I recently saw this post on io9 saying that Disney is developing a film adaptation of the musical Into the Woods:
"Disney Bringing Sondheim's Revisionist Fairy Tale to the Big Screen"
I LOVE this musical. I fell in love with it in high school when my brother rented the video recording of the original Broadway cast from our local library (free rental, so we took it out many times). I was slightly obsessed; I wrote a paper on the Baker's Wife for an assignment my senior year. I memorized almost all of the songs (it's a lot of words, believe me). Some time in college, I found the video on DVD and promptly bought it for myself.
The original cast is fabulous. Bernadette Peters and Joanna Gleason are my particular favorites. Seeing the musical live is great, of course (I saw a college production of it, which was pretty good), but if you can find it, I highly recommend the recording of the original Broadway cast. It's just the actors on stage in front of a live audience. No re-staging or anything. But even in that form, it still makes for great viewing on the small screen.
I am mostly happy to hear that they're planning on bringing the musical to the big screen. It's such a great story, with brilliant writing, delightful songs, and hilarious characters, it deserves to reach a larger audience. But I'm also nervous. Some recent stage-musical-to-big-screen adaptations (Chicago, Hairspray) have gone better than others (The Producers, Rent). The director attached to the project is Rob Marshall, who did Chicago, so that's promising. Fingers crossed that he can turn this one into a great success, as well.
If not... At least I can always retreat back to my original cast DVD.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Shit Geeky Girls Say...
Last week, I came across this awesome video in which Toria (The Toria Show) tells us all the shit geek girls say. It's hilariously true.
She explains that this is all stuff she says, but she assumes other geeky girls may say similar things. She's right. I don't partake in all the realms of geekdom that she references (e.g. comic books, Doctor Who), but enough of these resonated for me that I was laughing very hard.
Yes, female armor is so much skimpier than male armor! I couldn't believe it in SWTOR when my Jedi had heavy armor that left her with a bare midriff. Ridiculous! Then there's the slave girl outfit (luckily only counts as light armor). Obligatory, I suppose. But I've yet to find the slave male outfit.
Picard, hands down!
RPG > FPS.
I'm usually pretty decisive about hair color, but the eye spacing... That's a tricky one. You don't want to spend the whole game thinking "I should have gone one tick closer" every time you see your character's face!
In Baldur's Gate, I definitely did give my fighter/thief more charisma than she needed. I wanted people to like me! What's wrong with that?
I showed this video to my boyfriend, to get a sense of what I really do say vs. just think silently to myself. He laughed particularly hard at the "My character is awesome!" line, and when she sings the Lord of the Rings Shire theme, plus the bit from "Still Alive". I sing those a LOT.
The funniest bit for me, though, came right at the beginning. "Did I ever tell you I speak Elvish?" The day I saw this video, earlier that morning I had just told a friend of mine that I speak (a little) Elvish. GET OUT OF MY HEAD, TORIA!
She explains that this is all stuff she says, but she assumes other geeky girls may say similar things. She's right. I don't partake in all the realms of geekdom that she references (e.g. comic books, Doctor Who), but enough of these resonated for me that I was laughing very hard.
Yes, female armor is so much skimpier than male armor! I couldn't believe it in SWTOR when my Jedi had heavy armor that left her with a bare midriff. Ridiculous! Then there's the slave girl outfit (luckily only counts as light armor). Obligatory, I suppose. But I've yet to find the slave male outfit.
Picard, hands down!
RPG > FPS.
I'm usually pretty decisive about hair color, but the eye spacing... That's a tricky one. You don't want to spend the whole game thinking "I should have gone one tick closer" every time you see your character's face!
In Baldur's Gate, I definitely did give my fighter/thief more charisma than she needed. I wanted people to like me! What's wrong with that?
I showed this video to my boyfriend, to get a sense of what I really do say vs. just think silently to myself. He laughed particularly hard at the "My character is awesome!" line, and when she sings the Lord of the Rings Shire theme, plus the bit from "Still Alive". I sing those a LOT.
The funniest bit for me, though, came right at the beginning. "Did I ever tell you I speak Elvish?" The day I saw this video, earlier that morning I had just told a friend of mine that I speak (a little) Elvish. GET OUT OF MY HEAD, TORIA!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
My blog's first GIVEAWAY!
On most days, Commander Shepard doesn't have time for jewelry. An array of guns strapped to her back are all the accessories she needs. But occasionally she'll find herself on a mission where she has to dress up--in the Afterlife VIP lounge, or an extravagant party on Bekenstein, for example. That's why I made this N7 bracelet: because even in formal wear, Shepard deserves to be recognized for the elite special forces marine* she is.
