Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Questions Answered

I shall now answer  your burning questions.

Rachel asked what kind of music I listen to, which is probably the hardest question I will ever have to answer. In truth, there isn't really a genre that I listen to more than others, well, maybe Wizard Rock, according to Itunes that is the genre that I have the most songs of, but I listen to a lot of everything. My favorite band is The Who, I've loved them forever, but I also really love Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers and Motion City Soundtrack. These three bands are completely different and in no way interconnected. The music that I listen can vary daily. I think it has something to do with the time we live in. With the access to the Internet and all different kinds of music and artists its hard to really pick one that you like more than anything.

I hope that makes sense.

Hannah and Vita both commented on how in my bio it says "I make Harry Potter references at inappropriate times." This steams from most of my sophomore year of college when I decided that EVERYTHING could, in fact be made into a HP reference. I do, however, agree with you, there is NO wrong time to make a Harry Potter reference, and with the musicals, it makes it SO much easier, everything is now a Harry Potter reference and I love it.

In the novel I'm writing I have a character that outwardly seems like, basically, a moron, but she has some of the more important "lines" in the book; the ones that change the course of the story or bring out a plot point. I am determined to make every single one of these thing a Harry Potter related sentence.

I loved that people actually asked questions!! This is why I love BEDA its such a great blogging community. I'm really enjoying reading everyone's blogs, and I hope that I'm at least a little bit entertaining. Again, if anyone has any questions about anything, me, life, quantum physics, leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them tomorrow.

I am now off to the weekly Improv show that I go to. I'll tell ya'll about it tomorrow, hopefully I'll have pictures.

AND THAT IS THE END OF THE STORY
Today is awesome because Tuesday = Jake Ryan day :)

books read 35
currently reading: 20 Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Monday, August 2, 2010

A day late, but hey, you should know who I am

I was reading a bunch of the BEDA/ Blaugust posts that my fellow bloggers wrote yesterday, and I feel that I should introduce myself to anyone who has never read my blog before.

I am Deanna, I'm 23 and a HUGE nerd. Most of the Nerdyness revolves around Harry Potter.

I'm trying to become a writer, I'm really working on it. I'm like 98% done the first draft of a novel I've been writing for a while now. There's maybe, like, two, possibly three, chapters that I need to write. I just can't seen to get it.

I LOVE Maureen Johnson, not just for her books but for the person that she is; on twitter anyway. It gives me hope that I'm not too weird to exist, as some people that I have somehow managed to be best friends with in my life has suggested.

I have a huge crush on a person that I will refer to as Jake Ryan in this blog, because I love 80's movies. Unlike the real Jake Ryan, he knows I exist, I just don't really think he cares all that much.

This is my Desktop Wallpaper:


What else... umm, I'm a Gryffindor. I like to speak in code names, but I really don't hang out with enough people in the course of my life to list them.

If there is anything else you, people of BEDA would like to know, ask away! I'll answer any questions either in the comments on Tomorrow.

AND THAT IS THE END OF THE STORY
(oh, I'll explain this. I'm a fan of John Irving novels, I mean, what 23 year old girl isn't! JKs no other 23 year old girl is. Anyway in A Widow For One Year, there is a guy that writes children's books, and that's how all of them end. So I've been ending my blogs with "And that is the end of the story since 2004, when I first read it. It's in ALL CAPS because of another John Irving Novel: A Prayer for Owen Meany.)

Today is awesome because I think it's raining, it hasn't rained in, like FOREVER, and rain may make my cat come back.

Books Read in 2010: 35
Currently Reading: 20 boy summer by sarah ockler

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Blaugust

Welcome to what I'm going to call "Blaugust," a term I stole from one of my friends because I thought it was funny.

Honestly, my life isn't that exciting, and recently I've been in this weird uncreative rut. It sucks. I want to blame Harry Potter, and A Very Potter Sequel, but I honestly can't. The rut started before the Sequel debuted on YouTube. I haven't really read anything either, which is weird for me. I'm ALWAYS reading.

I'm currently downloading AVPM off YouTube, I downloaded the Sequel earlier, the first one is giving me some serious issues. I honestly hope my life gets more interesting so I have something to actually, you know, blog about. I'm fully committed to Blogging Every Day in August. I just hope that there are few days like this one, and lots where I have things to say.

AND THAT IS THE END OF THE STORY
Today is awesome because I learned how to rip youtube videos which is Probably illegal, but whatever.

Books read 35

Friday, July 23, 2010

Why I *still* love Harry Potter

Last night was the YouTube premiere of A Very Potter Sequel, the sequel to last year's YouTube sensation, A Very Potter Musical. I, of course, watched it. AVPM changed and defined the fandom, much the way that Wizard Rock did.

