A good old-fashioned nerdfighter welcome

Hello everyone!

Let me just begin by saying I have been very busy lately, so I apologize for the post being as late as it is. I'm preparing a senior recital plus starting a new job, so life is crazy.

I haven't actually DONE my positive prank yet, but I have a good reason for this. The plan is, I'm going to wait until it's really late and then I'm going to go over to my neighbors' house and TP their yard. Yeah, TP as in Tootsie Pop. I realize that this is a bit of a cop-out on the creativity front, but please see above excuses.

Along with the Tootsie Pops, I will be including a note, which (essentially copied from John Green's Positive Pranking note) reads as follows:

Hello! Your home has been TP'ed, which--for today, at least--means that it has been Tootsie Popped. These Tootsie Pops are yours for the licking (and/or biting) not as a part of some marketing campaign but because of an initiative called Positive Pranking started by the author Amy Krouse Ronsethal with the help of the nerdfighters, an Internet-based community of people who seek to decrease the overall worldwide level of suck. Please enjoy, and if you're so inclined, start your own positive pranking adventure.

Signed,

  Your friendly neighborhood nerdfighter

P.S. Welcome to the neighborhood. :)

The P.S. is included because the family just moved in, like, last week. Hopefully this will be a positive experience for them, getting TP'ed. Also, hopefully they'll go to bed and turn off their lights soon. I just walked over to the house and the porch light was still on. I seriously can't imagine how terrible it would be if I got caught giving candy to my new neighbors in the middle of the night.

I look forward to the crazy pranks you guys come up with this week! I'm sure you'll be much more creative than I was.

DFTBA,

Emily

This blog brought to you by Annoying Apple Associates and Positive Pranking!

So yesterday I brought my computer to the apple store and they said I won't get it back until Wednesday, soooo I shall be posting this blog through my iPod. It will be short , so if you expect quality..... You probably shouldn't.

Okay, so you know those really annoying fliers people put on your mailbox advertising things like Gardening Services or restaurants???well this is the source of my Positive Pranking idea. Even though it isn't really a prank..... Yesterday I gathered my best friend Jason who lives down the street and we went online and found a ton of really nice inspiring quotes (ex: "It doesn't matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. - Confucius") wrote them down in notebooks, and then went outside, Copied them onto post-its, and put them on every mail-box in our neighborhood.

It hadn't really occurred to me to take pictures (fail on my part. Sorry!!).. But doing this whole Positive Pranking thing reminded me of two quotes that I came across while searching.

"I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do" - Helen Keller

"The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love" - William Wordsworth

And with these I leave you.
I can't wait to see what the rest of you do this week, maybe if we ever have a "re-do your favorite theme" theme I can do this one again and do it right.

DFTBA
-Chuck

It's been too long!

Happy Sunday!

This is most likely going to be rushed, because I have to go to church and then I have to go do my positive pranking for tomorrow's post (which is the theme by the way. I'm SO excited for it, although I'm still not 100% sure as to what I'm going to do yet) and then I have to go to the apple store because my laptop screen keeps turning blue for some reason.. and then tonight I'm going to a Cotillion (it's like a ball...). Therefore this will be written while I'm getting dressed / eating breakfast.

I think I'm going to use this "do whatever" week to talk about my fellow bloggers.

Emily:

You're a cellist! I love the cello.. when I was in fourth grade and the music teacher came into all of the classrooms to ask all of the kids if we wanted to play an instrument I said that I wanted to play the cello, but because I couldn't bring a cello on the bus I was told that I'd have to pick the viola or the violin. It was a sad day.

You've made the blog what it is. Which is a pretty flippin' fantastic blog, and even though you are vehement about punishing me I still think you're an extremely cool person and I'm proud to call you my friend. ;)

Caitlin:

You've lived basically everywhere that a person could ever want to go. I honestly think that is so cool. Your posts are always really funny and fantastic. In the beginning of the blog you would always had these really cool pictures ...

(ex: )

I kind of miss those. You should definitely start posting them again.

Kim:

You brought us all together. This whole blog is your brainchild, and I think everyone who is a part of it is really grateful for that. I mean we've been doing this for going on 3 months and it's really been fantastic. So thank you very very very much for having this wonderful idea. I can say with absolute certainty that I'm really glad I came across your thread on the ning because I got to meet 5 (6 including Colin) really awesome people because of it.

Sim:

Your name rhymes with Kim! And you guys post back to back. Which is basically awesome. Emily found you, and I asked you 5 questions. And you answered them all perfectly. I don't even know if I ever told you that, but when I was reading your answers I was like "woah... you're basically awesome."

Toms:

Okay so how awesome would it have been if Toms was Tim? I mean seriously.. that would have been pretty cool. But anyway, your first post was probably the funniest post ever on The League. Ever. It was really great. I read your post from yesterday and you are extremely smart too, but then again everyone in the league is pretty smart. I hope you have fun at home this week!

And that's it. I can't wait to post again tomorrow!

DFTBA

-Chuck

A Saturday back home!

