Happy New Year's! (+ favorite posts and other things from 2017)

Happy New Year's everyone!:)
 Last year was amazing (and somewhat crazy!), and I am excited to see what will happen this year (2018).  To celebrate I made a post of all my favorite things from 2017...

             Some of my favorite posts from 2017: 

                   Character Karaoke tag 
           
                     Getting characters onto paper parts 1 & 2 

                 My Camp NaNoWrimo novel (2017): The Mystery of the Phantom of Dragonspire court 
  

       Movie reviews: Family Friendly The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Movies 


       Song Suffragettes 


      The Terrible Idea 

October Drawings (+ Drawing Requests) 



When did we get a fox?

The Mystery of The Stolen Crown (my novel so far) 


The Holiday Fairy 

           Some of my favorite movies from 2017: 

                                    Wonder Woman   

(Image from Amazon 

https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Woman-Blu-ray-DVD-Digital/dp/B0714QRG4Z/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1513353829&sr=1-2&keywords=wonder+woman ) 

Rated: PG-13 

Though I haven't watched many super hero movies, I like Wonder Woman because it mixes mythology into it, and it has a strong woman character. 

                           Beauty and the Beast (2017) 

(Image  from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_(2017_film)#/media/File:Beauty_and_the_Beast_2017_poster.jpg) 

                             Rated: PG
                     I have loved Disney's animated classic, and I was excited when they finally made it into a live action movie (I was also excited when Emma Watson was playing Belle). 

                                 The Man Who Invented Christmas 

(Image from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Invented_Christmas_(film)#/media/File:The_Man_Who_Invented_Christmas.png)

                        Rated: PG
This was a really amazing movie to see, especially because it was about a writer, Charles Dickens.
 I can relate to the things he does while he is writing (also I am going to do a review of it next December). I loved that he was able to talk to his characters, and that his characters complained to him about things (My characters do that to me all the time). Also another neat aspect of this movie is that it showed how Charles Dickens changed the way we celebrated Christmas.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales 

(Picture from Wikipedia,
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_Dead_Men_Tell_No_Tales#/media/File:Pirates_of_the_Caribbean,_Dead_Men_Tell_No_Tales.jpg) 

Rated: PG-13 

This is actually a good movie despite what the critics say. Having seen the other Pirates of the Caribbean movies, I thought they did a good job with making new characters for the movie while still keeping Captain Jack Sparrow and Barbossa (along with some minor appearances of Elizabeth and Will Turner). 

Sherlock Holmes 

(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes_(2009_film)#/media/File:Sherlock_holmes_ver5.jpg ) 

Rated: PG-13 

As you can probably tell already, I love mysteries and I have recently gotten interested in Sherlock Holmes. This movie was not released in 2017, but I watched it for the first time this year. I actually listened to the music before I saw the movie, and I was amazed with the special effects, the plot line, and the way they portrayed the story of Sherlock Holmes. 

Despicable Me 3 

(Image from Amazon,
https://www.amazon.com/Despicable-Me-Blu-ray-Steve-Carell/dp/B072Y3LDZB/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514151613&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=dicible+me+3 ) 

Rated: PG

This was a hilarious movie, and I am glad they made a third film (or fourth if you count Minions).
Despite the fact that the trailer was a little weird (and made it look like the movie would not be good), the movie itself turned out to be awesome.

Some of my favorite songs from 2017: 

I found many new songs and artists this year. Here are a few of my favorites,  

                                            Lament for Boromir performed by Karliene 

                                         You can also listen to it on YouTube Here

                                           I love this song because I, as a LOTR fan, love
                           The Two Towers, and I was excited when Karliene put the original
                           song written by Tolkien to music.  

                                               Disney Princess Medley by Georgia Merry

                                          You can also listen to it on YouTube here

                                       Georgia Merry is one of my new favorite artists!
                                        I like her covers of Disney songs. 

                                    Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Lindsey Stirling 

                                      You can also listen to it on YouTube here
                                 
                                       Whenever I listen to this song by Lindsey Stirling
                                          I picture detectives solving a mystery. 

                                             Will'o The Wisp by Jillain Aversa

                                              You can also listen to it on YouTube here 

                         
                        This is one of my new favorite songs, because the song is about Will'o the Wisps
                         (which are in Irish and Scottish Mythology).

                                           Two Hands by Kalie Shorr 

You can also listen to it on YouTube here 

                                      This is one of my favorite country/pop songs by Kalie Shorr
                                      (of course, besides Fight Like a Girl). I like this song because it talks about                                           how over dramatic writers, song writers, actors, etc. can be and how other                                             (non-writer) people react to them.

