News from The Avengers

Mark Ruffalo is slated to be Edward Norton's replacement as the Incredible Hulk in "The Avengers" movie.

I know, a lot of you are thinking - Why in the name of all that is good and holy am I bringing this up?  I haven't see the Edward Norton version of "The Hulk" yet, though I've heard good things about it.  But I mention this for a couple of reasons -

1. In the last ten years, comic book movies have become awesome.  Helped along by movies like Spider-Man, X-Men, people like myself who weren't usually inclined to care about comic book stories now care.  I mean, I have enough on my plate with Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Fablehaven, Twilight, 24, CSI, Doctor Who, Star Wars - do you know how many story arcs comic books have? Do a Wikipedia for any of the X-Men and you'll see what I mean - how in the world do these people keep this stuff straight?  But a movie - ah, there I can follow and understand what is going on with these characters.  And they all have compelling stories - as good as anything I've read in literature or seen in other shows.  So, while I'm not a fully-fledged comic book nerd, I can appreciate and enjoy this stuff.  And I'm excited about a multi-superhero movie like "The Avengers."

2. I figured it'd be a long shot, but David Tennant's name was floating around there for a bit as being a potential choice for the Hulk/Bruce Banner.  As a fangirl nerd, that would have been made of so much win - especially considering that Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man/Tony Stark (oh jeez - I just drooled a little on my blog...)  And if they made the Hulk CGI, David could have just played Bruce Banner (whose kind of a skinny, nerdy guy anyway) and voiced the Hulk.  But whatever - you can't miss what you never had (though the Doctor Who crossover parodies from this guy would have been gold).  sigh... I guess I'll just wait a little longer for David Tennant to make his way onto a major Hollywood movie that I would go see.

3. I really don't have a third reason, but it'd look better if I just rounded out the list.  But yay Comic-Con! (not that I ever have any inclination to go... but hey, it might be fun sometime... maybe...)

And Yet... SUGARRRRR...

Note on the Great Dog Hunt - no news yet.  Don't know what else to say (still pissed, but Real Life beckons)  Will keep y'all posted.

Shalayne had her birthday yesterday and she got an assortment of DVDs (her favorite!)  One was "New Moon," which Alison said she hadn't seen yet.  So, after a whirlwind Monday shopping trip to Spanish Fork (during which I spent money I did not have.  But those composition notebooks are soooooo preeeeeeeetty!!), we came back home and watched "New Moon."  Alison's review (direct quote, honest to Sparkles): "It makes me want to slit my wrists."

So, in the interest of preventing that from happening, I proudly link to my favorite Twilight parody-ist, Cleolinda! (Link is to her "Movies in Fifteen Minutes: New Moon."  Trust me, there's plenty more where that came from!)

Also, here's a quote from the Master Cleo herself, which I think perfectly sums up the Twilight phenomedazzlesagathing: "It's like I'm in my kitchen and there's that Twinkie sitting on the counter, and I know, I know, that not one single ingredient in that thing originated in nature. "Flour," maybe, and I'm not even so sure about that. And yet.... SUGARRRRRRRR."

I figure that Twilight is one of the funniest things to parody (outside of Cleo, here are three without breaking a sweat.  Okay, two more, just for kicks).  And whether you're a crazed Twi-hard or if you're a scoffer... or if you just enjoy a good laugh at the expense of the scoffers and Twi-hards.  Just enjoy.

I can't resist - one more for the road (and because I'm a competitive sucker):

(click to embiggen)

(More and more I think I was born in the wrong country)

Happy Pioneer Day! (and a few random ramblings)

Or as we've termed it around our house - just another day on the ranch.  Seriously - I think we'd rather celebrate the 25th of July which (beyond being my youngest sister's birthday) was the day the pioneers set to making the Salt Lake Valley habitable by clearing land, building settlements and planting crops before it became too late in the season to do these things.  It's nearly the same thing around here, except we enjoy doing yard work and pulling weeds ("we" is a term I use loosely in this case, btw).

