National Treasure

We went to the movies to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets today. The first National Treasure is a great movie, so we were hoping that the sequel would at least be nearly as good. I actually liked it pretty well. Sometimes sequels are overdone, with exaggerated plots and characters to try to make the old story interesting again. This one had an interesting story on its own and built upon the first movie well. There were a few action scenes that were overdone, a car chase in particular, but I still thought it was good. The biggest flaw with the movie was that the main characters, Ben and Abigail, had been living together since the story left off in the last movie and had broken up at the beginning of this one. They left it open for a third movie at the end, but it would probably be better if they left it alone. After two times, the same story can get old.

The first National Treasure is definitely the better of the two. In that one, Ben is searching for hidden treasure by clues on old documents and historical monuments. One of my favorite things about the movie (and the second one, too) is how they highlight so many historical documents and places, making you really look at them for details you never noticed before. I always want to go to Washington and all the other historical places in America when I watch these movies. Wouldn't it be neat to see the Declaration of Independence in person? I think so. Anyway, I definitely recommend the first movie.

Color Seasons

A message board that I read started an interesting discussion about the book Color Me Beautiful this week. Well, it's interesting if you find things like color palettes interesting. :) The idea of this book is that taking a person's complexion, hair color, and eye color into consideration, you can classify them into one of four seasons -- Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter -- with their own unique palette of colors that they look best in. Spring has light, bright colors like citruses and corals, Summer has soft pastels and blues, Autumn has earth-tones with oranges and browns, and Winter has vivid, bright colors and black.

I read this book when I was about twelve and used to follow "my colors" to the letter. I mix things up a little bit now, but I still stay in the basic outline of my color palette. Because I am a Winter, I only wear "cool" colors with a blue undertone, but I do wear a few Summer colors now, especially light blue. I also like chocolate brown a lot, but I never wear tan or orange.

This is a really good book to use as a guideline when you go shopping. There are even some good make-up tips in it, but take into consideration that the book was written in the early nineties, so some of the make-up is a little outdated. Even though it's the recommended color for Winters, magenta lipstick just isn't a good thing anymore! So, I can use the tips that pink tones are best for my blush and lipstick, but in more natural colors. Here is a quiz to see which season you are. Some of the questions seemed stupid to me, but the result was Winter, so maybe it works!

What type of color season are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Winter You are a Winter! See FLAREgamer for more details on which type of Winter you are. Winter 58% Autumn 50% Summer 33% Spring 17%

Reagan Quotes

http://www.boundlessline.org/2008/01/reagans-quotes.html



Boundless blog had a neat post with lots of different quotes from Ronald Reagan today. My favorite is the one about Thomas Jefferson.

My Latest Reference Photos.........

We'll have to see how the drawings turn out. :)

Springtime in January

The weather was so nice today. It was actually warm with just a little bit of a cool breeze. I spent this morning working on some new drawings, but after lunch I had to go for a walk. I had put Princess outside to play for the first time in a long time. When I went out to walk, she was so happy and excited that I got her leash out and took her with me. During the summer, she hates to go for a walk worse than anything, but she practically begged to go today. It was so nice to be outside for a change.

I enjoyed working at my new drafting table a lot. It was great to have all my art supplies organized, right at my reach, and to be able to see my drawing and my reference photo at one time. The desk lamp has been an aggravating issue. I got one kind of lamp to go with the desk for Christmas, but when my dad helped me put it on, there was no way it would work. This kind of desk lamp comes with a clamp that attaches to the table and then you set the lamp into the clamp. What it doesn't have is a way for the lamp to stay in the clamp. It swung around and crashed into the wall on one side, then swung forward and fell out. The manufacturer didn't provide instructions, either. We tried several times to make it work, but it was just impossible. We took it back to the store this week and I picked another one with a built-in magnifying glass. This one is a lot sturdier than the other, but any sudden movements near it will send the lamp swinging into the wall. Oh well. The light works, that's the important thing.

I'm also trying to finish Persuasion before the movie debuts next week. I like the story a lot and can't wait to see the movie. The old version with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds really needed an update.

And so....

I know I haven't posted very much lately. I have had a really bad cold. I caught it on Christmas day and haven't been able to get rid of it. Pretty much all I have done is sit around in my new penguin pajamas and read my Jane Austen book, feeling miserable. Anyway, I think I'm finally getting a little better.

I re-read two of Jane Austen's lesser known books Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park in the last week. It has been years since I read either of them and, since there aren't any good movie adaptations of them, I had forgotten most of the story lines of each. From what I remembered of the last time I read them, I didn't really like Northanger Abbey, but Mansfield Park had been one of my favorite Austen works. After reading them this time, I changed my mind. I actually liked Northanger Abbey very much. I think it was one of Austen's earlier works, not as complicated or detailed as her others, but I enjoyed it a lot. I still liked Mansfield Park and still consider it among my three favorites, but I was really disappointed in the "hero" of the story, Edmund Bertram. It's not that I expect "heroes" to be perfect -- Mr. Darcy is my favorite and he had plenty of flaws -- but by the end of the story Edmund didn't seem to be much different than the men who had been given shallow characters in order to make his brilliance stand out. And yet, he was supposed to be just as wonderful and brilliant at the end of the book as at the beginning. I wasn't impressed.

Anyway, for the next three months, PBS is broadcasting a Jane Austen series. Masterpiece Theatre has come out with several new movies -- Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, and Miss Austen Regrets, a biopic. They are suppose to air on your local PBS stations every Sunday for the next few months, but when I checked my local listings, I wasn't sure if that was the case here or not. I'm really looking forward to seeing adaptations of the books I just read. Maybe Edmund will seem better in a movie than he did in the book!

First post in 2008

It's snowing for the first time this winter!!