Hey everyone, happy Saturday everyone! Not that it's a special day or anything...
But anyway, I'm home! I arrived back in Latvia just this morning, so I'm also kinda tired... But I'm really happy seeing as I've got a week long holiday until school starts again. Oh well, at least I get to see my little brother, who is absolutely adorable!

But anyway, seeing as it is the random day today, I will be speaking about two rather important things to me, which some people might think its a bit odd, but I'm not really bothered.

Those two things would be the power of open-source, aka, Ubuntu; And the other thing would be the importance of the indie community, be it music or be it gaming.

I will start with Ubuntu. For those of you who do not know, Ubuntu is the most popular computer OS based on Linux, with about 12 million users! It may not seem much in comparison to Windows, or even Mac, but seeing as it's an open source platform for 'nerds' like you and I, it's quite impressive seeing that there is at least 12 million of us.

I guess when you think about it, it kind of fits in with its GUI (Graphical User Interface) name, which is Unity. From my point of view, I think it's about the fact that it is being constantly being fixed and improved by the community, so it's not only doing what you like, but you are also helping everyone else who use this platform.
Now I will be honest with you, Ubuntu can be a complete pain sometimes. While its interface seems really simple, (and it is, if you want to just browse the web...) it can actually make you go mad with the amount of errors and crashes you get. Often it won't be because of the crappiness of the system, but rather because of the amount of experimenting on it. You also have to be able to give some of your free time to learn at least the basic commands for the terminal, and the shortcut ctrl+alt+t will become your best friend, seeing as it brings up the terminal...

But you may ask why is this important? Because open-source isn't only related to Ubuntu and OS's... It also realted to most software written for Linux/Ubuntu. There are many more reasons, for one, due to the nature of open-source, a product can never be discontinued, since if there would be the need, the community would pick it up.

It also better in the terms that since it's free, it has no actual dead-lines to follow, so the developers are urged to take time and iron out any problems.

So now you can see why an open-source environment is a good place to grow...

Now my other topic is the indie community. There are many forms it takes, mainly different forms of media, like Games, Music and Film.

The thing with indie, is that this is the community that drives the development of the said media forward, because its exactly indie games that innovate and bring in new things ideas and possibilities. A perfect model of this would be the Call of Duty franchise; You don't really see it doing much new, do you? I mean, yes, one small thing or two, like new perks or a new mode in multiplayer, but generally, it has a structure that has proven to earn them lots of money, so they follow the structure being afraid of losing money. Now indie on the other hand, money for them often is only needed to launch the business, but the projects will be made out of love and the willingness to try new things. A great example of this would be Minecraft, which is only the most popular indie game within the last year. Notch, the creator, says that it started as a small project, and after he is going to be finished with it, and people will slowly become bored of it, he will release the source code of the game under the public domain, giving the opportunity to many future developers to see how did the miracle come to happen.

In the end, my main thing I wanted to talk about was indie film, and a project that I have been following for about the past year. It's done by a rather small group, with no budget at all, no processionals, and no big name software. Instead, they use a program called 'Blender', which is open-source, thus free; all the actors did their job without being paid, they did it because they love what they were doing; and the main thing is really the determination to have this project done, even if it has been in making for about 4 years... It's called Project London, here is the trailer for it:

It is absolutely beautiful I say. Go check them out at http://projectlondonmovie.com/.

It really is inspiring, but I think I have written way too much today, and I do hope that you did not get bored half way through it, or even fell asleep... See you guys next week :)

-Toms.

01110011 01101101 01101001 01101100 01100101

Well Happy Friday Everyone!!!

It's a very happy Friday as today marks the end of one very long tiring week.

This week I've had six exams and my next two are not for another 11 days, which means I can finally sleep and eat regular food at decent hours of the day :D

However I don't really want to discuss those exams, instead I want to bring up a subject which for me, often goes hand in hand with studying; procrastination.

I'm a serial procrastinator; I even procrastinate DURING the exam. For example today I had two exams,in the first one (which was a completely useless subject) I ended up staring at the year 11 kids in the row next to me, trying to see what physics questions they were doing. And in the exam I had this afternoon (which was Chemistry Unit one if you were interested) I sat there for around 10 minutes humming the Halo 2 theme tune in my head.

This week on a whole has been very frustrating because I know I'm meant to be revising, but I really cannot bring myself to do it.

During my GCSE's last year I procrastinated by watching every Charlieisocoolike and Nerimon Video. Small feats in comparision to the mission I have undertaken this year, to watch every single Vlogbrother video.

Other things I have taken to do this week;

- Check the blog every 10-15 minutes even though I know the post won't come till late in the evening here.

- Checking Facebook every 11-16 minutes.

- Checking YouTube every 12-17 mi

nutes and finding random funny clips.

- Reading through several pages of mylifeisaverage.com (check it out. It is actually awesome and through it I've already planned my 18th birthday, which is going to consist of building a fort, colouring books, watching Pokemon and eating dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets XD)

Other random things I have done this week other than revise include having a conversation in binary with one of my friends, http://home2.paulschou.net/tools/xlate/ (Use this site, Its so unbelievably cool :D )

And to have a Poké-Nerdfighter fight, I don't think this is a new thing, but if it is, IT WAS AWESOME (well, anything compared to working/revising is awesome at the moment).

