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Dec. 9th, 2009 @ 06:36 am Reviews: Several belated!
Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: I Will, Ed Gerhard
BPAL of the Day: Snow-Flakes

Wow. I can't believe I went this long without updating. I had a post started over a week ago about LAST weeks LotS episode, but between moving out of there and moving back in here, then joining the hunt to find my grandmother a new puppy. (Both of her elderly dogs passed away within a month of each other and she is very anxious to have another pet.) Then we went to see 'A Christmas Carol' on Thursday, went to Midnight Merriment in Concord on Friday, Saturday I saw Ed Gerhard again in Laconia and then, though I wasn't exactly in the right state of mind for it, I watched this week's episode of LotS!

I suppose I ought to do this chronologically so I'll start with last week's LotS review.

11/29: Review: LotS S2, Ep. 4. "Touched"

It was an okay episode. A bit of a letdown from the last one. It was a bit awkwardly written and less polished than the previous three episodes. Kahlan goes in search of a young woman who is the last remaining Confessor. (Other than Kahlan) The girl, Annabelle, has been hidden away in a tower her whole life and only knows about the world through romance novels. A servant poisons her father and spirits her away to sell her to the local bad guy. Kahlan and company arrive just in time to save the girl who runs off and manages to confess the first person she sees. Then she ignorantly goes on a confessing spree, eventually confessing Richard himself. Things looked pretty bad for Annabelle since they were obviously not going to leave Richard confessed to this random girl forever. The ending was better than I expected, but the clichés and awkward storytelling made the episode feel much more in line with last season than this one so far. Kahlan was the best thing about this episode. Bridget did an excellent job portraying Kahlan's angst.

A reasonably entertaining, if flawed episode.

*** stars.

*Skipping over the slog through getting packed and unpacked and in and out of the house.*

12/3: A Christmas Carol.

A very well done and entertaining production. All the parts were excellently performed. Scrooge couldn't have been more perfect. Not a lot to say about it, but it was definitely a lot of fun.

My mother and niece went to this as their holiday event since I am OBVIOUSLY(!!) going to see Ed on the 18th and 19th. I offered them to get Nutcracker tickets in Boston, but my mother didn't want to go to Boston.

**** Stars.

12/4: We had to visit my grandmother Friday because my mother didn't get to go on Thursday. On Friday my grandmother was set on buying a Ragdoll kitten and a Dachshund puppy so I researched some Ragdoll breeders while we were there. In the end my mother found an ad in the Boston Globe for Dachshund puppies... that are within walking distance from our house. My grandmother went to see the pups Sunday and decided to take two Dachshund puppies instead of getting a kitten. Too bad. I would like a Ragdoll or Birman kitten myself and would have liked the opportunity to get to know one first.

By the time we got to Midnight Merriment in Concord it was nearly 11. The 'new' Pachamama store has less so far than the old one, but they have some very nice things and I got a couple of statues and a sterling bell there. I also went to The League of NH Craftsman store and got a silk scarf. Everything was closed after that.

12/5 Ed Gerhard at the Belknap Mill in Laconia.

I took my usual insane amount of time getting ready. I remembered the nails this time, thankfully. I had chosen the outfit for this show last winter. It is hand-painted silk in silvery blue with a leaf pattern that I think looks like leaves trapped in frost on a window. It was suitable since it snowed for the first time this season on Saturday. :P I suppose it could be called 'atmospheric' for a semi-Christmas concert, but I could have done without the added atmosphere. My mother had the nieces so getting out of the house took longer than it should have. All conspired so that I didn't get there until the parking lot was already filling up and people were pouring in the Mill at about 6:45. (The concert was to start at 7:30.) I was naturally beside myself that I would be 'late' for the concert that is closest. When I got in there was only one seat left in the front row- the last seat on the left under the speaker- and the opposite to my preferred slightly right of center view. It was quite close to Ed, but I thought the view wouldn't be very good from that angle. The ladies next to me were a little worried about the speaker. I told them it would be okay. He didn't play heavy metal.

Happily, I was completely wrong about the quality of the seat. I have never seen Ed from that side and I liked it. The microphone was a bit in the way, but I found that I was more able to watch both his hands playing at once from that angle. The speaker added a little depth and resonance without detracting from the purity of the sound. The sound at the Belknap Mill is really very good.

It was wonderful, of course! He's gotten a new six string and seems to be building a very good relationship with it already. :) I would say that it was the six string that he did his most stunning work on this night. 'Imagine' was transcendent. What an experience for the senses that was. Glorious almost beyond description. Quiet, deep, elegant, rich and stunningly beautiful. He was a little quieter than he sometimes is. There was a calmly reflective kind of mood to his playing overall, with a neat bit of playfulness at the end.

We talked a little after. I think I'm doing a little better, less fangirly. He was as sweet to me as ever. :)

I am not talking about the next ones... Don't want to jinx anything...

****** Stars!

Review: LotS S2, Ep. 5. "Wizard"

I wasn't particularly engaged in this episode for obvious reasons, but I did come around to it eventually. Zedd eats an enchanted persimmon which causes him to lose his memory. Turns out the witch Shota enchanted him to force him to name a new Seeker. Shota returns Zedd's youth and a young and wisdom-free Zedd wanders off to fall in love with the first prostitute he sees. His power endears him to his chosen flock, as he impresses them by 'making' money, making castles, transforming the rag-tag bunch of johns and prostitutes into lords and ladies before running off to fight the Keeper of the underworld.

It was interesting enough but unfortunately it also gleefully trampled the rules they already painstakingly established. They said banelings could only be destroyed by fire. In this episode Zedd burned one, but he came back anyway. They are also playing very loosely with their magical rules. According to this episode nothing can bring back the dead. Only Mord Sith, at least, CAN bring back the dead in the show-verse. Last season Kahlan's sister went to an island that was protected by a magic so strong that no one could ever attack it. In this season the Mord Sith had no trouble at all doing just that. Internal consistency is GOD. Writers must abide by the rules they put forth or have a damn good reason for changing them. Without it the story is worthless because it has no authenticity.

