Illyana Rasputin's Limbo

My sister's commercial!!!

2009-12-22T04:44:12Z

Super awesome! Here it is on youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/user/UniversityDodge#p/u/6/vdkN22uyZ8w

Live Showing of Riff Trax with Christmas Shorts this evening!

2009-12-16T22:28:16Z

Ryan and I are going to Westminster at 6:00 to see this... Wanted to make sure everyone knew about it!
Special Guest Weird Al

http://www.rifftrax.com/

Such a City Mouse

2009-12-11T19:04:45Z

I can never be an anarchist because I love sitting inside warm when it's single digits outside.

mmm overusing resources...

First meeting between Johnson and Bosewell

2009-12-11T18:57:25Z

Great great scene.
A bit from it:
"At last, on Monday the 16th of May, when I was sitting in Mr. Davies's back-parlour, after having drunk tea with him and Mrs. Davies, Johnson unexpectedly came into the shop; and Mr. Davies having perceived him through the glass-door in the room in which we were sitting, advancing towards us,--he announced his aweful approach to me, somewhat in the manner of an actor in the part of Horatio, when he addresses Hamlet on the appearance of his father's ghost, 'Look, my Lord, it comes.' I found that I had a very perfect idea of Johnson's figure, from the portrait of him painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds soon after he had published his Dictionary, in the attitude of sitting in his easy chair in deep meditation, which was the first picture his friend did for him, which Sir Joshua very kindly presented to me, and from which an engraving has been made for this work. Mr. Davies mentioned my name, and respectfully introduced me to him."

Kudos to Bosewell to allowing himself to appear so foolish and slammed by Johnson (somewhat unfairly...and showing what a prick Johnson probably was or at least appeared to be most of the time).

Bosewell seems to me to be like Peter Petegrew or maybe Neville if he hung around "the three" as more of a hanger-on.

Another quote from Anna K that I like

2009-11-20T19:58:08Z

"No, you're not going to get away from us, and you're not going to be different, but you're going to be the same as you've always been; with doubts, everlasting dissatisfaction with yourself, vain efforts to amend, and falls, and everlasting expectation, of a happiness which you won't get, and which isn't possible for you."

Man sometimes you feel like CC Bloom and sometimes you feel like Barbara Hershey, ya know?

2009-11-20T06:49:29Z

And it's ALWAYS better to feel like CC Bloom.

Another good Anna K quote!

2009-11-05T19:19:50Z

The Countess Nordston and Levin got into that relation with one another not seldom seen in society, when two persons, who remain externally on friendly terms, despise each other to such a degree that they cannot even take each other seriously, and cannot even be offended by each other.

Just ran into a great quote from Anna K

2009-11-05T16:36:34Z

"Why, of course," objected Stepan Arkadyevitch. "But that's just the aim of civilization--to make everything a source of enjoyment."

A few more bon mots from Johnson

2009-10-22T21:30:53Z

"...his master kindly interested himself in procuring his release from a state of life of which Johnson always expressed the utmost abhorrence. He said, 'No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.' And at another time, 'A man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.'"

Unfortunately right before this there is some racism that I frown against. *sigh*

Hee hee...from Anna K.

2009-10-20T17:37:32Z

"Stepan Arkadyevitch had not chosen his political opinions or his views; these political opinions and views had come to him of themselves, just as he did not choose the shapes of his hat and coat, but simply took those that were being worn."

101 Goals Review Day 51: Finally stop talking and make my 30 essential books for Western Lit list

2009-10-19T18:47:48Z

DONE

Gads it took me way too long to do this one.
*checks list*
I still like it.

How awesome my husband is part 1

2009-10-19T16:55:09Z

So nakano and I are reading some daily lit together. http://www.dailylit.com/ Check it.
Nakano had voiced the desire to read more classic literature but found it difficult/boring to just sit down and power through some Dickens. This seemed the perfect solution.
So the first book we read together was Alice in Wonderland. He had never read it.
Good times, great book. It was 37 segments long and we read 2 a day...so took 2 and a half weeks.

Last night I asked if we could do another, and Nakano was all for it, having enjoyed the first one.
Now I was expected him to pick Alice Through the Looking Glass or perhaps something by Stevenson, a kind of pseudo-classic something with lots of adventure. Whatever it would be, I'm sure it would be something short. Something we could get through in another couple weeks.
What did he pick?
Anna Karenina
!
*hugs nakano*

3 left on the American Lit Syllabus!

2009-10-19T16:38:25Z

And those three are:
The Cambridge History of American Literature
Wieland
The Federalist Papers

For the third of these, I actually got a collection of a lot of documents from the time... The introduction was sleep inducing boring. BOO. I am going to sample some of the other works (speeches and essays) and then dive into the Federalist Papers. If I have some difficulty making it through them, I will skip around a bit more. Hope to dive into Wieland this weekend.

