Issues

I have an issue of blood.  Seriously.  And enough pain to double me over.  Please pray that it's only the current brand of anti-baby meds and that the doctor will offer me a new option tomorrow that will take this ALL AWAY. 

On another note, I am fast approaching the point when my dear little stupid computer will permanently fail to wake from its slumber. 

On a happier thought, there is a new Big Bang Theory tonight, and a new Community.  And while I'm deprived of my preferred BBC shows, they will do.  Really, that's all I'd like from TV.  Give me the BBC.  The real BBC.  Or at least let me watch episodes online from the US, damn it! 

Self Explanatory

Sempre Amusement

Why do Star Wars and Princess Bride never get old?

Awesome Is a Relative Term

I just got told I am "awesome" at the piano for the first time in my life (me mam praised me at piano way back in the day when I was still a wee piano-playing tot, but I don't think she ever specifically used the term awesome).  It's most definitely a falsehood, but if I think comparatively to how I sounded a few months ago--before I took it upon myself to attempt practicing everyday--then heck yes, my piano playing is indeed awesome.  I mean it had nowhere to go but up.

On a side note, I can't believe how much I am enjoying the process of persistently sucking until I gradually reach the level of not-so-sucky aka awesome (depending on how you look at it).  I haven't enjoyed that process on flute for years and all of the sudden I'm enjoying practicing an instrument?  And not on the one that I supposedly really qualify as awesome?  Stupid brain you make no sense.

Impending Doom

I swear everybody gets crankier or at least more moody/depressed about this time of year.  My theory: the start of school is the first huge indication that summer is fast ending and the gloomy sub-human temperatures of winter are closing upon us.  I, like my mothers before me, find my main consolation in Halloween.  Nothing gets me excited quite like the macabre holiday the provides the perfect excuse to build and wear a costume, plus decorate my abode like the forbidden crypt of an evil enchantress.  I want to make some new labels for my potion/poison/creepy ingredients bottle collection that I display at Halloween each year.  I can't remember what I've got until I pull them out (except Truth Serum, I know I've got Truth Serum).  Still, I would welcome suggestions.
This is what has been rolling around in my brain thus far:

Witch Hazel
Distilled Hemlock
Eye of Newt
Dragon Heartstring
Bat Blood
Earthworm Skins
Melted Witch
Spider Legs
Tarantula Hair
Deadly Night Shade
Black of Night
Corpse/Mummy Dust
Whole Transylvanian Toadstools
Toad Warts
Ogre Snot
Aged Mucus

Votes?  Suggestions?

Tale As Old As History

Sooooo... the stinkin' masters is done.  But that is not what I came to blog about.

I love music and I'm glad I learned as much about it as I did in school, but if I had hit my epiphany much earlier in the educational process, I would now be announcing my degree in costume design or textile construction something-or-other.  I just can't help it.  I love costumes.  And I've found some particularly fun interpretations of Disney princesses lately, thanks to my long-time favorite blog/site Costumer's Guide.  The first is a fabulous 1960s styled draft of the "official" princesses (don't get me started on my bitterness that Meg and Jane are not included with them as I think they are much more dynamic characters than most of the princesses):

Magnifique, n'est-ce pas?  Apparently Disney is slowly releasing each one a limited edition doll.  *Eep*

Now Flavorwire posted this great article featuring the work of Claire Hummel, who did the Disney Princesses Through a Historical Lens, which has some really awesome interpretations and you can even buy prints!

My favorites:

I love the detailing on these last two.  Snow White has apples worked into the design and Aurora has spindles.  Awesomeness. 

Anyone who knows me knows my princess is most decidedly Belle, and I liked her picture but I hate the look on her face.  Plus I think I would have placed her gown a little earlier in the 18th century to keep the rounder hoop shape and I think the wider neckline is more appropriate to those earlier decades too.  And it makes sense - I doubt that the wardrobe would have the most current fashions sitting around.  The gown more likely originally belonged to the prince's mother or aunt, don'tcha think?

And here are the first historical renderings I came across quite a while ago, by Foxy Lady Jacqueline:

So fun.  And lastly, Suburbanbeatnik's sketches of Belle:

I love the sketch; it reminds me of the concept art for Beauty and the Beast.  I think the color drawing is pretty too.


Thus ends my celebration of historical renderings of Disney princesses.  Which, by the way, the drawings are all property of those who drew them, to whom I tried to give proper credit, and the characters, of course, belong entirely to the enormous corporate giant that is Disney. 

What do you do when you're uninspired to write about Bach?

A couple night ago I was staring at my paper and trying to get started on the section about Bach and his sonata for solo flute.  (I should clarify this is C.P.E. Bach that I refer to, not his father Johann Sebastian.)  And nothing was coming.  And then I was talking to Mom on the phone and couldn't really be that productive, so I went to Yearbook Yourself as I'd always meant to but never had.  I started with the usual, plugging mine and Indy's faces into the provided photos and got some amusing results:

Cute and amusing, yes.  As are Indy's:

But that fun ran out and I was still on the phone with Mom.  That's when I realized I really wasn't using this great tool to its full advantage.  I give you Benita:

I must admit I was a bit shocked at how well my husband's face fit on these women.  But, to be fair, I then did the opposite.  Dan the man:

I gotta say, I make a pretty good lookin' black man.