Perhaps I am expecting too much from a syndicated fantasy show in a 1AM time slot. With the first few episodes this season they proved they are capable of making compelling, strong stories. I just hope they manage to deliver them without gleefully trampling everything that came before it.

** 1/2 Stars.

Present: We were supposed to go to the Cape on Sunday for three nights, but that has become going on Thursday night for two. It's better than nothing, of course. It will be my first non-petsitting trip away from home this year. I won't be at B&N Thursday, BTW.

I think that is about it for now. I took over 500 pictures when I was petsitting that I am still going through and sorting out. I had three box openings while I was there, too. It has been a busy month!

Time for bed!
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Ed Gerhard
Nov. 22nd, 2009 @ 03:53 am Review: LotS S2 Ep. 3 'Broken.'
Current Location: Outer Joggerville
Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: Santiago, Loreena McKennitt
BPAL of the Day: Pa-Pow

Yikes! They have really gotten their act together for this season so far. This is another really intense and emotionally powerful episode. It begins with Kahlan having a dream that tells her she is soon to be the only remaining Confessor. When she awakens she becomes desperate to get to her sister, Dennee, but Cara tells her it is no use since she killed Dennee herself when Darken ordered the Mord Sith to hunt down Dennee's son. Kahlan is understandably upset and goes into the Con Dar (Blood Rage) to destroy Cara, but Richard stops her. They go their separate ways, but when Cara tries to go see her sister, her sister's husband flips out and has Cara arrested. A villager goes to find Kahlan to put Cara to death for her crimes as a Mord Sith.

Richard convinces Kahlan to put Cara on trial rather than killing her outright. Although Cara is extremely proud and is ready to die rather than beg forgiveness, slowly her terrible ordeal comes out, some of which isn't even known to Cara herself.

While there were a couple of continuity glitches, it was intense, powerful and manages, yet again, to improve on the books while keeping the spirit of them intact. The breaking of a little girl to become a Mord Sith is a horrible thing and far from trivial, but its portrayal is not so numbingly over the top as the books.

I am very impressed with how far they have come in one year. As long as they don't screw up Nathan, this promises to be a really good season. If anyone watched last year and wasn't impressed I recommend giving it another try.

**** Stars.
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Warrior Kobolds
Nov. 21st, 2009 @ 03:37 am Review: Arlo Guthrie & Family
Current Location: Outer Joggerville
Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: Fog Trilogy, Ed Gerhard
Tags: ,
BPAL of the Day: Parsifal

I really wanted to see Arlo Guthrie again, but unfortunately there were no Capitol Center dates this tour. I ended up getting tickets for the Merrill Auditorium in Portland, ME. My mother tends to balk at going to any concerts that require a long drive even when they are by people she knows she will like. I *thought* she should like Arlo's show, but the gods know it is hard to tell sometimes. (Remembering the Tim McGraw fiasco.) She wasn't thrilled about going, but thankfully she did really enjoy the concert in the end.

It was a very different concert from the last one. This time he was performing with his kids and grandkids with ages from teens down to what looked like 3-4 year olds. It was actually pretty amazing to see all those kids singing and performing like pros.

The show wasn't all kids' music, of course. He played a lot of his father's old songs, bringing the sense of 'family' full circle. He told a few stories, of course. Some were the same as the last show, some not. He is such a great storyteller. There weren't as many stories as last time.

While there was no Ed (I didn't think he would be there... I don't even know if he is back from the Japanese tour yet.) and I think I preferred the overall setlist from the last concert, this was still an awesome concert. I'm glad I took the chance of my mother liking it!

**** 1/2 Stars!

Next event: 12/3: A Christmas Carol
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Dal and Kiahna
Nov. 19th, 2009 @ 06:08 am Review: And Another Thing: HHGttG 6, by Eoin Colfer
Current Location: Outer Joggerville
Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: Alright for Now, Tom Petty
Tags: ,
BPAL of the Day: Snow Moon

I just finished this book about an hour ago. It starts with our heroes seemingly deep into old age, (Except Ford, who just got froodier.) but it turns out that their lives were merely virtual reality provided by the HHG itself. The planet is still minutes away from getting blown up. Things looked pretty bad until Zaphod shows up again to whisk them away from danger...

Only Ford manages to muck up the Improbability drive. (Now overseen by Zaphod's second head.) Things look pretty bad again until another traveler shows up by the name of Bowerick Wowbagger, an immortal green alien with an exotic ship that runs on dark matter. They manage to convince him to rescue them and off we go.

Like any proper HHGttG book, a whole lot happens here, but while there are moments when it all seems to be a directionless muddle, there is a pretty solid, if simple, story arc under there. I'd say in the end that there might be a tiny bit too much slavish devotion to getting the characterizations EXACTLY as Douglas Adams wrote them, because despite some early indications to the contrary, most of the characters are either very shallow or on the verge of being so extreme as to be caricatures. That is certainly being very true to the original books, but I might have liked to see a little of the depth, even in fleeting moments, that characterizes Eoin's other writings. (There are moments with Arthur, who had the most moments in the originals, too. And, oddly, with a Vogon.) I can definitely see why it was done this way, especially for the first HHGttG book Colfer writes. (I'm thinking there may be more.) The overall tone is 'lighter.' Not really because the material is lighter, but it lacks that particular type of edgy humor that would likely be impossible to replicate by anyone who isn't Douglas Adams.

I think 'And Another Thing' should appease longtime Douglas Adams fans who want it to be as close to the originals as possible while introducing a new generation to the remarkable and strange universe Adams created. Many congratulations to Eoin Colfer, who really did an incredible job writing like Adams rather than himself; something that cannot be easy to accomplish so elegantly.

