Firefly Random Quote Generator

Hey there, peaches! Well, I finally got it! Remember, how I wanted a Firefly random quote generator? Since'n there weren't one anywhere to be got, I finally done make one myself. What does that make me? A big damned hero. Ain't I just!

Well, it took a simple java script from Web 1 Marketing, lots of typing up of quotes, a little 'purtyfying' and voilà! I gots me my own Firefly Random Quote Generator. If anyone wants one, y'all can just email me at anninajordan#netscape.net (and y'all know what to switch that # sign to) and I'll ship one right over :)

Wheeeeeeee!

Tags: Firefly | Serenity

Sonnetsday 19 - Love's Cruelty

Ahh, I do believe it is time to inflict my own sonnets again on the unsuspecting public.

Parmigianino. Cupid Carving his Bow, 1532-34. Love's Cruelty And stop your cruel tricks, uncaring Love!      Or strike me down and bring me to my knees,      Or give me firm assurance from above, And thus by yea or nay grant my heart ease. By toying with my soul thou dost me wrong,      E'er swaying between love and abject hate;      Let me but know if with thee I belong, Or elsewhere if my heart should seek a mate. Now blowing cold, now burning with desire,      Boy Love, thou hast my spirit torn in twain;      Ne'er knowing if I'm met with ice or fire, One day, I fear, I'm like to go insane.      Make up thy mind and grant me joy or shame,      But give me peace and cease thy careless game. (AJ, 2-2006)

Tags: Sonnets | Anniina's Poetry

24 hrs to Vote!

So, the contest is "Modern Renaissance 6" — the directive was to insert a modern celebrity into a Renaissance masterpiece. Voting is up for 24 hrs. So if ya feel like it, my 3 entries are at:

Mod Ren 6

I'll post images once the contest closes.

TGIF - Thank God It's Firefly Day 8

And again we come to my favorite: Firefly. My parents have now watched almost all of the 4 DVDs, and they love it, too! Those of you who haven't seen it because you're balking at the $$ for a box set of a show you don't know you'll like... here's an alternative. IPod iTunes is selling them per episode — so spend $2 and order the pilot episode, "Serenity." Not too much of a risk at that price, eh?

For all my fellow Browncoats, here are this week's links:

• Operation Sequel is under way. "The Signal" has addresses for a letter-writing campaign. I'm doing mine next week.


• The Signal Podcast Episode 13 is now available


• A new song & video, A Man Named Jayne — not to be confused with the original, yet still hi-LARIOUS, with "Firefly" and "Simpsons" clips, etc.


• The documentary Done the Impossible is now finished and shipping!


• White Powdered Doughnuts has a new Adam Baldwin Interview.


• Serenity will screen at Edinborough Film Festival on August 14 as part of the 59-year celebrations. The original showing of Serenity was the fastest sell-out ever in EFF history.


• California Browncoats raised $10k+ at Comic-Con, and are running eBay charity auctions with Firefly signed scripts, etc. SQUEEEEEEE!


• Last, but not least, RECIPES for "Fresh Bao", "Mudder's Milk", "Kaylee's Cake", etc. Gor-RAM!

And for a final goodie, Serenity trailer done entirely in LEGOs!:



Tags: Firefly | Serenity | Movies

A Picture is Worth....

Or that's the premise of Worth1000.com. Maybe you'll remember my post on one of their contests, called "Mod Ren" where you have to take a modern celeb and plant them in a Renaissance painting? The post, with Dapper Depp.

Anyway, I was really inspired by that and made several attempts of my own, and have just been biding my time for 4+ months for the next one. And it's on. Voting begins in two days. I'll post a link when voting opens. Anyway... I submitted 3 paintings... 1 for Madeline, 1 for Katja, and one of the person I am coming back in my next life as.... 'scuse the poor grammar there :P

Lalalaaaaaaa! Mark, if you're reading this, the games are on!

*throws down a very elegant gauntlet*

*evil laughter with visions of world domination*
 

Fun with Anagrams

As I was updating my Michael Drayton page, I ran across the funniest and most brilliant discovery:

Anagram Genius

You can download a free trial version, or search the archives right there. Typing in William Shakespeare, for example, brings up:

We all make his praise
A wee phrase? I am skill!
I'll make a wise phrase
I'm a weakish speller

among other anagram goodness. Works better with English language names than Finnish... still searching for a non-gobbledegook one for myself. Tehee!