As the great Sheldon Cooper once said (and I'm paraphrasing because there's no way I could get this 100% right just off the top of my head) - why go outdoors when mankind has spent so much time perfecting the indoors?  That is doubly true of July in Utah where the atmosphere becomes roughly the same temperature and consistency as the surface of the sun.  It's ridiculous, to be honest.  My ancestors came from Scandinavia where the sun shines for about six hours out of the entire year and we have the pale, pasty complexions to prove it (if species are supposed to evolve to their surroundings, how come mine and my family's skin still blends in with printer paper?  Shouldn't we be darkening up to adapt to the oppressive desert sunlight?  I wish it'd get on with it because all this trying to avoid sunburn is really annoying).

I hate summertime.  Whoever decided that the sun was the symbol of hope and goodness is an idiot.  Shade and shadows are so much more hopeful - the sun is just oppressive.

I Can Haz JOB!!!

Moar Good News!!!  This calls for a cracked-out, giddy fangirl video to celebrate!! (I had two of these to choose from, but this is the one that won out.  This is the link to the other one).



(1:48-1:50 is LOVE! 0:52-1:05 is awesome too ^_^)

I just got off the phone with the principal of the high school I volunteered at and he told me that the school board approved the teacher's aide position I applied for - and since I'm the only one that applied for the position, it's MINE!!!!

HECK YES!!!

*runs around house flailing like an idiot*

(doing homework now is nigh on impossible)

One Year Ago...

(x-posted to LiveJournal)

A few days ago, I realized this week I would be celebrating one year since I've been home from my mission.  A year ago today I was in Orange Park, Florida having my exit interview with my mission president with a handful of other missionaries also heading home.  It's so weird that it's only been a year - I feel like I've done so much since then.

Also - yesterday I went with my mom and my sisters to get some stuff for youth conference and I met up with my last mission companion, who is now working and going to school in Provo (I forgive her for that - she's the biggest sweetheart in the whole world and I was very blessed to have her as my last companion).  It was so fun to reminisce about mission stuff and to hear how things went after I came home.

I'm also happy to report that the new mission president is going to keep the mission blog going - my mission president and his wife went home at the beginning of the month and I was afraid that the mission blog was going to go the way of the dodo (different mission presidents do different things).  I just like being able to see what's going on with all those wonderful people I got to serve around.  I recognize the missionaries less and less, but I know the places.  It's like when you've been out of high school or college for years and years, but you still get happy and squee-ful when you hear that their teams are having success (I can apply sports to pretty much anything).

Shifting gears for a moment - I bought my one textbook for fall semester and it was $30 and I am happy.  The syllabus for my other class doesn't list a textbook, so I'm thinking I'll only have one book to buy.  That makes me happy because I'm going to have some excess money coming from my student loan and I can use that for a new laptop and for travel expenses (now I'm waiting to hear back from the high school if I have that aide job - which, it looked good as of a week or so ago.  And I wouldn't have to move).

Beyond that - I have one more project to turn in that's due in two weeks.  It's an annotated bibliography, which feels more like busywork.  I'm trying to find one more article to annotate, but it's getting harder to find what I need for my topic.  Something will turn up, though.  I'm having too good a day to have that go down the tubes.

Oh - for something completely unrelated (but cool nonetheless), here's a video!  I found this when I was lurking about on HillBuzz.org's comment threads and I thought it was pretty good.  I've gotten to where I like to share fun videos on my blog because - well, because I can.  I feel like I have a backlog of stuff to share - I might do some kind of 30-day meme where I post a video each day that I find entertaining.  Hmm... I'll have to think about that. 

Ding!

I seriously love my MLS Cohort peeps!  One of them sent out this video and I have watched it three times since coming home from church and just laughed and laughed.  I think librarians have an affinity for quirkiness, which makes me feel like I'm in the right profession.



