The Difference Between the Departed and Pride and Prejudice/How I Spent My Spring Break (So Far)

Thank goodness it's Spring Break! Due to the number of unnecessary snow days my school district had, Spring Break has been the first break the students have gotten in a very, very long time. The major pro to Spring Break is that I get to work more so I make more money and I don't have to wake up at an ungodly hour. The con is having to see facebook status updates such as "Laying on the beach..." or "Going to Florida. Be back (insert date here)..." or "Swimming in the ocean..." as I sit at home in front of a computer screen, typing something for my blog. Not that I don't love you guys or anything (not that there's really anyone to love at the moment).

My Spring Break hasn't really consisted of me doing anything. Every plan that I've made has just been on the go. I'm just going with the flow now. I have gone outside quite a few times in the hopes of getting tan so that when everyone else comes back from the beach or whatever other place they went to besides this hell hole, I will be as tan as them and I didn't have to put myself through the harmful UVA rays of the tanning bed or spend a few bucks on a trip to the beach to do it.

I have been living with my grandfather since October in my old house because my parents opened a restaurant in Pennsylvania and that's where they live. My grandfather had to go see a Chinese doctor in New York so I've had the house to myself for Spring Break. It's pretty awesome but I had to wash the dishes, do the laundrey, and cook for the first time since who knows when. But it doesn't matter because I can go wherever I want and do whatever I want since there are no authority figures living at my house. Bahahahahaha!

Then, I was gonna go visit some friends in Northern Kentucky and spend about three days with them. I was pretty excited for that but that got canceled as well for various reasons. I was okay with that because they're gonna come visit me to make up for it. I was stuck with no plans for Spring Break again. Whoop dee doo! But I'm kinda glad that my plans got canceled because I got to promote the local walk that I planned on Monday, go prom dress shopping with my sister on Tuesday, and visit a monastery today. I'm telling you guys now, go look and see if there is a monastery anywhere near you. The monastery was eye opening and amazing. There was a gift shop that sold a book with Gandhi's writing on non violence. Now that was awesome! Who knew a  monastery could be so exciting? I'm telling you to find one now and check it out. And have a picnic while you're at it because that was the best part.

In addition to those various other things I have done over Spring Break, I also watched the Departed about 8 times, had a Bleach party, and watched An Education. Who knew there were so many hours in a day? I had officially decided that The Departed is my new favorite movie, topping my long time favorite Pride and Prejudice. Anyone notice the huge differences between them?  I decided to compile a list of the differences between to further illustrate my eclectic taste in movies.

	Pride and Prejudice	The Departed
The Number of times a cuss word was used	None	A lot
Music	charming piano	a mix of rap, bagpipes, screaming people, etc.
Accents	Sophisticated British Accent	Boston Accent
Content	Romance, Slice of Life	Boston Majia Gangs vs Police trying to one up each other
Setting	Sweeping landscapes, beautiful architecture and countrysides	Dirty streets of Boston's dangerous neighborhoods as well as shots of upper class living quarters
Violence	None except for a shot of British soldiers walking with their guns	Lots and lots of guns and dead people and violence
# people that die	None	A lot
Leads	Female lead	Testerone filled movie with male leads

Well, I think that I've made my point. They are nothing alike but I still love the Departed so very much. It's amazing and I'm probably going to watch it again tonight. Who knows? Maybe I'll memorize it like I memorized Pride and Prejudice. It's sad, I know.

There is still so much more to say! I really need to post more often so then my posts don't end up being pages long and I bore what few readers I have to death. Another one coming soon, probably about my visit to the monastery and An Education. For now, goodbye and goodnight!

Sandy

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Tom's One Day Without Shoes and Spring Awakening

If you haven't already heard, April 8th is Tom's official One Day Without Shoes. On this day, you go barefoot for an hour, two hours, a whole day, or just 15 minutes to promote awareness for those who go without shoes every day. TOMS is a shoe company that gives a pair of shoes to a child in Africa for every pair that you buy. They're supporting this event and my friends and I decided to organize one in our home town. It's gonna be awesome. I'll just paste here what my friend wrote about it:

"It might be cold, it'll probably be uncomfortable, and our feet will certainly get dirty, but by doing so, we’ll help raise awareness of the impact a simple pair of shoes can bring to a child’s life.

