Classical Viva La Vida

This is a beautiful video that is sure to brighten up any day. Made me happy just watching it.

Read more...

The Rogue Crew Quotes II

Picture by chichapie

Queen Dukwina squeaked scornfully, "It's over, rabbets—surrender or die!"
Buff Redspore glared at the queen. "Nobeast asked for your comments, marm!"
Rake moved casually, flicking the sand with a footpaw as he spoke with Scutram and Miggory. "There's no way out o' this, mah friends. If we fled, they'd pick us off one by one, eh, Lieutenant?" Scutram smiled grimly. "Fled, sah? Fled, did ye say? Sorry, but we ain't much good at fleein', doncha know."

"His spirit will march alongside us,/we'll honour his memory and say,/he died for truth and freedom,/aye, an' that's the warrior's way."

"My name's Sage, like the herb. What's yours, friend?"
Her tough-looking companion replied, "Kite the Slayer, Kite like the bird, and Slayer because of the number of vermin I've slain."
It was said so coolly that Sage felt bound to enquire, "Oh, an' how many vermin have you slain?"
The ottermaid showed Sage her shield, which was scored around its rim with a circular pattern of nicks. "Can't remember the exact count—have to start on my axeshaft soon, though. Just call me Kite, they all do."

"Anyhow, ye'll never guess wot 'appened next!"
Rekaby gave the young otter a long-suffering glance. "No, Swiffo, I'll never guess what 'appened next, but I'd be pleased to hear it from ye."

"By the way, just how many vermin are there?"
The hairy vole, Fiddy, spread his paws wide. "Lots'n'lots o' the scum. Far too many for you to scoff."
Sircolo stared down his beak at Fiddy, then sniffed. "Don't fret, little furbag. I'll give it a good try!"

"Welcome, welcome, welcome, on a fine spring night! Are ye friend or foe or just plain slow? Don't answer that question. Ye ain't too slow, an' ye must be a friend, 'cos if ye were foe, we'd have slain ye long ago!"

He fell asleep, feeling safer than he had in a long while.

"Look to the blade, my point ye must take,/to whence the winds will bring evil in their wake,/for goodbeasts arriving, I bid ye wait,/they bring aid on the day thy need is great./Two warriors that day will answer the call./The most unlikely creatures of all!"

"Complainin' an' moanin', that's all yore good for!"
Ricker pointed indignantly to himself. "Wot me, a moaner an' complainer? Hah, wot've I got ter moan an' complain about, eh? Sent off on an idjit's errand, wanderin' round inna dark, covered in stinkin' marsh slop, an' all because the cap'n wants ter git 'is paws on two stoopid liddle 'ogs. Ho, no, bucko, I ain't complainin'. Lookit me—I'm 'avin' the time o' my life!"

He turned back to Voogal, still smiling. "You'll answer, thick'ead, an' they'd better be answers I like, or things might get a bit hot for ye."

They drifted into sleep on the dark night-shaded stream, cheered up by the fact that they had a good companion, and a real tough one, to boot.

"Chest out! Chin in! Left right together!/Eyes front! Back straight! Can ye smell that heather?"
After the song, one of the sea otters, Garrent, chuckled as he chatted to Big Drander. “Wot sort o' marchin' song is that? Bit sissy, ain't it?"
Drander kept his eyes front, muttering out of the side of his mouth, "Tell that to Cap'n Rake. He wrote it."
Kite Slayer, the tough ottermaid, scowled darkly. "Ain't the sort of marchin' song I'd be caught singin'. Would ye like to hear a Rogue Crew song? One Skor wrote?"
Trug Bawdsley nodded affably. "Jolly nice of ye, missy. Carry on an' warble away."
Without further ado, Kite launched into the sea otter tune. "O there's blood on the axe,/an' there's blood on the shield,/an' blood on the swordblade, too./An' if yore a foe of our Rogue Crew,/they'll be blood all over you!/Blood blood! Blood blood—"
Corporal Welkin interrupted before Kite could sing another verse. "Oh, well done, miss. What a jolly little ditty, a right pretty paw tapper, wot!"

