Hey, Look!

I'm back and stuff! It was a long and brutal battle with the Graduate School Beast, but eventually I emerged VICTORIOUS!!!

HUZZAH! And whatnot!

They say that the first year is always the worst, or something, so presumably I come to you today having tamed the Beast, perhaps. We'll see, I suppose.

ANYWAY, I've been trying to think of something wonderfully awesome to give you this week in exchange for being all faithful enough to realize my spontaneous hiatus is over. The only problem with hiatuses of a spontaneous nature, however, is that anything I find on the interwebs has probably been old news for a while. BUT I won't let that stop me from sharing with you my collection of silly things that kept my sanity mostly intact during those dark exam days. And hey, statistically something here should be new to someone* 


*That's not actually true. Statistically, if you read this, you've probably seen these things. But I digress.


Who here recalls the series of Saturday Night Live skits "Celebrity Jeopardy" with as much fondness and amusement as I do? Yeah, that's right, everybody. You can't help but love Will Ferrel's straight man act as Alex Trebek, and Darrel Hammond's antics as Sean Connery. Plus any character Jimmy Fallon brought in because he's just that scary good. And I'm not gonna lie, I just love Norm MacDonald's caricature of Burt Reynolds. Well, thanks to this nifty page on splitsider.com, you too can get the full experience of reliving all 14 skits once more!

As is proper when procrastinating via internet, one link always leads to another. Which is why I can give you this:

Why yes, Steve Martin was indeed playing a banjo that was ON FIRE. My respect for him has gone up.

Then, there were the occasional political ads:

I dunno, he's got my vote....


The best part about this one is that it's made up completely of Icelandic comedians and actors. And is completely serious. And they won. Yeah. "The Best Party" is currently the party in power in this Icelandic town. More about that can be found here, if you don't believe me.

And then there was this thing. Which just goes to show you that literally anything can sound classy when said in a swanky British accent.

Then there was this song that is forever stuck in my head, but I just love it so!

*replays over and over....*

And also this, for which there really just are no words. The guy dressed up like a viking might be my favorite though.

No, I'm pretty sure he's my favorite. Him or the bright socks-wearing, avid Cleveland Browns fan, because you know that at least he's honest!

And last but certainly not least, who among us of the smart phone-less (no, it's true, we exist!) have been fairly jealous of the procrastination provided by one Angry Birds game? *raises hand.* Yeah. I know. Well, be green with envy no longer, because it's now available for free through Google Chrome! *Woo!*

Anyway, that's enough for now. Your regularly scheduled awesome should resume shortly.

This is all that I can think about right now

It's 

to the

and I'm 

and

and so 

because

Happy Easter!

The Forced Vacation Of Illness

*cough*

*hack*

*wheeze*

*croak* Hey, wassup?

Sometimes it takes a well-timed lung plague to slap you in the face and say "YO! YOU BEEN WORKIN TOO HARD! SLEEP, DANGIT!"

Because when every breath feels like you're breathing in finely ground glass and your head feels like it weighs about 50 lbs, all those homework projects you had to finish don't seem quite so important. You know what does seem important?...Just about anything else.

And so, here I am, giving you what is apparently a bi-weekly blog update (assuming bi-weekly actually means once every other week, and not twice a week...I can never keep those straight...). But don't worry, this post won't just be all about homework and the joys of being sick. Nope, this week,  I decided to take a look at what was going on with the Hunger Games movies, as I've been a bad fangirl and failed to check on it in a while andHOLY COW I'VE BEEN NEGLECTING THE HUNGER GAMES FOR TOO LONG! Stuff happened! And I missed it! So, just in case you missed it too for some reason, I am here to fill you in. You're welcome.

And in case you've forgotten (somehow) or are new to the insanity here, The Hunger Games is a trilogy of super excellent books by Suzanne Collins about a futuristic dystopian society where the ruling capitol demands that two kids from every district take part in the annual Hunger Games: Last one standing wins. The story centers on Katniss, her co-tribute Peeta, and their attempts to survive the brutal rules of the game. Lionsgate bought the rights to the movie, Suzanne Collins is on the screenplay-writing team, Gary Ross (of Seabiscuit) is directing, and Hugh Laurie is not going to play Katniss and Peeta's drunken mentor Haymitch. Alright? Everyone's caught up now. They had been holding auditions for the main roles for a while now, but sometime between when I last checked and now, they found their Katniss, Peeta, and Gale already.

Katniss Everdeen is going to be played by Jennifer Lawrence.

Yeah, she's blonde, but seriously, Hollywood magic has dealt with more. According to an interview with Director Gary Ross, he and Collins are pretty excited about her potential to play Katniss. And while a lot of other fans are focusing on the fact that she's too old (a whopping 20) to play a 16 year old, Collins' main fear was that they would cast someone too young, which I agree with. Katniss may be 16 physically, but she's much more mature than that, and with a little movie-magic, Jen could do a pretty good job. And in case you're blanking out as to where you've seen this girl before, you might recognize her from the Bill Engvall show, or as the Oscar nominated actress from the Oscar nominated movie Winter's Bone. Yeah, I can see it. She'll also be in X-Men: First Class this summer as Mystique/Raven Darkholm. My hopes for this girl go ever higher. But what would Katniss be without her boys?


Next up: Peeta Mellark, the strong, witty baker's son that gets chosen to compete alongside Katniss. He's officially being played by Josh Hutcherson.

Who you may or may not know from such films as The Kids are Alright (Laser), Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (Steve), Journey to the Center of the Earth (Sean), The Bridge to Tarabithia (Jess), oh, and a voice in the English version of Howl's Moving Castle. Yep. That's all. (That's not actually all, that's just all I felt like listing). And if you're not convinced he'll do a great job as Peeta, check out what this quote from the thehungergamesmovie.org: "I was fortunate enough to be in the room with Gary Ross when Josh came in to audition,” said Collins, in a statement. “Three lines into the read I knew he’d be fantastic. Josh totally captured Peeta’s temperament, his sense of humor and his facility for language. I’m thrilled to have him aboard.” Well. There ya have it. 


But those of us who have read and love the books know that the dynamics between Katniss and Peeta are nothing without that added complication from Gale Hawthorne, Katniss'...friend/brother/lover/friend/person. He shall be played by Liam Hemsworth.

