Lemur Reflections

Pellistair - Chapters 4 & 5

2009-05-19T13:22:00.002-05:00

Chapter Four

Fedore strode down the street. This was not good. He had assumed, they had all assumed, that the space ship had been wrecked in the crash. They wouldn’t be happy to find out they were wrong.

Something would have to be done. But what, he mused as he turned the corner into a back street. They had lost touch with their agent inside the Bureau years ago, and all information about crashes was kept secret. Most of the crashes weren’t even known about by the public.

He shook his head. Those at the Bureau knew what they were doing, and they would make a difficult adversary.

He arrived at a door, so covered in grunge it was hard to tell apart from the wall. He pushed it open with some difficulty, the hinges screeching in protest.

“We really must change those hinges” a lazy female voice said from inside.

“Do you want to pay for someone to come change them? And do you want people to see where we’re hiding, and go tell other people where we are?” A high energy voice near the ceiling said in reply.

“The hinges don’t matter right now” Fedore said, stepping inside a small room. There was a flight of stairs leading up into the darkness in the back of the room, and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The floor was covered in old tattered blue carpet, and the walls were hung with faded red wallpaper. “There are more important things to worry about.”

“You mammals worry and rush around too much. It makes me tired just watching you” the female voice said. Fedore turned to see a lady ghila monster laying on a couch in the corner. Her eyes were half closed.
“Maybe we do, Ellora” Fedore replied. “But this really is important”

“Important. Pha” Ellora said, yawning. “Nothing important ever happens, not here on Pellistair. Everyone makes sure of that” she finished sarcastically.

“Let him talk, Ellora. Fedore doesn’t make needless fusses” a quiet voice said. The two of them turned to see a gray panther standing on the landing of the stairs.

“The spaceship wasn’t destroyed in the crash, contrary to what we were lead to believe” Fedore said.

Ellora hissed out angrily, “The Bereau deliberately deceived the public, so we wouldn’t know. They know we’d make trouble if we found out.”

“How did you find out, Fedore?” the panther asked.

“I talked to the girl who crashed” Fedore said.

Ellora looked at him with shock. “I thought the two of them were going to be supervised at all times” she said, looking surprised.

“That’s what I’d heard, too, but there was no one with her in the inn” Fedore said.

“This will take some looking into” the panther said, looking grim. “Habliz! Can you get into the mechanic lab in the Bereau?”

An albino monkey wearing a rubber trench coat and boots dropped from the chandelier, where he had been sitting. “I can try” he said, “but it’ll be hard. They’re very careful about who they hire, and you know how unpopular I am among employers”

“Just try, that’s all I can ask” the panther said. “Fedore, you try to get more information. Ellora, try to get in touch with all our contacts in the city. Try to see if they have any useful information.”

“What will you be doing?” Ellora asked, stretching lazily and getting up off her couch.
“I have something to go look up” the panther said, turning around and going back up the stairs.

“I wonder what” Ellora mused, pulling on a pair of black boots.
“Sometimes I think he keeps more secrets than are good for him.”

“Well, I don’t want to know them. Who knows what sorts of trouble he’s been in, in the past.” Habliz said, heading towards the door. “Besides, I’ve got other things to worry about.”

The door shut behind him. “He’s really nervous about this, isn’t he?” Ellora said.

“Well, you know what happened at his last job” Fedore said quietly.

“Yes,” Ellora said, growing serious. “I hope it doesn’t happen again”

“I hope so, too” Fedore said, sighing and going up the stairs.

“What are you doing?” Ellora said. “I thought you were supposed to go get more information.”

“I will, later” Fedore called down. “There’s something I need to go look at, first”

Ellora shook her head, all alone in the downstairs room. “So many secrets. Do any of us really know the others? And will these secrets get us into trouble?” She mused, sighing.

Maria stared around the street outside the inn in fascination. There were all sorts of animals all over the place, yelling and talking and gossiping. Stalls selling everything imaginable, and some things unimaginable, lined the street. She saw a stall selling flowers of colors she’d never seen, a stall selling what looked like giant earrings, for those with bigger ears, a stall selling scale die kits, and many more things that she couldn’t figure out what they were for.

Ishka had to drag both Robert and Maria through the street. Neither of them noticed where they were going, they were so busy looking. Ishka was too worried about their meeting with the Bureau to be interested, although this was her first visit to the capital. She hoped neither of them had said anything they weren’t supposed to in the inn, while she had been away. The problem was, she had no idea what they were supposed not to say. The Bureau had not been very forthcoming on that.

Robert was enthralled by all the smells. He could smell the pungent smell of dies for clothes, scales, fur and anything else you could think of, numerous strange flower smells, the smell of every street vendor with exotic food, even the unusual smell of the paving stones. He couldn’t believe that the people lived here with all these smells, all the time. It was overwhelming, but at the same time, intoxicating. I wouldn’t mind staying a lizard for a while more, if it means still being able to experience this, he thought, tasting the air.

They neared a large stone building, which stuck out like a sore thumb against all its neighboring wooden buildings. Several words in a different alphabet were carved onto the front of the building.

“What does it say?” Maria asked.

“It says, “The Bureau of Off World Visitors,” Ishka explained.

Maria and Robert stared at the building nervously, all their wonders and questions about the street forgotten. This is where we find out what will happen to us, they both thought, nervously.

Andrew Duval was waiting for the mechanics to come tell him about the ship, so he could tell Maria and Robert. It’s been such a long time since I heard human names, or saw human faces, he thought. He hadn’t been allowed to see any of the other human visitors. These two were the first the Bureau had trusted him with.

He sighed. Gaining back their trust, after the mess of things he’d made when he landed here, had taken almost twenty years, and he still didn’t think they trusted him entirely. He wasn’t sure if he trusted them.

The door opened behind him. He turned to see Ishka, Maria, and Robert heading up the stairs towards him. He started towards them to greet them, wondering what he’d say. He still didn’t know the state of their ship, or what the Bereau had in plan for them.

Maria looked around the building as they walked up the stairs. All of the buildings she had been in on Pellistair had been welcoming, whether it was the sunny openness of the hospital, or the dark clutter of the inn, but this building was just depressing. The walls, floor, and ceiling were stone, and the lights were electric, giving off a cold blue light.

No wonder Andrew Duval always looks depressed, she thought, shivering slightly. Anyone would be if they worked here.

When they reached the top of the stairs, they found Andrew Duval there to great them. After a polite round of hellos and how-do-you-dos, Duval said apologetically, “I don’t know what to tell you. The mechanics report hasn’t arrived yet, so-“

A polished voice interrupted him. “If you’ll all come this way, I believe I can answer your questions about your ship.” They all turned to see an extremely well groomed black panther standing at the bottom of another flight of stairs. Maria noticed out of the corner of her eye that Duval tensed slightly at the arrival of this new person. Duval, she mused. I know I’ve heard that name somewhere recently, and it wasn’t that actors name. Before she could think any more about this, they were all ushered upstairs to a room so neat it was almost creepy. They all sat down on uncomfortable chairs (except the black panther, who stood at the end of the room).

“You’ll be glad to know that your ship is repairable, although it may take some time. You’ll also be happy to know it’s navigational logs are intact, so you should be able to find your way back to your planet,” the black panther said, after introducing himself as Adelon.

Maria and Robert sighed with relief, but Maria noticed that Duval didn’t relax at all, or look relieved. If anything, he looked more tense than he had before.

“However,” Adelon added smoothly, “There is something I must talk to you about.” Maria got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“When you get back to your planet, you must tell nobody about your time here, or that Pellistair even exists. You’ll have to delete your travel logs, and any evidence of Pellistair you might have. No one from your planet may know that we are out here. Do you understand?” Adelon said all of this with a frightening intensity. “If you can not keep our existence a secret, we won’t be able to let you leave.”

Chapter Five

Ishka was the first to speak. “I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t they be allowed to leave? All the humans who have landed here have been peaceful, and they haven’t caused any harm. Also, it sounds like we’re so far away from their planet that it wouldn’t be practical for any of them to come here.”

Adelon shook his head. “We’ve been lucky that the humans who landed here have been peaceable, but they aren’t all that way, as I’m sure you two will agree,” he said, directing the last statement to Maria and Robert. They both nodded, thinking of the horrible things some humans had done on Earth. On a different planet, populated by animals, who knows what havoc they could wreak. “And as for our being far away from out planet, I’m sure that the distance wouldn’t keep everyone away. People running from the law, people who want a live without the confines of human law, they’d want to come here, and we don’t really want them coming here.”

Robert frowned, and asked, “What about my scales? If I stay a lizard even when we go back, we’ll have to say something.”

“I’m fairly sure that the transformation wouldn’t last long if you left Pellistair. I assume there’s something about the atmosphere that makes people transform, and if you left it’s influence, you should go back to the way you were originally were” Duval said, speaking for the first time since they’d enter the room.

Robert sighed in relief. As interesting as it was, being a lizard, he didn’t want to stay one forever.

“Then you’ll agree to our terms?” Adelon asked.

Maria and Robert nodded. “We won’t tell anyone, and we’ll erase our travel log. It’s the least we can do for you, after everything you’ve done for us” Maria said, Robert nodding in agreement.

“Good” Adelon said. “In the mean time, Ishka is needed back at the hospital, and I’ve arranged for a new person to show you around Pellistair and answer any questions you might have”

Ishka frowned. “Why do they need me back so quickly? We don’t have very many patients at the moment” she asked.

“I don’t know the details, but they said you were needed badly” Adelon replied. “They asked that you go back as quickly as possible.”

Ishka nodded reluctantly. “Who’ll take care of them when I leave?” She asked politely.

The door opened, and, much to Maria and Robert’s surprise, Fedore walked in. “This man has politely offered to escort you around the city in the time of your stay here. He came here after talking to you in the inn, and expressed his concern over your welfare. I asked his employers at the accounting shop what they thought of him, and they highly recommended him.” Adelon said.

Fedore bowed to Maria and Robert. “It’s a pleasure to meet you again” he said, straightening up with a smile.

“It’s nice to see you again, too,” Maria said, meaning it. She was surprised at how happy she was to see a familiar face.

“Now that that’s all settled,” Adelon interrupted, starting to look a bit bored, “the mechanics have some questions about the designs and the workings of your ship, which they need answered before they can go on working. If you’ll all come this way.” He lead them out of the room, and down many flights of stairs until they reached a heavy metal door. He keyed in a number on the number pad beside the door, and it slid open.

Stepping inside the biggest room they had ever been in in their lives, Maria and Robert looked around with wonder. Their ship was in the middle of the floor, with lots of mechanics swarming all over it, making adjustments and calling to each other. Hanging from the ceiling were the remains of all the space ships that had landed there. Most of them were similar to Maria and Robert’s ship, except all in much worse state. Maria noticed Duval glance briefly at a ship in the back corner. That must be his ship, she thought, filing away the information for later.

As they walked towards their ship, Maria noticed a gray tabby cat standing a little ways from the space ship, making notes on a clipboard. She was shaking her head in displeasure when they walked up. “This ship of yours is not very well thought out” she said, making more notes on her clipboard.

“Does Modgen have questions about the ship?” Adelon asked her.

“Yes, he does” the cat said, tucking her clipboard under her arm.

“Modgen!” She yelled, cupping her paws to her mouth. They heard an indistinct shout from the other side of the ship. “He’s coming” the cat said satisfiedly.

They only had to wait a few minutes until a small lemur came hurrying over. “These are the humans who own the ship” Adelon said, indicating Maria and Robert.

“Good, good” Modgen said, bowing to the two of them quickly. “Do either of you know how the engine of your machine works?” He asked, blinking at them expectantly.

“Well, we did have to work on it a bit, to get it into working order, so we do know a-“ Robert was cut off by a siren sounding. A bat hanging upside down on the ship yelled out, “Electrical overload!” Everyone on the ship hurried off, dropping tools in all directions. The ship began sparking all over the place, and finally let off a huge spark, lighting up the whole room for a minute.
A shape flew off the ship, thrown off by the electricity. Nobody moved for a few minutes, until they realized that it was one of the mechanics. He hit the floor and didn’t move.

They all rushed over. It was an albino monkey, wearing a rubber trench coat. “Get that off of him, so we can see if he’s burnt at all” the cat ordered, kneeling down besides the mechanic. She let out a hiss as the coat was taken off.

“What is it?” Adelon asked.

“This,” the cat said, getting up and motioning to the lifeless mechanic. They all crowded closer and looked.

Under the coat, the monkey was wearing a white shirt, and protruding from his arms were…. Bat wings? Maria peered closer. Fringing his arm were the beginnings of bat wings, enough to be noticeable, but not enough for him to be able to fly. “You have flying monkeys here?” Maria asked, looking up at the cat and Adelon, thinking of The Wizard of Oz.

“No,” Adelon said, looking grim. He turned to Modgen. “Who hired him?”

“I did,” Modgen replied, staring down at the mechanic with worry. “His name’s Habliz, and he managed to fix the automatic door locks, which no one’s been able to fix in months. I hired him this morning.”

“You should have been more careful” Adelon said. Modgen looked up angrily.

“He’s just been electrocuted, and he might be dead, and all you care about is the fact that he’s a hybrid?” He spat out, kneeling down and lifting Habliz up with help from the mechanic. The two of them carried him out of the room.

Maria turned to Adelon. “What’s a hybrid?” She asked.

