tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46335952182449156682023-11-15T09:26:00.714-08:00Word of the NerdPretty much just me ranting.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-72127165242120031882015-05-27T21:14:00.000-07:002015-05-27T21:14:12.957-07:00Islamic Feminism (Global Citizen Project)So, I've been doing this project all year where basically I've had to research about Islamic Feminism. Think Feminism, but from a Muslim standpoint. Before you get all up in arms about the veil or whatever, I'm gonna just do a quick info dump on y'all right here.<br />
*boop*<br />
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<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/177467/rise-islamic-feminists#">http://www.thenation.com/article/177467/rise-islamic-feminists#</a></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_feminism">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_feminism</a></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><a href="http://www.islam101.com/women/jameelah.htm">http://www.islam101.com/women/jameelah.htm</a> (this ones negative so you can see how people are total ******** about all this)</span></div>
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<span class="s2"><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/21/twin-visions-of-islamic-feminism-split-muslim-community.html">http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/21/twin-visions-of-islamic-feminism-split-muslim-community.html</a></span></div>
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<span class="s2"><a href="http://www.youngchicagoauthors.org/girlspeak/features_bridging_the_disconnect_unveiling_the_hijab_and_islamic_feminism_by_diamond_sharp.htm">http://www.youngchicagoauthors.org/girlspeak/features_bridging_the_disconnect_unveiling_the_hijab_and_islamic_feminism_by_diamond_sharp.htm</a></span></div>
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In short; those articles are about how Muslim women need to stop being treated like crap by not only other Muslims, but by people around the world. We're all pretty much Muslim women's Regina George, in that they've been personally victimized by....everyone.</div>
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I had to do some research on some women in the movement too, and I'll add more later (probably) but it's 10:30 at night and I'm tired and I'll just give you the gist.</div>
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Malala Yousafzai- she's that girl that got shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking up for girls education in Muslim countries. She's pretty kick ass actually. She's only 17 and she's already won a Nobel prize, and raised a crap ton (somewhere in the millions) of money to build schools and encourage girls education.</div>
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<a href="http://zenpencils.com/comic/104-malala-yousafzai-i-have-the-right/" target="_blank">This </a> is a pretty cool comic about her if y'all wanna check her out.</div>
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Shahla Sherket- She's even more kickass than Malala if you could believe it. She founded this magazine called Zanan that was pretty much the only thing calling out all the crap going on in the Muslim world. Of course, that pissed people off so they shut down the magazine (pst...she made another one that does the same thing but don't tell nobody). She's won a bunch of awards for journalism and standing up for women's rights, and she's got a masters in women's studies, and she's been arrested for her work (how metal is that?), and just she's super cool and inspiring and I love her?</div>
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So anyway, this is gonna require LOTS of editing eventually, but for now, I hope you learned something about Islamic Feminism. This has been a neato project, and I've learned a lot.</div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-52272411150707373202014-08-20T11:38:00.001-07:002014-08-20T11:38:22.982-07:00The Distance Between Us Artifact #5<a href="http://time.com/3093029/child-migrants-immigration-reform-new-orleans/" target="_blank">This article</a> is about the situation with immigrants who are minors, and how the government is dealing with the situation.<br />
<br />
In the first 6 months of 2014, Louisiana courts have faced hundreds of juvenile immigrant cases. This is when a child enters the country without an adult. Last year, the Lousiana only had 540 cases through the whole year. Three years ago it was 71. Other parts of the country like California and Texas have even more cases like this, and the country overall has 375,503 pending cases of child immigration.<br />
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A big part of the problem isn't how many unaccompanied children there are, but how few lawyers there are to represent them. Louisiana is the focus of this article, because New Orleans draws the most unaccompanied children out of every city in the U.S. The problem is that there are only a handful of nonprofit lawyers who are willing to represent them. Because of this, children are forced to go into courts by themselves, without any legal representation. At the end of June, the New Orleans Immigration Court had 1,216 pending juvenile immigration cases, 81% of which the child didn't have a lawyer.<br />
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Juvenile immigration has become a big problem in recent years for the U.S, and we don't really know how to deal with it. Lawyers aren't willing to represent kids who don't have any money, and we can't just grant them citizenship because they're children. This creates a legal and moral dilemma. Should the kids get a break out of the goodness of our hearts? Or should we lay down the law?<br />
<br />
What if Reyna, Mago, and Carlos had ended up going to the U.S by themselves? They would've had to deal with both the dangerous journey to the U.S, and try and understand the entire legal process of getting in (without knowing English). That's what these kids have to face. They just want to get away from the violence or poverty that plagues their country of origin and try to have a better life.<br />
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If I've learned anything from doing these reflections, it's that the U.S needs to change how we handle immigration. We need better regulation of who we let in and why. We need to get more lawyers to represent immigrants so they have a fair chance to getting into the country. Basically we need a whole immigration reform so that we can stick by our American principles of 'liberty and justice for all'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-59337065305517816662014-08-19T20:30:00.000-07:002014-08-19T20:30:56.341-07:00The Distance Between Us Artifact #4<a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-na-citizen-detained-20140815-story.html" target="_blank">This article</a> is about a U.S citizen (an 11 year old boy) who was held in custody because there was confusion over his citizenship. This article reveals the attitude towards immigrants, and the overall carelessness of the situation.<br />
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In Artesia New Mexico, an 11 year old boy and his mother were held in a detention center for over a month. Both of the boy's parents are immigrants from Central America, but the boy's father is a U.S citizen. Even though the boy was born outside of the U.S, immigration law says that since his dad is a U.S citizen, the boy is too. Both the boy and his mother have been released. The article didn't say how they were arrested in the first place, but they were most likely coming from their country of origin to meet up with the father.<br />
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This case brings to light the entire issue with the immigration system we have in the U.S. With hundreds of thousands of immigrants coming into the U.S, it is nearly impossible to process all of these people to check if their legal or not. There are also weird laws that we have to pay attention to, like a person can come into the country if they have this sort of relation, but not this sort. It's impossible to show the amount of attention required for each case, which is how a U.S citizen ended up being detained for so long.<br />
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This is the sort of thing that immigrants like Reyna live in fear of. They don't want to be arrested for trying to get a better life. This is why coyotes exist, so immigrants can get into the country and have a chance of getting in. I think we need to change the system so that it's more efficient and we can be more careful about who we are letting in, and how they're getting in. We should also make getting into the country more accessible, so that people don't have to sneak in.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-34858065519835768402014-08-19T17:41:00.001-07:002014-08-19T17:41:05.468-07:00The Distance Between Us Artifact #3<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2014/08/15/immigration-and-growth-go-together-in-many-states/" target="_blank">This article</a> is about the impact that immigration has on the economy. More specifically, the job market.<br />
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Basically, immigration has a very large affect on a state's economy. As the amount of Hispanic immigrants increases in states like Texas, Arizona, Florida, and Georgia, the economy grows. These states have more money, and more jobs available. Texas created 50,000 jobs in July 2014 alone.<br />
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This may be because immigrants are very mobile workers. This means that they are willing to move around to find low-skilled jobs, such as cleaning jobs. Lower skilled American workers are less likely to move to a different state for a low paying job. Because these immigrants are willing to move around, they create a mobile labor market, which creates more jobs. Then, this creates faster economic growth.<br />
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Honestly, this sort of stuff isn't very interesting to me. Jobs and economics and math and all that junk. But this does explain why immigrant workers usually have the hands on, low paying jobs. There are other factors to it of course, like people not wanting to hire immigrants for higher paying jobs. Another factor is the education level of the immigrants. For example, Papi only had a third grade education, and didn't speak English. A handyman's job was probably the only thing that he (and others like him) could do to make a living<br />
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The fact that immigrants actually help the economy in some ways is an interesting perspective. Normally we focus on how they are stealing jobs from "good ol' Americans". I don't usually pay attention to this sort of stuff, but at least now I know the part of the good side of immigrants coming in. I'm sure there are many more benefits to immigrants besides this.<br />
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On an unrelated note, I did a google search of The Distance Between Us, and discovered that there is a song by the Norwegian band "Far Lippo Lippi" called The Distance Between Us. If this book ever gets made into a movie, I demand that this song is the theme.<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-16054252727731023482014-08-19T09:29:00.001-07:002014-08-19T09:29:28.259-07:00The Distance Between Us Artifact #2<a href="http://video.pbs.org/video/2365097995/" target="_blank">The Graduates- The Girls</a><br />
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This is a documentary by Bernardo Ruiz is about three Latina girls who are struggling to graduate from high school. Darlene is a teenage mother. She has a two year old son named Alex, and dropped out of high school in order to raise him. Stephanie lives in a neighborhood with gang violence, and goes to a high minority school that doesn't do its best for its students. Chastity's family is homeless, and she uses school as her refuge from home problems.<br />
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These girls are in very similar situations (or what could've been) to what Reyna faced when she was a teenager. In fact, Reyna did face the threat of gangs and her sister Betty became a teenage mom. There were other problems that Reyna (and many girls like Reyna) faced that come with being a Latina teenager. Problems like discrimination, bullying, differences in language/culture, and many more.<br />
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However, these girls did what many people, despite race, couldn't do. They graduated high school, or are very close to doing so, and are on their way to college and better opportunities. They each overcame their problems and focused on their education. Even though the odds were not in their favor, they did it.<br />
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This was really eye opening for me, because I never really thought about the sort of things that would get in the way of getting a high school diploma. I guess living in PC will do that to a person. But there are lots of outside influences that affect education like being sick, living in a dangerous place, economic problems, and more. It would be really hard to focus on math if you're responsible for an entire baby! Reyna also had lots of problems that affected school (mostly college) due to her father's abuse and economic problems.<br />
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When people talk about how minorities are always dropping out of high school, they should keep these sort of problems in mind, and find a way to work around them to get the most kids to graduate high school.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-82341169768406569482014-08-19T09:21:00.001-07:002014-08-19T09:21:16.517-07:00The Distance Between Us Artifact #1<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/08/14/the-data-on-white-anxiety-over-hispanic-immigration/" target="_blank">This article</a> is about the general attitude that white Americans have towards immigrants (especially Mexicans).<br />
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Everyone has different feelings on immigration. Some people approve of lots of immigrants coming into the country, and others think it isn't okay. Some think that immigrants from certain countries are better than immigrants from other countries. Despite the problem, the group who usually does the judging and the deciding are white people. So what do white people think about immigration?<br />
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A study conducted by Ted Brader and Elizabeth Suhay, white Americans were given news stories about increasing immigration. Half of the articles were negative (immigration is bad), and half of them were positive (immigration is good!). Naturally, the people with the negative stories were less supportive of immigration.<br />
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However, that wasn't the only thing that the researchers were studying. The articles, along with being positive or negative, would focus on either a Mexican immigrant named Jose Sanchez, or Nikolai Vandinsky from Russia. The study showed that anyone with the article about Jose Sanchez, despite being positive or negative, were less supportive of immigration. They found the same results when they replaced Nikolai with a Dutch man.<br />
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What if Reyna had been Chinese rather than Mexican? Would she have been respected more in school? Would her life have been any easier? What if she had been South African, or German, or Egyptian? What about the people of other races that were in Reyna's life?, She had Asian friends, an Italian sitter, and a Greek teacher. They probably had very different experiences than Reyna because of their nationalities and races. Race and nationality play an important part in anyone's life, even though nobody wants it to.<br />
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Though I understand these people's thinking, I don't agree with it. I'm pretty sure that these people's attitudes are based on misinformation, stereotypes, and plain old bias. Where immigrants are from shouldn't make a difference of how we treat them. However, I understand that racism and this sort of prejudice won't be fixed so easily. The best thing we can do is accept people for who they are and treat them the same as anyone else.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-1810973707413853162014-05-16T20:17:00.000-07:002014-05-16T20:17:43.906-07:00An End of the Year ReviewWell guys, this is the last graded assignment for this blog, which means that I probably won't post much after this (though I might get bored over the summer).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRuT3n4DEHnXMPh_6zIkyE4dbWBAKb2KzytQUkXzqnyJsWoiwVV" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" class="irc_mut" height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRuT3n4DEHnXMPh_6zIkyE4dbWBAKb2KzytQUkXzqnyJsWoiwVV" style="margin-top: 81px;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from: <a class="irc_hl irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://iusedtohavehair.com/" style="color: #7d7d7d; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">iusedtohavehair.com</span></a></td></tr>
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I've been saving this review for a while, cus I wanted to do this for my last one.<br />
It's a review of this entire project.<br />
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<u>Background of the project for the, like, two people who aren't in my English class:</u><br />
We got this big project at the beginning of the year to make a blog about whatever you want, and post weekly. This blog was the result of that project. This is all very lucky for you, dear readers, because where would you be if you didn't have your weekly posts from yours truly.<br />
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Over the year, I've been wondering <i>why </i>Mr. P decided to make this project. It seemed like an inconvenience to make an assignment where you'd have to grade 100+ badly written posts every week.<br />
I've come up with three reasons.<br />
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<u>1. Better student/teacher communication:</u><br />
If I was a teacher, I'd want students to feel open about talking to me about whatever the heck they wanted. I'm not sure if Mr. P shares this opinion, but for my argument's sake I'll assume he does. These blogs would be a great way to get to know your students, and see what they enjoy. Also, if the students are like me and get super awkward when they talk to a teacher ((which is a constant problem of mine, and I'm fairly sure that my percussion teacher thinks I have a disorder because I just <i>can't </i>answer his questions without completely panicking)), this project is helpful for getting opinions and ideas across.<br />
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<u>2. Better student/student communication:</u><br />
One thing that I've really liked about these blogs is that you can get insight on your fellow students. Like, it's cool to go on your friend's blogs and see what they post about and then joke with them about it later.<br />