So what happens is like a Pokemon battle, you each choose an pokemon and fight, however in this you choose a Vlogbrother/Nerdfighter thing and use it's special powers to attack the other.

For example, I started with the Puff (because I have a similar Puff on top of my head) and I told it to attack my friend. My friend went on to choos

e the Machine which pwns noobs (Hank's guitar) In the end I won by pulling out the Yeti and using the Veto attack again his Hank.

Though reading back through it, it seems kind of an odd thing to do, it was fun at the time :D

Well, this post has been a bit odd and random. It wasn't very deep, but hopefully you guys found it somewhat interesting 8-)

I'm going to go make survival/emergency plans with one of my friends now (you know like, what to do in case of a Zombie Apocolypse type of things).

Nothing left to say except, 01000100 01000110 01010100 01000010 01000001

Sim x
P.s I don't know why I added a picture of the puff...I just felt it needed to be done :)

EDIT: TO MY FRIEND WHO I DID THIS STUFF WITH, I am not dissing it, it was unbelievably awesome :D

A Thursday!

Hello again!
It's been a while, couldn't post last week and the week before blogger was down so my post just went via e-mail but here I am once more, writing who really knows what. But really does anyone know? I sure don't :P

I suppose for this to be considered a well written piece of writing I should formulate a thesis which should then be well articulated and developed throughout. But that's not as fun. And it's too technical. So I'm just going to ramble a bit, rambling is always good to have every so often. That and I had to write an essay in english today so I'm really not feeling the whole thesis vibe right now. It was a terrible essay, one of the worst I've written...let's pretend it never happened!

Tonight I was back at the theatre! My school's dance showcase is tonight and tomorrow night, so I'm only there a couple days but it feels like going back home, I've spent so much time there for other shows. It was a bit of a depressing night though, the majority of the dances were inspired by tragic events/situations, not a lot of upbeat fun ones. The dancers were amazing though, they all did such a wonderful job and looked so beautiful!

So the biggest thing going on right now is this past weekend was my high school graduation! It was soo much fun! We had a 4 day weekend for it as well which was super fun, just partying and hanging out with friends everyday. School is so much harder now because it feels like we should just be done but we still have about 2-3 weeks of classes followed by exams :( It's so hard to focus and to study! I thought I'd be a lot sadder about graduating, the past three years have been the best years of school yet and it's hard to see all those memories coming to an end, yet at the same time I feel fairly ready to move on. I don't know what I'm moving on to yet but it's time for change. Time to try something new. And time to venture out of the structure of grade school into the possibilities and endless options out in the rest of the world.

Well that's enough rambling for now I suppose. Hope you're all well :)

DFTBA,
-Kim

Random.. Random.. And uh, random.

As I sit here in front of my computer, fingers poised, ready to attack the keys in a flurry of tappings... I realize that I have no idea what to write. The only other thing I have open is an unsaved document with my drama project that was due on Monday. Some odd music is playing in the background from the iPad in my brother's hands as he tries to capture the interest of my mother who is really more concentrated on watching the repeat of the Big Bang Theory that was most probably played only last week. A Doctor Who mug that was filled with tea is now below the computer screen, the St. John Ambulance logo facing towards me. The remainder of my drama project is to my left, waiting to be completed. I don't know what I'm writing. I'm just writing.


Now I'm on Gives Me Hope. A site that I haven't been on for ages. And clicking random after reading each post GMH. It's amazingly lovely that a site like that was created to show people that there is still hope in the world. Cute little stories like that gives people shivers and shows that there are still good people in the world. 


A couple of days ago one of my friends was Google imaging, 'Don't Forget To Be Awesome.' Every two weeks she'll ask me what DFTBA means... 2 months ago I found 3 Nerdfighters in year 9 at my school. 2 weeks ago I met a Nerdfighter through my friend, I did the Nerdfighter gang sign and the year 11 who went to my school who was with us, said that she was a Nerdfighter too and did the gang sign. It's official; we are totally awesome. 


I'm making this short. It's completely random, but that was kind of the sort-of-not-really-theme of it all... Yeah, this is what you get when I've got nothing to write and a Drama project that was due 3 days ago ;) 


Now, I will leave you with some home-made lyrics for what will hopefully become the Fez. 

Once torn apart,

By mundane lives.

But brought together,

By a single man. 

They were saved,

By a man in a big blue box. 

One by one, he changed their lives.

Told them they were brilliant,

And he showed them the universe. 

Together they save.

DFTBA 

Casual Tuesday (and a poem)

Hello everyone.

Apparently we forgot to choose a theme this week. And since Chuck's internet was "being weird lately" this means that I get to be the first person to write this week... about something totally random. Yay me! So, since I was too lazy to think of something to write about, here is something I wrote today. It's a poem, obviously.

Untitled #2 (Blue)

Blue.

Simple, human-- it suits you

Or it did, then.

I remember blue;

I remember “Hello.”

But then I fell,

Like the shadow I am,

At your feet: a feeble imitation.

My hands strung with thread

To the tips of

Your fingers,

I dance, silent.

