Women, Food and God

Hello World,
     I'm a mixed bag on self help books.  Some times they can realy be great and if used as a tool they can help someone change their life or start towards a better tomorow.  Or sometimes their just realy handing books that tell you how to fix your leaky fauceat!  My mother, yes my mother decided I should read the book "Women, Food, & God" by Geneen Roth.  I wasn't sure if I should be insulted at first but I thought I would give it a go.  Basicaly what Geneen is trying to say is that what, how, where you eat says everything about who you are and the relationship you have with yourself.  She has very bassic rules/guidelines for changing that relationship. 

1. Eat when you are hungry.
2. Eat sitting down in a calm environment. This does not include the car.
3. Eat without distractions. Distractions include radio, television, newspapers, books, intense or anxiety-producing conversations or music.
4. Eat what your body wants.
5. Eat until you are satisfied.
6. Eat (with the intention of being) in full view of others.
7. Eat with enjoyment, gusto, and pleasure.

  I'm still not sure what to make of the book and the rules she set up.  Its simple, deceptivly simple.  I only took about three hours to read the whole book.  I need to read it again before I decide how I feel about it.  There seems to be something to what she is saying.  If it realy is that simple no wonder were not geting it.  People always seem to be complicating things!  I'll keep you updated on this whole read.  Let you know if It works for me or how it goes.
 

The Sword of Truth or Legend of the Seeker

Hello World,
     So last week when I wasn't working or watching bad movies I was watching totally nerdy TV and reading equally nerdy books.  I started by watching "Legend of the Seeker", which is ABC's take on the book The Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind.  After geting about half way through the first season of LOTS i started bugging Luke, who recomend the book; about different elements of the series.  (I like to chalenge myself by guessing endings and plot developments.)  After two failed conversations about the series vs the book I finnaly started reading the book.  The two are the same but very different.  In fact I was torn between posting two different blogs since I could treat each part like a seperate idea.  Both the series and the book relay hevaly on architypes and common elemnts of adventure quest fantasy books.  Yong man coming of age.  Father figure burns in his house, dies (Star Wars/ Eragon).  New father figure/wizard/teacher steps in.  Love interest arives on the scene that he can possible fall in love with no matter what.  Oh and the world is going to come to an end unless you go do this right now.  And don't forget the evil guy will be your father and or brother that you never knew about!  Gasp in shock and awe!!!!
     LOL ok maybe that was a synical plot line break down but its true.  I realy did like both the series and the book.  I like the book better; but I allways like the book better.  It was a four out of five stars for me.  The only reason it didn't get five was I wasn't overly wowed by the plot line.  Mind you I'm only on book one.  But book onw was season one of the series.  Heres to hopeing and knowing books usualy get better as they go.
     In regards to the series, I would have given it four out of five stars if I had not started reading the book.  But after reading the book it's geting bumped down to three stars.  The production took some liberties with the storie line that did not make sense and seemed to take away from the point of the story.  The show got better as it went.  The actors found there character and came to terms with who they were and became more belivable.  It also looked like the production got a great bump in the budget especially for effects.  If you like fantasy this is right up your alley. 
     (I can't wait to get book number two to read --- Oliver...!)

Heaviest Reading EVER!!! Gahh

Hello World,
So this week has been both entirely empty and very full.  After a month of no sleep and working with actors (Sorry guys but actors are actors) who were driving me batty, I decided a decent amount of rest was in order.  So I went to the movies a whole bunch and read a book!  It’s an EPIC book. Coming in at 1000 pages, hardcover, I think it weighed about five pounds -- give or take.  So let’s just say that a book that should have been light reading was the heaviest book I have ever read. That includes HP7!  (I’m pretty sure the one night I tried reading it in bed dislocated my shoulder!)
So, the book is called “Way of Kings” from “the Stormlight Archives” by Brandon Sanderson.  Coming in at a full 1008 pages, it is a mammoth book that is going to be a part of a mammoth ten part series.  Each book in the season is supposedly going to be the same length….  Can I confess that while I love reading that just seems like too much!  This book was recommended to me by Luke and Oliver.  Both of them love it and thought I would share in their love.  However my love for this book has been unyielding and I only finished it because they wanted me to. 
I can find good points about the story.  I thought it had great descriptive elements and the author spent a lot of time creating the world of the Stormlight Archives. The world that was created was different and enjoyable.  It reminded me of a coral reef in a lot of ways.  With animals and creatures that sounded like giant lobsters and crabs, even the plants sounded like coral.  An unusual element was that there were illustrations in this book.  I’m not sure I liked that because it changed my vision of the world I was creating too quickly and didn’t match what I saw.  If you’re going to give me ten or so pictures in this big of a book make it worth the time and give me more.  I wanted illustrations of the characters.  Some sounded really interesting and it seems like there is about ten plus species/breeds/races. 
Now I could spend the rest of my time telling you why the book was terrible in my opinion, but I’ll just sum it up instead.  It’s long. Really, really, REEEAAAALLLLYYYY long.  There is no major or significant plot development or character development.  I spent too much time reading about a character for one chapter and then they disappeared, poof. (Yes I know there was some amazing bit of info stuck somewhere in that section.) I felt like I was reading a really long and extended prologue. Luke and Oliver will make fun of me for this but if you going to bore me to death with a book at least give me something! Even some skin would of made it that much better!!!!! 
This mountain of a book rates 2 stars out of 5 for me.  If you want to waste some time on vacation and you like Sci-fi, this book could work for you.  I will probably give the second installment a shot when it comes out; however, as a relatively new author this book falls flat and reads as if he was aiming to fill pages, not make good fiction.

