Good Game

Spurs are still my #1. Always.

First Impression : Book : Twilight

Quick Info:
"Twilight" by Stephanie Meyers, a vampire/human love story for the teens and apparently love lorn adults, relates well to its intended audience (melodramatic youth). It gives the reader an intriguing start full of jealous love triangles and long meaningful stares. "Girl-next-Door" Isabella "Bella" Swan is a high school student who finds herself forced to move in with with her Dad, Charlie (she calls him by his first name in her mind and to her friends) in rainy Forks, Washington. There she meets Edward Cullen, who is brooding and complicated.

First Impression:
Maybe it's because the chapters are really short, and I feel accomplished with little effort.
Maybe it's because I find skinny, pale faced, well dressed people interesting.
Or maybe it's because I have a hidden desire to move to the northwest, but I'm about half way through "Twilight" and I have to say, I'm entertained by the teen drama. I would usually scoff at a book like this (i.e. a teen drama) but I picked it up because of a dare. Two of my friends are complete "Twilight" geeks. They're both dreamy eyed at Edward and all the whimsical romance. I decided to read it to see exactly what they were talking bout and perhaps get some tips from the Dracula Casanova. Edward is indeed very seductive and I can see why Bella is drawn to him. He plays the cliche bad boy the girl next door desires. His eyes are, for lack of a better word, intense and Stephanie Meyers reminds you of this repeatedly. As of yet Bella is somewhat boring and I look forward to finding out what exactly makes her so appealing to Edward. Meyers hints at a specialness Bella has inside her, but as of yet she is just a clumsy high school girl.

I'm a little bugged by one thing. I know this book is geared towards teenagers, but must the kids act so dramatic? If Edward is a vampire and has years of experience, (he is supposed to be "17", but tells Bella he's been 17 for some time) why does he act just as dramatic and naive as the other students? I'm going to let this go for the time being, but I hope Edward beings to show some more of his true age. Also, she says shes "in love" with him very quickly and, in my opinion, without much merit. He continues to insist they must stay apart (which btw is a great move to get the other person to want you more, way to go Edward you dog!) so they have a period when he blows her off, but then out of the blue he decides he can't stay away from her. Then a surprise car trip and conversation later, she's in love with him. I just find it hard to take seriously.

Hopes:
"Twilight" is book one in this series, so I hope the story has more in store besides "girl falls for vampire, it's sexy and dangerous, complication arises, vampire and girl make up, blah blah". I hope Bella grows into a more complicated character and isn't simply swooning over Edward for the entirety of the story. I feel like he hasn't "earned" it enough. The character Jakob Black, obvious warewolf and Edward opponent, doesn't seem developed enough to compete with the vampire. I hope Meyers doesn't throw him in just to mix things up. The warewolf/vampire conflict is a well developed theme in literature and is capable of providing great framework for a story. I hope Meyers takes full advantage of this.

"Twilight" by Stephanie Meyers, published by Little, Brown and Company in 2005.

Some New Features

In effort to have some content on this blog that people actually want to read, I'm going to start publishing regular features. These features will include reviews of media I read/watch/listen/experience. The segments will be broken into "First Impression", "Review", and "List". I will also start writing "How To" articles about getting started on the net and other topics that strike my fancy. Hopefully, after I put some of these articles on Digg I'll get some traffic to this site! I will continue to blog about the every day stuff I usually ramble about, this will just be an addition.

Tomorrow will mark the beginning of this new venture, I will be telling you about "Twilight". It is a book I'm reading that has already been slated for a film adaptation, release date this winter. I'm kinda behind the boat on this one, but its always that way with me and books.

Dare I?

Dare I do this:


?

200 bucks! That's a lot, but I do love the Venture Bros. more than any show (besides Firefly).

Decisions, decisions.

I've been trying to save money. So this move wouldn't be the brightest.

