I'm Snart

 Random thought: I think I only pretend to be smart.  Sometimes I'll throw around phrases like "Ouch!  I hit my medial malleolus!" or, when I'm brushing my teeth, "My spit sinks below the soap bubbles because it's denser."  Or whatever.

But apparently I'm not really all that smart, because I'm incapable of comprehending certain things.  For instance, my sister-in-law was asking me about Pottermore-- which would seem like kind of a dream for me, because, HELLO, it's more Harry Potter, but which I only joined today after she asked if I was a part of it and I realized I'd never gotten around to even looking at for some reason.  She asked what house I was in.  So I went to the website to find out how to get sorted into a house so I could be sly and pretend like I already knew.  And I spent fifteen minutes exasperatedly yelling (probably in a nasally voice for some reason), HOW DO I CLICK THESE THEEEENGS???!?  And I realized...yeah, I'm dumb.

Or, like I mentioned a few posts ago, how I can't even do proper math, and apparently the moon is only a couple kilometers away.

The list goes on.  Apparently I don't actually know how to blog either, because...what exactly is this post about?  I don't know.  But check this out:

That's right.  I'm magical folk.

Really, You Are Very Dull

You all know this by now: I graduated.  Or rather, I walked across a stage, shook the hand of a man I've never spoken to, accepted an empty diploma case, and waited for the rest of my college to do the same.  Technically I have one class to finish up, and I have until mid-June to do it.

But man, it felt great.

These are my archaeology peeps.  We made it through Field School, Lab, and Senior Thesis together, and now we've graduated together.  The group started with like 20 people, and they dropped like flies after and during every semester...

Love these kids

My parents and Sam's parents all came up and out to help commemorate the walking-across-a-stage.  Sam's parents didn't make it into any pictures, but I'm still happy they came out.

Sam, me, Mom

My Dad couldn't hold still, so here's another picture of him.  Very cute.

Pretty

They took a picture of me in front of a green screen before I walked.  It says "Proof" across it, which I guess is better proof than my non-existent diploma that I've graduated.

The campus is our world

I'm disappointed at the background options though.  I think I like this better:

Don't ever ask me to do photo editing in Paint for you

Or this.

Out of my way, I'm graduating!

 Yep.  It's a keeper.

Blackbeard's Ghost

Gather round, children, and I will tell thee the tale of Blackbeard's Ghost!

Lo, these few weeks ago, a fair lady was docking her vessel when a spoiled young duke in his father's ship slammed into the hull of the fair lady's.  The contents of the lady's ballast spewed forth.  It took nigh unto an hour for the law keepers to arrive, and when they did, they blamed the lady, laughing it up fuzzball with the young duke.

The fair lady was not wealthy, and there was no way for her to sail the seven seas.  Fortunately, the ship was insured by the land of USAA, and they purchased the lady's sunken ship.  She was able to afford another, smaller, vessel...and from thence came BLACKBEARD'S GHOST!!!

Sad face 

In other words, I crashed the truck, it was totaled, so we bought a new one with the insurance settlement.  We named it Blackbeard.  Whoop!

The old-timey filter add to its mystery

PS, Mike if you read this, yes, we can go hike that waterfall now.

A Parliament of Owls

The past couple of months have been crazy-town in the Wasden household (well, this Wasden household, anyway).  Probably the next couple of posts you see will be recap of that.  First up, I had a couple of research conferences I presented at (sort of...I stood next to artfully designed posters that I thankfully never had to pay to print).

At the end of March, I braved a 5am-van-ride with other (smarter) BYU kids and drove up to Weber State in Ogden to present at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research.  My presentation slot was right at the start of the conference, so after my two-hours of standing around, I met up with my good friend Mike who lives in the area and we spent a few hours talking before it was time for me to head back down to Provo.

My Poster at NCUR

Looking towards the rest of the presenters at my session

Creepy picture of myself to prove I was actually there

At the beginning of April, I presented two posters on two different research projects at the Fulton Research Conference here at BYU.  One was on the Greek goddess Nike, and how she is actually a symbol of Ancient Greek identity, and not a lesser goddess to be ignored (this was actually my senior thesis...I wrote a 34-page beast on the topic).  The other was on the research I did on the falcon mummy (which turned out to be a fake...) and how it can be applied to modern museum practices.

Over achiever?

Presenting at these things made me feel like a super awesome professional something-or-other.  I've been working on the research for these projects for years (4ish for the Nike one and something like 2 for the mummy one).  It was fun to explain them to people that were legitimately interested in them (people that came up and asked "So...did you actually do any work?" I wanted to punch in the face).

