Japanese IQ Test

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?

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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...

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?!

*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/