Makeup 2/1/10

A random fun fact about Shannon: I love to make lists. When I was in eighth grade, my friends and I had a notebook of lists (among many other notebooks- it was how we passed notes to one another because it looks much less obvious) that was quite infamous to say the least (think Mean Girls, and you pretty much have me and my friends in middle school, but we weren't quite that bad). So I thought that for this blog, I would make a list of my top 5 reading picks (in no particular order), accompanied with a little blurb for those of you that like details. After all, Spring Break is coming up :)
1.) Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews
~ok, so this is not exactly a book that I would readily recommend for guys, but ladies, its great! Keeley, the main character, throws the mother of all hissy fits when she finds her fiancee, in the service closet with her Maid of Honor, at her rehersal dinner (nope, sorry, it wasn't Colonel Mustard in the Library with the Candlestick). Keeley devotes her life to rennovating (she is an interior designer) to an amazing antebellum mansion in Savannah (yes, Georgia) for a new client, who just happens to not only be filthy rich, but amazingly attractive as well. Has Keeley finally found her Tara and Rhett? Read it and find out :)
2.) Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
~laugh all you want, but this is my favorite book of all time. Better than Cinderella, and not nearly as cheesey as Twilight (which is nothing but Cinderella with vampires), Ella Enchanted is timeless. So timeless, in fact, that I have the majority of the book memorized. This book encorporates many classic fairy tales, and if you tell me that you do not need to read it because you have seen the movie, I may smack you. This is the defining case for the saying "the book is better than the movie". I love Anne Hathaway, but its nearly impossible to do Ella, or any of the book proper justice, no matter your budget. Just read it, for the love of good fairy tales. And boys: THIS IS IMPORTANT- you need to read this some at least SOME of you know how to treat a girl. His name isn't Prince Char for anything, ya know.
3.) The Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich
~ok so this actually covers 15 novels, but I promise, they are very fast reads! Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter, and caught between two hott guys. The first novel is a little graphic (at least I think its the first...the one where she is going after the boxer), but they are all hysterical, and have a very realistic outlook on life. She gives a whole new meaning to "getting lucky" in this novel. And get your mind out of the gutter, I was talking about how she always makes her catch. But in case you were wondering, she always gets the guy(s) too.
4.) Mary, Mary by James Patterson
~If you like the abnormal psychology field, you should definitly read this book! Its a hard book to explain, but basically, someone is killing off Hollywood's A-List, and FBI Special Agent Alex Cross must scramble to figure out who. Can you guess who done it?
5.)Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
~can you say EPIC? The movie comes somewhat close to doing this book justice, but you should still read the real thing. Tyler Durdan's look on life is amazing, and Palahniuk does an excellent job of convincing you of these ideals. Its almost enough to make you want to give yourself a 'lye kiss'. But don't. It will hurt, I promise.

