The Liebster Award

Well, it's certainly been a while...hopefully nobody declared me dead and auctioned off my belongings.

Anyways, it's now been...um, a long time...since Taisia Tinuviel nominated me for the Nobel Prize Liebster Award.  Technically, I'm supposed to link back to her, answer the questions she gave me, nominate ten other bloggers, and let them know they've been tagged.  But since it's been so long, I'll just do those first two.  First:  Everybody go look at Taisia's awesome blog, A Blog of Music, Stories, and Art.  You will enjoy it greatly, I promise. :)  And second:

1.  How many languages can you speak?  One.  English.  But I'm learning two more (Latin and ancient Greek).

2.  What is your favourite genre to write (and if you don't write, to read...or both)?  Hmm... I'd probably have to say fantasy (the kind with more evil tyrants and less dragons and magic).

3.  How many books do you think you've read?  I honestly have no idea.  Multi libri.

4.  Do you like reading (don't say no...)?  No.  I LOVE it! ;)

5.  Who are your top five favourite authors?  Hmm, hard question...I'm not going to put them in order, but C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Howard Pyle, Madeline L'Engle, and George MacDonald.

6.  When do you get your best ideas for stories?  Often when I'm doing the dishes.  There's something about staring into space while soapy water runs over your hands that really sparks the imagination.

7.  What kind of music do you like to listen to most when you read?  Usually something quietish and imaginative (LotR soundtracks, Enya, Nightnoise, etc.).  A touch of Celtic influence is welcome.

8.  Are you excited for The Desolation of Smaug?  ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!  *Ahem*  Yes.

9.  What is you favourite TV show?  I have many, but I really really like Sherlock.  And Doctor Who.  And Foyle's War.  And Once Upon a Time.  And...okay, I'll stop now.

10.  What is the strangest book you've ever read?  Well, The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket is very weird (weird enough that I never read the rest of the series).  But so is That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis, though in a different way.  And The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White is also rather quirky.

Okay, looks like I'm done!  I might post something in the next few lightyears, but I'm not promising anything.

Here endeth this post.

Hoedown

     I recently came across this awesome piece and had to share it!  I know the Emerson, Lake and Palmer (they're an awesome band from the 70s) cover of "Hoedown" (a piece by Aaron Copland, from his ballet "Rodeo"), which is also really cool, and was very excited to find another awesome cover of the piece.  Anyway, enjoy! :)
   

     

I recommend looking up the original "Hoedown," as well as the Emerson, Lake and Palmer cover, too!

Anúna

     The music I listen to most often is my Pandora Internet Radio station based on the Lord of the Rings soundtrack by Howard Shore.  I like listening to a wide variety of music, so the station's gotten pretty eclectic.  (E.g., there'll be some LOTR music, and then some Enya or Lisa Gerrard will come up, followed by the Thor soundtrack, and finished up with music from the Bourne movies.  You get the idea.)  Anyway, the other day I realized that I really liked one song that kept on playing: "St. Nicholas," by Anúna.  As usual, I decided that rather than buy an album, I'd just start a new Pandora station based on Anúna.  I did so, and the music is so awesome that I felt I just had to share it!
     For those of you who don't know what Anúna is, it is a choir.  It is not, however, just any choir.  Anúna was formed in 1987 by composer Michael McGlynn, with the intention that the discipline of choral music and the free sound of traditional Irish folk singing would be united in the choir.  The resulting sound is so beautiful and amazing!  I could probably listen to their music all day long.  
     Most of Anúna's music is new to me, but there are a couple songs they do that I've heard other artists perform.  One is "Siuil A Ruin," which has been performed by Celtic Woman.  Celtic Woman's version (like most of their songs) was . . . meh.  Not my favourite.  But Anúna's version, while still not my favourite song ever, was quite beautiful.  Another familiar piece was "Fionnguala" (and no, I haven't the faintest idea how to pronounce that); I know and love Nightnoise's performance of the song.  Anúna's version, while quite different, is also very beautiful.  
     In conclusion, I am very glad to have discovered Anúna, and I highly recommend their music!  I also really, really, really want to sing with them.  Hmm . . . does anybody know how to join a highly talented professional chamber choir . . . ? ;)

Words of Wisdom

Yup...

