Alannah's Blog

2010-01-20T22:51:00.003-05:00

A funny post to (belatedly) start the new year!

No amount of LOLs and ROFLs could describe how hilarious I find these.

A Farewell and Movits!

2009-08-06T22:23:00.002-04:00

I know I haven't posted in a while, and I'm really sorry about that. This summer has been really hectic. I just recently had to move (again...sigh). But, unfortunately, I've still got a lot to do, so I'm going to take an official brake from posting until some time in September.

So, as this is my last post for a little while I'll leave you guys with some awesome music. They're called Movits! , and you might recognize them from their appearance on the Colbert Report last week. This is a Swedish hip hop/jazz/swing band. I know it sounds like none of those things should go together well, but Movits! is able to pull it off, making both original and catchy music.
Their lyrics are in Swedish, but there are translations available if you look for them.

This is Extraordinarily COOL

2009-06-17T22:05:00.005-04:00

This is the Gates of Hell. And they're located in Turkmenistan.

It's a 328 feet wide hole in the Karakum Desert that's been burning since 1971. 38 years. Continually.

The gas hole was caused by a Soviet Drilling Rig that punctured a massive underground natural gas cavern in 1971. Poisonous fumes began to leak from the hole, so the Soviets set it alight. It hasn't stopped burning since then.

You can find out more about the Darvaza Gas Crater here , in the Atlas Obscura (an incredibly interesting website and definitely worth the look)

Apparently, there's also similar craters in Germany and my home state of Pennsylvania, but they're not as picturesque as this one. The one in Germany however, has been burning since 1688!

I'm Not Dead!

2009-06-01T16:04:00.003-04:00

Really, I'm not. Just give me another week. I've got finals the next couple of days. Not to mention a life sized self portrait dues this Wednesday.
But, as soon as school's over I'll be back to posting normally!

Google Verb Meme!

2009-04-16T01:00:00.006-04:00

Wow...its been a while since posting! And I can't even say I was busy as an excuse. I'm in the middle of spring break right now though, which has been nice if uneventful. Anyway, I was planning on talking about some more books for this post (namely Gaiman's The Graveyard Book and the zombie-rific Pride and Predjudice and Zombies) However, its around 1:30 am right now, so I'm going to take the lazy way out and do a meme!

Its pretty simple, just type in your first name in google followed by a verb! Take a result from google and use it as your answer.

Alannah needs:
"Alannah needs convincing that she's all that and a warehouse full of chips"
^So true.

Alannah looks like:
"Alanna doesn't look like a man?!"
^What?

Alannah wants:
"Alannah wants to know. “Yeah, I do. He’s dirty, he’s crazy, and he’s a leech. But I know him a long time, and I know what he won’t do. ..."

Alannah does:
"Alannah does the skank."
^LOL. Apparantly its a dance.

Alannah hates"
"..... Alannah hates people who lie. ..."

Alannah asks:
"And Alannah asks them tenderly in a slow, quiet ballad featuring guitar, organ, accordion, and cello"
^Awww

Alannah likes:
"Alannah likes to shoot."
^Yikes

Alannah wears:
"Does anyone know what red Alannah wears?"

Alannah was arrested for:
"Alannah ain't never been arrested for walking in her sleep ..."
^Wait...you can be arrested for that?

Alannah loves:
"Alannah loves dora the explorer"
^*shudder*

You guys try it! Just type in (your name) and a verb in google!

City of Glass

2009-03-01T13:47:00.001-05:00

The final novel in the Mortal Instruments Trilogy by Cassandra Clare will be coming out March 24! It's titled City of Glass. I'm extremely excited for this to come out, and jealous of all those lucky people with Advanced Reader Copies.

Description
"I know how to wake her up." Ever since her mother had succumbed to an enchanted sleeping sickness with no apparent cure, Clary Fray has longed to hear these words — but her happiness is dashed when she learns that the cure exists only in Idris, the secretive Shadowhunters' home country, where she is forbidden to go. As the Council of the Shadowhunters prepared for war with Valentine and his massive demon army, Clary's brother Jace and the Lightwoods travel to the City of Glass, Idris' capital, taking newly-made vampire Simon with them — but leaving Clary behind in New York. Clary has to use all her ingenuity and newfound magical skills to get herself to the Glass City on her own, a dangerous action that makes her a hunted enemy of the Clave.

The City of Glass is like nowhere else Clary has ever been — its twisting streets hide a myriad of secrets, and the inhuman Clave relies on the ancient glass "demon towers" to keep the city safe from attack. As the Lightwoods struggle to convince the Clave that Valentine represents a threat the like of which they've never dealt with before, and Simon is thrown in prison as an enemy of the state, Clary, with help of her newfound friend Sebastian, must uncover the truth about her family's past to save not just her mother but also Jace, the boy she loves but can never have. When Valentine attacks the city and destroys the demon towers, Clary and her allies are all that stand between him and the total annihilation of all Shadowhunters. Love is a mortal sin and the past tangles inextricably with the present as Clary and Jace face down their father in the final installment of the Mortal Instruments.

What do Cells and Castles Have In Common?

2009-02-16T21:32:00.006-05:00

Well, besides starting with the letter C, I've built both of them over the weekend. I feel accomplished. :D

21st Century Breakdown

2009-02-10T17:01:00.005-05:00

It's official-Green Day has a new album coming out! It's titled 21st Century Breakdown and is scheduled to come out in May of 2009.
The CD will be broken down into three acts-with a total of 16 songs.
Act 1 - “Heroes and Cons”
Act 2 - “Charlatans and Saints”
Act 3 - "Horseshoes and Handgrenades"

^ Green Day at the Grammy Award Ceremony this Sunday

I can not wait to see these guys in concert!

Coming In Like El Nino

2009-01-17T11:03:00.005-05:00

I'm finished with my midterms and back to posting!

This is a paper by Jeremy Lavine (of Period 3), that my friend Joey showed me. I'm assuming its real. And even if its not it's still extremely funny. :D

Hunger Games

2009-01-05T19:06:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins came out a few months ago, and so far one of my favorite books of the year. I had read Collin's other works, the Underland Chronicles, but she's perfected her style in The Hunger Games. The suspense and life or death plot, combined with the narrative of Katniss, a tough but likable heroine, make this novel unable to put down after the first chapter.

The Hunger Games takes place in a dystopian future where the United States had become Panem, split into twelve districts. Life is hard in District 12, and Katniss, 16, (along with maybe more than friend Gale, hunt on forbidden land to save her mother and sister from starvation. As a punishment to the Districts after they tried to rebel a while back, the Capitol randomly chooses one boy and one girl from each of the districts on Reaping Day to compete in a survival competition. Only one kid leaves the arena alive. And its all televised. When Prim, Katniss's twelve year old sister's name is called, Katniss volunteers to take her place without hesitation. She's chosen along with Peeta, a baker's boy. To survive in the game it helps to gain sponsors-and the way to do that is to win the heart of the crowd. So the trainer's of District 12 come up with a plan. Make it seem as if Peeta and Katniss are in love with each other.

"This is a story about the struggle to remain human in spite of the efforts from others to take it away. Katniss performs her own rebellion in deliciously clever ways but at the same time, you still feel her pain and anger towards the unjustness of it all. "The Hunger Games" is a fascinating look into what "entertainment" can mean, reconciling the need for survival and morality, and the questions of government and community." -Grace Chen (off of amazon.com)

And yes, like a lot of recent teen novels (I'm looking at you Twilight) there's a love triangle in this book. (I'm so team Peeta!) I can't wait for the second in a planned trilogy, Catching Fire, to come out later this year.

Check out this review from Stephenie Meyer:

People often ask me for reading suggestions, and I'm always happy to share because books are exciting things to me. My latest excitement is this: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I was so obsessed with this book I had to take it with me out to dinner and hide it under the edge of the table so I wouldn't have to stop reading. The story kept me up for several nights in a row, because even after I was finished, I just lay in bed wide awake thinking about it. I've been recommending it to total strangers in Target. And now to everyone who reads my website. The Hunger Games is amazing.

--Stephenie

And, because I totally love it when they make little trailers for novels, here's a cool one I found on youtube.

Lend Me A Tenor

2008-12-14T01:56:00.011-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while everyone, but I've been unbelievably busy. At my new school I decided to join stage crew, and the 11-13 of December was when we put on our play, Lend Me A Tenor.

I've basically just survived 'Hell Week', as the senior members call it.

When I first signed up I thought that I really wouldn't have to do much in crew, just place a few props or paint some scenery, and as a result I would have another club to list on my resume. I was so wrong.

Our set is amazing. We've built flats (canvas stretched tight over a wood frame) close to ceiling height which serve as walls and made sure they were secure, furniture for the set, built six perfectly functioning doors, as well as a divider in the middle to make it look like two separate rooms. Then we had to prime the entire thing, and paint the entire set several coats of either pink, blue, white, or black and then repaint then floor black afterwards. Not to mention all the insane little details (little lamps attached to the wall that actually work, a chandelier, etc.)

Here's a picture of part of the partially destructed set. There was a couch and rug on the floor, but it got moved.

So the week before the play started we had to stay after school some nights until 11 p.m., and when the play was actually going on we were usually there till 10:30.

However, despite serious lack of sleep, it was worth it.

The play is amazingly funny, and everything went perfectly. So anyway, I'll be posting a lot more from now on.

Twilight Movie!!

2008-11-23T08:39:00.005-05:00

I saw the Twilight movie on the 21!

I know that when movies are made based off books, the books are always better. And when I walked into the theater for Twilight I didn't have the highest expectations. I was still excited, but also worried.

And my overall opinion on it:

I liked it. Yes, it did have flaws, but it also had great moments too.

