Could it just be possible that I'm a failure?

With New Year's just around the corner, I've started looking back at what I've done this year. And.... I have to admit, I'm disappointed. Sure, I moved, I mourned my grandma at the one year marker of her passing, I took a PSAT, finished a book that I've been writing for ages; but in the short wrinkle of the Earth that is my life, what does that boil down to? Nothing. I didn't cure cancer, I didn't fight man-eating alligators, I didn't even go on a vacation. I did the equivalent of sitting on my butt picking my nose.

So that got me to thinking, what really defines whether what I've done is nothing or not? After some deep thinking, meaning around five minutes of thinking while I was laying in bed avoiding school, I realized a harsh truth. My biggest critic is myself. I'm not in a competition as to who can have the best life, I'm not being judged by my lack of enthralling feats. My own standards are higher than anyone else's for myself. Really. I am setting impossible standards for myself. I'm setting myself up to fail.

When I ran my first half marathon back in January, I finished it, I was proud, but I wanted to do more. I wanted to run a full marathon. So I trained for a full, but didn't meet the age requirements, so I ran another half. Still not enough, so now I'm training for a triathlon. While everyone was goggling at my feat, I was pushing myself more. To be the best. But I didn't know what I was trying to be the best at.

But really, can always pushing myself make me happy? Suddenly, I grasped that "nothing"  was really something. The "nothings"  might not have spread around the world, but to me, they were bigger than anything. My move taught me not to take family and friends for granted. My Grandma's year of passing taught me that someone can always be with a person, physically or not. The PSAT taught me that I am up against myself academically, and that with hard work, I can do anything I set my mind on.

I need to focus on having the life that I want for me. Not what I want because I think that other people want it for me. I'm going to read cheesy books, watch terrible TV, sing to Paramore, run my triathlon for fun, and be myself. I'm going to enjoy my friends before we all go to college. That means eating raw cookie dough, getting drunk on Sprite, trying to twerk, listening to Wrecking Ball, and doing whatever else I want to. I'm living life to the fullest, my way. And if you don't like it, sue me.

~Persephone

Top 10 Concerts of 2013

In celebration of the end of the year, I decided to make a quick ranking of the ten best concerts that I saw this year. Please note that the top 5 or 6 are all equally great in very different ways, so don't worry too much about the exact ranking of those. I would absolutely love to see all of them again. This kind of applies to the rest of the list, too. Also keep in mind that I tried my best to rank this objectively, without the bias of who my personal favorites are (though I ranked them that way as well in each summary).  They've all been so different that it's extremely difficult to rank them. I mean, come on, they range from Bruno Mars to Dan Croll. But without further ado, here are the top 10 concerts of 2013.


1. Bruno Mars


Overall: Booming stage pyrotechnics, lots of dancing, an amazingly cohesive set, an awesome backup band, great singing, fantastic playing and overall the best show I have ever seen. The feeling of awe I had after seeing it is one that I will remember forever. 
Favorite ranking: 3
Standout factor: Bruno Mars can appeal to basically anyone, from his Prince-like sexy talk, to the James Brown dancing while nailing his hit songs, leading a hugely energetic nine-piece band and playing a mean drum solo. He doesn't have to be able to dance, play guitar, play drums, write awesome songs, and sing amazingly. But he does.
Award: Best Banter Ever/Best Male Singer/Most Adorable Thing Ever/Most Cohesive Show of All Time/Best Arena Performance

2. Janelle Monae


Overall: Like Bruno Mars, an amazingly cohesive show, a great backup band, and great singing are very memorable, though Monae added plenty of additional drama with the Electric Lady and the sci-fi aspects of the show. Her energy and excitement were infectious.
Favorite ranking: 1
Standout factor: Monae is basically a female Prince...need I say more?
Award: Best Female Artist/Best Performance

3. Muse


Overall: The one and only reason that this wasn't the number best concert that I've been to was because the generator blew out twice, leaving the audience to wait for 30 minutes in between songs. Even so, it was one of the best shows I'll probably ever see. Everything about it screamed virtuosity and going to see them is something that everyone should experience at least once.
Favorite ranking: 5
Standout factor: Absolutely insane playing all around. I didn't even know it was possible to do some of the techniques Bellamy does and I definitely don't know how he can make so many different sounds come out of one instrument.
Award: Most Face-Melting Solos