Read more...

"Here is a Story That's Stranger Than Strange..."

Zorgamazoo

by Robert Paul Weston

Zorgamazoo has to be the quirkiest book I've ever read. For one thing, it's all in rhyme. For another, it's the story of an adventurous girl and a not-quite-so-adventurous Zorgle who set out to rescue the Zorgles of Zorgamazoo, and end up saving the world from the terrible fate of boredom.

Katrina Katrell was an extremely likable, plucky heroine. The descriptions were witty and the book was loads of fun. Now I wish that every book was told in rhyme.

If Roald Dahl and Dr. Seuss had teamed up to write a book, Zorgamazoo would have probably been the result.

So if you've no time for whimsical things,

for pirates and gadgets and creatures and kings,

if you spurn the fantastic to never return

then

PUT THIS BOOK DOWN...

for it's not your concern.

-Excerpt

Favorite Line:

"Hey You!" she cried out./"Do you want some advice?/How 'bout/kidnapping /people is not/very nice!"

Objectionable content: A few mentions of bodily functions.

Related Reads:

James and the Giant Peach-Roald Dahl

A House Called Awful End-Philip Ardagh

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator-Roald Dahl

Read more...

Help

The Help

rated PG-13 for thematic material.

I swore I would review every movie I saw in theaters this year, but there's really not much to tell.

After the first five minutes I left and went to go watch Harry Potter instead.

Why did I leave? Because:

a) I wasn't following any of it,

b) There was too much swearing,

and

c) The characters were having innapropriate conversations.

So, yeah.

Read more...

Yet Another Harry Potter Post

The Harry Potter cast shared memories from filming the eight movies over a decade, and I thought I'd share them with you.

Enjoy.

(Belongs to Entertainment Weekly.)

"I was pretty intimidated by Ralph [Fiennes; Voldemort]. I still am to a certain extent. In real life he is quite sweet. But in terms of his acting, it can make you quake in your boots a little bit."

—Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter)

''When it came time to shoot the big kiss between Ron and Hermione, Rupert [Grint] and I cracked under the pressure. We were just dying from laughter. It was quite hard to take it all so seriously, but we also knew we had to do it right, because we had only been building up to this moment for 10 years and seven films. I think we got there at the end. I was nervous and giggly, but it was good.'' —Emma Watson (Hermione Granger)

''The first thing I shot was the very last scene of the first film, when we're all on the train and leaving Hogwarts and going home. It was my first time anywhere near a film set. There were so many people and so much going on. It was very confusing, and very overwhelming, and yet also really, really exciting. From the very first time Chris Columbus said, 'Action!' I was just on this amazing high." —Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley)

''[Prisoner of Azkaban director] Alfonso Cuarón asked us to write essays about our characters. I didn't do mine, because I didn't think Ron would. Or that was my excuse. At the time, I was actually quite busy with the real schoolwork involved with my exams, and I just didn't do it. But in the end, it felt right because that's what Ron would have done.'' —Grint

''Chris wisely kept me away from [Daniel, Emma, and Rupert] before our first scene together. So in that sense, the first person they met was Gilderoy Lockhart. They seemed to enjoy and be fairly flabbergasted at his extraordinary personality, hair, and teeth. But I got to know them after that.'' —Kenneth Branagh (Gilderoy Lockhart)

''I wore a fat suit in [films] 3, 4, 5, and 6. And I had false teeth in 3 and 4. I didn't mind it — until I was 14 or 15 and there were girls on set. I was a bit like, 'Why me?' '' —Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom)

 

''My [filming] was always contained to seven weeks of the year. The rest of the time I was making other movies or directing. But as soon as I put that Snape costume back on, I sort of go, 'Oh, yeah...I know you.'' —Alan Rickman (Severus Snape)

