Thirteen Things about Miss Meliss 13 Things that Begin with K Kajagoogoo: It’s not so much that I love their music, especially since, like most of us in the US, I’m really only familiar with their one song from the 80’s, “Too Shy,” but their name is so much fun to say. Kaleidoscope: I’ve always loved these little tubes made of cardboard and magic. Turn the dial for different designs. Kali: One of my favorite BPAL scents. Here’s their description: Kali, the Black One, is the fearless Goddess of Destruction, Creation, Energy [in her Shakti aspect] and Dissolution. Also named Kaliratri [Black Night] and Kalikamata [Black Earth-Mother], she is the fiercest aspect of Devi, the supreme mother goddess. Kali is a protector Goddess, the destroyer of evil spirits and guardian of the faithful. She, along with her consort Shiva, represent the unending cycle of death and birth, sexual union, creation and destruction. Kali annihilates ignorance, maintains the natural order of the world, and blesses those who strive for spiritual awareness and knowledge of true holiness with infinite tenderness and motherly love. The constant, unending Work of Creation is called the “The Play of Kali”. This perfume is a blend of the sacred blooms of cassia, hibiscus, musk rose, Himalayan wild tulip, lotus and osmanthus swirled with offertory dark chocolate, red wine, tobacco, balsam and honey. Keaton, Michael: A recent mini-marathon of his films gave me new respect for the man who is not only Beetlejuice but also my favorite Batman. I caught one of his gentler movies, My Life, on cable the other day, and had to ask myself, “Why isn’t he doing more?” Myself refused to answer. Kelp: Northern California beaches are littered with kelp fronds, and while at first they seem just like any other sea-weed, a closer look reveals these wonderful oval pods that are quite satisfying to pop. They burst with a wonderful wet squelchy sound. Keys: Old keys, the large ones with the pretty details, are the most intriguing, but so are mystery keys – the ones we have on our rings, but don’t know why, or what they might unlock. I like the satisfying jingle of keys, as well. And there are other keys to consider: piano keys, for example, and the keys beneath my fingertips right now. Whether they open doors, make music, or combine letters and symbols into thoughts and stories, keys are magical. Khaki: It might be the staple of the techy’s wardrobe, but it’s also one of my staples. Khaki pants and a simple black t-shirt can take you from work to dinner with just a touch-up of lipstick required, and khaki shorts and skirts always look crisp and cool, and make my skin look tanner than it is. While I’m NOT a military brat, I used to spend summers hanging Fort Monmouth with my grandparents when I was a small child, and I remember being surrounded by men in khaki and OD whenever we were on post. My grandmother told me once that when I was a newborn, the soldiers returning from Vietnam used to take turns holding me (and all the babies on the ward), so I think my appreciation of khaki and olive drab was instilled as long ago as that. For more about khaki, go here. Kilts: There’s something about a man in a kilt that’s just completely sexy, and yet, a stylized kilt on a little girl can be completely precious. And of course, if you’ve ever been to a Renaissance Faire you’re familiar with the song “The Sleeping Scotsman” – here’s the full version (most recordings have the final two verses omitted.) Oh a Scotsman clad in kilt left the bar one evening fair And one could tell by how he walked he’d drunk more than his share He fumbled round til he could no longer keep his feet Then he stumbled off unto the grass to sleep beside street. Ring-ding diddle diddle aye-dee-oh, ring dye diddly-aye oh, Oh he stumbled off unto the grass to sleep beside the street. Well about that time two young and lovely ladies happened by And one said to the other, with a twinkle in her eye “Oh see yon sleepy Scotsman, so strong and handsome built?” “Well I wonder if it’s true what they don’t wear beneath their kilts.” Ring-ding diddle diddle aye-dee-oh, ring dye diddly-aye oh, “Oh I wonder if it’s true what they don’t wear beneath their kilts.” Well they snuck up to that sleeping Scotsman, quiet as could be And they lifted up his kilt a little bit so they might see And there before their startled eyes, beneath that Scottish skirt, Was nothing more than God had graced him with upon his birth. Ring-ding diddle diddle aye-dee-oh, ring dye diddly-aye oh, Was nothing more than God had graced him with upon his birth. Well they marvelled for a moment, then one said, “We must be gone.” Let’s leave a present for our friend before we move along.” As a gift, they left a blue silk ribbon tied into a bow Around the bonnie star the Scotsman’s kilt did lift and show. Ring-ding diddle diddle aye-dee-oh, ring dye diddly-aye oh, Around the bonnie star the Scotsman’s kilt beneath did show. Well the Scotsman woke to nature’s call and stumbled towards a tree, And as he lifted up his kilt, he gawks at what he sees, And in a strangled voice, he says to what’s before his eyes, “I don’t know where ye been, me lad, but I see ye took first prize!” Ring-ding diddle diddle aye-dee-oh, ring dye diddly-aye oh, “I don’t know where ye been, me lad, but I see ye took first prize!” Our Scottish friend still dressed in kilt continued down the street, He hadn’t gone ten yards or more, when a girl he chanced to meet. She said, “I’ve heard what’s ‘neath that kilt, tell me is it so.” He said, “Just put your hand up miss, if you’d really like to know.” Ring-ding diddle diddle aye-dee-oh, ring dye diddly-aye oh, He said, “Just put your hand up miss, if you’d really like to know.” She put her hand right up his kilt and much to her surprise, The Scotsman smiled and a very strange look came into his eyes. She said, “Why sir that’s gruesome,” and then she heard him roar, “If you put your hand up once again you’ll find it grew some more.” Ring-ding diddle diddle aye-dee-oh, ring dye diddly-aye oh, “If you put your hand up once again you’ll find it grew some more.” Kissing: There are as many reasons to like kissing as there are kinds of kisses. Further explanation isn’t required. Kites: I love kites. I love the way tissue paper, glue, string and sticks can become a toy or a piece of art, or both. I also love the innocent joy that kites and kite-flying represent. Knapsacks: Having never been a briefcase person, I’ve had to come up with an alternative for carrying stuff. Purses are great for essentials, and messenger bags are handy, but it’s the knapsack that I love. Truly, and knapsack and a backpack are not the same thing. The first is for daily carrying, you sling it nonchalantly over one shoulder. It likely has patches or stickers or inked-on doodles, and is the accessory equivalent of a denim jacket. Backpacks, on the other hand, are square and meant for camping, and you use both straps. Also, knapsack is one of those words like “satchel” that sort of implies well-worn canvas or leather, and a life of adventure, even if the adventure might be entirely internal. Knots: In my deepest fantasies, I take a year off and spend it on a sailboat, and have to know how to tie knots. In reality, I suck at this, but I learned a few knots when I was about ten, and my grandfather was teaching me macrame. Other people knit, I do macrame and crewel embroidery. The cruelest part of crewel, by the way? French knots. Koalas: I know they’re not pets, not tame, not friendly, but they’re so adorable with their big eyes and funny noses. I had a life-sized plush Koala when I was a kid – don’t know what happened to it, but I loved that bear. BONUS: Keeshan, Bob: No k-list is complete without mentioning Bob Keeshan, whom most people my age knew as Captain Kangaroo. A gentle soul with a mischievous spirit, I always liked him better than Mr. Rogers. Really.

