This Is To Say

New Year's: 2010

2010-01-01T00:18:00.003-05:00

So... Completely, utterly forgot about this thing over my Fall semester. Well that's shitty. Sorry about that. I'm going to have to try a little harder, eh? I guess that's one of my resolutions. Not that I REALLY have any. I didn't make any this time. I'm bad at that. (What bad is that I'm totally wasting $15 at the moment because I keep forgetting to play World of WarCraft!)

I added a new link, called Atelier-Rose. It's by the same lady that did CIAS Confidentials. She's my bestest friend! <3

Anyways, I'm going to continue my Dexter marathon and hope that, for once, I'll remember to do something.

Oh... And damn, I didn't take any photos of my truffle making. I should have done that. Well, I'm into chocolatiering now. Surprise! So I'll hopefully have a bunch of stuff up about that at some point. I have Andrew Garrison Shotts book on beginning artisan chocolates. It's awesome and delicious. Atelier-Rose says that my 73% truffles were delicious and wonderful. I think I agree. Also, I received some of Fred's ice-cube trays. They're wonderful! Although the Titonic ones are a little hard to pop out, due to the smoke-stacks. The T-Rex one worked beautifully.

On Writing

2009-02-28T02:09:00.002-05:00

I figure that Kelly and Kiwii are right about a lot of things. Mostly that I should pursue what interests me most. Kelly said that she always saw me as a journalist. I was pretty well on my way for it, 'till the random literary meltdown a few years ago.

So I decided to list some projects I wanted to finish:

1. Dominus Caedere
2. Metamorphosis (Art project, really)
3. The book about spices (Short stories based on various spices, with an art piece to go with each)
4. Dreams (First project I ever started, traveling through to dream world, accompanied by art)
5. Kitchen Stadium Quartlet (About a race to become a 5-star restaurant split into 4 books)
6. 7 Wanderers (Novel, about 7 damned to wander for all eternity)
7. The Sacrifice (A quartlet about Cain and Abel)
8. Sad when you forget the title to your own story? About a failing journalist who heads into a highly messed up theatre and regains his sense of muse. (Comic)
9. Fine-tune some short stories (Particularly "Foxes"), possibly to send to a magazine

Some of these I can't finish here and now--no art supplies (or artist?), no scanner, or no notes (such as #8, which I created extensive notes for, at home, of course). I really want to scan in some of my Metamorphosis pieces. I'm deathly afraid of inking them. I still like the praying mantis one the best, I think. Of course only Misha knows what I'm talking about! Damn!

Water!

2009-02-15T19:44:00.004-05:00

Over Christmas/Winter break, my grandmother's house flooded (she's dead, but Misha and I stay there a lot, partly to keep care of it).

This is the First burst:

The Second one:

Same pipe, but it burst at both ends. About 50 years back, it had burst in the exact same place (but of course, different pipe). There's a thermostat that's behind the refrigerator, but NO ONE remembers that. We all use the two obvious ones, but everyone forgot to turn up the third, which lead to the burst. So it's sort of all our faults.

I WISH I took photos of the house when water was POURING down everywhere. The ceiling was sagging, due to waterlogging, the stairs were drenched and were like a waterfall, the kitchen was like a swamp, and the art studio was damp (the water stopped RIGHT at the studio, so no paintings were harmed).

It was uh... Fun. It all happened at about 4am and I had to call my dad over, who was relatively sleepy, to turn off the water. Misha and I went to bed by 7am while my aunt (who owns the house) and my dad called plumbers and insurance.

Thankfully, Misha and I were there, otherwise the insurance would not have covered the damage (about $50,000, or was it $500,000?).

(Oh, and this was a heating pipe.)

More Cooking

2009-02-03T00:41:00.004-05:00

Edit: I did return Sadnra Lee's Really Bad Cookbook. The cashier made a big fuss about how terrible that book was and how glad she was that I returned it. (She then showed me some better cookbooks.) I still have yet to cook anything. How aggravating! As for the dragon puzzle, I never got it. Both clerks there are a little weird--the guy we talked to was obviously a little off, but when we went back, I think we had the pleasure of meeting his mother. She was HORRENDOUS. She asked a question, and I was unsure of the answer (couldn't remember the name of the puzzle), looked at Misha, and the clerk's response was to look over at the other clerk and say, loudly, 'Help these two who have no clue what they're talking about.' I can assure you that we have yet to come back to that store. (We relatively promptly left after that.)

I just went out to the Borders, at the Columbia mall, and bought the Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook and Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Desserts 2. I ordered this dragon puzzle while I was there (different store, they were out-of-stock, it looked COOL), so I'll be returning there some time soon. The Bon Appetit series looks like a very good book. Nice layout, relatively typical, with some good hints, and a nice selection. I've been looking at recipes, trying to figure out what to make first. I'm thinking possibly an Indian feel. Naan, possibly cheese naan, chicken curry with dried apricots, and mango lessi. I'm thinking I might want to brine the chicken. It makes it nice and salty, and flavorful! It's wonderful for turkey, especially, which is very flavorLESS.

