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July 15th, 2009
11:34 pm - Well, well, well, look who's back!
After going without posting since September (!!!), it only seemed fitting that my return entry (if you can call it that) be on the subject of one of my many obsessions. Think you can guess which one?
I have now seen Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince TWICE! I won tickets to see it at a pre-screening on Monday, but didn't want to tempt any of you with a very spoilery review. But by now I think most of you have seen it haha. So here goes!
( Read more... )
DISCUSS!
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September 25th, 2008
11:02 pm - Grey's Premiere Recap
Thank you, ABC! Very, very nice birthday present to me, after THREE HOURS of mind-numbingly boring instruction on how to use a library. OMG. It's like science or anthro or continental lit but lacking even the remotely interesting subject matter. OMG.
( The Recap )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ibrad/bigwink.gif) ecstatic
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September 1st, 2008
12:39 am - Wicked (for the last time ... well, for now, anyway)
Wicked finished up its run in Ottawa tonight. And I saw it this afternoon, for the ... um ... fifth time.
For the last couple days, I've been really anxious about wanting to see it just one more time while it's here. I've had such an amazing time each time that I have gone, and I really wanted to be able to say that I was there on the last day, even though they did have one more performance to go after the one we saw. Most people who knew I had seen it that many times thought I was crazy, but I don't feel bad about it at all ... I recognize the fact that we might not get such an incredible cast the next time, so I wanted to see these guys as many times as possible.
For a couple days I have been begging various family members to tag along with me, but they all turned me down, mostly at the last minute, after allowing me to believe that they would come. I spent this morning frantically calling a couple people who I thought might be interested, but I was unable to reach any of them. Finally, I just decided that we would head down to try for the lottery, or for the $35 tickets if they had them, for both of which I was willing to sit by myself if absolutely necessary. If THAT didn't work, I was at least going to go have a look at some of the merchandise (I really want just about everything they sell haha, but I especially want a poster, which they don't actually have there. It is available online, however, and I'm working on persuading my parents or someone to buy that for me for my birthday).
When we got to the NAC, however, we ran into Lindsay and Jonathan. I knew we had talked on Wednesday about the possibility that they would try to play the lottery today, but we hadn't spoken about it since then, so I didn't know for sure that they would be there. That changed things entirely, and we ran through a whole bunch of scenarios as to who would get the tickets depending on which person won them. Well, Mom ended up winning. Again. She's won 3 of the 4 times that we have played, and the one time that she *didn't*, I did. :)
In the end, it ended up being Lindsay and I who went to the show. We hung out by the stage door for a while before leaving in search of food, but not before we had a chance to chat with Myra Lucretia Taylor (Madame Morrible)! I had seen her there once before, the time Anne-Marie and I saw the show, but I didn't talk to her then. Neither time was I *absolutely* certain that that was who it was ... even though I was 99.9% sure I didn't want to ask her if she was Morrible and have her be like "Um, no". So, I really regret it now, but I didn't get a picture with her or her autograph or anything. Her speaking voice really threw me off, it was very different from her accent in the show. In any case, we talked to her and told her how much we enjoyed the show and how I was seeing it for my fifth time. :)
( The Show, and afterward )
So, that's the story of my exciting day! Even before we left the stage door, the trucks were already in place ready to take the show to its next destination (Pittsburgh). I hope Wicked comes back to Ottawa soon ... and that the cast is just as phenomenal as it was this time!
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August 29th, 2008
10:40 pm - Wicked (what else is new?)
I know I showed this to some of you already, but I think it's just about the best thing ever, so I had to share it here as well.
In 2007, a GERMAN version of Wicked was created! My Aunt sent me this video after I took her to see the production at the NAC a couple weeks ago ... I don't know how she knew about it before I did, but I find it actually really really impressive. I was kind of skeptical at first, because songs translated into other languages generally don't sound as good as in their original language. From what I can understand of this (which is, admittedly, not as much as I would like), however, this is really really well done. And of course the costumes and sets and everything are the same as they are in the North American and English productions. And I quite like the performers they have here, as well.
