Blown Away...

Ok, so opening song of the day, mainly because I don't know what the theme of the rant will be this time. But first I want to direct attention to a movie I watched today that blew my mind away. Missing Pages. It you don't go an at least give the trailer a try you are seriously missing out on something. The whole movie will only take half an hour of you life at most. Today at work I was bored and I remembered that I had this movie on my ipod and decided to give it a try, so this is a movie that managed to blow my mind on a ipod screen. I am looking forward to when I sit down and watch it on my computer. The first thing that hit me was the amazingly cool 'filming' style. And then it was the beauty of the pictures. And then it was the creepyness of the Core guys (just look at this picture), and then it was the twist and the sudden end. Before I watched the movie I had hear an interview with Jerome Oliver, the writer and director of the movie, so the story made kind of sense to me.
And since I am up to date with the 7th Son podcast, I started listening to 'Billibub Baddings and the case of the singing sword' by Tee Morris. The story is set in 1929 Chicago and it is a fantasy detective novel, and I love it. I finished it today, and I am for sure buying a copy of the written version, if not for myself then for the SSFFS libary. But I see myself reading this book to my sister's spawn when the little monster grows up, sans chapter 13 or with an heavily edited version of it, but more on the spawn later. And then today when I finished Billi, I started The Rookie by Scott Sigler, now I have started Earthcore by the same guy and I have the first 8 or so chapters of Infected on my ipod, but somehow it was The Rookie I fell for, which is odd because it is about a pro-football player. Yes, American Football, which I know so much about....I think the only sport I know less about is polo. But yes, it is a SciFi story about an football player, yep I was kinda "Eeeeeekeeey?" but when Sigler said 'give me four chapters to hook you' I decided to try, and he had me hooked by the first chapter. So when I get back, I am going to need someone to explain football to me, anyone up to the challange?

In the sewing department things are going great. Mom is helping with the collar on the coat. And I have started on the linnen dress, and by some cool coincidence I bought too much fabric so, I might be making a skirt as well. The fabric for the dress is cut, edges sealed (I actually don't know the word for this, but it is something you do to keep the fabric from fraying), and the darts are done, and a tiny bit of the main construction is done. I am also going to need to put in a zipper here, a zipper that I haven't bought, but since I am going to the city to renew my passport tomorrow I should be able to get hold of it. I should also see if I can get some nice summer high heels since my old ones broke. And buy hair dye, I am going back to dark purple.

Larping

I don’t think I’ll be going back to larping at Smith. There are several reasons for this, one of them is time. I need to focus on studying if I want to end up doing what I want. And then I need to spend time with the friends that don’t see me every day, my UWC friends. Really, it is a bit of a wonder that they still put up with me when seeing them once a week was about as often as I got around to it. I want to be able to go to our five college UWC parties and hang out with that crowd as well.

Then it is the Arkham by Night crowd. The people in this group that I like to hang out with, I get to hang around anyway, or have contact with outside the game. Apart from these people, a lot of the people in the game get on my nerves. I could elaborate but I am not going to since a lot of it is issues I have with specific people and I am not in the mood to do shit throwing in the open. Having in my head is bad enough. Let’s just say that the entire this started to bore me. I think it was because it felt like we were doing the same thing time after time after time. Which we were. Now you need to know that I fell in love with Norwegian larping way back, and it really is a part of me. I have been a larper for the last 3 years and I was in the scene for two years before that (mainly because Norwegian larps run a 16 or 18 year limit on games unless you have family members in the game). And in those years none of the larps I have been interested in have been the same. The closest is Elencalion Formen which ran its fourth game this summer. But the plot have been different enough that it does not feel like I am repeating myself. And heck for EF:5 we are considering a winter larp. Another is Norwegian Woods where the second game is getting planned for ’08. The first was set in the woods where several groups of people got together, and stuff happened. Yes it was a Call of Cathulu larp. I recommend the Phenomena X; recovered files form Norway movie if you are interested. That was the in game tv crew’s documentary, and it is in English. NW2 is the sequel, and surviving characters can be brought back. But as far as I know they are running it in a different part if the country and in an actual insane asylum. And plot wise it is in an insane asylum as well. That is just beyond cool.

In AbN I also felt like there was a lot of competition between the players; I probably was responsible for this myself, but still. I never really felt comfortable at the dinner or stuff. I larp because of the amazing people in the community, and because of the unique sense of community we have, and to be honest the AbN crowd lacked that. I don’t know if it is the people, the style of larping or just that I never really got into it. But it felt like people was playing, both in and out of character, for the sake of their own character and not for the sake of the story. Now it is true that a selfish and not to mention self preserving character is realistic, especially in a vampire game, but it felt like a lot of people was breaking character and meta gaming. I have yet to encounter Meta gaming in Norwegian larps, yes we do go out of character, mainly because when you are in character for 24 hours, 48 hours or even five days in a row you need to in order not to go crazy. But I have seen 3-5 year olds stay in character better in certain situations than similar situations in AbN.