Sandra Lee's looks TERRIBLE. I didn't realize it was a SEMI-HOMEMADE cookbook, which pretty much means product placement and cheap recipes. Her recipes look VERY sugary (as she herself says that she learned to add more and more sugar to her cooking as a child) and, frankly, really bad. While I may be at college, I like GOOD food when I'm making it. If I'm to make it, as no matter what it'll be relatively expensive for me to make, then I want to be damn sure I'm going have a tasty snack. (If you look at the cover, yea, it looks a little bad, but when I looked at the recipes at a quick glance, they looked fine, just that she looked like a happy bimbo, and therefore ignore her.) Her recipes remind me of the super-death sugary sweet 50's cupcakes slathered in icing. I may just go and buy Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking. I KNOW it'd be wonderful and helpful (and scare Misha).

College vs Food

2009-02-01T23:26:00.003-05:00

So, I've been reading several food blogs lately. My dearest Misha, my boyfriend, can attest to that. Perhaps on the verge of insanity (he actually probably thinks I'm just really bored and clicking on the internet, but he's wrong. I'm processing information. Computing. Like a Mentat.)

JUST before college started again (Jan 25th), I made heart-shaped red velvet whoopie pies. They were good. A little sweet (and this was a general consensus from Michael, my dad, and my own opinion) but they were cool looking. I was worried I was using too much red dye, but it turned out beautiful (I wanted them RED, not that faint pink that you sometimes find with red velvet. I want my red velvet RED).

So now I've been looking around and trying to stake out places to cook. I asked an RA, who has been known to be kind and helpful, and he pointed out the basement kitchen, which has an oven. Before I thought I was purely tied to just boring old stove-tops and never able to bake a cookie or cake until I got home (which when I reached there, not done anything at all, lol). This has spurred me to make a food blog. In which I take a hint from other food blogs and do a twice-a-week thing. Of course, I probably won't have the tools for that for a while. I first need to buy things... Like pots. And pans. Damn. (I've been mildly tempted to take cooking lessons at the Williams-Sonoma store in Annapolis.)

I may decide to do this. I may not. RIVETING.

Eggs!

2008-10-19T17:44:00.001-05:00

One of the MORE addicting things so far!

B-Day and Fremen

2008-08-22T23:59:00.004-05:00

So my birthday is on Aug 27th, but because I won't be with my family on that day, my dad and boyfriend went out for dinner on the 21st. It was pretty nice, really. At least until Michael and I got home and had to take some Pepto Bismol. Michael's never had lamb, and he said it wasn't on his top list. I had jambalaya, which wasn't too spicy, actually. We both have Southern tongues and use a lot of hot sauce. It's wasn't too bad (I like calamari, which was in the jambalaya). I was hoping it'd be a little spicier, a sort of birthday challenge of eating something a little hot, but having fun in a strange masochistic way. But it wasn't. Oh well! (There's another place I want to try that has Southern food.) I had my creme brulee also, which is delicious.

My dad's presents won't arrive in time, more than likely, to hand out before I go back to college. However, as soon as Michael got back from his house, he made me open my presents (not that I minded, really, it's just cute). He got me a set of the Dune series (and I don't count the BH-KJA collaborations), which is really nice, Shadow Hearts (the first one this time!) and another word search book (300 puzzles!!). Of course he had the nice presentation of a Borders bag. His mother gave me (wrapped in a LOT of tissue paper) four Izze pomegranate drinks and the Jurassic Park movie set. (She's a bit of an odd woman; like remembering about the Izze drinks... I drank them when I stayed there. I thought she was going to give me chocolates). Apparently we forgot to tell my aunt, but she has something for me too. I figure that Doug, Annie, and mum don't really have much, which is fine. It's sort of gotten so that we don't give each other birthday presents.

...

http://www.vampfangs.com/Dune-Sclera-Lenses-p/dnesclera.htm

Yea, I know the iris seems a little too dark, but I have seen a photo of someone else wearing these contact lenses and the entire lenses is this dark blue, sclera, iris, and pupil. I plan on being a Fremen for Otakon next year and will need to collaborate with Mikhail to actually design what the outfit looks like (as that boy knows a lot more about Dune than I do). I plan on having a working water system and tying my boots in the Fremen fashion. I will need a tailored suit (more than likely WILL have to wear the stillsuit in Fremen style, as authenticity is nice and I am obsessive about that) and a cloak (One of those Arabic styled ones; my dad has one but I don't like the color and it's too long for me, by a few inches or so). I will want to also have a crysknife, although I don't know how I shall obtain one (I've found a supplier of the Dune 2000 and Children of Dune for a crysknife, although I don't know if from them or what). Also I will need miscellaneous Fremen objects, which I will need to question Michael on; which would matter on WHEN I was a Fremen from.

