still waiting for frodo

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

another charming photo of michelle

Me and Michelle, at Andy's birthday dinner on Sunday.


SNOWED in Richmond Hill last night.

Allison, Jodi and I actually did have a music practice last night (rather than slacking off and seeing a movie like we did last week on impulse). We worked through a bunch of songs we are preparing for The Gathering of the Fellowship in December. All three of us are going to be in costume for that event, by the way; Allison and Jodi are even going to be wearing elf ears. No ears for me, though, uh-uh, no way.

I taught Allison and Jodi my new song, "The Question", a very fluffy piece about which guy in the LOTR movies is the most...er...appealing. We had way too much fun, and I never fail to be astounded and delighted by how quickly A & J learn new material. They also helped finetune the arrangement, and within an hour we had a rough version on tape. Here is an excerpt of the lyrics:

A: Wormtongue does annoy J: Well, what about Merry?
D: He's the sort who's needy
A: Theodon is too royal! J: Gimli's hairy
D: and too short! A: You're greedy!

A: You must admit that Saruman has bad boy allure
J: What about Frodo Baggins?
A: Too small, D: angst-ridden, A & D: way too pure!
J: Did you notice Eomer's scowl
A & D: Oh Eomer's scowl, oh yes we did
J & A & D (enthusiastically): Uh huh!

Going to see Kill Bill with Michelle and Ruth tonight. I forgot to mention that the best part of seeing the movie in Buffalo on the weekend was that I got to see the trailer for "Return of the King". So now I'm wondering whether the euphoria from seeing the trailer influenced my enjoyment of the movie.

Still can't figure out WHY I like the movie. It had way too much gratuitous violence, Monty Pythonesque over-the-top blood spewing, very little plot. But it had Lucy Liu, so I had to see it.

To those of you going to OVFF: Have fun! I'm jealous! It's the first OVFF I'm missing in many years.

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

star trek poll (part 2)

Artwork copyright ©2003 Beckett Gladney.
You can now order our new CD online!


Trying very hard to be good and continue using ViaVoice. The 3.5 hour bus ride home from Buffalo was far less comfortable than my ride there, and did a bit of a number on my neck, had some effect on my arms as well.

Woohoo, Urban Tapestry's new CD can now be ordered online through CDstreet.com! Just go to our Sushi and High Tea page and click on "Order now". You can also find sound clips from every track on the CD here. Price: US$16.

I loved reading through all the responses in Blatherchat and Livejournal about original Star Trek episodes. Like many of you out there, my favorite episode has always been "City on the Edge of Forever."

New poll: What is your favorite Star Trek *series* and why?

If you haven't guessed already, mine is the original series. Yes, it comes across much campier than it did when I first watched the episodes and yes, William Shatner's Kirk is over the top. But I can't help it... for me, mixed in with the camp is real affection and wistful nostalgia.

I remember Ruth and Jim complaining about how I always wanted to watch Star Trek when we were little kids. Very soon, however, I got them both hooked. :-) Especially my brother, who became even more of a Trek fan than I was. One of Jim's favorite Christmas ornaments was a Hallmark special release miniature Enterprise. A few months before he and Diane died, I remember buying him an Enterprise fridge magnet from the dealers' room at Toronto Trek...it was heartbreaking to take it off his fridge a couple months later when we went through their house after the accident. It's on our fridge at home now.

Like many classic Trek fans out there, I have a love-hate relationship with William Shatner. Yes, his acting is often over the top...but he's CAPTAIN KIRK! I mean geez, give the guy a break. And to tell you the truth, his unique style of dialogue delivery and acting is part of his charm for me.

(If you're talking about a dinner date, of course, I'd go for Jean-Luc Picard every time.)