“A hybrid is a mix between two species, a person with one parent of one species, and the other parent of a different species,” Ishka said, looking after Habliz worriedly.

“Why is that a problem?” Robert asked. “With all these different species here, it must be a common thing.”

“I’ll explain,” Duval said, taking Robert’s and Maria’s arms to lead them out of the room.

Adelon opened his mouth to object. “I’ll explain” Duval said firmly, pulling Maria and Robert out of the room, Ishka and Fedore following behind. Maria looked back to see Adelon and the tabby cat talking together and looking disapproving.

Duval took them to a different room this time, with more comfortable chairs. After Maria and Robert sat down, Duval started to explain. “A hybrid is, as Ishka told you, a person with mixed parentage, a mix between two species. They are looked down on all over the world, for no other reason then their parentage, a fact they can’t help” Duval said bitterly. He obviously didn’t like this.

“But,” Maria said, “as Robert said, there are so many different species that this should be usual, shouldn’t it? It doesn’t make sense not to marry someone of another species, because there are so few of each species.”

Duval sighed. “Adelon will kill me for saying this,” he said with a smile. “There are very strict rules in society here. Members of different species can talk to each other, work together, and even be friends, but on no account are they allowed to marry each other or have children. You are supposed to stick with your own kind. There are even some species who will not talk to each other, who will not serve the other species if they come into a shop where they are working. For instance, you’ll almost never find a cat in the same building that a dog works in, and the deer and the wolves never talk to each other, and always live as far apart in cities as they can manage. Hybrids are looked down on as direct violations of these rules. They find it hard to get jobs, and if they’re found out, they’ll be ignored, ridiculed, and even in some cases, beaten up and left for dead.”

Maria and Robert looked at him in horror. “That’s awful!” Maria cried.

“It is,” Ishka said, Fedore nodding in agreement, “but it’s the way things are.”

“Why hasn’t anything been done about it? Why hasn’t anyone spoken out against it?” Robert asked.

“Because of the species divide, it’s hard to get anyone to help you, or agree with you” Duval said. “And most people don’t even think about it, since they were raised that way.”

“You weren’t!” Maria cried.

“No, I wasn’t, but my word doesn’t count for much, being human originally,” Duval said, smiling slightly bitterly.

There were the sounds of footsteps outside. “You’d all better go. There won’t be much work on the ship today, so you’ll have to come back later to answer questions about it” Duval said, escorting them out of the building. He bowed and went back in.

“I need to go arrange some things with my employers,” Fedore said, bowing and heading off.

As they watched him go, Ishka said, “Before I leave, is there anything I can do for you two?”

“Well, my clothes don’t really fit anymore, since I have a tail now” Robert said. “If you could perhaps tell me where a clothes shop is, that would be helpful.”

“I won’t just show you, I’ll take you to one. Maria, can you find your way back to the hotel?” Ishka asked.

“Sure! You two go on.” Maria waved the two of them off, and when they were out of sight, she turned around to go back to the hotel. It was then that she realized that she’d been so busy looking at the sights and the sounds on the way there that she had no idea how to get back.

Well, it shouldn’t be too hard to find. We didn’t walk for very long until we got here, she thought, heading off in the opposite direction that Ishka and Robert had gone.

Pellistair - Chapters 2 & 3

2009-05-16T10:41:00.003-05:00

Chapter Two

Maria woke up the next morning, and was glad to feel that her head felt completely better. After breakfast, Ishka escorted her to Robert’s room again. “I think he’d like to see you” Ishka said. “He’s a bit… Distressed.”

Upon entering Robert’s room, Maria saw that there was a new person there, a lizard with a long, emerald green tail. Then she realized that the lizard was Robert. He was staring at his tail in perplexation “Is it normal for me to turn into a lizard so fast?” He asked Ishka, looking worried.

“Everyone takes a different amount of time to complete their transformation. You appear to be going exceptionally fast. But don’t worry, you won’t suffer from any side effects or anything. In fact, other than your unusually fast transformation, you appear to have completely recovered from the crash.”

Ishka paused here, and looked at Robert and Maria consideringly. “Which brings me to our next topic. The hospital heads have decided that you are both sufficiently recovered, and you may leave the hospital. We’ve also discovered that your space craft wasn’t very badly damaged by the crash, and that some of our mechanics might be able to fix it. Our capital, Pellangua, has the best mechanics on Pellistair, and it’s also where the Bereau of Off World Visitors is. Andrew Duval, the man you talked to yesterday, works there. I will be escorting you to the capital to talk with him and other experts on matters like these, and your space craft will be brought along with us. We leave in two hours.” With that, she stalked out of the room, leaving Maria and Robert by themselves.

“She’s escorting us? Oh dear” Robert said, looking displeased.

Maria laughed. “She’s not that bad, even if she is a bit cold, and has an odd sense of humor. She’ll make sure nothing happens to us.”

“If you say so,” Robert sighed. Then he blinked, and asked “Are you beginning to transform yet?”

“Not that I’ve noticed” Maria said. “Of course I might have started some subtle changes that I haven’t noticed yet.”

Robert sighed again. “Nothing subtle about what’s been happening to me. I get covered in scales, grow a tail, and my ears are starting to sink into my head.”

“They are? It’s a good thing you don’t wear glasses” Maria commented. Robert laughed.

Maybe this is what he needed, Maria thought. A place to forget about what’s going on back on earth, and other things to concentrate on. She looked forward to the trip to the capital with more enthusiasm than she had before.

Ishka stalked down the corridor. True, she was glad to be having a break from the hospital, but she felt like they were trying to get rid of her for awhile. She thought she had heard one of the head nurses muttering something about her needing a break, but she couldn’t be sure.
Maybe I should try finding a different job, she thought, heading down the stairs to the first floor. One where I could actually speak my mind, and not have to worry about everyone else’s well being. At least the two human seem to be able to take care of each other. She’d have to watch out for them in the city, but they seemed sensible enough not to do anything stupid, like wander off and get lost, or insult one of the alligator guards.

Well, maybe I will enjoy this, she thought, stepping out the front door into the sunshine. She could feel herself unwind a few notches. Maybe a break is exactly what I need, she pondered, heading off to arrange their traveling vehicles.

Two hours later, Maria and Robert were standing outside the hospital with two bags full of what they’d been able to salvage from the ship, ready to begin their trip. Maria looked around the town, wishing they could stay longer. All of the buildings were set far apart, with lots of trees between them. Wait a minute, wasn’t that a building in a tree? She peered at it, and was surprised to see a bunch of blue bird people fly out. They looked like children. They swooped around, chasing each other and pulling on each others feathers. She could hear a sort of twittering laughter.

“Are you two ready to go?” A voice asked them from behind. Maria and Robert both started, and turned around to find Ishka standing behind them. She had changed out of the loose green clothing she wore in the hospital, and was dressed in red and yellow clothes.

She smiled at their surprise, and said, “Our transportation is over that way”, elegantly extending a paw towards the left.

As they followed Ishka, Maria and Robert both looked around in wonder. The buildings were brightly painted, and the streets were paved in bright tiles, so bright they were almost hard to look at. A group of lemurs and monkeys played in the trees, throwing a ball to one another and performing elaborate flips and leaps. A turtle lay elegantly in a window, basking in the sun. Everywhere they looked, there were animal people, engaged in some activity or another. Buying, selling, playing, gossiping.

Before they knew it, Ishka had stopped in front of a large metal sled-like thing. Their space ship was perched on top of the sled, and there were several emus and ostriches tied to the front of it. They were preening themselves and talking with each other. One of them saw Ishka, Maria, and Robert approaching, and yelled (more like squawked, Maria thought), “Hey, boys! They’re here!”

“Boys? I’ll remind you that two of us are girls!” An EMU with particularly long eyelashes humphed.

“And very pretty ones at that. Now, we’re going to Pellangua, right?” An ostrich, who looked like the leader, said, trying to prevent an argument from starting, and directing the last question at Ishka.

“Yes, Pellangua. I hope that’s not to hard a trip for you” Ishka said, teasingly.

“Too hard a trip? Why you just watch, we’ll get there before you do!” The ostrich who had spoken first boasted.

The rest of the emus and ostriches joined in the boasting, each one trying to yell the loudest, and each one trying to best the others in tales of distances run and loads pulled. Ishka shook her head. “They may be loud and full of themselves, but they get the job done quickly and efficiently. They’ll be pulling your space craft to the capital.”

“How are we going to get there?” Maria asked. She hoped they wouldn’t have to ride on one of the ostriches or emus. That would just be weird.

“We’ll be taking this,” Ishka said, walking on a bit further and motioning towards their vehicle. It looked a bit like a motorcycle, except all gray, and much rounder than a motorcycle. There were two roomy side cars attached to each side of the vehicle.

“It’s a steam powered motorcycle”, Ishka said, rummaging around in her bag. She fished out three pairs of goggles, and handed a pair each to Maria and Robert, and put a pair on herself. “I’ll drive, and you two will travel in the sidecars.”

Just then, the ostrich and emu pulled sled sped by. “The last ones to Pellangua owe the others winners a meal!” an ostrich hollered.

“Well, we’d better get going, then, hadn’t we?” Ishka said, grinning widely and jumping on the motorcycle. Maria and Robert got into the side cars. As soon as they were in, Ishka started the engine, and they hurled off at a frightening speed. Maria thought she could hear Ishka laughing, but it was hard to tell over the noise.

They traveled all day, and into the night. Except for a few breaks to get out and stretch, they traveled non-stop. Maria must have fallen asleep at some point, because before she knew it, she was being woken up and helped out of the side car. “’re we going to go see the bureau now?” she asked sleepily.

“No”, Ishka said. “It’s the middle of the night, they wouldn’t be very happy to see us now. We’re going to get good nights sleep, and then we’ll go see them.”

Maria hazily saw a big room with long wooden tables, and a dark shadow working at a counter at the end of the room. She was led up a flight off stairs, and then shown into a bedroom. “I’ll wake you up tomorrow. Good night” she heard Ishkas voice say, and then the door closing. Maria plopped down on the bed. I’ll just rest here for a few moments, and then I’ll unpack my bag, she thought, as her eyes closed.

Andrew Duval looked out the window of the steam bus. He was heading back to the capital, after giving a speech at a small, worried town out to the west. Ever since he had arrived, and completed his transformation, the Bureau had been sending him all over the world, talking to people about humans, and what they were like, and whether they were a threat.

Pellistair had no military, and had very few weapons, and everyone was getting increasingly worried about the human visitors. More had been arriving in the last few years, presumably because space ships were becoming better, and the range that they could explore was expanding. A lot of people on Pellistair were worried that one day the humans would find Pellistair on accident, without crashing into it, and that they’d see the lush, pretty much unspoiled planet, with little defenses, and try to take it.

Duval sighed. Part of that was his fault. When he’d first woken up, with all these strange people around him, he had told horrible stories about earth’s weapons, in case the Pellistarians were thinking about taking over earth. This had been a bad idea. Some of the Pellistarians wanted to abandon or even kill him right there, since he seemed like such a violent, ill mannered being.

Thankfully, they hadn’t harmed him, and he had tried to undo some of the damage he’d done by telling them all the good things about earth, and going around giving talks about what to do if humans landed. He was kept very busy, and even after twenty years, no one really trusted him. He didn’t mind, though. It was better than what he had had on Earth.

He just hoped that these two humans hadn’t heard of him. It would complicate things greatly.

Chapter Three

Maria woke up to find sunlight streaming in her window. She got up, wondering how long she’d been asleep, and whether Robert was okay. She got dressed, and realized that she was very hungry.
She headed downstairs to the big room with the tables in it that she had seen earlier. Maybe there would be food there.

Arriving in the room, she saw that it was packed with people of all sorts of different species. A giraffe was hunched up in one corner, gossiping with a mouse, and a group of what looked like cuckoo burras were all laughing uproariously together. There was even a large fish bowl, with a goldfish sitting in it, eating a muffin and nodding in response to what the antelope next to it was talking about.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it here” Maria muttered, looking around her in bewilderment. A tall alligator was cooking something behind the counter. He looked up and saw her, and his face split into truly frightening grin.

“Well, here’s our new visitor” boomed the alligator, coming out of behind the counter and striding towards Maria. Should I run, Maria wondered in the short space of time it took for the alligator to reach her. Before she knew it, the alligator was shaking her hand up and down and talking loudly.

“You’re the first human visitor to this inn while I’ve been working here” he boomed, still shaking her arm up and down. “It’s an honor to have you here, and I hope you enjoy your stay. Would you like some breakfast?” This last thing was said with another frightening grin. Maria wondered whether it was safe here.

The goldfish seemed to notice her agitation, and said, in a bubbly voice, “Don’t worry. He’s perfectly harmless, and by far the best cook I’ve ever met. Go on, let him make you some breakfast”

This reassured Maria a bit, and she followed the alligator up to the counter at the front, wondering what he would cook.

Robert woke up to find that his ears had completely sunken into his head. Where they had been were two holes. He could still hear fine, though. The thing that surprised him the most, though, was the fact that his tail was now two feet longer. He flicked it experimentally. It was a nice tail, he supposed, but he’d rather go back to the way he was.

He hoped Maria was OK, and that she hadn’t started transforming yet. Once she started, there was no way of knowing if she could ever turn back again.

