shanith

Can you imagine the peace of the universe...

2008-05-13T11:23:15Z

It ws such a beautiful evening that I walked the long way round Christ Church meadow to the Manor, stopping by the river to watch the rowers pound their way along the dappled waters of the Isis, and sit in the golden sun to finish Lies of Locke Lamora.

Later, lost in the beauty of the light of a late Spring evening, a patch of bluebells catching the sun just had to be photographed. It makes me just a little bit wistful; it reminds me powerfully of this song, maybe just substituting Marion Bridge for Christ Church meadow;

As boys in the boats call to girls on the shore,
Teasing the ones that they dearly adore
And into the evening the courting begins,
And I wish I was with them again

Can you imagine a piece of the universe
More fit for princes and Kings
I'll trade you ten of your cities For Marion Bridge
And the pleasure it brings

Out on the Mira on soft summer nights
Bonfires blaze to the children's delight
They dance round the flames singing songs with their friends,
And I wish I was with them again.

And over the ashes the stories are told
Of witches and werewolves and Oak Island gold.
Stars on the riverface sparkle and spin.
I wish I was with them again

Now I'll conclude with a wish you go well.
Sweet be your dreams, and your happiness swell.
I'll leave you here for my journey begins,
I'm going to be with them again.

Punting in a birthday cake...

2008-05-12T11:37:39Z

It was Miss Shore's birthday on Sunday and to celebrate the fact that it'll be another 5 months until I'm *that* old (as old as I thought she was the first time I met her 5 years ago!), and the fact that her parents were visiting from America I made a cake to celebrate...

So thats me punting us...

And Emily who annoyingly didn't wear her traditional purple ;-)

And I'm impressed that I correctly guessed our seating arrangements and the fact that Emily's dad would have his arm very sweetly around Emily's mum.

I gave it to her while out punting, athough unfortunately by that time I was looking a bit drunk and my arm had fallen off, due to the journey and the heat!

And for those that need the details - it was a honey and almond cake, made with greek yoghurt (of course), and filled with fresh cream and chopped hazelnuts.

shanith @ 2008-05-02T13:11:00

2008-05-02T12:28:05Z

A 500 year old tradition.

Light in the morning. The cool dryness of stone. Flowers in the child's hand. Powder blue wellies on the feet. A long green cloak embroidered with flowers. Men in robes, ladies in straw hats. Limp oak leaves on a rucksack. A disparate group, but together for a single purpose - upholding tradition.

A collage of colleges. Warm honey stone under morning skies. Neat grey shadows cutting bright green grass. Cherries remembering their predecessors.Cold marble holding aged books, watched by a stone ghost. Beautiful corners and secrets. A dripping fountain in flowers.

Chalk marking stone, cross upon cross. A mark of the year, some faded, some gone. A renewal of time, a step out of time.

Songs in the squares, faces at the window. Bright sweets from the sky. A ladder up a wall. Cones in the darkness of wood. Bright lights from the glass, spilling colours over the stone.

There is a reason for tradition.

Wallingford in the Snow

2008-04-10T19:06:59Z

(Can you tell I've been downloading all the photos off my camera?)

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b99/LadyVetinari/Wallingford%20in%20the%20Snow/

Easter thoughts... a week too late

2008-04-10T18:54:31Z

My 13 year old sister had a new camera for Christmas and has been enthusiastically playing with it. In order to liven up our traditional Good Friday walk we decided to have a photo competition with the theme of 'The Spirit of Easter'.

She did pretty darn well and even got the winning picture? Which do you think is the winner - and is there any indication as to who took which?

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b99/LadyVetinari/Spirit%20of%20Easter/

Happy Birthday Twinkles!!

2008-04-10T18:37:21Z

Lord of the Rings: The Musical

2008-03-13T14:00:22Z

Since I have far too many hours in credit, I thought I would dedicate an extra hour of my lunch to writing up my trip to see the Lord of the Rings production at the Drury Lane Theatre.

