(Yes, we have to be proper and add a title! It would have been in picture form, but photobucket doesn’t like me and I’m not really in the mood to go and play with photoshop, or whatever it’s called.)

Movie: The Colour of Magic (3 hrs. and 17 min. long)

As you can probably guess from my last post, The Colour of Magic is the movie adaption of the popular novel by the same name that was written by Terry Pratchett. The “main” character of the novel is Rincewind (who, for some reason, I’ve always thought of as Rincewood). He’s a failed wizard who only knows one spell, but that one spell is incredibly powerful, as it’s one of the eight housed in the (oops, let me look up the spelling) Octavo, the most powerful, magical book in existence… on the disk, at least. At the start of the movie, he’s expelled from the Unseen University for never reaching Level One in his 40-something years as a wizarding student.

When I read The Colour of Magic I was spending the summer up (down?) at my fathers house and happened across an old, tattered, red book in his living room that had a briefcase on the cover. Without anything better to do I read the book and almost at once fell in love with the Discworld and all it’s inhabitance (one of my favorite characters being Death, oh how delightful it is to explain that to people who’ve never read Terry Pratchett books). Soon after, I amassed a large collection of Terry’s works and had read almost every book he’d ever written (until he went and wrote more).

What that has to do with the review of the movie, I’ll never know. 

Back to the story. After being expelled we next see Rincewind standing on the edge of the Ankh river, planning to jump (though, if you’ve read the book you’d wonder why he would – considering the Ankh is less like a river and more like… well, let’s put it this way: it’s easier to suffocate then it is to drown in the Ankh). Before he jumps, however, his attention is caught by something shiny and gold. Can you hear the giggles of many strange people who are attracted to shiny things, myself included? I certainly can. Or maybe that’s something else I’m hearing…

The shiny, gold thing that attracted Rincewind’s attention happens to be a coin held the first-ever Discworld tourist, Twoflower, who has thousands of gold coins just waiting to be spent, all safely tucked away in The Luggage (another of my favorite characters, or rather, one of my favorite things in the Discworld) – a great big, walking trunk with lots and lots of little legs.

I’d really rather not give you a play-by-play of the entire movie, so I’m going to get onto the review part now. In truth, despite being a good movie, I rather preferred Hogfather. That may be in part because several of my favorite scenes were removed from The Colour of Magic movie, or simply because I like the feel of Hogfather more. That’s not to say I wouldn’t highly recommend watching TCOM (sorry, I got tired of writing out the entire title every time). It has good acting (Twoflower is played by the same actor who played Sam in Lord of the Rings), great effects, and several good laughs in it, but because of the length you’ll want to be ready to invest an entire afternoon in it.

There. I’m done, for now. I hope you all enjoyed this, if you’ve seen the movie feel free to drop me a line telling me what you thought of it. I do love hearing opinions from other people.

Lots of hugs, Sarah.

Yep. I can’t wait for the movie to get here, along with the arrival of the third Harry Potter movie, since it’s the only bloody one I can’t find in this mess of a house. I wanted to watch it a few weeks back, so I went through the whole jumble of movies upstairs and found literally every single one except the one I was looking for. So I watched the first one, instead.

I was surprised when I watched the first Harry Potter again because I found I enjoyed the movie more because of the lightness of the story and the mostly untrained actors. I mean, obviously not the elder actors, but the young students. Coming out of that movie was like waking up from a pleasant nap for me, not at all like what the sixth movie caused when I watched it in theaters. Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince is probably one of my least favorite movies, not that it didn’t have great acting and good directing, but the story just got too dark. Originally, the reason I got into Harry Potter was because of how colorful, new, and bright the “wizarding” world was, when J.K. took that away, she basically took away my interest in the series.

Woo. Sorry ’bout that, I forgot to check and make sure I didn’t get off into the topic of movies-Sarah-doesn’t-like. Let’s get back onto the topic of the Discworld movies.

There have been several movies made from the books by Terry Pratchett, but sadly so far I’ve only had the chance to see one (until tomorrow). I own Hogfather, which is a television adaption of the book by the same name, and originally aired over in Europe.

