Saturday, June 22, 2013

Venezuelan Beaver Cheese

I have been a bad, bad blogger, not updating in nearly a month. Sorry, guys.

Yesterday my dad and I went to LACMA to see the exhibit on Stanley Kubrick. He was a filmmaker who made, among other things, Lolita, The Shining, 2001 Space Odyssey, and Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. I actually haven't seen any of his movies, and after seeing the exhibit there are some that I really want to see and some that I really DON'T want to see.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick

They had production photographs, original props, video clips...it was pretty cool.

Then Dad and I went and took a second look at an exhibit called Metropolis II. I don't remember who it's by, but it is very cool. Think the biggest train set EVER, except that it only has a few trains. Mostly it has little toy cars whizzing around. They turn it on and off every hour or so (there's a schedule with the exhibit) and there are all kinds of fantasy buildings that the cars go around. It's pretty awesome.

On our way home, Dad and I stopped and wandered around this one street with a lot of stores and stuff. We happened upon a wine and cheese shop.

As a Monty Python fan, I couldn't resist.

We went in and looked around. I grabbed a little chocolate thingy to buy as a pre-apology, then went up to the counter.

"That everything?" asked the woman ringing me up.

I adopted a faint British accent. "Actually, I was wondering...do you have any Venezuelan Beaver Cheese?"

"You'd have to ask the deli," said the woman, apparently unfazed.

I figured it would end there, but after she gave me  the chocolate thing she turned and yelled, "HEY MIKE, DO WE HAVE ANY VENEZUELAN BEAVER CHEESE?"

This was when my dad, who was looking at a different shelf, figured out what I was up to.

This blond guy comes out from the back of the shop. "Venezuelan...?"

"Venezuelan, uh, Beaver Cheese," repeated the woman.

He frowned. "I don't think so..."

Dad laughed and explained that we were just messing with them. Then we told the guy (who was actually British) about the Cheese Shop Sketch. And if you haven't seen it and this whole story made no sense to you, then watch this!



Sunday, June 9, 2013

Awards Night

Thursday was my school's Awards Night.

Basically, all the students who are getting any kind of academic award get an invitation, and then we show up and they give us the award out on the lawn. We're in lawn chairs and the Head of School goes by department and calls names and whoever gets called up goes and gets their award.

I got an invitation. I had no idea what it was for, since they don't tell you beforehand. My friends Sally, Merula and Felix also got invitations.

Sally is a straight-A student. Last year she got an award from just about every department except Fitness & Wellness. Seriously, she and her sister are probably the smartest people in the school. Her older sister is like the Hermione of the seniors.

So we're all sitting in a row as the HoS calls out names and stuff. They start with the Individual Subject awards: math and science, social studies and English, foreign language and theology, fine arts and fitness and wellness.

Sally got an award in everything except for fitness and wellness, I think. She went up every few seconds and wound up with NINE awards. Wow.

Merula kept getting called up too, eventually collecting six awards. Wow.

And I just sat there, waiting for my name to be called....

Eventually, when they were giving out the English awards, I glanced down the row. Everyone had at least one award certificate except for me. Okay, Rowan, be mature. You must be getting something, or you wouldn't have gotten an invitation. 

They put Creative Writing with English, so I was really hoping...but no, no award. That's when I started wondering: Did they call me here just to humiliate me?

Then the Foreign Language awards came up, and it turns out I did really well on the National Latin Exam. So THAT'S why I'm here, I thought, satisfied. (Felix got an award for that too, as well as one for theatre.)

Then after all the Individual Subject awards, they started on the National and Regional Language Awards and the various other awards. Almost everything National and Regional goes to seniors, so I figured that was it for us. Some of the really fancy awards' winners get their names engraved into silver plates and cups and stuff, which remain at the school for posterity.

So I was watching as various seniors and a few juniors go up and get their awards, when something called the J. J. C. Award for Creative Writing comes up. Oh, it'll be one of the seniors, I thought as the HoS told everyone that this person would have their name engraved on a silver cup for posterity, and would get a wooden plaque. And then she said, "The winner is...Rowan Procter."

I was stunned.

I truly had NO IDEA that was coming. My mouth was hanging open, and as people started clapping I managed to say, "They're kidding, right?"

People kept telling me that I walked all the way up to the front with my mouth hanging open. I was in total shock.

So yep, my name is now engraved on a silver cup in a cabinet at the school. I'm the 8th person to win that award.

I also got a big wooden plaque that Mom's going to hang in the hall.

So...wow! Yeah, that was Awards Night. I was very, VERY surprised. And proud. And...wow.

See you soon!

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Girl Genius Snuck Its Way Right Into My Heart

Second YouTube video uploaded! YAY!

EDIT: After exchanging emails with Studio Foglio, I had to take down the video. Turns out it was a copyright issue. Oh well, better busted by the Professors then by the Disney people for using their song. The rest of the blog post remains unchanged.

This one celebrates the comic Girl Genius, created by Phil and Kaja Foglio of Studio Foglio.

Read it here! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
Seriously, read it. It's pretty awesome. The video was a lot of fun to make.

All credit for the art goes to Studio Foglio.
All credit for the music goes to the Phineas and Ferb people.

I had the idea for this when I was listening to the song and heard the line "I put up barriers/To shield my emotions" and then the dropwall in GG just popped into my head and I started laughing. Then I remembered the Wall of Thorns and a few other bits (for instance, Gil's face in "and even more when we were apart":D) and I just had to make it. So here you are. Enjoy.

On another note: This is my 31st post and I've made it to 1033 pageviews! Thanks, guys! (Not really sure if that's impressive or not...I've never had a blog before, so...thanks anyways!)