Some Favorite Movies and Why I Love Them

• The Sound of Music: 

What could beat a classic love story with a man in uniform- Captain Von Trapp (played by Christopher Plummer) and of course, Maria (Julie Andrews)? Pretty much anything Julie Andrews is in is amazing. But The Sound of Music especially so because it has a bunch of brownie point factors, such as:

1) it's set in Austria!
2) The two main characters; the captain and Maria, are perfect for each other.
3) It has amazing music, especially with the acoustic guitar which I love,
4) No stupid drama: it doesn't need 99% drama, (like a lot of more recent movies),  to have a good plot line,
5) The kids are adorable,
6) The Captain and Maria get married and still have adventures with their kids afterwords (running from Nazi supporters, anyone? fleeing the country through the awesome mountains? yup.)
7) Last of all, but perhaps best, THE NUNS. The scene where they take the car parts? I laugh every time :)

(yes, I am listening to one of the songs from it, Sixteen Going On Seventeen, right now)

• Daniel Deronda:

I think this was actually a British tv series? But only 5 parts to it. This movie/series made me happy though. The end was perfect; I'm not going to spoil too much but I'm glad who the main character, Daniel Deronda (played by the amazing-curly-haired Hugh Dancy), ended up with. And it almost seems like the characters got what they deserved at the end. I would definitely recommend it. The main issue is identity, specifically as a Jew.

• Pride and Prejudice (1995)

I have watched this movie multiple times. If you have not watched it, oh what a tragedy....

Darcy's pride vs. Elizabeth Bennet's prejudice make for very witty conversations. On her side throw in a couple of silly sisters and a very very silly mother (even her father sometimes making things worse), and then an older sister with her own love problems to boot. On his side throw in an extremely prideful aunt who doesn't know what common courtesy is sometimes, but ends up being a key player in the story. It's a wonder that they didn't implode from all the obstacles in their ways.

And then there's the notorious Wickham (Adrian Lukis), who goes above and beyond to be a pain in Mr. Darcy's gluteous maximus (spelling?)
And you can't ever forget the ridiculous cousin of the Bennets, Mr. Collins! (Played by David Bamber). Mortifying, to the Bennets (especially Elizabeth at the Netherfield Ball), may be a key word when considering how socially awkward he is.

In this adaption, Darcy is played by Colin Firth and Elizabeth is played by Jennifer Ehle. I love that they both have really pretty eyes and just seem to fit into the characters. And I love how this adaption closely follows the book, which is still better. 

Now, Go watch it if you haven't. Seriously, Do it now. :)

Sorry for such a long post. For the sake of my Sanity, I'm not going write much more. But Honorable Mentions go to other movies/ series, such as: Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Fireproof, Facing the Giants, Inception, North and South (!!!! I can't believe I forgot to write that. North and South is one of my absolute favorites. Seriously. !!!), and others I can't think of. I love British Period Dramas, They're pretty spiffy in my opinion :)

Oh. I also love epic movies such as The Lord of The Rings trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia movies. 

Completed Art Projects from 2nd semester + a sketch

Haiku project for art class

Leonardo DaVinci project for art class

This is part of the one below this; flames! I used paint for the flames and  pencil for the smoke.

Tattoo design for art class. The pic I took of this made it a little washed out so you can't see the shading of the skin and the smoke as well. :(

a sketch for a friend; this is the gamemaker in The Hunger Games

A Little Nothing

Outside My Window~

A bird chirps, no chatters.
The dusk sets in but still it shouts.
What does it speak about?

Then silence, but others,
more distant take up,
the call that the first had begun.

Now together, they sing,
with the cool breeze...

With a symphony of dystrophy,
the neighborhood noises clatter,
but the dusk is glad.


~Birdy

Free time drawings :)

Two pieces of art I did in art class when i didn't have anything else to do. The first was just experimenting with ink, the second was with pencil. Both were from random magazines and I have no idea who they are. Oh well haha.

First finished art project from class

Still life project.. First time using chalk, trying to get the shades of things right.

Austen Quotes

     So if you didn't know by my previous posts, I love Jane Austen books :) Some random favorite quotes:

From Emma: 

Mr Knightley: Emma, you didn't ask me to contribute a riddle.
Emma Woodhouse: Your entire personality is a riddle, Mr. Knightley. I thought you overqualified.