***** Stars!

Is anyone coming to B&N tonight?
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Don't Panic!
Nov. 16th, 2009 @ 02:55 am Review: S2 LotS episode 2 "Baneling"
Current Location: Outer Joggerville
Current Mood: productive
Current Music: The Water is Wide, Ed Gerhard
BPAL of the Day: Luna

I was running around like crazy last night packing up to go petsitting for two weeks. I almost considered waiting until tonight when I would have more time, but I hate waiting, so I made time for it.

Richard, Kahlan, Zedd and Cara are on the hunt for the Stone of Tears to reseal the underworld so the Keeper can't escape and kill everyone. They are seeking an Abbot whom they have heard might know something about the stone, but when they get to the monastery, they find everyone gone and all their treasures taken. Richard asks Cara (former evil Mord Sith) where prisoners would be taken and she told them the name of a death camp nearby. They go there to find a D'Haran general known as the 'butcher' living up to his name by killing everyone in sight, Darken Rahl or no Darken Rahl. The foursome kills the D'Harans and start work trying to get them supplied with clean food and water while tracking down the whereabouts of the abbot. (This is one of those times where one is glad you can't smell the place.) They find out the abbot was hung the day before, but a monk tells them that the abbot always wore an amulet, and that it was taken from him when they were brought in. The amulet was first found by a young thief making off with the treasure, who opens it and becomes marked with a rune.

Meanwhile someone or something is brutally killing the villagers. It turns out that the enemies they killed were sent back through to the world of life as 'banelings' by Darken Rahl, in his role as the Keeper's emissary, with the orders that they must kill others to stay alive.

Nice, shiny, happy story we've got going here.

The abbot shows up. He took Darken Rahl's offer to return as a baneling in order to tell Richard about the amulet. But he'll be sucked back unless he kills someone soon, so Richard goes to hunt an enemy soldier, but they're already killed, so he only gets out part of what is needed to do with the amulet before getting sucked back.

The rest is much the same so I don't feel the need to describe any more. They defeat this bunch of undead baddies, but there is promise of more to come. Even the ending wasn't nearly so hopeful as it looked.

Although nothing in the episode specifically appeared in the books, it definitely felt like them. Not my favorite parts, to be sure, but I certainly can't deny that it was true to the spirit of the books. The show has definitely upped the bloody violence and sexuality. I suspect that they were getting a feel for who their main audience would be with the first season. Now they've definitely got their eye firmly on the 18-35 male bracket. This was an episode tailor made for that age and gender group. But, again, so were the books most of the time.

It is tricky to rate as it was a 'good' episode in terms of being true to the spirit of the books, but not a particularly enjoyable one. I have no desire to see it again any time soon.

*** 1/2 Stars.

I'm currently petsitting until almost December! Only their washing machine is broken! Arrgh! I'll have to drag all my laundry home to wash it, I suppose. :/

It does feel a bit strange not to have 400 things to do. lol.

I'm looking forward to getting some good pictures of my dolls down by the pond. Hopefully it'll be warm and beautiful like today for a little while longer!
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Brynna 3
Nov. 13th, 2009 @ 05:06 am Review: Cirque Mechanics: Birdhouse Factory and OMG Dolls!
Current Location: Center Joggerville
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Spanish Harlem, Ed Gerhard
BPAL of the Day: 51

I was looking forward to Cirque Mechanics: Birdhouse Factory. I loved Jungle Fantasy and put this as my most anticipated Capitol Center show of November. Back in May I suggested that my niece would probably like to see it. I may rue that bit of well-meaning behavior as I ended up bringing my bad seat companions with me. She and her siblings all have some cough related nastiness. The moral of the story? Don't do anything nice, it'll only come back to bite you in the ass. :P If I get them seats again I'll make sure mine is elsewhere.

It was a shockingly under attended show. The Jungle Fantasy was packed, but there were a ton of empty seats for this. I have no idea why as they seemed to sell well at the beginning. The production was definitely a smaller, stripped down version of the other Cirque shows I have seen, but they were still loaded with talent and mind-boggling skill. You'd think some of them had magic to do what they did! It was definitely a fun and awesome show with a touch of steampunk and humor mixed in. It would have been better for me without Pestilential Princess #1 sitting next to me, but it was certainly a great show.

**** 1/2 Stars.

I contacted Soom about my ridiculously delayed Glot and Glati order (Paid off in early July.) I got a shipping notice today and was stunned to find out that it was NOT Glot and Glati, but Cass whom I just paid off three days ago! Ah Soom and their wacky shipping practices. I think they gave me my blank Cass to keep me from having kittens over Glot and Glati.

This means that I will be getting my Abadon, Cass, Eliv and my fully blushed Amber all next week sometime. That is a lot of box openings!

I'm petsitting here just for tonight. My client comes home around 10-11AM. Knowing I would never, ever be up and ready to leave at 10 with my whacked-out schedule of going to bed at 7, the plan is for me to leave here around 6 and go home to bed. Only trouble is I was up even later than usual reading last night and want to go to bed now. Argh. At least I'll be at the next place long enough to change my schedule gradually.
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Dryad
Nov. 12th, 2009 @ 01:11 am Review: LotS S2, ep 1 'Marked'. Also BJDs and new Hitchhiker's Guide book.
Current Location: Center Joggerville
Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: Lugh, Excalibur
BPAL of the Day: Pa-Pow

Now that I'm petsitting for a couple of nights I finally have time to post my final review for last week. I've been too busy dusting and cleaning up!

The show didn't end up coming on until around 2:30AM because of college football. A lovely time for a season premiere. *sarcasm* It worked fine for me, of course, but I am glad it is showing in prime time on WCVB.

I really liked it. It picked up a week after the last season left off with everyone jubilant over the destruction of Darken Rahl when a VERY nasty monster shows up to ruin the party. Turns out that in the defeat of Rahl a rift formed in the Underworld that will eventually allow the Keeper of the Underworld to kill everyone and everything alive. Very bad news.