One Day Without Shoes is an annual event hosted by TOMS Shoes in which students, friends, parents, strangers, and co-workers host or join barefoot events. Some go barefoot for an hour, some for the whole day, but all become a part of a greater movement toward change.

However, this year on April 8th, we're asking you to join us in a walk to help raise awareness for children and adults in 3rd world countries.

Your involvement will captivate and educate our community and school, as well as impact the lives of children around the world.

Did you know most children in developing countries grow up barefoot? Did you know some children walk barefoot for miles each day, and they can often not attend school without proper footwear? In Ethiopia, approximately 1 million people are suffering from a debilitating disease called podoconiosis, which is 100% preventable with basic hygiene and shoes."

That's the general gist of it. For more information, click here. It will take you to the event information site and also to the actual TOMS sites so that you can also check out the awesome variety of shoes they have. They are a little on the expensive side. One pair usually costs around $40 and they can get a tad expensive but you're essentially buying two shoes if you think about it. Also on the site, you can find if there are any events relating to it in your general area. I know there are around 4 other walks near my town. They're everywhere! Here's one last video for you to check out. Hopefully, you'll go out and try to do your own part in this national event or maybe even organize one in such short notice. It's gonna be awesome! I'll try to get pictures from my event!

On another topic, I watched the entire play Spring Awakening on youtube. Thanks to people who are willing to take a camcorder into theaters and record things illegally so that unfortunate souls such as moi can see them. Thank you truly! You are a lifesaver! I watched it with the original cast with Lea Michelle and Jonathan Groff. At the time that particular show was touring, I wasn't old enough to watch it since I think you have to be 17 to watch it. Don't you think that's stupid? I knew about it when it was on Broadway in 2006 yet I wasn't old enough to watch it even though I wanted to see it. Bleh. Yeah, some of the content was mature but so what? You can watch R-movies when you're younger if there is a parent in the theater with you. Why not plays?

I've got to say that it was pretty awesome. I haven't seen that many plays in my life, but Spring Awakening is great. It's basically about teenagers who are trying to discover what sex is and what it is their bodies are going through, covering such topics as suicide, pregnancy, sex, masturbation, etc and it also explores the influence of adults and the consequences of ignorance. There were some really catchy songs and I proceeded to download the soundtrack after watching it. My favorites are "The Bitch of Living", "The Word of Your Body", "Totally Fucked", "And Then There Were None." "And Then There Were None" was especially wonderful. I love the character Moritz and his voice is fantastic as well. You should definitely check it out on youtube. If I am able to conjure up the money, I might be going to see Wicked in May. The key words are conjure up the money. What can I say? I'm a broke high school student.

That's all I gotta say for now. Go out and support those who don't have shoes! Goodbye and Goodnight.

Sandy

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Up in the Air

Well, I gotta say that it has been a little while since my last post. I have an excuse! Being the overachieving high school student that I am, I decided that I would take part in the spring play which has practically taken over my life. I also wanted to make this really awesome post that included pictures and what not but unfortunately, Adobe Photoshop will not download onto my computer and so I have no spiffy pictures to show from the movie or anything of that sort which is quite sad, I must say.

Anyway, I didn't really know anything about Up in the Air when I started watching it. I knew that it involved airplanes of some sort, George Clooney was in it, and the first Twilighter to get an Oscar nod was in it. Other than that, I really didn't know much about the movie at all.

I'm not really sure what to say about the movie. It's about this man named Ryan Bingham whose goes around firing people for a living. He loves being on airplanes and in airports and thinks of it as "home." He isn't into family matters and doesn't really believe in "relationships." All of a sudden, twilighter Anna Kendrick comes in as Natalie and proposes a new, more technological method of firing people for his company. He shows her the ropes so that she can gain experience. Also, some romance is thrown in there with Vera Farmiga as Alex.

