Author: kruthie73 Page 14 of 15

Separation

On Monday, 18 May, 2009

In audiobooks, librivox, public domain, tv

I originally had this in my last post, but I decided to separate it out and leave the Star Trek review in its own spoilery post.

I managed to record eight chapters for my Clara Vaughan project this weekend (it had been on hold for a while while I finished the Interior Castle, did Brigadoon, and then bought and set up a new laptop after my old one died). I’ll be working more steadily on this one as it’s due mid-June and I’m not quite half-way yet. I may be doing another project for Catholic Audio Company (the people I did Interior Castle for), a two parter by St Louis de Montford, True Devotion to Mary and the Secret of the Rosary. I haven’t signed a contract for this one yet. My three LibriVox projects have been sorely neglected for the past few weeks.

I’ve been watching Rosemary and Thyme via Netflix. I’ve been a fan of Felicity Kendall’s since I came across her as Viola/Cesario in the BBC’s Twelfth Night back when I was an undergrad, and after she appeared on an episode of Doctor Who, I saw that she’d done this murder mystery series a few years ago and decided to check it out. I’ve also been meaning to watch the Good Life (aka Good Neighbors in the US) because although it comes on PBS every so often, it’s quite sporadic, and I’ve never figured out the schedule.

Where no one has gone… (Star Trek Spoilers)

By kruthie73

On Monday, 18 May, 2009

In movies

So I went to see Star Trek this weekend and I must say I enjoyed it. I liked the choices they made with the various actors; Karl Urban seemed to be channeling DeForest Kelley’s McCoy, which was fine for McCoy (he’s such a specific character), but I was glad the other actors did their own takes on the characters. I liked Scotty a lot (“Are you from the future? That’s brilliant! Do they still have sandwiches there?”); I found his accent to be more authentic than James Doohan’s – he tended to do a more stereotypical accent. I was a little weirded out by the Spock/Uhura thing, and I didn’t even realize that Winona Ryder played Spock’s mother till I got home and looked it up. Chekov was adorable, and seemed much more competent than in the original series.

As far as the plot went, I’ll bypass the fact that they used time travel as the main plot device (they comment in the film that this is cheating). I can suspend my disbelief enough to accept that Spock and Nero ended up 154 years in the past, but what really bothered me is that the way they got to the past was by passing through a black hole. I mean, isn’t the point of a black hole that the gravitational forces in them are so great that nothing can escape?? I mean, putting aside the passing through it, even if they could, shouldn’t the ships have broken up completely, or been crushed to teeny, tiny, dense lumps?

For the rest, there were quite a few things that made me giggle, a fair few in-jokes for the fans of the series and movies, and enough explosions to satisfy the most rabid mythbusters fan.

One down…

By kruthie73

On Tuesday, 5 May, 2009

In audiobooks, theatre, work

I finished the first of my two paid audiobook gigs last weekend. I just checked, and they’ve already got it listed on the website! http://www.catholicaudiocompany.com/current.html

This was actually the second gig I got, but it had an earlier delivery date, so I’d been pushing to get it finished. The other one, Clara Vaughan, is due by the middle of June, so it’s time to start pushing on it.

At some point the publisher is going to post my profile on their website, but as far as I can tell, they haven’t gotten that far yet. They have, however, posted the excerpt that was the first thing I read for them (it’s available from their front page: http://www.ipublishpress.com/).

One more weekend of Brigadoon to go. It did finally come together (like, the night before we opened!), and it’s going pretty well. Not the hugest crowds we’ve ever had, but not the worst either.

Off to the Amigos conference tomorrow morning. Just going for the first day, not both. They rented me a car from the library, and when I went to pick it up, they gave me a frickin’ Hummer! Not exactly the statement I’m interested in making in life. Still, it’s only for one day and then I can give it back (and thank goodness I get reimbursed for gasoline!!!).

Ugh…

By kruthie73

On Saturday, 18 April, 2009

In audiobooks, theatre

I don’t think I’ve ever before been so frustrated during rehearsals for a play. S, who was such a great director in Nunsense, turned out not to have… I’m not sure what’s missing… discipline? organization? cojones? I don’t know, but whatever it is that’s missing, it’s driving me crazy. The show opens this coming weekend and we’ve only just last night run the show all the way through (supposedly we were going to run it without stopping, but for no reason I could understand, she kept stopping to block scenes that had already been blocked. One more show like this would be enough to put me off theatre (or at least the WCT) for life.