Picture Challenge #4

Hello World,
So I'm starting to think that this whole picture chalange thing is going to be harder then I thought.  I have discovered that I am really bad about taking pictures while I'm out having fun!  I think it has to do with the fact that I don't like to stop what I'm doing.  For me stoping to take a picture allmost seems like your puting a hold on the memories of the night.  Or maybe its just becasue I'm so anti pictures of me.  Who knows its probably a conundrom within an enigma! LOL.  As I was sitting think about some of my favorite nights there were a few that stuck out as amazing!  There were a few that were realy fun and memorable.  I could of had pictures of me with bands, concerts, bars, who knows what.  But then I found this little beauty.  I look so crazy!  This is me all dreased up as a wierd sister/rockstar from the Harry Poptter books at the release party called "The Party That Shall Not Be Named" for the final Harry Potter book.  Yes I waited in line till midnight to buy a book.  And I did it with thousands of people.  I was with Sis, Bestest friends, friends, and strangers celebrating these books.  Oh so much fun!!!!  It makes me sad now thinkg about it.  I grew up with HP and now I am looking forward to the close of the HP movies this year.  Joy and sadness together.

Warbreaker Book Review

Hello World,
So I am an avid reader... I think you might have figured taht out?!  Not sure though...
Any who this book was recomended to me by a friend who noticed that I hadn't been reading anything but non-fiction and research books as of late.  He thought it would be a good change of pace for a week.  LOL little did he know I would read the book in 2 days!!!  I don't just read I gobble books!
     So the book of the week for me is "Warbreaker" by Brandon Sanderson.  Its a dense fantasy novel (688 pages) in a very classic archetype story structure.  It had no major plot surprises for me or interesting character development.
     Sanderson is a pretty big author and has many published titles.  While I'm not a major fan of his I have read a few of his other books.  Most of his stories take place in the same world or universe.  and the thing I love the most about his writing is how rich the setting, scenery, history etc is.  I just wish he would put more of that richness into his characters.  I've felt more invested in characters from short stories then I did in this big book.
     Now the only surprise to me in this book was how he approached his concept of magic.  In this world "magic" is called breath and uses color and sound to gain strength and power.  While not all of the elements are unique they way they were put together and used was very interesting.
     For me "Warbreaker" is a 3 out of 5 stars.  Interesting soft piece of fantasy that I didn't mind reading but will not read again.  For the hard core fantasy lover I think they would enjoy.

Shakespeare Resources

I'm a big fan of books, owning them, holding them, reading them,  mmmm me love me some books.  However I also do know that books take up room and space!!!  Now that I've started this crazy research project I know for sure I would not be able to own, read, and hold all of my refrence sources.  That is why I love the internet!! http://shakespeare.mit.edu/  Is the best online source for quickly looking up Shakespeare's work!  Its the best!  Now there are some typos and issues with spelling and first folio vs second folio vs modern translations and editors opinions.  But for me to quickly find a line, scene in a play, its GREAT!!!  In fact to tell you the truth most of my research starts on the internet and then moves to hard copies.  So for you actors out their or Bard lovers great first stop to brush up on Shakespeare.&Or you can join me in my book love and buy every copy imaginable!!!

Borders declares chapter 11!

