L.A., Tintin, ASOIAF (yes, again), etc.: sippets o' life

[lunasariel]

I'm down in L.A. right now, babysitting my eight-year-old cousin, Mini!M (his parents' names both start with M [Maura and Mark], so they wanted his name to start with the same letter. Someone, probably my uncle DM [his actual initials, although he was definitely a Dungeon Master back in the day] suggested Mycroft, but sadly, they went with Miles instead). His mom, a magazine editor, works several hours away during the day, and his dad, a nurse, works the night shift at the hospital, so they needed someone to cover today and yesterday; I assume they have a babysitter or something for the rest of the time.

The drive down went surprisingly quickly; RG and P were both supposed to come, but both backed out at the last second, so I was on my own. I was terrified of nodding off at the wheel, since that has happened before and was extremely scary (albeit thankfully not disastrous), but a combination of Starbucks, one of my Christmas presents (a thingamajig that allows me to play my iPod over the car's stereo), and sheer paranoia, I made it down here without incident. I'm staying with the M family (which is actually the W family, but it amuses me that their names all start with M), and I've been having a fairly epic battle royale with their wifi, which lasted from the night before last until about half an hour ago, when I finally defeated it, which is how I'm able to post now.

I was initially a bit uneasy about babysitting Mini!M, since my past experiences with wee ones haven't always been the best, but Mini!M is one awesome little kid. Yesterday, we and our granddad went to see Tintin, which was my second time and their first. They tried a bit too hard to make Tintin's skin look like human skin, and so ended up with this weird leathery texture that made him look like a 50-year-old-man going through a midlife crisis and getting a fake tan. This was only visible during close-ups, though, so it wasn't a big problem. Captain Haddock is probably my favorite character: I always loved how over-the-top he was in the books, and I had a minor nerdgasm hearing him say "billions of blistering blue barnacles and a thousand thundering typhoons!," (or any combination thereof) which was always my favorite phrase from the comics. There were a couple of recurring elements of the aforementioned comics, like Tintin's decidedly neutered cursing, the flaily arm gestures that Captain Haddock makes when impotently angry, and Snowy kinda-but-not-really being able to talk, but these were all carried across magnificently. It really managed to capture the spirit of innocence and adventure of the originals, and all the little in-jokes and references just made it all that better.

Tintin was kind a a weird movie for me, though, because the cast and crew list looks basically like a rollcall of geek gods. Steven Moffat writing! Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson directing! John Williams in charge of music! Weta doing the CGI! Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Cary Elwes acting! The only way to make this more tantalizing to us nerds is to get Joss Whedon and his regulars involved. Given that, I think I was subconsciously expecting a jaw-dropping, knock-your-socks-off, change-your-life, Lord of the Rings/Serenity/Star Wars-surpassing kind of movie, and it wasn't that. Don't get me wrong: it wasn't a bad movie by any means. It was a lot of incredibly talented people getting together to make a movie about something they love, but I don't think any of them were really at the top of their game, which is a shame, because this could have been one of *those* movies, that change cinema and get referenced to and talked about for decades. It's a damn fine piece of entertainment, engaging and eminently enjoyable, but it's not that.

Today was a busy day for Mini!M and me. We went to the library (which is NICE), out to lunch, and to a park that I used to visit every time I came down here when I was a kid myself. I remember it as being full of twisty pathways and hidden little grottoes and groves and unexpected statuary, and while it isn't quite as...mysterious as I remember it, it is still very beautiful, and a nice place to visit, even on an 80-degree (ugh) January day. We just got back from visiting our grandmother, who lives only a five-minute drive away, and now we're waiting for Aunt!M to get home, so that we can go out to dinner at a highly-recommended Mexican place. Granny...isn't doing well, I think. I mentioned the death of her dog, Xena, a few months ago, and since she doesn't get out much, I'm afraid that she might be stagnating. She's always had a project, a job, an event to plan, something going on, but right now, I think she's just drifting. My mom hit upon the idea of an autobiography-writing class for seniors at the local community college a little while ago, and we've all been trying to get Granny interested in that, but the idea hasn't taken root so far. At least she's still reading, though; if she stopped then we'd know that something is really long. As I may or may not have said, I come from a long, long line of bibliovores, and quite a few of our conversations revolve around who's reading what, who finished what, who should read what, who's planning to read what, film/tv adaptions of books (Sherlock has been universally approved, although the RDJ movies have gotten mixed reviews from the McLaughlin/Powell/Weber/La Follette clan), etc.

Mini!M, who's developing into as big a gadget nut as his parents, got an iPad 2 for Christmas, and is loving it. Right now, we're sitting on the living room couch, him on his iPad, me on my MacBook, Uncle!M's iPod plugged into the stereo and playing something quasi-African. Up until earlier today, when I defeated the Wi-Fi Demon, my iPhone was serving as an Internet-generating hotspot for my laptop, and as the same for Mini!M on our various excursions. He loves the fact that my iPhone can generate wi-fi, and has been using it at every opportunity. He has also recently discovered texting, email, and FaceTime, so I've been getting quite a few calls/texts/emails from him, the majority of which say, and I quote in their entirety, "Hi!". XD If you can't tell, this is adorable.

