Lovely Day

Rain is coming down and snow should hit us tomorrow. Isn’t that lovely? And yes, it is — we need all the moisture that we can get here in Arizona.

Extras

Tonight I’m watching the DVD of Series 2 of Extras. It’s painfully funny. Shoot, I’m laughing at the DVD extras. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant know how to properly mess with my funny bone. Where else can you have Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe accidentally fling a super-sized condom onto Diana — Dame Diana — Rigg’s head? Or Orlando Bloom showing off how he beat Johnny Depp in the “Sexiest Man Alive” write-up in a woman’s magazine? Or David Bowie creating a cringe-worthy song in a bar (Bowie’s hilarious about his appearance in an interview in the DVD extras).

If you enjoy watching actors having fun and you like to laugh then check out Extras.

With a Cherry on Top

I started playing around with Second Life photos again. It’s becoming a habit. I look at all the fun shots at Flickr and I’m inspired.

This time I started with doing something fashion oriented. Here’s the outfit:

The outfit is brought to you by:

• Hat: Cake’s Chloe cap
• Hair: Sirena’s Madeline
• Skin: Celestial Studios’ Vogue Skin in Champagne with Burgundy-Smoky makeup
• Sweater: Frangipani Designs’ Turtleneck Sweater in Red
• Scarf: Artilleri’s Funky Scarf in Cherry Knit
• Earrings: Blaze’s Platinum and Ruby Cherry earrings
• Pants: Launa Fauna’s Isabeaux black leather pants
• Boots: ETD’s Calf Boots
• Gloves: TaP’s leather gloves

I liked this so much I put this image together:

So this isn’t much of a Second Life fashion blog, but I do what I can when I can, especially when cherries are involved! 

The Hairspray DVD

I knew that I’d love it, but man, how many times can I watch that movie or the special features? I’ve watched it and listened to two different commentaries. I’ve watched the various documentaries on the history of Hairspray and have watched them several times. And yes, I bought the two-disc version of the DVD to give me even more viewing pleasure.  I am a sucker for a fun musical.

By the way, James Marsden has a great voice. He also got to show it off in Enchanted.  I’d seriously think of buying any album he puts out that has some good old pop standards.

Productive

That’s how I would describe my day today. I got a lot done. The dog got a bath, the house was cleaned, a project was completed, and some other things I’d wanted to do got done. I even had time to watch a movie — October Sky. Before I sit down to write my movie review for Enchanted (it’s getting a good grade from me) I popped into Second Life and tried on some of the outfits I picked up yesterday at the sale at Simone’s.  Thus, a pic for your viewing pleasure:

Lions for Lambs review

I was disappointed in this movie. Though the cast does a great job, the script was too talky and preachy. It’s a shame as I agree with the points that Robert Redford is making in this movie. Here’s the review.

Dan in Real Life review

Okay, it’s the day after Turkey Day and I’m feeling a little less somnolent (and I don’t even eat turkey - but give me those mashed potatoes!). So, feeling rather lazy and laid back I thought I’d catch up on my movie reviews.

Dan in Real Life hit me just right. I found it a sweet and funny movie. Here’s the review.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For those of you in the States I do hope you have a wondrous holiday today. I’ll be heading over to Thanksgiving dinner later this afternoon with family.

You know what I’m thankful for today (besides my always thankful for family, friends, pets, job, security, etc.)? The global warming weather is gone, a cold front has moved in, and we may even get snow.

Of course, my sis from the Phoenix area who is coming up to Flag may not be feeling as thankful for the weather.

Musical Heaven

Hairspray was released on DVD today and I bought it. I’m a sucker for musicals and Hairspray was such a fun, frothy film with energetic dancing, decent songs, and a good story that I had to rush out and get it. But that’s not the only reason I’m in musical heaven. Tomorrow Enchanted opens.

This Disney film has received some mighty good reviews. I’m lucky enough to get to review it this weekend and that helps add to the heaven, for Enchanted is also a musical.

I am such a happy gal right now.

Playing with Images

I’ve been taking a GIMP class in Second Life and have become a bit more comfortable in using image-editing software. Still, my main efforts as far as taking snapshots has been editing the image size, learning to select and cut out the stuff I don’t want to show, maybe adding a backdrop layer, and learning to layer things as needed.

Well, today, inspired by a lot of the pictures shown in the Second Life image pool on flickr, I started to play with snapshots and adjusting them in GIMP.

First is me being pensive by the fire. I’ve played with the layers and made some parts of the image blurrier. I’m rather pleased with it:

The next two are ones that show what a cropped and resized version of a picture looks like and another with some playing around with the original version of the image. I’m also showing off one of my textures that I created, which is my attempt at sandstone:

Playing around with color levels I get this:

I also tried to do something I’ve been wanting to do — make a close-up in black and white. It took me learning how to take shots that are high resolution. You can’t just take the normal SL snapshot, but have to use the file commands or shortcuts. Well, it does allow me to get those close-ups when cropping appropriately. Playing with the color levels I ended up with black and white. I rather like it:

It’s fun trying new things out.

Dressing Up in Ivalde

How can I not want to dress up when I can look so good? Yes, I am vain, but only in Second Life. Thus, I spent time trying clothes on and taking pictures.

