I didn’t think I’d be writing two memorial posts in a single week. Or that I would loose two parts of my childhood at the same age, from the same thing. Alan Rickman passed away this morning at the age of 69 from cancer.
As with David Bowie, I grew up with Alan Rickman in films. I remember my sister’s favorite film for awhile was Robin Hood: Price of Thieves where Rickman played Nottingham and threatened to use a spoon on a Robin because it was dull and thus would hurt more
One of my favorite adaptations of Jane Austen had him as Colonel Brandon, an older man who falls in love with Marianne.
Coming out of High School there was Dr. Lazarus, from Galaxy Quest, Harry from Love Actually, and Marvin the depressed Robot from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
For many of my friends who liked Kevin Smith Films, he was also Megatron, the voice of God from Dogma.
However, I think for a entire generation he will always be Professor Snape. While over the years my love of Snape had decreased due to realising how much of creep he really was, Alan Rickman had me loving the morally grey character.
Also apparently he was the bad guy in Die Hard, but I’ve never watched Die Hard so I can’t really say anything about it. But now I have a reason to watch it.
2016 is taking a lot of legends in their field. Rest in Peace, Mr. Rickman. Thank you for your decades of Entertainment. You will be missed.
I think if you asked any writer they would have different advice about habits in writing. About what helps us write.
For example, I like to make character or mood playlists to listen to while I write. It helps me get into the zone of writing. It doesn’t always help, but it usually does. Other writers however like a quiet area to write. Right now I have no music on, as there is no specific mood I want to be in, and I’m not writing a story so there are no characters or relationships I want to focus on. Sometimes on days I have had too much noise stimulation (a trigger for my anxiety problems) I write without sound simply because I can’t stand more noise.
But most of the time I have music playing.
Another habit of mine is to write on my laptop. Some writers prefer a keyboard while others prefer pen, pencil and paper. The reason I prefer the keyboard (and a regular sized one, not one on a tablet or phone) is I can type as I think. I don’t write nearly as fast as its coming to my head. Not that typing doesn’t end up with a few mash up words too. I am always amazed by people who hand write their stories, because to me that takes a lot of time, dedication, and pain as writing for long stretches ends up making my hand cramp up. I do carry around a small memo pad in my bag to jot down any scene or idea that comes to me when I don’t have easy access to my laptop. And sometimes I write short stories in notebooks while on breaks between classes or work.
Every writer has habits they keep to help them write, or feel comfortable as they write. And each writer has different habits. The trick is to find out what your own are. Is it playing music while you write? Finding a nice empty silent corner and writing away in your notebook? It might be finding a really comfy chair or a cafe or library where the ambient noise is comfortable to you. Maybe its doing a daily sprint where you do nothing but write for a period of time.
There isn’t just one way to write, so while any writer could give advice on what to do to help you keep writing, it usually just comes down to finding out what helps you.
As an American it is difficult to find oneself connected to any particular tradition. I know some of my friends who have parents or grandparents who are recent immigrants have a stronger connection to their past then I do. My family has been here for awhile. And there are so many groups of people mixed in there its hard to really connect to any of them.
My last name is German. However, the most recent member of my family to not live in the US was actually Greek, so does that make me more German or Greek? And do I actually have any traditions or family recipes that come from those links?
My family also contains people from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, England (yep, we have the UK down. Definitely Anglo), Poland, and apparently a French Jew although I never had that one particularly explained.
I suppose when I think about it, I identify as “American” first (for that is what I am) and if I have to go into something connecting my family history I go for German-Irish. There is alot of Irish in my family, but that is not unusual for someone living in the US. And like I said, my last name is German.
The tradition my family has of eating pork and sauerkraut for New Years is believed to be a German tradition, so I suppose there is that. Although apparently in the US it seems to be more of a Pennsylvanian tradition then one held country wide.
Sausage, Sauerkraut, and Potatoes. Source: pixabay
Sometimes I feel odd, not having that connection any tradition or what feels like culture. I know that there are probably many things I do that are uniquely American in nature, and someone from another country might observe that as my ‘culture’. But sometimes I just feel like I should be more knowledgeable about the places my family came from.
Although I once read on a website that my family comes from a part of Germany that keeps switching hands with the Danes so…maybe I’m Danish too.
Well, I missed one day out of the year already, but I’m going to just shrug that one up. Its the holiday weekend, I can give myself a break. Besides of all the things to worry about, posting on this blog is not going to be one of them. But enough about that, lets go on to today’s actual post subject.
For this post, I decided I wanted to talk about one of my favorite classic films. Balalaika is a 1939 musical based on stage musical produced a few years earlier. It stars Nelson Eddy and Ilona Massey. It also has some notable character actors in the background including Charles Ruggles (The Grandfather in Parent Trap) and Frank Morgan (better known as the Wizard from The Wizard of Oz).
The plot of the movie is an interesting alternative history of Russia. Instead of the Romanovs, the royal family of Russia is the Karagins, but that doesn’t mean the people of Russia are any less likely to try and rebel. Eddy plays the Prince, Peter Karagin who falls in love with a singer he hears at the Balalaika, a club in St. Petersburg. He disguises himself as a student to romance Lydia Marakova, who is secretly a revolutionary along with her father (a music professor) and brother (a pianist). They do the local work of the Party from their home where Professor Marakov also teaches music.
Peter manages to fool Lydia and her family into believing he’s just a music student by singing a great rendition of The Volga Boatman, a Russian folksong.
Suitably impressed, Lydia decides to give Peter “Teranda” a chance. He in turn decides to use his princely influence to get her a interview with the head of the Russian Opera. The two fall in love but things of course don’t go as planned.
