Click!

Well, I got my new camera on the 23rd. A Canon Rebel T3i - a pretty new release. I am LOVING it!

Below are some pictures I took on the 25th. I edited most of them with the software that came with the camera. I got 4 programs to edit pictures - I use Zoom Browser X mostly, with some use of Digital Photo Professional. Both are useful, although I can't find a color wheel in either...

Anyway, here are the pictures.

A picture of the sky in the afternoon - unedited

Caeruleatus - latin for "Sky Blue" (edited)

My Mom's mums & a gnat - unedited

Gnat - edited

More mums - unedited

My Mom's Mums - edited

Shadow's Eye - unedited

Shadow's Gaze - unedited

That was all the pictures that I have on this account - I'll dig up the rest later.

New Guest

Butterscotch the Butterfly

My sister found her in the grass outside and brought her in.

She has a shriveled wing, so now she lives in the house.

She has her own box on the kitchen counter. That's cantaloupe she's sitting on there.

Butterfly rehab! 

Harvest

Basil & cherry tomatoes from garden

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.

For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

Psalm 128:1&2

Travel

So on Thursday and Friday we traveled to and from Charleston, spending from 2 Thursday to 6 Friday doing stuff. As soon as we got out of the car on Thursday after driving 3 hours, we hopped on a boat.

 The Arthur Ravenel (Cooper River) bridge - biggest of its kind in the world

Ft. Sumter, our destination 

 The flags on Ft. Sumter

 Ft. Sumter

Going over the Cooper River bridge

And then we went to sleep. The next morning Mom, my sister and my aunt went to the beach while Grandpa and I went to the Charleston Museum. We almost literally ended up running through it, because we couldn't figure out how to work the digital meter thingy. And my camera was dying.

 Period dresses

 Some weird instrument. Any idea what?

 The skeleton of a camel. In Charleston.

 A Leatherback turtle. I knew they were big, but wasn't expecting that big. And Grandpa (a scientist) told me they could get twice as big. That's huge!

 Another odd artifact.

 Mom told me this bear used to be at the front of the old museum. It's tall!

A ginormous crocodile. The tall skeleton in the background is a Giraffe.

Then we drove home. It was a cool visit overall; Charleston is interesting.

Film Study, Part I (Music): Mood 2

Section 1: John Powell
The song for this article from 'that movie' is called "Test Drive." This is the scene where the boy and dragon have made friends and are just now trying to fly together - a stimulating and exciting song.
Anticipation, elation, and excitement are the moods generated by this song. The instruments are: Ocarina as main, violin as main & background, horns as main & background, drums as background, chimes as background, bagpipes as background, and electric guitar as background. The thing that struck me as unusual here was the electric guitar. It is only strumming for the sake of adding extra power to the drums, but considering the setting, it seems surprising. You hardly notice it, however, being so caught up in the power of the scene.
The drums pound away as a very imposing underscore throughout, as the violins create an air of awe and flight, and the brass adds grandeur and give a feeling of achievement.
I really love this song...

Section 2: Elliot Simons
I didn't know of a song that had the same feel as "Test Drive" from Howard Shore, so I looked at a royalty-free music website called Shockwave-sound*. It has professional music from all kinds of composers that you can buy and put in a movie. The song I picked from them is called "Defender of Time." It has not been used in a movie that I know of, so I can't give a scene description. It would work well for an action-adventure, sci-fi or spy movie trailer, with a modern feel and very prominent sound.
The instruments that I can pick out are: Strings, percussion, maracas or some kind of drum, and some variety of flute. I really can't tell was the most defined instrument is; maybe cello. The cello-thing pounds away - I don't know of another description - as an accompaniment or alternate theme almost. Violins almost play under it, with what could be the main tune. A military-sounding snare drum is barely heard, with occasional brass notes underneath. The maracas jump in and out, sometimes helping the snare drum, sometimes overpowering it.
Overall it is a powerful and intense song, not really with the same sound as "Test Drive," but close to it. I'm sure that there are other songs that sound more like the mood I was trying to study, but at least "Defender" was a very engaging song to pick apart.