For the first time in forever (reprise) performed by Georgia Marie & Kayleigh Ann Strong 

                                      You can also listen to it on YouTube Here 

                             I thought they did a good job with singing this song (also with the acting, too!).
                            Even though they were not in full costume and the setting was different,
                I still felt like they made it feel like they were the characters from Frozen, which is one of                  the most important parts of acting and musical theatre!
                                     
         I would also like to give a special thank you to all my followers (on both my blogs). Thank you for giving me feedback on my writing and drawings... 
And I hope you all have a Happy New Year!:) 

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         What are some of your favorite things from 2017? Are you excited for the new year?

Love, 
Quinley 

The Holiday Fairy (A short story).

Hi everyone,  I wish you all Happy Holidays!:)
To celebrate I wrote a short story:

The wind rustled the bare branches of the trees. As it did so, snow tumbled off onto the ground. There were lights of all kinds strung on trees and even houses. Some were red and green, while others were just white. I smiled. The holidays were here. The winter holidays were some of my  most eagerly awaited holidays, of course besides my birthday. 

Wham! I turned down to look at my jacket it was covered with snow, which I assumed was from a snow ball. I groaned… and turned around. There was my brother. He was standing in a snow fort, holding a snow ball in his hand and grinning at me.

“So…” I said, brushing the snow ball off my jacket. “Does this mean war?” My brother nodded.

I smiled, “Then well…let loose the snow balls!” I quickly made a few snow balls, then threw them through the air. The first one missed and hit a tree. I giggled a little, then got hit with a snow ball. I have to admit my brother is a very good snow ball thrower. I sighed, then picked up my third snow ball. Unfortunately for me, I had only made three. Well…maybe I would get a chance to make more. This time I threw the snow ball and it hit my brother’s jacket. 

“Ah! eee..” I heard him say.

“Is everything alright?” I asked. 

“Yes…yes, It’s just that I have snow now under my jacket!!” 

“Oh…” I said. “Maybe you should go inside and change.”

My brother nodded then went up the stairs of our house and inside. While I was waiting for him, I decided to sit down on the stairs. I couldn’t wait for him to come out again, so we could continue the snow ball fight. I sighed a happy sigh… All of a sudden my thoughts were interrupted by sobbing which seemed to be coming from under the stairs. I gulped. What on earth could be under there? What if it was a monster? I shook the thought out of my head. A monster crying? That is silly! This time I looked under the porch and saw what I thought I saw was a little girl. She had wings and had Christmas lights in her hair?? She looked up and let out a shriek.

“A h-human!" Her voice was like bells on a sleigh. 

“A fairy” I whispered, I leaned in closer. The fairy backed away. 

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to frighten you. Why are you crying?” 

The fairy sniffed, now less afraid.“Well…” she sighed, a small tear went down her nose. “I was spreading the joys of the holidays around the world when I got chased by a hawk, who chased me for miles, then my wings got so tired that I fell into the icy cold river…” she shuddered at the thought. 

“Well…” I said. “You are welcome to come in and dry yourself off you look cold.” 

The fairy nodded, so I picked her up and carried her into the house. I went in through the back door, not the front, because I didn’t want to risk anyone seeing her. When I got inside I set her down on the table. She smiled at me weakly and whispered “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome. How about I get you some hot chocolate?” 

I reached into my pocket and brought out a thimble. You are probably wondering why I am carrying around a thimble in my pocket. Well, I sew a lot and I always carry around one just in case. We had made hot chocolate for ourselves, but I thought the fairy needed more than we did. So, I went to the stove and poured the hot chocolate into the thimble and gave it to the fairy who took a sip and smiled. She looked a lot warmer than she did when I first saw her. Maybe it was just me, but I thought the Christmas lights that she was wearing were flickering, and the silver on her and silver and blue shirt had more sparkle? After she had finished the hot chocolate I wondered what else I could give to her… Well…maybe she needed a scarf or jacket when she went out again in the cold. So I got out some red and blue fabric. With the blue fabric I made a tiny scarf, and with the red fabric I sewed a coat. It took a little bit longer to make the coat. I handed them to her. She tied the scarf around her neck and put the jacket on. There were holes for her wings to go through, so she looked rather happy. 

“Thank you!” she said, and this time I could tell she had gone all shimmery, then she vanished…

I rubbed my eyes, what had happened? Was I just dreaming or had I really helped a fairy?? 