Some parts that were a little rough, and should have been edited better. And the movie definitely should have been a little longer and used a little more dialogue. In the beginning especially it felt like it skipped from when she first met Edward to months into the future with little transition. It was hard to see Bella and Edward's love fully and it felt like everything was rushed.

Overall, they stayed close to the events in the book and the order they happened in.
While I really wasn't sure about Kristen Stewart when she was first cast I think she did a good job as Bella(particularly in the scene where she was leaving Charlie), and Rob Patterson as Edward was ok. At some times he was a little awkward, but other times he seemed perfect as Edward. The best thing about Rob was his facial expressions. I know this sounds a bit weird, but they were hilarious!

The person that really surprised me though was the actor who played Charlie, Bella's father.
He was perfect, and had some really funny parts.

I loved the humor the minor characters bring into the movie (Mike and the window scene :D ).
My favorite quote would have to be from Edward though: "Sex. Money. Sex. Money. Cat"

The baseball and the ballet studio scenes were also amazing.

Man Submits Drawing of a Spider Instead of Payment

2008-11-19T21:49:00.006-05:00

David Thorne didn't have the $235.95 that was needed to pay his overdue account. So he drew a spider instead.
This man is a genius.
:D

If you want to read the resulting exchanges, you can click here:

The Twilight movie is coming out in 2 days!!

And I don't have tickets yet...
And, I've heard that movie theaters near me (and not so near me) are sold out...

Not good.

FAIL

2008-11-11T01:42:00.005-05:00

This website is hilarious: failblog.org The site has funny pictures and videos of moronic things.
Here's some stuff off the website:

^I feel a little bit guilty about laughing at this video. ^

2008-11-05T11:48:00.000-05:00

BARACK OBAMA IS THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!!! :D

Famous Last Words

2008-10-28T23:48:00.003-04:00

Not the awesome song by My Chemical Romance, but the actual words. I found this weird funny video on mentalfloss.com . Its a short video about some ironic famous last words narrated by the Grim Reaper himself.

Best of all its in Broadway style!

Since Halloween is coming up in a few days I thought I'd post this too, in case someone needs any ideas. They're Epic Halloween Costumes.

2008-10-21T12:14:00.009-04:00

Fall has been pretty awesome so far. We've been having a bunch of those perfect fall days we're the air is all crisp and cool, but still warm cause of the sun. And, of course, all the leaves are changing colors. :)

My classes at my new school aren't that bad either. I'm surprised to say this, but most of them are leaning towards the easy side.

The only thing really annoying me right now is my art teacher. He's way too strict when it comes to grading people's art and most of the time he acts like he has permanent PMS.

Here's one of the projects I did recently in his class. It's a still life. Its not supposed to be yellow, but I did take it with my cell phone camera so maybe that's why. I sort of like it though; it gives it sort of an old timey look.

Has anyone read Inkdeath yet??

^Best cover ever!^

I just noticed it came out the other day when I was in Borders. Its $25 dollars though, so I'm ordering it off amazon.com for cheaper.
If anyone's read it yet, you have to tell me how you like it, because I can't wait to read it.

New Twilight Trailer

2008-10-10T11:31:00.004-04:00

Summit Entertainment saved the best trailer for last. This Twilight trailer is amazing!! I think, that after seeing this, I have total confidence that the movie is going to be great.

I think my favorite scene has to be the one at the end were Edward says, "You are my life now."

Thoughts on the trailer/movie?

Gigi!!

2008-10-07T22:00:00.000-04:00

So around last week I went into the store Pet-Smart for the first time in my life. I didn't actually own a pet (long story as to why I was there in the first place). Soooo...I was completely taken by surprise when I saw that they had cats for sale there. And being the enormous sap I am I begged my parents to come and see them and adopt them. Turns out they're saps too cause in no time we were filling out the adoption papers.

They're called the Forgotten Cats Foundation and they take in cats and kittens off the street. This is how I adopted Gidget, my new kitten. She's 3 months old, a calico, and completely and utterly adorable. Gigi was found in on the streets Trenton, NJ, and was the only one to survive out of her litter.

She's been running all over the house sniffing and trying to eat/play with everything. And she purrs like a freakin' lawn mower. :D

Here's some pics of her:

A New Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?!?

2008-10-02T22:59:00.004-04:00

I realize I've been talking a lot about books lately, but I just HAD to talk about this. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the others written by Douglas Adams are some of my absolute favorite books ever. In the words of Eoin Colfer:

"The Guide is a slice of satirical genius. A marvel of quantum tomfoolery. A dissection of the absurdities of our human condition. A space odyssey that forces us to face ourselves and collapse in hysterics. Imagine if Messrs. Hawking and Fry were locked in a room with the entire cast of Monty Python and forced to write a book which would subsequently be edited by Pink Floyd, then the result would need a lot of work before it could be cut from Douglas Adams’ first draft."

As you probably know already, Douglas Adams died before he could write anything after Mostly Harmless, the fifth book. :(

Which brings us to the big news: Eoin Colfer will be writing the sixth novel!!

Eoin Colfer is the author of the awesome Artemis Fowl series among other books.

"My first reaction was semi-outrage that anyone should be allowed to tamper with this incredible series. But on reflection I realised that this is a wonderful opportunity to work with characters I have loved since childhood and give them something of my own voice while holding onto the spirit of Douglas Adams and not laying a single finger on his five books.
Once again I am terrified by a Hitchhiker book and this time it is my own. I feel more pressure to perform now than I ever have with my own books, and that is why I am bloody determined that this will be the best thing I have ever written. And if it isn’t then I will make sure that the cover is extremely pretty."

So what do you guys think? Will he write something worthy of the Guide to the Galaxy name or will he completely screw up the series?

P.S. I may *crosses fingers* be getting a kitten soon! We submitted adoption forms for a 3 month old calico kitten and right now its pending.

New Terry Pratchett Novel!

2008-09-21T15:22:00.008-04:00

Terry Pratchett, one of my all time favorite authors has a new novel called Nation coming out September 30th!! He was diagnosed last year with early onset Alzheimer's, but he's still planning on writing as many books as he can. He has also donated 1 million t research for it.

It isn't part of the Discworld series, but it still looks really good.

SUMMARY:
The sea has taken everything.
Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, something is returned, and somewhere in the jungle Daphne—a girl from the other side of the globe—is the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave.
Together the two confront the aftermath of catastrophe. Drawn by the smoke of Mau and Daphne's sheltering fire, other refugees slowly arrive: children without parents, mothers without babies, husbands without wives—all of them hungry and all of them frightened. As Mau and Daphne struggle to keep the small band safe and fed, they defy ancestral spirits, challenge death himself, and uncover a long-hidden secret that literally turns the world upside down. . . .
Internationally revered storyteller Terry Pratchett presents a breathtaking adventure of survival and discovery, and of the courage required to forge new beliefs.

On a totally unrelated and environmental themed note:

This Saturday as part of the coastal cleanup, me and some other people where cleaning up trash by this creek located in Wilmington, DE. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff we found! There was a flip flop, a really old Reebok sneaker, and a pair of Adidas. Not to mention a pair of underwear (!), a shopping cart, and countless bear cans and bottles, along with the usual garbage and pastic bottles. One of the guys who got there before I did, said they also found ecstasy pills! All the things that people through away just anywhere really disgusts me. :( At least we didn't find any medical waste though.

Wordled Favorite Bands

2008-09-14T22:43:00.003-04:00

Wordle.net is awesome! I typed a list of my favorite bands, played around with the fonts and colors, and got this!

(click to see a larger image)

To make a list of occurence-weighted artists off of iTunes you can follow these steps*

1) In iTunes, select View Options under the View menu.
2) Turn off everything but “Artist.”
3) Select all and copy.
4) Search and Replace the word “track” with nothing.
5) Paste the results into the Wordle.net Create page.

*From Scott Westerfeld's blog

2008-09-08T22:34:00.005-04:00

I've been really busy getting used to my new school, and today I had to help unpack the moving truck, so I really haven't had time to post lately.

One cool thing about my school is that all tenth graders get to take Driver's Ed as an elective!! I'm taking it the second half of the year. The rest of the electives at my high school really aren't that great though. They didn't have web design, digital photography, intro to java, or zoology there (some of the electives I was thinking about taking).

Another not so great thing: the school itself. Its was built in the 1960's. Which isn't bad in itself except for the fact that it doesn't have air conditioning. The past week and a half have been horrible and sweaty since its been in the 90's, and incredibly sunny and humid. You can see how that might be a problem.

Also, a new book came on August 26th called Cycler by Lauren McLauglin. It looks pretty funny and Scott Westerfeld has given it his review of approval.

Review
“Artfully fractured and wickedly smart. A brilliant screwball comedy about love, self knowledge, and the secret identities inside all of us.” —Scott Westerfeld, bestselling author of Pretties and Uglies

AS FAR AS anyone at her high school knows, Jill McTeague is an average smart girl trying to get her dream date to ask her to the prom.What no one knows, except for Jill’s mom and dad, is that for the four days Jill is out of school each month, she is not Jill at all. She is Jack, a genuine boy—complete with all the parts. Jack lives his four days per month in the solitude of Jill’s room. But his personality has been building since the cycling began. He is less and less content with his confinement and his cycles are becoming more frequent. Now Jill’s question about the prom isn’t who she'll go with, but who she'll be when the big night arrives.

Midnight Sun On Hold Indefinitely!!!!

2008-08-30T14:01:00.002-04:00

Nooooooo!

For those Twilight fans who didn't know already, an unfinished version of Midnight Sun was illegally posted and distributed online. In response to this, Stephenie has decided to put it on hold indefinitely.

