(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Horoscope of Irony: Today will present the opportunity to laugh loud and often. Seize it. Wow! That was so true! Particularly if, by "laugh loud," you mean "sleep feverishly"! And how!

I'm getting better, though. Still, it took me three days to finish this post, and it's still not much more than a random collection of thoughts.

Song I am currently stuck on: "The Killing Moon," Echo and the Bunnymen. It's a lot less creepy and more listenable than I remember it being.

Question: I have a new plotbunny I'm chasing around my head--basically, I muse on it at night just before I fall asleep, and sometimes in the shower--and while it must remain sekrit for now, I'm wrestling with a name for a character. There are, as you may know, some very specific nicknames for many Hispanic names. Like "Charo" for Rosario (like, a major piece of the universe slipped into place for me today when I read that). Is there one for Mercedes? I could just about swear I've seen one before, and I'm not just talking about, "Oh, you could call her 'Mercy' for short." I'm talking about a specific, traditional nickname. Anyone know?

Stolen from everyone:

Ten Things I've Done Others Might Not Have

Ordered mojitos while watching VH1 at the bar... IN HAVANA;

Met David Sedaris twice ("Oh, it's you two again");

Been on the cover of a magazine (I was four, it was a Women's Missionary Union mag);

[Hometown] City Spelling Bee Champion 1990, reprazent!;

Finished two novels before the age of 16 and sent them to publishing houses and never heard back about them, which is probably for the best because they were awful;

Failed a semester final in trig/pre-cal;

Received five fan letters when I was a sophomore in high school ("Dear [My Name], I read your story in Merlyn's Pen. Actually I didn't like it that much, but my teacher said I had to write to someone in the magazine");

Been driven home by a random bartender on New Year's Eve/Day;

Taken an AP test during an actual tornado, while everyone else in the school was huddled in the basement;

Had dinner in a Chinese restaurant on Chinese New Year... IN HAVANA. (Yeah, we're back to Havana. I ran out of stuff, y'all).

New Harry Potter pics! Fleur! Krum! Cedric!

edda quoted something interesting this morning--"I'm afraid to scare off my demons, lest my angels take flight as well." I don't know who said it, either, but it made me think of Hunter S. Thompson.

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you: Gizoogle. I ran one of my "uhhhhhh, sick" entries through it, to the hilarity of all. (Warning: it randomizes each time, so you may not get "Current Mood: S-to-tha-ICK" the way I did). Also, it translated y'all's comments ("F-R-to-tha-izzom: edda Date: February 21st, 2005 - 08:27 am Re tizzle icon: oh, yes. Knizzow exactly wizzle you mizzle." Edda? You wizzled my what?).

Note about performing "Phantom of the Opera in Fifteen Minutes" or any other 15M: I've had about four or five requests to do POTO/15M now, so I probably need to say this where folks at large can see it: at this point in time, I have no problem with people performing stuff that has already been posted online. If someone points out a reason why I shouldn't let people do it, I'll rethink that, but for now, it just seems like a really awesome thing to do and a good way to get my work seen by more people, so rock on. In fact, if you need to trim it down for time or substitute more family-friendly words, let me know and I can give you some suggestions, because 1) I wrote it, so I'm probably going to have a good idea of how it works structurally, right?, and 2) I do not want to see a repeat of "Oh, poopy." But here's what I want from you:

1. I am assuming that you are not making a profit from this performance. If your school variety show is raising money, that's fine, because God knows schools could use more of that.

2. I need you to credit me in print. The most obvious choice here is the program. "By Cleolinda Jones." "Adapted for the stage by [Your Name] from 'Phantom of the Opera in Fifteen Minutes' by Cleolinda Jones."

3. Send me that program. Basically, I want it for my records, because God knows I'll never remember the details on my own. That, and having it would be frickin' awesome. My PO box is in my user info.

4. Send me a video of the performance. It doesn't have to be terribly high quality; if you can digitize it and send it on CD instead of VHS, that's awesome (and less cumbersome for you to send), but I mean, it can be a crappy tape. I don't really care. I just want to see how it was performed, because OMG how awesome is that?