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I started writing this around three this morning but then we were both so ‘zoned I had to stop.

We went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in Cedar Hill, last night. When we got there around 9:30 there were two lines already, and we became the start of line three. I wasn’t worried, as they were running it on three screens (the times on the website were spaced a minute apart, but I suspect that was to prevent Fandango from being confused), and we all figured out it was irrelevant which time your ticket said, they would fill one auditorium, then open the next.

We ended up sitting in the back, dead center, where we wanted to. I complained that I missed the grandeur of the 1000-seat Century theaters we used to attend in San Jose. I generally always voice this complaint during blockbuster films, but I have to admit, and I think I even put it on Twitter, that I did like the lack of fist-fights over seats. (As we got into line, by the way, the Cinemark folks said, “you can’t hold places in line. If you leave for any reason, your place if forfeited.” As a group, the entire line agreed that if you were there, and with someone, once they’d established a place in line, it was fine to use the restroom or get food, but having people join you wasn’t acceptable. It all happened very politely.)

Trailers included: Stardust, The Bourne Ultimatum, Enchanted, Get Smart, and The Dark is Rising.

As to the movie itself, I’m honestly not sure if I liked it or not. There were elements I loved, there were things I was annoyed by, and of course there was the inevitable disappointment of finding plot elements I loved stripped from the story in order to condense 870 pages into 138 minutes.

That being said, here are highlights.

Things I liked:
– Alan Rickman, David Thewlis, Gary Oldman, Maggie Smith and Emma Thompson. Even if most of their parts were really slender, they were meaningful, and all of these actors convey pages worth of dialogue in a single look. I liked Rickman especially (big surprise), and like the direction they took Snape in this interpretation. His Occulemency scenes seemed softer than I imagined them, but for movie!Snape, it worked.

– The Weasleys and the Dursleys – good to see old faces back, esp. in the latter case. Also Tonks rocked, even if she only spoke like one line. Loved the hair.

– Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood – She does the ‘not quite on this plane’ bit very well.

– Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, and Imelda Staunton – Watching Carter as Bellatrix made me wonder what these films would have been like if Tim Burton had directed them, but only for a second. She’s wonderfully wicked and creepy, and there’s delight in her creepiness. Isaacs still rocks my world, and Staunton made simpering pinkness the epitome of evil.

