Coolest. Furniture. Ever.

 

 

"Check out this awesome and stylish Vintage leather interior designed by LA Designs. I love how they have used many parts of the car to turn it into armchairs and even tables."

Found this on Tumblr. Who said furniture couldn't be art? This is the neatest combination of objects since the bunk bed ("I mean, it's a bed. With a LADDER! How cool is that?") 

~Naddie

P.S. By the way, I'm not really awake at 3:00 AM. I auto-scheduled this post. Right now, it's 7:16 PM on Friday. If I actually am awake eight hours from now, something has gone seriously wrong with my life.

And now I don my music theory teacher's hat...

Through a refreshingly random turn of events, I will be teaching a music theory class to six students between the ages of 11 and 15 for the first semester of this school year. I am both excited and a little apprehensive about this. Excited because music is my obsession and passion and I love sharing it with other people. Apprehensive because while I've taught classes on various subjects before, I've never taught music theory officially and I've never taught anything where I had to write my own syllabus.

Fortunately, I see music theory as pleasant rather than as a chore (most of the time), so writing the syllabus has actually been quite fun. Music theory is nearly impossible to teach in a group larger than ten, so having a class size of six is very comforting. The class only goes until early December, so if I find myself horribly and surprisingly unsuitable for this job I won't  make my students hate me for the whole school year. Just for half of it.

All in all, I'm rather looking forward to it, despite my mild anxieties. This should be an interesting learning experience, and of course I always am pleased to find more ways to share music with people.

And thus concludes the second post of today. I wrote and published two today because I feel guilty about not posting for so long.

~Naddie

Side note: Not that I'm going to actually wear one, but what do you think a music theory teacher's hat should look like? Boater? Fez? Fedora? Dunce cap?

Bohemian Rhapsody on Ukulele (Jake Shimabukuro)

...And you have not seen the last of ukulele videos on this blog. Seriously, though, this guy is amazing. He makes it sound like he's playing about three ukuleles. This is a clip of him playing Bohemian Rhapsody (of all songs) on (of all instruments) his uke. And he is not just playing chords here. He did the WHOLE SONG. With ALL OF IT'S PARTS. I love how the guitar solo during the 'rock song' part sounds on a ukulele. Nerdy ukulele enthusiasts rejoice!

~Naddie

Ukulele + '50s Music = Made of Win

I found this cover of Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling In Love by Twenty One Pilots on Tumblr. I have a serious thing for ukuleles, and this is one of my favorite songs. Watch and be amazed.

~Naddie

Inspiration

Inspiration is a fickle thing. A lot of people write about it in rhapsodic and often schmaltzy terms, making it sound a lot more wonderful than it actually is. Personally, I get a lot of ideas, all day long, about all sorts of things. But not always how and when I want them. 

Being creative can drive me absolutely mad sometimes. Sometimes, when I’m in the middle of, say, math, I’ll get a wonderful idea about a novel I could write and I have to abandon 2√x±4y and scribble it down on whatever paper-like surface happens to be nearby so I don't forget it. This, needless to say, can be very annoying. And when I’ve got all my homework done for the day and have sat down in front of the piano to finish the walking base motif I’ve been thinking about all day, NOTHING HAPPENS. Inspiration, that flighty, easily offended creature, has abandoned me in my hour of need.

So how should you deal with inspiration coming at inopportune moments? I’ve found it’s helpful to carry around a notebook and small pen or pencil with me wherever I go. I keep sticky notes, a tape recorder and a pencil by my bed in case I have an idea late at night. As soon as I get an idea for anything, I record it. Even if I never use that particular idea, at least writing it down gets creative juices flowing, which may lead to other, even better ideas.

I know everyone says this, but inspiration can be found anywhere. I once got an idea for my NaNoWriMo novel by noticing that my piano teacher’s pen was running out of ink. Once I was in the laundry room, and very randomly I began humming. Now I’m in the process of turning the melody I was humming into a jazz piece for piano. As long as you keep your eyes open and let your mind wander, inspiration will eventually strike. Very unfortunately, at about age 12 it becomes uncool to be curious about everything and ask questions. Personally, I don’t really spend a lot of time being cool anyway, so that’s not an issue for me. If you stay curious, you stay creative.

As you read this, I will be in New Mexico in the wilderness. Maybe I’m hiking, riding a horse, shooting a rifle, or collapsing in a tired heap after hiking ten miles up and down a mountain in the heat all day while carrying a twenty-pound pack (don't you just love Scouting?). Whatever I’m doing, I hope that I’ll use that experience in my art someday. 

Good luck finding the inspiration for the things that you like to do!

~Naddie Boyne

I'm back. Did you miss me?

Well there. Erm. Hi, readers. How’s it going?  You all look lovely today. Really, you do. And I’m not just saying that because I’m trying to get on your good side. Really.

