Behind the Scenes of our First Cover Song

Steven and I practicing

Last week Steven and I, of Cerulean Jade, put up on Youtube our very first cover song:  Mindy Gledhill, "All about your Heart."  We had been talking for some time about doing a cover song, and I honestly was a bit nervous, but it's been great practice and a lot of fun.

So how did we find this song?  Well, I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but I found the song when I was searching through Hunger Game fan videos.  I had just finished the book and wanted some back ground music to take it all in, when this video, entitled Katniss and Peeta, popped up.  The song enchanted me, and I couldn't get it out of my head.  

Unfortunately this version of the song isn't available for purchase, at least at all the online places I looked, though the upbeat version she did is available on iTunes and amazon.

Filming the cover song seemed to be a little more difficult then the audio, but only because we spent a few days trying to get the lighting and camera positions right.  There was a lot of trial and error.  We spent several hours recording video on one of the first days, only to find that the memory card was corrupt and the video unusable. So we used another camera, only it kept shutting off every twelve minutes, sometimes in the middle of a take.  But once we figured out what was happening, it wasn't a problem.

Overall I think the song and video turned out well.  So here it is, our first cover!  Enjoy:0)

Sarah

Avengers: Statistical Awesomeness. My review.

 Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (Because it's awesome!)

So the question is, at this point, who hasn't seen this movie?  And, after answering that question, was there anyone who didn't end up loving the movie after watching the Avengers?  That would be the anomaly.  

The simple fact that I saw the movie twice proves how much I'm a fan.  My brother, Steven, has now seen it at least four times, and with how much the movie has grossed financially it proves that many others are repeat costumers as well.

To give you an idea, this is how the three Marvels, and one DC, movies performed in 2011.  Thor made $65,723,338 opening weekend, $181,030,624 domestic, and $449,326,618 worldwide.  Captain America made $65,058,524 opening weekend,  $176,654,505  domestic, and $368,608,363 worldwide.  X-Men: First Class made  $55,101,604 opening, $146,408,305 domestic, and $353,624,124 worldwide.  While the Green Lantern, the lone DC movie release last year, made $53,174,303 opening, $116,601,172 domestic, and $219,851,172 worldwide.

Clearly the opening for Green Lantern was on par with X-Men, only word of mouth was not as strong, resulting in an overall poor gross.  Now the Dark Knight, a DC Universe film, which had the strongest overall superhero gross up till now made $158,411,483 opening weekend, $533,345,358 domestically, and $1,001,921,825 worldwide.

How did The Avengers compare?  So far, with only three weeks into the domestic (U.S.A) release the movie has broken all sorts of records. (Worldwide territories opened in Australia, France, the Philippines, and New Zealand two weeks before the US; and in England, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, and India a week before the US release, which helped contribute to the buzz).  The movies opening domestic gross was $207,438,708, $468,271,215 overall domestic, and $1,191,571,215 worldwide.  And the movie is far from leaving theaters.

Sorry, movie stats make me geeky excited.  Further proof that I'm a cinephile.

So what did I think of the movie?  I thought it was brilliant.  Sure, it's not a super intense intellectual fare, but a masterfully crafted Summer flick filled with humor, great characters, action, and excitement.  I was worried that the movie would fill too crowded, with all the superheros and villains needing screen time, but the writing, direction, and editing was so perfect that every plot was nicely balanced. I really enjoyed the scenes that involved Iron Man and Pepper Potts.  Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't have a lot of screen time, but her character was memorable.  And the movie also explored Black Widows past and character a little more; she's interesting and deserves her own movie.  Joss Whedon, of Serenity/Firefly fame, sure knows how to work with strong female characters.

And I hope that everyone who saw the film took the time to stay till the very, very end.  With both showings I attended, I was amazed how many people got up and left!  They missed the best part.

The summer isn't over.  The Spider Man reboot is scheduled for July 3.  And the Dark Knight Rises is opening July 20th.  Every cinema geek will be watching the stats on this one.  With the amazing financial success The Avengers has been, and the records The Dark Knight broke when it came out, is there a chance that the final Batman movie in Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy will outstrip the Avengers?  It will be exciting.

