Nanowrimo

It's that time of year! For those of you who don't know, November is National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as Nanowrimo! During November, those participating in Nanowrimo attempt to write a 50,000 word novel by the end of the month. This is roughly 1,667 words a day and no easy task.

I've known about Nanowrimo for a few years now, but this will be my first year actually taking part. I've always put it off in the past, saying that I don't need the time pressure or I'm too busy or I don't have any inspiration to write or any other bullshit excuse you can think of. I've decided firmly and absolutely to take part this year. I have so many ideas floating in my head for what I want to write, but I never actually get around to writing them. Nanowrimo will force me, if nothing else, to get words down on the paper. I'll worry about whether or not any of the shit my fingers typed makes sense in December.

There's tons of information about Nanowrimo out there, but where I first heard of it was youtube, so I'm going to link you to a few videos that I found helpful/informative/inspiring/entertaining. I hope they'll inspire you to participate this year as well :)

• I've mentioned Kristina Horner before, talking about how much she inspires me with the sheer amount of stuff she has accomplished in her life so far. One of those things is the Nanowrimo Song, which is cute and goes through the basic stages of Nanowrimo Feels. Don't let the depressed and crazy stage scare you away, I'm sure it happens to all writers whether they're writing under such pressing time constraints or not.
• Kristina has put up pretty regular videos about Nanowrimo with advice, which can be found here and also here and most recently here
• Acclaimed author, John Green, and the puffier half of the Vlogbrothers has also done a video about Nanowrimo which you can find here
• Then there is another one of my youtube celebrity crushes, the illustrious lioness hayleyghoover who has her own video about the 5 Reasons to do Nanowrimo

You should go check all of those out, maybe they'll help you the way they've helped me--golly I hope so. People don't say golly enough, you know?

As I said before, this will be my first time doing Nanowrimo. I don't have high hopes (cause if you set your expectations low you always end up with either a pleasant surprise or an expected disappointment, neither of which is as soul-crushing as if you had actually aimed for the stars...wait a second, this was supposed to sound like a good idea...) but I am hoping to at least get a good chunk of my hopeful novel out of the way this November. So far I've got exactly 3500 words. I'm chuggin' along like a turtle, slow and steady baby--like your mom in bed last night.

If you'd like to participate in Nanowrimo, click the link I posted at the top and get started because it's November 2nd and you're already RUNNING OUT OF TIME!

happy writing

The Reading List of My Life

Let's ignore the fact that I haven't posted in months, shall we? I'm in Italy.

I watched this video by Zefrank on Youtube not two seconds ago. He basically gives a rundown of all the books that meant something to him in his life. Just the ones that stood out. I felt an immediate calling to make some kind of written reading list of my own, partly so that I can remember all the good books I've read in my life, but mostly because I don't understand the message of most of Zefrank's videos and I was happy I seemed to get this one.

I've always assumed that I love to read now because my mother read so much to me when I was a child. I have stacks of picture books at home, each with a loving message from my mother written on the inside cover in her first-grade-teacher print. My favorites were Dr. Seuss and one book about a girl who's dolls come to life in her closet, the name of which I can't remember for the life of me. There was a little blonde doll in a pink and white dress that was to me the prettiest.

At some point I reached the age where I could read on my own. I don't remember when this happened although I assume it was around first grade. I've been able to read for as far back as my memory goes. I read the entire Magic Treehouse series crouched in the back of my mother's classroom while she graded tests and rearranged desks. I read Junie B. Jones, Little House on the Prairie, Amelia Bedelia, and the American Girl Doll books and the Boxcar Children--Oh the Boxcar Children! For the longest time I was convinced that the greatest joy in life would be to live alone in an abandoned boxcar with my siblings. I conveniently forgot the fact that my brothers and I could never get along.

Then I grew up a little bit and evolved into longer chapter books. I tackled the Chronicles of Narnia much to young to appreciate The Magician's Nephew (which is much better now that I've read it again, though still not my favorite). The rest of elementary school is a bit of a blur for me. I spent a lot of time in the library--so much so that she often gave me stuffed animals as presents. But for all the time I spent reading I remember very few of my elementary school books. One of my all time favorites was My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George followed closely by Harriet The Spy, both of which inspired me to do things my parents disapproved of. Namely running away to live in a hollowed tree and spying on my neighbors. Then there was Bridge to Terebithia and The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, which I still reread every year. I remember Fever by Laurie Halse Anderson, and that is mainly because I never returned it.  I stole it from the librarian who was so kind to me.

