Brave - A Movie Not About Toasters

I remember a lot of buzz surrounding Brave. People seemed equal parts excited and concerned that Pixar was putting out a female-led story. Now that the movie's out, it seems to be doing very well, but there's been a lot of finger-wagging. "The movie's competent," they say, "but it doesn't feel like Pixar."

I got a chance to see the movie on Saturday of last week, and I've got quite a few thoughts on the matter. I'll say right off, though, that Pixar's Brave is probably the number 2 movie that I've seen so far this year, beating out The Avengers easily and losing only a little ground to that OTHER movie about a girl with a bow.

Above: Antz and A Bug's Life

It seems to me that the critique I'm hearing most about Brave is that it's not as good as Toy Story, to which I say, "...Really?"

Sure, when it came out, Toy Story was a revelation. Toy Story was the first fully CG feature-length film, and it wowed everyone. It had a heartwarming story about courage, friendship, and blahblahblah, and the story appealed to children and adults alike, even with the prominent protagonist playthings.

Of course, everything looked like it was made out of plastic. Now, when you're dealing with action figures, that's not so bad. I WISH real action figures looked as good as the toys in the Toy Story movies. However, when you look at the people...

Sid's a terrifying creature, but that's not necessarily his design - he's pretty snugly nested in the uncanny valley. The ability to animate humans in CG has improved dramatically over the years. Take another look at Brave's Merida.

She's obviously not life-like, but there's a stronger sense of stylistic design with her character. The departures from realistic norms - like the size of her head and neck - feel more like animation choices. The character designers weren't going for strict realism or abstract cartooning, but something in-between.

Oh, and can we talk about that character design for a minute? One of Brave's real victories, I think, is in it's non-conventional heroine. Compared to most leading ladies, Merida's a bit different - her hair's not perfect (in fact, it's wildly out of control), and her face isn't as elfin as most princesses. You still see a bit of baby fat. She's not really the "standard" of female beauty, yet she's still a beautiful character. And it's kinda refreshing to see a curly-haired character not freak out about the curls.

I guess the question is, then, is that enough? Brave doesn't really have the most original story - it's about as unique as every other fairy tale. Is it really enough to praise Brave for its unconventional protagonist when most of the rest of the story is formulaic?

Well, yes.

Don't get me wrong, MY idea for Brave would have been MUCH less derivative (think Predator meets White Fang with a female protagonist), but, for what it is, Brave does a fine job of telling a good story with fresh characters, great pacing, a rich environment, and a satisfying conclusion. What more could you ask for?

By the way, I will be accepting Kickstarter donations for my next project, Braver: The White Fanged Predator starting soon.

Cooking with Braddy: Cake Bites

Okay, hands up: Who's never heard of cake bites before?

Their a sweet looking dessert with a really simple underlying concept. Have you ever gone to a wedding reception or something, and you see the three-year-old kid eating their cake by the fistful? They don't break off pieces, but they mash the whole thing, frosting and all, into a ball and shove it in their mouths.

Basically, if the three-year-old washes their hands first and then dips them in chocolate, that's a cake bite.

My aunt brought a couple different kinds of cake bites to our Father's Day celebration, and we all kinda went nuts for them. They were delicious. So she ran off a couple recipes, and I decided to give them a try.

I felt a lot like that three-year-old mashing up the wedding cake. Seriously, you start by baking a cake.

Then you tear the cake to little pieces.

Then you mix it together and roll it all into little balls. And you do most of it by hand.

Of course, after the whole thing is done, you dip them all in chocolate and let them cool. They're pretty tasty.

I've got a batch of Cookies and Cream Cake Bites all done now. They turned out pretty well. There's a batch of Root Beer Float Cake Bites I still have to coat (and is there a more Utah-ded treat than "Root Beer Float Cake Bites"?).

Not too bad for a dessert invented by an antsy toddler.

Cooking With Braddy: Kadahi Chicken

Trying to do a web search for this recipe was frustrating - the only result that ever came back was for "kadai chicken." I'm pretty sure it's the same thing.

Now, you may notice that there's no garlic in the picture above. I noticed it, too. The author of the Mighty Spice Cookbook must not have, though, because he lauds this recipe for the simple flavor the garlic adds.