That part is pretty much straight from the books. As with last season they are mixing in book stuff with new material and making some pretty major changes to the canon along the way. The biggest change relevant to this show is in Richard's parentage. In the books Richard is Darken's son via rape. In the show he's Darken's brother via... dishonesty? It seems Panis Rahl, Darken's (and now Richard's) father wasn't such a bad dude as he was portrayed in the books. He saw the sadism in Darken and got wind of a prophecy saying that he would father a good son whose mother would have a magical pedigree as powerful as his own, and that son would defeat Darken. So he went out to seek this woman... Zedd's daughter... and transformed himself into a handsome young shepherd to seduce and impregnate her. (I'm pretty sure he fell in love with her along the way.) All of this is more complicated, but also better, more nuanced and more interesting than the original. Again the show proves that it CAN improve on the book. This episode also had the show's best writer. I hope they use her a lot this season.

A very promising beginning to the season!

**** Stars.

Tomorrow: Cirque Dreams: Birdhouse Factory.

Other:

I FINALLY got my Cuprit! I was so relieved to have all that over with. Her body is now being used by my Migidoll Jina head. Alasta is now almost complete. (She needs to go out for blushing.) I finally have my first BJD couple! I'm looking forward to taking some pictures next week while I'm petsitting.

My *exquisite* Angelhiem Zion has also arrived. He is so beautiful and so very posable! I need to send him out for blushing and a face up. I'm pretty sure I have found my Altennimer.

And my LE Luts Abadon is already on shipping two days after his final payment. :O My little Eliv will be coming home soon, too. Now I just need to prod Soom to cough up my Glot and Glati as my split members are getting a bit (understandably) antsy, but I can't do anything about Soom's unfathomable shipping practices. They were paid off early for all the good it did!

I'll be off to petsit in Outer Joggerville for two weeks starting Sunday.

I recently started 'And Another Thing' The new Hitchhiker’s Guide book by Eoin Colfer. I'm @ page 80 right now. It's pretty good so far. It has been a very long time since I read the first five books, but I remember them reasonably well in a general sense. This book matches the overall tone and characterizations. Colfer is more reasoned in his approach to things. Although he is definitely is trying to be that ridiculous, there is still more form behind it all. There is subtly more characterization than I remember from the originals, mostly on Arthur. This book is actually quite a bit funnier so far. There was often something a bit too dark and sharp in the humor Douglas Adams' work that kept them from being LOL funny… at least to me.

I'm definitely enjoying it so far.
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Althamal bjd 2
Nov. 9th, 2009 @ 04:55 am Reviews: Abba Mania & Turandot
Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Steps, Secret Garden
BPAL of the Day: Pa-Pow

Onward...

11/6: Abba Mania. This was another one of those 'why not?' shows. Their songs can be good fun if you don't expect deep, introspective lyrics. Again they provide a great snapshot of their time in both music and fashion. I confess I don't know a whole lot about the real Abba so I cannot say how close they were to the real thing, but they seemed to do a great job. They seriously have the coolest boots! It was a fun show.

What wasn't so fun was that the stone in the ring I bought in Salem fell out. I was pretty frantic as that was not a cheap ring. I was told by the lady sitting next to me that the young girl on the opposite side of me picked it up. They didn't come back until the second set had already started so I had to wait until nearly the end to ask about the stone. The girl obviously didn't want to give it up, but her mom fished it out of her pocket. What a relief that was! I found the crowd rather nice and polite at this show in general.

*** 1/2 stars.

11/7: Turandot. Now for something completely different. They have a program at the Capitol Center called "The Met: Live in HD' where they screen various operas, some live, some prerecorded earlier in the day. This one was prerecorded. I wasn't quite sure what seat to pick. This being a movie I didn't know if front row center would be a neck breaker so I chose my favored Row B seat 1 on the right isle and hoped for the best. It turned out very well. Everyone else there was around 7-10 rows back so I had the whole front of the theater to myself and the view was perfect.

Turandot is a Puccini opera set in Imperial China. The story is pretty typical opera fare with a prince falling in love with Princess Turandot who has proclaimed that any suitor who does not correctly answer her three riddles correctly gets his head chopped off. (Such a desirable and kind-hearted lady!) Of course this does not deter our prince. The first two acts were actually pretty interesting and had a little more story than most of the operas I have seen. Unfortunately the third act quickly dissolved into typical opera melodrama.

The costumes and props were absolutely gorgeous! The talent top-notch and the visuals stunning. One would expect no less from the Met. There were a few unfortunate technical glitches when the sound and/or video cut out. (The worst was right in the middle of the prince's riddle answering.) I am sure that couldn't be helped.

A visual feast and a pleasant and peaceful evening.

**** Stars.

Since it is getting very late again I'll finish up with my Legend of the Seeker review tomorrow.
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Memories of Tours past
Nov. 8th, 2009 @ 05:14 am Reviews: Loretta LaRoche, Stepcrew & Brian Wilson.
Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Call it Love, Blackmore's Night
BPAL of the Day: High Strung Daisies

It has been a very busy week for events! I will never get to review them all in one post but I wanted to get started before I forget what they were.

10/30- Loretta LaRoche. I'm not usually into comedy acts, but my mother really wanted to see her as she's watched her on PBS. It was pretty funny and I think we can all find a little of ourselves in her stuff. There were a few good lines to take away and try to remember.

It is a bit hard to put a rating to. It is pretty much the same show as the PBS special, but it was pretty good so... *** 1/2 stars? Maybe four?

A 'funny' thing that happened ABOUT the show was I found out that our tickets qualified us for a Meet and Greet with Loretta LaRoche... which I got an email about on Sunday night... two days AFTER the show!

11/1- Stepcrew. We were nearly late to this as the restaurant was incredibly slow. The show itself was really great. Stepcrew is pretty much all step dancing with fiddle playing and a couple of vocal songs sprinkled in. It was vigorous, beautifully performed and fun to watch.

