30 April 2007

I got tagged

...by Josh, so I get to do this thing (many thanks, by the way, didn't know what I was going to blog about today):

Name three characters (from books):

1). You wish were real so you could meet them.

Any of the Elves from LotR. Okay, I guess I have to pick one. Let's go with Legolas, just because he's really old and he's seen a lot of stuff and let's face it, Legolas is just pretty cool all round. Number two would be Sheftu from Mara, Daughter of the Nile, because every time I read that book I seem to end up reading his every line of dialogue twice, he's such an interesting character. And this isn't from a book, but I'd really like to meet Kendath, who is in fact an original Lady Dark Moon creation and will likely be in a (published) book someday what with her mad writing skillz. He'd be very sarcastic and I probably wouldn't like him much, but I'd like to meet him.

2). You would like to be.

Whoa, you know how many times I've wanted to be a book character? COUNTLESS times. Let's try and pick three. Number one would be Holly Short from Artemis Fowl. Crazy interesting life she has. Number two would be Beauty from Beauty by Robin Mckinley, also intriguing, and number three would actually have to be Merrin, who isn't a book character either but is an original Meldawen (aka me) creation. Again, such a very interesting life. If you were talking to her she wouldn't say so, but it's true.

3). Who scare you.

I don't think I'm often scared by book characters. Hmmm. Well, I got sorta antsy around Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter 5. At the moment no others are coming to me. Oh, the golem from The Golem's Eye, he's pretty scary, and...actually I think I'm going to have to say Kendath again, because I would love to meet him but he would be very good at freaking someone out.

That was fun. And I'll do this too, which I also found on The Quizzing Nerd.

Name a movie you have seen more than 10 times. The Fellowship of the Ring
Name a movie you’ve seen multiple times in the theater. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Oh, and Ice Age: The Meltdown. Wow, and Eragon too. Once was at the cheap theatre, though.
Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie. Don't kill me, guys. Orlando Bloom.
Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie. Keira Knightley.
Name a movie you can and do quote from. All three LotR, and all three PotC. Yes, I can quote from the third one, I don't care if it isn't out yet.
Name a movie musical in which you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs. Ummm...the only thing coming to mind is Lord of the Beans, but I don't know if that's a musical cause I can only remember one song. Oh, how about Beauty and the Beast?
Name a movie you have been known to sing along with. Beauty and the Beast.
Name a movie you would recommend everyone see. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Name a movie you own. Lord of the Rings
Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops. I can't say I've ever seen that...
Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? Never
Name a movie you keep meaning to see but you just haven’t gotten around to yet. Night at the Museum.
Ever walked out of a movie? Which one? Nope.
Name a movie that made you cry in the theater. Yes. Every single one. Except Ice Age 2, Over The Hedge, and Eragon.
Popcorn? Unless I want the popcorn bucket, like I did at DMC (and I still have it), no.
How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)? Once every couple months
What's the last movie you saw in a movie theater? Eragon.
What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie? Fantasy. Hah.
What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? The Emperor's New Groove. STILL love that movie.
What movie do you wish you had never seen? I like most movies...but probably Eragon. It was sort of disappointing.
What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed? I don't enjoy weird movies. Does The Emperor's New Groove count?
What is the scariest movie you’ve seen? The Two Towers
What is the funniest movie you’ve seen? Freaky Friday

There, a long blog post, and I hardly had to do anything!

24 days until PotC: AWE!

~Sil

"You two have an uncanny habit of talking about me behind my back. Am I that fascinating?" ~ Lady Dark Moon

27 April 2007

No regrets

Band concert last night was pretty nice. I didn't make any glaring errors (besides playing an E when it should have been E flat, at a time when pretty much nobody else was playing), and I sorta got my loose ends tied up. Paid bill what I owed him for the music, and said goodbye to Scott. It was fun this year, but also stressful, and I though I think I'll miss it at times, it will be nice to have my Wednesday afternoons back. And I'll have more than enough piano stuff to do with my grade 9 RCM next year. So yeah. It was fun, and I'm sort of sorry to go - but only a little bit.

