Slowly making icons from EOT1. They are of varying quality/creativity, but I do my best. I hopefully will have a couple more batches, if anyone is interested.

( 90 icons, no previews because of spoilers )

I am repeatedly surprised and alarmed by how strongly I am attracted to Geof Manthorne from Ace of Cakes.

It's like, scary. If he was one of my friends I would have one of those multi-decade unrequited love crushes on him. (hell, he reminds me of friends I HAVE had those kind of crushes on. :) )

It makes no sense on a rational level or anything. But just the nerdy scrawniness, the dry sense of humor, the musician-ness, it's just a perfect package.

*sigh*

Been a long time since I updated. Been up and down. Went to Milwaukee for a week with my mom to see my family. It was surprisingly good for the most part, and I got to see cousins I hadn't seen in eons, and some I hadn't even met. We ended up stuck there an extra day because our flight back home got cancelled from the weather over the weekend, but we made it back.

Came back and my car was dead. Battery. But then I couldn't get the hood open to jump it. Cable broke or something. AAA couldn't get it open either. So they ended up towing it to a garage. They said it'll be like $750 because I need a new alternator and new battery and labor. I'm not sure I'm not being ripped off, but at this point I just need my car to be working again. Unfortuantely with the horrible timing, I still don't have it. Dunno if they'll be working tomorrow or if I'm stuck until Monday. Whee.

Been in a real funk because of that, and my usual Christmas funk from missing Lynette and Dad, and I'm just really alone and depressed. Just watched the new Doctor Who which pulled me out of it a bit. Think I'll drown myself in some icon-making.

Very disappointed to learn there won't be a Season 6 SYTYCD tour. I look forward to the tours so much. :( Taking pictures an sharing them gives me a sense of purpose. Bleh.

Taking a photography course online. Tested some of my new learnins at the Mitchell Conservatory in Milwaukee. Also shot in all-RAW for the first time. I am proud of the results, even though I know they're still not perfect. I'm most proud of the fact that most of them have not been cropped. I am getting better at framing the shot IN-camera so I don't have to use Photoshop as a crutch to crop the good shot out of a larger boring shot.

You can see the results here (first 3.5 pages): http://www.jkpolk.net/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=21151

I could blather on about multiple things but it would be really gloomy and self-indulgent. I hope everyone is having a merry christmas if they celebrate. Love to you all.

The tenth CD is titled Hail Brittania.

Track 1: Gustav Holst “The Planets: Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity”
Great horn/brass piece – has this been used in a western?

Track 2: Otto Nicolai “The Merry Wives of Windsor: Overture”
This song builds and builds – what a great piece!

Track 3: Ralph Vaughan Williams “Fantasia on Greensleeves”
The harp really adds to this song – gives it an ethereal feel

Track 4: Percy Grainger “Country Gardens”
Nice, light piano piece

Track 5: Frank Bridge “Sir Roger de Coverley”
Fast paced “old lang syne” is in there – very cool

Track 6: Eric Coates “London: Knightsbridge”
Familiar, almost comedic tune with lots of bounce

Track 7: Benjamin Britten “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra: Finale”
Great! Very entertaining and exhilarating piece

Track 8: Ronald Binge “Elizabethan Serenade”
Very nice piece

Track 9: George Butterworth “The Banks of Green Willow”
I like this one a lot – loud to soft to loud to soft

Track 10: Thomas Tallis “Salvator Mundi”
Hauntingly beautiful – sounds like an all male choir with young boys singing the higher parts

Track 11: Sir Edward Elgar “Enigma Variations: Nimrod”
Slow build into a majestic piece

Track 12: Sir Hubert Parry “Jerusalem”
Bleh – for some reason, this recording of this hymn is unpleasing – almost offensive compared to the quality of the other recordings.

Track 13: Thomas Arne “Rule, Brittania!”
Used by tv and movies to represent wealth – but it’s still a great song

Track 14: Sir Edward Elgar “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, Opus 39”
Seen a graduation? You know part of this song. I find myself drawn more to the music that surrounds it though.

Flying from SFO to Philly tomorrow. It will be good to spend Christmas with my family, even for just a short weekend. Agenda: watching Muppets, Office Christmas episodes, playing Settlers of Catan, playing in the snow. And! I get to see punkrockfinn, newarcadia and masshysteria! Really sad that Mom won't be there, though.

