A little math puzzle

From A Tangled Tale by Lewis Carroll:

Two travellers left their hotel at 3:00 pm.  On level ground, they traveled at a speed of 4 mi/hr.  Going up a mountain, they traveled at a speed of 3 mi/hr.  Going down the mountain, they traveled at a speed of 6 mi/hr.  They expect to arrive back at their hotel by 9:00 pm.  Determine:

a)  At what time did they reach the top of the mountain?

b)  How many miles will they have traveled in all?

* * *

I stayed up until about 2:00 am last night trying to solve this puzzle.  And the harder I tried, the more impossible it seemed.  By the time I looked up the answer, I was too tired to understand it, except that it was vastly simpler than my "longer, more scenic route."  Classic.

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War Horse (2011) movie review

Cast, crew, rating, etc: War Horse on IMDB, Plugged In review
Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars.

I'll skip the synopsis, since the trailer pretty much says it all. [And yes, that's "Sherlock" at 2:06!]

I was feeling slightly hesitant about going to this film for two reasons:  one, that it would be boring (and for 2 1/2 hours!); two, that it would be too scary (I'll admit I'm a bit squeamish).   Luckily, it did not meet those expectations.

If you're like me and you enjoy Disney live-action classics (i.e. Treasure Island and 20000 Leagues), and you wish they still made movies like that, then War Horse is for you.  I think the reason War Horse has been getting 3 stars and less-than-glowing reviews from some critics is because they were looking for a stellar horse film or a stellar WWI film.  To most people, it will be neither.  Perhaps the movie would be more popular if it focused more on either the horse or the war.  Frankly, though, had that been the case, only half of my family would have gone to see it...

War Horse isn't strictly about a "horse and his boy," or strictly about WWI.  Rather, it's about WWI, viewed through the eyes of a horse and the people who care for it.  It's a family film that ends happily-ever-after and ties up all the loose ends (or almost all of them).  And yet War Horse, unlike some family films, is also intelligent, well-written, and cleverly balanced between drama and humor.  There was one part ("Remarkable horse!") where I wanted to scream JULES VERNE, because it just felt like that era (Vernian-style).  And, contrary to what the trailer would tell you, there is no romantic subplot.  None. 

The cast, by the way, was excellent.  We recognized most of the British actors, from recent BBC dramas.  The script was pretty good.  John Williams's soundtrack was less than impressive. 
 
Altogether, while it's not on my list of favorites, War Horse is the kind of film that kept my interest and that I'll probably re-watch in the future.  Recommended if you're looking for a decent movie to watch, during Christmas break or any time of the year.  :)

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2012 goals and dreams

Fireflies © Juan Pablo Rodriguez

Reading:

The Aeneid - Read book I (Fitzgerald) last month...going to continue with a different translation.  Can't decide which, and I've heard good things about many of them.  I tend to prefer older translations, but newer ones are typically easier to understand.  Recommendations? 


✓ Beowulf - I think I read half of it and I feel bad for not finishing it. 


Lord Jim and/or Nostromo - I've never read any of Conrad's long novels, and I should. 


  

The Brothers Karamazov and/or War and Peace - I'd like to broaden my Russian lit "resume" and either of these would fit the bill.  And War and Peace isn't so intimidating now that I have my lecture notes on the Battle of Borodino and Alexander I! 

Sylvie and Bruno Concluded - Would've finished this already, but the (free) e-book had too many typos.  Still waiting for it from the library.

Paris in the 20th Century (re-read) and The Begum's Millions - Or anything Jules Verne.


The Hobbit (re-read) - Self explanatory!  ^_^

And that's about it, more or less.  My reading list is many leagues longer, but if I get those reads accomplished next year, I'll be happy. 

Writing:

Finish rewriting and publish my fantasy novella.  Maybe I'm just a dreamer.

Other:

 
Get a good grade in General Physics I, this spring (or summer).  I'm indescribably thankful that the physics class I'm taking is algebra-based and not calculus-based.  Much less stressful.  I've never taken physics, ever.  Some of it overlaps chemistry and math, though, so maybe it won't be too scary.  I got myself a textbook from the library, and if I'm a smart person, I'll read it in preparation.  (I'd like to think I'm that smart person, but in reality, I can be dreadfully lazy.)

Take as many history classes as possible.  We happen to have an amazing history/political-science professor, whose lectures are so good I'm even thinking of attending summer quarter. 

Try to be content with change.  I dislike transitions--it feels like no sooner do you get used to something then you have to give it up.  Some changes are good, so I know better than to hate change itself, but it's hard to adapt to new things, and once I do, I feel as if I'd be happier if it lasted longer.  Of course, only God knows what's best for me in the long run, so I'm glad I don't have to decide.  I rediscovered Ecclesiastes 12:13 this fall, and hope to remember it from now on:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Isn't that beautiful?

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Books, movies, and other highlights of 2011

Note:  I take no credit for this idea.  So many other bloggers are doing this right now, so I just thought I'd join in.  :)

January

Saw BBC's Sherlock and added Cumberbatch to my list of definitive Sherlock Holmes's.

March

Read Eugene Onegin, which became my favorite romantic classic and the #1 read of the year.

Saw Jane Eyre, an excellent adaptation.

April

Watched TV clips of the Royal Wedding.  Well, who didn't?  :)

May

Began the first draft of my quasi-steampunk novel.

June

Completed Calculus II and Spanish III and got my wisdom teeth removed.  Fun stuff.

Discovered Debussy.

Finished the 200-line poem I began writing in November 2010.

July

Discovered Alkan and rediscovered Ludovico Einaudi.

Read Under Western Eyes, an amazing, heartbreaking book.

Finished The Marble Faun, my not-so-light summer read.

August

Saw the Canadian Rockies for the first time.  <3

Discovered Star Trek TOS.  Fascinating.

Changed my major to computer science.

October

Discovered Yiruma.

December

Completed English 101.  And that after writing a (Star Trek-inspired) argumentative essay on the threat of androids and robots. *grins*

Finished The Idiot, my second Russian lit read.

* * *

Altogether, I wish I had read more books (these aren't all the books I read, but they're the ones that really stood out).  However, nearly all of the books I read this year I loved, so that's cool.  I also wrote a lot of poetry, so that was at least one (unexpected) accomplishment.  As far as movies go, I would probably say that Sherlock and Star Trek were my favorites.  :) 

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Writing contest!

...at The Penslayer and Scribbles and Ink Stains, Jan 1 - 31.  The theme is "First Impressions", and you can read the rest of the rules at their blogs. :)  Count me in!  I love analyzing people and comparing first impressions with my ultimate opinion.  It's interesting to see which first impressions are accurate and which aren't. 

And a little advice from Nathaniel Hawthorne:

This is the secret of all entertaining travellers. If you meet with any distinguished characters, give personal sketches of them. Begin to write always before the impression of novelty has worn off from your mind, else you will be apt to think that the peculiarities which at first attracted you are not worth recording; yet those slight peculiarities are the very things that make the most vivid impression upon the reader. Think nothing too trifling to write down, so it be in the smallest degree characteristic. You will be surprised to find on re-perusing your journal what an importance and graphic power these little particulars assume.