From Pride and Prejudice: 

Mr. Darcy: Do you talk, as a rule, while dancing?
Elizabeth Bennet: No...No, I prefer to be unsociable and taciturn... Makes it all so much more enjoyable, don't you think?

~

Elizabeth Bennet: If he cannot percieve her regard, he is a fool.
Charlotte Lucas: We are all fools in love.

From Sense and Sensibility: 

Elinor Dashwood: I do not attempt to deny that I think very highly of him - that I greatly esteem him... I like him.
Marianne: Esteem him? Like him? Use those insipid words again and I shall leave the room this instant.

---
So yeah, random quotes. The best part of reading is probably identifying with the characters. Being able to live in someone else's shoes for a little while, too.  I probably read for 1/3rd of my waking hours when I was home schooled. I'm pretty busy with high school and track now, but it's nice to find time to read a good book every once in a while!

~Birdy

School Spirit!

another. tree. and stuff.

Matthew 7:17: "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit..."

doodle from geometry with the help of my twin. toasted apple anyone? :P

First Day of Spring

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, (insert cheesy/witty line here)

Art, 3/19/2012

Binder Art~ My binder was plain red and it was too plain for me.  So I decorated it a little. I'll have more pics up after I draw more things on the back :)

Creation~

Where did we come from? What caused the Earth to start spinning? Are we related to monkeys? Did our existence start from a random occurrence over millions and billions of years ago? Now, I am no expert on any of this. And I'm still learning a lot. But I recently came across some information that I found interesting.

     http://www.creationdefense.org/06.htm

In the article above, it talks about how Darwinism believed "acquired characteristics could be passed along to the next generation." Darwinism believed that this information could be passed along through "pangenes". However, based on the work on genetics of Gregor Mendel, pangenesis was proved impossible. 

   "Problems with mutations contributing to evolution are numerous, extensive and very well documented." In order for an organism to evolve, it needs a surplus of genetic material, according to this article. 

    The article states that "Thus, mutations go the wrong way, because evolution requires limitless genetic expansion.  Instead of an explanation for origin of life, mutations are actually an explanation of the origin of death and disease," and concludes that "Mutations do not create, they corrupt and most of the time lead to death rather than life.  Hence, over longer periods of time, more harmful mutations would occur, and the less likely evolution could explain origin." 

  Read the article if I made this sound too confusing, but I just thought I'd share this. It's something to think about.

recent art, feb-march 2012

doodle on a bulletin

drew during advisory, english, and biology

doodling on binder separator

same^

John Casey from Chuck

Blogging~

I actually am going to post more and go on facebook less now. Facebook is cool and all because I can connect with so many friends, but it is oh so distracting when I have homework and stuff to do D:
so....

• Whenever I have art to post, it will be posted on here and I'll just link to it on facebook.
• Any random rants will be posted here
• I'm probably only gonna use facebook for keeping in touch with friends

Lets see how well this works out ;P

A lazy blogger, there once was...

A lazy blogger, there once was, 
it took her so long to remember,
Her school and sports were surrounding her,
her last post was from October.


Resolved, she sat down,
again and again, 
only to be distracted,
But finally, bored, she assumed her place,
and her posting was re-enacted.

Ok, yeah, that was a teensy-bit lame. The point of it is, I've been uber busy (yes, the generic excuses of school, sports, etc.) so I've been uncommitted to posting here. But now I'm posting,. Yup. This is me. Saying hi. Um...

I've been trying to get better at guitar. But strumming is still the hardest part; finding the right patterns.

School is going pretty well...

My second year doing Indoor Track and Field was this winter, and now it's over. Regionals were Tuesday, and I didn't do horribly although I didn't do the best. I've at least been PR-ing in hurdles at the other meets  which is good. (The regional meet was on a hard surface instead of the amazing indoor track surface we usually have, so my time was slower. A lot of people's times were.)

Random thoughts:

• Music~ I've noticed that the music that you listen to affects you. Some music can be pretty powerful stuff.
• Art~ is amazing. I'm finally taking an art class at school. I made a clay owl last class and it actually looked sorta like an owl. I felt accomplished, because the class before I had tried to make multiple things and they all failed. 

I may possibly post more art soon. I've been drawing on my binder separators again, it's just too fun to resist when you're bored in class when you've finished everything you need to do. 

Random poems like the one at the beginning of this are fun to write. Little nothings that amuse me when I'm bored. As long as I have something to base them on, that is; they can't be entirely random.