So, yea.... What to say about A Million Penguins. I think that this idea in itself was a good one. Think about it. What I believe happened was that people weren't given rule and guidelines. Something so new, especially on such a grand scale, need to have rule in order to create some form of unity and coherence.
I mean seriously, trudging through that ridiculous debacle was painstaking. Some of the writing wasn't half bad but couldn't bring myself to care enough to ignore the rest. Again, imagine if penguin had laid out a series of rules to govern the event. For example: 1) all third person limited omniscient 2) List of characters that must play roles throughout the course of the work 3) Even if you disagree with the previous writer, try to follow the mood... at least until an appropriate point.
Maybe I have no idea what I am talking about but I think structure and unity would make this into something truly interesting. Will it be a work of William Faulkner or James Joyce? Probably not. But it will be a work that might one day be studied in an English class, just like its horribly deformed Predecessor.
I got a blackberry for graduation and at the time thought it was the best thing ever. I could get e-mails, go on facebook and everything was great. The first time i broke my phone it was kind of my fault. I was at the beach sleeping on a towel when the tide came up. As you can imagine, i got soaking wet and so did my phone. It was really frustrating at the time but not as frustrating as the process i had to go through to get my new one.
The Verizon store is probably my worst nightmare. You wait online for an hour or more to talk to someone, and when it is finally your turn, they tell you that you need to mail in your phone which is not in stock and you wont get your new one for 5-8 business days...AND they cannot transfer your contacts.
While at school my phone has turned off on my twice and has refused to turn back on for 2 days until it finally decides that it will. Wow, thank you so much for making me insane for two days and then just DECIDE to turn back on. This time, the third time, it decided to turn off and has not turned back on for over a week. So basically, i need a new phone and i could not be happier. I have come to despise my blackberry. The thing i loved so much at one point has become my greatest enemy. The first thing i do when i get home for thanksgiving is buy a new phone that is the least complicated one in the store.
Dakota...awful. Nukorea...awful. I really did not enjoy either of them and just sat and prayed for it to be over. They both lasted too long so I never thought my prayers would be answered.
For Dakota, I do not like the fact that I couldn't read what was being shown to me. What is the point of writing something if no one can read it? I understand that he wanted to show the chaos of what was going on, but it was just frustrating that I could'nt fully understand the entire story.
For Nukorea, the details were a little much for me. Actually, they were probably the only thing that did interest me out of the whole thing. The point i was paying the most attention to was when he was describing the maggots and rats on the dead bodies. Another thing I didn't like about this was how he continuously used transition words to start way too many sentences. It seemed like he had never taken an English class before even though he obviously has experience in the subject. The idea was interesting but it is kind of scary to think that this could possibly happen. The whole thing was also wayyyyyyyyy too long.
One of the funny things is that I think that the music should have been switched for the two pieces. For the first one, i was more interested in the story but couldn't read it because the music was too fast and it was following the music. For the second one, the music was slow and there are a lot of things i wish i didn't read. If the music was reversed i think i would have liked them both at least a little bit more...
I'm not really an athletic person. Nor am I a slave to the gym and working out. In 18 years, I obviously haven't had any major issues, so I don't really feel the need to start changing that. However, I do exercise occasionally and feel better about myself by getting out and doing something somewhat physical. I used to play soccer, and I like to play tennis and ski.
I thought about joining a team/intramural sport here, but it didn't end up happening. Too much of a time commitment and not enough skill :) So I looked around the Campus Recreation website and found that the University offered various fitness classes. There was a weird type of yoga, self-defense (which I seriously considered), a few others, and then I stumbled across belly dancing. This was one of those things where I always thought it was cool, never had any exposure at all to it. So for $40 I decided why not-I'll give it a shot.
The class met for six weeks, and there were 10 or 12 of us in the class, depending on the day. Our instructor was really chill - she was very much into the dancing, how it's an art form, and very pro-female empowerment/getting in touch with yourself. It was really cool actually. We learned really basic moves like belly rolls, shimmies, and hip drops, and put together two different choreographies to help learn the moves. One day, the instructor brought in veils and belts that jingled so we got to play around with those. I really enjoyed the class and loved getting out once a week and doing something fun and stress free.
Here are a few videos of belly dancing courtesy of youtube. Generally, belly dancing is a solo dance for a woman...
...but men can do it as well...Personally I think the women are more impressive than the men...
for the record, I along with everyone else in my class, don't even come CLOSE to these people :)
I found this on another blog and thought it pretty interesting. This being the case, I am going to summarize what going on with Burger King Wallets. So it turns out that those cheesy, no pun intended, Burger King commercials where the King gives people money is becoming reality. Reportedly, Burger King decided to drop 5,000 wallets with, get this, between $1 and $100 dollars of actual cash and gift certificates for Burger King in them. Along with the nice surprise is a driver's license for the king, and note indicating what the wallet is, and a map to Chicago or Orlando's Burger Kings.