4.  Arctic Monkeys 


Overall: Like Muse, these guys aren't in one of the top spots only for reasons that aren't their fault at all. Going into this concert, I hadn't really heard their music before (to be honest, I just liked their name) and because of that, I didn't fight for a spot at all. Subsequently, I was about 7 million rows back from the stage. However, going totally paid off because seeing it made me completely fall in love with their music. I haven't stopped listening to it and praying that they will come back around to Austin since. Their charisma and honesty shone in their playing and there's no denying that they, and especially frontman Alex Turner, are very talented. Also, I didn't really know where to fit this in but I felt like something needed to be said of Alex Turner's dancing.
Favorite ranking: 4
Standout factor: Like the Black Keys, I think their music could appeal to a lot of different people without having to be really poppy. It's complicated, interesting, and different music that requires talent to play while being really fun to listen to. 
Award: Best Accents/Best New Album

5. Paramore


Overall: Absolute greatness. From the beginning to the end, I didn't stop smiling and shouting along the words. I don't think anyone else in the world can work a crowd like singer-songwriter Hayley Williams. Their joy and excitement were infectious but not over-the top and their genuineness and honesty shone through the whole time. "Your passion, it's stupid and incredible." Hayley's singing is about as close to flawless as you can get (even while she ran across the stage/headbanged/danced) and the other bandmembers also brought in plenty of energy. 
Favorite ranking: 2
Standout factor: Hayley Williams' existence 
Award: Most Energy/Best Back Flip While Playing/Best Female Singer

6. Vampire Weekend


Overall: Like Arctic Monkeys, I didn't really fight for a spot at this show, which meant that I was a zillion miles away from the stage. And trust me, I will regret those decisions for the rest of my life. Even so, this concert was great and sent me immediately buying Modern Vampires of the City (fantastic album, by the way). They were very charming and great players and I just bought tickets to see them again at Stubbs. 
Favorite ranking: 7
Standout factor: Their music has a distinctive happy and fun sound, but doesn't lose any quality even so.
Award: Happiest Music/Most Likely to Randomly Wear a Flight Suit

7. Fun.


Overall: As anyone who has been reading the blog for a while now will know, I'm a pretty big fun. fan. So this concert was really, really exciting for me. But once I had wiped my tears, it was still a great concert. Both the band and the audience never stopped grinning the whole time and singer-songwriter Nate Ruess mentioned how excited he was to play at ACL maybe five times and seemed genuinely excited. The best part about this band really was the chemistry between the bandmates, from the way they were messing with each other, trying to shove and distract each other and make each other laugh and just the attitude on a whole.
Favorite ranking: 6
Standout factor: Genuine, honest excitement about being able to play and fantastic group chemistry between the band members.
Award: Best Chemistry/Most Excited Band Ever

8. Kings of Leon


Overall: Like several other bands on this list, you have to go see them for yourself to really understand. But they are all fantastic players and performers and their music was fun to dance to. There were a lot of hardcore fans shouting along to every song, but they weren't judgmental of those who didn't know all of their songs and all-in-all a nice crowd. 
Favorite ranking: 9
Standout factor: Really talented players and a great singer, good bluesy rock music that didn't sound exactly like everyone else.
Award: Best Bluesy Music

9. Haim


Overall: Despite the horrifically unforgiving heat of ACL, these girls completely blew me away. When I went, I just knew a couple songs because I heard a lot of buzz about them after SXSW. I thought I would just go and see how they were. Little did I know what a good show I was in for. From their stage presence to their great playing, to their unique music, to their style and 'take it or leave it' personalities that shone through, I would definitely go see them again.
Favorite ranking: 8
Standout factor: Three strong women who all play their instruments, sing, and write their own music and are great at what they do.
Award: Coolest Girls Ever/Best Band of Siblings Ever

10. Dan Croll


Overall: He was so humble, charismatic, and adorably British, marveling at the size of his (admittedly not very large) crowd. It was a nice, relaxed concert and his music was simple and pretty. Behind round black framed glasses, Croll's golden voice shone over Afrobeat percussion and shimmering guitars, coming together to form a set of upbeat love songs.
Favorite ranking: 10
Standout factor: Sweet, laid-back indie rock music that wasn't boring to listen to.
Award: Summeriest Music/Most Stoners Ever Gathered in One Place

~Simone

All I want for Christmas...

