~ We are T-minus 30 days until we get the heck outta Dodge. There's so much to do . . . and yet it doesn't seem like all that much.
~ I swear end of the year testing will be the death of me. Don't get me wrong, on the one hand I am literally getting paid to sit in silence watching a bunch of kids take tests on computers. But on the other hand . . . I am spending the day in total silence while the kids are working on computers. Soooooooooooooooooooooooo boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring!!!!!!!!! I will miss pretty much everything else, but I am SO glad that this is the last time I will be doing testing.
~ I officially do not get what the big deal is about 5 Guys. Sure, it's a good burger but there's nothing special about it. Certainly nothing special enough to warrant the cult following and being voted Best Thing On The Entire Planet by practically everyone. Give me In'N'Out any day. Or even Sonic.
~ English has got to be such a difficult language to learn. Almost every person I've ever met for whom English was their second language has had a hard time saying my name - no matter what their first language is. It would appear that ours is pretty much the only language in which the C and Z sounds are significantly distinct . . . which, of course, makes my name fundamentally different. In fact, it took one particularly sweet little second grader from Africa (wish I knew where) about a month to figure out that my name was not, in fact, Miss Lazy. At which point my name became Miss-Lazy-I-Mean-Miss-Lacey. If it were a fourth grader doing it I would think they were being deliberately obnoxious, but he's so adorably delighted when he gets it right on the first try. He's one of the ones I wish I could take with me.
~ Two parts trippy, one part amazing, two parts fueling the mental rant about people who make fun of selfies I've had going on in my head for a couple of months now. Also - I totally want those "reading" glasses.
~ Abbreviated rant: I've been taking selfies since I was in high school, and so has everyone else I was in symphony with because our symphony conductor took them all the time and we all thought he was awesome. People who think teenage girls taking selfies is a sign of the end of times really need to get over themselves. Seriously, have you seen those pictures of that bunch of dudes taking a selfie back in the 20s? And if people - ESPECIALLY teenage girls - feeling confident in themselves and being willing to admit it to the world is a bad thing . . . I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
~ Snow cones last week, hot chocolate this week. I'd be annoyed if that wasn't so utterly typical.
~ I am in the middle of the biggest reading slump in the history of my entire life - both in length and number of books. I've read 38 books so far this year, and my average rating is a 2.6 (yeah, I actually did the math. that's how frustrating it is) whereas my normal rating for a year's worth of books is in the vicinity of 3.5 (yeah, I did a lot of math . . . which hopefully tells you how bad this slump is). I have no idea what's going on, but most of the books I've been reading lately have just SUCKED. It's not like I'm reading a pile of Twilight fanfiction either - I'm reading the same genres I've always liked, and there's been plenty of variety. And still, they all suck. Some are less sucky, and there have been a handful - seven, to be precise - that I've truly enjoyed. But holy crap, I've had four months of finishing book after book and putting them down and thinking what a waste of time it was and how I could have been rereading something good and just wishing I could enjoy reading new books again and I just have to wonder what the crap the problem is. I'd ask for recommendations but at this point I'm not sure I'd appreciate them. Blargh.
P. ost S. cript
We've totally adopted this as our theme song around here. If you haven't seen this movie, drop what your doing and go see it. But I don't think it's in any theaters anymore, so just go download it or something. It's that awesome.
Showing posts with label I'm a bookworm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I'm a bookworm. Show all posts
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Friday, August 30, 2013
Goodreads Just Needs to Add Half Stars Already
Good books are all alike, bad book are each bad in their own way.
~Anna Karenina (sort of)
So I just finished a series last week. It was . . . not good. Frankly, it started at "meh" and descended into "awful" by the time I finished. It was not so bad that I regret reading it - I've read a few of those - but it was bad enough that I do kind of wish I'd known from the start not to pick it up. I realize that probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but it makes perfect sense in my head so we're just gonna go with it.
I picked it up because it sounded like a fun read, and with multi-thousand reviews giving an average of almost four out of five stars it seemed like it must be at least tolerable, right? And that's where things all fell apart. Because I absolutely do not see what it is that the other 93% saw in it to give it a high rating. (perhaps I need to occupy goodreads?)
The hardest part is looking at the ratings my friends have left on the books, which also influenced my expectations of what I was reading - ten ratings, all fours and fives. And it took some real internal debate for me to give even two stars.
So now we get an oft-visited topic around here - How Lacey Hates Being Noticeably Different from Everybody: Books Edition. I'd say that easily 90% of my goodreads books haven't even been added by any of my goodreads friends. But of the books that do have opinions to compare, it's usually pretty varied, and more or less middle of the road. I don't feel bad about giving a book two stars when I see that people I know have already given it a one, a four, and three threes. But giving something a one when it has seven fives and three fours . . . is actually a little distressing. Which sounds totally ridiculous, and is a total non-issue, but at the same time I look at that little list of stars and I can't help but think - what did I miss? Did we even read the same book? (I'm about 75% we didn't at this point)
And then I get all self-conscious like I'm in the wrong class or wandered into a wedding reception at some hotel ballroom where I don't know anyone but got pulled into the conga line before I could duck back out and now everyone's asking me how I know the newlyweds and I'm just trying to figure out how to answer in a way that won't make me look like a party crasher.
I feel a little guilty about not liking this trilogy too, almost as if I am crashing a party considering how almost universally well-liked it is. But the simple fact of the matter is, it's bad. The first book is iffy, the second book wipes away any potential for redeeming the whole, and the third book is just bad metaphor after stupid cliche after plot hole after illogical and unexplained escape from painted corners. Rinse, repeat. I really don't get it . . . and, for a couple of weeks at least, I feel like I almost can't trust my own opinions. I much prefer the books where I can say it's not my thing but I can see how others would like it. But when there's more to like in Twilight . . . yeah. This does not work for me.
That said, I have to admit there is something that is just so . . . satisfying about writing a review about a book I didn't like. I guess it's a cathartic thing, the angrier I am when I finish the book, the better I feel when I finish the review. I do my best to be nice while still being honest, although I assume it probably doesn't always come across that way. (actually, if we're being honest I'm coming to realize it's probably safest to assume I'm coming across more or less the opposite way from what I intended in most situations) I don't know what it is, but I always have an easier time expressing what I didn't like about a book (or movie or whatever) than I do about what I like about it. Reading a good book is such an overall enjoyable experience . . . was it because the characters were fun? Because the dialogue was snappy and clever? The overall premise and plot were unique and well written? they all blend together so seamlessly in a good book, one aspect making up for where another might be a little bit lacking that it just becomes hard for me to say what it was that took it from two stars to three, or three to four. But a one star book, now - those I can almost always point to the moments where I was thinking something didn't make sense, or was too convenient, or not as funny as the book itself thought it was, or just plain didn't work. Especially in a book I wanted to like (as these were) it's so easy to point to where and how that desire was disappointed.
The good news is the book I'm currently reading is sitting at a solid three, depending on the ending, and only one other person has even added it. And the next one in my pile is the fifth in a series I've become quite the fan of. So hopefully I can shake off this dissonance by the time they're both done.
P. ost S.cript
Have I already posted this one? Oh well, don't care. It's cute. And we've been singing this song around here a lot lately . . . not sure why though . . .
~Anna Karenina (sort of)
So I just finished a series last week. It was . . . not good. Frankly, it started at "meh" and descended into "awful" by the time I finished. It was not so bad that I regret reading it - I've read a few of those - but it was bad enough that I do kind of wish I'd known from the start not to pick it up. I realize that probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but it makes perfect sense in my head so we're just gonna go with it.
I picked it up because it sounded like a fun read, and with multi-thousand reviews giving an average of almost four out of five stars it seemed like it must be at least tolerable, right? And that's where things all fell apart. Because I absolutely do not see what it is that the other 93% saw in it to give it a high rating. (perhaps I need to occupy goodreads?)
The hardest part is looking at the ratings my friends have left on the books, which also influenced my expectations of what I was reading - ten ratings, all fours and fives. And it took some real internal debate for me to give even two stars.
So now we get an oft-visited topic around here - How Lacey Hates Being Noticeably Different from Everybody: Books Edition. I'd say that easily 90% of my goodreads books haven't even been added by any of my goodreads friends. But of the books that do have opinions to compare, it's usually pretty varied, and more or less middle of the road. I don't feel bad about giving a book two stars when I see that people I know have already given it a one, a four, and three threes. But giving something a one when it has seven fives and three fours . . . is actually a little distressing. Which sounds totally ridiculous, and is a total non-issue, but at the same time I look at that little list of stars and I can't help but think - what did I miss? Did we even read the same book? (I'm about 75% we didn't at this point)
And then I get all self-conscious like I'm in the wrong class or wandered into a wedding reception at some hotel ballroom where I don't know anyone but got pulled into the conga line before I could duck back out and now everyone's asking me how I know the newlyweds and I'm just trying to figure out how to answer in a way that won't make me look like a party crasher.
I feel a little guilty about not liking this trilogy too, almost as if I am crashing a party considering how almost universally well-liked it is. But the simple fact of the matter is, it's bad. The first book is iffy, the second book wipes away any potential for redeeming the whole, and the third book is just bad metaphor after stupid cliche after plot hole after illogical and unexplained escape from painted corners. Rinse, repeat. I really don't get it . . . and, for a couple of weeks at least, I feel like I almost can't trust my own opinions. I much prefer the books where I can say it's not my thing but I can see how others would like it. But when there's more to like in Twilight . . . yeah. This does not work for me.
That said, I have to admit there is something that is just so . . . satisfying about writing a review about a book I didn't like. I guess it's a cathartic thing, the angrier I am when I finish the book, the better I feel when I finish the review. I do my best to be nice while still being honest, although I assume it probably doesn't always come across that way. (actually, if we're being honest I'm coming to realize it's probably safest to assume I'm coming across more or less the opposite way from what I intended in most situations) I don't know what it is, but I always have an easier time expressing what I didn't like about a book (or movie or whatever) than I do about what I like about it. Reading a good book is such an overall enjoyable experience . . . was it because the characters were fun? Because the dialogue was snappy and clever? The overall premise and plot were unique and well written? they all blend together so seamlessly in a good book, one aspect making up for where another might be a little bit lacking that it just becomes hard for me to say what it was that took it from two stars to three, or three to four. But a one star book, now - those I can almost always point to the moments where I was thinking something didn't make sense, or was too convenient, or not as funny as the book itself thought it was, or just plain didn't work. Especially in a book I wanted to like (as these were) it's so easy to point to where and how that desire was disappointed.
The good news is the book I'm currently reading is sitting at a solid three, depending on the ending, and only one other person has even added it. And the next one in my pile is the fifth in a series I've become quite the fan of. So hopefully I can shake off this dissonance by the time they're both done.
P. ost S.cript
Have I already posted this one? Oh well, don't care. It's cute. And we've been singing this song around here a lot lately . . . not sure why though . . .
Monday, June 18, 2012
The Cake . . . er, Town . . . is a Lie
Did you think you were done reading my Twi-rants? Well . . . sort of. Actually, I'm not entirely sure what today's rant is about - just that something needs to be ranted.
Have you heard of 50 Shades of Grey? It *might* be the most terrible book ever written. Seriously. It is never-supposed-to-be-published-and-see-the-light-of-day bad. And it wasn't - supposed to see the light of day, I mean. Other than the deepest, darkest bowels of the internet.
For the lucky uninitiated, 50 Shades started out as Twilight fanfiction by someone who was bitter bout the lack of explicit sex scenes in the originals. So they wrote all the varying levels of dirty things they wished Bella and Edward had in the first place and put it online. And you know that episode of Friends where Joey writes a letter of recommendation to the adoption agency for Chandler and Monica? In places it reads more or less like that. I haven't read it myself, but I have been made aware of a website that posts small excerpts that demonstrate just how unreadable this thing is. Where Twilight could have been vastly improved by a couple more rounds with an editor, its knock-off needed a complete tear-down-and-just-start-over treatment. I would include quotes, but honestly the most unreadable bits are also the most not-appropriate-to-put-on-a-blog-my-grandparents-read. Of course, they're also the most thesaurus-ed to death . . . some to the point that you can't even tell what's going on until you run it through a thesaurus yourself to translate it back into what it originally said. And somehow it got so popular in those deep, dark internet bowels that the powers that really shouldn't be anymore decided it should be published. As is. So they ran it through a computer program that changed all instances of "Edward" and "Bella" to . . . I don't know, whatever the names are in the published version. And then sent it directly off to the publisher. And somehow it became the biggest thing among middle-aged women since . . . well, Twilight.
Which brings me to the source of my rant - which might actually be more of a "can someone make it stop being crazy????" sort of plea.
As of a few days ago, 50 Shades of Grey was the most requested title at the library in this town. The mind, she is boggled. If you had asked me before I saw the list on the library website I would have been willing to bet big money that our library didn't even have a copy. Much less four. Much less that if I were to put it on hold today I would be looking at a three month wait to get it. And then 3 more months a piece for each sequel. Because oh yes, there's more of them.