Hopelessly In Love

I am hopelessly in love with Radiohead. I thought the concert experience might subconsciously throw me off them for a while, but just now, I listened to Morning Bell and the first word that came to my head was "hopelessly". When Thom sings "Round, and round, and round, and round" and the band kicks in...there's just nothing better than that.

On a lighter note, I got my Timbuk 2 bag! It's a little bigger than I thought, but I think in the end I'll be glad I have the extra space. I have to wear it in, a little boxy. But WOW, what craftsmanship. The stitching is awesome. I'll post pictures soon! I don't care how nerdy it makes me look.

Never Experience Right Now

We See Into the Future

As most of you know, I'm kinda obsessed with time travel and it's subsidiaries. I feel the above article fits within this realm.

"It takes a tenth of a second for visual information to get from your eyes to your brain, so everyone has the ability to predict what’s going to happen a tenth of a second into the future."

It got me thinking...do we ever experience "right now"? Like, what is happening at this very moment. You have to consider the whole notion of "time" and what it is, who or what rules it, and how we perceive it. I think about it for a while and scare myself to death with all the questions and ideas that come up. I guess our sense of touch is in "real-time" but there is still a delay (however many milliseconds exists).

Furthermore, as this article suggests, we don't really see what is happening now, our brain "predicts" what is going to happen. Does this mean, on some weird and cosmic level, that our fate is predetermined? Wowzers!

Phew, I have to take a breather.

Timbuk2

On its way to me...

The color explanation: Navy and gray because of Mary Washington College (alma mater) and the yellow logo for a touch of personality. Will include a laptop sleeve for my MacBook. I'll be sure to post a "What's In Your Bag?" photo once I get it all set up!

Hope it's as great as everyone says.

It is definitely going to be an improvement on my current bag no matter what. Picture a green/black ratty mess.

I really hope the medium size was the right size. I want something sleek, but I was afraid the small size wouldn't have enough space for my stuff. So here's hoping.

Radiohead: The Day After

"Nothing can stop me from having a good time at that concert" - Me, a day ago. In reference to going to see Radiohead on May 11 at Nissan Pavilion.

The band:
They were great. Thom sounded good. It was funny to see him get pissed off at himself for messing up Faust Arp. The rare tracks they played were my favorites, eg. FAKE PLASTIC TREES. The light show was awesome.

The context:
It was raining balls and probably 50 degrees outside. The venue DOES NOT have a drainage system. Literally a river flowed down into the pit area. MUD, GRAVEL, EARTH EVERYWHERE. I feel so bad for those stuck on the lawn. Thank GOD I got all of my friends into the PIT because at least we could see the band and be relatively comfortable for 1/2 the show. The traffic was unGODLY. TWO hours to get there from Arlington, which should have been an hour in traffic at MOST! Missed first part of the show. When we finally got out of the car my heart broke because I heard them playing "Pyramid Song" (another one of my absolute favorite Radiohead B-Sides). I let out an enormous "FUCK!" and slammed on the car doors to hurry my friends. Exiting the venue proved to be even worse. Stuck in one spot for 2 hours. I don't know who screwed up but I recall seeing Nissan Pavilion employees running around looking confused. I saw cops getting short with drivers and not really helping the situation.

I knew it was going to rain, I knew it was going to be wet. But this was absolutely ridiculous. If they say "Rain or Shine" on the tickets then they (THE VENUE) should be prepared to have it be RAIN. I also cannot believe they (RADIOHEAD) decided to have it at Nissan Pavilion. They cited on their website, "PLEASE TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION" and claimed they wanted to have a "GREEN TOUR" but I'm sorry guys (more likely the people who work for Radiohead) the Nissan Pavilion (NO METRO/PUBLIC ACCESS) was not the smartest choice.

Now I'm going to have to wait for them to come back again, whenever that may be.

However, I don't want to be entirely negative about the experience.

It was a joy to see them and they barely eked out the "Was it worth it?" I'd do it again, just get there really early and park right by the exit.