Mini-movie Review: The Fountain

Don't waste your money. As a movie, it was well crafted and beautiful looking... but as a story, it sucked, not worth the 95 minutes.

The Chimera Soiree

Well, it was a good night. I included a picture of myself, but as you can see, it's blurry. I have no idea how it became blurry because as is a prerequisite of using the self-timer, I set it on something, so it's not like it was going any where. So, my apologies... but don't I look hot? I'm surprised that no one asked for my phone number.

The second and third pictures are of the gallery space in the Erie Art Museum Annex, where the party was held. It was a really cute, intimate space that was subdivided by a wall; the gallery space and all the art that was accepted into the book was on one side, and we had the food and Chinese auction on the other side. And let me just say that the food was fab... most of our dishes were made by the Multi-Cultural Club and they were great. The Soiree had a Mediterranean theme this year so there was a lot of hummus and bruscetta flying around, but there were also some very nice rice dishes and some spanicopitta and salmon rolls. And there was this spinach/roasted red pepper dip that was yummy to the Nth degree; if there weren't other people there I seriously could have just grabbed the tray with the dip and fresh bread and just eaten the entire thing. But alas, I didn't, maybe next year.

The forth picture is of the gallery on the second floor where the poetry/prose readings were held. If you didn't read the previous post and you don't know, three of my poems were accepted into the book, so I was in the reading. I think the mag accepted about 12-13 writers this year, and 6 of us read, so it was a really nice, intimate reading. I only read two of my poems because the third is a suedo-Haiku and the explanation of the poem would have been longer than the poem, so I figured the audience could just read it for themselves when the book comes out in April.

And the last picture is of a band from Erie called Mr. Gnome... they were a two person band and actually quite excellent. A little bit loud for the space, but they're music was pretty fab. There was another group on before them, based in Edinboro, it was a student group... much calmer in tone but just as excellent.

All in all, I had a really nice evening, eating and listening, etc. Good times. I would do it again.

My Brother, The Musical Genius

My mom and I went to visit Matt at Penn State over the weekend... to hear him play in PSU's Bandorama: both the Symphonic Band and the Blue Band played.

Matt is in the Symphonic Band, the second best band at Penn State. AND he is the first chair oboe, over juniors that are also in the band. So proud. He had solos in three out of the four songs that the band played... and let me tell you, he sounded maaaarvelous. So proud. The first picture is of him and Mutti, notice how saucy he looks in his tux. And the second picture (you're just going to have to take my work for it) is of Matt standing for recognition of his solo in the forth and final song of the concert.

It was a football weekend, vs. Temple... lucky I had my PSU Tee with me, there were armies of people in blue and white. And I got to see a little bit of Penn State's campus. I liked it... I don't think it would suit me, but Matt is very at home there; he fits. And I am happy to see him happy.

Chimera Submissions

All three of the poems that I submitted made it into the book, although one of them just barely.

Two of them were on the cusp... so both of them were read aloud to the group (by the faculty advisor). I know I should be complimented by the attention, but I'd rather they were in outright.

Work harder, write more I suppose. But I am on my way to being a literary success :)

The Next Time You're on Jeopardy

I learned an interesting little tidbit of information to day in 2D: how to "grey" down a color.

When you're painting, you don't add black or brown to a color to "grey" it down because then you will end up with muddy colors that look icky. Instead, you add a color's compliment to it to make it into a "grey." But that's not all, even if you a color's compliment (red/green, blue/orange, yellow/violet), you may still end up with a muddy mess. SO, you add that color's secondary compliment to get a nice grey.

For instance, in the painting I'm working on now, I have a shade of Yellow-green (actually, it's green, but to get that color, I had to use a heck of a lot more yellow than I did blue to get it) that my teacher told me was too saturated (too pure). So, he told me to add Violet to grey it down.

How, may you ask, did he arrive at that descision? Well, simply refer to the color wheel... to arrive at the correct greying compliment, find your color's actual compliment and then take one step counter-clockwise on the color wheel (always one step counter-clockwise) and you have the correct mixture.

Example: the color I'm working with is Yellow-green. Yellow-green's actual compliment on the color wheel is Red-violet, BUT, take one step counter-clockwise, and the correct greying compliment is Violet. Viola!

So, the next time you're on Jeopardy and Alex Trebek is grilling you about the greying compliment of Yellow-green, you'll know the answer: Violet.

Via Air Pollution

Thanks to Andrew, I've just discovered Quizilla. I have a feeling it is going to be one of my new favorite sites.

Which Jane Austen Character Are You?

You are Eliza Bennett from Pride and Prejudice! Yay, you! Perhaps the brightest and best character in all of English literature, you are intelligent, lively, lovely-- in short, you are the best of company. Your only foibles are that you stick with your first impressions... and your family is quite intolerable. Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Winter Hits Overdrive

Lake Erie dropped 4+ inches of snow on Edinboro last night between 3-9PM. You know how I know? I was driving in it.

I went to my class in Meadville around 5:30ish... and it was snowing profusely, but the roads were still passable. THEN, on the way home, my trip took me 2 hours. That trip usually takes me 30 minutes.

It was still snowing profusely, and it was sticking to the roads (I saw more than one person in a ditch off the interstate). THEN, when I did reach Edinboro, the main road into Edinboro was closed (as to exactly why, I'm not sure), so some firemen directed me along another route, which I had never taken before, and it was dark, and still snowing, and there was snow on those roads as well. I was terrified that I was going to end up in a ditch for the night as well.

But I did make it home... and when I made it to my room, I was shaking. I had myself a mini-panic attack over the thought of being lost and stuck. But you live and you learn, if I had been smart enough to check the weather when it started snowing at 3PM, I might have known that last night would have been a good night to skip Accounting I.