...To Keep With Tradition.... What Keeps You Up Nights Mr. Dillinger? Coffee.

Holy crapanollee! A blog post!!!

Life must be getting pretty boring for me, I know... But anyway, I actually have a point to this blog. I saw "Public Enemies" the other day, and thought, Hey! the second to last time I saw a movie (I forgot about blogging when I saw "Up") I wrote a review of it! So heck, that's what I''m going to do with Public Enemies. But right up front, if you're trying to decide whether or not to see it, the answer is yeah, you should definitely see it in theaters. Especially if you're a Depp fan like I am. Here's the trailer for starters, if you're not sure exactly what goes on in the movie. And here's the IMDB web page for the movie, which is your source on pretty much everything you could ever need to know. Make sure you check out the trivia page. My favorites are the 16th and 11th ones down.

Oh, and the other point to this is to introduce some of the music from the movie. Sadly a lot of it isn't on the Internet yet, and it doesn't help that Elliot Goldenthal is not a very well known composer. I happen to really like him, and oddly enough, he was the composer for the Batman and Robin movie. Everything I do goes back to Batman! I don't really know why he's so little known, because he has won academy awards and golden globes and all that jazz. Regardless, there's some great music on the soundtrack, and not all of it is from him. There's quite a lot of Billie Holiday on there, which is so-so to me, and then there are a few Otis Taylor songs that I really like. The one that came up in my playlist is "Nasty Letter" which I like a bit more than this one, "Ten Million Dollar Slaves." Don't forget to follow that link and listen to the song (hehehe)! Oh, also if you want to sample the entire CD you can play around with it here.

They used a whole lot of kind of, banjo music,. bluesyish stuff in the movie. My dad told me a joke the other day. I think it was Willie Nelson who said something along the lines of "the best banjo is a broken one." There was also an awful lot of big band which of course had to be there because the movie took place in the thirties. Dang, I was soooooooooooo born in the wrong era.

Enough about the music! I meant to actually review the movie and actors/actresses; all that jazz (or should I say big band?). I'll start with an overview of the movie as a whole.

The movie is about John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), a felon wanted for robbing banks. The leading investigator, Agent Purvis (Christian Bale) is out to stop him, but somehow Dillinger always gets away. Anyway, the movie starts out with Dillinger escaping from jail, and it reminded me a lot of The Dark Knight the way the movie just starts and you're in. Overall the screenplay is good, and you really get that 30s feel. Michael Mann is an extremely talented director, but he's one of those guys (like Quentin Tarantino) that loves to experiment with the gunshots exploding out of heads and all that gross stuff. For me, I find it humorous, but other's who are sensitive to that kind of thing, ahem, my mother, probably should wait for it to come out on DVD so you can fast forward through those scenes. It's not particularly gory (hello, Grindhouse) but if you're squeamish it may not be the best idea. There is this one gunfight scene that lasts an eternity. It may have had something to do with the fact that I had to pee like nobody's business... but, that brings up an interesting point:

Why don't characters ever have to inconveniently pee in the actual film?

But I really did have to pee. And then when I figured I was in that last half hour, wrapping up the movie stretch, the agents were interviewing Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard, interesting sidenote, she was in a lot of french movies, but this is only her first or second American film) she's getting the crap beaten out of her (maybe not that extreme) but then she interrupts their interrogation with "I have to go to the bathroom." I'm sitting there (miserable) thinking, "Oh, of course she had to say that. Oh well, at least that's over." Then a few minutes later, Purvis comes in and he's like, "You can go to the bathroom now." I wanted to stand up and hit Christian Bale in the face. Really? Really?!?!

Anyway, so I missed a few minutes of that movie, but the rest of it was much more enjoyable.

Overall, the movie itself was good. On the standard.net find showtimes website it has a 3 1/2 out of four stars, which might be a tad bit high, and on IMDB it's 7.7 out of ten, which is more what I would say. Moving on to the individual performances. There are usually two different links, one for the character and the other for the actor/actress.

John Dillinger (Johnny Depp)-- What do I even have to say about Mr. Depp? He's one of my favorite actors, and, as usual, he completes the movie. Originally they were going to cast Leonardo DiCaprio in his role, and this movie would have been a flop with him. I was a little disappointed to see all the makeup they but on Johnny, but the touch of eyeliner on the lower lashes gave me a little bit of that "pirates" vibe.

Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale)-- As usual, Bale is a fail. I honestly don't understand how he get's work. He wasn't absolutely terrible in this movie because his lack of emotion fit the character, but my goodness his fake accent was annoying. If you watch the credits Bale had an accent coach, but Johnny did not. I think they should have just gotten Johnny to give Bale lessons. It would've saved them a few bucks. Personally I think whenever Bale is in a movie he reduces its value a little bit. He's too straightforward and he just can't deliver. I think they should have skipped the voice coach and gone to an acting coach.

J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Cudrup)-- Honestly, Hoover didn't show up enough to really critique him, but I just thought it was weird, because I saw him and the entire movie I couldn't remember who he was, but then I realized! He was Dr. Manhattan (or I guess the voice of Dr. Manhattan, and the body of Jon) in Watchmen. Pretty weird.

Lastly I'll take a look at Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard)-- I think she did a fabulous job. Her teeth were a little distracting to me at first, but I got over that pretty fast. Her emotions were very real and convincing, and I cried like a baby at the end. She definitely deserves the Academy Award she has won (not on this movie, but another.)

Overall a good movie. I would say 8/10.

HAHA xoxo

FINAL BLOG POST OF THIS SCHOOL YEAR!!!!

Aw man, this is depressing! I hate the end of the school year. It's the most depressing time ever. It seems like the last month or term of school is always the best! The rest of the year just kind of stinks compared to this term. I figured I'd spend this entire blog post reminiscing of things past all through junior high, and planning for the future. Kind of a depressing end to the year in a way. I'll try and end it with something funny.

You know really, I don't remember seventh grade that well. It was just kind of a transition period. I do remember that it sucked because I was a half Merlin half Saker team member. It always messed up my schedule. I do remember one particular time though, with Mr. Hirschi. Since I was on two different teams the end of that year was a total mess for my schedule. I was having different lunches every day, and sometimes I missed Mr. Hirschi's fifth period for like every day except the second to last one of that week at the end of the school year. It's important to note at this point in the story that I never really talked to anybody in Hirschi's class the entire last third of the year because I didn't really like anyone in there. So I finally show up again on the last day of school to his class, and have him sign my yearbook. He gave me this look like, "Wow, you are so antisocial you ended up in ISS for the last week of school." Good times, good times.

Hmm, let's see, good memories from eighth grade. Well, I guess I'll just list memories period, because there aren't very many particularly "good" ones. I remember the rah rah recruit, or as I liked to call it, "The international tour of the elementary schools." I never knew I could dismantle my violin and a stand, and put it back together so fast. Uh, there was also Conor... he wasn't a good memory. I had zero crushes in eighth grade, which was kind of... lonely. What else do I remember from eighth grade? I went to a psychologist. That was, for lack of a better word, interesting. Oh, and I had more friends than I did in seventh grade, which was nice.

On to the last year of junior high. Ninth grade was by far my favorite year. I knew so many people, I had so many good times. If tenth grade is half as fun... it will feel like eighth grade... hmm.

So, in ninth grade there was french, while it lasted. I loved french, but I really didn't like Comiskey. That was a sad day when I dropped it. Teen Living was the best class ever! I loved that day that Beth broke the plate and me and Kati were cracking up and later, all Carly could say was, "Oh I thought that's just how you guys were." Really? Do we come off as that cruel? Apparently so. Clothing was a blast too. I loved that class. It really shouldn't have been called clothing. Let's see, first semester of Van Vleet's class was hysterical. Second semester was awesome because Bailey was in there. Social dance... eh. Algebra was just like seventh grade again! All of us back in the same class. Lastly, there's foods. The last period of my day, and probably the best. It's so much fun in there, even on the boring days. I love Mrs. Harrison's obliviousness to the "that's what she said" jokes she's always making. The food we make in there gets me so hyped up I can hardly speak. Seriously, when will we make something healthy in that class? Ninth grade has been a great year.