Lydia’s brother turns out to be a hothead who is not willing to just wait for the right moment, and goes to hold a revolt in town. Unfortunately he is killed when the Cossack (led by Peter) come to break up the crowd. This leads her father to agree to be part of an assassination plot of General Kargin, Peter’s father. I’m guessing Peter is probably a son of a younger son, thus not actually high on the line of succession as they both make it out of this movie alive, and we all know what happened to the Romanovs
While Paval Marakov can’t do it in the end, a family friend does shoot the General. This of course ends Lydia & Peter’s relationship. For one, Lydia is arrested at her debut at the Opera for participation in the General’s not-so-fatal shooting. Also, Peter is off to war.
Things don’t go so well for our pair as the movie continues. There is a revoltion in Russia which makes Peter and many of his aristocratic friends (and fellow Cossacks) flee to Paris where they now live much less effluent lives. Lydia, freed from prison by Peter as one of his last acts before going off to war, finds herself struggling to keep a job.
The movie ends with them all joining together for a New Years day party years after the war. Peter’s former valet Nicki and his wife Marsha (who was Lydia’s maid when she sang at the original club) have opened a Russian themed club called the Balalaika and have decided to serve the Aristocracy of Russia one more time as many of them have become their close friends.
They both watch sorrowfully as Peter continues to be heartbroken, and they worry about Lydia who has disappeared for awhile. However they both end up at the Club that night, and through some careful scheming, Marsha and Nicki get the two lovebirds together while singing a New Years wish to a mirror, and thus reuniting them for a happy New Year.
Its a good movie, in my opinion and one of my favorites of Nelson Eddy. Its full of great songs. I wish I could find a video of Nelson Eddy singing Silent Night in German with the German troops as the two sides hold a truce for Christmas.
The only regret I have is since this was never a book (to my knowledge) we don’t really get to see what happened with Peter & Lydia during the years they were apart. It also doesn’t really give you a good idea of the passing of time. Just that you get the feeling years have passed.
If you are in the mood for a classic musical or for operettas, I suggest watching this movie. It has wonderful singing and a good love story.
So there is this contest. Which involves an author whom I have been reading alot of. And a series of which I so far own pretty much all of it (and in one case, two copies as my first copy fell apart). So I’m going to talk about it here.
For those of you who haven’t known me long, or are just visiting here by mistake, one of my favorite book series is the Argeneau series by Lynsay Sands. Technically its listed as a romance series, but there is mystery and a touch of sci-fi/fantasy as well.
What I like the most about it is that there is a scientific reason behind vampirism. They aren’t demons, or evil or anything like that. They also don’t sparkle. Instead its an aftereffect of a medical technology gone wrong. Nanos (which for some odd reason always makes me think of Rodney Mckay, but that’s another entry) are in their bodies and help them heal (hence why they never die) and they use human blood to power themselves. The more damage to your body, the more blood you will need.
So if you haven’t read it, I suggest you do. The books have grown to include the Argeneau’s friends and extended family. I think there is 15 books at the moment (don’t quote me! I don’t have my collection on hand at the moment).
“As the saying goes, type is a beautiful group of letters, not a group of beautiful letters.”
— Matthew Carter
“Typography needs to be audible. Typography needs to be felt. Typography needs to be experienced.”
— Helmut Schmid
” Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. ”
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
” Every designer or photographer should have an ongoing conversation
with the word editor –- you are all journalists. ”
Roger Black
” Drawing is what I always loved the most. I discovered drawing type
is drawing in a very pure form. Because a type designer does not draw letters.
A type designer designs words and words are structures that contain patterns
of black and white shapes, form and counterform.
It is a game that deals with space and rhythm.
Which is precisely what, for me, is the essence of drawing. ”
I forgot to post before midnight, so I have no post for yesterday. Although yesterday as I am typing this was only 18 minutes ago. I suppose I can change the time of posting to be before midnight. Well, if you see the date being the 27th, you’ll know it was really written in the early morning of the 28th.
School has required me to make yet another blog. So Sokorra.blog.com is now open. Its for a web marketing class, so I’m sure its going to be very boring to read. But its there and if you come across it and wonder if its the same person, it is.
I’m going to be writing some short story reviews and homework notes here. It just seems like a better place to put it and I’ll have it as backup in case my personal copy fails.
I’m going to be low on the actual new writing bit this week, trying to adjust my schedule to fit school and all. So I will be posting some older fics and perhaps some of my original work here.
I’m thinking of writing a few shorts that deal within the universe I created in my head for a couple of these fandoms of mine. Not the same story, different for each fandom. But I’m going to try to challenge myself so I’m going to open up for general prompts. Give me a word, color or even a picture prompt if your so inclined. I’ll choose the fandom though. Or perhaps even write something original.
I know I have posted these essays and the research paper before, on Insanejournal, but I decided that since this is going to be my writing jorunal I’ll post them here so I can reference them whenever I update them. I still have to post the big paper but I’m going to wait to post that tomorrow so I don’t overpost my blog here. But I welcome any corrections on the two I have up now. Or any new reference material that might help me correct and update the articles. I’m not expecting any as I have said, I posted them before. This is mainly for reference and to have a collective of my writing.
I’m going to be writing an article for Arabella on the Script Writer and the process of transforming a novel or an idea into a workable movie. We shall see how that goes.
I’m still considering if I’ll post my fanfiction or not here. It feels a little more “open to the public” then Livejournal or Ff.net, though I know anyone can find myself if they google Sokorra Lewis. I guess its the feeling of being seen, yet still in the corner and avoiding the main rush of people.
Sokorra Lewis 