Makeup 2/8/10

What if Hamlet had been invisible? Much like the narrator in Invisible Man, Hamlet seems to have anger issues, that lead to him, ahem, exploding with fury whenever his anger has been built up inside of him for too long? However, making Hamlet invisible might only add to the mischeif that he gets into, because then no one would be able to see him- or perhaps it is this very reason the Hamlet should have been invisible. But I guess that really just depends on your definition of 'invisible'. In the OED, 'invisiblity' is defined first and foremost as "not visible to the eye, either characteristically or because hidden'. Maybe the invisble narrator is only invisible because he wishes to be invisible. He has always been the subject of humiliation, deciet, torture, and the likes. If I was subjected to everything that he had been subjected to, then I would probably want to be invisible too, wouldn't you? But I guess Hamlet couldn't have been invisible then, because how else would he and Ophelia have drank Capri Sun together? I would think it would really be kinda hard to do that with an invisible dude, but maybe thats just me.
Has anyone else noticed alot of teeth action in Invisible Man? I noticed it first right after the narrator got into the fight with Brockway, and after that, I keep seeing teeth and biting popping up. And the way that the narrator says "the old man bit me!" (or something along those lines) makes me think of someone who has been stabbed in the back by one that they trusted. What a shock that must have been to the narrator (literally haha) when he found out that he had been betrayed by Brockway. Not that electrical shock therapy is a laughing matter.
And Brother Jack! Ah Brother Jack, I should have known that we would see a Jack. It has been quite awhile since we have seen an All the King's Men connection, afterall. The two Jacks seem similar enough (although I am not going to pretend to know alot about Jack Burden because I will admit that I never did finish All the King's Men... it was just one of those books for me that I picked up when I really wanted to fall asleep, sorry Mrs. Clinch); both in politics, both working for the 'greater good' (whatever that is), and above all else, recruiting others to their cause, no matter how much deception may be involved. I must say, I'm curious to see who we meet next.
A now for a quick rant about Senior year. It really kinda sucks. While I am glad to be taking most of the classes that I am (I wish I had not listened to my mother when she told me to take College Accounting- what does she know?), its starting to feel like its really just one thing after another. As soon as we get a break in one class, we have something in another. I think high schoolers deserve those naps more than kindergardeners do. We certainly do more. And supposedly, we need to get more sleep now than we have in years past, or will need to in years to come. Ain't that a kicker.

Invisibility

The first line in Invisible Man is "I am an invisible man." while I have finished about half of the book, I cannot get past this first line, or the first chapter (actually the prologue) really. The narrators story about how he kills a man, merely for bumping into him and then not adknowledging him (presumably because he cannot see the narrator). The narrator (whose invisibility is only contributed to by the fact that he does not have a name in the book) asserts that the reason that he is invisible is because he is black. What I really have to wonder is whether or not he makes an effort to be seen. Yes, he beats up a man, which most would say would cause the man to see the narrator, but the narrator strikes him before the man even has a though about what is about to happen.
Ok, so this post has taken me 3 hours so far. I'm sorry, but I can't think of an Invisible Man while Pairs Free Skating is on. Yes, a sad excuse indeed for this post being made at 11:59 (I'm frantically typing here) but I only get to see this once every two years. AND the Chinese couple thats married just won Gold. Which is amazing because despite the little mistakes, their program was gorgous (which I know I spelled wrong, I just don't know how to spell it right.)
HAMLET! Ok, so, Prince Hamlet. I thought that the ending in Romeo and Juliet was kind of chintzy. But HAMLET! Now, thats tragedy. Its not just the lovers that die, EVERYONE dies, except for Hamlet's closest friend and advisor, who almost kills himself, but doesn't in order to tell Hamlet's story. The only character in the play who has not greviously sinned or gone 'mad' has died, which, as twisted as it sounds, would put the world back in order.
Which is odd considering the entire royal family dies.

Mary, Mary, quite contary, oh how does your garden grow?

