Category Archives: Personal

Fleeting: Harry Potter “What Ifs”

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Yup… another Harry Potter related post…

So… in the last post I mentioned that I can’t really get into some fanfiction if it changes canon that was already set by the original author. However, there are some “What If” scenarios that have been making the rounds that caught my attention and I decided… well why not add them altogether and see what would have changed?

Let’s start with a fairly recent “what if” that has been gaining momentum recently….

tumblr_no5aqhOIDA1rkv63oo1_1280What if Cassius Warrington (Slytherin) was Hogwarts Champion instead of Cedric Diggory (Hufflepuff)
It all started with a tumblr post by crazybutperfectlysane
So I was rereading Harry Potter, when I came across this and thought- what if instead of Cedric Diggory, Cassius Warrington had been chosen to compete in the Triwizard Tournament?

Imagine…

  • … Dumbledore calling out the name of the Hogwarts champion and it isn’t a Gryffindor, or a Ravenclaw, or even a Hufflepuff, but it’s a Slytherin. A student from a House most people hate.
  • … Cassius Warrington getting up, and three out of four Houses are booing at him and shouting things like “NO!” or, “We can’t have a Slytherin champion!” or demanding a retry. But he’s a Slytherin- he’s been dealing with this shit since he got sorted, so he keeps his head high and joins the other champions.
  • … Harry trying to catch Warrington alone because he doesn’t really want to associate with Slytherins (plus Malfoy seems to be around the guy ALL THE TIME now that he’s the Hogwarts champion), but at the same time he’s also fair enough not to want him to walk into the first task unprepared.
  • … Warrington walking over to Harry a few months later, and Ron and Hermione both jump into a protective stance, wands out, but instead of attacking Harry he just tells him to stick the egg underwater. (Because Slytherins don’t forget those who helped them out).
  • … Warrington and Harry helping each other out in the labyrinth.
  • … Harry being devastated when Peter kills Warrington- because Voldemort doesn’t care what house they’re form, a spare is a spare.
  • … the uproar that causes among the Slytherins, because some of their parents really are Death Eaters and they know what really happened.
  • … Slytherins fighting in the Battle of Hogwarts and shouting “This is for Cassius!”

Now it would be a wonderful thought… except the majority of the above changes Book 4 and then fast forwards to Book 7… so someone took it a step further… that someone would be aplatonicjacuzzi
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Fleeting: Harry Potter Fanfiction

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Recently I found myself going down a Harry Potter rabbit hole… don’t ask me why, it just happened.

The problem with fanfiction and me is that I prefer fanfiction that sticks with what is canon (aka nothing from the original material has changed) and yet it expands from the already established world from the original author.

As thus I have found that I cannot seem to enjoy most Harry Potter related fanfiction because so much that is out there changes the canon plot points that I find are crucial to the over all story and when those changes occur I become quite twitchy. Ah well. There is nothing wrong with the majority of fanfiction out there, that is why it is called “fanfiction”… the above is just a personal preference.

So when I came across the following stories, I found myself drawn to them because they introduce plot elements that makes sense when placed in-line with the original material, and yet diverges so that the author could really find their own footing and create a seamless story of their own.

“Songs of Regret” by RavieSnake
“The Teddy Lupin Series” by FernWithy
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Recipe: Any Starbucks Ice Cream

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A friend of mine came to visit one weekend and on the way had stopped by to get some coffee at a Starbucks, he called me to ask if I was interested in anything. Promptly I replied that I wanted the following order:

Tall inside a Grande White Chocolate Mocha Frappucino with extra Whipped Cream and Javachips

Yes, I know I am terribly picky. I blame the “yuppie” in me.

Anyway, he brought the drink, and by the end of the evening I found that I never touched it and it was starting to melt quite a bit.

Since I was too lazy to drink I figured I would turn it into ice cream… and how did I achieve such an endeavor?

Well… In addition to the “Tall” drink… which I am going to approximate as about a cup and half… I also added:
– 3 cups of heavy cream
– 1-1/2 cup of honey powder (or sugar if you’d like)
– a dash of vanilla extract

Mix together, toss into an ice cream churner machine and go to town.

Time to make Starbucks coffee ice cream. Fairly simple mix and I ended up with quite a bit of ice cream that I ended up giving away and the response to said ice cream was overwhelming positive.

Seriously… sometimes I feel like I could just toss anything together and chances are it would come out good in the end…

Recipe: Dole Whip!

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So for a surprise anniversary party for a friend, the friend’s husband asked me to recreate Dole Whip as found at Disneyland, WDW, the Disney Resorts… etc.

