Braveheart

4/5 stars

I was beginning to feel like the only person in the world who hadn’t seen this one. I kept putting it off, because I knew that it was long, and didn’t end happily. But I’m glad I finally saw it.

Braveheart is the story of William Wallace and his journey to free Scotland. As a boy, his father and brother are killed trying to free Scotland. When he grows up, though, Wallace wants to remain out of the fight, until his secret lover is taken from him by a noble.

I imagine that this film would have been spectacular on a large screen; though, it would have also been harder to watch. There is a lot of fighting and blood, which started to get to me (I had to stop paying close attention during the third or fourth big battle). Overall an excellent film, despite that.

[Odd note — IMDB‘s page on Braveheart has this note at the bottom: “If you like this title, we also recommend… Conan the Barbarian.” Yeah, because Conan has the same high cinematic standards as Braveheart.]

Coupling — NBC Style

Last fall, amidst the sniper excitement in DC, I was up late one night unable to sleep. Actually, it was the night that one of the shootings occurred, and I couldn’t sleep because of all the sirens (this particular shooting was about 7 miles from our house). I crept downstairs and turned on the TV, which was on our PBS station, WETA. (Oddly enough, once we started hearing all the sirens, Andrew and I tried to see if it was another sniper attack by scanning local channels. Instead of finding it on the local NBC, CBS, ABC, or FOX station, we saw a headline scroll across the BBC news on our local PBS station.)

The BBC news was over, and I caught the tail end of some British comedy. I either love or hate British comedy series, so I stuck around for a few minutes. That was all it took. This particular episode was called Volcano, and I stumbled in when the group was at a dinner party (hosted by Susan and Steve). Susan had come across one of Steve’s videos called Lesbian Spank Inferno. Steve was trying to explain that the movie was actually an artistic expression, rather than porn. (It was a losing battle.) I found out later that the series I’d stumbled on was Coupling.

A few weeks later, Andrew and I started recording Coupling every weekend, and even bought the season one DVD.

When we heard about the NBC version, we were a bit skeptical. The BBC series has a short season (on the order of HBO), so that they can keep the same writers through out each season. This ensures that each season maintains a high standard of writing. NBC will have to stretch each season out to 20 or so episodes. Also I’m not sure NBC can get away with some of the jokes that appear on the BBC series.

We watched the first NBC episode, which felt a lot like the BBC’s first episode. A few jokes were lost (in the BBC version, Susan asks Patrick when he chose his favorite breast), and of course the actors are all different, which might be my biggest sticking point. I’m used to Susan being blond, and seeing her played by a brunette is just confusing (it took me a while to figure out who she was supposed to be). The only character who mirrored her BBC version quite well was Jane. I suppose the new cast 1) needs to get more comfortable in their characters, and 2) may want to distance themselves a bit from their BBC counterparts, so that they aren’t just mimicking the other cast. We will probably watch a few more episodes — I want to see what NBC does with Lesbian Spank Inferno — but I don’t know that we will become fans.

The Ring Has Been Ordered!!!!!

We went out today with the thought of comparing diamond prices, since that seemed to be the sticking point. I pretty much knew what setting I wanted, and we had seen it at two places, Bailey Banks & Biddle and Jared. Jared’s price for the setting was less, but they carry the Leo(R) diamond, which I didn’t really want. It’s possible that they carry regular cut diamonds as well, but we didn’t ask about it. Since they aren’t in a mall (they are located in their own building near the Target that we frequent), it’s not as convenient for us to get there.

When we got to the mall, we first stopped at BBB. The salesman showed us a .50 carat diamond with its GIA certs, and it looked pretty good. In fact, it was near colorless with SI1 clarity and good cut (I don’t remember the numbers exactly). Even better, it was within our price range. We also looked at the Tacori settings, and found the one I wanted. It was actually a bit less than at the other BBB were I’d first seen it. On the other hand, it was a bit more than at Jared.

Then we moved on to Christian Bernard. They were in a temporary location in the mall, and seemed a bit disorganized because of it (though, that is not why we didn’t buy their diamond). They showed us a diamond with slightly better color and clarity that the one at BBB, but that was at a lower price. The reason? The cut wasn’t as good. They also didn’t have any settings that struck me. They did have a couple antique-looking settings in platinum, but they were a bit much for me (not price-wise, but too big, too flashy).

