sieben: all done.

I would briefly like to say that it seems insane to me that it is already the end of the quarter. thank jc the school year is 1/4 of the way done! I don't know what other people's movie going habits are, but given my time limit and an extreme limitation on cash flow to do this big economy thing, I haven't seen very many movies in the theater lately. I'm more of a Netflix fan. But last weekend I went saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist with my parents. On the awkward scale, between Troy with my dad and Gossip Girl with my mom. Extremely good though! Amazingly musical soundtrack, obviously. Good acting, Michael Cera can get me pregnant anytime and Kat Dennings is no slump herself. That plus some surprisingly disgusting moments made it joyful fun for the whole family. Unfortunately, like most of this particular genre, the movie cannot measure up to the book. Their are certain aspects of literature that generally cannot be captured in cinema. The characters thoughts, which are especially important in this book. The wit of Norah and Nick's constant word battles, though they are obviously heard in the movie, it seems more easier to understand when actually written on a page. True it is nice to hear the actual playlist for a story called 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist', but in the book the authors actually gives a nice list of songs which could accompany their book. I'll admit, I haven't gotten all the way through the book but I can already tell it's a winner. No obnoxious preppy heroines who complain about their tragic lives even though their rich and meet societies ideals and undoubtedly get the boy of their dreams in the end. Not even the cool kind that have drug problems and become homeless children, because that does get old in the end. No faux-horror element that makes 'average teens' feel like they're going all emo cool because they read a book about say, i don't know, a girl who falls in love with a vampire and a werewolf and the whole premise is her choosing one or the other. So all in all, a very good start. One of the other things I love is the stlye and literary technique in which it is written (ha)! It's done from the switching off point of view of heroine and hero, in this case Nick and Norah. Nick's writing is always more poetic and makes good use of alliteration and rhyming. 'I am puncctuating and I am puncturing and I am punching the air with my body as my fingers press hard into the chords. Sweat, malice, and hunger pour from me. This is release, or maybe it's just a plea for cease.' A little melodramatic, but overall just beautiful. Then Norah takes on a whole different style. ' I'm not that girl who randomly meets a guy one night and has her life change. i wear cords and flannel shirts. I don't have the killer body like Tris or Caroline. Sometimes I don't wash my hair for three days and sometimes I don't floss. What's this Nick guy doing here with me?' I love that she's so insecure, but she wouldn't whine to her friends because she's too busy taking care of their self-centered problems and she wouldn't tell Nick because she's too busy pretending she doesn't care about him. It's also funny because I get the feeling Nick would die if he didn't wash his hair and comb it every day, just the way he likes it. I think opposites only attract in science. But I guess we'll both have to read the rest and find out! wooh. 

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist-Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Six. I'm tired of french.

I'm very disappointed that whenever we come back from our break our teachers don't do that thing where we go around and say what we did, like we used to do back in middle school. Oh 

those were the days....but enough reminiscing. On my MEA break I went to New York City. I absolutely love the city, I'm not really a suburb/small town person. We've done all the touristy stuff but I want to get right down in the grit of it! Okay probably not, because I like the life I lead, but it certainly would be an interesting cocktail story. So part of my break was supposed to be about colleges. Which in my family means walking by the building and going 'oh that's pretty! where's the food?' But I insisted on stopping and Julliard, and they agreed. A little background: I've played classical piano for ten years so I should be pretty good. I also take voice lessons, which is my favorite. I'm in a half a band that I absolutely adore. And I love doing theater, even though this year I'm only working backstage because of a time crunch. Julliard makes sense then, because it's one of the best schools for music in the country. Oh real quick, the literature I read was this love Julliard 'Viewbook' which is almost entirely about how Julliard is the best and the stick up it's ass really doesn't hurt that much if you just stare at the pretty lights. Part of what it talks about is the building though, and it really is as beautiful as it describes. It's under construction right now, but the part you can see is simply spectacular. In the book it says you have the choice between majoring in Dance, Drama or Music. And it's this huge dilemma because I'm good enough to audition in piano but I don't want to be a classical pianist. And I'm not good enough at classical singing to audition as that. I could audition in drama but I'm a terrible actor. I suppose I should just feel lucky that I have this problem. But applying for college is really a huge pain. Does it actually determine the rest of your life? Is what you do in high school/college the path of your entire existence? Will I ever be free from the curse of the emo children!!!! 

