Pages

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Other Boleyn Girl

I was surprised that I liked this movie. I thought it would be sad, which it was. I thought it would be pedantic, and is was, but not as much as I expected. I guess because a lot of it was made up to make the movie (based off book by the same name) more interesting. It's based off real events, but it's not a biography or anything.

If you know anything about Henry VIII, you know how this movie is going to end, another reason I didn't want to watch it. No matter how much suspense they build, you know it's inevitable: Anne dies.



The story is about the Boleyn sisters, Anne who everybody knows and Mary who I've never heard of. Possible spoilers coming up.

After the King's wife fails to give him a son (classic Henry the 8th story), Anne Boleyn of a lesser but still royal family is assigned by her father and uncle to become the king's mistress to increase her royal standing. The king is more interested in her sister, Mary, who takes that job instead. Yada yada the king loses interest in Mary and Anne tries to swoop into her sister's place, thinking she could become the Queen of England and give the king the heir he wants. She convinces the king to divorce the queen for her. << Learned that in history. She doesn't give him a son, either, and he starts to get mad at her.

Now the definitive spoiler, so don't read further if you care that much.

She has a miscarriage and is afraid to tell Henry she failed again, so she asks her brother George (actually, begs him, there was a lot of crying in this scene) thinking she could replace the baby without the king finding out.

They came really close, but her brother says he can't. It was too late since George's wife saw everything before the "I can't" and ratted them out. Anne and George are tried for treason, adultery, and incest, and both are beheaded.

SAD. I mean, I didn't like Anne from the start of the movie since she sold her soul to be the Queen of England, but she was killed for something she didn't do and only thought about doing to make the king happy. I was sad about George, mostly because Jim Sturgess played him and I love that guy.

When he got beheaded, my sister screamed "Jude!" because that's who he plays in Across the Universe (brilliant movie). It broke the seriousness of the scene because I couldn't not laugh at her making that association, but it's even more tragic that they hacked their heads off with axes. Spring for a guillotine, England (that was invented 200 years later in a different country, wasn't it...) I have to do more research on the actual historical facts of Anne's death, but I heard that the incest part was made-up.

More spoilerific-ness. Earlier in the movie, Mary does have his son, but since it was an illegitimate child, it didn't count. Other than Edward, his child with Jane Seymour who died young from some diesease, Mary's was his only son. Historically accurate? I don't know, maybe not. Anne did not give him a son, but she did give him an heir. Their daughter Elizabeth took over, and every time you hear "Elizabethan" anything, they're talking about her.

So after that depressing movie, Anny and I decided to watch a happier Jim Sturgess movie, although Across the Universe is pretty dark in it's own right.

Point: The Other Boleyn Girl was good. I was prepared to fall asleep and ended up on the edge of my chair shouting at the TV. Oh, it starred Natalie Portman and Anne, Scarlett Johansson as Mary, Eric Bana as the King, and previously mentioned Jim Sturgess.

I will say yay for knowing history because that might have been hard to follow without the background info.

Hot 'N Cold

I'm letting my 7-year-old cousin educate me on top 40 music. Ask me about any song on the billboard list in the last year, and I'll probably look at you blankly. My sister put "Disturbia," "So What," and "Hot 'n Cold" on her iPod.

The music video to Katy Perry's "Hot 'n Cold"...what? About as uninspired as the lyrics. I listened to a few more songs by her, and the lyrics to all of them are about as shallow as it gets.



My sister and her friend wanted to remake this video, so I let them use my camera and agreed to play the guy.

Her song's catchy and I like it, but there are so many songs from the golden days of music that are catchy and have good lyrics. Most of the great songs from the 80s have good music videos, too. I've been trying to keep up with top 40 so I know what people are talking about, but you won't find many of those songs on my iPod.
Too many things to babble about, not enough energy. Okay, the list:

~Katy Perry
~Across the Universe
~Jim Sturgess
~The Other Boleyn Girl
~The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
~My current nail color, since I painted them turquoise tonight

I'll get to it tomorrow. Actually, it's later today now.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Disney Stars and Promise Rings

It's amazing how many things you find to talk about starting on You Tube with a Jonas Brothers interview and working through the "related videos" column. I'm going to split up all my topics into separate posts, so here's #1.

What is it with all these Disney stars and their promise rings? When I first heard about the Jonas Brothers, I thought (hoped) they did it because they believe in in, not just to get publicity. They seem like good guys, and I believed they meant it.

