So....while doing numerous hours of homework, I've discovered and been introduced to some amazing artists and songs, which have saved me from hours and hours of ultimate boredom. I though I'd share a few with you, in case you're in need of some new tunes.
First up, we have Lauren O'Connell. Basically, I'd love to be Lauren O'Connell when I grow up. Not only does she have an amazing original voice, she plays at least 8 instruments and several household objects in unique ways, and her lyrics are really meaningful. So you should listen to everything she's ever written. My favorite song, and the one that one of my friends originally showed to me, is the one in the link, White Noise.
http://www.youtube.com/LaurenOC12#p/c/4F6514652BBFF464/0/8hI5Rs-VXQE
Another incredible artist, who I actually found off of a Lauren O'Connell song, is Benjamin Jameson Morrey. Another singer-songwriter with meaningful lyrics, his voice sounds so innocent and simple that his lyrics are allowed to speak for themselves. My favorite song of his, the one in the link, also has a very cool video (the video in the link). It's called "Hospital-Pt.1".
http://www.youtube.com/benjaminjamesonmorey#p/u/4/VS4lBW1wYsM
So, if you're ever in need of some amazing music and have something that must be done that you aren't exactly thrilled about...look either of these two artists up. You will not be bored any longer!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Top Ten Lists and All That Jazz
As is always...it has been too long since I last entered the blogosphere with a trusty Youtube soudtrack and some really freaking awesome books to share. Darn Facebook, Too Bloody Addicting. So...too make up for lost time...I present to you a list:
Top Ten Books to Enter Your Brain As Soon Is Humanly Possible (Ranked in No Way According to Goodness Level) That I Have Read This Summer:
1. Going Bovine, by Libba Bray
HILARIOUS BOOK! Plus sincerely random, and a little bit sad. Also, my favorite part of the book? The Acknowledgments. They sold me on this book. They are the funniest credits I have ever read or heard about, and rival some of the books I've read. Plus, it's 4 pages long. And once you get past that, the book will make you laugh out loud, and maybe even cry a little. I did, for sure. But the mix of ancient Norse myths, smoothie drinking happy cults, Molecular Biology to explain time travel, and garden gnomes is one you just won't get anywhere else. I can promise you that.
2. Mockingjay, by Suzzane Collins
3. Ink Exchange, by Melissa Marr
4. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
5. The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine, by April Lurie
6. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
7. Marked, by PC Cast and Kristin Cast
8. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
9. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, the latest amazing novel co-written by John Green and David Levithan
10. Tithe, by Holly Black
Plus the Alex Rider Series, by Anthony Horowitz, but that's not one book, so it doesn't make the list. You should read it though. Even if it is a little bit made for 14 year old boys...I still like it a lot. Don't know what that says about me...
An interesting side note: Have you noticed that in all good spy books the spies work for M16 (the English Special Operations) or are rebels and work on the "Dark Side" of the law? Why is that? Because they're the most badass, I guess.
Top Ten Songs to Listen To Insistently For Hours On End and Drive Your Family Crazy With (That I Have Heard This Summer):
1. Dragonstone Din Tei, by O-Zone
The best Romanian Pop/Dance song ever made! Mandantory crazy dancing and singing in terrible Romanian accents while listening to this song as loud as the speakers can go.
2. Break Me Out, by The Rescues
3. Dynamite, by Taio Cruz
(DISCLAIMER: I don't actually like this type of music much, or Taio Cruz pretty much at all, but this is one awesome dance song, and also gets stuck in my head for 8 zillion years after I hear it once, so I listen to it all the time right now.)
Ummm....since I have to go buy school supplies and eat dinner (Except not at the same time, though that would be....handy?), this will get finished SOON. And I mean it this time!
I will see you soon! Hope you have some new books on your list now. It's why I do this.
Actually...I do this just because I want to. But that's always an added bonus. :)
DFTBA. (Don't Forget To Be Awesome.)
Top Ten Books to Enter Your Brain As Soon Is Humanly Possible (Ranked in No Way According to Goodness Level) That I Have Read This Summer:
1. Going Bovine, by Libba Bray
HILARIOUS BOOK! Plus sincerely random, and a little bit sad. Also, my favorite part of the book? The Acknowledgments. They sold me on this book. They are the funniest credits I have ever read or heard about, and rival some of the books I've read. Plus, it's 4 pages long. And once you get past that, the book will make you laugh out loud, and maybe even cry a little. I did, for sure. But the mix of ancient Norse myths, smoothie drinking happy cults, Molecular Biology to explain time travel, and garden gnomes is one you just won't get anywhere else. I can promise you that.
2. Mockingjay, by Suzzane Collins
3. Ink Exchange, by Melissa Marr
4. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
5. The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine, by April Lurie
6. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
7. Marked, by PC Cast and Kristin Cast
8. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
9. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, the latest amazing novel co-written by John Green and David Levithan
10. Tithe, by Holly Black
Plus the Alex Rider Series, by Anthony Horowitz, but that's not one book, so it doesn't make the list. You should read it though. Even if it is a little bit made for 14 year old boys...I still like it a lot. Don't know what that says about me...
