Twisted Fairytale

I’ve been blog tagged by Sarai. Check out her blog at: Thoughts of an Aspiring Writer

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you. (check)
2. Post the rules on your blog. (check)
3. Share six random things about you. (check)
4. Tag six random people at the end of your blog entry. (check)
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blog. (and check)

Ok, so here we go. Six random things about me….

 1. I was once diagnosed with a pulmonary condition that only affects people who regularly smoke, have been out of the country in an airplane, or are elderly. I am not, nor had I done, any of those things. How I contracted it is still a mystery.

2. My favorite color changes yearly. It’s always in the blue/purple/black range (as evident by my web and blog layout). The one color that always manages to sneak in an surprise me? ORANGE. I actually own TONS of things in Orange and it wasn’t until recently that I allowed myself to admit it’s one of my favorite colors. Strange, huh? I spend a lot of time in that place called De-nial.

3.  I once managed to get my hair the exact same copper penny color as my eyes. It was so freakishly cool, most people would stare at my eyes for a while and go,  ‘are those real?’ Now that my hair is back to its natural color, my eyes tend to look darker. *boohoo to that! bring on the purple contact lenses*

4. My mother had me when she was 21 years old. It was the mid-80s and she was fully immersed in the culture. Hence, I’m a total 80s baby, although technically, I should be too young to remember it. BUT… let’s just say I was rocked to sleep to Guns N’ Roses rather than Rock a Bye Baby.

5.  My hands are unusually tiny. A good family friend has an 11 year old daughter who was my flower girl. Her hand is currently about a quarter of an inch larger than mine. And she’s a tiny, petite little thing. *shakes head*

6. And along those embarrassing lines, I have nearly non-existent knuckles. My brother used to tease me and tell me I had powerpuff girl hands. The jerk.

And that’s it for me! I will now tag Tempest, Cora, Bettie, Imogen, Jana, and Lisa.

While watching Labyrinth today, one of my favorite movies of all time, I found myself thinking about what it would be like to remake it. With the CGI effects available nowadays, they could do some absolutely brilliant things with those puppets. The labyrinth would look even more real, and that really neat staircase scene at the end would be absolutely trippy!! Either way, it really does an amazing job transcending the viewer to an imaginary world.

Still, it leaves many questions and many interpretations to what actually happened. Was it all a dream? Was the labyrinth a real place? Was it a representation of Sara’s thoughts and fantasies? Was Jareth real? Did he take Toby because she asked him to or because he had a bigger plan? Why did he want her to stay? If she had succumbed to the fantasy in the masquerade bubble, would she have become the Goblin Queen? Is that what he wanted?! Ok, I’m totally betraying my geekiness here,  but I can’t help but wonder. It’s one of those movies that has a million interpretations and because of this I can’t help  but wish for a sequel. Jennifer Connelly is all grown up. Could you imagine the tension between she and Bowie nowadays?! HA HA. That’d be insane!

Either way, the point of this blabbering post is this: Into the Labyrinth.  A fascinating in depth look at the symbolism, imagery, etc of the show. Check it out!

Well, Disney has now released it’s fourth musical (or is it the fifth?) on Broadway. The others made a bit of a splash, particularly The Lion King, which unfortunately I never got around to seeing. But, although I was bummed about it, I’d live. This new one I cannot miss. I refuse. It is my favorite Disney movie of all time. Do you know which one it is? I’ll give you a hint:

Of course! The Little Mermaid!  I believe it was that movie that began my obsession with redheads. An obsession that is still very much prevalent as you will notice. Just about most of my books have at least one reheaded character in them. Can’t help myself. PLUS… I was ALL about Ursula. I still think she’s one of the best, most charismatic villains in Disney history. She’s funny, sassy, and enigmatic. I always wondered why she became such a bitter old hag. And when she turns into Vanessa… well, ha ha, I love the conflict. What can I say? I’ve never been an Eric fan. He’s a bit of a wimpy push over. But, Ariel is my heart and soul. Especially when she couldn’t speak and was all cute expressions.

So if it means I have to sell a kidney to afford one of these tickets on Broadway, I totally intend to. Besides, a trip into the city sounds great. Maybe I can spend a day at the Museum of Natural History, hit the planetarium, then catch the 2pm show! Make a whole day of it.  Or… hit the Museum of Modern Art. Although I may get sucked in and never leave that place. I’m excited just thinking about it.

How is it already Monday? What happened to the weekend?! *looks around bewildered*

I’m so sorry I absolutely disappeared on you guys. I honestly don’t know what happened to the days. It feels like I opened my eyes and *poof* it’s Monday. I did quite a bit, and in the usual Isabelle fashion, nothing at all, really.

