Going Out on a Limb

Mood: spiffy
Listening to: Prince Caspian soundtrack
Reading: so many to choose from; I can't decide

Okay. So I'm deviating from the norm with my latest website addition: I've put two of my school research papers on the Writing page. What inspired me to do this? I'm not quite sure. Maybe that I spent so much time on them, I felt like someone other than my parents and my teacher should read them...heh. Call me a nerd, a geek, or whatever you prefer, but the fact is, I'm just academically inclined. I enjoyed learning about the topics of those two papers, especially the Scopes Trial. (More on that later, maybe.) I'm sure that whoever reads my papers will learn something they didn't know before and maybe gain some appreciation for the subjects. I won't die if nobody reads them; I'm just saying that they're there :)

Go to the Writing page and scroll to the bottom, or go directly to: Dred Scott v. Sandford or The Scopes Trial

Summertime Is Here!

Mood: calm and free
Listening to: Tell Me What You Know by Sara Groves
Reading: Dreamrider by Barry Jonsberg

Summertime is here, happiness and cheer, fun for all that children call their favorite time of the year! Yes, Christmas carols are still fun to sing in the summer. :)

Hm. For the first time in months and months, I am able to breathe freely. Final exams are over, no more homework or papers to write, and yes, I have entered the domain of seniorhood. At the top of the high school food chain now. :D

I'm not going to waste a moment of this summer. I want to spend every second doing something important, fun, helpful—something edifying. I have more than enough books to read and stories to write, art to create and ideas to devour. Simply put, I am going to get reacquainted with myself and with God this summer. :)

Some thoughts. In the spirit of up-to-date-ness, I saw Prince Caspian for the second time a couple weeks ago, and enjoyed it much more than the first time. :) I also got the soundtrack and have been listening to it voraciously. "The Call" by Regina Spektor is a lovely song that I have grown very attached to, and I also adore "This Is Home" by Switchfoot.

The album by Sara Groves that I'm listening to for the first time right now is surprisingly beautiful. The lyrics are very poetic and insightful. I think I'm also going to grow attached to this album. :)

And as for what I'm currently reading, I actually finished Dreamrider last weekend but it's the only thing I've read lately. It's interesting: I usually don't go for the sort of contemporary Teen Fiction genre (except for Artemis Fowl), but this book sparked my interest because of the concept of lucid dreaming. I didn't really like the author's style, with short sentences and simple wording, but I appreciated how complex and interwoven the story was. It was sort of an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller. I liked it, but it won't necessarily be going on my list of favorites.

That's all for now; I promise to update my blog more often this summer! :)

Prince Caspian Analysis

Mood: content
Listening to: BT - This Binary Universe
Reading: nada

Alright—this will be a long one!

Well, I apologize for briefly turning inquisitivity into a Prince Caspian blog. What can I say? Narnia has been part of my life for years now. :)

I saw the movie! And it appears that I was wrong about a couple things in my last post. The Caspian/Susan romance was not cut out of the movie. The kiss at the end was a glaring screenwriting glitch and a ridiculous Hollywoodization - it had no basis, because Caspian and Susan had not interacted very much before it! But I guess it wasn't that big of a deal. It can be shrugged off. (My friends thought it was cute. xD)

The theme of faith was not as strong as I would have liked. It seemed like the character of Peter really ruined things...thinking he could do everything without Aslan's help (until his night raid on Miraz's castle failed). And why would Peter be enticed by the White Witch, when he himself had watched Aslan defeat (or eat) the Witch in LWW? Besides, I thought the White Witch scene was really unnecessary and overdone, especially with the hag's incantation...it made me really cringe and sort of squish back in my seat, because I didn't like it at all...until Edmund saved the day of course. :)

I did like how Trufflehunter was always the loyal badger and the true Narnian. His character didn't meet my hopes of sort of embodying the faith theme, but they did a really good job of making him the same lovable character that he is in the book.

I loved the scene where Lucy was dreaming, and how the trees parted for her and she walked through them and talked with Aslan. It captured some of the emotion from the scene in the book, but not quite enough...partly because it was a dream! Which brings me to my next point...

I decided on what I think is the key difference between the book and the movie. Book: Pevensies see/speak with Aslan before the battles. Movie: Pevensies don't see Aslan until after the battles are over (except Lucy). I feel like that single change gave the second half of the movie a completely different dynamic: the characters were sort of at a loss, the conflict seemed unguided, Aslan wasn't important enough. It kind of mixed up the whole structure of the story.

But all analyzing aside, I was extremely pleased with the movie. My expectations were met, if not exceeded. Cinematography, music, acting, costumes, computer-generated imagery, nods to the book (like Tarva and Alambil, Bulgy Bear, apple trees), everything...it was all great.