("Doctor Who" reference at the beginning is love!  I seriously want that quote on a t-shirt)

Tell Me, Doctor

Silly me - I keep forgetting I have two blogs (one for attempting to be an anonymous fangirl weirdo - LiveJournal - and one for family and friends to look up and seeing really what kind of a fangirl weirdo I really am - which is this one.  You're welcome).

I posted on my LiveJournal, saying something along the lines of having been inducted into the vast world of geekdom by making and posting a "Doctor Who" music video on YouTube.  Then, seeing as how I can't live without my iPod for any stretch of time, I got yet another idea for a video and made that one.  While I promoted my creations on LiveJournal and Facebook, I neglected to say anything here.  So - that's what this post is for.

***SPOILER WARNING*** This post contains spoilers for "Doctor Who" up through series 4, but before the 2009 specials.  If that's an issue for you, then I suggest you go find those episodes and watch them and not read this post.

Video #1 - "Ordinary"

This video is a result of watching the series 3 two-parter "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood."  When I very first saw this story, I hated it.  Not because it was badly written or anything technical like that - it's actually quite brilliant.  But I HATED seeing the Doctor be this total and completely helpless character.  It was doubly tough to watch the montage that showed what his life could be if he stayed as John Smith and married Nurse Joan, had their happy little family and grew old and died.  And maybe that desire is a part of his subconscious, but you can't ignore the fact that the Doctor is not human, nor will he ever be truly human (even the human John Smith didn't have a proper memory of his childhood - it was all just facts and figures of the place he'd purported to have grown up).  The Doctor is never going to have an ordinary human life because he just isn't ordinary - and that's what makes him the Doctor. People are always going to need the Doctor and, quite frankly, the Doctor is always going to need to be the Doctor (wow - that was deep).



Just as an aside, I grew to love this story and it's become one of my favorites.  I think that's why I love this series so much - there are fictional stories that I read/watch that are just "meh..." but "Doctor Who" is really an emotional ride for me.  I find myself so fully invested in the story and the characters that I just can't put it down (I bawled my eyes out over the end of series 2).  When something keeps me up until all hours of the night because I have to just get through one more chapter/episode, that's when I know it's something amazing.  The same thing happened with me and "Harry Potter" (what it is with stories from Britain that just sucks me in?  Maybe I'll know someday).

Video #2 - "Take Me Back in Time"

Initially, I suspected that putting this song with "Doctor Who" was probably not the most original idea in the Whoniverse, so I decided to throw my own little twist into it and take the idea of "Back in Time" literally.  I would only use clips from episodes where the action took place in the past.  When I was coming up with ideas to go along with the lyrics, I hadn't seen Series 5 (with Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor), and I wanted things to be a little more lighthearted, so I stuck with the Tenth Doctor for this project (David Tennant remains my favorite Doctor, which I don't know if that's really saying anything since I haven't seen any Classic Who yet).





The biggest challenge for this video was finding clips that matched the lyrics.  I didn't want this to be all "Oh, just cobble together a string of clips and set it to music - perfect!"  I've seen good and bad fan videos and, while I'm not a professional video-maker by any stretch of the imagination, I do strive for quality. And depend on a little bit of luck, as it turns out.  Sometimes I'd throw a clip on there just to see what it would look like next to another one and the music would hit a certain beat right as something happened in the clip that no amount of planning on my part could have produced.

The ending stretch was a pain because A) I was getting bored of just putting clips up and wanted to be done and B) the music fades at the end and I was finding it difficult to find something that matched the lesser intensity.  In the end, I figured that a scene with the Doctor and his companion going back to the TARDIS would work since the opening featured scenes where they came out into certain time periods.  And the end of "The Shakespeare Code" with the Doctor and Martha running away from the Royal Guard worked out perfectly - complete with an arrow in the door of the TARDIS.  I also hadn't planned on including the "Back to the Future" speech, but that was a long stretch of instrumental without anything to break it up a bit.

