Karen R Savage – Page 8 – Professional Voice Talent, Amateur Actor and Knitter

6 Reasons to oppose ACTA

By kruthie73

On Saturday, 11 February, 2012

In work

ACTA locks countries into obsolete copyright and patent laws. If a democracy decides on less restrictive laws that reflect the reality of the internet, ACTA will prevent that.
ACTA criminalizes users by making noncommercial, harmless remixes into crimes if “on a commercial scale” (art 2.14.1). Many amateur works achieve a commercial scale on sites like Youtube. ACTA, like SOPA, could mean jail time for the Justin Biebers of the world.
ACTA Criminalizes legitimate websites, making them responsible for user behavior by “aiding and abetting”. (art 2.14.4). Like SOPA, the founders of your favorite sites could be sued or (worse) thrown in jail for copyright infringement by their users.
ACTA will let rightsholders use laughably inflated claims of damages (based on the disproven idea that every download or stream is a lost sale) to sue people. As if suing amazing artists, video makers and websites for millions wasn’t hard enough!
ACTA Permanently bypasses democracy by giving the “ACTA Committee” the power to “propose amendments to [ACTA]” (art 6.4). In other words, voting for ACTA writes a blank check to an unelected committee. These closed-door proceedings will be a playground for SOPA-supporters like the MPAA.
Trade agreements are a gaping loophole, a backdoor track that, even though it creates new law, is miles removed from democracy. It’s a secretive process that’s tailor-made to serve politically connected companies. And the movie studios behind SOPA? They’re experts at it. If we can’t make secretive trade agreements harder to pass than US law, our internet’s future belongs to the lobbyists behind SOPA.

From La Quadrature du Net

New Projects

By kruthie73

On Thursday, 2 February, 2012

In audiobooks, knitting, librivox, theatre

I’ve picked up three new projects on ACX recently. The first is the Maggy Thorsen murder mystery series by Sandra Balzo. I’m starting with the first book in the series, Uncommon Grounds. The finished book is due in April.

Also due in April is Poison in the Blood by M. G. Scarsbrook. This is a fictionalized memoir of Lucrezia Borgia. I’ve done the first chapter so far. It promises suspense, murder, romance. Should be an interesting read.

The last project, which is due in June, is Gunnora’s Dragons by Carol Dennis. I haven’t finished pre-reading it yet (the other two have been getting preference, as they’re due earlier), but I’m enjoying it so far. As the title would imply, it’s a fantasy novel.

I’m still working on my two extant LibriVox solos: Ten From Infinity (for the SFFAudio Challenge); and Navidad en las MontaÃ±as.

In knitting, I’ve started a new lace shawl. This is my second, and my first in laceweight yarn (my previous shawl was done in fingering weight yarn, which is thicker and therefore easier for a first try). I’m doing the Skywalker Shawl by Laura Nelkin. I came across it when looking at online classes on Craftsy. Even though I’ve worked with lace a fair bit, I thought I’d try the Mastering Lace Shawls class, because I’ve never really learned how to do a provisional cast on, and I’ve always gotten tangled up when trying them. I still got tangled up this time, but I managed to get past that point. Perhaps I’ll practice again with a thicker working yarn, instead of laceweight.

We finished Gaslight last weekend. It went really well. The reviewer from the paper practically raved (for him), so I was quite pleased. The audiences also seemed to enjoy it. I was really lucky in the people who came to audition. I lost my leading man three weeks before opening night and had to re-cast, but even then, I was able to get someone really good, who worked his tail off to get all those lines learned. I really doubt the audiences had any idea (unless they were related to the theatre and heard about it through the grapevine) that he’d joined the production over a month after the rest of the cast. Chicago’s coming up in a couple of months. I’m thinking of auditioning for it.

SOPA/PIPA

By kruthie73

On Wednesday, 18 January, 2012

In librivox, public domain

Copied from the LibriVox blog:

Today, many websites around the Internet have â€œgone darkâ€ to protest against, and raise awareness about some very important proposed legislation in the United States, which could fundamentally alter how the Internet operates: House Bill 3261, The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and S.968, the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).

Archive.org (where LibriVox hosts its audio), is going dark from 6:00 am â€“ 6:00 pm PST on Wednesday January 18 (9:00 am â€“ 9:00 pm EST â€“ 14:00 â€“ 02:00 GMT) as part of this important protest. This means that the LibriVox catalog will not be accessible during this time.

Legislation such as SOPA and PIPA directly affects libraries (pdf) such as the Internet Archive â€” and indeed LibriVox â€” which collect, preserve, and offer access to cultural materials. Furthermore, these laws can negatively affect the ecosystem of web publishing that led to the emergence of the LibriVox.

These bills would encourage the development of blacklists to censor sites with little recourse or due process. The Internet Archive (and with it LibriVox audio files) are already blacklisted in China. There are real concerns that this legislation could lead to similar blacklists in the United States.

For United States residents, please inform yourself of these issues, and if you think they are important, please take action.

For non-US residents: Sorry for dragging you into this, and if you are willing, you might wish to sign a petition to the State Department to express your concern.

You can visit AmericanCensorship.org for instructions on contacting your senator.

Keeping Lucy

By kruthie73

On Wednesday, 4 January, 2012

In diy, lucy and georgie

There’s this tree in the back yard that grows almost horizontally for the first eight feet or so, and then, just before it hits the fence, it goes vertical. Lucy has always liked climbing that tree and watching the world go by next to the fence.

Within the last few months, though, she decided it would be great fun to just jump over and go exploring. Unsupervised explorations are not on my list of allowed activities, though, so I built a little addition to the fence.