A quick search online provided a lot of recipes of Dole Whip as others have attempted to recreate the feat, not a simple task. Searching some more revealed that the Disney companies actually use a pre-made mix for their Dole Whip that worked reasonably well.

The original recipe:
– 1-1/3 cup of Dole Whip Pre-Made Mix
– 2-2/3 cup of cold water
Mix well then pour the mixture into the ice cream machine and let it churn.
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Fleeting: Disney Inspired Stuff

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Lover of Disney the following are various pages that bring a new perspective to the Disney world:

JIRKA DESIGN: This artist decided to take the various Disney characters and set them to “reality”, thus calling them the “real life” versions of Disney characters.
– Jirka’s Blog
– Facebook Page

“TWISTED PRINCESSES” series: This artist took the Disney Heroines and turned them dark… twisted. A lot of the later ones, the artist has included stories to explain how they have turned “dark and twisted”.
– DeviantArt Page
– The Art of Jeffrey Thomas

THE HUNGER GAMES the Disney Version: The artist created a breakdown of the Disney Heroes/Heroines if they were in the Hunger Games, ingenious really. I enjoyed it.
– DeviantArt page of the work
– Artist Gallery of male Disney villains if they were female

POCKET PRINCESSES: Drawn by Amy Mebberson , she takes all of the Disney heroines and have them interact as if they were all staying under the same roof.

DAVID KAWENA’S DISNEY HEROES: Various Disney Heroes… in the buff.
– Other Disney works on his DeviantArt Page
– Facebook Page
– Facebook Album of the Heroes Collection

DISNEY BOUND

DisneyBound is meant to be inspiration for you to pull together your own outfits which work for your body and wallet whether from your closet or local mall.

– Via Polyvore

LOVE, ASHLEY DESIGNS: This was an artist whose work I was introduced to and I absolutely love.

KAREN HALLION: Another artist whose art I was introduced to and absolutely love.
– Facebook Page

DISNEY STAINED GLASS: These are Disney characters set to stained glass.
– Mandie Manzano’s Personal Webpage
– Original Disney Stained Glass article from The Mary Sue
– Mandie Manzano’s Facebook Page

DISNEY
– Harrods’ Designer Disney Dresses
– Disney Bridal
– Reinterpreting Disney Princess Costumes via a Historical Lens
– Pokemon Princesses
– Disney Princesses re-imaged in Steampunk
– Disney Princesses Reimaged as Superheroes
– Disney Heroines in Lingerie

Fleeting: Why I am Leaving Community Theatre

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I am not “taking a break” as it may appear to be… “retiring” might be a more appropriate term… though some people come “out of retirement” for one more show.

No… for me “leaving” is the most appropriate term for the usage here.

“Leaving” has a bit of finality to it, a kind of ending one chapter to start another one… and theatre has been a part of my life (albeit on and off) for over ten years. I will miss it, but I do have to end it.

Acting, stage managing, video editing… all of it. It has been tickling the back of my mind for months now. That this might be it, the last hurrah, though at first I thought it was after the 2014-2015 season, but the more I think about it the more I realize that this is probably better to be done by the end of the calendar year.

But why stop when I could chug along and (hopefully) do what I want? A lot of factors perhaps, some personal, some petty, but all draining in one arena or the next.

Where to begin?
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Fleeting: Stuck on “SOMETHING”

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That’s really all I am going to say right now, because it is getting late, and I better nap… but before I do just a few pictures of various recipe related posts to come…

Just a little “SOMETHING” that I whipped up over the weekend…
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Recipe: Alcoholic Butterbeer Ice Cream

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I know what you are thinking, this must be another boozy ice cream recipe from the “Ice Cream Happy Hour” book. Well I hate to bust your bubbles but it is not. In fact, what I have in my stores is actually some butterscotch schnapps that I used for cupcakes that I purchased regularly after wanting to try my hand at baking.

In fact I loved the schnapps so much that I continue to purchase it whenever I run out at home. So one day I was trying to figure out what I had in my pantry that I could use to make ice cream and the idea of trying my luck with a butterbeer ice cream using what I already have on hand seemed to be the perfect idea!

So off to the internets I went, searching and researching, reading and comparing all sorts of recipes that would first tell me how to make butterbeer… and then ice cream related recipes of other people’s trials and what worked.

However, there were pros and cons and all the recipe were non-alcoholic. Well poo.

Finally I found a recipe that was
1) eggless
2) appeared easy to change around

So as thus came the long sequence of trials and errors.
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Recipe: Various Rum-Soaked Berry Ice Creams

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Drooling yet?