Stephenie from her website on the matter:

"I did not want my readers to experience Midnight Sun before it was completed, edited and published. I think it is important for everybody to understand that what happened was a huge violation of my rights as an author, not to mention me as a human being. As the author of the Twilight Saga, I control the copyright and it is up to the owner of the copyright to decide when the books should be made public; this is the same for musicians and filmmakers. Just because someone buys a book or movie or song, or gets a download off the Internet, doesn't mean that they own the right to reproduce and distribute it. Unfortunately, with the Internet, it is easy for people to obtain and share items that do not legally belong to them. No matter how this is done, it is still dishonest. This has been a very upsetting experience for me, but I hope it will at least leave my fans with a better understanding of copyright and the importance of artistic control.

So where does this leave Midnight Sun? My first feeling was that there was no way to continue. Writing isn't like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything. If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die, which wouldn't dovetail too well with the original story. In any case, I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on Midnight Sun, and so it is on hold indefinitely."

I myself am personally disgusted with the person who posted it illegally and every single person who downloaded it and read it. I'm not too surprised that this happened, and I believe Stephenie definitely has the right to do this after what's happened. I am glad that she didn't say that there was no hope of her ever finishing it. This whole thing is a disaster.

I don't know how her fans who claim to love her and her writing could do this to her. I mean, after all she's down for us, making sure each book gets out every year, having no time to spend with her family, and then some people, who give the whole fandom a bad name, just steal something like this from her.

Stephenie has posted a link to the unfinished Midnight Sun because she knows that postponing Midnight Sun will drive even more people to look for the illegal copy. However, she says she rather her fans not read this unfinished version of Midnight Sun since it's messily written and has some mistakes.

I am going to respect her wishes and not read it, and I urge others to do the same.

New Rise Against CD

2008-08-25T15:35:00.006-04:00

On October 7, 2008 the band Rise Against plans to have their new CD released!! It'll be called Appeal to Reason. They've just released the first single from it called Re-Education (Through Labor). It's one of the better rock songs I've heard in a few weeks and I can't wait to get the rest of their album.

First two days in my new school so far, and my feelings are mixed, generally leading towards dislike. I'll write (ok, more like complain) more about it later.

Moving Day

2008-08-19T18:02:00.005-04:00

I've mentioned this briefly in comments and elsewhere before, but this is the first time I'm posting about it. Anyway, I'm moving to Delaware.

Tomorrow we're going to rent a truck and move over most of our stuff to the house we're renting before school starts August 26th. (ugh!...So soon!)

I'm not really too fond of my new house, but we really did have to move (because of my dad's job). I guess I'm sort of OK with it. At least I get to take Driver's Ed for free this year at my new school.

One of the worst things about it are the bugs. We've been staying in the mostly empty house for a couple of nights now and we've been finding all sorts of nasty insects and spiders. I think the worst is this thing. We have like a freakin' infestation of these disgusting little (actually not so little, more like two inches long) creatures!

They're called house centipedes and are insectivores. They eat a lot of other insects (which I suppose is good), and they can grow 2-3 inches long. And, did I mention, they bite.

I really do not care how beneficial these guys are. They CREEP me out. Especially after finding one crawling around on your bed. *shudders*

Does anyone else have these things in their house?

Anyway, I'll be posting more about the move and my new house later. I do have some good news though. Twilight the movie's release date has been moved closer by three weeks! This means it'll be coming out on November 21st instead of December 12th!!

Max Ride Movie

2008-08-10T16:58:00.007-04:00

Maximum Ride by James Patterson is officially going to be made into a movie with Columbia Pictures holding the screen rights!

Arad has hopes that "Maximum Ride" can hatch an original superhero franchise, with the elements of alienation and angst that resonate in those spandex-clad movie heroes.

Also, one of the interesting things in the article: "The fifth installment of the book series will be published next year."

I wasn't expecting that. I like the series, but I'm not sure that's the best idea after the fourth book. I love the series and the characters, but Patterson might be overusing the story. I mean, the fourth book was a little cheesy.
Oh well, I'm still looking forward to this new fifth book anyway.

BREAKING DAWN IS OUT!!!

2008-08-04T05:29:00.001-04:00

Breaking Dawn was released three days ago!!

And yes, I have finished reading all 754 pages of it.

I'm sort of...speechless about it at the moment. NOT in a bad way. Its just...wow. I really never expected her to write something like that. I'm not going to give away any spoilers in this post because I know a lot of people haven't read/finished it/don't care. But I am going to say a few things about it.

Ok, the sort of bad thing about it first: It was, (how do I put this?), fanfiction-y. Of course, Stephenie Meyer's writing was a trillion times better than any fan fiction writer out there, but still... Some of the things in the plot...

On the plus side, it was still an excellent read. I enjoyed it immensely, and I really do believe that she ended the series (at least those from Bella's point of view) very well. The ending was a whole lot better than that of the 7th Harry Potter book's in my opinion.

Also, I adored the section that was from Jacob's point of view!! I'm hesitant to admit this, but I may have liked it even more than the part from Bella's. Jake's funnier than Bella and the whole werewolf pack thing was very interesting to read about.

SPOILER FROM THE BOOK:
I'm also extremely happy that Jake imprinted on someone. I won't say who though.

Oh, and: Renesme? Really Stephenie, what were you thinking? I guess she wanted an original name or something. Whatever...

By the way, where did all the commenters go? Its feeling kinda lonely here.

30 Gigs of Awesomness: A Day At Warped Tour

2008-07-28T00:48:00.010-04:00

My second time at the Warped Tour was better (and rainy-er) than ever! Woot!

First, the best part of the day: I got to meet the band Ludo! Not only did I take a couple of pictures with Andrew Volpe, the lead singer and one cool dude, but the entire band signed my the back of my ipod!! And one of the band mates before signing my ipod was like, "30 Gigs of awesomeness!" I really couldn't phrase it any better than that. :D

On a side note, when it comes to meeting anyone even vaguely famous I act like a total dork. For instance, upon meeting the members of Ludo I just sort of smiled dumbly a lot instead of having a normal conversation or discussing their music.

The only really bad part of the day was when it started raining (then pouring, then hailing) right before Relient K came on. The whole place started flooding and I had to wade threw inches (inches, people, inches) of water in my flip flops while it was hailing. Fun! Even though I had an umbrella I still got soaked. But after 20 minutes the rain sorta died down, and the sun came back out like nothing had happened.

I saw Ludo, The Academy Is..., Angels and Airwaves, All Time Low, Cobra Starship, Gym Class Heroes, Pennywise, Relient K, Say Anything, and Story of the Year. All were great. :)

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox

2008-07-22T23:55:00.001-04:00

On the car ride back from my vacation I had a chance to finish the sixth, recently released (July 15th) Artemis Fowl novel, The Time Paradox.

Just like the previous six books, this one is full of wit, action, and cool gadgets. Plus this one, like the fifth, has the added integument of time travel. Although unlike the fifth, were there's only a small part of the novel centered around time travel, its the main theme for the Time Paradox.

This book was good, but, and I hate to have to admit this, not quite as good as the others. It happens to all things eventually. When you reach a point in a series were the sequels start loosing the grip the previous installments had on you whether by bad plots, overusing the idea, etc.

My only (very) small problems with the book was the lack of Foaly and Butler in the story, and (BIG SPOILER) the once again re-return of Opal Koboi. Although, if its in the past, can it count as a return?

All in all, the Time Paradox was still really enjoyable and a great read. If there's another book after this one I will definitely read it. I really liked seeing how Artemis, a sort of anti-hero, has changed over the course of the series for the better. And you still get a dose of the evil Artemis when he must deal with his ten year old self when Artemis goes back in the past. Also, if there are any people who like to pair Artemis and Holly (I'm neutral on the pairing) then you are in for a surprise (of the good variety). This makes me wonder if Eoin Colfer is listening to all those crazy fangirls of fanfiction.net though.

SUMMARY: (From the book)
After disappearing for three years, Artemis Fowl has returned to a life different from the one he left. Now he's a big brother, and spends his days teaching his twin siblings the important things in life, such as how to properly summon a waiter at a French restaurant.

But when Artemis mother contracts a life threatening illness, his world is turned upside down. The only hope lies in the brain fluid of a silky sifaka lemur. Unfortunately, the animal is extinct, due to a heartless bargain Artemis made as a younger boy.

Though the odds are stacked against him, Artemis is not willing to give up. With the help of his fairy friends, the young genius travels back in time to save the lemur and bring it back to the present. But to do so, Artemis will have to defeat a maniacal poacher who has set his eyes on a new prey: Holly Short.

The rules of time travel are far from simple, but to save his mother, Artemis will have to break them all and outsmart his most cunning adversary: Artemis Fowl, age ten.

Time For Some Capaignin'

2008-07-19T03:02:00.002-04:00

Here's an incredibly funny video from jibjab.com about the upcoming election, in a rather catchy tune. :) Even after the fifth time watching it I can't stop laughing.

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

2008-07-13T15:15:00.006-04:00

I've been on vacation in South Carolina for the past couple of days, hanging around Myrtle Beach. Which is why I haven't posted for a couple of days. I haven't really had a chance to get on the internet un til now. Our hotel room has a scenic view of the roof and a bunch of big air-conditioners. :) But it has been a pretty fun so far.

Recently we went to Ripley's Aquarium. One of the coolest features in my opinion is the tanks for most of the fish in the main part of the aquarium. You walk through a sort of tunnel and the tank is all around you, so you're able to see the undersides of the sharks and fish as they swim over you. Also, I got to pet a sting ray! :D

Pic of a turtle at the aquarium! -->

By the way, if you'd like to see more pictures my sister has a bunch of them soon to be posted on her deviant art account. (username Sarcastic-Ninja)

In Twilight news, Stephenie Meyer is posting a quote a day from Breaking Dawn on the days leading up to its August 2nd release on her website.

