Category Archives: Updates

Three Years Later…

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I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the evening of the 28th of December and I was still in the Chicago office. I texted my mom to see if she wanted me to be at my grandparents’ apartment.

Mom suggested that I go home (my own apartment at the time) since it was snow hard out and the roads were slick. So I did what I was told.

My phone was on silent and I went to sleep, but something woke me up and just before midnight I noticed I missed a few calls from mom and her text message

He’s gone.

A relief actually. After a slow decline over the course of two years he finally found rest.

Only a few days prior my mom and I were half joking about when my grandfather would pass away. She said:

I begged him to avoid the 24, 25, 27, 31, and 1st.

In case you were wondering my parents’ anniversary is the 27th of December.

So he passed the evening of the 28th… a little after 11:00 pm. Granted his death certificate says 1:00 am on the 29th of December, but that was when the funeral home picked up his body and the death certificate was official.

My uncle and I drove to my grandparents’ apartment the moment we were awake and able (meaning around midnight), and we stayed until my grandfather’s body was taken away.

Why wasn’t I there when he passed? As it turns out, my grandfather wrote a letter years prior with the people he wanted to be there when he passed: his wife (my grandmother) and my mom. And hindsight being as it is… I understand why, doesn’t mean I have to like it…

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Fleeting: Eating Words

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So who remembers this post from over three years ago? You know the one… the one where I was “closing the door” and “leaving” community theatre because I felt dead inside and there simply wasn’t any joy in it for me? Where theatre was more of a parasite rather than something that I can truly enjoy and want to be a part of?

You remember that post…

And here I am eating my words in ways I did not expect.
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Fleeting: Preferred Reads

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BOOK SERIES
The Pink Carnation Series by Lauren Willig
I don’t remember how I stumbled upon this series, perhaps it was my research with the history of early-19th century England that led me to this world… a kind of extension of the world established by the play “The Scarlet Pimpernel”. Historical romance (of the non-bodice ripping type) at the core, this series aligns fairly closely to historical events that indeed did happen although adjusted here and there for dramatic effect.

The summary of the first book of the series is as such:

Nothing ever goes right for Eloise. The day she wears her new suede boots, it rains. When the subway stops short, she’s the one thrown into some stranger’s lap. And she’s had her share of misfortune in the way of love. So, after deciding that romantic heroes must be a thing of the past, Eloise is ready for a fresh start.

Setting off for England, Eloise is determined to finish her dissertation on two spies, the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian. But what she discovers is something historians have missed: the secret history of the Pink Carnation-the most elusive spy of all time. As she works to unmask this obscure spy, Eloise has more and more questions. Like, how did the Pink Carnation save England from Napoleon? What became of the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian? And will Eloise Kelly escape her bad luck and find a living, breathing hero of her own?

When reading this series there was a distinct sensation that this particular series (of twelve books total) could be separated into three groups:

  • Group 1: Books One thru Four – Wherein the characters and the environment is established creating a foundation for the remainder of the series while providing strong storylines for the characters.
  • Group 2: Books Five thru Nine – The action moves away from England / Ireland and shifts towards other locales, predominantly in France and India.
  • Group 3: Books Ten thru Twelve – Storylines move back to England and loose ends are tied up.

What really drives this series to me is that despite the natural romantic notion of the stories there is still so much more going on beyond the romance that I can’t help but be drawn in. Plus the author makes a point of adding reference notes so that one could read up on the historical texts that she uses when writing her stories, providing insight on why she moved historical events around for dramatic effect or how certain historical events worked in the storyline as a whole.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood by J R Ward
When I needed a new book series to sink my teeth into, trust a friend of mine to come forward with a couple of series to try out. Best described as a paranormal romance series, this deals with a hidden vampire society set to the backdrop of Caldwell, New York. The first six books of the series focus on The Brothers, a group of six male vampires whose purpose is to protect their vampire society from their enemies and humans.

From the glossary of the Black Dagger Brotherhood website:

Highly-trained vampire warriors who protect their species against the Lessening Society. As a result of selective breeding within the race, Brothers possess immense physical and mental strength as well as rapid healing capabilities. They are not siblings for the most part and are inducted into the Brotherhood upon nomination by the Brothers. Aggressive, self-reliant and secretive by nature, they exist apart from civilians, having little contact with members of the other classes except when they need to feed. They are the subject of legend and the object of reverence within the vampire world.