Hogfather is set in the Discworld, on Hogswatch (the Discworld equivalent to Christmas), and follows the story of Death and his adopted-granddaughter, Susan.

The basic plot of the movie is that the Hogfather has gone missing and Death has to stand in for him while Susan tries to find out what’s going on.

This movie may seem like a children’s movie, and in a lot of ways it is, until you get to the part with the Auditors and Mr. Teatime (pronounced teh-ah-tim-eh. Forget that and you’re dead), who both want the Hogfather dead.

Despite the great plot and acting, I’m rather afraid I have to admit that most of the reason I love this movie so much is just… well, there’s a walking skeleton acting as the Hogfather for most of the movie, and the image of that just makes me all giddy inside. Not to mention the fact that the Tooth Fairy is actually a– [spoilers have been removed]. 

Basically, the whole point of this post was to inform you all that I can’t wait to see The Colour of Magic and that when I do I will be posting a review of it here. Now, go back to looking at the skeleton man dressed as Santa. Doesn’t he make you love Christmas?

~~

Neither of those pictures belong to me. I got them off Photobucket, so I assume it’s okay to use them. Don’t sue me, I haven’t any money. Also, the wizard at the top of the page? That’s Rincewind, who stars in The Colour of Magic and several other Discworld novels.

Enjoy this video from Monty Python while I try to think of something more interesting to post.

On a side note, I do believe John Cleese is in the Knight’s suit.

1. The boys arrive. They clean the house, paint parts of it, and put up the trim.

2. Everyone hangs out, eats food, talks, laughs, and congrats the soon-to-be dad on his 20-something days sober. 

3. We have a BBQ and eat everything we made for it.

4. Yesterday, several of us went shooting. I fell once and cut up my hands.

5. I plot to change the name of this blog, possibly, and start selling jewelry at the local market. I still owe K. 50 dollars, now a possible 250 since the rest of my siblings forgot to pay up their portions.

6. I cheat the system using twitter to chat with Canada, otherwise known as Chris, my best friend and co-star in Twisted Conversations.

Yes, so much has happened, and none of us can wait till the next holiday we use as an excuse to get together. ‘Course, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses, but that’s family.

Now, with that out of the way, I can get onto asking my question: What would you guys like to see in this blog? More nonsense, or an actual purpose?

or

Where the bloody hell is the tape measure?

In which we discover that Mary (mom) cannot nail,

and that John might have a future as a ballerina.

Characters: Mary (Mom), John (the dancing Ballerina), Shanley, and Sarah.

[In the main room of the Geddry house]

Act 1, part 1.

Mary: Time to get those boards up, come on John, you’re helping me.

John: Fine, fine.

[After the two get the ladders set up, and have the board in there, they discover they're missing hammers.]

Mary: Where’s my hammer? Has anyone seen it? Sarah, call Shanley, she had it last…

Sarah: [taps 5 on her cellphone, the speed dial for her only sister.] Shan? Where’s the hammer?

Shanley: What hammer? I haven’t got the hammer!

Sarah: You had it last.

Shanley: I didn’t! I haven’t got the damned hammer! *click*

Sarah (to Mary): Shan says she doesn’t know where the hammer is.

Mary: I need the hammer! It WAS on the kitchen counter…

[The demands for the hammer continues on for 5 minutes or so, until Mary happens upon the hammer.]

Mary: There it is! Okay, John, let’s get started.

John: Mhm…

[Now, armed with hammers, the two start to nail the board up to the ceiling. Sarah, watching this, comments on the fact that her brother is quite graceful when moving around on the top of counters. He laughs, and it is decided that he may have a future as a ballerina, if he can get over his dry humor.]

Mary (to John): Okay, you’re going to have to do this part.

John: Why?

Mary: Because I can’t!

[John makes his way over to Mary's end of the board, and is amazed to discover that she can't nail. None of the nails are nicely put in, forcing John to pull most of them out only to replace them. After this, the two complete several more boards in the space of half an hour, ten minutes of which is spent looking for various hammers, and complaining when the tape measure disappears.]

