Posted for sale on Books From A Rose:

Collector’s Plate “Getting to Know You”   Used from $17.88 Buy New: $29.95
Laendler – The Sound of Music Buy New: $29.95	My Favorite Things – The Sound of Music Buy New: $29.95
Knowles Vintage Plate ; Sound of Music 1986 Buy New: $29.98

• Quote: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• Drink: Coca Cola - elixir of the gods
• Book: Can’t name just one. Besides, in WordPress I can’t underline them properly so just on principle I refuse to name them. 
• People (besides you all, of course!) I would read anything they wrote: Truman Capote, Oscar Wilde, Barbara Kingsolver, Franz Kafka, Mark Twain, (I always feel a bit guilty not adding Hemingway but frankly, I don’t enjoy him. I’m terribly un-American that way.) Amy Tan, Ayn Rand, John Irving, Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, Margaret Atwood, C.S. Lewis, D.H. Lawrence, Kaye Gibbons, Bill Bryson
• Play that many other people don’t like: Waiting for Godot
• Smells: fresh laundry, after a rain shower, bread baking, my children after their bath.
• Way to unwind: curled up with a good book
• Way I should unwind: Yoga
•  Memories from childhood: baseball games with my dad, giggling long into the night with my sister, swimming and swimming and swimming, Walt Disney World trips, being at school (yes, I was one of those nerds).
• Past times: people watching, hiking, sight-seeing, listening to stories from my grandparents, reading, writing and (yes, even) arithmetic, television and movies
• Foods: ice cream, vegetables, filet mignon, McDonald’s french fries, chocolate, raspberries, greek yogurt
• Seasons: autumn, winter, spring, summer
• Fictional characters: Mickey Mouse, Owen Meany, Holly Golightly, Charlie Brown, Atticus Finch, Santa Claus, The Grinch, Huckleberry Finn (hence our dog’s name), Uncle Remus, The Little Prince, Ellen Foster, Holden Caulfield, Maria Von Trapp from The Sound of Music (yes, I know she was a real person but I’ve read the movie version departs from her true personality so I’m going with the fictional version)

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Mac mini refreshes
And warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages from Fedex on wing
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp Apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and iMacs with noodles
MacBooks and Pros, Apple logos that sing
These are a few of my favorite things

When the store goes down
When the anticipation builds
When I’m waiting in iTunes
I simply remember my favorite things

Courtesy of TUAW. Not that they know…

I posted this video a while back but when I watched it again today, I thought I’d re-post it.  Someone may not have seen it yet…

More than 200 dancers were performing their version of “Do Re Mi”, in the Central Station of Antwerp. with just 2 rehearsals they created this amazing stunt! Those 4 fantastic minutes started the 23 of march 2009, 08:00 AM. It is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of “The Sound of Music”.

… in continuation from my last post on the flash mob on Bondi Beach, I’ve just been sent a link (via @JosephUK on twitter) to a Sound of Music themed flash mob in Antwerp that combines my love of musical theatre AND my love of flash mobs! How awesome!!

This could be a long night posting blog posts if people start tweeting me their favourite flash mobs… heh! The internet is truly a wonderful place!

OH MY GOD!!!!

I know, this is not the most professional way to start a post, but…OH MY GOD!!!

I am so exhilarated right now I think I’m going to cry. Yesterday Sarah Maas emailed me back the critique of my revised synopsis. She managed to compress the two pages into one page, as it should be. Then she also discussed my synopsis over with Alexander Shostak, who gave her input on how to improve the synopsis. Sarah afterwards sent me the revised, sparkling draft. I was, and am again, on the verge of tears when I think of how dedicated they are in helping me. I am so grateful to them and everyone else on Let the Words Flow. Now that I have my query and synopsis complete and polished I am so prepared for this Thursday! Alexandra advised me to send up to 10 queries rather than mass querying 40 letters. “That way” she writes “if by some horrible twist of fate you get more rejections that you do requests….you can re-examine your query/synopsis/first pages…” A very good advice indeed! My next blog entry will be titled “Post-Querying:______” and I’ll fill in the blank with whatever I was feeling.

Another event that topped my day was this: I printed out my manuscript and slipped it into an envelope for my sister to give to my former high school Writer’s Craft teacher. When the story of how my teacher reacted was accounted to me, I was all smiles, and nearly fainted from joy.

