My Rainbows and Butterflies Post

It's only fitting that this post should be written in PINK. The reason for the title is everything in this post is happy (or at least, comparatively happy when you look at my next post).

Starting off, SONIC! We got an XBox360 for Christmas and one of the games was Sonic the Hedgehog.

When I was little, I would play this game on our old Sega Genesis for HOURS. So I was a little wary of a new Sonic game; would it blow my mind or would I be sadly disappointed? But I didn't have to worry, for it is AMAZING!

The graphics are cool, the storyline's pretty good (and it corresponds with the characters in the original games), and it's actually pretty challenging. More than once I have spent a day completely stumped trying to figure out how the heck to beat certain levels.

Unfortunately, the game is the same as the old Sonic in that it doesn't let you save very much. On the classic Sonic, you couldn't save AT ALL, and if you were lucky you could get a Continue option to start off at the last zone you started. Your best hope was to rack up lives.

In this game, you have to be in a town (not on a mission or specific level) to save, but if you go straight from a mission to a boss, it does give you a save option, which is way more than you get in the first game. Still, it sucks to play whole levels over because you got stuck and quit.

Subject change: do you remember the Bumpus hounds from "A Christmas Story"? The ones who ate that dang Christmas turkey? Well they're in this book! Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories by Jean Shepherd. This classic comedian brings us more anecdotes of growing up, most of these from his late childhood to teenage years.

This book was much enjoyed. The stories were hilarious and many will relate to his nostalgic experiences, especially the dreaded prom night. There were times where I found myself smiling and laughing at things I had done out of this book too, and then there were other times where I was cringing as I read about the poor kid asking out a girl from "the good side of town" to a movie at the dinky run-down theater. That was the night he realized what social barriers were.

My favorite had to be the Bumpus story, involving those pesky Bumpus hounds. His descriptions of their horrid neighbors is so stereotypical yet so insanely unbelievable that you can't help but laugh. It almost reminded me of Cletus from The Simpsons.

Get the picture?

It's Winter Break and I'm Not Allowed Out. What Else Do I Have To Do?

So I read. I'm at home this whole week doing nothing except reading, running with my dog, watching random movies (ZOMBIELAND!) playing Sims, playing Drake's Fortune, and playing Sonic. Speaking of video games, I should play more today.

But I finally finished Pride and Prejudice on my Kindle! This is the cover I found on wikipedia.org... I kind of like the old look. Of course on my Kindle the only thing that looks old about it is the language.

I'm really starting to like Jane Austen. She was like the Meg Cabot of her time: gossipy, seemingly vapid, but actually writing with the strong intention of telling a great story always kept in mind. She definitely knows how to employ the whole satire aspect, poking fun at upper-class snobbery that people like the Bennets have to live through.

And the Bennet parents in this CRACK ME UP. The mom is just SO COMPLETELY INSANE! Her ambition in life is to have all her daughters marry well, to people with high titles, and she is simply frivolous. The way her husband deals with her is by rolling his eyes and trying to come to compromises between the frivolity of living an aristocratic life and his way of reason, but there are times when he puts his foot down. Luckily, his daughter Elizabeth, the protagonist, takes after her father and not her mother as much.

The one part I didn't like: Mr. Darcy. He was too much of a downer in the first parts of the book. Lydia entertained me though, as did Miss Catherine de Bourgh in all her snootiness.

Second book:

The World's Worsts, organized and compounded by Les Krantz and Sue Sveum.

This book was so flippin' ENTERTAINING! I found the worst lawsuits, worst celebrity marriages (Drew Barrymore was listed TWICE in that category), worst deaths, EVERYTHING! There were things I never needed to know that I now know and am much happier for knowing.

Like how America doesn't have enough hospital beds for its population and how Titanic was a really bad idea (although I already was catching on to that one. But if it wasn't built, then Jack and Rose would never have met!)

I highly recommend this book if you like randomly uselessly awesome knowledge. Weird looks from your friends guaranteed.

I also read an E. L. Konigsberg book, The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World. This book is actually a companion to her other book, Outcasts at 19 Schuyler Place, my favorite book by her, so I was excited to read it.

What I didn't realize about her style of writing until now is, it really isn't middle-grade fiction like they say it is! This book was FILLED with allusions from older works of art and literature and references to events that happened WAY before the kids supposed to be reading this book were even born. Some of the jokes were even over MY head sometimes, but if you pay attention, you find she has a subtle amount of humor.

Of course, I always love a good obscure treasure hunt. And while this isn't a treasure hunt in the traditional sense, something lost is definitely found, discovered, and deciphered.

Well, I'm off to go hog the TV to play video games... maybe that will distract me from the fact that my best friend is having a party down the street and I CAN'T GO. Thanks, parental control. Nah, maybe I'll hole up in my room with a book. Sounds comfier.