– The overall dark, grim tone. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next two films aren’t even PG-13, because this was unrelentingly dark.

Things I’m Apathetic About:
– The Trio. Dan’s improving, and one great thing about the film was that, unlike the book, we were not subjected to hours of CAPS-LOCK HARRY! But Emma and Rupert didn’t thrill me. It’s not that they were bad, just…not as good as I hoped.

– Hagrid and Grawp. There was so much of their story not told that what there was seemed disconnected.

– The Thestrals. I think they were too reptilian, but I liked that they were there.

– Kingsley Shacklebolt. Loved the costume. Wanted the costume. And while George Harris was great, somehow, in my head, Kingsley was always more like either Lenny Henry (as Chef!) or Geoffrey Holder (the UnCola guy from the 80’s), or maybe a sort of cross between them.

Things I Hated:
– The Wesley twins’ departure from the school. Fun, and a nice break from the grimness, but lacking the punctuation of a certain item left behind in the book.

– No mention of secret keeping wrt Grimmauld Place. Not enough Kreacher.

– Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore. Yes, Dumbledore is supposed to be largely twinkle-free and disconnected from Harry in this installment, but I still don’t like his portrayal. Even when Dumbledore is at his darkest moment, he should retain a bit of hope, and Gambon’s Dumbledore lacks that quality. I wonder if he’s read the books yet. I doubt it.

– Not enough Centaurs.

Overall? It was an okay movie when viewed as a sort of visual Cliff Notes for the book, and I enjoyed seeing Snape (ah, Snape) on screen again (young Snape was good, if under-used.), but I know I’m not alone in being unable to give any kind of unqualified thumbs up or thumbs down. Even the crowd we saw it with seemed uncertain. There was applause and laughter where there should have been, but it was weak and thready applause and laughter.

(Of course, I still want the DVD, when it comes out.)

Oh, and, just in case you’re desperate to know this: There’s no need to watch every last bit of the credits – nothing’s stuck in at the end.

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The sky outside my window isn’t really cloudy, and isn’t really hazy. It’s sort of murky, as if it might possibly consider raining but would likely rather not, if it’s all the same to me.

The air, when I stepped outside earlier to make sure Miss Cleo didn’t crash through the spider’s web, was thick and present in a way air really shouldn’t be. Alive, but ominous.

My head, too, feels a bit murky, as if I can’t quite focus, but instead stir up random thoughts:

– We have tickets to the midnight show of Harry Potter, though not at the IMAX theater because it was sold out.

– My hair dye came yesterday. As the manufacturer was out of my usual Atomic Pink, I had to switch colors. Virgin Rose and Cupcake Pink. Couldn’t you just die from sweetness?

– Cleo is still being destructive. I play with her, I walk her, I tell her we’ll be back, and yet she seems determined to rid the house of all carpet one square foot at a time. My dogs have never been crated, but we’re thinking we may have to, as even the bathroom allows access to the edge of a carpet. Alternatively, we could drug her whenever we leave the house. Neither plan is really my favorite.

– I have stories I want to tell, and no focus to tell them.

Here’s hoping the rest of you are having murk-free days.

Had set myself unavailable to CSz this weekend long before I knew I’d be absent for all of June. I’ve promised Fuzzy, you see, that I’d reserve a couple weekend nights a month just for us, and really, I’m glad I did, because I was feeling burnt out and now I’m feeling excited again.

Today (Saturday), we slept late, puttered on computers, spent $115 at LoneStar Comics most of which was for ME. Wait. What?

Well, see, I’m still hooked on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Comic, and I gave my unread copy to Ms. Eclectic because there was only one copy that day and I’d read it in MN, and so we went there to buy a replacement for me so I have a complete set.

And there was the Buffy year one comic book omnibus and I had to have it, and then there was the Harry Potter display and the Slytherin scarf was calling to me, and then there was this game (Ticket to Ride) that we’d been itching to try, and…well…Fuzzy got a book TOO.

We also went to Don Pablos where I had carnitas because the picture was drool-worthy, and this woman at the next table gave us a $5 off coupon because she had extras and they were about to expire. (The carnitas were delicious. I ignored the rice and had steamed veggies instead of beans, and ended up forgoing the tortillas, and just eating it all with a fork.)

And then Starbucks.

Then we came home for more puter-ing and puttering. And I wrote another chapter of my STTNG fanfic that has been on-hold since October-ish. You can read it here (chapter four is what I wrote tonight) or here or here, if you’re so inclined.

And now? Now it’s bedtime.

A bullet point post.

Work:
Wrote two articles.
Talked to a couple of prospective employees, but they didn’t really spark anything.