The thing I can't wrap my head around though - who's reading it here? It's widely known to be erotic vampire fiction with extreme BDSM content. It even mentions the erotic part on the library website, which I guess I always figured was more or less a kiss of death for a book in Utah. It's just not the sort of thing you envision sitting on everyone's coffee table around here . . . which, I suppose, is why everyone has it on hold at the library. They all want to read it, but you can bet there won't be cheers and claps when the movie release is included in the important weekly events announcements in Relief Society (actually happened with Twilight in the single's ward in Florida). It's hard to believe such a book could possibly be popular in a place like this, but I have to admit it's a little amusing to wonder which of these apparently perfectly content, perfectly put together, lovely ladies I see everywhere I go are secretly reading the most popular porn since the Kama Sutra (which, as I've been told, isn't actually porn, but I haven't read it. I've only eaten the ice cream, lol). Like I said, I can't wrap my head around it - it's a such a contradictory thought!
I mean, I really can't blame them for getting sucked into a book or series - there are three book releases I'm currently counting down to - but I have to wonder why anyone would choose one so poorly written. Maybe I'm just a book snob. (who are we kidding, I am a book snob.) And I can't help but think of this. 2:29? Sums it all up. But that, like, doesn't happen in Utah. You know? It's not a lecture you hear repeated every six months at the girl broadcasts before conference, just the priesthood session.
In conclusion . . . I am not living in the town I thought I was. And it's a little weird.
P. ost S. cript
Totally counting down to the Olympics next month. Also - totally trying to pretend this wasn't almost 20 years ago. Things I remember - quite clearly - are not allowed to have happened that long ago.
Have you heard of 50 Shades of Grey? It *might* be the most terrible book ever written. Seriously. It is never-supposed-to-be-published-and-see-the-light-of-day bad. And it wasn't - supposed to see the light of day, I mean. Other than the deepest, darkest bowels of the internet.
For the lucky uninitiated, 50 Shades started out as Twilight fanfiction by someone who was bitter bout the lack of explicit sex scenes in the originals. So they wrote all the varying levels of dirty things they wished Bella and Edward had in the first place and put it online. And you know that episode of Friends where Joey writes a letter of recommendation to the adoption agency for Chandler and Monica? In places it reads more or less like that. I haven't read it myself, but I have been made aware of a website that posts small excerpts that demonstrate just how unreadable this thing is. Where Twilight could have been vastly improved by a couple more rounds with an editor, its knock-off needed a complete tear-down-and-just-start-over treatment. I would include quotes, but honestly the most unreadable bits are also the most not-appropriate-to-put-on-a-blog-my-grandparents-read. Of course, they're also the most thesaurus-ed to death . . . some to the point that you can't even tell what's going on until you run it through a thesaurus yourself to translate it back into what it originally said. And somehow it got so popular in those deep, dark internet bowels that the powers that really shouldn't be anymore decided it should be published. As is. So they ran it through a computer program that changed all instances of "Edward" and "Bella" to . . . I don't know, whatever the names are in the published version. And then sent it directly off to the publisher. And somehow it became the biggest thing among middle-aged women since . . . well, Twilight.
Which brings me to the source of my rant - which might actually be more of a "can someone make it stop being crazy????" sort of plea.
As of a few days ago, 50 Shades of Grey was the most requested title at the library in this town. The mind, she is boggled. If you had asked me before I saw the list on the library website I would have been willing to bet big money that our library didn't even have a copy. Much less four. Much less that if I were to put it on hold today I would be looking at a three month wait to get it. And then 3 more months a piece for each sequel. Because oh yes, there's more of them.
The thing I can't wrap my head around though - who's reading it here? It's widely known to be erotic vampire fiction with extreme BDSM content. It even mentions the erotic part on the library website, which I guess I always figured was more or less a kiss of death for a book in Utah. It's just not the sort of thing you envision sitting on everyone's coffee table around here . . . which, I suppose, is why everyone has it on hold at the library. They all want to read it, but you can bet there won't be cheers and claps when the movie release is included in the important weekly events announcements in Relief Society (actually happened with Twilight in the single's ward in Florida). It's hard to believe such a book could possibly be popular in a place like this, but I have to admit it's a little amusing to wonder which of these apparently perfectly content, perfectly put together, lovely ladies I see everywhere I go are secretly reading the most popular porn since the Kama Sutra (which, as I've been told, isn't actually porn, but I haven't read it. I've only eaten the ice cream, lol). Like I said, I can't wrap my head around it - it's a such a contradictory thought!
I mean, I really can't blame them for getting sucked into a book or series - there are three book releases I'm currently counting down to - but I have to wonder why anyone would choose one so poorly written. Maybe I'm just a book snob. (who are we kidding, I am a book snob.) And I can't help but think of this. 2:29? Sums it all up. But that, like, doesn't happen in Utah. You know? It's not a lecture you hear repeated every six months at the girl broadcasts before conference, just the priesthood session.
In conclusion . . . I am not living in the town I thought I was. And it's a little weird.
P. ost S. cript
Totally counting down to the Olympics next month. Also - totally trying to pretend this wasn't almost 20 years ago. Things I remember - quite clearly - are not allowed to have happened that long ago.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Restless Bookworm
Wanna hear something weird? You may have noticed that it's been . . . a while since my last post. Suffice it to say this has been a rather uneventful and somewhat bland month. BUT - I was looking at my stats page the other day . . . because I'm weird like that and like to see how many people are checking me out online. Anyway. For some reason this month has gotten more hits than any other month ever, except last June when I did that 30 day thing. I have no idea why I am apparently the hottest thing ever in Russia right now . . . but it's a major ego boost, so I'll take it! :-) (also: привет, мои друзья!)
Also: I despise this stupid new blogger layout. With a passion.
Anyway. Onto "real" topics.
I've been having quite the struggle finding good books for the last couple of months. I've mentioned it to a few people, but it seems like I'm getting really picky about what I like to read. On the one hand, it's really weird because I've always been the girl who reads everything and dislikes almost none of it - but in the last six weeks or so I've put down, like, five books just because I couldn't bring myself to finish them.
Back in the day I was more like a book-goat. I read everything, with absolutely no discrimination, more or less. I remember going to the library during the summer as a kid. I'd check out a dozen or so books, and approximately five days later I'd've finished them all and be ready to go back for more. But no one else was done with their books yet, so I had to wait. And out of sheer desperation I'd read everyone else's library books too. It was almost like going down a ladder - in the course of about two weeks I'd start out by reading my books - a mix of Beverly Cleary types to Star Wars novels from the adult section of the library (and you better believe nothing could make me feel more grown up, lol!) and then I'd read Ashli's books . . . and Shayla's books . . . and finally Rian's books, and since he's six years younger than me and we're talking about the still-in-Idaho-Falls-timeline here we're talking about a 12-year-old reading the books a 6-year-old checked out due to sheer desperation for something to read. It was not exactly pretty. And I may still have this book memorized. Going on two decades later. (holy CRAP, I'm getting old . . . )
So . . . yeah. I read everything. During the school year we didn't go to the library so I read the books in the house over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Still have some of them kind of memorized too. We all got books for our birthdays - and I was always getting in trouble for reading everyone else's books before they got a chance . . . but a new book in the house was like manna from heaven! Christmas was the most glorious time ever because it meant at least twelve new books. And I'm sure grandma and grandpa remember the time I spent the whole visit doing literally nothing but frantically reading the last five books of the Work and the Glory series. We had the first four at home and I'd read them at least a dozen times and I was DYING to just finish them already! Five books. Couple thousands pages or more. Four days. I did it.
That's still one of my proudest accomplishments. Even if it's not one I exactly bring up a lot.
Anyway. I guess maybe it's something to do with the fact that I have a library card, a goodreads account, and a car but I am totally losing my patience for so-so books. There are still plenty that totally hook me right away and blow me out of the water by the end. But there are more and more that I just can't bring myself to pick up after a few chapters. It's really weird. For me it's kind of disturbingly weird. Like, what's wrong with me that I can't enjoy all books anymore? We all know I'm totally over the who LDS fiction thing, but the over all fiction thing really freaks me out. I know I'm exaggerating, but on the other hand I have had six duds in the last six weeks (literally, I just checked on goodreads) and when I get a string like that it's depressing. I mean, six out of fourteen is practically half!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway. I just felt like a little bit of complaining/semi-ranting. The good books are still out there, they're just getting harder to find I guess. (totally open to recommendations! and you should totally get on goodreads if you're not!!!) Back to my current book. Which is so far, so good.
P. ost S. cript
Tilt shift is seriously the coolest thing on the face of the planet.
Also: I despise this stupid new blogger layout. With a passion.
Anyway. Onto "real" topics.
I've been having quite the struggle finding good books for the last couple of months. I've mentioned it to a few people, but it seems like I'm getting really picky about what I like to read. On the one hand, it's really weird because I've always been the girl who reads everything and dislikes almost none of it - but in the last six weeks or so I've put down, like, five books just because I couldn't bring myself to finish them.
Back in the day I was more like a book-goat. I read everything, with absolutely no discrimination, more or less. I remember going to the library during the summer as a kid. I'd check out a dozen or so books, and approximately five days later I'd've finished them all and be ready to go back for more. But no one else was done with their books yet, so I had to wait. And out of sheer desperation I'd read everyone else's library books too. It was almost like going down a ladder - in the course of about two weeks I'd start out by reading my books - a mix of Beverly Cleary types to Star Wars novels from the adult section of the library (and you better believe nothing could make me feel more grown up, lol!) and then I'd read Ashli's books . . . and Shayla's books . . . and finally Rian's books, and since he's six years younger than me and we're talking about the still-in-Idaho-Falls-timeline here we're talking about a 12-year-old reading the books a 6-year-old checked out due to sheer desperation for something to read. It was not exactly pretty. And I may still have this book memorized. Going on two decades later. (holy CRAP, I'm getting old . . . )
So . . . yeah. I read everything. During the school year we didn't go to the library so I read the books in the house over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Still have some of them kind of memorized too. We all got books for our birthdays - and I was always getting in trouble for reading everyone else's books before they got a chance . . . but a new book in the house was like manna from heaven! Christmas was the most glorious time ever because it meant at least twelve new books. And I'm sure grandma and grandpa remember the time I spent the whole visit doing literally nothing but frantically reading the last five books of the Work and the Glory series. We had the first four at home and I'd read them at least a dozen times and I was DYING to just finish them already! Five books. Couple thousands pages or more. Four days. I did it.
That's still one of my proudest accomplishments. Even if it's not one I exactly bring up a lot.
Anyway. I guess maybe it's something to do with the fact that I have a library card, a goodreads account, and a car but I am totally losing my patience for so-so books. There are still plenty that totally hook me right away and blow me out of the water by the end. But there are more and more that I just can't bring myself to pick up after a few chapters. It's really weird. For me it's kind of disturbingly weird. Like, what's wrong with me that I can't enjoy all books anymore? We all know I'm totally over the who LDS fiction thing, but the over all fiction thing really freaks me out. I know I'm exaggerating, but on the other hand I have had six duds in the last six weeks (literally, I just checked on goodreads) and when I get a string like that it's depressing. I mean, six out of fourteen is practically half!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway. I just felt like a little bit of complaining/semi-ranting. The good books are still out there, they're just getting harder to find I guess. (totally open to recommendations! and you should totally get on goodreads if you're not!!!) Back to my current book. Which is so far, so good.
P. ost S. cript
Tilt shift is seriously the coolest thing on the face of the planet.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Celebrating (Imminent) Success
End of the year blog meme time, yay! I've seen this one around a bit lately, and since I'm within single digits of reaching my only tangible goal for the year - reading 150 books - this shall be my reward party.
And since you've all totally been watching my little ticker over there >>>>>>>>>>>> with baited breath all year - yep, I am down to nine more . . . woo hoo!!! There were times when I wondered if I'd pull it off.
Anyway. Meme time.
1) What author do you own the most books by?
Tough call. Rick Riordan and L.M. Montgomery are both up there. Does my collected works of Jane Austen book count for each novel? Because then she'd probably take the title when you include the duplicate copies.
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
I only own double copies of three Jane Austens.
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
I usually don't notice until it's pointed out. So . . . thanks for that.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Character? As in . . . singular? Can I just say "all of them" and have it count as one? Seriously:
Marius Pontmercy
Gilbert Blythe
Fitzwilliam Darcy
Colonel Brandon
Sir Percival Blakeney
Heathcliff
Rhett Butler
. . . and any others who might slightly resemble any of the above
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Probably Tuck Everlasting . . . but I reread books a lot, so it's hard to say.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
You really have to be more specific - I've never had consistent favorites. Favorite book on my tenth birthday? Favorite fantasy book when I was ten that I read that summer? Those I could answer.
7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
Hard to say. In an attempt to make a dent in my massive to-read list I've found myself reading a lot of vanity/self-published stuff lately. I'm sure there are some gems in that pile, but most of what I've found epitomizes why that was the route those people took. These, however, fall into the category of worst-of-the-worst.
9) If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be?