Visually this production was amazing. And I don't mean just pretty good, I mean awesome. There were stunts that had your mouth dropping, and more pretty than I thought was possible. So I will take you on a whistlestop tour of the highs, the lows and of course the costumes.

In the beginning...

From walking into the threatre I had a feeling it was going to be good. The stage comes out far beyond the traditional definition of the stage, through a mass of roots which spread onto the roof and out over the side boxes. Being a fan of forests and art, it seemed to give across an indication of beauty, tinged with the darkness and horror sometimes associated with rooty woods in darkness. There aren't many pictures of this, but this is the best I can find, and unfortunately doesn't do it justice.

The next thing that deserves a mention is the fantastic pre-performance entertainment. Hobbits came onto the stage one or two at a time and took on the roles of hobbits down by the river on a summers evening, chatting, eating, playing and generally being relaxed at life. Then fireflies appeared above the audience. These were just amazing - little balls of light which hovered about level with us on the front row of the upper circle and then would disappear and appear in another place almost instantly. It was very impressive, and very realistic. It took me 15 minutes to work out how they were doing it, and even then I'm not entirely sure. The hobbits caught the fireflies in nets and then capture the little balls of light in jars. I'm not sure I've managed to portray the shear spectacle of this - but I was very impressed.

And then onto the start...

And so after feeling that I'd almost had a good portion of my money's worth from the pre-performance entertainment, the actual thing started. Its hard to know what to dwell on, it was such a visual feast of wonder. The bit at Bag End was done nicely and the aesthetic was simple but effective.

Then came the first song as they left the Shire. It nicely emphasised the role of the rangers in keeping the Shire protected, and it was one of a couple of moments where I thought the play added something to my appreciation of the Tolkien's works.

The music

The music was interesting. I would not define what I saw as a musical - to me it was far more a production of LOTR with music. There was far more non-music bits, than songs. There were a couple of songs that felt as if they were in there just because it was supposed to be a musical - the Aragorn- Arwen duet at the end seemed to be one of these. . However these were an exception. For the most part, the songs and dancing really added something. For example, in Bree - the Cow Jumped over the Moon song, became an 10 minute long feast of music and dancing, a joyous tangle of happy hobbits joining in with the strange locals, until you could actually believe that a ring in a hobbits pocket, might just have slipped on his finger in all the merryment. Again this was something I'd never fully appreciated.

The songs were a mixture of foot-tapping English folk, to the Swedish influenced elvish sound which was used to great effect, particularly as incidental music. The last song of the 1st act, which was combined with swinging candles and hooded elves, was very evocative, and something I could have watched over and over.

I think you may be luckier than me in that you can see the song one the website - see Star of Earendil, and then the other one I'd recommend was the Cat jumped over the moon. Lothlorien is a song which I was only quite impressed with at the time, but since I've bought the soundtrack, its the one that I've played most. I thought Legolas' introduction to Lorien was very poignant and seemed right.

http://www.lotr.com/sights_sounds/

So there were a few hobbit songs which were great fun, and at times poignant. And the elvish songs which were grand and majestic. And a couple that seemed to add on. And some fighting songs. Nearly all were good, although not enough to make me desparate to buy the soundtrack, although I have now done so! However my initial reluctance may be more to do with the fact that I have to hear a song quite a few times before I really get it. Now I have the soundtrack, I can say that it has been listened to a lot, and (un)fortunately, the songs have haunted my existence for quite a while.

But possibly my favourite muscial element was the incidental mucic. This definitely took the production at times to another level, beyond what simple acting could do. I could imagine that other purists may not like this, but to me there were times when the music combined with a poignant scene almost moved me to tears.

The stage

The stage was incredible. If it had got up and come out into the audience I wouldn't have been that surprised. It played as much as a role as any of the cast, could lift up and become gorges, could circle as boats, could rise as a massive circular table that Arthur would have been proud of. It was truly impressive and used very skilfully.

The dancing

I have to admit to being very impressed by this too. It seemed to hark back to the days of black and white muscials - where co-ordinated dancing was an appreciated art. Here whether it was the hobbits and Strider weaving in and out of the rangers on the journey, or the joy of the orcs battling in beautiful, but terrible skill, you were held in visual captivity.

