Filed under: Music
1.) Meg & Dia “Here, Here And Here”
Style: Upbeat alternative, two sisters with deep lyrics and catchy beats
Favorites: Are There Giants Too, In The Dance? and Inside My Head
2.) Lydia “Illuminate”
Style: Slow, entrancing boy/girl vocals with a magical instrumental feel
Favorites: Now The One You Once Loved Is Leaving
3.) Making April “The Egg Hunt”
Style: Male lead singer, rock alternative
Favorites: So Bad and Brighter Bright
4.) Polly Scattergood “Polly Scattergood”
Style: Haunting, whispering British chick
Favorites: I Hate The Way and I Am Strong
Hot Flick: Dirty Dancing Havana Nights
Common misconception about this movie? It’s a shitty sequel to the classic Dirty Dancing. It’s not, folks! Chronologically, it’s actually a prequel and takes place during the Cuban revolution. I’ve never seen the original, but there’s something about Patrick Swayze that frightens me, and the idea of him in tight pants is ever scarier. But the dancing and music in this movie is HOT! Romola is again super cute, and Diego’s hot and great too. The whole plot that went along underneath the whole dancing theme was awesome too. Cute Flick: Penelope Yup, I’ll fully admit I bought this for one reason and one reason alone: my uber huge crush on James Mcavoy. Although I wasn’t blown away by this movie, it was a cute, modern day fairy tale story, and had a deeper meaning (as all fairy tales do) that we should love ourselves for who we are, how we’re born, not how others want us to be. MINDBENDING Flick: Donnie Darko Now, I’ll admit that the only thing I could remember from this movie when mentioned was “Haha, bunny, looks stupid.” But when I realized they had a sequel “S. Darko” with an actress I’ve just gotten into (Daveigh Chase, read about her in Nylon’s Young Hollywood article) I decided I ought to try the first one too, considering I’d heard from a friend it was supposed to be really good. And dude, let me tell you, it was. It literally knocked me flat. Whenever time travel comes into the mix, I’m always left both amazed and a little “Huh?” But this movie did a really good job at leaving the viewer totally informed. I thought it was awesome, and am still not so patiently waiting for the arrival of S. Darko in my mailbox! Good Read: The Virgin Suicides I’ve been a fan of Jeffrey Eugenides ever since reading his intriguing book “Middlesex” (never have I enjoyed reading a school assigned book so much), and though I was hesitant to read his first novel at first only because I wasn’t sure it’d live up to the legacy of Middlesex, I went ahead and ordered it anyway. I’m already nearly done with it and it’s really amazing. It’s darkly humorous and just beautifully written, and I was sucked in right away. There’s someting about it that totally downplays the idea of suicide, almost making it logical and beautiful, and then a part of it that emphasizes how selfish and crushing an act it is. I had an aunt that committed suicide, and I was in no way offended by this book, really. I just enjoy Eugenides’ style of writing and I wish he’d written more. I also ordered the movie, so I’m excited to read that once I do finish the book. That’s a recommendation to everyone, you should read the book THEN see the movie–if you plan on reading the book, that is. A book’s no fun to read after seeing the movie. Good Deal: H&M Dress I got this little cutie for only $10 at H&M. Though some of their stuff tends to be more expensive than this awesome sale, they have some really good finds a lot of times. They manage to stay fairly cheap while still being really fashionable. I got this lighter version, and my friend Rachie got the darker, and we do NOT look like we just came off the farm like some chick was saying about the dresses when she saw them. It’s got one of those stretchy tops that keeps the girls in place too!
Because I’m still in the early stages of this blogging thing, I thought I’d start off with some general things I wanna get out there…
What am I wearing?
The shirt I ordered online from Pac Sun. It’s 100% cotton so it’s so soft and comfy and really light. The v-neck cut is a little low for me, so I wore a tank top under it. The rainbow heart bracelet is from Hot Topic and I thought it matched nicely. I also wore rainbow heart socks because I love matching even when people can’t tell.
What am I watching?
“Rory O’Shea Was Here” and “Running With Scissors”
I found them both used at F.Y.E for real cheap. I had them on my list because I’m a fan of the actors that starred in both. Starting with “Rory O’Shea”, I’m currently a HUGE James Mcavoy fan and am quite possibly in love with him. I love men with dark hair and gorgeous eyes, and he fits both. Not to mention (and to be a little less shallow) he’s an incredible actor. I loved him in Atonement, Becoming Jane, and Wanted too, and he didn’t let me down in this role. To sum it up quick, it’s about two guys in a home because they’re restrained to wheelchairs and Rory (James) comes busting into this guy’s life to show him what it’s really like to live, whether you’ve got wheels or not. It’s really sweet to see the way they work themselves into situations that most in a wheelchair couldn’t even dream of seeing themselves in. It has a bit of a bittersweet ending and will definitely have you crying though, so you might want to reserve it for a rainy day if you do find yourself watching it. Oh, and sometimes their accents are a WEE bit overpowering, but if you’re paying attention you’ll be fine. Who doesn’t love boys with accents? Oh, and look out for Romola Garai in this flick, I love her too and she’s awesomely cute in this.
Onto “Running With Scissors”, Evan Rachel Wood played a role in it and so I kind of had to get it, not to mention that I read the actual book too and really enjoyed it. The movie definitely takes a more comedic approach to the crazy life the main character is living (everything from crazy bipolar mom to alcoholic dad), but overall I enjoyed it.
What am I reading?