**** Stars.

11/3- Brian Wilson. I am not a a huge Beach Boys fan or anything but I'll see almost anything (Except Grateful Dead tributes!) if they're at the Capitol Center. I'd say the Beach Boys are a bit like the New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, Jonas Brothers, etc, of their era. In other words fluffy, light pop without a lot of substance. I liked Brian Wilson's solo stuff better lyrically because it has more meaning. I did appreciate that this music provides a snapshot of a very specific place and time that is long lost in the real world. It has a rather wistful nostalgia about it when played in November in Concord, NH.

This was a surprisingly good show. He had a huge band and they somehow managed to recreate the Beach Boys' unique signature vocals- a pretty impressive achievement. They all did a really fabulous job up there.

Of the things I saw this week I'm choosing this one as the best.

**** Stars!

I'll continue tomorrow with Abba Mania, Turandot and the first episode of Legend of the Seeker season 2!
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Memories of Tours past
Oct. 29th, 2009 @ 04:12 am Review: Blackmore's Night and Salem.
Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: May it Be, Enya
BPAL of the Day: Sea of Glass

For the start of concert season we went to see Blackmore's Night in Somerville, MA on Tuesday night. There is always a good chance for mishaps this close to Boston and we got turned around when our venue-supplied directions told us to take College Avenue without telling us just WHICH College Avenue to take. There were two and the first one you encounter goes off in the opposite direction. :P By the time we got turned back around it was 8PM- the hour when the concert was supposed to start. This being a busy college town in shouting distance of Boston it was very hard to find a place to park. We circled Davis Square a half a dozen times while the minutes ticked by and tempers grew increasingly out of sorts. We finally found a parking space not far from the venue around 8:15.

Knowing I would need to go to the restroom before the show started. (Blackmore's Night often do not do intermissions.) I was very worried to miss a good quarter of the show before sitting down. I needn't have since the show did not start until 9:00. I'm not sure why, but I was grateful.

The last time we saw Blackmore's Night was in October of 2007 in NJ and Ritchie was in a decidedly foul temper that night. He couldn't have been more different tonight. He was in a fabulous mood, and when the Guitar God is happy, everyone is happy. What an amazing, beautifully performed, wildly various and just plain FUN show. They did songs they've never done before live, Ritchie played a whole medley of his old Deep Purple hits without complaint... with good humor, even. Candice is bloody AMAZING singing Diamonds and Rust. She has a beautiful, emotive voice that really brings the out the power of whatever she is singing. They even did World of Stone and Village Lanterne my two favorite Blackmore's Night songs, and this is the first show I know of this tour that they did Village Lanterne. The only dark spot on the night was that, while the band was still happy and in full swing over two hours later, the venue manager person shut them down and threatened to cut the power on them! We all booed and chanted 'We hate Ian' (the venue manager) but they only got one more song in (My hoped-for Village Lanterne) before the ass shooed them off the stage. Ritchie must have been livid! I noticed he disappeared from the stage pretty quickly, leaving their band to do most of the hand shaking and goodbyes at the end. Blackmore's Night are known for their very long concerts whenever they can get away with it. The way they were playing they probably could have kept going for another hour easily.

I would love to follow Blackmore's Night on tour, at least for a few shows on a tour. Every show is different and exciting in its own way. I want to follow them on a Castle tour in England!

Five stars really isn't enough for this show, so ****** shiny bright Stars!

Etc:
I had fun on Sunday night in Salem. I did meet up with [info]babydraco and her sister but not until 7:30. Unlike some previous years pretty much everything was shut down by then. I only managed to get into Laurie Cabot's store, but I got a few nice, unique things there so all was not lost. We went to eat at the Salem Beerworks after, as I remembered [info]raingirl3179 saying it was good. I wanted to have at least some recommendation, even though it was a very long time ago that we talked about it! It turned out to be very good. My mother even said she would eat there again and she is very fussy.

My Cuprit has supposedly been shipped. I say 'supposedly' because the shipping number KK gave me doesn't work. I'm not sure what to think at this point. :/

I'll be back on Friday night with a report of Loretta LaRoche. That will probably be more exciting for my mother. It's too bad it is the same night as the Halloween festival in Concord.

[info]babydraco Are you still planning to come to B&N tonight?
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Spell Co. Icon
Oct. 23rd, 2009 @ 04:19 am Etc and Salem planning.
Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Summer Fly, Hayley Westenra
Tags: , ,
BPAL of the Day: Litha

Holy giant BPAL update! The Yules are always trouble for me. Despite my dislike of winter and snow, the 'snow' scents usually work for me and there are a LOT of them this time around. I joined a decant circle because there were too many and I can't tell strictly from the notes which ones I'll like best. I couldn't buy 19 bottles but I could buy 19 imps!

Amusingly they have a scent based on the poem used on the sale page of the Soom Monthly Doll Sard.

They have one scent 'Faunalia' that, if it smells anything like it sounds, could be the signature scent of my earth god, Mendarién.- 'The scent of a thick, starlit, unspoiled forest, with a burst of wild musk, opobalsamum, black bryony, mandragora, and hemlock.'

I don't know if *I* will be able to wear it because of the musk, but I can soak a cotton ball and put it into my Sphaler's head. (Who shall likely embody Mendarién.)

Dragons needing a little help. The dragon site I'm using has seen a significant fall off in views lately. I finally bred another silver egg and used the Pink dragons' new 'influence' ability to push it in the male direction since I don't have a Silver male yet.

Adopt one today! Adopt one today! Adopt one today! Adopt one today! Adopt one today!

I still don't have my Cuprit. I have gotten a lot of excuses and promises of 'tomorrow' but no doll. I have threatened legal action and I will have to follow up on that soon if she doesn't get shipped. I'm NOT forgetting about a $1,000 doll, nor will the other people in the split forget about their parts! Now supposedly the shipping is too expensive. I told her to ship by Parcel Post. I just need her on the way! I really hope she just sends Cuprit. I hate making threats and dealing with all that.