Favorite shot: Miraz's view through the telescope, watching Edmund, Glenstorm the Centaur, and Wimbleweather the Giant approach. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. :)

And of course, Skandar Keynes was quite impressive as Edmund. But maybe I'm biased. ;)

Some Thoughts on Narnia

Mood: just peachy
Listening to: Cities by Anberlin
Reading: The Chronicles of Narnia

Well, it has been some time since my last post. Almost a month. It's been a busy month. I had my AP exams last week—Spanish Language and AB Calculus. Phwew, am I glad those are over or what!

Hehe. I find it immensely hard to believe that the Prince Caspian movie comes out this Friday! And I am going to see it on Friday evening. I really am too excited to express! When it comes to the book-to-movie changes, I am worried about some minor things. But guess what? They cut the Caspian/Susan romance out of the movie. Yes! Overall I'm feeling very optimistic about it and I'm quite sure it will be mostly excellent.

Today I read the Prince Caspian book for, oh maybe the 5th time or so. One of its themes that really struck me this time was the theme of faith vs. skepticism/unbelief. I hope that in the movie they capture the essence of Trufflehunter the Badger's character, which is his unwavering loyalty to and adamant belief in Aslan and Aslan's might. Trufflehunter's confidence as opposed to Nikabrik's skepticism. Of course this is one of the Chronicles' many parallels to Christianity.

The Narnia books are definitely theologically rich. There are lines, images, and ideas from the books that are very personal to me regarding my relationship with God. One of these is one of the scenes that, I think, is an iconic image from the Prince Caspian book: the scene where Lucy hears Aslan calling her name in the moonlit night, and she follows his voice...weaves through the dancing, wading trees...and finds Aslan, who is gentle, warm, and powerful, and who lets Lucy rest by him and partake of his strength. I found this drawing that was concept art for the movie, however I don't think the scene will happen very close to the same way in the movie. Nevertheless, this picture really captures the essence and emotion of that scene. (By the way, I found it on NarniaWeb.com)

Prince Caspian Promo

Mood: relaxed
Listening to: Once soundtrack :)
Reading: still The Great Gatsby for school

Well, here's a video I made about this Prince Caspian thing I have. Do watch!



And now for my thoughts about something else: American Idol. I am shocked, indignated, and infuriated that Michael Johns was eliminated last night. x( Enough said.

Once

Mood: charmed
Listening to: 30-second iTunes clips of Once soundtrack :)
Reading: The Great Gatsby (for school)

Okay, so tonight I watched this movie called Once. It's this independent movie with a cool story behind it — the guy who wrote all the songs, Glen Hansard, ended up playing the nameless "guy" in the movie. And he had never acted before. The nameless "girl," played by Marketa Irglova, had never acted before either.

I don't know the whole background story. All I know is that the movie was almost magical because it was so ingenuous, unpretentious, and un-Hollywoodized. The story is cute, with a lot of quirky, semi-awkward moments, but with a definite emotional sweetness to it. The characters are just everyday people, and their lives go on, but there is an unseen depth.

The true soul of the movie is the music. The music brings the depth of the characters' souls out as they play and sing. The music has a sort of blunt roughness, but it really is beautiful. It's honest and vulnerable. The song "Falling Slowly" won the Academy Award for best song this year. It deserved the award! I think that I am quite definitely going to have to buy the soundtrack. :)

Art At Last!

Mood: fruity
Listening to: Everything by Lifehouse (you must watch this video!)
Reading: still nothing (gah)

Ahhh... spring break has given me plenty of nice, empty time to do things that I have been wanting to do for weeks but school hasn't allowed me to do. One of those things is getting my website portfolio up to date. I have been working on taking pictures of all my old art to put them on here.

So there you have it, five (5) (FIVE!) new pictures in the "Full Compositions" section of the Art page. They are all about two years old. Go on! Go look at the shiny artworks! And tell me what you think!

More updates in the other sections, too. The last two photos in the Sunsets/Clouds section of the Photo page are new. And a new poem, which is really two years old but new to sagraco.com, on the Writing page.

If you are reading this please comment and tell me how you like the new items.

Music I Heart

Mood: content & relaxed
Listening to: Opposite Way by Leeland
Reading: nothing really

Greetings friends! It's almost spring break—just one more day of school, then off to a whole week of freedom. :)

Lately I've discovered a whole bunch of exciting new things in the realm of entertainment. Let's start with the music I'm listening to right now! Leeland! They are such a great band, with good messages to get out there. So go and listen to their new album, Opposite Way, and be amazed by the great sound and worshipfulness of their music. I have been listening to this album ever since I bought it last week—can't get enough! They have some really funny videos on their YouTube, so go there and be amused.