Ah a new semester. Exactly what I wanted for Christmas, let me tell you. And with the new semester comes a new set of blogs, the first of which I completely forgot about until about 5 minutes ago and now have no idea what on earth I should talk about. Hamlet? Doesn't seem fitting since we are not that far into it. The books I am currently reading? Zodiac is quite creepy to be perfectly honest, and while it is quite fascinating, I'm still struggling to understand some parts of it (Zodiac is a biography written by a journalist that worked for a targeted newspaper during the time of the infamous Zodiac killer, who was never caught). Ah, but then there is Mary, Mary, by James Patterson, which I am also perusing. James Patterson is brilliant for those of you that have never read his work. Most think that he is a rather graphic author, and therefore never venture to read any of his works, but not only does he write a fantastic mystery, but also a nice, light, romance novel. And this is coming from a person that greatly dislikes romance novels.
The first book that I read by James Patterson was The Jester, which is co-authored by Andrew Gross. Oddly enough, this book was on a list of books to choose from for the assigned reading for AP World History. I picked up the book thinking that it was going to be a typical assigned reading novel- slow, mostly boring, and tedious to read (I rarely enjoy assigned reading mostly because I feel as if it’s much, much harder to lose yourself in the story, which is my favorite part of reading). Once I started reading The Jester, however, I could not put it down. Part love story, part cunning war story, entirely fascinating, The Jester is one of the best books I have ever read. The main character, Hugh de Luc left everything behind when he left for the Crusades, only to return to find everything destroyed and the love of his life kidnapped. Hugh vows revenge and poses as a jester to worm his way into the royal court. However Hugh is deceived and must learn to look close to him to find his answers. But then there’s the other story in this story about a man’s desperate search for his love, and about human’s constant quest for answers, even though the answers are right under their noses. AND THEN there is the other story in the novel about the Crusades and the corruption on the nobility at the time. James Patterson rolls all of these stories into one without seamlessly, almost as if it were second nature to him. Which it must be, because he is fabulous at it! I am only on page 52 in Mary, Mary , and I can already see three separate stories forming, which will undoubtedly become one before the end. Now, if James Patterson wrote poetry as well as he writes mysteries, he would be my idol.

Fall of Morningstar from Paradise

Ok, so I was planning on commenting on others blogs this week, but could not really concentrate enough to read each blog and then think of a creative comment to post. But then I realized that we have recently been discussing one of my favorite myths ever (or at least a small segment of it), which is the fall of Morningstar and his army from Grace and Paradise. There are many different versions, but the one that interests me is the one that I came across when I was reading the Blue Bloods series (and yes, this is a real myth). The myth tells the story of how some of the most famous of all mythic creatures came to earth- Vampires.
As we all know (or should know), Zeus and Lucifer are brothers. Lucifer is also known as Morningstar. He recieved this name because in Paradise, he was the brightest, most beautiful angel, the dawn of the new day. Morningstar was deeply jealous of his brother though, who was always the favorite, and slightly more powerful. Morningstar eventually became jealous enough to build up an army, which faced Zeus's army. Morningstar and his army lost, and as a result were banished from Paradise. The Archangels Gabriel and Allegra followed the fallen army to Earth, maintaining their titles as the 'Innocent', as they were the only angels to willingly fall.
Azrael and Abbadon were two of the most devout to Lucifer and genrals in his army. However when they reached earth, they, as well as nearly all of the other angels who were banished, chose to leave the Morningstar, and follow Gabriel and Allegra, in hopes of one day being allowed to return to paradise. Abbadon is better known as the Angel of Destruction, whereas his sister, Azrael, is known as the Angel of Death.
The fallen army became Vampyres, immortal souls, trapped in mortal bodies. In the Blue Bloods novels (one of my favorite series, and much more interesting than Twilight, although I did like that series too) the author elaborates on this myth and turns it into her own, all without making it trashy or overly cliche. Think Gossip Girl combined with Twilight and Paradise Lost. Sound interesting? Oh, indeed it is. :)

The Fresh Prince of the Zodiac

Now, this is a story all about how
Some stars got flipped-turned upside down
And I would like to take a minute
Just sit right there

I'll tell you how they became the princes of a town called Zodiac

In west outer space born and raised

On the playground was where they spent most of their days

Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool

And all shootin some comets outside of the sun

When a couple of meteors

Who were up to no good

Startin making trouble in their neighborhood

They got in one little fight and their universe got scared

She said 'You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in the Zodiac’

They begged and pleaded with her day after day

But she packed their suite cases and sent them on their way

She gave them a kiss and then she gave them their tickets.
They put their walkmans on and said, 'We might as well kick it'.

First class, yo this is bad

Drinking orange juice out of a champagne glass. Is this what the people of the Zodiac Living like?Hmmmmm this might be alright.

But wait I hear there're prissy, wine all that

Is Zodiac the type of place they send these cool constellations?

