Defying Gravity Music and other things

ok - still working on trying to collect all the music references for the show here - http://defyinggravity.wetpaint.com/page/Music still need a lot of work, if anyone wants to join in.

Rainy, rainy - hopefully it will be clear tomorrow - going to Philadelphia to do history stuff, Liberty Bell, Franklin's museum, etc.

Attempting to get things in order around the house before the start of the week, slowly getting into the swing of things.

Ex stopped by, had a discussion about a number of things, ended up making me reflect a bit about where I am... poof, didn't need muddled thought along with everything else.

Ah well - one step forward and one step at a time, well unless doing the bunny hop, then it would be two steps forward. Hmm, maybe I should try the Mambo next ;p

On a side note - I would love to learn how to dance, if anyone wants to take dancing lessons with me - I be stepping all over toes, but I think it would be fun....

Got into the GIS class to audit at the one college - sigh, I wish I was a few years younger, I'd so make a major career change... ah well dreams are nice, sometimes

Where did the summer go

Wow - next week the college courses start and the online high school. Sept. 7 the regular high school starts - I am still shaking my head wondering where the summer went.

I still have 3 posts about defying gravity to type up and post and a couple from the New Orleans trip (awww I miss that place :P)

I am hoping this weekend to finally be caught back up, yeah I think I will get caught up before the craziness of the semester starts - I'll be rushed and heavy in september and october but then things even out after....

I am trying to get into a GIS class to audit for the one community college - it is a pain in the arse - now I gotta get my unofficial transcripts - sigh - i hope I can do this - it will help my future and be interesting...

Tomorrow I go to Cumberland for faculty orientation and I finish up the GIS/GPS lessons I have been doing for the bridging students - which means after tomorrow I get to breath for a few days ;) especially Friday

Still working on the defying gravity wiki and found a couple things

https://www.lesbionicnetwork.com/Home_Page.php - christina cox is featured this week

also found a cool interview with nancylee myatt - she is soooo funny and cool - www.tellofilms.com/members/action/viewvideo/783/tello_interview__nancylee_myatt/

ok off to finish up a few things before bed

What a learning experience

Wow, I can not begin to accurately describe my time in New Orleans (Nola, the crescent city, etc.) - I have learned so much, both about the city and its culture and about the content of the conference. Both have been good to me and made this a worthwhile experience.

It is not easy taking a week out of your life, whether for personal, business or a mix, especially as this is the end of summer and I have onoly a week until the craziness of the school year begins (which I can barely believe, wow, summer is.... gone)

That said, I have to say, without a doubt, I must come here again. I have done a lot and maximized my time, I have been walking a lot, but there is still so much to see. I hope when i come again, it is with others because that would give me an entirely different awareness as this city has a unique character that it is wonderful and even more so shared. To react to something and to watch others react.

I am working on a few stories and ideas as well as work related materials, all set to keep me busy for a very long time as well as keeping NO in my thoughts.

I must say, Nola has left an impression on me and will be a time/place/Lady I always think about.

PS - some day I will meet the creator of Nikki and Nora and thank her for introducing me to this city because it really was her show that sparked my interest and has kept me captivated and driven to learn more. - thank you Ms. Nancylee Myatt.

GIS rules

OK first day of the two day workshop on Arcview/GIS basics, head is swimming but lots of great stuff, I mean wowzers - good ideas for the school, neat ideas for my college classes and even story ideas hehehe - man I am sooooo loving this, life is all about the wonder and I am getting it full on - wheewwwwww (ok, I got a Tujaques Lemonade earlier and yum and loving it hehe - my brain is on spin overload :)

Hawk - city - no way

ok so much to talk about, but a little thing for now - this is so... odd and memorable... I am working on walking the French Quarter, so I am walking down one of the side streets, just me around and I stop - on the opposite side of the street is a hawk, yes, not a pigeon or other city bird, a hawk. And it has some white feathers in its beak... I also see a few in the ground, ok, well it is scared a little as a car drives by and it goes over the steel iron post fence, but still there... curious, I stand and watch... then, a pigeon comes in, it is injured and kinda fluttering around, well, the hawk squeezes between the posts and pounce, there goes the pigeon... I recorded a little movie and all, finally someone walks down and the hawk flys away, with the pigeon, WOW - I have not seen that in the "wild" and to see it in the middle of the FQ - ok, wow... :P kinda a great analogy for my time here, and I am only on day two, wow.....