The rest of my life outside of writing, however, lacks lustre. I’m struggling with my two university courses that I had to take due to distribution requirements (*cough* sociology and geography *clears throat*). Struggling, as in, not studying, but being busy thinking about how I have so much to do to prepare for the exams. My European History and English Lit are going well though. I’m working on two massive essays right now for these classes. Though it is stressing at times I am still enjoying myself. To study, I go to Woodsworth college, where there is this narrow hall lined with desks where the lighting is dim with Second Cup nearby. I order random drinks (one day it was coffee, then Gingerbread latte, then London Fog, then Café Latte, and tomorrow it’s going to be hot Apples cider) and type away at my essay. Speaking of essays, I remember being scolded once by my history teacher when she was handing my paper back: “June, you were supposed to write an ACADEMIC report, not a NARRATIVE!” So yes, I must be academic, must repress my creativity and my tendency to ramble on with flowery sentences…

OH! One exciting event that will occur outside of my writing life is that I’ll be going to THE SOUND OF MUSIC musical this Friday! I am so hyped up right now.  Then the following Saturday I have no work because I booked the day off to study! I would much rather study than work.

The querying, the essays-going-well, the performance I am to attend—I haven’t been this happy in so long! I hope my happiness is contagious and will leap out of this page and affect you guys too!

It is with great pleasure that I present this wonderful rendition of the song, “THE LONELY GOATHERD” from my special musical YouTube friend from New Zealand, ANNIE GONG.

I guarantee you ain’t seen nothing like this!

(Note: You can’t watch the video from here, but just CLICK on the “WATCH ON YOUTUBE” message and you’ll pull it up on YouTube)

Das Phänomen, über das ich heute schreibe, bezeichne ich der Einfachheit halber als das “Lynyrd Skynyrd Phänomen“. Vor allem, weil das bekannteste Beispiel von der amerikanischen  Rockband kommt (die sich anfangs Lynard Skynard nannten).
Lynyrd Skynyrd hat der Song Sweet Home Alabama zu weltweiter Bekanntheit verholfen und somit ist ihnen der Durchbruch gelungen. Schon bei den ersten Takten des Lieds denkt man zwangsläufig an stumpfsinniges Mitklatschen, Mitgröhlen und die Veranstaltungen, an denen der Song bis zum Abwinken gespielt wird. Die Einfachheit und die Ohrwurm-Tauglichkeit bestechen die Massen.
Leider wird aber mit dem Song die ganze Band verurteilt und als “One Hit Wonder-Band” abgestempelt. Dass Lynyrd Skynyrd andere wirklich großartige Songs haben, weiß kein Mensch. Würdet ihr glauben, dass zum Beispiel Unbroken von der gleichen Band ist, die Sweet Home Alabama geschrieben hat?!? Leider tritt dieses Phänomen sehr oft und bei sehr vielen Bands auf. Aus diesem Grund werden oft tolle  Bands nur mit ihren Mainstream-Liedern in Verbindung gebracht.

Zusammen mit diesem Phänomen fällt auch eine weitere Entwicklung der letzten Jahre auf.
Bands, die vor Jahren noch ziemlich unbekannt waren, aber gute Musik gemacht haben, machen heute kommerziellere Musik, ja, verweichlichen fast. Auffallend dabei ist aber, dass diese Bands erst nach dem Bekannt-werden, kommerziell werden. Also kann’s ja zumindest mal nicht daran liegen, dass sie Geld brauchen oder den Durchbruch schaffen wollen. War Incubus auf ihrem ersten Album Fungus Amongus (der Titel wurde übrigens unter die “9 Geekiest Album Titles ever” gewählt) noch eine echt abgedrehte, funky Band (Take me to your Leader), sorgt sie bei mir heute mit Titeln wie Love Hurts für echte Herz- und Ohrenschmerzen.
Bei Green Day gehts mir da ganz ähnlich. Wo früher bei At the Library (vom ersten Album 39/Smooth) noch so richtig die Gitarren schrammten, gibt’s heute fade Akkorde á la 21 Guns.
Schade eigentlich um diese Bands…

Und nun das heutige Kalendarium:

Am 16. November 1959 wurde in New York das Musical Sound of Music uraufgeführt. Die singende Trapp-Familie ist noch bis Juni 2010 in der Grazer Oper zu sehen.

Heute vor 47 Jahren wurde Gary “Mani” Mounfield, Bassist bei Stone Roses, später bei Primal Scream, geboren. Primal Scream, eine schottische Band, deren Name auf die Urschreitherapie zurückzuführen ist, wechselte seit ihrem Bestehen oft wie keine andere ihren Musikstil. Begonnen haben die Schotten als Psychedelic Rock-Band, wechselten aber bald zu Rock, den sie mit Dance Music mischten. Später nahmen sie sich die Rolling Stones zum Vorbild und spielten nur noch klassischen Rock. Primal Scream hat 2008 ihr vorläufig letztes Album veröffentlicht, auf dem sie zurück zu ihren Wurzeln gekehrt sind und wieder Psychedelic Rock wie am  Anfang, aber mit starken Electoclash-Einflüssen zu hören waren.