Now,

I see you only in black,

Mirrored fragments, grinning and godlike,

Inky footprints fresh across my mind.

You left an ember

In my chest;

I burned to ash.

Time passed--

I forgot what you are. Forgive me;

Perhaps one day I'll

See you again

In blue.

--
Yes, this poem is about a person. No, I won't tell you who. I'd been thinking about this unnamed Person when a John Green quote popped into my head: "What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person." (Paper Towns) I realized I'd been the exact kind of treacherous John was describing. Not cool. In coming to grips with that, I wrote this poem.

I hope everyone's okay with my poetry. If not, I'll refrain from posting it in the future. I just wrote about this today because it's what's been on my mind. Thanks for putting up with me and my lack of an actual post.

Looking forward to the random things everyone else writes this week!

DFTBA,
Emily

Saturday, the day of wonders.

Hello,

Ill start with a little introduction. My name is Toms, I am 15 years old, come from Latvia, study in Cambridge, Uk. This is my second year in Uk, so I am quite new to the British culture as such, and to be honest, I am loving it. The most eventful years of my life have been the last two, but with more emphasis on this one, which means throughout year 10. One thing I have been subjected to here is boarding, being thousand miles away from home, safeguarded from such influences as my parents and Latvian culture, and to be honest, I do not see how my life would have worked out if I had not been.

Amongst my hobbies I would say are things like reading, art, music and design technology.

My favourite book is The Alchemist by Paul Coelho, and I must say that it is a fantastic book, and a major influence on my life. Also having read it over 15 times, it is my most quoted book from the loads I've read.

My favourite movies are Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (to such extent that I have seen it 4 times and read the whole series of comic books 3 times, my record being finishing all of the movie and the comic books in a day) and the Prestige.

My music taste varies greatly, from pop to indie alternative retro. No, I did not just make that genre up. If I would have to choose my three favourite songs that represent the variation, they would be:

BONUS ROUND

Other notable bands are Panic! at the Disco, Blink-182, Mayday Parade, La Roux, Smash Mouth, Skillet, Darwin Deez, Local Natives, Ok Go, The Offspring and Mika.

Before answering the questions I wanted to talk a bit about my day, which was great. First off, I am proud to announce that I am an older brother to the newborn Markus Dumpis.

Second off I must say that I greatly looked forward to the Rapture, firmly knowing that I will be one amongst many who are not going to heaven, and surprisingly enough, was looking forward very much to pillaging and surviving amongst rubble. Kinda like Fall Out. I even prepared a little backpack with supplies for a worst case scenario if I were to go out and search for canned goods. Also a playlist on my iPhone. When waiting for the time to come, I set up my speakers around the window of my third floor room in my dorm. First song was at 4 minutes to, which conveniently enough was 4 Minutes by Madonna, then when that ended, next song was End of the world as we know it by REM. Countless faces looking up in confusion, only to be met by me shirtless shouting "The Rapture is near, pray to be saved!". Consider myself happy.

What is one piece of technology that makes your life so much easier?

Everything I can't live without has already been said, so I'll just go along with internet in general. Learned so much stuff from it, and been kept entertained throughout the darkest of the hours.

If you could visit any fictional universe (e.g. Doctor Who, Harry Potter), which would it be and why?

I'll have to agree with Sim, Scott Pilgrim universe would be my favoured one. Especially if I could play an instrument and would have to go through 7 Deadly Exes... I would be in awe.

If you could be a guest on any talk show, what would it be and why?

I'll be honest, I have never actually watched any talk-show, except maybe one Latvian one. So I will go ahead with that one... I think it was called Aisha or something... Used to watch it when I was 8...

What's your family like?

Diverse to say the least. My dad is the most chillaxed fucker you will have ever seen... He also owns a restaurant, shisha bar and a game developer company thingy... They focus on MMORPGs and have some pretty interesting games.

My mum is going through uni at the moment, because she was not satisfied in business studies... So she is going on the road to become a vet. She is hard working, creative and caring. She is most probably the closest person to me, since she is the one person that has always been there for me, even when I've found myself in some ridiculous amount of trouble.

My step-dad is just lazy. I mean really, the two terms that come to my mind when I have to describe him are lazy and Italian. That really explains everything.

If you had a TARDIS or any other time travelling device, which past era would you travel to and why?

Feudal Japan. There really isn't much else to be said about that, other than the fact that I'm bringing a Katana back as a souvenir.

What would you wish you could do that you cant?

Play guitar would be lovely, but then again, so would be being able to draw. I mean, really, it would be helpful, seeing as I've got a year until my art GCSEs...

Well, that's all for tonight, I hope I haven't babbled on for too much, and I hope you enjoyed the read :)

DFTBA,

Toms.

Good Morning League, It's Friday :D

So officially to you all Hi,
My name is Sim, I live in East London. This is not the cool London, instead its the outskirts of Greater London, but the good thing is it takes like half an hour to get to the good places in London and half an hour in the other direction takes you to some nice open places/countryside.
I'm 17 which means I am in my first year of Sixth form/Year 12/ the penultimate year before Uni. And its not fun.

