemistry game. I get to play with test tubes and pH strips and stuff. And you can only put in a few fish at a time, so I just got two - a red wag platy named Toronto and a sunburst wag platy called Holland. They're very pretty. Next week I will add neon tetras.
Um I'm so excited for television to start up again.
Beth came and visited yesterday or the day before. We drove around and looked at downtown and went on errands. School's back on for APU town, which is sad and cute. Good luck, everyone!
Tomorrow I'm waking up super early and driving away to my grandma's funeral. :< I'll see you all later.
-Steph
I got a 10 gallon tank in which to house tropical fish. Did you know that you cannot put tropical fish with goldfish? I did not. Now I do.
Setting up the tank is like a fun chemistry game. I get to play with test tubes and pH strips and stuff. And you can only put in a few fish at a time, so I just got two - a red wag platy named Toronto and a sunburst wag platy called Holland. They're very pretty. Next week I will add neon tetras.
Um I'm so excited for television to start up again.
Beth came and visited yesterday or the day before. We drove around and looked at downtown and went on errands. School's back on for APU town, which is sad and cute. Good luck, everyone!
Tomorrow I'm waking up super early and driving away to my grandma's funeral. :< I'll see you all later.
-Steph
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Lazy
Happy Thursday! This week sorta just oozed along, didn't it? It's that fine summer weather that (now that September is here) is slowing everything down. I love it. We went to the beach today and I got a lovely knee-top burn.
My sister is back from Taiwan, hanging out here for another week before she's off again to the real world in Seattle. Fun sisterly activities include sleeping off jet lag, shopping, and watching DEXTER. And the beach. And once we went to Lowe's. Pretty exciting.
Also, you'd better believe it when they tell you that season two of DEXTER is better than season one.
We just watched 17 AGAIN again, and while I thought the beginning was pretty laggy, I still found many of the jokes hilarious. Actually, to be honest, it's carried mostly on the Efron's facial expressions and exasperated delivery of lines. There was also a trailer at the start of something I've never heard of - Orson Welles and Me? Looks like the Zef is here to stay.
On my own, I've managed to catch up in Naruto, which I've been behind in for like a year. Would you believe that I've been watching it for four years, and when I started there were like sixty episodes already? I'm on 126 of the second part, and I don't know how many there were in the first, but it has to be over a hundred, maybe two. Geesh. Don't start Naruto, kids.
Also jumped back into Hetalia, a short five-minute show based on the manga about the countries of the world...here, I'll let the internet explain: "Based on a popular web-released manga series by Hidekazu Himaruya, this has been described as a "cynical gag" story set in Europe in the years between WW1 and WW2 (1915-1939), using exaggerated caricatures of the different nationalities as portrayed by a gaggle of bishōnen (pretty boys). For example, the Italia Veneziano character is into pasta and women. The Deutsche (German) bishi loves potatoes and sausages, and Nippon is an otaku (geek/fan) boy. Installments of the manga have jumped back and forth in setting from the ancient times to modern-day geopolitics. The manga's title comes the Japanese words for "useless" (hetare) and Italy (Italia)."
The first episode can be found here. It's hilarious and educational!
I don't know if I mentioned last time, but I'm also watching the old Batman show on Youtube. It's like, my most favorite thing ever. It's exactly the kind of show I want to watch, and I don't care who knows it! "FanOfBats" has a lot of the episodes, but you can also search the whole place by title and find the ones he's missing.
I guess I have an answer for those people at work who ask me why I haven't seen any of theircrappy new movies. I'm too busy watching all this other stuff!
In other news, my grandma, my dad's mom, isn't doing great...so there's that. Dunno what else to say, just thought I'd mention it. My dad just got back from seeing her.
Welp, all I can say is maybe something thrilling will happen this week so that next week's blog will be more entertaining. Til then!
-Steph
My sister is back from Taiwan, hanging out here for another week before she's off again to the real world in Seattle. Fun sisterly activities include sleeping off jet lag, shopping, and watching DEXTER. And the beach. And once we went to Lowe's. Pretty exciting.
Also, you'd better believe it when they tell you that season two of DEXTER is better than season one.
We just watched 17 AGAIN again, and while I thought the beginning was pretty laggy, I still found many of the jokes hilarious. Actually, to be honest, it's carried mostly on the Efron's facial expressions and exasperated delivery of lines. There was also a trailer at the start of something I've never heard of - Orson Welles and Me? Looks like the Zef is here to stay.
On my own, I've managed to catch up in Naruto, which I've been behind in for like a year. Would you believe that I've been watching it for four years, and when I started there were like sixty episodes already? I'm on 126 of the second part, and I don't know how many there were in the first, but it has to be over a hundred, maybe two. Geesh. Don't start Naruto, kids.
Also jumped back into Hetalia, a short five-minute show based on the manga about the countries of the world...here, I'll let the internet explain: "Based on a popular web-released manga series by Hidekazu Himaruya, this has been described as a "cynical gag" story set in Europe in the years between WW1 and WW2 (1915-1939), using exaggerated caricatures of the different nationalities as portrayed by a gaggle of bishōnen (pretty boys). For example, the Italia Veneziano character is into pasta and women. The Deutsche (German) bishi loves potatoes and sausages, and Nippon is an otaku (geek/fan) boy. Installments of the manga have jumped back and forth in setting from the ancient times to modern-day geopolitics. The manga's title comes the Japanese words for "useless" (hetare) and Italy (Italia)."
The first episode can be found here. It's hilarious and educational!
I don't know if I mentioned last time, but I'm also watching the old Batman show on Youtube. It's like, my most favorite thing ever. It's exactly the kind of show I want to watch, and I don't care who knows it! "FanOfBats" has a lot of the episodes, but you can also search the whole place by title and find the ones he's missing.
I guess I have an answer for those people at work who ask me why I haven't seen any of their
In other news, my grandma, my dad's mom, isn't doing great...so there's that. Dunno what else to say, just thought I'd mention it. My dad just got back from seeing her.
Welp, all I can say is maybe something thrilling will happen this week so that next week's blog will be more entertaining. Til then!
-Steph
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Mostly Movies
Happy Thursday! The fish are doing fine, thank you very much. I got them a new filter/pump, and that sloshes them around while they stare at Edward and Jacob that I taped to the back of the tank. Even Bowie had the Dempsey. It's a tradition.
Also, I forgot that sometimes the hottest part of the year is falltime, and this week reminded me of that. Because, haha, I decided that it was fall now, since it clearly wasn't summer anymore. But even when the sun isn't scalding my skin off at 10 in the morning (haha, you know I mean 11:30), there's a sort of...fallness to the air, which makes me want to create some kind of spicy pumpkin treat.
Last Friday was unique in that it was memorable. Me and Carolyn caught the 11:10 AM showing of DISTRICT 9. It was more like the 11:30 showing, because there were just about a hundred trailers. I don't know if you've heard of DISTRICT 9? I never really caught any press for it other than my insider emails, so I was surprised to see it top the box office its first weekend.
So if you haven't heard anything about it, it's a documentarish account of these aliens who landed over Johannesburg and got put into a slum there. More or less. It's very poignant and harsh, and very much more gory than I expected (Mom, this one's not for you). I liked it more intellectually than viscerally, simultaneously entertained and repulsed. A truly interesting ride. I wouldn't see it again, but I'm glad I saw it? That sort of reaction.
I wouldn't see THE FOX AND THE CHILD again, but I'm mostly glad I saw it. Very pretty cinematography, kind of a MILO & OTIS story-excuse to film animals doing animal things. Better for a younger audience with a longer than average attention span.
I also rented Bioshock for the PS3, since now we're playing a game trailer sampler loop at the store, featuring such things as Bioshock 2, Beatles Rock Band, and the new Kingdom Hearts DS game (want). Bioshock is up my alley in terms of story and setting (gotta love that retro-futurism/alternate history art deco madness), and not up my alley in terms of it being a shooting game. I just can't aim and reload when I need to. Or, I can, but with undue strain to my processing capabilities. Or, I don't like to. I wikipedia'd the storyline, so now I don't have to finish it.
But there's something great about exploring the ruins of an under water utopia, a wary ear listening for sounds of crazed mutants around every corner, and catching instead the scratchy tone of "Beyond the Sea" playing softly from some unseen radio.
Tuesday I rented season one of DEXTER, and Wednesday I watched it. A group had screened the pilot for us in that one class, Christianity and ethics...I cannot remember the name of that class. The one I wrote my thesis for. Senior Sem! (ty, Sam) At the time, I remember being put-off, not by the content, but by the film making. It felt disjointed and unclear...but as I heard from others and now have seen for myself, the first episode is not all that indicative of the show proper.
Liked it better than WEEDS, that's for sure. I was unprepared for how clever this show is, from the narration to the title-plot interactions to the dialogue and of course the mystery. Also the acting! Sharp characters presented by trained professionals. There were one or two episodes, however, where the B-plot seemed superfluous and aimless, but for the most part I really get the show. Strong arc development here; everything (well, almost) wraps up neatly. Next week: season two.
While I was cooking today, I slapped in ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT season three disc one because for some reason I only ever purchased season three. Funny, funny show. Not for everyone, sure, or else it wouldn't have been canceled. Michael Cera at his best, hands down. And everyone else in their own way, some of the best character acting out there. Watching a whole half-season in one go really brings out running gags, especially the repeated lines, which just makes it that much better. Wish I had the first two seasons.
And tonight my mom and me watched MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY. I'd seen ten minutes or so with Megan one time, but now I severely question her reasons for not demanding I sit down and watch it completely. What a charming little film! Talk about art deco--my little pre-War heart was over indulged by its setting and theme. And by beautiful Lee Pace, who didn't quite master his English accent (not nearly as smooth as Frances McDormand, for sure) but toughed it out and was also beautiful. Lil' Amy Adams with her "quirky yet lovable out-of-this-world" character card firmly tucked under her belt. Simple, straightforward, tidy, poignant, and out-and-out charming. Very much worth a rent.