I guess it doesn’t help that I’m working on two paid audiobook gigs at the same time, so I really don’t have much in the way of free time (hence the long gap since my last post), but at least those are coming along nicely. I should be done with the first one due within a week or a week and a half. The other I have another month to finish. I’ll be able to really get busy with it once I finish the first one.

One thing I have been enjoying in Brigadoon is learning Scottish Country dancing. One of the girls who auditioned used to do it for a hobby in the last place she lived, and she’s choreographed a couple of scenes. It’s great fun, and several of us are trying to convince her to start a Scottish Dancing Society here in Waco.

My Ikea hack

By kruthie73

On Sunday, 8 March, 2009

In pics, random

I recently bought a set of shelves from Ikea for my tv and for some extra dvd storage space.

When I’d put it together, I found that it was a bit too tall for the space, and I didn’t like the amount of space between the shelves. So I decided to modify it. I set the shelves to a spacing that I liked, and then trimmed the uprights to the height of the top shelf.

Mid-trimming

I decided to use the scraps to make two little shelves to put at the back of the bottom two shelves to create even more dvd storage space.

I used the scraps I’d trimmed off, along with a plank of 2×2 that I bought to make the two small shelves.

I’m thinking of staining it a darker colour because it sort of fades into the yellow of the wall, but that’ll be later. For now, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Finished

My new toy

By kruthie73

On Tuesday, 10 February, 2009

In pics

I usually get my taxes done at the earliest possible moment (I dread leaving them too late so I overcompensate), and this year all my paperwork was available before the end of January, so I already have my refund! I’m using most of it for sensible things, like paying down my credit card, but I wanted to get at least one fun thing, and I ended up getting this:

I’m calling it my NKDR (pronounced enkader), short for Non-Kindle Digital Reader. Eileen and I were in a silly mood when I told her I was getting it, and we came up with the acronym. It arrived yesterday, and I’ve been having fun playing with it since then.

I don’t particularly like the proprietary software that came with it (Sony’s eBook Library). It’s not particularly intuitive, doesn’t allow for much sorting or for editing of the metadata (which, since I’m planning on putting a lot of gutenberg texts on there, I’d need). Fortunately, I found a free, open-source alternative, calibre, which in addition to the things I’ve already mentioned, will also convert non-DRM ebooks from one format to another.

The reader can handle several different ebook formats (.txt, .rtf, .doc, .pdf, as well as their proprietary .lrf), which is fortunate, because there don’t seem to be a huge number of books available in their proprietary format. But most ebook stores I’ve seen offer secured pdf as one of their formats, so I don’t think I’m going to run out of books any time soon.

My main reason for getting it, though, was to use when recording, so that I could sit further away from my computer and its noisy fan.

Now I’m going to have to eat this thing…

By kruthie73

On Saturday, 7 February, 2009

In friends, lucy and georgie, pics

So a few weeks ago, the Cachinnator wrote a post in which he asked whether they still made whole Heath bars, or if they only ever came in crumb form these days. I am happy to announce that I have found the answer to his query. Yes, Cach, you’ll finally be able to get some sleep, instead of pacing the room all night wondering about this. Yes, Virginia, they do still make whole Heath bars.

Heath bar

This particular specimen was found at a convenience store in Georgetown.

‘Course, now I have a Heath bar on my desk. I guess I’ll have to eat it. Honestly, the sacrifices I make.

I got Lucy a new bed yesterday, since she has refused to sleep on her cushion (which she used to love) since I washed it about a month ago. I was in Ikea yesterday looking for little tables, and saw a bin full of cheap, Lucy-sized dog beds. She took to it immediately. I’m kind of shocked. It usually takes her a few days at least to warm up to new things. But not this time!

She napped in it while I took my nap, then napped some more while I was working on the computer, slept in it (as far as I can tell) all night, and is napping in it again as I type now.

I heard back from the publishing company about my audition. They were pleased with my audio (something about the accents making the text come to life :D) and will be calling me within the next few days (all email so far), so fingers still crossed!

Mea culpa

By kruthie73

On Saturday, 31 January, 2009

In family, friends, pics

Bleh, I’ve let the whole blog thing slide again.

OK, let’s see… highlights since the last post. Finished A Christmas Carol; as usual, it was fun getting to play with friends from previous shows and meeting new ones.