I'm looking forward to Legend of the Seeker starting up again in a couple of weeks. It seems they're trying to lure in the 16-35 male market by snagging some semi well known hot babes for various roles. They're getting Charisma Carpenter and Jolene Blalock (Whom I share a name with and definitely nothing else, alas.) It seems like the males on the Goodkind board know who they are. I'd like them to spend some money on the male characters! Nathan had bloody well better be GOOD!

Now for the actual point of this post... Saturday Salem planning. It looks like they're forecasting rain, but it is supposed to be warm so I'm willing to see how it goes. Let this be the post for planning (hopefully.)
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Dragon Luna
Oct. 14th, 2009 @ 04:27 am Review: Celtic Thunder
Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: February Song, Josh Groban
Tags: ,
BPAL of the Day: Ides of March 2005. Which, while Roman in inspiration, has a green, herbal 'Celtic' feel to it. I wore it with an underlay of rose Victoria's Secret body spray.

I was thrilled when I found out this show was coming to the Capitol Center. It had been at the Verizon last year and I wished I could see it, even though sports arenas are horrible places to appreciate music. The Verizon (as with most repurposed sports arenas) has pretty nasty acoustics. They're too big, too echoey and tinny to get across the richness and beauty of this kind of music.

The Capitol Center's sound can run either excellent or muddy. Thankfully it was just about perfect tonight. I had my preferred seat on the isle of the 2nd row on the side. $20 cheaper than the center section and a better view with no speakers in front of your face! The set up dwarfed the Capitol Center's stage. I don't think they could have hosted the show if the stage were much smaller. They had this huge riser of faux rock with screens, multiple backdrops and about fifteen musicians in all. It was perhaps the biggest production I have ever seen at the Capitol Center.

The show itself features five male musicians of varying vocal styles and ages. One did primarily folky modern music, one had a beautiful operatic tenor voice, another had a 'bad boy' Latin edge, the youngest did an assortment of pop songs from various eras and the oldest primarily did the Irish standards. However all of them also did songs that were not just those genres. And damn they did them WELL! This show was 100% professional, polished to perfection with perfect acoustics and enormous variety of material (From 'Sweet Sixteen to Every Breath You Take to Danny Boy to 500 Miles to The Old Man.) My only disappointment was that Nights in White Satin was in the program for in the second set, but they didn't do it.

The audience was even more diverse than the performers. Everything from little kids to the very elderly. The show was nearly full. My mother decided she wanted to go at the last minute, but couldn't get a seat. It is too bad because I don't think they even sold the farthest over front row seats. She probably would have liked this, too.

A truly spectacular performance!

***** Stars!

Next up: Blackmore's Night on the 27th.

I will probably be at B&N tomorrow night, but not until late. I could likely be there Thursday at the normal time, but let me know for sure.
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Enchanter folio detail
Oct. 12th, 2009 @ 04:11 am Review: Camelot
Current Mood: mellow
Current Music: Morning Song, Excalibur
BPAL of the Day: Black Butterfly Moon

I bought these tickets as a 'reserve plan' if the Ancient Mysteries Conference fell through. I'm glad I got them. The musical was excellent. A familiar tale with a humorous twist. The leads had great voices and some excellent costumes (Though a few looked a bit tired.) Nice, though simple, sets and quite good acting. I really liked the way they ended it with Arthur proclaiming that though his kingdom may be over, the memory of Camelot will live forever in tale and song. It was poignant and so very true. Certainly most of us who write and read fantasy owe more than a little to the tales of Camelot.

My mother really liked it, too. It is generally safer to bring her to plays and musicals than it is to bring her to concerts.

**** 1/2 Stars.

I go to see Celtic Thunder on Tuesday and will be back with more then.
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Unicorn
Oct. 8th, 2009 @ 06:08 am Review: The Cygnus Mystery and much more!
Current Mood: indescribable
Current Music: Less Than a Pearl, Enya
BPAL of the Day: Alice

It is a little sad to review this now. As I mentioned earlier I really wanted to go to the Ancient Mysteries Conference in Virginia Beach where Andrew Collins is to be a key speaker. Unfortunately I could never convince my mother to go and I didn't have anyone else to go with. :( Maybe next year.

The Cygnus Mystery was a very thought provoking book. Throughout the course of the book we travel the globe following the many mythologies that relate to the Cygnus constellation, birds and swans in particular. From the Middle East to the ancient Americas to Great Britain to Asia, Egypt and India there are many reoccurring themes that appear to relate to Cygnus. As with 'Ashes of Angels' the research here is wonderful, well-written and fascinating whether you come to the same eventual conclusions or not. As in 'From the Ashes of Angels' Collins gives all of the research before telling you what his exact purpose is. Something I have come to like as it gives the reader ample time to make their own conclusions as to what it might mean. I particularly enjoyed the section on Great Britain and the Native Americans.

It is another book that makes one look at the world a little differently. Like in 'Ashes of Angels' there are things that probably have many other possible solutions and a few instances of reaching more than most 'experts' would find plausible. There are also plenty of things that make a great deal of sense and explain a whole lot about why our ancestors believed as they did. Whether or not you believe an exploding star in the Cygnus constellation had anything to do with the quickening of evolution and the birth on consciousness, there is a lot of 'food for thought' here.

A very worthy read.

**** 1/2 Stars.

My pretty faun Amber arrived Monday. I think I'm keeping her as Astraea in her goddess form. She has such a quintessentially Astraean face it is hard to imagine her as anyone else! She was just made to be silvery. I think she is my favorite Monthly Doll so far.

Here is her box opening. )



She is truly stunning!

Oh, and we also picked this up on Monday...



It is a brand new Viking Designer SE-LE with full embroidery capabilities, a big color screen and pretty much everything one could want. My mother finally found a deal she couldn't pass up. Now we just have to learn to use it and work out a place to put it.

I was, as I said, very disappointed not to get to go to the conference. But yesterday something quite remarkable came along. I got my monthly Ed Gerhard newsletter and saw that there will be a special dinner, VERY intimate concert (A maximum of perhaps 12-14 people if I'm counting right!) and overnight stay at a B&B in Deerfield on New Years Eve. I was so worried that I would miss out by getting up too late today so I had my mother call this morning. Well she was in time and I'm going! It doesn't get much more awesome than that. :D

Never feeling exactly 100% on going to the conference I got tickets to see Camelot at the Capitol Center on Sunday. I'll be back with a review then.