Andrew and I talked for a bit after visiting CB to see how we were feeling. We were both very tired of having sales people talking at us, and tired of ring shopping. We decided to just get the whole thing at BBB — both the setting and diamond, even though we could get the setting for ~$100 less at Jared — since that would be the least hassle (and we wouldn’t have to carry around a loose diamond to Jared, which made me a little nervous). We went with the BBB half carat diamond rather than the CB one because of the better cut. Every source we’ve consulted has said that the cut is what really affects the brilliance of a diamond, so it seemed best to skimp just a bit on color and clarity (though both seem just fine to me anyhow) to get a better cut.

I think we’re both relieved that we’ve finally made that decision. I’m happy with it, and very comfortable buying at BBB. (Yay!) Now we just have to wait 6-8 weeks for the ring to arrive. (Sigh)

The Things They Carried

by Tim O’Brien

According to O’Brien:

A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor sugest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie….As a rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscentiy and evil.

These felt like true war stories.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a great book. But it was hard to read. At the same time, it was hard to put down…no matter how much I wanted to stop. The stories were too — compelling? weird? frightening? Real.

I have a themed release in mind for this book, but first my boyfriend wants to read it.

Lesson 9/24/03

Another great lesson. I started by bitching about the etude (to be played at “machine-gun” speed), so of course we ended up working on it quite a bit. I actually pretty much have the knack, but I just need to gain confidence.

I also played through Gavorette again, without the grace notes. In order to add the grace notes, I need to work on using the “side” C rather than the standard fingering. This will help because one section has a B grace note connected to C. Using the standard fingering would require some finger gymnastics. While playing the piece with the side C will also require some work, it will make the whole thing smoother in the end. (I’m not used to playing the side C, though, and I’m not sure I can remember the correct fingering without looking at the fingering chart.)

I need a new mouthpiece. Fred has asked the store to order some, but they are still waiting. My embouchure apparently looks really good (picture-perfect, Fred said), and a new mouthpiece could make a big difference. Of course, I’ll still have trouble from my old horn, but I’ll take it one step at a time.

Goosebumps Books — #11 and #33

by R. L. Stine

I had picked these up to release this week (Banned Books Week), and thought I ought to read them first, to make sure that they weren’t really offensive (they weren’t, of course).

The Haunted Mask (#11) Carly Beth has always been easy to scare, so naturally the kids at school take advantage, and scare her all the time. This year, however, she decides to get back at them by wearing the scariest Halloween mask she can find. The store owner warns her that she will regret getting that mask because it’s too scary, but Carly Beth assures him that for her purposes, it can’t be too scary.

The Horror at Camp Jellyjam (#33) Wendy and Elliot are stuck on a road trip with their parents. The trip of a lifetime. But an accident separates them, and Wend and Elliot end up at a sports camp in the middle of nowhere, wondering where their parents are. The counselors seem a bit too happy to be there, and after a couple nights, Wendy notices that campers are disappearing once they receive six medals for winning sports. When Elliot is on the verge of this sixth medal, Wendy stumbles on to the truth of Jellyjam.

These books are harmless fun. The entire Goosebumps series has been challenged in several school districts and libraries by narrow-minded people who believe that ghost and monster stories can lead only to the devil. If they find it so offensive, perhaps they should just not read the books. In fact, perhaps they should just stick their heads in the sand so that they can’t open their big mouths anymore so that the rest of us can get on with our lives.

Jubilant Crown Diamond

I’m a bit concerned that there’s no chatter about this cut of diamond online. I found the Hunt Country Jewelers web page, claiming to be home of the Jubilant Crown Diamond (they are situated in Virginia, interestingly enough). But, of course, one can’t exactly trust the sellers of these diamonds to be completely unbiased about the diamond.