Book and Other List

2008-08-15T23:03:00.011-05:00

Comics:

1. Escaflowne 3
2. Cross 2
3. Li Ling-Po 3
4. Angel Sanctuary 2
5. Shutterbox 4
6. Demon Diary 1 and 7
7. Godchild 2
8. The Dreaming 1
9. Captain Nemo 2
10. No Man's Land 2
11. Gorgeous Carat 3
12. Juvenile Orion 3
13. Hellsing 7
14. Dragon's Claw (Doctor Who Comic)
15. Tides of Time (DWC)
16. Glorious Dead (DWC)
17. Zombie Powder 1
18. Hot Gimmick 3
19. Bleach 1
20. Blood: Last Vampire
21. Ouran Host Club 1
22. Oblivion (DWC)
23. Midnight Opera 3
24. Buso Renkin 6
25. Loveless 5
26. R.O.D. Read or Dream 1
27. Welcome to NHK
28. Yami no Matsui 3 and 6
29. Kill Me, Kiss Me 4
30. Death Note 3 and 4
31. Trinity Blood 1
32. Basilisk 1
33. Trigun Maximum 11
34. The Eternals
35. Sandman Mystery Theatre
36. Death: High Cost of Living
37. Long Halloween
38. Arkham Asylum
39. Mr. Punch
40. Violent Cases
41. Books of Magic: Bindings 1
42. House of Secrets 2
43. Lucifer 1
44. Sandman: Taller Tales
45. Sandman: Thessaly - Witch for Hire
46. The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch
47. The Thief of Always
48. Fables 6 and 8
49. Fables 101 Nights
50. Deadman
51. Y: The Last Man 1
52. Ultimate X-Men 5
53. Cute Beast
54. Yakitate! Japan 1
55. Rurouni Kenshin 24
56. How to Read Death Note 13 (Otherwise known as Death Note 13)
57. FullMetal Alchemist 10
58. Lovely Sick 3
59. Your Honest Deciet 2
60. Absolute Sandman 3
61. I.N.V.U. 5
62. Samurai Deeper Kyo 17
63. Saiyuki Reload 6
64. Love Pistols 5

Novels:

1. Everworld 3
2. Sauron Defeated
3. Morgoth's Ring
4. The War of Jewels
5. Leaf By Niggle
6. Adventures of Tom Bombadill
7. The Bone Collector: Lincoln Rhyme
8. Buried Fire
9. The Leap
10. Island of Dr. Moreau
11. War of the Worlds
12. Ghost of Mrs. Muire
13. Uninvited
14. Narnia 6 and 7
15. The Eight Doctors
16. Demonata 1 (hardback)
17. H.I.V.E.
18. The Supernaturalist
19. Dark Fire
20. Mort
21. Seafaring Lore and Legend
22. The Supernaturalist (hardback)
23. The Good Faeries of New York
24. Omnivore's Dilemna
25. Dragonflight
26. Blood and Chocolate
27. The Book of Fate
28. Artemis Fowl 2, 3, and 4 (hardback)
29. The Quest-Lover's Treasury of the Fantastic
30. The Mammoth Book of New Comic Fantasy
31. The Book of Lost Things
32. The Dead Fathers Club
33. Bloodsucking Fiends
34. The Man with the Iron Tattoo
35. Sacrifice Moon (Stargate SG-1)
36. A Matter of Honor (SG-1)
37. The Cost of Honor (SG-1)
38. Siren Song (ditto)
39. Survival of the Fittest (")
40. Rising (Stargate Atlantis)
41. Reliquary (SGA)
42. The Chosen (ditto)
43. Halcyon (")
44. Exogenisis (")
45. Alliances (")
46. Entanglement (")
47. M is for Magic
48. Interworld
49. World War: Tilting the Balance
50. A Dance with Dragons
51. Song of Ice and Fire: The Winds of Winter
52. SIF: A Dream of Spring
53. Homecoming: A Novel
54. The Astoning Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation
55. The Pox Party
56. Nicholas Flamel {The Sorceress} (Comes out May 2009)

Non-Fiction:

1. Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers
2. Another Day in the Frontal Lobe
3. Bedside Manners
4. The Family that Couldn't Sleep
5. When Germs Travel
6. Becoming a Doctor
7. Anatomy of a Secret Life
8. Lecturer's Tale
9. The Sandman Papers
10. Adventures in the Dream Trade
11. 5 People Who Have Died During Sex
12. The Alarming History of Medicine
13. Blood
14. Contact Wounds
15. Night Falls Fast
16. Vaccinated
17. Happy Accidents
18. Lab 257
19. Neil Gaiman Reader
20. Mold on Dr. Florey's Coat
21. Aspirin: Wonder Drug
22. Beriberi: White Rice and Vitamin B
23. American Plague
24. Great Mortality
25. Goldberger's War
26. Ether Day
27. House Lust: America's Obsession with Our Homes
28. Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home
29. The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket
30. The McDonalization of Society
31. Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew
32. Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think
33. Food Fight
34. Bitten

Neil Gaiman:
I list what I OWN, not what I want.

1. Sandman (softcover) (#3)
2. Anansi Boys (1st ed. hardback) (signed)
3. Fragile Things (1st ed. hardback) (signed)
4. American Gods (1st ed. hardback)
5. Coraline (softback) (P.S. ed.)
6. Stardust (softback) (P.S. ed.)
7. Fragile Things (ditto) (ditto)
8. The Graveyard Book (1st ed. hardback)

Doctor Who:
I list only the new hardback series, not the old Doctor Who.