Yes. I can already see it. A little more hair and that's Gale all over the place! What, you need more? Ok, granted, his filmography isn't very impressive. The best known movie he was in was Knowing...and, well....ya know how well that one turned out. Unless you've heard of the The Last Song. I haven't, but he was in it, so if it was good...well there you go. But just like the previous two choices, Collins seems quite thrilled with his addition to the cast. And I say that if the author's happy, I'm happy. So there. 


Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I'm gonna go take a nap. See you next week (or perhaps the following week...) for some more average nerdiness!

Welcome to Writer's Block. Population: me!

I labored so long and hard over what to write about this week that it suddenly turned into the next week, and I still wasn't sure what to write about. So instead, I'm going to provide you with a supply of amusing videos and whatnot that will kill time, and hopefully make you smile. If they don't accomplish the second thing, then you must not have a soul, and I'm not sure we can be friends...(JK! I <3 guys..most of the time...)

Anyway, this was Google's grand April Fool's prank yesterday, here for your convenience if you hadn't seen it yet:

I'm totally changing my major to "Technomathmagician"


I don't know what this show is, where I can find it, or why Hulu can't show full episodes, but I'm pretty sure it's the best thing in existence right now. Ever. For whatever reason, Hulu's code embedding abilities don't want to agree with me right now, so alas, you must click a little extra. My two currently favorite clips give the rules of house sitting, and show a very elaborate game of hide and seek, which I want to do. So badly. After-party and everything.

And then there's this music video for Coldplay's song "Life in Technicolor ii," which I don't recommend watching if you have some aversion to puppets. Otherwise, it's pretty entertaining:

I just love the puppet stage crew!

And while we're on the subject of music videos, here is one by the always amazing Florence+The Machine. Sadly, it was for the Twilight movie, but that doesn't change the awesome of the song. Video is freaking creepy, though:

Can we be best friends please, Florence?

Anyway, I think that's enough time wasting for now. Go accomplish things! (or, you know, don't, whatever your plans for the day were).

Langue et la musique!

Bienvenue! Willkommen! Fáilte! ようこそ！And otherwise, welcome! I trust everybody had a nice relaxing spring break this week. Unless of course you didn't have a break, in which case I trust that you had a week. This week is dedicated to awesome music that's not in English. Because you don't have to understand the lyrics to appreciate the song (not that anyone says that you do, but a lot of people don't seem to realize this fact). 

Case and point, who could ever forget this internet gem?

We watched it for the amusing antics of one brave (or...something) individual, but don't tell me the song wasn't fully ingrained in your brain for at least the rest of the day. We called it the Numa Numa song, but it's actually Dragostea din Tei by O-Zone (Moldovan band, Romanian lyrics), if you weren't already aware. 

Also, you already know my obsession with this particular anime theme song. I'm going to embed it here again, just because I love it that much. Don't recall if I said so before, but this is Parallel Hearts by FictionJunction (Japanese band and lyrics), from the anime "Pandora Hearts."

(we'll get back to Japan, I promise)

Then there are songs that are probably more amusing if you can roughly follow or understand the lyrics, but infinitely more so with helpful subtitles. But this song in particular is so bouncy  it'd be nice and catchy whether you could catch the story in the lyrics or not. This is Le Cafe by Oldelaf et Monsieur D (French band and lyrics):

And that, kids, is why coffee is just for grownups and should never be abused.

Moving further westward, we get to the Emerald Isle, home of all that Celtic wonderfulness (Riverdance, anybody?). Despite the domineering Englishness in Britain, some pockets still speak Gaelic (among other things, I'm sure, but I only have Gaelic songs, so deal with it). So this here is Dulaman by Celtic Woman (brought to you by the same people who gave you Riverdance, so go be grateful!). I'm pretty sure it's about a girl trying to decide between suitors, or something along those lines.

Bear in mind that this particular song didn't incorporate Celtic Woman's super-excellent violinist, who is arguably my favorite part of the group. But alas, as classical music isn't technically a language, that will be another post for another day, I suppose. 

Jumping back to Japan for a Tokyo minute, I wanted to make a point that there is great J-pop that isn't tied to an anime. Then I looked through the songs I had, and according to Wikipedia, all were used for an anime. So instead I'll give you one that I never heard attached to a show, because then it will count...kind of. Anyway, this one is Rolling Star by Yui (Japanese band and lyrics). It was used at some point for Bleach, but I never really cared for that one, and so didn't hear it that way, so we'll pretend I didn't look it up....

If nothing else, this is an example of a good Japanese song that the anime incorporated, rather than a good song specially made FOR the anime, like Parallel Hearts was. 

And now we get to songs in other languages PLUS Latin, which is dead and therefore universal. The first is a German gothic/electronica...thing. I don't generally go for the goth-rock genre, but there's something about E Nomine and the way they incorporate the Latin and techno that just works for me. Also, it's great for keeping yourself awake for all those all-nighters/early morning adventures. This is Mitternacht (Midnight), and is probably one of the most well known E Nomine songs out there (and yeah, the whole album is about werewolves and vampires and things that go bump at midnight, if you were wondering. Also, yes, I do realize that whoever made this video doesn't know how to spell "German," but it's hard to find the right video, so shut up!):

Also, is it completely politically incorrect for me to suggest that if one were to listen to something particularly gothic, then German is the perfect language to accompany it? Yes? Too late, it's already been said. Make your complaints at the door. 

Finally, this last song mixes Russian AND Latin AND English AND is awesome. Yes, it's another song created for the sake of an anime (Ghost in the Shell), but try to deny that it's pretty wonderful. No, go ahead, try. Well, listen to it first, then try. It's Inner Universe, was composed by Yoko Kanno, sung by ORIGA, and like I said, is in English, Russian, and Latin. 

Ok, now try. You can't, because it's awesome. I particularly like the fact that Yoko used Latin as a breath of serenity in the midst of the fairly chaotic techno music, in contrast to E Nomine's use of the language to enhance their creepiness factor. Latin's pretty versatile for a dead language, it seems. 

Anyway, that's all I got for now. Come back next week and I'll either blow your mind with something awesome, or cop out again. Or something in between. Gotta keep things mysterious, after all.

Stuff and.....stuff....

*WARNING* This post may be composed of way less awesome than previous posts have been. For your own safety, lower all expectations now! *END WARNING*

'Sup. As you may or may not have noticed, I didn't post anything last week, my reasoning being that I had given you two posts the week before and you could just deal with my self-proclaimed vacation (well, one post and a half, but still....). Also, the last two weeks were when the Grad School Beast goes on it's bi-semesterly hunt, fattening itself up before it's mini-hibernation during Spring Break. Long story short, I haven't had the time to read, watch, or hear anything new and wonderful to write about, and I've already used up my current stash of potential topics for when I have no topics (yes, it was a pitifully small stash. Shut up). So I said to myself "Self: Spring Break is coming up. You'll finally have some time to sleep and think and get back on all your tracks. Woo!" 