Again, hard to say. The Happiness Project comes to mind, but I think I'd prefer to tailor my recommendation to each person.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
Me. Totally. :-)
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Do I really need to get into my do-not-turn-books-into-movies-ever rant again?
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
See above.
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I don't generally recognize people in my dreams. I know I know them, and I know where I know them from (high school, Florida, books, etc.) but I don't usually know who they actually are.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
Ummmmm . . . what part of "vanity press" strikes anyone as high brow?! Anyway . . . yeah. I totally read fluffy stuff. Gotta balance out Austen and Milton and Wilde and Dickens and such somehow.
15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Define difficult. While I speak it pretty well (or, at least I used to) I can't read French to save my life, so the stuff in my French lit classes were brutal. (and yet I hold on to the more than slightly insane goal of reading Les Mis in french someday. Unabridged.) I've never had to much trouble with Shakespeare or any "old school" stuff - if you go a little slower it's really not that hard. That said, I struggled with Wuthering Heights the first time . . . I think I was a little too young for the writing style. Also, somehow I ended up with a copy of Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English for a concurrent enrollment class my senior year. Kind of hard to read a book that is literally in a different language . . . especially when you think it's in yours.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?
Sadly, the only one I've seen is Macbeth - kind of shameful when you consider where I went to college, eh?
Also: donations for Lacey's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY trip to Cedar next summer are being accepted starting . . . wait for it . . . now. Because with front page news like that . . . yeah. I have to go.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Oh! Oh! New answer for most difficult!! I've never finished anything by a Russian - and heaven knows I've tried. I will get through Anna Karenina someday, dangit!
Hugo? Is my hero. One of them.
18) Roth or Updike?
Haven't read either, actually. I probably should fix that.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Neither.
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Okay, I haven't actually read any Milton yet . . . I said I was working on my to-read list, not that it was done. Tough call - Shakespeare is a bit easier to read un-translated, but Chaucer's dirty jokes are easier to get.
What? You didn't know that those are two of the dirtiest writers in the history of writing?
21) Austen or Eliot?
I shall echo others' answers: which Eliot? And why Eliot? Because when I think of authors similar to Austen, Eliot doesn't even make the top, like, 100.
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I don't know that there are any large gaps in my collected readings, but there are a few that would make me feel like I should turn in my degree if I admitted to them.
23) What is your favorite novel?
Today? The FitzOsbournes in Exile. Mostly because it's the last one I finished . . . well, the last good one anyway. Can't wait for the third one.
24) Play?
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . Much Ado. But mostly just because I've got Shakespeare on the brain from all these questions.
25) Poem?
I'm not a huge poetry person, but I do have a bit of a thing for "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold.
26) Essay?
Really don't do essays. Montaigne, I guess. Since I've read him.
27) Short story?
Again, not so much with the short stories. That said, a former professor of mine has a great collection out there (umm . . . shameless plug alert!) And I am a bit of a junkie of anything Millhauser.
28) Work of nonfiction?
I almost never read it so this is easy - The Happiness Project.
29) Who is your favorite writer?
Today? Ummmmmmm . . . Jane Austen, Jo Rowling, Jasper Fforde, and Emily Bronte
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Stephenie Meyer . . . Jack Weyland . . . oh! - Jodi Picoult! I really don't get why she's so huge. I wanted to like her since I'm practically the only person who doesn't, but all her books are the same - sex and violence that serves no real purpose beyond shock value to get people talking about her books.
31) What is your desert island book?
If ever I find myself on a desert island, it will be the chunk of land that castle from Beauty and the Beast is on, which mysteriously floated away from . . . ummm . . . all the land surrounding it . . . and I shall never leave.
32) And … what are you reading right now?
Dreams of Joy. I read Shanghai Girls this summer and really liked it, so I have high hopes for this one, but I haven't gotten very far yet.
P. ost S. cript
Totally fitting. Also totally awesome. And totally spot on.
And since you've all totally been watching my little ticker over there >>>>>>>>>>>> with baited breath all year - yep, I am down to nine more . . . woo hoo!!! There were times when I wondered if I'd pull it off.
Anyway. Meme time.
1) What author do you own the most books by?
Tough call. Rick Riordan and L.M. Montgomery are both up there. Does my collected works of Jane Austen book count for each novel? Because then she'd probably take the title when you include the duplicate copies.
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
I only own double copies of three Jane Austens.
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
I usually don't notice until it's pointed out. So . . . thanks for that.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Character? As in . . . singular? Can I just say "all of them" and have it count as one? Seriously:
Marius Pontmercy
Gilbert Blythe
Fitzwilliam Darcy
Colonel Brandon
Sir Percival Blakeney
Heathcliff
Rhett Butler
. . . and any others who might slightly resemble any of the above
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
Probably Tuck Everlasting . . . but I reread books a lot, so it's hard to say.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
You really have to be more specific - I've never had consistent favorites. Favorite book on my tenth birthday? Favorite fantasy book when I was ten that I read that summer? Those I could answer.
7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
Hard to say. In an attempt to make a dent in my massive to-read list I've found myself reading a lot of vanity/self-published stuff lately. I'm sure there are some gems in that pile, but most of what I've found epitomizes why that was the route those people took. These, however, fall into the category of worst-of-the-worst.
9) If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be?
Again, hard to say. The Happiness Project comes to mind, but I think I'd prefer to tailor my recommendation to each person.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
Me. Totally. :-)
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Do I really need to get into my do-not-turn-books-into-movies-ever rant again?
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
See above.
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I don't generally recognize people in my dreams. I know I know them, and I know where I know them from (high school, Florida, books, etc.) but I don't usually know who they actually are.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
Ummmmm . . . what part of "vanity press" strikes anyone as high brow?! Anyway . . . yeah. I totally read fluffy stuff. Gotta balance out Austen and Milton and Wilde and Dickens and such somehow.
15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Define difficult. While I speak it pretty well (or, at least I used to) I can't read French to save my life, so the stuff in my French lit classes were brutal. (and yet I hold on to the more than slightly insane goal of reading Les Mis in french someday. Unabridged.) I've never had to much trouble with Shakespeare or any "old school" stuff - if you go a little slower it's really not that hard. That said, I struggled with Wuthering Heights the first time . . . I think I was a little too young for the writing style. Also, somehow I ended up with a copy of Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English for a concurrent enrollment class my senior year. Kind of hard to read a book that is literally in a different language . . . especially when you think it's in yours.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?
Sadly, the only one I've seen is Macbeth - kind of shameful when you consider where I went to college, eh?
Also: donations for Lacey's ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY trip to Cedar next summer are being accepted starting . . . wait for it . . . now. Because with front page news like that . . . yeah. I have to go.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Oh! Oh! New answer for most difficult!! I've never finished anything by a Russian - and heaven knows I've tried. I will get through Anna Karenina someday, dangit!
Hugo? Is my hero. One of them.
18) Roth or Updike?
Haven't read either, actually. I probably should fix that.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Neither.
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Okay, I haven't actually read any Milton yet . . . I said I was working on my to-read list, not that it was done. Tough call - Shakespeare is a bit easier to read un-translated, but Chaucer's dirty jokes are easier to get.
What? You didn't know that those are two of the dirtiest writers in the history of writing?
21) Austen or Eliot?
I shall echo others' answers: which Eliot? And why Eliot? Because when I think of authors similar to Austen, Eliot doesn't even make the top, like, 100.
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I don't know that there are any large gaps in my collected readings, but there are a few that would make me feel like I should turn in my degree if I admitted to them.
23) What is your favorite novel?
Today? The FitzOsbournes in Exile. Mostly because it's the last one I finished . . . well, the last good one anyway. Can't wait for the third one.
24) Play?
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . Much Ado. But mostly just because I've got Shakespeare on the brain from all these questions.
25) Poem?
I'm not a huge poetry person, but I do have a bit of a thing for "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold.
26) Essay?
Really don't do essays. Montaigne, I guess. Since I've read him.
27) Short story?
Again, not so much with the short stories. That said, a former professor of mine has a great collection out there (umm . . . shameless plug alert!) And I am a bit of a junkie of anything Millhauser.
28) Work of nonfiction?
I almost never read it so this is easy - The Happiness Project.
29) Who is your favorite writer?
Today? Ummmmmmm . . . Jane Austen, Jo Rowling, Jasper Fforde, and Emily Bronte
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Stephenie Meyer . . . Jack Weyland . . . oh! - Jodi Picoult! I really don't get why she's so huge. I wanted to like her since I'm practically the only person who doesn't, but all her books are the same - sex and violence that serves no real purpose beyond shock value to get people talking about her books.
31) What is your desert island book?
If ever I find myself on a desert island, it will be the chunk of land that castle from Beauty and the Beast is on, which mysteriously floated away from . . . ummm . . . all the land surrounding it . . . and I shall never leave.
32) And … what are you reading right now?
Dreams of Joy. I read Shanghai Girls this summer and really liked it, so I have high hopes for this one, but I haven't gotten very far yet.
P. ost S. cript
Totally fitting. Also totally awesome. And totally spot on.
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street To Serve Man
Ten points if you got the reference. Twenty if you got both. :-)
Things Lacey should know about herself but keeps forgetting: watching The Twilight Zone whilst home alone and it's dark out is an incredibly stupid idea because some of those episodes have the same effect as a show that shall remain unnamed this time around. Because seriously, even thinking of that one is likely to give me nightmares for a month. (aw, crap, now that theme song is in my head . . . )
Things Lacey Remembers: The Twilight Zone is freaking awesome. And available on netflix instant (for now anyway . . . but that's a rant I've been ranting for longer than I'm willing to admit, so we'll just leave it at that.)
Anyway, long story short I've thoroughly terrified myself for the last two weekends. And it's been kind of great. There's just something delicious about the chills that run the spine at the first sound of the opening credits. Especially the original opening. It's just more mysterious and creepy and chilling to begin with, and then the familiar one, while still lovely in its creepy dissonance has become such a catch phrase that it's almost cliche. Of course, there's also the fact that after about a million times my mind still automatically starts in on "Hollywood, 1939 . . . " in its Rod Serling voice. I'm thinking that's not going to go away, but it definitely kinda kills the terror vibe.
My all time scariest episode? "Time Enough at Last." Hands down. Because as much as I talk about characters I love, characters I have crushes on, characters I wish I could be like . . . I am probably most like Mr. Henry Bemis. (not to mention I simply can't hear Burgess Meredith's voice without thinking of this movie, and that's just good memories all around.) I am a reader. An obsessed reader. I have been known to read appliance manuals if nothing else was available. It is nothing short of a miracle that I haven't been fired for reading on the job . . . okay, I'm not that bad.
But seriously, I've seen this episode at least a dozen times and still every time my heart breaks for the poor guy at the end. Assuming, of course, that it has started beating again after the poetry book scene - sometimes it hasn't. And I know it's completely and utterly irrational, but every time I can't help but think that hey, this is the Twilight Zone - maybe it will end differently this time!! Which I know is completely and utterly ridiculous . . . but it honestly physically hurts me to see all those piles and piles of books and nothing to do in the world but read them and how much I would love to be the person in that position and then that cruel, cruel twist . . . I'm sure you're all already laughing hysterically at what a little nutcase I am, but the first time I saw this episode I cried. Just a little. Because seriously, talk about depressing.
And don't even get me started about "The Obsolete Man." It's gonna happen y'all. Maybe not for a while, but, uh . . . yeah. So gonna happen.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to lament the future like someone four times my age. And get myself so completely freaked out that by Halloween I'll be screaming in terror every time the doorbell rings. (wait a second . . . we're actually going to get trick-or-treaters this year . . . crap . . . that means buying candy before it's on discount . . . grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
P. ost S. cript
Yeah, I know, I'm always raving about how awesome Sesame Street spoofs are . . . but this one will never be topped. It is THAT spot on. Luke and I seriously laughed for ten minutes. Watch it. Watch it now. :-)
Things Lacey should know about herself but keeps forgetting: watching The Twilight Zone whilst home alone and it's dark out is an incredibly stupid idea because some of those episodes have the same effect as a show that shall remain unnamed this time around. Because seriously, even thinking of that one is likely to give me nightmares for a month. (aw, crap, now that theme song is in my head . . . )
Things Lacey Remembers: The Twilight Zone is freaking awesome. And available on netflix instant (for now anyway . . . but that's a rant I've been ranting for longer than I'm willing to admit, so we'll just leave it at that.)
Anyway, long story short I've thoroughly terrified myself for the last two weekends. And it's been kind of great. There's just something delicious about the chills that run the spine at the first sound of the opening credits. Especially the original opening. It's just more mysterious and creepy and chilling to begin with, and then the familiar one, while still lovely in its creepy dissonance has become such a catch phrase that it's almost cliche. Of course, there's also the fact that after about a million times my mind still automatically starts in on "Hollywood, 1939 . . . " in its Rod Serling voice. I'm thinking that's not going to go away, but it definitely kinda kills the terror vibe.