In fifth grade came THE BOOK for me. The book to end all books. It was The Land by Mildred D. Taylor. It touched me in a way I couldn't describe, making me cry with every reread. It got to the point where I had been rereading The Land over and over again for months. I forced myself to put it down and pick up the companion piece, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, but I found it lacking. To this day I have not read The Land again, because I know I'd never be able to put it down.

Middle school came with so many books. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Inkheart, Eragon, Disappearance by Jude Watson, the Stravaganza series by Mary Hoffman. A Great and Terrible Beauty and sequels by Libba Bray. One of my favorites was the Amulet of Samarkand and it's sequels by Jonathan Stroud; the smart-mouthed demon Bartimeous tickled my funny bone almost to extinction. Then in eighth grade came the whopper: Harry Potter. After that there was an ever-present stack of Harry Potter books next to my seat at the dining room table so that I could read whenever I was hungry (except for dinner because that was family time). That is why there are spaghetti sauce stains all over my copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

In high school I read a lot, and it probably won't surprise you to know I didn't have many friends. I read everything I could by James Fenimore Cooper, Jane Austen, Pat Conroy, and Bill Bryson. I adored Nathaniel Philbricks' In the Heart of the Sea, which was the first nonfiction book that every touched my soul followed shortly after by Cicero by Anthony Everett. My heart still lies with fiction but these two books were miracles. I read simple books like The Nanny Diaries and absurdly presumptuous books like Atlas Shrugged. There were the books I read for school that I enjoyed like On Writing by Stephen King, Life of Pi, Candide, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Frankenstein. Then there were those I hated like Shakespeare's Julius Caesar which I read four times and Mrs. Dalloway, the atrocious Wuthering Heights and The House on Mango Street.

For pleasure I read Dan Brown, Philippa Gregory, Jodi Picoult and other authors that I adored at the time that I cringe at now. Although I still enjoy Dan Brown. I read On, Off by Colleen McCullough and for some reason I trudged through Moby Dick. Senior year I developed and obsession with Agatha Christie--Poirot, not Ms. Marple--and bought every single one of her mysteries I could get my hands on. Then came college.

I didn't have as much time to read in college. I would like to say it's because I got a social life, but really it's because I got a laptop and discovered the joys of Netflix. Still I've read some. In class I've read Wordsworth and Frost and Coleridge but they might as well be in French because poetry means diddly squat to me. The stand outs that I've read on my own are Laura Lippman's Hardly Knew Her which gave me permission to write creepy short stores if that's what I wanted to do. Hannah Tinti's The Good Thief motivated me to read again. A motivation I lost shortly after when I tried to read Dear American Airlines. But then I discovered Neil Gaiman and fell in love all over again. I read Neverwhere first and was entranced. Then came The Graveyard Book and American Gods and then Anansi Boys. These were followed by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series and the ache when I found out there were supposed to be ten books before the author died. I've read Beloved by Toni Morrison and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. I've poured over Dante's Vita Nuova with disdain and his Divine Comedy with awe.

And right now? What am I reading? I just finished Shadowland by Peter Straub which had great reviews on Goodreads but wound up not impressing me nearly as much as Dreamcatcher by Stephen King did which I read right before. My first piece of fiction by King and it talked about aliens coming out of people's asses. Go figure. And now I am about to start Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas.

What are you reading? What have you read? What do you hope to read?

Link Recs and LoK

I thought today I'd just share a few funny/enjoyable things I've found on the internet that you might like too. Spread the love.

1) How Not To Clean A Window. This is basically a bunch of pictures showing people defying death in order to get their windows cleaned. It's hilarious and a little scary, which is the best kind of hilarity. The sad part is that I looked at some of the photos and thought, "Hey, that's not so bad! I would do that!" I tell ya, I'm a Darwin Award waiting to happen.

2) I believe John Green from the Vlogbrothers on Youtube mentioned this in a video of his, but I think it's worth sharing that there is an island called Luzon which is an island, in a lake, on an island, in a lake, on an island. This is where I'm escaping to in the event of the zombie apocalypse if you want to join me. Space is limited.

