War and Peace

So somehow I ended up at this blog where the person is going to read Tolstoy's War and Peace during the cold months of January and February.
In about 300 page chunks.
Vol 1 by 15 Jan 11.
Vol 2 by 31 Jan 11.
Vol 3 by 12 Feb 11.
Vol 4 and Epilogue by 28 Feb 11.
(She's reading Rebecca and Woman In White in January also.)

So I'm digging around on the Internet for info.

My freebie doesn't have Volumes? I have Books and there are 15+ Epilogues.
From Wiki summaries, I'd say:
Volume 1 = Book 1-3
Volume 2 = Book 4-8?
Volume 3 = Book 9-13?
Volume 4 = Book 14 - End?

SparkNotes might have better summaries.
Nothing at shmoop.

Wiki:
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lyev Nikolayevich Tolstoy
(b. 9 Sep 1828 - d. 20 Nov 1910)
(Love those Russian names. LOL)
NOTE: Birthdate 28 Aug 1828 is Julian calendar.

War and Peace - 1865–69 (Born 1828 so 37 years old.)
Anna Karenina - 1875–77 (Tolstoy had his spiritual crisis in his 50's, 1878-.)

War and Peace
English translations:
* Clara Bell (from a French version) 1885-86
* Nathan Haskell Dole 1898
* Leo Wiener 1904
* Constance Garnett (1904)
* Louise and Aylmer Maude (1922-3)
* Rosemary Edmonds (1957, revised 1978)
* Ann Dunnigan (1968)
* Anthony Briggs (2005)
* Andrew Bromfield (2007) More than 400 pages shorter.
* Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2007)

Wiki has a character tree for War and Peace (above link).
Also Character List.

Maps of Russia that I liked (English).
3 different views. One is huge.
pdf format and can be zoomed in for detail.

Maude translation is the one at Gutenberg and is the best freebie version that I could find (epub, mobi, txt, html).
Also at Feedbooks. (I liked some of the summaries here.)

A lot of Tolstoy's works can be read here.
Also check wikisource.

Biography I think?
Leo Tolstoy (1903)
Authors: Chesterton, Perris, Garnett
A few images from that:




Wiki says: They (Leo and Sofya) had thirteen children, five of whom died during childhood.[12]

Tolstoy Timeline
I love timelines. There's three of them as you scroll down the page.

The life of Tolstoy: first fifty years
By Aylmer Maude
Page 204 - scar from bear attack. Is that why Tolstoy had a beard? Timeline above said this happened in 1858.


This looks good:
Writings of Tolstoy
Via classicauthors

Tolstoy photos
I like the one dated 1848.

Born 1828 so about twenty years old in that photo.
Wiki has same pic.
He looks so much better without a beard.

Quote:


Source/Reference:
Pamplets
I actually found that at yahoo answers.
That has to be a first. LOL I never find answers there.

Google Books

I saw partial works by Garnett, Wiener, Dole at Google books, but nothing complete.
It was difficult trying to figure out which translator, which volume, and how many volumes.
Preview the book and download from there instead of going thru new google ebook sign in.

Best links are above, but here's some things I found at Google Books so far:

Dole (translator ):

War and Peace - Dole
Translator is Dole.
Google says Vol 1 and 2.
But the downloaded pdf/epub says in 4 volumes, vol 1?
I compared it with Gutenberg's Maude and this Dole download is thru Book 8, so 2 Volumes.

Unknown Translator:

Complete Works
Compete Works Vol 2
War and Peace Vol III - IV
(Google uses numbers, Documents use Roman Numerals.)
(NOTE: Under Contents, each chapter has some summary text, which might be useful.)

Complete Works
The complete works of Lyof N. Tolstoĭ, Volume 3
War and Peace Vol V - VI
Part (Book) XI - XII
(NOTE: Contents has summary text again.)

Garnett (translator):
War and Peace - Garnett
By Garnett in 3 volumes
Volume II

The Four Gospels
Vol I
Translator? Unclear, but there's a publisher given.
It has a sample of Tolstoy's handwriting:


NOTE: This "Vol I" has a *long* Table of Contents. Some don't. It also notes the inaccuracies occurring with Tolstoy translations. Which is probably a saga in and of itself.



This post might be edited as I continue to study and do research on the subject.

UPDATE:
More War & Peace Readers/Discussions:
Team Tolstoy (See right column.)
Via this blog.
And this one is War & Peace a chapter a day.

Toy Story

Toy Story 1 and 2 were on TV this holiday season so I recorded and watched them for the first time. My favorite character was Buzz Lightyear when he believed he was real.



I like that little spiral on his chin. Nice touch.

Toy Story 1 is probably my favorite of the two movies. I liked the scenes where they would listen in to see what new toys were arriving. I liked the rivalry between Buzz and Woody and how they eventually became friends.