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Treasure Island trailer

A little disappointed that there's no Dr Livesey, but it looks like they combined his character with the Squire, so at least they did that.  Squire Trelawney, by the way, is played by Rupert Penry-Jones (also in Persuasion and 39 Steps).  Captain Smollett is played by Philip Glenister (also in Cranford and Hornblower)--perfect casting!!  Ben Gunn is played by Elijah Wood (hard to imagine, since I always pictured Ben Gunn as 70+ years old).  Long John Silver is quite a bit different than the book, but he may be just as impressive.  The costumes, if a bit POTC-influenced (eyeliner, anyone?), look fantastic, by the way.

And the sets in 0:19 - 0:27 are so Robert Louis Stevenson!  I am muchly excited about this adaptation--it's not my dream adaptation, but it looks pretty close.  What do you think?  :)

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Christmas & today & Tumblr woes

It seemed to happen so fast this year!  Last week, I actually sent out cards...a big accomplishment, for me.  Then Saturday evening was Lessons & Carols candlelight service at our church.  I sang so much I almost lost my voice.  :)  My sister and I also played some carols on violin & cello.  And yesterday we went to my uncle & aunt's house for dinner, which was fantastic as always.

My family (sorry, Santa) got me some lovely gifts, too: Jackie Evancho Heavenly Christmas CD, Three Tenors Christmas CD, Starbucks, iTunes, Sailing Ships calendar, pajamas, piano sheet music...  I've been having a blast with the sheet music--The Best of Ludovico Einaudi, 120+ pages of elegant, Einaudi epicness.  And though it stays true to the originals, it's the perfect combination of easy & challenging for me.  I played through all of "Password" this morning and had a thoroughly good time.  :)

Today I also got a Tumblr account, but I'm probably going to delete it.  I liked it at first--the layout & formatting is very nice.  But the more I use it, the less I like it.  Blogger is much more intuitive and less fast-paced.  Case in point:  I posted a picture about an hour ago, and within that time, it's received 2 likes and 3 reblogs.  And those numbers keep going up as I'm typing this post, literally.  And I only signed up this afternoon.  O_o

I find the reblog system irksome.  As far as I know, it cannot be turned off (let me know if I'm wrong!), and there isn't any filter for content or even similar interests.  So if somebody reblogs your post, your post automatically links to their blog.  This presents a problem for me, because I always try to avoid linking to any sites with offensive language, content, etc.  Tumblr makes that virtually impossible, unless I were to spend all day weeding through the reblogs.  Obviously, in "the real world," people use offensive language all the time.  But when I come home and log into my blog, I like to escape from the negative vibes (and keep my blog family-friendly).

Anyway, I think the reblog feature is cool--a great way to share artwork and pictures--but I don't like the way it works.  Ideally, it would be like YouTube where it says "3 likes" and leave it at that.  If it ever becomes customizable like that, I may start blogging at Tumblr again.  For now, though, I still have my "Tumblr-esque" blog: chaconne.

Update:  Certain Tumblr themes allow you to hide the notes/likes.  That helps, kind of.

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'What's December without Christmas Eve?'

Madonna and Child
 Merry Christmas!

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Writing what you know.

copyright: André Goerres
"But then no man ever does realize the true interest of the age in which he happens to live. All sense of proportion is lost, and the little thing hard-by obscures the great thing at a distance. It is easy in the dark to confuse the fire-fly and the star."

- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Everyone has heard the phrase Write what you know.  To which one might reply, Who cares what I know?  This is best answered by defining "Write what you know", and, while there must be many definitions, mine is as follows.

It is not, first of all, simply knowledge.  While one typically writes better if they expound upon their topic, their bank of knowledge alone doesn't make their novel an account of what they know.  When in doubt, there's always the question: do I know it, or did I learn it?  Because knowledge can hurt as well as help.  After historical inaccuracy, "info-dumping" is the number one reason why a historical novel would receive poor reviews. 

What about experience?  Doesn't that constitute "what you know"?  Again, to my mind, experience on its own is not synonymous with what you know.  A person may take a city tour of Boston and remain oblivious to the routes taken or the information they were supposed to learn.  Or, equally likely, they may remember every segment of the tour in detail without fully understanding what they saw.    

In the same vein, mere emotion does not equal "what you know".  While we associate emotion with experience and personal feeling, emotion can as easily be a fundamentally impersonal factor, tacked-on for effect or, worse yet, by seeming necessity.  Sometimes it is used to effect another maxim--"Show, don't tell".  As such, emotion becomes more of a tool than a genuine thought or the driving idea behind the story. 

I believe the only way to truly "write what you know" is to write with your own perspective.  Anybody can write about an experience, emotion, or piece of knowledge, but only you can depict it in the way that you see it.  Your life and thought processes are unique and uniquely yours, which will make your perspective unique, and thereby your story--the story of what you know--unique.

copyright: Fabrice Clerc

If this is so, it still brings us back to the question "Who gives a jot what I know?"  And I find this a relevant and difficult question, especially for a young, unpublished author.  I can name half-a-dozen people in my life who would (and should) make much better novelists than I.  Sometimes my writing career seems useless for this fact alone, and I ask myself, "why don't I give up?"

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a man of contrasts.  In the quote above, he laments the fact that Sir Walter Scott wrote masterful historical fiction and yet did not write about his contemporaries, the soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars.  But after penning "The Final Problem", Doyle demoted his own contemporary masterpiece:

The best literary work is that which leaves the reader better for having read it.  Now, nobody can possibly be the better--in the high sense which I mean it--for reading Sherlock Holmes...It was not to my mind high work, and no detective work ever can be...

From the self-assured, arrogant graduate in A Study in Scarlet, to the retired crimefighter on the brink of WWI in "His Last Bow", Sherlock Holmes was always a contemporary character.  The Victorian-Edwardian setting--modern in its day--teaches 21st-century readers nearly as much as Sherlock Holmes himself does.  And yet Doyle considered it an inferior work to his medieval novels The White Company and Sir Nigel, which have made no long-term cultural impact. 

Had Doyle given up after A Study in Scarlet, or even after "The Final Problem", the world would have lost at least half of the Sherlock Holmes series.  There might never have been a Hound of the Baskervilles, and Doyle's work could have been largely forgotten, only remembered as obscure classic literature.  Instead, Conan Doyle is today recognised as one of the fathers of detective fiction, and his books are read all over the world.  Doyle wrote what he knew and Sherlock Holmes--like all good world literature--became a series for the ages.

Don't hesitate, then, to write what you know because you think nobody will care. Oftentimes we are not the best critics of our own work; we are prone to be too forgiving or, like Doyle, too disparaging.  The main thing is to be true to what you do know--your perspective--and let the truth speak for itself.

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First Hobbit. Now SHERLOCK!

NEW TRAILER:




+ a few more at Sherlockology's YouTube Channel.

It looks possibly even better than Season 1! 

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Hobbit Trailer ON NOW!!!

CLICK HERE:  http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/




LOVE Bilbo.  LOVE Thorin.  LOVE the singing.  LOVE the music.  Even Gollum is--GOLLUM!  SO EXCITED!!!!!

UPDATE:  1:58, a wizard fight?!   2:01, Mines of Moria "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" parallel?!!!

2ND BREAKFAST UPDATE:  Is it bad that I've already watched this about four times?   And I want to watch it again?

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Quick & easy Christmas cards

{Re-posted from my old (extinct) Christmas blog.} 

This is a quick and very simple tutorial for making homemade Christmas cards.  My mom and I came up with this idea a few years ago, and it's a great opportunity to "upcycle" used or leftover wrapping paper!

