Book of the Week

Once again, I found myself counting down the minutes until a book released. I stood in line for a couple hours, met new people, and screamed with everyone else when they announced "15 more minutes!"

Yes, I was one of the suckers who stood in line for the new Twilight book, Breaking Dawn. And you know what? It was TOTALLY worth it!!! I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long time. When I finished it, I couldn't stop smiling. It was the perfect ending to the book. And I slept for 15 hours straight with a smile on my face.

READ IT!!!

heehee

more comics here

Website of the Week

The Knights of Malt Merchandise Mart is hilarious. It goes along with the Caledonian Conclave, a website dedicated to the musing of the Brothers who look after the holy peat bogs and partake in the spirits.

My only qualm is that it is updated rarely. But definitely worth a look. Here is the post about their new product, Maltoids®...

MALTOIDS!®

The officially sanctioned pastille of the Knights of Malt, the Caledonian Conclave and the Monks of St. Ardbeg's

Now you too can savor the flavor that guides the faithful! Direct from the peat bogs of St. Ardbeg's, Maltoids® are here.

Just slip one of these mighty lozenges in your mouth and feel the full fury of the Spirit. Infused with malt, peat and the purest water from the bog springs of St. Ardbeg's, Maltoids® can make a mundane mouth feel fully filled by the Spirit.


A vulgar joke passed amongst the Monks goes something like this: "Is that a tin of Maltoids in your femoralia or are you just committing a venial sin?" Seriously though, no monk would be caught out without a tin of our little tablets blessed by the abbott himself. And now you can have the exquisite experience of the Spirit even when the thing itself is unavailable. Try Maltoids® The Furiously Strong lozenge.

Individual tins or cases of 144 for the true believer!

The monks of St. Ardbeg's recommend that Maltoids® not be partaken of while operating heavy equipment, driving or speaking with an officer of the court.

WARNING! Ecstatic vision may occur if the recommended daily allowance of Maltoids® is exceeded. The brothers encourage everyone to partake responsibly.

My baby!!

I got my baby back today. I really hope that we will never part again. Well, I just hope it doesn't die this year...it's my senior year! So, welcome back computer! I missed you.

Book of the Week

I've read the book Ender's Game about 4 or 5 times by now, and I love it. Every time I read it I like it a little better, and I liked it a lot to begin with. The characters are so real, the action is enthralling, and though I'm not one for "war books" I couldn't put this down. However, this book of the week is not Ender's Game; It is the sequel, Speaker for the Dead.

I refused to read Speaker because I was angry that the author thought he could add to Ender's Game. How could he try and add to perfection? I didn't read it and I didn't want to. But this summer has been long and boring, so when I (finally) bought Ender's Game and read it again, I was out of things that I was really interested in reading. So I went and bought Speaker for the Dead and hoped that it would at least be entertaining, if it was going to be as bad as I thought.

I was completely and totally wrong. Speaker was better than Ender's Game. It is a very different style, it's deep and not full of action, it's absolutely fascinating. It starts out with a new planet, new characters, and I got mad because I couldn't see what it had to do with the first book. But Ender is called out to do a speaking for someone who has died, and ends up deeply entwined in the new characters and the new setting. I really wish I could tell you more, but I can't without giving away the rest of the book.

I began to wonder why I hadn't ever read at least part of this book before. And when I was reading the forward to another Orson Scott Card book, Ender's Shadow (Ender's Game from the point of view of Bean), the author answered my question:

"I have never found it surprising that the existing sequels never appealed as strongly to those younger readers. The obvious reason is that Ender's Game is centered around a child, while the sequels are about adults; perhaps more important, Ender's Game is, at least on the surface, a heroic, adventurous novel, while the sequels are a completely different kind of fiction, slower paced, more contemplative and idea-centered, and dealing with themes of less immediate import to younger readers."

Orson Scott Card also mentions that the three sequels to Ender's Game are more related, and the first book can stand on its own.

So, the moral of the blog is, go and read Ender's Game if you haven't, and then go read Speaker for the Dead. They are very well written, and very very very good books.

grungegate

About 20 years ago, the New York Times decided to let its readers in on the world of Grunge music. They wrote an article about it, and called up Sub Pop Records in Seattle, the origin of most grunge music to add some "what these kids are saying" flair to their article. Unfortunately, when the author of the article called, they were put through to Megan Jasper, who had some fun at their expence. Too bad the New York Times didn't do any fact-checking...

"LEXICON OF GRUNGE: BREAKING THE CODE

All subcultures speak in code; grunge is no exception. Megan Jasper, a 25-year-old sales representative at Caroline Records in Seattle, provided this lexicon of grunge speak, coming soon to a high school or mall near you:

WACK SLACKS: Old ripped jeans

FUZZ: Heavy wool sweaters

PLATS: Platform shoes

KICKERS: Heavy boots

SWINGIN' ON THE FLIPPITY-FLOP: Hanging out

BOUND-AND-HAGGED: Staying home on Friday or Saturday night

SCORE: Great

HARSH REALM: Bummer

COB NOBBLER: Loser

DISH: Desirable guy

BLOATED, BIG BAG OF BLOATATION: Drunk

LAMESTAIN: Uncool person

TOM-TOM CLUB: Uncool outsiders

ROCK ON: A happy goodby"

The original New York Times article can be found here. I haven't read it all, because it was so lame and the writer was such a cob nobbler. You should let me know how good/bad it is if you can actually get through it.

And here is the npr website, where I first heard of this article. It was on their show "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!" and it is absolutely hilarious. Please, please listen if you can get a moment. It's the "Not my job" segment.

Thank you!

Today, the last customer that I waited on was a man who spoke almost no english at all. I have to say that I was completely embarrassed that the little spanish I've retained over the many, many years. Nothing made much sense, on either side, and I'm sure I said something like "I can wants another like this?"

I seemed to have the worst luck with Spanish teachers growing up. The one I had in high school taught me nothing, and the professor I had in college taught me...well, next to nothing. Specifically, we were not taught the everyday words that I needed today. However, I must have picked something up because I was able to help that customer using phrases like "I'm sorry my spanish is so awful."

To my teachers: thank you so much for all your help. I'm sure being able to accurately ask where the big kitchen is, tell him I have one sister, or tell him that the color of my crayon was indeed red would've been helpful and made his day a bit better, had it come up in our conversation.

Oh well.