On a sidenote, Margaret Atwood's official page "O.W. Toad" has embraced the anagram to the point of a winged frog theme! I found it quite interesting as well, that Alice Walker's name anagrams to "Weaker Lilac" — how apropos for the author of "The Color Purple."

Off to play with my new toy!
 

Sometimes One Needs a Lawyer

 

The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.       Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI, IV.ii.

Though Shakespeare's line sometimes rings true to us all, there are certainly times when a lawyer is exactly what one needs. My friend David F. sent this today, and it was too good not to share:

From a lawyer in Eunice, LA. A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to the parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply. (Actual letter): "Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before any final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin." Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows (actual letter): "Your letter regarding title in Case No. 189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 194 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the U.S from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain. The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Isabella. The good queen, Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus' expedition. Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana. God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it AND the FHA. I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our damn loan?" He got the loan.

 

Comfort Reading

Speaking of reading put me in mind of this Peanuts strip:


 

We're Having a Heat Wave, la la la!

It is still hotter than blazes here — though looking at the weather map, all of the US is in the reds and oranges. Note to self: must go see Al Gore's greenhouse effect film.

While, for me, sun is infinitely preferable to rain or snow, the heat is causing several difficulties in my activities. For example, have you ever tried to paint furniture where the paint dries before you can sneeze? The dresser has been sanded, and I managed to get a first coat of paint on early in the morning. At sunset I'll apply a second coat, and do the distressing. And thus, one dresser done.

The heat forcing me indoors has done wonders for Luminarium, though. I've updated, fixed broken links, added new ones, created more pages, written bios, etc. I had to take a break from Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore — play texts take forever to edit and I had enough of this one for now — and moved on to Sir Philip Sidney. I decided to add the Sidney Psalms, since there is yet no free e-text of them online. I got ten of them done, and then had to take a break from those. The Hallelujah Chorus was singing too loudly in my head. And so, I added Sidney's "Dialogue Between Two Shepherds" and Sir John Davies' "Gullinge Sonnets" instead. I also still need to finish the Rochester bio, so textus interruptus seems to be my motto of the month. But hey, I did get a lot done, too. And wasn't it Leonardo Da Vinci himself, who worked on a million projects at once, and had completion issues? :P

I've finished watching both Season 1 and Season 2 of LOST. I got fairly hooked on it. Can't wait for the next season to begin. I've also gotten in an insane amount of HGTV (God, I love home improvement shows, they're like porn to me) and a fair amount of various make-over shows where ghoulish-looking unfortunates, who are used to being chased by angry villagers with pitch forks, get turned into attractive princesses and princes. The Princess Fiona in me digs that molto.

And tonight is my favorite reality-crack, Project Runway, wheeee! Speaking of which, Madeline and I are going to meet Austin Scarlett from Project Runway season 1 (remember the blonde who made gorgeous gowns à la Esther Williams, 1945?). Turns out that the judges, who told him to stop making gowns and diversify, were off the mark. Austin, who both Madeline and I were dreaming would make our Oscar gowns for us, was hired to design wedding gowns for Kenneth Cole. They showed them on TV, and they were dreamy! On Saturday, we have an appointment with him at Kleinfeld's in Manhattan! Lalalaaaaa! Madeline will make a beautiful bride.

After our little 'Sex and the City' tour of the good ol' Apple, we're coming back to PA and hanging out for the weekend. I'm thinking ice cream, cosmos, movies, maybe minigolf? Not necessarily in that order :P

I'm off. I'll probs give you all a little book report on what I've read in the past few weeks, but gentlemen be warned: being that it is summer, my tastes turn to chick lit in addition to the usual "real literature" and scifi/fantasy.

Since writing down that title for the post, Irving Berlin's "Heat Wave" has been playing on my 'internal soundtrack' (i.e., inside my head) so I thought I'd add a little clip here of Marilyn Monroe performing the same in "There's No Business Like Show Business" (1954), courtesy of YouTube:



Later Gators!
~A

Quiz: What Planet Are You From?

I realized, reading over the last few entries, that I'm coming off like a big-time grump and pessimist. And I'm not usually. And whining and bitching is tiresome for all of you to read, so thanks for letting me ride out the storms — back to our originally scheduled programming.