Eure Blutsschwester.

On this day in 1959 – The musical “The Sound of Music” opened.

SOTD: Tough Alliance – Neo Violence

CAHOTD

DOTD

RCOTD

Question of the Day:

Do you shop on Black Friday? What is the best deal you have gotten?

On the 50th anniversary of the premiere of The Sound of Music on Broadway, musical standards return to the radio airwaves in Winchester.  The group that owns WSVG 790 AM, Shenandoah Valley Group, launches the new 1230 AM tonight at Midnight.

Music of Your Life 1230 features legendary stars such as Pat Boone and Peter Lawrence spinning the tunes that memories are made of. 

All the classics from the originators – Sinatra, Cole, Bing, Bennett, Miller, Armstrong and more!  Plus, you’ll hear the modern interpretations of the Great American Songbook from today’s stars such as Rod Stewart, Michael Buble, Harry Connick and Diana Krall.  You’ll also hear classic music from the legendary acts of the ’70s – Diana Ross, James Taylor, Barbra Streisand and the Carpenters to name a few.  

Put it all together and you have WAMM 1230 AM where We Are Musical Memories.

Give it a listen and let us know what you think!

From RedState.com:

Does This Mean Newsweek Stands in For the Nazis?*

Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

Saturday, November 14th at 1:51PM EST

46 Comments

• The Mother Abbess – Margaret Preece
• Maria Rainer – Connie Fisher
• Captian Von Trapp - Michael Praed
• Max – Martin Callaghan
• Frau Schmidt – Jenna Boyd
• Baroness – Jacinta Mulcahy
• Rolf – Jeremy Taylor
• Liesl - Claire Fishenden
• Friedrich – Alec Poore
• Louisa – Maisie Carter
• Kurt – James Windwood
• Briggita - Ellie Coldicutt
• Marta – Sophia Millard
• Gretl – Lydia Baker

I saw the show just before it closed in London and quite frankly adored it, so obviously had to go again when it came to my home town (well kind of … I did come all the way home from uni to see it!).  I want to make the point that MK audiences are totally awful, I’ve been sat in that theatre 7 times this year and there hasn’t been a single time that the audience hasn’t got on my wick … for future reference, group of girls in row P … popcorn and sweet sharing is fine in the cinema … you were in the theatre, discussing which packet of e numbers to open next whilst people are slogging their guts off on stage for your benefit is just not on … rant over.

Back to the show, It didn’t move me half as much as it did in London; it was a really enjoyable evening out but I just felt that something was missing … at times it felt patronising as though everything was being continuously overemphasised; and the plot felt more jumpy and fast paced than the last time I had seen it. At times it felt like they were playing for laughs which for me ruined the sentiment of the show.

Once again Margaret Preece has me in tears … what a voice and Michael Praed was a better all round Von Trapp than Simon MacCorkindale who I had seen previously. I have to admit I was slightly disappointed by Connie, she has the character down to a T, but her voice was really lacking … I know she’s had problems but I didn’t realise that they were that serious.

I know it’s a tour, but the ‘mountain’ was really quite laughable and I’m not sure I like the new arrangement of the show with The Lonely Goatherd replacing My Favourite Things during the thunder-storm … I’m not sure why that change was necessary?

anyway I feel as though I have written a rather negative review, believe me I did enjoy it; it’s captivating, catchy and in my case downright tear jerking … however this performance didn’t match the wonder that I experienced in January.

For the record, Connie’s cake scene does indeed WIN.

HONEYMOON HOTEL REVIEW #1

The first stop on our European vacation was Salzburg, Austria. We wanted a variety of atmospheres and scenery during our journey so we began in the small city near the Austrian Alps where food, culture and history present themselves in a friendly and manageable city. Salzburg is most well-known as the birthplace of Mozart and the backdrop to the famous Sound of Music. And while these elements certainly drive tourism, we found other sites and local finds to amaze and entertain us.

We stayed a short walk from the old city in the Hotel and Villa Auersperg. See my complete hotel review on TripAdvisor called “Contemporary hotel near the old city”.

Salzburg At Night

Living a life by design is considered by many to be the preferred path towards greater happiness. We create our world and we interpret the world we live in by the words we choose to use. It is not how the world appears to us that matters, as it the way we describe that world. Words form pictures in our minds, pictures of what is, a picture of what is yet to be, and pictures of what was. These words and pictures bring either comfort or pain.

Words that can produce positive emotions like:

Gentle breeze

soft sounds

Peaceful waters

Delicate fragrance

Harmonious laughter

Calm, warm, pleasant, …

What words evoke a sense of peace, tranquility, and beauty?

