Because I don't have enough on the go...

I'm still plugging away at the Montego Bay scarf (which is really pretty even if I keep making small mistakes that shift the pattern around a touch. That's what makes it an original!) and I finished my Easter lamb (minus the button eyes), so I'm looking for a new quick and easy project to start on.

I was thinking of making another pair of fingerless gloves, since I have the Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn that is pretty much the same as the yarn I used to make my first pair of gauntlets... they are currently in the form of a large sock which will be reverted into its more yarnular form.


But it's summer. The weather is going to be hot and gorgeous. I don't want to make mittens or hats or heavy winter things that will remind me of the cold that is sure to come.

Anyone have suggestions? I'm open to anything as long as its easy and something I would wear/use :D

And it doesn't have to be using the Fleece Artist. There are plenty of other yarns in my stash to use... like the Noro Taiyo that currently does not have a project but is screaming to be used.
(I do so love Noro)


p.s. would someone like to make my little naked lamb a sweater? or a vest? ;)

Anime North LOOT!

Anime North was awesome. The weather was gorgeous, and the cosplayers were out in full swing! I didn't take as many pictures as last year, but here are a few die hard fans:

Balthier and two Vieras from FFXII
(too bad I didn't get their boots. They were awesome)

L to R: Mokona, Tomoyo, Fai, Sakura, and (I assume) Syaoran
all from Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles

Fai D. Flowright and Sakura, from Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle
(I *love* that staff!)

SQUIRTLE!
(the guy in this costume must have been *dying*)

And I even found two Sailor Moon cosplayers: Moon and Mars

Then, there was the stash.

Mokona, two volumes of Tactics, four volumes of R.O.D., NANA soundtrack,
Slayers season one and two, and a knitting t-shirt!

Close up of my new manga *squee*

The t-shirt (a little small, but still awesome)

White and Black Mokona, together at last :)

With that giant black Mokona, I would like to cosplay as Yuuko from xxxHolic. Any sewers out there willing to make me a dress (since I can't sew)?

Walking the Labyrinth

Okay, so there's going to be another post before the Anime North loot.

I just saw this on my Facebook and decided to try and help promote it a bit. A friend of mine, Peter Cavell, is performing in both the Ottawa and Toronto Fringe festivals this year. I saw his performance in London last year, and it was spectacular.

Check out the preview:



And visit his site www.petercavell.com for more details! Go see it!

That time of year again

Today is Anime North day :D

Yes, that wonderful time of year when the largest anime convention in Canada rolls into Toronto, and thousands of people gather (most in costume) to buy anime, watch new releases, talk about anime, and pose for pictures (if you're in costume)

I'm prepared to spend large sums of money ;) This year, my victims... er, companions are Joe and Michael. Should be fun!!

Next post: Anime North loot!


*squee!*

It's been about a week....

It's been about a week since I last posted here, so I figured I should write something.

Unfortunately, not much has been going on.

Sure, I've been doing the usual going-to-work and being-shed-on-by-cats, but nothing really exciting has happened to me lately.

Let's see.... how about some updates on what I've been working on?

After cleaning out my bookshelf and getting rid of a lot of old books, I've decided to reread David Eddings' Belgariad series. Oh the memories. Reading these old books makes me smile because it reminds me of the style in which I used to write. I would mimic various authors in an attempt to find my own voice, and I definitely went through a David Eddings phase.

I'm still writing, but I found an old story on my hard drive that I hadn't touched in a while, reread it, and decided to start working on it again. It's based off an old D&D character I created, and then found too tricky to play. She's much easier to write, since I can control the other characters too ;)

Spirit Saga is on a temporary hiatus while I work out some details.... namely, should I kill this one character? It's an agonizing decision.

Knitting... well, Heather showed me how to do seams (which are really neat) so I'm stitching together my Easter lamb. The stupid yarn makes it really tricky, so only the head is attached to the body. And in the picture of the lamb, the body looks oval, but my lamb seems to have more of a triangular line-backer body. Weird.

I'm also knitting the Montego Bay scarf (is that what it's called? I'm too lazy to look it up), which is progressing nicely. I made a mistake, knit that mistake for a few inches, then made another mistake that corrected the original mistake and now I'm back on the pattern. Still looks good, though :)


But I haven't had a lot of time for my hobbies since I'm still trying to find a place to live. Gotta have one by the end of June or else I'm homeless... wish me luck!

Books part II

Here's what's left. I'll trade books for cardboard boxes!

BOOKS:

FICTION PAPERBACKS
- The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
- The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
- The Scions of Shannara by Terry Brooks
- Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist
- The Losers by David Eddings
- Kings by George V. Henderson (this was an author-published book I bought because I felt sorry for the guy sitting in front of Coles with a stack of books. It's signed, but honestly the story itself is pretty crappy)
- The Redemption of Althalus by David & Leigh Eddings
- Talon of the Silver Hawk by Raymond E. Feist (conclave of shadows book 1)
- King of Foxes by Raymond E. Feist (conclave of shadows book 2)
- Shadow of a Dark Queen by Raymond E. Feist (serpentwar saga book 1)
- Rise of a Merchant Prince by Raymond E. Feist (serpentwar saga book 2)
- Rage of a Demon King by Raymond E. Feist (serpentwar saga book 3)
- Shards of a Broken Crown by Raymond E. Feist (serpentwar saga book 4)
- Krondor the Betrayal by Raymond E. Feist (riftwar legacy book 1)
- Krondor the Assassins by Raymond E. Feist (riftwar legacy book 2)
- The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
- Shadow Moon by George Lucas and Chris Claremont (sequel to the movie "Willow")
- The Diamond Throne by David Eddings (elenium book 1)
- The Ruby Knight by David Eddings (elenium book 2)
- The Sapphire Rose by David Eddings (elenium book 3)
- Domes of Fire by David Eddings (tamuli book 1)
- The Shining Ones by David Eddings (tamuli book 2)
- The Hidden City by David Eddings (tamuli book 3)
- The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams (memory, sorrow and thorn book 1)
- Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams (memory, sorrow and thorn book 2)
- Guenevere, Queen of the Summer Country by Rosalind Miles
- Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
- The Root Cellar by Janet Lunn
- Merlin by Stephen R. Lawhead
- Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell (library discard but in good condition)
- Clothar the Frank by Jack Whyte
- Whistler by Roger Taylor