But it's also cool to see the blogs of people who you aren't great friends with, or want to be friends with. Like, maybe you talked to one guy in class and found out that he's in honors English, so he has a blog. You can go on it and find out stuff about him, and then you can talk to him about stuff he likes next time you see him.<br />
Is that creepy?<br />
I really hope not......but then again, this is the internet. The views from random people in Singapore should have reminded you that these blogs are public.<br />
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<u>3. Writing practice:</u><br />
Of course since this is an <i>English </i>assignment, it does make sense to have all this writing practice. A lot of kids have improved on their general spelling/conventions skills since the beginning of this project.<br />
What stinks (for me at least) is that this isn't the type of writing I need to practice. I mainly write stories, so this casual blogging style isn't what I need to work on.<br />
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There is one benefit to this project that doesn't really relate to English, but I think most students will agree with.<br />
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<u>1.Getting to show off:</u><br />
Face it, we're all awkward teenagers that suck at communicating with each other. We're especially bad about coming out about our talents. This is a good way to show off our stuff without seeming too braggy.<br />
People can show off their <a href="http://swilliams17puffin.blogspot.com/p/random-stuff-that-includes.html" target="_blank">art</a> skills, or <a href="http://ahedderly17.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">writing</a> skills, cooking, <a href="http://cspaulding17.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">humor</a>, <a href="http://bcanada17.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">music</a>, or whatever the heck else they want to.<br />
Blogging is a really nice platform for showing off what you can do, and I'm glad that a lot of students took advantage of that, because that was the most fun part about this project.<br />
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<u>What I think about my own blog:</u><br />
I'm actually pretty proud of myself with this blog. I know it isn't anything that I'll look at in 20 years and be like 'This is one damn good blog', but it could've been a LOT worse. I was thinking about doing a blog about my life, and trust me, you should be glad that I didn't post about my weekend LoTR marathon.<br />
A review blog was a good match for me. I have a lot of opinions, but don't talk about them much because people get bored after a few minutes. This was a good way to get thoughts out without boring everyone to death.<br />
Overall, this came out pretty well. It isn't popular, but it's a fun little blog that I can laugh about in the future.<br />
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<u>Conclusion</u>:<br />
This is definitely one of the best projects I've ever done. Though it was a pain in the butt to have to think of something to make a post on and get it in by Friday night, it was a load of fun. The entire experience of blogging and making this weird community was strange and awesome. Thanks for the opportunity Mr. P!<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-19862438906150598062014-05-09T15:38:00.000-07:002014-05-16T20:58:11.486-07:00Incongruent: ALL THE LINKS<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dftba.com/media/dynamic/image/pfi_5c2f97905a18c0191b5b31696ffb5680.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://dftba.com/media/dynamic/image/pfi_5c2f97905a18c0191b5b31696ffb5680.png" height="320" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 22px;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From:<span style="background-color: white;"> <a class="irc_hl irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://dftba.com/product/1e3/Incongruent---Explicit-CD" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">dftba.com</span></a></span></td></tr>
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I know I've done <a href="http://sreilly17.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-fault-in-our-starsi-had-to-do-it.html" target="_blank">two posts</a> regarding the Green brothers already, but this time I want to focus on Hank.<br />
If you haven't read my <a href="http://sreilly17.blogspot.com/2013/11/vlogbrothers-best-wishes.html" target="_blank">vlogbrothers post</a>, you should go read it. It's very informative.<br />
So recently (last Wednesday) Hank Green & The Perfect Strangers came out with their new album, Incongruent.<br />
I bought the special pre-ordered copy that's SIGNED.<br />
Cus I'm that cool.<br />
Unfortunately it hasn't arrived yet because I ordered it with the<a href="http://dftba.com/product/1dz/PRE-ORDER-TFiOS-Preparedness-Kit" target="_blank"> TFiOS preparedness kit</a> which is still in preorder.<br />
BUT since the people at <a href="http://dftba.com/" target="_blank">dftba records</a> are so nice and realize that a lot of computers now don't have disk drives (looking at you eighth graders with your dumb macbook airs), they sent a digital download of the whole album!<br />
Which means I can review it for you guys!<br />
Unfortunately, the songs are still too new and I can't find them on Grooveshark so I can't put all them on here for you.<br />
However, Hank performed a few of them on the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers?edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">vlogbrothers channel</a>, so I can at least link you to those videos.<br />
Also, there are two versions of the album (a clean and an explicit) and I bought the explicit but I don't think they're very different anyway.<br />
If you're interested in the clean version, I'm sure there'll be some review somewhere else that's available by now.<br />
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1. I F***ing Love Science<br />
This one is pretty self explanatory. Hank runs around singing about how science is great and everyone should be happy that it's a thing.<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC0m31P_qyk&list=PL30E188D6D5930BF4&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">Here's</a> a link to the music video (it's the clean version but you can get to the explicit version from it if you'd like that better).<br />
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2.T-Shirt and Jeans<br />
A song about how t-shirt and jeans are a great outfit that you can use to express yourself (or not).<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKtTA57gMLw&list=PL30E188D6D5930BF4&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">Here's</a> the acoustic version.<br />
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3.Hug Scream<br />
I don't really know what to tell you with this one. Just.....hug someone and scream while you're doing it. There's also something about armadillos worshiping lions.<br />
<i>Now hold this awesome person oh so near</i><br />
<i>and scream your loudest scream</i><br />
<i>but not directly in their ear</i><br />
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4.Mother Pheasant Plucker<br />
I'm pretty sure that they just wanted to make a massive tongue twister and make a bunch of people accidentally sing fucker. Go on, try it. I DARE YOU.<br />
<i>But my life as a mother pheasant plucker is pleasant</i><br />
<i>Just listening to music as I pluck mother pheasants</i><br />
<i>I'm a pleasant pheasant plucker and no ones</i><br />
<i>heard a pleasant pheasant plucker ever say the f-word</i><br />
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5.Marilyn Hanson<br />
I think this one of those songs that's about a girlfriend he (the singer) had a long time ago and is being all nostalgic about it, but I can't really tell cus I can't find the lyrics anywhere so I have to go by ear which I suck at. The song has a rocking saxophone solo and it's the only song that actually says incongruence.<br />
By the way, incongruence means incompatible.<br />
<i>It didn't matter</i><br />
<i>To anyone but ourselves</i><br />
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6.The Universe is Weird<br />
Again, self explanatory. Hank is flipping out about how the universe is really weird and amazing and that it's pretty great for us that it's a thing cus if it wasn't, we wouldn't be here.<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcwkOFSrLFI&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">Here's</a> a link to the acoustic version of this song.<br />
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7.Gangnam Style (Full English Translation)<br />
Again, pretty self explanatory.<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6zXtq1JW2U&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">Here's</a> a link to PART of the song. It's with a bunch of other songs that are translated to English, but just watch the video because it's funny.<br />
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8. I'd Rather<br />
You know when you're like 'I'd rather gouge both of my eyes out with a rusty spork than _____'? This song is pretty much that.<br />
<i>No, I don't think we'll get together again</i><br />
<i>And no, I don't think we can still be friends</i><br />
<i>Because there's so many things I'd rather do</i><br />
<i>Than spend another day with you.</i><br />
<br />
9. Oh JK Rowling<br />
A song about how JK Rowling should really write something new because she's amazing. Ironically, this came out a few days before JK revealed that she wrote The Cuckoos Calling. Actually, Hank is pretty psychic when it comes to Harry Potter. I should also mention that he does an anual Harry Potter song, so this psychic-ness comes to light pretty frequently.<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfCGijEYMLo&list=UUGaVdbSav8xWuFWTadK6loA&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">Here's a link to the song</a> (album version!)<br />
<br />
10. Undigested Lump<br />
<b>Mr. P, if you skip everything in this post, at least don't skip this cus you'll like it.</b><br />
This is a song about how awesome Shakespearean insults are.<br />
We can't use them for the smackdown or anything, but it's a good song.<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtKIQO_JSHE&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">Here's</a> a link to the acoustic ((you can skip the first minute of the video if you aren't interested in the statistics of the vlogbrothers channel)). I like the album version better but I can't get that to you without things being sort of illegal and I'M SORRY.<br />
<br />
11. My Favorite Pony<br />
A song that's making fun of bronies (but in a 'ya this is lame but it's still fun' way).<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8tVoriImK8&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">Here's</a> a link to the acoustic version.<br />
<br />
12. Video Game Books<br />
I really don't know what they were trying to do with this song. Maybe they just wanted to make a slow song and had to put something that you could maybe pretend was lovey if you didn't listen to the words?<br />
<i>And I'm starting to see</i><br />
<i>Not just what you want from me</i><br />
<i>But you want to get</i><br />
<i>From what you've got</i><br />
<br />
13. Accio Deathly Hallows<br />
This is a song from back in 2007 that Hank wrote about how Deathly Hallows was coming out in a few days. Listen to the song, and you'll know what I mean about Hank's psychic Potter powers.<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvvFiZyEyTA&list=PL30E188D6D5930BF4&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">Here's </a> a link to the acoustic version. I actually like this version better, but only because in the album version they move into this weird reggae thing that sort of ruined it.<br />
<br />
14. Perfect Strangers<br />
This is ones of those songs that they put in cheesy kids movies where the kids are spending the summer together and bonding and it's all sweet and stuff.<br />
Now picture that scene with 5 (maybe) men who are 30-ish years old, and I'm pretty sure that is the inspiration for this song.<br />
<i>Sometimes the world looks perfect</i><br />
<i>Nothing to rearrange</i><br />
<i>Sometimes you just get a feeling</i><br />
<i>Like you need some kind of change</i><br />
<br />
<br />
That is a lot of links, which all took a long time to find.<br />
Phew.<br />
Overall, the album isn't my favorite (I only bought it because I like Hank and want to support him ((plus it's SIGNED))), but it's quirky and fun so I like it well enough.<br />
Honestly, I'd wait till some people put it on grooveshark for the album versions, but go and listen to all the links up there!<br />
<br />
<br />
UPDATE:<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CrSqHyls0co/U3bJPTPh--I/AAAAAAAAAQU/tUXI_0FmRb0/s1600/May+16,+2014+8:28:10+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CrSqHyls0co/U3bJPTPh--I/AAAAAAAAAQU/tUXI_0FmRb0/s1600/May+16,+2014+8:28:10+PM.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
THAT IS A GENUINE SIGNATURE/HANKLERFISH YOU GUYS. THIS IS AMAZING.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Unfortunately my parents were there when I opened up the package and started flipping out, and they saw the parental advisory sticker and freaked out a bit. They were a little better when I explained that Hank swore in the name of science.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
BUT ANYWAY THIS IS REALLY GREAT AND GEEZE.</div>
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-54550663942701278882014-05-02T18:53:00.002-07:002014-05-02T18:53:37.348-07:00Kim PossibleThe other day I was in class, and some girls started talking about Kim Possible.<br />
This prompted the girls I was talking to, to start talking about Kim Possible.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.lib.umn.edu/bockb007/interactivemblog/assets_c/2012/01/kpwallpaper-thumb-1024x768-110539.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" class="irc_mut" height="240" id="irc_mi" src="http://blog.lib.umn.edu/bockb007/interactivemblog/assets_c/2012/01/kpwallpaper-thumb-1024x768-110539.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a class="_eh irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://blog.lib.umn.edu/bockb007/interactivemblog/2012/01/kim-possible-world-showcase-adventure.html" style="color: #7d7d7d; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">blog.lib.umn.edu</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"Don't you remember that show?" One of them asked while her eyes gleamed with nostalgia.<br />
"Um.....not really," I said awkwardly. "I've never seen it."<br />
This one comment completely ostracized me for the rest of class.<br />
See, my parents were the type of parents that didn't really let us watch T.V until we were 10.<br />
((no they aren't the insane religious type, they just didn't want to pay for it and wanted us to go outside)).<br />
This left a lot of blanks in mine and 'le brother's' pop culture experience. We didn't see any classic Disney channel shows while they were still on, were utterly confused about why an underwater sponge was so popular (still confused about that one), and didn't see any of the High School Musicals until middle school.<br />
It's sad, I know.<br />
After the previously mentioned conversation, I decided that I would finally watch my first episode of Kim Possible.<br />
Then my first episode turned into second, and third, and fourth........and then twenty.<br />
I KNOW IT'S LAME BUT IT WAS FOR THE SAKE OF SCIENCE.<br />
THE SCIENCE OF MISSED CHILDHOOD.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
.<br />
<b>Summary thing based off of the first season (but I don't think it would change that much in later seasons anyway):</b><br />
Hopefully someone else had been living under a rock their entire lives too and actually need this.<br />
Kim Possible is this teenage super spy person in the early 2000s (you can tell it's the early 2000s because crop tops are still in((and because having a website automatically made you cool)) ). She goes around the world, saving people from everything from volcanoes to villans.<br />
For some reason everyone knows about her missions and is for some reason cool with it?<br />
Her sidekick is this guy named Ron Stoppable (ya see what they did there?) who is a klutz and a dork and I love him. He has a naked mole rat named Rufus who lives in his pocket.<br />
So....that's about it.<br />
<br />
<b>Characters:</b><br />
Kim: They made her a little TOO perfect. Honestly. She's the head cheerleader, an honors student, REALLY popular, and a world wide hero. She's reminds me a bit of Buffy Summers (shout out to BtVS fans!), but without Buffy's awesomeness.<br />
<br />
Ron: This is where they dumped all of Kim's flaws....or tried to. Honestly, I think this show is allergic to realistic teenage problems. Ron is uncool, and the only reason he doesn't get beat up all the time is cus he's friends with Kim.<br />
He goes on missions with Kim, but is mainly a distraction. He's made of comic relief from head to toe, which I guess is why I like him. He also has a weird phobia of monkeys.<br />
<br />
Wade: Kim's tech guy. I think this kid lives in his room, just surrounded by computers (which could not have been high quality at all cus again it's the early 2000s). He gets her all her info, and builds unnecessarily disguised weapons (such as a grappling hook disguised as a hair dryer).<br />
<br />
Rufus: A naked mole rat who likes to eat.<br />
<br />
Dr. Draken: The supposed bad guy. Again, this guy is made of comic relief. He's sort of like Ron, but thinks that he's large and in charge. It's hilarious actually. He's always beaten (which follows the classic kids show template), but is surprisingly cool about it.<br />
<br />
Shiego: She's the one who I think is the REAL villan. She actually looks sort of evil, and has this weird super power that I haven't quite figured out yet but it makes her hands glow green. She's the one that's always fighting Kim, and is actually sort of a BAMF.<br />
<br />
<b>Review</b>:<br />
I like it...I guess? I'd been hearing so much about the show over the years, that I guess it had been built up to this perfect thing. Needless to say, it wasn't perfect, and I am a little let down about it. Then again, I'm not eight, so that might be part of it.<br />
I'd give it a 6/10.<br />
You can watch episodes <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzAiQzu0RdY&list=PL07AF77521FAFF928&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">here</a> if you want.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-83701393745337205562014-04-25T18:25:00.000-07:002014-04-30T08:18:15.279-07:00A Two For One ReviewAt the beginning of this blog, I was intending for it to be mostly book reviews.<br />
Anyone who looks through my old posts can clearly see that I failed to do that.<br />
To make up for it, I've decided to review not one, but TWO books this week!<br />
Thank goodness it was spring break last week and I spent most of the time reading.<br />
<br />
<b>1984 by George Orwell:</b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/1984-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.bbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/1984-poster.jpg" height="320" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He's supposed to have a mustache, but all the<br />
