Whitey, my white fish died. He was fine in the morning - this is Sunday - and then that evening he was swimming a little lopsidedly, and then, he just kinda sank. sniff. I did get his dead body out of the tank fairly quickly, at least.
Blacky seems to be doing fine. I deep down hold him responsible for Whitey's death. Blacky was always a bit bossy/pushy when it came to feeding.
The only other mystery is where my other sucker fish has gone. I've only been able to see one recently. It's not as if, even if it died, his body would disappear! And I can't see it in the filter. Alas. I think this is my last attempt at fishies.
What else....
Oh, update - Provo has now commenced their random bit of construction right before school starts. So folks, Fall Semester has arrived. This year it's a bit farther south, at the intersection of State and 9th East. Joy!
I think that is all for now.
Shalom. ;)
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
beauty
I don't know why, but the posting options are limited whenever I try to post from home. i.e. there isn't a place to make links look nicely. I'll edit that when I get to work I guess.
Well, I hope for now I'm done with wee bit serious posts. I was just quite frustrated with Hollywood lately, and there may be a similar rant - though I know I didn't fully explain myself in the last, it was taking too much time - when "The Seeker: Dark is Rising" is released. Oh well. Just say I didn't warn you.
But today I only wanted to share this wonderful little clip my mum shared with me.
I dare you to not let it make your day a wee bit happier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed9F4G5d8Qw
Oh, what a wonderdful world.
Last night I was walking across BYU's campus, all the way from the Maeser building.
It was a beautiful moment. The air was that last, not too warm temp that happens just before fall, the sky was beautiful... the world was at peace. Perhaps my reading of the Anne of Green Gables series is affecting me, but if it is, I say it's quite all right.
Well, I hope for now I'm done with wee bit serious posts. I was just quite frustrated with Hollywood lately, and there may be a similar rant - though I know I didn't fully explain myself in the last, it was taking too much time - when "The Seeker: Dark is Rising" is released. Oh well. Just say I didn't warn you.
But today I only wanted to share this wonderful little clip my mum shared with me.
I dare you to not let it make your day a wee bit happier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed9F4G5d8Qw
Oh, what a wonderdful world.
Last night I was walking across BYU's campus, all the way from the Maeser building.
It was a beautiful moment. The air was that last, not too warm temp that happens just before fall, the sky was beautiful... the world was at peace. Perhaps my reading of the Anne of Green Gables series is affecting me, but if it is, I say it's quite all right.
Monday, August 20, 2007
ode to hollywood
Why in the world does Hollywood feel the need to make things bigger, with the idea that that makes then better? Last week I saw the movie Stardust. I enjoyed the book (with some reservations) but decided that I wanted to see the movie to see how the adaptation of the book went along. There were, of course, various plot modifications throughout the beginning. They weren't quite as drastic as Arwen taking the place of Glorfindel in calling upon the River, or the Elves deciding to come one last time to help the world of men.... And some actually made it less of a moral dilemma when wondering whether to recommend the movie to friends. Others were actually fairly enjoyable.
But, where the falling action of the plot ended, and the denoument should have begun, that is where we have the problems.
Spoiler Alert! In the book, a number of prophesies/rules are given. One regarding the slavery of Una, the princess of Stormhold, and also about the heart of the Star. Hmm... this could be difficult to explain the ending without explaining the beginning. (If you know the plot, you may skip to nearer the end.) I explained the plot to my coworkers the day after I read the book - it made sense, sort of. Well, here is my attempt:
There are four stories that are intwertwined throughout the graphic novel. Firstly, of the Village of Wall, the Princes of Stormhold, the three witch sisters, and a witch and her slave girl.
To begin, Wall. In the Village, there is a wall. And there is a hole in the wall that no one is allowed to cross. Except for every nine years when a fair comes to the meadow just outside the hole in the wall. Enter Dunstan Thorn. A proper English young man. He boards two people from the other side of Wall, a tall gentleman who promises that his and his son's (him not having a son yet) greatest desire will be fulfilled, and a strange furry little fellow. The next day he goes to the fair, long story short, meets the slave girl at a stall, gets a glass flower, and because of a romantic liason, ends up with a baby in a basket. Oh, and his name is Trist-R-an. Not Tristan. Anyhoo, between the liason and the arrival of the baby, Dunstan is married off to a local girl he had been courting, and things seem to be fine.