I am so gonna miss junior high. I guess I'll use this as a (sort of) final farewell to all of those of you who are going to Layton high next year. FAREWELL MY FRIENDS!!!


haha XOXO for all the years I won't get to see you in the future...

You Are The Ocean Waves, You Are My Thought Each Day, You Are The Laughter From Childhood Games

Wow, really mixing it up with the blog title. Not a quote, but a lyric.

Yeah, okay I know. I changed from the Joker. I just kind of felt like something different and I liked the colors on this template. Plus it's kind of cool anyway. But, yeah, I still love the Joker and all, I just didn't feel like that background anymore.

I'm not any less crazy than I was before.

So, in any event, (I had to throw that in because today I was thinking about this kid's dad I used to know, whose house I tracked mud through, that used to always say "in any event" like all the time) it's really freaking hot outside. I am not a fan of the hot weather. I get really cranky when it's hot. During the winter I'm always thinking about how I'll keep the house all nice and clean every day during the summer, and make dinner when my parents get home and stuff, but then it turns out to really suck because I'm hot and tired and very, very cranky.

This is freaky as heck, but I'm actually kind of in the mood to work out. It's like, I'm hot and sweaty anyway, I might as well gain something from it. Of course, I'll probably start running or whatever, and then get bored and want to stop. That's usually how it goes. Maybe I should re-enroll myself in Fit for Life just so I can actually try to exercise. I'm actually going to start training for a 5K this summer (yeah, imagine me, RUNNING!).

Seriously though, have I mentioned that it's hot? I'm going to have to move my violin downstairs now. She (I'm pretty sure my violin's a girl... I mean, look at the violin's shape! don't tell me that's not a girl!) hates the heat. Her tuning gets all wacky and I think it's because she was manufactured in Romania... which, in case you're wondering, is right here (I was one of those wondering. I guess that it's colder there).

Anyway, on my way home from school I was talking to my brother about weird things that boys do. Earlier today somebody burped in my face and I was wondering what the heck that meant.

My conversation with my brother:

Lauren: So, if a guy burbs on you, is that a sign of acceptance, or a sign of affection, or just being plain old rude?

Dylan: Well... How did he burp? It really depends on how he did that?

L: I don't know how to burp like a guy! (Attempts to make burp sound). See!

D: Well was it like a burp and a blow, or just a burp?

L: Burp and a blow... I guess.

D: Oh, that means he has accepted you as "one of the guys."

L: Lovely. So what would it have meant if it would have been just a burp?

D: Well, that means he either wasn't expecting it, or he's trying to be rude and gross you out.

L: So what is a sign of affection then?

D: If he burps and then says "Excuse me."

AND GUYS THINK GIRLS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO FIGURE OUT!


HAHA XOXO

I Am Not I, If There Be Such An Eye, Or Those Eyes Shut Which Make Thee Answer 'I'

I had a very pleasant day today. It was actually kind of weird, because I never really felt "unpopular" all day. It seemed like even in the classes I don't talk to anyone in I had someone to talk to. I mean, I wouldn't consider myself unpopular, but I wouldn't say I'm popular either. The weird thing about this is that I went home and I was really tired, so I decided to just watch some TV, and I turned the Tellie on to Tyra Banks' show, and she was doing this show on teenage popularity. They had this popular girl (who thought that she was very attractive. Trust me, even a girl could tell she was anything but) dress up like an "unpopular girl." That means baggy clothes and ratty hair. They gave this newly unpopular girl acne and stuck her in a room full of "popular" kids who made fun of her for a couple of hours.

Next thing you know, this girl is sobbing, saying how mean they were. Five minutes later, she's fine and defending herself that she would never have done any of that stuff.

See, the thing is though, that there are two guilty parties. No, not a party party, but a group of people party. (I must be thinking about parties too much... teehee..). Anyways, popular kids might make fun of unpopular kids, but heck, unpopular kids are making fun of what popular kids are doing, or saying, or wearing. I think that popularity will never go away... I mean, if it did, we would never have any more of those great teenage girl movies like Mean Girls. That movie really did bring girls together. It doesn't matter where you live, what school you go to, who you're friends with, or how popular or unpopular you are. You just love Mean Girls. It is one of the best movies ever...

I'm kind of overusing the period period period aren't I? I should probably stop that... It' s not very formal. It's probably because I'm addicted to Facebook. Never before have I wasted so much time doing absolutely nothing. I mean, two hours later, I've commented on someone's status, looked at a few pictures and taken three or four quizzes. What kind of an accomplishment is that? Usually I'm just waiting for someone to get online so I can talk to somebody. It's been a little bit of a bummer ever since I got my new computer, because I don't want to put MSN Messenger on here because that's where I got my virus before. I'm just going to play it safe.

I am so sad this year is ending!!! I swear, the last term of school is so much fun, I don't want it to end. (Okay, yeah, maybe I need sixty more words and I have NO idea what to talk about now) . It seems like it's fourth term when you finally get to know all the people in your classes, and then all of a sudden you have a summer break and you don't call anybody or do anything, and you totally lose contact with them. Well not this year. I'm breaking the habit... tonight. Haha, Linkin Park reference right there. I don't even like them, and do you know how long it took me to realize that Linkin Park was like Lincoln Park, like the memorial park or whatever? Shows how smart I am.

HAHA XOXO

Whatcha Mcdoin' McProbie?

So I have comcast and it's extended cable I guess, but they always mail us random channel changes and the like, because it would just be too convenient for channels to stay the same for a little while. Anyway, in the 900s (note the correct lack of use of an apostrophe) there are music channels. The other day they sent us one of the channel changes lists and there were a bunch of new music channels. To make a long story short, my brother and I spent yesterday listening to the channel called "Toddler Tunes." This was actually really funny because there was this one song that was like, "If I could talk to the president/ I'd tell him to take all those nuclear bombs/ (extremely long pause in which my brother and I stop doing whatever it was we were doing and stare at the TV like "what the heck?")/And throw them all away." It was a hilarious song. The pause just made it sound like this little kid was talking about nuclear warheads. I really can't see any little kids actually listening to that crap. I mean, when I was a toddler I was into Barney and stuff, but not music.

Right now I'm on the Light Classical channel, listening to Elgar's (never heard of him either) "Wand of Youth Suite No. 2/March." It's kind of cool because it also says the orchestra that's playing (New Zealand Philharmonic Orchestra on this song) and then it also does little trivia things up at the top. Apparently the New Zealand Philharmonic Orchestra was the one that played Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings soundtrack. New Zealand is awesome. Now the TV is playing this obnoxious guitar song from "The Spanish Album." It's just kind of obnoxious, not really pretty.

In other TV news, we were watching NCIS on demand, (I have never seen a repeat of that show) and we were getting all into it finally because the storyline was kind of confusing on this particular episode, and it was like "To Be Continued..." and we were sitting there, mouths open in astonishment, trying to figure out when it came on. Well, Comcast doesn't mail us TV guides, which would actually be helpful, so we had to go through all of the free episodes On Demand and figure out which day they were being added to the lineup. We realized it was a Tuesday, so we switch the TV back to regular TV mode (as opposed to On Demand mode) and we flip forward three days to Tuesday and get to about 3:30 PM and it decides that's when it will stop telling us what is on. So, just now I was checking CBS and have finally found that NCIS comes on Tuesdays at 7 PM. Finally I can see the rest of that episode. NCIS, Monk, and 30 Rock are probably my top three right now. The Office is good, but its not nearly as good as the rest of those three.

Oh, and although this is quite random, I finally found out what probie means. Donozzo uses it in reference to McGee all the time on NCIS and I never understood what it meant. Apparently, it means probationary, like rookie. Who'da thunk it?