The orcs were just really well done. The were on stilts which mean that they moved in a slightly inhuman, way and were therefore quicker and more edgy. During acts 2 and 3 they came into the audience and were very scary as they pounced on people - you could hear small screams happening across the auditorium.

Costumes

I hope you're impressed I have gone this far without mentioning them! As I think I've said previously, the aesthetic was impressive, and the costumes were no exception. The hobbits were an interesting cross between 1950s school boy and 16th century English country dress. It seemed to work.

Aragorn and Gandalf's costumes were acceptable I thought. I'd never imagined Aragorn in a breastplate for everyday where, but it wasn't too bad, and I kind of liked the Firefly style leather coat! I think the marks on his face were to help the ignorant differentiate between characters. Gandalf was a little uninspired I think. I think the designer was deliberately trying to distance himself from the films, but as the films used an iconic Gandalf costume, based on John Howe's design, it was hard to get something that didn't look like the filmic Gandalf. It didn't quite look right - a bit big and baggy, but I think I'm probably nit-picking here.

Legolas was good. As you may know, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the elvish aesthetic, both in art and costume, and Legolas must be one of the hardest characters in literature to clothe.

In what I should imagine is a deliberate step away from the movie elves, the designer has gone for a more earthy rather than silvan colour scheme. The textured fabric used for the elves in my mind was a really good choice, and altogether this Legolas was a believable as any I had seen.

And now onto the ladies of course. Arwen was very pretty. The silver New Age look was pretty, and although perhaps not as I would imagine her, it suited the character of the 'musical' Arwen and was both strong and beautiful. The plaited hair, and hair ornaments were all effective, although I do wonder what Tolkien himself would have made of this version of his Arwen.

And so finally the only costume that I didn't like. Galadriel. I loved the textured skirt and the colour, but to me the underbust corset didn't work, and was even a little on the scary side. With a change of headpiece, and a full length corset, I probably would have loved this one, but as it was I kind of flinched everytime Galadriel was on the stage which was pity.

The Balrog

Very, very impressive. It was the closest I've come to 'being there'. Absolutely fabulously atmospheric. Go see, as I can't put into words the impression of the thing.

Lothlorien

Very pretty. But the floating elves were a little odd, but in a nice sort of way. The elvish ladies also had an odd way of moving, which again, I didn't object to, but didn't overly love either. However the production certainly did well at portraying the otherwordlyness of the elves, and I applaud the effort.

Ents
Very tall, and very impressive.

Light

Beautifully used. Stars, tree dappled light. All much prettyness.

And the not so good bits

Overall I think you will have got the message that I was impressed. However there were a couple of down sides. One was there were occasional times when I was bored. In general I was impressed by how well they'd abridged it. The only major change was that Boromir was actually Theoden/Denathor's (Theothor!)'s son, which the production called 'The Steward.' So basically Gondor and Rohan were merged, and Eowyn was left out. Considering its a 1000 page book in 3 hours, this seemed reasonable. However there were times when backstory was needed, and these explanations were a little boring for someone who is say more than a little familar with the books.

Its's also a shame that the song used were not Tolkien's originals. The ones used were very similar and so I imagine this was due to the Estate not wanting to licence the songs, which I think is a great shame. If they's managed to put Tolkien's beautiful poems to the music, I think it would have been even more amazing.

The other bad thing, (and nothing to do with the production) was the two drunk people who sneaked into the theatre and talked behind us for nearly the entire second act. They really spoilt at least half an hour of the production, which was really sad. Now I know what Book means by the special hell for those that talk at the theatre. They were really terrible, despite being asked to shut up by many people. And they spilled beer over my sister. However they went before the thrid act, so at least they didn't spoil everything.

Conclusion

As I have now run out of even my extended lunch, I should finish now. But I would recommend it. I know most of you are purists, but this is a visual feast and they've put in a lot of effort, and even if you don't agree with it all, I hope there is enough for everyone to appreciate.