And with that, I am off to forage for dinner and do my class reading, leaving tomorrow completely open for hot, nasty, all-LOTR parody action.

Comments

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Spelling bee champs unite. :)

[theatre-angel.livejournal.com]

Hmm, Cedric looks yummy.

You have no idea how tempted I am to get a group of friends and perform POTO in 15M now...

[aidara.livejournal.com]

You've met David Sedaris?!

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was my feeling too, except I was more like "!!!!!!!." Now she just has to meet Dave Eggers and Dave Barry. It is my theory that David Sedaris, Dave Eggers, and Dave Barry form The Three Daves of the Apolcalypse, and when they meet the world will end.

[thejobsagame.livejournal.com]

Aww, Fleur is soooo cute XD

[edda.livejournal.com]

Met David Sedaris twice ("Oh, it's you two again");

Been on the cover of a magazine;

Finished two novels before the age of 16;

Received five fan letters when I was a sophomore in high school;

I've had about four or five requests to do POTO/15M now.

I hate-ah you so verreh, verreh much.

Don't mind me, I'll be over here wizzling.

*wizzles, in a very jellus and vengeful fashion*

(For real, go you! and hope you feel better soon.)

*continues wizzling*

[edda.livejournal.com]

Oh, and thanks to cellardoor28 we know that the quote in question is from Rainer Maria Rilke. I knew it was a German, just couldn't remember which one.

[divabat.livejournal.com]

You should really have an FAQ and link it prominently, for questions like these. Unless there IS one and I've missed it...

*cracks up at the Gizoogle*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I'm working on one. There's sort of one at cleolinda.com, but I'm working on something that deals more with LJ-oriented questions. : )

[pigsnicket.livejournal.com]

[squee1123.livejournal.com]

ah..spelling bees...i remember when i had to do one two years in a row...i had no choice...both me and my friend were forced into it...the second year we had to do it..i got to the point where i was like "this sucks...i wanna go sit down...people are WATCHING ME" (i think i having opthalmaphobia) so when i had to spell tighten...she said 'spell tighten, would you liek it in a sentence.."

"nope...t-i-t-a-n." then there was the polite applause after she said sorry incorrect...but man...i didnt wanna sit up on stage in the audicafenasium. and then have to go to a city wide thing...then my friend bombed out with autumn, she forgot the n. (man ive got a good memory)

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

I was in sixth grade, and it was down to me and a fifth-grader. I got "translate."

"t-r-a-n-s...a...l...a"--oh fuck, it's too late to start over and transpose--"t-e."

You never forget the word you miss. NEVER.

Mercedes nickname

[pallanen.livejournal.com]

Hi Cleo! I've never posted in your journal before but I'm a great admirer of your work.

I saw that you asked about the nickname for Mercedes, and I've heard the nick of Meche used before. I'm not sure if there are more out there.

Re: Mercedes nickname

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

All I could think of was "Merche," and that didn't sound quite right--I bet that's what I was trying to think of. Thanks!

[sexion8.livejournal.com]

On the Mercedes question: both my mother and sister have that for middle names and it's the one my mother goes by. The proper Spanish nickname for Mercedes is "Meche" (pronounced meh-cheh). *hands Cleolind another small piece of the universe* ;)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you!

[barrelgoddess.livejournal.com]

Ah, Gizoogle. Truly, one of the best things the internets have to offer. XD

[maggieblue.livejournal.com]

*raises hand* um...i was on the front page of the local paper...twice. does that count for anything?

actually, i wanna go do the 10 things thing now! (that made no sense. my fever IS back, by the way. so have no concept of grammar or syntax or...anything, really.)

yeah...gonna do that in a little bit.

i've also been driven home by a random bartender, but since i work in bars, it's not quite as, um, random(?) for me as it is for you. har har. (gotta love service industry!)

am.making.no.sense.

more.motrin.needed.

[prettydelial.livejournal.com]

I'm adding you now...b/c-holy hell! the writer of the 15 min operas is from bham?!
I wouldn't have seen pics from GOF if it weren't for me having recently added anne_jumps, so I can't see harm in adding you now too :)
I still haven't gotten used to the fact that people exist who know of echo and the bunnymen.
and yeah, you just generally seem cool

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee! I'm always on the lookout for fellow B'hamers.