1. Monsters Inside
2. Winner Takes All
3. Nightmare of Black Island
4. Art of Destruction
5. Sting of the Zygons
6. Wooden Heart
7. Wishing Well
8. Pirate Loop
9. Sick Building
10. Martha in the Mirror
11. Snowglobe 7
12. The Many Hands

Other Media:

1. Gankutsuo Vol. 3 (DVD)
2. Mirrormask (DVD)
3. Batman Begins (DVD)
4. X-Men 2 and 3 (DVD)
5. Neverwhere (BBC) (TeleSeries)
6. Man in the Iron Mask (DVD)
7. The Prestige (Soundtrack)
8. House M.D. Season 5 (When it comes out)
9. Dexter Season 3

Valentine's Day

2008-02-11T20:12:00.000-05:00

I know this is actually very narcissistic, but I can't wait until Valentine's Day.

The thing is, I am COMPLETELY in love with the little trinket I made for my dearest and I suppose it's quite like how Kiwii once said, "I'm giving my boyfriend this painting. That's really hard to do. Like... I think I might cry. Giving pieces of art away is liking ripping off a piece of my soul and giving it to someone." I love what it was that I made (I cannot reveal until the 14th, you see) but it's something I made to give. It's not something I can keep. I am looking very much forward to giving it to Michael. It's also a little scary because there's the slightest chance he might not want it. ((I know that his repute to this will be 'But I couldn't hate it! It was made by you!'))

I'm looking forward for Valentine's Day not because I am waiting for it come as a holiday but because I'm looking forward to rip out a piece of myself and give it to my love.

Note: I know I said I was thinking of writing a story FOR Valentine's Day. And I might. I just ah... need to have free time to do that. I'm nearly finished the trinket for Michael, but I still have a lot of things to do to it all the same. And then besides that, I'd have to write the story. I know what the story will be (originally I had no clue, but my gift is actually very good to use as the subject).

And yes, I will be posting photos of what I made.

Jan Svankmajer - Jidlo

2007-09-07T15:24:00.000-05:00

Jan Svankmajer is a Czechoslovakian surrealist film-maker. He made a couple of short films. A floormate of mine showed Jidlo, at least the lunch and breakfast portions of it. He didn't like dinner as much so didn't show the last half. They're very neat, funny really. They're stop-motion, which is neat. They're about 5-10 minutes long. Some of his things are on YouTube.

Malls and Anacondas

2007-08-18T14:00:00.001-05:00

I went clothes shopping the other day at the Ann Arundel and Annapolis malls. We saw Stardust in the Ann Arundel mall theatre, Egyptian Muvico. That theatre was very nice and I bought one outfit (a shirt and some pants). It was all rather a waste, haha. The fall season isn't very good. The shops I wanted to go to changed their stock and what I wanted was no longer there. By the time I got to Annapolis, the mall I wanted to go to, I was too tired and not-caring to attempt to really search for clothing. Instead we visited some lizards and snakes at the pet shop. I bought the first volume of Showcase Presents: House of Mystery, which I have been reading constantly. It is good. The stories are a little campy at times, but for the most part, they do their part. They had pretty good writers for the series. And Cain, well... Cain has a very interesting wardrobe. I love his pajamas. Polka-doted, which all I can think of as being green and pink. Respectably spooky colours to not come polka-doted. He rather likes the word groovy, which I find inexorably strange. Along with that, he likes alliteration and cheesy lines like 'I had a bone to pick with him... his wishbone' or something like that. Oh and puns, terrible puns. He's not a very spooky man but more so very strange and almost sad. Every so often he has something bad happen to him (rather than the people in his stories) or he will actually be apart of the story, a bystander or an interference in some cases. I love Gregory (which is the same Gregory in Sandman). There is a promo for House of Secrets and I love how he basically sits there all day staring at the house with binoculars and angrily muttering how much he hates his brother. I wish that they will, at some point, make reprints of House of Secrets.

I also spent the night at Kiwii's house. Which was fun.

...

For those of you who do not know, I have restarted Never Wonder Nights and its brothers. I've been trying to finish this Cain story but I keep getting distracted by the internet. A blog about paleo-future and a photo of a snake dragging a wallaby or kangaroo away (I was never good at which is which).

So I've found some of my scraps of ideas. I'll take a scrap, write something neat down and it'll disappear. I found one I wrote during X-mas Eve dinner about Crowley and him having to show some idiot young demon around the ways of Earth (reluctantly of course). A couple of fortune cookie fortunes I like, my most favourite being: Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Things like that.

I really like the Dream fortune. I want to add it, perhaps as the first page, to what I've dubbed Theatre Magic, for lack of a good title. Some of you remember about it. It's about this terribly hectic author who cannot do anything. He's tried to interview a lot of people and end up late to the meeting or never got anywhere after the interview, etc. His very annoyed bitchy friend, who is an actor, gives him a chance to interview her and her players for a new play. They've been asked by a lot of others, but she's being nice for once and giving him a chance. He embarks on a dream through the theatre and ends up in a strange fairy-like world with tales and very tricky people. The first he meets are Tragedy and Comedy, the goddesses of theatre. They're naked, except for their unmoving masks, and neither of them can be trusted because they both tell the truth and lies. At the end his friend wakes him up, wondering why he's so early to the theatre (because he didn't want to be late and therefore slept in his car in the parking lot) and he blows off the interview because he has this brilliant idea. I don't know how long the story is. There's a lot of stories within his dream, which may or may not only be a dream (you can never tell). I don't know how many stories but I do, at least, know the beginning (which has changed since I last started to talk about it) and the ending (which didn't really change). I know it takes form of a comic. Which is sort of hard being that I don't have an inker, colourist or sketcher.

