Shouted from the rooftops

I know that during the Judgement at the end of the world, there will be a part where all our sins will be exposed. Do you think there will also be a time when we will have to admit to everyone we secretly thought were hot that we thought they were hot? That could be nice, to have lots of people admitting they thought you were hot. Or could be sad if no one did. Also maybe embarrassing. Well, if anyone is secretly thinking I'M hot, you don't have to wait until then to confess. Just leave a comment here and get it off your conscience.

I love coats.

I really want this hoodie. But it is sold out. That is the only reason I'm not buying it...

Reading

I've noticed many people post about books they are reading, so I decided to follow suit, since I just finished reading one. So, last month on my friend Shaun's:

birthday, my friend Sarah:

bought him:

Which was a movie from their childhood that was made in 1982. Which was the year we were all born, and the dvd says "25th anniversary edition" which kind of makes one feel old, because you are also the 25th anniversary of yourself (or in Shaun's case, 26th anniversary...). Here is the trailer for the movie:

So, anyway, I had never seen this movie before. Everything I knew about unicorns and wizards was from Harry Potter so it was nice to have a new view on some things. The movie is pretty bizarre, but has a great cast. While watching the credits, we learned it was based on book, and the author had written the screen play for the movie. The book (according to the extras) had a huge following and I wanted to read it to see how close it was to the movie, and mostly to see if Prince Lir actually says "I'm a hero." So I did read it. And it was more interesting than the movie. If you have seen the movie, you will be glad to know that these lines were straight from the book:
"Ah, turn blue." (Schmedrick to a lock that was teasing him)
"Have a taco." (Molly Grue to Schmedrick)
"I'm a hero." (Lir to Lady Amalthea) Only in the book, it goes a little more like this:
"I am a hero. It is a trade, no more, like weaving or brewing, and like them it has its own tricks and knacks and small arts...The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story."
...Schmedrick asked, "Why not? Who says so?"
"Heroes," Prince Lir replied sadly.
So, if you watched The Last Unicorn when you were 5 and want to have things explained that you never understood, they are all in this book. Lir really isn't pompous about being a hero, he just is one. Schmedrick actually has a curse on himself that he is immortal until he learns how to be a real magician. And the battle between the unicorn and The Red Bull is explained much better. When the cat starts talking it isn't so bizarre, it seems normal. Also, the big tree Schmedrick gets tied to does not have giant bosoms in the book. The people who commented on YouTube agree, the book is better than the movie. I think it also would have been better if I didn't already have images from the cartoon in my head.

post script: I have been listening to Wuthering Heights, so I do also read adult books, just so you know.

Finally finished THAT project...

So, three years ago, Adrian asked our class to make a journal of our BFA years at BYU. I did keep a written journal, so I felt like I sort of fulfilled the assignment even if I didn't assemble all of the printed ephemera until last month. And he never did ask for it. But hooray! I finally made my "Book of Scrap," and I posted it on the url I own: www.ashleysamantha.com.
The problem with it is, it is a gigantic flash file so you have to go to the website and wait for it to load for a long time. A loooonnnnngggg time. You will know when you get to the end because you will see the book closed. It had the potential to be cool, if it didn't load for so long. I was just going to make an animated gif, but I did it in Flash instead so you could control how fast you clicked through it. If anyone knows how to make it faster, I would be glad for the advice.

Hooray for Amy

Props to Amy Middleton for finding a customizable countdown for my blog. My life wouldn't be complete without it.

Is it still cool to say "props?"

I made this cute sheep.

It is considered the hardest tongue twister in the English language.

My self-esteem booster

In all my blog posting, I didn't think many people actually looked at my blog. I get very few comments. But I also give very few comments. What is fair is fair. Yesterday when I was blog-stalking and looking on someone's blog that I had gotten to from a link from a link from a link, I saw they had a counter to count how many visitors they had to their blog. I thought to myself, maybe random people look at my blog too! And put my own counter in. When I checked it, I was the first visitor. I think I put it in yesterday. Now today when I looked at it, how many did I have? 77! I was so happy! Even if it was just one person looking at my blog 76 times, I thank whomever it was. I would have been happy with 10. I need to find more easy self-esteem boosters like that.