''To be a schoolboy up in the gallery watching Michael Gambon and Maggie Smith at the National Theatre, and then [decades later] to find yourself sitting in a canvas chair, laughing with them on set... It's very special.'' —Rickman

 

''Had I ever thought that I would be doing a scene with Gary Oldman that lasted a month, as my fight scene did, I would have always imagined it to have been Shakespeare, not a wand battle on a papier-mâché hillside. But still! It was more fun than people should get paid for.'' —Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy)

 

''We all read the books when Jo [Rowling] released them, along with everyone else. It let us experience the books as readers and as fans, not just as people who work on the movie.'' —Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley)

''I was so scared of Alan that it took me about five years to muster up a conversation with him. But he has an incredible sense of dry wit. While Snape is a very daunting character, Alan is actually a very friendly guy.''

—Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy)

''All these props and sets started to feel real, the more you used them over the course of the films. The wands weren't just a prop or a piece of wood. They were very personal to you. There was something very, dare I say 'magical,' about it.'' —Warwick Davis (Professor Flitwick)

''Oh, I loved my [onscreen] children! I loved them! The fourth film, I wasn't in it, and I got postcard from them saying, 'Come back, Mom! Dad can't control us!' The whole feel of the job was very homey and very family. I've never known a film [series] like it. I suppose it's because we were there for 10 years and we saw the children grow up and the rest of us grow old. It didn't ever feel like work.'' —Julie Walters (Mrs. Weasley)

''When you use a wand, it's like [playing Nintendo] Wii. You use a lot of strength, but you're not actually hitting anything, so the next day your arm will be killing you from all that wand action.'' —Natalia Tena (Tonks)

''I was an obsessive fan of the books and movies. I remember the day [director] David Yates phoned the house and said I'd be doing a screen test with Daniel Radcliffe. I was pretending to be like, 'Yup, that's fine.' And I was freaking out inside.'' —Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood)

''[My twin brother Oliver and I] actually didn't find out who was going to play Fred Weasley and who was going to play George Weasley until the read-through. We had the scripts and everything. I honestly did prefer Fred, and that's how it turned out.'' —James Phelps (Fred Weasley)

''I've always played bad people or funny people. I've never really played such a nice person in my life, certainly not for 10 years. So that was a really nice departure for me, and I still get sort of goggle-eyed 10-year-olds staring at me in supermarkets. It's quite odd, really.'' —Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid)

''I remember the very first take of the very first scene that I did; as I minced out of Dumbledore's office, Chris Columbus shouted, 'Shut the door behind you!' And I asked, 'Could I just wave my arm and the door shuts by magic?' And he said, 'Sure!' And I thought, 'This is going to be a ride.' And it was.'' —Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy)

Read more...

30 Awesome Characters

Once again, I got this idea from All That is Gold (stop doing awesome posts, Marian!:) The rules are to list 30 fictional characters that you like, you identify with, have influenced you, or are simply unforgettable.

Let's begin.

Spider Carey from Dirty Magic by Carol Hughes
Dustfinger from Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Smike from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

Shifu from Kung Fu Panda

Mr. Tumnus from The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean
Sirius Black from Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Aragorn
Faramir
Eomer
Samwise Gamgee
Paton Yewbeam from Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo
Vanessa Santoro from Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Shiara from Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

Puddleglum from The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis
Gwydion from The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
Eilonwy
Fflewdur Fflam
Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

Reepicheep from The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Rapunzel from Tangled

Milligan from The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Col. Robert E. Hogan from Hogan's Heroes
Philip from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon

Mr. Warne from Miss Potter

Sextus Rubrius from The Kingdom and the Crown by Gerald N. Lund
Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

Read more...

The Rogue Crew Quotes Part 1

Who rules o'er the Kingdom of Night,/where all is not what it seems?/'Tis I, the Weaver of Tales,/for I am the Dreamer of Dreams!