One of my favorite Lolcats:

Photo Inspiration: In Which Alannah Discovers That There's Actually a Park Where She Lives

2008-07-05T00:17:00.009-04:00

I went to my local state park a couple of days ago (I know, my summer has been so exciting so far-Not). But it was kinda fun, and I did get to take some nice pictures. Trees, a lake, the usual park-ish things.

These were taken with my cell phone camera, because my real, and rather expensive, camera hates me and is no longer working (something's wrong with the battery).

This is a totally unrelated sidenote, but I can't seem to get the song Morningstar by AFI out of my head. As a result I'm playing it over and over and over and over (you get the idea) again. Anyone else know/like this song?

Happy 4th of July!!

Robot Eco Dogs

2008-06-28T01:18:00.011-04:00

This news story sort of has to do with Little Brother, the book I just read, since the author talked about this story in the Bibliography in the back.

"For the Feral Dogs Project Jeremijenko has worked with numerous student groups to create packs of roving robo-dogs, which are “released” en masse into a community space to sniff out harmful VOCs, ozone, and other environmental toxins. The ‘packs’ of feral robotic dogs are designed to “patrol” sites of public interest like schools, parks, and industrial sites, in order to generate community and media attention on the issue on contaminants in the environment."

How cool is that? These students are hacking into toy robot dogs and turning them into toxic waste detectors!
I would LOVE to make one of these at home, but I'm definitely not tech savvy enough to do it.

Here's a link to the Feral Robotic Dogs website:
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/xdesign/feralrobots/

Speaking of robots, I saw the movie Wall*e tonight, and fell in love with it. If you don't love it for the adorableness of robot romance then you'll at least be awed by the cool computer animation.

Little Brother

2008-06-22T14:19:00.005-04:00

I've been really busy lately (packing stuff to move-eugh), and nothing blog worthy is currently going on in my life (again packing stuff=boring and sad), so I thought I'd post some info about the book I'm currently reading. It's called Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, and its a pretty cool science fiction novel set in the close future. The main thing that got me to read this book were the reviews. Neil Gaiman and Scott Westerfeld!! Neil Gaiman's review is especially awesome (its on the bottom of the page). By the way, if any of you don't know who either of these authors are, follow these steps:
1. Smack yourself on the head. (not to hard though-I don't want my blog responsible for any concussions)
2. Go to your nearest library, bookstore, or go to amazon.com and find books by these authors. There are many of them.
3. Read the books. I recommend Anansi Boys, American Gods, or Good Omens by Neil Gaiman. Anything by Scott is excellent.

Anyway, one of the cool things about Little Brother is that it teaches you some awesome anti-surveilance tricks.

SUMMARY:
Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

“A wonderful, important book…I’d recommend Little Brother over pretty much any book I’ve read this year, and I’d want to get it into the hands of as many smart thirteen-year-olds, male and female, as I can. Because I think it’ll change lives. Because some kids, maybe just a few, won’t be the same after they’ve read it. Maybe they’ll change politically, maybe technologically. Maybe it’ll just be the first book they loved or that spoke to their inner geek. Maybe they’ll want to argue about it and disagree with it. Maybe they’ll want to open their computer and see what’s in there. I don’t know. It made me want to be thirteen again right now, and reading it for the first time.” —Neil Gaiman, author of Sandman and American Gods on Little Brother

“A rousing tale of techno-geek rebellion.” --Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies, Pretties, and Specials, on Little Brother

So true...

2008-06-13T15:58:00.004-04:00

This picture just made my day :D I thought I'd share it with everyone else.

Unicorn Deer!

2008-06-12T07:24:00.007-04:00

This single-horned deer was actually found in Italy! Single-horned deer are rare but not unheard of — but even more unusual is the central positioning of the horn, experts said.
"Generally, the horn is on one side (of the head) rather than being at the center. This looks like a complex case," said Fulvio Fraticelli, scientific director of Rome's zoo.

Wicked was phenomenal! The acting and singing were great and the entire play was very witty and funny. And the ending...wow, I seriously never expected that.

Most Excellent Days Ahead...

2008-06-05T15:55:00.007-04:00

Well at least for me. And only spanning the course of four days. But still, I'm majorly excited for the next couple of days.

Why, you ask? Because I'm going to see Wicked the musical this Sunday! On Broadway! I have been wanting to see this musical since I was in seventh grade and our chorus sang the songs from it. It is going to be AMAZING.
If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about you can check out http://www.wickedthemusical.com/ , a tres cool site where you can hear most of the songs from the musical in the entirety. Listen to Defying Gravity in particular, since its my absolute favorite song from the musical.

Only slightly less important than going to see Wicked is my 15th birthday which is June 9th. Then, just one more year after that and I can legally start driving! (Ok...only in some states, but whatever.)

And, although I'm slightly embarrassed to say this, I'm also pretty excited for my school's semi formal tomorrow night. I mean, I don't know why I should be, it's only two hours long, and they're sure to play crappy music, and no one will actually dance. Maybe my excitement has something to do with my finding a dress I actually LIKE. (its red, black and awesome all over!) Or, just possibly, it might have something to do with me having a cute date. :)

Of course, after all this I'll once again be thrust into the worrisome time that is My End of the Year Finals.
I really should study...

Japanese IQ Test

2008-05-31T08:29:00.002-04:00

Ouch...I am so sunburned right now. I went to Dorney Park (its an amusement park for those of you who haven't heard of it) the other day with my school and I forgot to put on suntan lotion, which explains why my face is the color of a tomato right now. The weird thing is that only my face and like one patch of my left arm burned. The rest of my is still ghostly white. Grrr....stupid skin.
Anyway, this Japanese IQ Test is apparently given to job applicants for important companies in Japan. It's pretty challenging, and it took me around ten minutes to solve.

http://www.robmathiowetz.com/

Also, the cover I posted for Breaking Dawn was the real thing! Wooo! The special edition of Eclipse with the poster I posted in my last post is out today and it has the first chapter of Breaking Dawn in it! I think Stephenie Meyer's website will also have the first chapter up in a couple of days.

The REAL Breaking Dawn Cover?

2008-05-25T13:32:00.005-04:00

EDIT: Ok, so this actually is the REAL Breaking Dawn Cover!

<----- Proof off amazon.com :)

Wow, I know I am way too obsessed with the Twilight series but I just had to post this here. The special edition of Eclipse which is coming out in 5 days has a picture of the never before seen cover and Breaking Dawn and the first chapter of Stephenie's much anticipated new novel.

Only some copies of the special edition have gotten out early...
So is this the REAL Breaking Dawn cover?

Or is it just an extremely elaborate fake? Personally, I think its might actually be real. It even has a quote on the bottom (click on the picture to enlarge it and read the quote). But people can make quotes up...
It was definitely not what I was expecting for the cover, but if it is the real thing I like it.

So what are your opinions of what could be the cover of Breaking Dawn?

New (And Even More Dramatic) Pendragon Book Out

2008-05-20T07:26:00.016-04:00

The new Pendragon novel (9th in the series), Raven Rise, is out today. I'm not sure if I really like the new cover art for the series. Its sort of...uglier than the previous ones.

Summary off Amazon.com
This is where it begins. The showdown for Halla. At stake is nothing less than all that ever was and all that will be.
There's only one thing missing--Bobby Pendragon.
While Bobby remains trapped on Ibara, the battle moves to his home territory: Second Earth. Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde are left on their own to defend Second Earth against the forces of Saint Dane. They must face off against a charismatic cult leader who has risen to power by revealing a shattering truth to the people of Earth: They are not alone.
The Convergence has broken down the walls. The territories are on a collision course. The final phase of Saint Dane's quest to rule Halla is under way.
And Bobby Pendragon is nowhere to be found.

I don't know about you, but that summary might have been a little too dramatic. Just a little... :) . But I am intrigued, and I'm going to try and find the book this weekend.

I've been noticing some some similarities with the Pendragon series and the tv show LOST (which is also way too dramatic for its own good). Such as the whole weird time travel aspects, too many people dying all the time, the love triangles, and betrayles.

And look what else I found!Its the 6th Artemis Fowl book cover!

Ooooohh, shiny! And green! :) ------------------------>

Computer Destroying Ants

2008-05-15T16:24:00.005-04:00

Houston is home to a new invasive species of ant, thought to have arrived via a container ship in 2002. The as-of-yet unidentified species is colloquially referred to as the crazy raspberry ant for its erratic foraging habits, appearing to dart in every direction but straight ahead. The ant has quickly become a nuisance both to the local ecology and to the people living with them. They are omnivorous and will eat everything from flora to other insects and even the hatchlings of a local grouse called the prairie chicken. They have destroyed all matter of electrical equipment, insinuating themselves into fire alarms and sewage pumps, mucking up the works as they go.
While the species is already too widespread and established for any hope of eradication, even simple population control is proving to be difficult. The animals are not attracted to the usual poison bait traps and so require specialized extermination. The colonies are polygyne (having multiple queens) and may even be interconnected into supercolonies, making colony destruction nearly impossible. Even when individuals are killed, the survivors will smartly pile their dead over the pesticide-treated areas to cross to safety. (Woooo! I made the entire paragraph a link! :) )

A pic of the crazy raspberry ant, which are attracted to electrical wires, and have ruined several people's computers, among other things.

Its news stories like this that make me REALLY glad I don't live in Texas.
I finished the Host, which is 600+ pages in a DAY. IT IS AMAZING. (I know I'm using caps in this post more than usual, but the Host is just that good.) So if you're in a book store soon, go check it out! Another great thing about Stephenie Meyer's new novel is that it also proves she's successful at writing other stuff besides her best-selling Twilight saga.

Go Buy the Host!