other Big Brother posters with mustaches<br />
looked like Hitler and............oh.<br />
From: <a class="_eh irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.bbook.com/drake-doremus-remaking-1984-starring-kristen-stewart/" style="color: #7d7d7d; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">www.bbook.com</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Teaser thing</b>: So basically this is <i>the</i> negative dystopia book. It's sort of ironic because everyone in the late 40's was dreaming about flying cars and robot maids in the future, and then you've got George Orwell here rocking in a corner thinking <i>we're all gonna die 0_0.</i><br />
It's set in 1984 (duh) in London, and is told from the perspective of Winston Smith. The entire world has changed dramatically since the 1940's (which was the perspective Orwell was trying to make), and it's DEFINITELY not been good. The world has organized itself into three super-nations: Oceania (the Americas, British Isles, and Australia), Eurasia (the rest of Europe, Western Asia, and southern Africa), and EastAsia (pretty much everywhere else), that are constantly at war with each other.<br />
In Oceania, where the story takes place, everyone is ruled by The Party. They are a massively powerful political party who's main ideas are 'WAR IS PEACE, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, IGNORANCE IS PEACE' so I'll let you draw your own conclusions from that. People can be arrested for thinking bad thoughts against the party, but oddly enough killing is encouraged. Party members are constantly monitored by telescreens that they can't turn off, and hidden microphones. It's common for people to be taken away in the middle of the night and never seen again. And that's only the surface o-o.<br />
The story is told from Winston's point of view, which is growing against The Party, and wishes to take action against the oppressors.<br />
((Spoilerific for the characters, but the review is fine if you're interested. If you're interested in the other book, scroll down to the teaser for that.))<br />
<br />
<b>Characters</b>:<br />
<i>Winston Smith:</i> The main character of the story. He is a 39 year old man who leads the typical life of a party member, and is sort of a borderline alcoholic ((but then again, who wouldn't be?)). He constantly questions The Party's motives and ideals, and is fairly sure that they are horrible but can't tell for sure. His job is falsifying records to The Party's benefit in the Ministry of Truth.<br />
He starts a diary to try and tell future generations about The Party, but doesn't get very far with it and abandons it after things start to heat up. You see, he meets a girl named Julia who works in the Ministry of Truth too (her job is making 'fiction' books for the party) and they fall in love. Kinda. It's more of a 'let's do <i>it</i> and rebell against the government' sorta thing. Anyway, they do that for a while and then they hear about this thing called The Brotherhood. It's a rebel group that wants to take down Big Brother and The Party, and they try to join it but then they're betrayed and it sucks.<br />
When they get caught, they're taken to the Ministry of Love, and are brainwashed into thinking The Party's ideals, and then the story ends.<br />
<br />
<i>Julia:</i> The girl that Winston falls in love with. She has been rebelling against The Party since she was a teenager (she's 25 now) with acts of 'love'. I wanna call her a half rebel, since she mostly rebels for the fun of it, and less because it's against The Party's rules. She's really good at breaking the rules, but she doesn't seem extremely intelligent.<br />
<br />
<i>O'Brian:</i> An Inner Party member who betrays Julia and Winston.<br />
Inner Party: The elite of The Party. They get a bunch of special privileges such as good food and music that members of the Outer Party (like Winston and Julia) don't get.<br />
Anyway, O'Brian is a shithead and no one can say otherwise. He pretends likes he's Julia and Winston's friend, pretends to invite them into The Brotherhood, and then it turns out he was just trying to arrest them the whole time! And then he's the one that brainwashes them into loving The Party.<br />
<br />
<i>Big Brother:</i> The figurehead of The Party. I'm pretty sure he never actually existed, but that isn't the point. He's supposed to be the one thing that Party members love. Not their families, not their friends, only love for Big Brother.<br />
<br />
<i>Goldstien</i>: The supposed leader of The Brotherhood. I don't think he existed either, and was just a trap for people who commit <i>thinkcrime.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><b>
Review</b>:<br />
I want to explain more about the book, but then you'll never read it so there isn't much point.<br />
I didn't really expect to like this book when I got it, but I thought I should read it since it's really famous and there are a bunch of references to it everywhere.<br />
But.........holy crap this is a freaky book.<br />
Not only is the idea of this sort of society existing frightening, the inside look that you get is even worse. There's the one scene where Winston kicked a severed hand into the gutter just after watching the guy who it belonged to get blown up by a rocket bomb like it was nothing!<br />
And then there's the brainwashing part that's just...........*shivers in disgust*.<br />
Don't get me wrong, this is a genuinely interesting book. But it's nothing like the dystopians you've read in the past.<br />
I didn't like it very much, but maybe you will enjoy it more than I did.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell:</b><br />
We're drastically changing gears here to a much happier and modern book.<br />
I just realized how completely different these two books are.....weird.<br />
<br />
<b>Teaser Thing:</b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.parade.condenast.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/fangirl-ftr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://static.parade.condenast.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/fangirl-ftr.jpg" height="200" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From: <a class="_eh irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://parade.condenast.com/154939/sonacharaipotra/eleanor-park-author-rainbow-rowell-talks-about-her-latest-novel-fangirl/" style="color: #7d7d7d; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">parade.condenast.com</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are these two twins named Cath and Wren that are from Omaha Nebraska. Cath is a total bookworm and completely introverted and has really bad social anxiety. Meanwhile, Wren is a party girl to the max, totally extroverted, but still smart. These two are 18, and are just starting college it Iowa University.They both have a passion for the Simon Snow series (it's like Harry Potter), but Wren has sort of grown out of it. Cath on the other hand is a very famous fanfiction writer (like, super DUPER famous), and pours a lot of her time into writing her version of the last Simon Snow book.<br />
Unfortunately for Cath, college brings around a lot of issues that Simon Snow can't help her with, like making friends, trying to take care of her bipolar dad, and love.<br />
((spoilerific from here on out guys))<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Characters:</b><br />
Cath: The narrator of the story. An 18 year old who has usually relied on her outgoing sister in terms of social interaction, but her sister has decided to not spend as much time with Cath now that they're at college, which leaves Cath floundering in this new world. She finds solace in her writing, but of course she can't escape being friends with her roommate Megan, falling for Megan's friend Levi who is always in their room.<br />
<br />
Wren: Cath's older sister who takes the party route during college. She and Cath used to be inseparable, but Wren wanted freedom from the whole twin thing (which I totally understand, but still she was really mean about it considering that Cath can't handle talking to new people) so she ditched Cath for her roommate Courtney. Wren goes to a bunch of parties, gets drunk a lot, and eventually gets alcohol poisoning which gets her to stop drinking so YAY!<br />
<br />
Levi: The very attractive farm boy (which are unsurprisingly common considering they're in Iowa) who eventually ends up with Cath. He used to date Megan, but they broke up after starting college. He's an incredibly happy dude, always smiling and will help a friend at a moments notice. I think he's dyslexic, so he has to record a lot of his lectures and listen to them over so he understands whats going on in his classes.<br />
He's a cutie patootie and makes me happy :)<br />
<br />
Regan: Cath's roomate. She's a lot edgier than Cath (then again a pillow is edgier than Cath), which freaks her out, but eventually they become pretty good friends.<br />
<br />
Nick: Cath's writer friend who turns out to be a huge asshole later :/<br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Review:</b><br />
I know I sort of half-assed this review, but give me a break alright? The 1984 one took a while and I have other stuff to write.<br />
I think that I might have a weird insight on this book, as an introverted teenager with social anxiety that enjoys writing and has triplet brothers, which probably swayed my opinion.<br />
But seriously this is an amazing book. I have so much respect for Rainbow Rowell, because each of her books manage to be fun and happy, but also make you want cry without being overwhelming.<br />
I realize that any of my guy readers (if I have any, shout out to the bros!), they probably won't enjoy this book as much as the girls, but it's worth a shot if it's raining and you don't have biking or whatever you do.<br />
Gal readers, just read it. I know a lot of you will relate to Cath, and it's a great read.<br />
<br />
___________________<br />
<br />
Alright, got you guys TWO reviews.<br />
Do with them what you will.<br />
Since a link is still required, I invite you to play this <a href="http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048/" target="_blank">game</a>, which is horrible and will ruin your life.<br />
You're welcome.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-76770849682999099382014-04-11T19:39:00.000-07:002014-04-11T19:39:23.613-07:00I Don't Freaking KnowI've been staring at this page for the last half hour and I can't think of a single thing to write about.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.browneyedbaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/snickerdoodles-main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.browneyedbaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/snickerdoodles-main.jpg" height="224" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From: <a class="_Mg irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2009/07/08/snickerdoodles/" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><span style="color: blue;">www.browneyedbaker.com</span></span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It might just be the sick haze that I've been in for the past week, but I haven't been able to think a single clear thought all day.<br />
For example, we were doing a socratic seminar thing in English today (socratic seminar: When everybody gathers in a circle and talks about stuff) and we have to talk for participation points. Since today was the <a href="http://www.dayofsilence.org/" target="_blank">Day of Silence</a>, I was originally gonna use that as an excuse to not talk since I feel like crap, but Mr. P made it very clear that we HAD to talk, even if we were participating in DoS.<br />
Speaking of the DoS, I have a slight confession. I'm sort of a chatterbox most of the time. Not in class though, because that's disrespectful to the teacher and honestly there aren't very many people that I would want to talk with anyway. Knowing this about myself, I knew that DoS would be a train wreck if I actually tried to do it. However, to make myself feel like I was a good person and participating, I decided to make some snickerdoodles and give them out to people and tell them about DoS. However I ran out before first period even started, and got sort of overwhelmed by the stampede of boys who saw that I was giving out food. Anyway, back to English class.<br />
So we were all talking 'bout rights and stuff, when the little voice in my head was like 'Dude, you really need to talk soon. Otherwise you're gonna fail.' Since grades are extremely important to me, and failing English would be incredibly devastating, I started to just spew some crap that sorta sounded like it had to do with the subject.<br />
You know when you sort of zone out while you're talking, and you can hear and feel yourself talking but you aren't really comprehending it? That's what happened in English. And it sucked. But I'm still feeling too sick to care much more than that at the moment<br />
So this isn't really a review post, but I honestly haven't seen much this week that would require a review.<br />
I really should've because I took two sick days this week and watched movies the whole time, but they were old movies that either I've already seen too many times to want to do an entire post on (a.k.a Disney movies), or everyone likes them anyway and it'd be pointless to do a post on them (a.k.a Lord of the Rings).<br />
So I guess I'm just gonna leave it at that for this week. I'm sick and miserable and I don't have anything worth talking about.<br />
I'll probably do a post about spring break next week if I don't end up killing myself and my family by crashing a four wheeler.<br />
Or a car.<br />
I estimate a 45% chance of either of those things happening, so the odds are in my favor, but only slightly O-0.<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-75013404835848093682014-04-04T17:14:00.002-07:002014-04-04T17:14:42.110-07:00Portal 2I hoped you guys liked my little hint last week.<br />
The video was cute at least, even if you didn't understand what it was talking about.<br />
Speaking of which, if you have played/watched Portal 2, then you probably started flipping out when you saw that this post would be about it. If you haven't, then that's unfortunate for you because you're really missing out.<br />
<br />
<b>Plot (kinda):</b><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRa8RcM5nZE3jpFGhiNySn1zM62agI_jtAK7wP_3YSouXaeqHOXog" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" class="irc_mut" height="198" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRa8RcM5nZE3jpFGhiNySn1zM62agI_jtAK7wP_3YSouXaeqHOXog" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From:<a class="_Yf irc_hol" data-href="http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=202348939" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&docid=o5wnAVguQTuciM&tbnid=6Z3qKW6a2KG0jM:&ved=0CAQQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsteamcommunity.com%2Fworkshop%2Ffiledetails%2F%3Fid%3D202348939&ei=Ykc_U8L7Gu-kyAGDzIG4DA&psig=AFQjCNET70-2XMT_GU44Zzpul9i032lT-A&ust=1396742277407045" style="color: #7d7d7d; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">steamcommunity.com</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So the thing about Portal 2 is that it's the sequel to Portal, which I haven't played yet.<br />
Calm down gamer readers. It's on my computer and I'll play it as soon as I get my microphone working again (I'm gonna try and do gaming videos!).<br />
Anyway, the main character, Chell wakes up from some sort of coma at the beginning of the game because the place that she's at is getting destroyed. She's saved from the crumbling building by a little blue robot named Wheatley, who leads her around the massive facility.<br />
It turns out that Chell is still in Aperture Sciences, a massive research facility that she tried to escape from in the last game. Aperture Sciences is run by a robot named GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System), who you tried to kill in the last game. You failed at that, and GLaDOS is still alive, and extremely pissed. She quickly finds you, and makes you start 'testing' again.<br />
<br />
<b>How the game works:</b><br />
So that last part was probably a bit confusing for you guys that haven't played the game.<br />
The thing that Aperture Sciences does is human testing. They put you in chambers with different obstacles, and different power ups. Obstacles can be things like bottomless pits, turrets that shoot at you, and lasers. Power ups can be blue goo that makes you jump higher, orange goo that makes you run fast, or weird tunnel things that you can float in.<br />
You're main power up, is the portal gun. This gun attaches at your hand, and can shoot an orange portal, and a blue portal. If you go through the blue portal, you'll come out the orange portal, and vice versa. You can only shoot the portals at certain types of walls, but since these rooms are designed to be solvable, you can conveniently get portals in just the right places.<br />
Basically the whole game is solving puzzles like this.<br />
<br />
((Okay, it gets spoilerific from here))<br />
<b>Characters:</b><br />
((look, I don't want to go to the Wiki page in case of spoilers with the first game, so this is mostly info I've gathered from the first game))<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/40/Chell.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" class="irc_mut" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/40/Chell.png" height="200" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 1px;" width="130" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From:<a class="_Yf irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chell_(Portal)" style="color: #7d7d7d; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">en.wikipedia.org</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Chell: The protagonist of the game that never says a word. She has presumably been a testing subject at Aperture for a long time. Because Aperture is underground (like deep deep deep underground), she hasn't been up to the surface for a very long time, and is determined to get out of her scientific torture. She's adopted, but we never hear anything about her parents. She's very strong willed and can get through anything.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110501231532/half-life/en/images/8/81/Wheatley_model.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" class="irc_mut" src="http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110501231532/half-life/en/images/8/81/Wheatley_model.jpg" height="191" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From:<a class="_Yf irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Wheatley" style="color: #7d7d7d; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">half-life.wikia.com</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Wheatley: The little blue robot that I mentioned from earlier. He's a complete and total idiot who at the beginning of the game is tasked with watching you and possibly the other humans that were sleeping. For the first part of the game, he's trying to help you escape from Aperture Sciences because he's scared of GLaDOS and wants to get out anyway. Later, he helps you to defeat her, and in doing so becomes the controller of the facility. He then turns evil and realizes that he needs you to stay at Aperture and keep testing, so he sticks you in the old labs from the 1940s and you need to work your way back up. After you do, you eventually defeat him by throwing him through a portal to space.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTwCUcE3_6Q5YHlff8sRjaO9LuaedRUQ16diCJuOV23BgIy9VfR" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" class="irc_mut" height="150" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTwCUcE3_6Q5YHlff8sRjaO9LuaedRUQ16diCJuOV23BgIy9VfR" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From:<span style="background-color: white;"> <a class="_Yf irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="https://pixelpub.wordpress.com/category/lists/" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">pixelpub.wordpress.com</span></a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
