Just so you know . . .

Hello!

This blog is no longer actively tended or updated by the author, Daniel White.  He has moved on to other things and has actually started a music blog which he posts on periodically.  If you're interested, go check it out at: http://compositioncrescendo.blogspot.com/

Matthew Evans

And yet another experimental scene, but instead of describing a place, it describes a person.  Instead of creating a whole new character I just reused Sam from one of my previous posts The Visitor.

     Matthew Evans was not an ordinary boy.  In fact he was what some people would call peculiar.  But compared to the circumstances Sam had recently found himself in, nothing seemed strange anymore.  In fact to Sam, he seemed like a rather ordinary joe . . . at first.

     From across the busy intersection Sam could see that he was wearing a pair of old no-name shoes, a pair of blue jeans and a brown long sleeve shirt.  The crosswalk sign gave the signal and Sam began to walk. As he came closer he could see that on his right arm Matthew was wearing a watch, no, a stopwatch, and very similar to the one he was wearing.  In his left hand he carried a cell phone which he talked into.  It was hard to tell what he was saying over the noise of the traffic but noting the concerned look on his face it was obviously something important.  Matthew also had dark brown eyes, which never stayed in one place, and above them was a mop of slightly tousled brown hair.

     When Sam was halfway across the intersection Matthew spotted him.  Quickly he ended the conversation with whoever he was talking to and slipped the phone into his pocket.  By then Sam was just stepping onto the sidewalk.

     “Hello there . . .” he began.

     “No time for that,” Matthew interrupted.

     “Huh?”

     “Or that.  I’ll introduce myself later.  But first, I gotta get you out o’ here.

A Ship!

Another experimental paragraph, this time in first person.

     For the second time I knocked on the door to the captain’s cabin.

     “Captain Morris?”

     Silence.

     I grasped the door handle and, finding it unlocked, opened the door and scanned the room.

     No sign of him anywhere, then I spotted his officer’s coat hanging from the bedpost.  Strange, I thought.  He never leaves his cabin without his jacket.

     I walked over to the captain’s desk and admired his array of maps, charts, and various navigational instruments all organized and in their proper place.  Off to the side and seemingly out of place, like a flower amongst rocks, there was a little picture frame enclosing a portrait of his beloved wife Susan.  I picked up one of his many feather quill pens and stroked the soft barbs.

     Completely forgetting my purpose of being down in the captain’s cabin I put down the feather and strolled over to the mirror above his chest-o’-drawers.  I straightened my collar and donned his tricorn hat.  Looking in the mirror, I could imagine the days when I would eventually become a captain, with my own desk and room and . . . a whole ship with trusty sailors ready to do anything at my command.  I took a whiff of the fresh sea air coming in through the open window.  Oh yes, those would be the days.

     I walked back over to his desk, picked up his spyglass, and looked out the window.  Then I saw it: the ship of Bart Roberts.  I stared through the spyglass for a few moments before flinging the hat and spyglass on the desk then dashing through the doorway and up the stairs to the deck shouting “Pirates!  Man the guns!  Prepare for battle!”

A Visitor

A experimental paragraph I wrote describing an environment and a fictitious character's reaction to it.

     Sam opened his eyes, the ringing sound faded away as the last streaks of blue cleared from his vision.  He sat up, looked around, and found that he was in a forest.  A very ancient forest by the look; old gnarled trees with massive limbs reaching in all directions stood at regular intervals from each other.  He drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out for the smell of the forest was not, as one might expect, musty or rotten but fresh and energizing.  He stood, began to walk around, and smiled.  The sun shone down in great shafts between the branches of the trees, illuminating the thick oak leaves.  As he walked, all was quiet except for a slight breeze which rustled in the leaves overhead.  It was not an eerie quiet but a peaceful and yet surreal quiet.  This was no wonder to Sam of course, the places those strange doors led to always seemed so very real while at the same time carried a hint of replication, like a painting which looks realistic but at the same time is just a painting.  If only I knew it were real, he thought.  He walked over to one of the trees and brushed his hand against its rough bark.  He stood there for what seemed like only a few minutes, but could have been hours, when he was startled back to his senses by a beeping sound.  He looked down at the small digital stopwatch on his right arm which read 00:10 and counting.  “Time to go,” he said aloud, then returning to where he had lain before lay down and waited.  The stopwatch continued beeping with every second that passed, 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . 0 . . . .  Suddenly the trees, the light, the moss on the rocks all flickered blue and in a second, was gone.

Is That a Weed In My Fescue?!

I always have this list of movies that I want to see or can't wait to see.  Right now it's at record length.

Let's see, there's:

1) Inception

2) Robin Hood

3) Despicable Me

4) Toy Story 3

5) Tangled

6) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

7) Batman Begins

8) The Dark Knight (Yeah, I havent seen either of these, although I did see the Prestige which was pretty awesome)

There's more, but I can't think of them at the moment.

I've been working on some pretty awesome music these days.  I should post it on my music blog (which by the way I am making some changes to) sometime around here.

Just saw this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZa7hU6tP_s

How to Train Your Dragon

Yesterday . . . no, the day before yesterday the family and I went and saw How to Train Your Dragon at the [two] dollar theater.  I have to say, I loved it.  Great story, great soundtrack, other than a very few things here and there, it is now one of my favorite animated movies yet.  I was thinking of writing my own review of the movie but after reading an article by N. D. Wilson on it which pretty much says everything I would've, I decided to just post a link to his article.

Here's the article.

And here's the awesome trailer:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHUhygdAZIw

Appalachian Fiddle Sticks

Over the past weekend my family and I went on a vacation with all of my Mom's immediate family to Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  It's been a tradition we've had going for several years now.  I don't want to expound on this subject now, but I will give my favorite highlight of the trip.  One day we headed over to the Museum of Appalachia, an awesome museum about an hour west and north of Gatlinburg.

Outside one of the buildings at the museum there were two musicians playing folk tunes on the violin and guitar.  Naturally I was attracted to this performance (seeing I like both the violin and folk music).  In between each song they would stop and talk to the listeners or ask for suggestions on songs to play.  During one of these intermissions one of my relatives (I can't remember which one) mentioned to the performers that I played the violin (fiddle is what they called it).  The performers expressed interest and asked if I wanted to join them in playing.  Now I, being trained to play the violin mainly through classical music, was slightly hesitant.  They went ahead and played a few more songs and once again asked if I wanted to play.  I gave in.  I played a few fiddle songs and they joined in with other instruments on the songs they knew. It was awesome.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and as far as I know I think they did too.

There's yer highlight.

I will leave you a song.


ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL from Bill Murk on Vimeo.