The author's not the only one to make a mistake, though. I wound up chopping the onion, ginger, and chile all at the same time and dumping them into a bowl together, when the recipe CLEARLY states that the garlic is to be sauteed first, and the other ingredients added later.

Oh, well, obvious errors aside, the recipe's a good one.

I hadn't ever tried cooking with turmeric before, but I knew about the spice already. Turmeric is the yellow spice. It colors EVERYTHING yellow (including my fingers, for the record).

The resulting dish has a great curry flavor, and made more than enough for several people. I only had one person to share it with, which left me with a ton to eat over the next several days. In fact, I still have some at home, so I think I'll help myself to one more portion.

Right after I clean up the kitchen.

It may be time for me to invest in a wok or something. I've never heard of a wok boiling over.

The Upper Hand

Someone's obviously in danger here... but I'm not sure who.

I'm experimenting with a few more dynamic "shots" in my drawings recently, so we're getting a lot of close-ups nowadays (like this last picture I did - that's meant to be the same woman, if you couldn't tell).

I don't know that I have a story I'd like to tell with these characters, but it sure is fun to draw them.

The 100 Most Recommended Classics

A friend of mine posted this list of top recommended books in classical literature. Enjoy.

Titles colored in blue are ones I've read.
Titles colored in red are ones I've read excerpts from.
Titles colored in green are ones which I suspect were made up, because I've never heard of them.
Titles colored in purple are Walden, which is not very good.

Novels and Short Stories

Jane Austen
•Pride and Prejudice
•British, 1813

James Baldwin
•Go Tell It on the Mountain
•American, 1953

Saul Bellow
•Seize the Day
•American, 1956

Charlotte Brontë
•Jane Eyre
•British 1847

Emily Brontë
•Wuthering Heights
•British, 1847

Albert Camus
•The Stranger
•French, 1942

Lewis Carroll
•Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
•British, 1865

Willa Cather
•My Antonia
•American, 1918

Miguel de Cervantes
•Don Quixote
•Spanish, 1605, 1617

Kate Chopin
•The Awakening
•American, 1899


Joseph Conrad
•Heart of Darkness
•British, 1902


Stephen Crane
•The Red Badge of Courage
•American, 1895

Daniel Defoe
•Robinson Crusoe
•British, 1719

Charles Dickens
•Great Expectations
•British, 1860-61

Feodor Dostoevski
•Crime and Punishment
•Russian, 1866

George Eliot
•The Mill on the Floss
•British, 1860

Ralph Ellison
•Invisible Man
•American, 1947

William Faulkner
•The Sound and the Fury
•American, 1929

Henry Fielding
•Tom Jones
•British, 1749

F. Scott Fitzgerald
•The Great Gatsby
•American, 1925

Gustave Flaubert
•Madame Bovary
•French, 1857

E.M. Forster
•A Passage to India
•British, 1924


Gabriel García Márquez
•One Hundred Years of Solitude
•Columbian, 1967

William Golding
•Lord of the Flies
•British, 1954

Thomas Hardy
•Tess of the D'Urbervilles
•British, 1891


Nathaniel Hawthorne
•The Scarlet Letter
•American, 1850

Ernest Hemingway
•A Farewell to Arms
•American, 1929

Zora Neale Hurston
•Their Eyes Were Watching God
•American, 1937

Aldous Huxley
•Brave New World
•British, 1932

Henry James
•The Turn of the Screw
•American, 1898

James Joyce
•A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
•Irish, 1916

Franz Kafka
•The Trial
•Czechoslovakian, 1925

D.H. Lawrence
•Sons and Lovers
•British, 1913

Sinclair Lewis
•Babbitt
•American, 1922

Bernard Malamud
•The Assistant
•American, 1957


Thomas Mann
•Death in Venice
•German, 1912

Herman Melville
•Moby-Dick
•American, 1851

Toni Morrison
•Sula
•American, 1973

Flannery O'Connor
•A Good Man Is Hard to Find
•American, 1955

Tillie Olsen
•Tell Me a Riddle
•American, 1956-60

George Orwell
•Animal Farm
•British, 1945


Alan Paton
•Cry, the Beloved Country
•South African, 1948

Edgar Allan Poe
•Great Tales and Poems
•American, 1839-45

J.D. Salinger
•The Catcher in the Rye
•American, 1951

Sir Walter Scott
•Ivanhoe
•British, 1820


Mary Shelley
•Frankenstein
•British, 1818

John Steinbeck
•The Grapes of Wrath
•American, 1939

Jonathan Swift
•Gulliver's Travels
•British, 1726

William Makepeace Thackeray
•Vanity Fair
•British, 1847-48

Leo Tolstoy
•War and Peace
•Russian, 1865-69

Ivan Turgenev
•Fathers and Sons
•Russian, 1862

Mark Twain
•The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
•American, 1886

