Cute Kitty Pictures!!!

I have nothing to write about, but haven't posted for a few days and figured, "Everybody likes cute things!" Yes, this has somehow transformed itself into the blog of a 13-year-old girl, but whatever. I just like cats a lot. And somehow have nothing more interesting to share with you today.

For those concerned: SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE

I promise that there will be no Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows spoilers on this blog*. You have my word. I, like so many of you, will be avidly avoiding any source of spoilers and will do my part to make sure I don't let anything slip to anyone else, here or otherwise. I'll never forgive that kid at the day camp for giving away the ending of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'm considering not going on the internet at all until I finish the book, but that's probably a little too ambitious.

You may have caught this in the comments for the post below, but I love it:

Emilee - Do you pinky promise that you won't give anything away about the new Harry Potter book if you finish it before me?
Melanie - That's like asking me to pinky promise I won't sleep with your husband.

My friends rock.

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*I don't guarantee that I will never spoil anything about the book, but if it happens, it'll be in a timely manner, at least a month after the book's release when I am sure that anyone truly concerned has already read it and it'll probably be something in passing.

Soundtrack to Life

I realize this is the sort of thing a 14-year-old girl puts on her Myspace page. You've seen it before; the rules are simple: put all of your music on shuffle and fill in the blanks with whatever song comes up. It seemed like a fun activity because it could give everybody a sampler platter of my music. There are, naturally, a few embarrassments that popped up as it was completely random, and I'm not sure how representative of my music it ended up being, but since I put the effort into doing this, here is the report:

1. Opening Credits: "I Do (Cherish You)" - Mark Wills -Oh man, off to a horrible start: a cheesy country love song to open with. I almost gave up right away when this happened, or considered just skipping it (the only reason it's part of my music collection is Allison shares this computer with me and has loaded some of her music onto my iTunes, anyway). But then ended up singing along to the song and remembering that I actually like it, though I'd never admit that to anyone and definitely never publish it on the internet.
2. Waking Up: "Come On Eileen" - Dexy's Midnight Runners - It's a fairly good waking up song in feel. And I, like so many girls, can't help but be a bit of an 80s music junkie.
   
3. Average Day: "The Compromise" - The Format - It's one of my least favorite songs by The Format, who I love, and I was sad to not have something more meaningful by them come up, but I suppose it works fairly well as the soundtrack to "average day".
   
4. First Date: "Starlight" - Muse - I love this song, but it's been stuck in my head for over two weeks now, so my reaction was more "nooooo" and I changed it quickly and didn't think about it for too long.
   
5. Falling In Love: "I'm Only Sleeping" - The Beatles - This actually fits quite well. I tend to fall in love quite unconsciously and lazily. I did some research on this song because I've heard that it was written about being on drugs, but didn't know if that was true or not. But at least whoever wrote the article on Wikipedia about the song believes it really is about how much John Lennon loved staying in bed.
   
6. Love Scene: "Minute Waltz" - Chopin - My reaction: "awww, cute."
   
7. Fight Scene: "Ice Ice Baby" - Vanilla Ice -I don't want to talk about it.
   
8. Breaking Up: "The Business of Getting Down" - Ozma - A fairly mediocre song from Ozma, but I'm glad that the "breaking up" track includes the line "If you'd drop by to see me again, I'd open up the door," for that's very typical thinking for me in a break up.
   
9. Getting Back Together: "Come As You Are" - Nirvana - A recent conversation at apartment 36: "How could you not like Nirvana?" "I never smoked pot." "Okay, you have a point...but I liked them before..." I'll have you know that I personally, have never smoked anything but love Nirvana. And "Come As You Are" is good for a getting back together song.
   
10. Secret Love: "Oh, It is Love" - Hellogoodbye - Fitting. I'm not a huge ukulele fan (they make any song instantly cheesy), but it's cute.
    
11. Life's Okay: "O Valencia!" - The Decemberists - Good beat for "life's okay".
    
12. Mental Breakdown: "Never There" - Cake - I automatically thought of the time a couple days ago when I had a mental breakdown due to this song. I was playing the iLike music challenge game on facebook (that one afternoon that I spent far too long playing...it's horribly addicting, though) and the question was "name this Cake song" and they played this song and I knew it was "Never There", but I clicked to quickly and clicked "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" instead and it killed a streak I'd been pretty far with and I knew the answer but....it was horrible.
    