Nylon of course! Seriously, if you’re anything like me or just looking for some creativity, you’ll love even just flipping through it. I also picked up the first book to a vampire series called “House of Night” by P.C Cast. As my friend Rachie said, everyone is cashing in on the Twilight cash cow–it’s late so it’s very likely I quoted that wrong–but since Buffy the Vampire Slayer I’ve been a big fan of vampires, so I don’t mind too much. I don’t read as much as I want to lately, and so even though it’s Young Adult and probably easier than I should be reading, I decided it’s summer so I’d give it a shot. I’m only a couple chapters in right now, but so far it’s pretty interesting, so we’ll see!
Again, sorry if this post sucked, I need to get to bed but I really wanted to update on this stuff first. I’ll be a pro at this in no time, really.
Filed under: Personal
But back to the title. College, it’s a little like being swallowed whole by a institution and being spit back out in the cardboard cut out the University thinks is best to get you to succeed in life (AKA: get a job and make money). The hardest part about College was choosing a major. I’m a teenager, is it really honestly likely that there’s ONE thing I want to commit my entire life to? I want to write, I want to publish something, I want to be on stage, I want to do something that has a domino effect, I want to create amazing art, art that I love but that others love too. But because I’m too much of a pussy to ever get on stage, not to mention I don’t have any special talents–nothing you’d want to see performed on a stage anyway–I’m left to writing and art.
In high school English was MY big thing. I got straight A’s in all the courses, challenged myself to take AP classes, scored a 4 on the AP test. I won an award for excellence in junior English and on graduation day I was awarded a $3000 scholarship for having the highest average in all my English classes out of my whole senior class. Am I bragging? Hell yeah, a little bit. But besides all that academic crap that no one really cares about once you throw off that blue hat, I took a creative writing class my senior year and it was both one of the scariest and thrilling experiences I’ve ever…well, experienced. Almost immediately I took to poetry, scribbling out long, emo stanzas that reeked of shitty high school romance drama–a load of bullshit I had no real opinion on because I’d never been on a date in my entire life or watched The OC. And for some reason I was under the impression that a poem wasn’t a poem unless it rhymed. It certainly sounded prettier that way. But I was being forced to get up in front of a class and read out loud something that had been pulled out from deep inside and so it didn’t seem all that right to just blare it out to a bunch of chicks I, personally, didn’t even really like. My first lesson in that class though? I wasn’t as kickass as I maybe thought I was.
Look at that, there were people better than me! People getting applauded for talent only I was supposed to have, right? Naw, I’m really not that snobby, it’s just sometimes I let high grades get me thinking that it somehow translates into creativity. Let me tell you, it didn’t. I got some poems accepted to newspapers and still have a portfolio I like to flip through every now and then to relive those glory days–
Wow I’m really getting off track. Let’s make this quicker ’cause honestly no one really cares and it’s 1:30 in the morning. After that I moved on to a journalism class, found there was something safer and more familiar about the sturdy strictness of interviewing or researching for articles. There’s no doubt I’d love to work for a magazine some day. But one thing I did almost as much as writing was effing around on the computer in Jasc Paint Shop (no, I never did and still haven’t given into the apparently better quality of Photoshop). For a little bit I thought my parents would be ashamed to see me majoring in something artistic. I know my Mom had always been an amazing drawer but along the way had given it up. So I was wondering if I was allowed to go from High Honor Roll status to possibly fighting to pay bills on time. But my aunt, she’s a Graphic Designer herself, and after I took a summer course at Parsons in NYC (found out I LOVED Graphic Design, hated living in the big apple) she looked through my completed projects and just said “This girl’s got talent.”
So now here I am enrolled in Philadelphia University studying Graphic Design. I’ve made it through my Freshmen year of it and came out alive and with a shit load of projects that don’t even show my full potential. I was horrified when I discovered I had to take drawing classes. A Graphic Designer drawing, are you serious?! Like stick figures? What the fuck is one-point perspective and where the hell is my fucking laptop, right? Wrong. I didn’t even touch a computer the whole year–not in my design or drawing classes anyway. I was meddling with paints and pencils and a bunch of crap (a bunch of expensive crap, I might add) that had me honestly wondering if I was in the right major, if maybe I shouldn’t go back to doing what I could do best–studying textbooks.
But once I made it through the first semester of dull black and white design and the drawing class from Hell, I began to think I was right. I would see projects from higher up Graphic Design classes and think “yeah, wow, this is more like what I wanna do” and would hear from sophomores and juniors that design foundation classes were meant to weed out the weak–and weed out it did. I have at least half a dozen friends who switched from design majors to something easier. How you make the switch from Architecture to Business is beyond me, but why the hell you choose Architecture in the first place is also a mystery to me, so yeah. Needless to say, this weed wasn’t whacked. Well, I just wasn’t a weed at all, but that sounded more clever.
Anyway, I really hadn’t meant to be this long winded in my opening, but hey, I’m almost nineteen, I got a lot to say, you know? So back to the swallowing. Sometimes I feel like all the crap I’m supposed to be doing starts to swallow me up and I lose sight of that real, true, dirty, sloppy, hot loving passion I have for creative things. And then I started feeling overwhelmed with everything that I wanted to do, mostly because I was getting all kinds of inspired by the awesome magazine Nylon–I’m a junkie. And so this is for me to just publish whatever the heck I want. I did Livejournal for a little bit, but I always was so dry and personal in it. I don’t really want to talk about my personal life here, because honestly, it’s not much to read. But I want to be able to rant or rave about movies I recently watched or an amazing new song I heard or show the world a really awesome picture I took. I want to be a critic, an ear, an artist, I want to be everything, and I want to do it right here.
Alright, so yeah, let the spitting begin. But let it be gooey and totally shapeless, like spit should be!