And then Spring Break came along (that's right, it's right now for those of you keeping score at home), and I came to the horrifying realization that I still had nothing to say, mostly due to the same reason stated above, which hadn't yet had a chance to rectify itself. 

So instead, I could just tell you about my Spring Break Adventures in Catsitting. Except that, as mature cats and therefore no longer adorably rambunctious kittens, they don't generally do much but eat and demand to be scratched. Then there's this, which pretty much exactly happened this morning:

except I'm not a dude, the room's not quite that messy, and it was the horrifying sound of something fragile falling from a high place instead of a baseball bat to the face. Same effect though.

-PS- I looked all over the room, and couldn't find anything that looked shattered, so the good news is that nothing seems to be broken. The bad news is apparently I'm hearing things now.

I could also tell you about my new venture into Dungeons and Dragons. It was the "Dragons" part that won me over. And also that I could make a character who was a dragon-person (don't ask, I don't know either), complete with working dragon wings, who radiates dragon magic, breathes dragon fire and is on a quest to learn about dragon heritage type things! DRAGONS! Otherwise, I've learned that D&D in it's entirety is apparently far more complicated than I care to know at the moment (or possibly ever, but definitely at the moment). 

Or I could just continue making blandly lame excuses about why I didn't sit and wrack my brain grapes for a better post idea.

Yeah, I'll go with that last thing. 

So. How 'bout that daylight savings thing again? It keeps happening, just like clockwork..hehhehhehee...

Ok, ok, I'm done. See you next week with what will hopefully be a much more post-like post!

In Response to Birdsong

Dear little songbirds,

Yes, we are all very excited that spring is here, and we can share in your jubilation that you have made it home safely after your winter-long visit down south. We understand that you must have a lot of catching up to do with the neighboring birds whom you haven't seen all winter. However, beyond your trees are windows, and beyond those windows reside various inhabitants who would be very much obliged if you would quell your vocalizations until a more a reasonable hour. Three-thirty in the morning, for example, is not reasonable. You see, we humans tend to associate birdsong with daylight, particularly in the early morning. You could then imagine our confusion when, while sleeping fitfully for fear of waking up late, we are suddenly startled awake in the middle of the night upon hearing your many warbles and believing it to be much later than it is. Therefore, in the interest of everyone's sanity, we hope that we can all come to the agreement that all birdsong should be postponed until dawn is actually breaking. In other words, we would all appreciate it if you would please find it within yourselves to SHUT THE HECK UP!!

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Some Concerned Citizens, otherwise known as "The Humans Contemplating Getting Cats Just to Hunt You Down"

Why teaching assistants need to sleep before grading lab reports

[It helps if you read it like this. And yeah, we parodied the parody. Deal with it. And when I say 'we,' I'm referring to another TA, Ashley, who is responsible for most of the first half.]



Book of Lab Rubrics. Chapter one. Verses 6 through 37, and verses 42 through 50.


And thus did Freshman the Slightly Dimwitted lifteth his plea to the TA: 
"Oh TA, bless this thy lab report, that with it thou will give high grades to thy subjects, in thy mercy." 

And the TA did grin. And the students did suffer with the conicals, and test tubes, and spectrophotometers, and reagents, and trials, and Lugols, and supplements, and standard curves, and pipettes, [...]


And thus the TA spake, "First thou shalt take out thy holy pen. And with it thou shalt write yon procedure which containeth three replicates, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thy shalt run, and the number of trials of replicate shall be three. Four thou shalt not have time for, neither shalt thou run two, unless immediately proceeding onto the third. Five is right out. Once the third trial, being the third replicate, hath been run, writest then thou thy holy lab report without thy group members, lest ye be deemed naughty in my sight, and thus snuffed to Academic Honesty, where there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth."


[...]


And so quoth Freshman in yon lab report: "Thus the amylase spake unto the yeast: 'And ye shall ferment thyself unto alcohol; as alcohol, ye shall be ferment. After fermentation, alcohol shall ye be.' So it was written, so it was done. And it was good."


Yea verily didst Freshman offer up yon lab report as a sacrifice unto the TA. But it was not pleasing unto the TA, and a foul stench it didst create in the nostrils of the TA. Freshman didst spew such falsities upon the foundations of Science that the TA didst cringe to call him "bio-major."....


Amen. 




[yeah, so, that's not so entirely far off. Between the two of us, we've got bio majors claiming that enzyme reactions can be stopped with sufficient amounts of water, DNA is made of amino acids, yeast turns into alcohol, and a liquid stain will absorb all the water in a test tube. If you're not a sciency person, that's all so wrong it hurts. It's akin to a lit major trying to tell you that Hemingway wrote Othello.]

Common Ailments of the Average Student (and suggested remedies)

Recreational Insomnia (to be fair, this one was coined by Megan, but I have since thoroughly adopted it).

Symptoms and manifestations: The Recreational Insomniacs may find themselves, as the name suggests, unable to sleep for fear of missing fun. When school requires a sizable chunk of your life, sleep becomes less important than time with friends. The typical symptoms of insomnia (including but not limited to heightened looniness, decreased stability, and increased spontaneity) often become a desirable side effect, resulting in the insomniac being deemed as "more fun," much like being in a state of inebriation. Eventually, not sleeping becomes habit, and the insomniac will be unable to sleep regardless of the circumstances.

Suggested Remedies: Invest in Kevlar, high tech weapons, a loyal domestic servant, a sweet ride, and hire Hans Zimmer to compose a personal theme song for you, following the obvious course of action once said investments have been made. 

Spotlight Mind-blanking Syndrome

Symptoms and Manifestations: This is the effect one experiences when placed in the center of attention with a particular message to convey. The sufferer may prepare exhaustively before the presentation in question, only to instantly forget simple concepts once all attention has been focused onto him or her. Some symptoms include: nausea, sweating, uncontrolled gag reflexes, total memory loss, and verbal incoherency. 

Suggested Remedies: 

-Imbibe copious amounts of alcohol immediately before the dreaded event. (Youtube insists that no version of this clip be embedded, else it would already be here for your convenience)

-Clone yourself, sending said clone to do all the dirty work involved in presentations. *WARNING* Chances of clone retaliation are high. Also, the clone is highly likely to have the same conditions as the host.