Between looking for roommates, trying to sell furniture, trying to buy furniture, and trying to buy a car, Craigslist has been eating my soul lately. There's something about Craigslist car ads that just make me want to shoot myself. It's nothing but horrifically spelled unpunctuated train wrecks: "HI I HAV A CAR IT RUNS GUD IT HAS POWR WINDOWS IT 150K CASH TALKS CLEAN TITTLE 5 SPPED I NEED TO SALE." Like, seriously people??? Do you really think I want to give you half of my savings account if you're too dumb to use the spell check? Californians are such morons.

And K. can't move in with me. I had been really really hoping she could swing it because I'd much rather live with a friend than a random stranger. But it's not gonna work, which most likely means I'm gonna be eating January's rent. And If I can't find anyone by February, I need to move to a new place. Maybe I'll just leave Santa Cruz.

The ninth CD is titled Bittersweet memories.

Track 1: Samuel barber “Adagio for Strings”
Haunting, fluid, graceful – love this familiar song

Track 2: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K467: Second Movement”
Familiar piece that’s a lot of fun.

Track 3: Sir Edward Elgar “Cello Concerto in e Minor, Opus 85: Third Movement”
I love the cello – it so often sounds lik it is weeping

Track 4: Jean Sibelius “The Swan of Tuonela No. 3, Opus 22”
My interest peaked @ 6:30 and again @ 8:30, but it just didn’t hold me

Track 5: Edvard Grieg “Peter Gynt: Solveig’s Song”
Building, building, like climbing steps, reach a landing, then climb again, but you realize it’s a set you don’t care to climb

Track 6: Frederic Chopin “Etude No. 3 in E major, Opus 10”
Great piano piece!

Track 7: Antonin Dvorak “String Quartet in F Major, Opus 96, “American”” Second Movement”
Nice pleasant piece

Track 8: Maurice Ravel “Pavane pour une infante defunte”
Pleasant – almost magical, but it’s not enough

Track 9: Johann Sebastian Bach “Sonata in G Minor (for Viola da Gamba) BWV 1029: Second Movement”
I have a hard time with the harpsichord, but this piece didn’t even seem to fit the instruments together, and, per usual, the harpsichord just ended up sounding clunky

Track 10: Henry Purcell “Dido and Aeneas: Dido’s Lament”
Gorgeous song

Track 11: Franz Liszt “Consolation No. 3 in D Flat major (For Piano)”
Beautiful peaceful piece

Track 12: Max Bruch “Violin Concerto No. 1 in g Minor, Opus 26: Second Movement”
Another familiar, great string piece

The eighth CD is titled “The Magic of Italy”.

Track 1: Felix Mendelssohn “Symphony No. 4 in A major, Opus 90, “Italian”: First Movement”
This is a familiar piece that I love because of the powerful strings

Track 2: Ottorino Respighi “The Birds: Prelude”
A slightly familiar piece that is enjoyable enough, but not great

Track 3: Antonio Vivaldi “Mandolin Concreto in c major, Opus 134: First Movement”
A very familiar piece, I love, love, love the strings

Track 4: Gioachino Rossini “The barber of Seville: overture”
Great song, very familiar

Track 5: Pietro Mascagni “Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo”
What a great string song!

Track 6: Giuseppe Verdi “Rigoletto: ‘La donna e mobile’”
A classic opera song

Track 7: Hector berlioz “Roman carnival, Opus 9”
Not interested throughout the first third of the song. The last two-thirds was amazing

Track 8: Jacques Offenbach “The Tales of Hoffman: Barcarolle”
I love the beginning of this song

Track 9: Niccolo Paganini “violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, Opus 7, “La campanella”: Third Movement”
One of my favorites, the violin! I mean, how can you not love the range , the differences in sound – come on, playing the violin like a guitar? This song is unbelievably awesome. If I ever pick up the violin again, it will be to devote myself to learning this song.

Track 10: Gioachino Rossini “La Danza Tarantella”
Short, and it makes you want to get up and dance

Track 11: Giacomo Puccini “Gianni schicchi: “O mio babbino caro””
Classic opera piece done by a great soprano voice

Track 12: pyotr Tchaikovsky “Capriccio italien, Opus 45”
Somber! Determined even when adding levity around 10:30

So, I know a lot of people gave up on Dollhouse during its first season for a number of reasons, but I highly recommend you give it another chance.

The last few episodes have been phenomenal (mostly) and it finally has this thing known as 'character development'. Yes, even of the dolls. I'll say no more without spoiler tags, but this show is seriously awesome now.

And of course, because of Fox's mishandling of the second season, it's been cancelled, so if you want to catch up when it's all over, you'll only have 26 episodes to watch.

but if you've been keeping up.....