Lastly I have problems working up enthusiasms to go game in AbN again. I just don’t want to. It has become something I have to do because other characters depend on mine. In comparison, there are larps here where I beat myself over the head because I can’t go. I seriously considered dropping international student intro week last year to go to Dragon bane. DB was a giant (900 - 1200 players) pan-European larp in Sweden. I am secretly lobbying for not having EF5 be a winter larp so that I can go. I was considering to skip work a week to go work (not even be a player) at a larp on the west coast. I look at how much I want to look at that and then I look at myself having to force myself to Seelye on those Saturday nights. Why bother doing something I don’t really want to?

Now, I am not stopping larping, for god’s sake... I’ll larp in Norway, and I might go back to Arkham, but I just need a break from it. I’ll still be plotting my larp for up here in Norway and am going to work on my character concept for a future EF. Heck I am even toying with the idea of a Shadow run or 7^th Son larp. Both of which will require a lot of crew to get running. 7^th Son larp could be real fun though. The idea has been brewing in my head for a few days and prolly will need a lot more brewing. Not to mention an extreme amount of planning to become good. Did I mention a big crew? If I would run these I would want to do it as a Norwegian style larp, i.e. no dice or cards and GM telling you what you know. You know what you know…Now that requires also an insane amount of preparation from the player, but I think it would be a cool experiment. If any of you are 7^th Son fans and agree with me, drop me a line. And when I say a big crew I mean prolly 20-30 people for maybe 10 players. I am using the word crew and not story teller, because in Norway we actually have different names for the different jobs. Arangør (Manager) is responsible for the practical stuff, getting a place, getting food, etc. The IL or Intrige Leder (Intrigue Leader or Game Master) is, surprisingly enough, responsible for the plot and making sure it runs smooth. SIS or Skummelt I Skogen (Scary in the Forest or NPC-players) is exactly that. You are a part of the crew and you generally have more than one character. Now it is not uncommon for a player whose character dies to go be a SIS, did I mention playing for the sake of the story and not for the sake of your character. A 7^th Son larp would need a couple of Managers, 4-5 ILs and a ton of SIS. Shadowrun would as well. But given the choice I think I would actually like to SIS these games.

Talking about 7^th Son, I have caught up so I have to wait for the next chapters… How am I going to survive only getting about 30 minutes of 7^th Son a week? By reading other books. I am rereading Ender’s Game which Nat gave me last summer and I am listening to Number 1 with a Bullet, Infected, Earthcore and Billibub Baddings and the case of the Singing Sword. The three last are by authors who are supposed to be very good and I fell for the concept of the first one.

On a costume/sewing related note, most of the major construction on the coat is done, of the major things I have to do the arms and then it is all small stuff like the collar and buckles and stuff. I might have to do some more design changes though but those have to wait until my mom gets back. Estimated time remaining 5-6 hours, estimated time spent 2-3 hours. I am giving myself loads of time, because now it is detail time and I want them to look good. That is another reason to wait until my mom gets back. It is not like I don’t have other projects…

Mann Gegen Mann

Mann Gegen Mann by Rammstein.

Lately there have been a big discussion in Norway about the role of men. Fair enough, it was needed. Especially when you consider some of the opinions that have flourished in the Media. Especially when there has been talk about children growing up in gay couples. Knut Haavik, a owner of a tabloid newspaper, said the following 'I pity children who grow up with two parents. It is almost egoistic. For the sake of the children one should avoid it. They can become victims of bullying and I don't think it won't be easy when both daddies or both mothers show up for meetings at school'....'Both daddies'? It is called 'both fathers', you nutjob. Ok, he didn't say daddy considering it was in Norwegian but still he used the Norwegian equivalent of daddy. Just the fact that he uses that word is demeaning. The rest of what I feel about this statement can be summed up in what my new hero Arve Juritzen said; "Oh, this was sad. It is people and opinions like that that create bullying. Children do not have prejudices before they hear them from grown ups...The only comfort is that Haavik belongs to the dionours. They died out because they couldn't adapt." That sums up exactly what I think about this discussion. If we don't show children that it is ok to be different, then these prejudices and people like Haavik have won. It is like having children of a different ethnic group or religion in the class room. They have no choice either and they also run the risk of getting bullied. As a person who have grown up with a different religion than what is the norm here, I can affirm that. But you know, my bullies, whne it came to the religion aspect, wasn't the other students, it was the teachers. But we don't stop these children from going to school or say to parents of a different ethnic group or religion than the straight white member of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church from having children. Imagine the mess we would be in if we even tried. So why is it ok to try when it comes to homosexual people? Sometimes I am disgusted by people. Today it is Haavik. Juritzen on the other hand is my new hero. On top of saying just what I felt, he is openly gay and the single father of a three year old girl, yay! Brave people.