Made this little pasta salad today, good for hot weather. Substituted tuna for the salmon fillet in the freezer, and the roasted peppers for a fresh one, scallions for green onions, and no one really likes capers, anyhow. Used the whole box of pasta, which spread the sauce pretty thin, but oh well. I think it's the first time I've used yogurt or a blender in making dinner, so that's sorta exciting. If you don't have to cook the fish like I did, it's also a very quick and painless little affair.
OH, I almost forgot about the crazy space day we had. There was this fundraiser/craziness in Santa Paula, themed "out of this world" and coordinated to some extent by a family friend. So I totally cosplayed in my BSG digs, as unfinished as it is. But there were true to life adults dressed up in crazy stuff, and some cosplaying in their own right. An ensign/lieutenant couple in the command track (Star Trek), a Leia and Han, a guy with a Bumblebee mask. There was also a guy with a really specific costume, clearly from something, but he disappeared before we could ask him who he was. I decided it was Stargate: Atlantis.
They had old planes strafe us and movie props and stuff lying around, and art deco travel posters depicting space liners en route to Jupiter etc. It was pretty cool. My favorite parts were the posters and the fact that that was something that sometimes sane adults did. Also the "free" food samplings for dinner. It was totally fun and totally dorky.
Arright, that's about all I can report on for this week. I wish you luck, those of you who are back in school or are soon to be. HAHA SCHOOL! I'm so over that.
-Steph
Also, I forgot that sometimes the hottest part of the year is falltime, and this week reminded me of that. Because, haha, I decided that it was fall now, since it clearly wasn't summer anymore. But even when the sun isn't scalding my skin off at 10 in the morning (haha, you know I mean 11:30), there's a sort of...fallness to the air, which makes me want to create some kind of spicy pumpkin treat.
Last Friday was unique in that it was memorable. Me and Carolyn caught the 11:10 AM showing of DISTRICT 9. It was more like the 11:30 showing, because there were just about a hundred trailers. I don't know if you've heard of DISTRICT 9? I never really caught any press for it other than my insider emails, so I was surprised to see it top the box office its first weekend.
So if you haven't heard anything about it, it's a documentarish account of these aliens who landed over Johannesburg and got put into a slum there. More or less. It's very poignant and harsh, and very much more gory than I expected (Mom, this one's not for you). I liked it more intellectually than viscerally, simultaneously entertained and repulsed. A truly interesting ride. I wouldn't see it again, but I'm glad I saw it? That sort of reaction.
I wouldn't see THE FOX AND THE CHILD again, but I'm mostly glad I saw it. Very pretty cinematography, kind of a MILO & OTIS story-excuse to film animals doing animal things. Better for a younger audience with a longer than average attention span.
I also rented Bioshock for the PS3, since now we're playing a game trailer sampler loop at the store, featuring such things as Bioshock 2, Beatles Rock Band, and the new Kingdom Hearts DS game (want). Bioshock is up my alley in terms of story and setting (gotta love that retro-futurism/alternate history art deco madness), and not up my alley in terms of it being a shooting game. I just can't aim and reload when I need to. Or, I can, but with undue strain to my processing capabilities. Or, I don't like to. I wikipedia'd the storyline, so now I don't have to finish it.
But there's something great about exploring the ruins of an under water utopia, a wary ear listening for sounds of crazed mutants around every corner, and catching instead the scratchy tone of "Beyond the Sea" playing softly from some unseen radio.
Tuesday I rented season one of DEXTER, and Wednesday I watched it. A group had screened the pilot for us in that one class, Christianity and ethics...I cannot remember the name of that class. The one I wrote my thesis for. Senior Sem! (ty, Sam) At the time, I remember being put-off, not by the content, but by the film making. It felt disjointed and unclear...but as I heard from others and now have seen for myself, the first episode is not all that indicative of the show proper.
Liked it better than WEEDS, that's for sure. I was unprepared for how clever this show is, from the narration to the title-plot interactions to the dialogue and of course the mystery. Also the acting! Sharp characters presented by trained professionals. There were one or two episodes, however, where the B-plot seemed superfluous and aimless, but for the most part I really get the show. Strong arc development here; everything (well, almost) wraps up neatly. Next week: season two.
While I was cooking today, I slapped in ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT season three disc one because for some reason I only ever purchased season three. Funny, funny show. Not for everyone, sure, or else it wouldn't have been canceled. Michael Cera at his best, hands down. And everyone else in their own way, some of the best character acting out there. Watching a whole half-season in one go really brings out running gags, especially the repeated lines, which just makes it that much better. Wish I had the first two seasons.
And tonight my mom and me watched MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY. I'd seen ten minutes or so with Megan one time, but now I severely question her reasons for not demanding I sit down and watch it completely. What a charming little film! Talk about art deco--my little pre-War heart was over indulged by its setting and theme. And by beautiful Lee Pace, who didn't quite master his English accent (not nearly as smooth as Frances McDormand, for sure) but toughed it out and was also beautiful. Lil' Amy Adams with her "quirky yet lovable out-of-this-world" character card firmly tucked under her belt. Simple, straightforward, tidy, poignant, and out-and-out charming. Very much worth a rent.
Made this little pasta salad today, good for hot weather. Substituted tuna for the salmon fillet in the freezer, and the roasted peppers for a fresh one, scallions for green onions, and no one really likes capers, anyhow. Used the whole box of pasta, which spread the sauce pretty thin, but oh well. I think it's the first time I've used yogurt or a blender in making dinner, so that's sorta exciting. If you don't have to cook the fish like I did, it's also a very quick and painless little affair.
OH, I almost forgot about the crazy space day we had. There was this fundraiser/craziness in Santa Paula, themed "out of this world" and coordinated to some extent by a family friend. So I totally cosplayed in my BSG digs, as unfinished as it is. But there were true to life adults dressed up in crazy stuff, and some cosplaying in their own right. An ensign/lieutenant couple in the command track (Star Trek), a Leia and Han, a guy with a Bumblebee mask. There was also a guy with a really specific costume, clearly from something, but he disappeared before we could ask him who he was. I decided it was Stargate: Atlantis.
They had old planes strafe us and movie props and stuff lying around, and art deco travel posters depicting space liners en route to Jupiter etc. It was pretty cool. My favorite parts were the posters and the fact that that was something that sometimes sane adults did. Also the "free" food samplings for dinner. It was totally fun and totally dorky.
Arright, that's about all I can report on for this week. I wish you luck, those of you who are back in school or are soon to be. HAHA SCHOOL! I'm so over that.
-Steph
Thursday, August 20, 2009
The August Traitor
Happy Thursday! So August happened and scared summer away. It's very much like June now, all dark and cold until afternoon when it's hot for a few hours. I miss summer :<
Uwah I'm so tired. Due to other people dropping the ball, I ended up working...sixteen hours over the weekend. That's more than I scheduled in this entire week. Time to buy a DS next paycheck!
Okay, so I know the weekend was many days ago but I'm still tired. Staying up too late. Freakin' Facebook and its farming/gaming/questing apps. I could go to sleep right now if I weren't in a chair (ordinarily I could, chair or no chair, but this one is wheeled and I might die).
Sometime this week I bought fish. Pets type fish. Two gold fish named "Jacob" and Anderson. I took their picture but there wasn't enough light so I'll have to wait til daytime to get a non-grainy picture for you. Anderson is white with a red dot on his head, and "Jacob" is goldfish with a black stripe on top. They're pretty dumb, but I get stuck watching them do nothing for minutes and minutes. When I get a filter that works, I'm gonna get some neon tetras. But those are two, three dollars apiece whereas my current fish were 28 cents total with tax.
The fair ended, so I went and picked up my stuff and my ribbons. The agriculture pick-up time was right during work, so I'll never see my funny looking lemon again. They mailed me my $5.
Yesterday work was at night, so I spent the day re-watching BSG season one and cutting out construction paper. Remember Showtime? You might not. He's the dog I drew, the only one in the history of the circus to be both a dog and a magician? I printed him out on several colors, cut out just those shapes that should be that color, and glued them down on a left over piece of board from art class. Negative spaces! Not sure what possessed me to do that, but he turned out all right.
It was that board I was looking for when I found that Harry Potter book, btw. Continuity yay.
Tuesday I drove with Carolyn and Steven to drop him off at the airport. Then we skulked around Burbank for a while, which was sorta great. There's a wonderful wonderful bakery near the airport, Porto's, and it has very good bread. Nearby there are no less than two comic/movies/nerd collectible shops, and a creepy petstore. I'll take you there some time.
Other than that it's been hanging out, makin brownies, playin video games. Driving recklessly, planting plants, sleeping.
Now, I believe, it's time to try writing. I haven't been, but I need to. I'll keep you updated on that.
Uwah I'm so tired. Due to other people dropping the ball, I ended up working...sixteen hours over the weekend. That's more than I scheduled in this entire week. Time to buy a DS next paycheck!
Okay, so I know the weekend was many days ago but I'm still tired. Staying up too late. Freakin' Facebook and its farming/gaming/questing apps. I could go to sleep right now if I weren't in a chair (ordinarily I could, chair or no chair, but this one is wheeled and I might die).
Sometime this week I bought fish. Pets type fish. Two gold fish named "Jacob" and Anderson. I took their picture but there wasn't enough light so I'll have to wait til daytime to get a non-grainy picture for you. Anderson is white with a red dot on his head, and "Jacob" is goldfish with a black stripe on top. They're pretty dumb, but I get stuck watching them do nothing for minutes and minutes. When I get a filter that works, I'm gonna get some neon tetras. But those are two, three dollars apiece whereas my current fish were 28 cents total with tax.
The fair ended, so I went and picked up my stuff and my ribbons. The agriculture pick-up time was right during work, so I'll never see my funny looking lemon again. They mailed me my $5.
Yesterday work was at night, so I spent the day re-watching BSG season one and cutting out construction paper. Remember Showtime? You might not. He's the dog I drew, the only one in the history of the circus to be both a dog and a magician? I printed him out on several colors, cut out just those shapes that should be that color, and glued them down on a left over piece of board from art class. Negative spaces! Not sure what possessed me to do that, but he turned out all right.
It was that board I was looking for when I found that Harry Potter book, btw. Continuity yay.