With the success of The Avengers, Iron Man 3, coming out next year, just got a $60 million production boost, bringing the total costs to around $200 million.  Also coming out next year is the second Thor movie.  Oh, you want to hear an exciting movie season?  2013, Thanksgiving/Christmas, you have Thor 2, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and The Hobbit: Part 2 all being released.  That's going to be fun.  Captain America 2 is coming out Spring 2014.

The Avengers is coming out on DVD/Blu-ray September 25th, and is packed with extra features including director commentary, blooper reel, and deleted scenes.   

Ah!  Now that I've geeked you all out,
Have a great day!
Sarah      

Eclipsing the Sun

(Taken on 05-20-2012 at 7:32 pm MST.  Direct picture of the sun.

The Solar flair is the eclipse)

I grew up loving space.  It might have something to do with Star Trek and watching the Next Generation every Sunday with my family.  My Dad was always aware of space events we could watch.  Some days it was as simple as stepping outside to watch the international space station pass overhead.  There were many times, in the wee early hours or late at night, when I would climb into a van with my brothers, Mom, and Dad to drive into the California Sierra Neveda foot hills and watch a meteor shower. 

The Solar Eclipse that happened last Sunday, May 20th, was all over the news last week, but we weren't planning on taking a trip to see the full eclipse until my Dad noticed, while analyzing a map, that Highway 56, west of Cedar City UT, for about 15 miles, ran dead center down the eclipses path.  Being in the middle of the path meant being able to see the annular solar eclipse in full glory.

When there is a total eclipse the Moon, which is very close to the Earth, completely covers the Sun.  Apparently it gets dark enough in mid day that you're able to see stars come out.  With an annular eclipse the Moon is further away from the Earth, so that it doesn't completely cover the Sun, leaving a "ring of fire" around the edges of the Moon. 

It was thrilling going down Highway 56 and seeing clusters of cars gathering in random spots off the road to watch the eclipse.  I got a bit telescope envy as we drove by camps of enthusiastic science geeks.  We thought a lot of people were going to visit the National Parks, but it was fun seeing how many other people had our same idea. 

There are many ways to observe an eclipse.  Wielding glass #14 can be used, unfortunately our wielding glass was #10, but we were still able to see the sun with a bright green hue.  In the picture above my Dad and brother made this pin-hole camera, allowing us to watch the eclipse shine on paper (and seeing some giant sun spots at the same time).

This is my brother, Steven, showing how far the Moon had past over the Sun.  This picture was taken at 7:07 pm.

The eclipses lasted about 4 minutes, starting at 7:32 and ending at 7:36 pm.  This was taken at 7:34.  We met someone who came prepared.  He bought extra paper sun glasses, and I was lucky enough to get one.  Here I took a picture with the camera looking through the glasses.  The blue on the bottom is actually from the paper. 

The picture above is what the sun looked like at 7:35 pm.  Below is the sun, looking through binoculars and the sun glasses,  at 7:46 pm. 

I'm so glad I went!  It didn't get as dark as I thought it would; the light around us took on a darken blue tint.  On  Aug. 21, 2017 there is going to be a total eclipse.  Many states, including Idaho and Wyoming, are going to be in the center of that path.  I'm going!  There's also going to be a total eclipse over northern Utah August 12, 2045.  There's another annular eclipse scheduled for Oct. 14, 2023.

Have a great rest of the day,

Sarah

Oh, the things the Japanese come up with

Lucky for us the Japanese really do come up with some really fun ideas.  My brother Steven showed this to me, and I couldn't believe it was one continuous performance with no editing.

Hope you enjoyed!
Sarah

365 Day Photo challenge: Days 64-68

(Day 64 of the 365 day photo challenge 03-06-2012)

Steven and I started working on a new original song.  I'm not going to say much about it at this point.  Once again I've worked out the lyric and melody, and Steven's doing the arrangement, and what he's putting together is really fun.  It's upbeat electronic with a real cool sound, and in this song we're starting to get a feel of who we are as Cerulean Jade and as musical artist.

