Here There Be Eli

Some thoughts:

2009-02-17T18:33:00.000-08:00

My current favorite word is "astound" and the various permutations therof.
If I were Winnie, I would have drunk the water. I mean, really.^*

2009-01-03T10:43:00.000-08:00

Hmmmm.

HORAY

2008-12-20T23:18:00.000-08:00

Thanks to I Heart Daily, I have now converted EVERY PICTURE EVER TAKEN* into polaroid form.

*EVER!

GAH

2008-11-16T10:56:00.001-08:00

Things I did this fortnight¹:

Cheered and danced in the street when Obama was elected president
Went to Washington DC
Saw Giant Lincoln while in Washington DC
Wrote "don't forget to be awesome" on this
Was extraordinarily angry when Prop 8 passed
Went to New York
Saw Spring Awakening on Broadway
Visited four colleges
Disliked two of said colleges; liked the other two
Loaned my cell phone to a soldier on the Metro so that he could call his family and tell them he was coming home²
Stressed about college applications
Took three tests (Statistics, Economics, Environmental Science)
Turned 17
Saw Quantum of Solace
Decided I want to be James Bond when I grow up
Listened to the Doctor Horrible soundtrack on repeat
Decided I want to be Joss Whedon when I grow up

Things I did not do this fortnight:

Write my Paper Towns review

¹ That's two weeks.
² He was really nice; he called back later to say thanks.

MEEEEEEEEEEEEME

2008-11-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

From Rae:

1. Put Your iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, etc on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Put the artist after a dash following the song name.
5. Put any comments in brackets.
6. Tag some lucky people to spread the disease.

How would you describe yourself?
You Got Lucky--Tom Petty and the Heartreakers
[No.]

How do you feel today?
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah--James Baskett
[NEVER. I REFUSE.]

What is your life’s purpose?
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me--Elton John
[Hmmm.]

What is your motto?
Everybody Wants to Rule the World--Tears for Fears
[Only, I really don't. At all.]

What do you think about very often?
Run Away!--Cast of Spamalot
[ALWAYS.][I saw Spamalot a year or so ago... it was AMAZING.]

What is your life story?
Misery Business--Paramore
[No. Not really.]

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Criminal--The Pretenders

What will you dance to at your wedding?
Calling all Angels--Train
[Does this mean there will be dancing at my wedding? God, I hope not.]

What will they play at your funeral?
This Love--Maroon 5
[That might be vaguely disturbing, but, you know.]

What is your hobby/interest?
I Can't Help You Now--Bonnie Raitt
[My hobby is... not helping people? God, I'm such a bitch.]

If you could do anything right now, what would it be?
Missing You--John Waite
[WITH MY BLACK AND BLEEDING HEART]

What do you want most of all?
Make it All Okay--REM
[ALSO WITH MY BLACK AND BLEEDING HEART]

What is your greatest fear?
Gypsy--Fleetwood Mac
[Am I afraid of gypsys? Or just of Stevie Nicks' gypsy fetish?]

What is your darkest secret?
Hakuna Matata--Ernie Sabella and Jason Weaver
[IT MEANS NO WORRIES...]

What is your favorite thing in the world?
All I Hear--Train

If you could have one wish, what would you wish for?
Into the West--Annie Lennox

What is your theme song?
The Long and Winding Road--The Beatles

The next time you hear this song (aside from now, that is), you must dance.
Horrible Theme--Instrumental

What will you post this as?
Rubberneckin'--Elvis Presley
[?]

I tag... Lenore and RR1 and 2.

WHY?

2008-10-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

djfdhvjcbvdfnas

2008-10-04T16:47:00.000-07:00

I just took the SAT (for the second time, although I didn't really need to, but I did anyway because I'm a weirdo), and it took like twelve (five) hours and was ridiculously boring and utterly stupid, although I did find some of the sentence corrections to be vastly amusing.¹ Thankfully our proctor was actually sane, so she didn't steal anyone's calculator/forget the rules/eat people who don't fill in bubbles completely/transform into a lemur.
Anyhow. I'm going to go sleep now. Then I'm going to actually start writing my Paper Towns review.³

1.Which of these sentences is correct?
a) Chad wears his hat like his favorite old movie stars did when perched on the back of his head.²
b) Perched on the back of his head, Chad wears his hat like his favorite old movie stars did.
c) Chad, with old movie stars, favorites of him, perched hats on the back of his head, Chad also.
2. I don't know about you, but I frequently look in the mirror and find that Frank Sinatra is clinging to my scalp.
3. Speaking of John Green, I'm reading Let it Snow right now, and it's really good. And I hate Christmas-themed-things, so that's saying something.