An interesting side note: Have you noticed that in all good spy books the spies work for M16 (the English Special Operations) or are rebels and work on the "Dark Side" of the law? Why is that? Because they're the most badass, I guess.
Top Ten Songs to Listen To Insistently For Hours On End and Drive Your Family Crazy With (That I Have Heard This Summer):
1. Dragonstone Din Tei, by O-Zone
The best Romanian Pop/Dance song ever made! Mandantory crazy dancing and singing in terrible Romanian accents while listening to this song as loud as the speakers can go.
2. Break Me Out, by The Rescues
3. Dynamite, by Taio Cruz
(DISCLAIMER: I don't actually like this type of music much, or Taio Cruz pretty much at all, but this is one awesome dance song, and also gets stuck in my head for 8 zillion years after I hear it once, so I listen to it all the time right now.)
Ummm....since I have to go buy school supplies and eat dinner (Except not at the same time, though that would be....handy?), this will get finished SOON. And I mean it this time!
I will see you soon! Hope you have some new books on your list now. It's why I do this.
Actually...I do this just because I want to. But that's always an added bonus. :)
DFTBA. (Don't Forget To Be Awesome.)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Classically Epic
Wait...what is this website again? Oh right...my blog! It's been too long, blogosphere, and I apologize profusely for that! But, with 2 and a half days left of school, expect more from me on a slightly more organized manner soon!
What's happened since my last post...well, I turned 16! Which is insanely crazy, in my opinion. The Earth just keeps on spinning, I suppose...
And I've read some really good books since then! It's been a bit of a visit to the classic side of literature for me these last couple of weeks/months/when did I last post on this anyway? My English class is finishing up the year with an emphasis on Utopian/Dystopian literature and themes, so we read the classic novel "Fahrenheit 451", by Ray Bradbury.
I have to say, I was skeptical going into this unit. I've read 4 or 5 short stories by Bradbury, and I didn't like a single one. They were creepy, and weird, and I didn't really care for his writing style. But" Fahrenheit 451" blew me away! I haven't read many novels in highschool English classes that I've actually liked, which added to my aprehension. But this novel was exciting, thought-provoking, and interesting! It was also really well written, with a metaphorical prose like feel, and really had an interesting critique on US society! It was a little creepy, but it only added to the atmosphere and critique, without making me throw it across the room like other (*ahem*lord of the flies*ahem*) books we read this year did. You should definitely read it!
Oh, yah, summary. I do those, don't I? Well, it will have to wait, as will the other book I'm going to recommend from my English class. Finals Studying calls... 2 and half more days, and then I promise I'll be back!
To leave, here's a picture I found today, which I think is pretty cool:
Have a good 2 and a half days!
What's happened since my last post...well, I turned 16! Which is insanely crazy, in my opinion. The Earth just keeps on spinning, I suppose...
And I've read some really good books since then! It's been a bit of a visit to the classic side of literature for me these last couple of weeks/months/when did I last post on this anyway? My English class is finishing up the year with an emphasis on Utopian/Dystopian literature and themes, so we read the classic novel "Fahrenheit 451", by Ray Bradbury.
I have to say, I was skeptical going into this unit. I've read 4 or 5 short stories by Bradbury, and I didn't like a single one. They were creepy, and weird, and I didn't really care for his writing style. But" Fahrenheit 451" blew me away! I haven't read many novels in highschool English classes that I've actually liked, which added to my aprehension. But this novel was exciting, thought-provoking, and interesting! It was also really well written, with a metaphorical prose like feel, and really had an interesting critique on US society! It was a little creepy, but it only added to the atmosphere and critique, without making me throw it across the room like other (*ahem*lord of the flies*ahem*) books we read this year did. You should definitely read it!
Oh, yah, summary. I do those, don't I? Well, it will have to wait, as will the other book I'm going to recommend from my English class. Finals Studying calls... 2 and half more days, and then I promise I'll be back!
To leave, here's a picture I found today, which I think is pretty cool:
Have a good 2 and a half days!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Poems, Some Rambling...What Else Is New?
Once again (this is becoming a bad habit) I have neglected the blogging world. Bad, bad me. And I am about to do it again, when I really don't write anything of importance in this post. Only to say I shall be back! And soon!
And to post this, a sonnet I wrote for English class. (Atleast I got one positive thing out of the 7 thousand years of homework I've been doing, right?) We had to write it about an object that gave us strong emotion. I wrote mine about my hate-love relationship with my violin. Maybe i should have written it about my hate-love relationship with iambic pentameter instead... anyway, for your potential reading pleasure, here you go:
Hate, Love, Sore Fingers, and Soul
The wooden box inside the wooden box,
Has yet to show the music that it makes.
The notes inside my head are not unlocked,
My confidence, though not begun, still breaks.
The notes, the page, they swim before my eyes,
But still the bow presses onto the string.
The melodies, the harmonies, subside,
Yet I still play, head set on finishing.