What is everyone else reading?

101 Goals Review Day 50: Ride in a hot air ballon

2009-10-15T19:55:31Z

DONE!

Glad I got to do this. It was $$, but it was some good memories. One of the good reasons for doing this 101 list was to get out and do things I've wanted to and get good memories from it.

101 Goals Review Day 49: Read alla Shakespeare

2009-10-15T19:53:22Z

NOT DONE

I am not as convinced that is something I absolutely want to do...
I mean I want to read 75% of Shakespeare and not the "wow that was a phone it in play now, wasn't it Willie"
We shall see once I get going though, I think it would be a few 4 month project.

Winston Churchill++

2009-10-15T16:04:58Z

"The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative."

This quote was mentioned in this interesting article about the recent resurgence of vampires in pop culture.
http://www.esquire.com/features/thousand-words-on-culture/vampires-gay-men-1109?src=rss

Just taking a minute cause I need a break from Work

2009-10-09T17:36:44Z

And concentrating on positive things!
I have the most expensive pedometer evar! Yes, got one of the new Nanos (thank you Ryan), in red as I decided I =do= hate AIDS. So far I have only had a chance to use it on a run once...and it was a short run with the Nike+ Ipod thing. I want to explore that more... But for now I am using it as an pedometer. It is nice in that it saves the totals each day. I will be using it as my main source of audio probably starting this Saturday. One of the reasons we wanted to get another ipod is so that nakano and I could listen to audiobooks at the same time: key. The screen is so pretty, and the "killer app" for me so far is goodness. More as I learn more.

Going to sushi den and Shostakovich concert tonight! Should be lots of snooty fun. I am listening to the music that will be played at the concert right now on old skool keepin' it real ipod. I like the Shostakovich 5th better than the Bernstein 1st...though I do like the first movement of the Bernstein. And I have never been to sushi den! Omega 3s will rulez the dinner.

Re-started Letters From an American Farmer; got distracted by something shiny when I was reading it before. It is a good read, but better to do not at 11:00 at night.

Starting my volunteering at the hospital close-by starting on Sunday (yes during the Broncos game, I am dedicated). I am shadowing a veteran volunteer on Sunday to learn what my job will entail. I think it's mostly being a gopher and having someone for some people to talk to. But will see, it may be something more or less. Will report back! My regular day/time will be Fridays 4-8.

OK, need to get back to it. I hope to post once more today to thank all of my friends for their support on my post a few days ago.

ARG WORK!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-08T20:34:54Z

That's all I have time for, but needed to share.

I am going to write an epic piano song chronicling how I hate my "career" and am a failure in life..

2009-10-06T21:43:13Z

But first I need to learn counterpoint.
*hm*

Though wait, this has to be a number two great entry

2009-10-06T20:56:40Z

http://boulder.craigslist.org/hea/1404434442.html
Title says it all: Medical Marijuana Grower/Caregiver

Well this is the coolest craigslist posting I've seen in a while

2009-10-06T20:54:37Z

http://boulder.craigslist.org/etc/1406819680.html

Does anyone have a timely death except those who choose suicide?

2009-10-02T19:36:24Z

Anyway!
I keep meaning to post and I am daunted by: OMG, I have this long post I need to do, then of course......I don't do it!
So forget that, I'm gonna post, and when I get time, go back and do those longer posts.
Rossini piece went well!
I got to play it yesterday with my new peep Janelle. Right now she is flirting with the idea of getting a...I think Masters in Piano playing (it may be whatever is above that...can you get a doctorate in Piano? Dr. Piano) so...yeah she's good. And I hope one day to be that good!
Really the ability I...okay I'll use the word lust, the ability I lust after is being able to just sit down and play a piece at like 85%. So not, say, concert-ready, but pretty darn well! Right now I'm looking to be able to do that with the stuff 2 levels beneath me...so I guess I should be able to do it with Prep level stuff. I need to try that...

And on that thread: metronome you are my friend. I thought you hated me like I hated you, but no...you just wanted to help me. I am sorry I cursed you in the past and did not use you. With the Rossini I have found that if I just figure out some notes basically then start really slow, you help me learn the song much faster. You don't let me cheat as much on finding the next note: there is a time limit...even if that time limit is 65 beats per...hour? Minute? What do your numbers mean? I look forward to using your help in learning all future pieces. Thank you for being there for me metronome.

Denver Major League Sports teams: you 3/4th rock this season!
GO BRONCOS! BEAT THE COWBOYS!