Mary: Okay, where’s my hammer?

John opens his mouth to speak.

Mary: Don’t, not now.

John shuts his mouth.

[Mary finds her hammer (again), and with it in hand the two complete the last board for the first layer.]

End act 1.

Act 2 coming soon.

 So, a little while after I made my last post about the bomb, we heard that the bomb squad had arrived. Hoping to get some awesome pictures, we hurried over to see what they were going to do.

 It’s probably worth noting that if you want to hear about the bomb-defusing-robot, he’s not in this story. Instead, we get this bossy guy in the green suit. He made sure that none of us were near the window (at least, he assumed we weren’t). Dear old Popi wouldn’t have taken kindly if the man tried to move him, but it seemed like mom and Shan got a kick out of “sneaking around”.

 Perhaps here would be the right spot for me to apologize. After staring at the photo of the bomb for a long while, mom and dad seemed to think it might actually be a bomb, made by some teenager. So, if it turns out to be a bomb, I’ll apologize. Until then, I still think it’s candy.

 Here ends any posts about the bomb. Until, of course, we find out if it was actually a bomb.

The street next to mine, N. Baxter, is all roped off – complete with police behind the line, milling around. Why is this? A “bomb” – or, what looks like a stick of T&T wrapped in plastic. Honestly, who thinks this is going to turn out as a bomb?

Although, I shouldn’t be that surprised, considering the last time my town had a “bomb”…

It was cold, but not snowy. On the steps of the Court House, a small, innocently wrapped present sat, with a cigarette on top, which had burned down a bit – scorching the paper in the process. No one payed the package any heed, until one of the judges took a look at it…

Within an hour, the front steps of the court house were roped off, a bomb squad from a large town near by on their way. The police, feeling important, made a show of keeping people away from the package.

The bomb squad arrived fairly quickly and soon set to work. One of those robots got closer, and after much anticipation they decided to move the bomb to a safer location, and detonate it. *

The only real way to end that story, is to say “That’s one way to cook Top Roman”. No, I’m not kidding, it was a package of Top Roman wrapped as a present.

So, I restate my question, is it a bomb? Or are the police just bored? Personally, after getting a close look at it, I think it’s sand candy. You remember that stuff you used to be able to pour into tubes and eat? It was all colorful and junk? Yep. I think this is a “candy” bomb. Oh-ho, what will the police do? Idiots.

~ ~

Also, here’s what my dad said about the bomb:

“Unknown celebrity plants bomb 35 feet from living room window! Swears never to spy for Soviet Russia again!” – He lives on Baxter, and he’s talking about his window, as a joke.

~ ~

* I heard this story from my mom, I think I was actually gone that Christmas.

I shall do some possible studying on the matter, in the mean time, enjoy the video.

Out of curiosity, which piece of furniture do you think won the race? I’m going for the table – fridges and sofas are dreadfully heavy.

As a note, I can’t actually tell which pieces of furniture were in the race from the video. Later, I may google it and find a usable picture to try and tell – until then, let’s just pretend I’m using the right ones.

After surfing a few videos, and making a note to myself about buying some of the movies, I was happy to come across this clip from SIMPFANN.

It features the hilarious song “Hurray for Captain Spalding”, and I thought you might like to watch it. If you wish to watch the rest of the movie, type “Marx brothers animal crackers” into the Youtube search bar and you will be rewarded with that which you seek.

Enjoy!

~~

A quick note: I’ve noticed that the sound on some of these videos is fairly bad, at least for my PowerBook, I’m not sure if there’s any way to fix it except to turn up your speakers and/or use headphones. There is another Youtube Video that features just the Captain Spalding song, but the sound on that so quiet I didn’t use it, but if you need something smaller to load I’d suggest looking it up.

Chapter 6: London Bridge is falling down.

By S. Geddry

London Bridge is falling down,

Falling down, falling down,

London Bridge is falling down,

My fair Lady.

Sarah continued to hum the London bridge tune to herself as she danced around the room. She was wearing a blue strapless dress that stirred around her legs like ocean waves when she spun, the same blue dress that featured in her Twisted Conversations.

