Wordless Wednesday - 92

Through the Opera Glasses - 9 - The Ultimate Blog Party 2009

Blog events really impress me. When I stumble across one, I feel like I've pushed through into a whole new dimension - where fun reigns and where those I've never met before suddenly feel like people I want to get to know.

Come on in, everyone - there's lots and lots of room for everyone at my Through the Opera Glasses Ultimate Blog Party. Since it decided to snow with a vengeance here in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I figured I'd decorate the entrance with an ice sculpture. If you can't beat 'em - join 'em.


Janice and Susan from 5 Minutes For Mom are holding an outrageously impressive week-long party at their blog. How did I find out about it?

Well, this is a great example of how Kim's Blog Improvement Project is working out. For Week 6 - Let's Get Social! I joined Twitter.

One of my new Twitter followers/people I follow is Sandwiched. This tweet showed up on my home page:

"Following a bunch of new people from #ubp09! http://tinyurl.com/c2nbzo" - Sandwiched


From within Twitter, clicking on that tinyurl link brought me straight over to the Ultimate Blog Party.

Now let's look at why Kim started her Blog Improvement Project in the first place:

"The 2009 Blog Improvement Project is a year-long challenge that will consist of twice-monthly activities to improve your blog. Possible topics include goals setting, writing better content, building community with readers, getting more readers, and blog layout and design." - Kim

And look at what Janice and Susan have to say about their blog event:

"The Ultimate Blog Party is about building online friendships.

It’s simple to join the fun and lots of ways you can get involved — from simply reading this post, to publishing your own party post on your blog and signing one of the Mr. Linky link lists.

The focus of the party is for bloggers to build genuine online friends and increase their readership in a fun, organic way.

So, we want YOU to party with us, whether you’re a mom, grandma, a dad or a single gal." - Janice and Susan

Join the Par-tay!

The first thing partiers do is sign up in Mr. Linky. There are several headings to choose from: Family-Friendly Blogs, Not-So-Family-Friendly Blogs, Dad Blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

Next, each party-heartier is asked to visit a minimum of 20 other bloggers/Facebook pages/Twitterers. These are the brand-new-to-me bloggers I visited:

2 Witches Blog
365 Days of Christmas
Blonde Ambition
Daily Mish Mash
From Inmates to Playdates
Girly Girls Beauty Guide
Harvest of Daily Life
Just Add Dots
Ma Vie Folle
Newfies, Orchids and Minis, Oh My!!!
Optimistic Cynicism
Stained Glass Soul
Stepping on Legos
Superdumb Supervillain
Teresa's Treasures
The Art of Random Willy-Nillyness
The Italian Bella Diaries
The Nut House
The Road to Home
What She Really Wants

For my party here at A Piece of My Mind, let's go to my Mr. Dress-up Tickle Trunk and pick out a costume.


Want to be a Can-Can Dancer?
















How about a Regency Gentleman?
















Oh, this one looks gorgeous - a Renaissance Noblewoman.















Ooo - who wants to wear this one? I love this Medieval Knight's costume.


























Now it's time to choose a mask. For the masquerade!









In a few moments, we're all going to gather on the giant inflatable Twister gameboard for some wacky masquerade fun. But first, let's listen to Deborah Kerr sing Getting to Know You from The King and I:



Thank you for coming to my soiree! ((hug)) Be sure to drop by The Ultimate Blog Party headquarters if you want to play along.

Be sure to join me on Thursday for my interview with Ian Lurie, co-author of Web Marketing All-in-One For Dummies.

Janice and Susan - just in case I'm asked which prizes I might like, here goes:

INTL 1 - Blog design
INTL 23 - Blog makeover
INTL 28 - Blog design
INTL 21 - Blog/Web ad pkg
INTL 65 - Business cards
INTL 63 - Earrings
INTL 5 - Hand embroidered journal cover
INTL 61 - $30 Amazon certificate
USC 15 - $20 Amazon certificate
INTL 30 - $15 Amazon certificate
INTL 60 - Secret Confessions of a Clean Freak

Poetry Train Monday - 93 - Her Palm Stung But It Was Worth It

A very special hello today to Gautami Tripathy, who restarted the original Poetry Train when it got sidetracked. Many, many thanks! I hope you know how much that means to me.


