Padme

Thanks to Adam875 for putting this on his site:

Random thoughts

I sang at a wedding today…it was a beautiful ceremony, lovely couple, gorgeous day. But after having gone through my own wedding so recently, I now notice all the things that could have gone better had the bride & groom (or maybe the wedding planner?) thought the details through just a little bit more.

The ceremony took place outside, and the bridesmaids and brides had to traverse a very long lawn to get to the site. They did so in 4-inch stiletto heels, all of them. I almost wanted to say kudos to them, but I was too busy laughing (on the inside, of course!) as their heels accumulated rose petals like those pointy canes that pick up trash while they marched down the rose-carpeted aisle. The bride had to be held up by her parents as she walked because she kept falling into the soft ground. NOTE TO ALL FUTURE BRIDES: if you are going to get married outside, make sure you (and your bridesmaids) choose appropriate footwear.

The ceremony music was untraditional, for sure, which made me happy, because I got to sing something other than Schubert’s Ave Maria . Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for a bride who knows what she wants with regard to music, rather than the standard, "What do you suggest?" Because that’s when I end up with Ave Maria or Panis Angelicus or one of the oldies but goodies. I do like a little change now and again, just to spice things up. But whoever picked the music didn’t really think of the timing or the appropriateness of some of the selections. The groomsmen entered to a somewhat menacing Janá?ek piece played by the string quartet, and they were lined up at the front and ready to go before the piece was even halfway over. And my solo, "Ich habe genug" (Bach Cantata, BWV 82), would have been 8 minutes long before we cut it down to a mere 3′50" during the rehearsal immediately prior to the ceremony. SECOND NOTE TO FUTURE BRIDES: make sure you know what all your music selections sound like and how long everything is going to take.

Other than that, everything else went pretty smoothly. There were some problems with the wireless microphones, but I didn’t need a mic in that intimate setting, so I personally didn’t care one way or the other.

In other news, I’ve actually had enough time on my hands that I’ve been surfing around Digg.com (dangerous, I know) and came across this picture , which had the title "Never piss off an engineer." Priceless.

More nerdism

When I put up that link to rejected Star Wars toy ideas, I neglected to give props to Adam875, who turned me onto the link. Thanks, Adam875.

Tonight, Ray, as both of us got in his car, turned on a Weird Al song that I’d never heard before (although apparently it’s been around for 2 years), but which is now my new favorite song. And hey, is that Seth Green in the video, smacking his ass? Rock on!

Nerdware

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll probably have noticed I’m somewhat of a freak for all things Star Wars. And while I never got around to posting the Wookie version of “Silent Night” on this site or Eddie Izzard’s hilarious Death Star Canteen routine set to Legos, I would like to share this link with you about some rejected Star Wars toy ideas.

At the bottom, he’s got all his sketches of the rejected ideas. I’m not so sure how I feel about the Han Solo fridge (that’s a little macabre, isn’t it?), but I would TOTALLY buy the Bantha slippers. Except that sandpeople always travel in single file to hide their tracks…so would the Banthas on my feet be ridden by storm troopers? Hmm…

The Dreaded Blog Tag

Okay, I’m going to be puerile while I’m taking a break from packing. It’s silly, I know, but I think I need to be silly. Thanks, Patti.

Put down 10 random facts about yourself in your blog, then go comment 10 of your friends to read your blog and let them know they have been tagged. And put their name at the bottom of the blog!

1. I can recite by memory Greedo’s lines to Han Solo in Star Wars Episode IV.
2. I like raw cherries, but I can’t abide them in any cooked form (cherry pie, cherry sauce, cherry-flavored ice cream). Maraschino cherries, however, are okay, since they really bear no resemblance whatsoever to a real cherry other than its shape. I also don’t like cooked pineapple.
3. My hair started turning gray when I was 18.
4. Sometimes I sing in my sleep…I’ve even been known to solfege in my sleep!
5. There was a time in my life when I wanted to be an astronomer. Then I found out how much math was involved in that profession.
6. I like talking to trees. I try not to do it too much when there are other people around, though, because they start to laugh and point (more than they usually do).
7. Someday I want to take a trip around the world. So far, I’ve only made it as far as Europe.
8. I met my husband at a Renaissance Faire.
9. I have negative ankles (you have to see it to believe it).
10. I’m a grammar/spelling snob.

So now I pass this tag back to Jill, Marc E., Greta, Mancheco, Evil Ron, and anyone else who wants to be tagged (because I’m terrible at passing things on).

Why did it take me so long to catch this?

After watching Ray watch The Incredibles for the umpteenth time, I realized that there is a MAJOR grammar blooper in a movie that will probably be influencing the way kids speak. When Mr. Incredible gets his first assignment from Mirage, she says, “We have something in common. According to the government, neither of us exist.” I think it bugged me when I first saw it and maybe the second time, but I must have tuned it out the next 15 or 16 times it’s been on the TV.

Yo, Disney/Pixar people!!! Your verb must agree with its subject. “Neither” is singular, and therefore the correct wording is “neither of us exists.” Why did no one over there catch that? Is it in the script and Elizabeth Peña just didn’t speak English too well and nobody bothered to correct her? I’m also a little shocked that there aren’t any forums or blogs or any kind of commentary out in the great wide world of cyberspace about it either. Well, if no one else will speak up about it, I suppose I must.

Okay, I think I’ve seen this movie one too many times. I’m going to go do my taxes now…that should calm me down.

Nerdiness to the nth degree

So I’ve been in rehearsals for an upcoming concert that includes works by Poulenc, Distler, and many others. The Distler is a gorgeous collection of variations of “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen,” or, for those non German-speakers out there, “Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming.” And very luckily for us, we have a native German in our midst to coach us in our pronunciation. Now, our de facto German coach has been harping upon our conductor to pronounce the name Distler as “Dees-tler,” contrary to what one would normally pronounce that word if it weren’t a proper noun.

Likewise, I’ve been very quietly (more like under my breath or with a few of the members of my section) been correcting our conductor’s pronunciation of the Poulenc, which, at first glance, might seem to be pronounced “Poo-lonk” (or as one would annotate in IPA, [pu-lãk]), but in fact, the correct pronunciation is “Poo-lenk” [pu-lɛ̃k]. Except I guess I wasn’t so quiet the other night because I opened my big mouth and corrected our dear conductor, who apparently had said it wrong on the radio, and I got some snarkiness from a few singers of, “Well, it’s not Elvish, so how would you know?”

So to that, I say: tomato, to-mah-toe, [pu-lɛ̃k], [di-stlÉ™], let’s call the whole thing off.

Use the Farm, Cuke

Because I feel so guilty about using those chemicals on the poison ivy, I think it is my duty to urge everyone to join the Organic Rebellion. Seriously, check it out; it’s a really hilarious Star Wars parody with grocery store vegetables.

Other pop culture tidbits…I just ordered my Firefly DVD, which has the complete season on it, including some unaired episodes. I know it probably came out a while ago, but I’ve been busy and not with it. I’m very excited though, since I will now be able to see all episodes in order before Serenity comes out in September. There are actually some really cool fan t-shirts out there. Of course I bought one. I’m such a dork.