Attempt to catch-up with LJ:STARTO!

2009-09-27T21:24:04Z

Here it is Sunday afternoon. Waiting for the Broncos to start (GO BRONCOS! CRUSH THE RAIDERS!!) and just finished practicing piano. Hope to get another hour of practice in this week (it's been a bad piano practice week, but just had a really good hour, really got somewhere on this Rossini).
*stops*
Let me go back a bit.
Hey, I'm me!
I started learning (re-learning a bit I took piano for I believe less than two years when I was younger, like 8 years old younger) piano 2 years and 2 months ago. I am currently focusing on a Rossini duet piece that is one of the two pieces for an upcoming Mega Duet Concert where there is an adult division. Something like 8 pianos on stage with 16 players. Great way to play without (hopefully) being nervous. This is certainly the hardest piece I have ever worked on, and truly it's "above" me, marked as a 5 and I'm on Level 2. So, yeah: challenge!

There's many a theory for learning piano. One dividing line though would be working one way's up through the levels (or in other words, working up from simple pieces to gradually more complex); or to grab a piece the you really wanna play and don't care about the level (too terribly much) and just go at it and study that piece until you can play the mo-fo and pimp it off! Well mostly I rest in the former court. I want to build up a solid base so that I can some day pick up songs a couple levels below me and just play that stuff right off pretty darned well. Also, it's not like I know a number of piano pieces: with the method books I am using I get to find a lot of stuff and composers I've never heard or heard of. Though with the Rossini, I am more in the latter court: one piece focus for a few weeks. I am hoping that by mid-October (the concert is in November) that I will have the piece pretty darned solid and can practice it for 50% of my time.

The piece is four pages long, which for me is quite long in comparison to the 1 page or 2 page pieces I usually work on. So really the Rossini is like 3 pieces in one, so no "gosh this is boring and I'm playing it way too much"...yet. I am working a lot with my metronome, and getting better at it if I do say so myself. Probably by end of October my teacher and I will determine if I will be able to play in the concert. With this concert *looks up the name of the darned thing* it's called the "Multiple Piano Festival". It's given by the Boulder Area Music Teacher Association, well that's cool. And snap I just realized one of the practices is most likely during the time when I'm trying to volunteer. *sighs* *needs to mark up her calendar like a mo-fo and sit down with the volunteer coordinator.

Anyway. The Multiple Piano Festival, it's for kids and adults, where the kids try out, but the adults are on piano teacher recommendations...so I have to have my ducks in a row. Last week was a good practice week, this week is not so good...at least hours-wise, though like I said, I did just have one good practice session, hope to get at least one more in today and two tomorrow...and if I'm really good one Tuesday morning!

And now to LJ answering!
-illyana
Miss Catch-Up

P.S. GO BRONCOS!

laughs A couple more points Johnson's way

2009-09-25T16:28:49Z

Some definitions in Johnson's dictionary...reminds me of a certain Bierce and a certain dictionary of his:

* Tory. 'One who adheres to the ancient constitution or the
state and the apostolical hierarchy of the church or
England, opposed to a whig.'

Whig. 'The name of a faction.'

Pension. 'An allowance made to any one without
an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to
mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his
country.'

Oats. 'A grain which in England is generally
given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.'

Excise. 'A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and
adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches
hired by those to whom excise is paid.'--ED.

Grub-street, the name of a street in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems; whence any mean production is called Grub-street.'--'

Lexicographer, a writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.'

Samuel Johnson wins some points back from this one

2009-09-25T16:24:16Z

Man wrote a dictionary, can't dis that. From his autobiography from the boot-licker Boswell:

A few of his definitions must be admitted to be erroneous. Thus, Windward and Leeward, though directly of opposite meaning, are defined identically the same way; as to which inconsiderable specks it is enough to observe, that his Preface announces that he was aware there might be many such in so immense a work; nor was he at all disconcerted when an instance was pointed out to him. A lady once asked him how he came to define Pastern the KNEE of a horse: instead of making an elaborate defence, as she expected, he at once answered, 'Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance.'

So kudos to Mr. Johnson for realizing that there just had to be a whole posse of errors just to due to the enormity of the work.

Hope to catch up with Internet stuff this weekend. I have many a thing to post to LJ. I think I will write up 4-5 entries this weekend, then post once a week.
Also, if you have e-mailed me and I have not responded: no dis, I have just been behind since our trip to NYC.
Expect lots of LJ traffic from me this weekend...hope it's okay if I post to ya about stuff you posted oh so long ago.
Please drop me a line here if you wanna make sure to get an e-mail from me or if you want me to shut up about LJ entries you made "like totally two weeks ago".