Highlight:

Went to see Jumper in theaters.  Despite all the slack Hayden Christensen gets because of his acting, I really enjoyed the movie. I think the concept of what they can do is great and I think his minimalist acting worked perfect for the part. He does this amazing thing which people take for granted. He wears all of this emotion in his eyes, lets it spill over, so that he’s on the verge of madness. It’s what made him such a great Anakin. Quiet desperation, you know?

The movie had some amazing locations (which made me so jealous and dreamy). It also had some impressive fight sequences. I’m not overall an action girl, but I like a well done action scene. The fight scenes were that much more interesting because of their ‘powers’.

So yea, overall, really liked it. Next movie on my to see list: 10,000 BC.

Now, I hate to run, but I have to be at work in like 15 minutes. I hope you all had a great weekend!

May your Monday be filled with caffeine and patience.

Spanish is a romantic language, no matter WHAT you’re actually saying.

This video rocks my socks so much, I had to share.

moar humorous pics

I’m in a classical mood tonight. Not sure why, but I’ve been jamming the instrumentals, classical, and new wave tracks all day. They stir up my emotions and get me all excited. *secret* I think I may love them a little more than regular (lyrical) music. You can express so much in the tone of an instrument, the melody, the tempo. It can make you want to dance, smile, cry, or even feel wispy and dreamy! It’s amazing! And it’s great writing music, mostly because there’s music available for action scenes, love scenes, and tracks available for ‘masquerades/balls’! Which I’m obsessed with. I vow to make it to a conference just to attend one of their costume balls. Ha, ha!

On another note, my cat is insane. He sleeps near my feet at the end of the bed (which is adorable). But he’s so silly. He falls off, into the crease between the bed and the wall! So much for graceful, huh? I took a billion pictures of him on my cell phone like a proud mama. He’s going to be my screensaver. And I’ll show him off to anyone who’s around everytime I open my phone. He’s just too cute. He actually wakes up really early in the mornings and waits at the doorway until the alarm goes off. Then he starts to meow cause he knows it means ‘good morning!’ and he gets fed! Ha ha. I think it’s so considerate he waits until the alarm goes off. And so insightful of him too! I gots meez a smaht keety.

I hope you’re all having an awesome Hump Day!

Spent most of the weekend trying to rid myself of a killer migraine. Didn’t work much, so now I’m sort of numbed to the hum behind my eyes. I’ve spoken of the head gnomes before haven’t I? They live in my brain and are generally well behaved, but sometimes, for no reason whatsoever, they get it in their minds that my brain contains gems and so they begin mining with those pointy ax looking things. That of course gives me a dreadful headache. I tell them to hush,  but they tell me they have to find the diamonds and rubies and sapphires inside my brain. *shakes head* Foolish little gnomes.

In the end, I’m sure you can imagine how impossible it is for me to do much of anything, including think. So, my edits, which need to be done BADLY, ended up slightly butchered. :- I’m afraid to even look at them for fear of what I wrote. It’s going to be some weird possessed version of the original story. Ha ha.

On a positive note, I ordered business cards and magnets! YAY! I’m really excited about that. I’ll give a few away in a little contest as soon as they come in! Now if I can only make bookmarks. Hmm….

I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for the weekend. I’ve spent a lot of it catching up on sleep, trying to fight off what feels like the beginning traces of a cold. I think I’ve done OK in warding off most of its evils, except for this stupid headache that keeps plaguing me. All in all, though, I got to rent a few movies and settle in for a lazybug weekend. I enjoyed it far more than I should have. *grins wickedly* I can’t remember the last time I just slept, ate, and watched movies all weekend. Sure, I did a few chores. Cleaned the bathroom, folded laundry. But that’ s about as far as I got.  And, I’m surprisingly totally OK with that. Ha ha.

So what movies did I watch? Three rentals: Serenity, Across the Universe, and Breach. Three very different styles and genres. What a weird ride, those three were, in that order. Serenity, was amazing. I just finished the Firefly season, a few days ago and of course fell in love with those characters. So well written, so full of heart. I don’t get why it got canceled so fast. What happened? Couldn’t the network see how amazing this show was? I’m glad they made the movie though, some really great moments in that. Unfortunately, my questions about Shepherd Book’s true identity were never answered. :- That bummed me out.

Across the Universe… *sigh* What can I say about this movie? It was nothing like what I expected. I suppose I imagined a 60s version of Moulin Rouge. All flashing lights and music. Instead, it felt more like an acid flashback. I spent most of the movie a little lost. There were times when I couldn’t figure out if something was real or not. It seemed to me, more than anything else, that it was the director’s intention to interpret many of those Beatles songs, and it was done with a series of vignettes more than a cohesive movie. Which is too bad. I had such high hopes. At least they all had amazing voices and the new versions of the songs were very catchy and well done.

