I must say that Dan Brown is one of my favorite authors...a little predictable after reading all four of his books, but I still very much enjoyed them..Angels and Demons was definitely my favorite (partially because it was the first one I read?)...so I got extremely excited when I was looking around the internet today and saw that the Angels and Demons movie is coming out in May 2009 - SO PUMPED!!!

Here's the trailer:

Halloween always seemed like a weird holiday...people dress up in weird costumes and walk around begging for candy, with the intent of scaring people or wanting to be scared. Personally, I hate being scared, and the whole horror genre. So I decided to look into it a little more, because I really don't have a clue about the actual origins of Halloween and it's traditions. HistoryChannel.com is wonderful! If you're interested in superstitions, Halloween around the world, or the origins of Halloween, definitely check it out!

On a side note that I just remembered...

My brother is a junior in high school, so he doesn't go out trick-or-treating anymore. Instead, he decides to dress up in morbid costumes and scares people who come to our house. In front of my house there are a lot of thick bushes and when it's dark, they're kinda creepy because a person could definitely hide in one (speaking from experience getting home late...). Last year he found this hideous mask with long scraggly hair, put on a leather jacket that is similar to Ghostrider, and went crazy...he actually chased people down the street. But for the record they were people he knew :) This year he decided to dress up like a deranged clown, which my mom was NOT thrilled about because she hates clowns. Tonight is trick-or-treat night for my hometown, so I really want to hear how his dressing up/scaring people adventure goes this year...supposedly he was going to take the chain off my dad's chainsaw....maybe it's a good thing I'm not there!

I realized that I am a little behind on my blogging...I forgot about it and then something was mentioned the other day in class about this week's blog post, and I suddenly remembered. I don't know why I keep forgetting about blogging-maybe because it's online and not an actual paper assignment, but that really doesn't make sense because I use Blackboard for three other classes...or maybe it's because I feel weird blogging, like I'm just being fake and just coming up with weird stuff to talk about... whatever-Here is my entry on Understanding from 26 Lies/1 Truth.

The two entries entitled Understanding are both pictures. The first is a close up of a pair of eyes. The eyes look tired, sad, and empty, as if there is something missing. The second picture is (I'm assuming) of Ben Peek lying in a bed looking at an empty side of the bed. The bed looks like it has an imprint of a person who was lying there. Ben's facial expression looks the same in the second picture as it does in the first picture, like the first is a close up of the second.

I think that close ups are a good way to emphasize something. The close of of his eyes really show the pain and sadness that Peek is going through. I mean seriously...his significant other (Geraldine at the time right?) just died with his unborn child in a car accident that HE survived. That is some serious stuff to be dealing with, no matter who you are or what you've been through. Eyes are one of those things where you can really see what a person is feeling or thinking or what mood they're in. Which is why this close up is important. You can bulls*** your way through a book, and pretend like you're fine and nothing is wrong, but you can't bulls*** your eyes.

Ben Peek's entries are all pretty personal but the personal diary entries have that little extra personal touch. When we were asked to re-read JUST the personal diary entries i didnt think it would make that big of a difference as opposed to when we read them along with the story, but i was mistaken ( i guess we should never second guess our professors). We actually found out a lot of things by reading them all in order, for instance that Ben got his book deal the same day that he crashed the car and G died. We also were able to really see into how he was feeling and how he was dealing with the guilt. I cant really imagine how he felt but the diary entries definitely let us into how he was feeling. One that stuck out to me was the one called vindictive. He talks about all these things he was going to say to G through e-mails, calls, messages, but obviously cant do any of that since she is dead. It;s just another way people deal with guilt and stress. Sometimes if you write things out its a way to get it all out of your system and thats kind of what i think he was doing in this entry.

I really love youtube and all the great things it has to offer our world, but lately i've been noticing that more and more kids have been using it. My friends always send me funny videos they find funny and think i would find funny too, and lately they have all been pretty similar. Take this one for example:

Tina enjoys posting herself singing songs ranging from the backstreet boys, to high school musical, to the jonas brothers. Her talent amazes me, really. The notes she hits are incredible.