This video is an abridged version of "One Short Day" and "Defying Gravity" ... the titles are translated as "Nur Ein Tag" (Only One Day) and "Frei Und Schwerelos" (Free and Weightless, I think). You can fin videos with just about all the other songs too, I think, but this one was the best I saw.
Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFTWjb2cZTU
I especially like the translation of the line "well if that's love, it comes at much too high a cost" ... "Ist das der Preis für Liebe, kostet sie zu viel". That's basically "Is that the price of love, it costs too much".
A Japanese version of the musical was also created a couple of months earlier than the German one, and it is really well done too, but it looks really funny to me to see a blonde Japanese Galinda or Madame Morrible. For the others it really doesn't matter all that much, but on them it looks so odd! Although, as Heather pointed out, it actually works on one level for Galinda's character, because it contributes to making her seem even more shallow than if that was her natural colour. And the more times I watch it, the less odd it looks.
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August 23rd, 2008
07:29 am
As the Olympics winds down, I find myself reflecting on some of the things that we've seen over the last couple of weeks.
After all the protests that we saw during the torch relays and everything in the months leading up to the Games, things have been remarkably uneventful, I think. It was so disappointing to learn that the giant footprints and the adorable girl from the opening ceremonies were not quite what they seemed to be, though. It's unfortunate, because those were some of my favourite parts of the ceremonies. I would much rather it had been real, rather than have all this come out afterward.
I read something shortly before the start of the Games where Jacques Rogge predicted there would be something like 40 instances of doping and cheating at these Olympics. Luckily, it seems like we have not hit that yet, although there have been a few highly publicized instances, like that Ukrainian heptathlete who had her silver medal taken away. I hope not too many more instances will be discovered in the days and weeks to come. I can't understand the whole thing ... I'm sure it is more prevalent than we realize, but with the chances of getting caught being so great, I just don't understand how it's worth it. I would much rather come in fifth or sixth even twentieth, and know that I had done it legitimately and honestly, rather than have the truth come out afterward and then suffer the humiliation of losing my medal.
Another incident I'm interested to see the results of is the case with the Chinese female gymnasts, which the IOC is now investigating, because several of them are thought to be underage. I sincerely hope that their win was fair and everything, but it just seems kind of fishy, all the information that is coming out. And they certainly look considerably younger than any of the other teams there ... I think some of them look closer to 10 than to 16! I've heard a lot of people saying that it's just the Americans being sore losers, but the fact is that I began seeing articles about this before the Olympics even started.
In terms of Canada's performance at the Games, I think it has been really exciting to watch. Sure, there have been some disappointing moments and a number of fourth-place finishes, but overall I've been really impressed. It has been really nice to see us win medals in some things that we aren't traditionally favoured in, like the equestrian events. Equally nice, however, has been seeing some of our serious medal contenders rebound from earlier poor performances, whether from four years ago or just yesterday.
It was disheartening to see how quickly so much of the country started to turn on our team before they had managed to win a medal, questioning whether we would win a single gold and whether we would even manage to scrape together as many medals as we did in Athens. Is funding and stuff a problem for us? Sure. But the fact was that most of the sports where we were expected to do well were in the second week anyway. It would have bee nice to see us do better in the swimming and gymnastics events in the first week, but that's the way it happens sometimes. Just look at the 4x100 relays! Plenty of medal favourites have faltered in any number of events, but from the way some people go on and on about it, you'd think it was just *our* athletes. Several times now I have seen the post-event interviews with the athletes who had been favoured to win a medal, and one thing that keeps happening is that they apologize to the nation, which I hate. Why should they have to? I haven't seen that from many athletes from other countries, they're just disappointed for themselves for the most part. Especially if we're not funding our athletes properly, they don't owe us anything!