You may have noticed a profound lack of posts on this here blog as of late. I could give you an excellent and touching excuse, eloquently recounted in a tale that will make you laugh, cry, grip the edge of your seat in suspense and ultimately win you over to my side of this situation. Or, on the other hand, I could tell you the truth. I assure you that the former option will prove to be much more entertaining than the latter, and if that is what you want to hear, just say the word.

What’s that you say? You would rather hear the truth, no matter how boring it may be? Well, ok. If you’re sure. But first, I would like to confess an anxiety of mine.

I do not like crowds. I really don’t. I don’t even like friendly crowds with the intent to bestow lavish praises on me and fill my pockets with chocolates, roses and money. But Naddie, you say. Aren’t you an actor? Don’t you enjoy attention? Didn’t you once march into a convenience store late at night in very dark blue face paint and play your ukulele and sing loudly for all to hear? Well reader, yes to all three. But I find that performing in front of crowds on a stage (or, in the case of the Great Convenience Store Caper, in front of a small group near the cash register), is much easier than walking amongst a large crowd of people I don’t know who might try to talk to me. Anyway, my point is this: I don’t like crowds. I don’t even like reasonably friendly crowds. I especially do not like angry crowds wielding torches and pitchforks. At this point, we cease to refer to them as a crowd and designate them for all intents and purposes as a “very angry mob.” 

For this reason, before I tell you why I haven’t been posting, please agree to and sign the following:

I, (name here), hereby promise that when I hear Naddie Boyne’s reason for not posting on the blog known as Singing Dragons, I will not collect farm tools, space guns, cranky toddlers, or any other dangerous weapons. After I do not collect these items, I will not gather in a large group of my fellow Singing Dragons readers and track down Naddie Boyne. Once all of this is not accomplished, I will resist the urge to proceed to chase Naddie Boyne around town and shout threats and possibly tie her to the railroad tracks that will certainly not be nearby, due to the fact that I shall never, ever accomplish any of this in the first place. All this I hereby swear on the name of my closest living relative, the life of the queen of England, and all that is holy and/or delicious.

(Sign name here. Use black or blue ink only.) ________________________________________________

Thank you. I feel much better now.

Ready for the excuse? It’s not too late to turn back now. You don’t have to hear it if you don’t want to. What’s that? You are tired of my pointless, irritating and lengthy stalling tactics? Fine. If that’s how you feel, here it is:

I forgot. I got busy and I forgot. And then, when I got a few minutes every now and then I didn’t feel like it.

Please don’t be angry. Remember the form you signed. Now, I am about to go on a backpacking trek in New Mexico. In the wilderness. Completely without any wi-fi. But don’t worry! I won’t abandon you again. I will write several posts in advance and schedule them to post themselves during that time.

Welcome back to Singing Dragons! I hope you enjoy the posts coming up over the next three weeks.

~Naddie Boyne

Tech Week

Tech week.

Those two particular words, when placed in that particular order, become a particular phrase that wields great power. This phrase can strike fear in the heart of the most seasoned director. It has been known to create great excitement and anticipation in the minds of actors. Perhaps most importantly, this phrase has the power to make a whole cast freak out so much that they band together out of fear and become a single, driving force with one goal: put on a good show.

For all you non-thespians out there: tech week is the period of time when a cast gets serious and practices a play the way they are going to perform it at the shows. If you don't know your lines by now, I think the director gets to sell you as a test subject to scientific research. Tech week means hours of dress rehearsals, blocking, sitting still while people slather your face with foundation, re-blocking, hot costumes, standing still on stage doing nothing while the light crew figures out what lighting works best in your scenes, re-re-blocking, sitting still and being quiet so that people can actually work, practicing sound and light ques, and then going home for some sleep before you drive to the theater to do it all over again the next day. It pretty much becomes your life.

You've probably guessed by now that my theater group, HTT, is now in the middle of tech week. Actually, tech weeks. Yes, we habitually spend two weeks in this manner whenever we put on a show. Great for the show, not so good for the sanity of actors (whose sanity, I might add, was never quite confirmed in the first place).

Believe it or not, I actually enjoy tech week, most of the time (just not the energy crash I get when I go home at the end of the day). I love acting, and I've found it's always easier to get into character if I'm wearing a costume on stage. And I really like the way that everything comes together and the show becomes better and better.

But because everything is still being worked out, there are some funny and embarrassing moments. For instance, a completely silent fight scene (the guy at the sound board wasn't paying attention). Or yesterday, when the evil fairy entered in one scene, someone played the wrong sound effect so that instead of the sound of thunder there was gentle, cheerful music. But after all, I guess this is the whole reason that we rehearse: so that we don't make those same mistakes during the actual show.

If I had to choose something to dominate my life for two weeks, tech week wouldn't be a bad way to go. I get to see my friends every day, and, of course, I get to act. As a close friend of mine always used to say, "The play's the thing."

~Naddie