—————————————————————

The next day I woke up and went to look out the window. I loved to watch snow, even if it wasn’t falling from the sky. I sat down on the windowsill, and was surprised to see a tiny little crown with tiny little candles on it. I picked it up to get a closer look at it. It had a tiny tag that said: “This is a crown from Saint Lucia’s day.” I put it down and looked at the other things that were on the windowsill. There was a Christmas tree, a Menorah, and Kirana. I looked at each and every one, and then I noticed a small green card that said: 

I hope you enjoy these presents, 

happy holidays! 

-The Holiday Fairy 

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Did you like the story? And I hope you have a happy day!:) 

Love,
Quinley 

December Drawings

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a good weekend. 

Today I felt like was a good day to make a drawing post. 

Here are the drawings: 

Wonder Woman in the snow, I based this on a scene from the movie. 

This drawing is my new header. 

I kept the theme of the dryad in the tree.

A Christmas elf, I liked how she turned out. 

 I had fun drawing her braids. 

Legolas in the snow, this was inspired by a scene from Lord of The Rings. 

I thought Legolas turned out well. 

Another Christmas elf,  I like how his hat turned out.

A drawing of a dreidel, I like how it turned out. 

This drawing was inspired by Lindsey Stirling's Shatter Me. 

I like the pose she is in. 

A girl in the snow. I like how her hair turned out. 

The Holiday Fairy, I tried to include most of the holidays in her outfit.

The holidays I have represented are Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. 

And this character will show up in a short story I plan to post on December 24th. 

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Which drawing is your favorite? And are you excited for the holidays? 

Also do you like my new header? 

Love, 

Quinley

Movie reviews: Family Friendly The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Movies

Hi Everyone,
So...you're probably wondering why I am posting this when it is not Halloween or October.
Well, last October I posted a short story series called  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: The New School Master?  (You can read them, Here, here, and here), which was a fan fiction of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The setting of the story was after Ichabod vanished, but not too long after. Anyway, I have found that the one movie about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow that I hear everyone talking about, when I try to bring up the original story, is the horror movie Sleepy Hollow. It is R rated, which disturbs me, because well, I don't feel like the audience is getting the real story.  So... I did a review of (family friendly) Legend of Sleepy Hollow movies:


                        Tall tales and Legends: 
             The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Shelley-Duvalls-Tall-Tales-Legends/dp/B000A0D1LU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 )

      Rated: Not Rated (Amazon didn't have a rating for it, but I think it is rated G) 

This is my favorite version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, because it is quite accurate and yet hilarious at the same time. They had some really good jokes in there, and I thought they got Ichabod's character right. In the movie, the character, Ichabod, is good at some things that in other versions that I have seen, he is not so...good at. They also showed his superstitions and fear of ghosts. 

Katrina's personality was also done well. The movie portrays her as a character, who causes disagreements between Ichabod and Brom (since she is toying with Brom in some ways). Brom's personality was also in keeping with the original story (at least in my mind). He was pictured as a tough, and rather mischievous person (like in the book). And in this version we also have two added characters who aren't in the original book (which I like because I wrote a fan fiction). Katrina's uncle and Katrina's nephew (who is young and one of Ichabod's pupils (students) are fun additions. 

I also have to say they do a good job of showing Ichabod's love of food (of course I won't tell you how they do it, it would spoil the movie). The chase scene at the end between Ichabod and the headless horseman lasted a few minutes, but they left out the symbolic tree. Despite this omission, I think they did a good job of turning the original story into a movie. 

Note: This is a somewhat old movie (not too old, it is in color), so the visual quality might be a little poor. 

I rate the movie: 

                         


               The Legend of 
               Sleepy Hollow

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Sleepy-Hollow-anglais/dp/B000083EGD/ref=sr_1_9?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1511981534&sr=1-9&keywords=the+legend+of+sleepy+hollow ) 

            Rated: PG

This was the first one that I watched, and it is also one of my favorites. 

The movie opens with a good, mysterious entrance by the storytellers. There is thunder and lightning in an old inn, which I liked. Depending on the retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod is either portrayed as tone deaf or a really good singer, and in this version he is tone deaf. In some versions (including Disney's) Ichabod may want Katrina just for her fortune, not because he likes her. In this movie that is shown as the reason Ichabod wants to marry Katrina. 

Brom was interesting in this version. I think the film maker for some reason is on Brom's side, but I think they should have been on Ichabod's side.  At the beginning the character didn't quite remind me of Brom Bones fully (but that's just me). He was slightly mischievous, but didn't really show the Brom I was hoping to see. Unlike the original story, Katrina Van Tassel actually played a big role in this version. She had a goal (besides wanting to marry either Ichabod or Brom...) she wanted to visit the world and go to places other than Sleepy Hollow.

I did not feel like the ending was accurate, because the film tells you what happened to Ichabod, instead of leaving it unanswered (Like in the book). But other than that, it was a good Legend of Sleepy Hollow adaptation.