Today, I've been spending time on fun, unproductive things.
I found out that I'm 52% a lady, I only know 40% of 80's music, my pirate name is "Iron Mary No-Beard", I'm a Vanilla Frappuccino, I'd be a Dalmatian Puppy, I'm 100% Leo, and:

You Are From the Moon

You can vibe with the steady rhythms of the Moon. You're in touch with your emotions and intuition. You possess a great, unmatched imagination - and an infinite memory. Ultra-sensitive, you feel at home anywhere (or with anyone). A total healer, you light the way in the dark for many.

What Planet Are You From?

Tags: Quizzes

Comcast is the Devil, Part 2

Y'all may remember my bitch-rant on how COMCAST IS THE DEVIL! Well, they ARE! In the past 50 hrs since the freak stormnado, I had Internet access (plus cable TV, plus phone) for a glorious ONE HOUR! Now consider that Andy and Caitlin, who live 2 blocks away, never lost theirs at all. Yet Comcast says "the whole area is down."  Pidgeon-brained LIARS!

The Bastard Swords at the HOUSE OF SATAN kept saying "service will be up shortly" — I had to finally call them and holler "50 HRS IS *NOT* SHORTLY!" Wonder of wonders, the demonspawn seemed to have responded to said hollering, for within 2 minutes, here I am venting about them on my blog.

I am hooked on my electronics — all those hours without internet made me feel disconnected from the world, and I don't do isolation, or feelings thereof, well at ALL.

Also, since I had a b'zillion minutes to just swirl thoughts in my boiling head (still over 100° here), I got to thinking how unimaginative and lackluster contemporary English cursewords were.  I vote for the return to some old favorites from my buddy Billy Shakespeare. I think if the service goes down again, I'll deliver the following litany with my best RADA voice to the next hapless swain who says "shortly" at Com-CAN'T:

'Sblood, you starveling, you elf-skin, you dried neat’s-tongue, you bull’s pizzle, you stock-fish! O! for breath to utter what is like thee; you tailor’s yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing-tuck! W. S. 1 Henry IV

 

Freak Stormnado

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks! You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder, Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world! Crack nature's molds, all germens spill at once That make ingrateful man! Shakespeare, King Lear, III.ii.

I'm sure you guys have been wondering why I haven't blogged or commented on your delightful comments. Simple. We had a freak storm yesterday, Tuesday (I guess now technically day before yesterday), which blew out everything. No phone, no TV, no internet, and most of all... no warning!

It was a beautiful, obnoxiously hot day, around 100+°F (~36°C). I was sitting outside with the laptop, working on an etext of John Ford's play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (how much do you love that title!) Everything went quiet, and Wilbur was telling me to come inside, so I did. Right then, a gale wind blew out of nowhere, and the sky went very dark, green at the edges. Freaky. Then lightning and thunder started. Okay, UNIVERSE! I distinctly said "no lightning bolts!!"

I quickly turned off the laptop, and dogs and I ran into the basement armed with candles.  Now, keep in mind that the basement still stinks to high heaven, courtesy of the moldy carpet. I managed to get a hold of Andy, who told me that the winds outside were 60 mph. The sound was unbelievable. It went on for a good 45 minutes, and then it was over, as if it had never been. I was freaked out and exhausted. After ascertaining that the house was still in one piece (thank goodness, since, as I mentioned, no home insurance a.t.m), I just went to bed, leaving all other exploring for morning.

Today, I woke up to find no internet, no tv, no phone, but very luckily, I had power. Most of you know that without my morning coffee, I'm "a bear shot in the ass," as we so eloquently say in Finland. The house was in one piece, but huge trees had fallen everywhere. Both mine, and my neighbor Beverly's, back fence is demolished — huge elm and oak trees lie splintered all across our back yards, and there were branches and leaves everywhere. We were fortunate that neither of us suffered physical or material harm. The trees fell on our yards from the farm behind us, whose responsibility it will be to get the trees removed and the fences repaired. A good thing, because the labor alone will go into the thousands. Ridiculous, how much people charge, but such is the world. We had a guy from the farm (which also houses a swim club) come survey the damage, and he said they'd take care of it. I hope he means what he says and Beverly and I don't end up having to go to court. Hell, at my current state, I can't afford to have anyone come remove one tree limb, let alone huge-ass trees.

Internet access, tv, and phone were restored just now. I went over to Andy's house to watch "Project Runway", so at least I wasn't deprived of my guilty pleasure. And I suppose the silver lining in the loss of internet was that I got a lot of stuff done, since I wasn't puttering around with Renaissance drama. I removed some more carpet in the Basement of Doom, and started refinishing a dresser I intend to sell on eBay. Fun, fun!