Tolkien's Mountains

2008-03-07T12:15:04Z

People might be interested in picture 5 of the slideshow - Rare National Treasures go on display from the BBC website -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/default.stm

I shall definitely be over to the Bod to have a look when its open.

Shanith finds Portobella Road

2008-03-02T11:25:35Z

And consequently everytime she closes her eyes she see's glrious fabrics, patterns, costumes, dresses, jewelry. Its not as good as Camden market (which is the ultimate in shinyness), but it is pretty darn cool, and I'm very happy I found it :-)

More art.

2008-02-29T12:12:30Z

I love this sketch so much, I'm almost tempted to ask Anke whether she'd be willing to sell it...

http://anke.edoras-art.de/cgi-bin/drawings.pl?file=sc_eowyn_and_grey_lady_72.jpg

Its great to see her improving all the time, even if it does make it more disheartening that I could never even in my nicest dreams be able to compete.

EDIT:
If the link above doesn't work, try this. The picture I like is called Eowyn and the grey lady, and is Eowyn standing head to head with her horse about 10 pictures down. It appears to be a set of 4, all of which I think are lovely.

http://anke.edoras-art.de/anke_tolkien_drawings.html

For Reference

2008-02-28T12:56:57Z

A Good Sci/Fi art website - it has the aim of collecting the best sci-fi/fantasy art out there - a laudable aim :-)

http://www.fantasiaonline.com/

And I love this picture of Merlin by John Howe. It must be one of my favourite pictures of his.

http://www.fantasiaonline.com/howe/howe006.html

Banquet in Numbers

2008-02-18T12:56:50Z

- Number of people at banquet - 59
- Number of food courses - 4
- Number of dishes prepared - 31
- Number of hours I was awake continuously for on Saturday/Sunday - 24
- Number of desserts eaten by Exactlyhalf - 6
- Number of dances participated in by me - 5
- Number of Meduseld cakes made - 1

shanith @ 2008-02-14T13:34:00

2008-02-14T13:36:07Z

In the five minutes I need from banquet heavy thinking to work heavy thinking I find - yay - new Anke hobbit sketches, and they're for sale. I'm trying to work out which one i like most :-)

http://anke.edoras-art.de/kunstplus_shop/originale_e.html#hobbit_e

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-24T18:29:48Z

Once again I have failed somewhat in my Christmas card writing ambitions. So here is my late/poor/cheap/artistic/environmentally friendly (delete as applicable) alternative.

'I don't like this at all,' panted Sam just behind. 'Snow's all right on a fine morning, but I like to be in bed while it's falling. I wish this lot would go off to Hobbiton! Folk might welcome it there.'

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All on my Flist!!
May it be very happy!

(For the Tolkien fans, the painting is sister to 'Caradras')

Shanith
x

shanith @ 2007-12-04T09:08:00

2007-12-04T09:11:04Z

A huge congratulations to Beam_Engine!!

Its been a long and hard road, but I knew your cheeky smile and winning personality would shine through in the end. I'm very happy for you and toasted you well with mead last night.
Well done you!!
x

Happy Birthdays!!!

2007-11-23T13:05:45Z

Parrot Knight for tomorrow and Drievertel for Sunday! Sorry I can't be at work on the right day to wish you it!
Many many happy returns, I hope you both have very shiny days.
Have a shiny birthday picture!!

Banquet - Time is running out!

2007-11-23T12:10:09Z

We're rapidly approaching being two - thirds full, so I'd encourage anyone who hasn't signed up for the banquet to get on and do so, even if its just a maybe. It would be tragic to have to tell people there isn't enough space.

And if you need any more persuasion - I'm determined its going to be the *best banquet ever*. This is something I vow each time! I'm very excited about the talented cooks we've got on board, the extensive decoration ideas and the fact that its going to the longer 10 hours of joy!!

shanith @ 2007-11-08T12:43:00

2007-11-08T12:44:47Z

Today it is exactly 100 days until the banquet!