  I rate the movie: 

        Wishbone in The Legend of 
        Sleepy Hollow

     

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Wishbone-Legend-Sleepy-Hollow-VHS/dp/1571322272/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1511981119&sr=1-1&keywords=wishbone+in+the+legend+of+sleepy+hollow ) 

       Rated: Not Rated (once again, Amazon didn't give a rating, but I think it's G) 

      This one isn't really a movie, it is an episode of the TV series Wishbone, but it was a really good episode (and also a favorite of mine). And the retelling is mostly accurate, although there things they left out, most notably the fact that Gunpowder the horse was not included. And at the beginning the episode did get the date wrong. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was published in 1820 not 1819. However, Wishbone did a really good job with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, especially with Ichabod's character.  

There are necessary changes to the story, due to the fact that Ichabod (AKA Wishbone) is a dog actor. For instance Ichabod doesn't dance with Katrina Van Tassel (which Ichabod did do in the book). But otherwise they try to make the story as accurate as possible, including scenes like Brom messing up Ichabod's school house. They also portray Ichabod's love of food in the story (Wishbone did a hilarious job of showing that). Brom in this version doesn't believe in ghosts (or so he says...), but otherwise his character is in keeping with the book. Katrina was portrayed well, too. I like that in this version Katrina was as interested in ghost stories as Ichabod (Wishbone) was. The chase scene was also pretty accurate (of course minus Gunpowder the horse, who Ichabod Crane rode in the original story, as I mention above).

Overall. Wishbone did a good job bringing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to the small screen.                    


I rate the movie: 

              The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr.Toad
      

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Ichabod-Toad-Bing-Crosby/dp/B00K7BCWEE/ref=pd_sim_74_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=8KS0P38DBEQN50XFZBTJ )

           Rated: G 

I am only reviewing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow half of this movie...(I promise if I review The Wind in the Willows movies, I will review the first half). 
               
The movie started out a little too bright and happy looking, not really the mysterious and slightly spooky Sleepy Hollow I picture as described in the story. And being typical of Disney, they made into a musical. The songs had a kind of a "Beauty and the Beast feel"  or "Cinderella feel" to them, especially the one about Ichabod. That song reminded me of "Belle," the song at the very beginning of Beauty and the Beast. 
          
Visually, the movie was very funny, a cartoony kind of funny, and more visually funny than the making jokes kind of funny. Aside from the musical and cartoon aspects the movie was mostly accurate. This was really the only Disney movie that I can think of, that tried to remain true to the original story (which I like, and appreciate from Disney, for once).
The writers didn't make any dramatic changes, and they did include details like the dog that howls whenever Ichabod sings. However, they left out Brom messing up Ichabod's school house. In this version Brom only finds out that Ichabod is superstitious near the end of the movie (when in every other version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, I have seen, Brom knows from the beginning). 

In a Cartoony kind of way, they show how Ichabod and Brom interact and argue. Surprisingly, Katrina is a non-speaking character, who doesn't sing or talk (I do like that in some versions Katrina actually has a role in the story, instead of being just a speechless, everybody-loves-you, sort of character). Most of the movie was narration, so, there wasn't much talking for the characters, it was singing mostly. 

The end scene was actually pretty accurate. The tree is mentioned, and the headless horseman chases Ichabod (in a little bit of a cartoony way...), and the movie captures the uncertainty of what happened to Ichabod in the original story. 


But if you are looking for a serious Legend of Sleepy Hollow movie, then I would reccomend some of other movies listed above. Overall, Disney actually didn't ignore the original story, and got it right for once. I think this is a good Legend of Sleepy Hollow adaptation. I rated it three stars, because they missed a few important details that were important to the story in the Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.    
            
I rate this movie: 

         --------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Have you seen or heard of these The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Movies? 
               Or are you interested in them?
    Also, do you know of any other family friendly Legend of Sleepy Hollow movies, besides the ones I mentioned? 

Love
 -Quinley 

          P.S. There is a lyric in a holiday song: "Scary ghost stories and tales of the glories" so this post might have been posted at the right time. 

P.P.S. I will respond to the comments from my previous posts as soon as I can.   
    
Note: This review is not sponsored whatsoever by the film companies who made these movies or by Disney. It is a personal review on my opinions of these Legend of Sleepy Hollow movies.            

Thanksgiving drawings

Hi everyone, Happy Thanksgiving!

 I hope you are having a happy Thanksgiving, 

and to celebrate here are some drawings: 

A turkey drawing, I had to look at pictures of real turkeys in order to draw it. 