Then there is this one...


This is a personal favorite, mainly because of the artistic use of the light switch. The light goes on and off right on beat with rihanna herself. Its really a great touch.

If i had youtube as an expressive outlet when i was younger it would have been extremely dangerous. I loved doing stuff like this with my friends and being able to show it to millions of people would have probably not have been a great idea..

So if your blogger routine has gotten dull as of late then just contract your work out. How, you might ask? Well if you speak Japanese it is pretty simple. You see, click here to see the video or read more.

A potted plant at a cafe near Tokyo, Japan is entertaining customers by writing a regular blog about its feelings.

It is the work of a university engineer who has been studying how to communicate with plants.

He devised a sensor which he attached to the plant named "Midori-san" that measures bio-electric signals. These are converted into data by a computer next the plant and then translated into Japanese in the form of a blog.

The plant's latest entry reads: "It was cloudy today. It was a cold day."

What about Halloween? How are you going to navigate the dark scary streets? You probably need a light and a friend. How about both? Scientist's have created the first cat that glows in the dark. Those aren't effects, it is really glowing under black light.

Interested? Creeped out? Want your own light bulb kitty? check out this for more info.

Worried your eye site is failing? Need glasses. Don't fret. This guy has an eye that is 123 years old.

In Final, how about the recently released archived film of the early French preparations to explore on the moon in the 60s. After the government witnessed the catastrophe, the mission was immediately canceled and instead they drank wine to celebrate.

http://view.break.com/584997 - Watch more free videos

So Ben Peek's novel "twenty-six lies/one truth" is a truly different approach at telling a story. In regards to the entries on understanding(the pictures), I feel like Peek is expressing his ability to understand the gravity of the situation. I honestly don't feel that he intentionally tried to harm G.

Seriously, he cared deeply for her. I mean, what else could he have done in a split second. The choice, in my eyes, was not between who the car was going to hit, but which direction to turn the wheel. He uses his guilt to try and make a rational reason for her death. He even admits that he likes the lies because they make it easier.

What would you have done? Personally, I probably would have turned the wheel to the right because I am right handed. But since this is Australia and the wheel is on the opposite side, this would have protected me and not the passenger. This is probably way over analyzing this, but I think it is an interesting point. Why would someone, even if he hated the mother, hurt his unborn child?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'll fully admit to being confused about some parts of 26 Lies/1 Truth. It seems like the more that we discuss the book, the more in depth it gets, and the more confusing it becomes because nothing really seems to connect, or if it does, we can't tell if it is a lie or if it is a truth.

The journal entries seemed to be somewhat straightforward. The first entry talks about how Peek has just heard from the publisher and how she wants him to create a book based off of his blog. The comment about "Don't be afraid - Go Further" caught me off guard a little bit because it could be taken as the publisher giving him no limits on the book, or it could be talking about Peek and his current significant other in an intimate situation. This entry occurs in early March.

The following entries occur in October, and all of them occur on the same day: October 12. These entries talk about how everything has changed. I think they refer to his life after the car accident. You can see the grieving process that Peek goes through: blame, anger, sadness, acceptance, etc. I don't think that there is any more hidden, deep meaning within these entries. I think that they are just suppose to reflect his personal thoughts and what he is going through, which is the purpose of a personal journal.

Many people may, or may not, have heard about the upcoming switch to 100% digital signal for your televisions set. That's right. No longer will those clunky rabbit ears do you any good unless you have a digital converter. So what exactly does all this mean for us?

Not so much right now. On February 17, 2009 all television signals in the United States will go all digital. The implications of this switch are staggering. For example, with 100s of bands of airwaves opening up, companies like Microsoft and Google are fighting tooth and nail in order to secure them for themselves. Why, you ask? Because these waves may prove the future of wifi. Imagine getting internet ten to hundreds of times faster in your home via "outdated" analog. And did I mention all at an amazing cost of free? That's right. Check it here for more info.