13. Driving: "Tainted Love" - Soft Cell - One of those instantly recognized songs that just warms your soul even though it's not a warm song at all.
    
14. Learning A Lesson: "Meike" - Flake Music - For those that don't know, Flake Music was The Shins before they were The Shins. So think The Shins but in 1997. You know how there are a few lyrics that pop up into your head constantly? Well the line "you make it easy to deci-i-i-ide" from this song pops up whenever I'm making a decision.
    
15. Deep Thought: "King of New York" from The Newsies - Somehow the only thought that comes to me when I think of this song is "I love Bill Pullman."
    
16. Flashback: "Mo Money Mo Problems" - Notorious B.I.G.- Because I'm so street. I had no idea I even own this song until it came up. But I'm positive it's not something Allison added, so I must have it on a CD somewhere. I couldn't sing a lyric to this song to you, I don't know it at all, but the title makes me laugh.
    
17. Partying: "Truly Madly Deeply" - Savage Garden - Not really a party song, but one I was excited to get. I've only recently added Savage Garden to my collection following hearing one of their songs at a bowling alley and realizing I like them far more than I admit to people.
    
18. Happy Dance: "Always Love" - Nada Surf - Not really a dance song, but a good song and happy enough. A little hippie-y ("always love, hate won't get you everytime"), but what can you do?
    
19. Regretting: "The Old Apartment" - Barenaked Ladies - I haven't thought about Barenaked Ladies since they days when they were big until recently when I happen to be dating someone who brings them up every once in a while (big 90s music guy). I like them a lot, though.
    
20. Long Night Alone: "Hanasakajijii (four: a great wind, more ash)" - Anathallo - Rather happy sounding, but an excellent song and calm enough to satisfy the "long night alone" track. I've really liked Anathallo since I saw them open for The Format last year. Post-rock (meaning: very experimental) and perhaps a bit of an acquired taste, but they're a good palate cleanser in a world where all music sounds the same.
    
21. Death Scene: "Bye Bye Bye" - NSync - I laughed out loud for some time when this came up for my death.
    
22. Closing Credits: "Finale" from Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony - I was very pleased with this ending, it's the ending to a real symphony, and an excellent symphony at that. I can't think of a more solid closer if I want to close off feeling heroic.
    

Argus Hamilton

Here's a column I read often: http://argushamilton.com/argus.htm. He tends to repeat his jokes, but for the most part they're pretty funny and any site that can get me to laugh from time to time and updates daily is worth reading. A few treasures:

John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth began a poverty tour across America Monday to highlight their concern for the poor. They are visiting people with no money and no hope. Their first stop was at John McCain's presidential campaign headquarters.

President Bush held a teleconference with his generals from the Roosevelt Room in the White House Friday. He told them the war can be won and must be won. Even worse, he now refers to the stairs leading up to the living quarters as San Juan Hill.

Tom Cruise was honored by the Museum of the Moving Image in New York Thursday, where he gave a gracious speech. He defended his religion and thanked his parents for all their sacrifices. Each evening they kill a chicken in front of his photograph.

The Weather Channel said Tuesday that temperatures in New York hit one hundred degrees. The heat and humidity combined with the flies and mosquitoes to triple the Misery Index. Thousands of cab drivers and street venders nearly died of homesickness.

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said Tuesday he has a gut feeling that al-Qaeda is about to attack the U.S. this summer. The administration no longer claims to have secret intelligence. They just stand there and dare Congress to subpoena their intestines.

TP Extravaganza

I don't really have any commentary on this, I just think it's my duty to share with the world this very important breaking news story. Enjoy.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Yes, I'm one of those nerds that goes to midnight showings of Harry Potter every couple of years. My thoughts on the newest addition which I watched last night:

• Whoever did the casting for this one did an excellent job. Without exception (that I can think of) all of the new characters were just what I wanted. Umbridge was exactly what I imagined from the books: sickening wardrobe, that voice, and terrifying. Luna was loony and lovable as she ought to have been. Bellatrix Lestrange scared the crap out of me but was somehow really hot, which is just what I expected of her.
• The cutting up of the book for this film was also quite well done. I wanted to see more of the Umbridge vs. other professors at Hogwarts battle; I wanted to see Harry's story published in The Quibbler; I wanted to see Cho crying all over Harry on Valentine's Day; I wanted some of the side characters that were newly introduced (Tonks, Kreacher, etc.) to have bigger roles. However, none of this is crucial and I'm glad that they kept the film at a reasonable length while still telling the story effectively.
  