On a different topic, have you ever tried to trace a state in Illustrator? Pretty easy if you live in Colorado or Utah. But have you ever tried Idaho or Texas? I needed an Idaho shape today (I will not say why...) so I googled vector Idaho and found a website with all the states in vector! Here is the link. I know everyone wants it:
http://digital-vector-maps.com/catalog-us-state-maps.aspx
The Idaho actually has way too many points in it so it is kind of crazy small, but thanks to the kind person who made free vector state downloads available.

Thanks be to Bruce for warning me of this

I can't figure out how to embed it on my blog, but here is the url:

http://www.sliceoflifetv.com/index.php?id=44c5ed1a

yikes!

my past valentine.

More than one person have asked to see my valentine from last year (ok, only two...) so here it is. I didn't have a blog last year. So it is ok for me to post it this year. I am doing a series. Maybe after a few years I can make something out of them.

Happy Valentines Day!

I am a huge supporter of always sending cards out in the mail. But this year I just didn't have the spirit. A digital Valentine it is. I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Institution of Higher Learning

As I was sitting in my Institute class tonight I looked up on the wall where there was a time line created by different students. College students. And this beauty was on the Renaissance poster. Michael Angelo? Seriously? What college professor would let this be on their classroom wall? Did this student never watch the Ninja Turtles? Or read From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler? Even Wikipedia could have correctly helped this student spell the name (which, if you are wondering, is Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni).

Snow! Snow! Snow!

I love it! I love the snow! We haven't had this much snow since I was a kid. I hope we get more. We need more snow to fill the reservoirs so the farmers can have water through the whole summer. More snow = good skiing. Too much snow = I couldn't go skiing because all the roads were closed to Driggs. It has melted a little now.

Hooray for Kali

And hooray for the Rexburg temple being dedicated. My cousin was supposed to get married last Saturday, but the temple dedication was postponed for a week so she had to have her reception as planned on Saturday then got married Monday morning.

Favorite

Once last year Cole was telling me he had a favorite talk by one of the general authorities and I can't remember what it was, but I remember that I thought how I never really had a favorite talk before. I've liked many talks and probably had a favorite conference talk for a particular conference but never a favorite of all talks. But now I think I might have one. It in the 2007 December Ensign by Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King. It really made Jesus personal to me. Here are some of my favorite quotes, although it is all good.

"I thank Him for the untold things He did, across the ages of that first estate, to prepare perfectly for His unique role—while I was doing so very much less."

"I thank Him for His marvelous management of time, for never misusing a moment, including the moments of meditation. Even His seconds showed His stewardship."

"I testify that just as He has helped to carefully construct this second estate for all mankind, He also has helped to carefully construct each of our little universes of experience."

Do other people have favorite talks? If so, I would like to know what they are. You too, Cole. I can't remember what yours was, but I'd like to read it.

The best accident of my life

I have been trying since the beginning of tabbed internet browsers to find the key command to switch in between tabs. And yesterday, it came, on accident. I'm always using key commands in the wrong programs and sometimes I find awesome things. I seriously want to know if anyone else knew how to do this because if you did, shame on you for not telling me. If you do not, your eyes are about to be opened:

Command (or apple) and the number of the tab you want to use. So simple, yet so hard to figure out. Try it! I am using Firefox, I'm not sure if it works in all browsers.

Also, I just saw Emily Clark on my local news channel talking about the new president of the church, Thomas S. Monson. She was doing an internship in New York at the same time I was. Now I see her on T.V.

Family History

I'm trying to learn how to do family history. One thing I have learned is there are a lot of different ways you can work on it. I am currently scanning a bunch of pictures and documents in a couple of binders from my Grandparents Mackay. Mostly about my Great Grandparents Mackay. They have some cool stuff.

My Great Grandpa Alfred Duncan Mackay used to be a gardener at Windsor Palace. He made the Queen's personal corsages. This are invitations addressed to him, the Royal Gardener. Gorgeous handwriting. Not his, although his is also amazing.
This is a letter with his handwriting:

No one writes like that anymore.
Windsor Palace:

My Great Grandpa Mackay lived until he was 106. He was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 99 and went through the temple at 100. Here is a Church News article about him:

This is not a political statement. I am not trying to influence your vote.

This is an anti-girl statement, to go along with Becca Foster's theme:

Lindsay Weir: Dad, give me one good reason why there can't be a woman president.
Harold Weir: It's called three irrational days per month. Now, I would have no issue with the other twenty seven, but we're talking about the atomic bomb here.

Thank you, Freaks and Geeks. I really hate those irrational days.