I made one of these beaded bracelets for myself last summer, and now, in honor of the upcoming release of Mass Effect 3, I'm giving one away! Yes, the release of Mass Effect 3 is still over a month away (March 6 or thereabouts, depending on your location), but I want to make sure I have enough time for people to enter the giveaway and for me to make and mail the bracelet so that it arrives in time for the big day.
This bracelet is made with tiny glass seed beads. The black ones are glossy and opaque. The red and white ones are translucent and silver-lined (shiny silver around the inside hole of the bead). The silver-lined beads have just enough shine and sparkle to pop out as a design, but not so much that they seem too glittery. The overall look is really quite sleek.
WHAT'S BEING GIVEN AWAY
A beaded N7 bracelet!
WHO CAN ENTER
Anyone can enter! I am willing to ship internationally. Hopefully that won't bite me in the ***, but I think with a small, light package, it shouldn't cost me too much.
Now, I know this giveaway favors the girls, and I'm sorry about that. If you're a guy, you're welcome to enter to win a bracelet (maybe you have a girl you want to give it to, or maybe you want it for yourself--that's cool). I could also attach the beaded design to a key chain instead of bracelet clasps... Or if you have other ideas for how I could turn the beads into something suitable for a guy, I'm willing to hear.
HOW TO ENTER
First, leave a comment below telling me you want to be entered in the giveaway, and let me know who your favorite Mass Effect character is. If you can't choose just one, then give me a list, that's fine :) This will earn you one entry for the giveaway. This step is important, so I know you really want to be entered, and aren't just following me because you like my tweets or tweeting about the giveaway to spread the word.
After you've done that, you can earn up to three additional entries in the giveaway for each of the following:
1. Follow me (@EleniRPG) on Twitter (if you already follow me, this counts).
2. Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter, with a link to this post and a mention of me (@EleniRPG). You can tweet about it as many times as you want, but I'll only count it as one entry ;)
3. Follow my blog (if you already do, that counts).
Important: Once you've completed any of the above, please leave a comment below to make sure I noticed (I'd hate to miss something). Also, if your Twitter handle isn't obvious from the way you identify yourself below in the comments, tell me your Twitter handle so I can correctly match you to the tweet/follow.
Additionally, if you're not following me on Twitter (in which case I can direct message you), give me an email address so I can contact you if you win!
WINNER SELECTION
The deadline for entries is Monday, February 6 at 11:59pm Honolulu time (5 hours behind East Coast time...you'll have to figure out the rest for yourselves). I'll be selecting the winner randomly from a list of names. The number of times your name appears on the list depends on the number of entries you earned (up to four). I'll post the winner on this blog, but also contact the winner for details (address, wrist size, metal allergies, etc.).
Good luck!
* For those who don't know, N7 is the emblem on Commander Shepard's armor. N designates special forces, while the 7 indicates the highest level of proficiency.
MAYBE ANOTHER GIVEAWAY?
I know that not everyone who reads my blog plays Mass Effect (But you should! It's such a great series!), so I feel a little bad that my first giveaway on this blog leaves those people out. I have made a few beaded bracelet designs that are not related to Mass Effect, and if there seems to be enough interest, I could do a giveaway for one of them. So, whether or not you want to enter the N7 giveaway, leave me a comment telling me if you'd be interested in a giveaway for one of the following:
R2-D2
I'd probably change the background beads if I made another of these, since the teal blends too well with the blue on top of R2's head. Also, the teal beads were ever so slightly skinnier than the other beads, giving the bracelet an uneven width. But who doesn't love R2-D2?
Space Invaders!
This is for the old-school gamers. Thanks to Mariel who suggested this one--the 8-bit style works very well for bead weaving. The aliens are made with silver-lined beads, so they stand out well.
I also have a Battlestar Galactica Cylon head design (old-school Cylons--the horizontal visor looks MUCH better with the beading constraints than the newer V-shaped visor) which I think will look really good: five Cylon heads go around the bracelet, but in each one the red light (done with a silver-lined red bead, of course) is in a different position.
I made one of these beaded bracelets for myself last summer, and now, in honor of the upcoming release of Mass Effect 3, I'm giving one away! Yes, the release of Mass Effect 3 is still over a month away (March 6 or thereabouts, depending on your location), but I want to make sure I have enough time for people to enter the giveaway and for me to make and mail the bracelet so that it arrives in time for the big day.
This bracelet is made with tiny glass seed beads. The black ones are glossy and opaque. The red and white ones are translucent and silver-lined (shiny silver around the inside hole of the bead). The silver-lined beads have just enough shine and sparkle to pop out as a design, but not so much that they seem too glittery. The overall look is really quite sleek.