'Tis the season.

Merry Christmas!

-Julius
nonsenseuncommon@gmail.com

Fangirl

I have delved into the dark realm of fanfiction precisely twice. The first time was satisfactory: I read a short, tasteful story that wrapped up some loose ends in the original work. The second time, however, was ... how shall I put this ... terrifying, horrifying, petrifying, and awful. It included descriptions like "ebony-haired companion" and "the flames of trauma flickered in his deep blue eyes." I swiftly swore off fanfic for life and decided that all of it was awful, no matter what.

This was partially because of my bad experience, but also because of the - mostly undeserved - bad reputation that fanfiction has garnered. On the internet, anything goes, so a two-page alternate ending to a popular movie can find its home right alongside a three-thousand-page, vaguely pornographic tome featuring Hermione Granger and the giant squid.

Then, too, fanfiction has effectively been relegated to the dark corners of the internet, banished to obsessively-updated tumblrs and sub-sub-sub-reddits. And, of course, 50 Shades of Gray.

A fangirl, though - that's something slightly more accessible. According to urbandictionary, a fangirl is "a rabid breed of human female who is obsessed with either a fictional character or an actor." Fangirls have been around for decades - the Beatles' fan base was primarily made of fangirls, and actors have had fangirls since the beginning of time.

Although fangirl began as a derogatory term for a screaming boy-band fanatic, it has grown to encompass, well, pretty much everybody on the internet. We all have that one thing that we obsess over, think about in our spare time, watch endless gifs of, drool over, dream about ... or at least something that we're mildly invested in.

Often, fangirls and fanfiction go hand in hand. Really, it's the logical next step - if you're interested in something enough to label yourself a fangirl, you probably feel pretty strongly about it and have a general idea of how you'd like it to turn out, or a favorite part you'd like to commemorate, whether it's from a novel or a web series or a TV show or a band. Your interest can then lead you to create an alternate version of the story, or to tell the same events from a different perspective, or to continue the story after its official conclusion.

Rainbow Rowell (author of Eleanor & Park), wrote Fangirl, one of the first novels to focus on - or even mention - fanfiction.

Fanfiction itself isn't a new phenomenon - stories have been retold and rewritten for centuries (for instance, Romeo and Juliet is a slightly altered version of an old folk tale), and authors naturally draw inspiration from other works when creating their own. Fanfiction was only really popularized, however, after the Star Trek fan community began publishing fanfictions in their fanzines in the the 60s, and since then it has been slowly gaining acceptance and approval. Now it's rare to find a TV show, book, or youtube channel that doesn't have entire websites devoted to its fanfiction.

In my opinion, fanfiction itself isn't bad. Writing is, of course, a way to express yourself, and if the best way to do that is to write about characters or people that already exist, I don't really see anything wrong. Like anything on the internet, however, fanfiction has a dark side, which is usually what's focused on when discussing it: it uses characters that someone else has created, it can infringe on copyright, and sometimes it's just downright creepy. If you write fanfiction, all you need to do is upload it to a blog or website and then anyone can read it, so there's no quality control or guarantee that it will be well-written or true to the original book or show. (So if you're going to venture into the world of fanfiction, just be careful!)

Fangirl does a great job exploring how perceptions of fanfiction can differ. The main character, Cath is a painfully introverted girl who - unwillingly - is starting college. She and her twin sister, Wren, have been close their whole lives, and shared an obsession of Simon Snow (the most popular book series in her world - basically a combination of Twilight, Harry Potter, and Magyk). Together, they began writing and publishing fanfiction, and though Wren grew away from the community, Cath is still just as heavily invested, and now has thousands of followers eagerly awaiting every new post. This year, however, Wren wants to set off on her own. She gets a dorm across campus, signs up for all new classes, and parties every night, while Cath huddles over her computer to write the next installment of her Simon Snow fanfiction.

