Posted in Books

My Name is Asher Lev

Why did I like this book?
I don’t know.
It’s the only book I’ve been forced to read in school that i actually enjoyed.
First of all, this is a very character driven novel. And I love Asher Lev. He is the greatest. I connect with him in some weird way. He’s a Jewish boy trying to find a balance of religion and family and passion, struggling to find a point where it doesn’t feel like you’re going to fall of the edge of a cliff if you move too quickly.
His passion is art (if you don’t like art I don’t think you’d get as involved as I did). It’s more than his passion, it’s the substance of his existence. He doesn’t like the things the Jewish religion allows him to paint, however, he’s not sure if he wants to give up his tradition and way of live to pursue some vast, unknowable, dangerous dream.
This books takes him from a young boy to a man, and every step of the journey he is met with confusion, fear, opposition, and enlightenment. His father is overbearing, his mother is haunted, and he is much too good for the world.
Now that you’re hanging off a cliff, I won’t give away the ending!! hah hah. This is not a cliffhanging book, but it’s a thoughtful portrait of the life of a Jewish boy in America during WWII who loves art.
and that’s all.

suggested for: bored people, artists, atheists, Jews, Mormons, Catholics, WWII veterans, Protestants, Buddhists, hungry people, relaxed people, mature people.

and here’s a joke

how many mystery writers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Two, one to screw it in almost all the way, and another to give it a surprising twist at the end.

Posted in Music

BLG Concert Blog!

SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR SUMMER

Band order:

The Maine

Metro Station

Good Charlotte

Boys Like Girls

    My throat is STILL sore from screaming so much. I think there may have been a moment of insanity where I bellowed “I love you” at Boys Like Girls that didn’t really help. There will definitely be more concerts in my future.

Jeanne, a friend from Hollins who lived in the town where the concert was, my grandma, and I stood outside in the hot rainy Texas weather for a little over two hours. Yes, Texas is all you’re getting. After eating at a nearby Hard Rock Cafe and realizing it was raining too hard to go back to the hotel, there wasn’t much else for us to do. Plus, the crowd outside the theater was growing steadily and we wanted to be inside as soon as possible. A local radio station blasted music for us at a booth they set up, so the multiplying indie kids could sing along while they waited. The rain stopped and started, but for the most part pounded constantly on the pavilion that the hundreds of us stood under.

Getting inside was a flurry of security guards, pushing, shoving tickets at the checkers, and holding onto Jeanne and grandma so we wouldn’t get separated. Our seats were on the balcony above the stage and to the right (our left). I was a little disappointed we weren’t down right in front of the stage, but for my first concert, I was also a little relieved. Plus, watching the crowd was almost as fun as watching the bands, as it turned out. (Mosh pits! Crowd diving! Mosh pits!!)

We were in out seats about forty five minutes before the show started, but it passed quickly with me hyperventilating, Jeanne laughing at me, and my grandma looking anxious.

The Maine had the opening act. I hadn’t heard of them before, but found I enjoyed their music. They did a great job warming up the crowd, and even though I wasn’t standing up and dancing yet, I was already having the time of my life. Metro station came up next, with a ten minute set change in between. They didn’t talk to the crowd as much, but you could feel the energy in every song. I’d never heard of them before either, and I still wasn’t standing, but I felt the excitement growing.

We tried going downstairs to buy a concert teeshirt, but the crowd was so thick downstairs between acts that we soon gave up. There was a fifteen minute set change before Good Charlotte, so I snapped more pictures of the crowd.

As soon as GC came onto stage, I jumped out of my seat. They immediately started in on one of my favorite song’s, The Anthem. Having not know the words for the first two bands, I sand along with vigor. Unfortunately, due to my gratuitous screaming for the first two performances, I was already starting to lose my voice.

The lead singer worked the crowd brilliantly. Jeanne and I were screaming, dancing, throwing up our arms, sweating, and I was bellowing all the lyrics I knew. Other songs they played included I Don’t Wanna Be In Love, Hold On, Little Things, and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. By the time they ran off stage, I was sweating so badly you would have thought I’d just taken a shower. A hot, bad smelling shower. But I didn’t care. I couldn’t talk much, because I wanted to save my voice for Boys Like Girls. I knew every one of their songs. I would be singing all of it. And I would be dancing and screaming like a madman.