A Thought-provoking Quote

     It's been awhile since I posted a quote, so I suppose it's time I did so.  I'm doing an essay on communism in Russia for school, and as I was doing so, I came across this quote by Vladimir Lenin.

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth."

I think this is really a very frightening quote, because of the truth in it. And yet, it's not entirely true; the lie seems to become the truth, and yet it remains a lie. It is believed to be a truth, but that will never change the fact that it is a lie, and cannot be otherwise. This, I think, is one of the sad truths of communism. The people are told lies over and over again, until the lies become truths in their minds. And then they keep on blindly believing in the lies that have been masked as truths. It's a sinister, and grim, and contemptible thing.

Guess the Function Winner

     And now, ladies and gentlemen . . . the winner . . . of Guess the Function . . .

*Trumpet fanfare*

Noreen!

Here's her function for the examples I gave:

Here's what I came up with

If the last name contains double letters assign to Green

If the last name ends with "e" then assign to Red

If the last name follows neither function then assign to Orange

The only problem with this is where she says: "follows neither function."  Actually, Noreen, this is all just one function. :)  I think a better way to put that would be: "follows neither rule."  And now, as the band strikes up "The Throne Room" from Star Wars, I present Noreen with an imaginary laurel wreath.

You may have noticed that she received a laurel wreath, not a trophy; the reason being that her function was not the same one I was thinking of.  Here's my own function for these examples:  If the person's last name has five letters, assign them to Red.  If their last name has six letters, assign them to Orange.  And if their last name has a different number of letters than five or six, assign them to Green. :)

I apologize that it's taken me so long to post the winner of Guess the Function.  I'll try to do better next time!

A Funny Video

     I found this video a while ago, and I don't know why I didn't post it sooner.  This is hilarious!  Enjoy! :)

The Return of the Tag

     Well, I thought this tag was done, but apparently it's not; I have been tagged by Hyper.  Oh, well.  (It's the same one as before.)

1.  I have eleven decks of playing cards.  My favourites are the vintage Hershey's Syrup ones, and the ones shaped like cassette tapes. :)

2.  I always double-knot my shoe laces.

3.  I recently got a new chin rest for my violin, the reason being that my old one broke. :(  But I love the new one! :)

4.  I have a Star Wars origami book.

5.  I really like the Eiffel Tower.  On my desk, I have two models and an eraser with a picture of it.

6.  My alarm clock is ticking.  It's pretty loud (for a little alarm clock).

7.  I think that raw fish is delicious.  On sushi, that is . . . mmmmm. :)

8.  I love thunderstorms. :D

9.  I think I'd like to learn Welsh.

10.  I'd also love to learn Quenya or Sindarin! :D

Done!  Now, who to tag? . . .  Okay, I tag whoever reads this and wants to do the tag!  

Guess the Function!

     I've been learning all about functions in math (they're really awesome!).  In my math book, Life of Fred (by Stanley F. Schmidt, Ph.D.), which is a wonderful and wacky math curriculum, the game "Guess the Function" frequently appears in the functions chapter.  I've decided to start doing "Guess the Function" on this blog.  I'm not sure how often I'll be able to do it, but I'll at least try to keep it up.

     Here's how it works:  I give examples of a function.  You then try to come up with a rule that fits all of the examples.  It doesn't actually have to be the one that I was thinking of, as long as it fits all the given examples.  If you come up with a function that works with the examples, you win!  All winners will be given imaginary laurel wreaths.
     Note:  If you actually do figure out the function I was thinking of, then you get an imaginary trophy. O.o

And for those of you who don't know what a function is:

     Here's the definition given by my math book:  A function is a rule which assigns to each element of the first set exactly one element of the second set.  (By the way, the first set is called the domain and the second set is called the codomain.)  Let me give an example:  Okay, so the first set (the domain) is the 13 dwarves in The Hobbit.  The second set (the codomain) is the alphabet.  If I assigned all dwarves whose names contained less than five letters to D and all the other dwarves (the ones whose names contained five or more letters) to L, that would be a function.  So according to this function, Kili would be assigned to D and Bombur would be assigned to L.  Does that make sense?  (I hope it does; if not, please tell me in a comment and I'll do my best to explain it better.)  Okay, here we go!