Tristran, true to form has fallen in love with Victoria, the most beautiful girl in the village. One night, while trying to court he promises her many things, and then, after seeing a shooting star, promises to bring it back to her in exchange for her doing what he asks. She agrees, believing that he would never actually act upon this foolishness.
Well, Tristran does. And his father, when (my memory of this is a bit fuzzy) tells the truth of his origins, takes him to the hole in the wall, and the sentries allow him to pass. As a parting gift, the father gives him the glass flower.
Tristran first meets the furry fellow. He takes care of Tristran, giving him a Babylon candle which is a method of traveling. The furry fellow has a strange tatoo making him a member of some underground society. This comes into play later, though I didn't catch this until the later. Oh well.
Tristran uses the candle to get to the crater with the candle, and discovers Yvaine who had been knocked out of the sky by a necklace. Her leg broke during the fall, and she somehow has this stupid ruby necklace. Tristran had some of that magic silver chain, and captured her, and they start the journey back.
Necklace: The kingdom of Stormhold's manner of succession is different than most - it is the last surviving male becomes the next King. The current king is on his deathbed, and calls his remaining four sons to him. They must kill each other off, but, he adds a final twist - the ruby necklace that declares to the world that they are the king...well, he takes it off and chucks it. Frankly, he is disgusted that his sons haven't managed to kill off each other by now. One of the sons is killed during the death bed scene, leaving only Primus, Tertius and Septimus. There were originally seven sons, and one daughter, who disappeared many years ago. So, after their father's death, they start off together in their hunt, never eating nor drinking anything they haven't prepared themselves.
Witches: There are three witch sisters who are very old, and don't like the way being old makes them look. If only they had the heart of a star - that would make them young again. Oh, wait, a star just fell from the sky. The heart was best if it was a happy heart, but if the heart belonged to another, it did them no good. So, the head witch begins the hunt, turning a girl into a goat to pull her along.
Ditchwater Sal and slave girl: the girl was to be a slave until the moon loses one of her daughters in a week when two Mondays are joined, or something impossible like that.
Okay, Yvaine (the star) and Tristran start walking back. They encounter a unicorn and lion fighting, and there are a bunch of nursery rhymes that he remembers...this one ends with the lion being declared king of the forest, and taking the crown after winning the fight. Yvaine is crying because the unicorn is being beaten and tell Tristran to stop the fight. So, he takes the crown to the lion, and he leaves. Hooray. Random sideplot, but there now is a unicorn friend who can carry Yvaine. Eventually he carries them both and they go pretty fast.
Tertius is killed off after drinking wine provided by a maid during a romantic liason, that was given to the maid by Septimus. Two brothers, now. Septimus on horseback, Primus in the carriage.
Lamia the witch meets Ditchwater Sal and the slave girl. Sal makes Lamia tell the truth of her quest through some herb while sharing dinner, and learns of the Star. Being angry at being tricked, she curses Sal to not recognise the presence of the Star ever.
Tristran needs to get food, but Yvaine is not hungry. He makes her promise not to run off, and then he releases her from the silver chain. Well, when he gets back, she and the unicorn are gone. He falls asleep under a tree, but then the tree wakes him up, and tells him she is headed to trouble. He is instructed to run to the road, for there is a carriage coming, and is given a leaf that will give him advice when he most needs it. Running to the road, he meets Primus and they join together.
Meanwhile, the witch has made a hotel of sorts, and Yvaine has stopped there. Lamia is treating Yvaine quite well inorder to make the star's heart as happy as possible. Primus and Tristran soon are there as well, with Primus entering the building, and Tristran helping to stable the horses. He is brought out a drink, but the unicorn stops him from drinking it because it is poison. So, with this he realizes there is danger and goes to warn Primus. Well, Primus gets his throat slit. The unicorn attacks the witch and gets his head cut off. Tristran listens to the leaf, grabs hold of Yvaine, and holding the stub of Babylon candle, thrusts it into the fire, and they barely escape the wrath of Lamia.
