Thanks, Ash!!!!!

I'm sure some of my early blog readers remember my slight obsession with Mr. T, as I had pointed out back in March. Well, wonderful friend and reader Ash found a little something to feed my obsession...Introducing: MR. T!!

And yes, that is orange Vitamin Water...

Lennie and the Rabbits

A "Of Mice and Men" themed song; I really like how this sounds :)

Weekly Wodehouse #26

"The voice of Love seemed to call me, but it was a wrong number."

~P.G. Wodehouse

John Steinbeck Reads "Of Mice and Men"

5 Life Lessons from Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men"

1. Sometimes, the people we tend to overlook have more character than the people we revere and put on a social pedestal.

2. If you have to make a difficult or life-changing decision, don't let anyone else decide for you. It's your life. Don't let anyone "shoot your dog" for you.

3. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice everything for the well-being of someone you care about.

4. Even though they don't always show it, the people who really care about you are the ones who stand by your side no matter what you do, and are always there to get you through your mistakes. Sometimes, too, they are the ones who look up to you, and follow you--not with blind eyes, but with trusting hearts.

5. Sometimes, dreams are not meant to be attained, but they are still meant to be strived for.

Of Mice and Men

The Brother has just started reading Of Mice and Men for his Honors English class, and since I've missed writing all my posts about books that I was reading for classes, I thought I would talk about this one. First of all, its one of my favorite books. I just love it! So, of course, when I learned he was reading it, I could not be happier. (And of course he was rolling his eyes: Oh dear, Emmy's all excited about my stupid classes again...) But, still...I'm really pumped :3

So, to help him supplement his own reading, and of course, to help build up your knowledge of these books, I'm going to try and post a little at a time about each of the books he reads as they come up. Honestly, I don't know if this is going to work out or not, so please bear with me.

Have any of you already read it? Did you like it or not so much? I'd love to hear your opinions on this!

Castle Season 3

Everybody get out your calendars and save the date of September 20th! That night, season 3 of Castle officially starts! I can't wait! It's totally my favorite show, and the brother and I watch it every Monday night :) I seriously can't wait until then! If you haven't seen Castle yet, you can check out episodes and other information on

ABC.com

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, basically, its a crime show/comedy. Richard Castle is a mystery writer who gets pulled into an investigation when a series of murders are conducted that mirror the unusual murder methods in his books. He quickly falls for the tough-as-nails female homicide detective Kate Beckett, and follows her around as an unofficial partner to help him gather information for his next mystery series. Definite chemistry starts to arise between the two of them, but neither one has expressed their feelings.

As a promotional item, Castle's book, inspired by Kate, was actually published and sold in stores. It's called Heat Wave, and star Detective Nikki Heat. The second book in the series is currently in the works: Naked Heat.

A Little Bit of 300 Spoofing

I've never actually seen the movie 300, but I've seen my fair share of its spoofs and parodies. Currently, the Brother and I are watching Meet the Spartans, a full-length movie spoof, and that inspired this post. These are some of my favorite 300 parodies...hope you enjoy ;)

Used Books at the Library

Finally! For the first time, I've actually been able to check out my library's little book store. Its just a small room off to the side, filled with all kinds of books...donations, cancelled library books, some old and worn, some barely touched. The best thing was that everything was very, very cheap...you could get a DVD for only $2.00, or a paper back book for 50 cents! I bought three things and only paid $2.00 for them!

First, is a paperback copy of Ragtime, which was recommended to me by my friend Jenn back in high school. When she was reading it, it was all she would talk about. And experience has shown me this: if Jenn tells me I'm going to like a book, then she knows I'm going to like that book. This wonderful little find was only 50 cents!

I also found a musty copy of Death of a Salesman, one of my all time favorite plays (50 cents).

Finally, I purchased a hardback copy of The Old Man and the Sea ($1.00) which I found (to my great excitement) was full of notes that the previous author annotated it with. That's really why I love old books...there is so much history behind them. I wonder who this man was who wrote all over this book, lovingly leaving his mark on the pages.

Am I going to come back for more books? Oh yeah! There is just something wonderful about library book sales...the books are inexpensive (used book stores often make you pay through the nose) and more often than not, the books are in wonderful condition. What a perfect way to find new treasures to read!

Do You Kindle/E-Book/etc.?