Cath's literature professor hates it, condemning it as plagiarism, other people at her college look down on it as nerdy or pointless, while Cath herself - and her thousands of online followers - sees it as an artistic means of self-expression, satisfying both her need to create her own stories and her need to read someone else's. 

Along with the pressure to finish her fic before the eight and final Simon Snow book is released, the absence of her sister, the stress of her new classes and her paralyzing awkwardness (for example, she ate only protein bars for over a month because she didn't want to ask anyone where the dining hall was), Cath also must deal with her surly and intimidating roommate, Reagan, and Reagan's sort-of-boyfriend Levi who's always hanging around.

Reagan was probably my favorite character in this book: she was tough and had a strong personality and didn't really care what anyone thought of her. Although at first she seemed almost mean, her unapologetic, take-it-or-leave-it stance on life made her a more of a likeable character than anyone else.

Levi seemed like a dream boy at first: he was relaxed and laid-back, and from the beginning he seemed almost ridiculously kind. He did his best to make sure that everyone was happy and comfortable, and went out of his way to brighten the day of anyone who crossed his path.

He and Cath slowly grew together, and became good friends before he finally kissed her. This marked the first time Cath has ever kissed anyone who meant something to her - so when she goes to her first party the next night and sees Levi kissing another girl, she's heartbroken.

Her reaction, however, seemed way too strong for what is really such a minor event. She completely stopped speaking to him, refused to even look at him, and avoided him for weeks. Cath and Levi hadn't even been together at the time, but she still viewed it as a complete betrayal.

Even when they finally worked through their difficulties and began dating, her concern remained. Throughout the rest of the book she kept referring to the incident, and it took Levi an unbelievably long time to gain back her trust. Although the slow, careful romance in Eleanor & Park was believable and endearing, Cath and Levi's romance seemed overly drawn out, unrealistic, and even prudish. They dated for months before Cath so much as held Levi's hand, let alone kissed him - and though the expectation is what kept me reading Eleanor & Park, this book seemed to drag out the shy-early-couple stages to the breaking point.

Despite this, I still couldn't put the book down. Rainbow is an incredible writer, and her portrayal of insecurity and awkwardness was completely realistic (and kind of terrifying). Even though I know that Cath is an extreme case, and I at least posses the social skills necessary to ask for food and water, as I began this book I was still crippled by the fear that my college experience would be similar. However, Rainbow carefully develops Cath from a painfully shy, miserable freshman to a slightly less shy, happier sophomore - not a Disney makeover by any means, but a realistic look at a college student's first experiences in the world.

Fangirl certainly wasn't as flawless as Eleanor & Park but the characters, plot, and excellent writing all contrived to make it a great book, and as one of the few novels that actively encourages fanfiction while still promoting original creativity, it's definitely worth reading.

-Maya

On The Failure That Was NaNoWriMo

Do you remember my post on how to cheat at NaNoWriMo? Well, I am now forced to tell you that absolutely none of those things worked. I finished with a little over 34,000 words - that's 16,000 words below the word count.

This may have had something to do with the fact that I didn't plan my book at all - I decided just to let my characters live their lives, which ended up with chapters and chapters of characters working on their own NaNoWriMo novel (art imitates life, right??). I intended this to be meta and thought-provoking, but actually it's just kind of boring.

My word-count failure also could have been because I now have significantly more school and homework than last year (and significantly less motivation). Or maybe it was because this year I didn't have a single main character - instead I focused on several different characters, and the way they interacted with each other, resulting in random, meaningless chapters with characters I didn't care about that didn't relate to the rest of the book at all. Or maybe it was because I was just lazy (probably that one).

Although I tried to write something every day, I didn't keep to the rigid 2,000+ words per day schedule that I followed last year. One weekend I wrote more than 7,000 words in one sitting, while last week I wrote barely 3,000 in five days. 

Honestly, though, I don't mind that I didn't finish. Last year's novel - which is really more like a pile of 50,000 words than a novel - is still sitting on my desktop, unopened since November 30, 2012. This lump of words will probably be gathering dust for the rest of its existence too - and that's okay. I'm still glad I wrote it, as terrible as it probably is, and I'm glad I wrote it last year too. I may never read either of them again, but at least I tried, and I got the experience. I'll probably do NaNoWriMo again next year, too, and spend my days feverishly writing words that no one will ever read.