Here is a found poem I crafted from a prose scene in one of my WIPs. Last week's poem introduced Scorpius from my dark fantasy story. Today's poem introduces Lady Elinor, whom Scorpius serves as Chamberlain of her keep. You can read an excerpt HERE.




Her Palm Stung But It Was Worth It


He just made it through the doorway
Into the Great Hall
A silver chalice sailed past his face
Bounced noisily onto the flagstones

Scorpius halted




The Master-at-Arms ducked
One arm shielding his face
Lady Elinor stood, knocking her chair over
“Rephrase that, Pahlmot.”

“I cannot recommend the Ball be held, my lady.”

Grabbing another goblet, she dashed
Its contents across the table
Into Pahlmot’s face. Scorpius caught the goblet
Square in the chest.

“The dragon sighting is confirmed. I saw it myself.”

“My guests have already set out.
They cannot backtrack now.”
Scorpius took a step forward. “My lady
The Master-at-Arms merely reports on developments.

As you requested.”

Pahlmot shot Scorpius a look of gratitude
Pulled himself up a little taller.
“I’ll continue to send patrols. Intercept
Guests we find and bring them to safety.”

“Excellent,” Scorpius said.

Lady Elinor looked from one to the other
Her chest rose and fell rapidly
Pahlmot bowed stiffly. “If there is nothing further
My lady.” She simply stared at the Master-at-Arms

Scorpius gave him the slightest of nods

Pahlmot backed away several paces
Turned to exit the hall
A slave picked up her chair
Lady Elinor sat as Scorpius began the

Long walk around the table to join her

Her chamberlain made his unhurried way towards her
For an employee in her household
He had an insufferable arrogance about him.
She wished very deeply he was one of her slaves

He and that stuffed-shirt Master-at-Arms

Their assumptions about what this
Dionysian Ball was really all about
The man had balls. Stepping in for
Pahlmot like that. Nearing her now

As though she wouldn't haul off and slap him

Across that perfect face of his. She waited
Till he sat in the chair beside her
The sound of it rang through the empty hall
Her palm stung, but it was worth it

For the hand print she’d left him

He took a moment to recover
Pulled his chair in
Looked her straight in the eye
His own danced with icy rebuke

His dark hair fell across his brow.
“Lady Elinor,” he said, his voice like silk
“You do have guests en route and
Alternate arrangements to make. I suggest

We address that.”

She reached for another goblet
Replacing the two she’d thrown
A slave filled it for her
And she sipped the dark wine

Entertainment. That’s what he thought of it

Goodness knows he must not suspect
What the nobles were truly up to
Why stage such an outrageous festival
If it wasn’t to distract everyone? Really –

Did handsome men have to be so thick?

“What is the point of throwing
Half of a Dionysian Ball?” she asked
Petulantly, thinking to herself that
Half was better than none for their purposes

“You forget, my lady,” Scorpius said

“I promised you your debaucheries
Whether any guests showed up.”
A thrill erupted through her. Why would her
Chamberlain’s words give her

Such a reaction? “What did you

Mean by speaking for me
To the Master-at-Arms?” she asked
Trying to get her mind off the image
Of Scorpius grabbing her for a forceful kiss

Where did that come from?

Scorpius took a breath before answering.
“Forgive me, my lady. I knew the
Urgency of his situation.”
“There is no excuse

For putting words in my mouth

Before another member of this household.”
She turned to look at him
Scorpius kept his head up but
Cast his gaze down. “My apologies.”