Tuesday I drove with Carolyn and Steven to drop him off at the airport. Then we skulked around Burbank for a while, which was sorta great. There's a wonderful wonderful bakery near the airport, Porto's, and it has very good bread. Nearby there are no less than two comic/movies/nerd collectible shops, and a creepy petstore. I'll take you there some time.
Other than that it's been hanging out, makin brownies, playin video games. Driving recklessly, planting plants, sleeping.
Now, I believe, it's time to try writing. I haven't been, but I need to. I'll keep you updated on that.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
I found it!
Happy Thursday! While looking for something entirely unrelated, I managed to discover that my house has contained for some time the last Harry Potter book. "WHAT'S THIS?!" I laughed, "WHAT IS THIS." I started reading it at maybe seven or so Sunday night, paused halfway through for sleeping, and finished it at 4:30 Monday afternoon.
A deep breath.
Those are going to be a pair of amazing movies. I just now realize that perhaps my first thought should have been on the quality of the book itself, but when I know there's movies on the way, I can't think of my experience being complete just yet. Anyway, the sad things were super sad, and nothing at all happened the way I expected it to. I wonder what reading the first one now would be like.
Even sadder, however, was the Pixar film UP. Just saw it at the cheap theater with Carolyn on Friday....it had me close to tears no less than three times. Like, stare hard at the screen and pretend I'm not crying sort of sad. Maybe I was just over emotional that day, but man did it get to me. Try it yourselves.
Tuesday I -- wait for it -- started cleaning my room. ! I threw out three containers of trash and spelling tests from the third grade. Came across a fill-out sheet of beginnings of sentences to be completed by the student: "Today I feel ---," "When I finish high school ---."
It finishes with "I often worry about --- fire." which made me LOL so much.
Another great thing I found was a story by my sister, which I will reprint here without her consent. It's called "The Princess."
One opon a Time Thar was a Princess. the princess was Loving. She had a Favivrit tree.
one day she want to the Forist. She saw a Farrey.
She was prety. she had a wonde.
the princess said haloww. thay toct
the Farey said you can have 1 wish
I wish I had a Princ
the Farrey said I will sow you a pitchr' ov him (poof!) I will give you him in a week
I love that story so much.
Yesterday was work and then I kidnapped Jacqi on the way home because she was in the bad side of town (because it was my side) and then took her to Carolyn's house, as all good kidnappers do. What did we do? Geometry wars, Rock Band. The reg.
Today we went to the fair! I do believe we saw and did everything! We watched tap artists and turkey races and an animal show and crystal-glass-playing and I pet a donkey and a baby goat!! We laughed at all the kids' drawings (I hope they make it to facebook) and ignored all the people trying to sell us stuff.
I just checked last week's blog and it looks like that was before I went the first time with my folks. Maybe that was Friday, too. My lemon won first, and I got a second-placed story and pillow, and a third pillow, too. So that makes about $10 won. Pays for getting in to see 'em! That's the way to do it.
Me and my dad started putting together this tv signal transmitter today. It's like for broadcasting a VCR signal to any tv in your house. It would work great if any of our tvs were capable of picking up broadcast signals. XD Oh well. We soldered on the big pieces for now, and I'm not so good at that. Next time we really gotta open a window, too, 'cause I'm feeling a little toxified after that.
You can sleep off lead poisoning, right?
-Steph
A deep breath.
Those are going to be a pair of amazing movies. I just now realize that perhaps my first thought should have been on the quality of the book itself, but when I know there's movies on the way, I can't think of my experience being complete just yet. Anyway, the sad things were super sad, and nothing at all happened the way I expected it to. I wonder what reading the first one now would be like.
Even sadder, however, was the Pixar film UP. Just saw it at the cheap theater with Carolyn on Friday....it had me close to tears no less than three times. Like, stare hard at the screen and pretend I'm not crying sort of sad. Maybe I was just over emotional that day, but man did it get to me. Try it yourselves.
Tuesday I -- wait for it -- started cleaning my room. ! I threw out three containers of trash and spelling tests from the third grade. Came across a fill-out sheet of beginnings of sentences to be completed by the student: "Today I feel ---," "When I finish high school ---."
It finishes with "I often worry about --- fire." which made me LOL so much.
Another great thing I found was a story by my sister, which I will reprint here without her consent. It's called "The Princess."
One opon a Time Thar was a Princess. the princess was Loving. She had a Favivrit tree.
one day she want to the Forist. She saw a Farrey.
She was prety. she had a wonde.
the princess said halo
the Farey said you can have 1 wish
I wish I had a Princ
the Farrey said I will sow you a pitchr' ov him (poof!) I will give you him in a week
I love that story so much.
Yesterday was work and then I kidnapped Jacqi on the way home because she was in the bad side of town (because it was my side) and then took her to Carolyn's house, as all good kidnappers do. What did we do? Geometry wars, Rock Band. The reg.
Today we went to the fair! I do believe we saw and did everything! We watched tap artists and turkey races and an animal show and crystal-glass-playing and I pet a donkey and a baby goat!! We laughed at all the kids' drawings (I hope they make it to facebook) and ignored all the people trying to sell us stuff.
I just checked last week's blog and it looks like that was before I went the first time with my folks. Maybe that was Friday, too. My lemon won first, and I got a second-placed story and pillow, and a third pillow, too. So that makes about $10 won. Pays for getting in to see 'em! That's the way to do it.
Me and my dad started putting together this tv signal transmitter today. It's like for broadcasting a VCR signal to any tv in your house. It would work great if any of our tvs were capable of picking up broadcast signals. XD Oh well. We soldered on the big pieces for now, and I'm not so good at that. Next time we really gotta open a window, too, 'cause I'm feeling a little toxified after that.
You can sleep off lead poisoning, right?
-Steph
Thursday, August 06, 2009
A Thursy sort of Day
Happy Thursday! Did you know that Wolfmother and Billy Idol were in my top five most listened artists this week? Don't worry, Linkin Park was in the top ten! Spellcheck is not fond of "linkin."
I abandoned my studies this week as there were friends abound in my vicinity. Carolyn's back from her journeys and Jacqi brought Greg along to play. I would say the thing I did most this week was watch movies I'd already seen, followed closely by driving to the wrong place.
Saturday was home to a grand adventure indeed, as I spirited Carolyn away to the elusive Hunting STATE beach to frolic with Sam and Jake and various others. First we went to Bolsa Chica State Beach! Took over two hours, maybe three, to get there, a half hour line to get into the parking lot, and a half hour to realize it was the wrong place.
Back to the car!
More driv driving gets us to Huntington Beach. "Are you before the pier or after it?" I ask Sam. Sam says "what pier?" "Did you pass Twin Dolphins street?" "LOL whut. Look for Brookhurst."
More driv dravving and finally we see signs for the State beach, but it's another twenty minutes in the right turn lane before we're even sure if the street sign up ahead says Brookhurst. Luckily, it does. (we ignored the sign that said "Brookhurst <-- 4 miles")
But we made it, sat around for a bit and watched some people bury their super sad baby in the sand. Then we went to go to the Crab Cooker (which I took a picture of, when we went to Newport) but the line was too long, so we decided to find somewhere else.
We got separated, the boys pulled in at a donut place while I missed the turn and circled the block -- I spotted a "Santa Monica Seafood" in the detour, which we went to after the donut place turned out to be wonderfully terrifying -- Carolyn spotted a sushi place the other direction at the turn to the seafood place, which we went to after finding the seafood place to be a fish market.
So we had sushi after a delightfully illegal left turn. A crazy day, but worth it, I think. I'm trying to get Sam and Jake to come over for the fair. And Beth. And Megan. The fair's on right now! No time to waste!
Speaking of the fair, I entered two pillows, two stories, and a funny shaped lemon. Out of this lot, I'm sure I'm going to win the class for lemon, and the five dollars that comes with it. Gotta go and find out!
Jacqi and Greg and Carolyn and I went and saw HARRY POTTER again. I still liked it, and I feel pretty much the same about it as I did before. "Lyrical" is still the term I'm applying to its cinematography, but this time I realize it's in large part due to the haunting score that very tastefully augments the emotional moments. Beautiful.
We rented a bunch of movies, watched 28 DAYS LATER and RESIDENT EVIL. Hadn't seen the first, but it was a little arty for me. Res Evil was hard to hear. Today Greg and Jacqi were AWOL so we just watched TWILIGHT, which Carolyn hadn't seen. Second time through really highlights the nonsense of it all. I had originally boggled at how quickly these people arrived in Arizona from Washington state, but this time I caught the fact that they jumped from one place to the other in no more than forty-five minutes. And I'm pretty sure the first guy did it in five. If you have a better explanation than "they're vampires," I'll gladly hear it.
I know intellectually that we've hung out for four chronological days, but I've only recounted events from two or three different ones. Oh, right. Movie day was yesterday, day before was Harry Potter and also Happy Hour. The peach margarita was the best, the melon the worst.
Well, Happy Thursday to you all, I'm off to write about vampires. That's where the money's at.
-Stephanie
I abandoned my studies this week as there were friends abound in my vicinity. Carolyn's back from her journeys and Jacqi brought Greg along to play. I would say the thing I did most this week was watch movies I'd already seen, followed closely by driving to the wrong place.
Saturday was home to a grand adventure indeed, as I spirited Carolyn away to the elusive Hunting STATE beach to frolic with Sam and Jake and various others. First we went to Bolsa Chica State Beach! Took over two hours, maybe three, to get there, a half hour line to get into the parking lot, and a half hour to realize it was the wrong place.
Back to the car!
More driv driving gets us to Huntington Beach. "Are you before the pier or after it?" I ask Sam. Sam says "what pier?" "Did you pass Twin Dolphins street?" "LOL whut. Look for Brookhurst."
More driv dravving and finally we see signs for the State beach, but it's another twenty minutes in the right turn lane before we're even sure if the street sign up ahead says Brookhurst. Luckily, it does. (we ignored the sign that said "Brookhurst <-- 4 miles")
But we made it, sat around for a bit and watched some people bury their super sad baby in the sand. Then we went to go to the Crab Cooker (which I took a picture of, when we went to Newport) but the line was too long, so we decided to find somewhere else.