Dogs:
Zorro vomited all over my office.
Cleo removed two feet of carpeting from the back hallway.
If only they weren’t so cute and cuddly the REST of the time.

Other:
Claimed another domain.
Went to Studio Movie Grill in Arlington for dinner and to see Transformers.
Enjoyed both

Bed Now

1. Jade: I have several pieces of jade – mala beads, earrings, etc – I love the way it always feels cool against my skin, and I like the tranquil green color.
2. Jaguar: Both the car and the cat – the former because I like speed and style, and this marque is known for both, the latter because they’re just so sinuous and sensuous and lethal.
3. Jalopy: I first encountered this word in a Hardy Boys novel when I was six or seven years old, and I loved the way it rolls off the tongue. Now, I also love the romantic vision of piling in an old car for a beachward road trip.
4. Jazz: There’s freedom to play in jazz that other forms of music just don’t have, and there’s also such a rich history of this uniquely American musical form. And my love of it has nothing to do with my secret celebrity crush on Harry Connick, Jr, either. Really.
5. Jellyfish: I used to be afraid of them, when I was a little girl swimming at Ocean Grove or Sandy Hook and my mother would sweep her arm in the water and send them adrift, without ever touching them, but then I saw the jellies exhibit at the Montery Bay Aquarium, and I realized how very magical they are. Alien, but beautiful.
6. Jetes: When I was very young, and enrolled in ballet classes, I learned that the most fun in the world, dance wise, is the jete. Those giant deer-like leaps across the stage are so much like flying.
7. Jetty: At many of the beaches I spent time on as a kid there were long jetties of slate colored rock, slimy with algae and partly covered in sand and seagulls, and often smelling as much of tar as anything else…I always wanted to go the end and feel the spray of the breakers in my face, but of course I was never allowed.
8. Jewelry: I’ve always liked dangly earrings, but it’s only in the past few years that I’ve really started to collect jewelry. A lot of what I have now comes from designers like she who goes by EvilAri on LiveJournal, and by Lucia whose work I fell in love with at a renaissance faire a few years ago. I like funky, original pieces more than shiny nice-lady stuff.
9. Jolan tru: It’s no secret I’m a Trekkie. Or Trekker. Whatever. This phrase is essentially the Romulan equivalent of the Italian ciao or the Hawaiian aloha, and is defined as meaning “Good day” or “Good night” in the Romulan dictionary.
10. Journal: I like blank notebooks themselves, as well as the act of keeping a personal journal. I prefer journals to diaries, as journals imply more adventure, exploration, and narrative. I also like reading published journals. Madeleine L’Engle’s Crosswicks quartet is a personal favorite.
11. Juggling: I don’t know how to juggle – I’ve tried, but never very seriously – but it’s a skill that fascinates me to know end. I have great admiration for jugglers and jesters.
12. Jukeboxes: Pop in a few quarters (nickels in the old old ones) and push a few buttons, and out comes music. When my college friends and I used to visit Mel’s Drive-in on weekends, we had a regular set-list of oldies we used to try and play in order.
13. Jump-ropes: My grandfather used to make mine out of nylon cording, and he’d melt the ends on the gas stove so they wouldn’t fray. I loved them, and would spend hours on the front porch, or skipping rope up and down the driveway, often with my friends. Innocent fun. A fellow blogger mentioned jumping rope recently, and I’m keen to have one again.

We spent most of the day in bed, sleeping and cuddling the dogs, alternately reading and chatting. It’s the way we often spend Sundays, and today was much like another Sunday.

Eventually we decided we ought to do something fun, and thought to check out the new Studio Movie Grill in Arlington, but, alas, everything we wanted to see was sold out at the time we went there, so we trekked over to Cedar Hill because we don’t like the movie theaters in our immediate neighborhood, and saw Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which was fun enough for a summer movie. I was, I confess, far more intrigued by the trailer for The Golden Compass that ran ahead of it. Well, first we went to dinner, and then we saw the movie, but dinner’s dinner, you know?

On the way home, as twilight blended into full darkness, we enjoyed seeing fireworks over the lake and over the hills in all directions, and playing “spot the fireworks” amused us slightly.

We stopped at Starbucks, and Blockbuster, and I came home with The Mistress of Spices and A Good Year, as well as some werewolf movie Fuzzy liked the sound of.

I fed the dogs while Fuzzy went to Taco Bell, because by this time we were hungry again, and we got home in time to catch the last 90 minutes or so of 1776. Fuzzy had never seen it before, I love it, and for some reason, I’d never connected that the infamous Ben Franklin “essential liberty” quotation is used in the movie before tonight.

I am now doing laundry and watching season one of West Wing, which seems an appropriate ending to Independence Day, even if it is now technically the fifth.

(Click to enlarge)