The domain is the set of all men who signed the United States Declaration of Independence.  The codomain is the colours in a Crayola 8-pack set of crayons.

Robert Treat Paine  ----------------------------->  Red
John Penn  ---------------------------------------->  Green
Thomas Jefferson  ------------------------------->  Green
William Hooper  --------------------------------->  Orange
George Wythe  ----------------------------------->  Red
Josiah Bartlett  ------------------------------------>  Green
George Walton  ---------------------------------->  Orange
Button Gwinnett  -------------------------------->  Green

Please leave a comment with your function for this example!

Christ is Risen!

     On Orthodox Easter, or Pascha, as we call it, it is traditional to greet one another with the joyful greeting: "Christ is Risen!"  The reply is: "Truly He is risen!"  We tend to say this in many languages.  With a little help from Google Translate, I've put together the following list of the Paschal greeting and its reply in several different languages.

Greek:  Christos Anesti!  Alithos Anesti!

Arabic:  Almasi Qam!  Hakkan Qam!

Latin:  Chritus Resurrexit!  Vere resurrexit!

Russian:  Khristos Voskrese!  Voistinu Voskrese!

French:  Le Christ est ressuscité!  En vérité, il est ressuscité!

Spanish:  ¡Cristo ha resucitado!  En verdad ha resucitado!

Norwegian:  Kristus er oppstanden!  Sannelig Han er oppstanden!

Romanian:  Hristos a înviat!  Adevărat a înviat!

Italian:  Cristo è risorto!  Veramente è risorto!

Welsh:  Crist Atgyfodedig!  Yn wir Atgyfododd yn!

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!  Christ is risen! 

Aaaand Another Tag

     I have been tagged once again, by HyperLinkzer.  The reason I didn't do it sooner is that, as I've mentioned before, I'm Greek Orthodox, and our Easter (which is the greatest holiday of the whole year for us) fell on May 5 this year.  That meant that last week was Holy Week, which in turn meant that I was extremely busy (we have 10 church services in one week).  Add that to the schoolwork that I had to do the first half of the week, and I hope you'll understand why it's taken me so long to do this tag.

1.  I love reading bits of The Lord of the Rings while simultaneously listening to the track from the film score that corresponds to the part in the book I am reading.  (Wow, that sounded a lot less complicated in my head. . . .)  I think my favourite is reading the chapter "The Field of Cormallen" while listening to the track "The Return of the King". :)

2.  Pretty much the only way I like coffee is with lots of milk and sugar.  Lattes are good, too, though.

3.  I like to cook and bake.

4.  I got to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on the day it came out. :D

5.  I will be seeing Iron Man 3 soon. :)

6.  I just got new headphones.  They're awesome!

7.  I love asparagus.  And eggplant.  And onions.  And broccoli.  And . . . actually, I love pretty much any vegetable besides okra, raw green bell peppers, and sometimes kale.

8.  I went on a four-mile walk with my family this morning.  We saw a baby squirrel. :)

9.  I'm listening to the 2cellos cover of Viva La Vida right now.

10.  I like doing calligraphy.

Well, it seems I am done.  I shall not be tagging anyone.

Giraffe Video

This is a hilarious video!  I think these giraffes should definitely be in the next Olympics, don't you? ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=uFxnBrO9n7o&sns=em

Another Tag

     Well, I have been tagged again, this time by Joel Ball.  It's the same one as before, so ten more random facts about myself.  Here goes!

1.  While I only take lessons for violin and piano, I can also play penny whistle, and can kind of play recorder, and I know how to play the accordion . . . not that it sounds good when I do play. ;)

2.  I have never actually read The Chronicles of Narnia to myself; they've always been read out loud to my family by my dad.