Did I believe George Clooney deserved an Oscar? Probably. I thought he was just as good in this movie as he was in O Brother, Where Art Thou? and you can't go wrong with the Coen brothers in my opinion. He portrayed the lonely character of Ryan Bingham very well and I'm not sure if it was just me or if I'm reading too much into this but Bingham seemed to possess both sophisticated and child-like qualities. It's in his relationship with Farmiga's character that his lack of growth and childishness really comes through. Clooney did a great job of portraying those contradictions within his character if that was what his character was about. There's also that sense of reality in something that was meant to be cheerful in a way. Characters try to escape their lives because they're always on the move. They never have to clean up any messes they make because they're gone before you know it. There's a quality of reality in this cheerful escapism.

I did generally enjoy the movie, but I wouldn't want to watch it again. I like movies that are generally happy and have good endings rather than ones that seem like the characters are making progress only to end up back where they started. I would say you should watch it though to compare with the rest of the movies of 2009. Moon, Inglourious Basterds, District 9, Avatar, and the Hurt Locker were all better than Up in the Air in my opinion and it's not really surprising to see why. Also, I didn't think it deserved its Best Picture nod but the rest were deserved to a certain degree. They should have put Star Trek instead of Up in the Air in! Oh well. Next up... Precious.

Sandy

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Oscar, I choose you!

I don't think I need to tell you what happened this past weekend because who could possibly forget when the Oscars air? Anyway, the Oscars this year were predictable for the most part although "Inglourious Basterds" didn't get the love it deserved considering how original and innovative it is. Hitler freaking dies, for goodness sakes! Surely, that should deserve an Oscar? Before I get to the Oscars though, a few other things happened over the weekend as well. There is a point to my story though and hopefully, someone won't say I found money after I tell them.

 On Friday, a few of my friends came over after work for a Bleach party. Two of them both work at McD's. Yeah, it's slightly strange because McD's has always had the reputation as the job you go to as a last resort if you are a "respectable" human being but that's not the case anymore it seems. Four of my friends work there and trust me, we're "respectable" or at least decent human beings.
Anyway, we're having this Bleach party. (By definition, a bleach party is a party in which people gather to watch bleach and eat popcorn and food.) In case you don't know what Bleach is, it's the highly popular shounen show geared towards young boys but who says high school students can't watch? Here's a hint in case you still don't know what it is:

You can also wikipedia it. Wikipedia's always the answer unless you're writing a paper. Then don't ever use it. On to the party! at this party, a most amazing cake was created. One of my friends, Tyler, just turned 18 so we made a cake for him to eat at this party. To be precise, I didn't make the cake, but to keep things simple, I'll pretend I was included in the process of making such an awesome specimen: The PIKACHU CAKE!!!

I love this pikachu cake! Isn't it so cute? I liked to stab it with my knife instead of cutting it out neatly because when you did that, Pikachu looked like he was breathing! He was so cute! After seeing that cake, I really had the urge to buy one of those super soft animal pillows that are around $50 from Elder Beerman. Then I wouldn't have to stab him with a knife! I'm not sadistic though! He was made of cupcake mix so it's ok.I wish he had been made of something that wasn't edible though so I could keep him forever and not have to worry about fungi or something infecting him. The soft animal pillows look like this:

  

Only make it PIKACHU:

 

Maybe I will actually buy that. Maybe in 3 months I'll blog about how I buy a pikachu plushie for college. Well, I guess I'll get one with my next paycheck.
On to the Oscars!

And now.....Rando presents her comments on the 82nd Annual Academy Awards!
Highlights of the night: Ben Stiller coming dressed as an avatar; Steve Martin's and Alec Baldwin's spoof of Paranormal Activity (and probably the only funny thing they did the entire night); Kathryn Bigelow's best director and best movie win (Take that, ex-husband "king of the world"); Sandra Bullock's best actress win and speech; "The Dude's" speech and win; Legion of Extraordinary Dancers; Christopher Waltz winning best supporting actor for Basterds.

Upsets of the night:Inglourious Basterds not getting enough love and....yep, Basterds not getting any love. Oh, and Moon not getting any nominations! That was upsetting for me as well since I loved Moon. The whole movie worked out. I like happy endings, and I would prefer that a movie ended happily, but it's difficult to come by a movie that is good and has a happy, non conventional ending.