Supplies:

- Sheet of cardstock, whatever color you want the inside & back of the card to be.
- Christmas wrapping paper
- Glue stick
- Ruler
- X-Acto knife or a reasonably sharp pocket knife
- Scissors or a paper-cutter
- Piece of ribbon about 30-36 inches long, a color that matches your wrapping paper.

1. Fold the sheet of cardstock in half, after trimming it down to the right size (if necessary).

2. From the wrapping paper, cut out a piece that is the same size as the front of the card.


3. Glue this piece to the front of the card.


4. Open out the card and lay it down flat with the inside facing down. Using the ruler, mark the center, right on the fold (or close to it).



Then, with your handy pocket knife, make a cut (on the mark) that is a little longer than the width of the ribbon.


5. Lay the ribbon on the card, lengthwise.


Flip the card over, and even out the ribbon so that both ends are about the same length. Be sure that the ribbon is lying flat on the other side.


6. Twist the ribbon ends once, to the right, then lay them flat.  Insert the right end through the cut that you made in step 4.


7. Turn the card over and tie a bow with the ribbon.






Tutorial and images copyright © Marian.

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Exercises

Given: 
f '' (x) = Tree decorated 

Find f (x).

      
       It is intuitively obvious that f (x) = (Christmas break)!

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More thoughts on 'The Idiot'

I am getting very close to finishing this book, and so far, it has been both fascinating and (to my knowledge) truly original.  I have a feeling it's going to end badly--but then again, the plot has not been predictable.  It keeps shifting from scene to scene, focusing on specific characters and their problems, with no continuous plot except the day-to-day life of Prince Myshkin, a very noble character.

There is the common theme of searching: each character is looking for something, and no one has found it yet.  Rogozhin, the anti-hero, is trying to win the love of Nastasya, a mistreated and embittered woman.  She, in turn, is trying to escape from her past and find real happiness.  The middle-aged Yepanchin couple tries (unsuccessfully) to be conventional, and the youngest Yepanchin daughter is looking for independence.  Even Lebedev, a wannabe lawyer, makes it his business to hunt around for gossip. 


And Myshkin?  He searches for stability, peace, and, above all, goodness.  His unfailing, philanthropic love is the source of a lot of his misery, but he doesn't let that stop him.  He stands by his guiding principles and does what he can for others.

The irony of The Idiot is that, of all the characters in the book, Myshkin is the sanest, even though everyone calls him an "idiot."  They live in their own fantasy-worlds; perhaps he only seems different because he survives in his own reality.  He also tries to see the good side of people, but he's not naive.  He knows when a person hates him, and he grieves for them.  There's a powerful scene in which Myshkin goes to visit his would-be murderer, with an unabashed, courageous attitude of humility.  While he does not quite befriend his enemy (or rather, vice-versa), the result is "a soft answer turneth away wrath."  Whether he will again be in danger of losing his life is unknown, but for the time, he comes away a victor through his simple act of goodness.

All in all, I've been way more impressed by this book than by my attempted reading of Crime and Punishment.  Myshkin is 180 degrees different than Raskolnikov (main character in Crime and Punishment), but there is certainly a similar feeling behind both books: the sense of a disjointed, perverse society and how an alienated person reacts to it.  Raskolnikov may be the rule, but that doesn't mean one shouldn't try to be the exception, the Prince Myshkin, if you will.

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MONDAY.

Yes, I am excited about Monday.  It's the beginning of the end of fall quarter.  To the best of my knowledge, all my finals are on Wednesday, and it's actually been a good quarter. The first autumn in about four years that I haven't felt weighed down with homework, and I'm 100% grateful for that.

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Better blog posts coming soon...

...because school ends next Friday (9th)!  Hurrah!  I'm especially excited because when I go back in January, I will have only one so-so class (tech writing), and three fun classes (history).   <3

Anyway, I have so many blog posts planned for Christmas break, and presumably they will be of better quality due to all the persuasive & analytical essays I've written this fall...  I think we have one or two short essays left to write, and one longish "argumentative" one.  We got to choose our own topic, so I'm writing about robots.  *grins*  I'm trying to make it sound academic, I promise.  Though you might question my level of normality when I think robots are a "major problem" to be solved. 

Got to run, but I'll be posting again soon!

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Thankfulness

In paradoxical, typical-me fashion, I woke up and spent half of the morning grumbling over trifles.  Then, of course, it finally clicked in my head that it was Thanksgiving.  Way to start the day!  Actually, as painful as it is to see how ridiculous I am, I'm glad I caught myself before it went any further.  Now I can truthfully say

  H a p p y   T h a n k s g i v i n g !   :)

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Microlattice

...the "lowest-density material" ever.  Pretty amazing!  This is how it's made:

The lattice is constructed through several steps, Carter said. First, beams of ultraviolet light shine through a holes in a mask into a reservoir containing a resin that forms polymer fibers when the light hits it. The fibers follow the path the light takes, and using multiple beams creates multiple interconnected fibers.
Next, the rest of the resin is washed away, the polymer fibers are coated with a very thin layer of nickel, and the polymer fibers are then dissolved, leaving only the metal lattice.

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"The work is its own reward."

I love that quote.  It is really how I see writing.  It's the one place (or one of the few) where I don't feel awkward or inept. 

* * *

Speaking of Holmes, there's a new SH book called The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz.  I requested it from the library...hope it's good!  I've read a good number of Holmes pastiches; in fact, I recently tried Death Cloud which is a take on Holmes's childhood.  Content-wise it seemed fine, but I got bored and didn't finish it. 

Right now, I'm reading through "Worth and Choice", by KCS on FanFiction.Net.  It begins with Holmes living on Montague Street, then depicts his meeting with Watson and moving to Baker Street.  Not only that, it's written in journal form, very witty and extremely hilarious. Perhaps a trifle too snarky for Sherlock Holmes, but it's one of the best pastiches I've ever read.  :)

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Et cetera

For the history test, I ended up writing about Ivan the Terrible and Catherine II the Great.  I guess there's just been released a new biography about Catherine the Great.  Funny thing is, I love historical fiction, documentaries, and certain textbooks, but I have a hard time getting into these modern, quasi-novel biographies.  Anyhow, I might try reading it.  She became a good political leader, but her personal life was a bit tumultuous.  She and her husband, Tsar Peter III, had an unhappy marriage, and she also had many lovers, most (or all) of them distinguished officers/counts.  Additionally, she ascended the throne via a palace coup which overthrew Peter III.  Pretty disturbing.

I'm still reading Dostoyevsky's The Idiot, by the way.  There are lots of long conversations.  In fact, I just finished reading a scene that had two long, major subplots/conversations within it.  It's an interesting technique--in this way, the plot moves forward in segments, with most of the progress happening in the long, long dialogue.  I wonder if that style would be widely accepted by literary agents today?  I rather like it, though you'd have to be an expert at dialogue to make it work.

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Historia

Tomorrow is our second Russian history test, and part of that involves writing short biogs on two of the following: Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great. My problem? I can't decide what to leave out and how to consolidate the rest in 10 sentences.  However, I think it's safe to focus on the political aspects as opposed to the personal lives, even if the latter are more memorable. :P  Let me see if I can get their years right:

Ivan the Terrible: 1530 - 1584
Peter the Great: 1672 - 1725
Catherine the Great: 1729 - 1796

*checks*  Yes, indeedy.  Earlier today I was thinking 1585 instead of 1584, and 1627 instead of 1672...  Er, never mind...

