Thursday, February 25, 2010

american idol

yay! andrew garcia is safe! :D

~blogger 2

ANDREW GARCIA

#teamGarcia all the way!!! ... I'm waiting for the results ...

~blogger 2

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Chinese New Year!

Hola! I hope everyone's having a wonderful long weekend :) Happy Chinese New Year!

~Blogger 2

Saturday, February 13, 2010

The Book Thief

* * * Spoilers are in this post * * *

I recently finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and I have to say that it is now my all time favorite book. I had actually read the book a few years ago, but at that time I had just skimmed through it and didn't really intake any of the information. When I saw it at a book store a while ago, I though about reading it again, which I did. And I was completely blown away.

I mean seriously, just the first page drew me in. The way the novel is written is amazing and the style is just beautiful.

"First the colors.
Then the humans.
That's usually how I see things.
Or at least, how I try.

* * * Here is a Small Fact * * *
You are going to die.

I am in all truthfulness, attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me." -Death, (3)

At first I was confused. Who was the narrator? Where was this story going? But as I trudged through the poetic, dark, yet humorous novel, I began to understand.

The story is about Liesel Meminger and her life in Germany during World War 2. She is sent to live in a foster home after her Communist mother is sent away to a concentration camp, but her brother dies before they arrive. At his funeral, she steals her first book, The Grave Digger's Handbook. She later arrives at her foster parent's home and meets a variety of characters; Hans Hubberman, her foster father how dislikes the Nazi Party and loves to play the accordian, Rosa Hubberman, her foster mother who, despite her tough attitude and fondness of swearing, loves Liesel very much, Rudy Steiner, a young boy who loves Liesel and once painted himself black due to his admiration for Jesse Owens, and Max Vandenger, a Jewish fist-fighter that hides in the Hubberman household.

One of the most interesting characters is the narrator, Death. He is literally Death and he watches Liesel grow up during the novel. Here's a quote describing him:

"* * * A Small Piece of Truth * * *

I do not carry a sickle or scythe.
I only wear a hooded black robe when it's cold.
And I don't have those skull-like
facial features you seem to enjoy
pinning on me from a distance. You
want to know what I truly look like?
I'll help you out. Find yourself
a mirror while I continue." - Death, (307)

He is somewhat sympathetic towards humans and weary of his job, which surprised me because most authors portray Death as some sort of terrifying creature who enjoys death. But what really surprised me was his association with colors. When he goes to gather souls, he pays close attention to what color the sky is.

"Personally, I like a chocolate-colored sky. Dark, dark chocolate. People say it suits me. I do, however, try to enjoy every color I see-the whole spectrum. A billion or so flavors, none of them quite the same, and a sky to slowly suck on." -Death, (4)

The whole novel, however, is not just about Death, but death itself. The novel is, after all, taking place during a war. Once you reach the middle of the novel, you know right away that people are going to die but Liesel will survive through the use of foreshadowing and direct statements from Death saying so.

One other thing I really enjoyed was the relationship between Liesel and Rudy. They both, in their own way, rebel against the Nazis; Rudy does so always answering the question "When was our Fuhrer born?" (298) incorrectly (he always says Easter Sunday) and Liesel does so by stealing books. Rudy also always begs Liesel for a kiss, which she in turn always denies. Only when he is dead does she finally grant him his wish, which I admit made me shed a tear or two. Another touching scene (which is actually one of my favorite ones) is when Liesel simply asks why her brother had to die. They stand up and Rudy puts his arm around her "best-buddy style" (80) and does not once ask for a kiss.

"For now, Rudy and Liesel made their way onto Himmel Street in the rain.
He was the crazy one who had painted himself black and defeated the world.
She was the book thief without the words.
Trust me, though, the words were on their way, and when they arrived, Liesel would hold them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like the rain." (80)

There are a million more things I could talk about regarding Max Vandenburg, the mayor's wife, the stories within a story, the importance and effect of words, etc. But I think this post is long enough as it is. I honestly don't think my post did the book justice, it's just one of those novels you have to read to realize how amazing it is. Some people might not prefer Death as the narrator and it does take a while to really get into the novel, but once I did, I could not put the book down. Something about it just draws you in.

My rating scale: 10/10

~Lacy

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Alexander McQueen (cont.)

LEE MCQUEEN IS DEAD.
WHAT.

Apparently he committed suicide this Thursday morning and if it wasn't for Blogger 2 I wouldn't have known about this. :( He was probably one of the ONLY fashion designers whose clothes I truly enjoyed, they were so crazy and so out there that it was impossible not to be drawn to his collections. He didn't dwell on the 80's or recreated the past like everyone else was doing, he created his own edgy futuristic look that just screamed his name. Creating an art out of fashion and making dramatic and stunning shows made him one of the only designers I respect. I know his designs may look bizarre or may not be your definition of fashion, but his guy was a star.

I MEAN JUST LOOK AT THESE:
Alexander McQueen Spring 2010 RTW Shoes Pictures, Images and Photos
McQueen Pictures, Images and Photos

RIP.