To tell you the truth, I haven't seen half the movies that were nominated for Oscars this year. I haven't seen Crazy Heart, An Education, The Blind Side, Up in the Air, Precious...and then all those foreign films, etc. Yeah, I'm a hypocrite, which is why I am devoting the blog to movies for the next few weeks and watching the "major" movies and deciding whether or not they deserved to win or get recognized, my thoughts on the movie, etc. I'm not a student who's studied film studies in college or anything sophisticated like that. I'm just an average high school student who likes to watch movies so I won't sound all "the way they use the camera and how the actors became the characters, etc." Nah. Not for me. At least I watched The Hurt Locker and Avatar though! But who hasn't seen Avatar? First off in my adventure is "Up in the Air"! Goodbye and Goodnight!

Sandy

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Stumbleupon

Something cool to check out: "stumbling". This is seriously addicting and the moment I start "stumbling," I can't stop. It's like a vortex or a black hole or some sort of bottomless barrel! It sucks you in! I have discovered so many weird and interesting things because of stumbleupon. People, you need to check this out! It's amazing.


Here's some of the cool stuff I have found because of stumbleupon:
A Woman From the Inside Out
Theo Jansen Kinetic Sculptor

Super Sprayer

I'm sure you've seen enough to convince you that stumbleupon is the coolest thing to be addicted to and that you need to check it out right now. Of course, it doesn't help that you have a pile of homework glaring at you as you continuously press the stumble button, but who cares because you'll never be bored again!
SANDY

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Starbucks Visits

So... I really don't think this is that interesting of an experience, but I just have to say something about it. Today, I was in Starbucks with a friend of mine and my sister to get...well, starbucks coffee. To be exact, they were buying some and I was not because I'm attempting to save up money for Bonaroo, a freaking fantastic music festival in the summer. You can check it out here. Anyway, there they were getting their coffee when I hear this voice from behind me.

"Hey, you work at the library, right? "

Now you know I work at a library. You wouldn't believe how many people complain about fines for movies when we obviously do them a favor by allowing people to check movies out for FREE and telling them they get SEVEN DAYS TO TURN THEM IN OR IT WILL BE $2 PER DAY OVERDUE PER BARCODE everytime. It also doesn't help when people have fines and they say, "But you didn't tell me that!" Obviously, it's labeled on the DVDS in bold, capital letters and we tell you every time you check out a movie!

Anyway, back to my story: I turn around and it's this weird, random man who I vaguely remember seeing at the library before. But he's talking to me and my friends...as if I have actually carried a normal conversation with him before and multiple times. First of all, I've never said anything other than a "thank you", "you're welcome", and a "would you like a bag for your books?" Now he's talking to me in Starbucks like he knows me?! He continues on with some sort of topic of conversation that I don't even remember anymore...something about a printer and how he doesn't have to pay 10 cents anymore and all the while I'm thinking, "Why are you telling me this?!" I mean, if I saw the guy who has checked me out at Wal-Mart 3 or 4 times at the movie theater, I would not be going up to him and saying, "Hey, you work at Wal-Mart, right?" while I tell him about how I don't have to buy tomatoes at Wal-Mart anymore because I grow my own or something along those lines!

Oh well, I'm flattered I was remembered even if it freaked me out. Goodbye and goodnight!

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Midnight

Well, it’s midnight and I find myself procrastinating yet again as I decide at the last minute that I’m going to start blogging. There are various reasons as to why I’m going to start blogging, but the most important of them is that…well, I just don’t want to think about college acceptance letters and scholarships and the thought that I must wait an entire month before a verdict is decided at the moment. Thus, typing my thoughts so that they can poked and prodded and discussed by strangers seemed the most logical route to follow. So here I am. Procrastinating as I have already stated.

I’m going to write about anything and everything that comes to mind because I have too many interests. My ramblings will probably bore every reader that comes upon my blog but maybe someday, I’ll find someone who enjoys being as random and indecisive as I am.

Now that I have finally exposed my idiocy to the world in what is mostly likely the most measly first entry for a blog ever written, I will now take my leave. Good bye and good night. =]

P.S. It was midnight when I wrote this. And I'm sure as heck not going to wait until midnight again to post this. Great, right?

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