A pilgrim girl, The clothes that everyone pictures pilgrims wearing are these clothes, 

but actually pilgrims only wore these black and white clothes on Sundays. On other days 

they wore normal clothes. 

A drawing of a cooked turkey, I also had to look at pictures of turkeys for this one, too. 

A Native American girl, I like her hair.

A pilgrim boy. 

------------------------------------------------------------------

Which drawing is your favorite? And are you having a good Thanksgiving? 

Love, 

-Quinley

The Mystery of the Stolen Crown (My Novel so far...)

Hi everyone,
It's November Novel Writing Month, and I thought it would be a perfect time to tell you a little bit about my novel. Here it is:

Short synopsis: 
It all started when the king's crown was stolen, no one knows where it went or who did it. 
But that isn't the only thing that happens! Suddenly on the day of the feast the king mysteriously dies, and all clues point to Murder!

Main detectives: 
Since the story is taking place somewhere other than Dragonspire court, Detective Inspector Time and Philip are not in this book (but will be in the next book). 

Lady Annabelle-

 A Half elf Half human with a little bit of fairy, she is the main detective.
She is independent, brave, and notices things that most people wouldn't normally, and she is heir to the throne of Dragonspire court.

Veronica- 

Veronica is Annabelle's Lady in Waiting. She often thinks that being a detective is as easy as it looks in books, though often Veronica forgets how dangerous being a detective can be and plunges into danger.  One of her favorite detective characters is Lord Watson a famous fictional detective (which is like Sherlock Holmes).

James-

(James's name will probably be changed later.) A foot-man who works at Dragonspire Court (and came with Annabelle to the neighboring kingdom), he is fascinated with detectives and wants to be one. He is also a good actor, and is skilled at the arts.



                 


            Excerpt: 

"Annabelle!?” 

Annabelle whirled around with the ink still in her hands, it was dripping on her dress now… and as she twirled around it got onto her father’s robe. 

“Yes??” she said.

Her father sighed…looking at his robe which had been ruined by ink, the black spots marring the finery of it. 

“Well, I have some very important news, and please just put that ink and pen down.”

              Inspiration for the story: 

One of my inspirations for this book was a painting (A painting by John William Waterhouse inspired a scene in the first book as well.):

(Image from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Archer_(artist)#/media/File:The_Death_of_King_Arthur_by_James_Archer_(1860).jpg)

This painting was the inspiration for a few characters in the story and for a scene in the story. The person off to the side holding the goblet became a character in the story a fairy who works at the court. And the girl near the tree (who is most likely Queen Guinevere in the original painting), reminded me of Annabelle. This picture also became part of a poster for the story (which I will put on the novels page once I find the sources for the images).


                                           Inspirational music: 
                                        Even though I don't have a whole story soundtrack for this story yet... 
                                         I have some music that helped me write: 

Puzzles by Robert Carli 

You can also watch it on YouTube here

                                           
                                      I can always picture this song playing in the background
                                      When Annabelle (or any of my other detectives) talks to the suspects.

Helping Hand from Sofia the First

You can also watch it on YouTube here

Even though none of my characters burst into songs in a musical manner (they do sing ballads every once in a while) or voice their evil plots out loud

and there are no stewards in my story (that I know of). 

 This song was inspiring probably because it sounds a little like it could be part of a mystery.

                                                 How does a moment last forever? 

You can also watch it on YouTube here

This song for some reason is Annabelle's theme song. I don't know why, but it suits her. 

Opening theme by Robert Carli 

                                                 You can also watch it on YouTube Here
                                              This is One of my favorite mystery music pieces,
                                          and I often listen to it when I am writing this story.
                                         

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I hope you enjoyed reading about my novel!:)

Do you have any music that inspired a scene or character in your story? And how is your novel going? 

                                            Love, 
                                          -Quinley

November Drawings!

Hi Everyone,
It's November!:) And I will be back to my normal posting schedule (Just wanted to let you know, because I did post a lot more than I usually do in October).

A drawing of Annabelle from my novel: The Mystery of The Stolen Crown. 

I like how her hair and crown turned out. 

Veronica, one of the detectives in my novel. 

Bess from The Highwayman one of my favorite poems (and songs).

I haven't quite figured out who he is yet, 

he reminds me a little of Robin Hood. 

A character from the Colonial era. 

I like the way her dress turned out.

A girl with Rainbow hair, I really like how it turned out.

The girl from the colonial era, she might dress up as a boy sometime in her story.

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Hope you enjoyed the drawings. 

Which drawing is your favorite? And what is your favorite Time Period? 

Love, 

Quinley 

P.S. I will respond to the comments from my last drawing post, soon.