I have ideas for future videos (including one to a Barenaked Ladies song - won't say which one so I can surprise people), so watch this space for further updates!  Or friend me on YouTube.  I figure I have the account - might as well use it.

Some People Have 26 Hour Days. I'm Not One of Them

(reposted from my LiveJournal)

Another class weekend is upon me (seems like that's all I talk about - school, Doctor Who, family stuff... well, it's summertime.  That's what happens).  I'm part of yet another presentation, but this one is on Medical Subject Headings (MeSH for short), of which I know absolutely nothing about, but that's okay because I'm only supposed to come up with the uses for it in cataloging and I only have to fill up about 5 minutes of presentation time (one of the benefits of group work).  I found some good info on the MeSH website and sent it on to our group-leader-person, so yippie.  Sadly, MeSH doesn't lend itself well to making another cool-yet-educational video based in fandom, which is a shame because I'm becoming quite proficient at it ^_^

In the course of my quest to become a well-rounded and informed librarian, I checked out a book called "This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All" by Marilyn Johnson.  My instructor in my last class suggested that we all read it because it's got some good insight on new technologies for librarianship.  I'm right in the middle of reading it... and I just must be an idiot or something because it's making my brain melt.  Every chapter details how various librarians throughout the country are using blogs, iPhones and Second Life to meet the masses' information needs - and they all have tattoos and spiky purple hair, because, you know - that's cool!  We have to grind that oppressive stereotype of dowdy spinster librarians into dust!  Peace, love, dope - it's all about anarchy!  Down with the establishment!! (yes, Sheldon, that was sarcasm).

Not that there's anything inherently wrong with tattoos and spiky purple hair - if that's the way you roll, then go for it.  But it's like people have to go from one extreme to the next just to prove how relevant they are, which is kind of dumb.  There are plenty of middle-of-the-roaders (like me) who aren't necessarily going to get on your case for being loud in the kids' section or playing "World of Warcraft" on your computer time, but I'm not going to go make up a bisexual persona on Second Life just to show how "hip" and "with it" I am (some people will and that's fine. I'm not disparaging that lifestyle - I'm just saying that's not me).  Personally, I think we have sufficiently proven that geeks can be cool without having to make a big neon sign proclaiming it to be so.  You're as relevant as you make yourself out to be - and it's not by playing some whiny victim act that everyone picks on you and your life is so unfair because that gets you nowhere.

Anyway (now that I've made my political statement), it blows my mind how many avenues there are to librarianship.  I mean, I blog (obviously) .  I have a Facebook and a YouTube account, but I don't have a Twitter or a Second Life account.  Honestly, I think that I'm one of those people that if I had a Second Life account, I'd never get off and venture outside.  I really have to be careful about things like that because I can be an extreme person.  I probably would be okay with doing roving reference (where you have an iPhone and you go out into the stacks or even the streets to provide reference - you don't have to be tied down to a desk).  There's just so much librarians can do and sometimes I feel like I have to do it all to be a good librarian.  I have to keep reminding myself that it's okay to pick and choose what you do.  Not everyone is going to respond to everything out there.  There are some people that still run the ink-and-paper route and if you try to explain something like Second Life to them, they aren't going to go for it (happily, there is a chapter about people who still deal in bound books, but they get pretty whiny when there's talk of funding cuts and stuff like that.  Heaven help me if I ever become so annoying).

That's what my Future of Reference presentation was all about - we get so enthralled by these shiny new toys and how things have changed, we forget what the changes were for.  It's about serving people - not serving our egos or staying on trend with the latest and greatest.  I'm just trying to keep a perspective on things for myself because I can get caught up in all these NEW! IMPROVED! AMAZING! gimmicks, much to my own detriment.  I want to become a librarian so I can help people become better than they already are - especially middle and high school kids because they're just fun.  I want to help the sophomore English student with a report on "Julius Caesar."  I want to help an 8th grader work out a question about volcanoes for a science fair project.  I want the 13-year-old whose parents are divorcing to be comfortable asking me for a book on how to cope with the situation.  I want some kid who got a telescope for Christmas to ask me for the names of the constellations.  Whatever they need - that's my purpose in life.