Next quarter I'll be taking three history classes, if I can get them.  *rubs hands*

Speaking of writing, my steampunk novel is up to 50 pages now.  *cheers* And I actually like it, which is the important part.  I'm never quite sure how each chapter is going to turn out, and, in this case, it's turned out to be a good thing.  I write better if I don't plan everything.

One thing that I've noticed, though, is that it's not as futuristic as I'd expected.  It is set in 2100, but really, at least 99% of everything in it, technology-wise, is already in existence.  The main difference is in how that technology is used, and what sort of society uses it.  I'm trying to steer clear of the "dystopian novel," though, because that's not what the book is about, even if it could head in that direction.


copyright: ramyo

I'm also finding it a challenge to keep up the suspense and stop my characters from blurting out their secrets too soon.  One of them couldn't help herself, and maybe it wasn't too soon...still, at this rate, I must be careful or the book will end before I want it to!

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November already?

Pretty soon it will be Thanksgiving...and then Christmas, before you know it!



I spent yesterday doing mostly nothing...well, we did watch some Star Trek original.  It's the silliest series I've ever seen (with Robin Hood second and Lark Rise third), but I love the concept and some of the episodes are actually quite good.  The characters are pretty good, too (except when they suffer from soap-opera "character development").  One of my favorite parts is whenever they start talking really techy and I don't know what they're talking about but it sounds cool.

Maybe I'm weird, but I always love hearing professionals converse with lots of terminology.  Eye doctors, mathematicians, computer experts, etc...  It just makes me happy to hear people who are smart, know what they're talking about inside-out, and use the English language intelligently. 

Anyway, having got Star Trek on the brain, I've decided to try replicating the uniforms for 11 1/2" dolls (Barbie and Ken doll size).  They won't be exactly the same by any means...  The biggest problem will be trying to make Star Trek badges/pins on that scale. 

In other fascinating news, I also have a persuasive essay to write this week.  I'm resolved to write at least one page of it today, if not the whole thing.  Once I get into it, I can be pretty verbose...it's just getting myself to start writing that's the difficult part.

I'm a terribly slow writer.  I guess I ought to do NaNoWriMo one of these years...probably would be good for me.  I actually have an idea for a novel, as well as an idea for a novel rewrite.  However, I can't see myself writing 1600 words every day.  Besides, even when I do make myself write every day (and I've tried!), it doesn't turn out too good...  Still sounds like a fun event, though--good luck to everyone joining it this year!  :)

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Lovely weekend

• Essay outline didn't get a "fail".
• Worked on my steampunk novel, with a successful attempt at writing a flashback.
• Saw somebody in a sasquatch costume, walking through town. 
• Saw somebody else in a gingerbread man costume.
• Finished part I of The Idiot and fell in love with Prince Myshkin.
• Listening to more Yiruma.
• Church tomorrow. 
• No school on Monday.
• Weekend's not over yet.  :)

How is your weekend so far?

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Jane Eyre (2011) movie review

Cast, crew, rating, etc:  Jane Eyre (2011) on IMDB, Plugged In review
Overall rating:  4.5 out of 5 stars. 

My mom, sister, and I went to see this movie when it first came out, and I just re-watched it on DVD.  I was really looking forward to this version, having read the book years ago and watched several pretty good versions (Orson Welles, Timothy Dalton, Toby Stephens).  It's an excellent movie all-round, so I feel weird saying I was very disappointed.  Don't let that discourage you, anyway.  ;)  The trailer already describes the plot, so I'll skip right to the review.

Firstly, the costumes, setting, and cinematography were gorgeous, not disappointing at all!  Yorkshire really looks like Yorkshire, the dresses are really 1840s-50s, and there's even an attempt at Yorkshire accents (not consistent, but a good effort).  Visually, there's never been a better Jane Eyre...the bleakness, candlelit rooms, and bright afternoons are wonderfully Gothic/realistic.  And I know many people don't care for the Victorian hairstyles, but I thought Mia had the prettiest hairstyles in this film. 

The soundtrack was beautiful, too--lots of violin, piano, and strings.  I think it'd be a nice one to listen to even on its own.  :)

Loved the script, overall.  I'm super impressed with how much the scriptwriters fit into two hours, and it doesn't feel incomplete or too fast-paced.  The dialogue is also pretty faithful to the spirit of the book.  This is a Focus Features film; they also made the 2005 Pride & Prejudice, but fortunately the scriptwriting is way more accurate in Jane Eyre.  It's true that Jane's childhood is shown in flashbacks, but I actually liked it better this way--it puts Jane's attitude/character in context and creates some interesting parallels between the two points of her life. 

The PG-13 rating is a huge overstatement.  There's a scene with a wounded character, but it's not nearly as intense as, say, the surgery in Cranford.  Then there's a scene with a closeup of an old painting (i.e. the "nude image" mentioned in the rating), but that's it.  There was one swear word.  Really, the rating is pretty misleading; this is one of the cleanest costume films/TV series around, especially for the intended audience (teens and up).

Moving on to the cast.  Mia is by far the best Jane Eyre I've seen.  I'd seen her before in Alice in Wonderland, but as Jane she has much more acting range.  It isn't easy to portray someone who was psychologically altered by a harsh childhood, yet Mia convincingly portrays that and the Victorian era in her character, with stoicism and stifled emotions.  Not only that, but she definitely comes across as the young and naive nineteen-year-old who Jane is supposed to be.  Perfect casting.

It's too bad, then, that the next important character was very badly cast.  Rochester (played by Fassbender) isn't much like the Byronic hero of the book; instead, he comes across as just plain boring.  There's no mysterious charm and not an ounce of charisma in this portrayal.  He's unconvincing in most of the scenes, whether he's trying to be intimidating, witty, romantic, funny, etc.  His conversations with Jane are mostly awkward and painful to watch; the main exceptions being the proposal and ending scenes.  Other reviewers said he was too good-looking...I didn't think him good-looking at all, though Rochester isn't supposed to be handsome anyway.  Again, while Fassbender played the part well enough, they really should have cast somebody with more stage presence and who fit the role better.

Last character worth mentioning is St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell).  Though he is only in a handful of scenes, St. John is solidly portrayed in all his narrow-minded, austere self-righteousness.  And I never expected to say this, but I ended up liking him better than Rochester.  There's much more chemistry between St. John and Jane, and though we despise St. John's obnoxious behavior, we see that they have things in common. They're neither of them very worldly-wise and they're both trying to do the right thing.  The trouble with St. John is that he's approaching it the wrong way.

All in all, Jane Eyre is disappointing as a romantic film but excellent as a story and adaptation.  Recommended.

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I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical

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Life and times

Studying.  Opposing viewpoints, musical intervals, and Russia & the FSU republics during the 16th century.

Writing.  Not.

Listening.  Just started listening to Yiruma.  His music is kind of like Einaudi's, except more cheerful.

Reading.  Tried The Trial, aka the agonizing life of Joseph K., ladies' man, who gets arrested, angsty, and lost in government buildings.  Also tried The Winter Queen, The Poe Shadow, and King Solomon's Mines, all of which I may or may not finish.  Just started The Idiot, by Dostoyevsky. 

Piano pounding.  Debussy's Reverie.

Watching.  Will Sonnett and Star Trek Original Season 2.

Thinking.  About my irrational lack of energy and its unfortunate effects upon my extracurricular projects.

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Middlemarch review/thoughts

Recently we watched George Elliot's Middlemarch (1994).  Now, I've never read the book and have only seen it once before, years ago; so I was almost watching it for the first time. 

