So, I went back to the One Million Moms website, just to see if they're still as crazy as they were the last time I posted about them.
They are.
I'm pissed off. You all know that censorship and sheltering are two of my biggest pet peeves, because if you cut your kids off to everything that might "desensitize" (OMM's term, not mine) them, they grow up to be socially challenged and overly dependent on their parents. Some of the "issues" OMM discuss are commercials with mildly suggestive language, and it kind of cracks me up, because the kids aren't going to get it anyway unless you explain it. Yesterday I watched a couple of Disney movies, and I realized how many of the jokes went right over my head when I was a kid just because I didn't understand the language used. So it's basically useless to bash companies who use jokes like that in their advertising because the ads aren't geared toward kids in the first place.
And as if that isn't ridiculous enough, OMM continues to attack anything that supports or depicts gay rights. IT'S 2012 FOR GOD'S SAKE. I'm not going to repeat everything I've already said on this subject, but I am going to throw a review in here. OMM is really pissed off at this new show called The New Normal, which is about a gay couple who are looking for a surrogate so they can have a baby. It's free on iTunes, so I downloaded it and watched and I LOVE IT. It's one of the most clever, adorable, and hilarious shows I've seen. It has this beautiful message that everyone deserves love and the right to have a family. It's produced and directed by Ryan Murphy, who is the director of Glee, and OMM don't like him because he's openly gay. Personally, I think Ryan Murphy is a genius who isn't afraid to confront stuff like this head on. Heck, Glee has addressed pretty much every political issue there is in three seasons, including gay rights. I think it's important that there are shows like this that present the issues rather than hide from them. It's refreshing.
So, One Million Moms, you can do whatever you want with your children, but know that I look forward to the day when I can tell my own kids that they are allowed to love whoever they want, because love is not defined by gender.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
High School Writing 101
I'm sorry if you think that my handing out writing tips means that I am bragging about my personal prowess as a writer. This is not the case. At least, I don't want you to think it's the case. Also, I am very well aware that the writing demonstrated here (on my blog, that is) isn't my best writing. I often overlook grammatical/spelling errors and hardly ever proofread because this is for fun. If it were to be graded, I would want it graded on content, not on proficiency.
All that being said, I'd like to think that I'm good at this for a junior in high school, and I just feel like giving a few helpful hints that have gotten me through some of the more difficult essays in my time. Although, I'm sure the majority of you don't actually need these, because most of you are over forty. (Hello, parents.) But I digress. You get my tips anyway, whether you want them or not, so there!
1. Your voice is always important. Whether you're writing fiction, a memoir, an assigned essay, or a research paper, your voice needs to come through. Voice is important because it makes your essay different than everyone else's. You may have the exact same thesis and support as someone else, but your voice is what makes the paper interesting. It can show why the subject matters to you or establish familiarity. Effective voice should be like somebody reading your diary; don't be afraid to air your feelings.
2. BE CAREFUL with your support/research/facts. I had to do an enormous research paper for AP Lit last year, and I didn't get as high a grade as I had hoped because of citation issues. Make sure that you know EXACTLY what your teacher expects for citations BEFORE you turn in your paper. You don't want to accidentally plagiarize because you forgot to cite something that you thought was just common knowledge. If a bibliography/works cited page is required, take your time to do it carefully and don't just rush through it. After the research paper debacle, I took to finishing my bibliographies first to make sure my brain wasn't fried from writing so much and I missed things. In addition to watching citations, make sure that the information you gather is legit. That means no Wikipedia. Your best bet is to go to the library and try to find a book in addition to online research. Also watch out for bias and make sure you address it if it's obvious. Other people's opinions can get tricky when you're trying to convert them into your own work.
3. If you're writing something persuasive, DO NOT USE PERSONAL PRONOUNS. This is hard, because the paper is supposed to reflect your opinion, right? Right. But using personal pronouns isn't formal and it distracts too much from the content of the paper. Your audience becomes caught up in what YOU think rather than what you want THEM to think. It also makes your argument sound shaky and weak if you continually use phrases like "I think" or "I believe". Just eliminate those altogether. So if your argument is "I think turkey bacon is a much healthier and tastier alternative to regular bacon", change it to "Turkey bacon is a much healthier and tastier alternative to regular bacon". Remember that the audience is reading YOUR paper, so it's obvious that these are your opinions already.