And, you know what?  I'm okay with that.

Life's Lessons from Literature: Charlotte's Web

Had an interesting thought today and I just wanted to get it down here. Kind of deep, but it made me feel good about life.

Oy... I woke up this morning in one of my "What-am-I-doing-with-my-life?" funks. Even knowing I'm doing everything I can possibly do at this point in my life, I still feel like there's more I could be doing. It's just one of those irrational, everything-must-be-perfect-so-how-come-it-isn't-and-I-suck-because-I-haven't-accomplished-XY-and-Z moods I get in.

So, I'm sitting in church today thinking about all these things and I feel like my brain is about to explode from all these self-deprecating thoughts I'm having. I fished out my writing journal that I keep in my church bag and started writing down everything I 'd been feeling and I came up with the most random, yet encouraging things I've thought of in a while.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was "Charlotte's Web" (bookworm+farm kid = loves "Charlotte's Web" - I have yet to hear of anything to the contrary). I even had a little piglet I named Wilbur. I still hate spiders, though. Anyway, there's a point in the book (and in the movie too, now that I think of it) that Wilbur is feeling really low because he misses Fern and he feels like there's no other reason for his life than becoming pork chops and bacon - and he doesn't want to just be a fat, lazy pig in the farmyard. In the movie, the line is that Wilbur can't sleep because "his stomach was empty and his mind was full" and that's about where I was (my mind was full - not necessarily that my stomach was empty... just go with me here). But then he meets Charlotte, who uses her ability to show that Wilbur is more than a typical farm pig. But through the story, Wilbur never really does anything beyond what he's accustomed to doing - he does put on a little show when people come to see the spider's web, which could be out of his comfort zone a little. But really, he's just himself all the way through the book - it's Charlotte's friendship and the fact that she sees something special in Wilbur that ultimately saves his life.

Sometimes, when I feel like life's just about checking off "go to college, get a degree, get a job, get married, have kids, blah, blah, blah..." it gets so bland and so routine (sort of like a grocery list - but when you get to the store, you can't figure out where certain things are hidden in the shelves). It's like waiting around and fattening up just to be made into pork chops. But even though the things I'm doing now may seem bland and boring, something's going to happen that makes me amazing - and that I'm not just here for the things that people have told me I'm here for.

It's been years since I've read "Charlotte's Web." I want to read it again.

Dancing Out a Samba!

By a miracle (or simply because Mom was bored and needed someone to go with), I wound up seeing "Toy Story 3" tonight.  Before I continue, my sisters noted on Facebook about my "Eclipse" review, so I know at some point they'll be reading this *waves*



(Two movies this summer I really liked - "Iron Man 2" and "Toy Story 3" - all in one video!  I love this guy ^_^)

That's about all the Spanish I know.

Proving once again that good things come to those who wait - this was an awesome movie.  And not just because it made me a little bleary eyed at the end (just got some popcorn dust in my eye or something...)

Actually, I got to thinking about when I first saw "Toy Story" - it was the Christmas I got my "American Girl" Kirsten doll (which I still have).  AND - I used to have one of those rolly-eyeball-phone deals.  Ah, the memories.

I knew Andy wouldn't chuck his toys out like that!  But giving them to Bonnie - aw... so cute!  And the toys all got one last playtime with him and it was just wonderful.

Ken's Fashion Show = FTW!  Barbie explaining what's it's like to govern with the consent of the governed = FTW plus two!  Just - Barbie and Ken - that was funny.