Ha, well my brother's friends dad just came by to tell them they need to go home and clean up their backyard, (they're moving out of their rental) and my brother's friend goes "Noooo-uh." Just like that. The sad thing is, I used to say the exact same thing.

Enjoy your week, we've only got a few weeks of school left. As of today, Monday night, 23 days including Lagoon Day and Yearbook Day. I probably shouldn't really count them, but...


HAHA XOXO

Come now, birdboy! You're not going to sleep on me already, are you? The party's just got started!

I just finished Batman: a Death in the Family. Holy cow. These are the kind of comic books I live for. It sure makes Frank Miller look like crap. Actually this story was pretty darn good. Apparently after fifty years of Batman, the editors at DC were thinking, we should bring Robin back, but we can't bring back Dick Grayson. He's moved on. He's part of the Teen Titans as Nightwing now, and it will make no sense to bring him back. So they created Jason Todd. I never really liked him, so it was a relief when he died. I guess that's how they decided whether or not he would live. After issuing the second to last book in this series they had a telephone poll asking people whether they wanted Jason to live, or die. At the back of the book it says the end vote was 5271 for, 5343 against. Bye bye Jason. But the way they killed him seems a little harsh, even to me. It does bring up an interesting point about the Joker though.

We all know the Joker kills people. Duh. That's his thing, he's good at it, and he loves it. But when we watch a movie about him, or read a comic book (which few people besides me does anymore) about him, we feel a sense of detachment. We don't know any of the people he's killed. We don't care about those people. They're not important to the storyline. They're just more of the Joker's victims. But in A Death in the Family it makes it more personal. You've seen this kid. You know what he's been through. His parents are dead, he just found out that his real mother is alive, and he's worked with the Batman fighting crime. When he dies it's actually a sad thing. It almost makes you hate the Joker. Batman doesn't kill him because he thinks he's too insane to know what he's doing.

The Joker knows. He always has and he always will.

"I know the difference between the crazies and the freaks like you who just enjoy it."

It really is a fabulous comic though. The term "can't put down" is an accurate description of me while I was reading it. I'm forcing myself to read Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again and quite simply, I don't enjoy it. Everyone (meaning the online community of comic bookers that I've talked to, or rather, read) seems to think that Miller's books are classic works of graphic novels, but I just don't understand it. Maybe I'm not old enough to understand it. That's what my dad predicted about Watchmen though, and I love that book. The only thing I can come up with is that it's just not a good book.

In other news, there are a bunch of new Umbrella Academies out, but the last one I saw was number 3 and I just can't get three before the rest of the series. I'm sure it's probably finished the series out by now. I've missed quite a few comic book wednesdays. Speaking of which, my dad got a popcap on his Sobe the other day that said "Comic Book Wednesday."
I want it...


HAHA XOXO

Falcone Floods The Streets With Drugs And Violence, Creating New Joe Chills Every Day!

I'm sick today while I'm writing this blog. I think that sentence might have been gramatically incorrect, but oh well. I hate being sick. I hate wasting my time, lying there, feeling sorry for myself. What a waste of time, really. I'm going back to school tomorrow no matter what. I'm so sick of being sick. The worst part of being sick is missing school and then having to make it up when you could have just done it at school and had no homework at all. I missed like three tests that I have to go in early to take now. It's very annoying. You would think teachers would have figured out a better way to allow students to check their missing work and find what they did in school that day. Thompson has the best for that kind of thing so far, but it could still be improved. Like, who knows how long it's going to take me to get caught up on Journal entries again.

While I've been sick I've watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight for about the tenth time and Batman Begins for probably the fifth. Christian Bale does a much better job as an actor in Batman Begins than he does in The Dark Knight. My mom came in while I was watching Batman Begins and proceeded to ask me if I knew that "That guy" (which she meant as Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul) was Liam Neeson. I told her yeah, I knew that, and she said, "Did you know--". I interrupted her and said, "Yeah I know his wife was the one that hit her head on the bunny slope when she was learning how to ski." His wife was the mom from The Parent Trap for all y'all that don't know. It really is sad that she died though. And over the stupidest little thing.

Anyway... I'm also doing my magazine article right now, and I'm doing it on an article about male lactation. That's right, male lactation. I didn't actually know this was possible until just now, but apparently dudes can breast feed. That's kind of cool, but kind of disturbing at the same time, I don't know why. It makes sense of course. I mean, why would men still have nipples if they had no use for it, er, them? Maybe eventually men will lose their nipples, but until that day comes they will probably be able to lactate. Haha... It's just funny somehow...

This was a great time to get sick too. I couldn't do anything with my relatives that were here for the last two days because I was sick. Colorguard stuff is today and then for the next two weeks too, so I better start feeling better fast. My mom is nice enough to go get the information for me from Davis High. Hopefully Kati is still doing it... I also have Violin Federation on Saturday and I haven't been able to practice my song for the past four days and I took a week off a few days before that. I also didn't get to have a lesson because I had to go to my grandpa's funeral. Right now, everything is kind of a disaster, but hopefully I'll be able to get it all sorted out soon.

HAHA xoxo

Things Are Tough All Over An' It Rains On The Just An' The Unjust Alike...Except In California

I'm not really sure if we were supposed to write a blog last week since it was spring break, so I guess I'll just write a really really long one for this week. Sounds good to me. Basically, I think I'm just going to tell all y'all what I did my entire break. The days are probably messed up Boy this'll be fun.



So first we drove all day to Beatty, Nevada. We ate dinner at our hotel, and the food was okay. I had a tomato soup and split a salad with my mom. I would have had a veggie burger, but they were out. We also went to the Death Valley Nut and Candy store, known as Eddie World, and I was very disappointed. I thought my parents said that Eddie World was teh biggest candy store in North America, but it's actually the largest candy store in Nevada. It's pretty darn small.

Anyway, day two. We went to Death Valley for the first time on this day. Now, remember that Death Valley is in California, and we were staying in Nevada. It was a little bit of a drive into Death Valley. We went to a few different places. I can't really remember what we did on that first day, Mostly just sightseeing and stuff. It was either this day or the next day that we visited the lowest point in North America. It was pretty dang hot there. It seems like it was about 95-97 degrees, but Beatty where we were staying was not nearly as warm. We ate breakfast at a Mexican restaurant that wasn't bad, and we ate dinner, well those of us who did, ate this creepy little "Beatty Club" Restaurant. They had bras stapled to the ceiling and dollar bills from everyone who felt like leaving a little note stapled to a wall. There was also this sculpture, and from far away it looked like it was just a man's face, but when you get up close you realize that that face is actually composed of the bodies of naked women. It was kind of cool in a bizarre and perverted way. Anyway, the guy who made my burger was talking on the phone, and I don't think he ever washed his hands. We decided that all of the restaurants in Beatty are actually fronts for brothels or drug dealers.

On the third day we went to Albertson's because all of the restaurants in Beatty are disgusting. I got a Starbucks Coffee which was very good after eating all the crap in Beatty. We got plenty of food for the rest of the week. The rest of that day we spent wandering around Death Valley and it's surrounding area. We went to this little spring and saw these bright blue fish called pupfish. Apparently they are named that because the swim around and play like puppies. We also went birdwatching for a little while for my mom.

Fourth day was spent looking at all the stuff we had missed. We went to the Racetrack where rocks slide on their own, and no one has ever seen them move, but they leave behind trails in the mud, which is dry by the time you can look at the trail. We spent the rest of that day at the sand dunes and we got ready to leave for Vegas the next day. An interesting sidenote, while we were at the Sand Dunes I stepped on a stump and cut my toe open, and it bled like nothing else. It didn't hurt or anything, but I left a nice little trail of blood back to the car.

On the fifth day we went to Las Vegas which is about a 2 hour drive. We stayed at the New York New York Hotel and Casino. All we really did on that day was relax and go shopping. I got some awesome perfume at Rue 21. I actually like that store. We ate at Il Fornaio at our hotel and it was really good. The bread was fresh and delicious. *DROOL* breadddd...