My favourite things to do are to read, write fiction, listen to music and watch movies.
Books: My two favourite books are Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (If you don't mind all the swearing and physical abuse. The film is good too) and Looking for Alaska by John Green. I love these books for the same reasons; the message they seem to give; live your life and do it how you want.
Movies and Tv: Other more family friendly movies I like are Scott Pilgrim vs The World, 500 Days of Summer and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (This one is a right gem and highly highly highly recommended). I also watch Doctor Who (I can't wait for tomorrow), Supernatural (<3), Chuck and lots of other random shows like How I met your mother and Big Bang Theory.
Music: I'm generally open to everything but prefer songs/bands of a more rock-y nature. Like Fall Out Boy, You me at Six, Blink 182 and Paramore. But my new favourite band is Frightened Rabbit, They are an indie/folk band from Scotland.
I can't figure out how to embed the video so here is one song and here is another.

So now for some questions:
1.What is one piece of technology that makes your life so much easier?
I was going to say my Ipod but Caitlin already mentioned it. So I guess it would be my straighteners after that, with out them I look like I have a mop/bush on my head. So they allow me to leave the house looking relatively sane :D

2.If you could visit any fictional universe (e.g. Doctor Who, Harry Potter), which would it be and why?
Hmm...It would be a tie between the Scott Pilgrim universe and the Supernatural universe. On the one hand, Scott's universe is fun, has a great soundtrack and is really nerdy cool. On the other hand, though the Supernatural universe would be scary, it'd be so (bad-ass) cool to travel around America killing demons and saving people.

3. If you could be a guest on any talk show, what would it be and why?
I don't really watch talk shows, so if I had to choose I guess it would be Ellen as she seems to be really cool and I love how she pranks the guests.

4.What's your family like?
We are the average 2.5 family, with me being the .5
My parents are from India and Kenya. I have two older sisters around the ages of 30 and 28, and they both have partners. But thats just my immediate family, I have stupid amounts of cousins and aunts and uncles and relatives I've never met, but when we all get together it's a good laugh and I wouldn't change any of them. However I'm probably the only nerdfighter in my WHOLE family :(

5. If you had a TARDIS or any other time travelling device, which past era would you travel to and why?
I would like to travel to around 1650s to the 1720s when piracy was in its golden age. I'd have loved to be a pirate and sail the seven seas aaraaggghhh (< poor attempt at a pirate growl-y thing)
Oh and the answer to the time old pirates or ninja question: Ninja Pirates

6.What would you wish you could do that you can't?
I would have like to have some sort of natural talent, whether that was to be able to play an instrument or be really good at a sport or be able to solve a Rubik's Cube in 14 seconds. But there's not much I can do about that :P

On a side note, Chuck I can not stop playing that song by The Postal Service. For four days thats all I've been listening to :D

Right, well thats it I guess...
all thats left to say is DFTBA x

Hi, I'm a chorus braniac.

Hello again! Caitlin here... I'm 14, but 15 in 20 days!! Ahh, so excited.. June the 7th ^_^ I'm currently in Year 10 and I'm currently living in Adelaide, Australia. Even though I was born here, I've only lived here for 3 years. The other 11 years I was in Singapore and Africa. But yes, I'm currently a chorus braniac at our school production, and there's only 9 of us braniacs.. We had our first rehearsal today and that was pretty cool. We had to re-cast Sharpay and one of my best friends got it and that was pretty amazing.

I love writing, music and fiction. On the music sense of it, I'm in the process of attempting to start up my own Trock band. (We're called the Fez) And as soon as that gets up on it's feet, it'll be brilliant. So yeah, massive Doctor Who fan.. I'm into Supernatural and the whole SciFi/Supernatural stuff. AND FICTION IS AMAZING. Yeah. Fantasy all the way :3

At the current moment I'm just a teensy bit obsessed with Adele and John Barrowman.. YouTube is very resourceful. So my favourite artist at the moment is Adele. She has the voice I want.

Books; like Emily.. I absolutely love fantasy. Harry Potter, Narnia.. That whole lot. Now, onto questions!

What is one piece of technology that makes your life so much easier?


My iPod. I have absolutely no idea what I'd do without it. I do just about everything on there.. I write, I listen, I play, I watch, I facebook. The usual. And I use my notes excessively. I think I have around 218 notes.. Yeah (:


If you could visit any fictional universe (e.g. Doctor Who, Harry Potter), which would it be and why?


DOCTOR WHO. It's fantastic. And I'd love to meet the Doctor, travel around the universe and time and meet Captain Jack and all of the others.. And then there's all the spin off shows which I'm including like K-9, The Sarah-Jane Adventures (Is it still on?) and Torchwood. Ahh, Torchwood.. If I was not travelling with the Doctor, I'd be working at Torchwood. Aliens all the way <3


If you could be a guest on any talk show, what would it be and why?


I'd be on the Graham Norton show. He just seems like a fun person to be around and it looks like a fun show. You get to do the most amazing things, share the most amazing jokes, talk about yourself, meet people and SIT ON A RED COUCH WITH COOL PEOPLE. Yes. And I love having embarrassing stories of the past that can be easily brought up on any talk show.. If I could be on any others, though they are more quiz shows, I'd be on Spicks and Specks and Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Both for the same reasons.. Minus the red couch. 