Favorite Quote:
Woody: Hey, Buzz! You're flying!
Buzz: This isn't flying. This is falling with style!

Toy Story 1 Script
Toy Story 2 Script

Cast - Some of the recognizable voices:
Tom Hanks - Woody
Tim Allen - Buzz Lightyear
Don Rickles - Mr. Potato Head
John Ratzenberger - Hamm
Annie Potts - Bo Peep
Laurie Metcalf - Andy's Mom

Toy Story 2
Joan Cusack - Cowgirl Jessie
Kelsey Grammer - Prospector Stinky Pete
Robert Goulet - Wheezy Penguin (singing voice)

Deceased:
Joe Ranft (b. 13 Mar 1960 - d. 16 Aug 2005) [car crash]
Lenny Binoculars in Toy Story 1.
Wheezy Penguin in Toy Story 2.

Jim Varney (b 15 Jun 1949 - d. 10 Feb 2000) [lung cancer]
Slink Dog in Toy Story 1 and 2.
Blake Clark is voice of Slinky Dog in Toy Story 3.

Pink

Listening to:
Raise Your Glass
by
P!nk.



Born Alecia Beth Moore (8 Sep 79) in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Struggled with asthma as a kid.
Married to professional motocross racer Carey Hart (7 Jan 06).
She's pregnant (announced 17 Nov 10).

Stage name, Pink (stylized as P!nk) was coined as tribute to the character Mr. Pink from the film Reservoir Dogs.

1st album - 2000 - Can't Take Me Home, R&B.
2nd album - 2001 - M!ssundaztood, pop rock.

Raise Your Glass (Oct 10) from Greatest Hits... So Far!!! album.
In terms of chart position, one of Pink's two most successful songs, along with So What (2008).

Video also at MTV
For the underdogs.
About the Video
More

PinkVideoVault

imdb

songfacts

So raise your glass if you are wrong
In all the right ways
All my underdogs
We will never be never be
Anything but loud
And nitty-gritty dirty little freaks...

KPT Plugin Mystery Solved

I just happened upon a link to those free KPT plugins I was supposed to get with my purchase of Paint Shop Photo Pro X3.

Found here.
Subject: PSP X3: After reinstall KPT filters won't install
by df on Sat Nov 20, 2010 1:04 am

Direct Link to plugins:
KPT exe
They install in the default plugin folder here (Windows 7):
C:\Program Files (x86)\Corel\Corel PaintShop Photo Pro\X3\PSPClassic\Languages\EN\PlugIns\KPT
User Guide PDF files are there too:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Corel\Corel PaintShop Photo Pro\X3\PSPClassic\Languages\EN\PlugIns\KPT\metaos\User Guide

You get:
1. Equalizer (blur/sharpen)
2. Goo (warp brush)
3. LensFlare
4. Projector
It's like Mehdi Projection.
There's also MuRa Perspective Tiling.
Both are free plugins.

All in all, not real interesting.

Wiki has some info on the KPT plugins.
Not much info at Corel.

Eat Pray Love DVD

Eat Pray Love
I bought the DVD and watched the movie, then I read the book, and then I googled the topic.
So much has already been said, positive and negative, but I wanted to log my impressions and some good links on my blog for reference.

The movie is worth a watch, good even, but it felt lacking. Maybe because it's supposed to be this big inspirational movie and it wasn't that for me.

The book is laboriously verbose and I found myself skimming paragraphs to get to the point. I didn't start to like Liz until after reading India. Somehow her acknowledging and accepting her chatty side helped me to be more accepting of it in her writing. The India section in the book is better than the movie because it gives more context and information so it's more meaningful. Richard isn't as obnoxious in the book as he is in the movie. The confrontation between Felipe and Liz near the end of the movie did not happen in the book. So Felipe is better in the book too.

There are a lot of differences in the movie vs book, too numerous to mention all of them. A lot of times things said in the book are given a different speaker, context, setting.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie, where Giovanni talks about fear, did not happen in the book. Probably more of a minor character but I sure liked him for that scene.

"I thank God for fear because for the first time, I'm afraid the person next to me will be the one who wants to leave."
Awh...


Heart of Gold by Neil Young played during that scene.

That's Sofi with him in the photo. In the book Giovanni had a twin, Dario, and Dario was dating Sofie (with an e).

Another favorite in the movie was on the rooftop/tower scene, where Liz visualized a meeting with her ex-husband in a way that allowed her to let go of the guilt, etc. The visualization was different in the movie, but similar effect. It was the plumber not Richard who took Liz to the rooftop place.


Harvest Moon by Neil Young played during that scene.

Liz's ex is never mentioned by name in the book. His name is Stephen in the movie. In real life his name is Michael Cooper.

Italy was my favorite section of the movie. Didn't like India in the movie. Bali's Kutu and Waylan were interesting characters. Waylan was more complex in the book and not so nice. Kutu was funnier in the book.