The sixth day was pretty much the same, we ate breakfast and dinner at Il Fornaio again, and we went shopping. We walked 2 and 1/2 miles to the mall each way because we thought it was closer than that, plus another 6 hours of standing around in the mall, and by the end of the day my feet hurt! They hurt the next day too. Oh, we also got a phonecall from our grandma on this day that our grandpa had had a small heart attack. We asked if he was still at the hospital and she said no, he just got cold, so we were just like, whatever.

On the last day we ate at Il Fornaio again, and we went on our way home. This is what happened when we got to Ely and my mom checked her phone messages.



I saw 5 rainbows on the way home from Ely. It was raining after we left the Subway in the town. Six days ago we left that same gas station only we were heading the opposite direction. When we had gone there the first time there was a little boy there, telling the lady how to make his sandwich, and when he catapulted his arm up to the glass covering, used to keep his grubby fingers from actually touching the tomatoes, or meat, or whatever topping it was he wanted to point at, he smacked his hand, or, more precisely, his fingers. That was Sunday April 5th, 2009 our way to Death Valley, California. It was ironic really that we were listening to David Saderis' book on tape on teh way to Ely on our way home. He was talking about his yaya. It was humerous really, the story of his grandma. At the end of the story David simply says that it was a relief that she was gone. The story was really quite funny at teh time. Like all of his writing, funny, and sad too. He's really a lucky guy to be able to reflect on his life so easily. When we found out about my grandpa's death all I could think about was Sedaris' yaya. It was so weird that we were just listening to that before we stopped. Plus we had just visited DEATH valley. The weirdest part of all was when my brother started crying. I remember hugging him the same way that girl did when her brother was crying. A week ago. The same thing, different circumstances.

Strange.



HAHA xoxo

The Past, Even The Grimy Parts Of It, Just Keep On Gettin' Brighter...

Wow, what a week. I mean really, who knew so much could happen in so few days? I'm doing this instead of doing my math homework because I feel like I'm going to fall asleep, and when I feel like I'm going to fall asleep, I don't get much math homework done. Oh also, because you need to know this, I'm rather upset at my mascara, because it's like falling apart and it doesn't even feel like I'm wearing any mascara at all. I wish I hadn't washed my other kind.

Reading Fahrenheit 451 in class has gotten me thinking. What are the point of books anyway? You know at first I was like, it's to be entertained, it's because we want to feel a connection, it's because we want to learn, but you know what? Most of all it's so that our lives seem a little less sucky. We use books as a way to get out of our lives. Have you ever noticed that the people who don't really like to read are the people who already have wonderful, exciting lives? Perhaps not the wonderful part, but at least the exciting part is true. Of course, then the people whose lives are pretty boring (c'est moi) read quite a few books. My conclusion for this statement is that we read books to make ourselves dream. We daydream to make ourselves have hope. We need hope so we can continue moving on in our meager existence. Girls dream of their prince charming (is prince charming a proper noun? Because it kind of seems like a general kind of prince) is going to come to them, and they think of all the wonderful ways that he could ask us out or whatever. Guys, I don't want to know what you daydream about. The point is though, that even when we think that we are totally seperable from our dreams and ideas, we're obviously not. We know, way deep down, that half the stuff we think about isn't ever going to happen. This is kind of depressing, but at the same time, we can take it as something more. We can change ourselves to make those dreams come true, or we can just accept it. The books are good no matter what, even if the book could be written based on your life. "Things are tough all over," but books help us move on.

Hurrm. That didn't turn out the way I originally intended. Of course, I'm not sure what I originally intended it to turn out as.

I just thought I would put this in here for kicks, because it's one of my favorite scenes from Watchmen, the comic book, not the movie. It's completely random, but I love Walter Kovacs. He would still scare the crap out of me if I ever met him...(Yes, I am aware he is a fictional character). I typed it out in the traditional comic book style, all caps with a few random bolded words. Apparently there aren't any randomly bolded words in this passage however. Too bad. I think it's quite funny.

Newstand Man: OH. GOOD AFTERNOON, SIR.

Sign Guy: GOOD AFTERNOON. IS IT HERE YET?

Newstand Man: HUH? OH! YOUR COPY O' THE NEW FRONTIERSMAN! SURE IT'S HERE. I
KEEP IT FOR YA EVERY DAY, DON'T I? HOW'S THE ENNA THE WORLD COMIN' ALONG?

Sign Guy: IT'LL HAPPEN TODAY. I'VE SEEN SIGNS. NATIONAL EXAMINER REPORTED A TWO-HEADED CAT BORN IN QUEENS. TODAY FOR CERTAIN. YOU'LL KEEP MY PAPER FOR ME TOMORROW?

Newstand Man: UHHH. SURE. SURE I WILL. NO SWEAT. HAVE A NICE DAY.

Sign guy leaves and Newstand Man sits down to drink his coffee.

Sign guy is seen walking back.

Sign guy taps Newstand Man on shoulder: YOU WON'T FORGET?

Newstand Man : ~~FPFFF~~ Spews coffee

Today For Certain

I just saw something that made me rather angry. On that Shelfari website, there was an ad on the side that said, "Get dark knight ringtones!" and I was like, "oh cool, the soundtrack on your phone!" But you know what? They didn't even have the real song titles on there! Like, one of the tracks was "Here's my card." HELLO??? That's not even one of the songs on the soundtrack! I know it's not a legitimate website, but still! You would think they would make a good effort to try and conceal that fact. But whatever. I'm so touchy about my music...

In conjunction with last week's entry, I figured it was only fair to talk about the days when all goes as planned -- and more. Yeah, there are, in fact, days like that. Everything goes perfectly well and then it even gets better. But there are also the days that are just okay. I don't particularly mind those, because those make up the majority of a person's life.

The really special days are the ones when something really little happens, and it completely changes your mood. It can be big things I suppose, like acing an end of level, or getting your braces off or something. That's pretty sweet. But what's really more exciting is when one little insignificant thing totally changes your day. Someone says hi and gives you a smile when you haven't talked to them in a little while. You see someone at the grocery store that you haven't seen in a long time. An e-mail from someone (or from something) that you weren't expecting comes. Those are the best days, without a doubt.

Going along with last week's procrastination theme, I just spent about twenty minutes attempting to brush a Barbie's hair. I heard a very interesting thing about Barbies. Apparantly, in Germany, or someplace like it, there was a doll directed at grown men, so they could, shall we say, fulfill their wants with them, for lack of a better word. But this lady from America, the founder of Mattel, decides to go over to Switzerland and sees one of these dolls. She thought it would be perfect for her daughter, who was like 8-12. I can't remember the exact age. So this lady brought these adult dolls back to her daughter because all they had to play with were dolls that were made out of paper or fabric, and they didn't show the adult female form. So this lady decided to make Barbies and it all went downhill from there. Speaking of Barbie...

Anyway, little did that lady know, She was helping girls all over the world feel a little worse about their bodies.

I just got Watchmen, like bought it, and I'm very excited. Yeah, I've read it before, but now I get to read it over and over (and over) again!!!


HAHA XOXO

Tell Me, Would All Of This Be Greatly Benefited By An Oil Refinery Or A Shopping Mall?

Hello, Hello, Hello, Homies!!!


Call me Princess Procrastination because that is my most awesome talent. I'm not even kidding either. Last night, when I was supposed to be doing my literary analysis, I was just messing around. I didn't really even get down to it until around 10:30 last night. Yeah, it was due today, and I had all weekend to work on it, but that doesn't mean I would do it. In fact, exactly the opposite. The more time I have to do something, the longer I procrastinate on it. I've been trying really hard not to do that as much lately, but it doesn't really seem to be working. I'm getting a little bit better about it, but not as much as I would like. Like I was looking at sparknotes.com so I could remember all of the characters names from Great Expectations (the name of Herbert was eluding me) and they have a freaking procrastination link. Of course I had to click on it and go to some other page just to read how to get an extension set to a cartoon. Yeah, that was some time well spent. I have the worst time not procrastinating.