And in other news - PIRATES! Scroll to the bottom of the page, there's two clips. I think you've all seen one of them before, but the other one, Jack Sparrow, is definitely new. There's another new one, basically about the characters, but potr has (very kindly) linked me to it on YouSendIt, and you need to have an account. As soon as it resurfaces on YouTube or some such I shall post it here. Suffice to say that it is AWESOME, and there are several interesting quotes, such as Kevin McNally (Gibbs) saying, "All the characters are off to something different. Jack is really off to immortality." I was like "Do tell!" but of course he doesn't say any more. I wonder what THAT means. Immortality with Davy Jones, or actual immortality? And Elizabeth fences with Davy Jones! There's only a quick second-long shot of it, but she DOES!
I know it's mean, but this bit fulfilled the rather anti-J/E part of me: Elizabeth going "Oh, will you never forgive me?" in a rather irritated tone, and Jack answering - "No." And also, Jerry Bruckheimer actually says of W/E, "Will they come together? You'll have to see the movie!" If potr weren't so happy about AWE coming out, and hadn't said to me in several roundabout ways that she's very happy with the ending (of course she knows what it is) I would be nail-biting worried about the fate of W/E.

But as it is I'm very happy , and I really do not know how I'm going to wait through the next month.

~Sil

"Do you fear death, Jack Sparrow?"
"You have no idea."

26 April 2007

Band stuff

Band practice yesterday went REALLY well. For our concert tonight we're playing Invicta, Star Wars/Raider's March, Hockey Night in Canada, Cold Snap, and Creed. We're not playing Grease, which was a relief, because isn't six pages long and I didn't know it very well. And in Cold Snap you get to hear me on the piano! I have a pretty cool jazz piano part. And my piano lesson went well too...I got a lot of new stuff, which is always good, and I get to play Jack Sparrow (officially - I've been sight-reading it all year but now I'm actually learning it). It's fifteen pages long, which is why I hadn't done it before. My other new one was Sonata in B flat major, which (as Erin might be interested to know) I liked so much when I heard it on Saturday that I decided to play it. And if I finish Jack Sparrow early I'm going to do Belle from Beauty and the Beast - it's eighteen pages long!

I have math tests that need marking. Off to do that.

~Sil

"So Scott, where is the concert?"
"Here."
"And when?"
"Tomorrow at 7:30."
"When are you supposed to be there?"
"7."
"What are you supposed to wear?"
"Black."
"Good. Did I neglect to mention it's TOMORROW, guys? It's TOMORROW, as you might be interested to know."

25 April 2007

Rip-off!

Last night was indeed a rip-off. It was one of those nights where I didn't get to lie in bed for a nice long time sloooowly falling asleep and thinking about whatever I want, but instead shut my eyes and opened them again in a couple seconds and found out it was morning. It was a bit like turning a light switch on and off, as opposed to slowly dimming the lights. I really do not like having my consciousness flipped on and off like a light switch. I prefer to dim it. That way I can slowly fall asleep and slowly wake up and actually feel like I got sleep rather than an eight-hour period of being zonked out.

So. After that little rant, moving on.

I have discovered a downside to Dark Alliance II: Baldur's Gate. That's the game I mentioned earlier, the one I play when I babysit. It doesn't come for Nintendo systems. I mean, how weird is that? Nintendo PWNS. Bizarre, that's what it is.

Last band practice today! No more taking the bus, no more lugging around bells, and I will actually have a Wednesday afternoon to speak of from now on! Robyn, don't kill me, but I really do not enjoy band that much. Occasional hobby, maybe. Regularly, no. I really prefer playing the piano to satisfy my own desire to play the piano, not in a group setting. That happens to be my personal preference.

~Sil

"Contrary to popular opinion, I'm hardly what ye'd call 'evil.' I'm merely an opportunist with a convenient lack of morals."

The above is an original pirateoftherings line and is meant to be used for Barbossa. All rights reserved. TM. And stuff.