Although at this point only reports suggest that they will be dropped in major Urban area of Chicago, they could be headed this way. So next time you are a hungering for a burger, just look at your feet, and maybe, just maybe, you will find that magical burger wallet to guide your hunger.
So there are a fair share of science fiction movies, books, etc that depict a future where organs can be "manufactured" simply, inexpensively, and reliably. Think about all those patients that wait for years in an organ donor line, often succumbing to the failing organ before they ever get the transplant. But even if they are among the lucky ones that get the organ, they have to take heavy medications for a long period of time to subdue their immune system from killing the new resident.
But it seems that science and technology continue to trace our imaginations. It seems that Claudia Castillo, a mother of two, has undergone the first transplant of a synthetic organ created from her stem cells (attained from her bone marrow.)It was a team of British scientists that one the global race to create the worlds first organ from adult stems cells. This time, the organ was Castillo's windpipe and the surgery seems to be a brilliant success.
Are we approaching a future of endless possibilities? Where new organs can be created and implanted based of your own stem cells? It seems to good to be true, but in tomorrow's yesterday it seems that it is happening.
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So, the other day I stumbled upon Time's top 50 inventions for 2008. Like all things, some weren't all great, in my opinion, while others were simply fascinating. Take for instance a camera for the blind. That's right. A specially designed camera is held to the forehead of a blind person. After the picture is taken, a brail representation is created on the backside of the camera. Seriously.
Another fascinating invention was a Bionic lens. It works just like a normal contact but with one huge difference. Using LEDs that are powered by solar cell and radio frequencies, lol yeah all this stuff being beamed into your eye, the contacts can display information like maps, pictures, etc in the wearers view of vision. In other words, data and such will appear to be floating in front of you. It'll be like your very own video game.
Finally, one other invention that both mesmerizes and invokes fear is the synthetic organism. J. Craig Venter, who helped map the human genome, spliced together man made compounds to create a genetic organism. Although it was one of the smallest genomes known to man, it is still an amazing feat, with about 582,000 pairs needed to be spliced. Although the organism has not been proven to be alive yet, Venter believes it will be by the end of next year. 
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This was such a cool idea for a way to tell a story. First of all, Google Earth is probably one of the coolest things that has ever been thought up. It's so easy to use, unlike Mapquest, which just sucks. I love the fact that it gives you actual satellite images of the place that you're looking up.
Using Googe Earth in this story added a whole new level of interacting with the story. Instead of having to visualize all of the places that the guy (sorry forgot his name) went to, you could see it mapped out on the screen. The red and blue lines that showed him moving and where he was going really helped me to see what was going on, instead of just reading about it. I tend to get confused when I read about places and distances, so actually seeing him riding around London in a taxi, or flying on a plane to Edinburgh was quite helpful.
It reminded me of a few different books I've read and movies that I've seen where the main character has no idea what is going on, but he/she has to do these various things. Sounds kind of vague, but I really like stories with this type of plotline-action, suspense and a little bit of mystery. Reminds me of James Paterson/John Grisham/Dan Brown....
I really enjoyed watching Craziest. I think it might have been my favorite thing we have watched in class all year. I like things that are funny and I was laughing throughout this entire video. It was extremely clever and smart, and i almost didn't want it ot end because I was so entertained by it.
It kind of reminded me of a documentary i watched one time called Wordplay. It was about crossword puzzle fanatics who do competitions and basically live for crossword puzzles. It was hilarious at time when it wasn't even supposed to be just because of how crazy the people were. This video definitely reminded me of that. I also saw another documentary about kids who enter spelling bees. These kids let spelling and studying take over their lives, kind of like how the woman in the video let scrabble take over her life. Fanatics can be kind of scary and that definitely came through in Craziest.
When i came to school my roommate introduced me to a show called "Flight of the Conchords". I had heard of it before but i never had any interest in watching it. Now i can't get enough of it. It's actually one of the funniest things i have ever seen. If you have never seen it, it is basically about two guys from New Zealand living in NY because they are trying to become famous as a band. During the show they will randomly break into song. This one is one of my favorites...
but this one is actually probably my all time favorite
Basically this is the first thing my roommate and i every did together. We went in our lofted beds and watched flight of the conchords. We were basically crying with laughter the whole time so it was a good ice breaker and now i am officially addicted.
Thank GOD that I get to go home for Thanksgiving break this Friday. My mom is coming at 2 and then my roommate and I are peacin' out! Everyone I talk to is so excited to be going home for Thanksgiving. Maybe it's because we're all sick of campus food, which isn't all bad, or sick of our roommates, or just want to be home to see friends and family. Whatever the reason, it's very exciting. I know that I have little to no attention span to do anything lately...all I want to do is be home for a week. I miss my friends from home and I can't wait to see them all. There's going to be some big get-together, but I have no idea what (pretty typical for my friends).