In the 1965 motion picture “The Sound of Music” the power of words were used to describe how song, music can infect the soul with the meaning of song.

The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years.
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears.
My heart wants to beat like the wings
Of the birds that rise from the lake to the trees,
My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies from a church on a breeze,
To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls
Over stones on its way
To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray.
I go to the hills when my heart is lonely,
I know I will hear what I’ve heard before.
My heart will be blessed with the sound of music
And I’ll sing once more.

Words create moods and are used to describe moods.

What words do you use that are uplifting, freeing and enabling? What words do you use that are draining, tiresome, weighty and confining?

By choosing words that are an expression of creation, building, designing, freeing and liberating you will see your life tendencies and interpretations start to move towards more abundance.

For the next week alter your thoughts, choose words that are a more powerful description of what you want your world to look like. Become an artist and use words that are vibrant in color, deep in meaning, lofty in expression and filled with uncommon beauty.

“Taylor Swift”

November 7th, 2009

There was one question on everyone’s mind when it comes to Taylor Swift’s hosting stint on Saturday Night Live: Kanye. It’s really the only thing of any note, and to be honest it’s probably the only reason that she was asked to host in the first place. There is no question that Swift is charming, and that her confidence behind the microphone is beyond her years, but she isn’t a comedienne. While she is the kind of musical artist who could easily be integrated into a single skit (or even two), she’s not the kind of artist who could go beyond the typical list of hosting gigs (playing a celebrity with vague resemblance, playing herself, etc.).

So, as such, what works about this week’s episode is when the show plays to Swift’s strengths, placing her behind a microphone or in settings which don’t have the pressure of live comedy. When the show asks her to do much more, the stilted cue card reading rears its head, and you realize that beneath the glossy exterior she really is a teenage girl with a beautiful voice but without acting training.

Which isn’t a huge problem if the show around her is even the least bit funny, but that’s asking a bit much of SNL these days.

There are some hosts who create legitimate characters, people who are allowed into sketches as their own individuals. However, you can tell when a host is largely being protected, like in The View sketch. There is nothing really funny about her portrayal of Kate Gosselin outside of the hairstyle, which isn’t much of a joke, and the lines Swift are given are forced and never really connect. Instead, the sketch becomes a grab bag of bad jokes, excuses for Thompson/Armisen to play women, and a chance to get in a “Nicholas Cage is poor” joke in the end. There is no activity in the sketch, no moving parts that could alter our expectations: we were given The View with Kate Gosselin and Nicholas Cage, and by golly that is what we were given.

Swift was better when she was given more material (like in the Penelope sketch, where the June character was more simple but still clearly different from Swift’s personality), or when she was allowed to be either far away from her comfort zone (like her crazy eyed Scared Straight Counsellor) or directly within it. Her monologue, which was the real danger zone in terms of a tired Kanye West joke, was charming because it let her have her guitar on stage, and it had her singing as opposed to reading. “Monologue Song (La La La)” was self-aware (acknowledging the former loves of her life along with her current rumoured one in Taylor Lautner), charming (both in the self-awareness and in the cute joke in the opening about staying up late at night to watch the show during the era of Bill Hader and Andy Samberg), and legitimately catchy (La La Laaaa). And when they got to the Kanye joke at the end, she delivered it with just the right balance of being above the event but also wanting to get in a dig at the fact that the joke was necessary in the first place. It was a sharply written piece to open the show, and was perhaps the episode’s (live) highlight.

Meanwhile, the episode’s other highlight (as per usual) wasn’t live at all. The Digital Short, “Firelight,” was only one joke, but like many Digital Shorts it separates itself by being entirely committed to that gag. The integration of Taylor Swift and Bill Hader (in Frankenstein monster getup) into Twilight was legitimately impressive, and as someone who just recently watched Twilight (it was on, I was bored) the way they took the various lines and only made them funny by changing vampires to Frankenstein monsters was clever. Swift was also really impressive here, really capturing the breathlessness of Bella and the false romanticism of many of the film’s lines. It was simple but well-executed parody, which is more than I’ve come to expect of SNL these days.

As for Swift in the rest of the show, playing herself was where she seemed most comfortable, but that sketch (Hollywood Dish) was largely Hader and Wiig overacting and Swift reacting, which seemed more comfortable for her. Similarly, the TRAAAPD sketch was a fine example of a scenario where she was more a narrator than an actress, although she got to play the physical reactions to the various gags as well. There was no moment where Swift made a bad SNL host, but there was also no point where she was able to fade into the cast other than in the “Firelight” Digital Short. There was just no point where it wasn’t Taylor Swift playing a part, and no point where she was able to exude the sort of confidence that makes her live performances so engaging (if not that close to the original recordings). She’s got enough energy to fit in with the comic setting (the final skit was silly and unfunny but she was totally game), but she’s not going to sustain the show on her own.