He sighed, and opened his door. He stopped in shock, as a barrage of new smells assaulted him. He could smell food, cooking downstairs, the soap a maid was using down the hall, the varnish on the floor, the smell of peeling paint, and many more smells he had never smelled before. I wonder if this building just has more pungent smells, or whether this is due to my transformation, Robert wondered, heading slowly down the hall.

He had to stop several times before he got down to the dining hall, so that he could pay more attention to the smells. He found he could smell better if he opened his mouth and sort of tasted the air. No one looked at him oddly when he did this, and he saw several other reptiles doing the same thing. Maybe this transformation thing isn’t so bad, he thought, turning into the dining hall.

After just standing in the doorway and sampling all the smells for awhile, he looked around for Maria. He finally saw her sitting at a long counter on the end, in between a hippo and a ferret. He frowned slightly, hoping they weren’t bothering her, and then he noticed a large alligator cooking behind the counter and laughing at something the hippo had said. He headed towards them, wondering what was going on.

Maria was uncomfortable. The hippo had just come up, and was telling lots of loud, bawdy jokes, and talking non-stop. The alligator chef, who she still didn’t know the name of, was cooking and laughing appreciatively at the hippos jokes, and telling a few of his own. She didn’t know why the gray ferret was here. He hadn’t said anything yet, just given her sympathetic looks every so often as the hippo had laughed loudly in her ear.

As the hippo became more engaged in talking to the chef, the ferret spoke at last. “I hear you crashed here on Pellistair a few days ago. I hope you and your companion didn’t suffer any injuries from the crash” he said softly.

Maria was relieved that he didn’t speak loudly, or laugh in her ear. “Yes, we crashed a few days ago, but we managed to get out of it with just a few bruises and bumps.”

Just then, the hippo laughed so loudly that the ferret winced and put his hands over his ears. When Maria looked at him questioningly, he uncovered his ears and said, “I have unusually sensitive hearing, and Martha is particularly loud today”, he nodded towards the hippo. “She’s always particularly happy when something new and unusual happens. I haven’t seen her so happy in months.”

“Am I the new and unusual thing?” Maria asked.

The ferret nodded. “It’s not a bad thing, it just means she’ll probably follow you around for awhile, showing you off to all her new friends.”

“Are all of her friends as loud as she is?” Maria said, looking worried.

The ferret laughed, looking happy for the first time. “No, no one is as loud as Martha. She means well, though, and if you’re in a tight spot and need a friend, she’ll be there for you.”

Just then, Robert showed up behind Martha. “Oh!” She said, noticing him immediately. “You must be Maria’s companion! I’ll let you two sit and talk” she said, grinning widely (her grin was almost as frightening as the chef's, Maria noticed. Martha had a bigger mouth, after all), and hurrying away.

“No doubt hurrying off to tell all her friends about you two, and how she met you two first” the ferret said dryly, shaking his head.
Robert looked at him questioningly. “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself” the ferret said, smiling. “My name is Fedore. I work in a accounting shop, a few blocks away. If you ever need anything, I’ll be glad to help.”

“I’m Maria, and this is Robert” Maria introduced the two of them. “We, as you know, crash landed here, and we’re here in the capital to see the Bureau of Off World Visitors, and to see if our ship can be fixed.”
Fedore straightened slightly. “I thought your ship was destroyed in the crash,” he said carefully.

“No, our ship is actually in pretty good shape” Maria said, “apparently in better shape than any of the other ships that have landed here were. They think they might be able to fix it, so we can go home. Not” she added hastily, “that we haven’t been enjoying our stay here, but we do need to get back.”

“Breakfast’s served!” the alligator interrupted, handing both Maria and Robert plates with piles of food on them. The food smelled and looked so good that Maria only dimly heard Fedore say “If you’ll excuse me” and walk away.

“This looks wonderful!” She exclaimed to the chef, digging in.

“I’m glad you like it”, the alligator said, grinning widely.

After devouring what was on their plates, Maria and Robert sat back, feeling much better, and much more ready for whatever the day brought. “Oh!” Maria said. “I just realized I didn’t introduce myself, or my friend. I’m Maria, and he’s Robert. Thank you so much for the breakfast, but” she stared uneasily at the empty plates, “we don’t have any money to pay you with.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Breakfast is free, complements of the inn. And I’m Ambrose, the cook of this inn” the alligator said, shaking both Robert and Maria’s hands at the same time. “Pleased to meet you.” This was said with a large grin.

Martha came bustling back up. “Oh, Ambrose, you’ll never guess what I just heard!” she said excitedly.

“Do tell”, Ambrose said, settling down to hear her story. This left Robert and Maria to themselves.

“I wonder where that ferret, Fedore, went” Robert mused.

“I don’t know, I was too busy staring at the food” Maria said, sighing at the memory of it.

“And I was to busy smelling it” Robert laughed, telling Maria about his newfound sense of smell.

Maria was envious. “I wonder when I’ll start transforming. It would be so cool to have a better sense of smell, or a better sense of hearing. I wonder how long it took Mr. Duval to transform” she wondered. “Andrew Duval… I’ve heard that name somewhere.”

“Maybe you’re thinking of the 20th century actor, James Duval” Robert offered.

“That’s probably it” Maria agreed.

“Time to go.” They turned around to see Ishka standing behind them.

“Does she enjoy scaring people, I wonder?” Robert whispered to Maria. Maria only had time to grin before Ishka whipped them out of the inn, waving to Ambrose as they went, and out on the street.

2009-05-07T10:24:00.003-05:00

This is a practice essay I wrote for the AP U.S. History exam. It's for the first free response section, in which your shown 10 historical documents, and then asked to incorporate those topics into an essay on a certain subject. 15 minutes are provided for reading and planning, and 30 for writing.

"Manifest Destiny was a driving force in 19th century politics. The belief that it was the United States duty, even destiny, to spread Freedom and Democracy throughout North America shaped both Public and Foreign policy. It led to war with Mexico, and even inadvertently led to the Civil War.

It is clear that Manifest Destiny was a widely accepted and widely defended view. Various Presidents used it to gain new territories and to follow their own agendas. But politicians weren't the only ones to embrace Manifest Destiny. Celebrated writer Walt Whitman enthusiastically proclaimed the United States mission to "People the New World with a noble race" in an editorial in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. John O'Sullivan, another 19th century writer, penned a book entitled "Manifest Destiny" in which he stated that the United States was "The Nation of human progress" and that no earthly power could put a stop to its onward march.

Such lofty views and ideas were very beneficial to the U.S., but Mexico, the United States more volatile neighbor, suffered from them. Manifest Destiny is part of what drove the Mexican-American War, which the U.S. profited from, greatly. Although President Polk claimed that the war was because of "A long-continued series of menaces" and the shedding of American blood on U.S. soil, the desire for new land, such as California, was also a great factor. California had little to do with the rest of Mexico's and the United States's relations, so it's seisure during the Mexican-American War undermined President Polk's claims.

This did not go unnoticed. In 1848, Abraham Lincoln's "Spot Resolution" called on Presidetn Polk to answer questions about the validity of the Mexican-American War "Fully, fairly, and candidly". He also questioned the claim that American blood was first spilled on U.S. soil.

Lincoln's involvement in the "Spot Resolution" foreshadowed a greater consequence of Manifest Destiny, the Civil War. Acquiring new territories was all well and good, but deciding what to do with them afterward proved to be a greater difficulty. The main issue surrounding new states was whether or not to make them slave states. The conflict over slavery versus nonslavery in new states eventually lead to the creation of a new political party, the Free Soil Party. Not all results of slavery tension were so benign, however. The Bleeding Kansas affair shocked many citizens, but it was only a small example of what was to happen in the Civil War.

So despite all the lofty views Manifest Destiny first espoused, it eventually led to one of the bloodiest and grimmest events of American History, the Civil War. This proves that even the noblest of intentions can go wrong, in the long run."

Maundy Thursday and “The Other Boleyn Girl”

2009-04-08T07:16:00.000-05:00

Today I was lucky enough to join the choir at my church, for the first time in almost a year. I really enjoyed being a part of it last year, and was very sad this year when one of my classes was scheduled for Wednesday evening, meaning I couldn’t make it to choir.
Since it’s less then a week until we sing all of the music we rehearsed this evening, I was dumped headlong into a blur of music that everyone else has been practicing for weeks. It was very hard to keep up, but I enjoyed the challenge.
All the pieces were lovely, as usual, but one in particular struck me. It was called “For God So Loved the World”, and it’s the song we’ll sing on Maundy Thursday (which is a Holy Day I always forget about). The opening lines are “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son”
Normally, these words wouldn’t strike me in particular. I’ve gone fairly consistently to either the Catholic or Episcopalian churches for most of my life, and these words are repeated throughout Lent, in hymns, sermons, and readings.
However, for the last few days, I’ve been deeply immersed in reading “The Other Boleyn Girl”, by Phillipa Gregory. It’s a very good book, with intrigue, lust, passion, suspicion, romance, love, and of course, beautiful Renaissance outfits. The whole book is lush and sweeping, and all the characters are believable and intriguing, and the romance is spell-binding. But above all of these things, one of the things I’ve been enjoying about it the most is the deep love and affection the main character has for her children. I’ve read very few books where the main character was a mother, and this is one of the focal points of the story.
So, all week I’ve been immersed in this vivid book about this fascinating character and her love for her children, so when we sang “That he gave his only begotten son”, I was immediately brought to tears. As I said before, I’ve spoken or heard these words so often that they make almost no impact on me. But tonight, I thought of Mary Boleyn, and the fierce love and protection she feels as a young mother for her children, and really realized, for the first time, how hard, how painful, it would be to give your child up to death, willingly. And it’s not even in death for good or wonderful people, it’s for all sinners, all of whom have done wrong. As Paul says in Romans, “It might even be that someone might dare to die for a good person. But God has shown us how much he loves us – it was while we were still sinners that Christ Died for us!”
This is one of the things I’ve been trying to accomplish, this Lent. I wanted to come to Church and view it with new eyes, and examine everything with a wonder and awe that I haven’t ever really felt, having grown used to all the rituals and sayings in the church. I’ve had a few moments in Sunday school (when I’ve been able to actually concentrate on something other than all the weird emotions I have wrapped up in church), where I’ve really thought about the meaning behind all of the responses I’ve grown so used to saying. But I’ve never really thought in depth about what all of this means spiritually, and emotionally, until tonight. Until that one line, and “The Other Boleyn Girl”, brought it all home to me.

Pellistair - Chapter 1

2009-03-17T15:08:00.002-05:00

I've decided to post my first NaNoWriMo book, chapter by chapter. It's very bad, at the moment, have had almost no editing done on it. So please keep that in mind, when you read it.
The name of the book, at the moment, is Pellistair, for lack of a better title. If you think of a better title, please tell me!

Pellistair

By Kristin Emery

Chapter One

Maria woke up in a hospital bed, with a nurse dressed like a cat standing next to her bed. On closer inspection, Maria realized that the nurse was a cat. This cat, however, was displaying some remarkably human behaviors, like standing on two legs, and wearing loose green clothing.

Maria decided she must be hallucinating. It was the only explanation.

The cat looked up. “Oh, so you’re finally awake. That bump on your head was so large, I was afraid it might have caused some serious damage. How are you feeling?”.

Maria stared at the cat, willing it to go away. It didn’t. Instead, it blinked at her expectantly. “Ummm, my head hurts, and I’m hungry," Maria finally said, undone by the cats stare.

“Well, after crashing in your space craft, it’s natural that your head would hurt. It’s a good sign that you’re hungry” the cat said approvingly. “I’ll go get you some food.”

As the cat walked away, Maria closed her eyes and tried to figure things out. The last thing she remembered was being with Robert in the spaceship, with the lights all over the dashboard going crazy and the sight of a strange looking planet with purple clouds out the window. Was she on that planet now? And was Robert all right?

Robert. She was concerned about him. On Earth, people were getting all riled up about how “pure” peoples' looks were. It didn’t matter what sort of looks you had, they just had to be definitely one thing or another. For her, it was fine. She came from a long line of Vietnamese families, so she didn’t have any problems. Robert, however, had a father from Egypt and a mother from Norway, and definitely looked like a mix of nations.

The area where they lived was one of the more tolerant areas, but she could still tell that people had been nasty to him. Around her, nothing happened, but she had the sneaking suspicion that when she wasn’t around, people made nasty comments, or ignored him. He had been getting increasingly depressed, until she had suggested that they go and take the second hand spaceship they’d both bought for their seventeenth birthdays for a ride. They had spent the last six months fixing it up, until it wasn’t half bad. She thought a road trip was just what he needed

She had arranged for one of the spaceferries to take them out past the confines of the solar system. They had both been to or seen all of the planets in the solar system, so she wanted something new to look at.

Unfortunately, the chart they had bought of the region of space they were dropped off in was extremely confusing. Neither of them was able to read it, and they had gotten lost. The ship had a built in memory, so they could have found their way back to the ferry pick-up spot, but something had started to go wrong with the ship. They veered way off course, and eventually the engine failed. She assumed that they’d ended up here.

The cat came back, with a bowl of steaming porridge. At least, it looked like porridge. Porridge wasn’t generally orange with yellow and green bits in it, though, was it? As the cat set the bowl of porridge in front of her, Maria looked at it doubtfully.

“Don’t worry,” the cat said. “It won’t hurt you. In fact, it’ll help your head stop hurting.” Maria got the impression it was laughing at her softly behind its whiskers.

Reluctantly, Maria took the spoon and started to eat it. To her surprise, it was pretty good. Rather like vegetable soup and bread together.

