General Geekiness

Where am I? In the Village…

General Geekiness

Recently, my friend C and I discovered the brilliance that is Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner. The TV show has been on my radar for roughly three years now (mentioned in an article about Lost and in the comic The Runaways). It was always something that I knew of, but never watched.

That changed just before Thanksgiving.

C heard me say I wanted to watch it, and low and behold, found it streaming on the AMC website.

Over the past week, we’ve managed to watch 14 episodes. I’m now completely hooked, and saddened that the end is near (only two episodes left). The world of The Village entrances me. I need to know what new diabolical plan the Number Two of the week will come up with (the characters are known primarily by numbers–our hero is Number Six).

The Prisoner is a quirky, surreal, sci-fi spy series. Number Six was a government agent prior to his resignation–and finds himself in a mysterious location known only as The Village. This seemingly serene locale provides only frustration to Number Six, who longs only to return to London and get on with his life.

I heartily recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it.

John Williams is the man.

General Geekiness

Yesterday, I traveled to a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

One of my friends and I are big Star Wars fans, and even more enthusiastic John Williams fans. What better than to go to Star Wars: In Concert?

John Williams’ music for the Star Wars trilogies is consistently fantastic. Even in the prequels, the music is spectacular. The concert highlighted it, along with exhibiting props from the various movies (and part of Williams’ score). I totally geeked out seeing Han Solo frozen in carbonite and one of the Darth Vader costumes.

I love orchestras. They have such a grandeur and texture that five piece rock bands lack. The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra performed yesterday. I kept having to remind myself that the music was live.

And so I leave you with an amazing a cappella homage to both Star Wars and John Williams.

Awesome Adorableness

General Geekiness

My birthday was over the weekend.

One of my roommates, knowing of my interest in the RAF and dedication to Roald Dahl, gave me this book:

Yes! It’s a story book for the planned but never made Disney movie Dahl was involved with. The book tells the story of these Gremlins harrassing a squadron of pilots during the Battle of Britain.

These aren’t your Gizmo-type Gremlins. These little guys are tiny, bald green men with bulbous noses. And they wear suction boots so they won’t fly off of airplanes while they take them apart in midair.

Sorry the post isn’t longer! It seems that homework has caught up with me.

And so, the quest for graduate school begins…

General Geekiness

I never thought I’d have to think about graduate school now. At least not for a couple of months. Actually, I figured that I could start this summer after returning from Italy.

I had a meeting about various fellowships and scholarships this evening.

“Is anyone interested in the big scholarships?” asked the professor in charge of the evening.

I raised my hand. I then discovered that I probably should have given this more thought–such as starting freshman year. Prepare for many meetings with various professors and scurrying about writing personal statements.

Ah, the challenges. This is something that I’ve wanted since visiting Oxford University nearly eight years ago—to do my graduate work in the UK. It’ll be long and stressful–the prof warned us we’d probably burst into tears at random moments–but ultimately it’ll be worth it. Even if I don’t get the scholarship, the process will teach me a lot about myself.

Mostly, I haven’t given much consideration to what I want to study. I know that I’m not going to study creative writing or another English-major type  subject. I’m considering science writing/media/communication or public health.

And I need to figure out if I’m a memorable person or not…”Hi! I’m Beth, and I’m writing a WWII novel about RAF pilots!”

I’m a train book creeper.

General Geekiness

While riding the subway, seeing what other people are reading is half the fun. I’m the sort of person who can’t read on subways, preferring to people watch, talk with friends, annoy the car with dramatic readings of the backs of Agatha Christie novels, etc.

But I love to see what others are reading. You get a wide variety on trains. The college kids finishing their homework. People reading foreign language newspapers. The current New York Times bestseller (I was surprised to see only one reader of The Lost Symbol on the train last Saturday) or other popular works. It made me happy to see someone reading Proust.

But the most popular train book I’ve seen? Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It’s everywhere. I haven’t read it (and don’t plan to) but I like the cover, and that’s probably why I notice it. Conceptual typography is brilliant.

The Fine Art of Bookbinding

General Geekiness

While my attentions should be turned to writing my WIP, sometimes outside projects have a higher priority. I happily engaged in this one because, well…its just another step in the book process!

I crafted this WWII alphabet book by hand. It was designed using Adobe InDesign CS3.

Image/Book by Beth

Image/Book by Beth

I bound the book using a stich called Japanese Stab Stitch. Beneath the cover, the stitches make a box pattern. I didn’t think to take a picture of the book before adding the finishing ribbon (instead of book tape).

I’m looking forward to one day crafting my own journals. It was a lot of fun (if annoying to my neighbors–I had to use hammer and nails to make sufficient holes in the paper). Painful, too. I hit my fingers a few times!

In the realm of bookbinding, I intend on doing another alphabet book, this time using my own illustrations. The theme? Mythological creatures. I intend on calling in the Alphabeast.