For instance, I didn't memorize my lines for the french play until last night, and those were also today. At least that went well. Oh, I didn't actually practice the song that Kati and I were going to play until last night, and that turned out okay too. It seems like things work out better for me if I do them at the last minute. I mean, I actually worked hard to stay on track and finish Great Expectations on time, and look where that got me! I got a 70 on that AR test. I honestly don't know what I did wrong.

Another procrastination I have done just today, instead of doing my math and geography homework, was making a quiz. Here's the link if you have a cat and like Pokemon. I guess even if you don't really know about Pokemon this quiz could still be kind of fun. I guess.Yeah, I was kind of procrastinating really bad today. Oh another thing that should be considered procrastination: writing a blog before I've finished all of my other homework.


Question: Why are people so obsessed with Chuck Norris? He's not even cool.


Ha, well that wasn't random. The weirdest thing happened today, and it bears repeating because it was one of those things where it's like, the day is going so well and you're so close to getting through the entire day, and then something completely ruins it for you. Those are the worst when it happens like 1st period, and then you feel like you're going to cry your eyes out the rest of the day. Actually you know what, never mind. I think I've said it to enough people that they'll know what I'm talking about. It was just really weird.

It's kind of been bugging me lately, but I've been noticing that I begin a lot of my sentences with an introduction sentence. Like what I just did in that last sentence. My brain starts doing something when I'm writing something, and then it can't stop. Last night it was an overuse of the word "essentially." That wasn't bugging me AT ALL. I had to keep finding synonyms for it. Anyway, (there, I did it twice just now) I don't know why I do that.

HAHA xoxo (little xs and os are cuter I think...)

Hm, Never Disposed of Garbage with Toilet Before. Must Remember.

AH! I finally saw Watchmen, and surprisingly, it was better than I expected it to be. This week I'm just going to write a review of the movie, and most of you probably won't ever see it because it's rated R, (and for good reason, no thanks to the Comedian) and also because you probably think it's stupid. Well, I don't think it's stupid. Alan Moore writes such memorable books I can't see anyone not liking them. Okay, scratch that. My mom would hate that book. But for the most part, people would generally like Watchmen... At least if you're like me.

I'll start out with a review of the different characters, then I'll take a stab at the general idea. Oh, and I'll review the soundtrack too.

Laurie/Silk Spectre II-- We'll start with the bad. The actress who played Laurie, who was not my favorite character in the book anyway, really butchered her in the movie. She was a worse actress than Kirsten Dunst in Spiderman 3. Now that's saying something. It looked like she was reading the script for the first time, and just putting in whatever she thought would be a good display of emotions. Malin Akerman looked like she was kind of trying, but it didn't really work that well in the movie. The other actors were much better.

Jon/Dr. Manhattan-- My dad didn't particularly like Billy Crudup in the movie because he didn't picture Jon that way in the book, but I thought he was perfect for the role. He acted the way I expected him to, and when he was still Jon he was pretty darn good. Not to mention cute. tee hee.

Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias-- He was okay. Matthew Goode was kind of blank the entire movie, but I think that's how Veidt would have been anyway, so I guess they did a pretty good job. He could have done a little better job and displayed some more emotion.

Walter Kovacs/Rorschach-- When I first went into the theater I was a little worried I wasn't going to like Rorschach very much (he is my favorite character in the book). But guess what! Jackie Earle Haley did a great job. At some times I think he could have displayed less emotion (because that's just how Walt- I mean, Rorschach is). There were scenes when it looked exactly like the comic book because Haley is so identical to Rorschach in the novel. He really creeped me out, so thumbs up to him!

Edward Blake/The Comedian-- Yes, yes, I know. Everyone loves Jeffrey Dean Morgan from Gray's Anatomy. I'm sorry to say it, but he was the best actor of the movie. He really nailed his part, but I can't say I liked him. Edward Blake is a you know what.

Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II-- Overall, Patrick Wilson did a pretty good job too. It was weird to see him in the scenes with Laurie, only he looked natural and she did not. Kind of an odd combination. Overall, Wilson did a pretty good job here too.

Oh well, looks like we're done with most of the main characters. Before I forget I should probably mention that I have to stay for the entire credits (if someone is going to make a movie and work so hard, I should be able to sit 5 minutes longer and watch their name), meanwhile I look for the most horrible part you could have been cast. In this particular movie, it was "Aggressive Hooker." In the Dark Knight, "Fat Thug". But that's just me, there are probably worse parts out there.

Overall, the movie was pretty good. The reviews I heard at first said that the movie was almost identical to the comic book, so I wasn't expecting much to change. Surprising to me, they changed a lot of things, and most of the time it was to make the scene a little bit gorier. The movie itself was pretty amazing, especially the scenes on Mars. I was a little bit upset about some of the changes they made, and they left out a lot of the really interesting stuff in the comic book, er, graphic novel. I would give the movie a 7-8 out of 10. The plot of the story is incredible, and that alone deserves a ten. The way they did some scenes were kind of weird, but for the most part it was pretty good. The Dark Knight is still better though, sorry to say.

The soundtrack is actually kind of boring. There are a few good songs, but most of them are kind of background noise, to accent what's going on in the movie, and Tyler Bates doesn't seem to be able to make the music stand alone but stand with the movie too. My favorite song is the Comedian's theme, which makes me kind of mad, but it's very good. My first impression listening to the album was a cross between The Dark Knight, composed by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, and also Revenge of the Sith, composed by John Williams. This is in reference to the score, not the soundtrack. I probably should have clarified that at the beginning.

So there's my review(s), however you would like to classify them (as one or as three seperate reviews).


I want to see Watchmen again.... : (

HAHA XOXO

This City Is Afraid Of Me

I couldn't decide if I wanted to write a blog now, or wait until Saturday when I saw Watchmen. As you might have guesssed, I decided to write the blog now, and write about Watchmen next week. Aren't you all just thrilled?

Alrighty, I was in my mom's car the other day and we were going to Smith's. There is this Watchmen commercial and they use the Smashing Pumpkins song "The end is the beginning of the end" on this commercial. That also happens to be the song on my blog right now. Anyway, listen to that and then listen to this David Byrne song that my mom was listening to. The drum beats sound exactly the same only the Smashing Pumpkins one is slower. I guess you only really have to listen to the first little bit of it, but oh well. Oh yeah, here's THE LINK!!!

Ha ha ha, overdramatic. I am so bad at memorizing things. If you would like to know how I got from the overdramatic idea to the being bad at memorizing things, follow this chain. Overdramatic reminded me of drama which reminded me of Kati whose in drama which reminded me of things you do in drama like memorize things which reminded me of french plays that I haven't memorized the lines to yet, which also reminded me of Shakespeare parts that I haven't memorized all the way through yet. Luckily I have some pretty sweet skills under stress for memorizing things. I guess the freakout mode should be coming up pretty soon.

Holy cow, the most amazing thing has happened. The other day I went to take the recycling with my father, and on the way back we stopped at Tasty's to get a donut. From that point we noticed that there is no a heebeegeebeez right across the street from the Starbuck's that's across the street from the Tasty's that we were at. So we were like, yeah, maybe we'll go in there. They might have some comics. Well, they do which is amazing because I don't have to go to Salt Lake to get them anymore. That's not the cool thing though. The cool thing is this.

When I was younger, (I was going to say little, but I was in like 4th grade) I went to this place to play Pokemon cards. Yeah, cheesy I know, but it was way fun, and if they still did that, I would totally go. This place was called Endzone. One day we drove down to Endzone, (it was kind of a long drive when we used to live in Ogden) and we found out that they were closed. That was so sad for me, because that was my favorite thing to do on Thursday nights. So here I am, five years later, and I'm driving around on Saturday with my mom to find this lighting store in Clearfield. We stopped at Grounds for Coffee, where my mom explained to me why they called it "Grounds for Coffee." Don't ask me why they call it that, because I still don't know. Anyway, so we set off again and we drove past, you guessed it, Endzone! They had moved their store to Clearfield so we went in there to take a look around, and it brought back all these memories from my childhood. Oh, and did I mention, they have comics too! It was so weird finding two comic book stores in one weekend, and they were both way closer than Salt Lake City.