John Updike
•Rabbit, Run
•American, 1961

Voltaire
•Candide
•French, 1759

Kurt Vonnegut
•Slaughterhouse Five
•American, 1969

Alice Walker
•The Color Purple
•American, 1982

Eudora Welty
•Thirteen Stories
•American, 1965

Edith Wharton
•The Age of Innocence
•American, 1920

Virginia Woolf
•To the Lighthouse
•British, 1927

Richard Wright
•Native Son
•American, 1940

Drama

Aeschylus
•Oresteia
•Greek, 458 BCE

Aristophanes
•Lysistrata
•Greek, 411, BCE

Samuel Beckett
•Waiting for Godot
•Irish, 1952

Bertolt Brecht
•Mother Courage and Her Children
•German, 1941

Anton Chekov
•The Cherry Orchard
•Russian, 1904

Euripides
•Medea
•Greek, 431 BCE

Johann von Goethe
•Faust, Part I
•German, 1808

Henrik Ibsen
•A Doll's House
•Norwegian, 1879

Christopher Marlowe
•Doctor Faustus
•British, 1604

Arthur Miller
•Death of a Salesman
•American, 1949

Molière
•The Misanthrope
•French, 1666

Eugene O'Neill
•Desire Under the Elms
•American, 1924

William Shakespeare
•Hamlet
•British, 1600


George Bernard Shaw
•Pygmalion
•British, 1913

Sophocles
•Oedipus Rex
•Greek, 430 BCE

Oscar Wilde
•The Importance of Being Earnest
•British, 1895


Thornton Wilder
•Our Town
•American, 1938


Tennessee Williams
•The Glass Menagerie
•American, 1945

Poetry*

Allison, Alexander, Editor
•Norton Anthology of Poetry (Shorter Edition)
•British & American

Anonymous
•Beowulf
•British, c. 700

Anonymous
•Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
•British, c. 1350-1400


Geoffrey Chaucer
•Canterbury Tales
•British, 1387-1400

Dante
•Inferno
•Italian, c. 1320

Homer
•The Odyssey
•Greek, c. 9th C. BCE

John Milton
•Paradise Lost
•British, 1667

Vergil
•The Aeneid
•Italian, c. 18 BCE

Walt Whitman
•Leaves of Grass
•American, 1855

Miscellaneous

Aristotle
•Poetics
•Greek, 4th C. BCE

Saint Augustine
•Confessions
•Italian, 397-401

The Holy Bible (esp. King James Version)

Charles Darwin
•Origin of the Species
•British, 1859

Ralph Waldo Emerson
•"The American Scholar"
•American, 1837

Benjamin Franklin
•Autobiography
•American, 1771

Sigmund Freud
•Civilization and Its Discontents
•German, 1930

Edith Hamilton
•Mythology
•American, 1940

Niccolò Machiavelli
•The Prince
•Italian, 1532

Karl Marx
•Communist Manifesto
•German, 1848

Michel de Montaigne
•Selected Essays
•French, 1580

Plato
•Republic
•Greek, c. 370 BCE

Henry David Thoreau
•Walden
•American, 1854

*Apparently, there hasn't been any poet worth reading in the last 150 years.

My Geek Pedigree

I get a lot of flack from my parents sometimes... and not always about the obvious subject. Most recently, any time I have discussion regarding The Avengers movie provokes the same response from my parents:

"I raised a bunch of geeks."

I'm sure they mean to say "geek" in a loving voice. Still, I can't help but sense a little of the stigma that usually accompanies that particular epithet. So I would like to take the opportunity to say now, loud and proud, that I AM a total geek. And I learned how to be a geek from my parents.