Idiots' Books

2007-08-15T13:30:00.000-05:00

Link

A little while ago, I wandered into my local used bookseller. I get all my signed editions of Neil Gaiman from him. (And we all know that's very important.)

For a very long time, a month I think, I have noticed Idiots' Books painted on the window. Finally, after several travels to random states, I entered and asked what this sign was about. He told me that the Idiots' Books were a local budding book publisher. An illustrator and writer joined together and began producing books, monthly. Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr produce their books by themselves, so you get very interesting results. The book I own is Ten Thousand Stories. I like it a lot.

If those of you are interested for these books for your kids, well... they're not quite for that. They're not like Pan's Labyrinth, but they're closer to Stardust. A strange comparison. So much that it MAY be enjoyable for children, it isn't what these books seem to be for. Especially very young children. I could have enjoyed them amusedly (but not quite understandably) when I was ten. Of course I had a weird childhood, see post below. I would suggest getting some of these. I rather liked Ten Thousand Stories. The art was very intriguing and marvellous. Brilliant.

I, when I remember, read Idiot's Box. This is Robbi's blog. Nice and funny woman. I'd suggest reading it.

I find this most strange, I'm used to a small tiny town with no one quite famous (perhaps our resident writer, Peter Heck, which I am embarrassed to say I have never read his books), but I could, when walking into the Book Plate (the used and signed bookseller), run into Robbi or Matthew. A lot of times the authors of books I read are unreachable (a fair few are dead) and this is mildly disconcerting but makes going into town a little more exhilarating. I do not know what I would want to say to them. Hmmm...

I was always a very bad journalist.

Is it harder or easier than what it seems?

2007-08-15T01:41:00.000-05:00

THE MAN OF THE WEEK IS HERBERT GEORGE WELLS.
(I think I can see why he uses abbreviations for his name)

"No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft."

"There comes a moment in the day, when you have written your pages in the morning, attended to your correspondence in the afternoon and having nothing further to do. Then comes the hour when you are bored; that's the time for sex."

"If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise: attack it at an hour when it isn't esxpecting it."

The middle quote? It just... WHAT? That's my only reaction. I don't know what to say to it. It's just WEIRD.

He was my favourite author as a kid. Besides Doctor Who, some of the earlier movies I remember was the '77 version of Island of Dr Moreau and '78 version of Time Machine (I often times confuse Time Machine with my favourite episodes of DW - Keeper of Traken, Logopolis and Castrovalva (The first scene that comes to mind when I heard Doctor Who was the picture of the Master killing a guy and slipping into his clock-shaped TARDIS, which was apart of Keeper of Traken.) I remember how AWESOME and cool Island of Dr Moreau was. I saw it in Maine. I think it would be my first B&W film.

- I originally put it as 78's version of Time Machine, however I was WRONG. I meant the 60's version, HAHAHA. (I want to see the BBC 40's TV version).

- I ALSO originally put it as the 77's version of Island of Doctor Moreau. Umm... I was was 50 YEARS off. Mine was B&W, 77's was colour. YEA. I watched old movies as a child, WHAT THE HELL. And YOU'RE wondering why I never know about some newer hip cool rad... groovy movie. Anything past the 70s is like... rare game. I watched Doctor Who and Monty Python's flying Circus, so that's 60s to '81 (never saw Davison) and '69 up to something. Red Dwarf was '88, so at least I had something from the 80s. Jurassic Park and The Mummy were my favourite new movies (they're classics in our family, GOD I LOVE THEM). I listened to '40s and classical (via grandmother). I DANCED to classical music (it was interpretive dance and VERY embarrassing, they were records, I should go find out what song it was that was my favourite ever, the records should be somewhere).

I didn't realise that he came into the '40s (of 1900s). I always though closer to Mary Shelley, >.>

"While there is a chance of the world getting through its troubles, I hold that a reasonable man has to behave as though he were sure of it. If at the end your cheerfulness in not justified, at any rate you will have been cheerful."

This is pretty much my default LAW of life. Either I have never seen this quote before and nonetheless adhered to it OR I did once and have forgotten. While I'm not exactly CHEERFUL, more so optimistic in my cynical and sarcastic way, at least I've always been sure everything would end up optimistically.

I love this man so much. I like his quotes a lot. I want to ask Everdell, Robinson, Kaylor or Woodworth if they got History of Ideas from him. He once said 'Human history in essence is the history of ideas.' and I THINK that might be how they got the title of their class. If not, DAMN. I really hope so though.

...