As she ate, she took the opportunity to examine her nurse. The nurse had gray fur, and a white chin, with two black stripes on its cheeks. Its eyes were yellow, and it sat and stared at her unblinkingly .

When she finished, the cat took her bowl, and asked, “How are you feeling now?”.

“Better” Maria answered, glad that the throbbing in her head had turned into a minor twinge.

“Do you feel better enough to go see your friend?”, the cat asked, tipping its head to one side curiously.

“Do you mean Robert? Definitely!” Maria said, jumping out of bed. A minute later, she regretted doing that. Her head hurt more now.

The cat made a mysterious hissing sound, rather like it was clucking its teeth. “Careful, now. Here, let me help you down the corridor.”

As they headed down the corridor, Maria realized that she had been so hungry, and so concerned about Robert, that she had forgotten to wonder where she was, or why she had a cat attending her. She looked hesitantly at the cat, wondering if it were male or female, and how come it knew English.

The cat, sensing her stare, turned its head to smile at her. This was a strangely disturbing sight, since its teeth were much pointer than any humans.

“How careless of me. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Ishka, and I’m a Pallas’s cat. Also, I’m a girl, in case you were wondering”, Ishka added, grinning wider. Maria again got the feeling that Ishka was laughing at her.

They stopped outside a door. Going through it, they were met with a sunny room, with a large bed at the end of it. There were several other nurses surrounding the bed, but Maria paid more attention to what was in the bed than to the other nurses.

“Robert!” She cried, running towards the bed. She stopped in horror when Robert turned to face her. Instead of his normal light brown complexion, his face was covered with green scales.

He stared at her ruefully, and said, “I think they have some explaining to do,”, gesturing at the nurses.

Ishka stared in amusement at the two humans. At least she supposed they were humans. Only a few off worlders had visited Pellistair, and she had never met any of them. From what she had read in the computer, after the two of them had crash landed, she supposed they looked more or less human.

She tried to feel sorry, or at least concerned, for the two of them, but couldn’t manage to. It was all too amusing to take seriously. She had often been reprimanded for her inability to take things seriously, and her lack of sympathy towards other people. Still, she knew what she was doing, and she made a good nurse, so they couldn’t get rid of her.

However, she didn’t know quite what to do in this case. The few instances of off worlders crashing had happened far away from the hospital, towards the more populated cities, not the little town she lived in. She had read up on the few cases of crashes in the computer while her patient was asleep, and she had sent a message to the nearest city to ask for someone with experience in these matters to come out here. However, she didn’t know when he’d arrive. Until then, she had to do the best she could.

Ishka stepped forward. “Would you two like an explanation?” She hoped she could give them one.

“Would you like an explanation?” The cat who had come in with Maria asked. Robert nodded, his face grim. He had enough problems at home, without having to worry about being stranded on some alien planet with scales all over his face. He hoped there was something he could do about that.

The cat sighed. It seemed a bit reluctant to begin. “You are on a world called Pellistair. All of the inhabitants of Pellistair look like us,” it said, sweeping its paw around to include all of the nurses. One was a mouse, another a wombat, and the last a ring tailed lemur. “We’ve lived here for centuries without any contact with people beyond our world. Then, twenty years ago, a spaceship, much like yours, crashed here. We managed to save the man who was in it. We modified our translating devices,” here it fingered a small black thing hanging around its neck, attached to both its ears (Robert had noticed that both he and Maria were wearing similar devices) “ so that we were able to talk to him. He came from the same world as you, and was anxious to get back. Unfortunately, his ship was too damaged for us to fix.”

The cat trailed off. “What happened to him?” Maria asked, curiously. “Did he ever get back to his home?”

“No, he didn’t” said a voice from the door. Maria and Robert turned to see a light green gecko with white hair standing in the doorway.

“How do you know?”, Robert asked, suspiciously.

“Because I’m him” the gecko said, walking into the room.

Maria and Robert stared at the gecko. “But.. You’re a gecko, not a human”, Maria said hesitantly, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

The gecko smiled tiredly. “Yes, I’m a gecko now, but I was a human when I arrived here. You see, all the people here resemble animals, as you’ve seen. That alone is very interesting, but the most interesting thing is, we humans start to look like animals after awhile. Each human takes a different amount of time to complete the change. I took about a year, and it seems that you”, he gestured towards Robert “take even less time. Other than changes in appearance, and some changes in the things your body is able to do, you’ll remain pretty much the same as you were before you came here.”

“Is there any way to reverse the effect?” Robert interrupted.

The gecko shook his head grimly. “Not that I’ve been able to find.”

“What if we leave? Then what would happen?” Maria asked.

The gecko turned to her. “No one’s been able to leave. All the spaceships that crashed here were damaged beyond repair, and Pellistair has no space ships. Even if they did, I’m not sure anyone would be able to find their way back to Earth.”

Outside, a gong sounded. The gecko looked out the window and sighed. “I must be going. I’ll leave some papers about Pellistair for you to read, and I’ll try to come back soon.” He put down a briefcase like thing he had been carrying, unsticking his fingers from the handle. He had a brief conversation with Ishka, and then he was gone.

Maria frowned, suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” Robert asked.

“He never told us his name” Maria said. “And he looked so worn out…”

Maria and Robert spent the rest of the day looking at the papers the gecko had left for them. The nurses left them to themselves, except to give them water and food occasionally. They seemed to understand that Maria and Robert needed to be left alone.

Maria found the papers fascinating. The translating devices that Ishka had talked about had been designed so that the different species could talk to each other. Since the avians vocal cords were very different from the reptiles, and the reptiles vocal cords were different than the mammals, they couldn’t just come up with one global language. So they had designed translating devices, that translated what you heard into your own language. They had taken almost a hundred years to perfect the devices, and make them available to everyone.

She also found out that every species that was found on earth was to be found on Pellistair, and even some that weren’t. All of the species that were extinct on earth was also found here, although there weren’t very many dinosaurs.

“I think,” Maria announced, “that if I’m going to turn into an animal, I want to turn into a gecko. Then I can hang on the bottoms of ceilings and scare people.”

Robert laughed, more freely than Maria had heard him laugh in months. She looked at him speculatively.

Robert noticed her looking at him. “What?” He asked, curiously.

“Oh, it’s nothing”, Maria said, rubbing her chin. “Only even with the fact that we’re crash landed on some planet far away from home, with maybe no hope of getting back, and you’re turning into a lizard, you seem more relaxed than you have in months.”

“You’re right”, Robert mused, looking thoughtful. Then his eyes widened. “I know why it is”, he said. “It’s because no one has looked at me funny, or made any comments on my skin color, even when I started turning scaly.”

I cringe, every time I read that. It definitely needs editing.

Amadeus reviews

2009-03-10T10:50:00.002-05:00

I've been doing some freewriting lately, for the Essay writing book I'm working from. I realized today that some of those freewrites would make interesting blog posts, so I decided to post some of them. However, these are freewrites, so there's not any coherent train of thought that runs through all of them, and they don't really have conclusions.

This freewrite was supposed to be on the different styles of movie reviews, and what sorts of writing tools they use to get their point across. I chose reviews of Amadeus to read for this, which means that in the freewrite, I kept getting distracted by the film, and forgetting that I was supposed to be writing on the reviews.

There's spoilers in here, so if you haven't seen the movie, don't read.

"Many reviews (more than I would have thought) seem to think that Mozart is portrayed as some kind of rock star. Their arguments for this are that he pushes the boundaries of what’s acceptable in music and in conversation, constantly. This is sometimes thought to be one of the only redeemable, grown-up traits about Mozart, is his odd dedication to pushing the boundaries of speech and music, even if he does do so obscenely, most of the time. They also cite his rock star wigs and bizarre coats as references to rock stars. The director is also fond of stories of outsiders, like Hair or One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, so many think that he turned Mozart into an outsider who doesn’t fit into the norms of society. Mozart’s fondness of drinking and partying, and the way he stays up at all hours, is also used in the rock star allegory.
Most of the reviews, even the disfavorable ones, seem to approve of the way music is used during the movies. In most movies, music is just used to underline the emotions that are taking place. In Amadeus, the music is used on many, many layers. It is used to show Mozart’s writing process, near the end of the film, as he dictates to Salieri, it is used to show the Aristocracy’s views on music, when the Emperor says the music has too many notes, and when someone complains that there’s no suitable bang at the end of songs, so you never know when to clap. Music is used to show the differences between Salieri’s music and Mozart’s, where Salieri’s is very good, but nowhere near the same level as Mozart’s. The excess of Venetian society in the late 1700’s is shown through music, at Operas, balls, and parties, even hairdressers. There are many scenes in which there is no dialogue at all, there is just Mozart’s music. Many scenes featuring characters walking through the streets, or the countryside, have only music, not even including the sounds you would hear on the streets. Mozart’s burial in a pauper’s grave is backed up by music, as well.
The thing that made all the reviews interesting to read was the way they all viewed the movie as something different. Some viewed it is as the tale of a misunderstood rock star, some viewed is as a tale of envy and betrayal, some viewed it as a conspiracy theory film, some viewed it as an entertaining film about Mozart’s life. Almost everyone liked it, which would’ve normally made all the reviews boring to read, but since they all had a different take on it, they were still fascinating to read. Even those who didn’t like the film grudgingly agreed that the use of music in the film is exceptional, the sets and costumes are fantastic, and that J.J Abrams performance is wonderful. The things that were generally disliked were Tom Hulces performance, and the actress who played Constanze (I agree with that one). Some also thought the film was to labored and overdone, and over thought.
However, even the bad reviews would’ve made me want to see the movie, if I hadn’t already seen it. All the reviews managed to convey the grand and sweeping style of the film, and the gorgeousness of all the visuals. They also all convey the treachery and plots of the movie, the secrecy and underhanded maneuvers Salieri uses to bring down Mozart.
All the reviews were thoughtful, taking such things into account when they were writing such as directing, the fact that it is an adaptation from a stage play, the film being cast with unknown American actors, instead of well known British actors, the decision to film the whole film in natural light, and many other things."

The reviews comparing Mozart to a rock star can be found here and here, if you're interested in reading them.

Too much Victorian fiction...

2008-09-05T12:32:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite things, lately, is reading books written in the Victorian era. The Invisible Man, The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, I love them all.

This leads to disturbing dreams, though. I had one a few nights ago where the Phantom, Javert (from Les Miserables), and this random Victorian diplomat guy, were all looking for love. I think it was a nice part of the dream, but I don't remember it well.

Then, somehow, I was with Edgar Allen Poe (who looked EXACTLY like L, from Deathnote), and he was extremely sad, and I was trying to cheer him up. It didn't work.

Finally, he turned into Lord Byron/Don Juan, and he and his black imp sidekick tried to kill me and ruin my house, until I stabbed the black imp and made it explode. Then I woke up (thank goodness).

Songs of the Week #25 and #26 and #27, while we're at it

2008-05-26T08:19:00.003-05:00

Life is Beautiful - Sixx A.M.

There is an official video for this one, but it's rather disturbing. The rock stations I listen to play this song sometimes, and I've been falling steadily more in love with it.

4 Minutes - Madonna and Justin Timberlake

I was listening to this one, and going "This is really good!" and enjoying Madonna's singing. I then realized, later, that what I thought was Madonna singing was actually Justin Timberlake. I can't help it if he has such a high voice....

All Over You - The Spill Canvas

Lately, the current music stations haven't been playing much that I like. I don't like the new Colbie Caillat song (but then again, I never do), the new hip hop stuff is all sort of boring, and there's been more country songs, lately. I started wondering why I was even bothering to listen to these stations, until this song played. This made listening to all the boring stuff worthwhile.

Meme

2008-05-02T08:41:00.002-05:00

Another one, yes. Hush.

What I was doing ten years ago:
Umm, I was six. I was probably listening to a book on tape, or playing with friends.

Five things on my To-Do list today:
1. Go to my Sports Doctor appiontment
2. Go to ballet
3. Start my MDI entries
4. Perhaps edit more of my NaNoWriMo Novel
5. Clean my room more

5 Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Put enough money in the bank for my two brothers and my college tuition
2. Buy a car (even though I don't have my license, quite yet)
3. Go to Europe
4. Get a new dishwasher (this one is awful)
5. Find some sensible non profit organization, and donate lots and lots

Three of my bad habits:
1. Procrastinating (Yay, I spelled it right!)
2. Daydreaming
3. Obsessing over random things that make no sense

Five places I've lived:
1. Place number 1
2. Place number 2
3. place number 3
4. That's it
5. And you are not going to find out where I live

Five jobs I've had:

1. Odd jobs at the Department of Public Health
2. Pet sitting
3. That's it

Five books I've recently read:
1. The New World Order - Ben Jeapes (Historical science fiction! What could be better!)
2. The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde (Very good, of course, but creepy)
3. The Mediator series - Meg Cabot
4. Some random Star Wars book
5. Sandman - Neil Gaiman (Creepy, very creepy, but I love the main character)

Five people or communities I'm going to tag:
None, I'm lazy.

Songs of the Week #21, #22, #23, #24

2008-04-25T11:17:00.004-05:00

It's been a long time since I've done any Songs of the Week, so I'm gonna do a bunch of them.

Die Another Day - Madonna

Oddly enough, I like her more recent songs better than her older songs. I really like her album "Confessions from the Dance Floor", and I'm obsessed with this song. I used a fan video because the real videos are really weird. Okay, so this video's weird, too, but it's still better than the originals.