Chronic Public Incoherency: 

Symptoms and Manifestations: This disorder is frequently and erroneously associated with Spotlight Mind-blanking Syndrome. The sufferer of this particular disorder is fully aware of what information needs to be presented (thus, there is no memory loss involved), yet is unable to communicate with the audience. The resulting frustration often manifests as gibberish, a regression back to a native language if in a foreign environment, or the frequent misspoken word. 

Suggested Remedies: The same alcohol solution for Spotlight Mind-blanking Syndrome can apply here, provided that the sufferer is careful not to reach the point of slurred speech. Otherwise, the sufferer can sacrifice entertainment in order to focus on being understandable. This often has the affect of ensuring that the audience isn't paying attention anyway. 

Quantum Performance Effect

Symptoms and Manifestations: This is less of a disorder, and more of a natural phenomenon that occurs when an individual's performance suddenly increases when being observed by an authority. The name is derived by a common notion in quantum mechanics, stating that a particle's behavior will change due to the influence of observation. In much the same way, a sub-par teacher or employee may suddenly acquire skills and discipline that were previously nonexistent, merely because of the addition of a third-party observer. The observer must, however, carry with him the threat of unemployment, or else the phenomenon does not occur.
This phenomenon extends beyond work performance, as can be seen here. 

Suggested Remedies: You can't remedy a phenomenon. Third party observers with no authority may acquire entertainment at the Quantum Performer's expense by periodically declaring that the boss has suddenly arrived. 

Happy Heart Day!

I found the tool on the blogspot dashboard that shows you where your pageviews are coming from, which is both slightly creepy and wonderfully awesome. I say awesome because I then learned that this blog has been viewed at least twice by people in India, Poland, Germany, and Australia. WORLDWIDE, BABY! Granted, that's probably all from other people doing image searches on some the of the pictures I used in the New Year's post, but hey! That still counts as WORLDWIDE VIEWAGE, BABY!!!

Alright. Celebrations aside, today is technically the all hallowed holiday of chocolate and roses erroneously named after St. Valentine. So here is your obligatory heart:

romantic organ, ain't it?

Somewhere down the line we went from that, to this:

which is infinitely more marketable.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I had a couple of other awesome things to include this week, but they deserve more time than I can afford this weekend, and you probably have romantic plans to attend to anyway, so hop to it! I'll be back next week for some actual average nerdiness.

*while really tired, reading out a description from some personality test*
Mandi: It also says that you tend towards really flamboyant....
Dayna: Wait...I'M GAY????

You'll either like this alot, or you'll feel kinda whelmed

Happy Superbowl! Or, more specifically, Happy Superbowl commercials! Here's hoping for some good ones this year, as I felt last year's were a little disappointing. And yeah, that's officially all I care about that. Moving on!

So there's this blog I was just introduced to. It's called Hyperbole and a Half, and it's pretty much one of the best things I've ever seen. I particularly suggest checking out this post about spiders and how evil they are, or the one about the Alot. And then you will understand. Or you won't, but I bet you'll be entertained! (and yeah, the title typo was on purpose, which you now realize and feel dumb for thinking I was dumb. Psh.)

[insert clever transition from blogs to DC cartoons here]

I have a bit of a confession to make. At one point in the last two years or whatever, Cartoon Network had this show, Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I didn't watch it then, but now I am...and I kinda like it. If you haven't seen or heard of it, it's pretty much Batman adventures that always involve at least one other Justice League member. I know, I know, he's supposed to be broody and work alone unless he has a Boy Wonder around, but he's still part of the League, right? It's totally campy, but like a throwback to the old school Adam West era, when punches still sounded like "BIFF," "BAM," and "POW," and all significant actions were accompanied with a trumpet blast.

Yeah! Except animated, and therefore acceptable!

Granted, I'm not very far into the series at all, so the constant inner monologue-journal Bats gives us may easily get quite old. And I already can only take the campyness in small doses, but it still makes me smile sometimes.

On the flip side, Cartoon Network currently has this new cartoon going on called Young Justice, and so far I kind of love it. Basically it's about the mini-Justice League, made up of the various sidekicks: Robin (the first one!), Kid Flash (you know, the one before Impulse? Which must be why Impulse thought of a better name?), Aqualad (but not the one you're thinking), Miss Martian, Speedy, and Superboy (yeah, not Supergirl, but this conveniently created clone...whatever, he still does Superman stuff). It's not Gardner Fox's creation, and therefore doesn't have the same kind of "you can take me seriously" tone as the Justice League animated series, but neither is it campy. Since it's about the kids, it's ok for it to be a little lighter. Don't worry, though, there are still plenty of issues to go around, like all of them struggling to get out from their mentor's shadows, Robin's inability to be a leader, Speedy's inability listen to authority, and Superman's inability to handle the weird paternal responsibility he now has for this surprise clone.

Also, it's a different kind of clever at times. Like the fact that some of the sidekick names really just suck (or make no sense) and people are aware of it. And I'm loving the running joke going on with Robin and his issues with abbreviations.

I now look for situations wherein I can describe myself as "whelmed"

By the way, Robin is Jesse McCartney. Yep. Lucky for me I only learned that after I was hooked, otherwise I may have boycotted the show on principle. But I have to give it to the kid, he doesn't do a terrible job of it. Especially not when he unleashes his creepy laugh, which is sufficiently creepy enough to almost make me reevaluate my opinion on the potential of such teenie-bopper pop stars. Almost. I'd offer a clip, but I guess it hasn't been on the air long enough (and/or Warner Bros is a mad copyright stickler) to have any yet. So you'll just have to take my word for it. Or watch it.

Otherwise, tune in next time for some more average nerdiness, and maybe a puppy if you're good!

Robin: "If 'dislike' is the opposite of 'like,' shouldn't 'disaster' be the opposite of 'aster'? So then, this mission will be a complete aster!"

Potpourri

You know, like the Jeopardy category that could be about anything and everything? So is this week's post. Also, in case you couldn't tell, the Grad School Beast has finally resurfaced after it's long winter break and snow day hibernation, and it's hungry for some student attention. So the "weekly" posts may become less wonderful as the semester continues, but I'll do what I can!

So! Captain America!

Patriotically smashing into theaters this summer!