Anyway before I go on the method used for these types of ice creams has stayed relatively the same:
1) let fruit soak in alcohol for at least an hour or more
2) puree fruit in food processor
3) strain the puree mix through a strainer and into a pot
4) cook the strained puree mix over medium heat until puree mix turns into a jam-like consistency
5) pour the jam-like mix into a container and refrigerate until ready to be mixed with an ice cream base

So what do I use for an ice cream base? Well… something relatively simply like…
– 1 and 1/2 cups of milk
– 1/2 cup honey powder
– 2 to 3 cups of heavy cream

Essentially any vanilla ice cream base just without the vanilla extract.

So how did I get started?

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Recipe: Disney Inspired Alcoholic Ice Cream

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Yup. You read that right… ice cream flavors inspired by anything and everything Disney. Not just any ice cream mind you but alcoholic ice cream.

**evil cackle**

Drooling yet? Well my friends were, especially after the most recent Oscar Party, I decided to task myself with a dessert inspired by the latest Disney animated film: Frozen. And boy did it ever deliver.

But before I move on, I will admit that a lot of my inspiration is derived from the Facebook Page: Cocktails by Cody. Most (if not all) of the recipes below and any future ones are most than likely derived from one of his concoctions only made as an ice cream flavor.

Got that? Good. Let’s start with the first one that started it all:

“COLDFRONT”
– Coconut Ice Cream base
– White Chocolate Liqueur
– Peppermint (Schnapps or Extract, I used extract this time around)
– Coconut Flakes (Optional)

Why am I not putting in measurements? Because I’m lazy first off… and secondly because I rarely do, I just kind of add in what I think looked about right and hope for the best. 🙂 However, I will say that adding just enough peppermint to the mix would give that “freshness” that fallen snow would give. And as thus, a perfect addition. One thing I will say is that for the Coconut Ice Cream base, I used Cream of Coconut in addition to your usual heavy cream + whole milk. What I find happens is that by using Cream of Coconut as opposed to Coconut Milk, it provides a far better balance for the White Chocolate Liqueur and turning the ice cream mix into an ice cream consistency as opposed to harder / cheesier(?) consistency. Portions do change though.

So what’s next?

“MOUSE SLIDE”
– Crushed Oreo Cookies
– Cheesecake Ice Cream base
– Caramel drizzle

Actually this is similar to a dessert dish I created sometime in 2013 inspired by the telephone invention and as thus… not much thought went into this one when adapting it. However, one could never go wrong with Oreos and Cheesecake… so why not? And cheese = mice… so yeeeeaaaah.

ANYWAY…
I have made other ice creams, but nothing else Disney inspired… yet. Eventually I will though, I already have breakdowns written out and ideas floating around, but I probably need to expand my library of drinks first before going further… but that might take a while considering I don’t drink to begin with.

Ah well.

Recipe: Star Wars Themed Main Dish Inspired by Qui-Gon Jinn

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May the Fourth Be With You

So for the Star Wars themed Chef’s Table I was originally tasked with a side dish inspired by Qui-Gon Jinn. As thus my original idea was have
– quinoa soaked and cooked in a gin / water mix
– strips of veal marinated in gin then seared

And that was it, nothing terribly fancy, just something sweet and short because when I think of Qui-Gon Jinn what comes to mind are:
– his connection with the “Living Force” meaning he was very much “in the moment”
– his calming presence for Anakin Skywalker

As thus my desire to use ingredients that would help people “de-stress” and as thus provide that “calming” effect that Qui-Gon Jinn had on young Anakin.

However when another member dropped out and with it the meat / pork course I decided to take that over as well and turned my side dish into the main dish and added more stuff. So what did I end up doing?

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The Floating Around “Theatre Survey”

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So because I prefer this type of thing on a blog post or as a Facebook note as opposed to via a status message… Here ya go!

Last show added to your resume:
As director or actor? “Into the Woods” (actor)

Last show you auditioned for: “Lucky Stiff”

Did You Get It? Nope

Last Song You Sang at an Audition:
For “Lucky Stiff” it was excerpts from the show. So I sang “Rita’s Confession” and “Nice”. However in terms of song that I chose traditionally “Can’t Help Loving That Man of Mine” or more recently “My Strongest Suit”

Favorite Musical:
That I have been in?
– “City of Angels” for the concept.
– “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” for the group.

Greatest musical?
Those that have already been on Broadway / Off-Broadway… I always seem to go back to “Children of Eden” and “Jane Eyre”.

