* My youngest brother has a little sister. This means that not only do I have the smallest feet in the house (at an oh-so-dainty size 9    ), but I am now the little one for the first time in almost fifteen years.

* I’ve finished my internship applications – the last one will go in the mail on Monday. For the record, that’s eight of them:
     In Gretna, LA (suburb of New Orleans, I think) – Pelican Publishing
     In Peterborough, NH (a long drive, I know) – Cobblestone Publishing
     In Atlanta, GA (something a bit different) – Bas Bleu Booksellers by Post
     In New York, NY (not my preference) – Harcourt, Harper Collins, Penguin, Random House, and Simon and Schuster

We’ll see what happens. I’ve talked to real people (exciting!!) at Cobblestone and at Bas Bleu, so I think those are very real possibilities.

In other news, I went and saw Constantine with Tae, Elf, and Pug yesterday. John Constantine’s bunch of oddballs amused me, though plot – and explanation – were lacking.

PS – Is there anyone besides Pug who doesn’t see the background pattern on this page? He made some comment yesterday about my taking it down…but I haven’t touched it, and I still see it in Firefox, Opera, and Internet Exploder – er, I mean Hexplorer – ahhhh….yeah, that one. So now I’m curious.

Categories: home, internships
5 Comments »

I finally got to see the new Phantom of the Opera movie tonight – Tae, Elf, and I went out to an evening showing, and had a great time. We make an odd trio in regard to Phantom – it really isn’t an Elf-movie at all, and she reacted accordingly, which is fine. Tae enjoyed it – enough to see it a second time, if that tells you anything. And me? I’ve been a fanatic since seeing it in New York five years ago. Nothing could match the magic of the first time, but London last fall and now the film come as close as I could wish. Sometimes I wonder why I’m so caught up in such a neurotic cast of characters, but I am. The people, the setting, the music – it all speaks to me.

I had my doubts about this Christine (Emmy Rossum) the first time I heard her, but I’ve gotten to quite like her. No one can quite match Sarah Brightman (hell, the part was written for her, is it any wonder?), but there’s a clarity to her voice that I like. Gerard Butler’s Phantom is almost too good looking – one can hardly believe he is so disfigured under that mask. A friend has suggested that the rock-background of his voice doesn’t make sense, given that he is clearly adept at training voices for the opera, but I enjoyed the power in his voice. He does justice to The Music of the Night too, which I love. Still, I have fond memories of the Phantom I saw in London. The Christine and Raoul of that production were a bit weak, but the Phantom was magnificent and mellifluous. *sighs happily*

Patrick Wilson’s Raoul is a different look from the stereotypically tall, dark, and handsome Raouls I’ve seen before. I like it. More sympathetic, somehow.

The background that the film offers for the Phantom surprised me quite a bit – that’s never addressed in the stage version. It makes me want to re-read Leroux’s original novel, which offered hints, I remember, but I don’t recall exactly what was said. I was disappointed in the book when I read it five years ago, freshly starry-eyed after an evening on Broadway – probably because I wanted to re-live what I’d seen on the stage, and the book is a very different creature. It might be time to pick old Gaston Leroux up again. At any rate, Madame Giry’s inexplicable knowledge about the Phantom is made less inexplicable, though I’m not entirely sure I like it or buy it. We’ll pick that up again another time.

What is it about this story that I love so much? Besides the appealing spectacle and the catchy tunes, I think it has to do with enigmas and loneliness. I’ve always been drawn to characters with an air of mystery about them, whether it’s Robin Hood, Spock, Galadriel, the Man in Black, or Mairelon the Magician… (some of you will even be able to follow me through that, ha!) And though it isn’t something I’ve suffered from in recent years (thanks to an amazing group of friends and a roommate who might as well be my sister), I was a very lonely child for years after we moved here. Add to that some broad things about love and loss and impossible wishes that most anyone can empathize with and you have what has become one of my favorite stories.

So the film? It is worthy.

Categories: movies
3 Comments »

YES! Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to present a Lady Vulcan who has finished her seminar paper!!!

Beowulf can go back to being a nice, normal part-time interest, rather than a full time obsession. Yay! Maybe I won’t even joke about naming a daughter Freawaru anymore! Ooops, I just did….