 

Ok, so since this is already a really long blog, I’m gonna post about BLG tomorrow (bonus!) and post my pictures.

Posted in Politics

Running mates for the presidential canidates

Have you been watching the news lately? Have you heard about the picking of a presidential running mates? And why are they taking so long to choose one? Well a running mate is very important to a campaign because depending on who they chose can affect the campaign. Before the civil war running mates would be chosen across the north/south border. This can bring a candidate into better grips with the voters. Example, a man is doing well at getting the upper and middle classes to vote for him but the lower classes can’t connect with him, so he gets a running mate that the lower class can connect more with, and therefore, more people vote for his party because of his running mate.

For example if Obama chooses Clinton as his running mate she will bring the white women that Hilary appealed to and bring Bill Clinton’s great fund raising capability. So who would you chose for Obama or McCain?

Posted in Movies

Edward Scissorhands Review

When you hear a title like this, what do you think of? A dark bloody horror flick, or at least thats what I thought. This is further backed by my experience with “Sweeny Todd”, another Tim Burton film. So I go in, expecting all this gratuitous blood to be splashed around in my face. Boy was I wrong. Not only does it have little blood, but also barely any swearing. Heck, if I had just checked the rating, it was PG-13, but to me it could have passed as a stronger PG. Man, I really should pay more attention to that kinda stuff so I won’t be looking past the T.V. during the scenes I thought would get intense (I don’t like lots of blood ok? OK?????). Anyhoo…

Again, this movie just blew me away from what I thought it would be, but thats in a good way. I love a movie that will be different and still be able to pull it off. Contrast comes to mind with Burton, since he likes to put bright colors into his movies when there are some darker characters coming into these scenes. I have only seen this done in his movies, and thats why I’ve become a fan of him. The story progresses at a great pace, keeping me entertained through the comedy and drama the whole time. To me, most movies really can’t balance these two elements, they either have too much comedy which will make you not care about the characters, or too much drama which will bore you (an exception to this is if the drama is just excellent). Edward on the other hand pulls off both perfectly. This has to be one of the only movies that has gotten me to tear up (proof of a REAL man, this should make up for my looking away from the screen every so often… right?)

Acting in it was also phenomenal. Johnny Depp has to be one of the more talented actors in Hollywood, seeing as he can pull off a troubled “person” (Scissorhands), a play writer (Finding Neverland), a creepy gothic barber (Sweeny Todd), and a drunk pirate (Pirates of the Caribbean). The rest of the cast play their roles with just as much believability and emotion. This movie has also just confirmed to me that Tim Burton is a genius. With a resume of this movie, “A Nightmare Before Christmas”, and a musical that can make someone who hates them actually stand the singing (Sweeny Todd), he has to be one of the better Directors out there. Would someone please get this guy an Oscar already? The writing is top notch as well, making for some great scenes and comedic situations.

Ok, so was there anything that I didn’t like about this movie? Really the only thing about this that I didn’t think was right was how he ends up with scissors for hands. Now, I don’t want to ruin anything for all of you, but I really have to get this out. If you don’t want for a little bit of the movie to be spoiled (and I mean, its not even a big part of the story) then just go to the next paragraph. Why would an inventor make a human being robot thingy, and then instead of just WAIT to put hands on until he has actual hands, put scissors in the place of them? Couldn’t he have put on carrots or something non lethal instead? Makes NO sense to me…

Other than that though, the whole movie is just everything it should be. Everyone should really see this movie, unless you have something against scissors, hair cuts, hedge trimming, great movies, or Tim Burton. I would have to give Edward Scissorhands… 48/50 Ducks (yes, you read it right, ducks. Amanda, you should know that this will never stop)

Posted in Music

It’s five minutes to midnight!


I first heard about this band on a friend’s MySpace. He had a song of theirs, Thunder, on his profile, so I looked them up and have been in love ever since.

When their self titled CD came out, I bought it immediately, and was not disappointed. All of the songs put me in a different mood, and each is diverse and fresh.

