The Sounds of Mothers Day

The problem with people you know IRL reading your blog is, well, you can't say anything about them. They just seem to know, no matter what you do, that you are talking about THEM. Mothers also have this uncanny ability, which makes it a bit hard to blog about Mother's Day until the day is, essentially, over. Because, 14-inch five layer chocolate cakes aside, surprises are nice, and I like to be able to pull one over on mom every now and again, anyway.

Curious as to what she got?



Yup. She got the full Skyrim soundtrack. And a package of chocolate coated blueberries. But either way, my mother got a copy of a soundtrack that I think she's fallen in love with. For being a non gamer, she has surprised me with her obvious enjoyment of the music, and even went so far as to give it a place on her blog.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. I'm going to have another slice of chocolate cake.

Twelve Days of Christmas Wishes: Or, Great Gift Ideas

Its that time of year where the nagging thought of "what on earth should I buy so-and-so for Christmas?" arrives. I found out about a week ago that my mother is one of the many suffering from said nag, and I happen to be the so-and-so connected that that. The problem here is, I pretty much don't know what I want. Its not that I don't want stuff, its just that I really really hate buying stuff that I don't need and won't use. The other day, I put on a dress that I had bought nearly a year ago, and I had never cut the tags off it. I actually felt guilty putting it on, because I figured that I wouldn't use it again for a very very long time. My first (translate, only) formal dress that I ever bought was like that. its still in my closet, and I've maybe worn in a grand total of three times? Of course, it doesn't help that I have a sort of "meh" feeling about it, so I'm not going to go out of my way to wear it--in fact, it had better be a really fancy shmancy thing for me to even consider it.

Thus, I feel slightly awkward blogging a wish list, especially considering I don't think I've ever written one out before, but then I thought "I'm already always writing about myself and things I want! Why not just be blunt about it?" Besides, someone wants to know what I want for Christmas. Thus, I have created the "Twelve Days of Christmas Wishes." This is twelve days (duh) of posts, each post having a specific category with two items that I would like, want or might even need. But probably not the last one.

Day One: Music

Blackmore's Night: Ghost Of A Rose 

My absolute favorite band, Blackmore's Night was co-founded by Richie Blackmore and his wife, Candice Night. If you don't know much about them, take a listen to this amazing Renaissance-inspired music. I've talked about them before, somewhat extensively. Ghost Of A Rose has many of my favorite tracks, including Loreley, Way To Mandalay, and 3 Black Crows. You can find the album here. 

Doctor Who Season Five Soundtrack

Yes, the Time Lords strike again. And no, I do not have this soundtrack yet. This is a great album for writing, both school writing and personal entertainment writing. The music is full and orchestral, the type that either makes you want to stand up and save the world or sit down and cry. Either way, I'd much prefer to have it on my iTunes than having to hunt for it on YouTube. You can find the album here.

I ♥ My Job

I did a gross moulage make-up demonstration tonight. Which is, of course, awesome. I had a lot of fun, and now I'm really tired and not ready to do more school tomorrow. Anyway, if you're interested in movie make up, watch this music video, and then you can watch the making-of video here. Of course, I didn't work on this, but when they're dirtying up the guy that dies, you'll get a small taste of what I do. ;) And, of course, this music is from Blackmore's Night, so it is absolutely amazing. This is, actually, the song that introduced me to their music.

I Know Those Toys!!!

They come out to play in my room at night, too!

To "meet" Owl City, visit their blog at www.owlcityblog.com . My favorite post is How To Become A Pirate.

That said, I just finished a paper, and still have to format it, and its due tomorrow. So off I go to finish that. Revel in the joys of Owl City while I'm gone.

A Long, Long Time Ago....

Today, I found a treasure. I found the soundtrack for Star Wars....on two records. They sat in my room all of my life. I moved them out to a shelf about five years ago. And there this album sat, forgotten, until today. I was flopped on the floor, with one cat attacking me and another laying inside my rib cage. And then I saw it. An album I hadn't seen for years called The Lady is a Child. I pulled it out and admired its unique cover art, then put it back and started examining the other records on the shelf.

Star Wars. WHAT???? Out it came, and I marveled at the two records I now held in my hands. The Original Star Wars Soundtrack.

The cats weren't too happy with me as I got up and ran off looking for the turntable. With a little bit of help, I got the turntable set up and playing. And this amazing noise came out. It was different from the CD I have. It had more music. I kept flipping the records and learned to place the pin in the exact right spot. At least, I think it is called the pin. I don't usually listen to records. And then the most awesome part of this whole thing occurred. I found a script my father had written in his old radio days. It was tucked in with one of the records. I have transcribed it in part here. All of the spelling is the way it was written. I have not included the Xed out parts. These pages were typewritten. And, despite the stupid jokes, I laughed heartily and loved it. Let's take a look.