Other things I liked:
- Playing roulette with the Farm Sounds "record" thing.
- The escape plan and how it all worked out.
- Spanish!Buzz (and all the little interactions with Jessie - tee hee ^_^)
- Chuckles.  There was entirely too little of him.
- Lotso getting wired to the front of the garbage truck.
- ahem ... WOODY IS ALWAYS RIGHT, people! (I'm lookin' at you Potato Head)
- Oh - and there was Tortilla Head - and Zucchini Head.  And Mrs. I-Lost-One-Eye-But-Can-Spy-On-Andy's-Progress Head.
- "Border Crossing - Outlaws Welcome."  Not that I'm making any connections or anything... but you know.
- The whole opening sequence was fantastic.  I'm going to sound like a total geek, but that who bit actually sounded like it could be a "Doctor Who" plot.  I wonder if Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat and the gang ever made up crazy stories with their toys as kids (Evil Doctor Pork Chop and Death By Monkeys - Ha-HA!)

Things I didn't like:
- This had nothing to do with the movie, but the lady behind us kept saying things like "Oh my gosh - it's the incinerator!"  Like, really loud.  Like she and her husband were at home watching the movie.  And they didn't even have kids they were entertaining.  Oh, and she kept remarking on how many people worked on the "Day and Night" short as those credits were rolling.  Um, yeah, lady.  These movies take a lot of people to work on - have you seen the credits for a feature-length movie lately?  And her husband kept grumbling "yeah, they probably all got paid too."  Good grief - can you just enjoy the freaking movie without making inane comments??

Okay, I'm done with the griping part.

I was glad that they had the little bit during the roll-credits of Andy's toys fitting in with Bonnie's - that was fun.  I almost expected Rex to be Dixie's "Velociraptor-whatever-whatever-number," but it was great all the same (I'm with Hamm - I think they should do "Hamlet" ^_^)

Personally, I don't know where the Pixar peeps get their ideas, but it's wonderful.  Even during "Day and Night," I was in awe.  I mean, who comes up with this stuff?  It's amazing!  I want to write for these guys - seriously.

ETA: Okay, so goofy me got the subject line wrong, but I don't like to change my blog titles.  So, to make up for it, here's the clip from "Doctor Who" that it came from:



(just a "little" bit foxy? Mm-hmm ^_^)


Coming attractions - Mom is a huge Secretariat fan (not horse racing in general, just Secretariat - I should ask her why, now that I think about it), so it's certain we'll be seeing that movie.  While that trailer was going, she seemed pretty excited, which I'm happy for her.

"Tangled"... has potential, but I'll reserve judgment for when I see it.

Citizen Movie Critic - "Eclipse"

I have a new tag for these movie reviews - came to me in a coming-attraction-preview vision.  During the "Deathly Hallows" trailer, no less.

"Eclipse" Review. There are spoilers, but I really don't know why I bother with the warning (if you're the type that cares about spoilers for this movie, you'd have read the book about fifty times by now).

But first, here's a Strong Bad video - you'll see why.




The evening began okay - a violent death in the streets of Seattle.  But then Kristen Stewart's trying-to-be-dramatic-goth-emo-dark voiceover reciting Robert Frost in a frolicky meadow killed my "Yay! Action!" buzz (I'm even more distressed because that's my favorite Frost poem - "Road Less Traveled" gets waaaay too much airtime)

We now know where all the wolf-boys' t-shirts ended up - in Renee's graduation present for Bella!  (However, I was slightly bummed that Edward echoed my thoughts wondering if the wolf-boys even owned shirts. I thought I was being clever. Guess not...)

By the way, Alice can see the future, Edward can read people's minds and it's graduation for everyone.  Just in case you were wondering.

The whole time during Billy's "Third Wife" story, he kept calling the vampires "Cold Ones" and I couldn't help but hum the Strong Badia National Anthem.

Did anyone notice that the sunlight seemed to shine on the vampires a lot more - but minus the wind-chimy-sparkly-ness?  Or did they just put more light on them and pretend it was clouds?

