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Friday, August 26, 2011

Poetry (Sort Of?) 160: Date A Girl Who Reads

Hacking GTD into Traveler's Notebook
Date A Girl Who Reads by Rosemarie Urquico
(In Response to Charles Warnke’s You Should Date An Illiterate Girl.)

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent.  Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.
She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.
You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

Monday, August 22, 2011

TV 160 : ABC Family's Lying Game

A great way to end summer with a new show!


ABC Family was so successful with PRETTY LITTLE LIARS that they decided to bring another Sara Shepard story to the small screen. But will it work? PLL keeps us guessing with plenty of eye-candy to go around and  parents who were once hot on TV a decade or so ago. Also, fashionista characters who hopefully figure out the mystery, which of course, keeps us coming back for more.

Does Emma have the drama for this?


This go around we have soap veteran actress from AS THE WORLD TURNS, Alexandra Chanda who gives off a bit of Nina Dobrey vibe from Vampire Diaries. Still Chanda has that doe in the headlights look, and she's not only one character, but two. Emma a good hearted foster kid on the run from her own problems and Sutton the poor little rich girl..Twins separated at birth.




We get to see how Emma (who doesn't even know her rich twin) act like she's Sutton, while Sutton goes off on a quick trip to L.A. to find their real parents. So the suspense rises as Emma plays along. Sutton's parents find a much nicer daughter. She really embraces the family. Her fake boyfriend too, who she finds is definitely faking it. Sutton is also a tennis champion, as well. Emma finds her self up to the mental and physical challenge.

Blair Redford finally gets a main role. He's been seen on Switched at Birth and 90210.


This time around wonderful Helen Slater plays the adoptive Mom. Blair Redford is to the rescue as Sutton's real boyfriend, Ethan Whithorse. General Hospital's Tyler Christopher plays Ethan's uncle who is the law around.

Madeline Rybak & Charlotte Chamberlin star in this series as Sutton's besties.


Its hard to say yet if the girlfriend pack will be as genuine as on Pretty Little Liars, but it has a mystery to unfold. Sutton's not back and Emma is stuck in her role. Its off to a good start.

STORYLINE: The show follows Emma (Chando), a kind-hearted foster kid who cant catch a break. She finds out she has an identical twin sister...

the lying game


Friday, August 19, 2011

Poetry 159: Drown by Bianca Stewart






 (Sometimes you just can't beat the beauty of simplicity.) 

Friday, August 12, 2011

Poetry 158 : Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe

徐汇公学
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allen Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Monday, August 8, 2011

TV 158: NBC's Love in the Wild

Couple most likely to win. Samantha and Mike. They get along so well together.


Honestly, I'm not much for reality TV. I don't really want to make stars out of everyday people either, but Love in the Wild has been sort of a game changer for me on Wednesday nights this summer. The show is down to the final three couples now.

Steele is possibly the hunk but he's curse, coming in last. He finally went home.

It's like doing coupling research. It makes you think of your own relationship. Could you survive this sort of bootcamp? First you have these people who truly want to make a love connection. They think they've found someone of similar interest in the contestants, and then, they are put out in the jungle with certain challenges to get through. The winner gets the Oasis suit while the others have to go back to the cabins. We get to see two sides of them. One, where they are getting to know each other, spending the night with each other (seriously, we have no idea just what sort of connection they have going at night). Second, there they are having to be team players as couples, using real life strategies to get through the obstacles of the day. Many have said on the show that couples should go through this boot camps. One contestant said he couldn't believe how easily they became couples, too. Its fun to see how some support each other on these adventures, while others show their true colors. Some get along beautifully back at the cabins. They really talk to each other. Then they can be so explosive on some of their challenges.

Miles & Erica. Some just play well with others.
Ben was the biggest jerk of all. He made Brandee miserable (in the pink) and she wanted to be everyone's friend.


Then comes elimination time. If you are at the bottom, time to go home. Oddly, last week, two couples went home. One that couldn't stand each other anymore while the other possibly wanted to see if they could stay friends after they left.


LOVE IN THE WILD EPISODES

Love in the wild tumblr

All are looking for the love connection.

It's been fun to watch these couples. Darren McMullen is the host. The back drop is beautiful Costa Rica. The show started where the women chose their partners for the game. But winners can switch it up. Even the host switched it up, during one challenge when the couples were set to start.

Movies 158: Cowboys & Aliens



This is the movie I've been waiting for this summer. What a concept. There is something about being out in the wild west that conjures up Aliens in the wide open spaces. One doesn't even have to go to Arizona to feel it. I have to admit even in one scene, I could imagine how a pioneer would have felt seeing the Marfa Lights for the first time.



Jon Favreau certainly gives the feel of open spaces in this movie. There are bad guys everywhere you turn in this film. And they aren't even aliens. Those who are good turn bad quick..or so it seems. And someone who was bad, well, he might be the answer to everything. Maybe.
Who better to fight aliens than Indiana Jones & James Bond.

