Everyone who knows me knows how much I love books, but one thing people may not know is how much I love collecting antique books. I don't have a large collection, only a happy little shelf. One of the things that I love to find in these books are notes, or writtings, names written on the first page, etc. Anything that gives these old pages a history and character. Proof that someone loved it before I did.
Cambria California has a book/art gallery called The Bookery. I've bought a few volumes from them, and quite a few years ago I found this 1904 edition of The Masquerader. When I was flipping through the pages I found this little note:
"Mary:
Take my advice and go back to Ken. You are losing
the best thing in life. You can't tarry too long and get away with it."
Ollie"
I want to know the story behind this letter! Who are these people? What happened? Did Mary take his advice? When was this written? Questions I doubt I will ever find the answer to.
The paper seems kinda modern, but there is a bit of yellowing, and Ollie is an old-fashioned name. How many people do you know use the word "tarry" in casual conversation? But this is a fun little mystery I've found, and I can't help but imagine what may have come to pass.
This last week I finally went to the new Wendy's in Orem. The restaurant got completely remolded, and in a way beyond what I expected.
Before and after.
This drink machine is awesome.
100+flavor options. My favorites are Raspberry Sprite and Peach Fanta.
The movie theater Jordan Commons in Sandy Utah installed these machines over a year ago, so I'm pretty familiur with the process. It's funny watching people who've never tried the different flavors pause, contemplate, and then try a bunch of flavors in tiny sips.
A cozy inside feel. Overall I love the new Wendy's, and I wonder how many restaunts got this change. I hope all of them will at some point. The biggest improvement is the ordering format. In traditional Wendy stores you order and have your order made by the same person, which really slows down the line. Here you order and receive in different locations, so it's a lot faster.
The movie starts out with Boris the Animal, a big time galactic criminal who has been imprisoned on our Moon. It's a good place to hold a bad dude who's obsessed with destroying our planet, right? Impossible place to excape from . . . until now. He escapes and is out for revenge (enter important plot point.)
Cut to established characters Agent J and Agent K (Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, respectfully.) We learn that their communication skills have not improved whatsoever. Agent K insist that he doesn't want to talk about his past, well, frankly, he doesn't want to talk at all. Agent J is annoyed by this, and ties to get K to share the smallest information.
Soon it is discovered that Boris is on Earth, and the man he is out to destroy is Agent K, and to do so Boris must go back in time, with Agent J fallowing shortly behind to protect the world from alien invasion.
When in the past we meet a young Agent K (played brilliantly by Josh Brolin) and Agent J gets to see a whole new side of his long time partner. What made him change? And why isn't he with that girl K keeps flirting with? That's some of the questions the movie starts to uncover, along with many other details I wont mention.
Honesntly, I never saw the second movie. My brothers came home from the film and told me not to waste my time, and I didn't. Time and money are precious after all. But I'm so glad I saw this movie. I laughed a whole lot, the jokes were pretty good, and I couldn't help but keep smiling.
Some other notable favorites were the older and younger Agent O played by Emma Thompson and Alice Eve. (I love Emma as an Actress.) And I love the addition of the character Griffin, played by Michael Stuhlbarg. He is an alien with the ability to see many plausibilities and realities at once. Awesome.
Men in Black III hasn't performed as well domestically at home as the first Men in Black, but overall MIB III has grossed more then the first two installments in its Worldwide World gross, currently more then $620 Million. Not shabby at all.
Oh! And below is a picture of what the screen looks like after the film brakes and burns up. It's the first time I've ever experienced it! Thankfully it happened during the previews and not during the movie. That would have been sad.
This post is more silly then anything serious. I'm sure every child on long school trips have played the alphabet game. It helps pass the time. Or maybe they don't play such games with modern technology. My brothers and I didn't have IPads, tablets, or fancy handheld games. Goodness, I still remember the original, blocky Nintendo Gameboy with no back light; never got one, but I sure wanted one.
So we played the alphabet game on 3 to13+ hour car trips, watching out for signs and license plates to be the first to find all the letters between A to Z.