Now, granted, I'm not as familiar with the Captain America mythos. All I know is that he was a WWII hero and the first Avenger, so the movie can't really ruin anything for me. The casting all looks pretty good too, Hugo Weaving and Tommy Lee Jones are both set to be in it. But who's going to play the Captain himself?

um, hi. Imma war hero 'n stuff

Now, if he could look more like this for the role:

I could see it better. Rugged looks good on him, makes him look older and whatnot. But military is all about clean-shaven, and Captain America was a military hero, sooo....

iz me again. hai. 

But you may or may not recall the role he already played in a major Marvel franchise:

Yep. Somehow, I feel like playing two major dudes in different Marvel universe films will cause some kind of breach in the Marvel-space-time-continuum. And one more breach would probably just be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel's back, because the Marvel universe is pretty precarious as it is. 

But enough about that. I have a question for you, internet: Did you see Inception? And if so, did you get it/enjoy it? It was never supposed to make perfect sense, the whole point is for it to be kind of a mind trip that leaves you questioning, but wasn't that the best part? I ask because I had an encounter with some non-nerds the other day. I was a little shocked, as I've somehow imagined the whole world was populated with nerds on some level. Apparently that's not true. Inception came into discussion, and these are just some of the heated complaints that suddenly flew around the room:

"Oh man! I can't believe I wasted my life!"

"It was so boring!"

"I just didn't get it! Why did he keep spinning that thing?"

"I tried watching it, but I just ended up texting the whole time."

I wanted to cry a little. I always thought that even non-nerds could appreciate some nerdy things on some level, why else would Spiderman and Star Wars have been so huge, right? Nope. My faith in humanity was killed a little bit that day. So to feel better, I obsessed over the soundtrack (yeah Hans!), particularly this one:

Quite possibly one of his best tracks ever (and why he didn't win the Globe, but Social Network did, I'll never understand)

Speaking of the Globes, what's up with the Social Network? No, I haven't seen it yet, but did it deserve best film score, best screenplay, best director, and best motion picture-drama? Especially if that meant beating Black Swan and Inception? It didn't even stay in theaters for very long, it acted like it was a bust movie, and now all of a sudden it's expected to win every Oscar it's been nominated for (which is like all of them, apparently)? What happened? 

Me too, baby, me too

Finally, in the world of the Hunger Games movie, Debra Zane has been recruited to be the casting director for the movie. They aren't holding any open casting calls as of right now, if you had high hopes, but they are working on the cast. So far, we just know that Hugh Laurie is unavailable to play Haymitch, which makes me sad. Also, Lionsgate has announced the opening date for the movie: March 23, 2012. Why is this brilliant? You may recall a certain other wonderful movie releasing about the same time last year, How to Train Your Dragon. It works because all the other big young-adult movies of the year like to be released in late summer or November, so now the Hunger Games won't have anything to compete with. Smart Move, Lionsgate, smart move. 

Well, that's all I've got for this week. Tune in next time for some more average nerdiness!

Ashley: "Oh yeah, didn't you notice the lettuce growing on my balcony?"

Britt: "How did it survive the snow?"

Ashley: "It's iceberg."

*and yet, if someone had written that into a sitcom or something, it just would have been corny*

The Post That Will Not Be About Something Medieval, I Promise!

Looking back through some of my posts recently, I realize that I've been on a bit of a medieval kick lately, between the dragons and Robin Hood and King Arthur and even more King Arthur. So it's time to branch back out to that little bit of everything that I'm supposed to be about. But first, I have a single complaint. The Golden Globes come on tomorrow night, right? I looked up the nominees to see what's up. For the most part, all stuff I could expect...but then I got to "Best Original Score." Can anyone tell me why in the name of all that is good and right in the world John Powell was not nominated for How to Train Your Dragon, but Danny Elfman for Alice in Wonderland was??? Granted, I understand what Inception is doing there, Hans Zimmer is da man and all, and I haven't yet seen the others, but geeze! Where's the love for John Powell??

See? You even made baby sad :( 

Ok, the pout-fest is over now. Let's move on. Today is all about anime. Woo! But first, I need you to understand something about me, as a disclaimer of sorts. I will read/watch/listen to almost anything in this nerdy world of ours except for romances. Or rather, anything but modern romances. I'm ok with the old fashioned kind of romances that require sword fights or possibly explosions before the romantic part is possible, ala The Princess Bride or any superhero movie with a love interest. But romance for romance's sake, like The Notebook or anything else that Nicholas Sparks vomits up? Can't stand it. Usually. Exceptions: Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre (does that even really count as a romance, in the end? It's an awfully pragmatic conclusion...), Moulin Rouge, and this anime, Kimi Ni Todoke. 

This is about a highschool girl, Sawako, who is generally rather shy, socially awkward, and comes across as gloomy. Because of that, people started calling her Sadako, the creepy girl from The Ring, and believed that she could see ghosts and cause unfortunate things to happen if you stare into her eyes for more than three seconds. Meanwhile, all she wants to do is be able to successfully say hello to her classmates without disappointing all their expectations about her supernatural powers. But she meets Kazehaya, the popular boy in her class, who slowly helps her make some friends and be seen as a good luck charm rather than the school curse.  Ultimately, of course, she begins to understand her feelings towards Kazehaya, deals with some nasty rumors, meets her first romantic rival, and is all the while simply adorable in her naive little way. Youtube didn't have any clips of the episodes, just various versions of the theme song, so here is the full first episode. Watch it!

Their whole little puppy-love-tension thing is just so cute in that chivalry-is-not-actually-dead kind of way. Also, I feel like it clicks with people who ever felt like the outsider for whatever reason. Stop making me try to explain it. When I talk about it, it just sounds like every other romance I've avoided watching, yet it hooks you in a way that all those other movies couldn't. Bottom line, it's kind of adorable, and if I like it, anybody with half a romantic bone in their body would probably devour it. 

But enough with the romance, eh? Frequently when you think of anime, there's something supernatural going on. Or at least, there is when I think of it. So then there's Pandora Hearts, which initially hooked me in with the theme song. 

Pretty much I've listened to this on repeat more often than I'd care to admit...

Pandora Hearts focuses on the young Oz Bezarius, heir to one of the noble houses. On the day of his coming of age ceremony, all Hell pretty much literally breaks loose, and Oz is sentenced to the Abyss. What was his crime? Apparently, his very existence. He escapes by making an illegal pact with a powerful Chain named Alice. The whole show has this twisted Alice in Wonderland thing going on, but with classic animeness (and when you think about the original Alice in Wonderland, you know you can expect something rather trippy). I'm not gonna lie, it has a lot of the "what the crap?" factor going on, yet that's part of the hook; you keep watching it just to see if it all  ever gets explained or make sense. But also, you experience everything through Oz and Alice's perspective; Oz is a pampered and inexperienced kid thrown into an adventure bigger than he is, and Alice supposed to be this powerful thing who can't remember anything about herself other than her name. There's espionage, nobility and secret society power plays, apocalyptic explosions, time travel, and general mind trips. Oh, and also this scene where everybody gets drunk

Yep. That's pretty much it.