Kiwii and I were talking about time machines. She joked that hers was heading towards 16th century China (which 16th century, I don't know... there's many after all and even more so if you stray from the typical Gregorian calender). I told her that I'd rather head to England, March 1817. Why and when? Not entirely sure. As I'd figure, getting in that range itself would be pretty difficult. A lot of close steering and sharp edges. Let alone the whole 'where the hell IS it anyways?' problem aside. I mean 1817 in the Gregorian calender, I think. It's the March that sets it as a calender, purely 1817 is VERY tricky decide WHICH year and, overall, WHAT 1817 MEANS (time, day, year, month, decade, century, second, minute, placement, galaxy, degree, house number, station number, level number, number of unknown measures... all in the matter of... generalisational terms of course, this is just ENGLISH, American 1990-2007 English at that). Every so often, if you catch me off guard, I'll name a weird date. In this case I thought it was Wednesday March 1817. I thought of England. I figure something interesting is there. If not, it was me being random and I wasted some energy and the thought processes of me and my time machine.

If you're wondering, I do INDEED think this way. Which explains a lot, especially when I look at you quizzically, say something random and walk away (sometimes I JUST walk away).

Unhiatus

2007-08-14T16:17:00.000-05:00

I am OFF hiatus and GASP, I bring things.

In this section, I should be posting something some time later, in Never Wonder Nights, some stories quite soon, and in Masterpiece Theatre, there are some reviews to be done and some movies (Stardust) to be reviewed. So hang tight, things should be coming up.

I proper normal post of 'this is my life' should appear later.

I hate to say this, I really do.

2007-05-07T20:22:00.000-05:00

Sorry, but I am going to have to say that this Blog is now officially on haitus.

I figured that everything would blow over, be quick, nice and easy. But it won't. I will not be able to post for a while. Well, maybe here I can. This is a normal journal, after all, but the other two will not be updated too soon.

Not that anyone reads this.

A rant no one really wants to read

2007-04-28T19:59:00.000-05:00

This is one of those rants in which I will be talking about something that no one knows about but me and is only here because I'm being narcissistic. It's one of those 'I'm ranting about a story idea' which means that no one else will really want to hear about it.

A long time ago, I wrote two stories. One was about two vampires wandering into a diner. Eventually they end up killing the staff. It was a project done for fiction class. We were given the first page of the Killers (Hemingway) and told to write the rest of it. The other was about two detectives looking for a supernatural killer. The two detectives themselves are rather off-beat. They're heavily noir-based, from London and are rather supernatural themselves. I loved these four characters a lot. I always wanted them based in their own books somewhere. I recently made up two new characters. One is a kidnapper and the other a demon who was the kidnappee. All six of these characters live in the same world. Slightly fifties based, lots of smoking and cursing and suits. I figured they could all star in the same book. Maybe even give them their own one day or at least a few short stories.

Frankie and Al were the first I created. They are vampires. They both wear suits. Frankie doesn't really smoke and nor does he really curse. He would, but he has Al do it for him. Frankie is older than Al, I'm not sure by how much, and he constantly feels sorry for all the people Al talks to. Al smokes and curses like hell. That's all there is to him. He's also rather self-centred.

Spade is the head detective. He has a power over fire, and no one really knows how much, and tends to smoke because he likes the niftiness of never having to buy a lighter. Spade is not his real name. His real name is unknown and not detective-enough, as he puts it. Bartibus Max is his partner. He's older than Spade. He's also shorter and stockier. He has power over water. He spends his nights in brothels and is constantly out of cash (and has to steal it from Spade's pockets). Most people would argue that he could beat down Spade in a fight (of supernatural powers) but as Spade would like to say 'In this world, there are no cheap tricks of elemental superiority; water may extinguish flame, but heat evaporates water'.

Raymond Smelt had the unlucky chance to kidnap the wrong demon. His life was constantly a battle of bad luck and failure. In a way, he would have rather picked the right demon and died rather than pick the wrong demon, especially this one. He might have had a better chance in Hell. Belle, for all her sweet and innocent looks, was harbouring a dangerous secret, one that was wanted in five planes of existence. The problem was, she was just too adorable. She wasn't particularly mean and nasty, either. She was just dangerous to be around. She liked Ray, even if he spilled greasy food on his pants and tripped while running from a fight. He bought her sweets, after all. No one had ever done that. They mostly attempted to capture, maim and kill her for her powers.

This story, which has no name, will revolve around all three groups. Ray, being the man who kidnapped Belle, is an obvious choice. Spade and Max are trying to find Belle and bring Ray into jail for minor atrocities and bringing a dangerous being into the first plane on Earth. Frankie and Al? Well, they're just there. Their purpose is unknown and probably a little bit of a secret. I just think they shouldn't be left out of the fun, even if they're just cameos.

Film Class

2007-03-01T21:13:00.000-05:00

So, I haven't popped up around here in ever. This is rare, because I have something I have written. They are, of course, just some bad essays from school, but hey... why not? (It's probably just because I want to procrastinate, haha).

The movies are M, The Third Man and Breathless.

M is directed by Fritz Lang (his wife wrote the script, I think), is German and from 1931.

The Third Man is directed by Carroll Reed (written by many people, most notably Orsen Welles), is British and from 1941.

Breathless is directed by Jean-Luc Gudard (amazingly I spelled it correctly), is French and from 1959.