[info]babydraco Let me know if you are coming to B&N tonight. I'll bring Astraea if you are.
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Astraea
Oct. 5th, 2009 @ 12:50 am Review: '9'
Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Dan Barliman's Jig, The Fellowship
Tags: ,
BPAL of the Day: Pink Plastic Flamingo.

I wasn't planning on going to a movie tonight, but my mother had to go to my grandmother's tonight because her very old Dachshund isn't doing well and she needed company. I couldn't go there because I have a cold. (My grandmother weighs 78 lbs, lives mostly on cigarettes and coffee and can't risk catching anything.) and it was too late to go to B&N. The choice of movies was pretty underwhelming, but '9' looked reasonably interesting and started at a good time so that's where I went.

The movie started at 9:15 and I got there about 5 past. There wasn't any need, though. No one else ever came in the theater. It was a private showing!

The movie is visually remarkable. The characters are all little goggle eyed sock dolls that were the only survivors of an apocalypse caused by humankind's obsession with machines and technology. The machines went rogue and destroyed all life on the planet. Our plucky little hero #9 awakens in the laboratory of a dead scientist. He takes the little disk with mysterious symbols he finds there and wanders out into the blasted, desolate ruins of a once-great city. He soon finds another of his kind (#2) who helps him find a voice chip and takes him to see #1, but #2 is taken by a robot known as 'The beast' on the way. When #9 reaches #1 he wants to go rescue #2, but #1 wants them all to stay hidden. #9 convinces #5 to go look for his friend. They find him and also #7 who was presumed lost. However #9 mistakenly awakens the terror known as 'The Machine' that caused the apocalypse. Things get quite a bit worse for our little heroes after that.

The look of the movie is suitably bleak and dreary, but elegant and beautifully rendered. It is certainly very steampunk with lots of gears and tubes and the like. The little dolls are homely-cute and fit in well with their world while the monstrous machines are truly creepy and nasty. Especially the one with a clown head! The characterizations are nothing extraordinary or hugely innovative. The plucky hero and heroine, the over-cautious elder, dim muscleman and loyal buddies are all pretty standard issue. There is quite a lot of running from monsters and narrow escapes; though some did not get so lucky as to escape, which gave the movie a darker tone than most movies of this type.

It sometimes felt like an excuse to show off the striking visuals rather than a real story, but the ending is satisfying and it was a very watchable little movie.

**** Stars.

I finally applied myself to finishing The Cygnus Mystery last Wednesday. It was fascinating and quite thought provoking. I will get my review up soon. I've been busy cleaning my closet and bedroom tonight. I can't dust until after they are done with the roofing, but the clutter was getting aggravating.

My Amber is coming tomorrow! She arrived Saturday but nobody got the mail. There will hopefully be a few pictures up tomorrow night.
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The Leather Man
Sep. 20th, 2009 @ 03:00 am Review: Ed Gerhard at the Wakefield Opera House
Current Location: Center Joggerville
Current Mood: giddy
Current Music: Night Birds, Ed Gerhard
BPAL of the Day: Parsifal with an underlay of Bath and Body Works Vanilla Noir.

I think I'm sticking with the Parsifal for Ed concerts from now on. I like it best and it lasts the longest. The Vanilla Noir (A true vanilla extract type vanilla scent) gives it a bit of warmth.

Yes it is time for yet another Ed concert review. :D I am petsitting now in Center Joggerville. I really like getting ready here because the bathroom, while not fancy, has good light and a great make up mirror. I got up pretty early today and had a good amount of time to do all the requisite primping.

Yet for all the time I should have had, it took up all of it and somehow managed to forget to put on my nails! I was horrified! My nails look like crap! My mother's phone has GPS and I was able to find a couple of Rite Aids. One would have taken us a bit out of our way and the other seemed like it should have been right on one of the routes to Wakefield in Wolfeboro. We chose the latter, but it turned out that the 'Rite Aid' was just a Mom and Pop old-fashioned downtown drugstore that was firmly closed at 6pm on a Saturday. Grr. Those bloody drugstores spring up on every other streetcorner but you can't find one when you need it! I tried a convenience store, but they only had some nail clippers, which my mother already had, and some condoms. (I originally wrote that as 'All they had was nail clippers and some condoms, which my mother already had.') ROFL!

*Ahem* Anyway! I tried a little grocery store in town, but they didn't have any nails or nail polish either. I ended up having to go without. =0

The show was in the Wakefield Opera House. At first I was quite shocked that Wakefield had an Opera House, but it is actually quite a nice little venue. The sound was great. (Ed was his own sound man.) He again started off with some new songs. They were lovely; one in particular is just stunningly beautiful; like deep water or dark rainy autumn mornings. (WHY did I not think to tell him that?!) He seemed a little quiet in the beginning. I have found that he often is quieter at the beginning if it has been a little while since his last concert. He was more talkative and on later. The setlist was switched around a little again. I adore that he changes his setlists. He plays some of the songs all the time, but a lot of it gets switched around or played at different times in the show. It was a pretty mix tonight; a touch wistful and romantic in theme.

He caught me at the intermission so I got to talk to him twice.<3 I really wish I had said more this time. I was pretty quiet tonight. Someday I will get beyond the speechless or babbling idiot phase, I swear. (At least I didn’t say ‘I forgot my nails and all the convenience store had was nail clippers and condoms!’) He complimented my outfit. I am always ridiculously pleased when he notices. I do put a ton of thought into it! For me it is about respect. The more trouble I go to to get ready, the more I think of the person I'm seeing.