Breach. Wow. I still can’t get over the fact that it was based on a true story. The fact that things like that happen in our government just blow me away. I mean, you can’t write this stuff. It seems perfectly scripted. A novel of some sort. But it’s true. Amazing, isn’t it? Government conspiracies and underground workings are fascinating. I can see why. There’s something about that power play, something about it being so much more than regular everyday life that interests the public. Either way, good movie. And the fact that Ryan Philippe was in it was only a bonus.

So yea, that’s what I’ve been up to. Lazy me. I really need to get back to some edits. Maybe I’ll do some of that tonight.

Happy Sunday all. Hope your weekend was a good one.

Well, all in all, this week has been… interesting long. It isn’t Friday yet, granted. It’s about an hour and a half away at this point. BUT, I believe I’ve gotten enough of the week in to make this judgment.

Where to begin? First things first, I suppose. My darling Chocolate Bear was terribly sick last week. Bronchitis, poor baby. It had him down for nearly the whole week. I tended to him best I could. Between keeping up with him, going to work, (finding rides for work, since we still don’t have a car), and getting my own writing/sleeping in, I reached burnout mode pretty quick. Were my life a video game, I’d be the character in the corner, her hair a pathetic mass of un-brushed curls, her eyes wide and terrifying. Don’t forget the creepy, bluish-purple circles beneath them. In real life, however, I think I’m pretty well put together, except for being tired all the time. Which, more sleep would remedy. This writing business is going to be the death of me.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the week. I resorted to sleeping on the couch. I guess I figured I wouldn’t catch what Hubby Bear has, hence I’d be able to keep my life neatly juggled in the air. *pregnant pause* Will someone explain to me why self-exile was my answer? The couch is so NOT a comfortable place to sleep. *Weird lawyer voice speaks in the back of my mind* Isabelle, you have a pullout bed in the couch. *I groan* Shut up, voice. That’s beside the point. They don’t need to know I’ve been dragging myself to bed at like 3-4am, too exhausted to pull it out.

On top of all of this, I worked a 9 hour shift at work today, my legs feel a little rubbery, and I have to work again tomorrow (although 5 hours ain’t so bad). While considering that this might be the worse of my troubles, I walk past our old car, for sale (for parts, mostly, since it doesn’t run) and realize that the back left window looks like it’s got a million spiderwebs on it. I gasp. Looks like someone either threw something at it or a rock ricocheted and turned it into a thousand tiny pieces of glass waiting to shatter. *sigh*

So, what, you ask yourself, is that silver lining the title of this post is talking about? Two things, actually. One- I wrote the prologue to this story I’ve had in my head since November. During NaNo, when I was on a race against time to write a different story under contract, this one conveniently placed itself in my line of sight. (Of course, typical fickle muse).  I pushed it away, ignored it, but everyday it got more vivid. I started to jot down some pointers. That grew to looking through names. That grew to physical descriptions. Soon, I was far too distracted and not making my wordcount. Needless to say, I didn’t win Nano. But this story has stuck with me since then, even though I refused to touch it.

I went through several possible versions of a beginning. None of them ever felt right. And I also knew I couldn’t start it with the first time they meet, because I felt it incredibly important that we saw how the heroine ended up,  before we met who she used to be. So… yesterday, while in the shower (I swear, that place is a magical idea box), I was struck with the beginning. Not what I envisioned, not what I’d wanted, but so perfect for the characters. I started to write it and VOILA! We’re off…!

On top of that, tonight, I do a quick Google search only to find a new review for Cinematic Royalty! *faints* No way!  It made me pretty giddy. After a week like this one, I didn’t realize how much I felt I needed validation as a writer. You can read all of it here. My favorite line:

If it were available in print, it would have a spot on my bookshelf.

Should I write to her and tell her it will be? Ha ha. If I can get these edits done for the second story to join it in its print version.  Which is my exit music. *bows*  I’ve got a new burst of energy to work on them tonight, thank goodness. Wish me luck.

Thanks to PBS running the Jane Austen season, I have once again been reminded why I love that woman’s writing so much. She’s so wonderfully perceptive when it comes to how human beings react and interact. Her stories are heartrending and funny. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t read all of them, only the most popular ones. So, I’m definitely in line to get the collection. Along with Jane Eyre, who my darling Lisa keeps telling me is one of the best books she’s ever read. How could I not get it after a statement like that?!

So, I have today off of work (*yay*). I have a lot of chores and housewife things to do, but I hope to get 1k written on my WIP as well. Wish me luck, ok?!

OH! And the progress meter widgets! Tempest, my darling, I have provided a link to the plugin area, and a link to where you can get the regular HTML of it as well!

HERE for HTML version of meters. HERE for plugin/widget of progress meters!