3.  I think that Ralph Vaughan Williams' setting of "Ariel's Song" from The Tempest is one of the most beautiful choral pieces ever written.

4.  I love old books.  Especially quirky old books that are now out of print (and with names like Leif Ericson the Lucky and The Khaki Girls of the Motor Corp).

5.  I like to sing "Gollum's Song" from The Two Towers movie.

6.  I love playing fiddle tunes on my violin!

7.  I have yet to write with a fountain pen and not get ink on my fingers.

8.  I-ay an-cay eak-spay Ig-pay Atin-lay.  An-cay ou-yay?  

9.  I just got new piano music!  It's sheet music for all of the pieces from Michelle McLaughlin's album "Out of the Darkness".

10.  I don't like microwave popcorn.  Air-popped is way better - with olive oil and salt (regular or garlic salt - both are great!).  Yum! :)

Done!  I'm not going to tag anyone.

The Children's Bells

     I recently found a book of children's poetry by Eleanor Farjeon in a used bookstore.  All of the poems are great reads, but one in particular stood out to me.  It's simply beautiful, and I just had to share it.  (Oh, and the poem references the first  two lines of the nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons":  "Oranges and lemons/Say the bells of St. Clement's.")

The Children's Bells

By Eleanor Farjeon

(When the half-muffled City Bells rang in commemoration of the Bell-ringers who fell in the First World War, the bells of St. Clement Danes could not take part owing to damage.)

Where are your Oranges?

Where are your Lemons?

What, are you silent now,

Bells of St. Clement's?

You, of all bells that rang

Once in old London,

You, of all bells that sang,

Utterly undone?

You whom all children know

Ere they know letters,

Making Big Ben himself

Call you his betters?

Where are your lovely tones

Fruitful and mellow,

Full-flavored orange-gold,

Clear lemon-yellow?

Ring again, sing again,

Bells of St. Clement's!

Call as you swing again,

'Oranges! Lemons!'

Fatherless children 

Are listening near you--

Sing for the children, 

The fathers will hear you.

Tag!

     Well, Taisia (http://ablogofmusicstoriesandart.blogspot.ca/) has tagged me...please bear with me, this is the first time I've done this.  I'm supposed to state ten random things about myself.  Here goes!

1.  I absolutely love music!
2.  I absolutely love reading!  
3.  I love maps--especially old ones.
4.  I dislike math, but I like reciting the quadratic formula.
5.  Tolkien and LOTR are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6.  I can write in the Feanorian script.
7.  If someone handed me a big bowl of fish chowder at six in the morning, I'd happily eat it.  Fish is delicious!
8.  Though I've been told I'm completely insane, I actually like the music of Stravinsky.
9.  I've translated the Tears for Fears song "Mad World" (actually, just the chorus--I couldn't get the verses to fit the metre) into Latin.
10.  Hardingfeles are awesome.

Snip, snap, snout, this tale's told out.  That's all, folks!

The Orthodox Celts

I love Celtic music, so when a friend shared this video with me, I had to share it.  These guys are actually Serbian, and they're Greek Orthodox (as I and my family are).  They're really good!  And I never noticed the similarities between Irish and Serbian accents before . . . who knew?  Anyways--enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?client=mv-google&hl=en-GB&gl=US&v=B_e7QbWc5mI&nomobile=1

Funny LOTR Cartoon

The Modernistic Values and Technical Significance of Consistently Discordant and Contradictory Jargon, as Explained by the Acclaimed Calvin

     My dad sent this to me, and I just had to share it.  Incidentally, I just learned about jargon in school.  Enjoy!

   

George MacDonald Quote

     I was paging through George MacDonald's The Princess and Curdie the other day, when I came across this quote.  I think it's really quite beautiful.

     "The boy should enclose and keep, as his life, the old child at the heart of him, and never let it go.  He must still, to be a right man, be his mother's darling, and more, his father's pride, and more.  The child is not meant to die, but to be forever fresh born."