4. Character development is key in writing fiction. I am not so great at writing fiction, but I can tell when it's done well. (Rhyming!) If you're writing from a first-person point of view, the reader should feel like the main character is his or her best friend. If you're writing a love story, the reader should understand perfectly why the main character loves whoever it is he or she loves. The antagonist should be just as developed. It should be apparent WHY he or she is against the hero/heroin. Take Voldemort. JK Rowling has 7 extremely thick books that develop characters beautifully. Voldemort is no exception. Her readers know exactly why he is so evil, because she takes the time to build his character and give him more dimensions than pure evil. I'm not saying you have to have 7 books to your name in order to establish effective character development or anything, just that it takes some time and some serious thinking.
5. Conclusions should "stick it". While I was watching the Olympic trials, it occurred to me that the gymnasts never looked happy with their performances unless they stuck the landing. No matter how flawless the routine had been, the landing is the most important part. The conclusion is often what the reader remembers the best. It can't just summarize everything you've already told them, because that's boring. A conclusion truly needs to hit home with your audience. It should explain the so-what of your thesis. Why is this important? What's the point? Conclusions are HARD. They take time to master. I suck at writing conclusions, because after writing an entire essay, I just want to wrap it up as quickly as possible so I can turn it in. Try to figure out the so-what before you write your paper. If you have multiple drafts to turn in, do your best the first time around and ask your teacher for help in making it more effective.
I hope that this was at least mildly helpful to someone out there. If you're over forty, hopefully you already know these things, but I appreciate you bearing with me anyway, as usual.
All that being said, I'd like to think that I'm good at this for a junior in high school, and I just feel like giving a few helpful hints that have gotten me through some of the more difficult essays in my time. Although, I'm sure the majority of you don't actually need these, because most of you are over forty. (Hello, parents.) But I digress. You get my tips anyway, whether you want them or not, so there!
1. Your voice is always important. Whether you're writing fiction, a memoir, an assigned essay, or a research paper, your voice needs to come through. Voice is important because it makes your essay different than everyone else's. You may have the exact same thesis and support as someone else, but your voice is what makes the paper interesting. It can show why the subject matters to you or establish familiarity. Effective voice should be like somebody reading your diary; don't be afraid to air your feelings.
2. BE CAREFUL with your support/research/facts. I had to do an enormous research paper for AP Lit last year, and I didn't get as high a grade as I had hoped because of citation issues. Make sure that you know EXACTLY what your teacher expects for citations BEFORE you turn in your paper. You don't want to accidentally plagiarize because you forgot to cite something that you thought was just common knowledge. If a bibliography/works cited page is required, take your time to do it carefully and don't just rush through it. After the research paper debacle, I took to finishing my bibliographies first to make sure my brain wasn't fried from writing so much and I missed things. In addition to watching citations, make sure that the information you gather is legit. That means no Wikipedia. Your best bet is to go to the library and try to find a book in addition to online research. Also watch out for bias and make sure you address it if it's obvious. Other people's opinions can get tricky when you're trying to convert them into your own work.
3. If you're writing something persuasive, DO NOT USE PERSONAL PRONOUNS. This is hard, because the paper is supposed to reflect your opinion, right? Right. But using personal pronouns isn't formal and it distracts too much from the content of the paper. Your audience becomes caught up in what YOU think rather than what you want THEM to think. It also makes your argument sound shaky and weak if you continually use phrases like "I think" or "I believe". Just eliminate those altogether. So if your argument is "I think turkey bacon is a much healthier and tastier alternative to regular bacon", change it to "Turkey bacon is a much healthier and tastier alternative to regular bacon". Remember that the audience is reading YOUR paper, so it's obvious that these are your opinions already.
4. Character development is key in writing fiction. I am not so great at writing fiction, but I can tell when it's done well. (Rhyming!) If you're writing from a first-person point of view, the reader should feel like the main character is his or her best friend. If you're writing a love story, the reader should understand perfectly why the main character loves whoever it is he or she loves. The antagonist should be just as developed. It should be apparent WHY he or she is against the hero/heroin. Take Voldemort. JK Rowling has 7 extremely thick books that develop characters beautifully. Voldemort is no exception. Her readers know exactly why he is so evil, because she takes the time to build his character and give him more dimensions than pure evil. I'm not saying you have to have 7 books to your name in order to establish effective character development or anything, just that it takes some time and some serious thinking.