3) Do you like famous paintings? Do you like cats? Then you'll love Famous Paintings Improved By Cats! Seriously, go check this out. Now. I probably shouldn't have laughed as hard as I did at it, but I can't regret it. It was the best 5 hours of my life.

4) This is a youtube video that I find lovely. It's kind of a fan-made music video to the song Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons with Ron Weasley. It is really well done and I feel like the song fits Ron very well. If you're at all a fan of Harry Potter or Youtube, it's worth a look.

5) One of the places to visit on my bucket list is the Gum Wall in Seattle, WA. Follow the link to the Wikipedia page about it and be amazed. The wall fascinates me in a way that partly makes me want to vomit but mostly makes my insides go mushy at the creativity of our species. As well as the sense of community it takes for everybody to band together in sticking their gum on a random wall and for nobody to come out and scrape it off.

6) Babies Tasting Lemons For The First Time. Am I a bad person for laughing at this? Then you're probably a bad person too. Go check it out.

7) OH MY GOD this just about made my life when I saw it. Disney Face Swap. Basically, some genius Disney fan swapped the characters faces. Hilarity ensued. Another thing that probably shouldn't' have entertained me as much as it did.

8) Youtubers Lucke Conrad, Alex Goot (Goot, really?), and Tiffany Alvord did a cover to Chris Brown's song Next To You. I'll admit to never having heard the original (I'm a fan of Chris Brown's face, not his music) but the cover is amazing. I bought it on itunes and it's a member of my Writing Papers playlist, which basically consists of about 10 songs that I listen to on repeat while I write papers. If you didn't get that from the title.

9) Here are some beautiful Disney wallpapers by alicexz that take my breath away. The one of Rapunzel with the gold and the purple is the background on my computer. It used to be a picture of my friends and I, but they got booted out for Da-Punzz.

10) Last but not least, 50 Unexplainable Black And White Photos. It's what it sounds like, but trust me, it's good.

In unrelated but very exciting news, an article came out announcing that Legend of Korra has been picked up for more episodes! YES!!!!!! From what I understand, Season 1 will be book one (which we just saw) and book two (which will come out in 2013). That is all they were originally planning for. Now they have added a Season 2 which will contain books three and four for an extra 26 episodes!

I'm really excited to see what the creators do with all this extra time. I've heard around that they pretty much already have book two finalized as far as plot and everything goes, which disappoints me a little because I enjoyed Avatar so much more because it was more spread out and...thorough, I guess. I wish they had known about the extra season earlier so that they could have incorporated that extra time into their plot lines.

But hey, I'm talking like this and the freaking thing isn't even close to being out yet. For all I know, they guessed that Nickelodeon would pick it up for another season and planned ahead. Who knows.

I'm just really curious to see what happens next. Korra's got her bending back, including air, Republic City is saved, she can give other people's bending back, she and Mako are in love, the baby is all right...what's next?!?!

I'm not so good at the patience.

Top 10 Disney Heroines

I've been promising this for a while now, but here it is the Top Ten Disney Heroines List! Just as a warning, I mentioned earlier that I recently watched Brave, which has a new heroine (Merida). After giving it a lot of thought, I decided not to include Merida in my list because she is a Disney/PIXAR character instead of strictly Disney. But if you were curious, she probably would have come in at number 5. I've done two top 10 lists before, so feel free to check those out. But for now, I present to you, my biased list of the Top 10 Disney Heroines!


10) Cinderella

"So this is love."

Movie: Cinderella
Age: 17
Challenges: Cinderella's challenge is mostly her step-mother, who is cruel to her and tries to prevent her from finding true love. Cinderella doesn't let that stop her though!
Personality: What really stands out about Cinderella is how patient and kind she is. Other than that her personality kind of falls to the wayside.
Beauty: Cinderella is classically beautiful with sweet, roman features. She's got the blonde hair and the blue eyes, nothing too exciting.
Role Model: Cinderella is a role model in that she is optimistic and believes in her dreams--even if her dreams are superficial. She has the patience of a saint with her step-family and is kind to everyone she meets. She even forgives her step-family! So I would say that Cinderella is a fine role model, even if she does want to marry the guy who can't remember what her face looks like so he is going to marry whatever girl can fit her foot into a glass slipper.
Superlatives: Most Classically Beautiful, Kindest