Then I heard about Selena Gomez and her ring. I believed her, too. Then Demi Lovato. I heard today about Ashley Tisdale. And the kicker: Miley Cyrus. If the list of virginity-pledging Disney stars had credibility before, Miley ruined it. I think it's probably too late for her to be making any abstinence-related promises. If she has somehow managed to fool the entire television-watching world and actually hasn't done it, it's most likely because she hasn't had time, not because she's adhering to any moral code of behavior.

Is this a fad? Some people on an online forum were discussing the possibility of the Disney corporation catalyzing this, that they're behind the trend to keep their image as a wholesome family organization. I doubt that Disney is behind it, but it's definitely becoming a fad.

At least it's making abstinence cooler. I read all of these girls on message boards saying they're going to wait until they get married because Nick Jonas is. Whether or not they're serious, even though they're just being sheep and doing what's popular, it's definitely not a bad thing.

I hope the Jonas Brothers really mean it. If they're doing it for attention and to boost their reputation as the "good boys," that's so mmuch worse than if they never said anything at all.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Risky Business Dance

If 21-year-old Tom Cruise dacing in his underwear to Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" doesn't put you in a better mood, I don't know what will.

Risky Business

To find a teen sex comedy worth watching, I guess you have to go back to 1983?



In the most summarized, spoiler-free version of the story, this kid's parents go out of town and leave him home alone, so he plays pimp for one night, opens his house as a--what's the word--brothel, and makes a lot of money.

Meh, the shortened version leaves out so many great plot elements so watch the movie and do it justice. I checked 10 minutes ago and it has a 100% tomato rating and is certified "fresh" by rottentomatoes.com.

The Tom Cruise "That Old Time Rock and Roll" dance is the best part. That deserves it's own post.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Love the Christmastime Chaos

I spent three hours wrapping presents yesterday. They weren't all mine and most of that time was spent on my obsessive decorating (I put stickers and ribbons all over the outside of the boxes), but I went a little present crazy buying for people. I have to make up for last year.I went a little lax on the gifts last year. I actually got my friend a foam fruitcake because they were selling them at Barnes and Noble and I'm like...I have to give this to somebody! My friend of 10 years would appreciate it the most. We have stupid jokes like that.

I'm getting claustrophobic in these stores. As Anny and I say, "the shoppers are encroaching!"

Christmas is my busiest holiday for sure. First is the pipsqueak 5 year old's birthday, than G turned 12 yesterday, tonight I'm going over my uncle's house, tomorow my other uncle's house for Christmas Eve, free day on Christmas now but we used to have another party at my third uncle's house, then my grandma's 91st birthday on the 27th and New Year's Eve party on the 31st. Sigh. Actually, when my dad's friends from Jersey would come down, we would be even busier. I love December.

Last night at G's birthday, the little kids were wrestling as they call it (looks like ultimate fighting championships to me, but hey, I'm a girl, what do I know?) and 7-year-old G2 got thrown to the ground and kicked in the head by the 5-year-old. (Same 7-year-old that got kicked hit in the face with a rake on Thanksgiving). Little G started screaming and C said, "I didn't do anything, all I did was this" and kicked him in the side of the head again. G2 immeidately went after him and tried to punch C, birthday G pulled them apart, it was a mess. G2 got this huge welt in him head from it.

Off to finish shopping, wrapping, and cookie baking. Christmas~ <3

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Love bread and Footloose

Woohoo! Midterms are over! No more studying! Good thing, too. I don't think I could take anymore. I get two (almost) homework-free weeks! <3 I'm going to Christmas it up this next week, too.

I just realized that stupid, poorly-written Hannah Montana post was the first thing on my blog for over a week. Oops. I do not want that to be the greeting post, so I shall fix.

While my mom was deciding between two chocolate cakes at the store, I was browsing the weird food section, intrugued with the loaves of "health bread" that look exactly like bricks with wrappers. One of them was really tiny and the name caught my attention: "Westphalian Pumpernickel." Hehe, pumpernickel is a fun word. I heard that on "Barney" when I was little. And what makes it "Westphalian?" I think of WWI and the Treaty of Westphalia when I hear that.

Ag, get to the point, Juliana. Anyway, there was this picture on the wrapper...

It looks like the kind of luff picture on Trojan or KY boxes. What does that have to do with bread? I started reading the ingredients to see if there was any connection there. There wasn't. Are thay saying that if you eat the bread, you'll be healthy and pretty like these people?

