Meter Monday

Invictus

William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul. 

Friday Free For All

It should come as no surprise that I'm a fan of the "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" trilogy by Laini Taylor. Everything from the characters to the world building to the crazy awesome writing keeps me in a trance. So when I heard that a movie adaptation was in the works? Well, I got myself busy. Busy fancasting. 

What is fancasting? It's where weirdos, i.e. fans, troll their imaginations finding the perfect cast for a movie or tv show. Not that I am in the least bit biased, but I happen to think I've done a pretty good job. My brother and sister-in-law have heard me drone on and on about this for a while now. Now I will burden all of your lovely brain meats with my obsession. ;) Enjoy! 

Zuzana:: Ksenia Solo

 Reasoning: Played Kenzi on the show "Lost Girl", has a background in dance, and is freaking adorable. 

 

Mik:: Ben Wishaw

Reasoning: Uhm, he's also adorable? I have no logic behind this choice. Because reasons.

Next!

Brimstone:: Cle Bennett

 Reasoning: Played The Ash in "Lost Girl", terribly wonderful husky voice. 

Twigga:: Tom Hiddleston

Reasoning: Because if I can't have Tom Hiddleston in glasses and being cute, then what can I have?

Issa:: Kate Winslet

Reasoning: Issa is described as having a "madonna face", and well, that's Kate isn't it? Beautiful. Classic. Timeless. And a damn fine actress. I think she could really pull of the maternal and also the slightly menacing.

Thiago:: Kris Holden-Reid

 Reasoning: Already played a Celtic werewolf in "Lost Girl", so why not play a hot-to-trot, evil beasty boy again?

Akiva:: Richard Armitage

Reasoning: What's better than Richard Armitage playing a Seraphim? Nothing, I tell you. Nothing.

Karou:: Katheryn Winnick

Reasoning: She looks young enough to play the part, has a background in martial arts, can pull off blue hair, and uhm, yeah. Good enough for me!

The hardest part? Finding someone to play Karou. In my mind anyway, this was a tough hurdle, but I think I may have found a contender. What do you think? 

Are you a fan of the book? Who would you have cast?

Things i Love Thursday: The Nana Edition

It's been a tough week here at Fantastic Spatula HQ. My awesome Nana was officially admitted to hospice on Tuesday. So in place of the usual Things i Love Thursday, we're having a Things i Love About Nana Day.

 

My beautiful Nana Lady

♥ Revlon Red Lipstick
♥ Giving me my first driving lesson
♥ Dress-up birthday parties
♥ Laughing at me the first time she heard me swear (She was so proud!)
♥ Cheesy eggs and pigs in a blanket
♥ Letting me paint in her basement. And on the basement walls. And the ceiling...
♥ The Skittle Drawer
♥ Our mutual love of all things Madeleine L'engle
♥ How she always sang "Every girl's crazy bout a sharp dressed man!" Just that one line. Over and over.
♥ Her love of laughter
♥ She loved any excuse to throw a party: An open house every Christmas, a tail gate every 4th of July, ...
♥ Her dirty jokes (Sometimes a little too dirty, but hey, that's Nana)
♥ Teaching me how to play solitaire. And how to cheat at it
♥ Knowing the value of a good hot dog 
♥ How anytime is coffee time
♥ That one time she called the preacher a "jackass"
♥  Being a real, live "Golden Girl"

Whimsy Wednesday:

Everything whimsy about...

Carlo's Blue Velvet dress from the 80s

Blue Velvet: A movie by David Lynch

Blue Velvet Cupcakes

Lana Del Ray covers "Blue Velvet"

Who else covers "Blue Velvet"? The Clovers, Tony Bennett and K.D. Lang, The Moonglows, Bobby Vinton, Trini Lopez, Barry Manilow, Sammy Davis Jr., Thomas Truax, Isabella Rosellini, and Tony Bennett and Maria Gadu.

Blue Velvet Layer Cake

Let's Be Adventurers!

image source

Spring & Summer Are Made For Adventures! 

Here are some things that I'm going to be getting into. Most of these are simple things. But isn't that how all great expeditions start?

See a movie under the stars | Visit a local Alpaca farm (I'm particularly excited to meet Galahad!) | Road trips to see friends | Meeting up for bonfires and hooch on the beach | Taking a day off of work to go out and have a picnic | Using up rolls and rolls of 35mm film (FILM! Like the olden days!) | Having fresh, local fruit for breakfast. NOM. | Cannon balling into as many bodies of water as possible.

Your turn! What's on your Adventure List?

Things i Love Thursday

 

link

Days off | Playing fetch with Mowgli the Needy Cat | Making Magic kits to send out | Getting back into the writing mode | Mama's coffee in blue cups | Waking up late | Drive-thru breakfasts (terrible, tasty habit) | Crossing things off my to-do lists | The freeing feeling of letting go of guilt | Dawn French | Seeing a painting come to life | Richard Armitage, because, like, duh | Fancasting for the movie adaptation of "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" with my sister-in-law | Longer days! | Vitamin D, makes  a difference! | Feisty Grandmothers | Perfect Hair Days | Going on long drives for no reason | Staying up late reading | Rediscovering things I used to like | Cello music

Your turn!