The DVD has a Theatre version and a Director's Cut. It doesn't tell you that Director's Cut has about 5 minutes of extra scenes. Why not just have a deleted scenes feature and not make us watch the entire l-o-n-g 140-146 minutes movie twice?

I was hard pressed to find Felipe in the cast list at imdb or on the DVD credits. He's way down the list. He's actor, Javier Bardem. Married to Penélope Cruz (July 2010).
About 2 years younger than Julia Roberts in real life. 17 years older than Liz in the book. (J is H sound, HaviAIR BarDEM.)

Flight Attendant by Josh Rouse played during the bar scene with David and Liz.


Better Days by Eddie Vedder played at the end into the credits.


LINKS:

Movie vs Book

Theatrical vs Director's Cut

Letter To David
(Not exact, but close enough.)

Tons of big movie photos

Liz on Creativity
Video and Transcript. (also YouTube)
19 minutes - GOOD.
"Aren't you afraid that you're going to work your whole life at this craft and nothing's ever going to come of it and you're going to die on a scrap heap of broken dreams with your mouth filled with bitter ash of failure?"

barnesandnoble interview
"This is the secret reason I travel so much, and to such distant places. To get away from everyone I know."
"I believe that creativity is a living force that thrums wildly through this world and expresses itself through us."

Liz on EPL
Video - Authors@Google: Elizabeth Gilbert
GOOD
30 minutes
Liz reads chapter 49 of EPL.
Italian made her feel more alive, mixed up the sentences, words too.
Eat, Pray, Love, "Repeat" would be the 4th verb or maybe "Remember" that would be good too.

Making the Movie - Julia Roberts
9 minutes
Julia says, not for everyone, that's what Gilbert did and does --travel.

Letterman and Roberts
David Letterman with Julie Roberts
Funny to watch those two banter back and forth.

Take A Picture - Filter

Take A Picture, by Filter.
I happened to hear this song playing in the background on an old rerun of Cold Case (Startup epi).
The song is ten years old! It surprises me how many popular songs I haven't heard before.
I tried some of their other songs. Don't like them.

wiki:
"Take a Picture" was the second single off Filter's Title of Record. The song became a major hit during the start of 2000.
It was the band's first departure from the industrial rock that they usually played, instead being soft and melodic.

...founding member Richard Patrick has said that the song is about him getting drunk on an airplane, taking off all of his clothes, and fighting with the flight attendants who tried to stop him. [1]
MTV: Do you have a favorite song from the new record?
RP: Actually, my favorite song is "Take A Picture." It brings up the happiest time in my life, I think. One time when I was just running around a plane naked. Ha! I had a lot of fun on that plane trip.

Richard Patrick (b. 10 May 1968) Needham, Massachusetts.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Dug a Breakfast at Tiffany's DVD out of the bargain bin. No extra features. Just the movie and a trailer. I'd buy more oldies like that if I could find them. Like old Kathryn Hepburn movies. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is coming on TV, Mon. Dec. 13 9:00 PM on TCM. I'll record it.

This post contains spoilers, if you don't like that kind of thing. I wanted to jot down some of my thoughts about the movie vs book while they are fresh in my mind.

Stars:
Audrey Hepburn (b. 4 May 1929. - d. 20 Jan 1993)
George Peppard (b. 1 Oct 1928 - d. 8 May 1994)
Peppard looked better when he was older.
Patricia Neal (b. 20 Jan 1926 – d. 8 Aug 2010)
Buddy Ebsen (b 2 Apr 1908 – d. 6 Jul 2003)
Henry Mancini (b. 16 Apr 1924 - d. 14 Jun 1994) (Music)

I think the only main character still living is Mickey Rooney and his character was terrible.

I probably watched this movie before, but I don't remember it.
Holly was an interesting character to me. I didn't want that happy ending in the movie. It just didn't fit the story. There were no indications Holly had changed.

I decided to read the novella, by Truman Capote, the guy who wrote In Cold Blood. There are a lot of differences in the movie vs the book and I liked the book better.



Cigarettes looked really good in the movie. I wanted one and I don't smoke. She smoked Picayunes in the book.



Loved the clothes in the movie.
Especially that orange coat.



Favorite scenes:
Best line was at the end when Paul said Holly was already in a cage of her making.
Didn't happen in the novella.
AND
The scene where she said, "I love you, but I'm just not Lulamae anymore." (To Doc.)



That was a little different in the novella too. I liked the way it was done in the movie better. Gave a different impression of her.

Moon River is played too much.



I liked how the novella described the scene of her playing guitar in the window.

“On days when the sun was strong, she would wash her hair, and together with the cat, a red tiger-striped tom, sit out on the fire escape thumbing a guitar while her hair dried. Whenever I heard the music, I would go stand quietly by my window...