POTO note (snicker)

[(Anonymous)]

Just wanted to let everyone know that if you are tempted to rent other versions of POTO - please, please, please by all that is holy, STAY AWAY from the Julian Sands version with the telepathic rats ....

I rented it from Netflix because I thought "Psychic rodents! Cool!".
No. Bad. Need brain bleach. Not even bad in a fun, "Omigod, this is so bad" way. Excruciating, pretentious and just plain crappy. Actually could ruin POTO for me ... and I loved Gerard Butler and his pants .....

Re: POTO note (snicker)

[lissa-quon.livejournal.com]

Heh, I've seen half of that one. With the midget and the rodent mobile? That movie is definately very...special.

I couldn't make it past the part where the Phantom imagined all these people stuck in a giant mouse trap.

[p-tripp.livejournal.com]

Received five fan letters when I was a sophomore in high school ("Dear [My Name], I read your story in Merlyn's Pen. Actually I didn't like it that much, but my teacher said I had to write to someone in the magazine");

Oh, Cleo, I really do adore you. :D

Havana? What was that like? Was it anything like it was portrayed in Dirty Dancing 2, Havana Nights? In no way am I implying I've seen this film....*cough*

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, Cleo, I really do adore you.

You say that like I'm not literally quoting from that letter. I am dead serious. "I didn't like it, but I had to write to someone."

Havana? What was that like? Was it anything like it was portrayed in Dirty Dancing 2, Havana Nights?

You know, I haven't seen the DD2 movie, so I couldn't really tell you. I've tried to write about it before, but until I find the diary I kept that week, it's going to be an uphill climb.

[inkytwist.livejournal.com]

Are we talking strictly hispanic here? 'Cause I've known a few Mercedes who go by "Misty"...

...and then there was "Benz"... *facepalm*

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

'Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you: Gizoogle.'

I especially enjoyed how it turned my Constantine review into Constantizzle.

[maramala.livejournal.com]

On the many nicknames of Mercedes, there's Merche (usually pronounced "Mercie" or "Mertse"), Cedy/Cedie (Cedy was an actual name of a bakery, named after Mercedes the owner), and 'Dess, which was the actual nickname of one of my cousins.

Pick the one you like. ;)

[anneball.livejournal.com]

It may be other things, but that quote from edda is a line from a Tom Waits song. (Or at least very close to one.)

[elendiari22.livejournal.com]

My mom has a violin student named Mercedes, whose family calls her Sadie. She's Mexican, if that helps.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Your icon just killed me dead. Thought you ought to know.

[auraesque.livejournal.com]

Taken an AP test during an actual tornado, while everyone else in the school was huddled in the basement;

Totally done that. And, when we were finally escorted downstairs, sat near the girl who called our teacher.

"Okay, Coach, here are the prompts..."

People want to perform M15M?? That is awesome.

[(Anonymous)]

I think I expected Fleur to be more.. I don't know. Voluptous, mebe? Blonde? Pretty? But interestingly enough, she looks thirteen.

[gershwhen.livejournal.com]

I at least expected her to be cuter than Emma/Hermione -- and she isn't. For a Veela, she seems a bit -- PLAIN.

[mokeyhokey.livejournal.com]

Viktor's wand is very bent. I'm finding this extremely funny at this late hour.

[hecatemacbeth.livejournal.com]

I LOVE Echo and the Bunnymen. :):)

Them, and tears for fears. I made my own Donnie Darko soundtrack, cause it's rare and discontinued. :(

[vladimirsever.livejournal.com]

So, you're implying that all of the other people on your LJ have had Croatian online squishies for years and years?

And how awesome are the POTO15M performances? Saw something about that in the comments to your last entry and squeeeeeee'ed...

(Also: awwwww, four-year-old Cleo! On the cover of a magazine! MUST SEE MUST SEE MUST SQUEE!!!)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Actually, now that I think about it, there are two covers. There's one where I'm in a low tree, and another that was sort of illustrated/photoshopped where a giant Raggedy Ann is holding a me "doll." Yeah, it's kind of creepy.