So again, what about those of us that aren't tech savy, don't really understand what this means, and likes video clips? Check This out for a better explanation.

Ben Peek's "twenty-six lies/one truth" is a fictional autobiography. When asked what entry I liked best, I honestly could only remember one in any detail. That was the entire chapter on letter c. The beauty of the chapter was the continual use of the word cunt.

It's funny because I would have to say I picked the chapter for two reasons. First, this entry was 10 entries on cunt. Now everyone knows that cunt is seen as a taboo. Using the word in any formal setting would be completely inappropriate, albeit funny. So the use of this word was refreshing. Secondly, it was the only series of entries that I clearly remembered.

The etymology of cunt was probably the best entry of the chapter. It's always interesting to learn about how curse words became the awful, make-Jesus-cry words they are. I honestly disagree however with Peek's assumption that cunt is the worst word in the English language. I contend words like motherfucker or such are much worse. Also, anything that tears apart a person based on racial/physical differences.

So take back the word cunt. Using it to greet your best of friends.

One of my favorite entries in Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth was the entry entitled "Sanctity".

Sanctity is defined as something that is holy or sacred. According to the Church, sex should be saved until after marriage, and pre-marital sex isn't looked kindly upon. Since Peek doesn't hide his dislike of the church, this entry is somewhat of a contrast.

The subject of the entry is sex, more bluntly, the word fuck. He uses the word as a noun, adjective, verb, adverb and probably other parts of speech, and as far as I can tell, it's all used correctly. He goes on the the entry about different things you should not do (according to him) in regards to fucking. For example:

"Don't fuck dead bodies."

"Don't fuck animals."

"Don't fuck with food."

And the list goes on....

"Don't fucking make porn."

"Don't fucking cheat."

My favorite lines from this entry are the at the end: "Don't fuck for revenge. Don't fuck to pass the time. Don't fuck to fuck. Fuck that. Fuck sanctity. Fucking ruins everything."

Through these lines, you can hear Peek's voice and his opinions on the subject. I give him a lot of credit for not taking any crap from anyone about what he thinks and believes. But I have a question to pose to everyone which is up to interpretation. Read the entry. Then look at the last sentence. Does the word fucking refer to the the previous sentence, with the implied meaning "It fucking ruins everything." - OR - Does the word fucking stand on its own as the subject of the sentence?

Alright, so this might look like one of those pamphlets we all got in the mail with these really nice pictures of UVM in the fall that tried to convince us why are lives would be so much better if we chose to go to college at UVM...but since we're all in fact here at UVM for college, that changes things a little bit.

Leaves changing color is one of those quintessential New England characteristics. Natives to N.E. might mock all of the tour buses that can be spotted during this time carrying truck loads of "leaf peepers", but I don't care how long you've lived in New England, seeing the seasons change never gets old, and you secretly love it. Autumn is my favorite season.I love being able to wear warm clothes on cool fall mornings, or putting an extra blanket on my bed. Something about this time of year just feels good to me.

Last weekend, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so my friend Heather and I decided to go on a photo-expedition, taking pictures around campus at sunset. We decided to climb all the way up to the top of the Williams Hall fire escape, and I thought I was going to pee myself. I hate heights and HOLY CRAP! It doesn't look that bad from the ground, but once you get up to the top, you realize that you were seriously mistaken. Not only that, but you can see through the stairs, so you can see all the way down to the bottom, which is freaky as hell.

However the view from the top and the great pictures I took definitely paid off made it worth the climb up. And as soon as I got the pictures I wanted, I bolted back towards firm ground :)

I don't really have a favorite entry, but a favorite chapter...and it may seem strange that this is my favorite chapter considering i am in fact female, but i though it was one of the most hilarious things i've read in a while.