The only other references I found were on Ask The Diamond Guy:

• One guy asks “Have you heard of a jubilent crown cut for a round diamond? Looks like it has 49 facets on the crown instead of 33. It would have different recommended proportions than a normal cut, I guess. Any downsides to a stone like that for an engagement ring?”, and the Diamond guy answers “A jubilant crown cut is a high definition diamond due to the increased number of facets on the crown,” and points the guy to the Hunt Country Jewelers page.
• Another person asks whether the jubilant crown cut should affect the brilliance or the cost of the diamond. The Diamond Guy answers no to both questions.

This leaves me unsure what to do. When I looked at a regular cut diamond and the jubilant crown diamond, I could see a difference — the jubilant crown did seem to have more fire. And maybe that’s my answer. As long as we are happy with our purchase, anyone else’s opinion shouldn’t matter. On the other hand, it’s possible that we could afford either more diamond or more setting if we went with the regular cut.

So…Many…Ideas…

• Possible favors — moon and sun shaped soaps. I bought some materials at Michael’s on Saturday to try and make them myself. This is something that could be done well in advance, as long as the soaps were stored in a relatively cool place (don’t want them melting)
• Possible centerpieces — use navy and yellow pillar candles in combination with a small flower arrangement. I need to play around with this a bit, and see what fresh-cut flowers are available this time of year. Possible downfall — I would need to either arrange the flowers myself or enlist a friend or two who aren’t yet directly involved in the wedding.
• Bouquets — here, too, I think we could just use some flowers that are fresh-cut and tie them with a nice ribbon. Either we could have the florist do this, or order flowers ourselves. The Bridal Bargins book pointed to a California florist online, 2G Roses, who do overnight deliveries of flowers, and it’s possible to get roses for less than $1 per stem. They have a list of flowers that are in season for each month — delphiniums are the only blue flower, and are available in September and October. However, they don’t deliver cosmos, the October flower, because they don’t travel well. I might want to look these up at a local florist to see if its something I want to include.
• Reception Ideas — Brides magazine had a list of 30 things they like to see at weddings, and one struck me as something I would like to include in ours. One was to have wedding pictures from the family at the reception, so we could have wedding pictures from Mom and Dad, his Mom and Dad, our brothers, and maybe our grandparents somehow incorporated into the reception site.
• “Rice” Substitute — there are three things I like: seeds, bubbles, and a sweet-smelling send-off mix from exclusively weddings. (Hmmmm, they don’t seem to have it anymore on their website. Oh well.) I’m thinking that bubbles are the most appropriate, considering how much I love to play with them.
• Cameras — I do want to have one or two of those disposable cameras on each table for guests to take pictures at the reception.

Cute Artemis (Again)

Which one of these isn’t stuffed?

(Actually, she had been curled up with them a minute earlier, which made the picture a whole lot cuter. But then she heard Duncan coming up the stairs and had to see what was going on.)

More Ring Shopping

Since I’ve discovered that the scrollwork and etching that I like so much on rings is only done in platinum, we decided to go the the platinum jeweler (The Jewelry Doctor) in Vienna. Part of me is nervous to make such a large purchase at a small, locally-owned store. The ring would come with a lifetime guarantee, but if the store goes out of business, I’m screwed. On the other hand, I would very much like to support local businesses, since big stores all with the same stock are edging the little guys out of business. The one cool thing about getting a ring there would be that it would be a one-of-a-kind (if I didn’t go with a mass-produced ring from one of the designers).

We paged through several yearly publications of the platinum guild, and I got some ideas of other designers and styles that I like. The store owner seemed quite down on Tacori — one of the designers that I’ve been attracted to — because they are so “mass produced”. Of course, I’m not sure that I care.

He is also a dealer of the Jubilant Crown diamond. It’s a circular cut diamond with 16 extra facets. Placed side-by-side with a regular-cut diamond, I could see the extra “fire”. However, I’m not convinced that it’s worth the extra money. On the other hand, the half carat Jubilant Crown diamond was still less than the diamonds at Bailey Banks & Biddle.

Of course, the settings at the Jewelry Doctor are also a lot more expensive than at other places. This is because they do their own work, and are a small operation. We aren’t sure that we can get both the diamond and the setting there, though, and stay in budget. We’re going to have to think on this.