They end up in clouds. They are rescued by lightning catching sky sailors, who's captain is a member of the same order as the little furry guy. They are taken care of, and Yvaine's leg mends, and Tristran's poor burnt hand is tended to. They are then dropped off at a tree dock, and they head off towards Wall.
Well, Septimus, momentarily being thrown off Primus' trail from a ruse, eventually finds his body, and is angry. If he had killed him, all would have been well, but since he had been murdered by an outsider, he was now duty bound to avenge his brother's killer. So he's now after the witch, who is after the Star. All now are headed towards Wall.
Tristran and the Star meet up with Sal, and in exchange for the glass flower, Sal provides safe passage to Wall, changing him into a mouse for the trip. She has no idea Yvaine is there because of the curse.
The witch sets up a little hut near Wall and is questioning all those who pass. Septimus finds her, and tries to kill her, and is killed in the process, thus all the seven sons are dead.
Sal passes the witches hut, but can truthfully tell her because of the curse that she knows nothing of the Star, and neither is Tristran in danger because he is a mouse. Thus, they safely arrive in Wall.
At petitioning the guards at the hole, Tristran is not allowed through that evening, so he helps set up booths at the fair. In the morning he leaves Yvaine to find his family, and the lovely Victoria. He learns that Victoria was not able to kiss him, not promise him anything because she had become engaged to the grocer, Mr. Monday. She was in a state of panic - she had sent Tristran to his death, but if he did come back, well, she would have to marry him. Well, Tristran reminded her that she didn't promise him marriage, but that he would do what he wished. He then wished her to be happily married.
Almost there.
He has a happy reunion with his family, where he says farewell to them forever. He then passes through the wall, and he and Yvaine acknowledge their love for one another. Well, the witch catches up with Yvaine, and though she is unprotected, her heart now belongs to Tristran, so it is no good to the witch. And, as Victoria and Mr. Monday are joined, the slave girl is freed. She, of course, is the long lost sister, Princess of Stormhold, and thus Tristran is the heir to the kingdom.
There we have had the climax, and the falling action and the end of the plot. The ending is different from the movie, because they try too hard to make it exciting. Usually my favorite parts of books are the nice little denouments at the end. Stardust is no exception.
Well, Tristran really does not want to be king. So, he and mum compromise: He and Yvaine will travel to Stormhold in their own time while she will be the interim leader person. They arrive in Stormhold three years later, and find mum to be doing a good job. Well, since she's doing such a great job, they leave a note (at Yvaine's insistence) saying they are to travel a bit more, and finally arrive back at the capital in rags, to accept their roles.
They are good rulers. He dies, and Yvaine leads on in his death.
Because it took so long to explain the story, it's hard to explain what is so different from the movie. But, I'll try: the movie must have an inferiority complex. My brother once said Canadians must have an inferiority complex because they have to have all the biggest things (i.e. yarn ball, truck, etc. - he lived there for a while, so he can say that.) Well, it's almost as if they didn't believe in the story, or believe that we could accept the simpleness of the ending. Heaven forbid there wasn't pages of sword fighting!
Hollywood, we are not idiots!
But, where the falling action of the plot ended, and the denoument should have begun, that is where we have the problems.
Spoiler Alert! In the book, a number of prophesies/rules are given. One regarding the slavery of Una, the princess of Stormhold, and also about the heart of the Star. Hmm... this could be difficult to explain the ending without explaining the beginning. (If you know the plot, you may skip to nearer the end.) I explained the plot to my coworkers the day after I read the book - it made sense, sort of. Well, here is my attempt:
There are four stories that are intwertwined throughout the graphic novel. Firstly, of the Village of Wall, the Princes of Stormhold, the three witch sisters, and a witch and her slave girl.
To begin, Wall. In the Village, there is a wall. And there is a hole in the wall that no one is allowed to cross. Except for every nine years when a fair comes to the meadow just outside the hole in the wall. Enter Dunstan Thorn. A proper English young man. He boards two people from the other side of Wall, a tall gentleman who promises that his and his son's (him not having a son yet) greatest desire will be fulfilled, and a strange furry little fellow. The next day he goes to the fair, long story short, meets the slave girl at a stall, gets a glass flower, and because of a romantic liason, ends up with a baby in a basket. Oh, and his name is Trist-R-an. Not Tristan. Anyhoo, between the liason and the arrival of the baby, Dunstan is married off to a local girl he had been courting, and things seem to be fine.