Now it's flashback time!



"Let's hear it for the boy" from Footloose! Kevin Bacon teaches his buddy to dance. Footloose is one of those movies that has a weak plot carried out poorly with dialogue that makes you squirm, but you're willing to excuse it all because the music and dancing is fun.

I already wrote a readers digest version Footloose review the first time I saw it. My writing was terrible there. I need to rewatch it and give it the rambling I give other movies.

I recently saw Risky Business, too, and I love it. Is it sad that it's the only Tom Cruise movie I can name? Oh, wait, he was in Lions for Lambs. Another movie I like.

Okay, back to watching "Modern Marvels" and loving the fact that I can sit around and watch the History Channel at midnight without mentally listing all the homework I'll have tomorrow. =] I don't have any! I'm going to make Christmas cookies, instead.

Love,
Juliana

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Hannah Montana Revamp

I have more interesting things to talk about, but they all take a lot of time to write, so I'm going to get this one out: I don't like Hannah Montana's new hair. It looks too fake. They changed the theme song, too. It was better before.



I don't watch the show much, and I don't know how long this new theme song has been running for. Anny said it's been a while. My initial reaction though was...I guess they really can make this show worse than it already is.

My "have you ever?"

I couldn't resist. XD
Thanks, Kelsey!

RULES: There are 100 statements and you bold the ones you have done. Grab it and play for yourself!!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to DisneyWorld
8. Climbed a mountain.

9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept in an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten cavier.
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Friday, December 5, 2008

No post would be complete without my thoughts on newspaper. ^_^

Today was eventful.

In Chinese, I was nominated to stand in front of the class by myself and get bombarded with questions for 10 minutes. It was my teacher's way of getting the quiet people to participate--make them answer questions with the spotlight on them. The class took a vote for the quietest girl and quietest boy, and I won the girl category.

They were sopposed to ask me a few questions and let me go (the nominated boy only got about 10 to answer), but they wouldn't let me go. I'm really bad at speaking Chinese. I can write it, but I can't get the words out of my mouth when I have to speak it. Someone asked me if I have a dog, and I answered "no, I'm not a dog." *Sigh* Took me a minute to realize what I said wrong, too.

This one really type-A freshman (an okay person, I get along with her, but a sister of a newspaper editor. You get the picture. I think it's genetic.) kept bombarding me with really complicated questions and got frustrated when I asked her to repeat slower. She asked me if I love Nick Jonas. I said yes. XD

In Spanish, we had a sub. We never have a sub in Spanish! Everyone got all excited when they saw him there. This one guy came in and the first thing he said to the guy was "I don't even know who you are, but you just made my day." Totally. Somehow we managed to transgress into a discussion of Appalacia. Only with a sub.

I skipped the last 30 minutes of government to finish my newspaper page. All three of us working on this page (V, the famous A, and I) are all in the same government class. A made me give our teacher the "please excuse us from class" note. >.< She's very into the phrase "well, that's not our job." A, hun, everything on this page is our job.

She waited until today to edit her article, and delayed fixing V's because she didn't think she was responsible for it. She's like, "Let's take care of the stuff that is our job." Okay, sure...but what is our job then? She doesn't think we're responsible for the articles or the pictures. What does that leave, lines and font size?

She did kick it into gear these last couple of days and helped (although failing to do the one thing she promised she would when she stayed after school--place the pictures). I get along with her fine outside of class, I mean we're not friends, but it's nothing like newspaper when I find myself talking to her like my little sister who's not cooperating. I realized today and made a point to be aware of it.

One thing I love her for: she's not afraid to talk to the seniors. I am so terrified of them that whenever she calls them over to help, I step out of the way or pretend to be busy with something. XD There are maybe three editors in there that don't scare me much, but the rest? Especially il duce. I don't know what I think she'll do to me, I mean she's a small person, but I guess like Jane from Twilight, she can torture me with her stare.

There's this freshman in that class who I'm friend-ish with who reminds me so much of my sister. They look kind of similar, they like the same stuff (especially Twilight), and they have a lot of the same mannerisms. I like her, she's really laid back.