FICTION HARDCOVER
- Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks
- Krondor Tears of the Gods by Raymond E. Feist
- Shadow Dawn by Chris Claremont & George Lucas
- The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough

NON-FICTION AND LITERATURE
- "Manga Mania: Fantasy Worlds" by Christopher Hart
- Two Spanish Picaresque Novels: Lazarillo de Tormes & The Swindler
- Goethe Faust Part One (Penguin Classic 1958)
- "Yoshimasa and the Silver Pavilion" by Donald Keene
- "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole
- "Le Morte d'Arthur" by Sir Thomas Malory (volume 1)
- "Mega Manga" by Keith Sparrow
- Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe by Merry E. Wiesner (2nd edition)
- The Woman and the Lyre: Women Writers in Classical Greece and Rome
- Women's Life in Greece and Rome

Something to read?

If anyone is interested, I've just posted a new chapter of my novel at my website:

The novel is called "Spirit Saga" and it's the longest thing I've ever written (so far).

If you decide to read it, don't let the length put you off. The chapters are (mostly) very short. I'd love to hear what people think!

Be sure to check out the rest of my site too!

I am Ironman

Yesterday was the premiere of the movie "Ironman"... and I was able to twist my friends' rubber arms and convince them to go :)

It. Was. AWESOME.

I know pretty much nothing about Ironman from the comics, but this movie had a coherent plot, lots of fun explosions, humor (lots of great funny parts not spoiled by the ads), and most importantly GOOD ACTING.

Robert Downey Jr, for all his substance abuse, is a fantastic actor. Everything I've seen him in, I've enjoyed. Like Johnny Depp. He's good at every roll he plays.

Anyway, I was so thrilled by a good Marvel comic movie that I decided to take a look at other Marvel movies and see how they compared to Ironman:

List of Marvel Comics made into movies
(what did we do before wikipedia?)

Blade (1998) - I saw this and remember thinking it was okay. 'Course, I was a teenager at the time.

X-Men (2000) - What happened in this one again? I enjoyed the first X-Men movie. It was the sequels that ruined it for me.

Blade II (2002) - Didn't see it. Didn't think enough of the first one to bother.

Spider-Man (2002) - I have a deep love for Spider-Man, in all his incarnations, which sometimes borders on obsession. My friends can vouch for this. So, I'm biased when I say that this was (at the time) the best Marvel movie I had ever seen. *LOVE* Spider-Man!

Daredevil (2003) - In spite of Ben Affleck being cute (but he's no Spider-Man), this movie did nothing for me... except promote Evanescence, which is now one of my favourite bands.

X2 (2003) - I loved Nightcrawler. Other than that, meh.

Hulk (2003) - I think Marvel is pretending this never existed, and I don't blame them. I do find it hard to believe they didn't learn from their mistakes, and another Hulk movie is in the works.

The Punisher (2004) - Didn't see it... no wait, I think I did. That's how memorable it was.

Spider-Man II (2004) - It's only my deep devotion to you, Spider-Man, that makes me continue to watch your increasingly bad movies. Doc Ock was amazing. That subway scene nearly made me snort pop out of my nose.

Blade Trinity (2004) - I *almost* saw this because Ryan Renolds is in it, but in the end, even that wasn't enough to convince me to see Wesley Snipes as a rogue vampire... for the third time.

Elektra (2005) - Huh? Didn't she die? Why is she back? No, really. This movie was so bad, it would have been better to leave her dead.

Fantastic Four (2005) - Wasn't there a scene with Jessica Alba in either her underoos or nothing, standing on a bridge? I'm pretty sure this whole movie was made *just* for that scene.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) - This movie was so bad, it made me sputter with outrage while I was watching it. What have you done to my beloved (but not quite as beloved as Spider-Man) X-Men??

Ghost Rider (2007) - Okay, I find Nicholas Cage to be really drippy, but this movie wasn't that bad... especially compared to the previous 7 Marvel releases.

Spider-Man 3 (2007) - Yeah, not even my profound love of Spider-Man could make me see the good parts of this film. Sandman was a good bad guy... I like Topher Grace... bad ass Peter Parker looked like he joined Good Charlotte. It was terrible. I was sad for days.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) - I haven't seen this one. I like the Silver Surfer's story, but I somehow doubt this movie will do it justice, since every other movie seemed to be so terrible. Maybe I was still hurting from the deep betrayal I felt over Spider-Man 3.

Ironman (2008) - HALLELUJAH! MY FAITH IN MARVEL IS RESTORED!

at least until...

*sigh*