WHAT'S BEING GIVEN AWAY
A beaded N7 bracelet!
WHO CAN ENTER
Anyone can enter! I am willing to ship internationally. Hopefully that won't bite me in the ***, but I think with a small, light package, it shouldn't cost me too much.
Now, I know this giveaway favors the girls, and I'm sorry about that. If you're a guy, you're welcome to enter to win a bracelet (maybe you have a girl you want to give it to, or maybe you want it for yourself--that's cool). I could also attach the beaded design to a key chain instead of bracelet clasps... Or if you have other ideas for how I could turn the beads into something suitable for a guy, I'm willing to hear.
HOW TO ENTER
First, leave a comment below telling me you want to be entered in the giveaway, and let me know who your favorite Mass Effect character is. If you can't choose just one, then give me a list, that's fine :) This will earn you one entry for the giveaway. This step is important, so I know you really want to be entered, and aren't just following me because you like my tweets or tweeting about the giveaway to spread the word.
After you've done that, you can earn up to three additional entries in the giveaway for each of the following:
1. Follow me (@EleniRPG) on Twitter (if you already follow me, this counts).
2. Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter, with a link to this post and a mention of me (@EleniRPG). You can tweet about it as many times as you want, but I'll only count it as one entry ;)
3. Follow my blog (if you already do, that counts).
Important: Once you've completed any of the above, please leave a comment below to make sure I noticed (I'd hate to miss something). Also, if your Twitter handle isn't obvious from the way you identify yourself below in the comments, tell me your Twitter handle so I can correctly match you to the tweet/follow.
Additionally, if you're not following me on Twitter (in which case I can direct message you), give me an email address so I can contact you if you win!
WINNER SELECTION
The deadline for entries is Monday, February 6 at 11:59pm Honolulu time (5 hours behind East Coast time...you'll have to figure out the rest for yourselves). I'll be selecting the winner randomly from a list of names. The number of times your name appears on the list depends on the number of entries you earned (up to four). I'll post the winner on this blog, but also contact the winner for details (address, wrist size, metal allergies, etc.).
Good luck!
* For those who don't know, N7 is the emblem on Commander Shepard's armor. N designates special forces, while the 7 indicates the highest level of proficiency.
MAYBE ANOTHER GIVEAWAY?
I know that not everyone who reads my blog plays Mass Effect (But you should! It's such a great series!), so I feel a little bad that my first giveaway on this blog leaves those people out. I have made a few beaded bracelet designs that are not related to Mass Effect, and if there seems to be enough interest, I could do a giveaway for one of them. So, whether or not you want to enter the N7 giveaway, leave me a comment telling me if you'd be interested in a giveaway for one of the following:
R2-D2
I'd probably change the background beads if I made another of these, since the teal blends too well with the blue on top of R2's head. Also, the teal beads were ever so slightly skinnier than the other beads, giving the bracelet an uneven width. But who doesn't love R2-D2?
Space Invaders!
This is for the old-school gamers. Thanks to Mariel who suggested this one--the 8-bit style works very well for bead weaving. The aliens are made with silver-lined beads, so they stand out well.
I also have a Battlestar Galactica Cylon head design (old-school Cylons--the horizontal visor looks MUCH better with the beading constraints than the newer V-shaped visor) which I think will look really good: five Cylon heads go around the bracelet, but in each one the red light (done with a silver-lined red bead, of course) is in a different position.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, everyone!
I've been a bit absent from this blog lately. Blame it on SWTOR. Actually, most of the blame goes to my spending two weeks of winter break at my parents' house in Massachusetts. I was hoping to get my yearly dose of snow, but no luck this year. Aside from the lightest of light snow for maybe 15 minutes on Christmas morning (enough isolated snowflakes so you're pretty sure it's snow instead of ash or pollen, but not any more than that), and one similarly brief though slightly heavier flurry another evening, the Boston area was snow free for those two weeks. A couple of the days were even surprisingly warm (50s F, 10-15 C)--though still freezing by Hawaii standards, I suppose. I thought maybe we'd spend New Year's on the mountain in Vermont, where there is more reliably snow (see my sledding video from two years ago), but we decided our 15 1/2-year-old dog wouldn't be able to make it up to my uncle's cabin.
Even without snow, I had a great time. I get along really well with my brothers, who were both there. We played a lot of board games, actually: Battlestar Galactica, Dominion with both the Intrigue and Prosperity expansions, 7 Wonders, and Pandemic. All fun and different games. I was new to 7 Wonders (each player gets to be a civilization responsible for one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, gathering and trading resources, building their cities and their Wonder to earn points) and Pandemic (cooperative game in which each player has a special role in a team fighting the outbreak of four highly contagious diseases around the world), and I'd never played Dominion with any expansions, so it was challenging but exciting to learn new games.