9) Ariel

"Flounder, don't be such a guppy"

Movie: The Little Mermaid
Age: 16
Challenges: Ariel's challenges are a bit silly compared to other heroines. She is in love with a human, but can't be with him because she is a mermaid and her father doesn't approve. After she fixes that problem by running away, her new problem is that she has to make Eric fall in love with her--without her voice! She's not exactly curing cancer in this movie.
Personality: Ariel is stubborn and rebellious, disobeying her father and running away from home. She doesn't take well to authority. She is also curious and adventurous, always up to explore.
Beauty: Most of my male friends tell me that Ariel is the hottest Disney Heroine. I can see why--she's practically naked for a majority of the movie and she's got all that perfect hair going on. Ariel is beautiful, there's no denying it, although I wish she would cover up a bit more. The immodesty!
Role Model: NO! I hate to say it, but Ariel is not a good role model. Sure she pursues her dreams, but her dream is a completely selfish one that takes her away from her friends and family and makes them worry. Does she care? Nope. Ariel's entire being is focused on getting her man. Is that a healthy message to send? Nope. She literally gives up her voice so that she can be with a guy. Am I the only one that seems significant to? On top of all that, Ariel is saved--she does no saving. Prince Eric rescues her at the end of the movie and it is her dad who finally lets her become a real human. There's no female empowerment in Ariel.
Superlatives: Best Singing Voice

8) Jasmine

"Then maybe I don't want to be a princess anymore!"

Movie: Aladdin

Age: 15

Challenges: Jasmine's challenges are that she is never allowed to leave the palace and desperately wants to explore the world, and that she is being forced to marry a man she doesn't love. Oh--and she gets trapped in an hourglass. I would say that's a challenge too.

Personality: She is headstrong and willful with a fierce independent streak. When she isn't happy with what her future holds, Jasmine takes her fate into her own hands and escapes the palace. But she is also self-sacrificing, as she gives up her new freedom to save Aladdin from the guards. 

Beauty: Jasmine is very beautiful, her most notable feature being that teeny-tiny waistline!

Role Model: When Rapunzel runs away from home, she does so with every intention of returning and has a specific goal in mind--to see the lights. Jasmine, however, plans to run away forever after having a big fight with her father. This doesn't make her the best Disney Heroine Role Model, but even the worst Disney Role Model is better than a Kardashian any day!

Superlatives: Better Role Model Than A Kardashian

7) Jane

"I was saved! I was saved by a flying wild man in a loincloth."

Movie: Tarzan

Age: 21-24 ish

Challenges: The main challenge Jane faces throughout the film is whether or not she can give up her life back in England to stay in the jungle with Tarzan. A classic example of your head battling your heart. In the end her heart wins out, which isn't exactly practical, but she looks happy.

Personality: Jane is an academic. She comes to the jungle to learn about the gorillas living there with her scientist father. But she is also sensitive and artistic, as can be seen by her sketch book. She's got a strong desire to learn and to help others, especially Tarzan in this case.

Beauty: There is nothing wrong with Jane's looks, but she isn't as stunning (or is it striking?) as some of the other Disney heroines. This is mainly due to the fact that she spends the movie in that god-awful yellow dress. Seriously, I know it's probably historically accurate and stuff, but that thing is hideous. There's a reason you don't see any Jane's on halloween.

Role Model: Jane is a role model because she is an intelligent young woman who chooses love over a life of comfort.

Superlatives: Most Intelligent

6) Pocahontas

"Clouds...Strange Clouds."

Movie: Pocahontas
Age: 20ish
Challenges: Pocahontas probably faces the most intense challenges of all the Disney Heroines. She not only has to face the well-known un-wanted marriage plot device, as well as the dead mother, and the strong desire to be free, but she has to battle racism as well. In the end, she has to go against her own father and tribe to do what is right--and she doesn't get the guy! Talk about challenges.
Personality: Pocahontas is strong, but not serious. In fact, she doesn't want to marry Kocoum because he is too serious. She is playful and adventurous, but noble and brave as well. She is a little too free-spirited though, sometimes ignoring her friends and family's feelings to pursue her own agenda without talking with them first.
Beauty: Pocahontas is smokin'. She wears a very scandalous dress and has all that long, flowing black hair that gets tangled up in her face all the time. Damn uncomfortable if you ask me. Personally, I prefer more girly heroines, but there is no denying that she is pretty in an earthy sort of way.
Role Model: Pocahontas is an excellent role model because she stands up for what is right at the risk of her own life. AND she doesn't rely on her man, actually ending the movie without a husband. Girl be flyin' solo.
Superlatives: Overcomes Great Challenges

5) Esmeralda

"Justice!"