My all time scariest episode? "Time Enough at Last." Hands down. Because as much as I talk about characters I love, characters I have crushes on, characters I wish I could be like . . . I am probably most like Mr. Henry Bemis. (not to mention I simply can't hear Burgess Meredith's voice without thinking of this movie, and that's just good memories all around.) I am a reader. An obsessed reader. I have been known to read appliance manuals if nothing else was available. It is nothing short of a miracle that I haven't been fired for reading on the job . . . okay, I'm not that bad.
But seriously, I've seen this episode at least a dozen times and still every time my heart breaks for the poor guy at the end. Assuming, of course, that it has started beating again after the poetry book scene - sometimes it hasn't. And I know it's completely and utterly irrational, but every time I can't help but think that hey, this is the Twilight Zone - maybe it will end differently this time!! Which I know is completely and utterly ridiculous . . . but it honestly physically hurts me to see all those piles and piles of books and nothing to do in the world but read them and how much I would love to be the person in that position and then that cruel, cruel twist . . . I'm sure you're all already laughing hysterically at what a little nutcase I am, but the first time I saw this episode I cried. Just a little. Because seriously, talk about depressing.
And don't even get me started about "The Obsolete Man." It's gonna happen y'all. Maybe not for a while, but, uh . . . yeah. So gonna happen.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to lament the future like someone four times my age. And get myself so completely freaked out that by Halloween I'll be screaming in terror every time the doorbell rings. (wait a second . . . we're actually going to get trick-or-treaters this year . . . crap . . . that means buying candy before it's on discount . . . grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
P. ost S. cript
Yeah, I know, I'm always raving about how awesome Sesame Street spoofs are . . . but this one will never be topped. It is THAT spot on. Luke and I seriously laughed for ten minutes. Watch it. Watch it now. :-)
Monday, June 27, 2011
24
Dy 24 ~ Your favorite quote or verse of scripture and why.
I believe I've mentioned this before, but my favorite anything changes depending on the day and the mood I'm in and about a zillion other factors. So I'm just going to to peruse through my lists of quotes on facebook and pinterest (you know you want to!) and give you the ones that particularly strike me today. And there's your "why." Woot.
"It is our choices that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities."
~Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
(was that showing off? oh well.)
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
~ Plato
"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read."
~ Mark Twain
"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity."
~ Edgar Allan Poe
"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."
~ Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true."
~ Charles Dickens
"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."
~ Jane Austen
"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
~ Voltaire
"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."
~ Voltaire
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
~ Gandhi
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear."
~ Thomas Jefferson
"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."
~ Socrates
"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."
~ C. S. Lewis
"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
~ Cicero
And perhaps best of all:
"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine."
~ Abraham Lincoln
(Please note: as far as I know these are all legit. Well, all but one. I'll let you guess which one that is.)
P. ost S. cript
To quote a Robin Williams character (and I've got a thousand points for the person who can name the movie!) "Gravity works!"
I believe I've mentioned this before, but my favorite anything changes depending on the day and the mood I'm in and about a zillion other factors. So I'm just going to to peruse through my lists of quotes on facebook and pinterest (you know you want to!) and give you the ones that particularly strike me today. And there's your "why." Woot.
"It is our choices that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities."
~Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
(was that showing off? oh well.)
"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
~ Plato
"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read."
~ Mark Twain
"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity."
~ Edgar Allan Poe
"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."
~ Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true."
~ Charles Dickens
"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."
~ Jane Austen
"God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
~ Voltaire
"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."
~ Voltaire
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
~ Gandhi
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear."
~ Thomas Jefferson
"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."
~ Socrates
"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."
~ C. S. Lewis
"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
~ Cicero
And perhaps best of all:
"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine."
~ Abraham Lincoln
(Please note: as far as I know these are all legit. Well, all but one. I'll let you guess which one that is.)
P. ost S. cript
To quote a Robin Williams character (and I've got a thousand points for the person who can name the movie!) "Gravity works!"
Friday, June 24, 2011
21
Day 21 ~ A picture of something that makes you happy.
Only one? Yeah, you already know that's SO not happening. I could totally take the shortcut route and tell you to just check out my new pinterest boards, but I won't. (side note: I've been on that site for less than 24 hours and already . . . well, I refuse to admit how many pins I have. You want to know, you gotta see for yourself. Thanks a lot Elise!)
So. Anyway. Things that make me happy. In no particular order and CERTAINLY not a conclusive list. And sans explanations of any sort. If you wanna know, ask me. :-)
Yep. Good stuff. :-)
P. ost S. cript
Holy crap, SO doing this!
Only one? Yeah, you already know that's SO not happening. I could totally take the shortcut route and tell you to just check out my new pinterest boards, but I won't. (side note: I've been on that site for less than 24 hours and already . . . well, I refuse to admit how many pins I have. You want to know, you gotta see for yourself. Thanks a lot Elise!)
So. Anyway. Things that make me happy. In no particular order and CERTAINLY not a conclusive list. And sans explanations of any sort. If you wanna know, ask me. :-)
Yep. Good stuff. :-)
P. ost S. cript
Holy crap, SO doing this!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
13
Day 13 ~ Your 5 favorite books and why
Ummmmm . . . seriously? I'm only allowed FIVE favorite books? Yeah, not happening. Especially since they change on pretty much a daily basis. How about 5 favorite genres? (in no particular order)
1) Classical literature. They call them classics for a reason. And that reason is because they're (mostly) awesome. Granted there are some that I feel obligated to read (and sometimes even pretend to like) because I fee like I wouldn't deserve my degree otherwise . . . but Jane Austen? Dickens? Hugo? Twain? Yes, please!
2) Sci-fi/fantasy. I'm kind of picky about what I'll read from this category (and I do not like science fiction . . . which is decidedly different from sci-fi) and some of it can be really lame, but when it's done well and to my taste? Hello, Harry Potter! Percy Jackson! The good stuff rocks!
3) Historical fiction. I've been on a major Medieval England kick for . . . well, a few years now. But seriously, pretty much anything that has a note at the end separating fact from fiction - I'm in. Part of it is the educational aspect of it - if it's part of an interesting story I'll remember it MUCH longer than if it's part of a textbook or lecture. And it's just plain interesting.
4) Thrillers. This would be the "Da Vinci Code + copycats" category. Some are really terrible, but some are really awesome (and it's not very hard to find better written stuff then Dan Brown . . . although his plots are good). Tons of fun - I just keep forgetting not read them late at night!
5) Dystopian novels. Often a sub-category of sci-fi, I can't get enough. Read The Hunger Games and Uglies. Those 2 serieses (seri?) will completely explain why. If you still don't get why I like this stuff, you're not going to ever.
P. ost S. cript
Taking a moment to make everyone feel their age - Raiders of the Lost Ark? 30 years ago this past weekend. At least it's not this old. :-)
Ummmmm . . . seriously? I'm only allowed FIVE favorite books? Yeah, not happening. Especially since they change on pretty much a daily basis. How about 5 favorite genres? (in no particular order)
1) Classical literature. They call them classics for a reason. And that reason is because they're (mostly) awesome. Granted there are some that I feel obligated to read (and sometimes even pretend to like) because I fee like I wouldn't deserve my degree otherwise . . . but Jane Austen? Dickens? Hugo? Twain? Yes, please!
2) Sci-fi/fantasy. I'm kind of picky about what I'll read from this category (and I do not like science fiction . . . which is decidedly different from sci-fi) and some of it can be really lame, but when it's done well and to my taste? Hello, Harry Potter! Percy Jackson! The good stuff rocks!
3) Historical fiction. I've been on a major Medieval England kick for . . . well, a few years now. But seriously, pretty much anything that has a note at the end separating fact from fiction - I'm in. Part of it is the educational aspect of it - if it's part of an interesting story I'll remember it MUCH longer than if it's part of a textbook or lecture. And it's just plain interesting.
4) Thrillers. This would be the "Da Vinci Code + copycats" category. Some are really terrible, but some are really awesome (and it's not very hard to find better written stuff then Dan Brown . . . although his plots are good). Tons of fun - I just keep forgetting not read them late at night!
5) Dystopian novels. Often a sub-category of sci-fi, I can't get enough. Read The Hunger Games and Uglies. Those 2 serieses (seri?) will completely explain why. If you still don't get why I like this stuff, you're not going to ever.
P. ost S. cript
Taking a moment to make everyone feel their age - Raiders of the Lost Ark? 30 years ago this past weekend. At least it's not this old. :-)
Monday, June 6, 2011
6
Day 6 ~ Your favorite superhero and why.
You know, Shayla is a hardcore Superman girl. She even has a tshirt that says "I <3 Nerds" and over the heart is Clark Kent pulling his shirt open to reveal the his super suit underneath.
Me? Not so much. I've never really been in to the whole superhero thing. No, my fictional heros have always tended toward the more literary side. I have kind of a lot . . . here's a few:
(note: if you don't recognize any of these characters, please don't tell me so I don't have to judge you. because I am totally going on the assumption that you are all as well educated as I think you are and not giving their sources.)
Elizabeth Bennett. For all the obvious reasons. Yes, I can be cliche sometimes. (keep that in mind going forward . . .)
Anne Shirley. Again, the reasons are probably pretty obvious. I still kinda want to be her. Well, the blonde version, I guess.
Hermione Granger. Because I kinda was her, kinda wanted to be her.
Hester Prynne. Not, perhaps, quite so obvious. But aside from the obvious, she really is a very strong character and good role model for those who can see what is admirable in her.
Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler. (that was probably a little show off-y, wasn't it? a bit of overkill? oh well.) I know most people have nothing good to say about her, but I kind of adore her. I mean, think about it. Here is a girl who epitomizes the spoiled, pampered princess who is raised to believe she will never have to lift a finger in her entire life. And then her world is turned completely upside-down and she's forced to grow up pretty freaking quickly. So the experience didn't leave her much like Melanie (whom I also adore, btw) but she did what she had to do. She was personally responsible for keeping a dozen people from starving to death at one point for crying out loud! Her methods are most certainly questionable, her motives cloudy, but her determination and motivation are utterly admirable.
Catherine Earnshaw. Totally admire her passion.
Winnie Foster. Girlfriend's got guts. On multiple levels.
Mina Harker. If those Y-chromosome bearing idiots hadn't been so focused on protecting her and actually let her help things would have been taken care of lots quicker. Stupid boys.
Tess Durbeyfield. Talk about enduring to the end!! I would love to have HALF her inner strength for coping with endless crap.
Katniss Everdeen. Ummmmmmmm . . . duh!!!!
There are more. But I get the feeling I'm boring you so . . . peace out . . . or something . . .
P. ost S. cript
Luke is looking forward to experimenting (his word, not mine) in a like manner some day with all manner of random experiments. Worry not, my minions, I shall be manning the camera.
(note to self: get minions so that makes sense.)
You know, Shayla is a hardcore Superman girl. She even has a tshirt that says "I <3 Nerds" and over the heart is Clark Kent pulling his shirt open to reveal the his super suit underneath.
Me? Not so much. I've never really been in to the whole superhero thing. No, my fictional heros have always tended toward the more literary side. I have kind of a lot . . . here's a few:
(note: if you don't recognize any of these characters, please don't tell me so I don't have to judge you. because I am totally going on the assumption that you are all as well educated as I think you are and not giving their sources.)
Elizabeth Bennett. For all the obvious reasons. Yes, I can be cliche sometimes. (keep that in mind going forward . . .)
Anne Shirley. Again, the reasons are probably pretty obvious. I still kinda want to be her. Well, the blonde version, I guess.
Hermione Granger. Because I kinda was her, kinda wanted to be her.
Hester Prynne. Not, perhaps, quite so obvious. But aside from the obvious, she really is a very strong character and good role model for those who can see what is admirable in her.
Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler. (that was probably a little show off-y, wasn't it? a bit of overkill? oh well.) I know most people have nothing good to say about her, but I kind of adore her. I mean, think about it. Here is a girl who epitomizes the spoiled, pampered princess who is raised to believe she will never have to lift a finger in her entire life. And then her world is turned completely upside-down and she's forced to grow up pretty freaking quickly. So the experience didn't leave her much like Melanie (whom I also adore, btw) but she did what she had to do. She was personally responsible for keeping a dozen people from starving to death at one point for crying out loud! Her methods are most certainly questionable, her motives cloudy, but her determination and motivation are utterly admirable.
Catherine Earnshaw. Totally admire her passion.
Winnie Foster. Girlfriend's got guts. On multiple levels.
Mina Harker. If those Y-chromosome bearing idiots hadn't been so focused on protecting her and actually let her help things would have been taken care of lots quicker. Stupid boys.
Tess Durbeyfield. Talk about enduring to the end!! I would love to have HALF her inner strength for coping with endless crap.
Katniss Everdeen. Ummmmmmmm . . . duh!!!!
There are more. But I get the feeling I'm boring you so . . . peace out . . . or something . . .
P. ost S. cript
Luke is looking forward to experimenting (his word, not mine) in a like manner some day with all manner of random experiments. Worry not, my minions, I shall be manning the camera.
(note to self: get minions so that makes sense.)
