Tags: cool links

Chuck!

eHarmony update and loong entertainment list

I've decided to cancel my eHarmony subscription. I've put more effort into it this time and still nothing's happening. Clearly this isn't being blessed by God, so there's no point to it anymore. I'm a little conflicted on whether or not to keep the info up or delete it entirely... it seems a waste to just delete all that info after all the trouble I went to writing it.

Still, I should be disappointed, but I'm oddly relieved. I never did really like the idea of going on a date with someone I met online and dating websites have their own issues. One of the first being that on screen a person - or how they describe themselves - can be something that I read and think "oh we don't have anything in common" and I close that match. But I know happily married couples who have differing interests. There's also the opposite that can happen: a person will look great on screen but in person you may not mesh at all. Despite the fact that I'm meeting very few single men my age in "real life", I'd much rather it happen in person than online.

So, back to the hunting grounds. A good friend of mine recently started going to a new church; she's promised to keep an eye out for me. lol. We'll see if anything happens.

Entertainment round up!

+ Finished Little Dorrit which was both sad and happy, as most Dickens' novels tend to be. Still, an excellent adaptation of what seems to be a complicated book (never read it myself). I probably won't buy it, but I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good costume drama. Mathew Macfayden played the male lead - I much preferred him in this role to his Mr. Darcy.

+ Been on a Tolkien kick lately (see post below lol). Started watching some of the extra stuff on the DVDs that I hadn't watched before and they are fascinating. Really, I can't think of another movie where the extra info was so interesting and well done. It made me wish that I was artistic in a designing kind of way because what the folks at Weta workshop do for a living looks really fun. You also get the sense of community this cast and crew had for the, what, 2 straight years of filming? More? Can't remember. But they have inside jokes and good memories - great, interesting stuff. Looking forward to watching the rest of them.

I am restraining myself from my new precious blu-ray editions of the extended versions. I want to watch them with friends this weekend (and by "them" I mean one, because I don't think I could do a 12 hour movie marathon D:).

+ To that end, I also reread The Hobbit and am in the middle of re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring, which I haven't done in years. As much as I am looking forward to The Hobbit movie, I have to wonder at how exactly they are adapting it... The Hobbit is a lot more whimsical than Lord of the Rings: are they going to keep this whimsicality or are they going to try to make it dark and serious like the LoTR movies? Also, how are they going to explain The Ring's absence of affecting Bilbo without exposition? Or the lack of Sauron's eye when wearing it? I will definitely go and see the movie when it comes out, but I'm curious at the screenwriting.

Anyway, alongside these rereadings those, I am listening to the truly fascinating insights and lectures by the Tolkien Professor. Sadly, his Hobbit lecture series isn't complete though the class sessions are. But the book lectures should be finished in time, I hope, as he seems to update pretty regularly. I just *love* his insights into these books. I wish I could attend these classes. The class session recordings aren't as high quality, due to the nature of the recording, and it's hard to understand the students sometimes, but I found myself frustrated at them as if I was in class with them. lol. They aren't the most responsive of students, which annoyed me when I was in school and still annoys me now. I was always the type of student to raise my hand and answer when no one else would - making one of my professors jokingly say once "Well Erin and I are having a conversation here."

I really should have remembered to dress up as Hermione this year for Halloween. Appropriate costume is appropriate. Oh well. Always next year. :D

+ Counting down the days to Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson, out next Tuesday, which I will probably go out and buy since I don't want to wait for the library. Yay Mistborn!

+ Gaming: Haven't touched a game in days. I find myself on the cusp of creating yet *another* Shepard - or maybe restarting the only Shepard that I have still in ME1, but haven't run out of other things I want to do yet. I don't rent a lot of games - I'm happy to replay and replay what I have - but I do want to check out Assassins's Creed Revelations sometime... maybe when Netflix starts its game rentals I'll do that. Also thinking of trying for a couple of achievements I'm still missing in DAO... but not sure if I want to yet. I miss voiced PCs. :/

+ On the TV front, still enjoying Person of Interest, Once Upon a Time, and Castle. Chuck: Season 4 is on the way through Netflix. Anything else I should be watching? Only, I don't have cable, so if it's not available on Hulu, I can't watch it. :P
Chuck!

Mistborn movie trailer!



A fan-made movie trailer for the book Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. Not a bad introduction to the series if you've never read the books and non-spoilery too!

