Restlessness

I realized a few days ago that lately the only type of books I've been reading have been Lit fiction: interesting, but I can't get through it as fast as I can popular fiction. So I decided to read a book I found in my house that I figured I could get through in a couple of days. Peaches is about three girls living in Georgia: Birdie, Murphy and Leeda. The three girls end up bonding over spring break and the summer, helping Birdie save her family's orchard and behaving like teenage girls will. There are more books to the series, which I might read, but for now this story will satisfy me.

Do The Creep, AHHH

We are the Facebook generation. Or that's what they call us. Personally, I'm not all that obsessed with Facebook. Of course I have one, and I probably check it everyday but I don't spend hours on it, creeping on people I know or don't know at all. If I'm on the computer awhile I'm on Stumble, finding new sites, listening to music or blogging HKA. In short, I don't creep. Like a lot of people I know. For instance, my mother. She is a total creeper! She might even be reading this, but I'm not all that concerned. She should know the truth. This might be some kind of intervention even. Anyway, sometimes I'll get on her computer and her facebook will be pulled up, but it's my page that she had been looking at. She basically monitors my facebook I guess. Creepy. Thus my belief that only college and high school students should be allowed to have facebooks. Middle schoolers having a page just exposes them to creepers on the internet and parents with facebooks just use it to make sure their kids are behaving. Which is fine and all, but there is a point where it becomes annoying, paranoid and overprotective.
This reminds me of a song the Lonely Island just did and their new music video was on SNL a couple of weeks back. It's called Do The Creep and it cracks me up. CHECK IT OUT!

Over and Out

What is McCarthy trying to say by having Blevins die and Rawlins return home?

Blevins is portrayed as the ultimate cowboy throughout the whole novel, escaping from his home, being the best shot, rescuing his horse, running away from the police and the list goes on and on. While Blevins is this impressive, yet younger, figure, Rawlins pales in comparison. He's following John Grady, he's not exceptional at anything. He's the anti-Blevins. The irony is in how Blevins and Rawlins are left at the end of the novel, because Blevins, as the stereotypical cowboy, is supposed to go out in a hail of bullets or vanquish all evil doers while Rawlins expected end might be death, as a secondary, almost uninteresting (by comparison) character. However, through his choice to have Blevins shot so quietly, almost secretively, McCarthy comments on the superficiality of the western dream. The western myth is just that: a myth. It does not exist, and McCarthy uses Blevins' pathetic murder to illustrate this point. Rawlins returning home also exposes the western myth through his defeat, while the western myth usually ends in triumph.

Cover It Up

Covers. I love hearing new artists sing my favorite songs and put their own spin on them. A few months back I was really into MGMT and found three covers of their songs by three different people. Katy Perry, The Kooks, and Sunday Girl, whose cover is sadly not available on iTunes. If you want to hear Sunday Girl's cover of Time To Pretend look it up on Youtube. It's really good (*warning* it does say the F word, although being in high school you probably hear that word a million times a day, unfortunately). They took these electronic, hyped up songs that I love to jam to and slowed them down, made them easier to understand and gave me a new perspective on their songs. It just goes to show how every song is versatile, and really showcases the artists' talents. Speaking of talented cover-ists (?) this guy, Sam Tsui on Youtube (channel kurthugoschneider) is AWESOME! He made me like songs I didn't even like to begin with. Hold It Against Me by Britney Spears was too club-beats for me but when my friend showed me his version, I didn't even connect the two songs as the same. It is so good and just goes to show that switching up the tempo, mood, etc. can make even the most insufferable songs enjoyable. (See Just A Dream by Sam Tsui & Christina Grimmie).

Singing In The Rain!

"Moses supposes his toeses are roses!" This quote from the film Singing in the Rain hints at the playful mischievousness Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor's characters exhibit. The whimsical lyrics, light-hearted music and jovial dance moves of the scene reflect the men's lack of ability to take anything seriously. Kelly and O'Connor poke fun at their instructor, trilling their r's cheerily and adopting audacious accents. Their fast-paced dance moves are executed with impish grins, suggesting amused sarcasm with respect to their lesson. From their behavior it is obvious Kelly and O'Connor's characters are amusing themselves instead of attempting to learn anything.

And Some Lovely Male Clothes?

Babysitting. The easiest job in the world...right? Not exactly. Babysitting is having to act like an adult for up to nine hours at a time. Now what sixteen year old wants to do that on a Friday night? When you start out babysitting it's a piece of cake, looking after middle schoolers who will do their homework when asked, help you make dinner, and then read/play video games without giving you much grief. Oh, how I miss those days. When you grow in age and maturity level some people will probably let you look after their toddlers and infants. 2, 3, 4 and 5 year olds are a heap of trouble. They fight, they scream, they run, they fall down, they cry, they whine, and the list goes on and on. And when it comes to bedtime, forget about it. You rock the baby, the five year old wants you to rock them too. And then they both fall asleep and you can't move without waking them. And when you do move, they both wake up and demand you rock them more and lie down with them for "just one minute." Of course, when a five year old says one minute they definitely mean 10 minutes to an hour. Thankfully when they force you to let them stay up an hour after their bedtime they get a little worn out and will fall asleep around the second time you put them to bed. On worse days, you might get the baby to sleep but the other one...she'll beg for nine bedtime stories with that winning way, throw a tantrum when you only read her six, and scream your name at gradually higher decibels when you put her to bed half an hour later. Don't get me wrong, kids are super cute, and eternally grateful when you bring them two new Ken dolls, wearing "lovely male clothes", for no reason at all. And when they're the most talkative kids you've ever babysat, they're probably going to be your favorite, just because "kids say the darndest things." They're a hassle, but they're also supremely entertaining. (And getting paid for it is just icing on the cake). Ah, babysitting.

Stephen Colbert

“Don’t be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.”