Of course I come South and the storm seaspon starts

It has been allllll quiet and as soon as I am coming here, three named storms bearing down on the area - sheeshhhhhhhhhh well I have my umbrella so there....

Defying Gravity Music

Ok, I noticed a few people are finding my blog because they are searching for Defying Gravity music - well on the wiki I am trying to coordinate - we will be adding a music page - it is still a work in progress - but you can check it out here - navigate to the music page and please add to it - it needs help ; )

defyinggravity.wetpaint.com/

WOW

I am in Nola, the Crescent City, New Orleans for a GIS conference. I have much to say - I took a walking cocktail tour and it was all about the history and it was awesome - have lots of story ideas and just whew, ok - gotta go do a little work and all - catch ya laters - sooooo much here, I am in awe

Defying Gravity Episode 2, Natural Selection rambles

ok this is part of a ramble/gory guide at defyinggravity.wetpaint.com/page/Gory+Episode+Guide+-+01X02+-+Natural+Selection

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Ok – still loving the show – starting with the title – I teach historical geology, biology, paleontology, environmental science and such so know a little about Natural Selection – and I got to admit, applying that concept to episode kinda is interesting because it could make you reinterpret a few things that happened in episode.

I still like the flashbacks, although still trying to get use to them. At least now starting to be able to follow the stories in the flashbacks a bit more. And my favorite scene and flashback by far is the one in the pool when Christina Cox comes over and uses non verbal expressions to taunt, tease, confirm and pry information from Laura Harris in an EXCELLENT exchange between the two actresses and shows words are sometimes over rated.

The voiceovers, I am torn. I will say I kinda overlooked them some the first time and with the second viewing I caught more of them. But still, torn about that… I tend to write reflective like that for my characters, still, it means we see more of one character's perspective then another. Now if each character did the voiceovers for a different episode… that might be cool…. I did like some of the things he said, especially about the Natural Selection… I think the voiceovers help the writer to clue the viewers into certain aspects and make sure they get things…

Speaking of getting things, I loved the euphemism remark by Zoe : ) and the bringing around of things like the eject lever story – you know, that was so dark humor, I LOVE dark humor so I giggled when Donner told it rather than being aww like Zoe, maybe that is a dividing line for people, are you a Donner or a Zoe when presented with a story like that????

I am thinking a good theme song for this episode is "The Final Countdown" By Europe - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZkllM8znx4 yeah I know many consider it a cheesy song, but damnnnn the lyrics fit, I mean a line from the song is "We're headed to Venus" and considering how the episode begins with them heading out… wellllll :P

Speaking of odd things – ok, I know the crew will get to bring some things of their choosing on board and the Antares does look a bit roomy, but who brings red and white face paint aboard (a reference to what Ajay puts on his face at the end of episode one)? Or did he use maybe some of their space food paste stuff :P

And the catty, snarky comments from Nadia and between the others just keep coming. Nadia is rapidly becoming one of my fav characters hehe. Like the convos between her and Wass and the insults they trade, and the scene in the pool - very fun.

And hey – what's with using Fahrenheit – use metric already ;)

I love the back and forth between Jen and Zoe, the looks and body language showing they are comfortable with each other and are good friends. My favorite scene (with the Nadia ones right behind) is when we see Jen standing at the side of the pool watching the sharp back and forth. A smirk grows on her face. As Zoe gets out, Jen bobs her head in Donner's direction with a "It's Him" look, Zoe says what and Jen says nothing, just uses her eyes and all to indicate Donner and now Jen knows.

And ok, while I would like to see Jen and Zoe, I am liking Zoe and Donner together too. And awww they have a constellation together and only space geeks would note they had stars too far apart haha…

And the references to being here before and the natural selection and all – starting to fuel a couple of theories, I posted this on another group but I'll put it here too…

I am curious about Beta (the thing). I am also wondering if a major topic will revolve around evolution and such - here is why and things I am watching

1. The second episode is called "Natural Selection" I teach historical geology and bio and environmental science so I know a little about NS - it is a major evolution theory and there are a couple of theories about how NS operates and if something can influence it....