Pan's Labyrinth Review

2007-01-28T13:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday... Yesterday was seeing Pan's Labyrinth. Kristin and Kiwii went with me to see the movie at the Harbour Centre (Annapolis). We arrived relatively early and meandered around for a while. We went to the bookstore, where Kristin bought a few books (Augh... Good Omens and Complete Lewis Carroll?).

The movie was excellent. It is adult, it is rated R. Some people said it was very gory, which it certainly is not, but it is not free of violence or blood. There are three parts that would claim 'gore', but it is not like these Saw or Chainsaw Massacre movies, which are relatively akin to the pulp horrors of the 50s. It was, to say, necessary gore. It could have been done, cinematographically, differently but it was better this way. The audience understood it this way. The example I will use (and not be a spoiler) is when the Captain beats and kills a man with a bottle. We see him break his nose and smash it in. I would deem that more violent than gory. However, when watching it, remember that 1. This is NOT an American film and 2. It has violence and blood (and some gore).

I expected there to be more of the fantasy. While Ofelia is the main character, we get a lot more of the Spanish Civil War and the Captain, in some ways, than Pan and the fae. I think Gaiman (oh shut up, there are not many OTHER authors on blogs so I can't quote them, now can I??) said it best: 'an uncompromisinly adult film, with a child and her fairy tale inset into it as a contrast and echo.' There are two plots, really. I thought they would converge at one point (and that was slightly disappointing, but I will get to that later), but they never really do. There is the Captain (and his bastardness) with Ofelia's mother and Ofelia and her brother and then there is Ofelia and Pan and the fairies. The movie is mostly done through Ofelia, but we also see a lot of the Captain's view. That is, of course, interesting. As the villain, we should see less of him and more of Ofelia, but when we are in the real world with the Spanish Civil War, we see both Ofelia and the Captain. When we slip in the fairy world, we only see Ofelia. There are no 'only Pan' moments. We get Ofelia and that is it. Actually, for a movie called Pan's Labyrinth, it is not so much as based around the labyrinth itself. (Do not mistake me, for I love the fact that it is called that).

I loved the faun and the white man. I should actually stop calling the faun 'Pan' because I don't think he was named that. He was always just the faun. The white man was most interesting. Both were the same man, if I remember correctly... Yes, it was Doug Jomes who played them. I love the costuming for that. It was latex plus CGI-ed lower halves (if you look at the white man's lower half, it is extremely skinny and unhuman). The legs for both were made latex and they deleted Doug's legs, out of the picture. Very interesting and beautiful. Nothing was, I think, compeletely and utterly CGI. The fairies are the only thing. Everything else was latex - the frog, the captain's face... the mandrake was there, too. That makes me very pleased with Guillermo del Toro. It was done, special effects wise, how I think films should be done - anything that can be done (well) with latex and models and costumes, do so... anything else done by CGI. The imagery was wonderful (as an add-on, so was the music).

I found it interesting how I forgot about the sub-titles. Completely forgot. They were done well.

Now, the plotlines. This is most likely to contain a bit of spoilers (I will attempt to NOT make many, but I'll put the horrifically big ones in white). I thought that, in the end, Ofelia's world and the real world would collide. Interestingly, it never really did. Some people might be disappointed, I found it refreshing. It was nice for them to not, blatantly, converge. My theory on it is that the faun and fairies are all in Ofelia's mind. ((SPOILER, highlight to see: This is most obvious when the Captain (his name is Vidal, apparently) enters the middle of the labyrinth. He does not see the faun and the faun does not see the Captain. There is no interaction at all. )). It is a bit iffy, really. There are some things that it does not make entire sense, but we do see it (the fairy parts) through Ofelia. The movie is not a fairy tale, so much as a war story fused into one. Instead of seeing it through the eyes of an adult, where we would get an accurate tale of the war, we get it through the eyes of a little girl who is obsessed with fairies and fantasy. Ofelia, being an imaginitive little girl, does not absorb herself into the happenings of the war and so, makes up her own little world. The only way we can see anything about the war is if we look through the Captain's eyes or Mercedes (I realise I haven't said much on her... haha) or Ofelia's mother or even the Doctor ((SPOILER, highlight to see: Minor note, I love it when the Doctor dies. It is astonishingly done... The view of the camera and his actions - wonderful)). If the film was done entirely through the eyes of Ofelia, we would not have any of the war, most likely. It would have been all faun and fairies.

...

On another note, Ray Bradbury is going to Comic-Con. This makes me really happy. Now it is both Bradbury AND Gaiman, haha!

First Chapters Writing Competition

2007-01-25T22:11:00.000-05:00

http://www.gather.com/viewGroup.jsp?grpId=3659174697244428

On Gather.com, there is a competition running of Touchstone's to publish a book. Sadly, I cannot enter. I do not have a finished manuscript, which makes me want to cry. I'll wait until another opportunity, but felt like sharing this. ((And if anyone else new to Gather was wondering, yes... it is extremely confusing your first time around)).

Snow and cuts.

2007-01-25T20:42:00.000-05:00

http://kino-express.ru/stills/stardust

Russian site, has a lot of pictures of the movie (Stardust).

http://www.theoriginalsushipillow.com/home.html

Wonderful pillows. They are very beautiful and I really would love to get one. They are sushi pillows. I want the avocado nigiri and the shrimp the most.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6286617.stm

Romanian news (because I care?). I always post these articles.