( spoilers for 'The Attic', one of the best things Joss Whedon has ever done (plus most of season 2 and Epitaph One) )

The seventh CD is titled Air of Spring

Track 1: Edvard Grieg “Holberg Suite, Opus 40: Praludium”
I love the strings – powerful

Track 2: Frederick Delius “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring”
A mellow song – I like it, it has something that draws me in

Track 3: Antonio Vivaldi “The Four Seasons No. 1 in E, RV269: Spring”
I love this song!

Track 4: Felix Mendelssohn “Songs Without Words, Book 5, Opus 62: Spring Song”
I love this song!

Track 5: Robert Schumann “Symphony No. 1 in B-flat, Opus 38: Fourth Movement (Spring)
Not too memorable, but this song has a great finish

Track 6: Franz Schubert “Schwanengesang No. 10, D957: Das Fischermadchen”
Upbeat and short

Track 7: Pyotr Tchaikovsky “The Nutcracker: Waltz of the Flowers”
Very lovely familiar piece

Track 8: Gustav Mahler “Symphony No. 3 in D Minor: Second Movement”
Lots of different sounds to keep it interesting

Track 9: Carl Maria Von Weber “Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F Minor, Opus 73: Third Movement”
Great upbeat song

Track 10: Leo Delibes “Lakme: Flower Duet (“Viens, Mallika”)
This short and sweet song is very familiar

Track 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat, K495: Third Movement”
A familiar piece chock full of strings and horns

Track 12: Bedrich Smetana “Ma Vlast:Vltava”
This familiar almost haunting melody has a spectacular finish

The sixth CD is titled Great Overtures

Track 1: Georges Bizet “Carmen: Prelude”
Another rock star of classical music

Track 2: Leonard Bernstein “Candide: Overture”
Crazy, almost manic at the beginning, it’s like a movie or a music video about animals

Track 3: Guiseppe Verdi “La Traviata: Prelude”
Mellow and graceful and fluid

Track 4: Carl Maria von Weber “Oberon: Overture”
I like it! A lot!

Track 5: Ralph Vaughan Williams “ The Wasps: Overture”
I liked it, there were lots of changes and shifts that kept me interested, but in the end there was nothing that grabbed me.

Track 6: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “The Marriage of Figaro: Overture”
Familiar – I love it

Track 7: Richard Wagner “The Mastersingers of Nuremberg; Overture”
Not memorable

Track 8: Pyotr Tchaikovsky “The Nutcracker: Miniature Overture”
I like this piece a lot

Track 9: Ludwig Van Beethoven “Fidelio: Overture”
Loud soft loud soft big build – I love it!

Track 10: Sir Arthur Sullivan “The Yeoman of the Guard: Overture”
Big start, mellows, then loud again, great finish!

Track 11: Gioachino Rossini “William Tell: Overture”
Starts soft and slow, then gets tosome great and very, very familiar parts. Every American should be able to recognize at least 3 different parts. I love that these parts are so different that most people don’t realize they are part of the same song.

The fifth CD is titled Expressions of Love

Track 1: Franz Liszt “Liebestraume No. 3 in A Flat”
Very familiar and enjoyable

Track 2: Pyotr Tchaikovsky “Romeo and Juliet: Fantasy Overture”
Very familiar – I love it

Track 3: Gustav Holst “The Planets: Venus, the Bringer of Peace”
Nothing exciting or drawing me into this one

Track 4: George Gershwin “Porgy and Bess: Bess, You is my Woman Now”
I love the violin

Track 5: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “The Marriage of Figaro: Voi che sapete”
Beautiful

Track 6: Sir Edward Elgar “Salut d’amour”
Familiar, I like the strings a lot

Track 7: Enrique Granados “The Beauty and the Nightingale”
Nice, but blah

Track 8: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov “Scheherezade: The Young Prince and the Young Princess”
Mostly disappointed until 6:30-ish

Track 9: Johann Sebastian Bach “Double Violin Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1062: Second Movement”
Hints at familiarity, really like the sound

Track 10: Gaetano Donizetti “L’Elisir d’amore: Una furtive lagrima”
Great song!

Track 11: Johannes Brahms “Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Opus 90: Third Movement”
This song has a youthful anticipation

Track 12: Gabriel Faure “Pelleas et Melisande: Sicilienne”
Familiar, but meh

Track 13: Sergei Rachmaninov “Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Opus 18: Second Movement”
Very familiar, lovely – I love, love, love the piano around 6:00 then near silence at 8:50 to a beautiful majestic finish – full of romance

The fourth CD is titled Nights in Vienna.