Daniel Craig's Jake is an unlikely hero. He wakes up with this thing on his wrist, and he doesn't even know who he is. Soon enough, bounty hunters find him. Luckily, Jake's a fighter. And as you can tell, he fights his way through the movie. Of course, Harrison Ford is an angry old rancher. He just can't seem to keep his son nor his cowboys in line. Even cows are getting blown up. Just what the movie needs, two anti-heros who can't see eye to eye on anything.

Cool and Calm Ella

Noah Ringer & Paul Dano
Paul Dano was a surprise in this film. Honestly, I've never seen this side of him and it was definitely refreshing and fun as Harrison Ford's dysfunctional son. Also Adam Beach was so true and genuine in this film. And Olivia Wilde was remarkable as Ella who has a few secrets of her own.



Honestly, a wonderful cast. The Arizona Territory ..so vast and natural. Then there are the Aliens.

Of course, they kept this film popping with action. Although, I wish Hollywood would give us a new breed of aliens. These creatures are just there. Killing machines. Really, no character. But they are the bad guys. A little dried up, but then slimy and cruel.

We have here a great John Wayne type story..where you hunt the aliens down, shoot and destroy. The actions scenes are epic. And it takes the Indians, desperadoes and anything else that can stop the alien invasion. Also, you see how this tale changes people. Its a great popcorn movie. Its good to see Harrison and Daniel in action, together. But they possibly would have gotten nowhere without the help of Olivia Wilde's Ella.



STORYLINE: The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been.

Cowboys&Aliens tumblr

Friday, August 5, 2011

Books 157: Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs


Running With Scissors is the memoir of Augusten Burroughs, chronicling the insanity that is his life from the age of nine to seventeen. From a mother prone to frequent psychotic episodes involving throwing Christmas trees off of the back porch, to his fascination with shiny objects and doctors, Augusten's life is anything but ordinary. However, things take a turn for the extremely strange when Augusten beginning with his mother's rather unorthodox psychiatrist, Dr. Finch, and his equally odd extended family. At the Finch residence, where schizophrenic patients live in the upstairs bedrooms and it's perfectly acceptable to eat dog food and make a homemade skylight in the kitchen ceiling, Augusten learns that any shred of normalcy that had been left in his life was now completely gone, and he liked it that way.

I absolutely loved this book. It was completely hilarious and legitimately had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion. There are so many things that sound too weird to be true until you remember that what you're reading is a true story, and then you mind is totally thrown for a loop. I swear, this guy had the most interesting life in the world, though I'm not exactly sure if I'd want to switch with him... Needless to say, I highly recommend it. 

Little did I know, there was apparently already a movie made of this book! I am so late on this bandwagon... I'll definitely have to check it out from the library as soon as possible. According to IMDb, it has Alec Baldwin, Gwenyth Paltrow, Evan Rachel Wood, and Joseph Fiennes, so definitely not too shabby of a cast.

Other books by Augusten Burroughs:
  • Magical Thinking
  • Possible Side Effects
  • A Wolf At The Table
Happy reading!

Monday, August 1, 2011

TV 157: MTV's Awkward and Teenwolf



MTV has gotten a bad rap lately with its ill-fated SKINS, but it hasn't stopped their creativity from going forward. There is now AWKWARD starring One Tree Hill's Ashley Rickards. Her character is an unpopular 15 year old, Jenna Hamilton, who gains immediate, yet unwanted, popularity at her high school when the student body mistakes an accident she has for a suicide attempt.

Matty might be smarter than he looks.

"He is so what in whatever"-tamera

If that's not enough, the guy she hooked up with during camp is popular high schooler Matty (Beau Mirchoff) who tells her ..no one can know about their relationship. Jillian Rose Reed as Tamera is Jenna's bestie who throws around all sorts of fun lines. The show is full of quirky characters. It isn't completely over the top. There are certainly some cool moments. Of course, the mean girls would have to be the cheerleaders.


JUST 3 MORE EPISODES OF TEENWOLF.


Yes, this is Tyler Posey's best move yet..becoming a teenwolf. His Scott McCall is one nervous kid who adds suspense to the show. He can also pull off his shirt and make the coolest werewolf ever. Of course, he has some help from his sidekick Stiles (Dylan O'Brien). One of the best bromances this summer. This TEENWOLF is definitely darker that the movies from the 80's. Still it shows how hard high school life can be when you've got a problem with the full moon. Also the show is definitely showcasing some great talent that is more than just eye-candy with Crystal Reed as Scott's on and off again girlfriend. There is also Colton Haynes as Jackson who might be a lot colder than anyone really knows. This show has a lot to offer, and I'm hopeful that MTV will stick with it. The soundtrack is pretty awesome, too.



You can find these shows at MTV. You can catch up on episodes of Awkward and Teenwolf. Just click on the links.