~Michelle

RIP

I found out Alexander McQueen died today...D: RIP

~Blogger 2

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

American Idol-Andrew Garcia!!!

GO ANDREW GARCIA!!!!!!!! I watched his hollywood week day 1 performance and he was AWESOME (as always)! He's representing his entire youtube family (Aj Rafael, Lydia Paek, Cathy Nguyen, Gabe Bondoc, and many, many more). I hope he comes back to my high school to perform again :D

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Hola! I never watch the football portion of the Super Bowl. I don't really watch the commercials either, but today, I was watching some of the movie trailers and I wanted to talk about the new movie The Last Airbender.

Avatar: The Last Airbender was actually my favorite animated series on Nickelodeon and I am definitely a fan. I was pretty excited that a movie was being made, but I was kind of disappointed that they didn't hire many asian actors. TLA was mainly influenced by the Eastern Asian culutre (ex: martial arts, mythology, etc.), so fans were expecting actors of the eastern asian race
(chinese, japanese, koreans, etc.). I remember Jesse McCartney was supposed to play Prince Zuko...WTF?!...it was like the dragon ball z cast...a white guy had to play Goku. At that point, I wasn't going to bother watching the movie. Later, they had to recast Zuko because Jesse McCartney had schedule conflicts. So, now Dev Patel is the new actor. That's a little better. Anyways, I watched the Super Bowl trailer of The Last Airbender, and it wasn't that bad. I think this might be a great movie, and hopefully they'll cast more asians in the second and third film (Remember: Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, Toph, and others don't show up till later, so there's still a chance!). LOL! I sound like a geek XD. Asians are actually talented, but I guess people don't want to hire asians for these roles because a) we aren't good enough and/or b) we aren't great selling points. D: Hopefully in the future, more asian-americans will have lead-roles and break the barrier.
~Blogger 2

The Insufferable Know-It-All

One of the many types of people that annoy me is the Insufferable Know-It-All (aka IKIA). An IKIA is a person who brags about how smart and intellectual they are, which, unfortunately, they usually are. An IKIA gets A+'s in all of their classes (usually math or science) and their overwhelming curiosity demands to know the grades of everyone else. No one quite understands their need to know others grades, but all that can be said is THAT THEY NEED TO MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS.

Seriously. Why do you care what grade I got on my science/math/English/etc. test? What does it matter to you? And don't you dare roll your eyes at me or sigh angrily when I refuse to tell you.

Another irritating trait of an IKIA is their belief that just because they get good grades, they are obviously deep. They believe that they understand everything. They understand life, they understand love, they understand other people's problems, etc. This trait eventually leads to the Emo Poet, but that topic is for another time.

From The Dictionary of Lacy:
Word: The Insufferable Know-It-All [in-suhf-er-uh-buhl-noh-it-awl]
-Noun
-A really annoying person. Avoid with care.

Points if you got the Harry Potter reference :)

~Lacy

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Blogger 2

Since I didn't post anything on Friday, I thought it would be nice to talk about my day and vent :D.

On Friday: Normal school stuff...ate pizza for lunch...went to the orthodontists...went home...ate dinner...did spanish homework...went to sleep...nothing much

On Saturday: Did math homework...practiced piano...ate an IN-N-Out burger (delicious!!!)...went to piano class...went to art class...went home...took a shower...went to Macaroni Grill to celebrate my friend's b-day (Happy B-Day!!!)... went home...and now I'm blogging (obviously).

PET PEEVE RANT: showoffs

During lunch time, while my three other blogger friends and I are eating lunch, a mob of guys who think they're strong and awesome always show up and try to do push-ups (They even use dice to figure out how many push-ups they have to do). First of all, WTF?! Who does push-ups during lunch? Second, no one cares about how many push-ups you can do! Third, your push-up form is not correct. Fourth, you're blocking the freakin way. I know there are girls around the lunch area, but this is just ridiculous. It's disturbing and annoying. This is not really a big example of showoffs...but there's more to come.

Blogger 4 :D

Dear Blog!

So its a saturday. heehee I thought i would do a little blogging.

I just came back from art class and my teacher inspired me to start carrying a little notebook around that I can just doodle in all the time.... I really like sketching stuff.
BUT in art class i've been working on the same type of thing for like 3 years and i'm starting to get sick of it. I'm currently drawing out this oldish guy with a beeenie .

I should go read Jane Eyre now.. bye byee

SCREEAAAMING + Ed FREAKING Hardy

One thing that annoys me the most is when girls at school SCREAM.

EXAMPLE:
Girl 1: blah
Girl 2: blah
Girl 1: blah
Girl 2: ASKKL;;KJSKDJF; LKASDFJS;KLDJKSHEYLOOKIMCOOL AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Me: OMG STFU

I don't get why people like this exist. Do they want us to think of them as the irritating attention seekers? Even if there's a spider or a bee, instead of backing away all I hear is shrieking. And then one of the guys comes over and tries to act all MANLY and TOUGH by stomping on it.