Parents who geek out have children who geek out.

I want to make it clear that my parents are MORE than enablers. It wasn't just all the trading cards, video games, and comic books they bought their children over years of Christmases and birthdays that prompted such deep-rooted nerdery. No, my parents are, themselves, pretty darn geeky, too.

Take my dad, for example. I grew up reading from his Dragonlance book collection. He's got the biggest collection of Godzilla movies I've ever seen. Oh, and a lot of the superhero movies and cartoons I enjoy? When they come out on DVD, I borrow them from HIM.

My mom's not as obvious a geek as my dad is. She almost never watches TV, has never touched a video game controller, and only played Magic: The Gathering once while my brother watched over her shoulder and told her exactly when (and how) to play Mana Short.

It's a really rare card. You've probably never heard of it.

That said, my mom's still pretty geeky about some things. She loves her some good showtunes - and I'm pretty sure, in terms of pure geekiness, "musical theater" ranks right up there with "Pokemon" and "calculus." I'm pretty sure you could call her a geek over her love for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, too.

Oh, and she really likes The Wizard of Oz. Not the movie, mind you, because the movie gets it wrong - Dorothy's shoes are actually silver. She's got just about every book in the Oz series (that's right, The Wizard of Oz is part of a SERIES). While she doesn't engage in conversations about who would win in a fight between the Tin Man and the Scarecrow, I think that type of adoration for an obscure fantasy series qualifies as a "geek" trait.

Of course, none of this is meant to be a slight to my parents. I love them both, and I'm pretty sure that their taste in obscure genre works baffles me as much as my affection for stories about a vagabond samurai in feudal Japan who is also a rabbit confuses the HECK out of them. All's fair in love and geekery, I guess.

Well, that's it for today's blog post. I hope you all come back in a few days to catch my blow-by-blow analysis of the epic Scarecrow/Tin Man battle.

Braddy Reads A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Hey, look, it's a literature book. That sounds like something someone would read if it was on a list of goals or something. Pretty cool, huh?

I've joked before that literature is all about how depressing a story one can tell. That's not entirely true - there are plenty of happy, cheerful stories out there that end well for most of the parties involved. The stigma that all literature is dark is fairly undeserved.

This collection of stories, however, is the reason that stigma exists. Flannery O'Connor's story collection is called A Good Man is Hard to Find, but it could just as easily be called Miserable People are Miserable to Each Other Until Someone Dies.

There's not a single likeable character in this entire collection of short stories, except for possibly the wide-eyed, innocent boy Harry in the story "The River" (spoiler alert: he dies). Everyone is conceited and self-righteous. They're cruel out of some sick sense of entitlement and, in some cases, piety. If the book had ENDED with the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" rather than starting with it, the bald-faced cruelty of The Misfit would be almost refreshing.

None of this is to say that the book is terrible, mind. Since most of the characters are devout Christians, their often contradictory behavior serves to mirror some of our own hypocrisy's, whether we profess a Christian faith or not. And O'Connor is a great writer who employs dialog with tremendous skill.

A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories isn't a relaxing bedtime read, but, like most classics, is classic for a reason. Well worth the time spent.

Things I'll Love Forever: Avatar: The Last Airbender

One of the terrible things about being a geek is the near-overwhelming tendency to obsess over the stuff we enjoy. Thankfully, one of the NICE things about being a geek is the seemingly endless supply of QUALITY stuff to obsess over. So it's with great delight that I take a minute to gush over one of my new favorite programs, Avatar: The Last Airbender.

I'm a little late to the Avatar game - the series ended a couple of years ago. Apparently, there's a spinoff series and some comics in the mix, too, but I haven't indulged in those. I'm talking about the original, three-season story - a fairly standard children's fantasy show with a LOT of sophistication and depth.

• Honestly, one of my favorite aspects of Avatar: The Last Airbender is its brevity. One of the creators (I have no idea which) said (roughly), "If I were to tell you, 'I have this great story for you - it never ends,' you'd walk out of the room." The creators intended the show to last three years, and then, when they'd told the story they wanted, they ended it. It's admirable.