GLaDOS: GLaDOS was the main antagonist from the first game, but becomes your ally in the second. Well, at first she's evil, and completely resents you for trying to kill her by throwing her into the incinerator. But after Wheatley gains control and sticks her consciousness into a potato battery, she helps you get back to the control room and take Wheatley down. While you're going there, you learn that Aperture Scientists figured how to put a human consciousness into a robot, and GLaDOS partially has the consciousness of Caroline, the founder of Aperture Science's assistant (and personally I think she was sleeping with Mr. Cave Johnson cus how else did she get stuck inside the controlling force of Aperture Sciences?). After you help her regain control of the facility, she lets you have your freedom, and everything works out well for everyone (except for Wheatley, who is in space).<br />
<br />
<b>Review</b>:<br />
I'm an absolute sucker for puzzle games. I've never liked FPS's because they're stupid and require reflexes that I don't have, but puzzle RPG games....those are a different story.<br />
I know that lots of gamers don't like extremely linear games because they like to explore and stuff, but I enjoy linear games a bit more. I like having a list of things that I need to do, and getting to move on once I complete those tasks.<br />
Then again, I play games for story more than anything, so that might be part of it too.<br />
Speaking of which, the story if this game is SO good. I don't know who wrote it (edit: looked it up, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Wolpaw" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: Arimo, 'Liberation Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.890625px;" title="Erik Wolpaw">Erik Wolpaw</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Pinkerton" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: Arimo, 'Liberation Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.890625px; text-decoration: none;" title="Jay Pinkerton">Jay Pinkerton</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chet_Faliszek" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; background-image: none; color: #0b0080; font-family: Arimo, 'Liberation Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.890625px; text-decoration: none;" title="Chet Faliszek">Chet Faliszek</a>), but they are a genius. The whole story is told by GLaDOS, Wheatley, and ancient recordings of Cave Johnson, but it's done so well that it seems like that's the only way they COULD tell it. And on the surface, it doesn't seem like there is much of a story, but when you think about it, everything that is said and/or implied really creates a complex web of Aperture Science's history.<br />
The music is VERY good. It's sort of like.......techno dubstep. Ya. That's what it is. But it fits the atmosphere well and keeps everything interesting.<br />
The graphics are beautiful, and I can't imagine how long it took for them to figure out how to get the portal thing to work. Good on you Valve. Good on you.<br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion</b>:<br />
Play the game. You'll love every second of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-78032030085353756272014-04-03T08:40:00.001-07:002014-04-03T08:40:46.529-07:00GUYS I NEED YOUR HELP ASAPI would really appreciate it if you could all take <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/pcstudents.us/forms/d/16hYpnRs-bnCu1ez00vemPNLcDTHh-vajQWnowHUwsXw/viewform" target="_blank">this survey </a>so I can have decent data for my English essay.<br />
I will love you forever if you do so.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-44632069928670651082014-03-28T18:28:00.000-07:002014-03-29T19:03:01.258-07:00Divergent (the movie since that's more relevant at the moment)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/scottmendelson/files/2014/03/Divergent-2014-Movie-Poster1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/scottmendelson/files/2014/03/Divergent-2014-Movie-Poster1.jpg" height="320" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" width="204" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From:<a class="_Tf irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2014/03/16/review-divergent-will-please-its-fans/" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><span style="color: black;">www.forbes.com</span></span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Wow. A post about the newest sci-fi movie based on a book and aimed at teenage girls. That's new.<br />
This was gonna be a much cooler post and be in comic book form, but unfortunately I'm lazy and would rather play Portal 2 than draw.<br />
So no comic for you guys.<br />
Anyway, back on topic.<br />
<br />
Teaser type plot:<br />
Divergent is dystopian novel set in a future Chicago. The city has been surrounded by a fence in order to protect the citizens from whatever is 'outside' ((which I hear is to be adressed in Allegiant (((the third book))) which I haven't read yet so please don't say any spoilers)). Inside the city is an entirely different story. The inhabitants have been separated into 5 different groups (factions) that value different things. Abnegation values selflessness. Amity values peace. Candor values truth. Erudite values intelligence. And Dauntless values courage. The cultures of each faction heavily surround what it values, and influences everything from what they eat to what they wear. When a person turns 16, they are allowed to choose which faction they will live in for the rest of their lives.<br />
Beatrice Prior is an Abnegation born girl who is about to choose where she will stay for the rest of her life. Each of the kids are given an aptitude test to help them make their decision by putting them in a simulation that measures their reactions and thinking. Normally, you get one answer, and it wasn't that hard to tell that it would be your answer. Beatrice gets three. This labels her as a Divergent, a person who can't conform to one faction.<br />
She later chooses Dauntless as her faction, since she always admired their courage and how they could have fun. The rest of the book goes through her training, and a scheme that one of the factions is cooking up.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Spoilerific from here on out.</b></span><br />
Characters:<br />
<br />
Tris (Beatrice's nickname): The main character of the story. She is very reckless, cunning, and selfless. Because of this, her three results on the aptitude test were Abnegation, Erudite, and Dauntless which she constantly mentions and worries about. Because she switched from Dauntless to Erudite, she is bullied by the other transfers and called 'Stiff'. However she often proves herself in training, and because she saves the entire faction which would have to get you some respect.<br />
Also, she's played by Shailene Woodley who is an AMAZING ACTRESS. HOLY CRAP. SHE IS SO GOOD AT IT THAT I CAN' T EVEN BELIEVE IT.<br />
<br />
Four: Tris' instructor during training and eventual boyfriend. He is the epitome of the Dauntless. He has perfect aim with any sort of weapon, is extremely strong, and believes in everyday acts of bravery. Unfortunately for him, Dauntless has turned more towards a belief in reckless bravery, which Four doesn't approve of.<br />
Obviously Four is a nickname (but omg can you imagine if it wasn't? #worst parents ever), that Four earned during his initiation. For initiation, you have to go through your fear landscape and face your worst nightmares. Four is legendary for only having four fears (most people have 10-15).<br />
It turns out that Four transfered from Abnegation (like Tris) to escape from an abusive father. This might be part of why Tris is attracted to him, coupled with the fact that he's sort of gorgeous.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjM3MDIxMzY1NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzk5NjEzMDE@._V1_SY1200_CR69,0,630,1200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" class="irc_mut" src="http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjM3MDIxMzY1NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzk5NjEzMDE@._V1_SY1200_CR69,0,630,1200_.jpg" height="320" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="167" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I couldn't decide whether to have<br />
the normal poster or the shirtless<br />
Four poster, so I did both,<br />
From<span style="background-color: white;">:<a class="_Tf irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840309/" style="color: #660099; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="color: #7d7d7d; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">www.imdb.com</span></a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Caleb: Tris' brother. He seemed like the perfect Abnegation kid, but he transfered to Erudite which dispelled that theory. He's not very brave, but he's incredibly smart.<br />
The main reason I bring him up is because he's played by Ansel Elgort, which is beautiful since he and Shailene will be in 'The Fault in Our Stars' together.<br />
<br />
Christina: Tris' best friend who transfered to Dauntless from Candor.<br />
<br />
Peter: The biggest dickwad ever who will do anything to get ahead. This includes stabbing someone in the eye with a butter knife so his ranking will be higher.<br />
<br />
Al: A really big transfer from Candor to Dauntless. He's a total sweetheart, but sucks at being Dauntless.<br />
<br />
Tori: A tattoo artist that helps Tris to understand her Divergence<br />
<br />
Will/Uriah/ etc- Friends of Tris' that do stuff.<br />
<br />
Final reaction:<br />
I'm a dork who absolutely HAS to read the book before I see the movie. Unfortunately, everyone I saw this movie with hadn't read the book, so I was the only one who knew what was going on.<br />
Since you're supposed to do reviews in a good/bad/good format, I'll start with something good.<br />
The casting was amazing. Shailene was the perfect Tris. Theo James was a great Four, and everyone else looked very close to what I had imagined in the books.<br />
Okay, now to complain about the same thing that I complain about in all of the movie-baed-off-book posts. IT WASN'T LIKE THE BOOK. EVERYTHING WAS CHANGED. BLAH BLAH.....blah.<br />
<br />
Sorry guys, I'm really losing motivation to do this.<br />
Let's just wrap it up.<br />
Another thing that I really liked about the movie (though I admit this is more to the book's credit), was the scene with one of Tris' fears. Basically she's afraid of intimacy, and vulnerability, which is presented as Four forcing himself on her. She responds to this with a well placed kick to the stomach, getting her off him and fighting back.<br />
I might just be focusing on this because I'm currently doing a report on feminism for school, but I think it's great that tons of girls around the world will see this scene. In a culture that keeps sexual abuse in the shadows, this'll show people that this sort of thing is not okay.<br />
<br />
Conclusion:<br />
If you've read the book, you're going to be disappointed because of extreme plot changes. If you haven't, you'll probably be confused cus they stunk at explaining things.<br />
You should still go, but don't go with super high expectations.<br />
<br />
Edit: Hey guys! I found <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIGGsZZWzZA&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">this video</a> and you should watch it because it has to do with next week's post.<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-3377241477668854602014-03-21T15:57:00.002-07:002014-03-21T15:58:23.744-07:00Disneyland Adventure (P.S- It's a long one)Hello dear readers!<br />
I promised last week that I'd give you an explanation as to what I was doing, and why that resulted in that horrific post.<br />
Well, I was in Anaheim for this huge Catholic conference at the Anaheim convention center. My mom goes to it every year, and had this dream that she would take us to the youth day when we were old enough. Apparently we were old enough this year, and had to sit through 8 hours of Christian rock, 'aerobic praying', mass, and lectures about who even knows what.<br />
This was incredibly ridiculous, considering I don't intend to be confirmed Catholic, yet my mother is in denial about it.<br />
Overall, it was a lot more fun that I thought it would be, but that might've been because I was forcing myself to have fun. I had been told <i>repeatedly </i>by my dad that if I ruined it for my mom, I was royally screwed.<br />
Also I was stressed the whole time, because I missed four tests at school that day which I spent ALL THIS WEEK MAKING UP. I LITERALLY WASN'T COMPLETELY CAUGHT UP TILL THIS MORNING.<br />
There were a <i>few </i>redeeming qualities to it. Before the below picture was taken, there was this cool drumming thing that had absolutely nothing to do with Catholicism, with made it pretty great.<br />
It was also the one year anniversary of Pope Francis being elected, so everyone naturally went batshit over that.<br />
I only took one picture of the whole thing:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ai4OANBxKIg/UyyvKfYzsjI/AAAAAAAAANQ/C4qc0wf0Aek/s1600/IMG_1519.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ai4OANBxKIg/UyyvKfYzsjI/AAAAAAAAANQ/C4qc0wf0Aek/s1600/IMG_1519.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
That's the Anaheim Convention Center Stadium. It was packed with about 15,000 kids from all around California. I think that Juan Diego was there too, but we didn't see any of them. I really only took the picture because the decorations were pretty.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">OKAY HERE'S THE FUN PART:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
My mom went to the actual conference that Friday, which was with all the Christian adults. Since she knew we weren't gonna be able to sit through all that a second day, she got us tickets to both Disneyland, and California Adventure.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So basically Gabe (le brother) and me got to run around Disneyland a week ago today by ourselves.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Naturally we got up bright and early, and got in right when the park opened.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4lw9RWR5-Lg/Uyyw1lyhb3I/AAAAAAAAANc/zraI-BjcygU/s1600/IMG_1523.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4lw9RWR5-Lg/Uyyw1lyhb3I/AAAAAAAAANc/zraI-BjcygU/s1600/IMG_1523.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theres Main Street U.S.A all bright and early. Gabe is the kid wearing the dorky hat on the right.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We went to the Matterhorn first, since it was closed the last time we were in Disneyland. While we were in line, Gabe started complaining about how his German friend who had a very stereotypical German name that I can't remember would be flipping his shnitzle at the fakey german decorations at the ride. I told him to shut his face and just be happy that I was going on a water ride with him.<br />
<div>
I was also flipping out because I kept thinking about how I was missing a very important English thing, and that I would have to make it up the next Monday.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YV0j1YjJbds/Uyyxisw4RQI/AAAAAAAAANk/pAChp2x9uAo/s1600/IMG_1524.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YV0j1YjJbds/Uyyxisw4RQI/AAAAAAAAANk/pAChp2x9uAo/s1600/IMG_1524.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's really pretty, even if it's fake and there's a lady's head in my picture.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I sort of lied when I said we went to the Matterhorn first. We tried to go to Space Mountain, but they were doing repairs on it that morning, but said it would be open later. We checked back after Matterhorn, but it was still closed.<br />
<div>
Something you should know about my brother is that he is absolutely horrible with money. He needs to buy everything that catches his fancy, even if it's obviously a piece of crap. So naturally, since we were in Tomorrowland with no one around, he gets a build your own lightsaber.</div>
<div>
Cus he's a dumbass.</div>
<div>
Anyway, since Space Mountain still wasn't open, we went to SPLASH Mountain, since we had never been on that either.</div>
<div>
I think that my earlier comment about not wanting to get wet became a challenge to Gabe.</div>
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I vaguely remembered going on Splash Mountain WAAAAY back when I was 4 years old. By remember, I mean I remember crying the whole time and trying to get my dad to stop the ride and let me off.</div>
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This memory made me a little anxious to get on the ride, but I knew that at the end it was a short drop, a big splash, and then it was over.</div>
<div>
What I didn't remember was the animatronic hell that came between.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fOlTt4-y-Lo/UyyzqOjxhhI/AAAAAAAAANw/hIGr41v7A-I/s1600/IMG_1536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fOlTt4-y-Lo/UyyzqOjxhhI/AAAAAAAAANw/hIGr41v7A-I/s1600/IMG_1536.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">During the ride I told Gabe that if I was the ruler of hell, I would make it this ride on loop. He looked at me like I was the most evil person he'd ever seen.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qej15kfZFK8/Uyy0KZlFFMI/AAAAAAAAAN4/ZpvCZKuXjzY/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-03-21+at+3.50.13+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Qej15kfZFK8/Uyy0KZlFFMI/AAAAAAAAAN4/ZpvCZKuXjzY/s1600/Screen+shot+2014-03-21+at+3.50.13+PM.png" height="278" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I will murder you and everyone you love"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Never go on Splash Mountain.<br />
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EVER.</div>
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After that horrific experience we were heading back to Space Mountain to check on things, when we saw that famous statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse and some other ones.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ytDsLBpkVRo/Uyy05RFexGI/AAAAAAAAAOA/nB-YiI_MEac/s1600/IMG_1526.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ytDsLBpkVRo/Uyy05RFexGI/AAAAAAAAAOA/nB-YiI_MEac/s1600/IMG_1526.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ulvKAw3i-Hs/Uyy09Aa88pI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/VKxx_ntMZvM/s1600/IMG_1528.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ulvKAw3i-Hs/Uyy09Aa88pI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/VKxx_ntMZvM/s1600/IMG_1528.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7BaqjNauBjM/Uyy079FimoI/AAAAAAAAAOI/s7q-84RFQIM/s1600/IMG_1527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7BaqjNauBjM/Uyy079FimoI/AAAAAAAAAOI/s7q-84RFQIM/s1600/IMG_1527.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