I've loved all your comments in the past few days, ladies, gentlemen, pirates, rogues, wenches, et al. Also thank you kindly for the offers of chocolate — virtual, melted, delayed or 'Godotful' — I did take the liberty of going out and buying some, as well as a bag of Double Stuf^® Oreos^®, which I have proceeded to demolish at an impressive rate, even for me.

I'm nackered, so I am off to Bedfordshire. Tah-tah for now. ~A

Existential Crisis

 Send chocolate.

Fantasies

1. Okay before I go further. "Othello" at PSF sucked a big one. Pissed me off. And that's all I'm gonna say about that. Teehee!



2. Wrote the first chapter of my novel. Have good grasp of my structural outline, major plot points, and characters. Also have title.



3. I'm kinda thinking about applying to Oxford for a Ph.D. in English... lalalaa. Only problem is, unlike American universities, which let you somewhat feel your way out your first year to see what you want to specialize in, Oxford needs you to write a proposal with your application. Hahaha! So.... My "Sevenlit" boys? Herrick? Donne? Or my beloved Billy Boy (tee hee, almost said Billy Boyd) Shakespeare.... and Ren Drama... or Early Modern Woman Writers... or, or, or... I would love to clone myself so I could do all I want to do but never can in one lifetime!!



4. Other option is grad study in drama, either at LAMDA or the Bristol Old Vic... and then again, maybe I don't have the natural ability, and even if I did, wouldn't guarantee work after... plus I'd be a million years old when I'd get out, which for women in the acting business is tantamount to a death sentence.



5. Or I could just not study anything, and go sit on a mountaintop or a beach in Fiji. Or something.

Okay, universe, send me a sign, wouldya? No lightning bolts, though, please. Home insurance is unpaid atm.

*MWAH*

~A

A Quandary

Pirates

I haven't seen it yet. Nobody tell me anything about it, please :)

Lost

I'm not really, lost that is, but I kinda am in "Lost" land — been working on the rendrama site tirelessly and then watching the show on DVD.  What a gripping life I do lead, huh?  Going to the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival's production of "Othello" tonight, so that'll get me outta the house a bit at least :)

Added Peele and Greene, and several etexts to Luminarium Editions. Most notably, I finally finished the etext for Dekker, Rowley, & Ford's "The Witch of Edmonton" (1621, pub. 1658) — it's the first online, and a text I've been planning on for 6 years now, so "good on me" as the Aussies would say.


My lack of blogging, thus, has been based solely on the fact that I've nothing but work and sleep to report on. I'll be more active on the blogging front if my life gets more interesting :P

Keep well,
~A

The Sun Sprite and the Moonbeam Fairy

It was a balmy summer's eve,        The western sky ablaze; The sun sprites were all set to leave        Upon the glowing rays. The whispery dusk was falling soon,        The evening very nigh, When, quite before its time, the moon        Rose up in the purpling sky. One sun sprite lagged behind to see        The moon and its curious beams— It was a lovely vision he        Had only seen in dreams. Then, suddenly he saw a sight        That caused his breath to catch; For, on the moon's bright bridge of light        He saw his perfect match: A moonbeam fairy beautiful,        With silver wings and hair, That made the sun sprite dutiful        Fall straight in love with her. The moonbeam fairy gazed in turn,        Admiring his golden eyes, His skin that with dayfire burned,        Unseen in nightlit skies. Shyly, each uttered a greeting,        And soon they were deep in talk; Their hearts as one were beating        As they hand in hand did walk. And very soon the day was done,        The sun was going to bed— He had to catch the last ray of sun,        Or, sunless, he'd be dead. The sun sprite bid a fond goodbye        And swore he would return; The moonbeam fairy gave a sigh        and said, for him she'd yearn. A sun sprite cannot live in night        Nor moonbeam fay by day; Thus, only in the soft twilight        Together they may stay. The sprite a child was of the day,        The fairy of the night; But True Love always finds a way,        For such is True Love's might. Thus, every time you see the sky        By sun and moon both graced, Know, sprite and fairy are nearby        Enclasped in a warm embrace.

---

©2004 Anniina Jokinen.
Copyrighted with the Writers' Guild of America. All rights reserved.