Sad face for me.  I love books in fact I am most definatly a bibliophial!  The smell, the touch, the weight and presence that a book has.  You can smell the different types of inks and even the history of the book.  Was it well loved, was the person a foodie, or did it sit forgoten awaiting someone to charish its words within.  On February 16th when I heard that Borders was declaring bankrupcy my heart sank a little bit.  I love going to book stores and wandering around the shelves finding new treasures or being lost in the covers of a book.  For me Borders was the bookstore I go to in order to find some escape from this life.  (Yes yell at me and say support the local book store!  But there is only 1 in my area and its realy inconvenient and out of the way.  Plus I think it sort of stinks as a store,  ehhemm its called customer service.)  I do understand why the comapny is having issues.  They were not keeping up with changing trends in book sales as well as the fact that spending habits have changed and even less people are purchasing physical books.  I recently recieved an e-reader for x-mas.  It is an interesting device and I do plan on using it.  But it does signifigantly change how I aproch my reading and how I purchase books.  I only purchase and borrow books due to fact that becasue of an interesting lay of the land, county and city classifications I can't get a local library card unless I pay a pretty hefty fee.  So for me book stores are the only place for me to find new reading materials.  I wish them the best of luck in changing their business plan cause I realy do love books.  On top of which Borders slide into trouble represnts to me how thin of a line so many poeople are walking on in this economy. News article from NBC

So I'm Behind the Times

Hello World,
In regards to watching TV, Films and such I don't tend to watch things when their popular or when the air time is.   I'm a big fan of DVR, streaming video, and renting things.  I like watching things on my term without the commercials.  The funny thing is that I recently signed up for Netflixs.  I've had it before when it was brand new and the turn around time and selection was low.  I decided to try it again when the started offering the streaming on the Wii.  Well lets just say I think its the greatest inventions for couch potatoes the world over.  I don't think I've been disappointment with it but once and it was cause I doesn't stream on my old Mac. (Pre Intell Chip but it still works like a dream)  If your into Movies and TV you have got to get this very cheap service.  I have saved so much money with renting things and entertaining myself.  $10 vs $100 a month?! 
The Funniest thing that has come about because of the Netflixs is that I'm starting to catch up on TV shows that I decided not to follow for what ever reason.  For the last month when I haven't been working, or producing "As you Like It" I have been watching Lost.  I know laugh at me, that is so 2 years ago.  I don't care, it was AMAZING!!!! I got the hype before, I watched a few episodes thought it was interesting.  However I had class and then 2 seasons later had no idea what the hell was going on.  I'm actually sort of glad I was not caught up in the immediate hype when it happened.  I would of had no life!  LOL  J. J. Abrams does a great job in creating interesting concepts and story lines.  He knows what people want and how to give it to them.  Oh if only I could be a fly on the wall in his office!  Or better yet work for him.  I do have to say though that when I started re watching the series from beginning to end I did guess the end by the third episode.  I'm still debating on how much was, hell, heaven, limbo and earth but I knew that they were all dead.  The one thing that bothered me was that at the end the iconography got a little heavy handed.  In some ways keeping track of all of the story lines was like reading Dune.  It was fun, I enjoyed it, now I can move on into my next obsession, GLEE!!! LOL which is the only show I currently tune into when it airs.  Not this week though, sad face, it hell week.  Which is why I love DVR!




http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Complete-Collection-Jorge-Garcia/dp/B0036EH3WU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297193351&sr=8-1

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411008/

http://www.amazon.com/Dune-40th-Anniversary-Chronicles-Book/dp/0441013597/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297193706&sr=8-1

http://www.dunenovels.com/

http://www.fox.com/glee/

http://netflixs.com

Costume Work and Research

Hello World,

So This week I spent most of my time creating and finishing costumes for the play I'm working on "As You Like It".  I've done quite a bit of costuming as of late.  I enjoy clothes and fashion so I don't mind doing the job.  The thing that drives me batty is how people seem to think it is only a female job and how its "Easy Right?!"  LOL if you have ever done any sewing at all especially with those wonderful expensive silks and satins you know it is anything but easy.  I almost started laughing hystaricaly when one of my male leads walks up with a wool frock coat that is about 6 sizes to big for him.  He wants to wear it in the show, we open on Friday!  Eeekk tailoring!!!  The costumes I made for my up coming show for  was probably the most difficult, creative and extensive costume work I have done to date.  I think the costumes look amazing.  There are several different saris, amazing dresses, tunics, pants, scarfs, crowns, beading and anything else you can imagine.  Its going to be a very colorful show.  I realy wanted to make sure that the imagination was imidiatly caught when the audience saw the characters.  We have a very unusual set design and we are asking our audience to take a leap into imagination with us.  I think everyone will be plesantly surprised by the work we've done in making sure that this production looks amazing.  I cant wait for full costume, tech, and prop rehearsal.  So make sure to mark your calendars for the production.

So besides creating costumes I've been doing some research on Shakespeare and the double meaning of his words within his plays.  I have an idea and I'm starting to research my refernces and such but I just had to share this book.  It's called "Filthy Shakespeare: Shakespeare's Most Outrages Sexual Puns" by Pauline Kiernan.  Its a fun break down of what words could possibly mean within the age of Will.  It deffinatly adult reading but oh so fun.  Well see what comes of this research...  I can't wait to start writing it!
Peace and Cookies!