Monday, March 7, 2011
I *Don't* Want to Believe
I've been doing this a lot lately.So an old friend of mine posted this on facebook last week:
1/3 of high school grads never read another book for the rest of their lives.
46 percent of college grads never read another book after college.
80 percent of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of US adults did not visit a bookstore in the last five years.
57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
I'm a little bit horrified. (and for those of you who pay any attention to my own facebook page, yes, I've been horrified by a lot of things recently.) I want, with every fiber of my cliche . . . I mean being . . . to convince myself that it's not true. And there's a part of me that keeps trying because I have no other source for these statistics - just my knowledge that the person who posted it is not the type of person to make these sorts of stats up just to do it. And knowing enough other people who back them up.
Even if I had not somehow found myself working in the education system I would be horrified by this. Honestly, I can barely fathom the idea. I mean, to put this in more concrete terms, it means that more than half of people my age have not read a book in 5 years or more.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Okay, this may come as a bit of a shock, but I'm kind of a big reader. Yeah, I know, I'll give you a moment to recover. I honestly cannot remember a time when I didn't know how to read. One of mom's favorite stories to tell while I was growing up was how, the Christmas I was in kindergarten my parents got a small Dickens anthology, and I wanted to read A Christmas Carol. So I did. In an hour. The original Dickens version, in all its Dickens-ish glory. And she didn't believe I'd really read it, so she quizzed me on it. And I knew the details that got left out of Mickey's version.
Now, something people may not know if they stick to Mickey's and the Muppets' versions is that A Christmas Carol is a novella. Pretty short. Even today I could probably knock it out in an hour or so of uninterrupted time. But still . . . a five year old reading Dickens. Probably explains why the unabridged Les Miserables ranks so high on my favorite books list. And why so many classics are on the list.
To say my life has revolved around reading . . . well, probably kind of understates the case. I seriously have to have something to read all the time, even if I can only get in a few minutes a day - which is really all I had time for in Florida. I've found myself reading the manuals that come with kitchen appliances before just out of the need to read something. Anything!
So I'm tolerably certain that there is no way for me to understand where these non-reading people are coming from. I've known a few before, and it's definitely influenced my relationships with them. I had a roommate in Florida who hated reading. (I think I died a little inside just thinking about putting those two words in the same sentence!) Absolutely refused to do it. She was a real fan of Harry Potter . . . the movies, naturally. Even the HP books couldn't convince her to pick one up. Again - unfathomable!! Anyway, the seventh book came out while we were both still there, and I'm pretty sure she was the only one in the shuttles break room who wasn't a reader. In the last few weeks before the book came out we would constantly be speculating about what was going to happen, and always pulling out references from past books to support our theories. Except for when my friend was there. More often than not we'd end up explaining things to her because she was confused because we'd mentioned something that got cut out of the movies. (like WHO THE FREAKING MARAUDERS WERE AND WHY THEY'RE KIND OF ESSENTIAL TO THE STORY!!!!!! . . . . . . . . . sorry. I'm still very bitter about the epic screw-up that is the third movie . . . . . . . . . )
Anyway. The book came out. I went with a few friends to a midnight release party. Thankfully I had the day off, and by 10:00 the next morning I'd read it. Twice. But not everyone was as much of a junkie (or as insane) or as fast as I, so there were some very strict no-spoiling rules put in place in the break room until everyone who was reading it finished. It struck me as a little silly, since my non-reading friend had spent the last month constantly bemoaning the fact that we'd just spoiled something for her. We - well, I - kept telling her that it didn't count as spoiling anything, since if she really wanted to know she could just read the books that had been out for years already. Not only did she refuse, she never could give a good reason. Nothing beyond the fact that she just didn't want to.
I'm sorry, what? You're as excited as any of the rest of us to find out what happens to Harry and, unlike the rest of us, you've got three years at Hogwarts you could lose yourself in and you "don't want to?!?!" What?
I hate to admit it, but that had a pretty big effect on our relationship, and not for the better. And as far as I know, she still doesn't know how it all ends. Which I find just sad.
The whole thing is really quite disturbing too. I mean, we're talking well over half the population that never reads. This is not right!!! Forget about these people being the future leaders of the country - these people are probably the leaders right now! (actually . . . that kind of explains what I heard today about some genius politician in the state senate that thinks kids should be taught to read by a computer. Seriously, are we raising kids or robots?) They talk about their kids' minds turning to mush as they do nothing but watch TV and play video games - but that's apparently how they spend their free time too! How hypocritical can you get?!?! I feel like I should double my book reading goal for the year just to make up for the rest of humanity. (it's over there >>>>>>>
up . . . up . . . there!) I was thinking 100 sounded ambitious, then I discovered I read exactly 100 books last year, so I made it 150. How many people do you think I'll be making up for if I pull off 300 books in a year?
I'm so shocked, horrified, and quite frankly offended, that I haven't even been able to get into a really good angry rant mode . . . and as we all know, I can do a good rant when I get going. I'm tempted to start making daily visits to a bookstore to make up for all the morons out there who haven't darkened the door of one for years. Seriously - years?!?! I make at least one trip a month, even if I don't buy something every time.
I fear for the future of humanity. I've said it often, usually semi-jokingly.
I mean it a lot more now.
P. ost S. cript
I feel like I should feel guilty for posting a video after getting all up on my soapbox and all, but it's not like I have anything against TV or video games in addition to reading. Also: I haven't stopped laughing at the bit at the three-and-a-half minute mark . . . and I first watched it a few days ago. The rest is mildly entertaining, but those ten seconds are quite funny.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
It's Over
So. You may have noticed that the countdown . . . you know, that one
------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>
is gone. It's always a little sad for me when the book comes out. Sure, I finally get to read it and it's awesome and all, but . . . what do I anticipate now? Sad day.
But can I just say, holy crap it's been a big old pile of drama getting this one. I ordered Mockingjay MONTHS ago on amazon - choosing amazon because it was the cheapest. And I don't think much of it, other than thinking about how it's so nice to know that the very day it comes out the book will be delivered directly to my door - yay! Because when I pre-ordered Harry Potter from Barnes and Noble that's what happened. And then my mom made me put HBP down and eat dinner with everybody . . . and no one was allowed to leave the table until everyone was done. There are not words to express the torture I was put through that evening. (not to mention it didn't make sense considering everyone else in the house - except Ashli, who's kind of lame and doesn't like HP - was waiting for that copy of the book too . . . including mom. Yeah, no sense at all.) Anyway. That's totally what I'm expecting to happen, because that's just what happens with highly anticipated, pre-ordered for months, topping most requested lists books, right? I mean, it's just logical. So when I got an email from Amazon on Monday saying that my book has just been shipped and the estimated arrival date is AUGUST THIRTIETH . . . yeah, that kinda doesn't fly. There was ranting, there was raving, and the anger has not fully dissipated yet because that is just not right. I don't care who's fault it is - amazon's, the printer's, the publishing company, or if it goes clear back to the author holding onto the manuscript for an extra day to tweak things. Heads are going to roll!!!!!!!!!!! Because if I had known they wouldn't be delivering it day of, I would have either ordered it from somewhere else or bought it in person.
Which is exactly what ended up happening. When Luke saw my reaction he insisted on buying a copy now and selling the amazon copy when it finally gets here. And I am sooooooooooooooo glad because the book? AMAZING!!!!!!! It took me about four hours last night to read it, and like all good books, I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. And I'm pretty much dying to know what everyone else thought, so here's what I thought.
(note: I'm keeping it spoiler-free as far as book 3 is concerned, so those poor unfortunate souls who are still waiting can feel free to keep going. Ian, Kayla - you might want to just bow out now. Along with anyone else who hasn't read the first two yet.)
(edit: changed my mind. I got into it and there's just too much I want to hear other people's opinions about. If you haven't read Mockingjay yet, stop here. Or at least consider yourself warned. But come back when you're done!!!!!! I want to hear what everyone thinks!!!!!!!!!!!)
Is there anything else to say other than awesome? I didn't necessarily like everything that happened but it all worked. It fit. It was pretty much perfect. Hit all the right notes and all that jazz. Very dark, and the ending is soooooooooooooooooooooo bittersweet it's almost too much. But the ending has definitely grown on me in the last 24 hours, and I absolutely love how real it is.
Couple of thoughts ~
~ I went into this one as torn as Katniss (as you might recall) over Team Peeta vs. Team Gale. Rather leaning toward Team Neither-Someone-Else or even Team Nobody. Definitely happy with how this one turned out. With the things that happened this time around - and mostly things that were said - my allegiance was quite solidly decided by the time this storyline finished. And with the winning side, yay! Specifically - Gale seems like a really great guy, but we only see him briefly before Katniss is off to the Capitol in the other books. We see them working together to survive, and their easy camaraderie, and it looks pretty great, and you (okay, I) want to root for Team Gale because she actually knows him and they know they can work together and are more or less compatible and all that good stuff. But now we finally get to actually know Gale a little bit. And . . . he's kind of a jerk. I'm all for being focused on the war and stuff, but you can't just turn off your humanity, you know? Unless you're Gale, apparently. He's frighteningly heartless about killing people, way to determined to punish people, and doesn't even seem to care about whether Katniss picks him or not. That scene when he's talking to Peeta? Really made me question whether he ever actually cared for her "that way" or was just so accustomed to her face, as they say in a song from a musical I can't quite place right now. Cursed tip-of-the-tongue-syndrome! And then he goes off to work in District 2 - the war district! - after everything's over without even trying to fight for her! Without even a word! Like he's moved on completely!! Grrrrrrrrrrr. Gale is the devil as far as I'm concerned. Gale is dead to me.
~ I would LOVE to see a spin-off book about District 13. I'm immensely curious about what they've been doing for the last 75 years. How they got to where they are as a society. How the people in power got there. Absolutely LOVE to see that. A prequel about the Dark Days seems the most obvious/likely/easy way to go, but unless it's told from the perspective of someone who was super young then and somehow still alive by the time these books hit and can therefore tell the whole story . . . gotta admit, I'm kinda not interested. Mostly because I most curious about how President Coin came into power . . . how things evolved from what surely couldn't have started as such a strict military establishment . . . how democratic those elections actually were . . . because, really, Coin is just as bad as Snow in her own way. When Katniss shot Coin? I might have cheered a little. Also - I was totally voting no on a 77th Hunger Games. But if they were going to go on anyway - totally putting Snow's granddaughter in, making him watch her play, and then executing him. But seriously - No. More. Hunger Games. That was the whole point of the war.
~ The brainwashing thing? So overdone. I'm still kicking myself for not seeing that one coming. The trackerjacker venom thing made it work . . . I guess. And I have to admit, it did form the setup for what might be my favorite moment in all three books . . . definitely top ten - the last couple of paragraphs of the last chapter, before the epilogue. Perfect.
~ I've spent the last the last 5 months telling myself that somehow Cinna lives. Still sad.
~ Still kicking myself for not seeing this coming either. Still so not happy that it happened. But I absolutely cannot help appreciating and admiring the irony.
Have you guessed it yet?
Prim. Holy crap, Prim. The catalyst. The whole reason the books exist. Think about it - someone else gets picked in that 74th reaping . . . Katniss doesn't volunteer . . . no star-crossed lover angle to play up . . . the tributes from 12 die . . . there is no symbol of rebellion . . . the games go on in perpetuity. Everything started because Katniss was determined to keep her sister alive. But every action she took - right down to merely volunteering to take her place - ultimately led to . . . one could even say caused . . . her sister's death. So obvious. So typical. Should have seen it coming. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo well done.
~ Clearly, her daughter's name is Primrose. Any guesses for the boy's name? I like Cinna myself. Maybe Finnick, but that seems like a stretch comparatively. Good thing he can't have a worse name than Albus Severus. Or Renesmee. (I just googled how to spell that name . . . someone has set up a facebook page for her. Not a fan page, a facebook profile. There are no words for how disturbed I am right now . . . )
~ Who else is totally reading all three again now?
I really need a new incomplete series to obsess over.
P. ost S. cript
This is my kind of Hunger Games. We're moving to Japan. For the game shows. :-)
------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>
is gone. It's always a little sad for me when the book comes out. Sure, I finally get to read it and it's awesome and all, but . . . what do I anticipate now? Sad day.
But can I just say, holy crap it's been a big old pile of drama getting this one. I ordered Mockingjay MONTHS ago on amazon - choosing amazon because it was the cheapest. And I don't think much of it, other than thinking about how it's so nice to know that the very day it comes out the book will be delivered directly to my door - yay! Because when I pre-ordered Harry Potter from Barnes and Noble that's what happened. And then my mom made me put HBP down and eat dinner with everybody . . . and no one was allowed to leave the table until everyone was done. There are not words to express the torture I was put through that evening. (not to mention it didn't make sense considering everyone else in the house - except Ashli, who's kind of lame and doesn't like HP - was waiting for that copy of the book too . . . including mom. Yeah, no sense at all.) Anyway. That's totally what I'm expecting to happen, because that's just what happens with highly anticipated, pre-ordered for months, topping most requested lists books, right? I mean, it's just logical. So when I got an email from Amazon on Monday saying that my book has just been shipped and the estimated arrival date is AUGUST THIRTIETH . . . yeah, that kinda doesn't fly. There was ranting, there was raving, and the anger has not fully dissipated yet because that is just not right. I don't care who's fault it is - amazon's, the printer's, the publishing company, or if it goes clear back to the author holding onto the manuscript for an extra day to tweak things. Heads are going to roll!!!!!!!!!!! Because if I had known they wouldn't be delivering it day of, I would have either ordered it from somewhere else or bought it in person.