Those that have yet to make their Broadway Premieres include
– “Sense & Sensibility“: Jeffrey Haddow and Neal Hampton
– “Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice“: Lindsay Warren Baker and Amanda Jacobs

Favorite Plays:
That I have been in?
– Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”
– “Piece of My Heart”

Superstition:
For musicals: I do not eat or drink anything outside of water at least five hours prior to curtain up.
For plays: I do not eat or drink anything hot or dairy-related

Your Goal in Show Business: To enjoy every moment of the process either on stage or behind the scenes.

Favorite Director: Uh… none at the moment.

What Was Your First Show? Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”. I kid you not, I don’t recommend Shakespeare as anyone’s first audition let alone first show unless you really like the challenge.

Have you ever taken the last bow? Nope.

Ever Had A Dance Solo? Nope.

Ever Had A Singing Solo? Yes.

Ever Been to New York? Yes.

Ever Been To L.A.? Yes.

What’s the Scariest Part of the Audition? Vocal auditions… I get so nervous that I bomb them rather consistently, really is a bane on my self confidence in that arena.

What’s the Best Part of the Audition? If I ever get myself relaxed enough it is singing well for myself to know that I have legitimately put my best foot forward.

Name A Show You Would Never Do Again: “Piece of My Heart”. Though technically never is an absolute and perhaps with the right group of people I would consider it. However the show was so emotionally draining for me the first time that to be lured into doing it again would have to require a lot of coaxing.

Name A Show You Could Do For Years: I plead the fifth.

What ARE you Auditioning for NEXT?
– Most likely: “The Last Five Years”, “The 39 Steps”
– Maybe: “Secret Garden”, “Spam-a-lot”

Do You Keep In TOUCH with past Cast Members? On occasion.

On A Scale of 1-10, How Important is Getting Paid? -5: I enjoy this realm enough to visit every now and then, but to be a part of it as a full time thing? I just can’t bring myself to do it.

Ever Been Naked on Stage? Does topless for rehearsals count since the show itself was first postponed then cancelled?

Have You Ever Been Killed? Yes.

Been Drunk?
In character? Yes.
Performed under the influence? Nope.

Cried? Yes.

Fired A Gun? Been fired at…

Been Drenched? Nope.

Been in a Dream Sequence? Does one of those “imagine this” sequences a la “City of Angels” count?

Been Kissed? Nope. Something about being cast as the bitch more often than not… tends to be a turn off with the leading man.

Recipe: Breaded Parmesan… Whatever

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FINALLY! After who knows how long (probably wasn’t all that long it just felt like it) I finally got around to getting rid of the breading that I made ages ago for a get together with friends. The breading itself was comprised of:
– grounded pretzel sticks
– parmesan
– various seasonings

I could go through the seasonings used, but even I don’t remember even if I look through my cabinets because I have A LOT of seasonings in there.

Anyhoo the last of the mix was used on slices of zucchini, which I have grown a fondness of since college. After that I just have been finding various ways to cook those green mini bats to much success. But now that the breading is gone I can get around to really testing the cooking limits with the veggie greenness. I already baked, deep fried, sauted the vegetable. So what else could there be? I suppose time will tell.

So what else did I use this seasoning for? The obvious answer would be tilapia!
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Endeavor: Costume Accessories Hunt

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Yes… I know I have been MIA.

And yes… I know… I was putting together costumes where their pictures have yet to surface on the internet.

Well fear not… for it is that life (as in the real one) got busy. But isn’t that always the case?

**le sigh**

Anyway, the latest idea / obsession / hobby of mine is cosplaying, except I take it to the extreme. As mentioned in a few previous posts:
– FablesCon
– A Renaissance Appropriate Costume
– Costume Inspirations
– Corseted Inspired Costumes
– Disney Bounding

I have been putting together various costumes over the past year and a limited number of pictures to show for it. Well with a photographers lined up it is the matter of getting some well crafted accessories to complete the costume.

Blame the thespian in me… without a few accessories here and there, the costume just don’t feel complete to me.

So what am I talking about? Well…
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Endeavors: Ten Minute Plays

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Why have I been busy? I’ve been writing… a lot of it.

But what exactly? Well that is a bit of a loaded question with a not so easy answer so I will try.

Over a year ago I was in rehearsals for a series of one-acts, one of those one-acts was Christopher Durang’s Kitty the Waitress. In his afterword this particular ten minute play was created with the intention of being one in a series of nine cat related plays… In his original intention the fifth life. So why not create something like that?

So where would I begin? Considering that I listen to music non-stop while working I decided to go with that and listen to songs and if inspiration strikes to quickly write ideas down before I forget them and move on. So if I were to do that what songs would I use? Early on, two songs whose story popped up rather quickly were:
1) Savage Garden’s Two Beds and a Coffee Machine
2) Celine Dion’s It’s All Coming Back to Me Now

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