I don't know how old I was when I noticed the Zzyzx sign, which is close to Baker California. It seemed that whoever created the sign had a sense of humor and played the alphabet game. A good, easy way to get those last three letters. At least that's what I assumed, and the thought amused me, so I never looked into it.
Thank goodness for wikipedia! (Do kids realize how spoiled they are? Back in school we had to look in hardbound encyclopedias to get information).
Zzyzx California, formally Soda Springs, was named in 1944 by Curtis Springer who claimed it was the last name in the English language, though he may have made it up. The name is officially the last place name alphabetically.
The springs was originally a spa retreat for the elderly, but it is now the Desert Studies Center where they do research.
There are even Songs and Movies based on Zzyzx; one of the movies stared Katherine Heigl.
So mystery solved. Zzyzx has nothing to do with a silly kids game, but I still think Curtis has a sense of humor coming up with the name in the first place.
About a couple months ago this image was making it's rounds around the Internet. In short it went viral. I found it on my brother Steven's Facebook page, who shared it from George Takei's fan page.
I connected to it immediately. This image represents my life; the inner worlds I live within. Each World is rich and vibrant, with fun, interesting characters. My family has learned that when I start laughing to let me laugh and not ask what I find funny. My Dad learned this the hard way over ten years ago. He begged me to tell him why I was laughing. "Trust me, you don't want to know!" "What is it?" I merely shook my head, "You'll regret it." "No I won't." Sure enough, about 10 minutes into my explanation, he exclaimed "Stop! Stop! Sorry I asked!" He's also learned not to ask me about the Circle of 5ths.
I'm a pretty hardcore introvert, textbook introvert, and I wonder sometimes if extraverts live such interesting inner lives. Back in High School I learned I was the only one in my group of friends who thought in images, they all thought only in words, and that got me thinking about how different we all are in our procressing, thinking, and daydreaming.
Anyway, I digress.
This image was created by Joel Robinson. I found his blog, a great website where he provides free photography tutorials, where he addresses this creation of his. The title of the post is "The 'Borrowed' Photographer." The post is actually really sad, where he addresses the Internet's problem of stolen images where credit is not given. In some instances images are taken and resold. It's a huge problem. He's been mocked and made fun of for the image, and it's come to the point where he's learned to be indifferent to his dragon image.
It's a post worth reading, and it's funny that the image I found was one of the altered photo's with Joel's name removed.
When Steven and I first started putting music online as Cerulean Jade, he said he wanted to put full audio tracks on Youtube. His claim was that it would end up on there anyway, and it gives people a chance to listen to the full version. Still, I understand the reasoning, and as artist it helps people find us and get us out there, but Youtube is notorious for songs getting taken and re-posted, with no need to purchase. Most of the songs we're doing are cover songs, in which we wont be selling, but even with Dream Maze and my two Christmas Songs, only a couple downloads have been purchased. It honestly encourages me to work harder, to write songs that people will want to buy, because even though I love Dream Maze, and it will sound awesome in Japanese (Steven's working on a translation; we've decided that all our original songs will have a Japanese version that's we'll sing), it's not the sort of style everyone will like. It's interesting and artistic.
It is a risk to put things online for free, but at the same time the Internet is an amazing tool. As a kid I would never have imagined that such a platform and world stage would exist, and I grew up on Star Trek. Anyone, from all over the world, can find and listen to our music, and that's amazing.
We've been clearing out a spot in our house to have a studio. A place, really, where back drops and green screens can easily be put up and lit correctly. It's a huge, great family project. Cerulean Jade is apart of Talea Studios, and we have a lot of plans and goals with Talea. This is just the start. I like something I read on Cinemablend.com about Joss Whedon of Serenity/The Avengers fame. The blog post was about what Joss said at San Diego Comic Con:
"One of the earliest questions in the panel came from a self-described
failed comedian who asked Whedon if he had any suggestions for
struggling artists and the writer/director had some very simple advice:
just make something. Commenting on the studio system, Whedon said that
Hollywood is slowly starting to eliminate the 'middle movie,' only
making either big blockbusters or tiny budget affairs like Paranormal Activity,
so he suggested that the only way to break in is to just do it
yourself. He added that with today’s consumer video equipment and the
internet, there is a great amount that one can just do by themselves to
get noticed. He joked that he had an easier time with it because he
happened to be friends with Nathan Fillion, but 'even without Nathan,
there’s so much you can do now and you have to because it’s so much
harder to do it for somebody else.'”