Which is exactly what ended up happening. When Luke saw my reaction he insisted on buying a copy now and selling the amazon copy when it finally gets here. And I am sooooooooooooooo glad because the book? AMAZING!!!!!!! It took me about four hours last night to read it, and like all good books, I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. And I'm pretty much dying to know what everyone else thought, so here's what I thought.
(note: I'm keeping it spoiler-free as far as book 3 is concerned, so those poor unfortunate souls who are still waiting can feel free to keep going. Ian, Kayla - you might want to just bow out now. Along with anyone else who hasn't read the first two yet.)
(edit: changed my mind. I got into it and there's just too much I want to hear other people's opinions about. If you haven't read Mockingjay yet, stop here. Or at least consider yourself warned. But come back when you're done!!!!!! I want to hear what everyone thinks!!!!!!!!!!!)
Is there anything else to say other than awesome? I didn't necessarily like everything that happened but it all worked. It fit. It was pretty much perfect. Hit all the right notes and all that jazz. Very dark, and the ending is soooooooooooooooooooooo bittersweet it's almost too much. But the ending has definitely grown on me in the last 24 hours, and I absolutely love how real it is.
Couple of thoughts ~
~ I went into this one as torn as Katniss (as you might recall) over Team Peeta vs. Team Gale. Rather leaning toward Team Neither-Someone-Else or even Team Nobody. Definitely happy with how this one turned out. With the things that happened this time around - and mostly things that were said - my allegiance was quite solidly decided by the time this storyline finished. And with the winning side, yay! Specifically - Gale seems like a really great guy, but we only see him briefly before Katniss is off to the Capitol in the other books. We see them working together to survive, and their easy camaraderie, and it looks pretty great, and you (okay, I) want to root for Team Gale because she actually knows him and they know they can work together and are more or less compatible and all that good stuff. But now we finally get to actually know Gale a little bit. And . . . he's kind of a jerk. I'm all for being focused on the war and stuff, but you can't just turn off your humanity, you know? Unless you're Gale, apparently. He's frighteningly heartless about killing people, way to determined to punish people, and doesn't even seem to care about whether Katniss picks him or not. That scene when he's talking to Peeta? Really made me question whether he ever actually cared for her "that way" or was just so accustomed to her face, as they say in a song from a musical I can't quite place right now. Cursed tip-of-the-tongue-syndrome! And then he goes off to work in District 2 - the war district! - after everything's over without even trying to fight for her! Without even a word! Like he's moved on completely!! Grrrrrrrrrrr. Gale is the devil as far as I'm concerned. Gale is dead to me.
~ I would LOVE to see a spin-off book about District 13. I'm immensely curious about what they've been doing for the last 75 years. How they got to where they are as a society. How the people in power got there. Absolutely LOVE to see that. A prequel about the Dark Days seems the most obvious/likely/easy way to go, but unless it's told from the perspective of someone who was super young then and somehow still alive by the time these books hit and can therefore tell the whole story . . . gotta admit, I'm kinda not interested. Mostly because I most curious about how President Coin came into power . . . how things evolved from what surely couldn't have started as such a strict military establishment . . . how democratic those elections actually were . . . because, really, Coin is just as bad as Snow in her own way. When Katniss shot Coin? I might have cheered a little. Also - I was totally voting no on a 77th Hunger Games. But if they were going to go on anyway - totally putting Snow's granddaughter in, making him watch her play, and then executing him. But seriously - No. More. Hunger Games. That was the whole point of the war.
~ The brainwashing thing? So overdone. I'm still kicking myself for not seeing that one coming. The trackerjacker venom thing made it work . . . I guess. And I have to admit, it did form the setup for what might be my favorite moment in all three books . . . definitely top ten - the last couple of paragraphs of the last chapter, before the epilogue. Perfect.
~ I've spent the last the last 5 months telling myself that somehow Cinna lives. Still sad.
~ Still kicking myself for not seeing this coming either. Still so not happy that it happened. But I absolutely cannot help appreciating and admiring the irony.
Have you guessed it yet?
Prim. Holy crap, Prim. The catalyst. The whole reason the books exist. Think about it - someone else gets picked in that 74th reaping . . . Katniss doesn't volunteer . . . no star-crossed lover angle to play up . . . the tributes from 12 die . . . there is no symbol of rebellion . . . the games go on in perpetuity. Everything started because Katniss was determined to keep her sister alive. But every action she took - right down to merely volunteering to take her place - ultimately led to . . . one could even say caused . . . her sister's death. So obvious. So typical. Should have seen it coming. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo well done.
~ Clearly, her daughter's name is Primrose. Any guesses for the boy's name? I like Cinna myself. Maybe Finnick, but that seems like a stretch comparatively. Good thing he can't have a worse name than Albus Severus. Or Renesmee. (I just googled how to spell that name . . . someone has set up a facebook page for her. Not a fan page, a facebook profile. There are no words for how disturbed I am right now . . . )
~ Who else is totally reading all three again now?
I really need a new incomplete series to obsess over.
P. ost S. cript
This is my kind of Hunger Games. We're moving to Japan. For the game shows. :-)
Friday, July 30, 2010
So.
Apparently a car is totaled when its bumper comes off. Who knew? Not me, that's for sure. And it turns out insurance is such a joke.
You see, living in my own little world as I often try to do - it's much more pleasant and things tend to actually make sense there - well, there you have insurance because after paying them for ages and ages when you finally do need to use the services you bought, they fix your car . . . you know, because you've paid them to fix it. Turns out in the real world they can just say "oh, your car is too old so we're not going to bother with it. Yeah, we know that leaves you without a car, so we can either give you enough money to cover about half the repair, or we'll take the car and give you just enough money to buy an even older car . . . which we also won't fix if you ever need us to." Seriously? What the crap is up with that? And tell me one other business where you pay for something and then the person you paid can turn around and say they won't give you what you paid for and legally they don't have to - name one.
So what is the point of insurance? For new cars? Then just how new does a car have to be? And no wonder car companies are always pushing people to buy a new car every year. If you're going to have sort of car bill anyway it may as well be a payment on a new car instead of a repair bill for an old car the insurance doesn't actually cover. And that sure explains a few things about the last couple of years, amIright?
And who came up with this system anyway? Who in their right *cough*yeahright*cough* mind decided it would be a good idea to screw over the people who can't afford a new car for every birthday? Why is the system set up so that the people who try to make things last get shafted instead of the ones who's whole mentality is "consume, consume, CONSUME!!"? Not cool.
On the plus side, Luke has some friends from work who have some sweet skills (sadly, not nun-chuck or bow hunting skills, lol) and connections who think the whole thing can be fixed cheaply enough that we'll actually make money in the end. But while that is kind of awesome - it shouldn't have to be that way. I'm all for having it as an option, but it should not be the only option that doesn't involve spending every penny we've managed to save this year. Seriously, am I the only one who thinks it shouldn't work this way? The only one wondering what the point is in even having insurance?
So that whole situation has been bugging the crap out of me all week and then today I discovered exactly why and how the whole thing happened in the first place. The ultimate irony is that Luke normally drives to work, but the last couple of weeks have been absolutely unbearable. (You couldn't pay me to spend more than about 5 minutes outside right now!) So of course it happens that during the - what, month, three weeks? - that he's going to be driving he ends up in an accident. Go figure. Anyway, today I'm driving him to work, and we're stopped at the very same light where Luke got hit last week. And this car comes up behind me and stops close - REALLY close - to me. Now, I'll admit I'm kind of paranoid about how close the car behind me is ever since I got rear-ended, but you also can't deny that a lot of people follow much to closely, especially when stopped. I mean, come on - are those extra four inches really going to save you that much time? I don't think so. So I've developed the habit of stopping even farther back than what would be considered a "safe" distance behind the car in front of me so when the moron behind me stops on top of me I can put a little bit of distance between us again. Usually works pretty well. Anyway - today. This car stops waaaaaay to close, so I ease forward a bit. Sadly, as sometimes happens, it ended up being a "I move up three inches so they move up six inches" situations. I get uncomfortable if I can't see headlights in my rear view mirror, and I kid you not by the time this guy finally stopped I couldn't even see the hood of his car. At all. Are you kidding me? Then Luke glances back and thinks the car looks kind of familiar . . . and then it tailgates . . . I mean "follows" . . . us all the way to the Convergys parking lot, confirming his suspicion that it's the very same guy who hit him not even ten days ago!! Seriously? Screw his stupid flip flop excuse - this guy is clearly an incompetent menace of a driver. What are the odds? I feel sorry for the other parties, but consoled in the knowledge that at the rate he's going he'll eventually rear end so many people that he'll lose his license.
But now - good news.
Cancel that - AWESOME news.
I WON A BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WON I WON I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, so goodreads is pretty much the awesomest website on the planet for someone like me. And I kind of love it. And you should totally join it and we can totally be friends and (virtually) share books and stuff. And - AND - they give away books. GIVE!!!!! As in FREE!!!!!!
Now, a couple of months ago Shay won a book. It was the first (and at the time only) give away she'd entered. And she won. At the time, I'd entered about a dozen. And had not one any. Needless to say, I did not find that pleasant. But I kept entering almost every give away I stumbled across, and since the official rules mentioned that site activity is a contributing factor to the choosing of the winners I killed time by working my way up to #10 out of 706321 on the never-ending book quiz. (Which may sound kind of lame, but has been actually pretty fun, and I'm prouder than I should be of that ranking, lol.) But to be perfectly honest I figured nothing would ever come of it because I never win things. Seriously. Never. Ever. Ever. In fact, if there were a contest in which I knew for an absolute fact that I was the only person entered - I would still expect someone else to win . . . that is how consistent my losing streak is.
So today. I get the mail. And there's a package. Addressed to me. I'm not expecting anything, and it's from someone I've never heard of. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . 'kay. The envelope is torn, and I can see it's a book. Wait a minute . . . I didn't order a book. Except for . . . wait! I did finally pre-order Mockingjay, after a long internal debate of pre-order-vs-midnight release-vs-buying day of release. (side note: I cannot understand why Hunger Games has not gotten as big as Harry Potter or Twilight. At all.) Did I accidentally order this instead? But how could I have done that? I've never even heard of this book. Wait a minute . . . the title is kind of vaguely familiar . . . maybe I to-read-ed it on goodreads? Wait a minute! Did I finally win a give away?!?!?!?! So I rip open the packaging and see the congratulatory note from the author which makes me feel very popular and special and proceed to absolutely freak out because I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally won something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it feels pretty good to win. I like it. (the winning thing I mean, haven't started the book yet.)
Here's hoping the free books keep coming!!!
P. ost S. cript
So it's no secret that I absolutely adore Weird Al. Even before he did the most awesome thing in the world - putting Donny Osmond in the video for "White and Nerdy." That still cracks me up every time I even think of it. So while you may have noticed that I posted this on facebook earlier this week . . . well, this song is near and dear to my heart for several reasons. Among them - "Look, limestone! Most people take it for granite." "He's got a special deal this week - two of his heads for one of yours. Anyway you slice it, you still come out a head." Shirley's Temple . . . Dr. Albert Falls . . . ah, the good memories. So glad they (usually) outweigh the unpleasant ones.
You see, living in my own little world as I often try to do - it's much more pleasant and things tend to actually make sense there - well, there you have insurance because after paying them for ages and ages when you finally do need to use the services you bought, they fix your car . . . you know, because you've paid them to fix it. Turns out in the real world they can just say "oh, your car is too old so we're not going to bother with it. Yeah, we know that leaves you without a car, so we can either give you enough money to cover about half the repair, or we'll take the car and give you just enough money to buy an even older car . . . which we also won't fix if you ever need us to." Seriously? What the crap is up with that? And tell me one other business where you pay for something and then the person you paid can turn around and say they won't give you what you paid for and legally they don't have to - name one.
So what is the point of insurance? For new cars? Then just how new does a car have to be? And no wonder car companies are always pushing people to buy a new car every year. If you're going to have sort of car bill anyway it may as well be a payment on a new car instead of a repair bill for an old car the insurance doesn't actually cover. And that sure explains a few things about the last couple of years, amIright?
And who came up with this system anyway? Who in their right *cough*yeahright*cough* mind decided it would be a good idea to screw over the people who can't afford a new car for every birthday? Why is the system set up so that the people who try to make things last get shafted instead of the ones who's whole mentality is "consume, consume, CONSUME!!"? Not cool.