Photo credit: Pam at Cloudland.net

Tags: Anniina's Poetry

TV Tuesday

First, news: Firefly will be on SciFi Channel this Friday — a full day marathon!  So if you belong to the unfortunate minority who hasn't seen it, now's your chance.

I've been watching TV like a silly little nut for the past few days. "Project Runway" starts on Bravo tomorrow night at 10pm, and based on tonight's "Road to Runway" it will be an exciting new season.

I've also been renting DVDs of the first season of "Lost" — after hearing from everyone whose opinions I respect and whose tastes run similar to my own, I had to find out what I was missing.  16 episodes into it, I have to say, it is fabulous. Looks like I'm going to have to buy the box set.

Right now I am watching Jay Leno, because Owen Wilson is going to be the guest star, and c'mon, he's OWEN WILSON. Yeah, Katja, you should be here — his new movie "You, Me, and Dupree" opens this weekend, and he has NUDE SCENES! eeeee! .... Other movies I'm looking forward to include Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson in "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" and the Supreme Yummy, Johnny Depp, in "Pirates."

In other news, basement is still drying, but the mold smell is gone, and the cat litter has been removed, so now that weird kittylit smell is gone too. Whew!

As for Luminarium, I'm hard at work on a new section: Renaissance Drama. Last weekend, I decided on the dramatists to include, designed the cover page, and finished the introduction to Renaissance Drama. Yesterday, I finished sites for John Heywood and Thomas Kyd, and I'm working on George Peele at present. Never a dull moment at this house, if Early Modern literature is your "thang" :P

Alrighty, I've nothing important to contribute or share, so I'm gonna go back to my TV wonderland — next up, "Queer Eye" and some HGTV, whee! BTW, a "Medieval Makeover" on "Queer Eye" next Tuesday night at 10pm. Hehehe! Laters all :)

~A

Tags: Firefly | Project Runway | Television | Movies | Literature | Renaissance

ARGH! UGH! GAA-ACK! &#!%@#

Dammit. I hate my basement. It has quickly become apparent that while the cat litter was a worthwhile experiment on cement, it was a bloody disaster on carpet. The sucker is sticking to everything (including me), and I think I have ruined Nancy's shop vac. Tomorrow (I don't have the heart or energy to start tonight) I will begin ripping up the blasted soggy and sticky carpet wholesale.  WAAAAAH!

Tags: Basement

Sonnetsday 18

C. HERE art thou, Muse, that thou                      forget'st so long To speak of that which gives thee all thy might? Spend'st thou thy fury on some worthless song, Darkening thy power to lend base subjects light? Return, forgetful Muse, and straight redeem In gentle numbers time so idly spent; Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem And gives thy pen both skill and argument. Rise, resty Muse, my love's sweet face survey, If Time have any wrinkle graven there; If any, be a satire to decay, And make Time's spoils despised every where.       Give my love fame faster than Time wastes life;       So thou prevent'st his scythe and crooked knife. W.S.

Tags: Sonnets | Shakespeare

TGIF - Thank God It's Firefly Day 7

Y'all remember I was going to see the movie "Serenity" at a charity screening, aka SERENITY NOW/EQUALITY NOW, that benefitted Equality Now, an organization with a goal of empowering women and girls around the world.  The current tally is that the Browncoats raised over $67,000 around the world, with numbers still coming in.

For those of you still asking "What is Firefly?" Umm, who are you?

It was amazing seeing the BDM on the BDS (Big Damn Movie on the Big Damn Screen)!  When I saw it last fall in the theatre, I didn't yet know I was a Browncoat — I had not seen "Firefly" when it was on TV, but the film made me an immediate and devout lover of the 'verse.  After seeing "Firefly", first on Comcast onDemand, then on the box set that David sent me, I was a goner.  To see the BDM on the BDS was moving.  I was moved to tears quite a few times — and how awesome to see the movie with other Browncoats in the audience, who laughed at all the right spots, got all the jokes, and cheered when our boat first crossed the screen. It was SHINY!

One thing I wish they had done at our screening, which they apparently did in several others, was show the clip of Joss Whedon explaining about "Equality Now" and telling "why he writes such strong female characters," the question he gets more than any other. I'll post it here at the bottom, so watch it through to the end, because his final answers on the topic are perfect.  Go Joss Whedon!