Another thing that has really disappointed me about the games is this one element of CBC's coverage. Every day they have a thing where they ask viewers to vote on the moment of the day, giving three options to choose from. Of course, if it has been a day where Canadians have been successful, either in actually winning a medal or else setting a personal/Canadian record, those are the moments that get chosen. Otherwise there have been options from other big moments of the games, like Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals or Usain Bolt winning the 100 and 200 meters and setting world records in both. But far too often it seems like the moments that get selected are ones where it's "Oooh, watch as this American athlete fails!". It wouldn't be so bad if they framed it a different way, highlighting the Japanese or British or Cuban athletes or whoever else who manage to surpass the American ones, but most of the time when I've seen it, it has been set up to take pleasure in the failure of the American athlete. I hate that, that's not what the Olympics are about.
Overall, I'd say this has been a pretty successful Olympics ... it has certainly been better weather/pollution-wise than they were initially predicting! And then the next time the Olympic flag is raised, it will be in Canada!!!
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August 18th, 2008
05:45 pm - Wicked was ... wonderful ;)
As usual, I'm way past due for an update. I got back from my trip with my Dad close to three weeks ago. We had such a great time! Not everything worked out exactly how I had imagined it, but I got to spend so much time with my cousins, which was what I cared about most. And my uncle (the sick one) whose birthday party we were celebrating was looking so much better than I had expected to see him, which was a huge relief to me. He's apparently gotten sicker in the time since then, so I'm glad that I got to see him in good spirits and looking essentially as I remembered him. I had planned on posting a few of the pictures from my trip on here, but way more of them turned out than I expected, so I put a bunch of them up on Facebook ... for those of you who I have on there, check out the last two albums!
But the real focus of this update has to do with the musical Wicked, which came to Ottawa last week. I read the book that this musical was based on (also called Wicked) the summer before first year, and then early on in the school year I acquired a copy of the soundtrack, which I quickly fell in love with. In the four years since then, I have managed to get many of my friends interested in Wicked as well (and realized that some already were, without my influence) ... and then in that time, just about all of them were able to see the musical at one time or another. And I wasn't. Until now.
Since last Thursday, I have seen Wicked at the NAC *THREE* times. And I have tickets to go again on the 27th. No ... I'm not obsessed at all...
Before you think I'm *completely* insane, let me explain something totally awesome ... a couple hours before each performance of the show, they do a kind of lottery where they draw names for 10 pairs of tickets, and they allow the winners to purchase tickets for $25 each. Tickets that normally go for over $100 (I've sat on the very far left side of rows A and C!). We've gone three times to enter the lottery, and someone in group has won it each time! I figured as the word spread it would be harder to win it, so I wanted to get in as many times as I could early on hehehe.
On Thursday we went just to try. We had heard from a friend that there were around 40 people who entered the lottery the night before, but we figured there would be fewer people at a weekday matinee, and we were right. There were five of us who put our names in for our group. Mom won, allowing me and my aunt to go, and then two people in another family both won, giving them more tickets than they were going to be able to use, so they let us buy two off of them, for my mother and grandmother.
When we went again on Saturday morning, it was with the intention of trying to get tickets for my brother and my cousin. I had been telling them about the musical forever, but they couldn't commit to wanting the full-price tickets when we were buying them a couple months ago, and I really wanted them to have the opportunity to see what I've been raving about for so long hehehe. Well, there were even fewer people there that day! We ended up winning three of the pairs! I hadn't intended on going again as I was supposed to go to Lindsay's that afternoon (sorry about that!), but when we won the second pair and realized the seats were together, I couldn't pass it up. We said we only needed the one of the two, and then David won a third pair, but we told them they could put those ones back in the draw ... the other people at the lottery loved us hehehe.
*Then*, on Sunday morning, we went again because I wanted to see the show with Anne-Marie, since we had both been fans of it for so long. Our group ended up winning two pairs of tickets this time, and so in addition to me and Anne-Marie, my Mom was able to see it for a second time, in addition to a cousin of my Dad's who is visiting from Winnipeg.
I think the fact that I've gone to see Wicked three times in the span of four days should give you some indication what I thought of it, but in case not...