24 April 2007

[Insert title of choice here]

I really don't think this post is going to have much point to it at all. But seeing as everybody seems to like it when I post, I thought I would anyway.

I'm reading a mildly interesting book currently, and I forget what it's called and I'm too lazy to go look (well, at least I'm honest), but it's about a magic kingdom that is on sale in a Christmas catalogue, so this guy buys the magic kingdom and discovers that that means he gets to become the king. But the people who were selling the kingdom were frauds, and there have been thirty-two kings before him that bailed out, and the kingdom (I believe it's called Landover) is in pretty bad shape. It's not one of those oh-my-gosh-I-can't-put-it-down books, but it's sort of interesting. By Terry Brooks, if anyone's interested, who wrote those blatantly LotR-plagiarizing Shannara books. The Sword of Shannara, the Elfstones of Shannara, etc etc.

Oh, and I forgot what happened on Friday. The kids I babysit for got their Dark Alliance: Baldur's Gate Xbox game back, and it made me very happy. Because I quite like that game. So far we've killed giant spiders, rescued a caravan of merchants, saved a village from decapitation and now we're wandering around in a city at a loss because there's nothing to kill. Heh. Me armed with my scimitar and Tyson with his mustard sword. It's not actually called a mustard sword, but we've called it that because it was actually called something neither me, Autaumn or Tyson wanted to say. I'm sure you can guess what it was, it's very similar-sounding to mustard.

Let's see...what else...oh, I did some data entry for general election campaign stuff (I'm being deliberately vague here, as I'm not sure how much of these is, um, privileged information) last night, before coming home and watching 24. Jack deteriorates more every episode. And if this is the great Audrey he practically handed the Chinese a nuclear weapon to save, I am not impressed. Though this could be because I suspect she's slightly mentally disturbed. And Bill got fired from CTU! Not good! I mean, I love Nadia, and I'm sure she's very good at being in charge, but - ! Bill!

ONE MONTH until AWE!

~Sil

"Hey, the third Pirates is coming out soon, they've started advertising."
"I know. I've been counting the days since November."

23 April 2007

120th Post

I don't know, I couldn't think of a title, and my dashboard says it's the 120th blog post today. So that's what I called it.

If anyone's at all interested, though, I did some writing over the weekend (and this past week) for a couple of contests on Arwen-Undomiel. For the first one (viewable here, I'm the one that says Meldawen) you were supposed to pick a LotR character and describe them. I thought it would have been interesting if everybody described the same character from a different viewpoint, but anyway, we had a variety of character descriptions. Mine was of Aragorn. And just as an aside - I do believe I won that particular contest. The awards have yet to be posted, but I got three first-place votes, a second-place and an Honourable Mention. So that was cool.

The second one is a Places contest, so you have to describe a place from the viewpoint of any character you desire. This particular place was Osgiliath, which was a little tricky, but still fun. This is my entry:

I Will Remember

Excerpt from the diary of Thelithil daughter of Gilorn, TA 1437, the fifteenth day of Yavanniƫ.
They are coming. I hear them in sleep and waking, pounding upon the walls of our city, ravaging its white towers. My father curses the rebels, curses them for opposing King Eldacar, but I see only the destruction they wreak on my home – my home since I was but a child, since the day sixteen years ago my mother bore me.
For my birth day I receive nothing but this. Nothing but the sight of Osgiliath burning.
We are barricaded in the Great Hall, our last defense against the rebels grinding our beautiful city into the dirt, burning it. Perhaps two hundred, three hundred of us are left – others fled while they still could, before the rebels surrounded our city. We sit huddled in silence, hoping against hope for deliverance. We know it will not come. My father and his men sit by the King and his son, Prince Ornendil.
I sit by a window, a mere arrow slit, penning what I dearly hope are not my last written words in this world. Osgiliath is so sad…its towers are crumbled and fire and ash stain the white stone. Some still stand proud, but they are defaced by blood and half crumbled. Can this really be the city I loved, the streets I ran barefoot through as a child? I can see from the arrow slit a fountain, now dry and broken, that I met Thiristannen at once. I can see, just over a small rise, our house. We fled it when flames licked at the east gate of Osgiliath. What was once a pristine white city is now mottled grey and crimson and black, ash and blood and ruin. Can I remember it as it used to be…?
I will try.
My clearest memory is of years ago, when Father went up to the Dome of Stars and I went with him, and looked out the window. The city stretched below me, a maze of streets and fountains and walls and towers. It is like, I imagine, to what a city of the Elves would be. Graceful bridges span the river that cuts like a silver arrow through Osgiliath, many of them. Towers go so high I imagined, once upon a time, that they touched the clouds. What a capital city for mighty Gondor, once united but now divided. What a testament of grace and beauty, of strength. Even the majestic Minas Anor cannot compare, cannot meet with its seven levels and towering grandeur, the history that Osgiliath holds. What lies in store for our city? Will it fall into ruin? Will Gondorians a hundred years from now speak of Osgiliath as a legend, a memory crushed?
If I could do aught to prevent it, how I would do so with gladness…every stone, every arch of the masonry speaks to me of an ageless grace that no city could ever capture again. Even where the stones are imperfect they bear memories. Perhaps in ages of old a catapult hit there…armies clashed there. It has always withstood the threat of destruction.
But now?
I fear that the Osgiliath I love is fated to dissolve into nothing more than sad rubble, standing alone under moon and sun alike. No brisk chatter, merchants haggling and mothers scolding and lovers murmuring, filling it with life and love. Would it change into nothing but cold stone if we abandoned it? Would it be nothing but a name, something to remain ever in dusty history scrolls?
Not for me. For me Osgiliath will ever be what it was. A testament to the power and beauty of the Numenorians of old, a wistful lament to their downfall but a promise of hope for the future. My future.
I will not die here today. I must not. For if Osgiliath dies I must live, live to tell of its beauty to those who have not seen it. Those who perhaps will be born when it is no more. And may I forgive the rebels who trample it into the ground, forgive them for destroying the home I love. I love its every worn stone and archway. And I ever will, I ever will think fondly of it even when Osgiliath is but a name.
I will remember.


Bit of background for the confused - this was a point in history when Gondor's king ceased to be of pure Numenorian descent, so some of the kingdom rebelled and opposed him. Those loyal to the king made their last stand in Osgiliath, which was sort of the beginning of its downfall. (For the REALLY uninitiated, you know who you are, Osgiliath is the city Faramir takes Frodo and Sam to in TTT. You know, the sort of ruined one?) So it's really less of a description than it is a sort of...lament, but it works.

~Sil

"I'd love to see Southgate put together a drama team again. Just don't ask me to be in it."

20 April 2007

For lack of a better title....Pirates!

Yes indeed, there is MORE piratey stuff that has been forthcoming in the last 24 hours or so. These ones are promotional stills, though perhaps not as high quality as the first ones, which I believe I posted a while back. Anyway, on this particular link there were four stills of Jack, three of Will and (get ready) TWENTY-EIGHT of Elizabeth. I'm tempted to think the camera crew were entirely adolescent boys. Anyway, here are some of the best ones:
Jack
A slightly odd Jack pose, and the background is surprisingly bland, but if it's Pirates I'll take it.
Will
If it's Will, it's automatically good. I LOVE the background in this one - red velvet goes SO well with his costume. And as PotR pointed out to me last night (and I found it amusing), his shirt gets more open with every movie. Either it's symbolism telling us he's loosening up and becoming a pirate, or the extreme fangirlyness directed at Orlando Bloom has actually had an effect. Either way, his costume is amazing.
Elizabeth
None of Elizabeth's stills were particularly high-quality. This one was one of the only ones that didn't involve some weird cowgirlish stance and multiple weapons. There was even one in there that looked like it was specifically calculated to make Keira Knightley look - to put it bluntly - as flat as a board. Honestly.

If you want to look at all of them, click here, though I would more recommend the first promotional stills. Even if Will's pose (as I think Dark, Queen of Angmar from A-U put it) made him look like some sort of grim ballerina.