And a bonus, my mummy research won first place at the Fulton Con in the Anthropology division!  I got a shiny blue ribbon and a $300 check that they promise will come to me in the mail before the end of May... I hope so, cos we need to pay the rent.

First time for first place!

I love doing research.  I'm a sucker for it.  I do it for fun.  Heck, I even have a research project planned for this summer, even though I graduated.  Maybe I'm crazy?

Rip-Off

I haven't posted in ages (thanks, school and stress).  In the meantime, Blogger decided to change EVERY LITTLE DETAIL in its publishing setup, so if things look weird today, forgive me, I'm (re)learning.

Today I learned that I get more than twice as many hits from Russia than the US.  Which is a little freaky.  Other fun countries that wander (perhaps unknowingly, I hope not regretfully) here include the UK, Australia, Canada, China, Cyprus, Germany, Italy, and Serbia.  That's in order of how many hits.  That's also alphabetical (starting with Australia)...sketchy.

I also learned that Google refers people here based on searches such as "scottish clan tattoos," "practical magic," "sappho pompeii," "the world is our campus," "digeridoo benefits," and "I'm tired of digging holes."  I don't know who would be searching those last two.  Sorry if it was you.

Anyway, even though I haven't posted in weeks (reeahlee-- and if you get that reference you win a prize), today is a rip-off.  All I have for you at the moment is a song slash movie recommendation.  Here it is:

Sam grew up in a place in Texas where apparently there was a substantial Indian community.  Subsequently, he grew up really liking Bollywood movies.  His favorite is one called Om Shanti Om, which he made me watch with him a couple of weeks ago.  Besides the fact that it was really, really long, it was really good.  I enjoyed it.  Mostly it was really funny, and there was a lot of drama mixed in (plus hyjinx, trickery, singing, fire, murder, reincarnation, movie-making, silliness, etc).  It has a really complicated storyline that I'm not going to attempt to explain in entirety, but, for the sake of you understanding the song I'm including here, I can tell you that it's about a struggling actor who's in love with a big star (who he is in love with before he meets her...natch), and such and such.  Basically, in the song, he sneaks into the opening of one of her movies and imagines himself in the scenes with her, getting in the way.  Also interesting is that the different "scenes" in the song are sort of an homage to the different types of Bollywood movies over the years.  So that's why they go from being pirates to playing tennis or badminton or whatever it is in a matter of seconds.  But it's a really fun scene, and I always catch myself singing the song or pretending I know how to dance to it.  EM-barrassing.

So!  Enough explanation.  Just watch and listen, and I promise you I'll have another couple of (more interesting?) posts very soon.  I mean really, you're on tenterhooks waiting to hear about my new car and my new diploma case (diploma pending), I know.

It has Spanish subtitles (maybe that's a bonus for you?), but it's the best sound quality I could find (also the video is about 7 minutes, but the song is only about 5 minutes):

Sail Away

Here's something random for you:
I like listening to Enya sometimes. It reminds me of my childhood. Today "Orinoco Flow" came up on my iPod and suddenly I had visions of my little brother Ian doing his interpretive dance to the song, tiny tie flying askew as he fell to his knees dressed in church clothes (why?), holding a book (or was it to "Book of Days"?? Help, sisters!) aloft with "sail away, sail away, sail away..." echoing in the background and the synthesized strings plucking away.
Have a listen:

Yes

Mark is a friend of mine. We went through some stuff together a while ago, and I know he helped me-- I only hope I was able to help him some. I find his courage inspirational (and of course the courage of everyone else in the video). I'm proud to know him, and I'm sympathetic to the struggles people go through. They should know that they are not alone, by any means. This video brought tears to my eyes.

Also, it's been snowing almost non-stop all day. We've had a 50-degree drop in temperature in the past two days.
The semester is almost over. Hang in there (although maybe I'm talking to myself).

Toy and Where I Relax

I don't really have any toys, but Brozhy does. He has this weird feather bug thing we got him that he throws around like a shuttlecock. He sometimes carries it around in his mouth so he can play with it near where we are.

Where I relax is typically the bedroom. I don't think our couches are very comfortable, and anyway, with the new arrangement, we get more sunshine, and I really like it.