So anyway, that's my life in a nutshell right now. I'M SO EXCITED FOR WATCHMEN! Rorschach is on my desktop right now...

HAHA XOXO

Fanta Fanta, Don't You Wanta!!

So lately I've been noticing a lot of odd things I do, so just for fun I'm going to see how many I can find and just list them, and everyone else can laugh at me. But first, I wanted to say hip hip hooray for Heath Ledger winning the Oscar. I cried about that for ten or fifteen minutes. Then I asked myself, Why am I even crying? I couldn't figure it out at first, but now I think it's because seeing Heath's family on that stage, accepting an Oscar for their son, or brother, made me realize that Heath is really gone. We'll never get to see his talent in a movie again, and that is probably the biggest tragedy in television right now.

Oh, also, I'm upset at the Oscars because they didn't nominate the Dark Knight soundtrack, but they felt inclined to play it the entire ceremony. Where is the justice in that? If I were Hans or James I would be... well, mad as a hornet.

Anyway, this is kind of the opposite of what I was just talking about. I volunteered at the Human Rights Education Center of Utah on Saturday, and when I went to the bathroom I saw this sign and I laughed my head off. No one thouught it was as humorous as I did apparently, but I think it's pretty sweet.

Oh yeah, thesis statement: I have a lot of odd quirks.

1. I brush my teeth in the shower. They feel cleaner that way.

2. I can't use water that has been sitting out for more than twenty minutes

3. I can't use water that is put into an old plastic bottle.

4. I drink out of a gallon jug of water.

5. Usually I choke when I drink out of said jug. (I have a drinking problem).

6. I have a fear of public restrooms.

7. If I have to use a public restroom I have a system that I must follow in order for the restroom to be sanitary enough to use.

8.I only curl my hair on the weekends, even though it takes less time than straightening it.

9. I arrange my CDs on my shelves according to first name, the way iTunes does, and it drives my dad crazy.

10. I talk to my cat in meows.

11. I never spell my name right when I sign something.

12. Any book that comes out as a "big hit" I can't stand. Examples: Eragon, Twilight, A Series Of Unfortunate Events, etc.

13. I have two flashlights in my room that I can grab if I wake up in the middle of the night if I need them. Both do not function properly.

14. I spend more time thinking about what I'm going to do than I do actually doing what I was thinking about.

15. I count the number of hours of sleep I would get if I fell asleep that instant when I'm attempting to fall asleep.

16. I actually prefer Scarecrow to the Joker. Scarecrow just makes those nursery rhymes cool again. Not to mention, in Batman and the Monster Men, he was the founder of Arkham Asylum. Not as the Scarecrow of course, but as Johnathon Crane.

17. I use sticky notes for everything.

18. It takes me longer to find a number in my phonebook (on my cell phone) than it does for me to just punch in the number I want to call.

19. I can't text worth crap.

20. Whenever I try to write a story, I get so caught up in the story that's happening in my brain which I'm trying to write down, I never actually end up writing anything. I just kind of stare off into space. La la la....

21. I could eat a whole box of cheez its if I had access to them during a 2-3 hour movie.

22. This one's pretty random. I like brussel sprouts.

23. When I'm graphing something, all of my X and Y axes must have the same number of dashes.

24. I have a T.V. crush on Charlie Epps from numbers and also Jim from The Office.

25. I AM FREAKING EXCITED FOR WATCHMEN!!!!

HAHA XOXO

I Believe In Gotham City

Let us start this with a little kick. This is a picture of a coffee I made myself the other day. When I poured in the shot, I thought it looked like a dinosaur, so I had to take a picture. My dad says it looks more like a cat, but I think it's definitely a dino.

Onto something a little more sinister...

The Joker.

Probably the world's most famous "homicidal maniac." Don't just take my word for it, that's what Mr. J says too!

What is it that we like about him so much? Obviously we do like him, The Dark Knight was such a financial success. This enduring comic book villian is more than just a character however. He is what we can never be. Yes, everyone likes Batman (not necessarily Christian Bale), but we don't think of him the same way we do the Joker. In order to analyze the Joker you have to start with Batman. Without him, the Joker wouldn't exist.

Why does Batman choose to do the things he does? He's driven by vengeance. He needs to fight against crime for what crime did to him: killed his parents. Bruce Wayne is so dedicated to this ideal that he is willing to spend years of his life training his muscles and bones, traveling around the world, getting familiar with crime, studying all about computers and electronics, staying in touch with what is expected of him as Bruce Wayne, and also training his mind in general. This is a lot of self-induced pressure. In one comic book (don't ask me which, I can't remember) Batman says that training his body came easily, but training his mind was the difficult part.

So here Bruce Wayne is, however many years later, all buffed up and intelligent. This is when he becomes "The Bat-Man." This was his early crime fighting stage, and he realized at this point that to fight the corrupt, "superstitious" group that criminals are, he needed to go to extremes. His extremes were donning the cape and cloak, and using the criminals mindset against them. There is only one thing he would not do. Any guesses? He will never take a life. This is what separates him from the criminals he intends to bring to justice.

Okay, so we know about Batman, but what does that really have to do with the Joker? I mentioned that Bruce decided to go to extremes to fight the criminal fraternity. The Joker is a lot different than Batman, but he's also very similar. In a lot of ways, he is more like Batman than he is different. Let's examine the similarities. They both have "secret" identities. They're both extremists. They both have a taste for the theatrics. Difference? I wish I could say that only the Joker was crazy, but Batman has to be too, to a certain degree. The only real substantial difference between the Joker and Batman is that the Joker is willing to kill.

So why did we talk about Batman? Without Batman there would be no Joker. The Joker, although there are many stories trying to explain how he became the Joker, really has no clear origination. The only fact that we know for sure is that the Joker's appearance is directly correlated to Batman. The Joker is Batman, only cynical and evil.

Okay, I'll talk about why we like this guy so much now. Mr. T. asked "Why is it that a character as twisted as the Joker can make us laugh?" Now, let's think back to that class when (Bailey this is for you) that kid is sitting there, and you're imagining twisting his head off or cutting off all of his toes just to put him through the same physical pain you've been enduring mentally. When we see Mr. J stab a pencil through someone's head, just because that guy got on his nerves, that brings back an emotion we've all felt before. The whole violence as a funny thing doesn't apply to everyone. My mom didn't find that amusing at all, which makes no sense to me.

I think we all see a little bit of ourselves in the Joker. I think this is what has made him such a popular character both in writing and in the movies. He does have a plan, like Mr. Thompson said, but I think the difference between his plan, and anyone else's plan, is that he doesn't care if his plan works or not. As long as it's destructive, chaotic, or exciting, it was successful. He is a lot more intelligent than he let's on. The Joker has an intimate understanding of human psychology. I wouldn't find it surprising if Dr. Quinzel let him borrow some of her psychology textbooks. Mr. J understands what makes people tick, and how to really get under their skin. In almost any comic book or movie, the Joker is seen driving a bus, or stealing a plane, or riding around in a helicoptor, maybe using some bizarre technilogical advances that modern society as we know it does not know about yet. How in the world could he know how to do all of these things? He has to have spent countless hours learning how to do all of these things. I think the reason he seems so deep is because he is deep. When you read a comic book or watch a movie featuring the Clown Prince of Darkness, you have to agree with what he is saying. He always has a point. I think the Joker has stumbled upon some secret that the rest of us have yet to find. He doesn't care what happens in his life, as long as it has an outcome in his favor.