He swallowed and braced himself

Elinor’s heart beat painfully
She looked at her dark-haired, blue-eyed
Chamberlain. A delicious plan
Formed in her mind. A plan that

Surprised her by how quickly it excited

The deepest part of her.
“This keep is my home. I have no
Husband to help me run it. I have only
An endless betrothed. He’s been fighting in

Some battle or other far more than

He’s been inside these walls.”
She stared at Scorpius, willing him to
Meet her gaze. After a long moment
He looked up. She saw the dread

Lurking behind the bravado

“We will discuss the plans for the
Ball’s replacement now. But tonight
We will discuss how you will
Make it up to me - your insufferable behavior

Before the Master-at-Arms.” Scorpius flushed

Though his face registered
Almost no change in expression.
She felt the thrill of recognition
At this discovery. Why had she not

Realized it before? He’d been here all along

Right under her nose.
“Yes, my lady,” he said, the sincere
Regret in his voice coursing through her
Like a drug. She had freed him from bondage

His gratitude made him ripe

For the kind of relationship
She liked best. A besotted chamberlain
Was precisely the ace she needed now
When dragons of all things threatened to

Pull apart a secret

Noble alliance built
Painstakingly
Behind the scenes while
Fathers and husbands-to-be

Played at war

- Julia Smith, 2009

Ride the Poetry Train!

2009 Blog Improvement Project - 6 - Taking My New Social Media For a Test Drive

Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness nudges us to explore our chosen social media tools for our next improvement quest.

"Week 6 for the Blog Improvement Project is going to be pretty simple: trying out a new social media tool.















1. Pick out a new social media tool, or reacquaint yourself with a social media tool you already use. If you’re new, sign up and create an account.

(Check! I joined Twitter.)

Make sure to include your blog URL in your new profile so you can connect across social media platforms.

(Thanks to Cathy at Kittling: Books for mentioning Twitterfeed. That gave me instructions to link my blog to my Twitter page.)



2. Update your blog to include your new social media contact information.

(Check! I've got my tweets in my sidebar with a link taking you to my Twitter page.)






3. Spend the next three weeks actively using your new social media. For example, set a goal of tweets per day or how many comments you’ll leave on GoodReads reviews to make sure you give it a good shot.

(Check! I've just learned how to use the @ feature, which allows me to respond directly to a tweet from someone I follow or one of my followers.)













4. Don’t be afraid to connect with other people. Find authors, publishers, famous people, or bloggers that are 'bigger' than you and connect with them via social media. Don’t be intimidated, just try it!

(Check! At the moment I'm following 50 people, and 26 people are following me. High profile people I'm following on Twitter:
Gerard Butler - he's got 7599 followers
Stephen Colbert - 114,159 followers
Jon Stewart - 6931 followers
Kevin Smith - 115,411 followers
Seth MacFarlane - 13,167 followers
Seth Rogen - 10,386 followers
Ellen DeGeneres - 12,041 followers
Quentin Tarantino - 364 followers)

5. At the end of your three weeks using more social media, write up a post about how it worked for you. I’ll do another Social Media Carnival post at the end of March wrapping up what everyone learned." - Kim

So far, so good. I'm enjoying Twitter far more than I thought I would. It will be interesting to see if I notice any more traffic here at A Piece of My Mind in a couple of months.

Thursday Thirteen - 98 - 13 Pictures from My Mom's and Sister's Trip to Cuba

- 1











The week before March Break, quite a few Caribbean resorts were selling off vacations before the rush. So my sister and mom grabbed at the deeply discounted chance and hopped on a plane bound for Cuba.

My sister kept her office buddies close by naming her little stretch of beach 'Reinsurance Accounting Emporium'.


- 2











Mom enjoys the shade on the gorgeous white sand beach on Cayo Coco, an island in a chain of islands along the coast of Cuba.


- 3











My sister Michelle salutes her boyfriend with his travel mug, which she took along with her. Have coffee, will travel.