We got separated, the boys pulled in at a donut place while I missed the turn and circled the block -- I spotted a "Santa Monica Seafood" in the detour, which we went to after the donut place turned out to be wonderfully terrifying -- Carolyn spotted a sushi place the other direction at the turn to the seafood place, which we went to after finding the seafood place to be a fish market.
So we had sushi after a delightfully illegal left turn. A crazy day, but worth it, I think. I'm trying to get Sam and Jake to come over for the fair. And Beth. And Megan. The fair's on right now! No time to waste!
Speaking of the fair, I entered two pillows, two stories, and a funny shaped lemon. Out of this lot, I'm sure I'm going to win the class for lemon, and the five dollars that comes with it. Gotta go and find out!
Jacqi and Greg and Carolyn and I went and saw HARRY POTTER again. I still liked it, and I feel pretty much the same about it as I did before. "Lyrical" is still the term I'm applying to its cinematography, but this time I realize it's in large part due to the haunting score that very tastefully augments the emotional moments. Beautiful.
We rented a bunch of movies, watched 28 DAYS LATER and RESIDENT EVIL. Hadn't seen the first, but it was a little arty for me. Res Evil was hard to hear. Today Greg and Jacqi were AWOL so we just watched TWILIGHT, which Carolyn hadn't seen. Second time through really highlights the nonsense of it all. I had originally boggled at how quickly these people arrived in Arizona from Washington state, but this time I caught the fact that they jumped from one place to the other in no more than forty-five minutes. And I'm pretty sure the first guy did it in five. If you have a better explanation than "they're vampires," I'll gladly hear it.
I know intellectually that we've hung out for four chronological days, but I've only recounted events from two or three different ones. Oh, right. Movie day was yesterday, day before was Harry Potter and also Happy Hour. The peach margarita was the best, the melon the worst.
Well, Happy Thursday to you all, I'm off to write about vampires. That's where the money's at.
-Stephanie
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Lunam portare possum.
Happy Thursday! This week has been strange and exciting due to the fact that, thanks to external influences beyond my control, I have begun schooling myself in different subjects and referring to parts of my day as "class."
I have Latin in the morning. I am on chapter six, and have begun to translate full sentences. The strangest one so far has been "Servum e terra ad lunam equitare iubent" = "They order the slave to ride from the earth to the moon." But really, Latin seems to be a bit less complicated to learn than some of the others I've tried, and since there's no other alphabet to memorize, I like to think I've been making progress. Making flashcards tomorrow. Learn it with me!
After Latin I either go to work or have art class. Art class has been fuze beads, mostly, but I'm planning on returning to sewing one of these days. But first I'm going to make a Mario block and maybe 8-bit Mario. I've already made a bunch of geeky stuff, which you can see on Facebook. Today I tried making some Star Trek emblems that sorta don't work, and Captain Hammer's shirt logo, although it's a little unaccurate. My fave is the Watchmen smiley.
The class I have not been putting as much effort into is electronics. My dad brought home an "electronics learning lab" from Radio Shack, which is a little console for setting up circuits and seeing what switches and relays and potentiometers do. My goal is to build a radio. I checked out a book on repairing old radios, but it's a little specialized in its language. But I'm learning! It's one of those subjects that I need to absorb in coats. Splash a basic explanation on me, wait for it to dry, and then do it again until I know what you're talking about. I can do it!
The last subject I have really really been neglecting, since I haven't even pulled those books out of my bag yet. Cartography! Something I love in theory, but don't actually know one way or the other. I don't know how the books are yet, so I'll let you know how that's going once I really get started.
Other than that, I've been Harry Pottering it up--that's right, I should go back to the beginning. It all started at Jacqi's garage sale, which I helped put up signs for and did many illegal U-turns in the middle of Day Rd. Then I visited her and helped take the money from strangers and got the craziest sunburn ever and then took home many of her unsold books, like Hiroshima and Learn to Read Latin, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. (I also took a dart board and a train book and a Twilight Zone reader and a Gameboy color and a skirt I'm going to make into a pillow and give back)
So that's how I got Latin and Harry Potter. It is, actually, a very good book, which is what everybody says. They are not wrong. There was one sentence that even made me tear up! I would say that the movie takes a much more artistic approach, or shall I say lyrical, even, with they way they show us the things that actually happen offscreen to Harry's world. I guess I mean, in relation to Draco's storyline. Seeing the movie and reading the book are like two halves to a full whole, they complement each other nicely, and it feels like I'm getting to see more than one side of the world in which these people inhabit. In other words, now I'm going to have to see the movie again.
Yesterday I was reading the TV guide because I thought it was EW (they've really beefed up their information delivery!), and had several freaks out about casting decisions in upcoming seasons of things. For instance, now I'm going to have to watch SMALLVILLE for Callum Blue. But it also informed me that the DOLLHOUSE season one was out on the 28th, so I popped out to get it. While I fished around at the Barnes & Noble I accidentally also was coerced to buy the DR. HORRIBLE DVD that was staring me in the face, so I did.
Commentary! The Musical is almost better than the show itself. NO JOKE. And the DOLLHOUSE unaired episode was strange and depressing, and I dunno how to feel about it, just like how I feel about the show at large. I don't even know if I'd watch season one again, lol. Oh dear, the things I do for this man. It's been a couple of Jossy days.
The only other thing I would like to comment on is my Blockbuster song. In Glendora, we got KROQ pretty good. So I would listen to that most days, or if STAR was being too rappy. I ended up hearing this one song a lot, and particularly when I was going to work. I believe it must be by the Offspring, but I really don't know. Anyway, this year we get KROQ in V-town, so I still listen to it. Two days in a row I heard it on the way--and--when I had to go in one day before it ended, it was magically playing the end of it when I left and drove home. It was like it had paused for me and I couldn't believe it.
That, or they play that song way too much.
-Steph
I have Latin in the morning. I am on chapter six, and have begun to translate full sentences. The strangest one so far has been "Servum e terra ad lunam equitare iubent" = "They order the slave to ride from the earth to the moon." But really, Latin seems to be a bit less complicated to learn than some of the others I've tried, and since there's no other alphabet to memorize, I like to think I've been making progress. Making flashcards tomorrow. Learn it with me!
After Latin I either go to work or have art class. Art class has been fuze beads, mostly, but I'm planning on returning to sewing one of these days. But first I'm going to make a Mario block and maybe 8-bit Mario. I've already made a bunch of geeky stuff, which you can see on Facebook. Today I tried making some Star Trek emblems that sorta don't work, and Captain Hammer's shirt logo, although it's a little unaccurate. My fave is the Watchmen smiley.
The class I have not been putting as much effort into is electronics. My dad brought home an "electronics learning lab" from Radio Shack, which is a little console for setting up circuits and seeing what switches and relays and potentiometers do. My goal is to build a radio. I checked out a book on repairing old radios, but it's a little specialized in its language. But I'm learning! It's one of those subjects that I need to absorb in coats. Splash a basic explanation on me, wait for it to dry, and then do it again until I know what you're talking about. I can do it!
The last subject I have really really been neglecting, since I haven't even pulled those books out of my bag yet. Cartography! Something I love in theory, but don't actually know one way or the other. I don't know how the books are yet, so I'll let you know how that's going once I really get started.
Other than that, I've been Harry Pottering it up--that's right, I should go back to the beginning. It all started at Jacqi's garage sale, which I helped put up signs for and did many illegal U-turns in the middle of Day Rd. Then I visited her and helped take the money from strangers and got the craziest sunburn ever and then took home many of her unsold books, like Hiroshima and Learn to Read Latin, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. (I also took a dart board and a train book and a Twilight Zone reader and a Gameboy color and a skirt I'm going to make into a pillow and give back)
So that's how I got Latin and Harry Potter. It is, actually, a very good book, which is what everybody says. They are not wrong. There was one sentence that even made me tear up! I would say that the movie takes a much more artistic approach, or shall I say lyrical, even, with they way they show us the things that actually happen offscreen to Harry's world. I guess I mean, in relation to Draco's storyline. Seeing the movie and reading the book are like two halves to a full whole, they complement each other nicely, and it feels like I'm getting to see more than one side of the world in which these people inhabit. In other words, now I'm going to have to see the movie again.
Yesterday I was reading the TV guide because I thought it was EW (they've really beefed up their information delivery!), and had several freaks out about casting decisions in upcoming seasons of things. For instance, now I'm going to have to watch SMALLVILLE for Callum Blue. But it also informed me that the DOLLHOUSE season one was out on the 28th, so I popped out to get it. While I fished around at the Barnes & Noble I accidentally also was coerced to buy the DR. HORRIBLE DVD that was staring me in the face, so I did.
Commentary! The Musical is almost better than the show itself. NO JOKE. And the DOLLHOUSE unaired episode was strange and depressing, and I dunno how to feel about it, just like how I feel about the show at large. I don't even know if I'd watch season one again, lol. Oh dear, the things I do for this man. It's been a couple of Jossy days.
The only other thing I would like to comment on is my Blockbuster song. In Glendora, we got KROQ pretty good. So I would listen to that most days, or if STAR was being too rappy. I ended up hearing this one song a lot, and particularly when I was going to work. I believe it must be by the Offspring, but I really don't know. Anyway, this year we get KROQ in V-town, so I still listen to it. Two days in a row I heard it on the way--and--when I had to go in one day before it ended, it was magically playing the end of it when I left and drove home. It was like it had paused for me and I couldn't believe it.
That, or they play that song way too much.
-Steph
Thursday, July 23, 2009
We Need a Mascot
Happy Thursday! I think that Thursday needs a mascot, a cute and friendly sort of a thing that's always ready to make you smile. Brown and red, of course, perhaps something cuddly that is already those colors? Send me your ideas!
I feel like at various times this week, I mentally threw down tons of detailed discourses on tons of subjects that I would write about today. Like on book-to-movie adaptations and why people get so worked up about it....and I think at 5 this morning I was reciting my dream to myself so I would remember and tell you all about it.