Movie: The Hunchback of Notre Dawn

Age: 22ish

Challenges: Esmeralda's challenges involve the discrimination against her people, similar to Pocahontas I suppose but less intense. 

Personality: Esmeralda is fiery and independent. She's a girl who can take care of herself (girl can hold her own against Phoebus) and knows it. She's also very aware of her...sexuality, which is unusual for a Disney heroine who are mostly seen as innocent. But I get the feeling that Esmeralda's been around the block a few times, if you know what I mean. She is strong-willed and unafraid to stand up for what she believes in and to help Quasimodo when he is being ridiculed.

Beauty: Bitch be sexy and she knows it.

Role Model: To be honest, I never paid much attention to Esmeralda. It always kind of irked me, even as a child, that she ended up with the handsome blonde instead of giving Quasimodo his happy ending. But as I was making this list I started to think more and more about her and found out that she's actually pretty awesome. She's independent and strong, she can fight, she knows magic allusions and shit, she stands up for what she believes in, and she doesn't judge Quasimodo based on his looks. She is, however, one step up from a stripper in the beginning, so that's points off the role model score.

Superlatives: Most Under-appreciated, Craftiest

4) Tiana

"There is no way I am kissing a frog and 

eating a bug in the same day."

Movie: The Princess and the Frog
Age: 19
Challenges: Tiana absolutely faces challenges! She is looked down upon for wanting to open a restaurant as a woman, and then is turned into a frog. However, Tiana doesn't let the discrimination or what the townspeople have to say discourage her, instead working even harder to achieve her goals. She has two jobs for pete's sake!
Personality: Tiana is hard working and determined with the perfect amount of sass. However, she also is distant from others, making it hard for her to connect with people emotionally, and can be seen as a bit callous. But she learns by the end of the movie that friends and fun are just as important as hard work.
Beauty: Tiana is very beautiful. She has the disadvantage of spending the majority of the movie as a frog and having only a few precious seconds in her beautiful dresses, but even as a frog her eyes sparkle!
Role Model: I would say that Tiana is an excellent role model. She teaches girls all about hard work--but also that it's okay to have fun.
Superlatives: Most Hard-Working


3) Rapunzel

"Have some humanity! Haven't you ever had a dream?"

Movie: Tangled
Age: 18
Challenges: Rapunzel's challenge is similar to Jasmine's in that that she has never been allowed to leave her tower. Her story is about growing up and breaking free, about discovering who you are.
Personality: Rapunzel is a bit naive, but it works for her. She's a happy-go-lucky young woman who's not afraid to follow her dreams. Rapunzel is very talented. She cooks, sews, plays chess, makes candles, dances, paints, loves to read and exercise, plays guitar, and swings around on her hair like an acrobat. Rapunzel is open, honest, a bit too trusting, and hilarious. If I had to be a princess, I'd pick her.
Beauty: Rapunzel is beautiful, in a I've-Still-Got-A-Little-Of-My-Baby-Fat kind of way. Her dramatic haircut at the end matches her personality very well, I think, and is still beautiful if not traditionally beautiful.
Role Model: I would say that Rapunzel is a decent role model, although I'm sure girls around the world are now considering running away from home because they're convinced they've been kidnapped from their royal parents. Rapunzel is the opposite of lazy, and the way she goes after her dreams is a good message.
Superlatives: Most Talented, Best Hair


2) Belle

"Gaston, you are positively primeval."