I'm pretty sure this book is going to be made into a real movie, though it's only mentioned on Brandon Sanderson's blog - no casting or anything done yet. If handled right, this book (trilogy) could make an excellent movie. I hope it does.
Ed and Al

Character creating...

Someone at one of the fan communities I frequent posted a link to a video trailer of a character creator for an online MMO game. I have little to zero intrest in online MMOs, but this character creator? *drools* I am soooo tempted to download the free trial so I can try to create all my original characters. You folks who can draw your characters don't know how lucky you are.

But this thing! This just makes me want to play and play and play... and I know that I'll end up so focused on making my characters "just right" that I'll ignore writing. lol
Chuck!

Random tv show rec

A few weeks ago I accidently discovered a new show. It was a Friday night and the friend I usually hang out with on Fridays was out of town so I was just flipping through channels, waiting for something to come on. I came across an anime movie that stunning, visually, so I kept watching. Normally I stay away from anime, but I'd recently watched Spirited Away by Miyzaki so I was in a mood to be tolerant of weirdness. And what do you know? It was a good movie with good characters. So the next day I looked up the very useful YouTube and found the show's first episode, and I've been watching ever since. I'm now on episode 169, and with a handful of exceptions, every episode's been entertaining, even almost moving me to tears at one point (though I'll grant that it was late and I was tired when I watched that particular ep).

The premise is explained in the first ep, but it's basically this: 12 years prior to the first episode, a demon fox nearly destroyed the Hidden Leaf Village. Sacrificing his own life, a high level ninja sealed the demon inside the body of a newborn boy. This boy is Naruto who grows up lonely and unwanted in his village for the demon inside him that he knows nothing about. But he's a lovable scamp with a penchant for mischeif and the first episode is only the beginning of how he finds friends and learns to deal with the darkness in the world.

Anyway, if you're a fan of Avatar (*cough*polingly*cough*), or Miyzaki, you should like it.

Now I definatly need a Naruto icon....

You can watch part 1 of the first episode here. The other parts are linked in the side bar, or in the vid itself directly after it ends. They're pretty easy to find because usually the same person has uploaded the whole vid in smaller chunks.
Chuck!

Yay for themes of redemption!!!

I finally finished the Avatar: The Last Airbender seasons. Seriously, I have not been this excited about a story since I learned that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows had a publication date. I was literally on the edge of my seat watching the season finale and I can only hope that Season 3 isn't too far off!!

Anyway, I found this interview with the co-creators of Avatar and they talked about one of the themes I had noticed, but not really expected to be talked about openly.

It's really important to Mike and I on the show that these aren't black and white characters. We love stories of redemption. That it's possible for people to elevate to something better than they started out with, or maybe that they fell into. That's really paramount to Mike and I.

--From an interview here

Yay!
Eager!Sokka

Like I need *another* tv show to watch...

I have discovered Avatar: The Last Airbender. I started watching out of bored curiosity when I was babysitting and got interested enough to wonder about how the show got started. Thanks to the miracle that is the internet, I found all the Avatar episodes here!

I like the characters, I like the animation, the story is good, and the old four elemental trick is twisted in (to me anyway) new way. So go ahead, click. Watch. Enjoy!
Chuck!

Beauty at the Metro

wittingshire had a link to a really interesting article from the Washington Post: Pearls before Breakfast.

What would happen if a world famous musican threw on a pair of jeans, settled himself on the street with his instrument and played like any other street musician? Would he be recognized? How much would he make? Would his genius for playing even be appreciated? Read the above article for a fascinating story about beauty in America and the busy ruts our lives have become.
Chuck!

More writing

With rj_anderson's recent posts on publishing, "hook" writing, and whatnot, I started thinking about my own recently finished fantasy novel. It's nowhere near ready for submitting to an agent, but it's hard to improve your own writing when you're not sure what improvements need made.

So, surfing around various writing blogs this weekend, I found the Flogometer, a blog by a freelance editor who will take the first two pages of your novel and let you know if he turned the page or not, and why. It's a little based off of Miss Snark's blog, but different. Anywho, I submitted my first two pages and am curious about what he'll suggest. I'm not sure it's page-turning material now that I've sent it, but I'm not too worried. I'm more eager to see what he suggests for fixing it.

In other news Bookmooch is pretty amazing as is my new laptop. :D

Also, movies I have not seen, but want to:
+ Stranger than Fiction
+ Amazing Grace