The thing about me, is that whenever I start thinking up some argument or my opinions on a subject, I'll really think it over, and once it's properly sorted out, I'll forget all about it. You know, it's sort of like writing stories that I do--as long as they're unfinished, they'll come back to me and I'llwork think on them a bit, but as soon as I stamp the date at the bottom of a document, I hardly ever think about that storyline after that.
DID YOU KNOW that the last thing I wrote/finished for my superhero series was over a year ago?? That means that all the things I've thought up for that series in the past year have never been written. I believe I've got a few pages on the second installment, but that's it. Kinda intense slacking on my part, seeing as I try to think about these storylines most every day.
I saw WATCHMEN this weekend, which is one of the reasons I was going to talk about film adaptations. Especially after seeing the Harry Potter, it became clear to me how some people get it right, and some people get it oh so wrong.
Some of that film was actually and literally taken straight from the pages, frame by frame emulated in moving sequence. Dialogue, too, whole scenes copied word-for-word. And then there were the deviations and abridgments one expects in an adaptation. I know they toted it as being super faithful to the graphic novel, but some times the undiluted passages came over extremely dull. And the stuff they changed in order to make it all fit (and to make the ending more palatable to a modern audience) was really rather contrived. (Also, the acting was horrendous.)
Alan Moore, the writer of Watchmen, has for years insisted that should a movie ever be made of his work, he would refuse to see it. You'll note his name is no where to be seen on that DVD. His reason being that when he set out to do what he did, he was aiming to reinvent the way comics did things. He was going to show the world what comics could do, narratively, visually. Things that only comics could do, a showcase not only for his art but for his art form. To make a movie, a different art form, from it would defeat much of its purpose.
And in the WATCHMEN's case, he was pretty much right. Normally, I would take a different stance about this, but that particular film was a poor adaptation, and chances are no one could have done better. Normally, my opinion is this:
Comparing a book to the film adaptation (specifically, criticizing the film for not matching up to the book point for point) is like comparing a sculpture inspired by a painting. Say someone paints a beautiful tree, and then someone decides to sculpt that same tree, only in the three dimensional medium of stone or what have you. The content is the same, the heart of it is the same, but clearly the methods of delivering the content to your eyes is utterly different. They're meant to be.
Saying something like "the Harry Potter movies are inferior to the books because they don't show every little detail" is like saying, "this sculpture is all wrong. Look, they even messed up the color of the sky! No, wait, they didn't even bother putting the sky in!" Well DUH you can't put a sky in a sculpture, just like you can't put fourteen pages of a character's thoughts into a 2 and a half hour movie.
What you have to do is see if the movie is, at it's very core, the same as the book. Does it impart all the meaning as the book? Does it make you feel the same? Then, as long as the movie is well made--by movie making standards--then that's a good adaptation, whether you like it or the book better. If you absolutely have to know what Harry was thinking at any given moment, you're welcome to read the book.
That's not a very good example of complaints the book fans have with the movies, but I can't actually think of any real ones at the moment. My point is, good books are defined by a set of standards, and good films have their own set. You can't judge the movie simply by how it fails to be a book.
Unless it's WATCHMEN, which, even as a movie, could have been improved greatly. I remember in ninth grade having to film a couple of scenes from Romeo and Juliet for English class--if you can imagine us standing around in silly costumes reading the foreign text in listless and unschooled voices.........that was WATCHMEN.
Well that's not really how I meant to spend this Thursday. Oh well. It was probably more interesting than how I spent the week, which was pretty uneventful as far as I can tell. Saw STAR TREK again at the cheap theater with Carolyn and Jacqi. I unashamedly wore my Ops shirt there, and I think the ticket lady was laughing at it, but it was very hard to tell whether or not she was actually laughing, and if so, what specifically she was laughing at.
-Steph
I feel like at various times this week, I mentally threw down tons of detailed discourses on tons of subjects that I would write about today. Like on book-to-movie adaptations and why people get so worked up about it....and I think at 5 this morning I was reciting my dream to myself so I would remember and tell you all about it.
The thing about me, is that whenever I start thinking up some argument or my opinions on a subject, I'll really think it over, and once it's properly sorted out, I'll forget all about it. You know, it's sort of like writing stories that I do--as long as they're unfinished, they'll come back to me and I'll
DID YOU KNOW that the last thing I wrote/finished for my superhero series was over a year ago?? That means that all the things I've thought up for that series in the past year have never been written. I believe I've got a few pages on the second installment, but that's it. Kinda intense slacking on my part, seeing as I try to think about these storylines most every day.
I saw WATCHMEN this weekend, which is one of the reasons I was going to talk about film adaptations. Especially after seeing the Harry Potter, it became clear to me how some people get it right, and some people get it oh so wrong.
Some of that film was actually and literally taken straight from the pages, frame by frame emulated in moving sequence. Dialogue, too, whole scenes copied word-for-word. And then there were the deviations and abridgments one expects in an adaptation. I know they toted it as being super faithful to the graphic novel, but some times the undiluted passages came over extremely dull. And the stuff they changed in order to make it all fit (and to make the ending more palatable to a modern audience) was really rather contrived. (Also, the acting was horrendous.)
Alan Moore, the writer of Watchmen, has for years insisted that should a movie ever be made of his work, he would refuse to see it. You'll note his name is no where to be seen on that DVD. His reason being that when he set out to do what he did, he was aiming to reinvent the way comics did things. He was going to show the world what comics could do, narratively, visually. Things that only comics could do, a showcase not only for his art but for his art form. To make a movie, a different art form, from it would defeat much of its purpose.
And in the WATCHMEN's case, he was pretty much right. Normally, I would take a different stance about this, but that particular film was a poor adaptation, and chances are no one could have done better. Normally, my opinion is this:
Comparing a book to the film adaptation (specifically, criticizing the film for not matching up to the book point for point) is like comparing a sculpture inspired by a painting. Say someone paints a beautiful tree, and then someone decides to sculpt that same tree, only in the three dimensional medium of stone or what have you. The content is the same, the heart of it is the same, but clearly the methods of delivering the content to your eyes is utterly different. They're meant to be.
Saying something like "the Harry Potter movies are inferior to the books because they don't show every little detail" is like saying, "this sculpture is all wrong. Look, they even messed up the color of the sky! No, wait, they didn't even bother putting the sky in!" Well DUH you can't put a sky in a sculpture, just like you can't put fourteen pages of a character's thoughts into a 2 and a half hour movie.
What you have to do is see if the movie is, at it's very core, the same as the book. Does it impart all the meaning as the book? Does it make you feel the same? Then, as long as the movie is well made--by movie making standards--then that's a good adaptation, whether you like it or the book better. If you absolutely have to know what Harry was thinking at any given moment, you're welcome to read the book.
That's not a very good example of complaints the book fans have with the movies, but I can't actually think of any real ones at the moment. My point is, good books are defined by a set of standards, and good films have their own set. You can't judge the movie simply by how it fails to be a book.
Unless it's WATCHMEN, which, even as a movie, could have been improved greatly. I remember in ninth grade having to film a couple of scenes from Romeo and Juliet for English class--if you can imagine us standing around in silly costumes reading the foreign text in listless and unschooled voices.........that was WATCHMEN.
Well that's not really how I meant to spend this Thursday. Oh well. It was probably more interesting than how I spent the week, which was pretty uneventful as far as I can tell. Saw STAR TREK again at the cheap theater with Carolyn and Jacqi. I unashamedly wore my Ops shirt there, and I think the ticket lady was laughing at it, but it was very hard to tell whether or not she was actually laughing, and if so, what specifically she was laughing at.
-Steph
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Thursday and the Half-Blood Prince
Happy Thursday! I had stopped reading them at Goblet of Fire, and only this week read Order of the Phoenix for the first time (after having seen it for the first time the day or so before that) so I was quite surprised at the meaning of the title! I will start reading it tomorrow.
This Thursday seems prematurely short, seeing as I woke up with enough time to dodder about before work, which was at 1. Left work straight for the movie, which, incidentally, is just across the parking lot. Home a little after 7, jogged while watching a bit of THE OFFICE and SMALLVILLE, and basically here I am.
I got my free Star Trek shirt today! I sent Kellogg's my nine tokens (ten, just to be safe), and finally I gots my free shirt. It's red, which was the color for Ops personnel from 2265 to the 2270s. I'd be in Ops because I would be the navigator on a starship, and my quarters would be covered in old maps from many different planets. For away missions, I would cartogaph new worlds! That would be my dream job if I had Starfleet training.
I'm pretty certain that the only things I've done this week are read Order of the Phoenix and play FFVIII.
OH. One thing I forgot to tell you last week, even in the undestroyed version of the note, was that at the AX I picked up a new Greatest Hits copy of FFVIII for twenty bucks. I thought that was a good deal until I checked out Amazon just now. VII and VIII are out of print now, so their prices skyrocketed, and I'd always said my biggest regret was not buying VIII for the PS2. When it was new, I bought it for the PC for $40, lol. And I never beat it because playing on the PC was ridiculous and I didn't know enough about gaming when I started to really have a chance.
(see, now, a new original copy of VII at the AX was going for $200, while at the booth I bought my VIII it was less than that; new from Amazon it starts at $165.)
FFVIII was my first video game, probably after Pokemon Blue. I'd grown up watching my brother play previous installments (I can remember when he got II, VI, and VII: I hid at the top of the stairs watching Cloud dangle from a ledge instead of going to sleep that Christmas), but neither my brother or my cousin knew anything about VIII when I bought it. It's shocking to see now how much I was missing ten years ago, I've learned so much about the game play this week that I just didn't know about. How I made it into the third disc at all is beyond me!
FFVIII is my VOYAGER. It may not be my fave, but it's my first, so it has a special place where I don't have to judge it, I can just think on it with fond nostalgia. Playing it all the way through to the end is going to be great.
Although, this makes it three different Final Fantasies that I'm currently playing and have not defeated. One day, my pretties. One day.