For more information about the Black Dagger Brotherhood visit the fansite: Beyond the Mhis or read up on the BDB Cheat Sheet via Book Thingo. Both of the fansites are extremely comprehensive and would provide more than enough information in understanding not only the characters in the series but the background and mythology that the series revolves around. Keep in mind that spoilers will be found.

The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger
Another paranormal romance series it’s set in the 1880s with a steampunk twist. This finite five book series revolve around a strong female heroine in the form of Alexia Tarabotti whose best friend is flaming vampire Lord Akeldama who (somehow) knows everything about everyone and every rumor in London. She is also friends with a very Scottish and gruff Lord Conall Maccon, a werewolf… and yes there is an uneasy peace between the vampire society and the werewolf society in London who has found a way to integrate the paranormal into the “normal”.

What I really love about reading Gail Carriger’s blog is that she goes into more detail about the characters she has created and the world that her characters were immersed in.

My personal opinions and thoughts of the books:
– Book 1: Soulless
– Book 2: Changeless
– Book 3: Blameless
– Book 4: Heartless
– Book 5: Timeless

The Final Dance aka The Dancers Series by Christie Golden
A currently incomplete fantasy book series that I actually love and enjoy. It is a pity that Luna did not wish to continue this very well written series. It has been a while since I have read the series, only the first two books of the series are in print while the third book of the series is available in e-book format. The final two books in the series have not been released because Luna Publishing chose to discontinue the series.

The Dancers Series revolve around five persons, each one the personification of the five elements: fire, stone, sea, wind and soul. The story goes that The Dancers are given five chances to save the five varying universes from a growing evil. If they fail to save at least three of the five universes then the evil will take over all five universes, else if they were successful in saving at least three of the five universes then the evil will only take over those they fail to save and would leave the others. When the series began they have lost two universes and successfully saved two universes now with the final universe hanging on the balance. After the determination of the finality of each universe The Dancers are reincarnated into the new universe and process begins again…

Fables, Jack of Fables, The Literals and Fairest created by Bill Willingham (via Vertigo)
For anyone that really enjoys fairytales and nursery rhymes and are open minded to the seeing them in a new light would really pick up this series. Taking many of the beloved fairytale characters and re-imaging them while staying true to their roots (roots as in the original Grimm stories and those from Hans Christian Anderson, etc… none of the Disnified versions).

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Being a huge fan of Battle Royale created in Japan, I was skeptical of this series until I came to the conclusion that there is enough basic concepts and ideas that really two totally unrelated series could have similar premises. In some ways a classic rags-to-riches and rebels against the government mentality I did find myself drawn to the series in some capacity.

Written in the voice of 16 years old Katniss Everdeen, the series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the countries of North America was combined to be known as Panem all run by a singular government called: The Capitol. In remembrance of The Capitol’s defeat over the rebellious districts in the last great war, The Capitol holds The Hunger Games, an annual event in which each of the twelve districts were forced to select via a lottery one boy and one girl ages 12 to 18 to compete in a televised battle to the death until one person is alive.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J R R Tolkien
Yes, I know that this is dry read. Yes, I know that this tends to come off more as a reference reading as opposed to a story, but I love it. I have this attraction to series that have such well thought out and deep mythologies where you know there are millions upon millions of stories that are just begging to be written. Tolkien is very much like that, where you know that there are millions of stories just waiting to be revealed. Unfortunately much of those writings are in half works and references and notes as compiled by his son. In fact my favorite book of the collection is from the beginning: The Silmarillion.

Because this is an older series there is naturally a lot of information out there including:
– The Encyclopedia of Arda
– The Lord of the Rings Wikia
– The One Ring fansite

Harry Potter series by J K Rowling
The fantasy series that took over the world and got a new generation of kids to read again. The series revolved around a young boy who finds out that he is a wizard and he (as well as the reader) are drawn to the invisible world of magic. There really isn’t much more to say about that, because the world is so vast J K Rowling partnered with Sony to create Pottermore to give lovers of the series a new way to appreciate the series and learn more about the mythology and background. When you are getting sorted by the Sorting Hat if you’re not sorted into Gryffindor you learn more about the history of whichever house you happen to find yourself in. Unfortunately I didn’t get such luck as I was sorted into Gryffindor which I found rather odd all things considered, but what can you do?

Jane Austen related fiction
With all the fantasy and science fiction series that I seem to follow this author and her stories could actually be an outlier of sorts. However, I remember when I read Sense & Sensibility for the first time and fell in love, somehow the heroes were too good to be true and they still are. With fansites with constant discussions and articles about anything and everything to deal with the life of Jane Austen and her works called Pemberley (yes, based off of the family home of Mr Darcy from Pride & Prejudice) and quite aptly Jane Austen’s World.