The rest of the show felt about as limp as SNL has been as of late. The opening sketch had some great line readings by Bill Hader and the clever mouth-shift (from left to right) from Kristen Wiig, the Swine Fever gag was overdone but clever enough, and Weekend Update had the always welcome return of Amy Poehler for “Really?! with Seth and Amy,” but nothing felt even close to fresh or relevant. Kristen Wiig is still able to sell Penelope (who always needs to out-do everyone), but the character has been played out to the point of actually frustrating me as opposed to not just not making me laugh. The one sketch that I thought was actually pretty clever was the “Scared Straight w/ Movie Plots” skit that at least had a fun concept even if the execution was a bit uneven (and got repetitive around Back to the Future). Plus, I won’t lie: it wasn’t a sketch, but “Bunny Business”‘ collection of musician parodies worked because of how perfect Kristen Wiig’s Natalie Merchant was and how a few (like Armisen, Hader, and Swift) gave it their all even if the impressions were uneven.

Overall, though, it’s just another episode of SNL: generally uneven, highlighted by a Digital Short, and failing to reverse the show’s continued irrelevance in a non-Election year. But yet, who can’t help but be warmed by how darn earnest Swift is when she talks about how this is the best week of her life? I can’t hate the show now. Thanks a lot, Taylor.

Cultural Observations

• Weekend update had a couple of good jokes (the opener about the Yankees and Bloomberg stimulating the economy by buying a World Series and an Election was clever), but it was dragged down by two legitimately terrible guests in Fred Armisen’s stupid headline guy and an awful Sarah McLachlan impression.
• I think my favourite thing about “Firelight” is how it actually makes sense: if you extended the parody out, you’d find a Doctor at the center of the family of monsters who is in some way different from the rest. So it was even more logical than it might have seemed at first (although I’m kind of ashamed to know enough to discern this).
• I know Swift was likely in heels, but she really does Tower over people – Andy Samberg looked really short by comparison.
• Speaking of Samberg, he had a busy night, playing straight man in two separate sketches and pulling the Nicholas Cage impression off.
• On a completely random aside, since it was brought up on Twitter that Swift sort of reminded them of Lauren Graham, considering that Graham is starring in Parenthood in the new year NBC’s synergy police would be smart to get her a hosting gig on SNL: irrelevant or not, I’d be watching.

Lástima que no conseguí el clip de la película..

Part two of Roxy and Becky’s Vermont day trip Thursday 29th October!

After managing to waddle away from the Ben and Jerry’s factory, we headed to the Cider Mill in Waterbury.

After pulling into the wrong car park, we arrived at what looked like “country bumpkin” store. Upon entering, we were greeted with the sweet smell of fresh pressed cider. (non-alcoholic of course!) The store itself was very cute and offered many freshly produced gifts, such as jelly’s, sauces, bottled cider and even cider donuts!

We were disappointed that it was  just a glass screen where you could see how the cider was prepared. There was pictures depicting the cider making stages on the wall, but that was it. We did get samples of freshly pressed Vermont Cider, so we were happy. In reality though, I would not have made the journey solely to visit the mill, and if I had, would have been extremely disappointed.

Our next stop off was one that got me singing….”I am sixteen, going on seventeen!” Yes it was the Von Trapp Family Lodge. I was excited about seeing the attraction, even the possibility of meeting a real Von Trapp family member. We drove up the long windy road to the lodge. The grounds were huge! The building looked quite elegant sat in its well manicured grounds on the hillside, and had a rustic Austrian feel about it. Despite the cloud, the views of the valley were not too bad, though i suspect on a clear day they would be breath-taking.

Unfortunately our stay was short, as we felt slightly uncomfortable entering the hotel, as I don’t think we fitted their clientele. We also felt the gift shop was very over priced. I didnt get to meet a member of the Von-Trapp family, but did speak to a nice guy selling real estate, who directed us to the nearest much-needed gas station!

so, the hills were not exactly alive with the sound of music, but we had a fun time none the less.

We went downtown to the Beer Bistro (King and Yonge) and then afterwards to the Sound of Music. I heard so many great things about both of these places that I really expected to be impressed…

The Beer Bistro is nice. You can see right into the kitchen which is pretty neat, and the food is an interesting twist on bistro style food. I had the French onion soup dumplings and a house salad. My salad was nice, but small for the portion. The French onion soup dumpling was a disappointment… mostly just melted gruyere. The inside of the dumplings had no soup (do they know what a soup dumpling is? It’s a dumpling with soup in it) but they did have caramelized onions. I didn’t get a chance to eat all day so I was starving and felt the portions were small. Normal me would say the portions were a good size. My friends got all the 3 kinds of pizza that they make, mussels, the fries and the duck confit reuben (interesting!) Duck confit seems to take a major place on the menu (heaven knows why… I dislike it). They seemed to enjoy their meals. The highlight for me was the bread that came with the mussels. It was sort of crispy on the outside like a croissant but soft and doughy on the inside as is proper. It was awesome.

