Hello from COLLEGE!!

Hey guys!

Sooooo I really don't know what to review and quite honestly I don't have time to watch a movie, much less read a book, so I'm going to just tell you guys about what's been going on with me this week.

I left Colorado on Tuesday with my parents early in the morning, and we drove for two days until we got to... California! Yay! Long story short, I moved in on Thursday morning, met my roommates, did some cool activities, had a good time.

It's about 1am on Saturday but there have been so many orientation activities it feels like I've been here two weeks already. I am SO ready for classes to start. This is a pretty special school-- everyone is really nice, and every professor I've met so far has seemed genuinely interested in getting to know me, and I'm just generally feeling great about things. It's cool.

Sorry about not exactly following the theme this week, but my brain is pretty much exploding with all the orientation stuff and there's pretty much nothing else I can talk about right now. I wish I had time to describe everything to you, but I barely have time to experience it all, much less write it down.

Anyway, I hope we can all get back to posting regularly, if possible. Goodnight guys!

DFTBA,
Emily

Funny Girl

Okay, so I literally just finished watching Funny Girl. I'd been meaning to watch it for a while due to that thing called Glee. You might have heard of it. Not the emotion, but the TV show. And I got round to it tonight and might I just say, I'm glad I did.

Okay, so if you watch Glee you get a lot of references to Barbra Streisand (who plays Fanny - the lead). And after watching this.. IT ALL MAKES SENSE. The nose, the songs.. EVERYTHING. 

So, now, onto the review... Well, my version of a review. Funny Girl is funny, musical, serious and damn right brilliant. The songs, like 'My Man' and 'Don't Rain on My Parade,' are brilliant. Barbra has a bloody AMAZING voice. And that nose! AH. That is one damn fine nose. Barbra plays Fanny, a girl aspiring to be in theatre. She becomes on of the biggest stars through her amazing voice and her humor. She took musicals like Swan Lake and made them hilarious. The fashion in the film is... AMAZING. There are costumes like the following;

There were a few things that annoyed me a bit though. One was the predictability of some of the scenes. The other was that it was slightly confusing and seemed to leave out some characters - but that's my only criticism. I DEMAND YOU ALL WATCH IT. IT IS GOOD.

Now on a separate note, have any of you watched Firefly before? I watched the first episode yesterday.. And well, lets just say it's interesting.

DFTBA, Caitlin x

Pulp Fiction Review!

I've always been a bit afraid to watch Pulp Fiction. I mean it's one of those movies that's hyped up so much that you're just like "wow it must be good" but then you steer clear of it just because there's the slight chance that it sucks and since I'm a major anti-fan of John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson fan (Why? You might ask... Snakes On a Plane/Hairspray. Both made me want to shoot myself in the toe) I was always hesitant to go anywhere near it. So I decided "Ehh what the heck" and queued it on Netflix.

Here is the result:

ATTENTION [SPOILERS]

(Only read this part if you've seen the movie or if you have no intention of ever seeing the movie.)

First 5 minutes/intro:

I already like it, Tim Roth from Lie To Me is in it.

Beginning Credits:

The Soundtrack kind of sounds like one of those mixtapes my dad listens to... Which isn't a bad thing but like... yeah.

About 20 minutes in:

LMFAO John Travolta with long hair/ Samuel Jackson with curly hair? What is going on... I still don't like either of them but the acting is pretty fantastic. Oh my god and the writing. This is amazing... and the thing I said about the soundtrack still TOTALLY stands.

34 minutes in:

Mia Wallace reminds me of Jordan Baker from The Great Gatsby. Which is ironic because she's kind of in Daisy's situation only not really. Like Daisy's situation with Gatsby working for Tom..

50 minutes in:

There was a dance scene, and I guess it was supposed to be like utterly fantastic but to be honest it was a little pretentious which I promise is NOT a word I use often.

1 hour in:

This shit is crazy.

1 hour 5 minutes in:

This cast really is fantastic... Jon Voight, Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman... who could ask for more?

1 hour 17 minutes in:

Have I said anything about how fantastically well written this is?

1 hour 30 minutes in:

John Travolta got killed. Not gonna lie, I laughed. It was kind of like a Say-hello-to-my-little-friendesque scene.

1 hour 38 minutes in:

A little random, but what ever happened to Tim Roth? I might just not be paying attention but I haven't seen him since that first scene.

1 hour 46 minutes in:

"Nah man, I'm pretty fuckin' far from okay." LMFAO Okay I don't even know what to say. This movie is amazing. End of statement. Period.