Weird moment of the night: A lady who has been at most of the concerts asked ME to autograph a CD! She said she already had enough of Ed's autographs and she would always remember me with my flashlight in Portsmouth! It was surreal. I should have told her to hold onto it in case I become a famous writer someday. It'll be worth thousands. ;P

My mother and niece came, but only stayed for the first half. My niece was falling asleep and my mother's knee was bothering her.

I won't see him again until December 5th at the Belknap Mill. Too long! I'm glad that I get to see him three times in December. It makes me look at the whole month differently. There will be Christmas songs added then.

****** Stars! (Of course!)
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Ed Gerhard
Sep. 10th, 2009 @ 02:27 pm B&N.
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Is anyone going to be at B&N tonight? If so, I'll bring Little Chrys. If not, I need to get some things at the mall, so let me know.
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Chrys studying cubes
Sep. 6th, 2009 @ 03:25 am Review: Tim McGraw and missing Cuprit.
Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: Like A Rock, Bob Seger
Tags: ,
BPAL of the Day: Ides of March 05

I was pretty excited when tthe tickets for TIm McGraw at Meadowbrook went on sale. Meadowbrook's season was already well underway and they usually don't have big names come up that late in the year. Although I am not a huge country fan I like several of Tim McGraw's songs. I have six or so on my computer, including She's My Kind of Rain in 16th place and Please Remember Me in 21st. They're definitely my favorite country songs, along with 'All We'll Ever Find' in 60th place.' He and Garth Brooks have done the majority of my favorite country songs... so why didn't I like this concert very much at all?

I did have the soggiest of wet blankets along with me. My mother didn't like the 3rd row side seats, didn't like the parking, the crowds or pretty much anything else. You wouldn't believe we used to go to 20 concerts or more on a single tour... all with plenty of crowds, many with bad parking and some with worse than 3rd row seats. :/ But, even so, I can't say that was the real problem.

I liked Chris Young who was the opening act pretty well. I was even hit with a pretty cool bolt of inspiration during one of his songs. The speakers were a little loud as we were pretty much right in front of them, but the view was good.

I was really expecting great things from Tim McGraw. Yes, along with those songs I like he does quite a number I don't. I was just hoping for a good mix. Instead what we got was basically one unchanging tempo of boot stompin' honky tonkin. It kind of felt like a overblown bar band. I really wouldn't have minded even the majority of the songs being like that... just not the whole damn show. Because there was no variation in style or tempo, all the songs just blended together, which made none of them seem very interesting or special. It just struck me as a poorly chosen setlist which lacked interest and definition.

The largely drunken audience seemed to be having a great time, however, and everyone stood the whole time. Tim certainly was a good performer and put a lot of energy into his show. I guess it just wasn't for me.

** 1/2 stars.

I was supposed to have a Soom Cuprit box opening to put up but my Cuprit has been sent to the wrong person! D: This was a rather complicated purchase. I originally only bought her wig and outfit, but when the person who had her head and body flaked out I was able to take her over. The person who took over the split from the person who flaked out then told Soom to deliver Cuprit to me... but Soom is notorious for getting stuff wrong if you change your order. They sent my Cuprit to the person who flaked on the head and body in the first place! And that person has cheated several people out of a lot of money in a Minimee group order she ran. Needless to say I am very worried about my Cuprit. :(
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Althamal bjd 2
Sep. 6th, 2009 @ 02:59 am Writer's Block: Top of the Charts
Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Full Circle, Loreena McKennitt

What's the most-played song in your music library?


View 2055 Answers



My 'official' #1 song is 'Full Moon' by Mary Black with a playcount of 592.

However I have two different versions (A live version and the album version) of Dante's Prayer by Loreena McKennitt with a play count of 439 and 436 each... not to mention three versions of Dark Night of the Soul, also by Loreena McKennitt, at 447, 443 and 367! Two of the Dark Night of the Soul versions are different enough to be almost different songs, but they have the same music so I'm not sure if they count or not. lol.
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Evening Falls
Aug. 18th, 2009 @ 12:29 am Review: Too Many Curses, by A. Lee Martinez
Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: John Barleycorn, Steeleye Span
Tags: ,
BPAL of the Day: June Gloom 09

I just picked this book up last week on a whim. Primarily (surprise, surprise) because it had a rather 'Zorkish' feel to it. It is about a kobold named Nessy who is the caretaker of a castle belonging to a powerful dark wizard named Margle. Margle doesn't kill his many vanquished foes. Instead he transfigures them into various unpleasant forms, statues, animals and ghosts and keeps them all in his castle as trophies. It is Nessy's job to look after them all and keep the place in order.

On return from a trip, Margle is anxious to try out his latest find, a nurgax seed that devours the first person it sees and is instantly bonded to the second person. Margle intends to use it on Nessy, but he ends up being attacked by a hero transfigured as a fruit bat, then slipping on Nessy's polished floor and dropping the seed which erupts into a one eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater which devours Margle and instantly becomes bonded to Nessy instead.

That's just the beginning. What follows is a colorful tale of Nessy and her friends dealing with Margle’s many dangerous enemies. Including a living castle with an immense partially psychopathic, partially good soul, an evil wizardess, a firefly demon, an insane evil skull, a hellhound, The Monster That Should Not Be and the ultimate evil embodied by The Door At The End Of The Hall, among other things.

There are no great or memorable characters, no emotional involvement and no real surprises, but it is absolutely compulsively readable and an entertaining little story that, despite being hard to put down, doesn't linger long after it is done. The epitome of an easy escapist beach or vacation read. (Or just huddled under the tiny lamp in an office chair, if no beach or vacation is available.:P)

*** 1/2 Stars.

I seem to be living in limbo land of not being able to get any answers for anything. My mother is apparently convinced the Ancient Mysteries Conference is some kind of cult. *headdesk* x2 repeat. I think she just doesn't want to go anywhere. I would go by myself, if I could. I could have gotten her to Dragon Con more easily, if only because he could stop and visit her brother on the way. Of course it is much too late for that. [info]katje0711 She will not answer me about Sunday yet, either. I'll post when I finally have an answer.
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Dornbeast