We had an inexplicable excursion to Taco Bell yesterday. They had strange "work here!" signs as we entered, which depicted a leaping girl dissolving at the extremities into swirling rainbows bursting with music paraphernalia and tacos. Inside, we were pelted for the duration of our stay with unremarkable classical music. My mom ordered a burrito supreme, and I, the grilled stuft. We were given two burrito supremes. $1.99 for one of those, 3-something for what I wanted. She ordered another grilled stuft and we received another burrito supreme, this time costing 2-something. Exchanged that one for what I had wanted all along, which only reinforced my idea that going to Taco Bell should be carefully reconsidered.
Oh my gosh, this blog is so geeky today. I cannot, for the life of me, think of one hip thing I did this week.
-Ensign Stephanie Anderson
This Thursday seems prematurely short, seeing as I woke up with enough time to dodder about before work, which was at 1. Left work straight for the movie, which, incidentally, is just across the parking lot. Home a little after 7, jogged while watching a bit of THE OFFICE and SMALLVILLE, and basically here I am.
I got my free Star Trek shirt today! I sent Kellogg's my nine tokens (ten, just to be safe), and finally I gots my free shirt. It's red, which was the color for Ops personnel from 2265 to the 2270s. I'd be in Ops because I would be the navigator on a starship, and my quarters would be covered in old maps from many different planets. For away missions, I would cartogaph new worlds! That would be my dream job if I had Starfleet training.
I'm pretty certain that the only things I've done this week are read Order of the Phoenix and play FFVIII.
OH. One thing I forgot to tell you last week, even in the undestroyed version of the note, was that at the AX I picked up a new Greatest Hits copy of FFVIII for twenty bucks. I thought that was a good deal until I checked out Amazon just now. VII and VIII are out of print now, so their prices skyrocketed, and I'd always said my biggest regret was not buying VIII for the PS2. When it was new, I bought it for the PC for $40, lol. And I never beat it because playing on the PC was ridiculous and I didn't know enough about gaming when I started to really have a chance.
(see, now, a new original copy of VII at the AX was going for $200, while at the booth I bought my VIII it was less than that; new from Amazon it starts at $165.)
FFVIII was my first video game, probably after Pokemon Blue. I'd grown up watching my brother play previous installments (I can remember when he got II, VI, and VII: I hid at the top of the stairs watching Cloud dangle from a ledge instead of going to sleep that Christmas), but neither my brother or my cousin knew anything about VIII when I bought it. It's shocking to see now how much I was missing ten years ago, I've learned so much about the game play this week that I just didn't know about. How I made it into the third disc at all is beyond me!
FFVIII is my VOYAGER. It may not be my fave, but it's my first, so it has a special place where I don't have to judge it, I can just think on it with fond nostalgia. Playing it all the way through to the end is going to be great.
Although, this makes it three different Final Fantasies that I'm currently playing and have not defeated. One day, my pretties. One day.
We had an inexplicable excursion to Taco Bell yesterday. They had strange "work here!" signs as we entered, which depicted a leaping girl dissolving at the extremities into swirling rainbows bursting with music paraphernalia and tacos. Inside, we were pelted for the duration of our stay with unremarkable classical music. My mom ordered a burrito supreme, and I, the grilled stuft. We were given two burrito supremes. $1.99 for one of those, 3-something for what I wanted. She ordered another grilled stuft and we received another burrito supreme, this time costing 2-something. Exchanged that one for what I had wanted all along, which only reinforced my idea that going to Taco Bell should be carefully reconsidered.
Oh my gosh, this blog is so geeky today. I cannot, for the life of me, think of one hip thing I did this week.
-Ensign Stephanie Anderson
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Funtimes + Coldtimes + Angrytimes
Happy Thursday! And a shout out to my lucky friends Carolyn and Brianna, who had Thursday Birthdays today! 00t! Hooray for you guys!
So the AX was a week ago! It was great, but so short. :<
HERE I'm really angry because when I added that stupid picture in at the bottom of the post, a bunch of my post got deleted, like my reflections on the AX. So now you don't get any of my insights on how fun it was, or how we didn't get tired like normal, or how we went to events instead of hanging out in the hotel or how I was in the same room with my favorite power ranger. UNHAPPY.
my new Facebook album I just spent the last hour arranging. Did you know you can put 200 pictures in an album now?! Unbelievable! So I splurged and added some blurry ones and some not-so-pertinent ones. Enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2087328&id=56903048&l=0e113d217e
I lost two pounds at the AX. I wish regular life consisted of strolling around all day. I don't do nearly enough random strolling.
And on Tuesday I lost three pounds! I caught a cold, perhaps from the multitude of parks me and Carolyn visited on Monday. I'm mostly better now, but for the draining of excess head fluids. :<
AND also here it took out everything about what we did today for Carolyn's birthday, like make sandwiches at the park and switching parks and looking at the dog park and playing Wii Mario Kart which is hard. And my thoughts on all the movies we watched this week, which were generally mediocre. UPSET!!
I cheat!" or "Waluigi lose!!"
Then we watched I AM LEGEND. It was a nice movie, as movies go, but I wasn't invested. Liked the dog. Then we watched an ep of DUE SOUTH, remember that one? Only six left, oh no!! That particular episode was not one of the best.
BUT I heard that Katee Sackhoff and Callum Keith Rennie are gonna be on 24!! I believe Katee already is/was? That's Starbuck and Leoben, fyi. Together at last, lol.
Also in that episode of DUE SOUTH, Michael Hogan aka Colonel Saul Tigh was a creepo country music manager. I would have loved to see Rennie and Hogan's first meeting on the BSG set and being all "ohhhh I remember you, lol."
And then I came home and I should really go to sleep so I don't die at work tomorrow. That would not be the best for anybody.and I'm the best at what I do.
-Steph
PS
Here's my chair:
Hope it was worth it.
So the AX was a week ago! It was great, but so short. :<
HERE I'm really angry because when I added that stupid picture in at the bottom of the post, a bunch of my post got deleted, like my reflections on the AX. So now you don't get any of my insights on how fun it was, or how we didn't get tired like normal, or how we went to events instead of hanging out in the hotel or how I was in the same room with my favorite power ranger. UNHAPPY.
my new Facebook album I just spent the last hour arranging. Did you know you can put 200 pictures in an album now?! Unbelievable! So I splurged and added some blurry ones and some not-so-pertinent ones. Enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2087328&id=56903048&l=0e113d217e
I lost two pounds at the AX. I wish regular life consisted of strolling around all day. I don't do nearly enough random strolling.
And on Tuesday I lost three pounds! I caught a cold, perhaps from the multitude of parks me and Carolyn visited on Monday. I'm mostly better now, but for the draining of excess head fluids. :<
AND also here it took out everything about what we did today for Carolyn's birthday, like make sandwiches at the park and switching parks and looking at the dog park and playing Wii Mario Kart which is hard. And my thoughts on all the movies we watched this week, which were generally mediocre. UPSET!!
I cheat!" or "Waluigi lose!!"
Then we watched I AM LEGEND. It was a nice movie, as movies go, but I wasn't invested. Liked the dog. Then we watched an ep of DUE SOUTH, remember that one? Only six left, oh no!! That particular episode was not one of the best.
BUT I heard that Katee Sackhoff and Callum Keith Rennie are gonna be on 24!! I believe Katee already is/was? That's Starbuck and Leoben, fyi. Together at last, lol.
Also in that episode of DUE SOUTH, Michael Hogan aka Colonel Saul Tigh was a creepo country music manager. I would have loved to see Rennie and Hogan's first meeting on the BSG set and being all "ohhhh I remember you, lol."
And then I came home and I should really go to sleep so I don't die at work tomorrow. That would not be the best for anybody.
-Steph
PS
Here's my chair:
Hope it was worth it.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
It's that anime time of year again
Happy Thursday! I confess that as I write these words, it is not Thursday yet in the strictest sense. But if I have any hope of waking up tomorrow at 6 AM, I had best start writing now.
"Tomorrow" is Thursday, July 2nd, aka AX opening day. That's right, folks, the day when I put on a silly costume and parade around amongst similarly attirednerds fellows. This year our troupe is going primarily from Soul Eater, a show about kids who are weapons or their wielders, who go to a school to train for harvesting the souls of the corrupt. Hooray!
My name is Black Star, and I'm somewhat of a ninja, discounting the blue hair. My weapon partner is Tsubaki, whose weapon modes include little scythe things that have a proper name I don't know, a smoke bomb, a giant ninja star, and also a fey blade mode which makes Black Star crazy. Most people only have one or a mega form as weapons, but we're ninja so we're special.
I didn't get around to taking pictures of my chair, but I promise next week this thing will be FULL of pictures of all sorts.
I did a lot of sewing this week, mostly sewing is what I did. We also went and saw TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, which is pretty much like the first one, all the same pros and cons. If you like robots and explosions for two and a half hours, go see it!
There was a trailer for the new Harry Potter movie, too, and I was all "I wish I was excited about that." So we went and rented the first three movies and watched those. I hadn't ever seen the first! I'm pretty sure I haven't seen the fourth or fifth, either. After this anime ruckus is over, I'll be Harry Pottering.
Did I do anything else? OH LISTEN EVERYONE LISTEN.
There's a pilot going by the name of VIRTUALITY, and you can watch it here. It's a sci-fi drama co-written and co-produced by the mind behind the BSG reimaging, and it's one of the best things I've seen in my life. During this two hour pilot, I remarked aloud something along the lines of, "I'd be willing to watch the next ten seasons of this," referring to the plot's ten year mission to another solar system. Little did I know that NO ONE has plans to pick this up as a series, so as it stands, this two hour "movie" is all there ever will be of this concept.
THIS CAN NOT BE ALLOWED TO BE THE CASE. It's like when you hand a little kid a puppy, they fall in love with it, and then two hours later you grab it away and throw it into an ice-fishing hole. Or you get to go to Disneyland for the first time, and after two hours, the ghost of Walt Disney comes out of the castle and burns the place to the ground. It's like saving up all year to go to your favorite fancy restaurant, and after two hours of standing in line, the FDA guy comes up and closes it forever.