1 hour 53 minutes in:

LMFAOLMFAOLMFAOLMFAOLMFAO NO. STOP IT. I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

1 hour 56 minutes in:

"Man I don't even have an opinion" "Well you gotta have an opinion. Do you think that God came down from heaven and stopped-" BAM *blackmanfreakoutvoice* "OH WHAT THE FUCK'S HAPPENIN'" "Oh man I shot Marvin in the face" LMAOLMAOLMAOLMAOLMAO. This is ridiculous.

2 hours in:

They say 'nigger' way too much for comfort.

2 hours 2 minutes in:

HARVEY KEITEL <3

2 hours 10 minutes in:

"Dorks, they look like a couple of dorks."

"They're your clothes motha fucka"

I swear, Samuel Jackson has the BEST lines in this film.

2 hours 17 minutes in:

TIM ROTH IS BACK!

2 hours 17 minutes in:

"I was sitting here eating my muffin and drinking my coffee replaying the incident in my head when I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity." Quenton Tarantino you, my friend, are a genius.

2 hours 25 minutes in:

The whole stick up inside of a stick up thing really is great. It's like Inception.

Amanda Plummer is FANTASTIC.

SPOILERS END HERE.

All in all it was a good movie, it wasn't predictable and it wasn't easily comparable to any typical movie clichés. The acting was superb and the screenplay was off the walls. There were moments where it dragged a bit but there were also parts where all you could do is die of laughter or parts where you're just like "damn.. that was pretty deep bro" (especially the last scene). I didn't turn it off feeling like a new person (which, I won't lie, is always what happens whenever I turn off a movie I love). It didn't get as good as everyone says it is until about the last 40 minutes. DEFINITELY worth watching, maybe even twice. I don't hate John Travolta or Sam Jackson anymore. 8.5/10

Highlight: Samuel Jackson's one-liners.

I'm gonna go watch spiderman and enjoy my last few weeks of summer now.

DFTBA

-Chuck :)

The end!

Okay, so I don't really know what happened with all of you and writing this week, but I'm sure you all have very good excuses. Like mine, which is that I leave for college in two days and life is crazy. Sooo, here is the exciting conclusion to this amazing story.
--
"Look out!" shouted Sam, startling Chuck and making him drop his chocolate milk. As he stooped to pick up the glass, everyone ducked simultaneously and a huge wave of flame shot through the air above them.
Chuck screamed. "WHAT WAS THAT?!?!"
"Turn around!" said Kim.
They all turned. A massive black dragon towered above them, shooting sparks and smoke from its open mouth. It flapped its wings, which stretched at least fifty feet from tip to tip.
"NOT good, not good," said Caitlin.
"Hop on," said Sam quickly, a protective aura of light now emanating from his horn. "All of you! Let's go!"
Sim didn't hesitate. She swung herself up onto the unicorn's back, Toms right behind her. Chuck stood frozen, still completely bewildered; Kim and Caitlin had to grab his hands and guide him to the protection of Sam's magical horn. They all climbed aboard and were about to ride to safety when Caitlin looked back.
"Emily!" she shouted. "Come on!"
"No," said Emily as she dodged another blast of flame. "You go-- someone has to stay and kill this evil dragon once and for all!"
"Wow, you're so brave," said Chuck.
"Yeah, you're awesome," everyone agreed.
"If you're going to stay and fight," said Sam, "you're going to need this."
He neighed, and with a brilliant flash of light, the sword of Gryffindor appeared in Emily's hands. She gripped it tightly, posing heroically and nodding one last time to her friends.
"Wait!" said Sim, but it was too late; Sam galloped off, taking the other members of the league to safety. Chuck watched as the small figure of his friend Emily receded into the distance, sword flashing.
A couple of minutes later, they arrived at the top of a nearby hill, from which they could watch the distant battle take place.
"Wow, she's incredible!" said Toms. It was true: Emily had such skill with a sword it was almost unbelievable. She dodged flames left and right, striking the dragon with inhuman speed whenever she saw an opening. The battle raged on for about two hours, as the dragon and the amazingly awesome girl were so evenly matched.
Suddenly, Emily stepped back and stuck her sword in the ground. It looked like she was saying something, but they were too far away to hear.
"What is she doing?!" said Kim.
The dragon stopped shooting flames and seemed to be listening to what Emily was saying. Eventually it nodded, and Emily approached it, patting its nose. Then she climbed onto its back, and it lifted up into the air, flying straight toward the league.
"What's going on?" said Caitlin.
A moment later, Emily and the dragon touched down on the hill beside the league.
"Hey guys! Meet my new friend, Awesomus. He's great."
"But he burned down my home!" said Sam indignantly.
"Oh that?" said Emily. "It was just a misunderstanding. He's very sorry. He'll help you build a new one. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, I guess," said Sam. "Okay, Awesomus. I forgive you."
"Great!" said Emily. "Now, everyone, climb aboard the Dragon Express and we'll get everyone home in time for dinner. Or breakfast, depending on where you live."
"Yay!" said the league. "Three cheers for Emily, who is so great!"
"I am pretty great, I guess," said Emily, smiling to herself. "Now let's go!"
So they all jumped onto the dragon's back, waving goodbye the their friend Sam, and flew off into the sunset. Er, sunrise. Whatever.