Or I could not go to college at all and become a singing waitress instead. At least it'd be different every night. 

Five. Sorry

Generally I hate rap music. Most of it has a derogatory view towards women, and it's riddled with negative terms towards anything else you can think of. But some of it has a message. Some of it is real. One of those bands is 3OH!3. Now they aren't rap per say, more hip-hop/electronica, but it's the idea of stuff that sounds like a dude spitting made-up lyrics to a beat played by a half-drunk stoner. And it does sound like that! I happen to have a lot of time on my hands, and one night I looked up the lyrics just to see if they were as mindless as I thought. Turns out they weren't! Yes the hook is typical of a rap song, "She wants to touch me, whoa oh. She wants to love me, whoa oh. She'll never leave me, whoa oh whoa oh oh oh. Don't trust a ho, never trust a ho, won't trust a ho, cuz a ho won't trust me." I know, I know. Bad grammar, insulting words, and a hook as mindless as the people who listen to this trash. Except not! Looking into the verse, you realize this song has a story! Not just like, I went to the club to pick up some ladies, I was lookin' so fly, then I took 'em back to my place, got it all undone and we shook it up. An honest to goodness tale about a girl who goes to a show just to forget herself, and be someone else for one night. But then you realize it isn't just one girl, doesn't everyone do that? Which is tragic because if being yourself is too stressful to actually be yourself, are you really being yourself? Although I suppose everyone needs a break now and then. 'And the best is, no one knows who you are. Just another girl, alone at the bar.' This girl isn't just a sad, pathetic person who has a terrible life though. She has material possessions! Which we all know is what life is really about. The point is that people can have what they need on the outside, but if you don't have what you need on the inside, it's really hard to live. Or be satisfied living. 'And she's an actress, but she ain't got no need. She's got money from her parents in a trust fund back east.' But again they go back to their cheesy rap lyrics! I feel like the person who wrote this song has split-personality disorder. Some of the lyrics are sensitive to human feeling. Others are sexist and someone's little brother could have written them. 'Shush girl, shush your lips. Do the Helen Keller, and talk with your hips.' I mean really people, why are you making fun of women! So the last reason I like this song is because it has some lyrics that I can relate to, and most people love it when they feel like a song is about their lives! Trust me I know because Katy Perry wrote her entire album based off of my life. 

"X's, on the back of your hands

Wash them in the bathroom to drink like the bands

And the set list

You stole off of the stage

Has red and purple lipstick all over the page."

(not that i've ever done that)

The songs called Don't Trust Me by 3OH!3 but if you want the rest of the lyrics. 

http://www.metrolyrics.com/don't-trust-me-lyrics-3oh3.html

Quatre! Chucks are Not Footwear, They're a Lifestyle

I have this great book, 'Chucks! The Phenomenon of Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars' by Hal Peterson. I spend a lot of my time looking at the pretty pictures in this book, but what is has to say is just as interesting. For instance, I really didn't know that chucks we're originally basketball shoes, not the symbol for awesome people everywhere that they are now. Some shoes are just that, shoes, but some shoes are legends! Even Uggs, as popular and sheep-killing as they are, don't have the gritty and epic past that chucks do. And they were named after a real person! Her'es an example of chucks in history, in 1967, he was one of the first companies to higher African-American sport stars to represent their product. Three cheers for breaking the color barrier. Then in the swingin' 80's chucks kind of got screwed because they sucked at all that high tech running sneaker shenanigans. So instead they stuck with the good old stuff and skateboarders took them over! For great movie examples see, Thrashin' or Dazed and Confused. This is where chucks took the step closer to the culture they most currently represent. They also appeared to a certain 'sub-stream', because they were made in America, not in Chinese or Japanese sweatshops. Of course now they're made in China.... anyway! The main point of this blog was that some people see shoes as just things that cover your feet so you do not step on sharp objects. But I see shoes as a statement about you as a person. That's why I don't date people who wear crocs.