On my MP3, there is one song I skip over most of the time, their slowest track, entitled Holiday. The song is alright, maybe a little slow for my taste,  but what bothers me is the lyrics. “When I was younger I used to be wild/wild as an elephant’s child” Then, “Wise as an elephant’s eyes.” What is this random fixation on elephants? I’m so confused. As a person who generally picks a song for it’s lyrics, this track will forever be under my skin.

Sounds Like: All American Rejects, Cartel, Good Charlotte, Nine Days, Run Kid Run

Best Track: Dance Hall Drug

 

I decided to post this one today in honor of the concert I am attending tomorrow… BOYS LIKE GIRLS SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR SUMMER TOUR!!! WOOO!!! So next week I’ll do a review on one of my favorite bands at the first concert I have ever attended. So stay tuned!

Posted in Books

My New Calling

Is reviewing books. I’m not sure how well this will go over since the books I read don’t usually appeal to a ton of people.
But get over it, you don’t have to read it.

Here is an example: I recently finished House of the Seven Gables, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and now I will review it for your viewing pleasure.

First off, I like Nathaniel Hawthorne. He’s very witty; throwing in these metaphors that you wouldn’t normally consider but that made a ton of sense when you think about it. I chuckled aloud a couple times. I enjoyed his writing style, even though it did tend to ramble-and I mean ramble. Long descriptive passages.
Also, in recent years, I traveled to Boston and went on a day trip to Salem, where I saw the very house that inspired Hawthorne’s novel. That whole town is creepy. The house is definitely not an exception, so I was excited to read his book about said house.

Second off, the characters are great. They are all very flawed and very human, not the normal beautiful girl and the tall dark handsome bachelor. The main character is an old woman named Hepzibah and I LOVE HER! There is also her cousin Pheobe, who is young and zealous and not annoyingly perfect like some other book characters. There’s Clifford, the mysterious and more than a little crazy brother, and the infamous Judge, whom nobody likes. A lot of the central conflict in this novel is between the characters.

Third, the plot was…subtle. I read the jacket of the book and I was like sweet! mysterious deaths, old creepy house, weird people! (that’s what I like reading about 😀 ) After about the first five chapters, however, there was not more than one mysterious death, no creepiness, and no real issues. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on, you really have to pay attention. This book is very much a character driven novel, but it helps to know what’s happening. So i stopped reading it for awhile cause it just wasn’t what I expected it to be. This is a classic?? kind of stuff.
So if you are not accustomed to reading too many 19th C authors, or classics in general, you will want to look at the plot outline on sparknotes. it will make you excited to read and or finish this book. (yes I’m lame, but hey, whatever it takes to finish). A book is not enjoyable if you don’t know what’s going on. So know what’s going on. TGFS.

Fourth, it was a good book. Unusual, and thoughtful, and appropriately creepy.

But if you’re not into setting out blocks of time in which to read, or you just hate books published before 1900, I suggest you look elsewhere.

So long, happy reading….

Posted in Sports

Nice one!!!

Just a couple days ago I came back from a 5 day backpacking trip into the great wilderness to participate in one of my very favorite American Outdoor Sports, fishing!!!!!!!

Obviously not everyone is made to be a fisherman, it takes patience and just a liking for catching fish. A lot of people don’t have those traits, like my older brother for example. It also takes some practice, casting a pole isn’t necessarily simple and reeling in a big fish takes the right form or else the fish will either break the line or even possibly pull the pole from your grasp. A certain amount of strength is needed to catch bigger fish as well, especially when sea fishing.

Now I will be COMPLETELY honest with you, fishing can be harmful. Just this week my uncle caught a fish that had bitten the hook in a horrible spot, in which case the fish died. The hook was lower in the throat and hooked it in the gills, which are almost equivilent to lungs for a mammal. This doesn’t happen extremely often or anything, but life isn’t always fair. Now, good fisherman who respect the dangers of fishing can do the right thing, we snagged the fish and ate it that night which is a good way to make sure the fish wasn’t wasted. For those vegetartians out there, sorry. The fish was tasty though.