THE END

The Continuing Story..

(Take note that's it's 10 o'clock where I am and this may get quite random..)

They all smile and then Toms says, "Hey Chuck! We came to visit you." Chuck smiled, glad that his friends had come across seas just to visit him. But even still, he had to question the situation. "Wait, how did you guys get here?" he asked, a slightly confused look on his face. Caitlin smiled, "The unicorn called Sam." It took all of Chuck's might not to burst out laughing. "No seriously," said Emily, "The is really a unicorn called Sam. He kind of appeared to Caitlin and then to the rest of us... It was weird." "In a slightly awesome way." Caitlin then said, adding on to Emily.

Chuck nodded his head, it was clear to them that he didn't believe them. "Just look outside at the oak tree." Sims said, pointing to a nearby window. With raised eyebrows Chuck glanced outside at the oak tree. He looked back at his friends, about to criticize them when he heard a neigh and looked back. Under the oak tree was a majestic being with a rusty silver horn emerging from its head. What would've been a white stallion was transformed into a unicorn by that horn. A silver tail was sprouting from its behind with long, coarse hairs. It shone in the moonlight and a slight twinkle was in the beast's eyes. Chuck slowly looked back at his friends, unsure of what to say. "Unbelievable right?" Toms said, a slight smile on his face.

Chuck took a sip of his chocolate milk. Caitlin looked around at the party scene, feeling slightly out of place as everyone was older than her. Emily was standing there with a slight smile on her face, fingers tapping away at the music. Sims was continually glancing at a grandfather clock that was ticking quite loudly. Sam the Unicorn neighed, Chuck glanced outside and a black shadow parted behind a couple of trees.

It's been way too long!

This is an untitled continuous story by The League of Extraordinary Nerds...!

The story begins at a lit up cabin in the middle of the forest. Chuck is sitting on a couch by himself at one of those parties where they play The Smiths and Radiohead. He’s bored out of his mind but he doesn’t really feel like going home either (he wouldn’t have a ride there anyway). A man in a gorilla suit runs into the living room and starts taking pictures with random duck faced girls holding red cups filled with fruit punch.

This pushes Chuck over the edge. He gets off the couch and makes his way towards the dimly lit kitchen where a few hipsters are playing chutes and ladders on the floor and a couple emo kids are eating Cap’N Crunch on the table. He opens the tiny refrigerator and pulls out some milk and some chocolate syrup. Then he finds a cup and makes chocolate milk. If you asked him what he was doing right now he’d tell you that he’s drinking the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Don’t hold it against him, it’s the middle of summer and he’s got nothing better to do.

He puts his ingredients back in the fridge and walks out of the cabin towards the fire, chocolate milk in hand. When he gets to the fire he sees his friends. But he doesn’t know why they’re there seeing as they all live at least 48 hours away by car (or 6-14 hours by flight since you can’t drive over water).

“Hey guys, what are you doing here?” He asks astonished. They all smile and then Toms says…

To Be Continued

Riots and the Future

There are three times I can remember hearing about riots. Once here at home, a second time out in Vancouver, and now over in London. The first two had the stupidest reasoning behind them: a hockey team lost the Stanley Cup and so angry, drunken fans took to the streets and rioted. That is just shameful.

Over in London the riots have been much worse and lasted much longer. But instead of being fuelled by the loss of a big silver cup and bragging rights they were fuelled by a generation with little hope for the future.

I have always been an optimist, I see the potential for a great and beautiful future, and it saddens me that not all can share in this vision. I know that there are people who struggle to get by each day and to them the future seems like more of the present but rioting is not the answer.

Anger and violence has never effectively solved a problem. Problems are solved by dedication and logic and a willingness to believe that no matter what happens things can get better. We do not want to be the generation that is seen as the disintegration of civility, we do not want to mark the pages of history with violence and fire and anger. We are a generation capable of so much more so let our current events become milestones of success of which we can be proud.

My thoughts go out to you Sim along with the people of London. I hope things calm down and that the damage done can be repaired.