Bond. James Bond - Moby James Bond Theme

I have no idea where this came from, but I really like it. I've been addicted to James Bond music, lately. Again, a fan video, since there appears to be no official video

If I'm Gonna Eat Somebody

I find this song extremely amusing. It also helps that I don't like the guy he's trying to eat. From Fern Gully

Simple and Clean Remix - Utade Hikaru

This is the theme song from Kingdom Hearts. It's originally slower, but I prefer the faster remix. Again, no official video.

KISS or KISS - Nana Kitade

I just found this one today, because someone I know was talking about it. I think it's an adorable song, and she's certainly very adorable.

Movie Quote Meme

2008-04-18T12:53:00.002-05:00

Because you all know just how much I love memes.

It's simple, I post 15 quotes from movies, and you have to guess where they come from.

An easy one, first:

1."You may kiss - You may kiss - JUST KISS! "

2."Room filled with empty people."

3."The itsy bitsy spider caught a mouse in its web, the itsy bitsy spider bit off the mouse's head."

4."Make it ten. I'm only a poor corrupt official."

5."How to get the ruby off the fat guys head... How to get the ruby off the fat guys head..."

6."And right here, here is where it got hit by a magical flying MORON!"

7."After all, who'd pay any attention to a baritone and a detective?"

8."This is nothing compared to Niagara Falls!"

9."Oh, please, monsieur. It is a little game we play. They put it on the bill, I tear up the bill. It is very convenient."

10."Last night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn't take Lorraine out that he'd melt my brain."

11."Can I have a biscuit?"

12."I feel like I just found out my favorite love song was written about a sandwich."

13."If I'm gonna eat somebody, it might as well be you."

14."So, couldn't wait to get my shirt off again, huh?"

And the classic:

15."I'm gonna pass you."

And bonus points to whomever figures out which movie I repeated, and which actor has the most movies (and the most lines).

Dance videos

2008-04-07T13:48:00.002-05:00

I know I haven't updated in awhile, but with getting a job, Easter, being sick, and beginning dance again, not to mention studying a lot more, I haven't really had the energy to update it.

So, since I've gotten hooked on Your Mama Don't Dance, and since they did Hip Hop last week, I was inspired to put together a bunch of hip hop videos, with good dancing. I feel that hip hop gets a lot of bad press, and although I don't actually take it, I've tried it, and it's definitely a demanding dance form, and a legitimate one. I want to show some of the more interesting dances.

Some of these are very off-color, with either really risque dancing, or weird scantily clad people, so watch at your own discretion.

Do It Well - Jennifer Lopez

I hadn't seen anything with Jennifer Lopez in it before watching this video, but she certainly is a good dancer. One of the weird videos.

Hit Me Baby - Britney Spears

I know a lot of people hate her, but she was actually very talented, in the beginning of her career. The dance in this video is flawlessly executed, right in time to the music.

Cold Hearted Snake - Paula Abdul

Possible one of the best dance music videos ever. It's fast and furious, and just blows you away. I think it's sad that she's now best known for being an American Idol judge, since she's one of the most talented dancers and choreographers in MTVs history. Another weird video.

Like I Love You - Justin Timberlake

I don't really care for his music, but I can't deny that he's got talent, and the dance in here is no exception.

The Grammys

2008-02-12T15:33:00.000-05:00

I taped the Grammy Awards on Sunday, and watched them yesterday and today. After watching a particularly boring Grammy a few years ago, and on finding out that they gave the Song of the Year Award to "My Humps" last year (who would do that? Who in their right mind would award that song??), I haven't been to thrilled with the Grammys.

I must say, though, that this years show was very good. I guess that since it's their 50th show, they had a lot of performances of older songs, and a lot of older performers singing, which was a lot of fun. Tina Turner and Beyonce performed "Proud Mary", which might have been my favorite part of the whole thing, and Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richy preformed, which was also fun. No Police, but since they performed last year, that's not surprising.

Amy Winehouse won a lot, which surprised me. I hadn't expected her to win much. Rihanna got an award (her acceptance speech was adorable), which made me happy, and Paramore didn't, which made me sad.

I actually enjoyed Alicia Keys performance of "No One", which is surprising, since I hate the song. I think it works better as a performance, when you can watch her sing.

I did not enjoy Brad Paisleys performance. I thought it was boring and skipped it.

Andrea Bocelli and Josh Grobans performance was gorgeous. Their voices sound wonderful together.

Although they didn't show it, Maroon 5 won Best Pop Performance by a group for their song "Makes Me Wonder", one of my favorite songs that came out last year, and Ne-yo also won for his new album. This makes me extremely pleased. The Foo Fighters also won a few awards, which made me happy.

So now I can't wait for next years show, which is unusual.

Favorite Harry Potter videos

2008-02-10T11:23:00.001-05:00

There is no song of the week this week because I can't think of one. So instead I'm going to post my favorite Harry Potter videos, because I feel like it.

This one is one of the first ones I found, and it goes along with the words really well.

Snape: I'm too Sexy

This one is about the attractive, evil men of Slytherin.

Extra Smooth Slytherin

This one's just for fun.

Professional Pirate

This one's just sweet, and has one of my favorite couples set to one of my favorite songs.

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic

I heard this song recently, and it was a candidate for Song of the Week. However, the music video was to off color, so I found this instead. Unfortunately, it doesn't use all of the song.

Cold Hearted Snape

This one's just cute, although not very accurate. Hermione's much nicer than this.

She Bangs

I just found this one this morning. This song is one of my favorites at the moment (it's by Depeche Mode, surprise, surprise), and this video goes along with it perfectly.

People are People

Song of the Week #20, and The Argument Clinic

2008-02-03T12:03:00.000-05:00

Since I started listening to the radio a year and a half ago, I've steadily been liking hip-hop more and more. I'll never like it as much as rock and broadway musicals, but there are some artists and songs that I really like. This was the first hip-hop song I really liked.
It is a hip-hop video, so there's a lot of slightly suggestive dancing, but nothing really off color.

Crazy in Love - Beyonce

What I love about hip-hop videos is that you get completely random things in them, like exploding cars, fur coats, and giant wind tunnels (if you want more random music videos, look no further then Britney Spears Toxic video, which is also very random).

And now for my favorite Monty Python sketch. It's not as well known as the Spam sketch, or the Spanish Inquisition sketch, but I like it more.

Argument Clinic

And here's a version of it set to Kingdom Hearts. You don't need to watch the whole thing, but you should watch the area around 3:22

Song of the Week #19 - Love Song

2008-01-20T10:45:00.000-05:00

The last time I had a sleep over with my friends, they were both obsessed with some song they'd heard on the radio. I found it on youtube for them, and to my surprise, it was marvelous! I had expected a good song, but not one like this.

To my surprise and delight, the radio stations I listen to have started playing it, although not enough.

It's also one of the best music videos I've seen in awhile.

Love Song - Sara Bareilles
Video

Unfortunately, embedding is disabled, and there's only one music video loaded on youtube, so you'll just have to follow the link.

Song of the Week #18 - See You Again

2008-01-15T13:34:00.000-05:00

I was listening to the radio, as usual, yesterday, and wondering what I was going to put up for song of the week. I've run out of new, unusual songs, since I've been listening to a lot of albums lately, not the radio as much.
So I had no idea of what I was going to do, and than this song came on. It's by Miley Cyrus, from Hannah Montana. I've heard another song by her, Best of Both Worlds, and it was good, but more country-ish than I wanted.
This song is more pop and rock than country, and I liked it immediately. Now I'll go look into the rest of this album.

See You Again - Miley Cyrus

And for a bonus song, a blend of two songs. I don't usually care for blends of songs, they normally just sounds weird, but this one's gorgeous.

Every Car You Chase - Snow Police

Songs of the Week # 14, #15, #16, and #17

2007-11-25T12:18:00.000-05:00

I've missed a few weeks, so there are four songs in this post.

First up is a new song by Foo Fighters. I first ran into them two years ago, when one of my favorite dollers mentioned that they were her favorite band. I listened to some of their stuff then, but didn't like it.

This song was released on the radio about two months ago, and I really liked it. Apparently their new album is slightly different than their older ones.

Since starting this post, I found out that this song and band are up for some Grammy nominations! I hope they win something.

The Pretender - Foo Fighters

The next song I found by accident, while looking for a song called "What are you Waiting for" by No Secrets, which is a sweet, girlish song.
This song is not. This is a very weird song.
There may be some language in it, just to warn you, and the video is very weird. The song starts about three minutes in, but I recommend watching the whole thing.

What You Waiting For - Gwen Stefani

This song I thought was by Simple Plan, but it's actually by the All American Rejects. Upon finding that out, I got their CD out of the library, and it's actually very good!
Again, a slightly bizarre video.

Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects

There's a program on one of the radio stations I listen to, where they'll play the top forty songs of the week on Sunday morning. They also have information about upcoming movies and albums, as well as interviews with actors and singers, so I tape it and listen to it. I was very surprised, to find this song on the mid 30s. It's one of the best songs to come out this year, and it's by an artist I don't know!
The video is again, weird, but not as weird as the Gwen Stefani one.

Misery Business - Paramore

Music Meme

2007-11-18T11:10:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know I do to many Memes, so hush.

Music Meme

What is the first music album you remember owning?

That pink one with "Complicated" on it.

If not the same, what is the first music album you purchased for yourself?

I think it might have been the same one. If not, maybe the Joss Stone album?

What artist currently occupies the most space either in terms of shelf space or megabytes on your hard drive?

The Police.

How many different types of music media (vinyl, cassette, CD, etc) have you owned in your lifetime?
Cassettes, cds, and mp3s.

Who or what has had the biggest effect on your music taste?

For rock, my father, for broadway, my mother. For pop and hip-hop, the radio.

How do you currently prefer to listen to music?
Either on cds on my cd player, or the radio on my cd player.

In terms of music memorabilia, what is your most prized possession?

I don't have any.

Have you ever “swapped headsets” with a complete stranger (meaning have you ever unplugged the earphones from your listening device and plugged them into someone else’s player and had them do the same)?

No, although it sounds fun.

Have you ever been completely obsessed with a particular artist? Who and to what level did your fandom go?

I've been obsessed with several artists. The one I was obsessed with the most was The Police, though. I listened to "Synchronicity" over and over again.

What is the farthest you’ve ever traveled for a concert?

One in another state.

Who have you seen in concert the most?

I've never seen anyone more than twice.

Performers I would most like to see that I haven't seen yet?

Either The Police or Fall Out Boy.

Most male-intimidating concert?

Saffire.

Most anticipated concert?
It wasn't a concert, but a student production of Les Miserables, directed by Terrence Mann.

Song of the Week #13 - Photograph

2007-11-15T12:53:00.001-05:00

Since I have a sort of obsession with this song, and am listening to it right now (and have been listening to it for the past thirty minutes), I decided it would make a fine Song of the Week.

I haven't watched the video all the way through, but it looks rather odd, so don't feel compelled to watch it. You can just open it in one tab and listen to it while looking at other stuff.

Photograph - Def Leppard

More NaNoWriMo and Song of the Week #12

2007-11-11T11:04:00.000-05:00

Well, my book is going well, and not well. I've got 21,114 words, which is good, I'm ahead of schedule (I think), but I've all of a sudden ran out of inspiration, and I have all these random plot threads that I have no idea what to do with.

Anyway, enough complaining, onto the Song of the Week, This weeks song is from a video game I've been playing lately, Final Fantasy VI. It's a wonderful game. The story twists and turns and never does what you expect it to, the characters are wonderful, the graphics are gorgeous, and the music sticks in your head for hours.

One of my favorite parts of the whole game was where you get to preform an opera. This is the aria from the opera, by far the most beautiful part of the game.

Oh, Maria

NaNoWriMo

2007-11-04T13:01:00.000-05:00

There's this thing called National Novel Write Motnh, where you start writing a novel on November first, and try to write 50,000 words of it by December 1st.

I've signed up for it. So far I've got exactly 6,000 words. It take place on Pellistair, and is going along nicely. I even have a plot now, which I didn't when I started out.

I don't know whether I'll be able to finish it, but it's been fun to try. I'll keep you updated on it.

Song of the Week #11 - I Don't Want to be in Love (Dance Floor Anthem)

2007-10-28T11:32:00.000-05:00

I heard this song on the radio a few weeks ago, and didn't really think anything of it. Then it came on again, last week, and I listened to it closer. Since then, it's been steadily growing on me. It's got a nice sort of 80's rock, punk rock mix, and the lead singer has an unusual voice, but he can still sing really well.

I Don't Want to be in Love (Dance Floor Anthem)- Good Charlotte

I'm going to look into this band now.

And as a special bonus, the band from Song of the Week #6, Anberlin, singing Song of the Week #10, Enjoy the Silence.

Enjoy the Silence - Preformed by Anberlin

Their's is the only redone version I really like, although Lacuna Coils version is good (just a bit screachy for my taste).

Song of the Week #10 - Enjoy the Silence

2007-10-19T09:38:00.000-05:00

This is one of my four favorite songs. It's dark, and atmospheric, and the lead singer's got a nice voice. It's the first song I ever heard by Depeche Mode, and it got me hooked on them.

Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode

According to Wikipedia (so it may not be true) all of the long shots of him walking through the snow are not of the lead singer, David Gahan, like they were supposed to be, but of the producer, Richard Bell. David Gahan got tired after one day of filming in the cold and left.