( Cut for Spoilers ... Lindsay, please don't read! )
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July 16th, 2008
09:23 pm
A note to my fellow Harry Potter fans who are looking for the next big fantasy series: check out Twilight!
I started and finished the entire Twilight series (so far) since Saturday hehe. Pretty impressive, I think, since each of the three books is around 500-600 pages, and yet none of them have taken me more than a day or so.
I knew a couple of the basic details about the premise of the book (i.e. some of the main characters are vampires), but a lot of the things I thought I knew about the book were wrong. I had thought it was also a boarding school, like Hogwarts, but it's a regular school. Also, for some reason I had thought the main characters were 12 or 13, but they're actually almost finished high school.
After I had finished the first book, I went to look up the movie information, as the film version will be released on December 12. I have to say, I'm more than a little wary about a lot of it, more so than I was with Harry Potter or The Golden Compass.
To begin with, the casting ... I'll wait until I've seen it to judge, but going on looks, a lot of them look really wrong to me, especially Edward, Esme and Charlie. I was never a Cedric fan, and I'm not sure how convincing he can be as Edward, who I think needs to be way more compelling, and less like a teenager. I picture him closer to Tom Riddle in appearance, even though I know that's not right. I didn't expect to like Bella, but I actually think she'll be okay.
I also worry about the fact that the trailer makes it appear to be far more horror-movie-ish than the book felt to me. With vampires as characters some of that is inevitable, but I felt that far more of the book focused on the love story, so I hope the movie is faithful to the book in that way. If I hadn't read the book and had only seen the trailer, I would almost certainly not go to see the movie, but I'm willing to give it a chance :)
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July 7th, 2008
10:51 pm
So today (after spending the afternoon at Ellen's watching Stardust) was the viewing, and it was oh so AWKWARD.
I was really glad to see so many people there. There weren't a ton of people we knew, but I did see some. Just as we were getting into the room where his sister and parents were, a couple of our professors showed up, and one of them joined us in the line. So so so glad she did, because she went ahead of us and we kind of followed her lead. It was awkward because we didn't know any of his family at all, but they seemed to appreciate how many people came to pay their respects. They all seemed to be holding up remarkably well, I was surprised. I can't imagine being in their position.
Seeing the professors there today made me wonder who was teaching the various courses next year, so I looked it up online ... Parton has only ever been there in Stratton's place, and with Stratton back from sabbatical it somehow didn't occur to me until today that Parton might not be there next year. But it looks, actually, as though Parton will be teaching the first-year religion that Sumegi usually teaches! That will be such a different course without Sumegi, but I love Parton too, so they'll be alright. And even though Stratton's back, and will co-teach 1000 with Salmond, the guy they had to replace her for the second-year religion course is doing it again. Or maybe it's someone else. In any case, it isn't her, which is so sad to me.
Also, why are all the Hums seminars awesome, now that I am no longer in the program? *tear*
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July 6th, 2008
11:23 pm
Well, it certainly has been an eventful weekend, in both bad and very good ways.
The bad news is that I learned on Friday night that a former classmate of mine passed away earlier in the week. I only found out by chance, when I received a notification saying that a professor of mine had tagged a picture of him. When I went to check it out and it had the caption "the last time I saw ___", I thought that sounded strange, so I went to his profile, and it had three pages worth of messages expressing shock and sadness.
I didn't know the guy well. We had had classes together in first and second year, and I was on friendly but not close terms with him at that point. Since then, I hadn't seen much of him. He was like several people who have left Hums over the years, from my perspective it seemed like he had disappeared and nobody I'm close to knew what had become of him.
Most of my memories of him include sitting near him in French class in first year and constantly attempting to get him to shut up, and then him apologizing me to me later when we were back in the common room haha. I also remember the rapport that he had with the professors of our religion class in second year, and how he once compiled a really hilarious video or slideshow or something about Professor Crook, who had once been some kind of track and field athlete. He was a good guy, and made any class we shared entertaining.