"Hoolawhey! Hoolawhey!/Hurry to the slaughter./Hiyaree! Hiyaree!/Meet us in the water./Come back here, do not fear,/come and grant our wishes./Join your friends in this sea,/come and feed the fishes./Hoolawhey! Hoolawhey!/We will meet another day./Hiyaree! Hiyaree!/Flee, cowards, flee!"

When Mowlag had gone, Razzid whispered to Shekra, "When will I be fit enough to move about again?"
The vixen bowed respectfully. "Why ask me when you already know, Lord?"
A faint chuckle rose from the bandaged figure. "I would have slain you for answering falsely."

The volemaid asked that question which all little ones ask. "Why?"

"We'll sleep all the day whilst the chaps drill away./Aye, we'll snore just like hogs down a hole,/firm comrades let's stay until our dyin' day,/in the ranks of the great Long Patrol!"

"Ho round an' round an' round ee floor,/shutten ee window, close ee door,/moi likkle beauty take ee charnce,/join Oi en ee molebabe darnce!/Clappen ee paws a-wun, two, three,/twiggle ee tail roight merily,/moi ole granma carn't do thiz,/a-'cos she'm got ee roomatiz!/Jump ee h'up naow gurtly 'igh,/watch thy 'ead, doan't bump ee sky,/jumpen 'igher than ee trees,/hurr, wot 'arpy childs uz bee's!"

"Who can flippin' well say? The tracks are plain, an' what don't speak don't blinkin' well lie, as my pa used t'say."

"Sing rum-toodle-oo, rum-toodle 'ey,/an' splice the mainbrace, matey,/roll out the grog, ye greedy hog,/'cos I ain't had none lately."

"Have ye ever tasted yer ain blood? Well, ye will if ye dinnae answer mah questions, vermin. Now, speak!"

Shekra stood over her charges, snarling. "Git back, ye seascum. These two ain't t'be touched or hurt-cap'n's orders, so stay yore distance!" She whipped out a thin, keen-edged blade, menacing them.
A slobbering weasel gave her a look of mock alarm. "Ho, deary me, ye've got us all frightened, marm!"
The vixen jabbed her blade, making him stagger back. "Better t'be frightened than dead, grogsnout."

Tears sprang to Drander's eyes; his sturdy frame shook. “Cap'n, sah, don't say that, I blinkin' well beg ye! Put me on a fizzer, lock me in the guardhouse, feed me on weeds'n'water, anythin' but chuckin' me out o' the Patrol. 'Tis my whole life, sah!"
Rake Nightfur's attitude took on an unexpected change. He winked at Drander and smote his back heartily. "Och, yer a great gormless galoot, but ye have a guid heart, laddie. Now, how are ye at breakin' doon walls?"
Drander sniffed, wiped his eyes and saluted smartly. "Sah! Just show me the flamin' wall an' I'll break it, sah!"
Rake nodded toward the far section of the wall. "Take Wilbee's spear an' let's see ye do a wee bit o' damage tae that. Smartly, now!"
Big Drander grabbed the spear and charged the wall, his bellows ringing out over the din of javelin rattling. Everybeast leapt aside as he stampeded past. "Eulaliiiiaaaa! Blood'm'vinegaaaaar!" He hit the composition of sand, limestone and reed grass so hard that he went clear through it.
Captain Rake stepped through the huge, ragged gap and shook his paw. "Well done, bucko! All charges dropped, Ah think, eh!"
Drander's face lit up like a summer sunset. From flat on his back, where he had landed, he saluted. "No more sleepin' on duty for me, sah. Tank ye, Cap'n!"

The pretty hogmaid reached out in the darkness, finding Uggo's paw. "Then we'll have to think of something to tell this vermin Razzid."
Uggo muttered hopelessly. "Huh, like wot?" He winced as Posy tweaked his nose. She berated him angrily. "Like something that'll save my life! Look, I know you're frightened of the vermin—I am, too. But it's no good sitting and moaning here. We've got to do something. Make a plan, try some sort of escape, anything except wait here to be slain!"

Read more...