This worked for about a month, till she tore the netting and started jumping the fence again. So I tried something sturdier within the frame.

Nice and sturdy, but she decided to just go over it. That fix didn’t last more than 24 hours! So now I have to be a total meany and block off her access to the tree entirely.

Still, better a meany than splat-dog in the street.

Twins!

By kruthie73

On Wednesday, 23 November, 2011

In audiobooks, knitting, librivox, theatre

Just about six weeks ago one of my cousins had twin baby girls, Maisie and Annabelle. I only found out he and his wife were pregnant about a month earlier. He’s not the best letter/email writer. 🙂 Anyway, I’ve been knitting steadily since I first found out. I decided to make them each a pair of the Hello Kitty pants. I had enough yarn left from the first pair to make two more, if I did the smallest size, though I ended up having to swap the order of the two pinks in the second pair, so I’d have enough of the dark pink to finish. I also made them each one of the Baby Arans.

Gifts for Maisie and Annabelle

I took a break from Maisie and Annie’s gifts to make something for a co-worker in time for her baby shower. The pattern is called the Eloise Cardigan. It’s quite sweet and girly.

Eloise Cardigan

I’ve joined a stitchers group at work. Not just knitters; crocheters, quilters, cross-stitchers, any kind of fiber art. Anyway, we’re making a basket for a silent auction and my contribution to it is a couple of pot-holders. They’re done in double-knitting, so each side is a mirror image of the other.

Pot-holders

I’m making another attempt at socks. My first attempt was a bit of a failure. I used a yarn with a bit of elastic in it. Since I knit at a pretty high tension, it made for very tight stitches and I gave up after the first few rounds. This time I picked a regular yarn, and things are going much better.

Socks

I just finished cataloging Anne’s House of Dreams at LibriVox. It’s a little sad to think that there’s only one more book in the series that I can record (Rainbow Valley). My next LV project is called Ten From Infinity by Paul W. Fairman. It’s my 6th SFFAudio Challenge book.

I’ve also just finished Song at the Scaffold by Gertrud Von le Fort for Ignatius Press. It’ll be my last Ignatius recording. They’ve decided not to continue producing audiobooks.

I’m directing my first mainstage show at the WCT (the other shows I’ve directed have been fundraisers, not part of the main lineup), Angel Street, which is the American title of the play Gaslight (made into a film of the same name with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer). It’s been pretty chaotic so far. In the past the show in this slot would have had auditions and maybe a first read-through before the holidays, but wouldn’t have started rehearsals till after. This year, the board changed the schedule. The show goes up at the end of January instead of February, so not only am I having to schedule around the holidays, I’m also having to schedule around the two Christmas productions. Ack! At least I was able to get a good cast together.

Iambik’s turning one!

By kruthie73

On Tuesday, 11 October, 2011

In audiobooks

It’s Iambik Audio’s first anniversary, and they’re celebrating with an audiobook giveaway. Go have a look!

HOT Fair again

By kruthie73

On Saturday, 8 October, 2011

In knitting

Time for the fair again. My friend Eileen and I went together to see how our items had fared (no pun intended). She’d entered a shrug in the crochet garment category, and I’d entered the little blouse from the last post. We both won first place in our category, but there weren’t very many knitted and crocheted items entered. I only saw one other knitted entry, and it was in a different category. It’s a bit disappointing to see such a low turnout in the fiber arts.

I got a couple of photos of it with the ribbon, but the ribbon was twisted sideways, so it was hard to get an angle that showed the blouse and the ribbon both.

Nichelle, if you’re reading this, in a few weeks time you and Aurelia will be receiving an award winning knitted garment from yours truly. 🙂

Angelina

By kruthie73

On Monday, 26 September, 2011

In audiobooks, librivox

Success!

By kruthie73

On Sunday, 25 September, 2011

In audiobooks, knitting, librivox

After more than three years of working on it, I finally finished recording Angelina by Rafael Delgado! Woot! The last few chapters still need to be proof-listened, but I hope to be able to catalog the sucker some time next week. My next Spanish solo (started this morning), is the much shorter La Navidad en las MontaÃ±as (Christmas in the Mountains) by Ignacio Manuel Altamirano (only 11 chapters in this, as opposed to 65 in Angelina).

I found out recently that one of my cousins is having twin girls this October, so I’ve started work on two more pairs of the Hello Kitty pants and two different, as yet un-chosen sweaters.

Knitting updates

By kruthie73

On Friday, 16 September, 2011

In knitting, pics

My needles have been very busy this year. The Easy Baby Aran referenced here turned out really cute. I guess the reason they call it an easy aran is because there’s only one place where you do any actual cabling. The rest of the textured effects are just done with knits and purls.

I made another of the little hoodies, this time with the alterations I’d considered as I followed the instructions the first time. The little guy is still much too small in it, but his mom got a pic of him wearing it all the same. 🙂

I came across a pattern for Hello Kitty pants (on Boing Boing? Epbot? can’t remember) and I thought they were adorable. So I made those for another friend’s baby.

I made a cardi with a leaf pattern down the button band for another friend.

That was a top-down, raglan pattern. I really liked how the sleeve caps looked when I separated those stitches and continued down the body, so I decided to make another top-down raglan, but in short sleeve (and a pullover, not a cardi).

I’m holding on to this one for a little while, because the HOT Fair is coming up and this is the only completed garment I still have.

I’ve put a bit more work into the Elizabeth of York jacket in between baby garments, but I’m still only on the first piece. Fingering weight yarn and size 1 needles don’t make for a speedy project!