...there were moments when she played songs that made you wonder where she learned them, where indeed she came from. Harsh-tender wandering tunes with words that smacked of pineywoods or prairie. One went: Don't wanna sleep, Don't wanna die, Just wanna go a-travelin' through the pastures of the sky; and this one seemed to gratify her the most, for often she continued it long after her hair had dried, after the sun had gone and there were lighted windows in the dusk.”

Lulamae Barnes married Doc Golightly Dec 1938 when she was 14 and he was pushing 50.

“Every day she'd walk a little further...One day she just kept on.”

Doc had been looking for her for 5 years (1943). When the narrator knew her she was two months shy of 19.
In the movie Holly says the marriage was annulled. In the novella, she insists it wasn't legal since she was only 14.
In the book there were two stepsisters and two stepbrothers and they were older than Lulamae (Holly). I think her brother, Fred, was older than her.
In the book it says that her mom and dad both died of TB and all the children were sent off to different mean people. And Holly mentions having other brothers. So there were more siblings than just Lulamae and Fred. What happened to them is an unknown.
Pregnant in the novella, not in movie.
Her relationship with Paul (movie) unnamed narrator (novella) remained platonic in the book.
In the book, Holly said she'd had eleven lovers not counting anything that happened before she was thirteen.
?
The book was like that a lot. Hints about an awful past, that made her who she was. I think that's what made the whole story so intriguing to me.

Loved seeing the library card catalog files. Ha!
In the movie she'd never been to the library before, gasp! Not in the novella, though.

The ring? Cracker Jacks? Nope, didn't happen in the novella.
Paul (movie) unnamed narrator (novella) bought her a St. Christopher medal from Tiffany's in the book.

Interesting read on the book:
critical analysis

Snow Scene

It snowed a lot and no wind.
So...
The outdoor thermometer has a cute snowcap on it.
The evergreens are heavy with snow.
Pretty.

Here's a cute little graphic I pulled out of my archives and edited.


It's either an old WordPerfect image or an old Microsoft Word image.
It's fun to fiddle with graphic images sometimes. See what I can do with them.

Real life winter photos here.
More.

Tommy Emmanuel

Tommy Emmanuel (b. 31 May 1955) Australian guitarist.
First guitar at the age of 4, taught to accompany his mother.
By the age of 9, he was a working professional musician.
They were poor. Lived in their car; on the road all the time.
His dad died in 1966 when Tommy was 11.

My fav song of his:
Morning Aire
Capo on 5th fret, close up of right and left hands, worn out guitar.

Morning Aire2 (Better sound.)

It's on his Endless Road album.
Also Today is Mine song on here.
I like the lyrics on this one. Nature makes me feel like that. (See image below.)
Written by Jerry Reed Hubbard (b. 30 Mar 1937 - d. 01 Sep 2008).
Reed's Version.
Penned in 1968.
It's on Reed's Alabama Wild Man album.

I also like Tommy's version of And So It Goes. (Billy Joel song.)
On Emmanuel's Mystery album.
Plays it in different keys and plays it differently. Search YouTube for more videos of the song. On this one Tommy gives an intro before he starts playing and also adds some stuff towards the end of the song.

And just for fun watch him play Classical Gas (Mason Williams song). You go, Tommy. lol



Image from morquefile.
Edits mine.

John Muir Quotes

I dug out the sources/references for the John Muir quotes I have on my blog.
Because it's fun digging around in old digitally archived books online.

First, a nice pic of John Muir:

Source
(Edits mine.)

QUOTE: “The mountains are calling and I must go.”

The writings of John Muir (1916) - Volume 9
(Page 384 and 385.)


(Images: snippets pieced together by me. Sig from wiki.)

QUOTE: “The power of imagination makes us infinite.”

The North American review (1821) - Volume 245
Page 24 (intro), page 43 and 44 (quote).



How did I find it?
Google it
(Sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn't.)

QUOTE: “But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease.”

From: My first summer in the Sierra (c. 1911), John Muir (pg 196)
google books
archive



QUOTE: “How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!”

The Writings of John Muir: The mountains of California By John Muir, Marion Randall Parsons, William Frederic Badè, Houghton Mifflin, 1916 - Travel (pg 68)



Also at:
The mountains of California By John Muir, The Century co., 1894 - Nature - 381 pages (pg58)
The writings of John Muir (1916) - Volume 4 (pg 68)

QUOTE: “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”

Steep trails By John Muir, Houghton, Mifflin, 1918 - 390 pages (Pg 128, same pg no. on all 3 links.)



AND:
The writings of John Muir Volume 8, Houghton Mifflin, 1918 - Travel
The writings of John Muir (1916) - Volume 8


Source
(Edits mine.)

Trivia: John Muir is on California's 2005 state quarter. (See wiki.)