2008-05-09T16:15:00.001-04:00

I just bought the Host!! *does a dance of joy for anything Stephenie Meyer related*

Unrelated to the Host:
This is another one of those online games that are not so much fun as more of an addictive quality to them. You kow, the kindof game where you know you should stop because you have so much work to do and you're wasting the precious minutes in your life...

http://www.hurtwood.demon.co.uk/Fun/copter.swf

Bamboozle!

2008-05-05T15:23:00.005-04:00

I went to the Bamboozle festival this Saturday in New Jersey. Like Warped Tour, its sort of a festival with a lot of great bands playing all in one day.

The weather was pretty lousy, it was drizzling and cold all day, but I still had an amazing time.

I saw:

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Streetlight Manifesto
Ludo
Jack's Mannequin
The Bravery
Zox
Paramore
Jimmy Eat World

If you ever get a chance to see Ludo perform live, do it. They're amazing in person and actually really funny! For those of you who haven't heard them yet, I think two of their best songs are Love Me Dead and lake Pontchartrain. Go listen!!

Also: The first official Twilight movie trailer!! *hyperventilates* I've watched it about 10 times already...
See it here: http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33429578

Cascades of Ice

2008-04-29T19:55:00.004-04:00

Some of you have already seen this up on my deviantart page but I thought I'd post this pic here for two reasons:

1: People seem to actually like it, and/or think it looks cool

2: It's Springtime! So I thought I'd post this picture as a sort of farewell gesture to all things wintry, icy, and cold (ie. Most of the things that make me miserable)

I actually took this picture in a parking lot! I know it looks like I trekked out to some rocky cliff in the middle of winter to take it, but this cropping of rocks was at the end of a mall parking lot. Despite being a 14 year old girl, I find that I actually prefer nature like this most of the time to the often too crowded, boring mall I live near.

In other news:

The Bamboozle Festival is this Saturday! And I still haven't gotten tickets. What am I thinking?

I'm going to be posting a review for a cool book called Generation Dead which I just finished reading and should be reaching a bookstore near you,

Persepolis

2008-04-26T18:26:00.011-04:00

Autobiographical novels are usually not my preferred genre of books, but the graphic novel Persepolis is the one exception to that.

My world cultures class is now reading Persepolis, but I had actually heard of and been interested in the book before that after hearing glowing reviews, finding out that a movie was adapted from the books, and seeing Marjane Satrapi, the author and illustrator, interviewed on the Colbert Report.

So when I finally started reading the graphic novel I had somewhat high expectations. And Persepolis totally reached those expectations.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel telling the story of what it was like for her growing up as a young girl in the '80's in Iran during the Islamic revolution and the war with Iraq.

Its a quick read (since its after all only a 150 or so page comic book), but it stays with you. In fact, the illustrations make the book even more powerful by showing the joys, violence, tragedy, and love for her family in Marjane's life.

This is an amazing and interesting book, and you should check it out even if comics or history aren't your favorite things.

Here is one scene from the book (click to enlarge):

An Insight on Dentists...

2008-04-22T20:13:00.005-04:00

It's Earth Day everyone! But, instead of talking about this environmentally friendly holiday, I'd like to share with you, my readers, a small thought about dentists.

I'm not sure if other people have noticed this, but dentists love to talk. At least the several that I've known. I was at the dentist's offive today, and my dentist, who shall not be named, chatted away the entire time. He even began to sing--while filling a cavity! And I was powerless to stop it, seeing as I had sharp metal tools inside my mouth at the time. The other two dentists that I've known have acted in similar ways. It makes me wonder whether some people become dentists simply because they like hearing themselves talk.

Has anyone else noticed this?

A Guy Reading Twilight?!

2008-04-18T16:43:00.007-04:00

*gasp* How can it be?

Ok...That was a little over dramatic. I actually know several guys who have read Twilight (shout out to Dan!), but this is the first website by a dude to actually record his reactions to the books chapter by chapter.

Check out his website, twilightguy.com which has been doing exceeding well considering he only just started it very recently and has only reveiwed the first chapter of Twilight. I'm looking foward to following this site :)

http://www.twilightguy.com/

Where's Your Favorite Place to Think?

2008-04-13T12:10:00.005-04:00

Do you have a place where you like to think the best?

For me its whenever I'm on a bus or in a car looking out a window and watching the world go by quickly while I'm sitting still. My mind just sort of goes blank but at the same time focuses, and I'm able to think about things more efficiently. It's sort of hard to explain. That's one reason why I love taking long bus or car trips. I usually come up with a lot of ideas for stories on them.

Deviant Art!

2008-04-12T12:24:00.005-04:00

I've gotten a deviant Art account! I've basically uploaded all the artwork I've posted on this blog plus a couple of pictures.

http://afleetingdream93.deviantart.com/

If anyone else has an account on deviant art, leave a link to it in a comment and I'll check it out.

An Attempt at People

2008-04-09T21:59:00.007-04:00

I really like posting my artwork here on this blog. I've just recently started doing more drawings and other types of art because of the art class I'm taking. Before this I didn't really think I was that good.

I've had these two since March, but I posted them now since I haven't really had anything to post. The top one is my first attempt at shading a person. The bottom is another Twilight inspired fan art. For enlarged versions just click on the the picture.

I like how this turned out a lot, espicially sonsidering its the first time I've actually tried drawing a person's face up close like this.

This is supposed to be Bella and Jake in New Moon/Eclipse. I know that porportionally Jake is WAY off. :( But he is supposed to be over 6'7 in the books...

The quote is from the end of Eclipse. I don't like this one as much as the previous drawing.

Bamboozle is coming up in May!!! Can't wait!!!

21

2008-04-04T17:58:00.004-04:00

I saw the movie 21 a couple of nights ago...

Summary:
"Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is a shy, brilliant M.I.T. student who needing to pay school tuition finds the answers in the cards. He is recruited to join a group of the schools most gifted students that heads to Vegas every weekend armed with fake identities and the know-how to turn the odds at blackjack in their favor. With unorthodox math professor and stats genius Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) leading the way, theyve cracked the code. By counting cards and employing an intricate system of signals, the team can beat the casinos big time. Seduced by the money, the Vegas lifestyle, and by his smart and sexy teammate, Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth), Ben begins to push the limits. Though counting cards isnt illegal, the stakes are high, and the challenge becomes not only keeping the numbers straight, but staying one step ahead of the casinos menacing enforcer: Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne). 21 is inspired by the true story of the very brightest young minds in the country and how they took Vegas for millions."

Jefferey Ma, one of the MIT students that this movie (and the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich) is based off of actually has a cameo in the movie. He plays one of the Planet Hollywood dealers.
While this movie was pretty good with some nice visual effects and a good ending, what I really liked about it was Jim Sturgess, who was cast as the movie's main protagonist, Ben Cambelle. I've loved Sturgess since I saw him in Across the Universe, and his acting in Across the Universe and 21 is awesome. Even though he's British he does an American accent flawlessly. I can't wait to see what other movies he's going to be in.

In other, Twilight related news:

Go vote for Stephenie on TIME Magazine's 100 Newsmakers!! http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1725112_1723512_1723880,00.html Go, Go, Go! She's at the Number 2 slot! And we can't let some stupid Korean pop star beat her! ...Wow...I'm so obsessed.

Shoes

2008-04-01T16:39:00.000-04:00

It's April Fools Day! Did anyone play any good pranks or get pranked on?
Everyone at my school just basically forgot about it.

I'm usually not the kind of person to obsess about clothes or shoes or anything, but I absolutely adore these shoes!! They're converse! With purple laces!

Shooooeeeessssssssssssssss :D

Wondering...

2008-03-27T19:58:00.006-04:00

When you're in the car looking out the window do you ever stare at the other people in the cars and wonder what their story is? Like who are they, where are they going, and why? And then I wonder if I'll ever see or meet any of these people again.

I do this all the time. I was wondering, does anyone else? Or am I just weird/bored/nosy?

I saw this video on youtube for Twilight! It has all these fans from around the world saying how they support the actors for the Twilight movie.

The guy with the hat on is my favorite! :D

City of Bones!

2008-03-24T00:37:00.007-04:00

I haven't done a book review in ages, and some people were asking what it was about; so I decided to do a summary/review of the fabulous City of Bones by Cassandra Clair and its just released sequel, City of Ashes.

Both City of Bones and City of Ashes are gripping, fast-paced, and hilarious, and I honestly couldn't put the books down until I finished them. The characters are realistic and extremely likeable, and the plot has lots of surprises. This urban fantasy is both dark and perky at the same time, which not many books can do. These books would make excellent tv mini series or movies.

"In City of Bones, the first book, Clary Fray’s world is turned upside-down. She has never thought of herself as being anything other than ordinary, until she sees a group of teenagers kill a demon—and finds that no one else can see them. Soon after that, Clary’s mother mysteriously disappears, and she is plunged into a world in which vampires and werewolves are real. She discovers that she is a Shadowhunter—a race of demon-slayers. To top it all off, she finds herself caught in a nasty love triangle with Simon, her best friend, and Jace, an arrogant, handsome Shadowhunter. " *

Awesome things found in this book:

motorcycles that run on demonic energies
the shadowhunter runes

Jace

Simon

New York City

witty dialogue

exciting fight scenes

The cover is the first thing that drew me in to this book. Yay for cute shirtless guys!!

Ok...so this was more of me telling you how great City of Bones is that an actual review, but its a start. Anyway, if you're looking for a great fantasy YA read to pass the time until Breaking Dawn comes out, check out City of Bones.

City of Glass, the third and final book in the Mortal Instruments Trilogy will be coming out around March of next year.

*That summary from 3evilcousins.blogspot.com

Happy Bunny Day

2008-03-23T17:15:00.004-04:00

P.S. I've read City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare! Its the second in the Mortal Instruements Trilogy and it was soooooooo good. Go out and buy it, or if you haven't read City of Bones go buy that one first. Now.