Perhaps I'm the only one, but doesn't it bother you that more and more people are reading books online or on their iPods, Kindles, iPhones, iPads, laptops, and e-readers? And that less and less people are reading actual books?? I've often considered the allure of the kindle, the e-reader...buy one online, and your cost of books plummets. Its cheaper, its smaller, and you can carry around about a gazillion books on it. Everyone is doing it...you can even get a game for the Nintendo DS that contains about 200 books.

Although I've considered it, I can't succumb to it. There is no way a battery operated piece of plastic, metal, and wires could replace the wonder that is a book. There is nothing more wonderful than opening up a book, inhaling deeply, and just savoring that musty smell of old tomes, or the fresh smell of paper and ink in new ones. Also, books don't run on batteries, so they don't need to be charged. Plus, each book is an individual. There really is something wonderful about a book. Please, don't boycott the book for the fancy digital stuff. A book won't break on you, a book doesn't need a warranty, and a book will probably be around when all of us are dead and gone...unless we give up on them now. It doesn't need stuff loaded onto it, and its a perfect gift to give without breaking the bank. Consider this: if books have been working just fine for us for centuries...why should we change that now?

If you like your Kindle/iPhone/iPad/iPod/e-reader, etc., I'm not telling you to get rid of it, not at all! I'm just saying to please keep the book in mind. Its a wonderful thing and should be cared for, cherished, and most of all respected and enjoyed.

Weekly Wodehouse #25

"There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself, 'Do trousers matter?'"

"The mood will pass, sir."

~P.G. Wodehouse

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machines

What do you get when you combine 1960s heart-throb Frankie Avalon, classic horror film star Vincent Price, a millionaire, a sidekick named Igor, and at least ten beautiful girls adorned in gold bikinis? The answer is Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machines, a hilarious movie from 1965.

Dr. Goldfoot (Price) is an evil scientist with a very unusual plan: robbing millionaires and billionaires of their assets by seducing them with robots that look like bikini-clad women. He creates a "bikini machine" that builds female robots who are programmed to seduce their wealthy targets and trick them into marriage so that they can control their stocks, properties, and other investments.

When Craig Gamble (Avalon) accidentally is targeted by Dr. Goldfoot's robot #11, the bit detective is determined to stop this menace before anything can happen. He teems up with targeted millionaire Todd Armstrong to stop Dr. Goldfoot and expose his horrible plot to the world.

It's an incredibly corny film, but made my whole family and I laugh until we cried. I hope you guys enjoy it as well! Here is the trailer for you guys to sample...

Trailer For Every Oscar-Winning Movie Ever

A Little More Fun With Google Translate...

This one is for the wonderful Chessie, who requested some Jane Austin...


Pride and Prejudice...

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

However, little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

Translates to...

And the real world clearly, you'd be a lucky girl.

Feelings, however, little is known or opinions of the people around you, is the fact that, deep in the heart of the legal ownership of his daughter in the heart of local families.

And I've always been partial to this Sense and Sensibility quote about Marianne and Willoughby...

When he was present she had no eyes for anyone else. Everything he did was right. Everything he said was clever. If their evenings at the Park were concluded with cards, he cheated himself and all the rest of the party to get her a good hand. If dancing formed the amusement of the night, they were partners for half the time; and when obliged to separate for a couple of dances, were careful to stand together, and scarcely spoke a word to anybody else. Such conduct made them, of course, most exceedingly laughed at; but ridicule could not shame, and seemed hardly to provoke them.

And now...

If I was on stage most of the others. They are right. It was noted that the only way, he said. Bameulneun cards in the park, it was concluded that if a crime, and the rest of the game, you can get good hands. If you want to dance all night in service 30 hours of extra work for the game and is careful to stay together, and rarely said a word. This approach, of course, most of them, but it was fun to laugh and quick start.

Fun With Google Translate

I was bored...so I decided to play around a bit with the dreaded Google Translate *lightning and thunder* I actually got the idea from a video put out by Smosh where they took one of their old videos, ran the entire script through Google Translate into Japanese, and then back into English. Next, the rerecorded their voices with the "new" script that Google Translate gave them. I decided to do something similar, but instead of going from English to Japanese to English, I changed my entries into several different languages before returning them to English. Here are the results. First, Poe's The Raven:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As if some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--

Only this, and nothing more."