At the end of The Dark Knight Batman saves the Joker from his death, and the Joker says to Batman, "You just can't let me go!" When you think about it, the Joker just can't let Batman go either. It could be incredibly easy to kill the Batman, but the Joker doesn't. Why? Without Batman, the Joker is nothing. His life would be pointless, there would be no challenge. The Joker came into existence because of the Batman, and the Joker thrives on it. It is because of this attraction between the two, the idea that "they are destined to do this forever" (or at least until they get to Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, in which my hero.. I mean villian, dies. Very sad..) that the Joker is even in existence.

Besides, doesn't the Joker do Bruce's job for him sometimes?

I'll wrap this up with a little quote from The Long Halloween, my favorite comic book. Batman is trying to find the Holiday killer, and he meets Mr. J on a plane (stolen by the Joker, naturally). This is their conversation.

Joker: I don't know what you're so mad at me for. I'm trying to stop Holiday just like you are!

Batman:By killing everyone in Gotham Square?

Joker: Why not? You don't know who Holiday is. I don't know who Holiday is. But, the odds are he or she might be in the crowd tonight and --

Batman: You're Insane.

Joker: Has it really taken you this long to notice?

HAHA XOXO

I Must Warn You, I'm A Protege Of Foxy!

Aaaah... A warm cup of peppermint coffee and blogger. What more could you want?

Hm, how about something to write about?

I have this issue just about every time I sit down to write a blog. Maybe for some people it comes as a breeze to just spill their heart out onto some random website for people they don't know to read, but for me, it just doesn't work that way. I don't want all of my thoughts and ideas written out for anyone to read and think they understand.

I'm too complicated for that.

Oh by the way, here's a thesis statement. When writing a blog, I'm never really sure what to write.

The ironic thing about not knowing what to write, is that because of that, it has given me a subject to write about.

Okay, the reason I threw in the thesis statement there, was because I just now noticed that on the third term contract, there is some fine print which states "All blogs must have a thesis that is supported and elaborated with interesting details and examples." That's right, it's midterm, and I obviously haven't even read the contract that closely.

Another great thing I just found on that contract, "Submit the completed tutorial quiz by February 13 2009." Great, another thing I have to do this week. I've been a little caught up in fitness for life, so I guess I didn't even think about when that was due.

(Kind of on a side note, because I just went to the grocery store and came back, when I sat back down to my computer (1) it was malfunctioning and I had to restart it and (2) blogger had put 4 line breaks for every one I had made originally. I just thought that was kind of weird).

Next order of business, Mr. Thompson has to slow down on the Great Expectations forum entries, because I'm barely to page 45. Some of us have other things that need to be addressed in our lives besides reading.

Okay, now getting to the good stuff. Right off the bat (no pun intended) I am so excited that Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard won the grammy award for their soundtrack to The Dark Knight! The freaking grammy! That is so cool. I'm way proud of those guys (It is the best soundtrack of the year, so really it's no surprise).

Now for a little bit of playlist stuff. Here's what I want you to do. First listen to the entire second song (it's only a minute long and it's amazing anyway). Next, listen to the third song, The Traveling Song. You're not required to listen to all of that one, it's not so good. After you've listened to both of those, listen to the fourth song, Alex On The Spot. I think it's so cool It takes those two completely different songs and combines them into one. That's impressive to me, maybe not to anyone else. You have to listen to them in rapid succession if you want it to be cool though. So do it now!

Hmmm, I was going to go into the Joker a little bit, but I think I'll actually save that for next week. I don't get a good topic very often, and I could go on about this one for hours.

HAHA XOXO

Don't Worry, It's Just A Clip On!

I've had a headache for the past three days and I'm ready to rip out my brain. Actually it's more throbbing in my eyes so maybe I'll just take those out (that way I'll still be able to function).

Anyway, I saw Madagascar 2 on Saturday. It took long enough. Madagascar is one of my favorite movies, and definitely one of the best Dreamworks productions ever. I was not disappointed either, much to my relief. I was kind of worried it wasn't going to be very good, but I thought it was just as good as the first one.

You should listen to the first song on my playlist now. It's not my favorite song from Madagascar 2, but it has the same zoosters breakout theme that I love. Zoosters Breakout was my favorite song from Madagascar 1, and it might be my favorite song ever released by Hans Zimmer. I was so excited when I went into the movie and heard all of the zoosters theme rearranged and made even better. Now I'm going to go on a little rant because I just love Hans Zimmer's music that much.

So, that one guy from the Black Eyed Peas, Will.i.am, sang a bunch of times on the Madagascar 2 album, so everyone who liked him went out and bought it. Now when you go to iTunes and look it up, all of the reviews for it are "Will.i.am is so great," or "I love the Traveling Song!" or whatever. The people who bought the album don't even bother to listen to any of Mr. Zimmer's stuff, even when he wrote the entire thing. It's like, I'm sorry, but Will.i.am is a hip hop artist. That means he sings and raps to beats made by keyboards with little circuits inside. He doesn't understand music theory and he can't make beautiful music by writing down single notes for 50 different instruments.

That said, I don't want all y'all to think that I just go around making fun of artists. That's not true. I actually took the time to listen to his music on the album. Yeah, it's pretty good, especially the song that's on my playlist now, but I still like Hans Zimmer better. I'm trying really hard to be more open to different kinds of music, especially because I used to always joke with my dad about how sucky his music is (some of it is pretty bad).

I guess what I'm trying to say is you should give the entire album a chance. If you only wanted the songs from a certain artist, you should have bought only those songs.

Also, iTunes should change their little review page to a fan mail page, because that's all it really is. People log on and talk about how much they love a certain song but that isn't a review. It's fan mail, and fan mail is not what belongs on that page. iTunes really needs to figure something better out.

I guess to end this with a life update, I'm taking the ACT on Saturday, and I'm kind of freaking out. (This ACT is by choice, so I don't need any sympathy.)

HAHA XOXO

Sometimes You Will Drop Something, Be Stung By A Bee, Or Be Distracted In Some Other Way

Holy cow, guess what I just did for an hour? I took a nap! I was reading the Hot Zone, which is pretty good, and I was getting really tired, so I just decided to close my eyes for a little while, nothing wrong with that, and the next thing I knew it was five thirty. Lucky me, I now have big puffy red eyes and a sleep deprived mind that is still begging me not to wake up.

I keep on trying to psyche myself into doing a workout for Fitness for Life, and it's just not working. I can barely keep my eyes open while I'm typing this. I know that falling asleep on the elliptical is one experience I don't want to have to go through.

Shifting gears now, ooh I'm going to have to remember to use that next time I talk about cars. Anyway, shifting gears, I watched Catch Me If You Can the other day. That is a really good movie. I find that often the best movies are the ones without gore or horrible things happening, but the psycological ones that you just get trapped inside of. If you haven't seen the movie, it's based on a true story about Frank Abagnale, a teenager who fakes checks and manages to get about 1.3 million dollars out of the bank system before he's caught. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks are the main characters in this movie. Sorry Kati, but I do not think Leonardo DiCaprio is cute at all. In Catch Me If You Can he plays a sixteen year old kid, and he actually looks sixteen which, to me at least, is a little bit freaky.

I really like that movie, but, as you've probably noticed, I have a thing for criminals.

My brother has strep throat and he woke me up last night at 3 in the morning because he was... to put this sweetly, "sick to his stomach." I'm just hoping I don't get it now, because the only thing I hate more than being sick is missing school because of the sickness. I don't know why, but it drives me crazy when I miss school. Right now, school is pretty much my purpose in life, and without it I get really bored really easily.

Okay I know I keep saying I'm going to upload the videos of my kitty, but I just don't really feel like it and therefore I probably won't do it for a little while. Those videos will appear eventually, but not in the near future, at least from what I can tell. I've been too busy with other things like schoolwork and converting VHS to DVD to think about doing anything else.

The VHS -DVD converter we got which I told you about yesterday finally worked last night at about 9:30. We were able to successfully save a video on to my computer, but now we are unable to watch it again. I'm going to have to keep looking at it to see if I can figure out what to do. It says that the correct Codec is not installed, so if anyone reading this knows what a codec is, feel free to leave a comment.