Zombies...

2008-03-19T16:12:00.000-04:00

LOL :D

49%

Hmmmm...49% isn't too bad...

Try the 'What Are Your Chances of Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse?' Quiz! This is from the same site that has the 'How many five year olds can you take in a fight?' and other fun/weird quizes.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T15:33:00.006-04:00

It's St. Patrick's Day! Which I think is pretty cool even though I'm not really Irish. But more important than St. Patrick's Day, today is the day that the fourth Maximum Ride novel, The Final Warning, is released! Although I won't be able to purchase it till later this week (I envy all you people that are close to bookstores).

Has anyone read the summary they have for Final Warning on amazon.com? This Max Ride book is going to be focused on the environment! Yay!!

Wow...I'm such a nerd.

Anyway, here's some more St. Patrick's Day stuff!

St. Patrick is believed to have driven the snakes from Ireland. Once a pagan himself, St. Patrick is one of Christianity's most widely known figures.
The modern secular holiday is based on the original Christian saint's feast day also thought to be the date of the saint's death. In 1737, Irish immigrants to the United States began observing the holiday publicly in Boston and held the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City in 1766.
Today, the tradition continues with people from all walks and heritages by wearing green, eating Irish food, and attending parades. St. Patrick's Day is bursting with folklore; from the shamrock to the leprechaun and to pinching those that are not wearing green

More Art!

2008-03-14T16:08:00.010-04:00

Wow, this has been a pretty creative week for me. In my art class (which I must say I'm beginning to really love) we did this incredibly cool project where we took two playing cards (either a king, queen, or jack) and combined them together to form one card. Then we had to stipple it. I'm pretty amazed at how mine turned out.

Here's how the card looked before I stippled:

And here's how it looks with stippling:

On a totally unrelated note...anyone excited for the new Maximum Ride book coming out this Monday?

Also: New Picture from the Twilight movie set! Its from this week's Entertainment Weekly and shows Edward and James fighting.

http://www.robertpattinson.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=15&pos=0

Ketchup!!

2008-03-10T15:58:00.003-04:00

I've actually been really enjoying the art class I'm taking. Right now we're learning about hatching, cross hatching, and stipling. I think stipling is pretty cool :) This is one of the mini projects that I just completed for the class. Its a ketchup bottle! Anyhoo, I was really proud of how this turned out so I thought I'd post it here, and maybe teach you guys a little bit about art.

Stipling is an art technique were you use dots to color and add the illusion of value to you artwork. You make the dots closer together to make it look darker and farther apart to make it look lighter. I used tracing paper over a photocopy of a ketchup bottle, and a black extra fine sharpie marker to make all the dots.

Control Video Games With Your Mind

2008-03-07T15:52:00.004-05:00

So for another world cultures project I had to research some global issues, one of them technology and the future. I found this article and I thought it was pretty cool, even though I don't really play video games. But the whole being able to control a computer just with your mind--how cool is that?

Anyway, here's the article from USA Today:

Control Video Games With Your Mind

By Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press
NEW YORK — Hands cramping up from too many video games?
How about controlling games with your thoughts instead? Later this year, Emotiv Systems plans to start selling the $299 EPOC neuroheadset to let you do just that.

The headset's sensors are designed to detect conscious thoughts and expressions as well as "non-conscious emotions" by reading electrical signals around the brain, says the company, which demonstrated the wireless gadget at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The company, which unveiled a prototype last year, says the headset can detect emotions such as anger, excitement and tension, as well as facial expressions and cognitive actions like pushing and pulling objects.

The headset will be sold with a game developed by Emotiv, but it can also be made to work with existing PC games, the company said. Users will also be able to access an online portal to play more games, chat or upload their own content such as music or photos.

Emotiv plans to work with IBM Corp. to explore applications beyond video gaming. The "brain computer interface" technology could transform not only gaming, but how humans and computers interact, said Paul Ledak, vice president of IBM's Digital Convergence business.

Try the Impossible Quiz!

2008-03-03T15:30:00.005-05:00

Click on this link to play the impossible quiz!

http://www.notdoppler.com/theimpossiblequiz.php

You'll either find it really annoying or really fun. Be careful though, because it can take up large amounts of your time if you become obsessed with beating it.

Poetry-But Not My Own

2008-02-23T04:08:00.005-05:00

Its like 3 am right now and I had a sudden urge to Google poetry. What's wrong with me?
Anyway, I'm basically useless when it comes to poetry, which I guess makes me better at appreciating it. I've been reading a lot of books lately with some famous poets mentioned in them or with bits of their poems in the beginning. So I decided I would post them here for your reading pleasure :D

The second half of this poem, was in the beginning of The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray (pretty good book by the way, but I don't like the ending)

The Rose of Battle
W.B. Yeats

Rose of all Roses, Rose of all the World!
The tall thought-woven sails, that flap unfurled
Above the tide of hours, trouble the air,
And God's bell buoyed to be the water's care;
While hushed from fear, or loud with hope, a band
With blown, spray-dabbled hair gather at hand.
Turn if you may from battles never done,
I call, as they go by me one by one,
Danger no refuge holds, and war no peace,
For him who hears love sing and never cease,
Beside her clean-swept hearth, her quiet shade:
But gather all for whom no love hath made
A woven silence, or but came to cast
A song into the air, and singing passed
To smile on the pale dawn; and gather you
Who have sought more than is in rain or dew,
Or in the sun and moon, or on the earth,
Or sighs amid the wandering, starry mirth,
Or comes in laughter from the sea's sad lips,
And wage God's battles in the long grey ships.
The sad, the lonely, the insatiable,
To these Old Night shall all her mystery tell;
God's bell has claimed them by the little cry
Of their sad hearts, that may not live nor die.

Rose of all Roses, Rose of all the World!
You, too, have come where the dim tides are hurled
Upon the wharves of sorrow, and heard ring
The bell that calls us on; the sweet far thing.
Beauty grown sad with its eternity
Made you of us, and of the dim grey sea.
Our long ships loose thought-woven sails and wait,
For God has bid them share an equal fate;
And when at last, defeated in His wars,
They have gone down under the same white stars,
We shall no longer hear the little cry
Of our sad hearts, that may not live nor die.

This was in the beginning of Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

Fire and Ice
By: William Blake
Some say the world will end in fire;
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

I think this poem was mentioned in Rebel Angels. I really like Edgar Allen Poe a lot, especially two of his other more famous poems the Raven and The Bells.

A Dream Within A Dream
By: Edgar Allen Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

And while I haven't found these poems in a novel or anything I just really like them. Here's two poems by Emily Dickinson,

Emily Dickinson:

Surgeons must be very careful. When they take the knife!,
Underneath their fine incisions, stirs the Culprit - Life!

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school, where children strove
At recess, in the ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

Or rather, be passed us;
The dews grew quivering and chill,
For only gossamer my gown,
My tippet only tulle.

We paused before house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries, and yet each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Anyone know any other good poems?

Jumper!

2008-02-19T07:22:00.008-05:00

I saw the movie Jumper this Sunday! It was awesome! The special affects were dazzling, and teleporting=way cool. I'm not going to tell you how it ends, just that I don't really like the ending. Its far to open, and they make it obvious that there's going to be a sequel.

I really should stop posting so much about the Twilight movie, and more about my own problems or whatever. But I can't seem to. Oh well.

Picture of all the Cullens in the Twilight movie!!

I'm impressed.

Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T16:12:00.000-05:00

Yep, it's Valentine's Day, or as I like to call it Single's Awareness Day.

I was curious about the history of Valentine's Day so I looked it up. Here's a brief synopsis of how it got started.

Valentine's Day has its origins in the Roman festival Lupercalia, observed on February 15th. Lupercalia celebrated the coming of spring (in the Roman calendar February was observed later in the year than it is today).

Celebration of Lupercalia spread with the Roman Empire. The first Valentine-like cards may have been exchanged in Roman-conquered France.

As Christianity began to take hold in Europe, the Roman church attempted to clean up this pagan day by merging its feast with Saint Valentine's Day (observed February 14). This day honored two legendary Christian martyrs.

The legend of these martyrs may have stemmed from real people or from a single person. One of these martyrs, Valentine, is believed to have been a Roman priest and physician who was killed in the 3rd century during the persecutions of the Emperor Claudius II Gothicus (the Groth).

From Valentine's Day's association with Lupercalia comes the holiday's association with love and romance. The day's enthusiasts co-opted the Roman god,Cupid, as a patron of Valentine's Day. Cupid is also known as Amor and as Eros in Greek mythology. The ancient Greeks believed Eros was the force of love -- a force they believed was behind all creation.

Cupid is often depicted with wings and carrying a bow and quiver of gold tipped arrows. The son of Aphrodite, Cupid is said to be mischievous and able to inspire love with a shot of one of his arrows.

More book news!!
You can read an excerp from the Host on Stephenie Meyer's website!! You can read it here:

http://stepheniemeyer.com/pdf/thehost_chapter4.pdf

I really can't wait for this book to come out. It'll be interesting to read something from Stephenie Meyer thats not from the Twilight series.
It may not load if you don't have a current form of Adobe Reader.

A Great and Terrible Beauty

2008-02-13T14:27:00.012-05:00

Has anyone else read the novel a Great and Terrible Beauty by Libbia Bray? My librarian recommended it to me, and I've just recently finished reading it, and its sequel, Rebel Angels. The books are pretty good, and both of them are page-turners with some interesting chacarters.
The third, and I think final book, is called The Far Sweet Thing, and it just came out recently. All three books are in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy.

It's 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she's been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence's most powerful girls -- and their foray into the spiritual world -- lead to?