On a different note: you know you’re a nerd when…

…Valentine’s Day comes along and your boyfriend gives you a lovely new set of dice in a new, pretty dice bag. *glee!*

And then you open a card which contains the line

“You know, I’ve learned an enormous amount from you about living, relationships, communicating effectively, laying traps for players…”

For the sake of completeness, I also now have the DVD of Groundhog Day, one of my favorite funny movies.    )

What more could a girl want?

Categories: college
2 Comments »

Inspired by a conversation yesterday morning, I went looking for trouble in a literary sort of way. By that I mean that I went to hunt down the origins of the sleeping beauty story. And holy *@(#$ ….yeah, take a look; you can be disturbed too.

I grew up on a book of fairly mild – though not Disnified – fairy tales as told by the brothers Grimm. So the story I remember is called Briar Rose and goes something like this. Evil fairies, asleep for a hundred years, giants and monsters and painful thorns in the hero’s way, all rewarded by kisses and true love.

Well, if you go back a couple versions further, you get this, courtesy of an Italian by the name of Giambattista Basile. And you thought the Germans told nasty stories?? Try rape and cannibalism on for size. The story has some painful holes in it, raising questions to which I really don’t want to know the answers, like (1) Why would you rape a woman who is apparently dead? or (2) If you did, why would you come BACK a year later…wouldn’t you assume she’d be rotting?? or (3) Why did the child have to suck the flax out of the princess’s finger before she wakes up – did giving birth not do it for her?

Like I said, I really don’t want to know.

On the subject of pleasant fairy tales, I’ve been looking for one that I remember from my Grimm book, but I cannot find any mention of it online. “Fletcher’s Bird” is a variation on the Bluebeard story (you remember…marries a woman, she fails him in some trivial way, he kills her, repeat pattern). Anyway, there’s a repeated line in the story to the effect of “I’ll be watching you from my little window!” – very stalker-esque, yes, but don’t worry, it’s aimed at Fletcher (the Bluebeard character), so he deserves what’s coming to him. And as I have a lovely third story window looking out over the parking lot, the line about “watching from my little window” often comes to mind. Must remember to pull that out when I go home next week. (Yes! Next week! Monday the 21st I’m outta here!!) I swear I’m not a stalker…I just like watching what goes on around me.

And now we shall allow Carmen and Tae to be trend setters.   
It took some editing, though. Apparently the author can’t tell the difference between your and you’re. Painful. So no, the semi-colon is not original either. Let me know if I missed anything.

Your element is Water: Understanding, intelligent, quiet and calm. You know who you are and no one can change that. Usually quiet but only because you’re listening, don’t let anyone think you haven’t got an opinion! You’re not quiet because you’re shy or sad, you’re usually quiet because you’re thinking. Your answers are well planned and helpful so people generally seek your advice. You’re the perfect balance between solitary and outgoing. But sometimes you need a little time to yourself to sort out your emotions and figure things out. You understand the phrase ’sticks and stone’ and rarely let things get to you; what’s that important for you to have to get so upset over? You know what you want out of life but are simply taking your time and enjoying things. To you your life is fine as it is, you can always change things later if you aren’t happy.

.:-|What is your true element?|-:.
brought to you by Quizilla

Eh, reasonably close.

Categories: books
5 Comments »

This is just what I needed after stressing over my seminar paper this week. Many thanks to a certain extremely awesome pug!
Book-a-Minute Beowulf

I am reminded that normal people who read Beowulf don’t even pay attention to the characters who feature prominently in my paper. Yay perspective. They have such fun names, though! Do you think matricide would be justified if I grew up and named a daughter Freawaru or Hildeburh? *mischevious grin* Or maybe Hygd?

I turned in a second draft this morning, so I plan to mostly ignore it over the weekend. At least, it won’t be a priority. Tonight’s agenda, for example, includes bumming around and Friday night tv. And not doing schoolwork. Final version of the paper is due Wednesday, and I will be glad to be done with it!!!

Categories: college
5 Comments »

Pug greeted me with this one this morning: Real Life

No more Enterprise. Sad. No mockery from you Enterprise-haters, either! Let me mourn in peace…

On a more cheerful and even zanier note: Get Fuzzy

How could a DM Guide in the hand not improve one’s charisma?

This is about a week early, but I don’t care. Rest Stop for Robots

Heehee. Have a happy!

Categories: Star Trek, comics
1 Comment »