5. Conclusions should "stick it". While I was watching the Olympic trials, it occurred to me that the gymnasts never looked happy with their performances unless they stuck the landing. No matter how flawless the routine had been, the landing is the most important part. The conclusion is often what the reader remembers the best. It can't just summarize everything you've already told them, because that's boring. A conclusion truly needs to hit home with your audience. It should explain the so-what of your thesis. Why is this important? What's the point? Conclusions are HARD. They take time to master. I suck at writing conclusions, because after writing an entire essay, I just want to wrap it up as quickly as possible so I can turn it in. Try to figure out the so-what before you write your paper. If you have multiple drafts to turn in, do your best the first time around and ask your teacher for help in making it more effective.
I hope that this was at least mildly helpful to someone out there. If you're over forty, hopefully you already know these things, but I appreciate you bearing with me anyway, as usual.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
The Importance of Endings
Today, I am fueled by the three cups of very strong coffee I consumed with my breakfast and the literary insight that can only come from trying to do my AP Lang homework. (Two days in a row! Is this real life?)
Key word: trying(!) to do my AP Lang homework. Perhaps it's the three cups of coffee, but I'm finding myself very easily distracted by basically everything, including my portable lap desk. It has a very pleasant surface, you see, so I often find myself doodling in the corners of it when I get bored with my real work. Today, it started with scribbling down a song lyric that was stuck in my head, and led to the writing of my favorite quotes from novels. And it occurred to me that practically all of these quotes were the last lines of my favorite novels. So, I'll warn you now that if you think you can figure out the ending of a book from the last line, you should stop reading.
However. That warning is just dumb, because the last lines of a novel (when they're written really, really well) almost never give away the plot of the book. And maybe I only think this because I've read all of these books. But honestly, unless I told you, would you be able to guess where "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" comes from?
It's from The Great Gatsby. Now, if you've read this already, you understand how freaking awesome this last line is. But if you've never read it before, it just looks like a highly literary metaphorical-type statement. Which it is. But there's no way you can guess the plot of the book from it. Make sense? I don't know if I'm making sense. Blame the caffeine.
Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that the novel as a whole makes the last words important. If you read the last line first, it doesn't really mean anything until you read the whole book. So I'm not really giving out spoilers here, I'm just reflecting on the literary brilliance of last lines. Which you won't even really understand without reading the whole book anyways.
Anyway. Some of my favorite last lines come from the work of John Green (I mean, duh). He has this way of wrapping up the conflict of the main character in one sentence. Like at the end of An Abundance of Katherines, it reads: "And he was feeling not-unique in the very best possible way". HERE IS WHERE THERE ARE GOING TO BE SPOILERS. If you've read Katherines, you know that the main character struggles throughout with this desire to be special. He feels as if he's peaked and has nothing to offer other than his extensive knowledge of things that have already happened. He reflects upon the fact that most child prodigies, such as himself, never grow up to be geniuses. This last line summarizes how he has come to accept this. Go read the book, okay? It's a lot more awesome when you read the book.
I assume the majority of you have read The Book Thief, and if you have not you need to stop whatever it is you are doing immediately and go read it. I'm serious, stop it. Right now. Go. I'll wait.
For those of you that have read it, you know that it is narrated by Death. This makes the last line SO COOL. "I am haunted by humans." ISN'T THAT BRILLIANT? Sorry, is my nerd showing? Blame my enthusiasm on caffeine. But WHY is it brilliant? Because it's deliciously ironic, that's why! Is this a paradox? I'm pretty sure it's a paradox. I don't know, my vocabulary is a little rusty this time of the year. DEATH is haunted by HUMANS. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? It's genius even if you haven't read the book. But, of course, it's even more so when you have.