I'm quite excited about it. There are so many good ideas out there!

shanith @ 2007-11-01T15:10:00

2007-11-01T15:10:58Z

Being a Brownie is brilliant for your career, according to the Guardian.
Two-thirds of women in top roles across politics, the media, business and sport are former Brownies or Girl Guides.
Many say that childhood days spent acquiring an armful of badges contributed to their career success.
Polling conducted for Girlguiding UK found that a brown or blue uniform lurks at the back of the wardrobe of a whole host of high profile women, such as Liberal Democrat peer Shirley Williams, lawyer Cherie Booth and athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson.
What's more, three quarters of former guides believe that having access to female-only spaces helps young women become more successful as adults.
Full Guardian article here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/gender/story/0,,2201575,00.html

Maria Fitalova

2007-10-18T11:18:12Z

Thought the Tolkien art lovers out there might like this link, I think her watercolours are beautiful.

http://www.elfwood.com/art/f/i/filat/filat.html

I'm not so keen on this one, but others might be:

http://www.elfwood.com/art/s/o/solarfall/solarfall.html

I thought this was an interesting article, so I'm preserving it.

2007-09-21T11:17:11Z

Q: What is the largest rubbish dump in the world?
A: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, off the North East coast of Hawaii

The problem is that it is not a patch, it's an area of ocean the size of a continent, nearly double the size of Texas or the same size as central Europe.

Anything that floats, no matter where it comes from on the north Pacific Rim or ocean, ends up in what has become known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) sometimes after drifting around the periphery for 12 years or more. Greenpeace has estimated that approximately 10% of the plastics manufactured every year ultimately end up in this area.

We are using our oceans as vast rubbish dumps and the GPGP is the most polluted area of all. One researcher who sailed through it in 1998 described the area as a giant toilet, forever swirling but unable to flush. He later wrote: "I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic."

Where does it all come from?
From all of us! In addition to vast amounts of general litter and rubbish, every year, between 2,000 and 10,000 ship containers are lost overboard. They contain everything from Nike trainers (80,000 were knocked from a ship into the Pacific in 1990) to Lego bricks (five million of which hit the North Atlantic in 1997).

Another contributor is cruise ships. Modern ships carry thousands of passengers on week-long cruises and cruise ships can "legally" dump raw sewage and garbage once they are three miles offshore, with the Alaska an exception.

Why does it stay there?
The GPGP formed and continues to exist, because of ocean currents. It is not actually static in position, sometimes drifting into landmasses which have begun to resemble landfills. It moves with the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG), a high pressure zone of air which forces ocean surface currents to move in a slowly clockwise pattern, creating a whirlpool which sucks waste from other parts of the ocean into the gyre. The high pressure zone is extremely stable, as it is caused by hot air from the equator cooling as it moves northwards.

There are several such gyres around the world, and they are traditionally avoided by sailors and fishermen as they are devoid of wind and the lack of nutrients mean that they are devoid of marine organisms. The NPSG includes the "horse latitudes," where stock transporters in the age of sail got stuck, ran out of food and water, and had to jettison their horses and other livestock. This is the largest ocean realm on our planet, being about the size of Africa - over 10 million square miles.

This traditional avoidance meant that the garbage slowly collecting there had accumulated immense volume by the time it began to be recognized.

What’s in the GPGP?
Historically, debris did not accumulate because it was eventually broken down by micro organisms into carbon dioxide and water. However, most of the debris in the GPGP is made from a class of products that modern civilisation is now dependent on and which defeats even the most creative and insidious bacteria - plastics.

We drink out of them, eat off of them, sit on them - even drive in them. They're durable, lightweight, cheap and can be made into virtually anything but it is these useful properties that make them so harmful when they end up in the environment.

What does it mean for wildlife?
The environmental risks posed by the GPGP are manifold. To begin with, the area supports minimal marine life, and the GPGP further restricts the limited area of water which photosynthetic organisms can live in. Other marine life including birds, mammals, fish, and jellyfish also suffer because they mistake the garbage for food. There are many pictures of ocean life hopelessly entangled in frayed line, and transparent filter feeding organisms with colourful plastic fragments in their bellies. A photo on the internet of the stomach contents of Laysan albatross looks like the cigarette lighter shelf at a store they contain so many of them.

