How to die at prom, projects I will prolly never finish, and words about words
Had a lovely night watching movies and making tin foil stars with the girls for Tina's halloween dead prom party. Must remember to see if my old prom dress is still in my closet and if I can fit in it, and how i can be dead in it in a creative way. Defenestration would be fun, but walking around with a window around my neck would be awkward. One of my coworkers suggested I be killed by Carrie Nation (seriously, if you don't know who she is, click the link), but I feel there would be a lot of explanation there. Any death ideas? I'm also getting rather obsessed with the idea of making myself the willow dress from the Buffy comic:
This is prolly my favorite panel in all of season eight. Willow echoing Giles!
LOVE IT. I won't have trouble with the skirt, but the bodice will be tricky. I may make a simpler one first and then change it later. The first issue will be finding the right fabric. I'll go scrounge a goodwill for ideas today as a form of procrastination.
Speaking of procrastination, I did an epically last minute job on my last essay, partially because I was inspired by something AY too late and then the person I was inspired by (it was an author study) is in the habit of writing 600 page books. Smart Kali. But I wrote an essay on Cornelia Funke and spent the last week immersed in her books. Randomly, this has caused me to gain a much greater respect for Brendan Fraser. Who I liked, because he's amusing, but didn't consider him that versatile. He's a great reader though. I'm listening to him read Inkspell at work and it's making my day so much better. I was sorta sad the weekend came because it meant a break in storytime.
One of my favorite things about Cornelia Funke is that she is such a bibliophile. The Inkheart series is an ode to books, and she add quotes from other books to the beginnings of all the chapters. I love some of them so much, I'm adding them here so I can find them and do SOMETHING with them later:
For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying out for mercy, & let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails [. . .] when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever. ~ Curse on Book Thieves from the Monastery of San Perdro, Barcelona, Spain
My library was dukedom large enough. ~ Shakespeare, The Tempest
Do you know that books smell like nutmeg or some spice from a foreign land? ~ Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards. ~ Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland
Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We're in one, of course, but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: "Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring!" And they will say: "Yes, that's one of my favourite stories." ~ JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers
"Don't ask where the rest of this book is!" It is a shrill cry that comes from an undefined spot among the shelves. "All book continue in the beyond..." ~ Italo Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down. ~ Nietzsche, Die Weisse und die Schwarze Kunst (The White and the Black Art)
There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
~ Emily Dickinson
Out in the world not much happened. But here in the special night, a land bricked with paper and leather, anything might happen, always did. ~ Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
"Eat," said Merlot
"I couldn't possibly," said Despereaux, backing away from the book."
"Why?"
"Um," aid Despereaux, "it would ruin the story." ~ Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux
"Oh Sara. It is like a story."
"It is a story....everything is a story. You are a story - I am a story. Miss Minchin is a story." ~ Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Little Princess
We make for your sake such things as stand fast,
Through the ages these pages forever will last.
On blank page the printer sets down what is heard,
Giving life to what's rife with the power of the word.
~ Michael Kongehl, "On the White Art"
The world existed to be read. And I read it. ~ LS Schwartz, Ruined by Reading
Hark, the footsteps of the night
Fade in silence long.
Quiet chirps my reading light
Like a cricket's song.
Books inviting us to read
On the bookshelves stand.
Piers for bridges that will lead
Into fairyland.
~ Raineir Maria Rilke, "Vigils III"
The moment comes when a character does or says something you hadn't thought about. At that moment he's alive and you leave it to him. ~ Graham Greene, Advice to Writers
Here is a small fact. You are going to die. ~Markus Zusak, The Book Thief (While most of these quotes are about reading and books, Zusak gets preferential treatment, mostly because he's awesome and the Book Thief is among the most beautiful things I have ever read.)
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing. ~ Shakespeare, Macbeth
And there are so many stories to tell, too many, such and excess of intertwined lives events miracles places rumors, so dense a commingling of the improbable and the mundane. ~ Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children.
The real author was neither one of us: a fist is more than the sum of it's fingers. ~ Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
"Once upon a time..."
"When was that?"
"All times at once. a long time ago and right now." ~Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife
Finally a few from Funke, herself:
“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.” ~ Inkheart
“Stories never really end...even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page.” ~Inkspell
“Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times?" Mo had said..."As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells...and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower...both strange and familiar.” ~Inkspell
“Books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them.” ~Inkheart
“If you take a book with you on a journey,...an odd thing happens: The book begins collecting your memories. And forever after you have only to open that book to be back where you first read it. It will all come into your mind with the very first words: the sights you saw in that place, what it smelled like, the ice cream you ate while you were reading it...yes, books are like flypaper--memories cling to the printed page better than anything else.” ~Inkheart
“The world was a terrible place, cruel, pitiless, dark as a bad dream. Not a good place to live. Only in books could you find pity, comfort, happiness - and love. Books loved anyone who opened them, they gave you security and friendship and didn't ask anything in return; they never went away, never, not even when you treated them badly.” ~Inkheart
“The books in Mo and Meggie's house were stacked under tables, on chairs, in the corners of the rooms. There where books in the kitchen and books in the lavatory. Books on the TV set and in the closet, small piles of books, tall piles of books, books thick and thin, books old and new. They welcomed Meggie down to breakfast with invitingly opened pages; they kept boredom at bay when the weather was bad. And sometimes you fall over them.” ~Inkheart
In answer to the question "what is the purpose of a storyteller?": To put into words what we all feel, fear,love. To pose the questions which most people ask, without giving easy answers and maybe to offer solace by expressing in a book what one believed only oneself had felt.