So what point am I trying to make here? I don't really think I am, actually. I just started geeking out about endings and thought I'd share it with you, Internet. I just love endings. All kinds of endings. Happy, ambiguous, melancholy. ALL THE ENDINGS. Also, endings are really difficult to write. Even when you're just writing an essay for English class, the hardest part is always the conclusion. How do you sum up everything you've already said without repeating what you've already said? It's hard! Endings just reveal the brilliance of the writer. Heck, I consider myself pretty good at this, and I still wrestle with endings for frakkin' blog posts. Like anybody actually cares that much. So let's just say that there is much to be appreciated in an ending, like there is much to be appreciated in the book as a whole.
...
The end.
Key word: trying(!) to do my AP Lang homework. Perhaps it's the three cups of coffee, but I'm finding myself very easily distracted by basically everything, including my portable lap desk. It has a very pleasant surface, you see, so I often find myself doodling in the corners of it when I get bored with my real work. Today, it started with scribbling down a song lyric that was stuck in my head, and led to the writing of my favorite quotes from novels. And it occurred to me that practically all of these quotes were the last lines of my favorite novels. So, I'll warn you now that if you think you can figure out the ending of a book from the last line, you should stop reading.
However. That warning is just dumb, because the last lines of a novel (when they're written really, really well) almost never give away the plot of the book. And maybe I only think this because I've read all of these books. But honestly, unless I told you, would you be able to guess where "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" comes from?
It's from The Great Gatsby. Now, if you've read this already, you understand how freaking awesome this last line is. But if you've never read it before, it just looks like a highly literary metaphorical-type statement. Which it is. But there's no way you can guess the plot of the book from it. Make sense? I don't know if I'm making sense. Blame the caffeine.
Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that the novel as a whole makes the last words important. If you read the last line first, it doesn't really mean anything until you read the whole book. So I'm not really giving out spoilers here, I'm just reflecting on the literary brilliance of last lines. Which you won't even really understand without reading the whole book anyways.
Anyway. Some of my favorite last lines come from the work of John Green (I mean, duh). He has this way of wrapping up the conflict of the main character in one sentence. Like at the end of An Abundance of Katherines, it reads: "And he was feeling not-unique in the very best possible way". HERE IS WHERE THERE ARE GOING TO BE SPOILERS. If you've read Katherines, you know that the main character struggles throughout with this desire to be special. He feels as if he's peaked and has nothing to offer other than his extensive knowledge of things that have already happened. He reflects upon the fact that most child prodigies, such as himself, never grow up to be geniuses. This last line summarizes how he has come to accept this. Go read the book, okay? It's a lot more awesome when you read the book.
I assume the majority of you have read The Book Thief, and if you have not you need to stop whatever it is you are doing immediately and go read it. I'm serious, stop it. Right now. Go. I'll wait.
For those of you that have read it, you know that it is narrated by Death. This makes the last line SO COOL. "I am haunted by humans." ISN'T THAT BRILLIANT? Sorry, is my nerd showing? Blame my enthusiasm on caffeine. But WHY is it brilliant? Because it's deliciously ironic, that's why! Is this a paradox? I'm pretty sure it's a paradox. I don't know, my vocabulary is a little rusty this time of the year. DEATH is haunted by HUMANS. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? It's genius even if you haven't read the book. But, of course, it's even more so when you have.
So what point am I trying to make here? I don't really think I am, actually. I just started geeking out about endings and thought I'd share it with you, Internet. I just love endings. All kinds of endings. Happy, ambiguous, melancholy. ALL THE ENDINGS. Also, endings are really difficult to write. Even when you're just writing an essay for English class, the hardest part is always the conclusion. How do you sum up everything you've already said without repeating what you've already said? It's hard! Endings just reveal the brilliance of the writer. Heck, I consider myself pretty good at this, and I still wrestle with endings for frakkin' blog posts. Like anybody actually cares that much. So let's just say that there is much to be appreciated in an ending, like there is much to be appreciated in the book as a whole.
...
The end.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
HI I'M ALIVE
So it's like almost 4 o' clock in the afternoon and I've only been up for like 4 hours and I've done zero productive things today. Heck, I'm still in my pajamas. Hence the post.