Since Mom mentioned it, the picture of Brozhy is of him playing with his toy mouse (which he treats the same as his weird feather bug thing I mentioned earlier). But since you can't really see it and maybe you feel cheated, here's this video:

And as even more of an added bonus, this is what I walked into the bedroom and saw just now:

Brozhy likes to rearrange the bed to his liking. He moves the pillows and pulls down the blanket. Crazy cat.

Feet

After a long day in heels and a skirt, it's nice to have a husband who loves your feet. I mean you.

I'll post about the NCUR a bit later.

Trash

Also known as a very good toy.

What's In a Name?

Ironic that today's item is "your name," because I was going to blog about this anyway.
Read this program closely. Look for it... Ahh, yes.
I didn't legally change my name after getting married a few months ago. It just didn't make sense to me to go through all the trouble of changing my name legally when I'm still in school and have all this fiddling paperwork to deal with (not that I won't have to deal with it later, but I'm sure it will be significantly less not trying to deal with the various departments at the University).

But people don't seem to understand why I would do that. I changed my name on Facebook, which apparently magically changes my name all other places, and now I'm having a sort of identity crisis.

For some reason, people have always felt the need to call me by my first and last names as if they were one word: "Shannonwooooood" (and yes the "oo" is normally drawn out), and as soon as I got married, they kept doing it, but they changed my last name (at least now they enunciate instead of slurring it together). Whenever they do, I feel something squirming around inside me and I cry out lamely "That's not my name you know!" I'm not really sure why I do that. I should be totally proud of my new last name, especially since I never really liked my old one-- too common, too at-the-end-of-the-alphabet. Maybe that's what the issue is. I moved up all of 1/15 of a space in the alphabet. My poor kids will always be picked last for everything. At least the T-Z line is always really short.

Maybe it's because the new last name is German for "King of the Muddy Bank." If that's not a regal title, I don't know what is.

I guess eventually I'll stop feeling like I'm lying every time I say my last name. I guess I'll get used to the change eventually.

Just please don't call me Suzanne.

Key

Lo and behold, they key rack thing!

Breakfast

Today was Fast Sunday. Therefore, dinner was breakfast. We went to Megan and Jared's but I forgot to take a picture. So here is Maya eating dinner instead.

Animal

Rowr.

Why Hans Zimmer Deserves an Oscar

Let me preface by saying this isn't a completely random post. I was listening to my favorite song from the soundtrack from "Tron," which Hans Zimmer consulted with Daft Punk on. I could hear some of Zimmer's style in there, and it reminded me about this post. I feel the need to write it every time I see a movie Hans Zimmer has scored, and again when Oscar time rolls around and Zimmer is again slighted. Okay, I realize that technically he has won an Academy Award for Lion King. But really, of all his work, Lion King? Not that the soundtrack wasn't amazing-- it definitely was, and also one of the more influential movie scores of my childhood (if only because I watched that movie about 5,000 times), I just wonder why only Lion King?

I'll start with a simple idea: Academy Awards are given to recognize achievement in a certain category. How do you define "achievement" then? Is it the amount of work? A quick glance at IMDb will tell you Zimmer has scored 145 titles. Is it for using groundbreaking techniques? Zimmer is known for being a pioneer in combining classic symphonic composition with electronic synthesizing (put that in your pipe and smoke it).

I would argue that it's more important than all those things. To me, when you listen to a piece of music, you should gauge its power or beauty or strength or whatever by how you feel when you hear it. And when you pair a powerful piece with an incredible bit of film (by the way, I feel like I'm going to have to do a post sometime on how underrated film editing is) and you get those chills and your eyes widen and your heart races and your whole body vibrates with excitement that you can't explain-- THAT is what it is about. And that is how achievement should be measured.

Example One: Inception. Hopefully you've seen it. If you haven't, drop dead. Just kidding. The track I'm using as an example is called "Dream Within a Dream," and occurs in the film during that incredibly action-packed, nerve-wracking, and very emotional sequence towards the end (unless I'm mistaken, but it doesn't really matter). You can watch the scene I'm talking about here (okay, so the music isn't exactly the same throughout I don't think, but you get the idea). Here it is. Please actually listen to it so you know what I'm talking about, or if only because it's awesome and worth listening to. And make it nice and loud:

If you consider the music in conjunction with the scene from the film, it's a little more obvious to see the point I'm about to make (again, the film editing is also very crucial). In the piece, you can hear the intense emotion that the characters are feeling in the film, and hear the progressive press of time pushing in on you! I remember going to see Inception in the dollar theatre for the first time. The seats were completely jam-packed. I was by myself, but the people next to me and I had this energizing connection for the last 30 minutes of the movie. Zimmer's music is a progressive, emotional ride, and mirrors perfectly the message the movie gives.