  (Day 65 of the 365 day photo challenge 03-07-2012)

I made this vase when I was a senior in High School, and it actually made it in the school art fair (the last time that happened before this was back in the 3rd grade).  But wanting to make a painting based on this design (which I'm working on) is what gave me the idea of writing Dream Maze.  Kind of a silly influence, but I'll take inspiration wherever I can get it!

  (Day 66 of the 365 day photo challenge 03-08-2012)

My shadow!  Back when I was a kid I use to play jumping games with my shadow and theorize over Peter Pan, wondering how he got his stolen.  Oh to be young and naive.     

(Day 67 of the 365 day photo challenge 03-09-2012)

Counting down the days.  The hype surrounding this movie was crazy, but I saw it, loved up, and hope to see it again soon.

 (Day 68 of the 365 day photo challenge 03-10-2012)

This, next to In-N-Out, is my most favorite burger joint.  Here you can get grilled onions and mushrooms on your burger, epic, and they even have fry sauce!  Plus, they give out free peanuts.  'nuff said.

Have a wonderful day,

Sarah 

Year of the Mayan

 

So, for the last several years we've heard that the world is coming to an end December 21, 2012, thanks to the Mayans and their Calender ending on this date.  Because they lived 1000+ years ago, and stopping their calender now must mean something.  (And has nothing to do with them getting tired and wondering why they were keeping track of dates so far in the future.  It's like starting at one and hand writing numbers to a trillion.  Really?  You got to stop sometime).  Anyway, I'm sure this is nothing more then another Y2K.  (Remember that?  It was exciting.  Nothing happened).

In Sandy Utah there is (or now was) a wonderful restaurant called The Mayan.  It's thematic, in the same way The Rainforest Cafe is, where the inside looks like a forest, there are parrots, and you eat in tree house like tables.  What's even more epic is that there's a giant indoor waterfall, and every thirty minutes there was a diving show with professional divers.  It was fun, amazing, and the food was good too.

Steven and I were joking about how awesome it would be to eat there this year, specifically on Dec. 21, but then I tried to find the website, only to see it no longer existed.  This worried me greatly, but paid no mind to it.  Then when I went to see the Hunger Games I saw the restaurant in this state.  They were struggling with business, and the theater bought them out to expand.

     

So there you have it!  The world wasn't coming to an end in 2012.  The Mayans somehow knew that a restaurant, based on their civilization, was going to go out of business.  We've been freaking out over nothing.

Have a great day!

Sarah 

365 Day Photo challenge: Days 60-63

 

 (Day 60 of the 365 day photo challenge 03-02-2012)

Birds on the roof!  Okay, this isn't the most exciting photo, but I thought they were awfully cute.  No angry birds here!  (Ha, ha, ha . . .)

(Day 61 of the 365 day photo challenge 03-03-2012)

I pretty much love all things Pirate, and this bottle hails from a gift shop in Cambria California (My second most favorite place to visit, right behind Disneyland, which also has pirates).   

(Day 62 of the 365 day photo challenge 03-04-2012)

Talking about Disneyland, I got this there a couple years back.  Don't have a frame for it yet, so it sits happily on my 10+ year keyboard.  When I saw it I cracked up laughing, stepped away, went to it again, lost it in another fit of giggles, and bought it immediately.  Unfortunately that was in the beginning of the day, so I carried it everywhere.  It's Winnie the Pooh imitating Jackson Pollock!  It's adorable.

       (Day 63 of the 365 day photo challenge 03-02-2012)

This is in an indoor garden at Thanksgiving Point, one of my most favorite places to visit here in Utah Valley.  This month they're having the Tulip Festival, and the gardens are absolutely beautiful.  And, apparently, they have the largest Dinosaur museum in the World.  I've visited, and it's Epic.

Have a great day!

Sarah 

Just another reason to go to Disneyland . . .

(A photo I took of Space Mountain back in 2008)

It's official, I've got Disneyland on the brain! I was searching Facebook and found a video the Disneyland page put up recently.  It's Goofy giving a training video on how to do a Disneyland vacation, but all live action.  I had to share it.  They did it in the same style of the old-fashion goofy training cartoons.  Brings back memories.  Those old cartoons were wonderful.  The Art of Vacationing:

And now I want to go to Disneyland even more.