This movie was just one big List of Awkward - the highlights:
- The Imprinting conversation
- Any romance scene - no one in these movies knows how to be cutely romantic.  Well, other than Alice and Jasper... but I'll get to that in a minute.
- Edward's "pained" expression (he just looks like he's about to throw up).
- Jessica's graduation speech, still trying to create suspense over who Bella will choose.  Come on, we all know how this is going to end.  If Bella chose Jacob, the books wouldn't be black and red, now would they?  They'd be a Native American wolf motif.
- The Brokeback tent scene having Edward and Jacob work out their feelings for... Bella.
- The bedroom scene.  Honestly, Ed - if you're all so big on the protecting Bella's virtue, why do you have a king-sized bed with low-lighting and soft music when you two are alone?  I don't buy it.  (that actually was a good time to go get a refill on Junior Mints, though)

And from the "This is Just Plain Weird" category:
- When Bella asked Jacob to kiss her, there was a girl a few rows ahead of me that literally covered her eyes (before the movie started, I noticed she was wearing a "Team Edward" shirt).
- "I'm Switzerland!"  Um, sure honey - whatever you say ("The hiiiiiiiills are aliiiiiiiiive!!!!")
- Bella mad that Jacob hasn't called (when life and limb is at stake)
- Cracking vampire flesh (What part of "skin like marble" doesn't anyone understand?  Similes people!!!)

Although, there were a few things I liked -
- Charlie's attempts to have "The Talk" with Bella.  Actually, anything with Charlie.  That guy's good for a laugh.  I was disappointed that we didn't have a "Telling Charlie We're Engaged" scene because that would have been worth the price of admission)
- Chasing Victoria - any kind of action, really.  At least there was some.
- The Battle.  But there was way too little of it.
- The newborns did that "Pirates of the Carribean" underwater-undead march thing.  Not too bad.
- The Volturi guy's line - "It appears we missed an entertaining fight." Thus reflecting the sentiments of every non-Twihard person watching this movie.

This is something I've never understood about vampire novels - if you're a vampire, you're undead with loads of time on your hands.  Yet, there are two things that are almost universal in these stories: 1. They are always out for blood (I get that - it's a part of their life and they have to feed).  2. Their next favorite hobby is sex.  Why?  I mean, you have unlimited time on your hands, why in the world are you so preoccupied with doing the nasty?  I will say this for the Cullens - at least they make an effort to continue what's good about human life (education, family, accomplishment)

On the whole, it was a so-so movie.  I have to say this for myself - I don't necessarily hate "Twilight" (I actually enjoyed the first book... and then it just got progressively weirder).  I think the fans really ruined it for me, though.  Too many teeny-boppers and middle-aged moms that wish they were still teeny-boppers (I don't know which is worse).  What gets me is that it started out as a clean(ish) love story and that's really hard to find nowadays, but then the weirdos all got their hands on it and... yeah... I think Stephenie Meyer tried to please all her fans and that's just not going to happen. If she'd had it all mapped out beforehand and not tried to prolong the inevitable, it would have been a different story.  But what can you do?

I also decided this - I like romances, but I think I like them better if the love story is secondary to a bigger plot.  Think of Harry Potter - the main crux of the story is Harry against Voldemort.  Everything else - including the romance - takes a backseat to the bigger storyline.  That's what makes the few romantic scenes so fun -  they're the added spice to the meal, not the entire meal itself.  I mean, what good are the mushy scenes if you're just one continual ball of gooey mush?  You have to get the adrenaline kicked in at some point to balance out.

To Stroke My Ego (plus video-spam)

Quick post, just to show that I have not forgotten this blog.  Life has been busy of late - had a crazy 4th of July where your humble correspondent was obligated to come out from behind the computer screen and socialize with family members and friends.  But I must say, the food was good - not to mention the fireworks.