I’ve discovered that Lucy only gets along with humans that she meets with their dogs (at least, that’s my theory). Mum and Nathalie drove in from California to spend Christmas.Â I had suggested to Mum that she bring Lassie to play with Lucy, but in the end she decided not to. They were here for ten days, and Lucy never really warmed up to either of them. But people like Crista and Eileen she goes crazy over. Mum was a bit miffed (especially when Crista came home halfway through their visit and Lucy went crazy greeting her). I don’t think she’d ever before met a dog that she couldn’t win over quickly. Maybe next time she’ll listen to me and bring Lassie. 🙂

I made a sweater and a little hat for Tredessa’s Jaxon. I finally finished the sweater over Christmas holiday. I found a pattern for a sweater with a train on it, and changed the colours so that it would look a bit like the Hogwarts Express. It was my first attempt at intarsia colour work. I don’t think I’ll be trying it again very soon. The knitting itself wasn’t a problem, but weaving in all the fifty thousand ends I ended up with was a pain in the patootie. Still, it turned out quite nice.

Train Jumper for Jaxon

I was contacted by a lady from a small publishing company called I Publish. A lot of what they do seems to be out of print classics, along with some new authors. She had heard some of my LibriVox recordings and wanted to know if I’d be interested in reading for them (for pay!). Naturally, I said yes, and she sent me a couple of chapters of Clara Vaughan by Richard D. Blackmore (better known for Lorna Doone) to record as an audition piece. She wanted them by the end of this month, and I sent them in last week. She emailed me that she’d received my files and would be listening to them over the weekend, so fingers crossed!

I have my dad here for a while. With the help of some of his friends in the DR and Andy and Auntie Ruth, we got him out of the DR (we sort of hijacked him, since he couldn’t make up his own mind). He’s been here a little over a week, and will be here till Andy gets a permanent situation settled for him over in the UK (much as I love him, hopefully soon).

Books… lovely books!

By kruthie73

On Friday, 14 November, 2008

In random

I went by the Friends of the Library Book Sale today and got fourteen books for $19.50! I found a complete Shakespeare in a hard back, three volume set for $4.50. I looked for knitting books but didn’t find any (not to say there weren’t any there though); lots of cross-stitch, sewing, weaving and all other sorts of crafts, but I couldn’t find any knitting. I got a few mysteries, and some straight fiction, and found the two volume set of A. A. Milne poems that I’d had on tape as a child in hard back – those two look brand new!

I do like the Book Sale. 🙂

I love Lucy!

By kruthie73

On Wednesday, 12 November, 2008

In lucy and georgie, pics, theatre

I haven’t written in a shockingly long time, but I have an excuse! I’ve been busy… with my new doggie, Lucy! 😀

I picked her up from the local no-kill shelter in mid-September and since then we’ve been getting to know each other, doing some training and going for walks every day. She’s an Australian Cattle Dog mix. Not sure what the mix is… possibly some sort of terrier or pointer.

Other than that, I’d been working on Children of Eden. It was fun, but I don’t think I’ll do anymore shows where Tommy is music directing by himself. He’s much too vague without Lise. She’s got the true teacher instinct (she should; she’s a teacher!), so she makes certain that everybody knows everything they’re supposed to know ad nauseum. Tommy was all, “I’m going to treat you like professionals, so you just study your music.” All very well, except we’re not professionals, and not everybody could read music! Still, it ended up being a decent show.

At one point I’d been interested in directing Dial M for Murder, which came after CoE, but I was having health problems around the time the proposals were due and it just didn’t happen. I might have auditioned for it, but I learned that Scott was going to be directing A Christmas Carol, so I decided to audition for that instead. I was offered the role of the Plain Sister (in the scene at Fred’s house), but around the same time, I got a couple of projects with January deadlines at work and thought it might be safer not to take the part, since I didn’t know how much extra time I might have to devote to them. Tonight I got a call from Beth asking if I would please reconsider and take the part of Fred’s wife (same scene) as they were having a bit of an upheaval in the show and needed all the people they could get. So… three and a half weeks before opening, I’m suddenly in the Christmas show (panic!). Well, at least it’s not a very big part. I’ll get to do some carolling in Act I, possibly be a background person in the Fezziwig scene, and then be Mrs. Fred in Act II.