Pop Star Musings

July 18th, 2010

1. Ke$ha is Taylor Swift’s long lost twin. They were separated at birth, and Taylor was raised by decent country people. She learned how to play the guitar, and sing well. Ke$ha (Yes, the $ is intentional.) Was raised in the city. She learned how to autotune and make her level of glitter second only to Edward Cullen’s. (*Shudder*)

What will happen when they are reunited..?

2. Justin Bieber’s songs are always about a girl he won’t get.

… *Coughs* Maybe it’s because all girls that are listening to his songs aren’t allowed to date yet. *Coughcough*

3. Marge Simpson, we’ve found your long lost daughter! It’s Katy Perry!

4. Yo Lady Gaga! You talented, and I’mma let you finish, but Maria had the best nun’s outfit of all time! Of all time!

Thanks to Kanye West for founding that meme, if I may call it that. :D

And that pretty much wraps this all up. Sorry to all whom were disappointed by the subject manner of this post, but I recently watched Toy Story 3, so I should have a review of that coming soon..

Kohl’s

May 29th, 2010

I was listening to the radio the other day, and as you know, there are commercials on it. Well, a commercial came up for Kohl’s department store, and as I was listening to it, I noticed something very odd. The thing that the add was glorifying was the store’s RETURN POLICY.

Now let me ask you a question: If the only thing this store can find about itself to be good enough to put in a radio ad is it’s return policy, why in the world would you want to shop there? It’s pretty worrying, no?

Avatar Vs. How to Train Your Dragon

April 7th, 2010

Hello everyone! Yes, it is time for another review. This time, I review something I saw in December, (Avatar) and compare it to something I saw in April. (How to Train Your Dragon.)

So without further ado… Here is Avatar.

Avatar.

This is a movie I was looking forwards to seeing for a few months before it came out. In the previews, it looked gorgeous, and action packed, which for someone like me, is good.

Then, it finally came out.

So we go to see it. If you haven’t yet, you probably can’t see it in theaters, but if you’re gonna rent it on Pay Per View or something, choose a night when you have nothing else to do, because the movie is three hours and fifteen minutes long. In all honesty, it may be a bit longer, but jeez, it was December since I saw this thing.

This is the story of Jake Sully, marine, who’s needed to go to the world Pandora to fill in for his brother, who got (Randomly) murdered. His brother was part of a project in which DNA is taken from you, and from the natives in the world of Pandora and grown into little crosses between you and the giant blue fairy people that live here. Since Jake was his twin, he was the only other one that could match up to the “avatar” created for his brother.

Anyways, the graphics are absolutely spectacular. I read somewhere that this was the most expensive film to make in history. Well, it looked good, but you’d think for all that money they might be able to hire better writers. It wasn’t a BAD movie… Just rather unoriginal. The plot, in a nutshell, was protagonist arrives, protagonist gets assigned a task by his boss, protagonist goes into the land of the natives to complete his task, protagonist gets captured by natives, protagonist has to assimilate into the native culture, protagonist falls in love with someone important among the natives, protagonist has to fight a battle against the people that he worked for previously.

Honestly, I found the culture of the Na’Vi very interesting, so watching Jakesully assimilate into it wasn’t bad. It was the *Spoiler warning* Ending that really ticked me off.

*Again, spoiler warning* At the end, all of the earth people that didn’t help the Na’Vi are bundled up in a space thingy, and sent home to “Their dying world”. Seriously? You couldn’t at least TRY to do to them what you did to the protagonist? Okay, SOME people might go, like that CEO guy, but these people are just doing their job. And now you’re punishing them for that. Yeah, you’re pretty awesome, ten foot tall blue cat elf people.

Well, that angry little rant is finished. And, it brings me to the next subject.

How to Train Your Dragon.

The first time we saw the preview, my dad said that seeing this would be seeing Avatar, and vice versa. Regardless of that, we went to see it a while (A few days) ago.

This is the story of Hiccup, the midget who’s father thinks he’s never gonna amount to anything, who wants to slay the pests of the viking village in which he lives: Dragons. One night, when dragons attack, he manages to use a dola throwing weapon to shoot the scariest dragon of all down from the sky.

And then he can’t kill it.

The visual effects in this movie are not as beautiful as the ones in Avatar, but I do have to give Dreamworks some congratulations. It was a nice movie to see, as well as to watch.