On Mulberry Street

2008-09-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

Today I saw a man with multiple facial piercings playing drums for a mariachi band that was closely followed by a group of spanish riders (one of whom was asian) on giant horses. Directly behind them drove a truck which had been converted into a covered wagon, in which lounged a man in a blonde wig who held a sign that read, ANOTHER HEDWIG IMPERSONATOR FOR PEACE. The wagon was closely followed by a group of three people holding a large sign that advocated for polyamory. Then came the Art Cars, the highlights of which included a car entirely covered in bras that towed a small house behind it, a large bronze steampunk snail-on-wheels (an article about which I have found here), a phone car, and a car painted with scenes from The Lorax¹. The car entirely covered in Obama bumper stickers received the loudest cheers, though the car advocating McCAIN/SATAN '08, complete with a life-sized John McCain mannequin clinging to a nuclear warhead, gave it a run for its money. There was a short pause, and then a group of people danced by, chanting (for reasons unknown; they only had one sign, and it wasn't in English). At the end came a small train, with musicians playing Grateful Dead songs sprawled haphazardly on top of the cars. The electric violinist seemed to be in great danger of falling off, but managed to retain her balance.
I didn't notice until the very end, but throughout this entire thing, the woman in front of me was wearing pants made entirely out of purple sequins, and her companion was wearing a utilikilt.

I really couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

1. Two Dr. Seuss references in one post! Go me!

But the alarms didn't go off.

2008-09-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I went to the orthodontist so that they could dig small pieces of wire out of my mouth, which was good but also made my gums want to run away and cry in a dark corner. And then I went to this department store with my mother so that she could get lipstick because she has a dangerous addiction, and that's when life decided to console me with pants. But then I got home and discovered something HORRIBLE: the store-person forgot to remove the little plastic security tag, and so now I have to either go back and be like RESCUE MY PANTS FROM THEIR MISERY or I have to find a very small power saw and the ability to use a very small power saw.
So now the tag is staring at me from my bed right now and I think it's laughing, like, I SCOFF AT YOUR FUTILE ATTEMPTS TO REMOVE ME, HUMAN.

I am the Messenger

2008-09-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

I recently read I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak, and while I thought that it was a marvelous book, I have some issues with it.

But first off, I want to say that I loved this book. In fact, it was one of the best books I've read so far this year (My top five are: Paper Towns, The Hunger Games, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, The Graveyard Book, and I am the Messenger). Marcus Zusak's language is poetic without being obnoxious, and the story is unique and intriguing. In fact, I could likely go on for paragraphs about how wonderful I am the Messenger is. However, I'm not going to do that because a) that would be boring and b) I'm sure that most of you agree with me anyway.

What I want to talk about is what bothered me about the book. Namely, the ending.

If you've read I am the Messenger (which you should), you know that it ends oddly, with a strange man appearing in Ed's apartment. The man, it is implied, is Marcus Zusak himself. He claims to have been sending the messages and blathers for a while about what it all means.

I would consider myself to be a fairly intelligent person. I get good grades. I read a lot. I mean, I'm pretty smart, really I am. And so, because of this, I really don't appreciate the fact that Marcus Zusak seemed to feel the need to spell everything out for me. I understand the book. I really do. I don't need some strange reality-twisting author-insertion to make it all clear for me. I mean, maybe I'm just a teenager and therefore, I'm sure, not capable of some higher thought processes, but I'm fairly sure that I can glean the meaning from I am the Messenger without the esteemed Mr. Zusak attempting to clobber me over the head with it. I can figure it out, I promise. It's not that hard.

Blarg.

2008-08-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

I want to read Violet on the Runway. Everyone is talking about it, and I feel that this is a bandwagon onto which I would like to hop. But I cannot find it at any of my local independent bookstores. Why does life hate me?

ALSO

2008-07-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

I've been a fan of Amy Kim Ganter ever since I read Sorcerers and Secretaries, her Tokyopop OEL manga. (If you don't know what that means, you can google it, because I'm way too lazy to link to something that explains it.) I also read her fabulous webcomic Reman Mythology, which she's now rewriting as a YA novel. (At least, I'm thinking of it as YA; I don't know if she's writing it as YA.) I think that she's a fabulous illustrator as well as writer (as in, the writing in her comics [which she did] was good) and I can't wait to read Reman Mythology. (It hasn't been picked up yet that I know of, as she hasn't finished writing it, but I think/hope it will.)
Anyhow, I just wanted to give a sort of shout-out to¹ someone whose work I think is great, so check her out. (And that's the last thing I'll tell you to do today, I promise.)

1. Dear lord I hate that term. I really shouldn't use it, it might kill my soul. How about this: ~~I just wanted to give a sort of shout out to~~ I wanted to tell you about...

In other news...

2008-07-26T12:11:00.001-07:00

I have to wait AN ENTIRE YEAR for Doctor Who to start again? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS? They think they can give me a few specials and fool me into thinking that I'm not being deprived? CURSE YOU, BBC! CUUUUUURRRSSE YYOOOOUUUU!

With my freeze-ray I will stop the pain.

2008-07-26T12:04:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard about Doctor Horrible yet, you're obviously some sort of hermit. Go get it. It's ridiculously worth the four bucks.

Allo.

2008-07-11T17:41:00.000-07:00

So many changes.
I have nothing to say.
Except, HELLO.
And also that I got 200 (what?!) comments on this post, which makes me happy inside.

That is all.