Plus it doesn't help that this is really the first break we've all gotten since classes have started...I suppose it's a trade off. No Columbus Day off for a longer Thanksgiving break.
As far as food goes, what's not to love? Turkey, stuffing (my personal favorite), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, apple pie...I'm sure everyone has their own family specialties. What is kind of cool about mine is that for the past few years we haven't done a traditional turkey. Instead we've done different turkey recipes. For instance, last year my dad made turkey breasts wrapped in prosciutto...it was soooo good. I really like that we do something that's a little bit different from everyone else.
Anyone else have unique little family traditions around Thanksgiving?
I absolutely LOVE the TV show Scrubs. I really don't get into TV shows and follow them religiously, usually because I forget about them, I'm busy, or they're on at a weird time. So when my friend sent me the link to all of the seasons of Scrubs that I could watch online, I was pumped!
Within the last couple months, I've been watching episodes and I love it. I think it's better than other medical shows on TV because it's more relatable, because most of us don't understand some of the crap that happens on House or Grey's Anatomy unless we're in advanced med. classes. And I don't know about you, but that's definitely not a class that I'm in...anyways, Scrubs combines humor and a little bit of drama without it being too heavy. You get to know the characters so when something happens to them, you feel more involved. There are heart-wrenching moments as well, just like any TV series, but the way it's done makes it unique.
So if you don't watch Scrubs, I highly recommend it. Elliot is one of my favorites---she reminds me a little bit of myself. Here's a funny clip/series of clips about Elliot. She can't say the words for penis or vagina so she makes up her own...
If you haven't heard of Jeff Dunham you're missing out. He's a comedian who is also a ventriliquist. I know, it sounds kind of creepy right...kind of like mimes and sketchy clowns? But I promise you it isn't. At first I thought the same thing because He uses 4-6 different puppets during his various acts and does his stand-up. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.
The first time I saw Jeff Dunham perform his act, I was at my boyfriend's house, and we were watching it with his parents (this was a long time ago). Now, keep in mind, even though I've been with my boyfriend for almost three years now, and I've obviously met his parents, there's still that kind of weird/awkwardness sometimes. In retrospect, watching it all together was actually a great way to just chill out and not really worry about anything. The four of us sat on the couch for 2 hours (or however long the act was including commercials on Comedy Central) and laughed our asses off :)
SOOO....here's a few clips that I really like. My favorites are....
Walter, the senile old man....
...and Peanut, who is this weird little Muppet thing...
He's on Comedy Central a lot, and I heard that he just did a new show...it might've been a Christmas special?
Enjoy!
The only funny story I have about detention is that at one of my old high schools, the contest between students was to see who could snag a blank detention slip, write some obscure/comic name on it, and have it read on the afternoon announcements like all the other no-good-detention-loving-students. Among the top names read out were as follows: Chris Cross, Lando Calrisian, Peter Griffin, Rick James, Robert Shakes, Jackson Hoff, and Mark Hamill.
But in college, who gives a fuck. No detention, no stupid write your name on the chalk board repeatedly, seriously did anyone do that? But I found these two detention rather funny.
I post this video because I like the message. I won't try to persuade you, just watch it and think for yourself.
I don't know what to think of the economy. I am told it is bad. I hear it in the news, in conversations, in jokes. Companies like AIG begin crawling to the government asking for tax payer bailouts. What am I supposed to think?
I know this isn't a quick fix, one way or another. I am pretty optimistic about the future, especially with President Elect Barack Obama at the helm. But what can I do to help the economy? I don't pay taxes, you can hardly call what I do work, and I sit on my ass typing for a blog that very few people will ever read.
I feel like there must be something that me, a small group, or even the nation can do to fix this. What I have been told is to spend. To spend money, and lots of it. Imagine what would happen if everyone went out tomorrow and spent $500 dollars from their savings. That's simple math. 300 million (abo) * $500 = $150 billion (I hope I got the decimal places right) pumped into the economy. That's gotta do something, right?
But how do you convince a nation to spend their savings when the future looks so bleak? Is it even possible? I for one won't stop spending my money because I don't think saving is always the answer. Saving is like watching the weather during a Hurricane. You prepare your house, your valuables, etc. in order to weather the storm and continue after less affected. But then again, that is all based on the assumption that your home, your valuables, or even your life will be there afterwords. In other words, if people continue to save money, without spending, the economy will become stale and eventually shrivel up. Right?
Anyways, what I am getting at is the question, what should we do?
So for Halloween every year, girls find an opportunity to have an excuse to wear costumes that are extremely slutty without being judged by other people. I mean its normal right? Girls dress like sluts on halloween. But i beg to differ. Im not really into the whole typical slutty nurse, slutty cop, slutty cat? costume and instead like to think of the funniest thing i could be while still looking somewhat good. I have included a few examples.