~English, French, German, Greek, Polish, Korean, Romanian, Swahili, Welsh, Italian, Irish, Spanish, and BACK to English...

Dark to midnight, and my opinion is weak and tired

Original and very important number of scientific studies, liver

He liked the group below, nearly napping, suddenly and registration

As the light falls, banging on the door of my room.

"It's nice to come with me," says I, who was at the door--

But no more than

And here is another one...This time, Shakespeare's Hamlet:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing, end them? To die; to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd.

And same languages as before...

A man, that is the question:

What, where, heart honor

Pockets, and outrageous, but the fate of arrow

O army major problem,

Finally, the difference? Looking for death;

There is more to this end the dream

Thousands of unrest and natural motion

Successor body, responsible for

Get a room.

Wow! How does it change so drastically? This is ridiculous! I mean, these two passages barely sound anything like the originals! And, they both sound slightly suggestive, don't they? I mean, with phrases like "successor body, responsible for/Get a room". But, mostly, its gibberish.

I think I might use this sometime on a complete poem, but I'm not sure.

Weekly Wodehouse #24

It was my Uncle George who discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of modern medical thought.

~P.G. Wodehouse

I Don't Read "Harry Potter"...

And I've only seen the first movie...but even so, this little comic makes me laugh.

And my big question for all of you Potter fans is this: why doesn't Voldemort have a nose?? (Serious answers are good, and silly, tongue-in-cheek answers will also be accepted...Honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell :P

Dressing Room Disaster

Okay, so I was at the department store looking for some back-to-school clothes...

And I had picked up a few outfits that I liked, and took them into the juniors department dressing room. My mom and the Brother had come with me, since he needed some back-to-school shopping taken care of as well, and were waiting for me outside of the dressing room.

I was just trying on my first outfit when I heard Mom arguing with someone outside of my room, and next thing I know, she's asking me if someone could come in for a second. As soon as I open the door, this little bulldog of a lady barges in and starts freaking out, grabs this pile of clothes in the corner of the room, and storms out again. I know this sounds mean, but she was like sixty-five, and in the juniors section! She's a bit old for that...

And talking to Mom about it later, I found out she was actually going to just come right into the room, whether I was changing or not! (the changing room doors didn't have locks). She actually started an argument with my mom because she would not let her in! Apparently, she had left some clothes and her sunglasses in the corner of the fitting room, and left to look for more stuff. Yeah, I saw her stuff (the clothes, not the glasses) but I didn't think anything of it...people leave their stuff in dressing rooms all the time; if it doesn't fit, why should they be nice and put it back?

What really shocks me is that she would be so rude, argue with my mom who simply said "just wait a minute so my daughter can put some clothes on" and just stormed into the room before I even have the door opened all the way with no explanation. I wonder what would have happened if my mom hadn't of been there....that crazy lady prolly would have freaked out on me for being in her dressing room, or I would have freaked on her when she came on me half-naked...how awful that would have been! :(

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp

Here are a few videos that just provide further proof that Tim Burton is obsessed with Johnny Depp...

Butterflies...

I've had butterflies in my stomach all evening, and unlike every other time, I have NO idea why they are there...and it bothers me. Do you ever feel that way? Like you're excited, nervous, scared, or exhilerated, but you have no idea why?

And yes, I know that last sentance was a fragment, but I can't be a Grammar Nazi all the time!

Weekly Wodehouse #23

As for Gussie Finknottle, many an experienced undertaker would have been deceived by his appearance and started embalming on sight

~P.G. Wodehouse

Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical

I'm sure most of you remember my thrilled reviews of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from back in June when I finished reading the book for the first time. Right after I had finished it, I went to the library and requested the musical Jekyll and Hyde both on CD and on DVD. The CD came in very quickly, and I listened to it several times before returning it. The movie, however, just came in about a week ago! I wasn't sure if I was really interested in watching it, especially since my little "Hyde high" had worn off, but I thought it might be interesting, so I put the DVD into my computer and started watching it yesterday, and finished it today. (It's a very long movie...over two hours!)