Sims + Music = LOOOOOOVE

Let me tell you a story, young ones, about the person (whoever the heck this genius was) who decided Sims needed a soundtrack. A person who thought of this and then said, "Hey, why do THAT when I could possibly create MUSIC VIDEOS using SIMS?"

For those who don't know, Sims is the addicting video game that is modeled after real life. Meaning, you make a person (a Sim) who lives a life with a house and a family and you choose everything. Kind of like WE live, huh?

Can you believe someone actually made money off a video game based on LIFE?

Can you believe it's so POPULAR?

Moving on.

Somebody came up with the idea of making music videos with Sims, because you can videotape your live gameplay if you play on PC (which I do. Everyday). So here are a couple of GREAT ones I found.



Gotta admit, it takes talent.



Ah, Katy Perry... even she got SIMMED. It's like being Sweded. (Please tell me you've seen that movie...)



Just a warning, this one's really sad... but it's my favorite My Chemical Romance song.



But this will cheer you up! Metallica circa 1985 IN SIMS!!! This is possibly the best use of Sims I have ever had the honor to witness. *starts headbanging*



HOLY CRUD. Okay, this is amazing. Michael Jackson got SIMMED. How is that even possible?



Okay, I'm really astounded (or is it flabbergasted?) by just how many Sims music videos there are. This is insanity. I'm going to log off before I explode from the amazingness. Goodnight.

KABOOM! Book Post.

Yeah, I've been a way for a while. Between vacations and partying and stuff, I haven't had time to post. But that's okay because now I've got a whole STACK of books to talk about! Awesome, right? Or tedious. Depends on whether you're the reader or the blogger.

1. 13 Ghostly Tales by Freya Littledale. It's actually a compilation of tales, and the "author" actually edited. Plus this book was written in 1959. YEAH, IT'S 50 YEARS OLD. Which means... my copy is pretty beat up.

As you can see from this picture, there's no covers. It's merely a stack of paper bound together by what remains of the cover, that strip down the middle. I remember reading this book when I was 6 and it had a pink cover that was barely hanging on, and I vaguely remember the cover falling off (but not being the one who caused it), but I don't remember where it went.

And also, this book HAS NO END. That's the only scary part; in truth, the stories are meant to scare kindergarteners. Which explains why I first read it when I was seven. But yeah, it gets up to page 90, in the middle of the last story, and BOOM! no ending. I was ticked. I think this book, just for not ending, wins the award of Second Most Messed Up Book In This Post. (The first wins by a long shot.)

2. Night's Child by Cate Tiernan. FINALLY, I finished the Sweep series! It's been three years but I finally finished them all. And the ending was really good, I was surprised.

Of course, I thought I was going to HATE the book when, in the PROLOGUE, they killed off one of my favorite characters. But the book takes place in Ireland with the main character, who is 18 in all the previous books, is a mother herself and her daughter is discovering their secret past.

Fortunately this book redeemed itself at the end. Great ending in all fields, so I loved it. And the author's knowledge of Wicca (the concept the book is based around) is really thorough, and it adds to the reality of the book. Of course, I'm no Wiccan expert, so she could be lying through her teeth, but the series feels really true. Good book. =)

3. No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman. I've had my eye on this one since like 8th grade (the library TA days... good times) and I finally checked it out and read it! It's definitely a kids' book, and a bit farfetched seeing as all this drama (literally DRAMA, the book takes place around a school play) is happening in middle school. I don't know about your middle school, but we didn't have football teams, full-scale drama productions, and backstabbing boyfriend-grabbers at good ol' WSMS. (Sure, we had fights, and the occasional bomb threat, but that was all hushed up. I'm talking DRAMA.)

The book starts with this kid who tells the truth, even if it hurts, because his dad lied to his mom so he kind of makes up for it in a perverse, psychological way. He gets suspended from football because he won't lie in his book report; he lets the teacher know how much the book sucks. (In the book he reported on, the dog died, hence the title.) So he gets sentenced to detention helping the drama department put on a play instead of football.

This, of course, causes of feud of GLOBAL MIDDLE SCHOOL PROPORTIONS between the drama geeks and the football players. It gets intense. It also shows you how caught up we kids get in our own little problems.

Julia Roberts also makes a cameo in this book, just letting you know. The head drama geek in this book, Rachel (ironically like Rachel from Glee, to a tee) writes to Julia Roberts for advice. Yeah. They're that kind of middle schoolers.

4. Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff.
This book was really touching, just it sucks because in the end not much has changed in his life. It isn't one of those books where the fat kid loses the weight; rather, the author kind of focuses on another aspect, self-confidence. Andy figures out where his place in life is, and while not a lot changes on the outside, his whole outlook changes on the inside.

And while this book cracked me up, it had a lot of sad scenes where I was cringing for this poor kid. Still really good... not NEARLY bad enough to merit the Most Messed Up Book In This Post award.