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When we finally made it back to Space Mountain, it turned out that it had opened while we were in robot hell and the line was a good old three hours long. Since there was absolutely no way we were gonna waste our day in that line, we went to the innovations exhibit that was right next to the ride.</div>
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First thing I see when we walk in:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uvwZm-vIsRA/Uyy2EySKCXI/AAAAAAAAAOc/Iq0kfnCQFjQ/s1600/IMG_1553.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uvwZm-vIsRA/Uyy2EySKCXI/AAAAAAAAAOc/Iq0kfnCQFjQ/s1600/IMG_1553.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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MOTHER</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rDMGBTvQyqs/Uyy2FQOC3hI/AAAAAAAAAOg/Fdbv4dpSnNg/s1600/IMG_1554.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rDMGBTvQyqs/Uyy2FQOC3hI/AAAAAAAAAOg/Fdbv4dpSnNg/s1600/IMG_1554.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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DUCKING</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qb4Lp7Ot1Yw/Uyy2FjwbdJI/AAAAAAAAAOo/uKb0DufHS7M/s1600/IMG_1555.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qb4Lp7Ot1Yw/Uyy2FjwbdJI/AAAAAAAAAOo/uKb0DufHS7M/s1600/IMG_1555.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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IRON MAN</div>
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*ENSUE RABID FANGIRL MADNESS*</div>
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AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!</div>
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The rest of the exhibit was sort of a blur, but they had Fifa 11 and I tried to be John Green for a bit but failed epicly. However, I did beat my brother, so at least I learned something from the Swindentown Swoodlypoopers.</div>
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After that we tromped through Fantasyland and Adventureland for a bit. We went to Tarzan's Treehouse (which was another ride that I hadn't been on since I was 4, but this one was a lot better) and Indiana Jones (hands down the best ride in Disneyland). Everything in Fantasyland was either full or broken down, so we went to Toontown instead.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gw77C3Bwbns/Uyy3Gx0jXZI/AAAAAAAAAO4/vxEZUWFFNoc/s1600/IMG_1546.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gw77C3Bwbns/Uyy3Gx0jXZI/AAAAAAAAAO4/vxEZUWFFNoc/s1600/IMG_1546.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I regret to inform you Toontown, that neither baseball or duck is a number. I see you trying to make lemon a number too, and it's just not gonna happen.</td></tr>
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We went to Mickey's house and were in line to see him and everything, but then we realized that we were in line to go see a guy in a mouse costume who was probably hating life at the moment and didn't need two teenagers to come in and add to the amount of people he had to hug that day. So we left.</div>
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At that point, we decided that we were done at Disneyland, and hopped over to California Adventure.</div>
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The newest thing there was Carsland, which had been under construction the last time we went there. However, the main reason Gabe had made our mom buy park hopper tickets was so that he could go on the California Screamin Roller Coaster. He went on that, while I bought ice cream and watched the water show.</div>
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No, I am not scared of roller coasters. I just really really REALLY hate to go upside down on them.</div>
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After he had completed his mission, we went over to the famed Carsland. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1A661vwfqLQ/Uyy4vY8HrfI/AAAAAAAAAPM/phXhk03zh0o/s1600/IMG_1558.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1A661vwfqLQ/Uyy4vY8HrfI/AAAAAAAAAPM/phXhk03zh0o/s1600/IMG_1558.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I tried really hard to take a picture of Radiator Springs, but then all these people were in the way.</td></tr>
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The racer ride had a two hour wait, which we would not stand for. So we went to Luigi's flying tires instead. Basically, it's bumper cars but you're on a giant air hockey floor. It's not very exciting, but the engineering and design that went into it is pretty remarkable.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_A9UFL9F2-s/Uyy4u5Fjs-I/AAAAAAAAAPE/TnWrXe3MuOs/s1600/IMG_1559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_A9UFL9F2-s/Uyy4u5Fjs-I/AAAAAAAAAPE/TnWrXe3MuOs/s1600/IMG_1559.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It also had this 'Hold hands with tiny people, but definitely DO NOT DANCE ON THE TIRE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD' sign so that was fun.</td></tr>
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There was only one thing that I really wanted to do at California Adventure, and that was go to the Animation Academy. I was really hoping that I could go to one of the classes, but they were over a half hour long and Gabe didn't want to sit through that. So instead, we went to the other exhibits in the building.<br />
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If I haven't said it on here yet, I really want to do something for Disney when I get older. Voice acting, animation, scriptwriting, directing. I just REALLY wanna make movies at Disney, so I was geeking out to the max here.</div>
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One of the big exhibits here was the Toy Story Zoetrope. Here's a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vco-l5kIR_Q" target="_blank">video</a> of it so you can see what I mean. Gabe thought it was totally the bee's knees, while I got sort of distracted thinking about how people with epilepsy would hate this thing.</div>
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The next room was a bunch more animation things that little kids really liked because they could spin a wheel and see the pictures move. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qz1W9ql6fOg/Uyy7a2Rh5XI/AAAAAAAAAPc/b3BgRRWaT68/s1600/IMG_1561.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qz1W9ql6fOg/Uyy7a2Rh5XI/AAAAAAAAAPc/b3BgRRWaT68/s1600/IMG_1561.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The whole room was decked out like this. It was GORGEOUS.</td></tr>
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We dorked around in there for a little bit, and then went onto Beast's Library. In there, you get a personality quiz to see which Disney Character you are.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3aGwIgJpzOk/Uyy7ZwcEPqI/AAAAAAAAAPY/3gGlSbjbfBg/s1600/IMG_1563.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3aGwIgJpzOk/Uyy7ZwcEPqI/AAAAAAAAAPY/3gGlSbjbfBg/s1600/IMG_1563.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Since I love those sort of things, I took it and got Maleficent cus I'm a boss like that. Gabe got Marlin.............*snickers*</div>
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The next room didn't get any pictures cus it was dark, but it was Ursula's Grotto. You got to sing Disney songs, and it would put your voice in the animation. Now, I'm completely delusional and think that I have a good singing voice. Hearing me fail at Hakuna Matata and my brother laughing at me brought me down a couple dozen pegs. Luckily for me, he did even worse :)</div>
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Gabe wouldn't let me go see what Turtle Talks with Crush were, we left and went to the Farris Wheel.</div>
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We also saw this thing when we walked out:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8t-28yKyW4s/UyzCkTy3trI/AAAAAAAAAP8/U2jT_keEHLg/s1600/IMG_1566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8t-28yKyW4s/UyzCkTy3trI/AAAAAAAAAP8/U2jT_keEHLg/s1600/IMG_1566.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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It was for this dance thing called MadTParty, and I really wanted to check it out by Gabe wouldn't let me :(</div>
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By that point it was late afternoon and we wanted to go back to the hotel, but were too stubborn to leave just yet.</div>
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I was hoping for a nice relaxing ride, and a good view of the park but Gabe wanted to be EXTREME and go on the sliding cars.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ulj_umArMRo/Uyy9lCv23VI/AAAAAAAAAPs/8INKJoHCScA/s1600/IMG_1565.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ulj_umArMRo/Uyy9lCv23VI/AAAAAAAAAPs/8INKJoHCScA/s1600/IMG_1565.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I didn't even get a good picture cus Marlin's fat face was blocking the shot.</td></tr>
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After that, we were just about to go back to the hotel, when we remembered that we hadn't bought any of the crap at Downtown Disney yet!</div>
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THIS HAD TO BE CHANGED.</div>
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A half hour later, I walked out with a stylin' Nightmare Before Christmas hat, and some useless Alice and Wonderland Tea.</div>
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Gabe got a remote controlled car because reasons.</div>
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After that, we went back to the hotel, watched dumb TLC shows for a while, and then got a free fireworks show since our hotel was right behind California Adventure. I'm sure it was more spectacular in the park, but it was still pretty great.</div>
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Right after the fireworks, I realized it was Friday and that I had a blog post due. I was too tired to do what would've been this post then, so I wrote whatever came to my mind.</div>
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So there, that's your extended explanation as to why you got an incredibly crummy post last week.<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-79774879769992164662014-03-14T18:46:00.001-07:002014-03-14T18:46:41.310-07:00A complete blah post that I'm actually turning in o_oUnfortunately, I don't have the time, energy, or material to do an actual post.<br />
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The reason for this is that I'm in California for a Catholic conference and Disneyland adventure.</div>
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I'm gonna do a post about the trip, complete with fabulous pictures, but the computer I'm on at the moment is finicky and doesn't like my phone (which has the pictures).</div>
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Plus a post like that would take a super duper long time , which again, I DON'T HAVE THE TIME FOR.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img class="irc_mut" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/DisneylandTowerofTerror_wb.jpg" height="248" id="irc_mi" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From:<span style="color: white;"> <a class="_sg irc_hol" data-ved="0CAUQjB0" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone_Tower_of_Terror" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">en.wikipedia.org</span></a></span></td></tr>
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Since I have to do an actual review post....I'll do something on......uh......frick I don't even know.</div>
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I'll do it on my hotel room! Ya, I'll do it on the room!</div>
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The coolest part about it is that we can see the tower of terror from the room.</div>
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Unfortunately, we don't get any free fireworks shows even though we can clearly see both parks. I don't even know if they're doing fireworks this time of year. I don't know why they wouldn't, but they apparently are not.</div>
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The t.v really really sucks. The remote is fritzy, and doesn't work even 1/3 of the time. However, this is not a problem for my brother Gabe, since he only wants to watch comedy central anyway.</div>
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Seriously, it's constant Kay and Pele. It's horrible.</div>
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There's one really amazing part of the hotel though.</div>
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There are (is?) Starbucks EVERYWHERE. EV-RY-WHERE.</div>
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In the lobby. In the rooms. In the other hotels. California is apparently made of frappechinos.</div>
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There are also pictures of palm trees everywhere, because apparently real palm trees are not enough for the tourist experience. They need to amp up the palm trees to OVER 9000.<br />
So I guess the room is nice....maybe. It's good enough, considering we're RIGHT NEXT TO DISNEYLAND.</div>
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Since I still need to put a link, I'll just stick a <a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/television/" target="_blank">poem that I like</a> right here.</div>
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I'll tell you ALL about the trip next time, I promise.</div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-33782172535627257732014-03-07T15:51:00.000-08:002014-03-07T15:53:35.235-08:00Oh Captain, My Captain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
That title sure got your attention, huh Mr. P?</div>
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You thought this was gonna be about Walt Whitman?</div>
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You're only sort of mistaken.</div>
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BEHOLD!!</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">DEAD POETS SOCIETY!!!</span></div>
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<tr><td><img class="irc_mut" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2010-10-04-DeadPoetsSociety1989CD2.avi_003839798.jpg" height="336" id="irc_mi" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 29px;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You came to the wrong neighborhood<br />
from:<span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"> </span><a class="_vg irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/caroline-hagood/the-dead-poets-society-gu_b_749665.html" style="color: #660099; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #7d7d7d; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">www.huffingtonpost.com</span></a></td></tr>
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<br />
<b>Short teaser thing:</b><br />
So we've got all these boys that go to this really elite boarding school called Welton Academy. All of their parents want them to grow up to be doctors and lawyers and go to Ivy league colleges and stuff. These boys have been stuck in boring but 'useful' classes like Latin and trigonometry all their lives. Suddenly, they find themselves in a poetry class taught by a notoriously nutty teacher named Mr. Keating.<br />
Keating was a student at Welton Academy, and was a member of the long forgotten Dead Poets Society. The Dead Poets Society was basically a club that would sneak out of the school at night, go to a cave in the woods, read poetry, and try to get girls to join them. The boys reconvene the Dead Poets Society, and start their arpe diem fueled adventures.<br />
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<b>Characters:</b><br />
((I'm doing spoilers here since a lot of the big stuff is with each character, so as the usual warning: Spoilerific from here on out))<br />
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<b>Neil Perry:</b> Neil is the perfect son. His dad REALLY wants him to become a doctor, and is determined to do anything to get him there. He justifies his actions like making Neil take extra math classes instead of working on the school paper, as 'giving you more opportunities than I had'(but honestly it borders on emotional abuse). In Keating's class, he finds out that he loves poetry, and it becomes his gateway to self expression. He is the one that revitalizes the Dead Poets Society, and embraces the carpe diem philosophy by trying out for <i>A Midsummer Nights Dream</i>, and getting the part as Puck. Of course, he couldn't tell his dad, as his dad would freak the freak out. He completely and totally rocks the role (even while wearing atrocious twig gloves), but his father is obviously not happy about it when he finds out about it the day before the play. His dad immediately takes him out of Welton as soon as the play is over, and says he'll send him to military school, which will put a stop to this 'nonsense'. Seeing no other way out of his dads controlling ways, Neil kills himself.<br />
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<b>Todd Anderson: </b>Todd is the new kid at school. His brother was a top student at Welton, and Todd has no chance of coming out of his brothers shadow, as Todd is very shy and awkward. He's Neil's roommate, which is how he gets into the group in the first place, and is also part of Keating's poetry class. At first, he refuses to speak to pretty much everyone except for a few close people. One day, he has to recite a poem that he wrote for class, and with a BARBARIC YOP, he overcomes his anxiety, and is more confident. He's very loyal to his friends.<br />
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<b>Knox Overstreet: </b>Knox is the romantic. While he's at dinner with his parent's friends, he meets their daughter Chris, who he falls head over heels for. He writes poetry for here, gives her flowers, and sort of half stalks her(?). Unfortunately, she's dating a big football player who goes to her school, so dorky Knox doesn't have much of a chance. One night, he's at a party that she invited him to, and he's kind of drunk, and tries to put 'the moves' on a sleeping Chris (note for any guys that read this: DON'T DO THAT. I DON'T CARE HOW DRUNK YOU ARE, THAT IS CREEPY AS FRICK), and gets beat up by her boyfriend. Knox goes to her school the next day, gives her flowers and reads her a poem, and then gets kicked out. However, it apparently worked since they go to watch Neil's play together, and presumably live happily ever after.<br />