I can see how people believe fishing to be inhuman, it does seem that way sometimes. But most of the time people catch fish they release them and almost no harm is done to the fish at all, really. There are also laws to protect fish from extinction and all. In many places, there are laws that prohibit not releasing fish that are of a certain size. This way it makes sure that the mothers and fathers capable of creating more large fish are kept alive.

For those people who don’t believe in fishing, I can understand, however I will explain why I as a fisherman choose to partake in the sport:

1) Fish are extremely energetic and make it exciting and fun

3) It is one of human’s oldest ways of capturing food

2) Fish are beautiful colors and shapes to look at, it is nice to enjoy the beauty of nature

4) I LOVE the taste of fish

This is all my opinion, but who cares what I think, I care about your opinion. So what do you think about fishing?

Posted in Blog

Hah Hah Henna

So last night, all of the (eleven) girls in my hall ordered Chinese food, sat in one of their room’s, and did Henna. For those of you who don’t known what Henna is, it’s basically a temporary tattoo that lasts for three weeks. I got a crescent moon on the webbing between my thumb and pointer finger, a heart on my wrist (both of these are fairly small), and a sun on my ankle. Not very creative, maybe, but I’m stuck with it for three weeks. Don’t want to get annoyed with ’em.

They look pretty cool though. I’m very excited. I’ll post pictures when I get home.

Roommate is standing over my shoulder so I should probably go.

Roommate just wiped her nose.

Roommate is giggling.

Roommate won’t stop giggling.

I have to sleep in the same room as this person.

Dang it stop giggling.

Stop.

Hah. She stopped.

Goodbye.

Posted in Blog

You know you’re pathetic when…

All girls school. Two weeks. Not a good idea.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m having fun, my roommate’s cool, and I love my classes. But no boys? Uh-uh.

So we all went the movies on Friday. Everyone dressed up. Girls I’d never seen in makeup or nice clothes were suddenly dressed as if they were going to homecoming. I’ll admit I even spent a little more time on my hair and makeup. Yes, we were THAT desperate.

They carted all one hundred of us to Hancock (which was pretty good) in two big buses, like we were touring the city or something. When we got to the movies, we weren’t allowed off the bus for about fifteen minutes. Also not a good idea.

We all (yes, all) spent the entire time staring out the windows. When a cute guy walked by, someone pointed him out, and everyone else squealed and giggled like adolescents. Pathetic. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I didn’t take part. (Some of those guys WERE cute)

All guys pretty much look like supermodels to us right now. It’s horrible.

Nice recent blogs, guys, keep up the good work!!

Posted in Sports

Time for the old Nine Iron

I’ve decided to quit basketball for this coming year because of the time it takes up from school work. Even though I am a complete sports freak I am also a nerd, I have 3 AP classes next year: AP Calculus, AP Biology and AP Language. So don’t judge me for being into sports, I’m really smart in most ways. You all are probably thinking that this has nothing to do with sports so I’ll get to that part now.

I’ve decided to take up golfing in my spare time, not competitively but more as a relaxing sport. As a baseball player I’m already into swinging things so I’m not bad for a beginner. Anyway, I used to not think golf should even be considered a sport, it’s not physical or anything right? But after golfing for a few weeks, or even after the first few times I’ve realized that it’s one of the hardest sports out there.

Many people, including my former self, think of sports as very physically testing, that’s where all the strength is tested, pysically right? However, most people forget the other aspect of sports, MENTAL strength. So after my experience with golfing I’ve come to realize that it’s easily the one sport that demands the most mental toughness.

Imagine this: It’s the last hole of a tournament, you’re one shot in the lead, and you’ve just hit a ball on the green (right near the hole). Now you have to walk a hundred yards or so to the ball, all the way knowing that if you miss the putt you could lose. The ENTIRE grounds are dead silent, watching you and no one else, atleast in other sports there are distractions from you. You must read the perfect trajectory angle and perfect strength to put on the ball (much much harder than it looks). Think of the mental toughness it takes to harbor all that pressure and putt it perfectly, I’m sweating just thinking about it. My point is that it is one of the toughest sports because of the insane pressure it puts on you.

I’m ancious to know what all of you think about golf, so tell me. Do you think it’s a legitamate sport?