Movie: Beauty and the Beast
Age: 17
Challenges: Belle faces several challenges, such as the way the town thinks she strange and odd because she loves to read and doesn't swoon over Gaston. She also has to live with a "monstrous beast"which is...challenging. These may not seem like the most exciting challenges a Disney heroine can face, but I think that is mostly because of how well Belle handles them. She doesn't let the town's gossip get her down, holds her own against Gaston, and gets to know and love the Beast.
Personality: Belle is intelligent and kind. She doesn't focus on outward appearances, instead caring more about--get this--inner beauty. She is brave and has a good sense of what is the right thing to do, as can be seen in the wolf-fight scene where, instead of escaping after Beast rescues her, Belle helps him back to the castle and tends to his injuries. Her bravery and love can also be seen when she stays in the Beast's castle in her father's place.
Beauty: Belle means beauty--and she lives up to her name. Belle is a beautiful young lady. Her brown hair and brown eyes may not be as unusually beautiful as Rapunzel's golden locks or Ariel's wild red hair, but nobody could call her ugly.
Role Model: I would say that Belle is an excellent role model! She doesn't judge based on appearances, and she likes to read!
Superlatives: Best Role Model


1) Mulan

"Just because I look like a man doesn't mean

I have to smell like one."

Movie: Mulan
Challenges: Mulan definitely faces adversity--and overcomes it! She is a woman in a time and country where women are under-valued. She has to train for war, facing physical adversity. And she's got the huns riding her ass! But Mulan manages to face her challenges with bravery and heart, earning her #1 spot.
Age: 16
Personality: IMO, Mulan is one of the most under-appreciated Disney heroines. She kicks ass, and hardly gets any recognition for it. Mulan's heart courage motivate her to risk her life in order to protect her father by going to war in his place. Going to war shows courage in and of itself, but Mulan is also brave on the battlefield. Instead of shying away from hard work and staying in the background, Mulan rushes to the front of the fight. Mulan also displays quick thinking in the avalanche scene in which she is able to knock out the entire hun army with one rocket. She isn't without flaws, however. For instance, Mulan's rebellion, while showing advanced thought for her time period, is also foolhardy. She is lazy at the beginning of the film, not taking the time to do her chores properly or to study for the matchmaking. She even cheats! But I think her hard work in training more than makes up for her initial laziness.
Beauty: While Mulan doesn't have the advantage of wearing a beautiful dress or having long, flowing hair throughout the film like some heroines do, her beauty still shines through--both with and without her make-up!
Role Model: Mulan shows brilliant strength of character. While she loves Shang, she doesn't rely on him utterly--she is her own person. In fact, she saves him. Imagine that!
Superlatives: Most Kick-Ass, Most Changed at the End of the Film, Most Independent


Well, there you have it! I hope you enjoyed my list and please tell me what you're top ten Disney Heroines are! Here's some Disney-Princess related goodness to leave you with:

• An artist named Amy Mebberson has some adorable artwork called the Pocket Princesses. 
• And here is a song by the lovely youtuber Carrie from itswaypastmybedtime titled Why Can't I Be A Disney Princess? It speaks to my heart in a way that a song about Disney princesses probably shouldn't.

The Graveyard Book

Let me start off by saying that Neil Gaiman is awesome! He does pretty much everything, he's written novels for children and for adults, graphic novels, and I want to say an episode of Dr. Who. He has such a unique mind and is able to create all these surreal worlds and people while still making them absolutely believable. So far I have only read The Graveyard Book and Neverwhere, but they were both beautifully dark books and I would completely recommend them. 

The Graveyard Book is the story of Nobody 'Bod' Owens, a real-life boy who grows up in an old graveyard, raised by ghosts. A mysterious man, Jack, murdered Bod's family when he was just a-year-and-a-half old. Luckily, the friendly ghosts from the graveyard up the hill protect Bod and take him in as one of their own. Growing up in a graveyard is, as you can imagine, quite different then growing up in the real world. Bod meets deceased people from times long ago, learns the ghostly arts of Fading and Dreamwalking from his tutor, has an encounter with the unknowable Sleer, and is almost killed by ghouls. The Graveyard Book follows Bod on all these adventures, watching him grow up and (as cliche as it sounds) find himself.

A bit of a disclaimer, the book is dark. It starts out--literally--with a knife, with murder. As adult readers, we often expect children's books to be happy and light, but that is underestimating a child's ability to understand the darker aspects of life. Neil Gaiman doesn't baby the children, I guess you could say, which I really like. Madeleine L'Engle spoke of children's great ability to grasp concepts that we don't give them enough credit for when she said, "You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children." The Graveyard Book is a book that is written well, and written for children.