~Sil

"That Catholic bread."

19 April 2007

Happy day

Happy thing #1: It's snowing. As in, serious snow. And I love it. #2: I don't have to go anywhere until this evening. #3: Band stuff is all worked out, all I have to do now is practice a ton, so that's a relief - and #4: PIRATES PICTURES!

And yes, I shall post them. A couple of these you've already seen before, or seen similar ones.
  • VERY sweet W/E shot
  • I love this one. Maybe my favorite of them all.
  • Slightly odd one of Elizabeth, Barbossa and some Oriental dudes
  • If you'd like to know about Elizabeth's lack of clothing, I know exactly why it is and will happily tell you if you're not averse to spoilers.
  • More Pirate Queen! (And Sao Feng)
  • Yay Robyn.
  • Elizabeth and Barbossa
  • And yes, I know why Elizabeth looks somewhat unpleasantly shocked
  • Jack: Secretive. Elizabeth: slightly skeptical. Barbossa: suspicious.
  • You've likely seen one similar to this before.
  • The Oriental dude to the left is saying, "Remove, please."
  • Take that as you will. It has to do with weapons smuggling.
  • Other awesome W/E pic
  • (though this one's slightly more serious - kissing, for instance, is the last thing on both of their minds right now) Will has an EARRING!
  • MORE Pirate Queen!
  • That's a really awesome outfit, that is.
  • Will and Elizabeth, though not really W/E
  • Awesome outfits again. Both of them.
  • Barbossa, the monkey, and Elizabeth
  • From left to right. In that order. If you've watched the Keira/Jack commentary, you'll know why I laughed so much at that.
  • Captain Elizabeth!

  • Barbossa, Elizabeth and Will
  • ...with Barbossa to the left. Again. Tee hee.
  • Well, he's on the right in this one
  • But sulky Elizabeth, I wonder what that's about?
  • More Captain Elizabeth

  • Just...Elizabeth.

  • That's probably the biggest happy thing of all. So have fun with those. Took me long enough to link 'em all in here.

    PotR, I will love you forever. In case that's not clear enough, MANY MANY MANY thanks to pirateoftherings for the piccies.

    ~Sil

    "Well, it's possible that I might win a million dollars, sell my house and retire to Jamaica. Not probable, but possible."

    18 April 2007

    Quicky

    Busy day today, I left the house at 8:30, got home again at 11, and I'm leaving again at 1:15 to not get back until 6 and then leaving AGAIN at 6:45. Anyway, the point of all that was that I'm only actually posting because there's yet another piratey video out and I thought I would post it. So -
  • Clicky
  • Many thanks to pirateoftherings, who knows everything piratey there is to know. This particular one is shorter, but Johnny Depp is funny and there's more of him. So there you go.

    ~Sil

    "But what blood type was Jesus?"
    "Are you expecting a transfusion?"

    17 April 2007

    How To Give A Great Man-To-Man Hug - and Pirates!

  • Clicky. It's funny.

  • And also -
  • AWE clip! And various other things.
  • "It is pronounced 'egregious'."

    I highly recommend this. W/E shippers notice Jerry Bruckheimer's bit at about 1:24 - "Each character in this has a mission. Will wants to save his father from Davy Jones, Elizabeth would like to be - with Will. And Jack, of course, they're all trying to find Captain Jack."

    The desperate antics of J/E shippers are beginning to amuse me highly. For instance, they solemnly demur that Jerry meant to say, in that line, "...would like to be - with Will and Jack, of course." Oh please. Also, according to them, the utter lack of J/E advancement in the trailer just means that in the movie there's going to be a ton. Because heaven forbid that the trailer would ACTUALLY give you a preview of what's going to happen in the movie. Also, upon having it pointed out that there are no J/E scenes in the trailer, they replied that there are two - "it would never have worked out between us," and "four of you have tried to kill me in the past. One of you succeeded." So, in these alleged J/E-confirming scenes, we have Jack confirming that Elizabeth killed him (evidence for a romantic pairing if I ever saw it. <--sarcasm) and Elizabeth telling Jack to take a hike. Call me crazy...but I think the shipper pair that actually kissed in the trailer has a much better chance.