• I'll admit to not being a huge fan of the animation, but the character designs for Avatar are excellent. Each character has a distinct flair, yet each also contains elements in their design that link them to their heritage. There's a visual sense of community between members of the same tribe that help to establish a real depth to the world-building the creators have done here.


• The characters themselves are fantastic. While each character has a distinct set of personality traits, no one is confined solely to their archetypal role (there's no set "comic relief" or "love interest"). Everyone's fully fleshed out, and everyone is given the opportunity to change.


• Speaking of characters, these guys are the best:
  
  
  The dude on the left, Zuko, has one of the most complex character arcs I've seen. He's confused, angry, and frequently makes the wrong decisions. It's pretty awesome. On the other hand, Toph is pretty straightforward. She's tough, rude, a bit gross, and always ready for a scrap. She's a completely un-typical female character, and totally awesome for it.

The tremendous attention to detail and the dedication to telling story above all else set Avatar in a league all its own. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, it may be my favorite animated show ever. Avatar is funny, exciting, and full of enthusiasm, and that's why I'll love it forever.

No relation.

Unfortunate relation that no one mentions at reunions.

Cooking with Braddy: Cheese Quesadillas with a Green Mole Sauce

Not pictured:  Sesame Seeds

It seems like every time I get a free evening with absolutely nothing planned, I feel an almost overwhelming impulse to try a new recipe. It's shaping up to be quite the expensive habit, as I almost always have to run to the store to get new spices and herbs. Sometimes, I have to go twice, like when I forgot to write down that I needed sesame seeds for this recipe from the Mighty Spice Cookbook.

My mother will tell you that I used to eat a TON of quesadillas - although I'm a little confused as to why you're actually talking to my mother right now. Anyway, I always wanted to try this recipe, as it looked to be pretty darn easy. Basically, you take everything pictured above except the tortillas and mozerella, add the one ingredient not pictured (sesame seeds), and mix it in a blender. Then you let it all simmer for a half hour, blend it again, and serve.

I actually felt pretty handy putting this recipe together, as I had food going on two different burners at once. It wound up being a lot of work for what basically amounts to a glorified appetizer - especially since the mole tended to spit a bit. Perhaps it was angry that I'd forgotten the sesame seeds.

Still, the end result, after minimal fuss, was pretty delicious.

Seriously, though, don't forget the sesame seeds.

The Other Side of the Kirby Conundrum

Okay, so I eventually did make it out to see The Avengers, despite the misgivings I expressed in this post here. As if anyone REALLY though I was going to completely boycott the most anticipated super-hero move of the past ten years. Apparently, the only person I managed to fool was me. Go figure.

(I'll get the review out of the way quick: The movie was good. There's no reason for the Hulk to be as enjoyable as he was, but that actually happened. I like my entertainment to be a little more thought-provoking, but I still liked all the punching. Also, Thanos is cool.)

My main hang-up with The Avengers (and superhero comics in general) is how the corporations that own the trademarks treat the men and women who CREATE the characters that build their companies. I specifically cited Marvel's treatment of Jack Kirby, but, really, it's been DC comics who have been the worst offenders - at least, if Alan Moore is to be believed.

The tricky part, though, is that DC comics owns one of my favorite characters, Batman. And I love Batman. His original creators told some fun stories about Batman, but, for me, the best Batman stories have come about in the last fifteen to twenty years - between Batman: The Animated Series, The Dark Knight, and Grant Morrison's recent run in the comics, there's been a lot of good Batman stuff to love.

And it's not like Mr. Kirby never intended anyone else to write his characters. The work he produced for Marvel was work-for-hire, so I imagine he MUST have known his work would be used by other writers. And, every now and then, those writers do a pretty bang-up job.

So, on the one hand, we've got creators who are treated unfairly with regards to the creations they worked so hard on. On the other hand, we've got the creators who are paid now to continue to tell stories with those characters. Sometimes, the stories are awesome. Othertimes, you get Halle Berry's Catwoman. Both groups of people are artists, and both deserve support. After all, we don't penalize the actor who plays Hamlet, even though he didn't invent the character.

Still, I get the sense that even other creators understand that there's a problem. To go back to The Avengers, Joss Whedon (Firefly is still overrated) directed a near-perfect superhero film. However, he's gone on-record to say that he may not be involved in Avengers 2, as it's "an enormous amount of work telling what is ultimately somebody else’s story, even though I feel like I did get to put myself into it."