The Sound of Music was pretty awesome. The role of Maria was played by an actress who was chosen in a reality TV show aired on the CBC called How do you solve a problem like Maria? which I didn’t really watch (I caught one ep). Beforehand my friend told me “The sets are the best I’ve seen.. and the rest was good too,” which is a fair assessment. The singing was pretty great, the acting was alright (Maria tried too hard to be like Julie Andrews who is utterly majestic … and inimitable), Captain Von Trapp was annoying as all heck and they wrote two new songs which were strange and out of place. The set was gorgeous and I admired the lighting a lot. It’s definitely true that the audience enjoyed the musical with great enthusiasm and left with smiles on their faces. While not an undeniably terrific production (like Wicked), it wasn’t a bad way to spend an evening.

The pictures are from Beer Bistro and the theatre.

You can see that I was playing with my flash as well in the dark restaurant. Some lighting ideas that I picked up from the internet:

1. Increase the light in the area of your photograph as much as possible.
2. Candles actually shed a “harsh” light.
3. Mellow the light of candles and increase lighting with cell phones.
4. Diffuse the flash if possible. Even with a point and shoot you can do it! A tissue works, but tends to let light through. Try the party bouncer instead (see previous post in photography)
5. Don’t flash too much! It’s rude!

Who doesn’t love a flash mob suddenly breaking out and dancing?  Below are many examples of the Flash Mob, some of my favorites.  I wonder if they could be called Fantasy Writing, in a sense.  A collaborative work that changes the reality of those watching into a fantasy version of reality.  It’s more honestly described as theatre—probably Guerilla Theatre,  and certainly it is based on “musical reality” where tough gangsters in Guys and Dolls dance, or thugs in West Side Story snap their fingers.  But I think the Flash Mob which has really gained popularity has a more recent common ancestor.

A film called, The Fisher King, starring Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges.  In that film, there’s a sequence where all the walking people in Grand Central Station suddenly turn into dancers.  It’s the essence of Flash Mob–to create a dream sequence.  It’s such a stunning moment that I often see it in mash-ups of film retrospectives.  And the fact that modern flash mob dance sequences take place in large public spaces–like Grand Central–nods, at least a little to “The Fisher King.”

Here’s the Fisher King sequence, and then following it a selection of some of the most entertaining Fantasy moments you’ll find, this side of Reality.  Following that is a short selection of tips I think Fantasy writers can pick up from Flash Mobs.

Fisher King dance at Grand Central Station

Michael Jackson tribute in Stockholm

Oprah and Black-Eyed Peas

Frozen Grand Central Station (the opposite of Fisher King)

And for more of Improv Everywhere–they do musicals in grocery stores and much much more!

What tips can Fantasy Writers pick up from Flash Mobs

1.  They know what their audience expects, and they do the unexpected.  Grand central is supposed to be busy and chaotic–but not when it’s choreographed or frozen in place.  Fantasy writing wants to both fulfill desires and offer something new.   If you have a dwarf, an elf, a ring….uh….we know what might happen, we know what could happen, and we may not wait for anything surprising TO happen.  Shrek and Princess Bride play off expectations.  They successfully surprise and entertain their readers—but they are parodies.  Creating completely surprising fantasy realms–with new creatures, new settings, no medieval setting–can also surprise a reader and make him or her want to read.  

2.  Flash Mobs bring joy to their watchers, or a sense of wonder, by giving the mundane new life.  Subway commutes, catching a train, buying groceries–now that’s a list of first dates I wanna go on!  But if you give the mundane a new sense of wonder you can re-vitalize something that was boring.  Wish they’d do that with filling out registration for car insurance….  Fantasy writing can take the ordinary and make it amazing.  Look at how exciting a compass got in The Golden Compass (yep, an alethiometer!), or CS Lewis transforming a game of hide and seek in an old mansion on a rainy day, or tornadoes in Kansas….  Find a way to take something ordinary, an object, an action, and give it new meaning, new wonder.  Honestly, I want reality to be a little more like fantasy, a little more like a flash mob.  

3.  Flash Mobs are Choreographed.  They look spontaneous!  But in reality, a lot of effort was put in to make them look effortless.  Same in writing.  In writing, you guide the reader’s experience.  It requires you to be more calculating and choreagraphical than maybe you’re used to, but that’s what an interesting plot is.  Imagine if the dancers in these sequences had done boring moves…  Plot is choreography–telling your reader where to move, and what to watch….  