Over the years there have been many books that attempt to build off of the original works or re-imagine them into the modern age, many of these writers of the former are known as the Crown Hill Writers. There are others still that rewrote the books into the point-of-view of the heroes of the series, one of the most popular being the Heroes of Jane Austen’s Diaries by Amanda Grange

One book series that I rather enjoy is the Mr and Mrs Darcy Mystery Series by Carrie Bebris. This should come as no surprise since I enjoy a fantasy series… so a mystery series wouldn’t be that far off the mark.

Of course, like any other well known author, there is a website dedicated to anything and everything dealing with Jane Austen known as the AustenBlog: There’s No Crying in Janeball. But if you are a Janeite you best head on over to the Jane Austen Society of North America and peruse around and consider joining up the group to understand more of the life and stories of Jane Austen.

Fleeting: Back on that Writing Saddle… Sort Of

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One of the problems that have been fairly steady as of late versus ten plus years ago is that although ideas, thoughts, and stories are constant in their presence and in the imagination, the actual writing of them into a cohesive unit is far more difficult

Case in point, one of the oldest fanfictions (what author does not create “what if scenarios” for their favorite characters) the process was fairly smooth in composition. Pick a starting point and simply write. The different groups of characters from three differing places of the world had their own stories to tell before they were to meet and seeing what they were doing came easily… more than easily… it was there.

Another story written before that, the storyline was fairly straightforward, but the writing thereof was not linear, it was all over the place. One moment it was towards the end of the store, the next it was the beginning, and then perhaps somewhere in the middle. Just all over the place until the entirety finally poured on to the page and was then completed.

Nowadays find the writing just as piece meal as it was in those early days. With ideas and storyline all over the place but no real cohesive unit anywhere except in the grandiose scheme of things.

Like right now, as much as one would try to focus on a particular character… another group of characters (currently dubbed “The Musketeers”) just keep clamoring to be seen, then again, gentlemen of that persuasion tend to want for attention. What is an author to do than to write the scene involving these particular enigmatic group of gentlemen and see what would happen.

So what did happen?

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Upcoming Reviews and Why Am I Behind in Posting…

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Why yes… I have been quite busy… busy doing a lot of things, seeing shows, going to conventions, listening to audiobooks… here is what is upcoming as soon as I find time to sit down and write them out:
LITERARY REVIEWS:
– Christopher Moore’s A Dirty Job
– The Blind Side and other related audiobooks to Michael Oher’s life
– Veronica Roth’s Divergent
– Kill Shakespeare Graphic Novel Vols 1 & 2

THEATRE REVIEWS:
– Kill Shakespeare: the staged graphic novel
– Priscilla Queen of the Desert: Chicago Tour Stop
– Catch Me if You Can: Chicago Tour Stop
– Big Fish: Pre-Broadway Engagement
– American Idiot: Chicago Tour Stop
– Anything Goes: Chicago Tour Stop
– Village Theatre Guild’s A Hatful of Rain
– Denver Performance Center’s Sense and Sensibility (Musical)

TRIPS:
– Fabletown and Beyond Convention in Rochester, Minnesota
– Disneyland / Disney’s California Adventure (from February)

Yeeeeeaaaaaah, I am a wee busy. Not to mention that I am also in another theatre production (on and off stage work) and have other blogging duties to catch up on….

At least you all will know why I’m a wee slow at the moment. 😉 Hopefully I’ll start picking at that mountain before it becomes too high.

Right.

UPDATE: Changing Up My Writing Style

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So… after rereading some of my past posts… I realize that my writing style tends to sound that of… well… a monotonous professor.

*sighs*

What am I going to do now? Well… I am going to try to infuse more of my non-work personality into some of these posts in the hopes of being more… conversational. Yeeeaaah.

We shall see… shall we?

UPDATE: New Tumblr!!!

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Ok… I didn’t do what I normally do in cases like this and claim my typical username early enough in the process. I simply didn’t feel the need. Ugh.

I looked up whomever has my usual username “marianya” and they aren’t even using it! Grrrr. Ah well, in the meantime my username out on Tumblr-land is “marianyaklis”.

Why “Klis”?
Because it is the surname I chose for myself way back in the stone ages of the internet when I picked up the pseudonym “Marianya”. “Klis” was a surname of a family from an old story idea I had back in grade school and it stuck to me ever since.