What's making your bones hum with life this week?

TiLT: Pi Day

So... if you read this post Thursday (the day it was supposed to be posted...) it looked half-finnished and there wasn't really much to it. Sorry. I got distracted. I get distracted a lot. I'm working on being focused... that and I'm working on my procrastination "problem". But, hey. Here's what it was supposed to look like... Things I Love Thursday: Pi Day.

♥♥♥

pie ♥ coconut oatmeal pie ♥ pumpkin pecan pie ♥ cheese and salmon pie ♥ maple, walnut, pecan, chocolate chip pie (three pies in one? sugar coma? overkill much? yes. yes. yes.) ♥ pumpkin butter on biscuits ♥ coffee with cream and honey ♥ coffee with cream and honey in a Montana cup ♥ being notified that my reserved library books are available for pick up ♥ pi day ♥ making pie day buttons (pins? po-TAY-toe, po-TAH-toe?) ♥ wearing almost all my bracelets at once ♥ Learn about pi ♥Holy pi, dominoes. ♥Pi, a hula hoop, and  a Rubix's cube. ♥More Pi! ♥SO this is what pi sounds like... I thought it sounded like "mmmmmm"... ♥ smelling like spring ♥ feeling like spring ♥ emailing pretty regularly with Lucy ♥♥♥ hearing that writer friends are sending out their stories! go Gin! ♥ also the argument for tau... which would be June 28 and would be an excuse to make two pi... (any excuse for pie, right? right.) ♥

Pi Pie

Pumpkin Butter and coffee in a Montana cup

TiLT: Things I Love Thursday

wine and cheese for dinner ♥ cheese for breakfast ♥ wine for dinner ♥ making an actual delicious dinner that wasn't just wine or just cheese ♥ cup cakes with a surprise caramel filling ♥ cats rolling about in the sun ♥ reading a new book called 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami ♥ getting excited for pi/pie day on March 14 (what pie to make...) ♥ getting invited to a Thanksgiving-in-March dinner ♥ green paisley smoking jackets ♥ sheep wool slippers called Cloud Nine (because they are warm and my feet get cold and I don't like being cold) ♥ potluck style dinners with loads of people ♥ a new bike light so I can see in the dark when I ride my bike ♥ a new helmet so I'm not scared my head is going to be crashed whenever I ride my bike. Also, it's sparkle pink. Oh, yes. ♥ Cowboy Bebop Marathon at my house in my pajamas (P.S. Hey, Laura Abe! Cowboy Bebop still reminds me of you!) ♥ online window shopping for cute pajamas (I want the red fox) ♥

This bear is tied to a bike outside
my apartment building and is so very cute.

This is my "Don't Go Knockin' on My
Noggin" face. It means biz-nas.

I always think this is a pretty cool thing. I even made one for myself on Wednesday!

Amanda Fucking Palmer's Ted Talk. Take a few minutes to enjoy and soak this up.

Whimsy Wednesday: The 13 Clocks

Do you have a favorite book from childhood? One of mine is The 13 Clocks by James Thurber and illustrated by Marc Simont. It has everything I ever wanted in a story: magic, adventure, princesses, strange creatures with strange names (the one and only Golux). My mom used to read this to me and my siblings when we were but wee human sproutlings.

As I got older I forgot about the book. Two month's ago I couldn't have told you the last time I read it. But, last week (ish?) I bought a used copy of The 13 Clocks I found hiding in a book store called The Book Exchange. Holy mother of Bambi, I remember how much I love this book. Does that ever happen to you? You have this favorite thing, and then you forget about it, and then you remember it and wonder how you could have ever forgotten about it?

A few days later, as I was perusing the interwebs, I stumbled upon a video about The 13 Clocks. What in sweet pickle relish is this? I thought as I clicked and watched the following video:


The 13 Clocks from Juan Delcan on Vimeo.

I really love when things like this happen: You find something to love (or something you have loved and find that you still love that thing) and then you find more or new things to love about that thing you love.

Oh, Golux. I love you and your funny hat.

What book from your childhood do you still adore?

Meter Monday: Sending Faces

Cozy faces unrelated to poem!

Good morning (or afternoon), Spatulans. It’s Monday. Huzzah. Huzzah! It’s Meter Monday. Here’s a poem to start your day… or end your day. It’s got cozy blankets and… faces? Yeah, faces.

Here’s to seeing things differently, or looking outside the box. Here’s to cozy blankets, cozy faces, Meter Mondays, pareidolia, and delightfully crappy poetry. Here, here!

Sending Faces

There are faces in my blanket. When I close one eye

           They disappear. When I close the other eye

They appear in front of me covered up to their chins in my own down comforter snuggled up close,

           Eyes wide open or half shut winking

In

            And

                        Out

Of cotton blended dreams of human faces.

They are distorted as in yawn or big laugh

Both which sound like feathers falling from a pillow burst.

When I close one eye they disappear

Seeing faces in clocks too.