4.  But everyday flashmobbing would become boring.  If you saw this happen all the time, you’d start to think this was reality, and ignore it.  It’s the unusual nature of a flashmob–the sudden coming together of people doing the same thing–that makes it unique.  It has to stay unusual to escape being usual.  What does that mean for fantasy writers?  That we should only create one thing— nope, but variation is important.  If you only do one kind of thing, dragons, let’s say, then your reader may eventually become bored with what you’re doing–even your interesting fantasy might become mundane.  Imagine ten more books of Harry Potter.  HP had to have a story arc that encompassed a certain number of books.  Plan that arc, and then, it’s over.  Else you get a Wheel of Time that keeps on spinning.  

Good fantasy writing changes reality—and ripples into your reality forever altering it.  

Okay, I could be analyzing too much.  Enjoy the damn flashmobs and stop thinking of writing….  Oh, look, over there, it’s a whole collection of random werewolves doing Bollywood!  Made you look. 

I am slouching in my armchair with a laptop on my knees and looking forward to home-time. Today was tough. One OD and all the hullaballoo that went with that and then a lot of health assessment follow-up interviews. Trying to decide whether people should be yellow or green.

“I think I’ll make you green. That OK with you?”
Or: “So you don’t mind my keeping you yellow on the system?”
“No, I’m G3K3 anyway so I’m not deployable.”

Seems like a lot of people are unhappy in Cape Town and wanting to be transferred back to Pretoria. I wonder how many people are unhappy in Pretoria and wanting to be transferred to Cape Town? Perhaps we could just do a swap?

I’m not particularly happy or unhappy in Cape Town at the moment but I do have blue fingers from my (ultimately successful) attempt to make playdough. It was quite difficult mixing and kneading in between doing nine (mostly short) interviews today but somehow I managed to scrape off the blue sticky stuff, wash my hands and get back to the interview room each time. I didn’t have any cream of tartar (one whiff of a jar of Tartar sauce told me that it would not make a good substitute) and I didn’t have a lemon so I couldn’t substitute that. But the playdough still seems OK. I’m all for making a mess if you have enough time to clean up afterwards but today’s messiness in-between interviews was a little crazy.

In other news, I’m making good progress with Mark Epstein’s Psychotherapy without the Self despite the fact that it’s pretty difficult to read an academic-style book on Buddhist psychology in summer. I think Buddhism might work better in a cold climate with lots of reviving coffee in case I nod off. Trying to read it on a Sunday afternoon when I’m just itching to pick up the loppers and have another go at the (sadly fungus-infected) lemon tree again doesn’t really work. I keep losing my place and having to read the same paragraph three times and then I’m still not sure that I get the gist of it.

But there’s some good material there and I’m almost ready to declare that Mark Epstein is my new favourite psychological thinker except that I know that he’d disapprove of such thinking. Not at all Buddhist. But he’s good on the self and the other, narcissism, steering a middle path between reification and nothingness and a whole lot besides. Watch this space.

In totally unrelated news, P and I watched the first two hours of The Sound of Music last night. This was totally blog-inspired and an excellent choice. I’m still not sure how to solve a problem like Maria but I do know that it involves a lot of harmonious singing, some dancing and getting very spirited about your favourite things. It also doesn’t matter if you wear the curtains as long as you know your Doh-re-me.

I’ll try and be more active in the blog comments this week but I am reading some blog-posts when I get a chance – in between the crises.

I’m sitting here staring at a blank document just trying to find good words to describe Salzburg, and honestly I keep coming back to fairy tale.  I mean how many thousands and thousands of dollars went into that MFA, and “fairy tale” is the best I can come up with?  But it’s either that or blank page.  And blank page won’t suffice either because I want to express clearly how incredible our weekend was in Salzburg.  So it will have to do:  Salzburg was a fairy tale.

We left on Friday morning.  It was a little cloudy in Budapest, and remained so for the majority of the trip.  And you have to understand that cloud cover really does make you a little unsure of the place, especially since an hour after crossing the Hungarian boarder into Austria, you should start to see some mountains.  If you haven’t been, trust me, you’ll know the Alps when you see them.  The Alps (latin cognate, Alex, “albus”—white!) are very very.  Not that you can see the Alps that far across the boarder, but the terrain and the elevation begins to change drastically.  Unfortunately we couldn’t really tell because of the weather.  I did however spend a little time explain advection fog to Györgyi and was surprisingly perplexed when she fell asleep in the passenger seat.

But despite fog and construction and Germans driving 200 mph, we got into Salzburg without much fuss about five hours after we left.