I know this is super super late but since we havent had class i TOTALLY forgot that blogging even existed so im going to make up for it for posting some great stuff. Maybe... haha
But about "The Lucky Ones"... I thought this thing was really awesome but it would probably have been more awesome if it had at least SOMETHING to do with Mercury cars? Which was its purpose? But i guess thats beside the point. The title in general is rather ironic considering these people seem to be extremely unlucky. For the most part they are either unhappy, lonely, or dead. I do like things that are not just fluff and light hearted though so i found these videos to be very entertaining.
Something that i didnt like though was the interactive things you could click before the videos. I thought they were kind of annoying and pointless considering you basically found out all the information they gave you in the video. I think that maybe if they got rid of the interactive part and made the videos longer it would have been better. Overall i though that watching these videos was very entertaining and i even felt connected to some of the people in the videos...but maybe next time Mercury will choose a more effective marketing strategy...
Thank God, after a week of feeling like crap and not doing much more than being a lump of blankets in my bed, I'm back to normal and feeling better...prednisone is great stuff. I will say though it was somewhat good timing because I didn't miss either of the English classes, and didn't miss anything in my other classes too. So hopefully I won't get sick again for a while...(knock on the wood-like substance of my desk).
I remembered that we have our advising meetings for picking out classes and that mine is this Thursday so I've been trying to pick out my classes for next semester. As of right now, I have a math class (17 or 19) and Geology w/ a lab. After that, I have a few other classes that I'm deciding between to take for my Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences requirements. I think by the end of this year, I'm going to have all my requirements fulfilled for my B.A. and then I can focus on my major/minor classes. Which I'm changing. Or at least that I'm working on changing - kinda hard to explain, but I'm excited about it. I can't believe that I'm picking out classes for second semester already and that Thanksgiving is only 2ish weeks away...time has flown by. Anyone else feel like that?
Also....anyone else have any idea what they're doing for our English project? Suggestions?
Here are some videos and articles you should really check out:
Humor: (videos)
1) What to say after you shoot a bad guy.
2) How Classic video games came to be.
3) Greatest Medication Side Effect Ever!
Science: (videos & articles)
1) Jurassic Park, here we come! (article)
2) Bleed-no-more internal wound fixer-upper. (article)
3) Did you catch CNN's Hologram during the election? Me either.
(video) Additionally, check out this other video if your interested in the above.
4) 'Deflector' shields could protect future astronauts. What's that Spock? (article)
5) A fungus. First penicillin, now fuel? (article)
6)Ghost in the Machine? Physicists May Have Detected a New Particle at Fermilab (article)
7) Protect those keys from key-jackers? What, now? (article)
8) Finally, the end. Don't stretch like a noob, its bad for you after all.
So, are you a lucky one? Upon watching/exploring Mercury's "Meet the Lucky Ones," I was one part confused, one part entertained, and one part left thinking what possible connection this video had to do with cars. I mean seriously? I could see this being some kind of viral video for lawnmowers, the lotto, even a pet store. But cars?
I figured I would Google the marketing ploy and find out what was the deal. According to media.ford.com, after the first two weeks of the five week program, Mercury's website had seen over "825,000 unique visitors." That is a lot of people, in a short period of time. With these record numbers, as many as 64,000 of these visitors went on to look a the Mercury Mariner (the car Sharon was given.)
What I Liked:
I enjoyed how all the stories, more or less, were interconnected. In order to appreciate the work, it needed to be viewed in it's entirety.
What I Disliked:
I disliked the info you could click on in the background. I found it a waste of time because 85% of all the info was provided in the video.
What does this drawing mean to you? What does it depict? If I asked who would draw something like this, what would you say? If you asked me, I would say it was a zombie some little kid drew for Halloween. Well, this is actually half right. The artist, Jordan Hood, is a fifth-grader at Pooler Elementary School. Jordan's vampire, looked like a zombie to me lol, was part of an assignment. That assignment was to draw a scary Halloween mask in art class. After the art teacher helped Jordan with some finishing touches, off he went to other classes.
So what the catch? When little Jordan got to his home room class, his teacher, Melissa Pevey, was so disturbed by the picture she found it necessary to to involve the vice principal, Valerie Johnson, and the campus police. Wait, it gets even better. Pevey argued that the blood tears and the phrase, "I Kill For Blood" were indicative of the L.A. gang known as the Bloods. WAIT, WHAT?! Jordan was taken out of school and required to take psychological testing before he could return to school.
So, at the end of the day, Jordan returned back to school after the evaluation found him in good psychological health. Seriously, sometimes I doubt the competence of some of our species. It's a child, at Halloween, given an assignment to create a scary mask, in art class. Lay of the horror movies, lady.
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What we look like trying to do our English homework