Language, Legends, and Music

     "...'Legends' depend on the language to which they belong; but a living language depends equally on the 'legends' which it conveys by tradition."  ~J.R.R. Tolkien

     I recently came across this quote in a collection of Tolkien's letters, and it set me thinking.  I quite agree with Tolkien; language and legends are closely entwined together, and a language without legends and fairy-stories is a dead one.  However, I think that there is another thing that is entwined with language and legends, which Tolkien has forgotten: music.

     As one cannot imagine a story without words, or words that tell no stories, it is impossible to imagine a song without music.  For a long, long time, stories were told with songs.  From the Ancient Greeks and Romans to the Medieval English, music and story-telling were closely connected.

     Close your eyes and imagine an ancient Greek poem being recited.  Listen closely, and surely you will hear a lyre being played.  Now imagine Beowulf being told; nay, not only told, but sung by a bard, as you will surely hear if you but listen closely in your imagination.  It is hard to picture a story being told in ancient times without music.

     In other ways, too, is music connected with stories and words.  Stories, words, and music are all capable of creating feeling.  As a story can paint a picture, or make the reader feel joy, sorrow, hope, despair, courage, cowardice, &c., so can words--and music.  Perhaps the only difference is that while words and stories paint, for the most part, the same pictures and create the same feelings for everyone, music is more personal.  A piece of music might mean something different to all who hear it.  Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony" paints for me a stag leaping through deep green woods, a fox running through the underbrush, a bear suddenly crashing through the bushes.  It makes me feel, at different times, joy, fear, love, and sorrow.  But doubtless for others, the "New World Symphony" paints much different pictures and creates much different feelings.  However, for all who hear it, it must create some pictures or feelings--just as words and stories do.

     Music, stories, words--all are entwined together in a tight bond that cannot be broken.  The relationship between these three things brings to mind the ending of "A Celtic Tale", a recording of a retelling of the legend of Deirdre by Mychael and Jeff Danna (narrated by Fiona Ritchie).  The tale ends with two trees, growing from the graves of the ill-fated lovers Deirdre and Naoise, becoming tightly entwined together over time.  Except that the trees of legends, language, and music, are three, not ill-fated; and the trees grow not from the graves of dead and forgotten things but from living traditions.

Some Christmas Musings

     I know that Christmas was a week ago, but it is still the Christmas season, so I shall post some thoughts I had after listening to a lovely dramatization of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

     A Christmas Carol is a perfectly charming story.  It has been beloved by generations of readers, from when Dickens actually wrote it to the present.  There are few, I think, who do not know the names of Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, and of course, the story's main character: Ebenezer Scrooge.

     It is Ebenezer Scrooge that my thoughts centered around after listening to A Christmas Carol.  If one looks up the word "scrooge" in a dictionary (I used the Oxford Dictionary of English), one will find a definition similar to this: "a person who is mean with money".  Ebenezer Scrooge has gone down in history as a curmudgeonly old miser, who cares for nothing but money, and calls Christmas a humbug.  But is this really the right way to think of Scrooge?  Yes, this is his character in the beginning of the story, but A Christmas Carol is a tale of redemption and repentance.  At the end of the book, Scrooge is a changed man; he has been shown the consequences of his actions, and has repented.  He raises Bob Cratchit's salary, thus saving the life of Tiny Tim, to whom he furthermore becomes "a second father".  He stops neglecting his nephew, Fred, he raises the salaries of all who work for him, he becomes a benevolent, kind, old grandfather figure.

     I wonder why the Scrooge of the end of A Christmas Carol is seemingly forgotten.  The changed Scrooge is a much nicer character than the unchanged.  Perhaps, though, it is because change is hard.  As fallen men, we find it much easier to judge someone and say that we will not be like them, rather than to accept a story of repentance, and repent of our own sins.  That, I think, is the real lesson to be learned from A Christmas Carol.  In this new year, let us try to change ourselves, repenting as Ebenezer Scrooge did.

     Merry Christmas, and "God bless us, every one!"