**SPOILERS**

Sorry for the spoilers, but I don't think there's a way to talk about this book effectively without giving something away. I found this book incredibly sad--in a good way, definitely, but sad all the same. Bod, like his guardian, Silas, is an in-between person. He is neither fully living or fully dead. It is a coming of age story (bildungsroman) so by definition the protagonist is in-between, but the isolation of being in between the living and the dead is much different then being between childhood and adulthood. Even Bod's name, Nobody Owens. Nobody owns him, nobody can claim him as their own, he has no kin. And then at the end of the book, as Bod is becoming more and more invested in the corporeal world he is no longer able to see his ghostly friends and family. It is incredibly poignantly sad that he is being thrust out into the world with no connections and friends, leaving behind everything and everyone he knows. But there is hope. There is the hope of real life and all the experiences Bod is aching for and there is also the hope that when his time comes, Death will return Bod to his home in the graveyard. It's just...it's so good.

Just on a side note, I found Neil Gaiman's descriptions of the inverted cemetery wall in the ghouls world and the way the ghouls moved to be amazing.

**END SPOILERS**

A book club I'm in here at Clemson just did The Graveyard Book, and there is honestly just so much to talk about that I don't quite know where to stop. I feel like everything could be its own post, but I'm not really into doing a series so I think we'll just leave it as it is. But if you want, you could think about how the protagonists of children's books are so often orphans, or what really makes a person 'Alive', or why growing up stopped Bod from being able to see the ghosts or some other question that you think might be relevant. I don't know, just go with it.

All in all, I wholeheartedly recommend The Graveyard Book and Neil Gaiman as a whole. I need to get my hands on some more Gaiman! If you want to find him, go here. He writes a lovely little blog that I follow as well.

I am listening to Washed by the Water by Needtobreathe

Old People Are The Cutest

Recently, I have become obsessed with the utter balls of cuteness that are old people. It may seem a little weird to some of you. And it's true: old people are a little gross. They have lost most of their teeth and hair, their clothes smell like mothballs, they can't hear a thing you say, sometimes they can't talk much themselves, sometimes they're crazy, and they move pretty slowly. But...who cares? My roommate recently introduced me to the glory of old people, and I've procrastinated 4 days away googling them. Seriously, they are cuuuteee!! Who could resist or deny this face?

It's impossible. So, since I'm a bit pressed for time today, I decided to share some of the cutest old people with you. Enjoy!

This grandpa is so adorable! I want to adopt him and take him away form his current granddaughter who can't seem to stop poking his dangling ears. She obviously doesn't appreciate him as much as I would! I just love the fact that the grandpa is such a good sport for his granddaughters, So Cute!

And then there's this sweet little grandma! She's too cute! A fair warning though, inhaling helium can be dangerous, so watch out, peeps!

There are LOTS of cute old people on Betty White's Off Their Rockers. It's a show about old people pranking the younger generation. It's amazing what you can get away with when you're old! I will admit that I've only watched one episode and didn't bother continuing as it couldn't hold my interest too much, but the old people were so gosh-darned cute!

Now this couple is soooo adorable! I can only hope that someday I meet a man who plays piano and we can rock out little duets in our old age that will become Youtube Famous.

It just hurts, doesn't it? The cuteness, I mean. I think they old man shopping for a valentines day card is my favorite :)

And who could forget the King and Queen of Adorable Old People?

As the saying goes, Disney and Pixar told a better love story in 8 minutes without dialogue than Stephanie Meyer did in 500,000 words.

In other news, here's a quick, bulleted update on my life:

• Dance Marathon is next Friday....Nervous and Excited at the same time!
• Roomies and I meet a possible subleaser for next year tomorrow!
• I went home this weekend and it was lovely.
• My Italian is so awful I'm getting worried about studying in Italy next year.
• Rice Crispies were buy-one-get-one-free at the grocery store today! Oh, the little joys.

J.K. Rowling Makes Me Nervous

Okay, so J.K. Rowling is Made of Awesome. There is no denying it. Harry Potter is beautiful and Real For Me and one of the things that has truly touched and shaped my life in so many ways. That being said, I'm nervous, because she's...writing! Yes, writing! I am so incredibly excited but also really, really nervous. I'm nervous simply because it's Not Harry Potter. Whatever she's writing, it's completely different--it's for adults, for one thing. And she's already said that if she were to write again it wouldn't be anything involving witches and wizards or anything because she'd be worried about drawing too much from the Harry Potter Universe. It's going to be completely different.