The main thing that stood out to me was the gorgeous cinematography.  Middlemarch has a very vivid, Victorian, magic-realism style to its filming.  It uses color-grading very carefully, and does not limit itself to one style/theme.  Maybe there was influence from the Sherlock Holmes TV series--Middlemarch has the same look, only richer and on a bigger scale.

On a similar note, I loved the scenes in Rome, because I could just imagine it was an adaptation of The Marble Faun (Hawthorne).  There are even characters that look like Hawthorne's--Dorothea, Miriam; Ladislaw, Donatello; etc.

The main characters themselves are rather aggravating.  I liked Ladislaw (the painter) the best, which isn't saying much.  On the other hand, the Dickensian "multiple-plot & mystery" was very interesting.  The main thing I didn't like about the plot was due to the script--there wasn't enough time spent on the main romance (i.e. the couple who get the final kiss), and way too much time spent on the others. 

The story seems to be mainly about bad choices.  Unhappy marriages are the main feature.

The mystery was kind of skimmed-over.  It felt more like it was "there", without being very important in itself.

Some of the supporting characters are quite good...Fred, Mary, and the uncle (Dorothea's). 

Despite the misery of various characters, the characterization feels lacking in something.  Probably because one doesn't come to care much about the characters, and when bad things happen, it's not as emotionally affecting as in, say, a Dickens or Gaskell story.  Middlemarch seems to suppose to be character-driven, but the characters aren't driving and the plot's barely strong enough to take over.  There is no what you might call a strong character...good, evil, or otherwise.  I personally find this to be exceedingly unrealistic.

Overall, though, I still enjoyed Middlemarch; it's a good one to re-watch, once in a while.  I'd recommend it for the cinematography, if nothing else.

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Blogging from school, ep. 3

I usually begin these posts with a description of the morning's weather.  ;)  Today, I'll make it brief and (not so) witty:  fog.

The trouble with deductions--off on a totally different topic, here--is that you cannot know whether they are correct or not without walking up to your subject and asking them some very extraordinary and irritating questions.  Sherlock Holmes's rudeness, which so jarred on Watson's nerves in Ch. 1 of The Sign of Four, seems to me to be a kind of naive callousness.  It came from a raw, abrupt, irrepressible search for the answer to a problem, which, in Holmes's brain, presents itself as a puzzle first and a personal matter second.  There is an almost Spock-like (to tie Star Trek into it!)...an almost Spock-like lack of emotion in Holmes's deductions.  He obtains brilliance but, unbeknownst to himself, pays for it dearly.  Their viewpoints were first broadened and then limited, incredibly limited, by logic.

But I make a point of saying Holmes is almost like Spock.  There is at least one important difference; and that is, Holmes has an imagination.  Spock has very little.  Holmes's vivid imagination, which Lestrade & co. so often scorned, actually assists him in his logic.  It's what makes him take up the bizarre and seemingly trivial cases, and we get epic quotes like:

You will remember, Watson, how the dreadful business of the Abernetty family was first brought to my notice by the depth which the parsley had sunk into the butter upon a hot day.

And, apart from that, his imagination helps keep him human. 

On a similar note, there are indeed people who emphasize the "machine" side of Holmes, people who even consider him to have an android-like way of thinking.  But if that were so, I don't think he would have dueled Moriarty.  I think if Holmes were really all that cold-blooded, he would have let Moriarty continue to commit crimes in order that he (Holmes) would have something to solve.

Well, I'm going to go read Kafka and drink coffee now.  ;)  Also have an essay to write this afternoon. 

Speaking of school, we had our first history test yesterday.  I think I have Vladimir I's biography totally memorized now...

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Guest post: Wuthering Heights character analysis

Wuthering Heights character analysis |  Nelly Dean

By Emiko

"The story of Cathy Earnshaw and the wild Heathcliff as they fall in love on the Yorkshire moors spans three generations and is seen through the eyes of the narrators Lockwood and Nelly Dean. Emily Bronte tells of the passion between Cathy and Heathcliff with such vivid intensity that her tale of tragic love has gripped readers for over 100 years." - Amazon

I've decided to do a character-analysis on Nelly (Ellen) Dean, the housekeeper in Wuthering Heights. Not just because she's my favorite character, but because she's just about the only person in the book with a moral character and personality, which provides a great contrast against the other characters. Now I could go on and on about her, but for the sake of space and your patience, I'll try to keep this brief. :)

I went on Google to see which characters in the book other people liked. Heathcliff topped the list. Hareton and the younger Catherine also seemed to be popular. But no one, as far as I read, mentioned Nelly. True, she's not considered a major character. But she narrates the majority of the story, she's in most of the scenes, and she frequently has a part in the dialogue. Not merely housekeeper talk, but when confided in by others, particularly both the Catherines. She look at things from a principled point of view and tries to have a good influence on the less moral characters. Now I'm not saying I agree with everything she says and does. She can be a little superstitious at times, and some things that she did aren't necessarily the things I would've done if I was in her shoes. But compared to most of the other characters in Wuthering Heights, Nelly's by far the most upright and conscientious person in the book. 

Her relationships with the other characters differed from person to person. For example, with Heathcliff and the older Catherine (who were about the same age as herself) it resembles that of two foolish, selfish children and a sensible older sister. Whereas with Hareton, the younger Linton, and also the younger Catherine (yeah, it can be confusing), who are about half her age anyway, she is more like a mother to them when she is around them.

Nelly can be critical and rebuking:

    (Catherine addressing Nelly):  “'...did it never strike you that if Heathcliff and I married, we should be beggars? Whereas, if I marry Linton, I can aid Heathcliff to rise, and place him out of my brother's power.'”

(Later in the dialogue):  'Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind—not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don't talk any more of our separation again; it is impracticable, and--'

    She paused, and her face in the folds of my gown, but I jerked it forcibly away. I was out of patience with her folly!
   'If I can make any sense of your nonsense, Miss,' I said, 'it only goes to convince me that you are ignorant of the duties you undertake in marrying, or else that you are a wicked, unprincipled girl. But trouble me no more with your secrets; I'll not promise to keep them.'

 ...but she always maintained a sense of concern and care for people, no matter how much she disliked or detested them. If she reproves or reprimands, it is for the recipient's own good. 

        (Heathcliff speaking):  'I'm trying to settle how I shall pay Hindley back. I don't care how long I wait, if I can only do it at last. I hope he will not die before I do!'
   'For shame, Heathcliff!' said I. 'It is for God to punish wicked people; we should learn to forgive.'

Overall, I see Nelly as a kind, principled, moral character who is underrated and overlooked too much. I think she played almost as big a part as Heathcliff even, in her own way. But anyway, hope you enjoyed my “brief” character-analysis. :)

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Awarded

...the One Lovely Blog Award, from Celtic Traveler!  Thank you!  :)

The rules are:
List 7 things about yourself and
award 15 other lovely bloggers.

7 things about  me:

1. I once toured the replica of Captain Cook's HMS Endeavour, which later contributed to the production of Master and Commander (2003). :)
2. I've been obsessed with operatic tenor singing, ever since watching a PBS re-run of the Three Tenors. 
3. I like the original Star Trek (the show in general, not all the episodes).  
4. I'm planning on majoring in computer science. 
5. I have a blue "Sherlock" scarf and a black pea-coat/jacket, which I've indeed worn together.  Technically it's a costume, but nobody else knows.  *grins*
6. I can drink coffee with sugar & cream, coffee with only cream, or just black coffee.  (i.e. I love coffee.)
7. I like trees as much as flowers.  Especially Douglas fir, oak, ginkgo, and cypress.