Tristran, true to form has fallen in love with Victoria, the most beautiful girl in the village. One night, while trying to court he promises her many things, and then, after seeing a shooting star, promises to bring it back to her in exchange for her doing what he asks. She agrees, believing that he would never actually act upon this foolishness.
Well, Tristran does. And his father, when (my memory of this is a bit fuzzy) tells the truth of his origins, takes him to the hole in the wall, and the sentries allow him to pass. As a parting gift, the father gives him the glass flower.
Tristran first meets the furry fellow. He takes care of Tristran, giving him a Babylon candle which is a method of traveling. The furry fellow has a strange tatoo making him a member of some underground society. This comes into play later, though I didn't catch this until the later. Oh well.
Tristran uses the candle to get to the crater with the candle, and discovers Yvaine who had been knocked out of the sky by a necklace. Her leg broke during the fall, and she somehow has this stupid ruby necklace. Tristran had some of that magic silver chain, and captured her, and they start the journey back.
Necklace: The kingdom of Stormhold's manner of succession is different than most - it is the last surviving male becomes the next King. The current king is on his deathbed, and calls his remaining four sons to him. They must kill each other off, but, he adds a final twist - the ruby necklace that declares to the world that they are the king...well, he takes it off and chucks it. Frankly, he is disgusted that his sons haven't managed to kill off each other by now. One of the sons is killed during the death bed scene, leaving only Primus, Tertius and Septimus. There were originally seven sons, and one daughter, who disappeared many years ago. So, after their father's death, they start off together in their hunt, never eating nor drinking anything they haven't prepared themselves.
Witches: There are three witch sisters who are very old, and don't like the way being old makes them look. If only they had the heart of a star - that would make them young again. Oh, wait, a star just fell from the sky. The heart was best if it was a happy heart, but if the heart belonged to another, it did them no good. So, the head witch begins the hunt, turning a girl into a goat to pull her along.
Ditchwater Sal and slave girl: the girl was to be a slave until the moon loses one of her daughters in a week when two Mondays are joined, or something impossible like that.
Okay, Yvaine (the star) and Tristran start walking back. They encounter a unicorn and lion fighting, and there are a bunch of nursery rhymes that he remembers...this one ends with the lion being declared king of the forest, and taking the crown after winning the fight. Yvaine is crying because the unicorn is being beaten and tell Tristran to stop the fight. So, he takes the crown to the lion, and he leaves. Hooray. Random sideplot, but there now is a unicorn friend who can carry Yvaine. Eventually he carries them both and they go pretty fast.
Tertius is killed off after drinking wine provided by a maid during a romantic liason, that was given to the maid by Septimus. Two brothers, now. Septimus on horseback, Primus in the carriage.
Lamia the witch meets Ditchwater Sal and the slave girl. Sal makes Lamia tell the truth of her quest through some herb while sharing dinner, and learns of the Star. Being angry at being tricked, she curses Sal to not recognise the presence of the Star ever.
Tristran needs to get food, but Yvaine is not hungry. He makes her promise not to run off, and then he releases her from the silver chain. Well, when he gets back, she and the unicorn are gone. He falls asleep under a tree, but then the tree wakes him up, and tells him she is headed to trouble. He is instructed to run to the road, for there is a carriage coming, and is given a leaf that will give him advice when he most needs it. Running to the road, he meets Primus and they join together.
Meanwhile, the witch has made a hotel of sorts, and Yvaine has stopped there. Lamia is treating Yvaine quite well inorder to make the star's heart as happy as possible. Primus and Tristran soon are there as well, with Primus entering the building, and Tristran helping to stable the horses. He is brought out a drink, but the unicorn stops him from drinking it because it is poison. So, with this he realizes there is danger and goes to warn Primus. Well, Primus gets his throat slit. The unicorn attacks the witch and gets his head cut off. Tristran listens to the leaf, grabs hold of Yvaine, and holding the stub of Babylon candle, thrusts it into the fire, and they barely escape the wrath of Lamia.