If anyone were to watch me type right now they would see a direct correlation between sleepiness and brain activity because my fingers are having a really hard time hitting the right keys. I can't tell you how many words I've got the letters mixed up in this little entry. Okay, I'll try to tell you. How about we settle on "A lot."

I'm really tired...


HAHA XOXO

How Did You Cheat On The Bar Exam?

I wanted to start this off by saying how proud I am (for the first time in a long time) to live in America. How cool is it that I got to live during the inaguration of our first black president? I just think it's pretty darn cool. Apparantly someone asked President Kennedy when he thought we would have a black president and he said "40 years." Obama was elected 40 years after that. That's pretty creepy if you ask me.

Oh, and the next person to mention the end of the world gets a slap upside the head unless they can give me a legitimate reason.

In spirit of the inaguration I was going to upload some videos of my cat and her campaign to become president. I'm not really sure how that started in my family, but we call her president Peter now and we imagine the kind of laws she'll enact as President of the United States of America. Or rather, the United States of Peter which she will undoubtedly change the name too. The trick with her is that she's too darn cute to get mad at, so she'll become a dictator in no time at all. There is nothing we can do to stop her! Her fluffy little paws are too powerful!

In other news, I'm very excited about this new device called "Dazzle" that my parents bought for me and my brother. We are making a very exciting, full length movie whose title I'm not going to give out because it's just too cool. The only problem with making said movie is that we have this really old video camera that records onto VHSC tapes. This dazzle thing is a little boxish shaped object that hooks into your computer and into your video camera (regardless of whether or not it has firewire) and then transfers whatever is on those tapes onto your computer, or even directly onto a DVD. This is really exciting because we'll be able to put our movies onto a computer to edit them with Windows Movie Maker. Oh and the best part? It's originally $90 and we went to Office Depot to find one and it was that price, but then we realized that Circuit City is going out of business and so we headed over there. We got it for $45!!! That's like half off, and we got a whole bunch of blank DVDs and it ended up being only a little over $50. That's the best thing ever, finding things on sale. The only drawback is if it's broken we can't return it because Circuit City now belongs to a liquidator company that doesn't take returns.

There was this lady in there while we were looking for the Dazzle thing, and she was trying to return a broken Guitar Hero controller and they wouldn't let her. That would make me really mad.

I was watching the credits to The Dark Knight and there was one credit that went to some guy, but it was labeled "Fat Thug." I think I would be really bummed if I was on the credits labeled as Fat Thug...

HAHA XOXO

If You Really Want To Thank Me, Pay For My Med School!

First off, I AM SO HAPPY HEATH LEDGER WON A GOLDEN GLOBE!!! Mr. Nolan's little acceptance speech for him made me cry. It is such a bummer that he died. What really annoys me though, is the way people still refuse to believe his death was an accident just because he played a homosexual and a homocidal manaic. There were like a bazillion independent studies made and they all proved that his death was an accident. COME ON!!!

Mr. T, if you read this, doesn't homo mean "the same" so, what does homocide literally mean? Killing of the same species? I'm not sure, anyway...

I have also decided to make it a point to listen to all of the soundtracks nominated for a golden globe, because that just sounds like something interesting to do that I won't have anyone to talk to about. Because of this lack of a soundtrack loving companion, I will be able to spill my love of classical/soundtrack music all on this blog and I'll actually have something to write about for once. I must say, I was a little sad about Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard not winning an award, but I haven't listened to those particular albums... so I guess I really shouldn't say anything. The Dark Knight should have been nominated though, it's so incredible. It definitely would have won...

Ah, I've reached another wonderful block. A writer's block I suppose. I always forget how much I enjoy writing, but I have a little bit of ADD whenever I do it for more than a sentence, so I kind of stop writing and start thinking to myself instead. It's really annoying because when I finally get on a roll I run out of things to say, so I just end up sitting there wondering when I'm going to start writing again. Most of the time I don't resume the writing for a couple of days.

Mammal is a hard word to spell. I couldn't remember how to spell it earlier, so I kept spelling it mammel. or mammle. or mamle. It's just a difficult word. You know what I discovered though? There is a spell check on this little editing post page! How neat-o is that? That always drove me crazy (not to have a spell check), so I'd write my blog entries in Word, but then when you copy paste them back into the text box the HTML coding would get all messed up and I would be lucky enough to receive bizarre spacing in my paragraphs.

I am almost done with Fitness for Life. Or at least the first term... but thank goodness! I was kind of freaked out at first because we only had seven weeks to finish the term, but thanks to winter break I got most of the work done in a couple of days. It was kind of stupid though because there was this one worksheet where you had to go to a gym. So I make my mom take me to work with her so I can use her company's equipment, and then the little chart you have to use to find your 1RM starts at 30 pounds! I can't lift a thirty pound weight in one arm! I can barely lift it with both my arms and a second person! So that assignment took about 10 times as long as it should have because we had to figure out which resistance machine to use and then find the 1RM. It just took forever.

Oh and uh, thanks for my newfound paranoia of the word "get" Mr. Thompson.


HAHA XOXO

I'm Outta Here Nancy

Happy birthday to Brendon James Waters! He was born today, seventh period.



Carrying him home from school today pretty much broke my arm however. He was ten pounds four ounces, and I do not enjoy carrying him about. My arm feels like jell-o now, and its kind of freaking me out. I really wish I could find my carrier. This class has convinced me once again not to have children. They are pretty much the worst financial decision you could make. I think I understood the purpose of the baby assignment before it was even given to us.



I went ice skating over winter break, and I'm not very good at it. Whenever I skate my feet are turned inward, like I'm leaning on the blade, so I always get a really bad blister. Also, I never wear high enough socks, so you would think I would figure it out eventually. But no, I just forget every year to wear socks. In any case, I got this horrible blister, and the scab came off the other day. Imagine a stretched out fifty cent piece, and thats about the right size of the blister. Needless to say, it was bleeding pretty bad.



Ha ha, Bailey is on this list!

I'm taking fitness for life online right now, and I have to find a gym so I can go work out, which doesn't really sound like fun. I'm almost done with the first term thank goodness. The only good things that have come out of taking this class are (1) I can breath after running up stairs, this really is a miracle and the only good thing ever to come out of exercise, and (2) it's gotten me prepared to start training to be a superhero.

I've been reading an interesting book called Becoming Batman by this kinesiologist/martial artist and it is very intersting. What is really odd about it though is that everything I read in that book I have previously read or am going to read about it in my fit for life textbook. Basically I couldn't have picked a better time to read this book because every time I wouldn't have understood a question on a test I think about that book and it makes a heck of a lot more sense. It's kind of sad really when a book written by a doctor directed at adults makes more sense than a textbook directed at my age group. I've decided that in some cases more detail is not helpful, but in even more cases it makes it easier to understand.

Okay, that rule isn't true for chemistry and biological processes. Obviously the more simplified it is in those subjects, the easier it is to understand. Sometimes I wonder how I am getting an A in biology because I understood none of Kreb's Cycle, or Calvin's Cycle, or any of the chemical compunds associated with those cycles.

In other news, my dad brought home a Davis Darts "Newspaper" and reading it through once has convinced me that I have to be on that staff, because it was just about the worst paper I've ever read. No offense to the "Reporters" but shame on the editors. I found 4 or 5 errors in every article I read. Not only that, but some of them were just plain stupid articles. I read one that was about how wonderful Christmas music was, and their example was something like, "For instance, angrier music will make people act angry." Ummmmmmm, What!!!?? I'm willing to bet that some of that girls friends listen to "angry music." I listen to angry music, (obviously not what is on my playlist right now) but I am not an angry person. I'm sarcastic, and maybe a little mean from time to time, but I would not consider myself angry. I'm pretty free flowing. Apparently this girl didn't do her research.

The other articles weren't that much better, just for the record.


HAHA XOXO