Now, there are tons and tons of blogs that I follow and like to read, so please feel free to take this award/tag if I follow your blog and you'd like to have it.  :) 

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New blog

So I'll admit: I've been looking at everyone's Tumblr pages and admiring them wistfully.  Internet trends usually bother me...but this one I rather like.  In fact, I like it a lot.  ;)

Except I decided not to get Tumblr.  After all, Blogger lets you have up to 100 free blogs (starting to sound like a TV commercial...grr), and I wanted to be able to check all of my blogs in one fell swoop.  Hence, new blog:

Things I will be posting there that generally won't be posted here:

• Quotes I like
• Pictures I like...lots and lots of them
• Pencil sketches, digital art, by me
• YouTube videos
• Other random, short, "in a nutshell" posts

Of course, everything else (including posts with many photos) will stay on this blog.  :)  This blog is not retiring, by any means!

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The power of poetry

credit: timmalone45 | license

Ten years ago, I'd have never expected to be blogging this.  I didn't like poetry.  In fact, I cordially disliked it and never went out of my way to read it.  Today, however, I'm not just an eager poetry reader, but an avid poetry writer.  Who'd have thought.

The only poem from my childhood that I somewhat liked is the famous "The Road Not Taken."  The imagery and the flowing, 'musical' stanzas intrigued me.  I couldn't find a message in it, but even my childish self thought it was a sad poem and that there was something behind it.


Still, it was years later that I began to love poetry; and even then, it took a 1000-page book to make me understand the power of poetry.  The Lord of the Rings is well-known for its songs, poems, and mottos in verse.  Poems about life, death, humor, and irony--my blog's name comes from one of them. The poetry has purpose in the story: the characters turn to poetry when soliloquies and speeches fail.  By the end of the book, it made me realize something I'd thought impossible: that, sometimes, prose is inadequate.

Or is it even replaceable?  This spring I read Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, which I've raved about more than once and am currently re-reading.  Onegin is written in chapters of poetic stanzas, whose particular scheme is called the 'Onegin stanza.'  Nevertheless, this doesn't detract from the story--quite the opposite.  Pushkin's ability to propel the story through verse is remarkable: flexible pacing and emotional range bring as much story into this novella as you might find in a much longer book.

Writing it in poetry made that possible.

As I mentioned above, I write poetry, too.  At first, it was just for school, but within the last year or two, I've been writing poems because I actually want to--or perhaps I should say need to.

I wrote my first 'real' poem a year or two (or three) ago.  For this post, it doesn't signify what the topic was; but suffice it to say that it had been banging on the walls of my mind for months. It disturbed and fascinated me.  So, I sat down and wrote a poem, "The Masquerade"...non-rhythmical and somewhat short.  The meaning is buried behind the words, the topic itself makes no visible appearance; but in that tangle of broken lines, I had driven the figurative dragon away. I suddenly felt I could move on.

I've written about 30-something pages of poetry now, in the same way.  The first words often spring into my mind like fireworks; the other words and the rhyming scheme, whatever it may be, often just come naturally.  This not to say I'm a good poet, not at all.  Rather, the force of combined perspective, emotion, and poetry's flexible form all act as a catalyst to the writing process. It's not even a process--it's a thunderstorm of words, which you drive into the paper until you're worn-out.  You don't have to worry about paragraphs, fragments, and punctuation.  There aren't any rules to choke inspiration, and the pacing is whatever you want it to be.  There's no need for characters, because you're all of them, if you want to be.

You don't even have to hide your emotion; you can bring it to the forefront and cloak it in cryptic words.  Happiness is then tempered by the satisfaction of having adequately expressed it, and sadness is diluted with the presence of words.  The problem doesn't go away, but each poem is like a piece you've chipped off of it--a real set of words that can be put onto a page, folded up, and put away.

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Poems I love

Today is National Poetry Day--found this out at Libby's blog, Catching the Stars.  :)

I've only started reading poetry (as in, seriously reading it) this year.  But already I have many favorites.  Here are some of them, in no exact order:

1. The Sea-Bell - Tolkien.  Surreal and melancholy.  Tolkien actually recorded this one, which is worth checking out--he reads in the old, beautiful style that we don't hear these days.
2. Eugene Onegin - Pushkin.  
3. Jabberwocky - Carroll.
4. Star-gazers - Wordsworth.  Short, but full of interesting sentiments.  'Is nothing of that radiant pomp so good as we have here? / Or gives a thing but small delight that never can be dear?'
5. Resolution and Independence - Wordsworth.
6. Memories - Longfellow.
7. The Raven - Poe.  Basil Rathbone's recording is the best.
8. EDIT:  She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways - Wordsworth.  Very bittersweet.
   
9. Still Round the Corner - Tolkien.  
10. The Road Not Taken - Frost.  My favorite poem from before I actually appreciated poetry. 

What are your faves?  Any recommendations?  (I like more contemporary styles, too.)

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Rain...rain on the Barrow Downs

It's late afternoon, and the weather outside is rather curious.  The ground, the trees, everything on the surface of the world is black and green, almost as dark as sunset.  But behind the fir-tree tops, the sky is chalky white--an utterly bright, pale grey.  Until you get right up close to the window, and then you can see darker, feathery clouds, right above.     

It changed just a moment ago--now everything has a greyer, more mellow look to it.  The darkness and light are more evenly distributed.  The rain's picking up, too. 

The lights just flickered...

I wish I had a picture to share, but my camera is practically oblivious to atmosphere and rain.  It can only see black trees and grey sky...so narrow-minded!

In lieu of a photo, check out this stormy painting, by Bierstadt:





And this ocean scene by Friedrich:





Which somewhat resembles the Oregon Coast:


credit: USFWS Headquarters


Utterly gorgeous. 

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That eerie moment

When you find out that the actor who inspired one of your characters just happens to live (or have recently lived) in a place that shares said character's name. 

Do these kind of "writing coincidences" happen to you?  Or am I just weird....  :P

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Peyto Lake {Canadian Rockies}

My favoritest lake--indeed, one of my favoritest places on the trip--was this lake:












Just like a fairytale world.  {These photos are unedited, by the way--the water is even brighter blue-green in real life.}

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Blogging from school, ep. 2

Imagine a mountain facing the sun, with its shadowy back towards you and layers of fog trailing down like a cloak.  Rich, golden-purple fog sunken low in the valley, with the hazy-grey tops of fir trees brushing the horizon.  The car floats down a hill, seemingly headed for the mountain, and the golden fog, and the furiously pale sky.

But it never gets there...it just crawls into the school parking lot.  The sun throws the fog out and we have good weather.  And here I am.

They impounded the window-desks in the library and replaced them with green chairs and ottomans.  Ottomans, by the way, are threatening to take over the campus; good old-fashioned chairs are headed for extinction.  But the absence of the window-desk--the wonderful little desk with the awning over the top--this is a more serious thing.  The narrator has been deprived of her study-space with a view...the sky, the red trees, the lawn, and the people migrating into the Science Building.

They would have to change perfection, wouldn't they?

Speaking of study, my homework today consists of writing our first official essay.  We have written others--ones where you have to race against the clock-on-the-wall-behind-you and writhe in pathetic agony over a blank page with blue lines.  I suppose it is a useful exercise, but better for developing quick thinking than good writing.

To quote one of Abby's characters, I either 'over-think or I don't think at all.'