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

star trek poll

When I watched Free Enterprise with Rand on the weekend, I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The plot and premise sounded and were somewhat lame. Acting was so-so. Many of the jokes fell flat. What I enjoyed the most: all the sf references, casually slipped into dialogue and action, from movies and shows like Logan's Run to Star Wars to Planet of the Apes and of course...Star Trek. There's a scene, for example, with the characters spontaneously burst into a few lines of that song from "The Way To Eden" (the hippie episode from Classic Trek, remember?). I recognized it immediately, and wondered how many references I -wasn't- getting. One of the reasons I have to get the DVD is that apparently there's a special feature where you can see subtitles throughout pointing out the various references and where they come from...how cool is that?? (Lyanne: is this true? You said you had just received the DVD as a gift?)

Ja, I'm a bit of a nerdgeekgirl.

I suspect that whether or not you like this movie will depend heavily on your own experiences with the sf genre in media, especially Classic Star Trek.

Speaking of Classic Star Trek, here's a poll for those of you who like it (and a Star Trek episode index in case you can't quite remember certain episodes):

What was your favorite Classic Star Trek episode and why?

What was your least favorite and why?

News and links:

Fotolog.net: free photo journal hosting service (found out about this from swisscheesed's Livejournal)

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

randvisit (part 2)

Randvisit photo. This waterfall was in a gorgeous park
within a short walk of his apartment.


Enjoyed my Buffalo visit on the weekend. As I mentioned on Friday, I hung out at Rand's library for a while, bugged him while he was working at the reference desk:





... and enjoyed snooping through his office:





...which had the following sign displayed:





We had lunch at Morning Glory with his friend Thomas Woods:





Much of the weekend focused on friends, books and food, three of my favorite things in life. :-)



Rust Belt Books, a great used book shop.
Everyone there knew Rand.


I had amazing beef on weck (Buffalo specialty) and pumpkin ice cream at Anderson's with Rand, John Kalisz, Rand's friend Adam (not his music partner Adam but a different Adam) and Adam's son, Ian. Ian was pretty darned adorable. The beef on weck and ice cream were to die for.



Adam and Ian. Ian is doing his tiger impression
(note the Spiderman hat).


Liked Rand's new place, which is in a great neighbourhood. A few minutes' walk away from a scenic park, for example, as well as a chocolate shop. Rand let me feed his turtle, Chunky Rice, but Chunky seemed to be more interested in trying to swim through the glass aquarium wall to get to Rand. I've never seen a turtle so attached to its owner before, but Chunky definitely is. He got especially excited when Rand started playing guitar and singing. :-)





Found out it was "Sweetest Day" on Saturday. Never heard of this, but it seems to be an American Thing. I assumed it had something to do with candy since it was being heavily pushed in candy/chocolate shops.

You'd think that this tradition was started by a commercial enterprise like Hallmark or maybe the American Dental Association, but when I got home, I did a little online research. According to this Web site, here's how the tradition started:

"During America's Great Depression, a man from Cleveland organized many people in an effort to provide a small token of friendship to the underprivileged, shut ins, orphans, and homeless.† Today the holiday has expanded to include small tokens of appreciation to friends and neighbors too.† These tokens of appreciation can be small gifts or small acts of kindness.† This event is repeated on the third Saturday in October."



Rand and his friend John Kalisz (who does work for Marvel and DC)
at Don's Atomic Comics, a great comics store
(6354 Transit Road, Cheektowaga 1-866-684-5981).
The guy behind the counter is Don.


In sum, it was a wonderfully laid-back weekend. Lots of walks, great food, book-browsing, chatting, movies (incl. Kill Bill and Free Enterprise ... I actually liked Kill Bill, and am seeing it again with my friend Michelle. And I must own Free Enterprise), more great food. I wish geography was such that we could do it more often.

News and links:

Allison, Jodi and I are pleased to announce that all three of us will be attending Confluence in Pittsburgh, PA (July 23-25) next year. We're pretty excited about this, especially since Chris Conway has been invited as the Filk Guest of Honor. Many thanks to Randy Hoffman and the rest of the concom for offering us a concert slot.

Jeff's astronomer friend Ivan was on the front page of The National Post on Friday.



"Head" of a dragon roll at a sushi restaurant.

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