We stayed at the Castellani Park Hotel, which I booked partly because of our IPrefer membership and partly because we really love this group of hotels.  They are not paying me to write this, but we have always had good experiences, in Poland, Czech Republic and now Austria with these hotels so I really recommend them.  Also, sigh up for the IPrefer membership rewards number and you get all sorts of extras.  They gave us free cakes, fruit, wine, and a free upgrade to a Junior Suite on this particular trip.  And even though the hotel was about five minutes outside of Old Town (5 Euro cab ride if you don’t have a car), the view was beautiful, the neighborhood was quiet, and the hotel and its staff were lovely, gracious and helpful.

Salzburg is on the banks of the Salzach river and on the northern boundary of the Alps.  And it is not a big city (only a little over 100,000 residents).  But it is clear to me now why it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.  We set out from the hotel around 4pm so it was already getting dark.

So while I want to show only the sunniest, Alps(iest), greenest pictures, I’m going to post in order of what we did.  And when we were in the old city at 4, it was dark, a little cold, though not raining.  These facts did not seem to deter anyone though from their evening strolls through the medieval part of the city.

One of the first things that we saw was the huge crowd swarming in and out of the chocolate store.  So even though we have been trying to watch our chocolate intake of late, we didn’t think it would be right not to go in for a few morsels.  I mean I didn’t want to personally insult Salzburg on my first visit.

And because her hands were cold (and only because), Györgyi got a cup of hot chocolate.  Just imagine taking the most delicious chocolate bar you have ever had, melting it, warming it up so it steams, and then putting it in a cup to drink.  That’s what it was.  Swoooon.

We strolled around the old town for a while, just looking at the beautiful buildings and taking in the town.  Even with the fog and gray, the sites were lovely.  And there were so many people outside walking around, eating chestnuts, sipping cappuccinos at outdoor cafes and practicing their German phrases.

I don’t know why, but I’ve never had a roasted chestnut before.  So finally I tried some because there were many street vendors selling them.  One bag, 3 Euros.  So delicious.  Nutty, soft and sweet.  It’s not really that much of a tradition in America, and it’s a shame because they seem like the perfect fall/winter street food.

As we were walking, we heard “Hey, Kent State!”  We happened to stumble upon some Ohioans enjoying a cake outside at one of the sidestreet café.  They were a young couple who went to Ohio State and now live in Belgrade with their four small children.  We chatted with them for a while, and when I walked away I was just smiling really big and wide.  Not only was it nice to meet up with some Americans, but the more time I’m away, the more I realize how wonderful the Midwestern attitude for friendliness is.  I said to Györgyi, “that’s Ohio,” and now that’s she’s been home with me, I think she knew exactly what I meant.

So we bought the chestnuts outside of Mozart’s house.  Though because it was late, the house and tour was closing, so we had to save it for Saturday.  Which gave us the perfect excuse to head back across the river, to the restaurant I had picked out for us for the night.

Before I travel anywhere, I check tripadvisor for restaurant recommendations.  If you’ve never used it, I really give it high marks, and seem to always find a local place with good food and drink.

Sometimes this means having to get out of the touristy city-center, but in my experience it is always worth it.

So based on the recommendation of travelers around the world, we headed to Die Weisse (website in German only). Rupertgasse 10, +43 662 8722460 Reservations recommended for sure, especially during high season.  The reviews said it was the best beer garden in Salzburg and they had good food to boot.  And honestly it was a total blast.   The waiters wore these leather Austrian shorts and were very friendly.  And their homemade light and dark wheat beer was so delicious.  Even Györgyi, a real non-beer drinker, kept wanting to go back for more.

Györgyi ordered what was essentially Austrian mac & cheese.  So it was dumplings, cheese, bacon, and herbs baked in a little pot and served hot.  Where the cheesy dumplings met the sides of the pot, they were a little crispy.  Oh there was also a salad, but I think it was just there to ease the conscious a little bit.  And I’ll have to check with her, but I’m pretty sure this is her death row meal now.  I ordered an equally incredibly delicious meal, which was the Wiener Schnitzel and a side salad that included cucumbers and cabbage.  I highly highly recommend this restaurant.  Yes, that was two highlyies.  The next night we met an Irish couple in Old Town and practically forced them to go there after they asked where we had eaten and if we had any recommendations.

So as it had already been a long day, we headed back to the hotel for a nightcap (i.e—Steigel beer) at the cute hotel bar.  After our beer, we went back to the room and had a few chocolates while watching The Sound of Music.  Why, do you ask, did we watch the Sound of Music?  (As if it being the best movie musical ever isn’t enough of a reason.)  Because…the next day…we had to be up bright and early for the Sound of Music tour of Salzburg.