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<b>Charlie Dalton:</b> He's the clown. He's pretty much there just for comic relief, and honestly I can't remember anything that would add depth to his character besides his jokes.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>John Keating:</b> This guy is the freaky poetry teacher everyone is talking about. In Christian boarding school terms, he's very eccentric. He has his students rip up their textbooks, stands on his desk a lot, has his students call him 'captain', and encourages underground clubs that breaks nearly every school rule. He really emphasizes free thinking, and creativity. His motto is carpe diem, which is latin for sieze the day. Basically he's the cool English teacher that everyone loves. Unfortunately, he's also very irresponsible. Though he has good intentions, he is extremely irresponsible. I think he was really in love with the idea of his students having a freedom that he never got, and was too carried away with it to see the repercussions of his actions. Neil's death wasn't entirely his fault (not even mostly his fault), but it was partially his fault, and he got fired because of it (in the scene which is pictured above, and butchered with a pathetic joke :). He's also played by Robin Williams, which automatically makes him a great character.<br />
<br />
There are a bunch of other students, but I can't really remember much about them to constitute a long enough bio, so you're just gonna have to watch the movie if you're curious about them.<br />
<br />
<b>Reaction:</b><br />
Besides the atrocious 80's music and Neil Perry's weird as shit Puck gloves, this movie is absolute cinematic GOLD.<br />
The weird thing about this movie, is that I'd seen the beginning of it twice in different classes, but we never got much farther than when Niel throws Todd's desk set off the bridge. So basically, I never saw the end.<br />
OH GOSH THE END MADE ME SO SAD.<br />
BUT IT'S TOTALLY WORTH IT, and if you read the spoilerific parts (which you shouldn't if you want to watch the movie), don't let anything sad deter you from watching the movie.<br />
I'm at a point where I can really relate to a lot of things in this movie, like wanting to go against what your parents want, and having really awesome friends to help and help you through stuff, and how awesome poetry is and a bunch of the other major themes. I'm sure that any of the teens that read this can find something in that movie that reaches out to them.<br />
This movie is really worth it guys. Watch it, and you're sure to love it.<br />
<br />
<br />
((Quick side note. I don't think I've ever apologized for my atrocious run on sentences. I am truly sorry, but the ranty breathless feeling you get from them is what I'm trying to convey)).<br />
(((Quick side note 2: I don't think Mr. P made it this far, but if he did (or anyone in Honors English did), then you should watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS4jk5kavy4&list=UUX6b17PVsYBQ0ip5gyeme-Q" target="_blank">this</a> neat little video about The Odyssey))).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-24685129827506163252014-02-28T18:11:00.000-08:002014-02-28T18:16:54.303-08:00The Lego Movie: Just a Pile of Bricks<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-586dAfRYz0I/UxE63apIZYI/AAAAAAAAANA/Gn3Vtm69DKQ/s1600/the_lego_movie_2014-wide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-586dAfRYz0I/UxE63apIZYI/AAAAAAAAANA/Gn3Vtm69DKQ/s1600/the_lego_movie_2014-wide.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From: <a class="_Vf irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2014/02/03/review-everything-about-the-lego-movie-is-awesome/" style="color: #660099; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #7d7d7d; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">www.forbes.com</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
According to Lego, Batman is the worlds best marketing device.<br />
It certainly got me to go see the movie. Plus, a movie about legos HAD to be good, right?<br />
Actually, I take that back. Bionical was a disaster.<br />
<b>Plot:</b><br />
It's about this lego man named Emmet, who's as generic as you can get. He's one of the millions of construction workers in his city, follows all the instructions, and does the same thing every single day. In fact, he's SO generic, most of his co-workers have no idea who he is. One day, he finds this weird red brick (that actually ends up being a glue cap), that's called the 'piece of resistance'. It is the only thing that can stop the machine that the bad guy, Lord Business, and can only be wielded by 'The Special'. Lord Business wants to freeze everyone in place with the 'Kragle' (a tube of Krazy Glue), because he's a neat freak or something.<br />
Emmet meets this girl named Wild Style, who is a master builder. The master builders are the people that can use the legos around them to build stuff. Since Emmet is The Special, she takes him to meet a bunch of other master builders who will help him to defeat President Business.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/KyGnW2smOUg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
This video sums it up nicely (plus it has Morgan Freeman reading from a phone book). If the video doesn't work, go to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyGnW2smOUg&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">this link</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Characters:</b><br />
Emmet ((construction dude in the picture)): Main guy. The completely generic guy who has absolutely no creativity or skill for building but ends up being the hero.<br />
<br />
WyldStyle ((girl with the cool hair to Emmet's left)): The master builder that is the first to help Emmet. She was trained by Vitruvius and is dating Batman.<br />
<br />
Batman ((Superhero extraordinary to Emmet's right)): I don't know what you want me to say here. He's Batman. An asshole Batman, but still Batman.<br />
<br />
Vitruvius ((old guy to WyldStyle's left)): Some sort of wizard/hippie guy who was supposed to protect the Kragle. He was blinded by President Business, so he's got that whole 'blind mystic' thing going. He's voiced by Morgan Freeman, which makes his fail of a character acceptable.<br />
<br />
Lord Business: The bad guy who has a problem with being short, likes sticky things, and wants everything to be absolutely perfect.<br />
<br />
Minor characters include: Good cop/Bad cop, Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern, Princess UniKitty, Michelangelo, 1980-something Space Guy, 2002 All-Star Basketball Team, Gandalf, Dumbledore, Metalbeard, Abraham Lincoln, and more.<br />
<br />
<b>Thoughts:</b><br />
The bottom line was that this movie was really disappointing. Sure it had the humor that I went for, and they didn't waste the use of legos. I think that after seeing Frozen, my expectations for kids movies were raised a bit, and this movie didn't meet those expectations. However, I will say that it has a very cute ending, but it wasn't very brilliant.<br />
Now that I think about it, my expectations were a little too high.<br />
I recommend that you see it, but it's not so urgent that you can't wait until you can watch it online for free, rather than spending $7 on a ticket.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-3958932036584535382014-02-14T15:40:00.000-08:002014-02-14T15:42:18.788-08:00The Ails of a Lonely SoulI don't actually wanna talk about Valentines Day. I just thought of the title and thought it sounded <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U1X-iiPNR5w/Uv6oAycmEGI/AAAAAAAAAMw/oAVF6i-_agY/s1600/istockphoto_1156613-desk-calendar-february-14th-with-clipping-path.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U1X-iiPNR5w/Uv6oAycmEGI/AAAAAAAAAMw/oAVF6i-_agY/s1600/istockphoto_1156613-desk-calendar-february-14th-with-clipping-path.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you believe this is the only February 14th picture I could<br />
find that didn't have hearts and stuff on it?<br />
From:<a class="_Mf irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://daynikesblog.com/db-articles-february-14th-by-frankmachello_/" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><span style="color: black;">daynikesblog.com</span></span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
poetic.<br />
Since I really don't want to do a post on Valentines Day (and I'm really short on time because I have a million other things I have to do), I thought I'd do a post on February 14th in general.<br />
So here's a bunch of stuff that's happened on February 14th.<br />
In 842- Charles the Bald ((that's a really unfortunate epithet)) and Louis the German ((and that's a very generic one)) swear the Oaths of Strasburg in the French and German languages.<br />
I have no idea what any of that means.<br />
In 1942- the battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Sinapore.<br />
Sinapore.....fell?<br />
I was not aware of this tragedy(?).<br />
In 2005, Youtube was launched by a group of college students, eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos.<br />
Wait......what?<br />
It's Youtube's birthday?<br />
And no one got it a cake or anything?<br />
That's so sad.<br />
It's also Simon Pegg, Michael Bloomberg and Florence Henderson's birthday ((along with like five billion other people)) so happy birthday to them.<br />
I didn't immediately recognize any of the people that died, but happy death day to them.<br />
I guess it's kind of Oregon and Arizona's birthdays too, because it's their statehood day!!<br />
HORRAY FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAYS!!!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_14" target="_blank">Here's</a> the source for all my info. It was wikipedia so I probably just accidentally lied to everyone on some of the facts.<br />
I'm sorry for the silly post, and I'm sorry that it wasn't actually a review post. Next week should be better cus I'll hopefully have seen <i>The Lego Movie </i>by then.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-51107711219517311612014-02-07T18:29:00.003-08:002014-02-07T18:29:54.182-08:00Music? What is this music you speak of?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JNfwRMVAF2c/UvWVeFG5QPI/AAAAAAAAAMg/cnccYbmttQI/s1600/florence-and-the-machine-2012-e1338848714753.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JNfwRMVAF2c/UvWVeFG5QPI/AAAAAAAAAMg/cnccYbmttQI/s1600/florence-and-the-machine-2012-e1338848714753.png" height="241" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Florence Welch<br />From:<span style="background-color: white;"> <a class="_xf irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://musictrajectory.com/2011/11/22/shake-it-out-by-florence-the-machine-the-song-of-the-week-for-11212011/" style="color: #660099; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="color: #7d7d7d; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">musictrajectory.com</span></a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So I thought I'd spice things up today, and do a music post (as you probably guessed from the title).<br />
Now, I'm not a music connoisseur by any means, so this isn't going to be about notes or melodies or anything like that.<br />
I'm just gonna rant about my favorite band......Florence and the Machine.<br />
Florence and the Machine is an indie rock band from England. The band consists of-<br />
<br />
Florence Welch: Main singer<br />
Isabella Summers: Keyboardist<br />
Robert Ackryod: Guitarist<br />
Tom Monger: Harpist (you'd be surprised how often he's in the songs)<br />
Chris Hayden: Percussionist<br />
Mark Saunders: Bassist<br />
Rusty Bradshaw: Keyboardist<br />
Sam White: Backing Vocals<br />
<br />
Florence and the Machine has two albums out. <i>Lungs</i> and <i>Ceremonials, </i>both of which are beautiful and amazing.<br />
Here are links to a few of my favorite songs ((there are a lot more but that'd take a while)) by them:<br />
<br />
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="40" id="gsSong3348144560" name="gsSong3348144560" width="250"><param name="movie" value="http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" /><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="hostname=grooveshark.com&songID=33481445&style=metal&p=0" /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" width="250" height="40"><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="hostname=grooveshark.com&songID=33481445&style=metal&p=0" /><span><a href="http://grooveshark.com/search/song?q=Florence%20and%20The%20Machine%20Cosmic%20Love" title="Cosmic Love by Florence and The Machine on Grooveshark">Cosmic Love by Florence and The Machine on Grooveshark</a></span></object></object>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="40" id="gsSong2491362690" name="gsSong2491362690" width="250"><param name="movie" value="http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" /><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="hostname=grooveshark.com&songID=24913626&style=metal&p=0" /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" width="250" height="40"><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="hostname=grooveshark.com&songID=24913626&style=metal&p=0" /><span><a href="http://grooveshark.com/search/song?q=Florence%20and%20The%20Machine%20Dog%20Days%20Are%20Over" title="Dog Days Are Over by Florence and The Machine on Grooveshark">Dog Days Are Over by Florence and The Machine on Grooveshark</a></span></object></object><br />
<br />
<br />
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="40" id="gsSong4047373988" name="gsSong4047373988" width="250"><param name="movie" value="http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" /><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="hostname=grooveshark.com&songID=40473739&style=metal&p=0" /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" width="250" height="40"><param name="wmode" value="window" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="hostname=grooveshark.com&songID=40473739&style=metal&p=0" /><span><a href="http://grooveshark.com/search/song?q=Florence%20and%20The%20Machine%20Heartlines" title="Heartlines by Florence and The Machine on Grooveshark">Heartlines by Florence and The Machine on Grooveshark</a></span></object></object><br />
<br />
((Hopefully those links work because I'm completely guessing on how to do this<br />
If not, just go to <a href="http://grooveshark.com/#!/search?q=Florence+and+the+machine" target="_blank">this</a> link for a bunch of songs by them))<br />
<br />
Okay, I'm trying to write this quickly because I'm watching the opening ceremony for the Olympics at the same time, so bear with me.<br />
This band is amazing for both their lyrics and instrumental....thingys. Lyrics are an important part of music for me, since I think of music as mostly glorified poetry, and Florence and the Machine have excellent lyrics that tell a story, and are very relatable. I also love their heavy use of drums, as rhythm is probably the most fun part of music.....said the percussionist.<br />
<br />
I know that this is a short and kind of crappy post, but hey, there are Russian performances to enjoy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-56724146135204787452014-01-31T20:10:00.000-08:002014-02-07T22:40:29.386-08:00The Fault in Our Stars....I Had To Do It Sometime.If you have any sort of contact with the reading universe, or just tumblr, then you know that the trailer of a movie that is based off of a certain John Green book just came out.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/9ItBvH5J6ss?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I hope you all are happy that I put that up, because I had to rewatch it when I looked for it and now I'm nearly crying because it's so good and I HOPE THAT YOU APPRECIATE ALL THAT I DO FOR YOU.</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Anyway, I thought that since there is a new popularity with the book because of the trailer, I would tell you what I think about it.</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
(also because I promised back in my Vlogbrothers post that I would do a TFiOS post).<br />
Also, I'm doing 99.999% of this from memory, so please cut me some slack if I get details wrong.</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>The Story:</b></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>This is gonna be spoilerific, so watch out.</b><br />
<b>Also, if you haven't read it yet, skip to the characters section, which is relatively spoiler free.</b></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The book starts out with Hazel Lancaster begrudgingly leaving her America's Next Top Model marathon to go to a support group meeting for kids with cancer. Hazel unfortunately has cancer in her lungs, and has been terminal for the past three years. A drug called Philanxifor is the main thing keeping her alive.</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Anyway, at the meeting, she meets a boy named Augustus Waters, who is there to support their friend Isaac who has cancer in his eyes. Gus can also be part of the group because he lost his leg to cancer a few years before the story starts, but he's mostly there for Isaac. After the meeting, Gus tells Hazel that she looks like mid-2000s Natalie Portman, and invites her to come over and watch <i>V for Vendetta</i>.</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This sparks a friendship/romance that heavily incorporates a book called <i>An Imperial Affliction</i>. It's Hazel's favorite book, because it's about a girl with cancer and it's very truthful about the whole ordeal, even ending mid-sentence to show the suddenness of death. She gets Gus to read the book, which is an important thing.</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
A few weeks later, he takes her out to the park with a bunch of cheesy orange stuff and says that it's all for a gift for Hazel. Turns out that while Gus had cancer, he got a 'wish' from The Genies that he never spent. Btw, The Genies are pretty much Make-a-Wish. Anyway, he's apparently still eligible to spend it, and he decided to spend it on a trip for him and Hazel to go Amsterdam to meet Peter Van Houten, the author of <i>An Imperial Affliction</i>.<br />
Then Hazel has a big problem with her lungs, as they are filling with brown 'cancer water'. She's admitted to the hospital, but gets to go home within a week. This brings up the issue of Hazel being healthy enough to go to Amsterdam. She's cleared, so they get to go on the trip!<br />
So Hazel, her mom, and Augustus go to Amsterdam, and it's really great because Hazel and Augustus get to go to a fancy restaurant and eat artichoke and taste the stars (drink champagne), and it's really REALLY adorable.<br />
The next day, the go to meet Peter Van Houten who ends up being the biggest douchebag to ever douchebag. He goes on and on about how cancer kids are parasites of society and drinks scotch at 10 in the morning and blasts Swedish rap and it's terrible. Afterwards, as an apology, Houten's assistant takes them to the Anne Frank house, where it's very hard for Hazel to get around because there are lots of stairs, and after all that talk about stair climbing her and Augustus kiss at the top which is great and beautiful.<br />
After the trip, we find out the Gus's cancer has come back, and it's ALL OVER HIS BODY. He slowly becomes weaker and weaker and dies a few months later.<br />
After the funeral, Hazel sees Van Houten again who came for the funeral, who is a douchebag yet again, and gives her a letter from Gus about how he loves her, and wants her to be happy. It's very beautiful and we all cry and thank god the book ends there because I couldn't take anymore of that.<br />