On the plus side, Luke has some friends from work who have some sweet skills (sadly, not nun-chuck or bow hunting skills, lol) and connections who think the whole thing can be fixed cheaply enough that we'll actually make money in the end. But while that is kind of awesome - it shouldn't have to be that way. I'm all for having it as an option, but it should not be the only option that doesn't involve spending every penny we've managed to save this year. Seriously, am I the only one who thinks it shouldn't work this way? The only one wondering what the point is in even having insurance?
So that whole situation has been bugging the crap out of me all week and then today I discovered exactly why and how the whole thing happened in the first place. The ultimate irony is that Luke normally drives to work, but the last couple of weeks have been absolutely unbearable. (You couldn't pay me to spend more than about 5 minutes outside right now!) So of course it happens that during the - what, month, three weeks? - that he's going to be driving he ends up in an accident. Go figure. Anyway, today I'm driving him to work, and we're stopped at the very same light where Luke got hit last week. And this car comes up behind me and stops close - REALLY close - to me. Now, I'll admit I'm kind of paranoid about how close the car behind me is ever since I got rear-ended, but you also can't deny that a lot of people follow much to closely, especially when stopped. I mean, come on - are those extra four inches really going to save you that much time? I don't think so. So I've developed the habit of stopping even farther back than what would be considered a "safe" distance behind the car in front of me so when the moron behind me stops on top of me I can put a little bit of distance between us again. Usually works pretty well. Anyway - today. This car stops waaaaaay to close, so I ease forward a bit. Sadly, as sometimes happens, it ended up being a "I move up three inches so they move up six inches" situations. I get uncomfortable if I can't see headlights in my rear view mirror, and I kid you not by the time this guy finally stopped I couldn't even see the hood of his car. At all. Are you kidding me? Then Luke glances back and thinks the car looks kind of familiar . . . and then it tailgates . . . I mean "follows" . . . us all the way to the Convergys parking lot, confirming his suspicion that it's the very same guy who hit him not even ten days ago!! Seriously? Screw his stupid flip flop excuse - this guy is clearly an incompetent menace of a driver. What are the odds? I feel sorry for the other parties, but consoled in the knowledge that at the rate he's going he'll eventually rear end so many people that he'll lose his license.
But now - good news.
Cancel that - AWESOME news.
I WON A BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WON I WON I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, so goodreads is pretty much the awesomest website on the planet for someone like me. And I kind of love it. And you should totally join it and we can totally be friends and (virtually) share books and stuff. And - AND - they give away books. GIVE!!!!! As in FREE!!!!!!
Now, a couple of months ago Shay won a book. It was the first (and at the time only) give away she'd entered. And she won. At the time, I'd entered about a dozen. And had not one any. Needless to say, I did not find that pleasant. But I kept entering almost every give away I stumbled across, and since the official rules mentioned that site activity is a contributing factor to the choosing of the winners I killed time by working my way up to #10 out of 706321 on the never-ending book quiz. (Which may sound kind of lame, but has been actually pretty fun, and I'm prouder than I should be of that ranking, lol.) But to be perfectly honest I figured nothing would ever come of it because I never win things. Seriously. Never. Ever. Ever. In fact, if there were a contest in which I knew for an absolute fact that I was the only person entered - I would still expect someone else to win . . . that is how consistent my losing streak is.
So today. I get the mail. And there's a package. Addressed to me. I'm not expecting anything, and it's from someone I've never heard of. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . 'kay. The envelope is torn, and I can see it's a book. Wait a minute . . . I didn't order a book. Except for . . . wait! I did finally pre-order Mockingjay, after a long internal debate of pre-order-vs-midnight release-vs-buying day of release. (side note: I cannot understand why Hunger Games has not gotten as big as Harry Potter or Twilight. At all.) Did I accidentally order this instead? But how could I have done that? I've never even heard of this book. Wait a minute . . . the title is kind of vaguely familiar . . . maybe I to-read-ed it on goodreads? Wait a minute! Did I finally win a give away?!?!?!?! So I rip open the packaging and see the congratulatory note from the author which makes me feel very popular and special and proceed to absolutely freak out because I WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally won something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it feels pretty good to win. I like it. (the winning thing I mean, haven't started the book yet.)
Here's hoping the free books keep coming!!!
P. ost S. cript
So it's no secret that I absolutely adore Weird Al. Even before he did the most awesome thing in the world - putting Donny Osmond in the video for "White and Nerdy." That still cracks me up every time I even think of it. So while you may have noticed that I posted this on facebook earlier this week . . . well, this song is near and dear to my heart for several reasons. Among them - "Look, limestone! Most people take it for granite." "He's got a special deal this week - two of his heads for one of yours. Anyway you slice it, you still come out a head." Shirley's Temple . . . Dr. Albert Falls . . . ah, the good memories. So glad they (usually) outweigh the unpleasant ones.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
And It's Not a Freaking Saga Already!!!!!
Now this post has been marinating/writing itself in my head for . . . quite some time. So those of you who enjoy my rants - grab some popcorn or something. One could also consider it my extended comment in response to this and this, but it does technically predate them both. It just fits.
You might have noticed that Twilight fever is heating up again. And every time it does my Twilight rage gets more intense.
Don't get me wrong. I like Twilight . . . more or less. Heaven knows the writing is not very good at all, but it's decent enough to be a pleasant guilty pleasure from time to time. (I've mentioned this to a few people but I read enough truly terrible writing in college to be pretty forgiving with writing that actually gets published.) That said, I would not want any daughters of mine reading the series until they're 21 and I can't even pretend to control anything they do.
(Completely unrelated note: these books are definitely a series and soooooooooooooooooo not a saga. I cringe every time I hear it called such.)
So. Today we have, in no particular order, Lacey's Reasons Why the Twilight SERIES are Terrible Books to Put in the YA Section:
1 ~ Ummmmm . . . because they're about vampires . . . and everybody (well, almost everybody) knows that vampires are about the most blatant metaphor for sex in the entire literary world. Flashback: spring-ish 2008. Lacey's in Florida. Twilight is getting really big and Lacey has just discovered them. (random unrelated side note - I always seem to discover a series shortly before book 4 is released. Totally when I discovered Harry Potter too.) There's a bunch of girls chatting in the break room and Twilight comes up, and I ask a girl who's into vampires and vampire novels if she likes them. She says no. And goes on to say that they are clearly written by a very, very repressed woman and as such they are just not as good as other vampire novels and . . . she went on to say a bit more, but I don't really remember. At this point I was still reading the first book, and having read a vampire novel or two before I couldn't help but agree on her main point. A lot of anti-Twilight people online attribute that to Stephenie Meyers' religion . . . but since I'm, you know, the same religion I think I can pretty solidly refute that. At least as the sole reason. (insert your own crack about her collegiate alma mater being the reason she missed the vampire = sex memo here) But the whole thing really does have a slight feeling like I'm reading about someone's highly detailed fantasy. That's a little disturbing. I mean, does anyone actually want to read about a stranger's repressed desires? Well, really super creepy disturbed people maybe. All that tension's gotta come out somewhere, I guess.
2 ~ HOLY CREEPY STALKERIFIC!!!!!! I'll admit that the story is good enough that while I was reading I got sucked in and went a long with everybody in thinking how wonderful and thoughtful and sweet and blah, blah, blah Edward is. Then I finished the books and, unlike a depressingly large chunk of the audience, I came back to reality. And in reality, Edward is not a boyfriend, but an emotionally abusive stalker. I mean, seriously - disabling her car so she can't hang out with her other friends? Sneaking into her house and watching her sleep? Not cool. They say it's not stalking if you like it . . . but just because you like it doesn't make it right . . . or legal. Suffice it to say that this site really disturbs me. Some of it's not too bad, but holy crap. Dumping your boyfriend because he won't bite you? Making your husband sleep on the couch because he doesn't sparkle?! (side note - I find the sparkling thing a little silly, but I don't have as much problem with it as some people. There's only so many reasons one could offer to explain the "no sunlight" thing.) I really, truly fear for these girls who honestly believe that a cardboard cutout of Robert Pattenson is the best prom date one could ever ask for. There is a massive group of girls about to enter adulthood (or just starting it) who are convinced that this is the type of guy they should be looking for - a guy who tells them what to do and who they can and can't associate with and how they should act all the time. And they think the right thing for them to do is nod and look at the ground and race to accommodate his every desire. That is positively medieval! News flash - women aren't property anymore!! They should never have been to begin with . . . but that's a post for another day. Maybe. Get your own life and fit a guy into it girls, don't fit your life around a guy - who could possibly want their daughters learning that?
3 ~ Bella.
She is a terrible role model. She takes absolutely no action herself. Nothing. Everything she does is a reaction to what others are doing around her. Her life revolves around her boyfriend, and when he's gone she just quits living. So, so wrong. Even the Disney princesses rank higher than Bella in this one - none of them went out looking for a guy. The guys just kinda happened along as they were going about their lives. I mean, think about it. Cinderella didn't want to go to the ball in order to marry the prince - she just wanted to get out the house. Jasmine was actively avoiding marriage. Ariel wanted to be human even before she saw Prince Eric.
And then there's Bella Swan. She just sees Edward and before they even speak to each other her entire life revolves around him. And sure, break-ups are rough, but essentially becoming a zombie for, like, six months? Taking ridiculous risks to life and limb in order to imagine you're hearing a voice? That is not healthy. Granted, it is somewhat of a normal thing for teenage girls to be over dramatic and especially since this is a first boyfriend one oughtn't be surprised that her reaction is more extreme than it would be were Edward her fourth or fifth boyfriend. But doing this gets Bella her boyfriend back - essentially glorifying her method. I, for one, do NOT want my hypothetical daughters thinking they're nothing without a man in their lives. Especially after I had a hard time fighting feeling like that all through college. So. Not. Right.
4 ~ I seriously fear the culture . . . or should I say cult? . . . that has developed around the series. You notice Harry Potter fans, while they may be pretty die-hard, typically don't have a problem accepting the fact that it's fiction. On the other hand . . . yeah. Sad. And you know what really scares me? Twilight moms.
So. Freaking. True. You know the worst part about this? Teenage girls are more or less expected to not have a normal grip on reality and be prone to unrealistic fantasies . . . but they're also supposed to outgrow it. Clearly, many do not. Which just perpetuates - and reinforces - the cycle. Seriously. I want to cry for the fate of humanity.
Sometimes I feel like the only female on the planet who realizes that Twilight is just a book. Things have improved though. In our singles' ward in Florida our Relief Society more or less came to a halt when Breaking Dawn and the movie came out because nobody could talk about anything else. Our ward now . . . I haven't heard a word. My guess would have been that moms of little kids don't have time to obsess over fiction. But that kinda doesn't work because only about half the couples have kids, and there's plenty of newlyweds . . . who, presumably, were up until recently in singles' wards obsessing over Twilight themselves with all the other single girls. I mean, really, what are the odds that I'm the only girl in the whole ward who's read them? So not happening. I'm glad I don't have to hear countdowns to the movie at church though. Seriously, don't even get me started on my general opinion of book-to-movie adaptations.
And if you want to read some real vampire books allow me to suggest this. And this. They kinda rock.
Okay, so this didn't end up quite as rant-y as I was thinking it would at the beginning. But Twilight is totally getting censored in our house. Also: this says everything I've been saying, but much more eloquently.
P. ost S. cript
So I thought about posting some Twi-spoof - and believe me, there are plenty of those. Some are even pretty good. But . . . no. Also, one can never get enough pirates. Vampire overload is pretty easy to come by.
You might have noticed that Twilight fever is heating up again. And every time it does my Twilight rage gets more intense.
Don't get me wrong. I like Twilight . . . more or less. Heaven knows the writing is not very good at all, but it's decent enough to be a pleasant guilty pleasure from time to time. (I've mentioned this to a few people but I read enough truly terrible writing in college to be pretty forgiving with writing that actually gets published.) That said, I would not want any daughters of mine reading the series until they're 21 and I can't even pretend to control anything they do.
(Completely unrelated note: these books are definitely a series and soooooooooooooooooo not a saga. I cringe every time I hear it called such.)
So. Today we have, in no particular order, Lacey's Reasons Why the Twilight SERIES are Terrible Books to Put in the YA Section:
1 ~ Ummmmm . . . because they're about vampires . . . and everybody (well, almost everybody) knows that vampires are about the most blatant metaphor for sex in the entire literary world. Flashback: spring-ish 2008. Lacey's in Florida. Twilight is getting really big and Lacey has just discovered them. (random unrelated side note - I always seem to discover a series shortly before book 4 is released. Totally when I discovered Harry Potter too.) There's a bunch of girls chatting in the break room and Twilight comes up, and I ask a girl who's into vampires and vampire novels if she likes them. She says no. And goes on to say that they are clearly written by a very, very repressed woman and as such they are just not as good as other vampire novels and . . . she went on to say a bit more, but I don't really remember. At this point I was still reading the first book, and having read a vampire novel or two before I couldn't help but agree on her main point. A lot of anti-Twilight people online attribute that to Stephenie Meyers' religion . . . but since I'm, you know, the same religion I think I can pretty solidly refute that. At least as the sole reason. (insert your own crack about her collegiate alma mater being the reason she missed the vampire = sex memo here) But the whole thing really does have a slight feeling like I'm reading about someone's highly detailed fantasy. That's a little disturbing. I mean, does anyone actually want to read about a stranger's repressed desires? Well, really super creepy disturbed people maybe. All that tension's gotta come out somewhere, I guess.