School keeps me busy, as always.  I have a paper due tomorrow that I am feverishly sprinting to complete.  But I have decided that since I've kept all these articles from my past classes, I might as well use them.  I often am required to quote from other articles, which I just think is a pain because why do I want to write a paper using other people's ideas instead of relying on my own?  I mean, sure it's good to know what's out there and what others have written does help you formulate your own thoughts, but I'd much rather share my own ideas.  I usually just quote a line from each article I find and then just prattle on about my own thoughts in a convoluted-academic-smart-people-sounding way (academic writing is really wordy, which also bugs me).  Which is why I ended up creating this "Reference Librarianship in Star Wars" video - it's creative and information and really entertaining (if I do say so myself).



I actually forgot to mention this here, but I used that video in my last class weekend for a presentation and my instructor liked it so much that she asked if she could use it in future trainings.  By the way, my instructor is the assistant director for the Utah State Library - not the USU library, but the library for the State of Utah.  Oh yeah - who's awesome?

I also managed to finish the 2009 "Doctor Who" specials, which were an emotional roller coaster on steroids (It's official - I am a Tenth Doctor fangirl, but Eleven is making a convincing case).  If I can get so involved in a story after just one month, then that's something.  This is what I was talking about when I was lamenting the lack of books that kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning - but who knew I'd find that kind of mileage in a TV show of all things?  I'm almost happy that "24" was canceled (almost) because then I wouldn't have had the desire to find something new to squee over.

And thanks to "Doctor Who," I have also become a David Tennant fangirl - I'm now on a quest to find other shows and movies he's been in.  Before "Doctor Who," I knew him from his role as Barty Crouch in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but that was it.  But since then, I've found other (smallish) things he's done and it's simply marvelous ^_^  My next plan of attack is to find the version of "Hamlet" he was in (it should be no secret that I love, love, LOVE "Hamlet" *points to blog subtitle*).  I've seen a few clips on YouTube.  When I actually stop to think about it, I feel a little odd drooling over David's delivery of the "To be or not to be" soliloquy because it's basically Hamlet contemplating suicide, but the giddy fangirl in me just can't help it.  Seriously - if you have any interest in Shakespeare at all, you owe it to yourself to hit the big play button.



Bottom Line - Shakespeare = Win.  Hamlet = Win.  David Tennant = Win.  David Tennant as Shakespeare's Hamlet = So Much Win that the Universe Explodes (good thing we have the Doctor in the house ^_^)

Also in the realm of stories that keep me up at night - Shannon Hale.  Ahem - Shannon Hale!  Is amazing.  I've finished all the "Books of Bayern" and I have to say that I have a writer's crush on her (meaning that I am in love with her style of writing).  The last one, "Forest Born" was simply brilliant.  After three books of having part of the focus being on romance (which, you'll never hear me complain too much about that) it was nice to have Rin come to grips with her people- and tree-speaking abilities.  Rin is an absolute delight.  The others were good too (if "The Goose Girl" hadn't have been so good, I wouldn't have read the rest) and I have gone on to "Book of a Thousand Days," which is lovely.

So, that's what I've been up to lately - school, reading, fangirling, being generally awesome, you know the usual.

Who Ya Gonna Call?

It's not what you think.

As most of my friends on LiveJournal and Facebook know (much to their chagrin and constant rolling of the eyes, I'm sure - I've mentioned it a couple of times here, I think), I have been really into "Doctor Who."  No, like, I've never been so nutzoid over something since "Harry Potter" (I think I have this thing for British-themed entertainment).  And while these two videos don't have a whole lot to do with "Doctor Who" directly, both of them involve two actors from the series - David Tennant (who plays the Tenth Doctor) and Catherine Tate (who plays the Doctor's companion in the 4th season, Donna Noble), they are both pretty damn funny.  This first video was sent to me by a LJ friend and if you don't watch it fifty times if only for the lulz at least in the first 30 seconds... yeah I can't help you -



The second video won't let me embed it, but it's just as funny (and if you are familiar with "Doctor Who," there are many laughs and jokes to be had).  Of course, the English major in me dies with laughter every time I watch this.  And speaking for the fangirl side of me, if I had David Tennant as an English teacher - well I was already a kick-ass student in English, but... (no, really, does that sentence even need ending?)