It's that last part I think that's key - we should support work (be it comic-booky or other-wooky) where the artist has something to say with the material. As long as people can continue to bring something new to the table, I have very little problem with a creator playing with someone else's toys.

But I still reserve the right to complain about the ridiculous number of remakes/reboots/sequels every year.

World's Worst Lyrics: Your Song

The Culprit

The Offending Lyric

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen


Why is it bad?


That's why.

Cooking with Braddy: Meat and Potatoes

My brother said recently that my family is full of "meat and potatoes" types. I don't know that that's 100% true (I'm more of a "grilled-cheese sandwich and ice cream" type), I do like me a good steak. So I was pretty excited to try a quick meat and potato recipe from Desperation Dinners.

Unlike a lot of the recipes I've been trying recently from The Mighty Spice Cookbook, there aren't a lot of complex or hard-to-find ingredients in this recipe. I think the most exotic component of the dish was garlic powder. Makes it pretty easy to put together. The steaks go into a skillet to cook.

Or, you know, overcook, as the case may be.

Don't worry. I did better with the second batch.

The meat goes into the oven to keep warm, while the hash browns go into the pan to cook. Just before the hash browns are done, you pour the collected juices from the steaks into the pan with the potatoes and stir in until it's all absorbed. Sadly, I must have bought fairly lean steaks, because there wasn't all that much juice left. What was there added a pretty good flavor.

Arrange decoratively on a plate and serve.

The Impassable Rules of Braddy's Dating Life

After this weekend's musical exploits, I had a brief conversation with a concerned female friend of mine, who tried to understand why I don't date more. Her motivation is suspect - I believe she wishes to hook me up with someone, and that's a no-no - but the conversation proved enlightening.

See, even though I have a long list of reasons why I'm still single, I don't know that I've quite put together why I have so much difficulty DATING. You know, how to actually get a girl's number and call it or whatever.

Well, in talking to my friend, I was able to formulate a short list of rules that I, for whatever reason, have been adhering to when trying to get to know new people - specifically, women. The list is... enlightening.

To start with, the rules seem to build on each other fairly simply. Each rule leads to the next. They're possibly a little restrictive, but I don't believe they're unreasonable.

• Before asking a girl on a date, one must build up an appropriate level of familiarity.

Now, I think this rule just makes sense. I HAVE asked for a girl's number and set up a date after a single conversation or two, but the results have generally been awkward. I prefer to get to know someone a little better before going on a date.

• Familiarity is built up through conversation.

There are a lot of ways to get to know someone - you work with them, you watch them, you play with them. However, in my experience, real connections are only forged by talking WITH a person.

• All conversations must have motivation behind them.

Again, to me, this rule makes sense. I don't like people wasting my time, and I don't like to waste other people's time either. I like to talk ABOUT stuff.

Now here's the rule that sends the whole thing off the rails:

• Wanting to get to know someone is not an appropriate motivation for conversation.

All of a sudden, the whole thing becomes chaotic. If there's this girl I want to ask out, I have to talk to her before I can ask her out, but I can't just go up and talk to her because that's not how you get to know someone, so I can continue to attend whatever activity I am first introduced to the girl in, but I CAN'T just go up and talk to her because that's not how it's done.

Basically, unless there's some sort of miraculous immaculate conversation, I'm a bit hosed from the get-go. Thanks, subconscious rule fascists!

Music and Handwaving

This past weekend was one of the more "musical" experiences I've had in a while. Things kicked off pretty solidly with Lamb of God, an oratorio written by Rob Gardner about the final days in the life of Jesus Christ. My stake had been working on the music for several months. At the last minute (about two or three weeks before the performance deadline), I was pulled in to help with the narration.

Doing the narration was a lot of fun (especially since I had a lot of people pay me some very nice compliments about my voice), but, honestly, I think I would have much rather been in the choir itself. I miss choir singing - it's about the only thing I think was actually better about my life when I was in high school. So to have such a solid opportunity to sing in a quality production and MISS it like I did... well, it's pretty sucky.