I'm trying to reach a middle ground, somehow.  In my steampunk book, for example, I have a rough outline and a smattering of ideas, but I don't 'engrave them in stone.'  It's a drawing in the sand, rather--a wave or two of new ideas could brush another out.  I think this style works better for me.  I've tried detailed outlines and spontaneous books, but writing with a rough guide seems more flexible and focused.        

I'd love to work on the steampunk book today...I just have to finish that essay first.  :P

On a similar note, I've been posting on Tulgeywood more regularly, so check it out and please follow if you like.  :)  And I'm currently reading The Winter Queen, by Boris Akunin.  It's kind of like Sherlock Holmes set in 19th-century Moscow.  The English translation is exceptionally well-written, and so far, the story's pretty good.  I'm so used to quirky detectives, though, that Erast Fandorin is a bit boring...none of the 'little grey cells' speeches for him, lol.

Off to Russian history lecture now....

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And they all lived...

Earth Prelude / Einaudi

Theme song for the ending of my steampunk book.  If you were watching this in a theater, the screen would go blank and the credits would show up at about 3:27.  ;)
 
P.S.  If anybody knows where I may legally purchase and download this song, do let me know...I've already checked iTunes and Amazon, and they don't have it.  

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Neutrinos, faster than light?

Check it out:  Tiny Neutrinos May Have Broken Cosmic Speed Limit

Neutrinos are among the weirdest denizens of the weird quantum subatomic world. Once thought to be massless and to travel at the speed of light, they can sail through walls and planets like wind through a screen door. Moreover, they come in three varieties and can morph from one form to another as they travel along, an effect that the Opera experiment was designed to detect by comparing 10-microsecond pulses of protons on one end with pulses of neutrinos at the other.

Emphasis added.  Utterly mind-boggling, even if they don't turn out to be faster than light.

Credit to my history professor for mentioning this in class!

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Blogging from school

It rained today...a delicious, autumn-y, evergreen kind of rain.  The sun hit the sky in a shock of yellow, but the sky itself was purplish pink.  I'd post a photo, but it's at home, on my camera.

English class is rather entertaining.  Surprisingly, the professor hasn't lectured us on grammar, or threatened us with humiliation, or anything unpleasant like that.  Not only that, but the longest paper we have to write is only 5 pages (yes!).  So far we've mostly done a bit of reading, group discussion, and joking around...nothing sinister yet.  Today we talked about the narrative essay and thesis, along with references to dead fish and Theseus in the Labyrinth...

Music class today consisted only of a short, ungraded assessment test.  The only thing I forgot was the definition of a tonic.  I had to guess...luckily it was the correct answer!

Russian history looks to be a great class with an excellent professor, so I'm sure I'll enjoy it.  The professor uses a pointer-stick and considers English to be a "beautiful" and "rich" language, which made me incredibly happy (so tired of people bashing English).

Now I'm going to finish re-reading "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."  I just love Dupin.  He talks a lot like Holmes (or vice-versa, I should say).  Not quite as quirky, and much more gloomy, though.

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Awe-struck

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Yet shall not melt

A dreamer may dwell so long among fantasies that the things without him will seem as unreal as those within.

Sometimes, too, the Past comes back, and finds me here, and in her train come faces which were gladsome when I knew them, yet seem not gladsome now.

And when, at noontide, I tread the crowded streets, the influence of this day will still be felt; so that I shall walk among men kindly and as a brother, with affection and sympathy, but yet shall not melt into the indistinguishable mass of humankind.  I shall think my own thoughts and feel my own emotions and possess my individuality unviolated.

In our brief summer I do not think, but only exist in the vague enjoyment of a dream.

all quotes from "Foot-prints on the Sea-shore", Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Writing contest at The Inkpen Authoress!

Click here to learn more:  The Merry Auld England Writing Challenge


I don't know yet if I'll be entering it, but it looks fun!  The deadline has been moved to the 23rd.

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School and scribbling

School starts next week.  Daily routine, more or less, will be thus:

Mon - Fri. 
Morning.  Wake up, pretend to be a morning person.  Attend English, music theory, and Russian history lectures.  
Noon and onwards.  Homework.  Blogging, if my brain permits and if there's anything interesting to say.
Weekends.  Real life, homework. 
Rinse and repeat.

I'm muchly looking forward to Russian history.  Music theory should be interesting, too.  English...well, it should be ok, though I don't care for essay-writing.  The splendid thing is, history is my last class; so by the time I'm fully awake, I'll be in (presumably) my favorite class.  ;)

Not alone in Spring's armorial bearing,
  And in Summer's green-emblazoned field,
But in arms of brave old Autumn's wearing,
  In the centre of his brazen shield;
{Longfellow}

Hopefully, I'll find time to work on my steampunk novel, too.  Writing it has been as slow as molasses circumnavigating the globe, but I like how it's turning out, so far.  I'm kind of regretting not writing it in first person, though.  Instinctively, I write books in third person; but first is, in some ways, easier.

Which do you think is easier to write, and which do you tend to use?

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Canadian Rockies: Sheep, Bears, Gondola

Our next major animal sightings were a herd of bighorn sheep, and two baby bears:  Sheep, Bears, and Banff

I thought we might see the mama bear, too, but we didn't...  From what I've heard, they can be pretty scary, so probably it was a good thing.  :)  As for the bighorn sheep, that was super exciting because we'd never seen them before, and there were so many (more than in the pictures)!

There's also a picture I took in Banff...nice town with lovely mountain views, though very touristy.

We took the nearby gondola ride, which was amazing:  Gondola Ride

The views were well worth it--360 degrees of epic mountains, valleys, and lakes; and on several levels, because once you get to the top, there's a boardwalk you can take up to a "cosmic ray" tower (looks like a Gondorian beacon to me).  The large, castle-like building in the valley is the Banff Springs Hotel.

Next installment: glacier rides, elk, and creepy canyons...

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Poetry without words

I never listened to Debussy, until earlier this year.  But I found his was just the music to listen to, when homework got unpleasant (i.e. often).  In fact, if I had a theme song, I would say it's a tie between this Arabesque and Brahm's Rain Sonata (mvt 1).  My other Debussy favorites are Valse Romantique, the violin sonata (mvt 1), and Reverie.

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SHERLOCK 2...Hounds of the Baskerville!

First Footage from Sherlock Season 2

"Oh, they're probably paw prints.  Could be anything there, or nothing."  <3

I have a feeling I'll be re-watching this a billion times.  Until the next trailer...  

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Canadian Rockies: Ghost Town, Trees, Lake Louise

IT. RHYMES.

Here's our next slideshow:  3 Valley Gap Heritage Ghost Town

The first photo is the roof of the 3 Valley Gap resort.  The others are of the ghost town, which is comprised of original and imported buildings from the late 1800s, and retro/vintage collectibles.  They also had an antique vehicle & train collection, which was pretty cool.

We were really heading into the Rockies, by this time.  We started to see mountains, rivers, & aspen trees, and we also saw Lakes Louise and Moraine.  Another of our stops, much lesser known, was a boardwalk through a cedar wood--a really lovely trail!  You can see photos here:  Trees, Lake Louise

The last lake photo--the *really* blue one--is Lake Moraine.  Louise is nearly as blue in real-life, but it didn't show up on the camera...

Again, let me know if the slideshows don't work--I can re-post them here, if so.  :)

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Canadian Rockies: Minter Gardens

On the map, driving from Washington to Banff, Alberta, looks like a piece of cake.  But our first day involved an estimated 400 miles of driving, and that was just to Kelowna, B.C.