HELLO! I am not dead or in a coma or anything tragic like that, I'm just a lazy ass who watches too much Sherlock and Glee reruns and spends too much time on tumblr and twitter and youtube. This is why there has been no posting for a while. Summer! I have also not been home for three weeks total this summer, though not all in a row or anything ridiculous like that. I went to New York with my youth group in June and I went to camp in mid-July, but I realize neither of those hiatuses (hiati? That's not right.) are good excuses for not posting. I also realize that all the Tom Daley tags on tumblr in the world should be keeping me from blogging, but like I said, I'm lazy.
So I'm sitting here trying to figure out what I spend my days doing during the summer, and I can't actually think of anything interesting. It's basically an endless cycle of internet/TV/other brain rotting media that is no doubt awful for me. Occasionally I do fun things like actually leave my house to go watch movies, but that costs money. OH YEAH! I have a job. That's what I do. But that's only like two days a week. But it's kind of productive. As a matter of fact I'm going to work in like an hour. So I should probably get dressed or something.
Um. I've also been running. Cross country every morning now, woot! (?) I'm team captain this year! Well, team co-captain, but we don't have to go there.
I've been trying to get at least some AP homework done, but I have an internet connection so it isn't working out too well. I know a lot of people like hang out with their friends in the summer and stuff, but not a lot of my friends drive yet and sometimes I feel like summer is a nice break from friends, where you have an excuse to be like "Yeah I love you and all but I don't really feel like talking to you or hanging out with you now that I'm not required to see you every day". Obviously that sounds a lot more harsh than I mean it to be. Bottom line: if we're friends, we're friends, and as much as I love spending time with you, I also love not having to get dressed all day.
Anyways. I'm going to go take a shower and all that jazz so I can go to work without being completely disgusting, and I'll try to post again later this week if I happen to do/read/see something interesting.
HELLO! I am not dead or in a coma or anything tragic like that, I'm just a lazy ass who watches too much Sherlock and Glee reruns and spends too much time on tumblr and twitter and youtube. This is why there has been no posting for a while. Summer! I have also not been home for three weeks total this summer, though not all in a row or anything ridiculous like that. I went to New York with my youth group in June and I went to camp in mid-July, but I realize neither of those hiatuses (hiati? That's not right.) are good excuses for not posting. I also realize that all the Tom Daley tags on tumblr in the world should be keeping me from blogging, but like I said, I'm lazy.
So I'm sitting here trying to figure out what I spend my days doing during the summer, and I can't actually think of anything interesting. It's basically an endless cycle of internet/TV/other brain rotting media that is no doubt awful for me. Occasionally I do fun things like actually leave my house to go watch movies, but that costs money. OH YEAH! I have a job. That's what I do. But that's only like two days a week. But it's kind of productive. As a matter of fact I'm going to work in like an hour. So I should probably get dressed or something.
Um. I've also been running. Cross country every morning now, woot! (?) I'm team captain this year! Well, team co-captain, but we don't have to go there.
I've been trying to get at least some AP homework done, but I have an internet connection so it isn't working out too well. I know a lot of people like hang out with their friends in the summer and stuff, but not a lot of my friends drive yet and sometimes I feel like summer is a nice break from friends, where you have an excuse to be like "Yeah I love you and all but I don't really feel like talking to you or hanging out with you now that I'm not required to see you every day". Obviously that sounds a lot more harsh than I mean it to be. Bottom line: if we're friends, we're friends, and as much as I love spending time with you, I also love not having to get dressed all day.
Anyways. I'm going to go take a shower and all that jazz so I can go to work without being completely disgusting, and I'll try to post again later this week if I happen to do/read/see something interesting.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Rebelliousness.
So, it's 8:15 AM on a Tuesday, and that means this is my first official blog post from school. Now, before you (cough parents cough) get all concerned that I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I actually don't have anything to do. The work I have to do for this class is stuff I'm doing at home, and the stuff I have to do for my next class that I could be doing right now we're working on in my next class. So there's literally nothing for me to do. Except blog. Which I like doing, and as of this exact moment right now, that's a rare thing.