So I'm doing my part and creating what little buzz I can muster, and recommending this strongly to everyone who reads this. At least AT LEAST click on the link. You can also watch it here. Rarely has a pilot ever had such an impact on me, and with the decline of scripted television there's always the fear that there will never be another show of this caliber. I NEED it to continue. You do, too. You just don't know it.
VIRTUALITY. Tell your friends.
I can't think of any thing else superly exciting from this past week, and it is actually Thursday now, so I might just close this off now! Happy Thursday!
I'll bring you back something dorky from the expo!
-Stephanie
"Tomorrow" is Thursday, July 2nd, aka AX opening day. That's right, folks, the day when I put on a silly costume and parade around amongst similarly attired
My name is Black Star, and I'm somewhat of a ninja, discounting the blue hair. My weapon partner is Tsubaki, whose weapon modes include little scythe things that have a proper name I don't know, a smoke bomb, a giant ninja star, and also a fey blade mode which makes Black Star crazy. Most people only have one or a mega form as weapons, but we're ninja so we're special.
I didn't get around to taking pictures of my chair, but I promise next week this thing will be FULL of pictures of all sorts.
I did a lot of sewing this week, mostly sewing is what I did. We also went and saw TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN, which is pretty much like the first one, all the same pros and cons. If you like robots and explosions for two and a half hours, go see it!
There was a trailer for the new Harry Potter movie, too, and I was all "I wish I was excited about that." So we went and rented the first three movies and watched those. I hadn't ever seen the first! I'm pretty sure I haven't seen the fourth or fifth, either. After this anime ruckus is over, I'll be Harry Pottering.
Did I do anything else? OH LISTEN EVERYONE LISTEN.
There's a pilot going by the name of VIRTUALITY, and you can watch it here. It's a sci-fi drama co-written and co-produced by the mind behind the BSG reimaging, and it's one of the best things I've seen in my life. During this two hour pilot, I remarked aloud something along the lines of, "I'd be willing to watch the next ten seasons of this," referring to the plot's ten year mission to another solar system. Little did I know that NO ONE has plans to pick this up as a series, so as it stands, this two hour "movie" is all there ever will be of this concept.
THIS CAN NOT BE ALLOWED TO BE THE CASE. It's like when you hand a little kid a puppy, they fall in love with it, and then two hours later you grab it away and throw it into an ice-fishing hole. Or you get to go to Disneyland for the first time, and after two hours, the ghost of Walt Disney comes out of the castle and burns the place to the ground. It's like saving up all year to go to your favorite fancy restaurant, and after two hours of standing in line, the FDA guy comes up and closes it forever.
So I'm doing my part and creating what little buzz I can muster, and recommending this strongly to everyone who reads this. At least AT LEAST click on the link. You can also watch it here. Rarely has a pilot ever had such an impact on me, and with the decline of scripted television there's always the fear that there will never be another show of this caliber. I NEED it to continue. You do, too. You just don't know it.
VIRTUALITY. Tell your friends.
I can't think of any thing else superly exciting from this past week, and it is actually Thursday now, so I might just close this off now! Happy Thursday!
I'll bring you back something dorky from the expo!
-Stephanie
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Introducing...A Thursday
Happy Thursday! So many people died today, like Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett. Craziness. Moving on.
The AX is next week! I got the time off! I'm half way done with my costume! My wig shipped today (urrr I hope I get it in time)!
This year has been the year of painting costumes. I don't remember what the first item was, but Carolyn was faced with the need to affix a different color onto a large portion of an existing shirt or whatever. She was going to cut and sew it on! I said "what if you just painted it?" And now she's painted part or all of pretty much everything. Ties, shirts, boots, jackets, skirts, hats, canes. No purses this year.
In my dream last night, there was a part where Jacqi came over "just in time to paint ties."
Mine doesn't have any paint, but then, I'm making most of it myself. The shoes might have paint. My gloves are 99% done, my pants are 90% done, I just need to construct arm-weights, and sew a bowl onto my shirt collar. And style the wig. I hope that works out.
This is also the first year I've used the sewing machine for anything substantial. I used to insist on hand sewing things, which took forever. I didn't really ever use the machine until pillows, so I'm still sorta new at it. Practice practice practice.
Yesterday we went thriftingone last time and I bought the most beautiful chair. 14 dollars, comfortable, light-weight, and straight out of someone's drug trip. I forgot to take a picture to show you. I could do it now but I don't want to. Next week. Remind me.
Me and my mom watched RASHOMON today for the first time. Pretty good. A little different than what I thought I'd been told what it was. Makes me really want to finish SEVEN SAMURAI. I liked that one a lot.
I'm trying to remember the rest of the week, but it's not really working. Oh I guess Tuesday was a really good day. I sold 8 passes at work, which is a personal best and also one less than the store total today. Larry was really happy with me, which is good, since he wasn't so happy about me not letting him know about the AX sooner. But it's alright now. Yeah, Tuesday was just all around a good day. It was like a Thursday in spirit.
Oh ahah, we watched THE SPIRIT. Sucks sucks sucks. Also OUTLANDER, but it sucked a good deal less. VALKYRIE was fine, but not very engaging. I think I may have mentioned Valkyrie last week? I don't know when any of this happened.
For Father's Day we took a very long excursion down the beach and back. I got a tar foot! We were only going to go as far as to where the river lets out, but it was sanded across so we just kept going and going and going probably twice as far as that. It was a nice day AND we saw dolphins. But going back took twice as long because I was dying. :< I thought I was in better shape than that?
Ah alright, I'm a-sleepy, so I'll let you go for now.
For Now.
-Steph
The AX is next week! I got the time off! I'm half way done with my costume! My wig shipped today (urrr I hope I get it in time)!
This year has been the year of painting costumes. I don't remember what the first item was, but Carolyn was faced with the need to affix a different color onto a large portion of an existing shirt or whatever. She was going to cut and sew it on! I said "what if you just painted it?" And now she's painted part or all of pretty much everything. Ties, shirts, boots, jackets, skirts, hats, canes. No purses this year.
In my dream last night, there was a part where Jacqi came over "just in time to paint ties."
Mine doesn't have any paint, but then, I'm making most of it myself. The shoes might have paint. My gloves are 99% done, my pants are 90% done, I just need to construct arm-weights, and sew a bowl onto my shirt collar. And style the wig. I hope that works out.
This is also the first year I've used the sewing machine for anything substantial. I used to insist on hand sewing things, which took forever. I didn't really ever use the machine until pillows, so I'm still sorta new at it. Practice practice practice.
Yesterday we went thrifting
Me and my mom watched RASHOMON today for the first time. Pretty good. A little different than what I thought I'd been told what it was. Makes me really want to finish SEVEN SAMURAI. I liked that one a lot.
I'm trying to remember the rest of the week, but it's not really working. Oh I guess Tuesday was a really good day. I sold 8 passes at work, which is a personal best and also one less than the store total today. Larry was really happy with me, which is good, since he wasn't so happy about me not letting him know about the AX sooner. But it's alright now. Yeah, Tuesday was just all around a good day. It was like a Thursday in spirit.
Oh ahah, we watched THE SPIRIT. Sucks sucks sucks. Also OUTLANDER, but it sucked a good deal less. VALKYRIE was fine, but not very engaging. I think I may have mentioned Valkyrie last week? I don't know when any of this happened.
For Father's Day we took a very long excursion down the beach and back. I got a tar foot! We were only going to go as far as to where the river lets out, but it was sanded across so we just kept going and going and going probably twice as far as that. It was a nice day AND we saw dolphins. But going back took twice as long because I was dying. :< I thought I was in better shape than that?
Ah alright, I'm a-sleepy, so I'll let you go for now.
For Now.
-Steph
Thursday, June 18, 2009
A 1940s Moon Base
Happy Thursday! How are you all? Fine, I hope? Excellent, perhaps? Effervescent? Wonderful!
Jacqi's home for a bit, so me and her and Carolyn have been hanging out and doing ridiculous stuff all week. Pan after pan of Rice Crispy treats (if I ever made a fake brand for a show, it would be called Ricey Crispoes), movie after movie, etc. We rented all sorts of things but so far we've only made it through TRANSFORMERS. And we also saw 17 AGAIN, which was good.
Speaking of TRANSFORMERS, I invented a new game. It's the connect X Hollywood person to Joss Whedon game. Like Tom Cruise. He's in TROPIC THUNDER with RDJ, who's in KISS KISS BANG BANG with Megan whoever, who's in EAGLE EYE with Shia, who's in TRANSFORMERS which was written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, who wrote STAR TREK which had John Cho, who is in HAROLD AND KUMAR with Neil Patrick Harris, who's in DR. HORRIBLE, written and directed by Joss Whedon.
I think there might be a quicker one, but that was just the first route I thought up the other day.
Between hanging out with my buddies and sifting through film star trivia, I started reading WATCHMEN. I don't know if I should recommend it, because parts are a little rough for a conservative reader, but it really is all it's cracked up to be. Definitely finishing it tonight.
My favorite part is between the chapters (which were separate issues when it was first published) are various texts from within their world. At first I thought they were cute and colorful, but it's getting to the point where I'm realizing that they're actually part of the story in the sense that they contain hidden pockets of information that are key to the development of the plot overall. I mean, I thought the chapters taken from one vigilante's memoirs were just for flavor, but these last few pages from another's scrapbook put a whole new spin on an old assumption.
It's pretty fine writing.
Something I've been tossing around for a while is the idea of a sci-fi story framed by 1940s sensibilities. Not just any sci-fi will do; no, I must have a moon base AND fighting Nazis. Have you ever been to Legends? It's this sweet vintage style diner and ice cream bar, and when I'm in there all I can think about is if the memorabilia covering the walls were still current icons, and if one of WWII's battlefronts were on the moon.
One of these days, I'm gonna write it. Just you watch.
Reminds me a bit of SKY CAPTAIN, in the way that they had zeppelins docking at the top of the Empire State building and watching THE WIZARD OF OZ new in theaters at the same time. Like steam punk, but for the war era. Digging up that steam punk link linked me to retro-futurism, which is pretty much exactly what I'm thinking about. Way to pioneer a trend, Steph.