If you don't know, AVPM is a parody of the books done excellently. It's a group of college kids in a theater group, and this people are amazing. It was written by the kid that plays Harry in the play, it's just, just, totally awesome. If you love Harry Potter, the is a decent chance that you will like it. It changes the way you see Harry Potter, and just displays the power of the fandom.

AVPM and AVPS they just do something to the story, enhance it, improve it if that's at all possible. Knowing that it's fan made matteral makes it all the much better. They take characters we know so well, Harry, Ron, Voldemort, Snape, Cedric, Quirrel, Draco, Dumbledore, and in the new one Lupin, and Sirus, and change them, in a good way. After watching the plays, you'll never see them the same, never think of Hufflepuff without having the hard to control urge to yell "FIND!" In re-reading the books this spring I didn't see the Ralph Fiennes Voldemort, I see the Joe Walker Voldemort. It's that fucking awesome.

At the end of the play, Harry Potter says this, and honestly, I may have cried a little: "They’re gonna try and tell me that this wasn’t real and that this didn’t happen. You know what, it was real and it did happen. We spent time here, we made friends here, and that’s a part of us. ‘Cause Hogwarts is bigger than any of us, it’s bigger than any of its founders, and it’s gonna be here long after we’re gone. Maybe we’ll see our kids come here one day. That’s the thing about Hogwarts—no matter how long you’re away from it, well, there’s always a way back.”

THAT is why I love Harry Potter. This is what Harry Potter is. This is why I love Harry Potter, because it is real. It's real to us. the last book came out three years ago this week. The last movie comes out a year from now, but that doesn't mean its the end. JK Rowling has created something that lives outside the covers of her books. She created a world that is better because she wrote a book. We, as the the fans, have taken what Harry has given us and turned it into art, and music, and charity organizations.

I glad I get to be a part of it.

AND THAT IS THE END OF THE STORY

Friday, July 16, 2010

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Honestly, I'm probably the worst reviewer of things ever. I mean people ask me what kind of music I like and I say something like "I don't really know." Because that's true, but when I find a band or a song I really like I can't tell people about it because I can't wrap my head around how amazing it was and have it make sense, it comes out something like "It's kinda like the Killers, only completely different and with more cymbals." Because that, is a review.

I was horrible at Book Reports too. I remember one I did in 8th grade on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which BTW is my favorite of the series, and I, like, failed, because I'm bad at summerizing.

This has a point, I promise.

Recently, by recently I mean like, a minute ago, I finished a book I think anyone reading this blog should pick up, or borrow from me. It's called "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman. It's a about a seventeen year old girl named Mia, who is in a HORRIBLE CAR ACCIDENT in the second chapter of the book which kills her parents, her little brother is also in the car. I feel that this should be emphasized since it isn't on the back cover, and it's sort of a mystery how this girl ends up in a comma, but HORRIFIC CAR ACCIDENT. This made me want to stop reading. I mean it's been a year and a half, but still reading about seeing brain matter on the road and knowing  what happened that December night, was still a lot hard to handle.

Once I pick the book back up again and got past the crying in a public park in front of people for a fictional family, I got to the core of the book which is this girl, watching herself in a coma, deciding whether she should stay and fight and live in this world, or go join her family.

It chonicals her time in the coma as well as her life before the accident, and how these are reasons she should stay, or reasons she should go. It's powerful.

It's beautifully written, every word of it. It does say on the cover "Will appeal to fans of Twilight" but when I first saw it, it was still in hard cover and didn't say that, and I didn't notice until I got home, but anyway, there are no CREEPY VAMPIRES or NOT REALLY BUT THANKS FOR TRYING WEREWOLVES. It's not really fantasy, but kind I guess, I don't see it as fantasy because I view fantasy as the kind of book like Harry Potter or Twilight or something with far off lands and stuff. This is more surreal. But it is really amazing.

I know I'm, like, the WORST reviewist in the world, but I hope that explains why it's awesome. It's one of those books that makes you want to write like that, like reading a Sarah Dessen book. It's heartfelt and real, and most importantly, unlike Twilight, well written.

I hope that what I just wrote makes some kind of sense and maybe persades someone to read it, I hope it does. I really enjoyed it. In the books I've read this year I've only said "WAIT STOP THE PRESSES THIS BOOK IS FREAKING AWESOME twice, and I've read some AMAZING literature this year. I hope that says something as well. I mean, I want, like, my opinion to mean something.

AND THAT IS THE END OF THE STORY
Today is awesome because, well the weather was wonderful, and I read a wonderful book

Books read: 35
Since my last blog I have read: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire - both by Suzanne Collins and If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Everyone is someone's biggest fan, I just happen to be yours

Tonight was the third Tuesday of the summer.

To regular people, summer technically started yesterday, but for me, summer started on the 8th with the first Stranger than Fiction show of the season. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I LOVE STF and everything about them, if you are a new reader, I'll explain real quick.