Don't Forget To Be Awesome,

-Kim

The London Riots

Monday 8th August 2011 marked the third consecutive day of violence and rioting in London. Violence and arson that has spread from Tottenham, North London, out around the rest of London like wildfire and has now caused a surge of violence in cities miles away like in Birmingham and Liverpool.

For those of you who do not know why this has happened;

On August 4th, 29 year old Mark Duggan from Tottenham, was shot dead by police officers after an attempted arrest. There was an exchange of fire and it is said that the police only shot out of self-defence.


On August 6th, a peaceful protest started in Tottenham of around 300 people claiming justice for Duggan and his family. And this is where things turned from bad to worse. After 8pm the violence began; bottles thrown at patrol cars, vehicles set alight. Some say that this was started after a confrontation be

tween a teenage protester and a police officer. Under an hour later there were more than 250 emergency calls in Tottenham. There were buses and shops on fire everywhere. Looting was reported throughout the night. In this one night 26 officers where injured and there was a total of 55 arrests. (Famous shop in Tottenham >)

On August 7th, the troubles began in Enfield. 100 'hooded youths' gathered outside the police station before shop windows where smashed and Riot police had to start patrolling the streets. In Brixton, three officers where injured after missiles where thrown from crowds. In Oxford Circus there was a gatherin

g of around 50 people who also damaged property in that area.

On August 8th, Scotland Yard made a statement referring to the activity as 'copycat criminals', 'small and mobile groups of looters'.And it is on the 8th, where I came into play.

Over Facebook (of all the places) I begun to hear rumours that the riots where heading this way. And it began around 7pm. The looting my town was nothing near to the damage seen in places like Tottenham and Lewisham, however is was a worrying time. Sitting at home there was nothing I could do, there was no information coming in about how bad the situation was.

There has been over 400 arrests. Over 6000 police officers on duty, with

apparently an additional 7000 coming into London today.

I cannot put into words how horrified I am. Three times in my life have I watched the news in complete disbelief and this event is one of them. I just do not understand the mentality of people who have done this. I mean, the repercussions of these events are going to horrific and in the end it's going to be us, us teenagers, who are going to feel the consequences of this after. On the news, they were discussing why so many youths were on the streets. But it's not all of us. The media already has a negative view of this generation, these events are only going to intensify this. And it saddens me immensely.

This violence is senseless, many using it as an excuse for personal gain. But what they do not understand is that the trust between the police and the community and also the trust in the community, between the people, has been broken. I fear that this trust is unfixable. That this will end in a situation where we are constantly unsure of a looting spree or riot. Constantly worried of the people that pass us in the street. I feel most sorry for the small shop owners who have had their livelihoods destroyed and the residents of apartments and houses set on fire.

I just don't know what to say now. Firefighters where unable to put out fires as they were being blocked and attacked by rioters. There wasn't enough police to help them. Just now I have heard that they are calling off all police holiday leave so that there is going to be apparently 16,000 police officers on the ground tonight. There has been talk of setting a curfew and the use of water cannons; but again I fear the long-term consequences of this.

On the news it is now being referred to as the England Riots, not the London Riots now.

There is some positive news to restore faith, a group of teens have started a Facebook event/group to clean up after the riot. In some places so many people are turning up to help that they have to turn people away because there is nothing left for them to do.

There is not much to do now but to wait and watch. So I'll leave you with this thought; We are living through history. We are the events that will be fixed markers in text books for decades to come. So what part will you play in it, and what part will those you know play?

To everyone, everywhere, stay safe.

A trip down memory lane

When I was young, we moved around a lot. The chronological file of my childhood is marked by the different houses we lived in; the first I can remember is one of the houses in Wyoming. I call it the "brown house" because of the wood paneling on all the walls. I don't really remember which of my memories there was the earliest, so I'll list a few.

I remember my dad trying to teach me to play violin; I was 3 at the time. Needless to say, he failed. I remember standing in his office in our house in Wyoming with the violin under my chin, really, really irritated at him.

I remember my first thunderstorm. All the noise and the trees whipping around and the rain crashing down and everything. I was terrified, but my mom told me to get in bed, and that when I woke up, it would all be gone. Happily, she was right.

I remember-- and this is kind of random-- being afraid of a spot on the wall. Seriously, a spot on the wall. It was right next to my bed and I thought it looked like an evil face staring at me. My mom eventually had to put a sticker over it so I would stop freaking out.

And that's pretty much it. This is a pretty short post, but I do have a couple of news-ish things I want to write about now.

First, college: I just found out room assignments for the dorms! I have two roommates! They are cool people! I Skyped with one of them yesterday and she's a big Harry Potter and Dr. Who fan, so we'll get along. :) I leave for California on the 22nd, so I'm getting more and more excited as the days go by.

