Friday Musings: Mental Mondays, Zelda Symphony, Walking into Mordor, and Harry Potter
1. As Sarah mentioned earlier this week, starting on Mondays, we're going to have a pseudo-permanent guest blogger, Brian Levenson, do a "Mental Monday" piece each Monday. Check HERE for a bit more information. Brian's extremely skilled at what he does, and he and I are actually working together on an upcoming project which, to say the least, I'm quite excited about.
I know this means you won't be hearing from me on Mondays for a while, but hey, at least you'll be spared the continual nerd references I can't seem to stop myself from making, right?
2. Speaking of nerdy things. Any of you who have been reading my material on here for an extended period of time know that I have a borderline dangerous love of all things Zelda.
Well, last night, the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) was playing at Wolf Trap, which is America's National Park for the Performing Arts and also just happens to be 30 minutes from my house. And guess what the event was? The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddess. In which the NSO was performing a symphony based on the themes from the game, along with highlighting memorable moments from all the Zelda games on the big screen above the orchestra.
So of course I had to go. And it was amazing. The only thing that could have made it more enjoyable was consuming a Chipotle burrito during the show. Which I did, thank you very much, so it was as good as it gets.
The place was PACKED, with nerds and non-nerds alike, and heck, even if you have no interest in the Zelda series, you'd still enjoy the show as the symphonic movements the the orchestra played were spectacular.
Before the show started, I met the guy in the picture below, who, come to find out, owns the most valuable Link outfit currently on the internet. It's valued at over $2,100 and he fashioned it all by hand himself. He even has chainmail under the cloak....crazy!
3. Guess what fun fact I found out recently?
If you go into GoogleMaps, click on Walking directions, and type in "The Shire" as your origin, and "Mordor" as your destination, a little box pops up saying:
"Caution - One does not simply walk into Mordor"
Hahahaha. Enter #255 why Google is the coolest company ever. I'm sure the programmers over there have a boatload of fun messing around with stuff like that.
4. I recently began reading the Harry Potter series for some fun reading to do in my spare time, and I must say: I'm hooked, and I finally see what all the fuss is about. It makes for a fantastic "cooldown" session when I get home from work around 9pm, and am able to read it for two hours thirty minutes or so before plopping into bed.
I realize I'm - oh I don't know, maybe a decade or two behind on this one - but I can't recommend them highly enough for those of you who haven't read them. J.K. Rowling is obviously a brilliant writer, and I'm continually blown away by her sequencing of events, character development, and the themes she weaves throughout the series.
I honestly can never seem to extricate myself from the book once I get started, and it has become my latest Sunday afternoon pastime. I just began the fifth book (Order of the Phoenix) and I think the only thing I'm regretting about beginning these books is that they have to end at some point.
.....Well, that wraps it up for today. I do apologize for completely inundating today's post with all things dorky. I'll do my best to make it up next week by discussing manly things like chopping wood, blowing up stuff, sports, and lifting heavy things.