Under the Skin

 “Wishes are slippery things. You have to be very specific or you can get exactly what you wished for and still end up with nothing.” I did.  I did promise book reviews.  So, here's one for you.  A children's book!  There is a children's book that I have heard only good things about called Rules .  Unfortunately, when I went to the library, they didn't have it.  But they had something else written by that author, and it looked good: Touch Blue .  It was short, like a children's book should be.  I thought I'd give it a go.  Great book! Touch Blue is a story about a girl, Tess, on a lobstering island on Maine.  Her family, and a lot of other members of the town, decide to accept foster children into their homes, in order to raise the number of children on the island.  If they don't get more children on the island, the state of Maine will shut down their schoolhouse, and most of the people will have to leave the isla...

So, there are a few shows that I watch every episode.  Not necessarily in a reasonable amount of time from when they come out, but I watch every episode.  Then there are shows that I would watch on TV in my apartment when they were on.  And then, there are the shows that I don't watch.  Ever.  On principle. One of the shows of the first category is Wipeout.  It's really strange that I watch every episode, because it's not like it is developing any plot.  People run obstacle courses where you are supposed to get knocked over.  Whoever wins, gets $50,000.  This kind of slapstick humor is such that people sometimes would call it barbaric.  But it's funny. Because they consent.  If they weren't consenting to this kind of thing, and if they were actually getting hurt, it would cease to be funny.  Someone even told me that it's as twisted as The Hunger Games.  Disagree.  It's funny when they consent and don't die. MONTA...

“If I am the pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make my mind up for me.”  Since it is summer, I am able to read a lot more than I usually do.  I have a whole stack of books that I've always wanted to read, but have never had time.  I am quite excited to read them, but that means that you will all be inundated with my reviews thereof.  And, of course, you, as always, are free to not read. I have a roommate that really likes this series, and my mom does and so does my brother, Caleb.  The series doesn't actually have a name, but fans have taken to calling them the "Queen's Thief" books.  They are, in order, The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, and A Conspiracy of Kings .  It is rumored that a fifth book will be written, and it kind of has an ending that would imply that, too.          I tend to review children's lit.  Today, I am going a bit away from this to som...

Since I have been home, sometimes different computers have different logins on them.  I was using Sarah's computer, and youtube ended up logged in in my name.  So, then when I got back to my computer, youtube then was influenced by some of Sarah's viewing.  This is probably why a video compilation of Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson showed up.  I don't know why I watched it, but I did.  And while I watched it, I had a stunning realization:  Josh Huthcerson and Jennifer Lawrence, who are not a couple, have WAY more chemistry off screen than they do as Peeta and Katniss on screen (who are a couple).  Exhibit A: Notice how these characters have little-to-no chemistry with one another.  I think that part of this is because Suzanne Collins, like many female writers of the day, created the perfect male they would want to marry, and then a deeply flawed female who that male would never fall in love with.  All the same, this scene...

I have learned that my mother has instituted Saturday Activity. Or something like that.  I don't actually know whether or not it has an official name.  I think a huge part of this is that my father works in Pennsylvania during the week.  So, Saturday becomes quite important for family-bonding.  We have visited The William Seward House, Sauder's Mennonite Market, The Glenn Curtiss Museum.  They are fun.  But one of the most fun parts of this for me is the car rides.  I know that I'm a strange child, but I have always looked fondly on family vacations, and I have always like the car rides the best. Car rides are the time for everyone to bond over the most inane things.  Some of the most sibling-annoying experiences ever have happened in cars.  But I don't remember those things.  This is why I always thought it was funny when people talk about how road trips were nothing but fights.  Maybe it's just me, but I think we fought less on ...

"Oh, my friends! My friends, don't ask me what your sacrifice was for! Empty chairs at empty tables, where my friends shall sing no more." So, I'm sure you have all already seen Les Miserables .  But I hadn't until this evening.  Caleb and I had both not seen it, so we made a sibling-date out of it watching it in the basement.  So, I really like Les Miserables .  I also really like Les Mis .  Yes, there is a difference.  I have read Hugo's masterpiece twice--once in English and once in French.  In French, it took me a very, very, very long time, but I achieved it.  I have the soundtrack in my iTunes, and I know the story and the musical well.  It is, like most of classical literature, a work beyond what literature today usually achieves.  It analyzes so many questions of life and puts itself in the perfect place in history to ask those questions.  There are a lot of really great songs from the musical (and a few recitative pa...