<br />
<b>Major Characters: </b><br />
((this is as of the beginning so everyone who hasn't read the book can read this part))<br />
Hazel Grace Lancaster: A sixteen year old girl with stage 3 thyroid cancer and mets in her lungs. She obsessively reads <i>An Imperial Affliction</i>, enjoys René Magritte's irony, and has a page-boy haircut. She also has very much accepted the fact that she's terminal, and is desperate to hurt as few people as possible with her death, so she tries not to make too many friends.<br />
<br />
Augustus Waters: A seventeen year old boy who lost his leg to osteosarcoma, and has a prosthetic leg (which I think would be fun as heck (at times) cus you could freak out everyone by taking it off and screaming 'OH MY FRICKING GOD GUYS! MY LEG JUST CAME OFF! HOLY SHIT!!" ((am I a terrible person for thinking that?)). Before that, he was a star basketball player, and was actually pretty popular. He likes <i>The Hectic Glow </i>and <i>The Price of Dawn </i>(the book and videogame).<br />
<br />
Isaac ((who I don't think has a last name for some reason o_o)): He's a friend of Hazel and Gus who had cancer in his eye, and had to get it removed. Unfortunately, the cancer is back in his other eye, SO GUESS WHO'S GONNA BE BLIND! In the book ((because I didn't mention Isaac enough in the plot section)), he had this girlfriend named Monica. She was a total bitch because she dumped him when she heard that he was gonna be blind, and there was a great scene where Isaac goes on a heartbroken rampage and breaks a bunch of stuff in Gus's room and it's beautiful. He gets revenge later in the book by egging her Thunderbird. He's sort of the rock through the whole book, cus he knows what Hazel and Gus are going through (cancer wise). He's also the way that they meet, so that's good.<br />
<br />
Peter Van Houten: The dickwad author of <i>An Imperial Affliction. </i>He's an American that moved to Amsterdam so he didn't have to deal with Americans. Or at least that's what he says at first. Actually, he had a daughter who died of cancer and he needed to get away from that. On the bright side, it inspired <i>An Imperial Affliction.</i>.........ya.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Hazel's Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster are pretty freaking great, because they handle having a kid with cancer amazingly. They try to get Hazel to live her life while she can, and supports everything she does, and everything she chooses not to do.<br />
<br />
<b>(Some) Favorite Quotes:</b><br />
((you can't talk about a book by John Green without having a section like this)).<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lhp4MuUeAjE/Uuxy4yf8r5I/AAAAAAAAAMQ/XErR3nT35wg/s1600/i+fell+in+love+the+way+you+fall+asleep+by+incredibru.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lhp4MuUeAjE/Uuxy4yf8r5I/AAAAAAAAAMQ/XErR3nT35wg/s1600/i+fell+in+love+the+way+you+fall+asleep+by+incredibru.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From: http://www.pallimed.org/2013/05/the-fault-in-ours-<br />
stars-tfios.html</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"Okay, so I went into clinic this morning, and I was telling my surgeon that i'd rather be deaf than blind. And he said, 'it doesn't work that way,' and I was, like, 'Yeah, I realize that it doesn't work that way; I'm just saying I'd rather be deaf than blind if I had the choice, which I realize I don't have,' and he said, 'Well, the good news is that you won't be deaf,' and I was like, 'Thank you for explaining to me that my eye cancer isn't going to make me deaf. I feel so fortunate that an intellectual giant like yourself would deign to operate on me.'" (Green, 15).<br />
<br />
"It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing." (Green, 20).<br />
<br />
"Hazel Grace, you are the only teenager in America who prefers reading poetry to writing it. This tells me so much." (Green, 33).<br />
<br />
"Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeald, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. Then there are books like <i>An Imperial Affliction</i>, which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and <i>yours</i> that advertising your affection feels like betrayal." (Green, 33).<br />
<br />
"Kissing someone so that you can get a free trip is perilously close to full-on hooking, and I have to confess that while I did not fancy myself a particularly good person, I never thought my first real sexual action would be prostitutional." (Green, 93).<br />
<br />
"Oh, I wouldn't mind Hazel grace. It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you." (Green, 176).<br />
<br />
"You say you're not special because the world doesn't know about you, but that's an insult to me. <i>I</i> know about you." (Green, 240).<br />
<br />
"When the scientists of the future show up at my house with robot eyes and they tell me to try them on, I will tell the scientists to screw off, because I do not want to see a world without [Augustus Waters]." (Green, 258).<br />
<br />
"The marks humans leave are too often scars." (Green, 311).<br />
<br />
"People will say it's sad that she leaves a lesser scar, that fewer remember her, that she was loved deeply but not widely. But it's not sad, Van Houten. It's triumphant. It's heroic. Isn't that the real heroism? Like the doctors say: First, do no harm." (Green, 312)<br />
<br />
I literally found all those quotes just by flipping through the book. You can't go one page without finding something ridiculously funny, or heart-wrenchingly deep.<br />
<br />
<b>Reaction:</b><br />
I'm gonna make this short because I'm getting really emotional now since I had to go through the book to get those quotes.<br />
I know a lot of you are thinking <i>she's getting a little too emotional over this.</i> I know that I do overreact over this book, but it's extremely important to me.<br />
In a strange way,<i> The Fault in Our Stars</i> is MY <i>An Imperial Affliction</i>. It fills me with the evangelical zeal of wanting the world to read it, but also to keep it as my own.<br />
I've read this book over and over again. The first time, I read until three in the morning, and cried the whole time. The second time was on my first night in Guatemala over the summer, and I was feeling extremely homesick and flipping out because I was in a strange country. The third was at the end of that summer, a day or two before my first day of high school.<br />
I haven't known about his book for long, but it's affected me in ways that I never thought I could be affected. It's shown love, and loss, sacrifice, compassion, forgiveness, the unfairness of life, and so much more.<br />
<br />
Frick that got dramatic at the end.<br />
Since this was mostly from memory, feel free to correct me on stuff in the comments, and I can add more stuff if you feel like I forgot something.<br />
Also, if you're interested in hearing the first chapter of the book, read by the AUTHOR to you, click <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_vFvbfn9Fs" target="_blank">here</a> to enjoy.<br />
I think I need to stop now. Okay?<br />
Okay.</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-84712292129438036412014-01-24T17:57:00.002-08:002014-01-24T18:00:39.610-08:00Howl's Moving Castle is Moving........((oh gosh I'm sorry))Sorry for the crappy title, but I'm supposed to be creative with these.<br />
<br />
Have I mentioned yet that I'm a huge Ghibli fan?<br />
Well in case I haven't, I'm a huge Ghibli fan.<br />
For those of you that don't know, Studio Ghibli is an animation studio from Japan that is famous for movies like My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Spirited Away. You guys would probably recognize Ponyo and The Secret World of Arrietty, as those were really big in the U.S.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8KYt47zZq6g/UuMTZxNLyqI/AAAAAAAAAL0/NOLVdBth3YE/s1600/2RVCmOBvM1VusNRKhtYR8KEvmwE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8KYt47zZq6g/UuMTZxNLyqI/AAAAAAAAAL0/NOLVdBth3YE/s1600/2RVCmOBvM1VusNRKhtYR8KEvmwE.jpg" height="320" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From:<a class="_Me irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://movies.film-cine.com/howl_s_moving_castle-m2880" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><span style="color: black;">movies.film-cine.com</span></span></a></td></tr>
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I've seen almost all of their movies (unfortunately I can't find Castle in the Sky or Grave of Fireflies anywhere).<br />
I own Ni No Kuni (which I'm unfortunately stuck on and I really need to get past this dang boss!)<br />
I also bought a little Totoro plushie at a con, but his eyes fell out because they weren't sewn in for some reason?<br />
I'm looking for little sunglasses for him.<br />
ANYWAY, the movie I thought I'd start out with (as there will most likely be many Ghibli posts) was Howl's Moving Castle.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Plot:</b><br />
So this movie is based off of a book with the same name ((I read the book and the sequel so don't tell me I'm a bad person for not reading it)).<br />
It's about a woman named Sophie, who works in her father's hat shop. She is the oldest child, which is a bad thing because she's doomed to fail because of it (for some reason).<br />
Probably due to her oldest-ness, one day she accidentally pisses off the Witch of the Waste who then turns her into an old woman.<br />
She then goes off in search of Howl, a wizard who is rumored to kidnap and eat young girls' hearts, to try and get him to help her change back.<br />
<br />
<b>Characters:</b><br />
Sophie Hatter- the protagonist of the story. I sort of explained what happens to her above, so I won't tell it again.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VSwx8tjcefU/UuMXNXJ6szI/AAAAAAAAAMA/WGQhEzfGAXg/s1600/Howl's.Moving.Castle.full.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VSwx8tjcefU/UuMXNXJ6szI/AAAAAAAAAMA/WGQhEzfGAXg/s1600/Howl's.Moving.Castle.full.gif" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's a lot of the characters in this neat little gif<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">From: <a class="_Me irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://micastillovagabundo.blogspot.com/" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">micastillovagabundo.blogspot.com</span></a></span></td></tr>
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Howl Pendragon- A wizard that lives in a magical living castle that runs from all sorts of responsibility. He's voiced by Christian Bale (a.k.a Batman), and it's very fun to freak out about it and imagine that Batman is screaming "There is no point in living if I can't be beautiful".<br />
<br />
Markl: Howl's young apprentice who is learning magic. He's voiced by a young Josh Hutcherson, so I have a headcannon that Peeta was training to be a wizard but had to give it up to help with the family bakery.<br />
<br />
Calcifer: A fire demon who has Howl's heart. He powers the castle and is a total sassmaster. He's voiced by Billy Crystal, so I have ANOTHER headcannon that Calcifer is either a childhood Mike Wazowski, or a more evolved Miracle Max.<br />
<br />
Turniphead: A cursed scarecrow that turns out to be the kidnapped prince of another kingdom.<br />
<br />
Witch of the Waste: A witch who fell in love with Howl and vowed to own his heart. She makes a lot of messes over it.<br />
<br />
<b>Differences between the book and the movie:</b><br />
Markl is actually named Michael<br />
<br />
Michael is a much older kid *15 or so), which I guess they changed so they could have little Josh Hutcherson being adorable.<br />
<br />
Sophie has two sisters, Martha and Lettie.<br />
<br />
Michael and Howl each pursue one of Sophie's sisters, but it gets very complicated because the sisters are in disguise as each other, and then they get in a big fight because they both think that they're dating the same one or something and.....just read the book for this part because it's really complicated.<br />
<br />
Howl turns out to be from OUR universe, and was born in Wales. He has a sister there and is known as Uncle Howell to her kids. It's beautiful and really adds to the story.<br />
<br />
The Witch of the Waste is the real and complete villian, and is eventually killed by Sophie and Howl.<br />
<br />
Sophie actually has magical powers, and can "talk life" into things. It's actually a really cool power cus she can get brooms to do cleaning for her and stuff.<br />
<br />
<b>Final Reaction:</b><br />
I love this movie to death, alright. It was my first Ghibli movie and I just fell in love with the art and the storytelling and the voice acting and the music and the mood and the everything. I love Howl and I want to be Sophie's best friend. I want to babysit (or hang out with, depending on the version) Markl and lovingly tease Calcifer. This movie felt so important and (in a way) real that it makes you feel like you could just step in a magic door into that world (ha, references).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.veoh.com/watch/v208113346GkK6deZ" target="_blank">Here</a> is a link to go watch the full movie! It doesn't get past the filter (for everyone that applies to), so use another computer to watch it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-89276892755335478342013-12-20T07:20:00.000-08:002014-01-08T18:12:07.523-08:00RWBY be a Gem (sorta?)Any Roosterteeth fans out there?<br />
Does Roosterteeth even HAVE fandom?<br />
*hears shouts of the roosterteeth fandom* Ah, there you guys are.<br />
How many of you non-roosterteethers know what I'm talking about?<br />
*chirping crickets*<br />
As I thought. Okay, first an explanation of Roosterteeth is in order.<br />
(Keep in mind that I didn't know anything about Roosterteeth prior to this post, besides the fact that they made RWBY.)<br />
Apparently, they're an entertainment company that works out of California. They've made a bunch of other webseries like Red vs. Blue and A Simple Walk Through Mordor.<br />
That's all that I could wrestle out of the wikipedia page. I'm sorry.......<br />
Anyway, let's talk about RWBY now.<br />
So RWBY is this CG cartoon made by these Roosterteeth people. It's about a girl named Ruby Rose, who wants to become a huntress. In this world, there are demons and monsters that run around and hurt people, so there are hunters/huntresses to keep people safe. They use magical weapons that run on this fancy stuff called dust.<br />
Of course, to become a hunter/huntress, you have to go to school. Ruby is accepted into Beacon Academy (the best hunter school EVER), along with her sister Yang. On their very first day, all the new students are sorted into teams. Ruby is on a team with a girl named Weiss (the heiress to the biggest dust company ever), a girl named Blake (a book worm) and Yang. Together, they make team RWBY.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BB-me_tCenI/UrRYkFYya-I/AAAAAAAAALU/O3cDQr2g0JI/s1600/1271567_449593991818592_221546454_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BB-me_tCenI/UrRYkFYya-I/AAAAAAAAALU/O3cDQr2g0JI/s640/1271567_449593991818592_221546454_o.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From left to right, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang<br />
Picture from: <a class="_bc irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.dek-d.com/board/view/3066504/" style="color: #660099; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #7d7d7d; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">www.dek-d.com</span></a></td></tr>
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There are other students at the school such as Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, and Pyrrah Nikos (and others) that become friends with these girls.<br />
Of course theres more to the story than just school. Outside the school, a war is brewing. There is a group called the White Fang, that is made up of people that have animal traits. You know, cat ears, monkey tails, etc. These people (Faunus) have long been discriminated against by regular people. In the past, the White Fang have peacefully protested this discrimination, with no violence involved. But in the past few years, the White Fang have changed, and become a violent terrorist group. The girls have constant encounters with the White Fang, and have to fight to stop them.<br />
<br />
So I'd heard a lot about Roosterteeth before I'd seen this series. My friend Bailey was freaking out about this show, and wouldn't stop talking about it until she got someone to watch it. Since I'm weak, that someone ended up being me. Besides, there were only sixteen episodes. It couldn't be that bad, right?<br />
It wasn't actually. I finished the series in a day, and it was very fun. There weren't any traumatizing feels or anything, so it spared my soul at least.<br />
I'm going to admit, I was a bit underwhelmed by the animation. In the show, there are some AMAZING fight sequences. Seriously, in the first episode alone there is a great fight between Galinda Goodwitch and this other lady, and it's the freaking coolest thing ever.<br />
But besides the fights, they were lacking a bit. The character's movements were jerky, or they had confusing body language. They had strange angles in a lot of unnecessary places (though that might just be artistic choice or something). Now, I get that there were complications with this type of animation.<br />
The way they animate this (at least I'm pretty sure they do it this way) is that they get these special suits on the actors, and put them in front of a green screen. The actors do the motions of their character, and later the skin of the character is put over the suit, so it looks like the character was doing it. Then the background and sound effects and stuff is put in, and VOILA! You have an animation thingy.<br />
You'd think that the gestures and stuff wouldn't be a problem since they do it like this. But apparently it is. *shrug*<br />
The story was a little dry too. There wasn't a ton going on in most of the episodes. It was a one story plot, which I don't think is complex enough nowadays. They'd move from one story to the next, rarely even hinting at other storylines.<br />
Something I REALLY liked about the show was the music. Seriously, the theme song is amazing! <a href="http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/This+Will+Be+The+Day/5dPwiU?src=5" target="_blank">Here's</a> the grooveshark thing for it so you can listen to it. The background music is also really pretty, and each character's song is excellent.<br />
So, I guess I'd give this a 6/10. I like it, I really do, but it has some flaws. However, they do get some elbow room since this is only the first season, and they have yet to figure it out.<br />
You should make an opinion for yourself! This goes to the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sGiE10zNQM&edufilter=Pv_W9knHHCcmxTcy2CNAaw&safe=active" target="_blank">first episode</a>. Go watch it. Have some fun.<br />
Bye!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vo3ca1yovZw/UrRe4biQ7TI/AAAAAAAAALk/nufEwia_se0/s1600/Boop.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vo3ca1yovZw/UrRe4biQ7TI/AAAAAAAAALk/nufEwia_se0/s320/Boop.gif" height="160" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From: <a class="_bc irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/File:Boop.gif" style="color: #660099; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #7d7d7d; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">rwby.wikia.com</span></a></td></tr>