Why create a Tumblr blog?
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UPDATES: Busy Busy Busy Little Bee

It’s that time of the year again and I am more than swamped between my day life and night life (if one could call it that). But what have I been up to? Well… Let’s start with shows that I have been or will be a part of:
– Sound of Music: I was helping out with set / stage crew for this little ditty. But because I was a part of the show in some capacity I won’t be writing my thoughts about this production
– Sister Mary Ignatius: this controversial piece was suppose to have its run in December, however due to casting difficulties the cast at that time (myself included) agreed to postpone the show until March
– Blithe Spirit: rehearsal have yet to start, but this show will open in mid-February
You can find more information about upcoming shows that I am in via my Thespian page.

So I suppose you can say that I will be in rehearsals non stop until at least end of March… But what else has been going on in my life?

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Endeavors: NaNoWriMo Week 1 Update

So… I finally decided to follow through with NaNoWriMo and chose to work on a script that not only has been on back burner but I made the mistake of deleting the original composition last month. Looking at the original hard copy, I had a lot of revisions regardless… so I felt this was a good project to work on first and see how far I could take it.

Most of the research and breaking down of the scenes were done months (if not years) ago, and now is just the matter of putting thought to paper… and already I was beginning to see changes on screen and improvements that I could add into the piece… which I did as I typed.

What is it exactly that I am working on? Can’t say… or rather, won’t say… considering that I still have to finish it. Granted I may actually make mention of it on my writing blog: Beyond the Abyss, but I won’t inundate you with details here.

So how did I do from day to day?

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Recipe UPDATE: Butterbeer Cupcakes

So around a month ago one of my friends read my recipe post about the Butterbeer Cupcakes and decided to give them a short herself with some good results.

Here is her blog post about her attempt with the Butterbeer Cupcake recipe and her impressions. She even includes pictures which was something I neglected to do.

She goes so far as to say what part of the recipe she followed – because if you remember I strayed from the path a bit – and cuts off the recipe portion from there and just continues with what she did.

Her impressions?

Following the recipe directly using one standard cake box mix, it made 21 cupcakes for me, with plenty of frosting to cover them all. It might be a tiny too little if you manage 24 cupcakes. The cupcakes are some of the lightest and fluffiest cupcakes that I have ever had. One of mine even turned onto the side in the oven. It was undamaged but quite funny to me. The cupcakes are so good that you can honestly eat them without the frosting. They’re good with them, but the average cupcake is nothing without its frosting.

I would definitely agree with that assessment… but what about her verdict?
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UPDATE: PureTVNetwork and other Odds and Ends

So… with the announcement of the pairings on the Monday directly after the Olympics in London ended I have been hard at work not only posting the pre-season elimination predictions to include the announced professional partners, but on the PureDWTS Predictions: Professional Partners page that is housed on my personal blog.

I have also been going back in time and working on the previous seasons to see if there is any possibility of overscoring in comparison to past seasons.

Hopefully I’ll get all this done prior to my leaving the country and heading to the other side of the world to visit family for a spell.

In the meantime head on over to Pure So You Think You Can Dance and Pure America’s Got Talent for some of my other postings since both will start up this week now that the Olympics are over.

Over at the Pure TV Network blog, any updates I may have in regards to NBCs the Voice will be posted.

UPDATE: London 2012 Olympics Coverage

While the Olympics are going on, I will be posting my thoughts about them at the Pure TV Network blog.

GYMNASTICS
– United States Gymnastics Olympic Team (both Mens and Womens) the Qualification Round
– United States Mens Gymnastics Olympic Team Final Results
– United States Womens Gymnastics Olympic Team Final Results
– United States’ Danell Leyva and John Orozco in the Individual All-Around
– United States’ Alexandra Raisman and Gabrielle Douglas in the Individual All-Around Preview
– United States’ Alexandra Raisman and Gabrielle Douglas in the Individual All-Around Results
– United States Mens and Womens Gymanstics Individual Apparatus Preview

OTHER OLYMPIC COVERAGE
– Michael Phelps a Look Back
– The NBA at the Olympics

Other posts at the Pure TV Network:
– NBCs the Voice Season 3: Advisers to the Judges Chosen
– Stars Earn Stripes: NEW Celebrity Reality Show on NBC

Since the other shows that I watch are on hiatus due to the Olympics I will be focusing on wrapping up a few Pure Dancing with the Stars summer projects as well.
– Dancing with the Stars Season 15: Elimination Predictions w/o Professional Partners
– Dancing with the Stars Season 15: Who would you choose as the 13th Celebrity?

Hope to see you there!