I had good intentions to get things done today and I did a few, but I found myself waylaid by the call of rampant consumerism. I’ll blame it on SerenityVal. I was playing in Flickr and not only is she managing the Second Life Vintage group, but she just started an Ivalde group.

Oh my. I do like dressing up in clothes from Ivalde. They have a very vintage feel and I’m a sucker for them. Here’s the first dress I picked:

It’s Ivalde’s Henny dress. I wore this to a wedding or partnering in Second Life. It had that dressed up look one attempts for special ocassions without being too fussy. Rounding out the outfit are:

• Hair: ETD’s Janae in Ebony
• Skin: Sin Skins’ Sultry Red in the Stratus tone
• Shoes: Enkythings’ Talyn in black
• Gloves: TaP’s medium leather gloves
• Stockings: Gracile’s Loulou stocking in black

My next outfit was more casual. It’s perfect for fall/winterish weather (which we still need to see more of here where I live — damn global warming). It’s the Turi outfit with the red skirt, but fits my need to wear purples:

There are two sweaters in the outfit folder; I picked the blue one and not the black. I’ve also included:

• Scarf: Artilleri’s Colour Thread scarf in “Pink Threads”
• Hair: ETD’s Keri in black
• Skin: Celestial Studios’ Vogue Skins in Champagne with Plum-Smoky makeup
• Shoes: Tesla’s Diva shoes in violet

The last one is my favorite. It’s the Vintage Katherine dress and I have to say that it’s wonderful to have black hair when you can wear a dress like this:

In real life my hair is light brown. Nothing dramatic and nothing eye-catching, but in Second Life I can go for the intense colors. Along with that gorgeous dress I’m also wearing:

• Hair: Sirena’s Chloe in Jet
• Skin: Celestial Studios’ Vogue skins in Champagne with Burgund-smoky makeup
• Shoes: Armidi’s Vidalia shoes in Noir Croc

I do love playing dress up, especially when you have such fun dresses to play with.

Dysfunctional Family Night in Second Life

I hang out with a group of people that likes to get together for dancing. Every week we have Dancing Liberally, plus other dances offered by individuals. We like themes. We’ve had Orange Night, Oktoberfest, Pirate Night, Ballgown and Tux night, and last night’s theme: Dysfunctional Family Night.

The Dysfunctional Family Night theme is in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. It’s not that the theme makes the evening it is also those of us who show up and play our parts. Man, we’ve got some improv talent.

Townes and I show up and discover Jane2 McMahon and Rocky Turok dressed for the roles of Mom and Dad:

Mom’s all happy until Grandma Jillan starts picking on Mom’s cooking, while Dad is thinking about his secretary — Mom seems clueless about what’s really going on with Dad and the secretary thanks to the gin Mom keeps sipping.

I ended up as one of the kids who brought home my boyfriend Townes, while Leandrah was my slutty sister, Kimo my younger self-pitying brother, and the General as our brother who just can’t seem to give up his glory days as a football player in high school. The squabbling among us was not pretty, but it was hilarious. Ah, families together at the holidays — there’s nothing like it.

Um….I just don’t remember having Thanksgiving gatherings where the turkey legs dance:

Yeah, there are two legs out on the dance floor, one of them bright purple (that’s Serenity). Uncle Jimbo was doing the chicken dance and Grandma Jillan managed to boogie nicely while upsetting Mom with her complaints. General just couldn’t give up his football uniform.

Well, let’s hope the real Thanksgiving gathering for all of us is much more calm and much less bitter. Then again, it’s a tradition and you don’t mess with tradition.

Superhero Movies that Shouldn’t Be Made

Crack magazine puts together a list of upcoming movies that may be a bad idea in their article, “5 Upcoming Comic Book Movies That Must Be Stopped.” Hilarious and very true with descriptions of one superhero:

Much like most bisexual East Berlin rave DJs, The Mighty Thor is named after an adjective and a powerful Norse god. The commonalities do not end there, however. Much like, say, “DJ Baldur the Funky Ramrod,” The Mighty Thor also possesses radiant, flowing, shoulder-length blond locks, wears giant yellow go-go boots and a bright red cape…

And reasons for the movie to fail:

Alright, while Superman embodied “Truth, Justice and the American Way,” Cage was famous for often shouting the catchphrase “Sweet Christmas!” Though we will readily admit he was a serious hard-ass (the man patrolled Harlem dressed like your grandma on vacation) we would like for you to notice his “metal headband,” which upon close inspection is actually a little girl’s costume Tiara worn upside down.

This is a fun look at what the movie studios are up to.

Movie Morning

I’m reviewing Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium this week. I think that’s a nice way to start a 3-day weekend — go see a cheerful kid’s movie (well, let’s hope it’s cheerful). I’ll let you know if it’s any good.

Update: It’s a sweet film, not a great one, but a sweet one.

Gorgeous Photo

Call me out of the loop. I didn’t realize that the Japanese had launched a moon probe, the Kaguya. It came to my attention when I saw this photo:

That’s the Earth setting over a lunar landscape. It seems unreal, doesn’t it? It’s also in high definition and it does seem to bring back those days when we first saw images of the Earth from the moon:

Iconic pictures of the Earth taken from the Apollo Moon missions of the late 1960s have been snapped again 40 years later by a Japanese spacecraft.

The Japanese copy of the famous shot was taken from about 380,000 kilometres (236,121 miles) from the planet.

Absolutely gorgeous photo.