Well, I'll stop there with two opposite extremes. Tune in next time for some more average nerdiness!

What Avalon High Can Teach Us About Writing Fantasies

Pretty much, it's all the negative extremes.

Welcome back! To all the other academic types out there, I trust you had a nice winter break before the school grind kicks back up. To everyone else... 'sup.

So guess what?

Yep

Remember the King Arthur vs Robin Hood post where I said I couldn't bring myself to watch Disney's interpretation of Meg Cabot's terrible book? Well, I brought myself to watch it. Here's the short version: the book was better (which generally isn't a surprise, but you already know how I felt about the book). If you actually cared to see it, then you should just skip ahead, for fear of spoiler alerts and whatnot. Otherwise, read on!

Generally, the movie followed the book fairly decently at first. Allie Pennington (wrong name, but I'm following) is a new student at Avalon High thanks to her parents, the traveling professors of medieval literature. She meets the captain of the football team/class president/teacher's favorite/all around Arthur-like character, Will, his girlfriend Jennifer, and his best friend Lance (all good so far). She also meets the resident nerd, Miles, who seems to keep having visions of the future (Merlin was the teacher, but I'm cool with making him one of the kids), and Will's evil stepbrother, Marco. Eventually she learns that Jenn is cheating on Will with Lance, and Marco seems to have a vendetta against Will. Starting to see the connections yet? So does Allie, once she learns of a prophecy predicting the return of Arthur and his court, unless Mordred can destroy Arthur first.

But then we get to the end, the twist, the big surprise. Remember, according to Meg Cabot, the surprise was that Ellie was the return of Elaine of Shallot/The Lady of the Lake, whose love made it possible for Will to deal with Jenn and Lance's affair. She also provided Arthur with the sword that became Excalibur and enabled him to defeat Mordred. Well, Disney decided that Cabot's version wasn't empowering enough for young girls, so they would change a few things. Just a few. Things like the fact that Marco was some kind of undercover agent to protect Arthur, not Mordred reincarnated. That role went to.....the teacher! Of course! What? But it turns out that it doesn't matter that Marco wasn't Mordred, because Will wasn't Arthur in the first place. Oh, of course...what?? Well then who is? Allie is!

Huh???

Allie is King Arthur reincarnated? How does that even make sense? What happened to the love triangle you just worked so hard to set up? What does that make Will? Allie's the new kid, how is she supposed to lead the way to victory? Victory over what, 'cause it sure ain't the football finals anymore! What is going on?????? Granted, now changing her name from Ellie Harrison (which sounds more like Elaine) to Allie Pennington (as in Arthur Pendragon) makes more sense, but that's about it. 

This is why I have to side with Meg Cabot on this one. Sure, she took a liberty there with Elaine/the Lady, but the backbone elements stayed the same. Some versions of the legend suggest that the Lady of the Lake returned after the fatal battle to reclaim Excalibur, subsequently bringing Arthur to Avalon where he either died or recovered, so Cabot's happy ending isn't really as far fetched as it could be. Whereas, for whatever reason, Disney took such pains to set up this story where Will is King Arthur personified, the love triangle has been recreated, he has a vengeful half brother, and everything fits together perfectly until they turn around and smash it into tiny pieces! Who cares about Lance and Jenn if it's not the cause of Arthur's downfall? Allie wasn't invested in their relationship, she was the new kid! Will's "knights" were supposed to be the football team. Who are Allie's "knights"? The four friends she made so far? 

Don't get me wrong, I didn't so much have an issue with Arthur being reincarnated as a chick. Whatever, it's a new age, Allie Pennington could easily have worked as a character. In fact, that's a story I'd read in a heartbeat. But in that case, at least shift the other necessary characters and their interactions to match, so that the legend stays mostly intact. As it stands, Avalon high is another movie about teenage drama (except, it's not even that dramatic) that they pinned King Arthur references to and called it a day. 

So that brings us to a golden rule about writing a fantasy: Stick to the rules. 

Which rules? Well first, natural laws should still apply. Of course, you can't necessarily be a stickler on the physics or else dragons would never leave the ground, but you better give me a darn good reason why there's no gravity on your magical island. The reader needs some thread of normal to hang on to in order to fully suspend their disbelief. The more unbelievable your cast of characters, the more natural the environment needs to be (obviously, this doesn't necessarily apply to science fiction, which is a different breed entirely). Think about Tolkien's Middle Earth or Lewis's Narnia; both were full of fantastic creatures and races, but lived in worlds with predictable seasons (unless a Witch was involved), realistic environments (that looked like New Zealand), and functional architecture (no one tried to build any upside down pyramids). 

Further, there are specific rules in mythology and legends. Oh sure, you have more free reign than in other genres, but there are specific elements in a story, creature, or character that let us recognize what they are. For a story, it's generally the characters' relationships and interactions that give them away, such as King Arthur and the betrayal of his wife and best friend, or the confusions and misconceptions between the four lovers in Midsummer Night's Dream. It's why we can recognize that the Lion King is Hamlet, She's the Man is Twelfth Night, and West Side Story is Romeo and Juliet.

Creature-specific rules can be bent, sure, as long as the backbone element is still there. What's a dragon, essentially? A lizard with wings. Whether it has four legs and wings, hind legs and wings, breathes fire, ice, lightning, or cotton candy is all up to the author, as long as it is clearly a dragon. Some creatures have less room for creative license than others, however. For example, this

does not equal this:

Honestly, I wouldn't have pegged the Cullens as vampires if it wasn't already spelled out for me, because they just don't fit the profile. They're more like...elves. Undead elves with odd eating habits. 

you know you can see it

Twilight defenders out there ask: But what about Blade? He was a daywalker and such, didn't he break the rules? 

My response: You saw Blade? (I'm not even going to assume you knew about the comic) Then why are you defending Twilight? Also, no; Blade created new rules for a new creature. All of the vampires in Blade were still clearly vampires, the rules remained intact. Blade suggested half-vampires, complete with half-power and half-weakness. New creature, new rules, but still comparable to the creature it was derived from. We are meant to believe that the Twilight vampires are 100% original blood-sucking terror...that sparkle. 