OK, I'll go do homework now...
This is prolly my favorite panel in all of season eight. Willow echoing Giles!
LOVE IT. I won't have trouble with the skirt, but the bodice will be tricky. I may make a simpler one first and then change it later. The first issue will be finding the right fabric. I'll go scrounge a goodwill for ideas today as a form of procrastination.
Speaking of procrastination, I did an epically last minute job on my last essay, partially because I was inspired by something AY too late and then the person I was inspired by (it was an author study) is in the habit of writing 600 page books. Smart Kali. But I wrote an essay on Cornelia Funke and spent the last week immersed in her books. Randomly, this has caused me to gain a much greater respect for Brendan Fraser. Who I liked, because he's amusing, but didn't consider him that versatile. He's a great reader though. I'm listening to him read Inkspell at work and it's making my day so much better. I was sorta sad the weekend came because it meant a break in storytime.
One of my favorite things about Cornelia Funke is that she is such a bibliophile. The Inkheart series is an ode to books, and she add quotes from other books to the beginnings of all the chapters. I love some of them so much, I'm adding them here so I can find them and do SOMETHING with them later:
For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying out for mercy, & let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails [. . .] when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever. ~ Curse on Book Thieves from the Monastery of San Perdro, Barcelona, Spain
My library was dukedom large enough. ~ Shakespeare, The Tempest
Do you know that books smell like nutmeg or some spice from a foreign land? ~ Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards. ~ Lewis Carrol, Alice in Wonderland
Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We're in one, of course, but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: "Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring!" And they will say: "Yes, that's one of my favourite stories." ~ JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers
"Don't ask where the rest of this book is!" It is a shrill cry that comes from an undefined spot among the shelves. "All book continue in the beyond..." ~ Italo Calvino, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down. ~ Nietzsche, Die Weisse und die Schwarze Kunst (The White and the Black Art)
There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!
~ Emily Dickinson
Out in the world not much happened. But here in the special night, a land bricked with paper and leather, anything might happen, always did. ~ Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
"Eat," said Merlot
"I couldn't possibly," said Despereaux, backing away from the book."
"Why?"
"Um," aid Despereaux, "it would ruin the story." ~ Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux
"Oh Sara. It is like a story."
"It is a story....everything is a story. You are a story - I am a story. Miss Minchin is a story." ~ Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Little Princess
We make for your sake such things as stand fast,
Through the ages these pages forever will last.
On blank page the printer sets down what is heard,
Giving life to what's rife with the power of the word.
~ Michael Kongehl, "On the White Art"
The world existed to be read. And I read it. ~ LS Schwartz, Ruined by Reading
Hark, the footsteps of the night
Fade in silence long.
Quiet chirps my reading light
Like a cricket's song.
Books inviting us to read
On the bookshelves stand.
Piers for bridges that will lead
Into fairyland.
~ Raineir Maria Rilke, "Vigils III"
The moment comes when a character does or says something you hadn't thought about. At that moment he's alive and you leave it to him. ~ Graham Greene, Advice to Writers
Here is a small fact. You are going to die. ~Markus Zusak, The Book Thief (While most of these quotes are about reading and books, Zusak gets preferential treatment, mostly because he's awesome and the Book Thief is among the most beautiful things I have ever read.)
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing. ~ Shakespeare, Macbeth
And there are so many stories to tell, too many, such and excess of intertwined lives events miracles places rumors, so dense a commingling of the improbable and the mundane. ~ Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children.
The real author was neither one of us: a fist is more than the sum of it's fingers. ~ Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
"Once upon a time..."
"When was that?"
"All times at once. a long time ago and right now." ~Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife
Finally a few from Funke, herself:
“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.” ~ Inkheart
“Stories never really end...even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page.” ~Inkspell
“Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times?" Mo had said..."As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells...and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower...both strange and familiar.” ~Inkspell
“Books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them.” ~Inkheart
“If you take a book with you on a journey,...an odd thing happens: The book begins collecting your memories. And forever after you have only to open that book to be back where you first read it. It will all come into your mind with the very first words: the sights you saw in that place, what it smelled like, the ice cream you ate while you were reading it...yes, books are like flypaper--memories cling to the printed page better than anything else.” ~Inkheart
“The world was a terrible place, cruel, pitiless, dark as a bad dream. Not a good place to live. Only in books could you find pity, comfort, happiness - and love. Books loved anyone who opened them, they gave you security and friendship and didn't ask anything in return; they never went away, never, not even when you treated them badly.” ~Inkheart
“The books in Mo and Meggie's house were stacked under tables, on chairs, in the corners of the rooms. There where books in the kitchen and books in the lavatory. Books on the TV set and in the closet, small piles of books, tall piles of books, books thick and thin, books old and new. They welcomed Meggie down to breakfast with invitingly opened pages; they kept boredom at bay when the weather was bad. And sometimes you fall over them.” ~Inkheart
In answer to the question "what is the purpose of a storyteller?": To put into words what we all feel, fear,love. To pose the questions which most people ask, without giving easy answers and maybe to offer solace by expressing in a book what one believed only oneself had felt.
OK, I'll go do homework now...