In any case, I'm planning on going to the viewing or whatever it's called tomorrow. I'd feel weird, I think, going to the funeral, when I really didn't know him all that well. Even the viewing will be odd, I think, but I feel like it's something I probably should do, and it seems like there will be a few other Hums people there. I've coerced Ellen into coming with me so I don't feel too awkward.
And the very very good?
Wimbledon 2008 came to an end this afternoon (night, London-time), and there is a new Wimbledon champion. RAFAEL NADAL WON WIMBLEDON OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
( Cue massive gushing and excessive tennis analysis )
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June 8th, 2008
10:27 pm
I hate crying. I don't cry. And yet that's what I've been doing for like the last two hours. It's so not like me! I. DON'T. CRY.
This is what comes of a long talk my parents and I had tonight about our impending trip because we're going to have to make the reservations soon if Dad and I are going to go. Once he stopped laughing at me, Dad suggested we drive, but even I understand how ridiculously impractical that would be, given the price of gas and the fact that it's only two of us going.
( Read more... )
On a happier note, the French Open came to an end today, with Ana Ivanovic winning her first Grand Slam yesterday and Rafael Nadal defending his title today, winning this championship for the fourth straight time.
It was only this time last year that I began paying attention to tennis at all, and I still have no idea what prompted me to do so. But I'm glad I did! I've watched every moment of coverage I could over the last two weeks, and I'm pretty happy with the results. Maria Sharapova is my favourite player on the womens' side, but I like Ivanovic too. And Nadal IS my favourite on the mens' side. It was a weird match today, though, because he completely flattened Federer, and then it seemed like he didn't even get to enjoy his win as much as he should have. Most of the other times that I have seen them play in a final together it's super close and then whoever wins is ecstatic, but his reaction was just so subdued, because it would have looked unsportsmanlike or whatever. I really admire that in Nadal, that he never seems cocky or boastful or anything, but I would have liked to see him get to celebrate a bit more than he did.
Watching all this tennis recently has made me think of something kind of funny. In between watching tennis I also caught game six between Detroit and Pittsburgh. I hadn't watched a lot of hockey since the Sens were knocked out, but the juxtaposition of the two sports in my mind made for some funny thoughts. Hockey is so rough and aggressive and violent, and then tennis is more civilized and dignified in a lot of ways, but it still has some elements that I think would make hockey even more entertaining than it already is. There are a number of players, Sharapova and the Williams sisters in particular, who tend to scream and shriek a lot while they're playing. Part of it is to psych themselves up and whatever, but I think a part of it is also in some way to intimidate their opponent. And that just gave me the funniest mental image of a hockey player bearing down at the goalie, and as he's getting closer he starts screaming in the other guy's face, in the hopes of either frightening or distracting him into letting the puck in the net. Or maybe the goalie would be the one screaming? The idea of it amuses me to no end.
I can't wait for Wimbledon!
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June 5th, 2008
01:12 am
I think I have to fly this summer.
There isn't really a horrified enough smiley or a not-so-polite expression (one that I would actually ever use, anyway) to express how much I am dreading the prospect, but there isn't really a way out of it this time.
Or rather, there is, by simply refusing to go ... but I've done that before and a part of me has regretted it ever since. I really don't care to repeat that experience. Especially after I was the one to express an interest in going in the first place. Why does everything have to be that far away? Why can't anyone ever come here instead? Admittedly not so practical in this instance ... or ever, really, since we're the only ones this far east. STILL.
There are a whole load of other problems associated with me traveling that are worrying my parents which I'm not going to get into here, but those aren't even on my radar at this point. But the flying?
I think most people assume I'm just being whiny about this because I come off as sounding just mildly annoyed or at most uncomfortable with the idea of being thousands of feet off the ground, but that's not even remotely the case. It sounds even sillier when you look at eight-year-old-me giggling ever time we hit turbulence, but the fact is that there was very little preventing me from running off that plane to Rome before it took off. And then the return trip, because I obviously had to get home.