UPDATES!: Blogging in General and Beyond

So… I haven’t blogged on my personal site as much as I would have liked… and I have been busy… very very busy.

For the most part I just comment on what I see, where I went and what I do… I purposely avoid anything extremely personal mainly because that’s something that should remain close to my heart… In time that might change, I just haven’t decided how or when quite yet.

Until then this is what I have been up to and what to expect from me down the road.

PureTVNetwork: PureDWTS, PureSYTYCD and PureAmericasGotTalent
Blogging… probably one of the major things that is really keeping me busy during my current sabbatical from the theatre world. Since the summer is where two of the more popular shows: So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Got Talent are on and as thus I’ve been focusing the majority of my free time in creating new pages so there are references for the readers to follow… the majority of that work is almost complete so I could go back and focus on a few projects that I have had planned for the past couple of months for Pure Dancing With the Stars… hopefully that will wrap up within a few weeks.

In the Fall when NBC’s The Voice returns I will be adding that to my blogging dance card over at Pure TV Network. There are rumors of another blogging opening within the network… but I can’t reveal the exact nature until a later date. But I can say that it is SYTYCD related.

Working behind the Scenes:
Granted I jump away from the stage to be working on adapting a short story for the stage and learning about the technical side of the theatre… but as for actually being on stage… let’s just say there are quite a few shows I’m looking into possibly auditioning.

In the meantime I am learning about sound design/engineering from a technically advanced guy in the field and am learning alot… hopefully, overtime, I’ll learn a bit about lighting design as well as stage management from that group in the upcoming months.

Writing, Writing, Writing:
Well… I submitted a movie proposal earlier in the summer and was gently rejected due to other plum projects… which is ok, I didn’t expect anything to happen. In the mean time I am working on adapting a work from Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man for the stage… as for when that is going to be put onto the stage is anyone’s guess.

There are a few other writing projects that are on hold or in the editing stages, time permitting. But considering my six week sabbatical from theatre is almost up… who knows if I’ll ever get to them in time.

Outings and Reviews:
There have been quite a few audiobooks that I recently listened to and will be re-listening to soon. So expect a long list of Literary Reviews to be posted in the coming months. Also I have seen a few shows in the community theatre world so I will be posting my impressions on those productions in due time as well.

I think that’s it… Yes, I’ve been busy. Yes I am planning on traveling… Yes, I am now working two jobs. But you don’t see me complaining do you?

UPDATES: New Pages Added at PureDWTS and PureSYTYCD

Over the past few weeks I have been beefing up various reference pages over at PureDWTS (Pure Dancing with the Stars) and PureSYTYCD (Pure So You Think You Can Dance) blog sites. More will come over time, but the below is what has been completed thus far, original they were posted on my personal blog, but some have been transferred over to the blogs mentioned above.

Pure So You Think You Can Dance Reference Pages
“All Star” Choreographers
Before the “All Stars” came into being, past contestants of So You Think You Can Dance have been asked to come back and choreograph routines for a pair of dancers. Here you can find who has been asked to come back to choreograph a piece for the dancers on the show

“All Star” Dancers
When the “All Star” Dancers were first announced in Season 7 there was rampant speculation as to who would be chosen as the “All Star” Dancers. What was originally a pool of ten dancers grew to move due to availability for the show in Season 8. Here you could find out who was brought back as an “All Star” and when they were on the show as an “All Star” Dancer

Audition Cities
This is a table of all the cities that So You Think You Can Dance has visited before “Vegas Callbacks” (originally called “Hollywood Weekend” in Season One). This table is broken down by season.

Crossover with Dancing with the Stars
Several ballroom dancers that have been on SYTYCD have crossed over to the other major television dancing show: Dancing with the Stars. How those dancers have fared on the other major dance show are found here along with whom they were partnered with.

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UPDATES: Old Fanfiction Story – Circumstance

Once upon a time I developed a piece that brought the people of the Sailor Moon universe and implanted them into the Salem Witch Trials, but all I did was took all of their human characteristics and took all the fantastical aspects out of the equation.

I never did finish the story, I wrote only a couple of pieces in the beginning and a bit of the ending with the intent of writing the middle over the course of the year. Perhaps one day I’ll fill in the movie when I can.

In the meantime, head on over to “Beyond the Abyss” where for the next four days I’ll have posted my original breakdown and notes then eventually the pieces that I have already written.

“Beyond the Abyss” is a blog that will focus on all the pieces of stories that I have shelved indefinitely over the years. If by some insane chance a current project has a story line that I couldn’t use for any reason then I’ll post those remnants there as well.

Happy reading!