Finally, you can recreate an established creature if all connection to the present world has been severed. Stephanie Meyers could possibly have gotten away with her version of werewolves and vampires if she hadn't based the story in Washington. If we the readers are to believe that a creature exists in real life, then it needs to follow the rules set for them in our current mythology. We would never watch a dude turn into a wolf in broad daylight and call it a werewolf when all existing legends suggest that it must be something else. Why, then, would characters make these assumptions when they are supposed to have access to the same myths we have?

Only in a world of your own creation can you also create the rules for each creature. Tolkien, for example, completely recreated the image of an elf. Prior to Lord of the Rings, elves were primarily small and somewhat mischievous, or they liked to sneak into shops at night to make shoes. Tolkien presented elves that were tall, beautiful, graceful, and powerful. But it only worked because he first created a world with none of our preconceptions, then established the rules himself. No one in Middle Earth knew about North Pole elves or the shoemaker's elves, such concepts couldn't exist. One character could turn to another and say "Hey look! It's an elf!" and we the reader would have to wait patiently to learn what an "elf" was in this particular world. 

So there you have it. Whatever "it" is. 'Till next time, I leave you with this completely unrelated video!

Just Kidding!

Now that I've already posted that "I'm not posting anything" disclaimer, I found the time and necessity to make a post for New Years. Happy New Years, by the way. I've been watching some of the talk show type things doing their "A look back at 2010" specials, and I noticed that nobody seemed to want to do anything about the fact that we're about to start a new decade! The 2000's are over people, we're about to step into the teens again (but the twenty-teens now, which are older and more mature than the nineteen-teens were), and I felt it was necessary to take a look back at the last 10 years. So let's get started, shall we?

Who can forget the tension of Y2K? I was still being an elementary schooler, not really caring whether or not the computers would be able to track my stocks properly when the year turned over (I felt I had kept them secure enough, after all), but I do recall the mounting panic. And thennnn, nothing happened. I don't think there has ever been a more anti-climactic January 1st.

Since the Academy Awards honor the movies from the previous year, but are held in the next year, it's entirely possibly I'll mix some stuff up and be off a year while talking about various movies, for which you shall forgive me (because I said so!). But anyway, this was the year that Gladiator won the academy award for best picture, Russell Crowe won best actor for the same movie (and now I realize why he seemed out of place in Robin Hood: he needed Romans!), Julia Roberts was best actress, and Traffic won Steven Soderbergh best director. But the academy aside, 2000 also gave us X-Men, Meet the Parents, The Contender, and of course Castaway

Don't look at me like that, Wilson!

Billboard has lists of the top 100 songs for each year, and I'm not going to list all of them because that would be ridiculous. But the number one song for 2000 was Breathe by Faith Hill, but it was also the year for 3 Doors Down, Destiny's Child, Santana, Brittany and Christina, N'Sync and those Backstreet Boys. 

2000 marked the beginning of the intense and seemingly never ending custody battle over a little boy between his American relatives, his Cuban father, and both of the respective governments, said to be the biggest dispute between the two countries since the Bay of Pigs (which seems a tad exaggerated to me, to be honest). Meanwhile, a concord plane exploded during takeoff for the first time ever, which soon ended the use of all concords (in France anyway, where the original exploded, not sure if everyone else agreed). It was a happy year, to be sure. Anything else? Oh yes, it was election year here in the US, the year of the recount, the hanging chad, and "good lord, Florida, just pick one already!" Finally, after all of the hooplah, George W Bush became president, and Al Gore decided he preferred global warming and inventing the internet anyway.

This was a heavy year in the US, the year that terrorists hijacked some planes and crashed them into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center towers. A fourth would have hit the White House, had it not been for the bravery of the passengers who decided it would be better to die overpowering the terrorists and preventing further tragedy than to allow the crash to continue as planned. This was the year that the major Bad Guy status officially went from the communists to the terrorists (and I use officially quite loosely here, but Russian-Cold-War style characters in the media certainly seemed to make way for a wave of middle eastern terrorist types). It was the start of the war on terror, and one of the rare times that the entire nation was truly united, however briefly it lasted.

In the meantime and on a lighter note, the number one song was Hanging By a Moment by Lifehouse, and this was the year that Peter Jackson gifted us nerd-types with the first installment of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The snooty academy snoots preferred A Beautiful Mind for all the awards, but at least LOTR was nominated, and put up there with Moulin Rouge, Shrek, and Bridget Jones' Diary. This may have been the first year that Animated Feature Film was taken seriously as a category, but don't quote me on that. It also marked the beginning of Daniel Radcliff  et. al's decade long childhood in the Harry Potter world.

You're a wizard, Harry...and will be for the next 10+ years!

2002 marked the first total solar eclipse in whatever time span is generally between solar eclipses, but you couldn't see it properly unless you happened to be in Africa at the time. Jimmy Carter won a Nobel Peace prize, Halle Berry became the first African American woman to win an Academy Award for best actress (for Monster Ball), and Michael Jackson said hi to some fans by waving a baby around off a balcony.

"Hey look! I has kid!"

(bad taste? Well, it was still dumb...)

This was the year of sequels, with Hollywood sending us Star Wars II, Lord of the Rings II, Harry Potter II, and the Santa Clause II, all in 2002, which was clever on their part in retrospect. Chicago was awarded best picture, Spirited Away won best animated feature (hooray Miyazaki!), and How You Remind Me by Nickleback was declared the number one song (well I certainly don't remember that song, but billboard seemed to like it).

With the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad, we all got excited at the thought that it was finally finished! Woo! We won! It's over! Except it wasn't. The space shuttle Columbia exploded upon re-entry to the earth's atmosphere, all due to a loose outer tile. Meanwhile, the Martha Stewart issues gained some real momentum as she got indicted for embezzlement, and the great SARS scare began on the other side of the world (no, I'm not suggesting that the two events were related....or am I? No, not really). But it was a happy year for us bio-nerds, as the Human Genome Project was officially finished, and the human genome was declared to be sequenced to 99.99% accuracy. Woo!

science jokes!

And finally, making it a year I shall never forget, the Florida Marlins won the World Series after soundly defeating the Yankees. Yeah Marlins! (they were subsequently traded away, and have barely won another game since. Sad times). In movies, Buddy the Elf taught us the true meaning of Christmas, the king returned in Lord of the Rings, we all met the infamous yet strangely lovable Captain Jack Sparrow, and then we found Nemo. Peter Jackson and Return of the King finally won best director and best picture, and 50 Cent claimed the number one song title with In Da Club.