What's your family like?


My family's pretty cool. We're not perfect and we're all a bit different, but we love each other and that's all that matters. I'm close to some of my cousins and my aunties and uncles. One of my best friends is my cousin.. He's amazing ^_^ And a nerdfighter.. We're slowly converting the whole family >:) THREE OF US SO FAR! *Mwuhahaha* Oh, and a bit of interesting trivia.. My dad was an extra in a movie.. And my Auntie has written a book (or two?)

If you had a TARDIS or any other time travelling device, which past era would you travel to and why?

Either the Victorian era or the Renaissance. Both cool, old, and just have that aura of mystery to them. And so many magnificent people came out from there..  

What would you wish you could do that you cant?

Play guitar. Or live forever. Either one :) Preferrably both.. 

That'll do.. And yeah, good luck to both Toms and Sim! It's brilliant to have both of you join us (: 

- DFTBA

Hello again! Let's answer some questions, shall we?

Hello, everyone. To our two new members: welcome!

My name is Emily. I'm 17, just about to graduate from high school, and I live in Denver, Colorado. I've been homeschooled since 3rd grade, which is kind of interesting, I suppose. Next year, I'll be going to Westmont College in California to study music education on my primary instrument, the cello. (Since Chuck lives in NY, this means we'll be on opposite sides of the country. That's pretty cool.) I love to write; poetry mostly, but sometimes I'll work on one of my novels or write the occasional song. Music is pretty much my life.

Some of my favorite bands/artists include Nickel Creek, Kansas, Owl City, and Chris Rice. Pretty eclectic, I know. I also really love classical music. My favorite composer is probably Ralph Vaughan Williams, an English composer. Here's a violin concerto he wrote. It's really beautiful, in my opinion, and very English. 

As for books, I love fantasy: Harry Potter (of course), pretty much anything by C.S. Lewis, and the books of Pellinor by Alison Croggon. I read the first Hunger Games book and loved it. (Did you know they're making it into a kids movie? I'm curious to see how they do that without it being rated R for violence.) I also just read this FABULOUS book by Patrick Rothfuss called "The Name of the Wind" and I can't wait to read the sequel. Sadly, I have to wait until it's available at the library, and the waiting list is really long...

As for TV, I like Doctor Who, Star Trek (the Next Generation and Voyager), Heroes, NCIS, The Office, and Warehouse 13 (my current favorite). Yeah, I watch too much TV.

Okay, on to the questions!

What is one piece of technology that makes your life so much easier?

I almost answered "my laptop," like Chuck, but decided against it. My laptop is good but it actually complicates my life. The one thing that I really couldn't live without is my car. It's a 1992 Honda Civic. It's not pretty (it was in an accident before I got it), and it doesn't have luxuries such as electric windows or air conditioning, but I absolutely love it. Next to my cello, it's my favorite possession. 

If you could visit any fictional universe (e.g. Doctor Who, Harry Potter), which would it be and why?

This one's a close tie between Narnia and Edil-Amarandh from the books of Pellinor. Narnia, because it was the first world I fell in love with (because of the books and NOT the silly movies, by the way). Plus it would be cool to meet Aslan. Edil-Amarandh because it's so vividly described in the books, and I've always wanted to know what the music would sound like. 

If you could be a guest on any talk show, what would it be and why?

Hm, I don't know. I don't really watch talk shows on TV, and the only kind we listen to in my house is conservative talk radio, where I would have nothing to say. I guess it would be cool to be on Ellen, as she'd probably give me a cool present, or at least let me talk to one of my heroes on the phone. 

What's your family like? 

My family is pretty cool. At least I think so. Both my parents are professional musicians. My dad is a double bassist and conductor. He used to teach music full time at a university, but now he's on the radio as a classical music host. My mom is a singer and teaches voice at the same university. My brother, who is 1 year younger than I am, decided recently that he wants to be a filmmaker. He has a YouTube Channel, which you should check out because it's awesome. Here's the first of the two videos he's made:

If you had a TARDIS or any other time traveling device, which past era would you travel to and why?

Ooh, hard one. Although modern technology makes ours the best time to be living in, there are some times I'd like to visit. I would love to go back to 1776 and meet the Founding Fathers. Also, any time with pirates. Pirates are cool. 

Well, I guess that's all for today. I'm looking forward to reading what you all write! (There will be posts Friday AND Saturday this week! That makes me happy! Definitely better than the measly 2 posts that got published last week.)

DFTBA,

Emily 

SO EXCITING!!! 5.16

WELCOME TO THE LEAGUE SIM AND TOMS!

This week is reintroduction / question week!

I'll start with my reintroduction.

My name is Chuck. I live in upstate New York. I'm a part of this majorly awesome blog called The League of Extraordinary Nerds. My fellow bloggers are Emily, Caitlin, Kim, Sim and Toms! I believe we're going on our 11th week which is pretty exciting. On Saturday I celebrated my 17th birthday. It was so amazing, I had a great time. I won't go too deep into all of the inappropriate shenanigans but friday was greekfest (so much funnnnn), saturday was prom so I (being the cool kid that I am) went to the movies instead (I saw Priest... it was kind of lame) and sunday I went to church and then I came home and chilled, did a little homework, and then went to bed.