Oh, and the other thing I will attempt is a noir space western. Yes. I can do it. In fact, I just may be able to dove-tail it into my WWII moon base universe. It's gonna be awesome. It will be noir because it will be a detective story. It will be a western because the detective will be in some outpost's one-room jailhouse. It will be in space because a straight noir western would be ridiculous.
Now I just have to invent stories to fit into my settings, and I'll be good to go. Wish me luck.
-Steph
Jacqi's home for a bit, so me and her and Carolyn have been hanging out and doing ridiculous stuff all week. Pan after pan of Rice Crispy treats (if I ever made a fake brand for a show, it would be called Ricey Crispoes), movie after movie, etc. We rented all sorts of things but so far we've only made it through TRANSFORMERS. And we also saw 17 AGAIN, which was good.
Speaking of TRANSFORMERS, I invented a new game. It's the connect X Hollywood person to Joss Whedon game. Like Tom Cruise. He's in TROPIC THUNDER with RDJ, who's in KISS KISS BANG BANG with Megan whoever, who's in EAGLE EYE with Shia, who's in TRANSFORMERS which was written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, who wrote STAR TREK which had John Cho, who is in HAROLD AND KUMAR with Neil Patrick Harris, who's in DR. HORRIBLE, written and directed by Joss Whedon.
I think there might be a quicker one, but that was just the first route I thought up the other day.
Between hanging out with my buddies and sifting through film star trivia, I started reading WATCHMEN. I don't know if I should recommend it, because parts are a little rough for a conservative reader, but it really is all it's cracked up to be. Definitely finishing it tonight.
My favorite part is between the chapters (which were separate issues when it was first published) are various texts from within their world. At first I thought they were cute and colorful, but it's getting to the point where I'm realizing that they're actually part of the story in the sense that they contain hidden pockets of information that are key to the development of the plot overall. I mean, I thought the chapters taken from one vigilante's memoirs were just for flavor, but these last few pages from another's scrapbook put a whole new spin on an old assumption.
It's pretty fine writing.
Something I've been tossing around for a while is the idea of a sci-fi story framed by 1940s sensibilities. Not just any sci-fi will do; no, I must have a moon base AND fighting Nazis. Have you ever been to Legends? It's this sweet vintage style diner and ice cream bar, and when I'm in there all I can think about is if the memorabilia covering the walls were still current icons, and if one of WWII's battlefronts were on the moon.
One of these days, I'm gonna write it. Just you watch.
Reminds me a bit of SKY CAPTAIN, in the way that they had zeppelins docking at the top of the Empire State building and watching THE WIZARD OF OZ new in theaters at the same time. Like steam punk, but for the war era. Digging up that steam punk link linked me to retro-futurism, which is pretty much exactly what I'm thinking about. Way to pioneer a trend, Steph.
Oh, and the other thing I will attempt is a noir space western. Yes. I can do it. In fact, I just may be able to dove-tail it into my WWII moon base universe. It's gonna be awesome. It will be noir because it will be a detective story. It will be a western because the detective will be in some outpost's one-room jailhouse. It will be in space because a straight noir western would be ridiculous.
Now I just have to invent stories to fit into my settings, and I'll be good to go. Wish me luck.
-Steph
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Milestone
Happy Thursday! Want to see something ridiculous and ancient? Here:
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephanie Anderson [mailto:stepherson@apu.edu]
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 3:00 PM
Subject: Happy Thursday!
Importance: High
Just starting things off right. It's really weird not seeing groups of
people to say Happy Thursday to! Well, I hope that you all had a great
last day of school, minus those in this eclectic list who have already
finished. Speaking of, if you know anybody who wanted to be in this
list but isn't, have 'em drop me a line. Y'all know my addy now. And,
of course, if you absolutely hate Thursdays, write me and I'll take you
off.
But yeah, I hope you all HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!
-The Graduate
Steph
Guess what that is? I'll tell you. It's the very first Thursday e-mail I sent out, the afternoon I graduated from high school. Not quite for years ago "today," but since the high schools just let out today, I'm counting it as the four-year anniversary.
Four years worth of Thursdays (minus this last Thanks--Thursgiving Day) I've touched a computer. Ohh the modern world, how I love you.
Also did you know that before I even left high school I'd said enough "Happy Thursdays" on Thursdays to count for every Thursday I'd ever lived? It's probably a multiple of that by now.
So anyway, congrats to all my friends who graduated today! Like Steven! (Who also sang the graduation song with his little band--great job, guys!) And Daniel, whose house has parties; and Ben, who has a Batman sticker on his car; and Austin, who has a shirt very similar to Carolyn's; and Heidi, who writes cool poetry; and Staci and Diana and Karen and John and Tommy and Maddie and Nash and everyone else who's going to the AX with us this summer.
And congrats to Brianna and Jason, who got married over the weekend! I hope that where ever you are now, it's awesome. I also hope that the video turned out okay and I'm sorry for missing the middle of the Best Man's toast. -_-
Yep, I drove all the way to a little town in the mountains called Angels Camp, about an hour due east of Stockton. AND I made it back, alive. That's the first time I've driven so far/on freeways for so long/alone/to a place I've never been to. Getting gas twice in a day sucks a lot. But it was a lot of fun, and a beautiful wedding and hahaha Brianna just signed onto AIM.
I don't think I'll bug her just yet. ^^
And my sister went home to Seattle. Or Oregon, I'm not sure.
I've only done two other things this week: Sam sent me this link which is a collection of all the "literal" music videos, like the one for a-ha's Take On Me I must have advertised some time ago. This video put me on to Billy Idol and since then I've downloaded every one of his songs and listened to them.
The other thing was catch up in this manga Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. We cosplayed from that a couple years ago, the one when we also did Bleach, I imagine. (Because Evan was Sakura and Isane, so yes) It comes out in 15 page chapters every...so often, but I'd bought the American translated and licenced books when they came out, which have like probably 20 chapters in them. And then I'd stopped, and hadn't read any for like maybe a year and a half. But now I'm caught up, and I'm reading the other one from the same creators which sorta overlaps sometimes. So I'm all comicced out.
ESPECIALLY BECAUSE the library told me Watchmen was finally in, so I have that waiting downstairs with a Superman collection "Emperor Joker." (I also tried playing the Iron Man game this week and we watched SUPERMAN DOOMSDAY at Carolyn's, so it was also a fairly superheroy week)
Oh yeah, we also watched BOLT today. Cute. Hilarious in a Disney way (ie, suitable for all ages, unlike the comedy in a Dreamworks animated feature). John Travolta didn't irk me the way I expected him to, but Miley Cyrus sure did! Good thing she wasn't in it very much.
Yokay, back to reading, I suppose! Happy Thursday!
-Steph
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephanie Anderson [mailto:stepherson@apu.edu]
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 3:00 PM
Subject: Happy Thursday!
Importance: High
Just starting things off right. It's really weird not seeing groups of
people to say Happy Thursday to! Well, I hope that you all had a great
last day of school, minus those in this eclectic list who have already
finished. Speaking of, if you know anybody who wanted to be in this
list but isn't, have 'em drop me a line. Y'all know my addy now. And,
of course, if you absolutely hate Thursdays, write me and I'll take you
off.
But yeah, I hope you all HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!
-The Graduate
Steph
Guess what that is? I'll tell you. It's the very first Thursday e-mail I sent out, the afternoon I graduated from high school. Not quite for years ago "today," but since the high schools just let out today, I'm counting it as the four-year anniversary.
Four years worth of Thursdays (minus this last Thanks--Thursgiving Day) I've touched a computer. Ohh the modern world, how I love you.
Also did you know that before I even left high school I'd said enough "Happy Thursdays" on Thursdays to count for every Thursday I'd ever lived? It's probably a multiple of that by now.
So anyway, congrats to all my friends who graduated today! Like Steven! (Who also sang the graduation song with his little band--great job, guys!) And Daniel, whose house has parties; and Ben, who has a Batman sticker on his car; and Austin, who has a shirt very similar to Carolyn's; and Heidi, who writes cool poetry; and Staci and Diana and Karen and John and Tommy and Maddie and Nash and everyone else who's going to the AX with us this summer.
And congrats to Brianna and Jason, who got married over the weekend! I hope that where ever you are now, it's awesome. I also hope that the video turned out okay and I'm sorry for missing the middle of the Best Man's toast. -_-
Yep, I drove all the way to a little town in the mountains called Angels Camp, about an hour due east of Stockton. AND I made it back, alive. That's the first time I've driven so far/on freeways for so long/alone/to a place I've never been to. Getting gas twice in a day sucks a lot. But it was a lot of fun, and a beautiful wedding and hahaha Brianna just signed onto AIM.
I don't think I'll bug her just yet. ^^
And my sister went home to Seattle. Or Oregon, I'm not sure.
I've only done two other things this week: Sam sent me this link which is a collection of all the "literal" music videos, like the one for a-ha's Take On Me I must have advertised some time ago. This video put me on to Billy Idol and since then I've downloaded every one of his songs and listened to them.
The other thing was catch up in this manga Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. We cosplayed from that a couple years ago, the one when we also did Bleach, I imagine. (Because Evan was Sakura and Isane, so yes) It comes out in 15 page chapters every...so often, but I'd bought the American translated and licenced books when they came out, which have like probably 20 chapters in them. And then I'd stopped, and hadn't read any for like maybe a year and a half. But now I'm caught up, and I'm reading the other one from the same creators which sorta overlaps sometimes. So I'm all comicced out.
ESPECIALLY BECAUSE the library told me Watchmen was finally in, so I have that waiting downstairs with a Superman collection "Emperor Joker." (I also tried playing the Iron Man game this week and we watched SUPERMAN DOOMSDAY at Carolyn's, so it was also a fairly superheroy week)
Oh yeah, we also watched BOLT today. Cute. Hilarious in a Disney way (ie, suitable for all ages, unlike the comedy in a Dreamworks animated feature). John Travolta didn't irk me the way I expected him to, but Miley Cyrus sure did! Good thing she wasn't in it very much.
Yokay, back to reading, I suppose! Happy Thursday!
-Steph
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