I'm four people, and SOTW #9

2007-10-02T13:43:00.002-05:00

I recently decided to find out what Myers-Briggs personality type I am. I decided to take two tests, to see if I got the same results from both. I didn't. I was an ISFJ on one, and an ESFJ on another. I decided to take two more tests, and decided whichever result I got twice would be my personality type. I got ETFJ and INFJ.

Needless to say, I was very confused. I wasn't sure how I got the E's, since I'm and introvert, and I also began to think there was something wrong with me. I've decided to go with being four people at once. It's more fun.

And now, for Song of the Week #9:

Just kidding (but it was amusing, wasn't it?).

Here's the real song of the week:

Victoriam Speramus - Krypteria

I found it when I was looking for "Holding out for a Hero" videos. I'm not sure why this came up, but I'm glad it did.

Latest Dolls

2007-09-19T19:33:00.000-05:00

Most of my recent dolls have been for contests or projects, so I haven't thought of actually posting them here. That's changing now *evil laugh*.

First, my entry for the Miss Fairytale Pageant at Fairytopia.

Base 1 Base 2

She's my version of Little Red Riding Hood. I really love the way her outfit came out, and both of the bases were a pleasure to work on.

Base

My entry to Miss Doll International. She's Miss Belarus, and this is her in an evening gown inspired by the Acai berry. All of the MDI rounds have been fun to do, and it's been fun to design her outfits. I'm sad it's done.

Base

My example doll for a tutorial for Bat Wings Tutorial I'm writing. Her spots were hard, but lots of fun.
She's a cat/bat hybrid from Pellistair, but instead of being shy and reclusive, she flaunts her unusualness.

And finally:

Base ! Base 2

My Muse! Dollers have a tradition of dolling their muses (and anything else that stands still long enough. Or things that don't stand still). It figures that my muse would be scaly and wear historical clothing. And wear big black boots.

Song of the Week #8 - Anything for You

2007-09-15T10:01:00.000-05:00

This is the first song I ever heard by Evanescence. It's not one of their better known songs, since it comes off of a concept album (Not for Your Ears) , which is nearly impossible to find.

Since it's off of a concept album, there is no official music video for it.

I found the song while looking for videos set to "I'd do Anything by" Simple Plan. Needless to say, I ended up liking "Anything for You" much better than "I'd do Anything", which is sweet, but nowhere near the same level that "Anything For You" is on.

Misheard song lyrics

2007-09-12T11:54:00.000-05:00

I've had a wonderful time this morning browsing through The Archive of Misheard Lyrics. Ever since I was 5 and sang Madonna's "Material Girl" as "Cheerio Girl", I have had a great fondness for misheard song lyrics. My favorites from this site are:

Human League: Don't You Want Me
The real lyrics are:
Don't you want me baby.
Don't you want me oooooh

Misheard lyrics:
Don't chew on me baby.
Don't chew on me oooowww

I literally collapsed in laughter after reading this one.

Elton John: Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
The real lyrics are:
I've had it with your discipline

Misheard lyrics:
I've had it with your Death Star plan.

Billy Joel: Piano Man
The real lyrics are:
The piano, it sounds like a carnival.

Misheard lyrics:
The piano, it sounds like a power mower.

I think the misheard lyrics are better.

This next one's a bit off-color, but still funny.
Billy Joel: We Didn't Start the Fire
The real lyrics are:
We didn't start the fire.

Misheard lyrics:
We didn't fart, you liar.

Village People: In The Navy
The real lyrics are:
In the Navy

Misheard lyrics:
Ukulele

I like to sing that version whenever I hear that song.

Police: King Of Pain
The real lyrics are:
It's my destiny to be the King of Pain

Misheard lyrics:
It's my destiny to be the King of Spain

I always picture Sting dressed up like a king whenever I read this one.

Police: Message In A Bottle
The real lyrics are:
Message in a bottle

Misheard lyrics:
Knickers in a parcel

Police: Message In A Bottle
The real lyrics are:
Woke up this morning, can't believe what I saw.
Hundred million bottles washed up on the shore.

Misheard lyrics:
Woke up this morning, can't believe what I saw.
Hundred million bathtubs washed up on the shore.

As you can see, the Police don't ennunciate very well. My friend and I once had a discussion as to what was being said in "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic". Were the lyrics "Even though my life with her is tragic, Still I know my love for her goes on", or "Even though my life before was tragic, Still I know my love for her goes on"? We finally gave up trying to figure out what he was saying.

If you have any misheard song lyrics, I'd love to hear them!

Song ofthe Week #7- In the Middle

2007-08-29T11:13:00.000-05:00

Someone has probably wondered, "Why is this blog called Lemur Reflections, and why doe it say that these are thoughts and reflections on the world when all she does is write about music, books, movies and memes?" The answer to that is that those are the things I feel like writing about. You'll get thoughtful stuff in the winter, when I'm depressed.

Anyway, on to the song. This is the first song I heard by Jimmy Eat World. I automatically thought it was a song from the 80's, but it actually came out in 2001. It's my favorite thing by the band, although I also like "Futures" and "Just Tonight".

For a long time, anytime anyone said something about "You're over there, in the middle" or anything else like that, I'd get this song in my head.

In the Middle - Jimmy Eat World

You don't get the original video or any concert videos because the concert videos all had lousy quality, or the performance wasn't very good, and the original music video has lots of people in their underwear dancing in a house, and I'm not posting that on my blog.

Song of the Week #6 - Paperthin Hymn

2007-08-22T12:12:00.000-05:00

A friend recommended Anberlin to me, saying that they were a Gothic Christian band. I was, understanbly, intrigued, and went off to look them up on Youtube. This is the first song of theirs I heard.

Paperthin Hymn - Anberlin

I got their CD, "Never Take Friendship Personal", out of the library, and loved it. Unfortunately, it has to go back to the library tomorrow.

Song of the Week #4 and #5

2007-08-16T14:10:00.001-05:00

I didn't put up a song last week because I was busy with my Cats camp. So, in honor of Cats, here's last weeks song:

The Rum Tum Tugger

I want to be one of those cats.

The song for this week is a japanese song I like. It was the fourth opening for the Inuyasha anime, and one of the most popular openings.

Grip! - Every Little Thing

Unfortunetly, that's a shortened version. I couldn't find a video of the long version that wasn't fanmade.

Last night, I had a dream....

2007-08-16T09:36:00.000-05:00

In which Justin Timberlake locked me in his house and sang "Sexy Back" at me. This completely befuddled me, since I don't even like him. (I figured out later in the dream that he was shooting a video for "Sexy Back", and he thought I was part of it. That's why he locked me in, because he didn't want me leaving and messing up the shoot)

I figure I got some Justin Timberlake fangirls dream, and she got whatever dream I was supposed to have.

Song of the Week #3 - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

2007-08-04T10:29:00.000-05:00

Okay, I couldn't resist. I just had to do this song.

I found out about this song by a very long and convoluted chain of events, which I won't go into here. The song is "You Spin Me Right Round (Like a Record)", and it's done by Dead Or Alive, a New Wave group from the 80's.

I like to refer to it as "The Scary Song", since it's rather weird. And it sticks in your head. For days.

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)- Dead or Alive

Song of the Week #2 - Girlfriend

2007-07-28T08:27:00.000-05:00

A lot of you will probably already know this song, since it's very popular on the radio. It's also the most bratty song on the radio, and possibly the most bratty song ever, with the exception of a few Madonna and Jane Wiedlin songs.

I managed to find a censored version of the original video, so it's alright to listen to even if there are small children nearby. The original doesn't have all that much bad language, but enough that you wouldn't want a five year old listening to it (especially if that five year old repeats everything they hear).

Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne

I know it's bratty, and nasty, but it still brings a huge grin to my face every time I hear it.

Song of the Week #1- Here in your Arms

2007-07-20T19:32:00.000-05:00

I've decided to start posting a new song each week. It can be a song I like, a song I dislike, or just some random song I can't get out of my head. This may be informative and interesting to you, but really, it's just for my own fun.

I was going to do a song I've had in my head lately, but I decided that I want to do another one, instead, even though I haven't thought about it in awhile. The song is, "Here in your Arms" by Hellogoodbye. I was going to link to the official video, but I don't really like it, so I'm linking to a fanmade one, instead. You can enjoy the video even if you don't know what the games are that are being used for it.

Here in your Arms

I heard it on the radio back in November, and I've loved it ever since then. It manages to use synthesizers without over using them, and it's so sweet. It's probably my favorite song on the radio right now.

Redone Meme

2007-07-15T13:06:00.000-05:00

Yup, yet another meme. This is a redone version of one I did earlier.

~~WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?~~ WHAT INSULTING NICKNAMES WERE YOU CALLED IN CHILDHOOD? I didn't have any, probably because I didn't go to school.

~~WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?~~ WHEN YOU CRY, DO YOU LOOK UGLY, OR DOES IT GIVE YOU A BEAUTIFUL SAD GLOW? I look all red and blotchy. I envy those who get a beautiful glow (if there even is such a thing).

~~DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?~~ ARE YOU FORGETTING HOW TO WRITE BECAUSE YOU SPEND SO MUCH TIME ON THE COMPUTER? No. I do three pages of handwriting in a college ruled notebook every morning, and that's what's causing my handwriting to degenerate.

~~WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?~~ DO YOU THINK VEGETARIANS ARE INSANE? (BECAUSE THEY ARE.) No, I know to many to have that opinion, and anyway, I tried to be one several times when I was 5 or 6. As long as vegetarians don't try to tell everyone else that they're right and your wrong, I'm fine with them.

~~DO YOU HAVE KIDS?~~ DO YOU LIKE KIDS? IF SO, WHY? WHY, IN THE NAME OF GOD? I like them because they can be extremely amusing. And sometimes sweet.

~~DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?~~ ARE YOU AS FRIGHTENED OF CLOWNS AS YOU SHOULD BE IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU? I've never had any experience with clowns, so I don't know.

~~DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?~~ IF YOU COULD BE EITHER VERY BEAUTIFUL OR VERY SMART, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY? It depends. If I could stay the way I looked when I became smart, or stayed how intelligent I was if I became beautiful, I'd say smart. I think there are problems that go along with being beautiful, and you can always hide how smart you are.

~~WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?~~ WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CUSS WORD? Shoot, rats, and curses.

~~DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?~~ DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING TO GROW OLD OR DIE TRAGICALLY YOUNG? I hope grow old. Dying tragically young never did anyone any good.

~~WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?~~ DESCRIBE YOUR MOST RECENT NIGHTMARE. I think the one with the red man was the most recent.

~~WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?~~ DO YOU WISH THAT, INSTEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DEBATES, THEY INSTEAD HAD TO BOX EACH OTHER, BECAUSE THEN THERE'D NEVER EVER BE ANOTHER DEMOCRAT IN THE WHITE HOUSE? No, it wouldn't make anything any more interesting.

~~RED OR PINK?~~ ABBA: THE BLONDE OR THE BRUNETTE? Brunette. The blonde one looks too much like Luke Skywalker to me, and there's nothing attractive about him (at least to me).

~~WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?~~ ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW MUCH DO YOU HATE SHOPPING FOR NEW CLOTHES (10 BEING SO MUCH YOU'D RATHER CLEAN THE CAT BOX WITH YOUR BARE HANDS). Hmm. Shoe shopping would be an 8, and regular clothe shopping would be about a 6.5.

~~WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?~~ WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE BEFORE THE LAST TIME YOU THREW UP? It was years ago, and it was dinner. That's all I remember (and why do you want to know, anyway?)

~~WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?~~ NAME FIVE "CLASSIC" POPULAR SONGS YOU HOPE YOU NEVER HEAR AGAIN AS LONG AS YOU LIVE.

1. Photograph by Nickelback (I have always thought this was a stupid song)
2. Imagine by John Lennon
3. Beautiful Girl by Sean Kingston (this song could not be much more annoying if it tried. If you like this song, could you please tell me why?)
4. My Love by Justin Timberlake (It's got a pyschotic mouse in the background)
5.Take the Money and Run by Steve Miller

~~IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?~~ IF YOU WERE A DOG, WHICH BREED WOULD YOU BE? I'd be a Basenji.

~~FAVORITE SMELLS?~~ FAVORITE BODILY FUNCTION? (COUGH, SNEEZE, BELCH, POOP, FART, YAWN, ETC) Hiccup, since I do it so often.

~~WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?~~ WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU HAD A HUGE FIGHT WITH, WHAT WAS THE FIGHT ABOUT, AND WHO WON? I don't have big arguments.

~~FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?~~ AS WE ALL KNOW, PRO FOOTBALL IS THE ONLY SPORT WORTH CARING ABOUT. IN LIGHT OF THAT FACT, WHO IS THE BEST NFL QUARTERBACK OF THE LAST 10 YEARS? BEST RUNNING BACK? BEST WIDE RECEIVER? BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER? BIGGEST PRIMA DONNA? WHINIEST BITCH? I couldn't care less, I'm afraid.

~~HAIR COLOR?~~ BALD MEN ARE VERY SEXY. DISCUSS. Only african american men, like Avery Brooks and Samuel L. Jackson.

~~DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?~~ DO YOU HAVE PERFECT VISION? IF SO, RACHEL LUCAS ENVIES YOU WITH THE FIRE OF A THOUSAND GALAXIES. Nope, I've got average vision with my left eye, and less than average vision with my right eye (not that you really need to know that).

