Saturday Snapshot: My Tardis

On February 25, 2012March 22, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot17 Comments

Last weekend of the Sci Fi Experience, so it’s a good Saturday for a sci-fi themed Snapshot.

My most unusual present this past Christmas (and probably the past several Christmases!) was a phone booth. Not full-size, but big enough to be practically furniture, probably about three feet tall. I’ve been absolutely mad about London for years, so I loved it right away for that.

And because I’ve been working my way through Doctor Who for the last six months, well, I couldn’t resist the possibilities. I know the Tardis is a blue police box, not a red phone booth…but still! It was geeky enough already, so then I had to make it more so by putting characters in the windows: David Tennant’s Doctor at the top; second row: Rose, Martha, Donna; third row: Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor and Captain Jack; an extra David Tennant for good measure and then, just because I can, Clark Kent changing into Superman in a phone booth.

I did this before watching Seasons 5 and 6 of Doctor Who…I’ve watched them now, and I might go back and replace Martha with Amy and Rory. Matt Smith, although he’s been steadily growing on me through Season 6, still needs to convince me that I should substitute him for my second David Tennant.

If I could figure out how to make it bigger on the inside, it would be wonderful for storage. But it’s still an actually useful piece of furniture, as it currently holds all my CDs. I have an iPod, but I like keeping CDs anyway.

So–what’s the most random thing YOU own? 🙂

Saturday Snapshot: Times Square

On February 18, 2012March 22, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot10 Comments

I went looking through my photos for Saturday Snapshot this week, and hit on a much busier photo than last week: you don’t see many daffodils in Times Square!

I love theater. It’s something about the performance happening right there in front of you, once and never precisely the same again, more fleeting than a movie or a TV show that you could keep returning to. I love taking trips to theater towns–that isn’t usually my reason for visiting whatever city it is, but I love when I can go somewhere with good theater.

In this picture, I love all the elements that got into a single shot–true to the busyness of Times Square! Front and center, of course, is the Phantom sign. I’ve seen Webber’s Phantom six times, which is why I feel I can say that every performance of a play, even the same play, really is different. I saw it on Broadway–second best performance.

You can just see a bit of Glinda in the Wicked sign next to the giant mask. I hadn’t seen Wicked yet when I took this picture, or I probably would have angled it differently! I hadn’t fallen for “Defying Gravity” yet (pun intended).

On the other side of the mask is the South Pacific sign. I saw that at Lincoln Center, with a really excellent Emile. I already had the movie soundtrack, but I bought his “This Nearly Was Mine” on iTunes when I got home.

I also got the Palace sign–according to Me and My Gal, the Palace was the promised land of the vaudeville performers. When you played there, you knew you had arrived.

And finally, you can see that in the city that never sleeps, McDonalds is open 24 hours a day!

Saturday Snapshot: Daffy-down-dillys

On February 11, 2012March 22, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot5 Comments

I saw a fun feature over on Book Journey, and decided to join in today…Snapshot Saturday is hosted by At Home with Books, and is just what it sounds like–inviting people to share their snapshots on Saturdays!

Because it’s almost spring and it’s sunny outside my window and it’s Valentine’s Day next week, I thought I’d post some flower photos. My favorite flowers are daffodils. As you probably know about me, I want everything in my life to have a story (within reason) and my favorite flowers are not an exception.

It began once upon a time when I went to England on a school trip during April–which turned out to be some of the best ten days of my life, and has instilled in me a love of London I will probably never get over. Before we left, our teacher promised there would be daffodils. I was doubtful–but there were, all over the parks. So ever after, daffodils made me think of London.

A few years later, I wrote a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. Red roses are a big symbol of the Phantom and Christine, at least in Webber’s musical. But my story is about after Christine left, and the Phantom’s growing relationship with cheerful blond Meg Giry, so it didn’t take long before daffodils became a symbol for Meg in my novel. I have a quote, as the Phantom is trying to figure out his life: “He was also thinking about flowers. Namely, that roses were very beautiful in a dark and passionate sort of way, but that daffodils, with their own sunshiney, bright cheerfulness, were maybe equally beautiful. Perhaps there were even those who would prefer daffodils to roses. For one thing, roses had thorns and you could be hurt if you weren’t very careful, while daffodils wouldn’t make you bleed if you held them wrong.”

I love daffodils. All that sunshiney bright cheerfulness. The way they smell, all fresh and spring-like. I love the way they pop up in the most random corners in city streets. During college I used to go out of my way by a block walking to class to walk past two clumps of daffodils. And…you just can’t say “daffy-down-dillys” without smiling. Try it. 🙂