I am a very cranky person. I am all worked up and tense and stressed, and I don't even have an ostentatious amount of homework anymore. So why am I all grumpy? Well, I want this one chick in my class to shut the eff up, as usual, but that's not it right now. As a matter of fact, she could be a lot worse, but my extreme grumpiness is just making me want to smack her across the face with an octopus. Octopus? There's a girl next to me looking at pictures of octopuses. Octopi? Anyways. You guys have heard me talk about being in Forensics before and how much I love it and how awesome it is, right? Well, last night was our Forensics team showcase, in which most of the pieces performed for each other. Guess who didn't make the cut. That's right, me. After getting 12th place (meaning I FINALLY broke to semis) at State, I was stuck on the alternate list along with three other people who DIDN'T break to semis at State. So this pissed me off, obviously. But y'know what pisses me off more? I saw the program for it this morning (because I was too pissy to go last night) and a freshmen who DIDN'T BREAK TO SEMIS and WAS ON THE ALTERNATE LIST got to perform. And she was the THIRD STORYTELLER. There was absolutely ZERO PROSE on the lineup. I am just so frakking angry about this. And maybe this is teaching me a lesson. Maybe I should have stood up for myself and made the frakking coach put me on that frakking stage, but I didn't. And now I'm pissed off and having a pretty awful day, and I've only been awake for three hours.
Alright, now that I'm done bitching and feeling sorry for myself (here at least), I have an announcement of sorts. For a while I've been following a lot of vlogs on Youtube (video blogs, for you not-so-tech-savvy people), and they've always fascinated me. However, for the majority of the school year, I haven't been keeping up with them because I've had other stuff to do or whatever. Last night, though, I was watching an episode of Glee and waiting for it to buffer, so I decided to start catching up on them again. I had kind of forgotten how much I admire vloggers and how funny and cool they can be, and now I'm kind of inspired. So, today, after school, if I decide I have time, I'm going to film a vlog, and I'll edit it and post it here, on this site, for you all to see. This is kind of a trial run, because I'm too chicken to put anything up on Youtube yet and the only camera I have is my iPod, so we'll just see how it goes. It'll be a little ghetto, what with the iPod quality filming and Windows standard movie maker, but it might be fun. I don't get a whole lot of traffic here, and honestly, I'm sick of not being noticed. I keep going back to my favorite line in The King's Speech, when George VI is arguing with Logue and he says all awesomely "I HAVE A VOICE!" Because he does. And I do. And I think it's time I'm heard.
I am a very cranky person. I am all worked up and tense and stressed, and I don't even have an ostentatious amount of homework anymore. So why am I all grumpy? Well, I want this one chick in my class to shut the eff up, as usual, but that's not it right now. As a matter of fact, she could be a lot worse, but my extreme grumpiness is just making me want to smack her across the face with an octopus. Octopus? There's a girl next to me looking at pictures of octopuses. Octopi? Anyways. You guys have heard me talk about being in Forensics before and how much I love it and how awesome it is, right? Well, last night was our Forensics team showcase, in which most of the pieces performed for each other. Guess who didn't make the cut. That's right, me. After getting 12th place (meaning I FINALLY broke to semis) at State, I was stuck on the alternate list along with three other people who DIDN'T break to semis at State. So this pissed me off, obviously. But y'know what pisses me off more? I saw the program for it this morning (because I was too pissy to go last night) and a freshmen who DIDN'T BREAK TO SEMIS and WAS ON THE ALTERNATE LIST got to perform. And she was the THIRD STORYTELLER. There was absolutely ZERO PROSE on the lineup. I am just so frakking angry about this. And maybe this is teaching me a lesson. Maybe I should have stood up for myself and made the frakking coach put me on that frakking stage, but I didn't. And now I'm pissed off and having a pretty awful day, and I've only been awake for three hours.
Alright, now that I'm done bitching and feeling sorry for myself (here at least), I have an announcement of sorts. For a while I've been following a lot of vlogs on Youtube (video blogs, for you not-so-tech-savvy people), and they've always fascinated me. However, for the majority of the school year, I haven't been keeping up with them because I've had other stuff to do or whatever. Last night, though, I was watching an episode of Glee and waiting for it to buffer, so I decided to start catching up on them again. I had kind of forgotten how much I admire vloggers and how funny and cool they can be, and now I'm kind of inspired. So, today, after school, if I decide I have time, I'm going to film a vlog, and I'll edit it and post it here, on this site, for you all to see. This is kind of a trial run, because I'm too chicken to put anything up on Youtube yet and the only camera I have is my iPod, so we'll just see how it goes. It'll be a little ghetto, what with the iPod quality filming and Windows standard movie maker, but it might be fun. I don't get a whole lot of traffic here, and honestly, I'm sick of not being noticed. I keep going back to my favorite line in The King's Speech, when George VI is arguing with Logue and he says all awesomely "I HAVE A VOICE!" Because he does. And I do. And I think it's time I'm heard.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Zac Efron: The Movie
Oh, wait...it's called The Lucky One?