A few of my favorite things:

I talked about this a lot on my original introduction post and on inspirational musicians week and on inspirational authors week. So I guess I should talk about different bands/movies/books that I like.

BANDS:

FLEET FOXES

These guys just released a new album called Helplessness Blues. It's really good if you're into the Simon & Garfunkel folky kind of music. Which I am. :)

THE POSTAL SERVICE

The Postal Service is a band composed of Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie and Jimmy Tamborello (DNTEL) they worked together on a song called (This Is) The Dream Of Evan and Chan and I guess that turned into The Postal Service. . . They only released one album and honestly I would totally prefer another TPS album over a new Death Cab one any day.

ANDREW BIRD

This man can whistle anything, and he plays the violin, which is my instrument (run-on sentences FTW).

MOVIES:

Ten Inch Hero

I watched this movie for the first time about two months ago. It was fantastic! I seriously recommend it if you don't mind a little foul language and some nudity.

House of D

I think I saw this movie for the first time when I was like 10 or 11. It's so ridiculously good. And it has Robin Williams in it, and the Russian kid from Star Trek. Ndfajklsfhdkasldhf it's so good. Watch it NOW.

Little Manhattan

The best movie I have ever seen. I feel comfortable saying that too. Watch it if you ever get the chance.

BOOKS:

A few weeks ago I picked up The Hunger Games. And I just fell in love with it, I finished it in one sitting and almost immediately had to go back to B&N to get Catching Fire and it was GREAT. I haven't started Mocking Jay yet but I seriously need to. These books are almost as good as Harry Potter.

NOW ONTO THE QUESTIONS!

(my question)

What is one piece of technology that makes your life so much easier?

My laptop (is laptop one word or two?). I honestly don't know what I'd do without it. I would never have been introduced to Nerd Fighting (that's probably a lie because I have a couple Nerd Fighter friends in my area.)

(Emily's question)

If you could visit any fictional universe (e.g. Doctor Who, Harry Potter), which would it be and why?

No question about it. Asgard (Marvel Universe).

(Caitlin's question)

If you could be a guest on any talk show, what would it be and why?

ELLEN. I love her <3

(Kim's question)

What's your family like?

Nuclear.... I can honestly say that my family is comprised of the most mundane uninteresting people you could ever want to meet. We're quite boring. My father's name is also Charles. He's one of the directors of residential life at the University of Albany and is a part-time minister (It's confusing. Like our church has one head pastor and then a few evangelists under him who occasionally do sermons.) My mother's name is Perdietha. She works for the New York State Department of Health and she like reviews contracts that the State has set up with certain organizations that it funds. My sister, Brianna, just finished her junior year at a small HBCU in Charlotte, North Carolina. And that's the Rogers family.

(Sim's question WOAH SIM AND KIM RHYME)

If you had a TARDIS or any other time travelling device, which past era would you travel to and why?

I honestly can't think of a better place to be than the present.

That's all :) I don't think Toms had a question. Hmmm.

Postscript:

Donald Trump isn't running for President!!!

Mother Appreciation Week

My mum has always been there for me. Through thick and thin she's always been there at home, waiting for me. She knows when I'm troubled, she knows when I'm happy and she know's how I'm feeling and a majority of the time how to deal with that. She's not perfect, not every is. But she's close enough.

Bit of background info on my mum. She was born and raised in Australia, the 2nd eldest of 7. She became a teacher and taught overseas with my dad whilst having to bring up three kids. She's a caring, silly and stubborn person and she's just amazing. And I'm finding this really hard to write because I don't know her all that well. Sure, we spend loads of time together. But that's always interrupted by one of my brothers who need her to tend to there every need. Which makes her even more amazing. Although short-tempered, she's willing to lend a helping hand to any of us. Even if she is a perfectionist and will most probably make me annoyed but I'll always appreciate her trying to help.

She has the most hilarious laugh and she's a funny person. In the times when she's in a good mood, I have the best times with her. And there's not much more I can say except a thanks.

Mum, if you eve read this. Thank you. Thank you for being there for me whenever I came home with tears in my eyes. Thank you for being there to offer a helping hand whenever I stuff up a recipe or drop a chocolate dessert (I have this thing where I always end up dropping/tipping over a cake tin or muffin tray, and it always seems to be chocolate flavoured.). Thank you for being there to assure me when I was younger that the inevitable end would never be any time soon. Thank you for being an amazing and constant person in my life. Love you, forever and always. Caitlin.

And now I know why the all the trees change in the fall

I know you were on my side even when I was wrong

And I love you for giving me your eyes

For staying back and watching me shine

And I didn't know if you knew, so I'm takin' this chance to say

That I had the best day with you today

- The Best Day, Taylor Swift 

DFTBA 

Mother Appreciation Week!