- 4











This trip was just what the doctor ordered! In fact, for my mom this vacation was a special treat - as someone with environmental illness, she has not been well enough to go on a trip like this for about 15 years.


- 5











My sister, my mom and I all have chemical sensitivities as well as regular allergies. My sister and I also have asthma. We've all been treated at a forward-thinking allergy clinic here in Nova Scotia, which has helped all of us to better health than we've enjoyed in ages. Both Mom and Michelle found their resort experience to be extremely easy as far as allergies were concerned. Their heaviest exposures were at the Cuban airport (tobacco smoke - tons of it) and on the plane (jet fuel.)


- 6











Americans may be puzzled about Canadians' tendency to flock to Cuba when the US enforces a trade embargo against it. Apparently 100,000 to 200,000 Americans visit Cuba every year by travelling through a third-party country, such as Canada or Mexico.

Canada and Europe have no such prohibitions against Cuba. In fact, I would say that it's one of the more attractive qualities about Cuba for Canadians. This may or may not come as a surprise to my American friends, but an essential part of the Canadian identity is being unlike Americans.

This stems from being a former colony of Britain, while remaining loyal to the crown during the American War for Independence. What did it mean to be a Canadian? Well, we weren't British any longer. And we certainly weren't going along with that radical lot down south (the States.) So if an American did A, Canadians did B - just to be not-American. It's an old habit that has never died.


- 7











Mom suddenly finds herself in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.


- 8











My sister does her best Christmas ornament impression.


- 9











This was their view from inside their villa looking onto their deck. Mom was amazed to be directly over the water with no omnipresent mold smell. It would be impossible to have a building over the water here in Nova Scotia and not have mold.


- 10











Mom peeks out of the window of their villa, built right on stilts in the lagoon. The Krystal Laguna Resort also has hotel facilities and is a huge, sprawling all-inclusive resort.


- 11











Michelle relaxes in the shade of a palm and gets down to some serious reading.


- 12











Mom gets ready for some fine dining. She and Michelle brought loads of essentials for the Cuban staff, which is the custom for travellers to Cuba. Every day they left the hotel staff little gift bags containing soap, toothpaste, hand cream, deodorant - all the things that money can't buy for regular Cubans.


- 13











Michelle enjoys a Cuban blossom passed to her by one of the resort staff.

Wordless Wednesday - 91

Photo by Michelle M. Phillips

Through the Opera Glasses - 8 - The 180° Rule

For today's Through the Opera Glasses, I've got a definition for you from the world of film making.

All conventional films are shot following the 180° Rule.
















"180° Rule - This is the rule which states that if two people are filmed in a sequence there is an invisible line between them and the camera should only be positioned anywhere within the 180 degrees on one side of the line. Crossing the line results in a certain particular jump, where it appears that the two people suddenly switched places." - Joel Schlemowitz, Glossary of Film Terms

Diagram illustration from Animatedbuzz

To show you how the 180° Rule works to give the viewers a sense of place where we can watch the events of the story unfold, here are three shots taken from Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education.











Here we have an establishing shot, which places us in a sports field and gives us our 180° line which joins the two boys in the center of the shot.











The next two shots are called shot reverse shot. They place one character in the sight line of the other, while staying on the same side of the invisible line.

This boy appeared in the establishing shot on the right side of the screen. Therefore, in a shot reverse shot sequence, he will remain on the right side of the screen.











In the second shot, the brown-shirted boy is actually in the center of the frame, but in the over-the-shoulder shot that follows, he remains on the right side. If this line is crossed by the filmmaker, it's very disorienting for the audience. The only time this would occur would be in an experimental film, or a film spoofing the 180° Rule on purpose.

Since breaking the line draws attention to the film as a film - which pulls the viewer out of the story - the decision to do this would be a stylistic one.

I'll be exploring more arts-related terminology subjects in future Through the Opera Glasses posts. Let me know if there's anything you've always wondered about, and I'll look into it for you.