Have a Disney day, no matter where you are!

Sarah

Battle of the Snow Whites!

I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a lot of Snow White action going on in the entertainment world.  A major, successful television series where Snow White is the star, and two movies coming out this year, one of which came out just last week.

The first movie I ever remember going to the theaters and seeing was Snow White.  Before the Disney Vault meant the movie being sold on VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray 3D, etc, every few years, Disney would re-release the movie to theaters every 7-10 years, so that a new generation got to experience the movie on the big-screen.  In 1987, which was the 50th anniversary of the original 1937 release, my parents took me to see it.  I remember loving it, and I remember being in awe of the theater.  I don't know where it was, but we were in Santa Barbara, and the theater was beautiful.  Funny how we remember little details like that.

Disney's Snow White set the standard, but how are the other Snow White's going to fare?

Once Upon a Time:

  (Show Trailer)

Once Upon a Time came out on ABC for the Fall 2011 season, and is still going strong.  I'm such a fan!  Actually, I'm getting quite obsessed.  The show is brilliant and marvelously written.  Each week it's amazing to see how they blend all the fairy tale worlds so flawlessly.  Ginnifer Goodwin is a wonderful Snow White, and I've got to admit, my favorite Snow White I've seen.  The show hasn't been renewed yet, which makes me nervous, but ABC hasn't renewed any of their shows.  It does make me worry, because, sense this show is shown on Sundays, and the fact that ABC bumps Once Upon a Time for grand events like the Oscars, I hope all the push backs won't lose audience.  For whatever reason the next episode isn't scheduled to air until April 22, and that's a little depressing.  I just hope this show gets a proper end, and lasts as long as possible.  here's a behind the scenes video:

   

Mirror, Mirror:

I saw this movie last weekend, opening weekend, and you know what's sad?  I keep forgetting I've seen it.  Not proof of a great movie.  Lily Collins was a cute Snow White, but really that's what I'm left with.  The visuals and costumes were fun, and some scenes made me laugh, but there were moments verging on the absurd that I found myself mentally checking out.  I really, really wanted to like this movie, but in the end I'm fine seeing it just once.

Snow White and the Huntsman:  

This movie hasn't come out yet, but I've gotta say, I can't wait!  The trailer is amazing, which is promising.  But I love the dark tone and the Tron like music in the beginning, though I doubt that style of music will be in the actual score.  I'm counting the days for this movie.  Though, I'm not so sure how I feel about Kristen Stewart as Snow White, but I will withhold judgment until I see her play the part.

Now, it's interesting to note that Snow White isn't the only fairytale getting makeovers. Jack the Giant Killer, based on Jack and the Bean Stock, is being released in 2013.  Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is being released January of 2013.  And there is a NBC show called Grimm, which has been renewed for a second season. 

Now, on a final note, I leave you with a really fun Once Upon a Time fan video I found:

Happy Ever Afters!

Sarah    

365 Day Photo challenge: Days 56-59

(Day 56 of the 365 day photo challenge 02-27-2012)

I found this advertisement in a local Salt Lake city magazine.  It's for the College of Humanities at the University of Utah, and I laughed quite hard when I first saw it.  Do not underestimate the value of Humanities!

(Day 57 of the 365 day photo challenge 02-28-2012)

Once again proving how crazy the birds in this area are, and how much they love snow!  They were making quite the ruckus, flying this way and that.

(Day 58 of the 365 day photo challenge 02-29-2012)

Leap day!  I had to celebrate the occasion.  

 (Honorary Leap Day photo.)

It's crazy how unpredictable the weather is.

 (Day 59 of the 365 day photo challenge 03-01-2012)

Everyday in February I gave myself a sticker for having one treat or less a day.  A little sugar is okay, but within reason, and so far this method is working well.  Maybe it's the kid in me, but I love putting stickers on the calender each day. 

Have a great day!

Sarah