In case you couldn't guess/recall, the 2004 Summer Olympics were held in Greece, a big deal since that's where they originated from and all. The internet planned to rejoice when Facebook was officially launched, but quickly learned of the website's procrastination powers. Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performed the Superbowl Halftime show, which nobody would remember if not for Janet's infamous wardrobe malfunction. Lance Armstrong won his 6th consecutive Tour de France, and Florida (and surrounding areas) were beaten to a pulp by Hurricanes Charley, Ivan, Frances, and Jeanne (personally, I recall 2004 as the year of evacuation road trips, blue roofs, and generators, all of which seemed a lot more exciting as a kid when it mostly meant road trips). But as much as it sucked in Florida (and surrounding areas), Indonesia had a much rougher time when that giant earthquake caused that even gianter tsunami. Yeah...I'll stick with hurricanes, thanks. 

Girls across the nation watched the Notebook and then swooned. Or something. I was busy watching Harry Potter do magical things again, Jason Bourne make his supreme comeback (hehe, pun), and Nicholas Cage go on a good treasure hunt before he made another string of terrible movies. Also, The Incredibles. Best animated feature film. 'nuff said. Million Dollar Baby pretty much dominated the rest of the awards, while Usher's Yeah made top song of the year. 

The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics declared 2005 to be the World Year of Physics, which is just so nerdy it makes me smile. Hurricane Katrina was late to the previous year's Stomp On North America party, but tried to make up for it with an extended visit to New Orleans. Needless to say, that didn't end well. President Bush started his second term, and male citizens in Saudi Arabia were allowed to vote for the first time. 

The Academy awards were mostly given to socially controversial films released this year, such as Crash and Brokeback Mountain. As for other movies, Narnia showed us what happens when you mix a lion, a witch, and a wardrobe and let simmer for approximately 2 hours (you get a movie! who knew?), Batman began, and Harry Potter came back with his goblet of fire. The Star Wars saga ended, for better or worse, with Revenge of the Sith, and we all stepped back to take a long look at our prides and prejudices. Mariah Carey sat on top of the billboard chart with We Belong Together. 

The first bird with Avian Flu was found this year, and Al Gore came back from his internet workshop to inconvenience us with his truths. Pluto began it's swift decline out of planetary status, suddenly declared to be merely a dwarf planet. The Iraqi Special Tribunal officially sentenced Hussein to death, and North Korea decided to let us know all about their continued nuclear weapon hobbies. 

It was a fairly widespread year for movies, with releases including everything from Cars and The Santa Clause 3 to The Prestige and V For Vendetta (Remember, remember, the 5th of November!). The Departed won best featured film, and Daniel Powter sang about his Bad Day enough to put him at the top. 

This was a magical year, the one that marked my highschool graduation. Ok, other stuff happened too. The final Harry Potter book was released and sold out faster than you can say Avada Kadavra, with the book in general causing one of the largest nerd uprisings since the last one. The writer's guild went on strike, resulting in one of the weirdest seasons of television in a while as everybody else in the studio scrambled to find reruns and acceptable excuses for shows to keep the public entertained. Yet it gave rise to the fantastically wonderful Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, which should be a part of everyone's life. 

Otherwise, Bourne issued his famous ultimatum, Harry Potter joined the Order of the Phoenix, and Juno had a baby. The Academy declared their love for No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, and Beyonce declared that you're not Irreplaceable (sorry, I'm just the messenger). 

Gas prices went extra nuts this year, Fidel Castro finally resigned, and there was a total eclipse of the heart....I mean moon. A star exploded somewhere, and if you happened to be stargazing it was officially the farthest object to be seen with the naked eye. Medvedev replaced Putin as Crazy Dude In Charge of Russia, and we waited to see if he would be a better kind of crazy. Meanwhile, Bill Gates decided to end his 30 year position  as chairman of Microsoft, and somewhere you could here Steve Jobs rub his hands and chuckle maliciously. Michael Phelps set a new record, winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, and the world didn't end after the Large Hadron Collider was turned on for the first time. Financial crisis ensued when certain banks decided to give out loans willy nilly and whatnot, and Barack Obama became the first African American president after the election. 

Heath Ledger gave us one last brilliant performance as a truly demented Joker in the Dark Knight, and then died for several alleged reasons that I don't think anybody ever actually agreed about. Slumdog Millionaire stole the show at the Academy awards, and Twilight...well, was Twilight, much to the thinking populace's disdain. Prince Caspian ruled Narnia, and Tony Stark built that immortal iron battle suit, all to the tune of Flo Rida's catchy tune, Low. 

Remember the Swine Flu? H1N1? You bet you do! This also marked the year that Michael Jackson died suddenly, taking everybody by surprise. I'm starting to suspect a celebrity serial killer is on the loose, or some kind of conspiracy. Or perhaps both. President Obama won a Nobel Peace prize for....being president? Still working on that one. The Large Hadron Collider was turned on a second time after needing some repairs and adjustments. And again, the world did not end.

In Hollywood, Avatar made a mark with it's amazing visual effects annnnd....was there a plot? But let's not forget about Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek (which unlike a lot of purists out there, I rather enjoyed, thanks very much), and Up. The Hurt Locker won the Oscar for best film, and I still haven't seen it. Meanwhile, Beyonce and her single ladies topped the music charts for the year.

And finally, we get to 2010, the last year in this wacky decade. It was kicked off with a devastating earthquake in Haiti, shortly followed by an even bigger one in Chile. Not the best way to start off a new year. An oil platform exploded in the Gulf, causing all kinds of environmental, financial, and general humiliating issues. And about a week ago, we saw the first total lunar eclipse during a solstice since 1638. Also, I moved to grad school; a major headline in the world to be sure ;)

In the movies, we learned how to train dragons, watched the end of the Toy Story saga, and saw the first half of the final movie in the Harry Potter lineup. There was also Inception, Scott Pilgrim, another Narnia movie...pretty much a great year for movies all around. The Oscars haven't happened yet, but here's hoping Pixar's animated film winning streak will be stopped by the wonder of dragon training. But then, I may be biased. Just a little. The Billboard list hasn't been made yet either, so here's hoping Bieber isn't on top. Or near the top. But watching the Twilight phenomenon...he probably will be.


Anyway, this has been more post than any one blog post needs to have, but it is here and complete. Here's to a new year, a new decade, and all kinds of new opportunities for some average nerdiness. Happy New Year!