THEY'VE CAST SOME OF THE CULLENS IN THE TWILIGHT MOVIE!! Oh, and Victoria too. :)

Peter Facinelli.......Carlisle

You know what's kind of funny? Peter Facinelli is actually a vegetarian in real life.

Ashley Greene.........Alice

Elizabeth Reaser......Esme (She played Molly on Scrubs!)

Nikki Reed.........Rosalie

Rachelle Lefevre....Victoria

Stone Age Inventions and a Cast Update

2008-02-11T18:28:00.000-05:00

I'm really not liking my World Cultures class right now. I've got two 2 page essays due this Friday about Stone Age inventions and the argricultural revolution. Yet here I sit typing this post instead of working on them. I'm such a procrastinator.

By the way, what do you guys think is the most important invention of the stone age? Would it be tools, language, or the ability to control fire?

In Twilight related news...

We already know that Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson have been cast as Edward and Bella. Here's all the other parts that we know so far:

Justin Chon.......Eric

Anna Kendrick.....Jessica

Cam Gigandet......James

Michael Welch.....Mike

Michael Welch is pretty cute!! :D

For some strange reason, I am oddly excited for Valentine's Day, which is in 2 days.

Release Date of Breaking Dawn!

2008-02-07T15:32:00.000-05:00

OMIGODOMIGOD!!! Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer is coming out August 2!!!! Only 177 more days to go :D

I wasn't expecting it to be out so early. I thought it was going to be coming out in like, September. It's great that Stephenie worked so hard to get this out in August. Espicially since Breaking Dawn is going to be around 800 pages.

I'm really hoping the Borders near me will be having a release party for Breaking Dawn.

In May, Stephenie will also be posting a part of Breaking Dawn and the cover on her website.

New Cover for the New Maximum Ride

2008-02-06T07:31:00.000-05:00

Most of you have probably already seen this cover but I'll post it here anyway. This is the new cover for Maximum Ride: Final Warning.

I'm so glad they changed it from the other, weirder looking cover. This one looks a ot better.
Final warning is still coming out March 17 this year.

People Who Ban Books Suck

2008-02-05T16:33:00.000-05:00

Anyone here ever read a book called Looking for Alaska by John Green? My friend Joey and I did. It's a brillant,well written and touching novel. And yes, at the end it made me cry a little.

So why do some people want to ban it?

11th graders in Depew, NY are going to be reading Looking for Alaska. Since the book has what some consider "controversal" issues in it they sent out a form and let the parents decide whether they want their children to read it or not. Fine, right? But then a small group of parents who DON'T even have children in 11 grade decide that the book is "pornography" and they don't think ANYONE should read it. What is up with that?

Book censors aren't trying to protect their own children, they're just telling everyone else what they should or shouldn't be allowed to do and think. These aren't people who want others to make better choices. They want to prevent people from doing anything they disagree with. And that's STUPID.
Often the banners do not even read the novels fully. Not to mention the fact that there's stuff on TV (not to mention some of the classic novels we have to read for school) everyday thats so much worse then anything you'd ever find in this book.
Books were meant to be read. You shouldn't try to get a book banned just because you don't like it.

John Green himself on the matter:

Go to www.nerdfighters.com to help or send an email to sparksflyup@gmail.com

Interview with Kristen Stewart

2008-02-04T22:22:00.000-05:00

Yay! More Twilight movie news! Kristen Stewart, cast as the role of Bella, did an interview with MTV where she mentioned Twilight.

Here's the interview:

“Harry Potter” did it for wizards, “Lord of the Rings” won big for hobbits, and “Narnia” brought it home for the talking woodland creatures. But can a soon-to-shoot movie similarly turn the creaky film cliché of vampires into the next multimillion-dollar fantasy flick franchise?

“The movie is called ‘Twilight,’ ” 17-year-old “Into the Wild” actress Kristen Stewart beamed when we recently spoke to her. “[’Lords of Dogtown’ filmmaker] Catherine Hardwicke is directing it in Washington. It’s based on a book that’s pretty popular [among] young adult, high school kids.”

Although Stewart and co-star Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory!) will soon film only the first movie, they’re already talking about turning the vampire storyline into a series that really sucks. And since the latest book sold over 150,000 copies in its first day alone, Bella and Edward fans everywhere are already counting down the months until the film’s release.

“People really love these books,” said Stewart. “Right now it’s a trilogy, and a fourth book is coming out, so hopefully we’ll get to shoot all four.”

For those who haven’t yet been bitten, “Twilight” will feature Stewart as Bella Swan, a teenage girl whose life gets turned upside-down after she meets and falls in love with a vampire. Additional names will be cast in the next few weeks, but according to the actress, 21-year-old Pattinson is already sinking his teeth into the role of Edward.

“He’s so good and he’s so soulful and he’s just not a liar — you can feel pain from him,” Stewart cooed. “The cool thing about the story is that it’s a seemingly wonderful fantasy — let’s fall in love with vampires and live forever — but it’s so much harder than that. Imagine living forever. Living one life is hard enough.”

But don’t get fooled into thinking this is going to be “The Notebook” for the undead. “The main character is like, superhuman,” Stewart said of the action scenes in the script. “He’s a vampire, but with really [heightened powers]; he can run faster than a car can drive, and he’s super strong. He throws me over his back [in one scene], right before he’s going to tell me that he’s a vampire, and then he runs over the treetops. And we’re going to be in real treetops; we’re not just going to CGI it. We actually get to go up there, and that’s what I’m stoked on.”

“It’s a pretty triumphant love story,” Stewart concluded, looking forward to stepping in front of the cameras. “It’s gonna take a while, and it [deserves to be] at least a series of three.”

It's great that Kristen is so excited about her role in the movie! But...what's with the whole running over the treetops thing? That definitely wasn't in the book, although I have to admit it has the potential to look pretty cool in the movie. I just hope they don't take out the Port Angelas scene where Bella first really talks to Edward after finding out he's a vampire from the movie, it was one of my favorites in the novel.

Robert Pattinson is also preparing for the movie. According to Stephenie Meyer, Robert's now undergoing physical training to beef up for the role of Edward. For the next two months he'll be working to get an Edward-esque body, especially for the meadow scene.

Panic At the Disco's New CD

2008-01-29T16:05:00.000-05:00

Panic At the Disco has a new CD which will be released March 25. It's called Pretty. Odd. You can buy their first single from the new CD, Nine in the Afternoon, from iTunes now also.
And it turns out that Panic at the Disco has dropped the ! from their name. I've heard that the exclamation point was just put there by fans and it stuck.

Panic will also be headlining the Honda Civic Tour.

Skydiving...Without a Parachute?

2008-01-28T07:30:00.000-05:00

Sounds like death, right? Not for Jeb Corliss. I saw this guy on the Colbert Report a couple of nights ago, and I thought he was interesting. I've always been interested in extreme sports, but I'm way too chicken to ever try them.
Corliss's dream is flying, but not in a plane. He wants to jump out of a helicopter without a parachute AND land safely. How? With his wing suit. The wing suit workss sort of like a flying squirrel, for each foot he drops he glides three feet. Right now he has to wear a parachute, since if he wanted to land safely without one he would need a specially designed runway, which he actually has a design for. All he needs now is the funding.
Apparently, there's at least half a dozen other groups around the globe also working on the same goal as Corliss.

Here's some pictures of Jeb Corliss in his wing suit and two other skydivers over the Florida Keys.

Une Rose Noire Video

2008-01-27T15:04:00.000-05:00

Woooot! I'm finally posting a video on here!

Anyway, my French teacher showed us this music video a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was pretty cool. I love the part where the guy starts dancing :)

The song is called Une Rose Noire by Paul Cargnello, and in case you haven't figured it out yet, it's in French.

Enjoy!

Part of Twilight Movie Going to be Filmed at Kalama School

2008-01-21T00:00:00.000-05:00

*squee* :D
This is where I want to go this year's spring break...

Check out this article:

During spring break, a vampire will haunt the silent halls of Kalama High School.

A location scout told Principal Mike Hamilton Thursday that movie producers want to use the school for a film based on the "Twilight" novel series.

The thriller-romance, currently in "pre-production" stages, will star Kristen Stewart ("Into the Wild," "Panic Room") as Bella Swan, 17-year-old who moves from Arizona to live with her father in Forks, Wash., and meets a pale, mysterious but attractive young man named Edward Cullen.

Cullen is played by Robert Pattinson - best known for his role as Cedric Diggory in the "Order of the Phoenix" and "Goblet of Fire" Harry Potter films.

The "star-crossed lovers," as author Stephanie Meyer calls them on her Web site, struggle to work through Edward's vampire urges as they fall in love.

Hamilton said Kalama High School, a brick building built in 1938 on a hillside overlooking the city of Kalama and the Columbia River, resembles the school described in the Twilight book series.

Filming will likely occur while students are away for spring vacation, March 31- April 4 or a three-day weekend this spring, Hamilton said.

"They'll probably be here three or four days," Hamilton said.

Some students already were buzzing about Twilight before learning part of the movie could be filmed in Kalama, Hamilton said.

"The girls, they just, I thought they were going to have a heart attack. They already knew about the book," Hamilton said. "Some of the kids are really very excited."

"Twilight," published in 2005, was a New York Times best seller. It's sequel, "New Moon," spent 25 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list after it debuted in September 2006. "Eclipse," the third enstallment, knocked the latest Harry Potter book from number one on the USA Today book list last summer.

Summit Entertainment is producing the film, which will be shot at locations around the Northwest, including Forks. To film at the Kalama school, Hamilton said producers will rent the facility and provide any improvements (such as new paint) for filming as they see fit.

It's still unclear if the movie will need local "extras" for filming, Hamilton said. If they do, Hamilton told producers he's going for the role of principal -- which got "a little chuckle," he said. But they didn't tell him no.

I soooooooooo wish I could be an extra in the Twilight movie.