2. The topic of abortion, Zoe's pregnancy and the crying baby.... is this a harbinger to some one getting pregnant or something along those lines?

3. Donner's vasectomy - he had it done or did he? Beta seems to be able to affect people's physiology... did Beta "undo it" and if so, are all the guys vasectomies undone again????

4. Jen's experiments - all focused on the topic of evolution, sex, development...
there are other points - buttttttt I am wondering if something is building towards human evolution, is Beta doing its own experiments (just like Jen), and so on....

5. The comments about being here before and the recurring dreams and the Hindu references and reincarnation and some of Donner's voiceovers about that and maybe the only Natural Selection that truly takes place is in a Petri dish.

Ok – on to the gory details…..

Some thoughts on Defying Gravity TV show - Episode 1

Ok - I posted this over on the wiki - http://defyinggravity.wetpaint.com/page/Gory+Episode+Guide+-+01X01+-+Pilot

But that contains an anal-retentive in depth look at the episode and lots of spoilers - below is my ramble review thoughts - also this is just for episode 1 - episode 2 coming soon

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OK so

The pilot – I will say right now, I like the series thus far. Is it like a major roller coaster, yeah, it has ups, downs and flatlines. I think right now it is more like the wooden roller coasters than the mega corkscrew, metal, gravity defying new fangled coasters, but that is ok.

I laughed out loud at a lot of scenes, good thing it is only my cat around that gave me weird looks.

So general stuff - the flashback format takes some getting use to – I am starting a timeline to try and keep track. I like flashbacks, use them in my writing, but whoa… sometimes I got lost as to what came where – especially one scene with Donner and Zoe, I misplaced it and that was bad. Also, I watched this episode a few times and I recommend those that want full viewing pleasure do so. After knowing some of the flashbacks, earlier scenes made sense.

Ok so there will be a lot of focus on bare skin and hookups in this show. I am more an action gal, but romance can be good. And I am waiting to see more on Nadia, but for all some might say certain bad words, I think if she knows who she is, what she wants and gets it, well…

I gotta say, one of my favorite catty moments from episode one is hers when we find out the switch is taking place. Nadia looks at Jen and Says, "Hello, Ted" (Jen's old boyfriend) and then looks at Zoe and says "Hello Donner" (Zoe old fling). Zoe then bites back and says, "Don't you dare go there." Nadia then says "Six years up here alone with old boyfriends." And follows it with a look that is just pure smarmy and stick the knife in Zoe and Jen, Jen looks upset and Zoe looks with concern to her friend. Ohhhh I love that between the three. Looking for more great catty moments and zings from those three, wheeeeee

This is an example of how much these actors say without words… watch for that as you watch the other episodes.

This was also true for instance with little details – that is the second general thing for the episode – WATCH THE DETAILS – there is this elephant statue – I suspect it will be important down the road, well, there is a little journal video scene with Ajay that had the elephant and if I had seen it the first time, I would have connected some things. Also, as I note in my lonnnggg episode guide below, there are details in the background like what the crew members wear, have in their lockers, on their walls. These are glimpses into the characters and into the set designers hehe

Ok I am a huge Christina Cox fan, that is the initial reason why I watched this, and she did not disappoint. She has the best non verbal acting skills. Her expressions are awesome and carry through. More on those in episode 2 where they shine.

I realize this is a large cast, hence the first few shows had to be made a certain way and I am so looking forward to meeting the rest of the characters, another reason I would give it a shot. This one I suspect will take time to get a pace.

I'll ramble more in the episode 2 review… just like the series I am warming up to this and getting things set. Although there are some issues, not to complain totally, others have noticed this too, but wow no Russians in the mix. And other debates may not arise as certain topics seem not to be in conflict for the crew.

I liked the video journals and hope there are more. I like that method of storytelling and it showed a bit about the characters.

And of course there is the thing, it, Beta, the bleep in pod 4 – hehe – it seems to be able to affect a person's physiology (made the heart murmurs and I am suspicious of Donner's vasectomy – there is a whole thing brewing there with that, Zoe's abortion, Jen's experiments and all… I am sure of it hehe)

I look forward to learning more of this mysterious thing.

There's always a way

hehe - sneak in, sneak out :P

http://websearch.about.com/od/anonymoussurfingsafety/tp/unblock-blocked-sites.htm