• You have to just overlook how much Emma Watson sucks to enjoy these films. She tries far too hard to act and her eyebrow dance (look for it, she can't keep them still in her attempt to be expressive) drives me nuts. But she's pretty so I can't dislike her. I have this problem with many actresses. Call me shallow because I realize it is, but any actress that is pretty gets a lot of leeway in my mind regardless of talent. Hermoine isn't even supposed to be pretty, but still...
• Pretty much all of the Weasley boys are super hot. I knew this from the books, but it wasn't until this film that it was evident. Ron is old enough to be an attractive guy by now. Fred and George are better looking in this film than any of the past ones (which is excellent because their characters are more awesome in Order than any of the other books). Even Percy (the two seconds you see of him) was pretty good looking, even though his character in this book causes all sorts of grief.
  
• I'm dying for the last book to come out. And I'm nervous that someone's going to give away the ending before I finish it. It happened with The Half-Blood Prince but it'd be even more horrible with this one. Particularly if Harry's a goner, which I wouldn't be surprised with at all.
  

The Animal Game

When I was a child, one of my favorite games we would play in my family was The Animal Game. The game is very simple: one member of the family gets up and acts out an animal until someone guesses what animal it is and then the person who guessed correctly gets a turn to go act out an animal.

I just got an email from Nate that I'm posting here to give you, dear reader, an idea of the kind of family I come from:

I just wanted to let you know how much the animal game has evolved since we were kids. The animals have advanced a great deal since the days when we exhausted our ideas after dog, cat, kangaroo, and sloth. We played for family home evening and some of the more interesting animals were:

• hydra (Melissa did a cartwheel)
• flagullent
• starfish
• click beetle (that was fun to act)
• magnetotactic bacteria
• sponge (Marsha got it the second I started wiggling my fingers inside my central cavity)
• clam
• photoautotroph (we can't remember if that is exactly what they're called, but I got it in like three seconds after Melissa held up a plant and acted happy, then turned off the light and started eating everyone)
• planarian
• Marsha (I did her gorilla walk thingy and she and Melissa guessed it instantaneously)
• cow (Melissa did a good cow impersonation by chewing cud, pretending to throw up in her mouth, and then chewing some more)

Kevin kept complaining that all of the older kids animals were too hard to guess, which was ironic because I don't think anyone was able to guess one of his. They were all obscure animals no one else had heard of accompanied with really bad acting. Most were extinct or some sort of sea creature he probably saw on a documentary. He also impersonated some sort of germ that he called a "little bear germ." I'm pretty sure that was some sort of name used in a movie at one point. He acted remarkably like a velociraptor when he was the "little bear germ."

I love how much my family rocks. We are, of course, snobs that think we're smarter than everyone else, but we're fun snobs that think we're smarter than everyone else, so embrace it.

Cultural Experiences

Yesterday was a good day:

1. Cleaned the kitchen. Finally. Having no cleaning checks at this apartment is a blessing and a curse.
2. Went to a Tibetan Buddhist prayer festival. Fun and educational.
3. Went to a demolition derby. Fun and educational.
   

Transformers

When I was dating Tony he made me promise that I would go to see Transformers with him when it came out. So all in all, I figured it was a good thing that we're not together anymore. Unfortunately, current boyfriend, Trevor, calls this morning: "Andrea, listen to me. You have to come see it. It's robots in disguise. How could that not be cool?" Males, I roll my eyes at you.

Summer Reading Program

Most Recently Finished

The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios and Other Stories - Yann Martel

Currently Reading

What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng - Dave Eggers

In Queue

The Kite Runner -Khaled Hosseini
High Fidelity - Nick Hornby
Sweet Diamond Dust and Other Stories - Rosario Ferré
On Beauty - Zadie Smith