Random Pictures

2008-01-14T07:29:00.000-05:00

So far January has been a slow post month for me. Since nothing really exciting has been going on in my life recently I thought I'd post some of the pictures I took with my new camera so far.

These are pictures of when I went to go see Juno with my friends.

<--- One of my friend Jen eating popcorn. I took it in black and white.

We went to this 50's style restaurant afterwards. I loved how they gave you ketchup in a smiley face.

I actually liked Juno. It definitely had some good parts, but it wasn't as funny as i thought it would be. The soundtrack to it sucked though.

This is just a picture I took of a tree with lights on it. It came out a little fuzzy, but I think that just makes it look cooler.

Orlando Bloom's birthday was yesterday :D

Lots of New Books!

2008-01-04T07:45:00.000-05:00

There's a whole list of sequels to books that are already out or are coming out in this new year. Here's a list of a couple books me (and my sister and friends) want to read:

Raven Rise (Pendragon series) by D.J. MacHale

This will be coming out on May, 20

The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians series) by Rick Riordan

This is coming out May 6, 2008

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

This is coming out July, 15, 2008

Faerie Lord (The Faerie Wars Chronicles) by Herbie Brennan

This is already out

City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare

This is coming out April 2008

The Final Warning (Maximum Ride series) by James Patterson

This is coming out March 17, 2008

Inkdeath (Inkheart Trilogy) by Cornelia Funke

This will be coming out Spring 2008

Inkheart Fanfic

2007-12-29T05:23:00.001-05:00

After hearing that the Inkheart movie would be coming out soon I started rereading Inkheart and its sequel, Inkspell. And I ended up writing a fanfic for them.
This is actually the first thing I've written for fanfiction.net in a while. It's not great or anything, and it's kind of short, but at least it's got my creative writing skills started again.
I've been so swamped with writing stuff for school (Mrs. Mancini, can you please give us less essay assignments?), and it's good to write something for fun again.

Here's my fanfic page where you can find a link to the story:

http://www.fanfiction.net/~piratesforlife

Finally!

2007-12-29T03:44:00.000-05:00

I finally got a digital camera! It was a late Christmas present from my family and I absolutely love it. It's a red Casio Exilim, and I must say it's pretty fancy. It has 8.1 mega pixels and a youtube capture mode that films video in a youtube file size.

Here's some pictures of the camera. These pictures will also hopefully be the last I take with my crappy camera cell phone.

<---Ooooh Shiny!!

I also want to thank all the commenters on this blog. All of your comments and the thought that someone is actually reading this blog make me warm and fuzzy inside. :D

Pics From the Inkheart Movie

2007-12-21T08:55:00.000-05:00

I've just found out that Inkheart, a novel from Cornelia Funke, has been made into a movie! They've finished filming it, and the release date for it will be March 19, 2008.

Brendan Fraser is going to be playing Mo (Silvertongue). I loved him in the Mummy. :D

Here's some pictures from the movie:

Who's Playing Edward?

2007-12-12T08:50:00.000-05:00

Robert Pattinson will be playing the part of Edward Cullen in the highly anticipated movie version of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series.

Pattinson was the guy who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He's British, but can speak perfectly with an American accent, and he has apparently read all the books in the Twilight series.

He wasn't how I pictured Edward in the book, but, after looking after thinking about it, I think he could probably play Edward. He at least looks good enough.

"Erik Feig, Summit Entertainment’s President of Production, stated, “It's always a challenge to find the right actor for a part that has lived so vividly in the imaginations of readers but we took the responsibility seriously and are confident, with Rob Pattinson, that we have found the perfect Edward for our Bella in TWILIGHT."

The actress Kristen Stewart will be playing Bella.

Check out Stephenie's site for the full article and how she feels about the actor Summit chose:
www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_movie.html

Production for the movie is going to start in February of 2008.

Is this the new Maximum Ride book?

2007-12-11T08:55:00.001-05:00

I found this on amazon. Is this really the cover for the fourth Maximum Ride novel? It's pretty weird looking, not like any of the other covers. Oh well, I just hope the story's good.
Anyway, Maximum Ride: The Final Warning is supposed to be coming out March 17, 2008.

2007-12-11T08:53:00.000-05:00

Isn't that cute? The guy in the pic is from Hellogoodbye.

My First Scanned Picture

2007-12-09T01:42:00.000-05:00

My scanner finally works! This is a picture of Jacob as a wolf from the Twilight series.

Click on the picture to enlarge it. It looks a lot better that way.

So what do you guys think?

A Picture of the Cast

2007-12-04T12:04:00.001-05:00

Here's a picture of most of the cast for the play, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, that I was in this weekend. A lot of the people have already changed out of costume.

Sweeny Todd

2007-12-03T10:35:00.000-05:00

Johnny Depp's new movie with director Tim Burton is: Sweeny Todd and the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It's an adaptaion of the musical, and it looks like its going to be pretty interesting. What more could you want from a movie? It's got murder, musical numbers, and Johnny Depp!

2007-12-03T09:25:00.000-05:00

The play actually went kind of well this weekend!

First, Friday: Ok, Friday's performance was either really bad or hilariously good, it depends on how you look at it. At the show we ended up improvising A LOT of it and we made it funny. Ok, half the time people were laughing at our mistakes, but what's the difference? The audiance couldn't stop laughing, and I think most of the people enjoyed it.

Saturday: Saturday's performance was almost perfect! We were totally serious and everyone had their lines basically memorized. It was a good show.

If I have time I might be able to post pictures from Saturday night's show.

What's Your Love Quote?

2007-11-30T08:58:00.000-05:00

This is mine: I got it off www.blogthings.com My friend Becca got me addicted to the site.

I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or had small pox.

Nervousness....

2007-11-27T07:40:00.000-05:00

We're performing the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe this Friday and Saturday, and as some know, I'm playing Lucy.
I'm really worried. Not about the going on stage and acting part. It's the fact that we're not ready! A lot of our practices have been cancelled, and we haven't even had a dress rehearsal yet! There's just three practices this week. I hope we'll be able to pull it all together, or at least not make complete fools of ourselves.

The Host

2007-11-20T08:42:00.000-05:00

Besides, The Twilight saga, author Stephenie Meyer has been working on a science fiction novel called The Host. It's still a while before it comes out (May 6, 2008). The thing that really draws me in for this book is the cover. It looks so cool! :)

This summary is off of Stephenie's website:

The basic premise: The Host takes place after a bodysnatchers-style invasion of the earth. We (the humans) lost. Our narrator is Wanderer, one of the invading "souls," who struggles to navigate all the bewildering challenges that come with living inside a human body. She was forewarned about these challenges—the overwhelming emotions, the stunning physical responses, the glut of senses, the too vivid dreams and memories… However, there was one challenge Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body, human survivor Melanie Stryder, refuses to fade away into oblivion the way she should. Melanie lingers as an angry presence in Wanderer's head, holding on to her human secrets and filling Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves—Jared, another human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for the man she's never met. Outside forces combine to make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, and, working together, they set off to search for the man they both love. It's possibly the first love triangle that only involves two bodies.

It sounds a little confusing but definitly very interesting. Even though it's not Breaking Dawn I'm really looking foward to reading this new novel from Stephenie Meyer.

Snowday!

2007-11-20T07:26:00.000-05:00

First snowday of the winter was this Monday for me. We got over a foot, and its only November.

New Book By Cassandra Clare

2007-11-14T08:51:00.000-05:00

City of Ashes is going to be coming out in March 2008. It's by Cassandra Clare. This is the sequel to her first novel City of Bones, and the 2nd book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy.

SNL Digital Skit

2007-11-13T07:31:00.000-05:00

I saw this on Saturday Night Live the other night, and I couldn't stop laughing. It's simple and kinda stupid, but oh so funny.

Here's a link to youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqV1nmKsxQE

2007-10-31T07:22:00.000-04:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2007-10-29T07:32:00.000-04:00

Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts comic did a week long Twilight-inspired Halloween strip about a bat named Edward and a bird named Bella. Its adorable! Here's one of the comic strips:

To see the rest of them you can go to http://www.muttscomics.com/ starting November 5th.

Les Miserables!

2007-10-23T07:41:00.000-04:00

WOOOT! Over a 100 posts. :) This is the 102 to be exact.

Anyway, I have started reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo for school. And I love it. I'm surprised a book published in the 1860's can still be so good. In fact, I think this is the first book that I have been forced to read for school (not counting the Book Thief) that I have really liked since the third grade.*

I really really want to go see Les Mis on Broadway, but since I have absolutely no money right now that's going to have to wait a while. Right now I settle for renting the DVD.

* The book I liked in the third grade was the Mouse and the Motorcycle.

Cough

2007-10-17T07:30:00.000-04:00

Ughh...I'm so sick right now. It feels like I'm trying to cough my lungs out and I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have taken so many cough drops...

Another Reason Why Google Rocks...

2007-10-11T07:27:00.000-04:00

No, not because they're one of the best search engines on the web, but because I found both my blog and my fanfiction page(which I still haven't updated) in the very first 10 results that came up while I was searching today.

Drama!

2007-10-05T07:24:00.000-04:00

So I joined drama club this year, because I decided I wanted to do something different this year. We're putting on the play The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, from the Chronicles of Narnia. And I actually got a main part! I'm going to play Lucy the younger sister (I think cause I'm so short, only 5'3,). I have no idea how I'm going to memorize all the lines! It should be kinda fun and definitely interesting to say the least. We're putting the play on sometime in December.

Extras

2007-10-02T07:22:00.000-04:00

Extras by Scott Westerfeld is out today! This book is sort of like a follow up to his Uglies/Pretties/Specials trilogy. Same place different characters. Although he has said on his blog that there will be a small part with Tally in it.