Second, I'm going to see Wheezywaiter's band, Driftless Pony Club, tonight. I don't really know any of their music, but... it's Wheezywaiter! Yay!

Okay, that's it. Hope everyone has a good Saturday!

DFTBA,
Emily

Memories (or the Lack of)

Honest truth, I have the memory of a goldfish.

So many of my memories are scattered images from all over my child. One very vivid one I have is of my dad driving this dirty grey coloured car we used to have, it was my favourite car. All of the car windows are open and in the cd player we are listening to my dad's favourite bands; Dire Straits. Coincidently, my favourite Dire Straits song is playing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pa9x9fZBtY&ob=av2n

(Blogger wouldn't upload the video ¬.¬)

I love this memory as it kind of sums up my relationship up with my dad; we bond over music and scenery. We get on best when we are on the move.

Many of my early memories involve my dad and I listening to music and would explain my closeness to my dad rather than my mum. Also my memories contain lots of re-watching's of Indiana Jones on VHS along with The Little Mermaid, 101 Dalmatians and George of The Jungle (I'm a big movie nut!)

Sorry about the short post, I don't have that many memories :P
Hope everyone's week has been good
Dftba

Sim x

Memory

My family was at Lake Louis, going for a walk after lunch. At one point there was an outcropping of rocks beside the path and being the adventurous six year old my sister went climbing over them. I, being a silly three year old, decided it would be a good idea to follow her. It was a little bit rainy that day so the rocks were a bit slippery...needless to say one moment I was climbing on a rock, the next my mom was pulling me out of the lake.

That's my earliest memory. I don't know why it's stuck with me all these years or what it says about me, though I guess it explains why I'm not a big fan of swimming. And I had something thoughtful to say about this but now I can't remember.

Sorry this is really short, and a few minutes late. I had a job interview with the Disney store today which took one and a half hours, and then I was running errands all afternoon, and then I went and saw Wicked. Which was really good! But now I'm kinda falling asleep as I type so yeah, it's bed time. Sweet dreams :)

DFTBA,

-Kim

Earliest Childhood memory..

Hmm.. I can't really remember that much of my childhood. But there are some things that I do remember from when I was maybe around the 4/5 mark? And I will list them now. They aren't in any particular order by the way.

1) I have a vivid memory of a gecko running across my chest as my parents were putting me to bed. I squealed. It was horrible.

2) Seeing as I lived in Singapore as a young child, my family ALWAYS went to the Singaporean zoo. If you ever go to Singapore, go to the zoo. IT. IS. WORTH. IT. I have a few memories here.. Like this one time near the awesome pool/playground area, my mum was sitting on a bench and a green snake just kind of appears out of nowhere. I can't remember if it was either on the bench next to her or on her leg... I always have this memory of this white monkey always staring at me as we walked past. No joke. That monkey was creepy..

3) I have memories of crayons. In K2.. Kindergarten that is, we always had crayons. Crayons are cool.

4) I have memories of having late night swims with my dad in the pool... We lived in a condo in Singapore and there was a pool in the middle of it all. There was also a couple of tennis courts, a gym, a playground and loads more.. Now I just live in a house. Pfft.

That's all for now I think...

Also, I'm seriously hoping that Chuck doesn't post on Wednesday. I have no idea what's going on with the days at the moment. We're all swapping and then re-swapping.. And ugh, it's kind of confusing :P

Bye for now.

DFTBA, Caitlin x

Earliest Memory.

Hey hey,
So we decided that this weeks theme is going to be our earliest memories.
I think that it's quite an awesome topic actually, seeing as it would tell a lot about a person. Anyway, I will get on to my earliest memory.
Funnily enough it is me sitting in front of an old computer with my dad, playing, I think it was this wacky old strategy game with oversized people walking on a tiny planet earth... And after a quick google, it turns out it was called Populous.
Heck, I'm not actually sure how I remember that, seeing as I was like 2 or 3 years old...
But generally I think it is kinda funny how it really does reflect upon me these days, as I general like to think that I am computer-savvy enough to understand at least some basic geekeries.

I must apologise for this being kinda short as I don't have much to talk about, so instead I will put in some filler about what has been happening recently.

Well for one, I switched to doing Tuesday now. Obviously.
Then in the past weeks I have gotten in film photography, and gotten some films developed and all that jazz, and I really like it to say the least.
Then also I'm starting to go steady on Micro-Bloging, starting with a project "People on Analog", in which I will present an interview with someone on certain aspects of photographing in film, and of course a picture of them, taken with my favourite ever Zenit-E camera.

Anyways, see ya next Tuesday,
-Toms the Latvian.