Track 1: Johann Strauss B “The Blue Danube”
The Blue Danube, hello! What a great piece!

Track 2: Joseph Haydn “Symphony No. 94 in G Major, “Surprise”: Second Movement”
Loud quiet, loud quiet

Track 3: Franz Schubert “Moments Musicaux No. 3 in F Minor D780”
Beautiful piano

Track 4: Johann Strauss 2 and Josef Strauss “Pizzicato-Polka”
Light and fun

Track 5: Johann Strauss 2 “Die Fledermaus: Bruderlein”
Nice waltzy feel with a strong finish

Track 6: Fritz Kriesler “Liebesfreud”
LOVE the violin

Track 7: Ludwig Van Beethoven “Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Opus 93: Second Moment”
Fun, fun song

Track 8: Franz Von Suppe “Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna”
This song is just cool

Track 9: Johann Strauss 1 “Radetzky March”
I usually dislike marches, but this was wonderful

Track 10: Johann Strauss 2 “Roses from the South, Opus 388”
Very familiar bouncy tune

Track 11: Franz Lehar “The Merry Widow: Act 2 (Vilja)”
Beautiful song – I love the mandolin

Track 12: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “Piano Concerto No. 27 in B Flat Major K595: Third Movement”
Great piano

Track 13: Richard Strauss “Der Rosenkavalier: Waltz Sequence No. 2”
Unusual, which I usually like, but this time I’m not sure

The third cd is titled “Tranquility”.

Track 1: Edvard Grieg “Peer Gynt Suite No. 1: Prelude (Morning)
So familiar, so enjoyable

Track 2: Claude Debussy “Arabesque No. 1”
This was like a dance, and had me wanting to dance.

Track 3: Edward Elgar “Serenade for Strings in E Minor, Opus 20: Second Movement”
Slow at first, then builds to a tremendous sound

Track 4: Modest Mussorgsky “Pictures at an Exhibition: the Old Castle”
Deep strings that reminded me very much of a heartbeat.

Track 5: Frederick Delius “Florida Suite: By the River”
Lots of crescendo and diminuendo

Track 6: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “Clarinet Concerto: Second Movement”
Beautifully powerful

Track 7: Johann Sebastian Bach “Cantata BMV 208 “Where Sheep May Safely Graze””
This piece moved me a little, but nothing specifically stood out

Track 8: Gabriel Faure “Pavane, Opus 50”
Low and gentle until about 2:20

Track 9: Joaquin Rodrigo “Fantasia para un Gentilhombre (For Guitar and Orchestra): First Movement”
Didn’t like it until about 3:30 when the orchestra kicked in

Track 10: Christoph Willibald Gluck “Orpheus and Eurydice: Dance of the Blessed Spirits”
I like, like, like this one

Track 11: Jules Massenet “Thais: Meditation”
Familiar and wonderful

Track 12: Ludwig Van Beethoven “Bagatelle in A minor, “Fur Elise”
Come on, Fur Elise, who doesn’t like this song?

Track 13: Antonin Dvorak “Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Opus 95, “From the New World”: Second Movement”
This one was slightly familiar in parts.

The second CD is titled "Reflections"
Track 1: Johann Sebastian Bach "Suite No. 3 in D Major BWV 1068: Second Movement (Air)
I used to hate this song. It was the prime elevator music piece. I heard it in every waiting room, in every doctor’s office etc. It was also the piece my dad used as background during his father interviews. If you’re Mormon, you might know what I mean. But I heard it some years ago done by an actual orchestra, and since then I have loved it. It really is a calming piece with great movement and flow.

Track 2: Franz Schubert "Piano Quintet in A Major D667, The Trout: Second Movement"
Nice soothing until 1;15, then somber until 2:15, just kidding!, 3:30 is familiar – yes, I enjoyed this piece.

Track 3: Pyotr Tchaikovsky "Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Opus 23: Second Movement"
I love the excellent piano work in the middle of this piece – lots of trills, etc.

Track 4: Camille Saint-Saens “Carnival of the Animals: The Swan”
Nice, but forgettable

Track 5: Aaron Copland “Appalachian Spring: Prelude”
I love this piece – it’s like waking up.