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-4646192402988445922013-12-12T19:07:00.001-08:002013-12-12T19:07:18.878-08:00Frozen.......just like the entire stinking country.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
If you live anywhere north of New Mexico, then you've most likely been hit with this random snowstorm. For most of you, you're probably griping about how it's ridiculous that you have to walk to school in -2 degree weather or how your car is snowed in and you can't make it to work.<br />
I mean, we're griping about that where I am too. We aren't weird or anything. But for us there's a silver lining, since I live in a tourism town that depends on winter for it's entire economy (or at least I think that's how it works).<br />
Anyway, that vaguely relates to Disney's new movie, Frozen.<br />
My friend Maddie had been flipping out about this movie for the past week, after she'd seen it with her church youth group. She wanted to see it again and I hadn't seen it for the first time yet, so we went to go see it on Saturday.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Opening Clip....thingy:</b><br />
So you know how Disney always makes a short film at the beginning of each of their animation movies? Lately, they've been these amazing works of art that sort of just leave you in awe. Remember Paperman? That short at the end of Wreck-It-Ralph? Ya, that won an OSCAR. An OSCAR FOR PETE'S SAKE. And what about that umbrella short from the beginning of Monster's University? That clip made me ship TWO UMBRELLAS. ONLY DISNEY CAN MAKE YOU SHIP UMBRELLAS.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lKRY6a3IhG0/UqUAigJhLfI/AAAAAAAAAJg/WZVd4ZfynXM/s1600/www.indiewire.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lKRY6a3IhG0/UqUAigJhLfI/AAAAAAAAAJg/WZVd4ZfynXM/s1600/www.indiewire.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From<span style="color: white;">:<a class="_Yb irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.indiewire.com/distributor/walt-disney-pictures" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;"> www.indiewire.com</span></a></span></td></tr>
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The short for Frozen was "Get a Horse" which is sort of a spoof of old Micky cartoons. It starts out all run of the mill. Micky and Minnie are having fun and singing with their barnyard friends, and then BAM! Pete kidnaps Minnie and Micky has to go save her.<br />
But there's a twist.<br />
You see, dear readers.<br />
Disney broke the fourth wall.<br />
Pete pushes Micky OUT OF THE SCREEN.<br />
It's a lot like Epic Mickey, now that I think about it.<br />
It's no Paperman, but it's very creative.<br />
<br />
<b>Plot:</b><br />
Brace yourself for spoilers from this point on. Or you could just see the movie before you read it. That'd work too.<br />
Okay, so the story centers around two sisters, Elsa and Anna. They're princesses (naturally) of the kingdom of Arendelle. Elsa is apparently a special snowflake (heh), because she has ice powers for some reason that never got explained. One night, when they're really little, Elsa and Anna are playing around with Elsa's powers, and Elsa accidentally hits Anna in the head with an ice blast. Anna's brain is frozen or something, and their parents take her to be healed by trolls.<br />
Actually, apparently trolls are a big part of scandinavian folklore, which I guess is why they're in the movie.<br />
Anyway, Anna's healed by the troll, and then Elsa is warned that if she hits anyone in the heart with her powers, they will be frozen and turned to ice. He also warns her about how the people of Arendelle might not accept her powers if they get out of control. This results in the king and queen deciding to hide Elsa in the castle, and they also get the trolls to take away Anna's memories of Elsa's powers.<br />
Because of Elsa's isolation, Anna is forced to stay in the castle too (for some reason). She and Elsa grow apart over the years, which totally stinks cus that means they were both pretty much alone for their entire childhoods.<br />
Then the king and queen die.<br />
Because they have to.<br />
It's a Disney movie people.<br />
How did you NOT see that coming?<br />
When Elsa turns 18, she becomes queen of Arendelle, which is sort of a problem because her powers have been growing and she doesn't think she can control them.<br />
Meanwhile, Anna meets Prince Hans, who's in town for the coronation, and they fall in love and get engaged almost immediately.<br />
Elsa thinks this is a totally batshit idea and refuses to let it happen (you go Elsa).This results in a fight, where Elsa accidentally uses her powers, thus exposing her secret. As predicted, the town goes crazy, and Elsa has to run away. She swears to stay up in the mountains and no longer endanger her people. She builds an ice castle and makes a Snow Queen dress and it's a really awesome scene. However, she doesn't know that she accidentally set off eternal winter down in Arendelle, and the people are freezing to death.<br />
Meanwhile Anna goes after her, enlisting the help of an ice-guy named Kristoff and his reindeer Sven. They meet a magical little snowman named Olaf that Elsa built who helps them get to Elsa's castle. Anna fails to convince Elsa to come back and stop winter, and accidentally gets hit with ice in the heart. Her and Kristoff leave Elsa and go to the trolls (who adopted Kristoff when he was little) so they can fix her heart. Unfortunatly, since it's the heart, the ice can only be removed by an act of true love.<br />
Also meanwhile, Prince Hans has gone after Anna, and ends up at Elsa's castle. She attacks some soldiers in self defense, and almost gets crushed by an ice chandelier as a result of the fight. She's knocked unconcious, and is taken back to Arendelle by Hans and imprisoned.<br />
Anna and Kristoff ride back to Arendelle so that Hans can kiss Anna in an act of true love. It's VERY urgent since she's freezing from the inside. She gets in the castle, Hans is in the room, everything seems like it's gonna work.<br />
And then.<br />
Hans is evil.<br />
BAM! PLOT TWIST!<br />
He's 13th in line for his own throne, so to have any chance of becoming king, he would have to marry into the throne. He leaves Anna to die, saying they were married already, and goes off to kill Elsa.<br />
Elsa gets out of her cell, realizing what's happening, and starts to run away. Of course, then she learns that Anna is 'dead' and breaks down, leaving a gap for Hans to come and kill her.<br />
Meanwhile, Anna is looking for Kristoff, as Olaf has just informed her that she is an idiot for not seeing that he's totally into her. She's nearly frozen, and then they find each other and there's a massive expanse of ice between them and Kristoff is running towards her with lips puckered....<br />
and then she sees that Elsa is about to be killed by Hans,<br />
And throws herself between them<br />
and freezes.<br />
But guess what?<br />
It was an act of true love.<br />
Of SISTERLY love.<br />
She unfreezes, and the winter starts to melt.<br />
Elsa realizes that love melts ice, and stops the winter.<br />
And everyone lives happily ever after.<br />
Except for Hans.<br />
Who gets punched in the face.<br />
<br />
<b>Reaction to plot:</b><br />
This might just because I'm older now, but it seems like this movie was written less.....carefully, than the other movies. I mean yes, it's still an excellent story with wonderful dialogue and this one blip I'm about to adress is very minor to what I'm sure will be or was your viewing experience.<br />
But I guessed the plot twist.<br />
Which isn't a good thing, for me at least.<br />
When Hans was preposing, that's when I figured out something was fishy. Now this might just be because I'm getting better at plot devices, but normally I can't do that with a Disney movie. The fact that I was able to be pulled out of the story and think about this potential plot twist sorta bugs me.<br />
But that's just me.<br />
<br />
<b>Songs:</b><br />
As I am writing this, I am listening to Idnia Menzel sing "Let it Go", and it is beautiful.<br />
The problem is that I might've been listening to it on loop since yesterday.<br />
Which could mean that I have a problem. *sigh*<br />
As usual, Disney has delivered with happy songs, heart-wrenching songs, and love songs. I enjoyed all of them......except for the love songs.<br />
Anna sang one with Prince Hans, which seemed really unfitting for the situation, and was just sort of annoying. Then the trolls sang one about how Kristoff and Anna should get together, but it was all about how they needed to change for them to be together, which though meant well, I didn't really appreciate.<br />
<br />
<b>Characters:</b><br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Anna was a little annoying for my taste, but I still really liked her. She had really awesome qualities like independence, optimism, and honestly was just as awkward as everyone I know. Actually, the only part I didn't like about her was her neediness with Hans. Also she was just really adorable the whole time so that was good.</div>
<br />
<br />
Elsa was what you think a queen would normally be like. Calm, cool, collected. Grace and poise and all that whoo-ha. But what I liked was her depth as a character. Underneath the cool exterior, there was a storm of emotions. Fear that she would hurt her people. Sadness about being locked away. Happiness, and hatred about her powers. I just really really liked her.<br />
<br />
Kristoff was lovable and adorable, and sweet, and funny, and oh-em-gee I want him to be real so I can go skiing with him or something.<br />
<br />
I'm sort of conflicted about Olaf. I know that he's the comic relief, and that his entire purpose is to be silly, but he was just so STUPID. It was aggravating And he didn't really have any redeeming qualities either. He just blurted out random stuff that didn't really flow with the story at all.<br />
<br />
Hans was a dick. That's all there really is to say on the matter.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Animation:</b><br />
Oh my globity goodness the animation is great in Disney movies. My friends hate going to animation movies with me, because I'm always poking them and freaking out about the detail of that character's hair or how that one thing is moving in the breeze. I don't really know why this fascinates me so much, but it does, and I cannot help it.<br />
<br />
So, that's that I guess.<br />
Sorry that there aren't any pictures, but I just didn't want to take the time to put in any.<br />
Trust me, my next post will have a LOT.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633595218244915668.post-44074078237550725402013-12-08T12:13:00.000-08:002013-12-20T07:36:22.950-08:00The Sound of Music......I Liked The Movie BetterThe Sound of Music was a huge part of my childhood.<br />
It's my mom's favorite movie, and she bought the movie on tape when I was really little (or she might've stolen it from my great grandma. The memory is a little fuzzy). For almost my entire life Julie Andrews singing "raindrops on roses" has echoed through my house, and we've all accepted it as a regular thing that isn't slightly obsessive on my mom's part.<br />
So of course, when my mom heard that NBC was doing a live show, she nearly had a heart attack from happiness.<br />
Seriously, in the middle of science on Thursday she sent me a text that nearly got my phone taken away (but I was a total ninja and silenced my phone before Mrs. Z could place who's pocket the Doctor Who theme was coming from), that said <i>I can't wait to watch the Sound of Music with all of you tonight! :). </i>Bottom line, this was a big deal.<br />
So Thursday night, we all sat down on the couch with our dinner and turned the t.v on. Actually, that was a lie. I was up in my room franticly trying to finish my homework so I could go down and watch with the rest of my family. I got down there when the nuns were singing "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"<br />
For the next three hours, we watched the musical version of The Sound of Music, which none of us had seen before, and I must say......it was a little disappointing.<br />
<br />
Mostly I had problems with the casting.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2af16Wle4OQ/UqH-u32nU5I/AAAAAAAAAIg/hBMU6lpeGlw/s1600/carrie18f-1-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2af16Wle4OQ/UqH-u32nU5I/AAAAAAAAAIg/hBMU6lpeGlw/s400/carrie18f-1-web.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-align: start; text-overflow: ellipsis;">From: <a class="_Yb irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&docid=s85TtJKGEUpitM&tbnid=Joh4K0349njkIM:&ved=0CAQQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nydailynews.com%2Fentertainment%2Ftv-movies%2Fcarrie-underwood-stars-maria-sound-music-live-poster-article-1.1458571&ei=kv6hUqugMcLqoAST24C4Cg&bvm=bv.57752919,d.cGU&psig=AFQjCNEkZyOoHZNKj1nRF3THQvpAjyJ9sw&ust=1386433705594003" style="cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; text-align: start;">www.nydailynews.com</a></span></td></tr>
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Now, it's impossible to top the embodiment talent that is Julie Andrews, and it's certainly difficult for any actress that plays Maria to follow in her footsteps. But look at this picture.<br />
<- Do you believe for a second that Carrie Underwood is Maria? All I can see is someone with WAY too much foundation who thinks that wearing <i>sorta</i> Austrian clothes and putting her hair in that braid thing makes her Maria.<br />
Her acting in this was pretty much DREADFUL, but I guess I can't blame her for that since she's a singer by trade. Speaking of that, she was excellent with the singing part. Though it wasn't Julie Andrews, she did a very good job with singing the songs with the right attitude (most of the time), and was very powerful.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N8zs8a7ODS4/UqIEljga74I/AAAAAAAAAIw/lLNr0K_It5c/s1600/url.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N8zs8a7ODS4/UqIEljga74I/AAAAAAAAAIw/lLNr0K_It5c/s200/url.jpeg" width="156" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From<span style="background-color: white;">:<a class="_Yb irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/the-hills-are-alive-again-x2013-live-on-nbc-20131201" style="color: #660099; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;"><span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="color: #7d7d7d; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-overflow: ellipsis;">www.buffalonews.com</span></a></span></td></tr>
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So this guy is Stephen Moyer. He's apparently a big deal on True Blood and my mom was freaking out about it for some reason. He played Georg Von Trapp, and I was extremely underwhelmed. I don't really know why he got the part. When he was 'stern' it looked much more like he was about to throw up or something. Also he wasn't a very good singer. He managed, but he didn't <i>preform</i>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jEStNoOlgJA/UqIFelAsA6I/AAAAAAAAAI8/jdF14SpIdTU/s1600/Captain+Von+Trapp+-+Christopher+Plummer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jEStNoOlgJA/UqIFelAsA6I/AAAAAAAAAI8/jdF14SpIdTU/s200/Captain+Von+Trapp+-+Christopher+Plummer.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From:<span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #7d7d7d; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><a class="_Yb irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://mamamich-mjay.blogspot.com/2012/01/aging-without-stars.html" style="color: #660099; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;">mamamich-mjay.blogspot.com</a></span></td></tr>
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<br />
Again, he had some big shoes to fill. I mean look at this.<br />
Look at this gorgeousness that is mid 1960's Christopher Plumber. Seriously, he was my first fangirl crush at the ripe ol' age of 10 when I was first starting to realize that boys might not be incredibly disgusting.<br />
Have you HEARD him sing 'Edelweiss'? Have you HEARD THAT SINGING VOICE!?<br />
*swoons*<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zl-NatlSwnw/UqIIiRidtEI/AAAAAAAAAJI/xSZW-09ix-Q/s1600/tn-500_nup_159228_3708.jpg.pagespeed.ce.DrsGVH9b10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zl-NatlSwnw/UqIIiRidtEI/AAAAAAAAAJI/xSZW-09ix-Q/s320/tn-500_nup_159228_3708.jpg.pagespeed.ce.DrsGVH9b10.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From: <span class="irc_ho" dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #7d7d7d; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; margin-right: -2px; overflow: hidden; padding-right: 2px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-overflow: ellipsis;"><a class="_Yb irc_hol" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Flash-First-look-NBCs-SOUND-OF-MUSIC-Von-Trapp-Children-in-Costume-More-20131122" style="color: #660099; cursor: pointer; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 15.994318008422852px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;">www.broadwayworld.com</a></span></td></tr>
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I don't have many complaints about the kids.<br />
Liesel was sort of bratty, but I guess all 16 year olds are.<br />
Freidrick was the only one I genuinely didn't like, but he didn't do much so it was okay.<br />
Louisia was okay. She was spunky and it worked.<br />
Kurt was a big ball of cute. That's all there really is to say on the matter.<br />
Brigita was hilarious and filled with sass. It was awesome.<br />
Marta was adorable, but cutely annoying.<br />
Gretel.....I want to say bad things, but I can't cus she was such a cutie. So I'll just grit my teeth and say she was fine.<br />
<br />
<br />
All the minor characters seemed to be fine casting. I'm pretty sure they were the actual broadway people that did this sort of thing for a living, which would explain why they were so much better than the others.<br />
<br />
I know that this was the musical version of the story, but being a girl that grew up on the movie, I was a little confused by the differences. I know all you theater buffs are flipping your tables right now and screaming about how the musical is so much better than the movie. But hey, I'm entitled to my opinion, especially since this is a REVIEW blog.<br />
Besides some audio problems, the rest of the musical was great!<br />
The costumes were very fashionable, and looked right for the era.<br />
The sets were AMAZING. Seriously, these sets were beautiful with a capital b. They built a freaking FOREST for pete's sake! <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GJXEr6FAq4" target="_blank">Here's</a> a scene where you can get a grasp for it.<br />
The choreography worked for the show, I think? I'm not a big dancer, or choreographer, so I don't really know about the art of dance.<br />
<br />
In conclusion, this is one of those rare cases where I liked the movie better. Though I think that this musical was a great project, and it went well as a whole, it just didn't work for me.<br />
<br />
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