* - Shockwave-sound is not a Christian website. There are some images, in obscure places, granted, that probably would not be deemed appropriate. Please have parents/guardians look it over before spending any time on it, and use with high caution.

Film Study, Part I (Music): Mood 1

Section One: John Powell
I recently bought a new soundtrack for a movie that is actually quite bad - theology-wise, that is. I won't even mention the name.
Anyway, the music is awesome. I loved it the minute I heard it. Some of the songs sound such a way that just makes me want to laugh. Other times I want to soar over the Norwegian mountains, or dance, or jump... Music like that I always enjoy.
So I studied it. The movie is set in Viking-era Norway, with dragons as the main theme. As a result, there are lots of world instruments: a flute, maybe an ocarina or piccolo, is the main instrument, carrying the theme much of the time. Otherwise, a fiddle or horn takes center stage. There is an instrument that sounds like a bagpipe, but I can't be sure, lots of drums & cymbals, chimes, and sometimes a harp. As usual, brass and strings make up about the rest of the music. The violins are present in every single song, airy strings setting the mood for swooping above the ocean at midday or skimming over the clouds at night. Brass creates a larger-than-life grandeur and excitement. Drums pound away, bringing a sense of strength and action to the scene.
Very good score. As Ben Botkin states in his article How to Study a Film Score - Part 2: Uniting Score and Screen, (http://www.benbotkin.com/2009/05/) the audience will always follow the music for the mood. Don't disappoint them!
The song I want to study this time is called "Forbidden Friendship." Like I said, the movie is messed up. At any rate, the song was used to generate hope, excitement, wonder, discovering a new friend, achieving a long awaited goal, etc. The main instruments used are: violin as main, ocarina as main, xylophone as main background, drums as background, female vocals as background, cellos as background, "jingle bells" as background, acoustic guitar as accent, steel drum as accent, and some different kinds of chimes and timpani that I couldn't place. The bpm is actually middling on the faster side of things, which surprised me considering the calming effect of the overall song. The background is pulsing, the beat consistent, the vocals and violin ethereal, angelic and heavenly, making you take a quick breath and pause in wonder and anticipation. Very interesting to study, and very engaging to listen to.

Section Two: Howard Shore
The music by Howard Shore is some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. I picked the soundtrack of The Return of the King for study, partly because that is the only one we own.
The overall feel of the music is very different and yet have many similarities. They are both set in a middle-age-ish era, both in a fantasy/semi-fantasy setting, and of course rely heavily on strings and horns. Also, the main instrument for the main character is an ocarina. And yet, the feeling of this score is much more serious, dealing with subjects like life and death, hope and despair, love and hate, and the end of the world. The main characters are adults, not children, much scarier things happen, and there is much more intense emotion. Characters are traveling all over the globe, there are dozens of themes, and the viewer has had two movies already to connect with the people.
That said, the music is built on a much grander scale, feeling more mature and not quite so fantastical. Brass and strings are, as always, the foundations of most songs. Ocarina and choir are the other two mains that I can remember off the top of my head. Of course, there are drums, but they are not as prominent as in 'that other movie.' There are relatively few ethnic/world instruments that I can remember.
The song for study here is "The Return of the King." It is set at the very end of the movie, beginning when everyone is back at a safe place and the bad guys are gone, and ends after the King is crowned and everyone has returned home. Consequently, it has a different, 'finishing up' feel about it, rather than the feeling of new beginnings. It is establishing the mood of hopes fulfilled, peace, and contentment.
The instruments used are: Violins as main & background, ocarina/flute as main, harp as background, brass as main & background, oboe as main, choir boy as main. The bpm is not very defined, but it seems very slow. It is calming music that could be used as bedtime & winding down music, if you liked that sort of thing. It is beautiful & transporting, and well worth listening to.