Most of the freshman (actually, all but two) are just as uptight as the editors. Is this a prerequisite? Did I miss the memo? Actually, I think complaining about A makes me a little uptight, too...no! I will not turn into Ms. Editor Almighty! I don't think anyone can be her, though. You have to be born with that quality, like Paris from Gilmore Girls. When I use that comparison to describe her, people are like, "OH. That bad?" It hits home harder than the Mussolini comparison.

Wow, I'm horrible. I have to stop calling her il duce. She's not so bad every day. Telling us to ignore the fire drill, though. Haha I can't even remember how many times I've used that anecdote as a conversation starter.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Nintendo

I was talking to my friend about Nintendo tonight and he had the funniest description.

"That entire franchise is based around an Italian plumber who shoots fire out of his hands, has a drug addiction to magic mushrooms, and is apparently the only person in the entire kingdom capable of saving a princess from a giant turtle."

Haha. So true. Doesn't mean I like it any less. The extent of my video game literacy consists of anything related to Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Princess Peach.

Pancakes, Spanish, Newspaper (tempted to say "oh, my!")

I just ate an obscene number of pancakes, and it felt really good.

I spent hours working on my Spanish oral last night, a three-minute biographical speech on a famous Hispanic/Spanish person, no note cards or anything allowed. We presented today, and I was the fourth to last person to go, so I had a whole hour to work myself into a respectable panic attack. Spanish is my worst subject, and this counts for 25% of our midterm grade.

I think I did okay! I could have stayed after the bell to see my grade, but my nerves had gotten the better of me and I opted to go to the bathroom before math instead. There were about 12 people crowded around her waiting for their grades, so I figured I could wait. It's over, so it's not like the grade's going to change.

My partner in newspaper decided yesterday to mess with our page in the last 15 minutes of class. I tried to tell her that we don't have time to mess with anything else, we should fix the things we moved (actually, she moved), but she didn't listen. Our page looked like a construction site. The pictures were strikingly different shades of gray, the alignment was all wrong, the text in the "photo by" line was two different sizes.

I was almost in panic mode. "A, please let me fix it!" She didn't want my help (She wants to sit in the chair and be in charge, but she doesn't get much done.) and when Editor Almighty told us to print them out, she left everything right where it was, didn't even move the "photo by" box back under the picture, just left it floating in the middle of the page.

She was about to click print. I almost grabbed her hand. "No! You can't print it looking like that! Here, just let me fix it." Then the bell rang. She ran out.

I couldn't go work on it after school today, and believe me, that burns me up. I went in at lunch to work on it. A and V both went after school, and A said she would place V's pictures. I have my fingers crossed. I look like the slacker, though, because they went and I didn't. I had piano and couldn't get out of it. I tried, but the recital's next Saturday and evidently my song is harder than I thought.

And I finally thought of a plot for my book, actually a modification of the original plot. Still needs more to make it interesting.

Hmm...I'm going to break out one of the million topics I've been meaning to talk about. I'm being lazy today. I made a plan last night to eat pancakes and chocolate milk when I came home today. They were really good.

Love,
Juliana

Monday, December 1, 2008

Productive conversation...glad we sorted that out.

Remember my fabulous partner who ditched me in newspaper last Tuesday? (Click on the link to read about it.) Well, I talked to her today...

Me: Hey, where were you last Tuesday?
Her, casually: Home.
I snapped: Why?
Her: *Shrug* Missed the bus. Did you finish our page?
Me: Almost. The real pictures aren't in yet because V hasn't taken them, and one picture wouldn't frame right.
Her: Did you have L (photo girl) place the pictures?
Me: No, I didn't know she was supposed to, and they aren't even our final pictures because you never chose any.
Her: So it's not done? What? Why would you do it all yourself?
Me: Because I didn't know what to do! What did you want me to do, stare at the screen? I had to do the work for three people, and I did the best I could!
Her: You know, you wouldn't have had problems with the framing if you would have let L do it.

Maybe I'll remember that next time I get ditched on deadline day. I got blunt, but seriously, she seemed waaay too non-chalant about the whole thing. And to criticize me for doing it wrong? You know, if you want it done right, you do it yourself. She gets to sit home and watch "America's Next Top Model" (I made that up, for the record) and I get to flounder through a foreign photoshop software with a million buttons while the photographer assigned to my page quietly watches me do her job.

I don't mind working, I just hate that she gets a free ride while I take her responsibilities and add them to mine. I also don't want our design to suck...or have it all be my fault. I'm definitely not fixing her pictures tomorrow. She can find L and do whatever. It's her article.