They didn't think so

They will see when they get thereMan, I hope they're prepared for the princes of the Zodiac

Well, the black hole landed, and when they came out

There was an astroid who looked like a comet standing there with my name out

They ain't trying to get arrested

They just got here

But then they sprang with the quickness like lightening, disappeared

They whistled for a time loop and when it came near

The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror

If anything I can say this cab is rare

But they thought 'Now forget it' - 'Yo homes to the Zodiac'

They pulled up to the house about 7 or 8And yelled to the cabbie 'Yo homes smell ya later'

They looked at their kingdom

They was finally there

To sit on their constellations as the Princes of the Zodiac

I really love the Fresh Prince of Bel Air in case you can't tell. And next week it will be Saved By the Bell, I promise. Anyways, that is not what I wanted to talk bout for this blog post. I wanted to talk about the Zodiac. Astrology is something I have always been interested in, and I think that it does have some validity. So far, this has been my incentive to read Grendel. I though that for this blog, I might look into the basic symbolism of each of the first three signs of the Zodiac: Aries, Taurus, andGemini.

Aries, The Ram (March 20- April 19)
The sign of Aries is asscociated with fresh, new beginnings and is the first sign of the Zodiac. While those that fall under the sign of Aries are said to be adventerous, passionate, and humorous, they are also said to be intolerant, impatient, and boastful.


Taurus, The Bull (April 19- May 20)
Taurus, the sign of the Bull, is often associated with material pleasure. The Bull is often associated with calmness, patience, and loyalty. Don't let that fool you though- the saying "When you mess with the bull, you get the horns" can be absolutotly true when it comes to the Taurus.

Gemini, The Twins (May 20- June 21)

The Gemini Twins are often associated with youth and versitility, and are known for their fun-loving, lively, yet restless and lazy personalities.

When you compare these little tidbits to the first three chapters of Grendel, you can see the comparison. The first chapter is the turning of a new leaf for Grendel, it "begins the twelfth year of my [Grendel's] idiotic war!" (Gardner 5), which is brought in with the "grim stirrings of springtime," (Gardner 8) by the ram. In chapter 2, which is associated with the tempermental bull, the Zodiac influence can be seen in the bull's calm persistance in hitting the tree and in Grendel's calm whilest being attacked by the bull. I can see the Gemini personality in Grendel throughout the noveld as his character develops, especially the restless potion.

Sittin' Here Singin' the No Computer Blues

As you may have gathered from the title of my blog for the week, I currently have no computer. My precious little notebook has to be sent back to Dell land because my Operating System (Vista...EWWWWW) is corrupted. I told my mom I should have gotten a Mac. I would even be willing to bet its because I was on SparkNotes for some background information on a book I'm currently reading. Actually I think it was from a Facebook application, but I figured I might as well play along with my teachers' notions that SparkNotes is bad. My best friends dad thinks it was a worm that killed my OS which got me thinking about Grendel (not really but I needed a lead in and that worked pretty well).
In the book, the monster Grendel lives like a worm, is treated like a worm, and acts slightly like a worm. The author even mentions some snakes (I think... what are Firesnakes?!?!?!) (PS- Snakes are CREEPY) which are kinda like worms. But anyways, I feel bad for Grendel. What did he ever do to anyone? Especially that bull. He is a poor, helpless, scary looking baby who doesn't really know anything about the world, and therefore doesn't know why he is the way he is or why he receives the scorn and treatment that he does. Why does Hrothgar treat him so cruelly when he is trapped in the tree? Hrothgar mercilessly throws a hatchet at him when Grendel tried to say "Pig". Did Hrothgar seriously expect something that is "part of a tree" to speak English (or whatever language they spoke)? What kind of story would that have made? "Hi, my name is Grendel, and yes, I would greatly enjoy a pig right now. And if you could release me from this trees binding grasp while you're at it, I might remember that when I try to kill you in a few years