On Whedonesque, a site for fans of all things Whedon, Whedon posted a thank-you to the fans, and hinted that the first official draft of "Wonder Woman" is finished!  He also made an oblique reference to Morena Baccarin (Inara on FF/S) which has the fans thinking she may have been shortlisted to play WW! Can't wait. Gorramit, I'd donate a few body parts to be in a Joss Whedon project.

*A reverent pause while "yours, truly" falls into a reverie*

Apologies.  Here, Joss Whedon (intro'd by Meryl Streep):



Tags: Firefly | Serenity | Movies

Basement Update

Wonder of wonders!  A hunky air conditioning repair man named Dennis came over and figured out what the problem in the basement was! Apparently the A-coil had frozen over, in the fashion of fridges of yesteryear, which then stopped the A/C and proceeded to melt to the point that the overflow pump couldn't keep up, and presto!, my basement was soaked. This same lovely man pumped out water from the A/C, as well as a third of the cat litter I had so prolifically spreaded over the basement, and now the A/C works, and I only have about 20lbs of kitty lit left to shop vac outta there. And the cost, too, was reasonable.  I am in pink-cloud heaven, thinking that this nightmarish episode will soon be over. Yay for Nancy! Yay for hunky repairman Dennis! Yay!
 
Tags: Basement

Saved by Superfriend!

There may be some light at the end of the tunnel, because my friend Nancy has come to the rescue — not only does she have a wet/dry shop vac, which she is going to let me borrow so I can vacuum up the kitty litter, she also KNOWS people.  This means, that while I couldn't get an HVAC guy to come out here, she got one to call me within an hour!  And it doesn't end there... she invited me to dinner, since I'm going to her house to pick the contraption up anyway! Wow. I'll keep y'all posted on how this shop vac thingy works.

Thank heavens for Nance!!!
 
Tags: Basement

To Be or Not to Be - "Black Adder" Live Skit

Here is a "Black Adder" live sketch about how Hamlet's "To Be or Not to Be" soliloquy actually came about — the fabulous Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Laurie. Wheee! It is Hi-LARIOUS, or perhaps I should say Hugh-Laurious :P



 
Tags: Shakespeare | Black Adder

Wet Wednesday

The votes are in. Mophia, Katja, and Ray all say the carpet has to be yanked out. It is so poisonous, the air in the basement, I don't know how I'll do it - little by little, I suppose. I wish I had the money to just hire some "Basement Doctors" or "ServPro" to come in and fix it all for me. *sigh*

I spread cat litter all around, and it sucked up a lot of water — yet now there's the mess of the wet cat litter to deal with, and it's still not dry there. And at the same time, I feel so ungrateful whining about such relatively minor matters while other people lose their whole houses and all their possessions to floods. I do know I'm an ingrate, so thanks for bearing with me and letting me vent about my relatively insignificant woes.

I'm off to bed. Perhaps tomorrow I'll wake up, and the basement will be magically dry.

~A
Tags: Basement

The World in a Village

If the world were boiled down to a village of 100 people, what would it look like? According to Dr. Phillip M. Harter of Stanford University School of Medicine, it would go something like this:

57 would be Asian 21 would be European 14 would be from the Western Hemisphere 8 would be African 52 would be female; 48 would be male 70 would be nonwhite; 30 would be white 70 would be non-Christian; 30 would be Christian 89 would be heterosexual; 11 would be homosexual 6 people would possess 59 percent of       the entire world's wealth, and all 6       would be from the United States. 80 would live in substandard housing 70 would be unable to read 50 would suffer from malnutrition 1 would be near death 1 would be pregnant 1 would have a college education 1 would own a computer

Fascinating. Puts it all in a bit of a perspective, doesn't it.

Nicked from Bart, who got it from:
http://www.coping.org/write/percept/logic.htm

~A

El Condor Pasa

Bart on Daze of Our Lives always has beautiful images with soulful commentary. I thought this one, by John Hyde very appropriate for today:


John Hyde, Wild Things Photography.

There are some amazing photos of eagles and nature on the site, worth a visit.
 

Happy July Civilization IV

For the past two days I've been playing Sid Meier's Civilization IV obsessively.  It's quite superb actually, with a more complex structure and format, more civilization technologies, great graphics, and requiring even more strategy than previous versions, while retaining enough of the familiar from the earlier Civ's, that one can just jump right in.