And people who wear Ed Hardy?
ed hardy Pictures, Images and Photos
No, just no. :|
I HATE this brand with a BURNING PASSION OF RAAAGE.

~Michelle

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Introduction + AWESOME = This

Hello there! I'm the fourth blogger in our group and here's some facts about me:

Name: Lacy

Favorite musicians and bands: Ryan Farish, Frankmusik, Animal Collective, Bon Jovi, Blink-182, Copeland, The Postal Service, and Moby.

Favorite Books: The Book Thief by Mark Zusak, Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, and His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman.

Favorite movies: (500) Days of Summer and anything from Disney/Pixar.

Things I like: I LOVE the internet, reading, writing, critiquing, doodling, and all that good stuff.

Things I HATE: I hate homework, tests, people who scream for no reason during lunch, people who think they're "emo" and write horrible poetry, mainstream music, yaoi freaks, slow internet, and a bunch of other stuff that I'll rant about later.

Goals: Write a novel sometime in my life :)

all about bloggerrr 4 :D

Name: BLOGGAH NUMBERO 4
From: California BABY :D
Occupation: Crazily Happy student :]
Favorite Musicians and bands? Too many to count but my currents are Gabe Bondoc! A Fine Frenzy, Andrew Garcia, Blake Lewis, Colbie, Sara Bareilles, Maroon 5 and others
Favorite TV Show ? UMMM right now im catching up on What i like about you. ANd AMERICAN FREAKING IDOL! and HouSe(OMG)! Jeopardy.. if i know the answers that day haha or at least 2ish ahah :D 5 is my record, I really want to start watching Glee because it sounds so good ahha
Freetime activity: Drawing, Talking to people on the phone, reading, watching favorite TV shows, surfing internet, hanging with friends, Spending time with family i like
What i LIKE? UMMM welll... i enjoy reading (fo sho), telling jokes (heehee :D), Singing to myself in the shower using the shower head as a microphone, Watching shows by myself really late at night or really early in the morning, shopping for clothes but not really buying any with people i'm comfortable with, talking, music amazes me. and ya much more that i cannot think of at the momento
What i hATE? Twilight ( Slap Blogger 2 high five for that one :D well i used to kind of like it.. but then everyone started loving it and then i kind started disliking it and then now i strongly dislike it becuase of the movies.. ) People who talk really loudly and express themselves too much, people when they crack their shoulders necks noses backs...(shivers), people who lie, people who pretend to be someone else much more. tell you when i think of it.
Goals: Help my close family live a long and happy life, going to university/college and getting a job which im really into, keeping friends close, not contracting depression

Hola!

Hello, I am blogger numero dos and here are some facts about me :)

Name: Blogger 2
From: California
Occupation: Student
Favorite musicians & bands: Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Colbie Caillat, Sara Bareilles, A Fine Frenzy, Alicia Keys, Parachute, Lifehouse, AJ Rafael, Andrew Garcia, Cathy Nguyen, Lydia Paek, Gabe Bondoc, and many more
Favorite TV show: Glee
Free time Activities: Surfing the internet, drawing, listening to music
What I Like: Glee, music, art, koalas, my friends and family, hanging out with my friends, drawing, the internet, watching TV, playing the piano (depending on my mood), taking pictures, and many more
Pet Peeves: Twilight series, anything related to Twilight (ex.:vampires and werewolves), when fans scream really loudly at concerts in the middle of the performer's song (I understand it's a concert, but it annoys me when they won't shut up), dirty whiteboards, when people spit on the floor, when people spit gum on the floor, gum stuck to my shoe (this rarely happens, but I hate when gum is on my shoe), wannabes, the sound of knuckles cracking, people who scream for no reason, extremely spoiled brats, showoffs, smart alecs ...my list is too long...
Goals: Finish high school, get into college/university, find a stable job that I would enjoy, visit as many European countries as I can :D


Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Hello there

Hey there blogging world :)
This is going to be a sort of group blog updated by me and my three other friends. Haha, I guess I should introduce my self, here's some info about me :D

Name: Michelle
From: Sunny Californiaaaa
Occupation: Student
Favorite artists: Frankmusik, Franz Ferdinand, Moby, Blink-182, U2, Ryan Farish, Parachute
Favorite TV show: GLEEEEEEE and American Idol :)
Hobbies: Drawing, browsing the internet for shoes that are COMPLETELY too expensive, shopping, reading
What I like: HARRY POTTER, people with interesting faces (I stare at them for a long time D:), whales, cheesy jokes, nice people, when the sky is super blue, anything sweet, singling LOUDLY when no one else is home :D
Pet Peeves: People who (literally) scream for attention, weight-complainers, Ed FREAKING Hardy, internet weeaboos, bad breath, ANNOYING facebook/email stats
Goals: GET BETTER GRADES and remember to eat my gummy vitamins every day!

I'm also super short, seriously, I'm not even 5' yet. I think Joseph Gordon-Levitt is cute, but Justin Long?? OHYES. I also think Valentine's Day is the worst holiday ever.
I'll try to update as often as I can, but first my other friends also have to introduce themselves! :)