I don't know what Peek's reasoning was to make all ten entries about the same thing, but it definitely caught your attention. Each entry got more absurd and you continued reading. One that was extremely entertaining was the one with the 3rd graders. It reminds me of a time when i was also in third grade, and one of the kids dared another to scream sex as loud as he could in the middle of class. I, being the innocent third grader that i was, had no idea what it meant, but some student found this hilarious. I guess they were more mature than I.



Some girls may find this C word extremely offensive, and like Peek stated, "the baddest and worst word ever". I don't really think of it that way. I mean, im not one to use it, but i wouldnt consider it the worst word in the english language. There are definitely much worse. I would consider racist slurs the worst words one could use. But the C word? Come on. I mean, if someone called me one i would not be that happy but for the most part im alright with it.

by the way, i have no idea how to organize images, but i tried

Here is some prose I composed. Lol. It's a lot more intense than a lot of my posts. But it is still fictional. It is the first page in a long series of pages. Maybe its crap, maybe its not. Tell me what you think if you feel in the mood to read some long ass prose by a peer. Bear (maybe bare? lol) in mind that it is a small excerpt from the work as a whole. It isn't finished. Isn't final. It just Is.

What happens when a family member’s mind is slowly unraveling before your eyes? Do you turn a blind eye to their increasing paranoia?
But then, what if they are your sole support and you are not capable of supporting yourself or living on your own? If they are a parent, as a child, what can you do?

The flicker on the TV lights up the dark, hostile room. The same DVD menu has been playing for hours, quite literally. Its once happy music has now been transformed into a dirge. In part by its constant repetition, but mostly because of the sullen atmosphere of the room. It’s so cold in here. Not just the temperature, but the mood. It permeates the air. With each breath, I feel it stinging and crawling to escape my lungs. But this is just the beginning.

I stare at the outline of a person dear to me, lying on the bed. As I stand there, I don’t have to see her face to know the emotions it harbors. I hear the breath, the one that always proceeds. That‘s when they come. The words. The quick, high paced words full to the brim. They start loud and strong. I am being chastised for something I didn’t do. Something I couldn’t have done. Why, is not important anymore. I don’t even remember why to be quite honest. It the words that haunt my memory. To be scolded. I would welcome it compared with the verbal rampage that is tearing away at my soul.

Some say words don’t matter. But of course, those people are wrong. Words live just as much as you or I. The difference, however, is that they are only casts made from the molds of our emotions. Words given birth during joy, reflect the happiness of our souls. Likewise, words shaped in hatred burn like the sorrow that created it. We give them life, and as a result, they reflect us, even define us. Well, that’s my thoughts anyway.

But in my case, or at least at this particular moment in time, I am struggling to cope with so much hatred. It seeps into my mind. I want it out. It isn’t mine. It is forcing hateful thoughts to escape the darkest recesses of my mind. Leave. I can control what I think. But I can’t. I can’t keep them contained in my head. Verbally, they do not escape. But the hateful sentiments of another is creating words inside of me.

As I stand there in fear and anger, the only thing that keeps those words inside is the knowledge that my mother is not alright. Her mind has been crippled by events of her past. In all honesty, events of our past. The same, albeit not exact, events of our past have left her mind unhinged. Events that are now painful memories, like the divorce, the abuse, the anger, the fights, the lies. I manage not to remember them well.

My father broke her. I have never seen a human soul so utterly crushed by the actions of another. It wasn’t the physical abuse or the manipulation, it was just the action of his willingness to leave. She could have, she would have, endure all if only it would have meant his presence. But that was not fate. As I see the light reflected in her eyes, all I see in them is emotions. The essential fabric, if you will, has been torn form her mind and she is lacking. Its as if she is permanently separated from the results of her actions.

Her actions scare me. She is now describing her death to me. Her suicidal thoughts manifested in those god forsaken words again. As her child, how do I react? How can I react? Hearing the pain in every word, it makes me feel responsible. I know I am not. But how else can I feel. The anger makes me wish that they were true, makes me wish she wasn’t here. How can a human feel that way? I deeply care for her. Those aren’t my words.