They end up in clouds. They are rescued by lightning catching sky sailors, who's captain is a member of the same order as the little furry guy. They are taken care of, and Yvaine's leg mends, and Tristran's poor burnt hand is tended to. They are then dropped off at a tree dock, and they head off towards Wall.
Well, Septimus, momentarily being thrown off Primus' trail from a ruse, eventually finds his body, and is angry. If he had killed him, all would have been well, but since he had been murdered by an outsider, he was now duty bound to avenge his brother's killer. So he's now after the witch, who is after the Star. All now are headed towards Wall.
Tristran and the Star meet up with Sal, and in exchange for the glass flower, Sal provides safe passage to Wall, changing him into a mouse for the trip. She has no idea Yvaine is there because of the curse.
The witch sets up a little hut near Wall and is questioning all those who pass. Septimus finds her, and tries to kill her, and is killed in the process, thus all the seven sons are dead.
Sal passes the witches hut, but can truthfully tell her because of the curse that she knows nothing of the Star, and neither is Tristran in danger because he is a mouse. Thus, they safely arrive in Wall.
At petitioning the guards at the hole, Tristran is not allowed through that evening, so he helps set up booths at the fair. In the morning he leaves Yvaine to find his family, and the lovely Victoria. He learns that Victoria was not able to kiss him, not promise him anything because she had become engaged to the grocer, Mr. Monday. She was in a state of panic - she had sent Tristran to his death, but if he did come back, well, she would have to marry him. Well, Tristran reminded her that she didn't promise him marriage, but that he would do what he wished. He then wished her to be happily married.
Almost there.
He has a happy reunion with his family, where he says farewell to them forever. He then passes through the wall, and he and Yvaine acknowledge their love for one another. Well, the witch catches up with Yvaine, and though she is unprotected, her heart now belongs to Tristran, so it is no good to the witch. And, as Victoria and Mr. Monday are joined, the slave girl is freed. She, of course, is the long lost sister, Princess of Stormhold, and thus Tristran is the heir to the kingdom.
There we have had the climax, and the falling action and the end of the plot. The ending is different from the movie, because they try too hard to make it exciting. Usually my favorite parts of books are the nice little denouments at the end. Stardust is no exception.
Well, Tristran really does not want to be king. So, he and mum compromise: He and Yvaine will travel to Stormhold in their own time while she will be the interim leader person. They arrive in Stormhold three years later, and find mum to be doing a good job. Well, since she's doing such a great job, they leave a note (at Yvaine's insistence) saying they are to travel a bit more, and finally arrive back at the capital in rags, to accept their roles.
They are good rulers. He dies, and Yvaine leads on in his death.
Because it took so long to explain the story, it's hard to explain what is so different from the movie. But, I'll try: the movie must have an inferiority complex. My brother once said Canadians must have an inferiority complex because they have to have all the biggest things (i.e. yarn ball, truck, etc. - he lived there for a while, so he can say that.) Well, it's almost as if they didn't believe in the story, or believe that we could accept the simpleness of the ending. Heaven forbid there wasn't pages of sword fighting!
Hollywood, we are not idiots!
Friday, August 10, 2007
catching up
Well, it has been over a week since I last posted. This week has consisted of buying, staining and varnishing a new book case, which I am now in the process of filling. I'll actually have empty space in my bookcases. Amazing! This also required a rearrangement of my room because they lied on the measurements - well, possibly because I forgot to add in the measurements of the side posts. Oh well. Things still fit in the room. By the way, the color of the bookcase, ORANGE. Hoorah.
Today I awoke to my phone telling me I had a text message: Auntie Marki sent one saying that President Faust had passed away. That was saddening. He was/is a good man, who will be greatly missed. My sympathies to his wife and family. I vaguely something about him saying how he never kissed his wife to be until they were engaged, and how he regretted that. (Probably a CES Fireside.)