2 ~ HOLY CREEPY STALKERIFIC!!!!!! I'll admit that the story is good enough that while I was reading I got sucked in and went a long with everybody in thinking how wonderful and thoughtful and sweet and blah, blah, blah Edward is. Then I finished the books and, unlike a depressingly large chunk of the audience, I came back to reality. And in reality, Edward is not a boyfriend, but an emotionally abusive stalker. I mean, seriously - disabling her car so she can't hang out with her other friends? Sneaking into her house and watching her sleep? Not cool. They say it's not stalking if you like it . . . but just because you like it doesn't make it right . . . or legal. Suffice it to say that this site really disturbs me. Some of it's not too bad, but holy crap. Dumping your boyfriend because he won't bite you? Making your husband sleep on the couch because he doesn't sparkle?! (side note - I find the sparkling thing a little silly, but I don't have as much problem with it as some people. There's only so many reasons one could offer to explain the "no sunlight" thing.) I really, truly fear for these girls who honestly believe that a cardboard cutout of Robert Pattenson is the best prom date one could ever ask for. There is a massive group of girls about to enter adulthood (or just starting it) who are convinced that this is the type of guy they should be looking for - a guy who tells them what to do and who they can and can't associate with and how they should act all the time. And they think the right thing for them to do is nod and look at the ground and race to accommodate his every desire. That is positively medieval! News flash - women aren't property anymore!! They should never have been to begin with . . . but that's a post for another day. Maybe. Get your own life and fit a guy into it girls, don't fit your life around a guy - who could possibly want their daughters learning that?
3 ~ Bella.
She is a terrible role model. She takes absolutely no action herself. Nothing. Everything she does is a reaction to what others are doing around her. Her life revolves around her boyfriend, and when he's gone she just quits living. So, so wrong. Even the Disney princesses rank higher than Bella in this one - none of them went out looking for a guy. The guys just kinda happened along as they were going about their lives. I mean, think about it. Cinderella didn't want to go to the ball in order to marry the prince - she just wanted to get out the house. Jasmine was actively avoiding marriage. Ariel wanted to be human even before she saw Prince Eric.And then there's Bella Swan. She just sees Edward and before they even speak to each other her entire life revolves around him. And sure, break-ups are rough, but essentially becoming a zombie for, like, six months? Taking ridiculous risks to life and limb in order to imagine you're hearing a voice? That is not healthy. Granted, it is somewhat of a normal thing for teenage girls to be over dramatic and especially since this is a first boyfriend one oughtn't be surprised that her reaction is more extreme than it would be were Edward her fourth or fifth boyfriend. But doing this gets Bella her boyfriend back - essentially glorifying her method. I, for one, do NOT want my hypothetical daughters thinking they're nothing without a man in their lives. Especially after I had a hard time fighting feeling like that all through college. So. Not. Right.
4 ~ I seriously fear the culture . . . or should I say cult? . . . that has developed around the series. You notice Harry Potter fans, while they may be pretty die-hard, typically don't have a problem accepting the fact that it's fiction. On the other hand . . . yeah. Sad. And you know what really scares me? Twilight moms.
So. Freaking. True. You know the worst part about this? Teenage girls are more or less expected to not have a normal grip on reality and be prone to unrealistic fantasies . . . but they're also supposed to outgrow it. Clearly, many do not. Which just perpetuates - and reinforces - the cycle. Seriously. I want to cry for the fate of humanity.Sometimes I feel like the only female on the planet who realizes that Twilight is just a book. Things have improved though. In our singles' ward in Florida our Relief Society more or less came to a halt when Breaking Dawn and the movie came out because nobody could talk about anything else. Our ward now . . . I haven't heard a word. My guess would have been that moms of little kids don't have time to obsess over fiction. But that kinda doesn't work because only about half the couples have kids, and there's plenty of newlyweds . . . who, presumably, were up until recently in singles' wards obsessing over Twilight themselves with all the other single girls. I mean, really, what are the odds that I'm the only girl in the whole ward who's read them? So not happening. I'm glad I don't have to hear countdowns to the movie at church though. Seriously, don't even get me started on my general opinion of book-to-movie adaptations.
And if you want to read some real vampire books allow me to suggest this. And this. They kinda rock.
Okay, so this didn't end up quite as rant-y as I was thinking it would at the beginning. But Twilight is totally getting censored in our house. Also: this says everything I've been saying, but much more eloquently.
P. ost S. cript
So I thought about posting some Twi-spoof - and believe me, there are plenty of those. Some are even pretty good. But . . . no. Also, one can never get enough pirates. Vampire overload is pretty easy to come by.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Team Peeta!!!! . . . I mean Gale!!!! . . . er . . . ummmm . . . Team Haymitch?
Have you read The Hunger Games? You should. First, because it's awesome. Second, because if you haven't/don't I'm not sure we can be friends anymore.
You know what the crazy thing is? I probably never have read them if the first one hadn't been a book club pick. It just wasn't one that caught my eye. But after about two chapters, I was completely hooked. Read the first one in three sittings. Found out there were three, and the third one isn't out until August. GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I check out the library website and see that there's about 15 holds on the second one, so I figure that perfect - I'll get it around about May, and then it'll be a relatively short wait for the third one. But then -
The book comes in. Last week. Two months early. On the one hand, kinda awesome, 'cause I'm dying to read it. On the other hand . . . well, I read Catching Fire in two sittings. Finished it at almost 1:00 in the morning, and immediately kicked Luke off the computer to find out the exact date for Mockingjay. August 24 - GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You might have noticed that August 24 is currently 146 days away. To same I'm dying is putting it somewhat mildly.
I haven't been this excited for a new book since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Well, adn books 4-6. I got into Harry Potter after Azkaban was out. I pre-ordered 5&6, and went to a midnight party for 7 . . . that was pretty fun. And it's a really good thing they always came out on weekends . . . and an especially good thing I was off the day 7 came out, because I read straight through the night, stopping multilpe times as characters died to cry. :-( Seriously, I think I cried about half my weight off that night/morning. There better not be a bunch of deaths this time around!!
And this is why I hate reading a series before it's done. The next few months? Are going to be torture. Especially since I haven't decided between pre-ordering or midnight-partying. Good thing I've got time. (note: Amazon's got it for 8 bucks . . . just so's ya know if you're debating too!) What's going to happen? I mean, there's always the bits that are pretty easy to guess - the fate of the rebellion (I feel like I'm talking about Star Wars, lol), that one district that shall not be named will be a pretty big deal, people are gonna die, all that good stuff. But what happened to Cinna? Who else is involved? Are certain people ok? Prim? Peeta? Madge? GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Be prepared for frequent updates on how long it is until August 24. And not just from the new countdown. (You did notice that, right?)
P. ost S. cript
And this kids, is why you don't touch two power lines at once. But if you can get a branch up there, it is kinda awesome. Also, I highly recommend going full screen on this one.
You know what the crazy thing is? I probably never have read them if the first one hadn't been a book club pick. It just wasn't one that caught my eye. But after about two chapters, I was completely hooked. Read the first one in three sittings. Found out there were three, and the third one isn't out until August. GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I check out the library website and see that there's about 15 holds on the second one, so I figure that perfect - I'll get it around about May, and then it'll be a relatively short wait for the third one. But then -
The book comes in. Last week. Two months early. On the one hand, kinda awesome, 'cause I'm dying to read it. On the other hand . . . well, I read Catching Fire in two sittings. Finished it at almost 1:00 in the morning, and immediately kicked Luke off the computer to find out the exact date for Mockingjay. August 24 - GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You might have noticed that August 24 is currently 146 days away. To same I'm dying is putting it somewhat mildly.
I haven't been this excited for a new book since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Well, adn books 4-6. I got into Harry Potter after Azkaban was out. I pre-ordered 5&6, and went to a midnight party for 7 . . . that was pretty fun. And it's a really good thing they always came out on weekends . . . and an especially good thing I was off the day 7 came out, because I read straight through the night, stopping multilpe times as characters died to cry. :-( Seriously, I think I cried about half my weight off that night/morning. There better not be a bunch of deaths this time around!!
And this is why I hate reading a series before it's done. The next few months? Are going to be torture. Especially since I haven't decided between pre-ordering or midnight-partying. Good thing I've got time. (note: Amazon's got it for 8 bucks . . . just so's ya know if you're debating too!) What's going to happen? I mean, there's always the bits that are pretty easy to guess - the fate of the rebellion (I feel like I'm talking about Star Wars, lol), that one district that shall not be named will be a pretty big deal, people are gonna die, all that good stuff. But what happened to Cinna? Who else is involved? Are certain people ok? Prim? Peeta? Madge? GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Be prepared for frequent updates on how long it is until August 24. And not just from the new countdown. (You did notice that, right?)
P. ost S. cript
And this kids, is why you don't touch two power lines at once. But if you can get a branch up there, it is kinda awesome. Also, I highly recommend going full screen on this one.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Autumn . . .
There's a passage in one of the Anne of Green Gables books - I think it's the fourth one - where Anne is talking about the differences in silences. The sound of the silence of the meadow vs. the seashore vs. in town and such. She says you could take her somewhere blindfolded and she could tell where she was just be the type of silence she heard.
I noticed years ago that sunlight is the same way. The type of sunlight you get coming through your window at 3:00 pm in June is not the same as the sunlight you see at 3:00 pm in November. I like to think I'm the only person who's ever noticed that. :-) And I think if somehow I lost my memory and didn't know what the date was, I could still tell what season it was by looking at the light.
The sunlight has been very fall-ish this past week. It's been easy to notice since I've been doing the same thing I've done all summer in the afternoon - sitting in the living room reading or killing time on facebook. The temperatures haven't cooled down a lot yet, except in the mornings, but out the window the sunlight just looks cooler.
I'm so excited for the temperatures to start dropping . . . this will be my first real fall since 2005!!! Spring is my favorite season, but I love fall too. The leaves crunching . . . the cold-but-not-cold-enough-for-a-jacket-ness . . . knowing all the end of the year holidays are practically here . . . I love it all.
(side note: it's halfway through September already?! What the crap?!?!?!?!?! Where did this year go?!?!?!?!?!?!)
The light changes in Florida too, but it's not the same. It's never chilly in the fall, so everyone is still wearing shorts and flip-flops. The leaves fall, but they don't dry enough to crunch, and even if they did it rains all the time anyway so they wouldn't. The seasons in Florida go something like: 1) spring-ish, 2) unbearably hot and constantly raining, 3) bearably hot and slightly less rainy, 4) icy cold one day and scorching the next. Even the cold isn't real cold - you can tell that it would be chilly but pleasant if the humidity would just drop under 30%. Can you tell I've missed having seasons?
I can't wait to show Luke what a real fall is like. And on that note, where's the best corn maze around here? And by best I mean, of course, the cheapest one in the valley. :-)
P. ost S. cript
You've probably seen this one, it made the rounds a while ago. But it never fails to make me laugh.
I noticed years ago that sunlight is the same way. The type of sunlight you get coming through your window at 3:00 pm in June is not the same as the sunlight you see at 3:00 pm in November. I like to think I'm the only person who's ever noticed that. :-) And I think if somehow I lost my memory and didn't know what the date was, I could still tell what season it was by looking at the light.
The sunlight has been very fall-ish this past week. It's been easy to notice since I've been doing the same thing I've done all summer in the afternoon - sitting in the living room reading or killing time on facebook. The temperatures haven't cooled down a lot yet, except in the mornings, but out the window the sunlight just looks cooler.
I'm so excited for the temperatures to start dropping . . . this will be my first real fall since 2005!!! Spring is my favorite season, but I love fall too. The leaves crunching . . . the cold-but-not-cold-enough-for-a-jacket-ness . . . knowing all the end of the year holidays are practically here . . . I love it all.
(side note: it's halfway through September already?! What the crap?!?!?!?!?! Where did this year go?!?!?!?!?!?!)
The light changes in Florida too, but it's not the same. It's never chilly in the fall, so everyone is still wearing shorts and flip-flops. The leaves fall, but they don't dry enough to crunch, and even if they did it rains all the time anyway so they wouldn't. The seasons in Florida go something like: 1) spring-ish, 2) unbearably hot and constantly raining, 3) bearably hot and slightly less rainy, 4) icy cold one day and scorching the next. Even the cold isn't real cold - you can tell that it would be chilly but pleasant if the humidity would just drop under 30%. Can you tell I've missed having seasons?
I can't wait to show Luke what a real fall is like. And on that note, where's the best corn maze around here? And by best I mean, of course, the cheapest one in the valley. :-)
P. ost S. cript
You've probably seen this one, it made the rounds a while ago. But it never fails to make me laugh.
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