I got to LISTEN, though, and I have to say that, for a Mormon-written musical production, Lamb of God is EXCELLENT. And it may not even need the "Mormon" qualifier. It's basically the way Les Mis would have turned out if they'd written about Jesus rather than Jean Valjean.

I find that comparison actually makes a lot of sense - musically, Les Mis is VERY melodramatic, full of high emotion. Yet the drama and emotion is played very straight and very sincerely. The high drama and serious tone actually go very well with the story of the crucifixion. Stylistically, it's a very good match.

I also decided, during Lamb of God, that "Gloria" may just be the most enjoyable word to sing. You get the long, sliding "l" sound followed by the flip of the tongue on the "r," and it's just heavenly. Really mad I missed out on singing that number.

(By the way, if you want to hear Lamb of God, the whole thing is on Spotify, which I'm told is a thing that exists on the internet.)

Now, just because I wasn't in this one choir doesn't mean my life's completely devoid of music. In fact, I've been the choir director at church for several months now. Sunday, we finally had the opportunity to have a real rehearsal - meaning, we had more than two people show up. So we actually got to practice singing some music, and I got to show off my excellent directorial skills.

By "excellent," of course, I mean "crap." Turns out, I'm not very good.

Thankfully, I've got some "resources" to draw on. Y'all may not know this, but I used to be a reference librarian. Basically, that means that when I come across something I don't know, I like to hit the books.

I've got some good resources to draw on, too, most notably from my cousin Juan Carlos, who is awesome. He loaned me one of his old conducting textbooks, and it's been extraordinarily helpful, even in just the first chapter. For example, did you know that music conducting is about FAR MORE than waving your arm?

Seriously, I didn't know this, but it's true. When conducting music, the motion in your arm can originate in one of three places - the wrist, the elbow, or the shoulder. One of those three parts should move, and the other two stay as still as possible to avoid a flailing, limp effect that is difficult to read. Quieter dynamics are indicated by smaller motions, so a pianissimo can be conducted by just the slightest motion of the wrist and fingers. A dramatic fortissimo requires the whole arm from the shoulder down.

Maybe this sounds obvious to everyone else, but I was pretty stoked to find out about the subtle motions that go into conducting. See, if there's one thing I hate, it's not knowing something. But if there's one thing I love, it's learning something new.

Hard Candy Heroes

For some reason, I got the phrase "Hard Candy Heroes" in my head. Somehow, that turned into a kind of noir detective story. This here's the result.

In my mind, the guy in the foreground is the muscle of the detective outfit, while the dame in red's the brains.

It's a noir story. You gotta call the woman a "dame," right?

Don't Be Alarmed...

I tend to have a bit of what I call a "rebellion" after most of the shows I do. I like to fool around a bit with my personal appearance. For example, after The Taming of the Shrew back in 2009, I grew a soul patch. It was... not a good look for me.

Not all my rebellions are so poorly selected. My post-Damn Yankees rebellion saw me grow a beard, and that's a change that's endured until now. So there's a chance that any change I make will actually stick.

I put off my post-Blithe Spirit rebellion until this weekend, as I've been involved in an oratorio presentation called The Lamb of God which concluded on Saturday (more on that later). I figured any dramatic change in my appearance prior to the performance would be in poor taste. Now that it's over... well, I guess taste isn't the issue anymore.

Hold onto your butts...

MiNiWriMo

Okay, so I've been ridinculously busy lately (and that's not a typo. "Ridinculous" means the same thing as ridiculous, but refers to tiny things that shouldn't have a big deal made over them and yet do). As a result, I've let a lot of things slide - most notably, my writing. I've done almost no writing for a month and a half now, and that's depressing.

Thankfully, it's just about time for everyone's favorite time of year: MiNiWriMo!

"But wait!" I hear you wail. "I've never heard of MiNiWriMo. Are you just making things up again?"

Yes, gentle reader, I AM making things up.

NaNoWriMo comes in November, and it involves writing a full 50,000 word novel in a month. I'm just trying to get myself back in the habit of writing regularly, so I'm going to set a far more modest goal - only 25,000 words for the month of June. Hopefully, by so doing, I'll convince my body that writing is fun again.

That way, I won't stress myself out as much watching Avatar: The Last Airbender on DVD saving homeless orphans from fires.