The plot is ALMOST the same as in Avatar, but it changes at several major points. For one thing, Hiccup doesn’t have to fight a battle against any of his viking brothers. He has to fight a *SPOILER WARNING* Huge goliath mother-of-all-dragons cannibal dragon thing. (Which, by the way, looks like an oversized blue gronkle with bat wings and three eyes.)

And also, the ending. I preferred this movie to Avatar chiefly for this reason. *Spoiler warning* At the end, the two cultures are allowed to mingle and live with each other. It’ll take some getting used to by each side (The vikings have to get used to not killing dragons, and the dragons have to get used to not being hunted by vikings.) But in the end, it’s a peaceful and beneficial collaboration for all.

SUMMARY:

Personally, if you’re looking for a movie to rent/go see, I recommend “How to Train Your Dragon”. However, if you’re into more techy stuff and sci-fi, or maybe just learning about a culture unlike any on earth, I recommend “Avatar”.

*Insert witty conclusion here*

Hmm…

January 8th, 2010

I found this on my desk when I got home from school:

I am a tiger, or maybe a snake.

Bloodshed and chaos do I wake.

My silver blade in my hand,

I stride proudly across the land.

What terror do I evoke,

When THEY see their allies go up in smoke?

And yet no fire do I summon,

For I am Luvia. The lightning woman.

It was written on black vellum paper in ink which I have an odd suspicion about the origin of. (It was red.) Any idea who might have left this?

Brains…

December 20th, 2009

This is something from my spanish class a bit ago.

We were creating flashcards (Because our teacher didn’t have any for the thing he was teaching..) And we had to color them in. So, being the strange person I am, I made one of the people/smiley faces a zombie. And this was the dialogue that followed:

Me: Mr. Rodriguez, what’s the spanish word for brain?

Mr. R: Dictionario

Me: Okay.. *Writes it down*

Dasha (One of my classmates): He means to look in a dictionary..

Me: … >_< Really?

Mr. R: Yeah..

Me:.. Great, and I wrote in pen, too.

Mr. R: I can just forsee that next year some kid’ll come up to me and say “Mr. Rodriguez, why are zombies hungry for dictionaries?” And I’ll say “It’s a long story..”

The Blind Side

December 12th, 2009

Right, so on the 18th, my family’s gonna go see Avatar, and before that we might see Fantastic Mr. Fox through some media, so before I have two reviews to juggle, I’m gonna do this one.

Most football fans will have heard of Michael Oher. He was the 2009 draft pick of the NFL. (A fact I only found out at the end of the movie.) This is his story. Yeah, that was totally cliched, but I have no other way to put it.

This is the story about how this one kid was taken in, how both his, and the family he was taken in by’s lives changed. In a nutshell, it was funny, touching, and told a true story.

I had wanted to see this movie for a while, and was not disappointed when I did. I liked it a lot, and especially liked the definitive character of S.J. XD

If you wan to see it, bear in mind it is Pg-13. I give it 4.9/5 stars.

Bits and pieces

December 6th, 2009

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted. I’m gonna just give a recap of the week, and some of the funny bits.

WEDNESDAY: The day before thanksgiving. As soon as we got home from school, (1:00, due to it being a half day.) We set off on our annual marathon trip to Columbus, Ohio. Yaaaay… :/

Ten hours, one steak, one chapter of The Hobbit, (Which Katie, my sister planned to read over the trip, but didn’t..) And half of The Golden Compass later, we arrived in Ohio, and spent the night in a hotel called The Renaissance. It was nice. :)

THURSDAY: The next morning, (And four more chapters of The Golden Compass) my aunt Rachel and cousin Sarah came over, and dragged us to their house. Is saw my Nana, Papa, uncle John, adoptive cousin Henry, and the dog whom I know, Buddy. 

We hung out, I played some Wii Fit Plus, (Couldn’t finish the obstacle course, crud!!) And earlier than I had expected, at about 3:00, we sat down for dinner. I ate an entire turkey leg. :)

FRIDAY: Nana got me Fire! Hurrah! And also hurrah to being able to finish “The Golden Compass.” Now I get to work on the next one. (”The Subtle Knife”)

Today, we went to Cosi. I looove it there, and it’s my source of funny shirts. I got two new ones. The first one said “What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.”