This makes me nervous for two reasons. First of all, I am so in love with the Harry Potter series, the way she wrote it, her plot, her characters, the world--everything. BUT...but what if it's not so much her that I love as Harry Potter? What if she can't write anything besides HP to save her life and everything else is crap? That would be so depressing. I mean, the book is guaranteed to be a bestseller so it'll be a success for her no matter what, but I would hate to stop loving her writing like I do now.

My second concern is that even if the next book is fantastic, what if it just isn't good enough? A tweet from Nathalie Summers in this article sums it up best when she says, "J.K. Rowling announcing a new book is almost like God announcing a follow-up to the Bible." And it's true. How can anything compare, no matter how good? I guess overall I'm just worried that I'll be disappointed, which is completely irrational and a little bit selfish of me because I should be optimistically supporting her no matter what, but that's how I feel.

Either way, whatever book J.K. Rowling comes out with, I will buy it and probably read it in one night. I am extremely interested in seeing her write something completely different from Harry Potter and am crossing my fingers for the best.

On a side note, if Pottermore doesn't open up soon I'm going to drown in a pool of my own tears and sweat.

Keeping with the Harry Potter vein, there is some great artwork y'all should go check out. The artist, Viria, has some amazing artwork for Harry Potter but also for a couple different fandoms as well. I think I saw some for Dr. Who and one for Bones. I love her style and she captured the Ginny in my head perfectly. She also draws a lot of the Marauders time period, which I love, because we just need to see more of the marauders!

This Means War

No Spoilers! I saw This Means War this weekend. It was...all right. The premise is that two spy friends both fall in like with the same girl and thus compete to woo her. They use every resource they have at the agency to spy on the other and sabotage dates. There is also the peripheral story of a bad guy (who knows what he did? Not me) that the two spies are supposed to be dealing with. They kind of put him on the back burner though, after all, the girl is much more important than our nation's safety. 

The three main characters were Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, and Tom Hardy. I love Reese and Chris, so seeing them was lovely, as Chris rocks my socks off. This is the first film I've seen with Tom Hardy, and he wasn't my favorite character, but it was a romantic comedy so I wasn't really looking for stellar acting anyway. 

This is a good movie for high schoolers. It's not very sophisticated, has some low level humor (a predictable paintball-to-crotch shot, for example), but has a make-out scene that'll still make them feel like they're seeing a grown up movie.

The comedy part of the 'romantic comedy' wasn't present. I hardly laughed out loud at all, instead finding myself more smiling and bouncing. And when I did laugh it wasn't a compliment to the movie. There is a scene towards the end that endangers Chelsea Handler's life that just cracked me up. I just saw it last night, but the details are already starting to get fuzzy--there was nothing gripping about the film. I really didn't care who Reese ended up with, or whether the bad guy got caught, or whether the guys were still friends. 

I feel like I would have enjoyed this movie more if at least one of its aspects was done better. The plot was just all over the place so that no part was fully developed. Like the spy bit, for instance. I was at least looking forward to a bit of action in the beginning, but I found it badly edited, not comedic, and definitely not thrilling. Or they could have made me care about the romance more, but they didn't.

Overall, I wasn't expecting much going in, but I was expecting better than I got. This Means War does not have my recommendation. If someone wants to go see it, you should sneak out and see The Chronicle instead.

These pictures of Reese With Her Spoon are ten times more hilarious than This Means War. You're welcome.

In other news, I get to go home next weekend! Free laundry, here I come!!

In preparation for Lent, my friends and I are baking a disgusting amount of sweets to eat before Wednesday. I have to eat a whole Family Size bag of York Peppermint Patties by myself--wish me luck!

By the way, just in case you are in any way interested in my love life, K has texted me 5 times since Friday. He's determined.

I am listening to Foundations by Kate Nash. There is an awesome dance to the song, choreographed by Kate Jablonski, that you should go watch. It is amazing, unique, and refreshing. I've been watching and rewatching all her videos for weeks because I can't get enough of her choreography. So good!