Track 6: Gustav Mahler “Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp Minor: Fourth Movement (Adagietto)
Nice, but forgettable

Track 7: Joseph Haydn “Trumpet Concerto in E-flat: Second Movement”
Nice, but forgettable

Track 8: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “The Marriage of Figaro: Aria (“Porgi amor”)”
Nice, but forgettable

Track 9: Erik Satie “Gymnopedie No. 3”
Nice, but forgettable

Track 10: Robert Schumann “Scenes from Childhood: Traumerei (Dreaming)”
A familiar piece that is indeed like dreaming.

Track 11: Guiseppe Verde “Nabucco: chorus of the Hebrew Slaves (“Va, pensiero”)”
Unremarkable

Track 12: Johannes Brahms “Violin Concerto in D Major, Opus 77: Second Movement”
A little slow and uninteresting until about 5:00 – totally worth the wait.

Track 13: George Frideric Handel “Serse: Largo”
I love the strings in this piece.

Track 14: Gabriel Faure “Requiem, Opus 48: Sanctus”
Powerful piece, especially the “in excelsis”

In Classical Mood is a series of cd's my mother gave me some years ago.
I am finally listening to them, a little at a time, and these are my opinions.

The first CD is titled "Music for a Summer's Evening"
Track 1: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart "Eine kleine Nachtmusik K525: First Movement"
I love this piece. Lots of strings (my favorite) and gave me the perfect opportunity to teach my three year about pianissimo, forte, fortissimo, etc. etc. Terms he's heard before on Disney's Little Einsteins, but it is lacking in most pop music.

Track 2: Frederick Delius "Koanga: La Calinda"
This is a pleasant piece, but, for me, unremarkable.

Track 3: Frederic Chopin "Nocturne in E-flat Major, Opus 9 No. 2"
Every time I've heard this piece a tear comes to my eye. The piano is so simple and yet, so powerful that I can't help but be moved by it. I really enjoy this song.

Track 4: Felix Mendelssohn "A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture"
Much of this song had me feeling sleepy, but around seven minutes, it picked up for a minute or two and then drifted off back to dreamland.

Track 5: Aleksandr Borodin “Prince Igor: Polovstian Dances, Maiden’s Dance”
Pleasant but forgettable.

Track 6: George Gershwin “Porgy and Bess: Summertime”
Sublime fans will recognize the melody. There is some great violin in here.

Track 7: Antonio Vivaldi “The Four Seasons: Summer”
I would consider this song to be one of the rock songs of classical music – absolutely one of my favorites.

Track 8: Claude Debussy “The Girl With the Flaxen Hair”
This one was a little familiar and I like the piano work, but it’s certainly not one of my favorites.

Track 9: Giacomo Puccini “Madame Butterfly: Humming Chorus”
This brings to mind hummingbirds on a hillside covered in scotchbroom, foxglove, and fireweed. The beginning had me feeling like I was missing something, sort of truncated, or sudden to start.

Track 10: Francisco Tarrega “Memories of the Alhambra”
I love, love, love, love, love the guitar playing in this one. I’ve never heard anything like it.

Track 11: Marie Joseph Canteloube “Songs of the Auvergne: Bailero”
I really enjoyed the lady singing, her voice was great, and their was something a little enchanting about the repeated word (bailero?), but the music was rather boring.

Track 12: Ludwig van Beethoven “Symphony No.6 in F Major (Pastoral): Fifth Movement”
I really don’t enjoy this piece until about four or five minutes in

Despite the clingy rain, thunder and lightning, we had at least a dozen people show up to our Chanukkah latke party on Saturday. In full Jesse form, we cooked way more food (and dirtied way more dishes) than our tiny kitchen could handle, so much so that halfway through the night I had to wash a bunch of new forks. We made straight-up potato latkes, sweet potato curry latkes, apple brandy latkes and cottage cheese latkes, plus a chili apple pear relish, sufganiyes with mango jam, and qatayef ("because we have to have a Palestinian dessert," said Jesse) Miraculously everyone seemed to fit in our compact living room even with its shortage of chairs. Conversation moved from whether or not Calvin and Bart Simpson would be friends (we decided they wouldn't be, but they would have a mutual respect for each other) to your stock complaints about the insufficient heating systems in California b/c nobody knows how to prepare for the damn weather, to weird/horrific roommate stories to the nutritional value of raccoon meat. Nikira read from The Teen Guide to Homemaking and Boris and I decided that "Bad Beth and Beyond" would make a great porno.

People brought beer and curry pumpkin soup and stayed for five hours. We lit the menorah with Jesse's broken droopy candles from a thrift store in Tucson. It's two whole days later and I can finally, finally, see the bottom of the sink.