~~FAVORITE FOOD?~~ FOOD YOU FIND SO REPUGNANT THAT YOU SIMPLY CANNOT BELIEVE OTHER PEOPLE PUT IT IN THEIR MOUTHS? Escargot. I mean, it even looks like little dried up snail bodies!!

~~SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?~~ WHEN YOU GO TO THE MOVIES AND THE J ERK BEHIND YOU KICKS YOUR SEAT CONSTANTLY, DO YOU IGNORE/MOVE OR DO YOU CHALLENGE THEM TO FISTICUFFS? I assume that's it's either a very small child, or someone who's easily amused, so I just ignore it. And if the movie's good enough, I don't even notice.

~~LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?~~ LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED THAT MADE YOU GET ON YOUR KNEES AFTERWARDS AND BEG GOD TO GIVE YOU THE LAST TWO HOURS OF YOUR LIFE BACK? I've never watched any really bad movies, although Tron wasn't as interesting as some. It was still good, though. After reading Wicked, however, I wanted the last two hours of my life back.

~~WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?~~ DO YOU EVER PUT CLOTHES ON YOUR PETS? No, that would be cruel. Anyway, I already poke them and call them weird names.

~~SUMMER OR WINTER?~~ BEER, WINE, OR LIQUOR? Wine.

~~FAVORITE DESSERT?~~ FAVORITE FOOD THAT YOU KNOW WILL KILL YOU EVENTUALLY BUT YOU DON'T CARE BECAUSE IT IS JUST SO FREAKING DELICIOUS? Chocolate and other desserts.

~~WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?~~ HAVE YOU EVER BEEN SO DISGUSTED BY A BOOK'S ENDING THAT YOU VIOLENTLY DESTROYED THE BOOK? Inkspell! I hated that ending soooo much and SHE STILL HASN'T WRITTEN THE SEQUEL!!! Other than that it was a great book.

~~WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?~~ TRUE OR FALSE: "REALITY" T.V. IS THE BEST REASON FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD TO HATE AMERICA. It's a stupid thing (most of it, with the exception of the singing and dancing shows), but if America didn't come up with it, wouldn't someone else?

~~FAVORITE SOUND?~~ FAVORITE DRUNKEN SLATTERN: PARIS, LINDSEY, OR BRITNEY? Britney and Lindsay are both somewhat talented, and at least have one song that I like. I just feel sorry for them.

~~WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?~~ WHAT HAPPENED THE FIRST TIME YOU GOT DRUNK? 'FESS UP. I've never gotten drunk (so there).

~~DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?~~ IF YOU COULD HAVE MAD SKILLZ IN DANCING OR IN SINGING, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WOULD IT BE FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL SATISFACTION OR TO IMPRESS OTHER PEOPLE AND POSSIBLY GET SOME ACTION? I can already dance fairly well, and I want to work hard to get better at it, not just be spectacularly good at it. The same with singing.

~~WHERE WERE YOU BORN?~~ IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPERPOWER, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WOULD YOU USE IT FOR GOOD OR EVIL? I know what power I'd have (this is what happens if you read too many X-men comic books), but I can't really explain it. I'd use it for good.

~~WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?~~ IF YOU NEVER SEE ANOTHER Q&A MEME AGAIN, WILL IT BE TOO SOON? I like them! (As you can tell from my blog)

Innocent Dragon doll

2007-07-07T09:50:00.000-05:00

I entered a collaboration at Fairytopia, where we each took a mythlogical creature or two with a certain theme. I chose the Innocent Dragon, and the Emo Centaur.
I had no inspiration whatsoever for an innocent dragon, until I saw this base by Aceldama, and it inspired me immediately. A few days later, I ended up with this:

Base

I'm very pleased with her! The base is much larger than I normally work on, but I think she came out well, nonetheless. The fire in her hand was hard to get right, as were her wings.
After dolling her, I have more confidence in my ability to doll on large bases.

Mechanical spider

2007-06-28T10:47:00.001-05:00

The guy in here is half spider, half robot. This takes place on Pellistair.

"Now, what were you saying about this being your fault?” He asked, staring at her with his piercing gaze.

"I was one of the scientists at the laboratory where the technology was created that turned you half robot," she started reluctantly. "In fact, I was one of the main scientists working on it."

"The technology was stolen from the laboratory you worked at. It wasn't your fault it was used to experiment on me", he interrupted, staring at her puzzledly.

"No, you don't understand! I helped them steal it. It's my fault they got it in the first place. And what's more, I'm the one they asked to find the subject for their first tests! After weeks of searching, I decided you were the best candidate, and told them when and where to abduct you and bring you back. If it weren't for me, they never would have found you, and probably wouldn't have gotten the equipment in the first place!"

He stared at her in shock, before moving with lightning speed and pinning her against a rock. "You're the one who did this? You're the one who's responsible for the revulsion on everyone's face when they see me?" He asked, shaking her.

"Yes! I've been trying to tell you! All this time, teaching you and talking to you, I've been trying to make up for it!" She cried, staring at the ground.

He let go of her and stepped back. She was unable to meet his gaze. "You're the reason I've kept going, the reason I haven't just crawled under a rock somewhere and given up, and now it turns out that you're fake, that you've had your own reasons for helping me, all along" he stated bitterly. "Everything I've believed in has turned wrong, or been flung back in my face. I don't know what to do with myself now..."

She heard him walk away, and someone coming running up to her. "Miss! Are you all right? I saw what that monster did to you!" A brown tabby cat looked at her in concern. She stared after him, and said, half to herself, "It wasn't entirely rational. I took everything away from him. It was a natural, and completely expectable, reaction". The tabby cat looked at her in confusion, as she thought, Why do I always have to be like this? So cold, and logical, thinking scientifically about everything? That's what got me into this mess in the first place. And what got him into this....

I'm a happy person, really. I don't normally write such dark things. I blame it on Nidhiki (who I shall always think of as a belly dancer), and on Depeche Mode, bucause I had "Suffer Well" in my head all day, and I think this comes from that.

Redone songs

2007-06-25T09:48:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I heard a redone version of "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper. I love the original version, and was slightily appalled (but also slightly intrigued) by the redone version, by Quietdrive.
I forgot about it, until yesterday, when I heard a rap song, "I'll be Missing you", with the same background music, and the same music for the refrain, as "Every Breath You Take", which as I've already mentioned, is one of my favorite songs ever, and has been since I was eight. I was horrified, and extremely angry, about it, until I looked it up. It turns out, it's a song about losing people, and how, as it's put in the song, "I know you still living your life, after death". Well, I couldn't be angry after that, although I still wish they hadn't used the same music as "Every Breath You Take".
All of this reminded me of Quietdrives version of "Time After Time", so I went looking for it, and find several interesting preformances of "Time After Time". These were my favorites:

Dilana, on Rockstar Supernova- She gives it a sort of country twist, and she's got a lovely voice.

Brandon Rogers, on American Idol- It's nice to hear a guy sing this song, and he sings it so sweetly, and with so much emotion.

Tracet Thorn and Ben Watt, of Everything But the Girl - She's got a gorgeous deeper voice, and I love the way they only use one guitar for musical accompniement.

And, the best for last -

Eva Cassidy - She has such a beautiful voice, and her version is probably my favorite of all these.

I feel differently about people redoing songs, after watching these.

Meme

2007-06-25T09:17:00.000-05:00

I love Memes! I got this one from Moomin Light.

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
My parents found out about my name from a character in a book, but I wasn't exactly named after her. At least I hope not.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Hmm. Yesterday, maybe? I've a been bit overly emotional lately.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
No. I plan to work on it eventually, but I haven't really done anything with it yet.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Turkey, I think oven roasted, but I prefer Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly.

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No, not unless you count a few hundred stuffed animals.

IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
I don't know. I'm never sure what to say to this question. In some moods I would, in some moods I wouldn't.

DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
No, I find it a bit anoyying (I can't spell that word. It's irritating) ocasionally.

DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
I think so, unless someone stole them last night when I was sleeping.

WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Maybe. I'd probably have to eat lots of chocolate or sugar beforehand.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Honey Bunches of Oats, which is the only cereal I eat. I eat it without milk.

DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
It depends. Not on my sneakers, but I have to with my jazz shoes, because they're pretty tight.

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
I can dance for thirty hours in five days, and still be able to walk around. That seems pretty strong to me.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Something with lots of chocolate and carmel in it.

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Their hair. I notice peoples hair before I notice their gender, or even if their alive or not. (There are some really realistic statues around here)

RED OR PINK?
Both! As long as they're bright.

WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
My depression, and the way I don't always think things through.

WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Several friends I haven't seen in awhile.

WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Denim shorts, and black sneakers.

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Two brown sugar poptarts.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Something obnoxious on Cartoon Network. My brother is watching it in the other room.

IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Orange!

FAVORITE SMELLS?
Anything lemony or orangey.

WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
A next dor neighbor, asking me to take care of their cats. (They're so cute! The cats.)

FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
The Olympics, where I like the figure skating, speed skating, snowboarding, and skiing. And gymnastics and racing.

HAIR COLOR?
Brown.

EYE COLOR?
Hazel?

DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No, my eyes are fine, wlthough my right eye doesn't see as well as my left eye, which is weird, and you really didn't need to know that, I guess.....

FAVORITE FOOD?
Anything orangey or lemony.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy Endings.

LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
The last movie I watched was "Dragonheart" but it started to pixelate, so we had to stop watching it, which was a shame. The last movie I watched all of, was, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End" which was reallly good, except they killed two of my favorite characters! Curse the writers! And Bootstrap Bill!

WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
A purple t-shirt, with pink letters that say the name of one of the places I dance at.

SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer. I hate the winter.

HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs.

FAVORITE DESSERT?
Hmm, that's hard. Anything orangey or lemony.

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
The Last Command, by Timothy Zahn, the Cestus Deception, by someone, Haters, by someone, and that regency that I can't remember the name of or the author.

WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
The mouse pad in my room is grey with black letters on it. I don't know what the black letters say.

WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?

Dragonheart, although that's a movie, not tv, and we didn't finish it, so I guess it doesn't count.

FAVORITE SOUND?
The sound of dancing feet.

ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
The Beatles, although I prefer their songs when other people sing them, like Earth, Wind, and Fire. The Rolling Stones scare me, especially Mick Jaggers tongue.

WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Maine. I want to go back there.

DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I can dance, and I have an excellent memory for choreography.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
A hospital somewhere.

Weird song lyrics

2007-06-09T10:03:00.001-05:00

There are some songs with lyrics that always make me scratch my head, because they don't make sense, or are just weird, or are redundant. Here are some.

"Let's talk this over
It's not like we're dead"
Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending

There's nothing wrong with the lyrics, they're just sort of odd. It's an interesting way to put it...

"I gotta whisper 'cause I can't be too loud"
Hinder - Lips of an Angel

Why else do you whisper?

"You see you were born
Born, born
(Born to be alive)"
Patrick Hernandez - Born to be Alive

And what else would you have been born for..?

I'll post more when I think of them. Post any weird song lyrics you've found in the comments!

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories review

2007-04-26T08:29:00.000-05:00

About two weeks ago I ordered Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. I had been thinking of ordering it for a long time, because it was supposed to have a wonderful story and great graphics. Unfortunetly, it was set between two other video games that I don't have, so I had decided not to order it.
About two months ago, my younger brohter found the comic book version of it, and he suggested it to me. I read it, and was intrigued by the characters and the world. I then started watching parts of the other two Kingdom Hearts games on Youtube and I finally decided to get Chain of Memories.
It came in the mail about a week ago, and I immediately started to play it. I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it, because it had several negative reviews on Amazon, but I needn't have worried. It had great music, great graphics, great characters, and the gameplay was fun. I was hooked.
The premise of the story is that Sora, the main character, and his two friends, Donald and Goofy, are looking for their lost friends, The King (Mickey Mouse) and Riku. One night, while they're sleeping, Sora wakes up, to see a mysterious robed figure, who says, ""Ahead lies something you need. But to claim it, you must lose something dear." Sora and his friends come to a large castle the next day, and they go into it, in hope of finding their lost friends. Once inside, the mysterious figure appears again, and tells them that, "To find is to lose, and to lose is to find". Sora and his friends start forgetting some things, and remembering others. The figure gives Sora some cards, which will allow him to go to different worlds, created from his memories of them. Sora and his friends set off through the castle, hoping to find their lost friends and memories.
One of the unusual things about this game series is that it combines Disney and Final Fantasy characters and worlds together, so you end interacting with characters like Ariel, from the Little Mermaid, and Cloud, from Final Fantasy VII. It's a lot of fun to meet your favorite Disney characters, and, in some cases, fight them.
The grpahics are unusual for a Gameboy game, because instead of little pixel graphics with no shading, or computer generated graphics, all the graphics are fully pixel shaded, and the characters are pixel sprites, and they're extremely well done. Being a pixel artist myself, I spend a lot of the game going, "Oh, wow! Look at those lovely folds!", or, "That hair is very nicely pixeled!"
The music is by far the best music I've ever heard from a video game. The theme you hear in the castle floors is very pretty, and the music in the title screen is gorgeous. The music in the Disney worlds is great, too, becuase they all have music that reflects the world, and in some cases, is from the movies. I especially love the music for Atlantica, because it's a version of "Under the Sea".
I was worried about the battle system, because people either really loved it, or really hated it. It's actually turned out to be one of my favorite things about the game so far.It's very unusual, in that it combines cards and the typical run around and bash things system that most games use. There are many different things you can do with the cards, and a lot of strategy, and it's really fun.
The characters are so much fun! Hades was particularly well written, and I could hear James Woods (who does Hades voice in Hercules) saying all the lines. The original characters, like Sora, and Axel, are very interesting and funny. They did really well with writing all the Disney characters, who all seem very realistic, and a lot like they do in the movies.
Overall, it's been a really fun game so far. At the moment I'm stuck on Captain Hook (I have decided that I hate Captain Hook. Except when he's played by Jason Isaacs). I would definetly recommend this game to people.