On to more new music. Allow me to introduce Son Lux, because you have most definitely never heard of him before. His name is Ryan Lott and his first full album just came out, called At War With Walls & Mazes. The music is electronic with some nice touches of piano, brass and string instruments. It's totally random at times, which just gives it a really unique sound. The lyrics are sparse, repeated phrases or lines, and there are very subtle hints of the Christian faith (he is a Christian, I found, but that was actually hidden deep in his blog xD). I really like the song "War," because it has cool imagery and new ideas. Here are the lyrics (it's the song with the most lyrics on the album):

We were at war with walls and mazes, torn up and tearing inside
You wooed us out to open places, trading our death for your life
You raised the sun (Son?) to warm our faces, astonishing us with light

I realized that this song basically defines his pseudonym/ musical pen name, Son Lux. Think of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and His rising from the dead astonished us with Lux (a sort of Latin word for light). Cool, eh? :)

Now for more new entertainment that was just recently discovered by me: a TV show on Fox, New Amsterdam. It's about a NYC detective with a secret...he's 400 years old, and only finding "the one"—his true love—will make him age again. It's a cool concept, and I like how the character is so nonchalant about his immortality. I also like the flashbacks, which have a lot of history about the United States or just New York.

I have a thing for the idea of immortality in general...not like I want to be (it would be awful, to say the least), but I like stories about it. That's partly why I love the movie The Fountain so much—with the Fountain of Youth/Tree of Life and everything. Heh, you should watch The Fountain too, because you probably haven't. :)

Well, I hope you found this post at least remotely interesting. Aloha!

Layout Launch, Leap, and Lost

Mood: accomplished and satisfied
Listening to: The Everglow by Mae
Reading: Walking on Water (almost to the end)

Can you believe it? The new layout is finally here! I have been working on this for so long—I started working on it at the end of January. :) The image header took probably one hour. The coding was the killer. It took probably two days to figure out how to make the footer stick to the bottom of the page, and three more days to make the layout look right with the Blogger codes. After I perfected the coding, I just meandered through rewriting the content. :D So here you have it, the finished product. It should be tidier and easier to navigate than Golden Horizons. I hope you like it! I'm so glad it's over xD

Hm. Now, for the next section of my alliterative title. Friday was a leap day! I'm sad that I forgot to post a blog on that day. For some reason I feel like if I don't create real evidence and proof that I did something on February 29, then it never happened. It's like the lost day.

Speaking of Lost!! The episode on Thursday (Feb 28), called "The Constant," was definitely one of my favorite episodes of Lost EVER. It was about Desmond, who is of course my favorite character. I liked it because it was all wrapped up into one episode—the question that was introduced at the beginning was answered by the end. And it was about time travel—and there's nothing cooler than time travel. Duh. :D So! Watch Lost, because it's the best show ever xD

Inaudible Fireworks

Mood: celebratory and refreshed
Listening to: OneRepublic
Reading: Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle

Well, I stayed up till midnight as usual, anticipating the turn of the new year, but doing nothing very exciting except for flipping through the channels to watch snippets of celebrities and crowds screaming in Times Square. Of course, that all happened two hours previously, and the shows were just being re-played for each time zone. Hmm, that means 2008 hasn't reached the west coast yet. Too bad; it's been a great year so far. I think...

Anyway, sadly I had no party to go to like previous years. I just stayed up with my mom while my dad went to sleep. xD Last year I had my own party, and my three friends who attended surely remember the crazy fun time we had. Hats, noisemakers, sparkling cider, the whole thing.

So, it was a quiet evening, watching people hundreds of miles away smiling, and complete strangers waving at the camera and screaming. 100th anniversary of the Ball Drop, cool, now it's eco-friendly. All the familiar and unfamiliar faces happily anticipating the Ball Drop.

But when midnight struck, I abandoned the TV and my mom and I ran outside. We stood on the front porch in the freezing, crisp air; some of our neighbors were outside too, and noisemakers could be heard in the neighborhood above, as well as somebody playing Auld Lang Syne in the neighborhood below us. The sky was clear, and the stars were unusually clear; I could see the constellation Orion.

And then there were the fireworks! Far away, on the tip of Pikes Peak. Just seen, not heard. There were huge red ones that turned the whole mountain red, because the fresh snow reflected all that fiery light. Those were the best ones, where the firework would briefly illuminate the snowy mountainside, and then it would fade back into the blackness of the night.

Then I thought, they should show videos of this on national TV! Our little city tradition. Pikes Peak is America's mountain, after all! The whole scene inspired a sense of pride in the city that I've lived in my whole life. And it's such a beautiful mountain! And all those neighbors, people I don't know, but residents of the same city and taking part in the same tradition. I just love the sense of unity! Humanity all over the world is celebrating the new beginning that is 2008! I could even imagine the planet shining as fireworks move across the time zones, and out in space the aliens can hear a joyful burst of sound, Earthlings shouting Happy New Year!

And the man in the moon wishes he had hands so he could shield his perpetually open eyes from the blinding light.