STAR STUFF #______

"Blast Off For The Captain's Dream House"

ANN: Yes Stuffies, you can join our hero, Capt. James Shmirk, His trsty companion, Mr. Smock, and their wierd little robot RU-12, as they journey to the planet, "MGM" to view the Capt's dream house, built by the savings of over 25 years of space service. Yes, join us as we..."Blast Off for the Capt's Dream House" (ROCKET)...............

Cap. There it is, Shmock, my dream house..."The Crystal Pigeon" (OOH) I even named it after our Ship!

SHM. Capt., it's beautiful...I'm overwhelmed! what say we go in and look around... I'd like to see it.

CAP. OK, but I want to see the last addition to thedream I've had for years... the workment are now carrying in the biggest treasure I've got... the Throne of the Maraheshmi Mahetmi Ma-yogurt.

(OOOH)

SHM. You don't mean the thirty-seven ton gold, platinum, silver and plastic throne that is bedecked with precious jewels and precious stones, do you?

CAP. That's right, Shm... I remember when he gave it to me for saving his kingdom, the Planet "Abu-Dabu" from the treacherous "Imaweirdo Pastrami", who threatened to steal the MMM's Bologna concession at the Universal Sandwich Fair on the planet Oscar Meyer... I've still got the scars from those mustard burns and pickle pieces I caught in my arm. What a Battle!

SHM. I'm just glad that I got there in time with the Peanut butter and Jelly gun, or we might have lost you.

CAP. I'll always be indepted to you for saving my life, Shm.

The Village Lanterne: Blackmore's Night

Let me introduce you to one of my favorite music groups: Blackmore's Night. The legend goes that Richie Blackmore (one of the founders of Deep Purple) and Candice Night chose to start a Renaissance-styled music group in 1997, and chose the name based on a play of their own names--thus creating Blackmore's Night. The couple married in 2008 (awwww....), and their musical reputation has continued to grow.

What saddens me is, not that many people know of Blackmore's Night. They know of Deep Purple, but they haven't experienced the awesomeness of the modern-day renaissance. I was recently talking to the best DJ I know, who always teases me about my music selections, always ending his worry with "I don't know WHAT I'm going to play at your wedding!!" (He's one of the few people who is positive that I'm getting married next year and just don't know it yet. I've given up reminding them that I'm not even in a relationship). Greg (the DJ) was recently introduced to Blackmore's Night (by yours truly, of course), and asked about who the founders were. The lightbulb connecting Blackmore's Night, Richie Blackmore, and Deep Purple went off a few moments later. SCORE!!

While I could go on and on about the wonder of their music, I shall simply advise you take a listen and Search Amazon.com for Blackmore's Night. Oh yeah, and to get a taste of their style, take a quick look at this video.

Candice Night certainly has style. I chose The Way to Mandaly over my person favorite piece of theirs (Village Lanterne), because Mandaly has more outfits, and, since I'm about to start talking about medieval styled clothing, is somewhat important. I personally like Candice's style, and Blackmore's Night as a whole is just the cherry on top of a huge sub-cultures of medieval- and renaissance-ness. Providers such as ArmStreet are completely devoted to providing fuel for this trend, creating everything from full suits of armor to Lord of the Rings knock-offs (Eowyn, anyone? or are you more Galadriel minded?). ArmStreet is definitely a nice place to wander around and spend a lot of money at. I've never heard any bad feedback about them.

Candice Night's style can be a little more modern than ArmStreet, though. I would suggest looking for individual pieces (much like I'm doing with my Mad Hatter costume), and then combining it into something beautiful. I've noticed that Candice tends to mix-and-match items, and that's fun to do anyway. I would recommend searching through sites like Etsy and ArtFire. Etsy's search engine is much, much more cooperative than ArtFire's. As with all things, remember, though, that the more detail and quality you want, the higher the price is going to be. Damsel in this Dress has nice corsets and bodices, of course (I've linked to them before, I believe), and My Elegant Muse has full costumes, as well as selling all the parts separately. Seasons of the Earth is the same (to note, this seller has about three different names that the do buisness under). Zachulas Crypt mainly does costuming for pirate and vampire reasons (yeah, yeah yeah.) but still carries on the theme. The Elven Seamstress sells most of the above, but also strikes out in a new area: men's clothing! If you can get your man to dress up like Richie Blackmore, kudos for you. Anyway, take a gander through Etsy and Artfire's search engines, and be inventive with your search terms. Searching "gypsy" can come up with a whole new world of this exact same stuff.

Oh, yeah, and if you want to do it the cheater way, check out Chovihani. She makes shrugs with the huge sleeves so you don't have to actually wear the entire chemise. Also, if you happen to know what instrument Richie Blackmore is playing in that picture way up there, please let me know. I want one.

If you waded your way all the way through those links, you deserve a cookie. Keep looking. One might show up soon.