Hello everyone. It seems that I, Emily, must do the first post this week, because the soon-to-be-punished Chuck forgot to post yesterday. If anyone has ideas for a punishment, please leave a comment. We will be sure that Chuck suffers for his absent-mindedness. Mwa ha ha ha... *cough* ... excuse me.

So, since we began the week with an entire day devoted to appreciating mothers, we decided that we should appreciate our mothers for the rest of the week as well. Hence the theme: Mother Appreciation Week!

I'm going to take this opportunity to first of all brag on my mother, because she is awesome. All four feet, ten inches of her. She was born on Guam to Filipino immigrants, and went to college at the University of Hawaii. She's a classically trained singer, as well as a voice teacher. She is... how to put this... REALLY GOOD.

My mom directing the homeschool choir

I owe a lot of things to her, including (in part) my love for music, and most of my education. Since I'm homeschooled, she taught me every subject all the way through middle school. You have no idea how much patience that took. She was also my first piano teacher, and taught me how to read music. Last year, she taught the choir class at my homeschool co-op (and did a fabulous job, I might add).

But all of that pales in comparison to the incredible job she's done just being mom. She's always been there. She always knows how to cheer me up when I'm having a bad day. She's a great mom, and I almost find it sad that I have to be reminded once a year to appreciate that. I probably don't say it enough, but I'll say it now: I love her, and I am really going to miss her next year when I'm at college.

In conclusion, I love my mom. She's the best.

DFTBA,
Emily

Authors, Late on a Thursday Night

1. This is actually two authors I'm going to mention here so I lied when I said three. But these will both be brief because I think all of us have mentioned them so far. JKRowling and John Green. One responsible for my childhood and who I am today, the other responsible for many opinions I have formed on various opinions in life. My gratitude to them both!

2. William Shakespeare
I know there is contraversy over whether or not he actually wrote the plays, some people think he stole them, I don't believe a word of it though. Shakespeare is a huge inspiration to me, one of my all time favorite authors. His stories have lasted hundreds of years for a reason, they are complex and stirring pieces of art. Well as soon as you come to understand the language used that is.

3. Victor Hugo. While he's a French national hero I find him to be rather unsung throughout the rest of the literary world. Many of his books are monstrous and full of exposition and political tangents that go on without anything seeming to do with the plot and yet it is as if he chose every single word with care. In the end those long ramblings create such a more solid setting for the story and when you understand the world of the story that well the characters become even more alive and their heartaches and joys and struggles all the more poignant. I cannot fathom the work he put into each of his masterpeieces. I know they look daunting but trust me they are worth it to read. Just make sure you get a good translation, some just aren't translated well enough to keep the beauty and majesty of his writing. If you're not sure who he is I have two titles that may ring a bell (no pun intended :P) The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables.

DFTBA,
Kim

Inspirational Authors..

The topic of authors and books have always been hard for me. Not reading and talking about them, but picking a favourite let alone an inspirational author/book. So, as the others, I shall list my 3. Not in any order of favourite but just numbers.

1) J.K Rowling. What if we just say that nobody writes a whole thing on her? We're most probably all going to end up writing about her anyways... 

I got into the Harry Potter series at the age of 7. My mum started reading the 1st book to me and told me not to watch the movie, I went and watched it and then she refused to read the rest of the book to me.. So, I picked it up and read it myself. Never stopped. I've travelled with Harry through Hogwarts and the whole series has been an inspiration to me. The hopes of getting my Hogwarts letter in the mail is still going on. (It's lost in the mail, I just know it is) And with so many people around me reading the series and watching the movies, I am so sure that the legacy of Harry Potter will never end. Twilight will though. That's just a given ;) 


So thank you J.K Rowling. Thank you for creating the Wizarding world for those who weren't comfortable in their own. Inspiration? Yes, you've made me want to create my own magical world that will be picked up by the generations to come. 


2) John Green.


Ah, where to start? 


We all know John Green. We've most probably read all of his books and since I became a Nerdfighter late last year, I've made it my mission to read all of his books. A mission I have completed and thoroughly enjoyed. The first book by him I read was Looking for Alaska and I immediately fell in love with John's writing. The way he created these quirky characters who seemed out of place in the society that they lived in but they strived to fit in and/ find their place. His books and himself have been an inspiration to me to be able to find who I am and to join in the fight against world suck. He helped me embrace my nerdiness and to love it in every way, no matter what others say. And if he ever ends up reading this.. Well all I have to say is thank you. Thank you so much. 


3) Diana Wynne Jones.

Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favourite authors if not my favourite. Only 10 mintues ago did I find out that she passed away on the 26th of March.. So now, new mission. Read every book by her. She was an amazing author. I could re-read her books anytime at all. J.K Rowling and her set off my love for fantasy and magic and without them, I don't know where I would be now. Diana Wynne Jones inspired me to think about the unknown and the quirky. She taught me different views on life from the point of view from a naive girl who had 'stolen' a painting to a commoner in the search of his princess through a foreign land with an annoying genie and old soldier by his side. She's amazing.












So yeah, 3 of my inspirational authors.. I hope it's short. Now I'm going to watch the last episode of Torchwood Season 2.. :) 


DFTBA