So far, I've been Elizabeth I of England, Louis XIV of the French, and Roosevelt of the Americans, and it's been a blast. I've built the Sistine Chapel, the Great Library of Alexandria, discovered everything from the wheel to free speech, and I think I've kicked butt — I moved from the Ancient world, to Classical, to the Middle Ages before 800 BC! It's got a multiplayer version for online play, but I take so long putzing over my towns and choices, that I'd no doubt drive any other players crazy.

The weather here is unbelievably strange. It ranges between 90°F with oppressive humidity (still no air-conditioning), to about 50° with pouring torrents of rain.  My basement flooded, and now the smell of mold is pervasively overpowering.  I got 'Damp Rid' - granules that suck moisture out of the air into small buckets, but they aren't enough. Someone suggested I go buy kitty litter and pour it over the floor, then shovel it up when it has sucked up all the moisture. I think that's what I'm going to do today, then pour bleach over the concrete parts of the basement, to kill the mold.  Bad thing is, that's a fifth of the basement. The rest of the basement is carpeted.... If anyone knows a trick, do let me know. It's deadly here.

All right, off to kitty-litter-mold-land. Then some more CIV - I love world-domination!

~A

Tags: Basement | Games

Movie Monday - AFI 100

So, I'm bored today, trying to think of anything I can distract myself with rather than doing real work. I ran into the AFI 100 Best Films -list, so out of curiosity, I decided to see how many I hadn't seen. I got 84/100. I'm missing a few major ones, like Lawrence of Arabia, which I always intend to get around seeing, and catch a few minutes of on the TV here and there, but never have watched through. It's on my life's to-do list.


1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9. SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)

11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
27. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
31. ANNIE HALL (1977)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
38. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
41. WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
42. REAR WINDOW (1954)
43. KING KONG (1933)
44. THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
47. TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48. JAWS (1975)
49. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53. AMADEUS (1984)
54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
57. THE THIRD MAN (1949)
58. FANTASIA (1940)
59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
61. VERTIGO (1958)
62. TOOTSIE (1982)
63. STAGECOACH (1939)
64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
66. NETWORK (1976)
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
68. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
69. SHANE (1953)
70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
71. FORREST GUMP (1994)
72. BEN-HUR (1959)
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76. CITY LIGHTS (1931)
77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78. ROCKY (1976)
79. THE DEER HUNTER (1978)
80. THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
81. MODERN TIMES (1936)
82. GIANT (1956)
83. PLATOON (1986)
84. FARGO (1996)
85. DUCK SOUP (1933)
86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
87. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88. EASY RIDER (1969)
89. PATTON (1970)
90. THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964)
92. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
93. THE APARTMENT (1960)
94. GOODFELLAS (1990)
95. PULP FICTION (1994)
96. THE SEARCHERS (1956)
97. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
98. UNFORGIVEN (1992)
99. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)
 
Tags: Movies | Memes

Sonnetsday 17

Sonnet XIV OT from the stars do I my judgment                               pluck;    And yet methinks I have astronomy, But not to tell of good or evil luck, Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality; Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell, Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind, Or say with princes if it shall go well, By oft predict that I in heaven find: But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive, And, constant stars, in them I read such art As truth and beauty shall together thrive, If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert;       Or else of thee this I prognosticate:       Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date. W.S.

Tags: Sonnets | Shakespeare

Project Runway Nightmare

Oh man!

I woke up this morning stressed out like mad!  Madeline texted me a few days ago saying the new season of "Project Runway" will start on July 12.   For those not in the know, it is a reality show (I know!) where aspiring fashion designers compete each week to make outfits as per guidelines, and each week a designer drops.  The top 3 get to present a full collection at New York Fashion Week.

I've been hooked from the first season on — and I'm a Reality-TV hater!  So anyway, I haven't heard from Madeline in days, and I've been getting really worried, so somehow these two facts got tangled in my brain, and all of a sudden I was there in my dream.  One of the real designers had been dropped at the last minute, and I had been promoted to the slot.  I had a beautiful Asian model for whom I needed to make an evening gown, 2 days to go, and I realized I had not been with them to get fabric.  Furthermore, I knew I was not good enough in sewing and knew nothing of patternmaking, and I was gonna be dropped at the end of that program.  One of the other designers was really bitchy towards me, so I was just yelling at him when I woke up.  I still feel tense, whew!

So, Madeline, please please let me know you're okay?

~A

Update: Madeline is fine, she texted me she was out of town :) Oh, and for the curious, the dress was going to be of purple satin. Might still make that dress, it was going to be gorgeous.