So Steven and I are doing it ourselves. We believe that if we create great works we'll get noticed and build an audience. Of course there's a lot of patience and time involved, hard work, but it's rewarding hard work. And it's fun dreaming something up and seeing it come to life.
Telsa is linked so you can discover his awesomeness.)
(My Sister-in-law Krista, who found out about Steamfest and made
it possible for my brother Steven and I to attend.)
Salt City Steamfest, in Salt Lake City Utah, was the first ever Steampunk convention in Utah, and it turned out to be a huge success. I'll admit, I've poked my nose into Steampunk here and there, trying to understand it, and what makes up this genre, but never getting a full grasp. I knew the Victorian era was important and that there was a lot of goggles and clocks involved. HG Wells and Jules Verne are the original fathers of steampunk: Victorian sci-fi. There's so much more then that.
My brother Robbie, the one on his mission, was crazy about Steampunk before he left, and he declared it would become the next big thing. Sure enough, Steampunk has been showing itself in media and products. Last fall I bought the most amazing Victorian military coat and buckled boots were all the rage. At the scrapbook store it was easy to find paper and materials with a clocks-and-cogs, Victorian theme.
(Michael preparing for battle!)
There were so many interesting classes. The first class I attended was all about weapons during the Victorian era, and it was fascinating. They were inventive, to say the least, with most of their weapons not doing well. A harmonica on a gun to hold extra ammo. A gun connected to a brass knuckle and a knife. A gun and an axe, in one. Etc.
A goggle making class was offered (because goggles are an important steampunk accessory). There was a pattern making class, building and fitting a corset (that class had some fantastic tips), 19th century fashion, and steampunk in novels were just a few of the classes offered.
LA Living Adventures, a company that specializes in larping, hosted a Nerf battle with steampunk looking weapons. I didn't participate, but it was a lot of fun watching, and my brothers had a lot of fun fighting.
I had a fantastic time at the SaltCity Steamfest. The character creation 101 class was really fun. Its not about creating a RPG style character, but the character you create for yourself. Really, the class was a love of history, of the years 1837 through 1901 and all the possibilities of "What if's" you can playwith. There were so many interesting things happening historically all over the world.
The Convention finished with "An Evening of Elegance." A Steampunk Victorian ball hosted by Old Glory Vintage Dancers, a group who specializes, teaches, and holds authentic, old fashioned dances. The class they had was fun, and now I want to get a fan and memorize all the ways someone can communicate with one.
The fan placed near the heart: "You have won my love"
Closed fan touching the right eye: "When may I see you?"
The number of sticks shown answered: "At what hour?"
Half-opened fan pressed to the lips: "You may kiss me."
Drawing the fan across the eyes: "I am sorry."
Touching fingers to the tip of fan: "I with to speak with you."
Letting the fan rest on the right cheek: "Yes."
Letting the fan rest on the left cheek: "No"
Opening and closing the fan several times: "You are cruel."
Dropping the fan: "We will be friends."
Fanning slowly: "I am married."
Fanning quickly: "I am engaged."
Fan in right hand in front of face: "Follow me."
Twirling the fan in the left hand: "We are being watched"
Drawing the fan through the hand: "I hate you!"
Drawing the fan across the cheek: "I love you!"
I first learned about the language of the fan in my BYU Theater of Civilization class and found it very interesting. Actually, it was a class highlight, next to the 5 minute complete Hamlet improv the theater students spontaneously performed.
Here is a video of the Old Glory Vintage Dancers dancing with the TLC Trio, good ol' steampunk style, to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." This really gives you a feel of what Steampunk is if you've never seen it. The instruments are awesome!! The amazing TLC Trio was there to perform during the ball.
Awesome weekend! I hope they did well enough so that they can hold a convention again next year; I have the feeling they did. I will attend, this time in costume.