            But I know they are still there

Snoring behind a fold. When I close the other

They are there again. When I close both

            I know they are gone.

No longer waiting to be seen. They have

Vanished like a magician’s trick:

Hands waving over a dove

            And

                        Poof

The movement of my body

Sends shapes to new places.

Whimsy Wednesday: HTDA

So, I've not done a How To Do Alone post in a long time. I thought an HTDA: Valentine's Day edition would be fun. First, I'd like to say that I feel Valentine's Day really is just another day and you can do this ooey gooey stuff on any random Thursday, and probably should because you are a total fox who needs to be celebrated every day. Second, you can totally admit the "fundamentally commercialized nature of the holiday and reject it on economic/femenist/smart human grounds" (Thank you Sarah Cadence, babe at Damn Girl Get Some). Third, of course you can totally enjoy the hearts and chocolate covered things and excessive use of pink if that's your thing.

I'm just here to make really bad "how to" blog posts, because I like to make them: they make me giggle and I like to giggle. I also like to laugh, and eat cheese fries every Thursday...

I also thought I'd try something different. Instead of writing out what to do, what you need, where to go, what I did, I decided to video everything and just make this HTDA watchable. If you like the video way better let me know. Also, let me know if you prefer the written way.

Anyway, here are two versions: a short version and a longer version. They're kind of whimsical and silly. This is why they are being posted on Whimsy Wednesday.

The Short Version

The Longer Version

Time Out Tuesday: Valentine's Day (sorta?) Edition

Maybe, Valentine's Day really is just another day. Maybe, Valentine's Day is really corporation blah-blah. Maybe, Valentine's Day is pretty great because... it snot? Maybe, you need a Time Out from chocolate covered hearts, stars, horseshoes, and blue moons. I dunno. Maybe this Time Out Tuesday: Valentine's Day Edition post isn't really about Valentine's Day at all. Maybe this is just a list of things that I thought were neat.

Chocolate is best any time. Even in Time Outs.

For those of you not feeling the warm fuzzies of Valentine's Day... here is a list of the bloodiest anime series ever.

Have you ever hitchhiked? I have, but me hitchhiking wasn't nearly as cool as this guy hitchhiking.

These large format photographs of the Olympics are really beautiful.

This is a camera made of Popsicle sticks!

Neil Patrick Harris has Puppet Dreams. Here is how they made the puppet dreams.

Here are some Instagram photos of the blizzard in the Eastern US.

Here is Bill Nye the Science Guy talking about the blizzard in the Eastern US.

Less complaining. More sexy rumpus.

Cause, Shiny.

Valentine's Day card ideas for those who have to make them but don't want to.

Dead bodies are rising from their graves in Montana and I didn't even know about it until it was revealed to be a hoax.

Speaking of dead bodies, here's a Neil Gaiman story.

And now for something completely different: Who doesn't love Shakespearean insults?

Emergen-C for your ego! I kill myself.

Here is a cool inside look at the Ocracoke, NC lighthouse.

Think you have a pretty cool job? So does this zoo keeper who dresses up like a zebra.

Feeling down this Valentine's Day? Here are some emergency compliments. It's like a packet of Emergen-C for your ego! Maybe... kinda... just go with it.

This is one reason why I love Jhonen Vasquez.

Soundtrack Sunday: Valentine's Edition

It comes. That day. You know. I'm not going to say it. What I am going to do is post two playlists for "that day". One for those who, you know, do. One for those who, well, don't. And let it begin!

For Those Who Do:

    For Those Who Don't:

Whimsy Wednesday: Magical Musical Gloves

This video will make you so many things: giddy, squee-ish, happy, inspired. It may also make you pee your pants. Just warning you.

Meter Monday

I would like to apologize in advance for anyone who doesn't know about a *wee* little thing I have for Richard Armitage. I think after you hear him read some Coleridge you'll understand. 

xoxo,

Lucy.

Soundtrack Sunday

Good morning, Spatulans. So, we are back from our break  *cough*sabbatical*cough*  and I am so glad to be back here writing for you. I'm so glad, in fact, I made this Soundtrack Sunday special, just for you. Please to enjoy and have yourself a little pants-off dance-off before you go back to work on Monday.

Back in the Saddle Again

Hey, Folks!- It looks like our vacation lasted a little longer than expected! *cough* understatement*cough* But now that we've ironed out a few issues we are back and better than before! (Well, we have new shoes and full ink pens anyway.)  

I hope that you'll enjoy some of the things that we have in store for you! Here's what our posting schedule will look like so you'll have some idea of what to expect.  

Soundtrack Sunday: Sets the tone for the week with something to groove to.
Meter Monday: We shell out our favorite poems while wearing spiffy berets.
Time Out Tuesday: Time to chill out with a roundup of links on the neenernet.
Whimsy Wednesday: We could all use a dose of Whimsy in our lives.
Things I Love Thursday: A lil bit of love for the things that keep us going.
Free For All Friday: Batten down the hatches! We unleash our crazy! :)
 
Thanks to everyone who has with us and all the lovely new readers we have! We hope you enjoy. 

It's good to be back. ;) 


Love & Magic,

Lucy.