Oh yeah. Guess I was paying attention to...erm...other things.
So I've ranted about Nicholas Sparks movies before. It was a pretty decent post, if I do say so myself. But the fact that I find most of them extremely irritating and ridiculously unrealistic, there are a few gems. Like Zac Efron: The Movie. Or, The Lucky One.
I'm not saying that it was a great movie. Heck, as far as movies go, it doesn't even make what I would consider to be the top fifty best movies. But, as a 16 year old girl, there were some things I definitely enjoyed about it. Like Zac Efron, for instance. Never before have Levi's jeans looked so good. What was I talking about?
So anyways. The movie is about this marine named Logan who does like three tours in Iraq. He finds this picture in the dirt where he's stationed of a pretty blonde girl, and him stopping to pick it up keeps him from being blown up by a land mine. So he goes home, and he has this dog, which of course makes him like 50 times more attractive, and he's staying with his sister and her husband and two kids. Of course, these two kids are boys who like loud video games in which people shoot each other, and they also like waking up their uncle when he's not expecting it. Obviously, Zac Efron...er, Logan...has some PTSD, and he's having issues remaining normal. So he takes that picture he found, figures out where it was taken by comparing the lighthouse in the picture to one he finds on line, and freaking WALKS TO LOUISIANA. From COLORADO. I just looked that up on Google maps, and it takes TWO FREAKING WEEKS to walk to Louisiana from Colorado, and that's if you don't stop to like sleep and eat and stuff. This is where some of the Nicholas Sparks magic we all know and love comes in. Actually, it's pretty prominent throughout the whole movie. First of all, what are the chances that picking up a random picture saves your life? And how the heck did he find out where she was so fast? Seriously, there's exactly one scene of him looking at lighthouses on his computer, and the next thing you know, he's walking to Louisiana. And who WALKS TO LOUISIANA FROM COLORADO? Nobody does that. That's insanity. INSANITY. But I digress. So after he walks to Louisiana, he asks exactly two people where to find this girl, and the second guy tells him. Again with the ridiculous. I mean, it's not like I want to watch him ask like fifty different people where this girl is, because that takes up valuable time he could be spending with his shirt off, but seriously, the second guy he asks knows her! And I'm aware that this is a small town and stuff, but the whole opening of the movie is super rushed. So yeah. He finds the girl, they fall in love, et cetera, et cetera. There's an adorable little kid who Zac Efron...Logan...gets along really well with, which again boosts up his attractiveness meter by a good 50 points. Also he's a marine, sooo...100 points. And I gave him 50 points for the dog...we'll go with like 75 for the Levi's, 60 for being able to play the piano, and 5 berjillion for being Zac Efron.
Did I mention this movie has Zac Efron in it?
Oh yeah. Guess I was paying attention to...erm...other things.
So I've ranted about Nicholas Sparks movies before. It was a pretty decent post, if I do say so myself. But the fact that I find most of them extremely irritating and ridiculously unrealistic, there are a few gems. Like Zac Efron: The Movie. Or, The Lucky One.
I'm not saying that it was a great movie. Heck, as far as movies go, it doesn't even make what I would consider to be the top fifty best movies. But, as a 16 year old girl, there were some things I definitely enjoyed about it. Like Zac Efron, for instance. Never before have Levi's jeans looked so good. What was I talking about?