Rainy story

2007-04-24T12:47:00.000-05:00

This is just a little thing I wrote for the sake of writing something. It takes place on Pellistair.
Cassandra is a Ring Tailed Lemur, Kringo is a Raccoon, and Malig is a Muskrat.

"It was raining again. The new mail box had floated away. 'Another one?' Cassandra asked. 'That's the third one this month!'
'At least the chimney hasn't fallen off yet', Kringo said. "And the roof only has a few leaks in it."
There was a knock at the door. Kringo opened it. 'The Duplents house floated away', Malig said, standing in the rain with water dripping off his whiskers.
'Again?' Cassandra asked."

Pellistair

2007-04-24T12:31:00.000-05:00

I'm going to be posting parts of stories I've written. All of these stories take place on Pellistair, which is a planet I came up with last summer. This is an introduction to Pellistair, which was written by my brother, Moose.

"In a galaxy far, far away (no, not that one. A different one), there is a planet called Pellistair. It's a small and obscure planet, a peaceful little place most people in the galaxy haven't heard of. A quiet, unassuming planet. However, Pellistair's inhabitants - and any visitors that stay for long - know that it is different from any other planet in the galaxy. Pellistair... changes people.

All different kinds of people visit Pellistair. It's a small planet, but the galaxy is a large one. Humans visit, drawn by the quiet peace and beauty of the small world, and so do many other kinds of creatures. Those that only stay for a day or two don't notice the changes. Anyone who stays longer, though, can't help but notice.

For instance, say a human or other creature visited Pellistair. It would seem normal enough at first, a peaceful place inhabited by a wide variety of different species. Over time, though, the visitor would start to change. If they headed in a reptilian direction, scales and a tail might grow, if the alien didn't have them already. Warm sunlight would seem much more comfortable than before.

The changes vary from person to person. Some visitors would start spending more time in the water, perhaps become better at holding their breaths. Others would grow furrier and start resembling cats, dogs, armadillos, et cetera. Some grow wings and become more like birds or bats, though that takes longer than more minor changes. People can end up resembling any animal in existence - or out of it.

The speed of the changes also varies depending on the person. Some people take years to develop claws or proper fur. Others only stay a few days before they're flying through the trees or learning how to use extra limbs. No one can tell until the changes start.

No one on Pellistair ever completely changes. There are no birds or fish that used to be human. The inhabitants generally look like humanoid animals who can fly, or swim, or breathe underwater. They live fairly normal lives otherwise. The world is a happy, peaceful one. That's what all the inhabitants say, at least. Any visitors to Pellistair will be assured by everyone they ask that it is a peaceful world, that all the people on it love each other equally, regardless of species. Nevertheless, there are subtle tensions here and there. Dog-like and cat-like inhabitants of Pellistair are polite to each other, but rarely do much together.

The deer can never completely relax around the pumas. Some of the horses might - very discreetly - look down their long noses at the donkeys. The tensions between species are never mentioned, never acknowledged, but they exist deep under the surface. The inhabitants all agree on one thing, though - no outsiders are EVER going to find anything but peace and happiness on Pellistair.

There is also another tension, this one much less subtle. Every so often, two people of different species will marry each other. ("Species" is a looser term on Pellistair than it is on Earth, so that's possible here.) Their children are almost always unusual, more so if the parents are dramatically different from each other. A mouse and an alligator are bound to have interesting children. These hybrids are not treated with the same equality as everyone else. To the inhabitants of Pellistair, there is just... something WRONG with a creature that can't seem to decide what species it is. The hybrids are outcasts from the rest of society.

If discovered, they are almost always insulted, beaten up, arrested, banished, or worse. This is the one part of Pellistair's society that is NOT so peaceful. Because of this, the hybrids often try to hide the fact that they are hybrids, keeping their scales or gills or long ears carefully covered.

Not many people leave Pellistair, as it is (for the most part) so peaceful and happy. Those who do, though, change in the other direction. They lose their scales, or fur, or tails, reverting to the forms they - or their ancestors - had before they arrived.

The animal traits only stay if they seem to be needed. For instance, dedicated swimmers might manage to keep their gills - but only if they spent a lot of time underwater every day. It's possible to keep the changes Pellistair gives them, but it's hard work."

VisualDNA

2007-03-18T10:11:00.000-05:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Stranger Spirits

2007-03-17T11:41:00.000-05:00

Last fall, my brother and a friend went to a fundraiser for a local movie making company. They had a good time there. Brother bought a pretty blue scarf, had some good food, and listened to a local band called Stranger Spirits. He bought their CD, Empty City, and brough it home, before heading out to some other activity.

I had recently been getting more into rock and independent music, and I was curious about this new group. So were my father and younger brother, and we popped it into the CD player while making dinner. I had expected unusual music that I probably wouldn't like all that much. I was wrong.

By Track number 7, "In October", I was fully hooked. The songs had catchy and unusual tunes and harmonies, interesting and thoughtful lyrics, and great guitar work. There were pensive songs, like "City Lights on Low Clouds", and, "Mysterious", and energetic songs, like "Friday Night", and "In October", which was the song that convinced my brother to buy the CD.

They have a website, Strangerspirits.com, and it says on there that they've done opening acts for the Connells and John Mayer. I hope that they're becoming well known and popular. They deserve it more than most of the current popular bands that play on the radio.

Axel Doll

2007-02-24T11:04:00.000-05:00

My younger brother has been reading lots of comic books latel. One of the ones he got out of the library, and read over and over again, was Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. I had heard of the story before, and I knew there were Kingdom Hearts video games, but I didn't know that there were manga books about it.
My brother kept mentioning this character called Axel, and I thought, "I want to see this character!", because one of my favorite Bionicle characters is named Axxon. And when I saw a picture of Axel, I liked him even more, because he looks like I picture Durza from the Inheritance books, except I picture Durza with shorter red spiky hair, and without the little eye markings. And then I read the book, and I really liked him, because he's mysterious, funny, and handsome. And then I had to doll him.

Base

The one on the right is my avatar at Fairytopia at the moment, which means that everytime I post something, I get to see an Axel doll. This makes me very happy.
His hair was easier to doll that I had thought it would be. I thought that the hair would be the hard part, but the silver details were actually harder to doll and make look right. It was also difficult to make his eye marking look right, and not as though he had a big ugly black bug on his face.
While I was making this doll, I kept saying to my brother, Moose, "Axel is so cute!". Moose would just look at me weirdly, because Axel is not normally cute. This doll of him is, though.
The other nice thing about making this doll was that I had an excuse to stare at lots of pictures of Axel for a long time to get all the details right.

The Rasmus - Guilty

2007-02-24T10:44:00.000-05:00

You should go listen to this song. You don't have to watch the video, but you should listen to it while you're looking at other things. It's a very good song by The Rasmus, who are a Finnish group. They're sort of a gothic punk rock group, with very gothic videos.

Eragon

2007-02-06T12:14:00.000-05:00

Yup, the best selling , instant hit, fantasy book with a major movie made from it. Here I will discuss the pros and cons of the book, but mainly the cons, because they're more interesting.
If you haven't read the books, don't read this. There will be an abundance of spoilers.

Pros
The dragons. The dragons are wonderfully written, and very interesting. I think Saphira is one of my favorite dragons from any book.
Durza. I loooove Durza. He's so nicely evil. He also seems a bit more thought out than some of the characters.
Murtagh is also a great character. He's nicely mysterious at first, and he's very three dimensional.
Brom is also a wonderfully written character. I was very sad when he died.
The female characters, especially in the second book, are very strong, and well written. And there's a decent amount of them, too.

Cons
The plot seems to drag in some places, as they wonder over the countryside for forever (but then again, I think The Fellowship of the Ring does the same thing).
The world seems a lot like Middle Earth in some ways. There are the Urgals, which resemble Orcs (although they get a lot more three dimensional in the second book, so that's okay), and the elves, who are aloof and almost perfect, and the dwarfs, who mine and aren't very sociable. It gets a bit predictable at times, since some of the races are so close to the ones in Middle Earth.
The plot resembles Star Wars a bit much for me. Brom is basicly Obi Wan (he even dies in the first book, like Obi Wan dies in the fourth movie), and Eragon resembles Luke in many ways (including the fact that he goes stupid in the second book), and he's the son of King Galbatorixes evil right hand man (no, Luke, I am your father!). This gets better in the second book, which is much better written (even if Eragon is a bit of a jerk), and has a better plots ( there are at least three major plots in the second book). He also fleshes out all of the characters more.

Although the cons seem to outweight the pros, I actually enjoyed both books a lot, and am eagerly awaiting the third. The amazing thing to me is, that while there are flaws in the books,, they are still very enjoyable to read, and he started the first one when he was 15, and he managed to finish that whole huge book.
Overall, I think that the Inheritance trilogy is a good fantasy series, and I hope Christopher Poalini keeps writing even after he finishes the third book.

Meme (Ain't that a cute word?)

2007-02-05T11:15:00.000-05:00

Action – Favorite action movie?
Zorro 1 and 2

Beautiful – Most beautiful performer?
Audrey Hepburn

Comedy – Favorite comedy (TV or movie)?
Dharma and Greg,

Drama – Favorite drama (TV or movie)?
Deep Space Nine

Event – Historic event that kept you riveted to the TV?
Umm... The last few Olympics.

Favorite – If you could only own and watch one DVD the rest of your life, what would it be?
Totoro!

G – Favorite G rated movie?
Totoro! (I think Totoro is going to be the answer to most of these questions)

Head over heels – Which star were you in love with when you were younger?
Jason Isaacs (big surprise). He's so handsome and suave.

Ice – Did you see the “Miracle on Ice” live (tape delayed) in 1980?
What's that?

Justice – Did you watch any of the famous O.J. Simpson chase down the freeway?
Who? What? *feels very clueless*

King of the Thriller – Favorite Hitchcock movie?
North By Northwest

Laettner – Did you see Duke’s Christian Laettner make the winning shot against Kentucky?
Huh?

MP3 Player – Do you own one?
Nope. I've got a boombox and an old portable tapeplayer, that's all I need.

Never get enough – Which movie have you watched the most times and how many times have you seen it?
Totoro! Who'd've guessed that? I don't know how many times I've seen it. Lots.

Opie – Opie or the Beaver?
What are those?

Pride and Prejudice – Do you prefer A&E or 2005 release?
I haven't seen either, but I want to see the A&E version, because it has Colin Firth, who's a good actor, in it, and the 2005 one was not reveiwed well by readers of the book.

Quality – Best TV show of all time?
Deep Space Nine! I loooooooove Deep Space Nine!

Remote control – Who is in charge in your house?
Me and my mother, because the guys are clueless, although my younger brother is getting good at using it.

Super Bowl – Game or commercials?
Commercials.

Television – How many in your house?
One, which we've had all my life.

Ultimate – Who is your favorite movie star?
Ummm........ This question's too hard! Of the newer actors, I'd say Hugh Jackman, Catherine Zeta Jones, Alan Rickman Jason Isaacs (surprise!), and Rupert Grint. Of older actors, I'd say James Stewart, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and Audrey Hepburn.

Victory – The best sporting event/game you’ve watched live on TV?
The olympics. They've all been good.

Walkman – Did you ever own a Sony Walkman?
Nope.

X – Movie you wish you had never watched?
Planet of the Apes, the older version. I couldn't get to sleep for a loooong time after that one.

Yesterday – How many hours of media did you consume?
Three. We watched Oklahoma! with Hugh Jackman in it. It was really, really good.

ZZZ’s – Best music to fall asleep to?
WCPE, the classical music radio station.

That was fun! I must find more Memes *goes off meme hunting*.

Men are like Songs

2007-01-24T13:31:00.000-05:00

And it's not just because I think about both of them a lot. No, I was thinking about different songs, and how some people really like songs that I really hate, and as I was thinking about this, I thought absently, “Some songs push my buttons, and some don’t”. That's when I realized that it's the same way with men. Some push my buttons, and some don't. For instance, I don't find Johnny Depp attractive, while about 70% percent of women in America seem to. I also don't really care for "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson. There's a man and a song that don't push my buttons. Then there are men that I find extremely unattractive, and songs that I really dislike, like Rod Stewart, and "My Girl" by Justin Timberlake (which I am listening to on the radio right now. Have you ever noticed that that squeaky sound that's in the refrain sounds like a psychotic mouse? Just wondering), which I find somewhat annoying. And, there are some men I find immensely attractive, like Jason Isaacs, and some songs that I simply adore, like "Every Breath You Take" by The Police (they'll probably get a blog post at some point). And of course this attractiveness, whether it's in songs or men (or women) is different for everyone. "Hotel California" by The Eagles pushes some peoples buttons (not mine), and even Mick Jagger does (go figure).