I'm driving back up to the frozen North tomorrow, and I'm hoping that things go as smoothly as they did on the way down. (Jinx! XP) I'm also getting paid for my time down here, which is really nice, what with me being jobless and all. I'm thankful that my family is in a position to support me financially while I go to school, but I always feel like such a leech when I ask for money, so actually earning some is great.


Dec. 29th was J's birthday, and he wanted us to go to a burlesque show at Hopmonk, a sort of restaurant/bar/club hybrid, and it wasn't as bad as I expected. That's not to say that it was good, though: I was deaf in my right ear for about 12 hours after (we sat right next to the stage, clever us), J made us stay waaaay too late so that he could talk to a girl, whose number he then proceeded to forget to ask for, and the music definitely wasn't to my taste </oldlady>, but at least I avoided another panic attack. I think the difference is that last time I was in the thick of things, while this time I could sit at our table off to the side and quietly pretend to not exist. I guess this was just one of those things that you have to be smashed to enjoy. That aside, though, it was nice to get the old gang back together one more time, as J left on his heritage trip to Israel today, which will last for several weeks, and he'll be going back up to Oregon after that, at which point I will also have departed for Berkeley.

I'm glad that it was just the four of us: C, H, J, and me. We used to be incredibly close in high school, but we've since drifted apart, so it was nice to get the old crew back together again. Of course, J and I were dating for most of high school, so now that we're no longer together, it has definitely changed the group dynamic. I don't think it was too awkward, though. They say you never really forget your first, and while I don't actually miss him any more, I miss the idea of him. I guess I miss the idea of being attracted to someone finds me attractive in turn. Ever since him, the only guys who expressed any interest in me have been desperate, kinda gross, or both. He's confident, successful, charming (in a geeky, slightly assholish-yet-sweet kinda way), and actually pretty sexy (again, in a definitely geeky, beanpole-y way). I know I'm hung up on him because I haven't had any successful relationships, or even any relationships at all, since him. But now I'm getting all maudlin and weepy, and Mini!M is sneaking glimpses at my screen (don't think I can't see you, mister!), so onwards and upwards!


Last week (or was it the week before), on our way back from The Nutcracker, we tried out the aforementioned Christmas present to listen to the Wicked soundtrack. I guess this kinda got into my head, because that night I dreamed of ASOIAF as a Wicked-style musical. Pretty much the only thing I remember from that first night is Renly and Loras having a duet center stage while Brienne echos the chorus and sings her own lyrics off to one side, and Loras and Brienne are both pledging their lives to Renly, but neither Renly nor Loras notice Brienne.

I guess my subconscious liked the idea, because I've been dreaming of more scenes from ASOIAF: The Musical since then. Last night was Tywin Lannister with an awesome, pensive, moodily-lit villain song that contained the lyrics, "If this play needs a villain/Then a villain I will be," (I forget, do they call plays "plays" in Westeros?) which Tyrion echoes later on. A few nights ago, Sansa had a Disney Princess-esque song, complete with (imaginary?) deer and bluebirds. This might get a dark reprise later on for her, say during the siege of the Red Keep or anything involving Littlefinger. I don't know if this is just the Wicked talking, or what, but I seem to be really into reprises/reflections/leitmotifs. As in, every song/sequence/scene I come up with up (these dreams may or may not have bled over into regular daydreams) is repeated in a different (and usually darker) context elsewhere in my little musical-verse.


In other news, I've been thinking of getting a Tumblr. Tumblr as a function/service doesn't really appeal to me, since I'm more word-oriented than visual-, but I'm amassing quite a list of people whose art and/or thoughts I'd like to follow on a more permanent basis than "remember to visit their site at least once a day." So much good fanart, so little time! On the other hand, though, as I said, the commenting style seems to impede communication more than facilitate it, at least to me. It looks like most people just leave likes, and actual comments are few and far between, and only a few lines long when they do appear. Even if I do get one, it'll only be for reblogging art that I like, since I've already got a good setup here on LJ for all my blogging needs, so it would feel a little superfluous just to have it as an aggregator of general stuff I like. Thoughts, anyone? Has anyone used it? Good experiences? Bad? I'd like to get a bit of insider information to make sure that I don't A) get one and regret it, or B) not get one and regret it.

EDIT: Late happy 120th birthday, Professor! Even if you were still alive today, you probably wouldn't be done writing, and that's why we love you.

Comments

[brit-columbia.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you didn't nod off at the wheel! How scary. And congrats on defeating Wifi. I hate Wifi. Mainly because it always defeats ME.

What's Tumblr? Yes, I'm aware I'm peering out from under a rock.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

Ah, wifi, my old foe. XD

Tumblr is a lot like LJ, but it's set up more for posting/sharing art than words, so word-oriented people like me sometimes find it a bit more difficult to get into.