...

I got my haircut (whoo). It's a lot shorter than before. It was too long, before. It was grating on my nerves, really. This is the best picture I took (no one was awake when I was taking pictures, so I had to take them by myself). I look a tiny bit scary here?

Here is when I first tried to take my picture, and sort of missed.

Finally, this is how short it is in the back:

If you want a reference picture, this is what I looked like before hand:

Much shorter.

On another note, it is snowing here. It's been snowing off and on this week, but it snowed uite a lot (actually) today. It kept flurrying. It was very beautiful. We all went out and threw snow at each other and played, for the most part. Then everyone shuffled off to go home.

I figured out how to add fonts to Word (and all that). It was very amazing. I've added Ancient (both versions) and Go'auld, from Stargate. It amused me greatly.

I've been doing nothing all night. I ought to go do my homework now... *sighs*. (I also need to finish up reading Spindle's End and give it back to Cunningham).

...

Edit: I had forgotten to mention this earlier, but I am going to see Pan's Labyrinth this Saturday. It is playing at 7 in the Harbor theatre and I can't find the thing for the mall theatre (this would be in Annapolis). We (my dad and I) want to arrive in Annapolis at 6-ish, so we (Kristin, Kiwii and I) can eat dinner and kind of play around for a bit. I was hoping for the movie to be at 7:30 so that we could have more time, but the only other time is 10 and that is most certainly too late (we can only see a movie around 7 or 8 because of when Kristin gets off work).

The Sacrificing Brother (A. Cain Arlini) - Link

2007-01-21T17:10:00.000-05:00

The Sacrificing Brother (A. Cain Arlini) has been written, edited and finished... and submitted to Suite 21.

The Sacrificing Brother (A. Cain Arlini) is about a more-or-less modern-day Cain and Abel story. ((There is no definitive time period, but it is done in the 20th century)). Cain and Abele are sons of the mafia members: Adem and Ava Arlini. Cain and Abele live and run an apartment building. Abele, to his dismay, is beaten by his brother on a monthly (and sometimes weekly) basis. The Sacrificing Brother is a second part (of sorts) to The Sacrificial Brother (Abele Arlini).

Note: I will be making these little posts from time to time because it is easier to look at then digging through my mass of links in Never Wonder Nights.

Links, links to lists and wasting time.

2007-01-21T14:59:00.000-05:00

Archeophone would be a website about 'old' music, basically (stuff that's from 1900-1920 type stuff and earlier). Interesting.

Adam Buxton's blog. Don't know if I posted this before or not, but I like his blog. Amusing.

I keep meaning to look through this blog thoroughly. It's relatively interesting and I need to look up Susanna Henderson now.

I've heard of John Crowley before (in passing mention while looking up something Good Omen-ish). I like his list, it IS something good to look at, if you're a fantasy writer (especially) and good if you like reading (fantasy, mostly) and, in general, like writing or reading.

Kawaii Not. Somtimes funny and always cute. Webcomic. ((I sometimes think I should put up a list of webcomics that I think are amusing, good and/or entertaining)).

...

Because I don't want to list it all here, I'm going to give the link for my livejournal. ((Same material, but with the big gigantic list of books. Basically, if you don't want to read it, skip on. If you do... well, you know what to do)).

I'm supposed to be saving my money for Comic-con (seeing how that's my GRADUATE PRESENT, that means that I get no money for it). I'm not sure how that'll work if I have such a long and tantalising booklist, >.<'' (that gets longer about every week... there are still some things that are not written down that I want).

...

I've 'applied' to the local library, so I can get my community service hours. I have 18 and I need 45 (on the whole and general... basically minus 18 from that because I'm not very good with math). I'm hoping that I pick my grades up enough so that I can actually get to intern. What will I do for interning? Who the hell knows. I have no freaking clue as to what I'd do for interning. It's a very broad thing, me interning. I kind of want to do something like Vertigo or something random and fun and interesting. I don't think I'd be able to intern there, haha.

Blogging is very impeding towards writing. I've wasted a few hours now. *sighs*

Step up and enjoy the show.

2007-01-20T19:40:00.000-05:00

So, this is the pilot of a new blog. It seems as though I am creating a collection every few months. First my livejournal, than Never Wonder Nights and now this (thankfully this is only an ammendment to Never Wonder Nights and not a completely new blog). This will, most likely, contain a lot of the same information of my livejournal.

This is still in 'construction'. As you can see, there are no links up. I'm not sure why not, but I'll figure that out eventually. ((As a small note, Never Wonder Nights is still in slight construction)). I would love to figure out how to cut long posts. Perhaps it is not even possible on blogger, but Never Wonder Nights posts are always so long and it is hard to navigate. I also need to add a few links. I need to add the Suite 21 link (that would be a writing club I belong to... even if it seems to not reallybe going anywhere) and my librarythings page (for those wondering, go here. I personally like librarythings). Besides all of that, I have been trying to figure out RSS feeds. I would love to put this up on livejournal. Perhaps that would actually mean people reading these things. This is probably a small hope, but maybe, just maybe, it might not be.