If you saw her on the street, you would not point at her. Not for fear she would retaliate, but because at a distance, she still manages to functions in society. She is tall, broad and carries around a few extra pounds in the waist. She keeps her hair short, blond sometimes. But it used to be black. She was always scarier with black hair. Her face is narrow, with small eyes and a pointy pale nose. It’s the kind of face I always associated with authority.

Her rant slowly starts to quiet down. I try to squeeze the words out of my mind the best I can. Don’t misunderstand me, I am thankful for the good that I have. In fact, that is all I can thank for being able to endure this. I allow these pleasant thoughts to whirl and whiz around in my head. Words like love, friendship, relationship, sport, book. Thinks that I find joy in. I like those words, I will keep them.

If you like it shout out. If you don't shout out louder because I have no idea what I am doing when it comes to blog templates. I have spent way to much time on this and my head is going to explode.

P.S. To AKH and Chelsea, if this is horrible just let me know and I can switch it back... or you guys can if you have a better understanding of html or just blogspot for that matter.

P.P.S. Here is Step Child's Lastest Snowboard Flick called "Downloaded" so that this post wasn't a complete waste of space. Checkit and drool for snow.

http://video.stepchildsnowboards.com/embed/small_wide/359/8473/

I absolutely loved Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth. I started reading it early because I didn't think I was going to have time this weekend to finish the reading, so I did it last week instead. I got really into the book and ended up finishing it because I liked it so much. And that is saying a lot seeing as though I haven't finished a required reading book for an English class in a very long time.

Having said that, I thought that it was really cool that Ben Peek turned his blog into a book, almost like a dictionary of his blog. So if you wanted to know what Peek thought about Identity, Sex, or University, you could look it up and see an entry about the topics, or a story that had to do with one of the topics. I loved how you could really hear Ben's voice through the entries and exactly what he thought about each subject. The interspersed dialogue was effective because you got a feel of the interactions that happened between Ben and his friends/family members.

I think that the different format of the book is what kept me interested, because you still got an idea of a story without resorting to a typical story format. Peek kept it interesting by not telling you everything all the time. He left some things up to interpretation. What also kept me interested was how the semi-randomness of all of the posts/subjects all fit together, and they made sense together.

Is there something about the name Alice that is just inherently creepy?! "Slice" was similar to Alice in Wonderland...now this inanimate alice...it's all just weird.

...now that I think about it, I knew a girl in high school named Alice and she was a weirdo...but I digress...

When I read Inanimate Alice, I'll admit I was kind of confused at different points as to what was going on. I felt like I was missing something during multiple sections. I really can't put my finger on what exactly about Inanimate Alice I didn't like. I think the idea is kind of cool but it falls short for me...maybe it was the layout, maybe it was the ambiguity...I don't know. It's not among my favorite readings that we've done. I felt like I was waiting for something to jump out at me, especially in "Hometown" when she was making her way through the labyrinth-esque warehouse. Since I'm not at ALL a fan of horror movies, I didn't particularly like this aspect. I did think it was clever to include a mini-game within the story.

SPEAKING of a labyrinth...

I've decide that the Patrick Gym is like a freakin' maze....not laid out well at all. If any of you have been in the gym, you'll know what I'm talking about. I'm in a fitness class that meets in the Patrick Multipurpose Room, and the first time that I went to the class, it was waaay to complicated just to get to this room. Go down the stairs, follow the hallway, go up another set of stairs, follow the signs to the gym, go through the gym, go up another set of stairs, and finally I got to the room. Same goes for the ice rink. I have pep band practice at the rink. If you go through the back of the gym, near the fitness center, it's easy to get to. But if you go in the front door the directions sound a lot like the directions to get to the multipurpose room. You would think that if so many people are going to be using this facility that they would make the layout much more user-friendly.

If you don't know what I am talking about, then go play
Inanimate Alice Episode 3: Russia. My first impression when I started to play the game version instead of reading, I was like sweet, gameboy Tony Hawk eat this. I thought the stories were pretty cool too.