Our main stop was one of our favorite B.C. places: Minter Gardens.  The weather was unusually warm and sunny, and there were still lots of flowers.  And since flora is my favoritest thing to photograph, click here:  Minter Gardens slideshow
{Let me know if the slideshow doesn't work}

That eccentric building in the last two photos is a new feature...not sure what it's supposed to be.  I call it the 'home of the mad scientist'.  ;)

As we continued on to Kelowna, the landscape changed, ever so gradually.  I'd seen two types of forest-mountains so far--Mt Rainier and Yellowstone--and this was something different yet.  The trees stand very close and dry.  Some of them suffer from some kind of bug or disease, and all that's left is a grey husk.  The mountains make ours look like miniatures; and the green, dusky undergrowth crawls right up to the stream's edge, by which the road seems to be always running, in a very winding kind of way.

I muchly enjoyed this scenic route, myself.  :)

Coming soon, Day 2--ghost town, cedars, and Aspenglow...

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Hello again!

I've been dreadfully un-blogger-y this month, with my last *real* post being on August 7th!  It doesn't feel so long ago.  But I suppose that's what happens when the pages of your life start turning faster.

The week of the 14th involved not one, but two summery picnics.  And the weather here was sunny for both.  The church picnic was lovely as always, and our family picnic was fun.  We visited with relatives we hadn't seen in months, and I met relatives I didn't know I had.  :)  And of course, there was KFC and the most fantabulous salads & deserts. 

Then the next week, we went on a driving trip to the Canadian Rockies, and just got home yesterday.  It was a great vacation, with dry, sunny weather all week long!  I'll be blogging about it soon, so stay tuned for more pics...

In other news, we are getting four new chickens from my aunt--we're actually going over to pick them up today.  I'm not really an animal person, but it is exciting.  :)  We have three hens already, but they're six years old and approaching retirement.  I just hope the hens aren't mean to the newbies...they're going to be separate at first, but eventually they'll have to learn to get along in the same living space.  Two of the hens are pretty mild-mannered; but the third one has no manners whatever.  In fact, I'm a bit scared of her.  :P

Her name happens to be 'Daisy'.  Ironic, I say.

School starts about three weeks from now.  I always study like crazy; but this year, I'm also quite resolved on Order and Method [to quote a certain detective].  Neatness, methodical study, and more confidence.  And, in order to further this goal, I have a list of things to-do in the meantime:

• Clean my desk.  Once I do that, I'll actually have space in my room for writing; and I mean to work on my stories every day, if time permits.


• Clean out & organise my files and folders, on my laptop.  


• Sort through my shoes, and hem coat sleeves.  I love having a variety of jackets (more than shoes or tops), and my mom found several amazing ones for me this summer!  Two of them do need a little hemming, but it's no big deal.


• Lastly, do some pencil sketches, while I still have free time...

We'll see how this whole 'order and method' thing works out, in the light of a ton of homework.  *sigh* 

Oh, another thing I did was solve a math puzzle correctly!  The puzzle is called "Petty Cash", and it's from a book of such puzzles called A Tangled Tale, by Lewis Carroll.  You can read "Petty Cash" here.  I have a whole new respect for Carroll.  The book is much more about logic than math--the math, in fact, is the easy part.  The logic is incredibly complex.  "Petty Cash" is, to me, the easiest of them all, since it involves minimal use of logic.  Altogether, the fact that I figured it out is more due to my reviewing Algebra rules/techniques, than any real talent of my own.  :P  Additionally (no pun intended), I found the answer a bit differently than Carroll, but I think the procedure is similar and equally valid.  If more convoluted...

I love the ending quote:

   “You can do Arithmetic, I trust?” her aunt said, a little anxiously, as Clara turned from one tablet to another, vainly trying to collect her thoughts. Her mind was a blank, and all human expression was rapidly fading out of her face.
   A gloomy silence ensued.

I can relate.

Speaking of Carroll, I'm reading Sylvie and Bruno.  It's part fairytale, part nonsense-fantasy, and part romance.  I really like it so far.  It gives you a better perspective of the author than the Alice books do.  I think that, rather than writing pure nonsense, Carroll simply used nonsense and fantasy as another way to illustrate [or study] logic and the real world.  I do think artists with highly analytical minds will often bury their ideas behind fantasy or vague prose, because,

1. Fantasy is an effective, flexible outlet for expressing complex ideas; and 


2. Analytical people themselves are so used to "hunting for hidden truths", that it seems natural to them to write enigmatically. 

But I digress, dreadfully.  I have a sewing project to post about as well, but I'll save that for another day.  ;)

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What he said...part II

The actual experience of even the most ordinary life is full of events that never explain themselves, either as regards their origin or their tendency.

It is a great mistake to try to put our best thoughts into human language.

...they looked like fragments of the world, broken adrift and based on nothingness...

It is the special excellence of pictured glass, that the light, which falls merely on the outside of other pictures, is here interfused throughout the work.

She had lost--and she trembled lest it should have departed forever--the faculty of appreciating those great works of art, which heretofore had made so large a portion of her happiness.

...he sometimes discovered that they looked fanciful only because so absolutely true.

She chose the better and loftier and more unselfish part, laying her individual hopes, her fame, her prospects of enduring remembrance, at the feet of those great departed ones whom she so loved and venerated; and therefore the world was richer for this feeble girl.

Every crime destroys more Edens than our own.

- The Marble Faun, Nathaniel Hawthorne

I want to be understood.

He yawned frequently.  He drank large quantities of tea, he walked about aimlessly, and when he sat down he did not budge for a long time.  He spent some time drumming on the window with his finger-tips quietly.  In his listless wanderings round about the table he caught sight of his own face in the looking-glass and that arrested him.  The eyes which returned his stare were the most unhappy eyes he had ever seen.  

...to live without fear, was also happiness.

I produced, even upon myself, the effect of a dumb helpless ghost, of an anxious immaterial thing that could only hover about without the power to protect or guide by as much as a whisper.

- Under Western Eyes, Conrad

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O Sole Mio {never fails to make me smile}

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What he said...part I

I sat down by the wayside of life, like a man under enchantment, and a shrubbery sprang up around me, and the bushes grew to be saplings, and the saplings became trees, until no exit appeared possible through the entangling depths of my obscurity. 

Allow your fancy pretty free license, and omit no heightening touches because they did not chance to happen before your eyes.  If they did not happen, they at least ought, which is all that concerns you.

The fact is, I have a natural abhorrence of pen and ink, and nothing short of absolute necessity ever drives me to them.

- Nathaniel Hawthorne

The side of the ship made an opaque belt of shadow on the darkling glassy shimmer of the sea.

Necessity, they say, is mother of invention, but fear, too, is not barren of ingenious suggestions.

My polite insistence must have had something menacing in it, because he gave in suddenly.

- The Secret Sharer, Conrad

I took his face to pieces in my mind, like a watch, and examined it in detail.  I could not say much against any of his features separately; I could say even less against them when they were put together.

- "Hunted Down", Dickens

But, as it sometimes chanceth, from the might
Of joy in minds that can no farther go,
As high as we have mounted in delight
In our dejection do we sink as low

The Crags repeat the Raven's croak,
In symphony austere

Whither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?

With admiration I behold
Thy gladness unsubdued and bold;
Thy looks, thy gestures, all present
The picture of a life well-spent

Oft do I sit by thee at ease,
And weave a web of similies

- Wordworth

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