We also watched the entire first season of Community, which I'd never seen before. I'm not a fan of Chevy Chase, but luckily he's not exactly a likeable character on the show, so I didn't mind it so much. And the paintball episode is EPIC! So awesome. I hear there are some other epic episodes in Season 2, so I'm looking forward to catching up on those.
I have been playing a fair bit of SWTOR, though I'm switching between two mains (a Sage and a Guardian), which is slowing me down. It makes sense because I wanted one character that I could pair with my brother's Gunslinger and one that I could solo, but it hasn't exactly worked as smoothly as I'd hoped. But I'm settling into the characters now. Once we finish the main stories with our first characters, we'll start with Imperial characters--I have an Inquisitor and Agent ready to go. There are just too many good choices to stick with just one.
I'm back in Hawaii, now, and enjoying the warm weather. I like having some winter, but it's nice to have fresh air and birdsong coming through the windows, the warm breeze carrying scents of tropical flowers. Nice until I have to go back into work.
I'm planning on holding a giveaway soon! Though I'm still caught up in SWTOR, I can't forget that Mass Effect 3 is only a couple months away. So I'll be doing a giveaway of one of my N7 bracelets. For non-Mass Effect fans, I'll probably do a giveaway of a beaded bracelet with one of my other designs (e.g. R2-D2). For the guys who don't want a bracelet...I'll have to work on that. Anyway, keep an eye out for the giveaway, it'll probably be up in the next week or two once I get it all organized.
In the meantime, I hope your new year has started off well. Best wishes for a happy and complete (...not apocalyptic) 2012!
I've been a bit absent from this blog lately. Blame it on SWTOR. Actually, most of the blame goes to my spending two weeks of winter break at my parents' house in Massachusetts. I was hoping to get my yearly dose of snow, but no luck this year. Aside from the lightest of light snow for maybe 15 minutes on Christmas morning (enough isolated snowflakes so you're pretty sure it's snow instead of ash or pollen, but not any more than that), and one similarly brief though slightly heavier flurry another evening, the Boston area was snow free for those two weeks. A couple of the days were even surprisingly warm (50s F, 10-15 C)--though still freezing by Hawaii standards, I suppose. I thought maybe we'd spend New Year's on the mountain in Vermont, where there is more reliably snow (see my sledding video from two years ago), but we decided our 15 1/2-year-old dog wouldn't be able to make it up to my uncle's cabin.
Even without snow, I had a great time. I get along really well with my brothers, who were both there. We played a lot of board games, actually: Battlestar Galactica, Dominion with both the Intrigue and Prosperity expansions, 7 Wonders, and Pandemic. All fun and different games. I was new to 7 Wonders (each player gets to be a civilization responsible for one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, gathering and trading resources, building their cities and their Wonder to earn points) and Pandemic (cooperative game in which each player has a special role in a team fighting the outbreak of four highly contagious diseases around the world), and I'd never played Dominion with any expansions, so it was challenging but exciting to learn new games.
We also watched the entire first season of Community, which I'd never seen before. I'm not a fan of Chevy Chase, but luckily he's not exactly a likeable character on the show, so I didn't mind it so much. And the paintball episode is EPIC! So awesome. I hear there are some other epic episodes in Season 2, so I'm looking forward to catching up on those.
I have been playing a fair bit of SWTOR, though I'm switching between two mains (a Sage and a Guardian), which is slowing me down. It makes sense because I wanted one character that I could pair with my brother's Gunslinger and one that I could solo, but it hasn't exactly worked as smoothly as I'd hoped. But I'm settling into the characters now. Once we finish the main stories with our first characters, we'll start with Imperial characters--I have an Inquisitor and Agent ready to go. There are just too many good choices to stick with just one.
I'm back in Hawaii, now, and enjoying the warm weather. I like having some winter, but it's nice to have fresh air and birdsong coming through the windows, the warm breeze carrying scents of tropical flowers. Nice until I have to go back into work.
I'm planning on holding a giveaway soon! Though I'm still caught up in SWTOR, I can't forget that Mass Effect 3 is only a couple months away. So I'll be doing a giveaway of one of my N7 bracelets. For non-Mass Effect fans, I'll probably do a giveaway of a beaded bracelet with one of my other designs (e.g. R2-D2). For the guys who don't want a bracelet...I'll have to work on that. Anyway, keep an eye out for the giveaway, it'll probably be up in the next week or two once I get it all organized.
In the meantime, I hope your new year has started off well. Best wishes for a happy and complete (...not apocalyptic) 2012!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)