It's not just entanglement and indigestion that are the problem, however. There is a darker side to plastic pollution. As fragments of plastic float around in the ocean, they accumulate the poisons we manufacture for various purposes that are not water-soluble and that spill into the seas and these too are then eaten by birds, fish and mammals. Plastic fragments are thought to be mixed below the surface down to at least 30 meters.

Plastic polymers are sponges, oily toxics that don't dissolve in seawater. Plastic pellets have been found to accumulate up to 1 million times the level of these poisons that are floating in the water itself. These are not like heavy metal poisons that affect the animal that ingests them directly, they are what might be called second-generation toxics.

Animals have evolved receptors for elaborate organic molecules called hormones, which regulate brain activity and reproduction. Hormone receptors cannot distinguish these toxics from the natural estrogenic hormone, estradiol, and when the pollutants dock at these receptors instead of the natural hormone, they have been shown to have a number of negative effects in everything from birds and fish to humans.

A trillion, trillion vectors for our worst pollutants are being ingested by the most efficient natural vacuum cleaners nature ever invented, the mucus web feeding jellies and salps (chordate jellies that are the fastest growing multi cellular organisms on the planet) out in the middle of the ocean. These organisms are in turn eaten by fish and then, certainly in many cases, by humans. Hormone disruption is set to be one of the biggest environmental issues of the 21st century.

What can we do?
Several ideas have been suggested including “vacuuming” up the area, but even if this were possible, it would have little effect unless the source of the problem is eliminated and how that happens is up to all of us and our lifestyles. This means that we have to cut down use of plastics and recycle those we do use. Though the result of any success at tackling this problem will not be visible for a very long time. The time to act is now!

Oxonmoot.

2007-09-18T11:42:51Z

Perhaps after the third time I might call myself a trainee Oxonmoot companion.

I'm not sure whether I'm proudest of -

- selling my first painting for an entire £20 thus making myself a pwoffessional artist

- Being awarded a literally shiny and very fine certificate for getting best solo in the Oxonmoot masquerade - thus proving that the 100+ hours of blood, sweat and very sharp needles weren't a complete waste of time and money and thus proving that I may be very *sad* but that I'm good at it.

- Clearing out all the stuff from under my bed and the cupboard behind my fridge *and* vacuuming both.

All three seem major achievements in my life and if it wasn't for the fact that they, Oxonmoot, and having to go to Reading, London and Brownies yesterday making me so tired I can hardly raise my arms I would be in a little shiny cacoon of ultimate happiness.

Hmmm... not been posting much recently.

2007-09-11T11:21:06Z

Things shouldn't be this busy outside of term time! However my lack of posting is more to do with being addicted to art and spending my lunchtimes scouring deviant art for favourites for my favourites gallery.

And here it is!! I love talking art, so if anyone would like to tell me their favourites they'd make me happy! There's also some nice photography there too. There are two pages.

http://shanith.deviantart.com/favourites/

And in other news. I got bitten by a toilet yesterday and not unrelatedly Brownies enthusiastically dislike Chinese Waxberries.

Also its Oxonmoot soon and I have the terrible decision of which paintings and drawings I'm going to take to show. And even worse, whether I have time to produce something that I might *looks embarrassed* sell. *Hopes no-one notices*. I don't think its good enough, but it would be great if I could earner a fiver towards some new watercolour pans and masking fluid.

shanith @ 2007-09-04T12:08:00

2007-09-04T11:09:23Z

Thought this was cool- probably the best cake dragon I've seen! It was made as a wedding cake!

shanith @ 2007-08-15T15:35:00

2007-08-15T14:37:01Z

I realised that I promised to post pictures of the cake I made (ably assisted by Naraht) for the final Harry Potter party in Christ Church.

So here they are!!

My thanks to exactlyhalf for the photos.