*Goes and hides in a corner hoping someone will hand her a Portkey*
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June 2nd, 2008
03:22 pm
I don't spend nearly enough time on here anymore ... or when I do, it's mostly in the different communities I belong to, and not in posting on my own journal. Anyway, here's a meme from Alice:
Comment on this post and I will choose seven interests from your profile and ask you to explain what they mean and why you are interested in them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal so that others can play along.
For me, Alice chose:
1. CNN
2. Colin Firth
3. David Eddings
4. England
5. Jane Seymour
6. Keira Knightley
7. Stravaganza
( Read more... )
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May 22nd, 2008
11:09 pm - Grey's Anatomy Season Finale
Click here for my reflections on the show!
( Read more... )
Ugh, why isn't it September yet? I can't wait that long for all my shows.
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May 15th, 2008
11:06 pm - Grey's Anatomy 4.15 Reactions
Most of you won't care about this, I'm just posting it here for now to discuss later on another messageboard I belong to. (But feel free to discuss here as well, if you want! I have almost no one to talk about these things with, and I have far too much free time on my hands at the moment hehe). I may just start posting it here as well anyway.
Obviously avoid if you have not yet seen the episode!
( Read more... )
That was RIDICULOUSLY long, and I love anyone who actually read all of that.
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May 6th, 2008
11:27 pm
I've been reading A LOT lately. Most of it has been teen fiction, which is why I've been able to read practically a book a day for the last week, but a lot of it has been stuff that caught my eye a while ago and I've been wanting to read for a while.
Not all of the books that I've read recently would I recommend to most of you, however.
Take a look!
The Foretelling (Alice Hoffman)
( Read more... )
Keeper of the Winds and Keeper of the Waters (Jenna Solitaire)
( Read more... )
Child of the May (Theresa Tomlinson)
( Read more... )
Goddess of the Night (Lynne Ewing)
( Read more... )
Duchessina (Carolyn Meyer)
( Read more... )
Where are You Now? (Mary Higgins Clark)
( Read more... )
6 Sacred Stones (Matthew Reilly)
( Read more... )
I feel like these descriptions make it sound like I've wasted the last couple weeks reading books that I didn't enjoy haha. It's not really true. In all cases, I thought the plots were pretty good, and I just got frustrated at the writing aspect of it, as opposed to the story-telling aspect.
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April 19th, 2008
11:42 pm
I saw Stars on Ice tonight.
Gabrielle told me a couple weeks ago that she had an extra ticket and asked if I wanted to go. We saw each other there last year, neither knowing that the other was also going, and it had been a lot of fun, so of course we wanted to go again.
So we get there, and I already knew the seats were pretty good, but I didn't quite realize HOW good. Ice level. As in ON THE ICE. As in I was five feet away from Jeffrey Buttle. And I got to shake Kurt Browning's hand.
!!!!!!!!!!
I can't say much more beyond that. It was really good. I think I liked this year's show better than last year. The music was certainly better, and there were more people that I really liked. Sale and Pelletier will always be my favourites, but Dubreuil and Lauzon are amazing too. And Joannie Rochette. I sometimes get bored with her choice of music, even in the galas they do after competitions, because it's always very pretty and elegant, whereas tonight she did a much more fun and upbeat piece in the second half, and it was honestly one of my favourite things I've seen her do.
Sasha Cohen was there too, and a few others. They all did a really good job. The one disappointment was that Ottawa was one of the shows that Virtue and Moir were NOT a part of. :(
And of course, now I'll never be able to go back to the regular seating ;)
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April 18th, 2008
12:43 am
The take-home is due tomorrow (today), and so of course I spent the afternoon reading a non-school book. To be fair, it's a library book, and it was due back yesterday, which was my excuse when my parents saw me not working, but mostly I just didn't want to stop reading.
The book is called The Third Secret, by Steve Berry.