She stopped, finally, right in front of her computer. Eyeing it, she shrugged and tapped a few keys so that some music started up. Happily, she went back to dancing. In her mind, her dress flowed out to become the sea, and as she spun a storm started, stranding a ship on a small island. On the island the sailors settled around a tiny campfire in a cave while they waited out her storm.

Laughter bubbled up and spilled out from her mouth and she had to stop moving, gripping her stomach. She was in a good mood, and in that mood the simplest thing could make her laugh.

A sailor nibbled at his cigar, staring into the fire. Behind him, the spirit of a king’s jester made crude symbols. The other sailors were too scared of the ghost to laugh and/or warn the sailor, much to Sarah’s delight.

The first sailor noticed the expression on the other sailors faces and quirked a brow in question. The others shook their heads quickly and looked away, mumbling to each other in an attempt to start a conversation.

The captain, who had been asleep in the back of the cave, woke up finally and noticed that hovering right above him was a glistering* grey gypsy woman. Now, the captain was a brave man, but like a lot of people, he was often a little blurry in the morning.

As it was, he shrieked like a girl and jumped so high he smacked his head on the rock. Then, as if the king was snapping a whip at his heels, he raced from that cave and right into Sarah’s storm.

Sarah fell into a sitting position, resting one arm on her knee as she laughed. Oh, that was a delightful story.

Tilting her head back, Sarah took a few deep breaths. “Right.” She told the empty room, pushing herself up off the floor. “What was I doing…? Oh yes!” She grinned and slipped into her computer chair, tapping away at the keys until she brought up the screen she wanted.

Into a google search engine, she typed one simple word:

England.

Sarah had been to England before, but not recently, and since she was considering a move to the country she wanted to find out as much about it as she could. She’d just been distracted by the nursery rhyme.

Also the storm, but that was another matter entirely.

Sarah yawned, deciding that the information she’d found on Wikipedia about England sounded too much like a textbook, and she still harbored a deep hatred for those. Which reminded her… grabbing a pen and paper, she scribbled a quick note to herself and stuck it on the wall. It read:

“Buy math textbook – burn.”

Now, she wanted to write a story about those pirates. Humming the tune to London Bridge, Sarah opened a word document and started telling yet another story.

It was a stormy night when the ship of one Captain Jile found itself stranded on a small island in the middle of the South Sea…

Half an hour later, Sarah wasn’t surprised to hear Jay behind her. “Writing Fairy Tales again, Lady?” From him, she didn’t consider the word “Lady” and insult. “No, Jay, I’m writing about something completely different.” She turned to grin at him, wiping some ink off her hands. Jay laughed, “It sounds like a Fairy Tale to me. Besides, isn’t the beginning ‘It was a stormy night’ just a step away from ‘It was a dark and stormy night’?” He leaned forward in his chair curiously, waiting for her explanation. Sarah gave him an indignant look, “I am not clichéd, Jay. If I were, you’d have met Lily in the rain and kissed her after spouting some nonsense about looking for her your entire life.” Jay grinned at her, his chestnut eyes flashing. “Instead, I just seduced her the good-old fashioned way.” He smirked and Sarah nodded. “Yep.” She replied, rubbing her hands together.

“My little Evil Empress.” Jay said, affectionately patting her as he stood and walked over to her wall, which sported a few badly done drawings of her Forest characters. “I’m not yours Jaybird.” Sarah informed him with a laugh, turning to look at her computer screen. Jay turned to look at her back, raising one brow. “Oh, I forgot, you’re a free spirit and all that. Well, Miss Free Spirit, I have to go and help Amelia.” Before disappearing, he paused for a second and asked, “What part is the new family going to play in everything?” His tone suggested a little distrust, but Sarah waved it away. “The Dioném’s? Little to no part in your story.” Jay nodded, and disappeared.

Thoughtfully, Sarah went back to her story. A few hours later, she’d be finished with it.

~~~

Two quick things. First, the star (*): Glisters means glitter.

Secondly, I’m a bit low on ideas for these things – so if they aren’t all that great, you’ll have to forgive me.