And truly, doesn’t it?

The second one had a picture of a chalkboard, and two scientists standing by it. On the chalkboard is a math problem. In the middle of it, the words “Then a miracle occurs” are written. At the bottom it says “I think you need to be a bit more explicit on step two.”

SATURDAY: I finished my fairy tale, which was due that Tuesday. Nana watched “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, which I think helped me concentrate. (If me not being able to turn around at the computer desk for fear of having nightmares for the rest of the life is any gauge..) For lunch, I had bread, and it was nice. Or it would have been, if it hadn’t been bland. (What little I got from reading what little I did of “Max Quigley: Technically NOT a bully.”)

We drove six hours to Hershey, Pennsylvania. I finished “The Subtle Knife.”

SUNDAY: Amusement park time! Yaaay!

We spent most of the day at Hershey Park. I was beaten by a turkey leg. (I failed to eat all of it.) When we went to the chocolate store, they WEREN’T SELLING TRUFFLE KISSES! Aww man, I had been craving them for two years.. Stuck with cherry cordials..

Three more hours in the car. I started “Fire” And wrote the adventures of Aurum. Incomplete, of course.

When we got home, I finished scribing the rest of the story we were writing in Language arts. (My group mates INSISTED we use the names from “Twilight”.)

MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY: Slow days. I both started and finished “The Amber Spyglass.” We were given “Sophie’s World” To read in school. Awesome book. :)

THURSDAY: Spent from four to seven thirty at the home of the people who live behind me.

FRIDAY: Exhausted. Seriously, I’m TIRED.

SATURDAY: We went to my school’s book fair. I got “Rocks and Minerals: A Gem of a Book”, “Thirteenth Child” and “Extraordinary Uses for Everyday Things.” I watched “IQuit ICarly.” We saw “The Blind Side.” (Which I’m gonna write a review about.)

SUNDAY: My character, Holly, got pwned in the Arena. :( R.I.P.

And that’s pretty much it.

A Christmas Carol (Movie)

November 22nd, 2009

You know, I was really looking forwards to seeing “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Today.It looked really funny, very entertaining, and overall, just very good.

But… As the narrator of “City of Ember” Would say, fate ran another course. The movie hadn’t been released yet, (Near us, at least) And we ended up going to see “A Christmas Carol” Instead. (Well, I wanted to see “The Blind Side,” But we couldn’t do that.)

Charles Dickens’s classic novel has been once more immortalized in a movie. You’d think from doing it so many times that it might be a bit worn thin, but it is still excellent. Some people play up to five parts- Impressive, no? 

To sum it up..  The storyline was good, even though I was never a fan of overly moral stories. (I absolutely HATED watching “Kenny the Shark”- For those of you that don’t know, it’s a Discovery Kids channel cartoon, and I think it sucks.) The animation was SPECTACULAR! It was a lot like “Nine” In that aspect. In both, you could actually picture yourself in that world. (Though maybe a little less in “Nine.”)

If you wanna go and see it, the movie’s rated Pg. I give it a 4.2/5 stars.

The Hunger Games

November 22nd, 2009

Right, so I didn’t get this done when I said I would, but here it is.

I am reviewing a book which I must’ve read at least ten times, by an author to whom I am quite partial to. The Hunger Games (Written by Suzanne Collins- Gregor the Overlander was FTW also.) is a book that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world in a nation known as Panem, where the harsh and cruel Capitol forces its twelve surrounding districts into line by having them send two children, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to fight to the death in a free for all on live Tv.

Pleasant, no? -_-

I really enjoyed the book. As said previously, I must have read it at least ten times. Suzanne Collins wrote this book in a very interesting way. It is first person present tense, as if it was actually being written by the heroine (Katniss Everdeen.) While everything was happening. This is actually probably the only way to write this, as any other way might lead to the story being spoiled. (Unless it was written through the eyes of someone watching these games.)

I’m giving it 5/5 stars. The characters are very distinctive, and this is a book where you can have a hard time forcing yourself to read only one more chapter, as opposed to reading the whole book in one sitting.

Cheers!

Slight problems.

November 21st, 2009

Yeah. I’m having a spot of technical difficulties that involve getting a picture up onto the site for my reviews. Iphoto is refusing to link up to this site.

However, that’s what Google Images are for!

I’ll have my first book review up by the end of the day.