I loved it! I was totally mesmerized by the music, the storyline, the songs, the characters, the costumes... It was a wonderful production, and so different from the classic story Robert Louis Stevenson had written. There is so much I could talk about, but I don't want to bog down this post with a long and detailed description of what happens...the experience is much more rewarding if you were to check it out yourselves ;)

But, I will say this: the cast was amazing! Just a quick bit of clarification, though...I am not a Hassehoff fan. When I discovered he would be playing the doctor and Mr. Hyde, I will admit that I was hesitant to watch. I've seen all the crap he's been up to on the news, and I really wasn't interested in seeing the drunkard/druggie Hasselhoff on stage. I was sooo wrong! Hasselhoff's performance was AMAZING! Jekyll was pitiable and depressing, the emotion so raw at times that you just wanted to cry. And his Hyde could only be described as demonic. He truly captured the duality that the characters were supposed to maintain. Kudos!

Coleen Sexton, Andrea Rivette, George Merritt, and Barrie Ingham were all amazing as their respective roles of Lucy Harris, Emma Carew, Mr. Utterson, and Sir Danvers Carew. The four of them provided a wonderful supporting cast, and each one captured their characters and brought new light and life to them.

As for complaints, I have very few. I was disheartened that some of the songs I enjoyed had been removed from this production (although, probably in the interest of time), and I was a little confused by some of the remaining songs' rewordings. Also, I was a bit surprised that the leading lady Emma Carew had her name changed. In most productions, her name is actually "Lisa," not "Emma". Finally, I thought that Hasselhoff, while putting on an amazing performance, tended to get a tiny bit over dramatic. Especially at transformation scenes.

Airplane

Here's another movie review with a big "thank you" to OldFool for suggesting it! Airplane is a hilarious movie that spoofs all other airport movies. When ex-military pilot Ted Striker is dumped by his long-time girlfriend, stewardess Elaine Dickenson, he follows her onto the plane so that he can work out their relationship issues. By a freak chance of fate, the pilots fall sick from food poisoning, and Ted is the only one onboard who can fly the plane to safety. Unfortunately, he hasn't flow since a certain incident that occured during the war, and doesn't have the confidence to fly again.

Full of drama, suspense, romance, and of course, lots of laughs, this is a hilarious movie that I highly recommend. Starring Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, and Leslie Neilson. Thanks again to OldFool!

More Gothic Shoes

Just a few more pairs of Gothic shoes that I found online. Not really sure if I would actually wear either pair...

Maybe these.

But NOT these!

5 Things You Might Not Know About Me

I've noticed that lately, this blog has been nothing but reviews of movies and musicals, and I thought I would try breaking that up by adding something about myself...or rather a few thing about myself.

1. My favorite book is Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. I've loved this book since I read it for the first time in my sophomore or junior year of high school. It's just an amazing short novel of life in a small California town in the 1930s. In fact, I love it so much that I talked about it in my college entrance exam essay! For all of you who haven't read it, you have to pick it up!

2. I love dark chocolate way more than milk chocolate. Milk chocolate is good (and I really do love all chocolate), but there's something inherently wonderful about the sharp, slightly bitter taste of dark chocolate. AND...the darker the better :) (Also, dark chocolate covered espresso beans are really good, too!)

3. I'm fascinated by Crypto-zoology but not fringe science. I don't believe in aliens or fairies, but I do believe in Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster. (I'm a bit of the fence about the Chupacabra, leaning toward it being fringe science or a hoax).

4. I knit, sew, paint, and draw but I haven't done much of that recently. Mostly, I've been reading and writing. When I was little, I used to draw comic books, but they were soooo bad! :P And in high school, I took every just about every art class available apart from clay and metal.

5. I have a tendency to get lost in the library, both accidentally and on purpose. Sometimes, I just get distracted and spend hours wandering around the shelves, other times, I take a wrong turn, and have absolutely no idea where I am :P

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Last night, the Brother and I finished watching a wonderful movie recommended by OldFool in response to my Guilty Pleasure post. It was an amazing film about tomatoes that are literally attacking, killing, and eating the people of America. This horror is faced head-on by government operative Mason Dixon and his team of special agents. Despite this terrifying premise (I know you are all hiding under the bed right now), this is actually a very funny movie and a cult classic. Absolutely a must-see! Thanks again to OldFool for recommending this awesome movie to us!

Weekly Wodehouse #22

It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't.

~P.G. Wodehouse