    And in other news...I didn't find my music folder, but I'll be able to get copies and though I will have to pay for the music I lost, it's looking like it'll turn out better than I thought. I have two weeks to polish up the pieces we're doing for our concert, though, but I think I can do it. So that's a relief.

    ~Sil

    "You have officially killed LDM. Felicitations to you, and please enjoy the rest of your day."

    16 April 2007

    30 Hour Famine

    That was basically what made up my Saturday. Not eating. And then eating a lot. Which isn't really good for you, but I've never been fussy about that. While not eating, we watched a couple old Disney movies (The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast) and I really enjoyed them a lot more than I thought I would. I love the music from Beauty and the Beast. We also played some serious Risk, two games, the second of which I won and took over the world in. I think it was Ellie being a good-luck charm. Or possibly the fact that Daniel let me take out Bryan, which meant I got Bryan's cards, which meant I could totally murder Daniel afterwards. I like making treaties and then unexpectedly breaking them.

    So I was a) sleep-deprived and b) slightly hungry all day yesterday. I'm still sleep-deprived, and actually still hungry (come to think of it), so not much has changed. But today is looking like it will contain some do-nothing time, which I'm very fond of, so that's promising. I suppose it would have more do-nothing time if I actually got my school done, though. That's a thought.

    ~Sil

    "And then the Uralians took out the Argentinians, who in turn defeated the Peru-ians."

    12 April 2007

    Life...is not like a book

    Much as I wish it were. Well, I didn't go to band yesterday. My mom and I talked about it and figured there wasn't much point, and that it could be worked out by email and other ways rather than...well...what I was going to do. If life were a book, I would have remembered my band folder, and I'd be an expert at piano in a group setting, and our concert would be amazing...but life isn't.

    Which brings me to my next point. Piano in a group setting is not for me. I enjoy it solo, I like sight-reading random songs, but I don't think I'm cut out for a career in it. Some people are really good at that, some people really like band settings. I don't. I thought I would try it, it was an okay experience, but I'm not doing it again. And for those of who like that kind of thing, more power to you, but I'm me. And not you. Which means I can take what I want out of music, but it has to be what I want and what I enjoy. And just because other people enjoy being in a band or playing with other instruments doesn't mean I have to. And now I'm going off to play some random Disney song that I like, and I'm going to enjoy it far more by myself than I ever would otherwise.

    I wonder if this is just a further expression of my introversion. Hmm. Could very well be.

    So, now that I have that off my chest, moving on.

    What happened to all my comments, people?! Come on, you haven't all abandoned me, right? (I know Josh is still here, at least)

    ~Sil

    "And you know what you'll say then? 'If only I had listened to Robyn.'"

    11 April 2007

    Scaryness

    I think I can be excused for not posting for a week...or it's maybe closer to two. It was spring break, and the 'break' part was observed to a T. It made me happy, and it meant I got more sleep. Which is always good.

    However, there's a reason this post is titled 'scaryness' and it's the fact that this afternoon at four o'clock I'm anticipating having to tell my band director that I lost all my music three rehearsals before our concert. I'm not as scared as I was, because if God wants me to find that band folder, He'll make it happen, and if He doesn't, then I know it's for a reason. Or I'm trying really hard to know it. But I'm not going to pretend that I know what I'm going to say or how I'm going to say it. So guys, prayer would be appreciated.

    What else has happened...oh, well, first of all, Calminaiel (www.bassoonfreak.blogspot.com) came to visit over spring break, which was fun, and we got lost in West Ed and went to see Eragon and lamented Arya's lack of pointy ears, and did a lot of sleeping. But that's what spring break is for. Except somehow now I'm really tired - how does that work?

    30 hour famine this weekend. I have done no fundraising, but you know, I have one major thing to worry about at the moment, and that's quite enough.

    ~Sil