In more happy news, sewing update:
Leather coat: pattern modified and pieces cut, construction will begin tomorrow. What I am going differently than the pattern: it is a full length coat in stead of just a above the knee and it has a zipper and buckles in stead of buttons.

Up at a sensible time

Yeah it is half past nine in the morning here, I woke up about 45 minutes ago. And for once I got up and took a shower. Considering that I have slept untill half past one the last few days that is pretty good. But I have too much that needs to be done today. First finish easting, I am dead hungry because I forgot to eat yesterday, have a cup of coffee, take the horse out in about fifteen minutes, she did not want to get out when my brother tried earlier so I am going to let her stew for a little while, bake bread, make dinner, vaccum the kitchen and living room and do laundery. Considering that I have no clean clothes for tomorrow that is pretty bad. My brother, Dad and I are celebrating tomorrow back home, having a really chilled 17. I might celebrate the 16. tonight, after all there is that bottle of vodka and then I have some wine and some (good) beer, not planning on finishing anything tonight, but I might have a beer or two. My mom left for Rome yesterday. She is going to be gone untill Sunday. I hope she has a good time, it was her 50th year birthday present from her siblings. I am kind of proud since I was the one who got that started.
I haven't been that jetlagged this time, I was on monday. And then it is Claire's fault I was up untill dawn yesterday morning (dawn starts at 4 AM by the way). Dawn is very beautiful. It is something special about having been up all night just to see it get light again. Two of the coolest ones I have seen was last year in the end of may. First the night before my Norwegian exam, staying up roleplaying with Ace, Seth and Armand and the second was sitting next to Bunny or Cheryl on the bus to Oslo leaving Flekke for good.
Sewing is going well. The bodice is at the embroidery stage and it is going to take a while to get past this stage. There is a lot of embroidery to go on this. The skirt is almost finished cut and ready to be sewn, that will take maybe an hour. The corset is still not done, but I don't have the material I need, so that is going to have to wait untill mom gets home.
Apart from that I am reading, watching 'Allo 'Allo which my brother gave me the first 4 seasons of, and just chilling. I am online pretty much all the time.

Mumbelings

My corset is comming is comming along nicely, it have been taken a while longer than I planned for, mainly due to my dad not being able to explain grommets to me (yeah, untill yesterday, I did not know how to fix the grommets). What I am doing now is hand stiching the last little pieces. I am also planning to start and finish off the chemise today, they are simple to do. After that I hope to make the dress and the embroidery on it. The embroidery design I am looking at doing is from 1877, not the right era, but it has the fantasy-like feel I want.

I am at my moms work place, one of my old English-teachers asked me to come to his class and talk about the US and studying. I have descovered that I like talking and comes quite naturaly to me now.

Adventures of a Garlic Lover

if I ever have my own food program it will be named "Adventures of a Garlic Lover". I just adore garlic, the more the merrier. I made dinner yesterday, Garlic and Rosemary Chicken with Jamie Potatoes, I used about half a garlic in the entire thing. But at the same time I like to keep it fairly simple, only a few tastes at a time. The chicken for example, garlic, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, salt, and olive oil, and that is it.

Garlic and Rosemary Chicken
(My variation of a Jamie Oliver style chicken)
You need:
Chicken (I use leg, but you can use only breast or a whole chicken)
Rosemary
Thyme
Garlic
Salt
Whole black pepper
Olive oil (I use extra virgin )

First you crush the whole black pepper in a mortar and pestle, add in the rosemary and the thyme and crush a bit more. Then you add in garlic, loads of it, mush that as well and stir in some oil until it has a nice consistency. Use your hand and make a pocket between the skin and meat of the chicken and put some of the garlic mixture in. Drizzle salt and oil over and leave to set for 15-20 minutes. I roasted mine on top of the potatoes, but you can roast them on their own. 1-1.5 hour at 200 degrees C (392 F, 473 K).

Jamie Potatos:
(My mom and I playing with another Jamie style potatos)
You need:
Potatos (washed or peeled)
Oilve Oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Thyme

Peel/wash potatos and then cut into quarters. Add on seasoning, garlic and oil. Mix a bit. Roast on 200 degrees C for 1.5-2 hours)


On another subjects:
I have been watching PotC:DMC, I love Jack Sparrow. I want a pirate, I want a ship...
Sewing: I have made a skirt, will finish my corset today and hopefully work on the dress, gamerson, pants, and shirt tomorrow.
LARP: Bjørn Are adn I decided to prostpone the vampire oneshot, since it seems like we would be 4 people (Baba and myself included).