The best friend, Eytan (funky name), is AWESOME. Best character in the book. He's hilarious, he's witty, he's scrawny and nerdy, he's my kind of character. Think Ben from Paper Towns. Gotta love characters like that!

Now on to the grand finale.

5. Burned by Ellen Hopkins.


THIS is the book that wins the title of Most Messed Up Book in this Post. It's also Most Unique, because it's one of those books written completely in narrative poetry. Now I read Crank and Glass and they were both like that too, and I really like the style. It really adds to the story and I don't know if I'd enjoy the book as much otherwise.

The problem is, THIS STORY IS MESSED UP. This girl, Pattyn (named for a general) Von Stratton, is Mormon and her dad's INSANE. He goes nuts on the whole "woman's role" thing and gets drunk every night, wreaking havoc on Pattyn's mother, her sisters, and herself. So Pattyn becomes a rebel, starts dating non-Mormon guys, and gets herself kicked out of her house... to her amazing aunt's house!

Aunt J. is everything she hoped for, a lady who believes in freedom and choice and independence, everything Pattyn's been denied thus far. And for a while, everything's good. Then things get-- that's right-- MESSED UP.

I'm not going to elaborate on the plot, just let me say that after I was finished with this book, I was collapsed on my bed, drowning in tears, wailing "WHY did I read this stupid book if it was going to END that way?" GOD it was so sad. Just a warning. AMAZING book, but it's heartbreaking. Trust me, it takes a lot to make me cry over a book. It takes a death of Harry Potter proportions. =)

And that's my reading from... December 26th to now. Of course, I'm STILL trying to finish Pride and Prejudice on my Kindle, but I'll talk about that later. Enough posting for now.

The Horrid Commercialism of the Fast Food Industry

Believe it or not, this is actually a book review. I just finished Chew on This! by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson, a book for teens about the fast food industry and how it affects every aspect of Americans' lives. It's basically a slightly dumbed-down and shortened version of Eric Schlosser's other book, Fast Food Nation, which I also read.

The book addresses many good points:

1. How the industry was started, beginning with the invention of the hamburger

2. Who the big thinkers were, such as Carl Karcher, Ray Kroc, and even Walt Disney

3. How fast food is made, from the fries to the burgers to the artifical flavoring

4. How it is marketed to us

5. What goes on behind the scenes at the slaughterhouses and the industrial farms and meat-packing plants (ugh, do you really want your burgers from a place known as a PLANT?)

6. The affects it all has on society: soda rotting teeth, bad food causing obesity, etc

I found the book very informative. And the best part is, Eric Schlosser presents it all in a straightforward, mainly unbiased manner, unlike Morgan Spurlock, for instance. But still, even with the lack of bias, it's still EASY to see the harmful effects fast food has on society and how WRONG it is.

Take this Ray Kroc quote, here:

"We have found out... that we cannot trust some people who are nonconformists... We will make conformists out of them... The organization cannot trust the individual; the individual must trust the organization."

Ray Kroc is the man who promoted McDonald's and made it what it is today, one of the founding fathers of fast food, if you will. And look, doesn't that sound more like a totalitarian takeover than a way to run a restaurant? No, there is no way to portray Ray Kroc as anyone except the man who wanted to start a revolution with his business, using any means necessary. How can we trust an industry that was build on people like this?

Huh. That last paragraph was pretty good. I should have included that in my research paper. Yeah, I wrote my research paper on the fast food industry. Let me just say, as far as reliable sources go, WATCH SUPERSIZE ME. That movie will change your life.

Video teaser! This guy, Morgan Spurlock, also has a book out that I read. Again, very informative but very biased. He's my second-favorite advocate against fast food besides Eric Schlosser.

Another thing I liked about Chew on This! was that it included real life stories of people who are affected by the industry: the teen working behind the counter at a McDonald's, the boy getting a gastric bypass surgery from having too much fast food and becoming obese. It makes it so much more real.

Seriously, how do we sit back and let this happen? How do we let good potatoes become THIS? It's no wonder America has an obesity crisis today, we fry our dang vegetables! How hard is it to figure out? And sure, we got there over a long period of time, but everything has grown exponentially since TVs have become commonplace and advertising runs rampant.

We need to stop sitting back and doing this to ourselves. At least educate yourselves, people. I love fries as much as the next person, but I saw Supersize Me and I no longer have an urge to eat them quite as often.

For more sources on fast food, read:

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, a novel based on the true horrors of the meat industry in the early 1900s

Don't Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock, his book about the Supersize Me project

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, which I mentioned above

All of these can teach you a lot. Open your eyes. You don't have to become a vegan zealot or anything, just choose buying some dough and some sauce at Trader Joe's and throwing it in the oven with a salad as a side instead of ordering that pizza with the free breadsticks and the liter of soda.

Anyway, all my preaching aside, I really enjoyed this book.