I hold my breath, release into the sound,
And now I know the reason that I try.
To know myself, relax in what I’ve found,
Now this is music as my fingers fly.
It’s hate, and love, and sore fingers, and soul,
Emotions bend, break under my violin bow.
So that's the sonnet.
Something potentially of note, that I didn't mention before....
I performed at our school's Coffee House on Friday night. It was really really fun...i did two covers: Halleluah, by Leonard Cohen, and I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends, by the Beatles (the best band ever, of course) and then one original song I wrote, called Crooked Valentine. Maybe I will post it here someday.
Until that day, my blogging friends, farewell. I am off to battle the evil monster of homework, and this time, I shall win.
And to post this, a sonnet I wrote for English class. (Atleast I got one positive thing out of the 7 thousand years of homework I've been doing, right?) We had to write it about an object that gave us strong emotion. I wrote mine about my hate-love relationship with my violin. Maybe i should have written it about my hate-love relationship with iambic pentameter instead... anyway, for your potential reading pleasure, here you go:
Hate, Love, Sore Fingers, and Soul
The wooden box inside the wooden box,
Has yet to show the music that it makes.
The notes inside my head are not unlocked,
My confidence, though not begun, still breaks.
The notes, the page, they swim before my eyes,
But still the bow presses onto the string.
The melodies, the harmonies, subside,
Yet I still play, head set on finishing.
I hold my breath, release into the sound,
And now I know the reason that I try.
To know myself, relax in what I’ve found,
Now this is music as my fingers fly.
It’s hate, and love, and sore fingers, and soul,
Emotions bend, break under my violin bow.
So that's the sonnet.
Something potentially of note, that I didn't mention before....
I performed at our school's Coffee House on Friday night. It was really really fun...i did two covers: Halleluah, by Leonard Cohen, and I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends, by the Beatles (the best band ever, of course) and then one original song I wrote, called Crooked Valentine. Maybe I will post it here someday.
Until that day, my blogging friends, farewell. I am off to battle the evil monster of homework, and this time, I shall win.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Back With Books
Hello...sorry that I have been absent for such a long time from the blogosphere! Holidays, and homework, and finals coming up means my life is homework, sleeping (not enough of this), and running around trying to do either of the two. But I did get some AMAZING books this year (or should I say last year? Ack...brain doesn't like time), so here are a few you should definetly read, atleast twice.
Paper Towns, by John Green:
If you haven't read anything by John Green, you are missing out! Looking For Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines are amazing books. So is Paper Towns, which I don't actually own, to my sorrow, but borrowed from my next door neighbor (Thanks Shannon!) who got it for Christmas. It follows the senior year of Quentin Jacobsen, your completely average nerdy gamer who spends a lot of time hanging around the band room, even though he's not actually in the band, and his hopeless love for his neighbor Margo Roth Spielman. His life changes one night when, a month or two before the end of the year, Margo climbs into his window dressed as a ninja, and they rampage the town in a deadly plan of revenge. His life changes even more when she doesn't come to school the next day, or the next, or the one after that...and she's reported missing. And, as if it couldn't get any more exciting, Quentin discovers clues Margo has left to help him discover where she is, and why she's hiding. But, as he goes deeper and deeper into Margo's disapearence, he begins to wonder whether or not she really ever wants to be found, and if she's really the girl he fell in love with. Culminating in an across the state road trip of epic proportions, this book made me smile, laugh, roll around on my bed, and glue my eyes to the pages. It is written so well...I actually wrote a song about it afterwards. Who knows, maybe I'll post that on here someday. But you should read Paper Towns...it's deep thought disguised in a graduation gown of hilarity.
With that awesome metaphor, I have to leave. Expect more books later. Dun, dun, dun.....
Paper Towns, by John Green:
If you haven't read anything by John Green, you are missing out! Looking For Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines are amazing books. So is Paper Towns, which I don't actually own, to my sorrow, but borrowed from my next door neighbor (Thanks Shannon!) who got it for Christmas. It follows the senior year of Quentin Jacobsen, your completely average nerdy gamer who spends a lot of time hanging around the band room, even though he's not actually in the band, and his hopeless love for his neighbor Margo Roth Spielman. His life changes one night when, a month or two before the end of the year, Margo climbs into his window dressed as a ninja, and they rampage the town in a deadly plan of revenge. His life changes even more when she doesn't come to school the next day, or the next, or the one after that...and she's reported missing. And, as if it couldn't get any more exciting, Quentin discovers clues Margo has left to help him discover where she is, and why she's hiding. But, as he goes deeper and deeper into Margo's disapearence, he begins to wonder whether or not she really ever wants to be found, and if she's really the girl he fell in love with. Culminating in an across the state road trip of epic proportions, this book made me smile, laugh, roll around on my bed, and glue my eyes to the pages. It is written so well...I actually wrote a song about it afterwards. Who knows, maybe I'll post that on here someday. But you should read Paper Towns...it's deep thought disguised in a graduation gown of hilarity.
With that awesome metaphor, I have to leave. Expect more books later. Dun, dun, dun.....
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