So what is Alice's last name? Do you know, cause I do. But never mind that, the sickest part of these stories were the blurry dial up speed videos. Seriously though, they were sweet.

I enjoyed the music a lot as well as some of the videos. It also felt like the actually quality of the stories and their creation improved as the episodes progressed. Russia and Hometown(?) were my two favorites. Russia because the story was a lot darker, more sinister. I wanted to know why the situation was like the one presented(and play the same game over and over which I did because I am slow). Hometown was even better because of the labyrinth.


The labyrinth really made me feel more involved in the story. It felt almost like a horror video game. I kinda cheated because I kept pressing "b" to get hints. But its all cool, I made it to the roof and my friends were like wtf mate. But in the end, I just wanted to see that mysterious Alice and her delusion Brad fight a zombie. Is that really too much to ask Alice?

When I first got Firefox, I marveled at the idea of multiple tabs. I know that lots of other browsers now have it, but I never updated to the newer versions. That was until about two years ago. I remember the freedom of having one window up, with two pages loaded. Now my "continual partial attention" could have its fill. At the same time, I promised myself that I would only have about 3-4 tabs max at one given time.

Believe it or not, I actually succeeded at this for about a year. Now you have to understand my reasoning for this. The dorm room adjacent to me my junior year of high school had a kid by the name of Adam Blackwell. Now besides the fact that he had a sleeping disorder in which it was almost impossible for him to be woken up, its true I swear (kids actually broke a chair over his back and he didn't wake up for another hour), he was crazy good with computers. However, whether his lack or sleep or his intelligence were responsible, he had severe add. As such, he would have between 70 to 100 tabs open at any given time.

So now you now where the fear comes from, I have some how slipped into this fate. I now average about 15 tabs and at times I have had as many as 30. I am getting scared of this exponential expansion. I don't know why I leave them all open considering I could always go back to the website.


So what does these picture have to do with anything? It's just one of the things on my 19 tabs rights now. Why? I don't remember, but I know that it is important and I don't want to close the tab until I remember why. Because I am an internet pack rat. But there pretty sweet right? This is another tab. Check it out if your into political comedy. Still need more tabs? Want to waste more time not doing other stuff? Click it to prove your science teacher wrong.

Check out more crazy computers so you can have +1 tab.

Both were definitely my favorite of the 4 "interesting" episodes.  I was a bit confused by the first one but then started to get the hang of it and of what was going on.  Italy was when it started getting interesting for me and I actually felt some sort of emotion from the story.  When Alice fell in the snow I was genuinely worried about what was going to happen to her.  It was kind of weird.  I LOVED the background music.  I dont know why, I just thought it was really cool.

I am finished my project. Yeah! I hope you enjoy. Sorry about the background noise, I recorded the voice over in class. I guess the awkward silence wasn't silent enough. Enjo! (maybe?)


Watch Shred story - Wired Lit in Sports Online  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Here is my final project in all it's glory. I hope you like it!

So I am in class right now and am unsure of what to do. As the silence looms heavily, we are whispering back and forth. I don't want to go first, just as I am sure no one else does either. But I did go, and I was fine cause I put the volume up way loud and everyone else's voice just faded out. Oh well, it was still kind of funny. I had to play all the obscure sounds on iMovie to keep from laughing. But that was stupid, because the "seal bark" and "crowd boo" really made my day.

It really is funny how people respond when not given any directions to follow, only an objective. Take for example our class, we all (minus a few exceptions) had to do our voice overs in class. But we all tweaked our projects patiently in silence terrorized by the idea of other eavesdropping peers chuckling at our already ridiculous voice over. Seriously though, the silence was killing me. I mean, I don't mind silence if it is peaceful, or in meditation, but a classroom of silence without directions just made me want to ruffle my notes repeatedly until some one made a comment.

All and All, I like the project. Is it something that I will send to Steven Spielberg? Absolutely. Not that I will. But Hooray now I have to write a 4-5 page analyzis on it. I hope I am right! Fingers crossed.