So anyways. The movie is about this marine named Logan who does like three tours in Iraq. He finds this picture in the dirt where he's stationed of a pretty blonde girl, and him stopping to pick it up keeps him from being blown up by a land mine. So he goes home, and he has this dog, which of course makes him like 50 times more attractive, and he's staying with his sister and her husband and two kids. Of course, these two kids are boys who like loud video games in which people shoot each other, and they also like waking up their uncle when he's not expecting it. Obviously, Zac Efron...er, Logan...has some PTSD, and he's having issues remaining normal. So he takes that picture he found, figures out where it was taken by comparing the lighthouse in the picture to one he finds on line, and freaking WALKS TO LOUISIANA. From COLORADO. I just looked that up on Google maps, and it takes TWO FREAKING WEEKS to walk to Louisiana from Colorado, and that's if you don't stop to like sleep and eat and stuff. This is where some of the Nicholas Sparks magic we all know and love comes in. Actually, it's pretty prominent throughout the whole movie. First of all, what are the chances that picking up a random picture saves your life? And how the heck did he find out where she was so fast? Seriously, there's exactly one scene of him looking at lighthouses on his computer, and the next thing you know, he's walking to Louisiana. And who WALKS TO LOUISIANA FROM COLORADO? Nobody does that. That's insanity. INSANITY. But I digress. So after he walks to Louisiana, he asks exactly two people where to find this girl, and the second guy tells him. Again with the ridiculous. I mean, it's not like I want to watch him ask like fifty different people where this girl is, because that takes up valuable time he could be spending with his shirt off, but seriously, the second guy he asks knows her! And I'm aware that this is a small town and stuff, but the whole opening of the movie is super rushed. So yeah. He finds the girl, they fall in love, et cetera, et cetera. There's an adorable little kid who Zac Efron...Logan...gets along really well with, which again boosts up his attractiveness meter by a good 50 points. Also he's a marine, sooo...100 points. And I gave him 50 points for the dog...we'll go with like 75 for the Levi's, 60 for being able to play the piano, and 5 berjillion for being Zac Efron.
Did I mention this movie has Zac Efron in it?
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Exciting Things
Why hello there, all! I am hoping you had a much less frantic weekend and are currently not putting off doing your homework in favor of practicing chord progressions and blogging. This is just a basic update on all things Erin, because I know how much that thrills you all.
So what's first? Well, I suppose I haven't mentioned Forensics all that much in my blogging. It's pretty much the most exciting thing in my life currently. For the whole of the competition season, I was next to break basically every single tournament. For you people that are not so savvy with the lingo, that basically means that out of the twelve people that make it to semifinals, I was number thirteen. Have I talked about this before? I don't remember. Too bad, you get to hear it again. Anyways. So yesterday was out regional competition, and even though I only had to compete against three people, I was pretty ridiculously nervous about the whole affair. I figured that regionals might be the only chance I had to get any kind of recognition, so I was really hoping to win. AND I DID. It was one of the more fantastic moments of my life. And my excellent Polish prose sister got second! So we're pretty much awesome. Y'know, basically.
What else...what else...oh yeah, it was my birthday, and that was pretty great. Overall a quiet celebration, but enjoyable. And I'm currently waiting for my Pottermore acceptance e-mail. THIS IS THE MOST EXCITING THING THAT'S HAPPENED TO ME ALL DAY. Pottermore is live!!
And I went shopping. So that was cool.
Yeah, not the most inspiring post of all time, but I can only do so much. Enjoy your weeks!
So what's first? Well, I suppose I haven't mentioned Forensics all that much in my blogging. It's pretty much the most exciting thing in my life currently. For the whole of the competition season, I was next to break basically every single tournament. For you people that are not so savvy with the lingo, that basically means that out of the twelve people that make it to semifinals, I was number thirteen. Have I talked about this before? I don't remember. Too bad, you get to hear it again. Anyways. So yesterday was out regional competition, and even though I only had to compete against three people, I was pretty ridiculously nervous about the whole affair. I figured that regionals might be the only chance I had to get any kind of recognition, so I was really hoping to win. AND I DID. It was one of the more fantastic moments of my life. And my excellent Polish prose sister got second! So we're pretty much awesome. Y'know, basically.
What else...what else...oh yeah, it was my birthday, and that was pretty great. Overall a quiet celebration, but enjoyable. And I'm currently waiting for my Pottermore acceptance e-mail. THIS IS THE MOST EXCITING THING THAT'S HAPPENED TO ME ALL DAY. Pottermore is live!!
And I went shopping. So that was cool.
Yeah, not the most inspiring post of all time, but I can only do so much. Enjoy your weeks!
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