Example two: Sherlock Holmes. I have two examples (I mean favorites?) here, "My Mind Rebels at Stagnation" and "He's Killed the Dog Again."

What I like most about Zimmer's interpretation of the Sherlock Holmes soundtrack is that he uses instruments that you could imagine being period-appropriate, with the addition of course of the synthesizers to add that sort of mystical (as in the unknown, not necessarily "magic") quality. I also love that the beat brings you through the inner workings of Holmes' mind as he solves the mystery. And Holmes is really quite present in the music, as in the times when the violin becomes persistent (because we all know the violin is kind of a symbol of Sherlock Holmes). But one thing I really love about the soundtrack is that persistent throughout the whole score, you hear elements in the music that remind you of the setting. England is in the Industrial Revolution, and you can hear heavy industrial sounds at times. It's awesome. I know that a lot of composers, if they're worth their salt, are certain to do their research in composing a score, but many of them just go off what they imagine (which is fine). I greatly appreciated it when I read in movie news that Hans Zimmer had spent some time amongst Gypsies in order to obtain a new and accurate sound for the music in Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows (which movie is a whole other story-- you can hear Romani elements throughout, as well as hear and feel the desperation the characters are feeling from the utter darkness at times, and hear the impressive global scale of the conspiracy; my favorites here and here).

Okay, I won't bore you with any more, but just think about it. Thanks to Hans Zimmer, we have awesome soundtracks (which I've linked my favorite pieces to, so they're all worth clicking on) not only from Inception and both Sherlock Holmes movies, but also some of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Gladiator, Pearl Harbor, Prince of Egypt, the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, Lion King, Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, The Holiday, Madagascar, Spirit, and on and on!

I tip my hat to him. Since I have no vote in the Academy.

Oh, and for the record, the reason I'm able to analyze this so annoyingly is because I've been involved in music for 13 years, and spent probably 6 or 7 of it seriously thinking about composition and what went into it (never enough to do it myself though). I also am freaking obsessed with movies, and constantly think about what goes into it in order to make the viewer connect with the film. I was pre-film at Cal State Long Beach before I transferred, too, if anyone cares. There's your explanation.

One more thing, then I'll stop talking. He's not like my all-time favorite film composer ever. He's definitely in the top 3. I don't have a #1.

The Moon

I'm trying to finish up a number of projects required for my online astronomy class so I can finish the course before the deadline next month. One of them was estimating the size of the moon, but my math was all wrong (as per usual), so I asked Adrien for help. Just so you know, the weird spelling, grammar, capitalization, and randomness are all very typical of our conversations.

Everything But

Today's picture is the kitchen sink, which you will see here shortly (and which disgusts me to look at it...please don't judge). I also wanted to share what we did for dinner tonight since I enjoyed it so much. We grabbed a pizza after class this evening, and since it was still warm, we went up to Rock Canyon Park and ate outside. It was beautiful and I loved being outside. Also, Sam is going to regret trying for the creepiest face possible. Serves him right.

Plethora

I'm a few days behind on this jig, so I'll cut to the chase.
First: funny. I saw this at the doctor's the other day. Maybe it's just me, but I thought it was funny that they had the creepy little clamp or whatever holding back the covering of the intestines. As in, it's a drawing, why not just leave it out entirely? And the wrinkles....
Ok, fine. Next: a corner of my home. This is a corner in the living room. It houses the pretty lantern Sam got for me in Turkey last summer. It's kind of the inspiration for the living room's style, actually (if there is one).
Next: before and after. I didn't know what to do for this one, so it's just what I looked like before bed and what I looked like after waking up. Pretty much the same, actually.
And finally: delicious. I love blueberry Special K. It is delicious.
The end.

Green

Yesterday was St Patrick's Day. I had a lot of fun eating and spending time with family. We went to breakfast before a used book sale (because I definitely need more books of course). Sam took this picture of my nephew. Even though he looks a little morose, he had a fun time (after waiting patiently for his French toast).

Anyway, I kind of love it, so it's the one for the day, even though I didn't take it.

Sunglasses

A couple of years ago a wise person advised me to reduce my sunglasses-wearing in order to expose myself to more sunlight and therefore be more happy and more aware of nature. I've done it, photosensitivity be darned, and it really has helped. I consequently haven't broken as many sunglasses as I normally would have in that time. So these puppies are a few years old, which really is quite a record.