STF is an improv comedy troupe based out of Portsmouth NH, My High School English Teacher is among it's members. I have been attended the shows religiously since 2004. You can't really explain it much more than that unless you see the shows.

Anyway, after being mildly traumatised by Jon Wellington, (btw it's worth the $12 cover charge to see Jon Wellington live, again it's something you just need to see.) I stood outside to talk to the cast because I haven't talked to my High School English Teacher since December (I know that seems odd, but High School English Teacher and I have a weird relationship) and I missed talking to him at the graduation on Friday.

Until tonight, I wasn't formally introduced to the new cast members, I've been told I'm talked about regularly, which is weird, but whatever, everyone's famous for something.Tonight High School English Teacher turned to one of the new people and said: "Have you met Deanna? She's our biggest fan."

It's cool to be recognized for something, even if it's something like going to over 50 improv shows.

High School English Teacher told me that with the new website that should be up this week, (with everything High School English Teacher does, I'll believe that there is a new website when I see it) that they were thinking about having a "biggest fan" part, which according to him, would without a doubt be me he said: "You'd have to stop coming to shows for a while for {BP's Mom} to even come close to seeing as many shows as you." 

How cool would that be, he told me to think of something that I could put up on the sight, maybe I could do pictures or a little mini blog or inside jokes or something. I mean there's just so much that I love about them, and the fact that it's not just High School English Teacher, but other members of the cast the recognize that I spend a lot of time and money going to these shows, that I truly love them, that I've seen more shows then their parents or wives/husbands, it means something.

I got a tweet a little while ago, when I wasn't even thinking about STF, from High School English Teacher, it said something along the lines of "FYI STF speaks of you highly and often, you're officially our biggest fan from many years running."

I'm just glad I could be a part of it. Even if it's just from the front row of the audience.

AND THAT IS THE END OF THE STORY
Today was awesome because it is Tuesday, and frankly, Tuesday has always been my favorite day of the week

Books read: 32
Currently (re) Reading: A Prayer of Owen Meany by John Irving

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Sometimes I just feel SO OLD

Last night, I went to the graduation of a good friend of mine's little sister. When I graduated, she was in 7th grade, and high school graduations make me feel old anyway. I mean, I graduated five years ago, but it seems like so much has happened in those five years. All of a sudden my friends are married and have babies, there was a girl there that I graduated with who was pregnant with what I think is her third child, and she's been married for almost five years. It's weird, but in a small town like the one I grew up I guess it's not that unusual to have a larger percent of people that get married young and start families while people are still in college. That particular pregnant high school classmate's husband, also a fellow class of 05-er, is in the military, so I kind of feel their life is in a fast forward mode that other people aren't.

ANYWAY, the friend which I was watching her sister graduate, I haven't seen this friend in four years, since she graduated from high school. In that time she's moved fourteen hours away, married a guy that I haven't met, but seems really amazing, and now she has a 4 month old daughter, whom I met yesterday, which honestly is why I went to the graduation.

After the graduation I walked around looking for our High School English Teacher, who, as usual took off the second he wasn't needed anymore and was home before we left the soccer field, because he @replied me on twitter before we got to Applebees. She, my friend, wanted High School English Teacher to met her daughter, but alas, since he has magical powers, he missed out. I was holding the baby and a different English Teacher came over to talk to us and in a mildly funny moment said. "Oh my God De Cooley is that your baby?" My brother is Facebook Friends with her, I feel my brother would relay this information to her if it was true. We also live in a small town, she would have known before I showed up at graduation with an infant, but anyway, I was like "nope it's her's." I enjoyed that moment, just for the look on that English teacher's face.

I went to Applebees with 3 friends after graduation, so that we could catch up with the friend we hadn't seen in years and talk about the silly stuff we always talked about, like "Life To-Do Lists," which include things like meeting the cast of Harry Potter, and telling better jokes; and life Not-To-Do lists, like being pregnant twins and stealing sperm from dead people to have zombie babies.

As you, blog reader, know, I tend to feel, especially lately after moving back home, that I don't have any, or many friends, last night, for the first time in a while I felt like I really did have people. They weren't people that I hung out with a lot in high school, in truth, I became better friends with one of these girls after high school, more to going to STF than anything, in another is really my little brother's friend, but sitting there eating and drinking lemonade and talking until they closed, I felt like I did back then, back when I knew I had friends and people to talk to.

My friend took the train back early this morning, but I do have a picture of her and her beautiful little daughter, and I've been promised daily text messages with pictures of the baby so I can watch her grow up from far away, but I know I'll get to see her during her sister's spring break next year, and if it's anything like last night was, it will be like no time has past, the way friendship should be.

AND THAT IS THE END OF THE STORY
today is awesome because I have the Sims 3 to make friends live next door to me in my video game world.

Books read: 32
Currently Reading: A Prayer for Owen Meany (needless to say: ReRead.)