As I finally am going through and reading bloggies, I realized that I have been tagged to answer random facts about my life. As I do this, the only person, besides the tagee that I can tag would be Sarah of LambCurryandRice fame. So, there it is. Now, the listing:
Jobs I've Held
Oboe Teacher
Oboe TA
SightSinging Instructor
Accounting Clerk
Bakery
Movies I Can Watch Over and Over
Pride & Prejudice
Persuasion
I've ripped these to iTunes :)
Places I have Lived
Mapleton and Provo UT
Mesa, AZ
Bradenton, Tampa and Winter Haven, FL
Shows I Enjoy
Ugly Betty
Monk
Psych
Midsomer Murders, Poirot
the search for an Ugly Betty summer replacement has been difficult to say the least. Army Wives was a failed attempt, but Side Order of Life may be okay. We'll see.
Places I've been on Vacation
Most every state in the US
Brief trip to Canada (ie 10 minutes) via Niagara Falls
Planned trip to visit Parents, and Europe with cousin Paul
Favorite Foods
Cheese
Cereal
Bread - without stuff, ie nuts, etc.
pasta
not TOO picky. :)
Websites I Visit (Almost) Daily
Bank Statements
Amazon
BYU
Bloggies
Body Parts I Have Injured
Elbow
Line Drive to the Thigh
Elder/Sister collision in Volleyball resulting in similar bruise on same thigh
(He was to be the new AP the next transfer. Such scandals! tee hee. It wouldn't of happened if he hadn't felt the need to cover my area! Oh well. Got a cool picture from it.)
Cool Bruise to the hand from playing Ultimate. Unfortunately the picture didn't turn out.
Nicknames I have Been Called
SallySue
Buglette
Toadette
pooface
heidi-ho
etc
TAG
anyone who reads this, who hasn't already done it.
Ah yes, I took the Jane Austen heroine quiz, and quickly was able to discern which line was for which heroine, and then wasn't sure if I was answering the questions truthfully, or if I was answering them by who I wanted to be, so I gave up. Ah well. They're all good.
Lastly, last night at enrichment, we made necklaces, and planner/notebook things. I shall use my notebook as a blog journal so I will never forget an exciting idea for you, my dear readers.
And now, a quote from my new blog idea journal thing: it takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. e.e. cummings
me
Thursday, August 02, 2007
update
Well, I've decided to change the look already, and I can't promise it will be the last time. I decided that, well, just because I love orange, the entirety does not have to be orange. That's all.
I'm also learning how to use different things in the blog. Quite exciting. In other words, a work in progress. Apologies for the stretched picture. That is not my fault. And, credit goes to the movie cover of Heidi for the picture.
chau-cito.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
where's the line?
So, one, I feel quite special for having comments on my last post. wow! But, now to the point.
In the spirit of, one should read the book a movie is based on, before going to see the movie, and how the director's 'vision' ruins the book, I checked out and read Stardust. It is a graphic novel - i.e. comic book for grown-ups. Though I am hesitant to fully recommend the book due to two quite racy incidents, and pictures to go along, the story was inventive, complicated and fun.
However, I was a bit dismayed that the book was in the juvenile section. I mean, the book did not offend me, though it was verging on the way too graphic of description, I'm not sure how I feel about some unsuspecting kid getting the book to read because they liked the movie, and having quite a surprise. And parents getting to explain things because of this surprise.
My freshman year I wrote my English paper on whether Harry Potter was acceptable for children. I didn't come to a fail-safe yes/no answer. In the end, the answer to the thesis question was yes, with the idea that the parents were supervising.
Unfortunately, this isn't always an option. Not all parents are paying attention to what their children are reading.
I remember two instances where my mom censored something: some romance novel a friend had lent her, and she was even embarrassed that she had, and Schindler's List. At the time, I was a bit miffed, especially in regards to the movie. (I was miffed about the book, because, well, I like to read anything and everything.) But looking back, I was 14. Sure, I'd read Number The Stars, Devil's Arithmetic, etc. so I'd known about the Holocaust, but I think she felt that I didn't need to have a first hand look. I'm grateful - especially after having experienced the Holocaust Museum in DC this summer. Some things, though they are truth, can be too much, especially for children.
So, back to the question: where is the line?
Should a graphic portrayal of sex (in words and pictures) be available to children? (And remember, this is nothing about censorship - just availability to children - and yes, a child could easily get it from another section of the library.... Just posing questions here.)
So that's all.
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