It's one of those Da Vinci code-type thrillers that have become really popular in the last few years. Or I guess more like Dan Brown's other book, Angels and Demons, because it has to do with papal elections and stuff at the Vatican, not with speculation about Jesus being married :)
I don't really get embarrassed about the books that I read, so I don't tend to call things 'guilty pleasures', but if I had one, this kind of book might be it. They're pretty quick, easy reads, but I like them better than the typical Mary Higgins Clark mysteries that I used to read pretty often, because they at least have some historical or thought-provoking aspect to them that holds my attention a while longer. This book has to do with the third secret revealed by Our Lady of Fatima, and the theory that there was more to the secret than what Pope John Paul II made public.
One thing I liked in particular about this book is that it wasn't like quite a few books I've read of its genre, where the author is clearly looking for any excuse to bash the church. While some of the 'bad guys' are figures of authority within the church, so are most of the 'good guys'. It struggles with some aspects of Roman Catholicism, but with the desire of improving the church, rather than destroying it, which was refreshing.
Another thing that I thought was kind of interesting was that the book was published in 2005, and is set during the time of the papacy directly following John Paul II, and the one after that. I can't imagine that it was published before he died, given some of the things that get said in the book, but I find it interesting because the current pope in the book is also German! He doesn't really seem similar to Benedict XVI other than that, but it amused me nonetheless. I also found it interesting to see how the book proposes some of the events around the time of a pope's death taking place, and how this was not how I saw it take place at all at that time.
So yeah, check out this book if you like this genre, it was a pretty good one and I plan to read some other books by this author in the future.
I also finished Charles Taylor's Modern Social Imaginaries yesterday, but seriously don't bother. I read it and wrote part of an assignment on it and I still couldn't really tell you much of what it was about. :P
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April 13th, 2008
09:41 pm
Today, in between pretending to read Taylor for my final assignment of the year, I finished two books I'd been reading for a little while.
I think, this summer in particular, this journal is going to turn into a reading journal, more than anything else. In this case, especially, I didn't want to wait until the end of the year to mention the books I've been reading ... I figure most of you have more time in the summer to read them than you do when I post the list at Christmas.
So, the books:
The Witch's Trinity (Erika Mailman)
( Read more... )
Our Lady of the Lost and Found (Diane Schoemperlen)
( Read more... )
Please let me know if you check out either of these books (or any of the others that I've recommended to you in the past)!
In the last little while I've also read a couple of the most recent Princess Diaries books by Meg Cabot (I think I'm on the seventh or eighth book by now). I tend not to read a lot of chick-lit, but I love the movies, so I decided to check this series out when I found out that the movie had been based on them. It's funny coming at it from the perspective of having seen the movies first, because they're so radically different. It's hard to imagine thinking that Julie Andrews might be the right person to play the grandmother in this instance, as the character in the books is a chain-smoking, drinking, controlling menace with eyeliner permanently tattooed to her face.
It's entertaining, in any case. I prefer the movies (well, especially the first one), but the books are still fun. This is one of only a couple examples of books that I can think of where I've thought that the main character was ridiculously naive or ignorant, and yet still likable.
And now it's time to get back to Taylor.
*Sigh*
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March 12th, 2008
07:46 pm
I have the facebook equivalent of this, but it's the first time I've seen it on livejournal, so I'll post it here too. I wish I could check off more places!
create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.
create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands
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March 9th, 2008
06:49 pm - Music exam (not) studying
OMG why does everyone on these CDs after Beethoven sound the same?
Obviously an exaggeration, but the fact still remains that I have absolutely no idea how to identify any of these people with the exception of the track from West Side Story. The Tchaikovsky piece isn't even what I thought it was, and I barely remember the names of the rest of the people this semester, never mind what they wrote.
Last semester, the listening component of the exam ended up consisting of the Hallelujah Chorus, Beethoven's 5th, Vivaldi's Spring, and a few other things ... I could have done most of that exam ten years ago! Here, not so much.
What happened to getting an essay or two finished and all of Spenser read, in addition to all this not-studying I'm doing???
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