It sounds pointless, even worthless, but writing something you know no one will see is kind of freeing. You have permission to write over-the-top dramatic scenes, or long reminiscences of your own life through another character's eyes, or just pages and pages describing an average event in a normal day, and your characters can be obvious copies of people you know or exaggerated versions of yourself and no one will be offended.

Plus, if you have no expectations for your writing to turn into the next Great American Novel, you can experiment with style and technique. For instance, in my almost-100-page "manuscript," I had 24 sections. Each section was completely different and unrelated to the others: although most featured similar characters and were set in the same small town (which was the original focus of my book), a few were letters or free-writes or cleverly disguised journal entries (in which the main character's name was "Aya." So subtle, right?). None of these sections are especially interesting or well-written, but they were fun to write, and they helped me learn more about what I like to write and what I hate. (I hate writing plot or conflict or drama. I like writing unrealistically self-aware and annoyingly self-obsessed characters).

NaNoWriMo provided a good jumping-off point for me, and the word count goal motivated me to start writing. Now it's up to me to keep writing without the incentive of a bar graph (that was pretty much the only incentive for me, but it was enough), keep improving, and - eventually - try to write something that someone else could read.

-Maya

Why The Vlogbrothers Are The Best People Ever

John and Hank Green are some of the most influential and important people of our time. John Green, of course, is an incredible, amazing, heartbreak-causing author, whose books have been on the New York Bestseller's list multiple times. You can tell he's made it because TFiOS (an abbreviation for his bestselling book The Fault in Our Stars) is preprogrammed into the smartphone dictionary. Oh yeah and also let's remember the time that President Obama (!!!) told John's baby to "not forget to be awesome," a catchphrase on John and Hank's channel. Hank is a musician, runs environmental website EcoGeek, and is involved with countless other projects, such as the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Crash Course, and SciShow. Together, they have performed a sold out show at Carnegie hall, and at the time this post was published, their channel, vlogbrothers, had more than 1,600,000 subscribers.

Here's their basic vlogbrothers/nerdfighters FAQ video:

Through their channel, the vlogbrothers have created an online community of nerdfighters (who fight for nerds, not against them).

In general, the nerdfighter community - collectively referred to as nerdfighteria - is a very positive thing. Obviously it's a good example of reclaiming a previously derogatory term for empowerment - now, thanks to the vlogbrothers, being called a nerd is more a term of affection than an insult. Besides, nerds are actually pretty cool. As John says, "nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff...Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can't-control-yourself love it. Hank, when people call people nerds, mostly what they're saying is 'you like stuff.' Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, 'you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness.'"

Their channel has both kinds of nerds - Hank, the science nerd, and John, the word nerd. I like this because, as a complete book nerd who knows little to nothing about science or math, I sometimes find myself feeling almost  like a fake nerd. However, John and Hank are both incredibly intelligent and creative in very different ways.

My favorite thing about their channel is how inspiring their videos are, especially when it comes to learning. This is one of my all time favorite videos:

"Study broadly and without fear," John says. This is essentially the message you can take away from their channel - they encourage you to follow your passion, wherever it may lead you.

Hank Green continues with this train of thought in his poem to high school graduates, Grab It By The Testicle, encouraging suddenly purposeless former students to open up to new experiences, be good people, and live life fully.

Their channel ranges from funny to serious to political to historical to current events to ranting to inspiring and back again.

As anyone who has read this blog probably knows, we love a good rant, but no one can do the rant thing better than Hank Green.

However, Hank also addresses important, sensitive issues well, as in his video explaining human sexuality (here) and his video addressing marriage equality (here).

John and Hank are also involved with Crash Course, a Khan-Academy-esque channel with weekly video installments on different topics. So far, the courses provided include World History, Chemistry, Ecology, Biology, and Literature.

Predictably, the mini-series on literature is my favorite. In his intro to the course, John explains that basically, whether the author intended the symbolism to exist or not, it's there, and if the reader finds it and learns from it then they have succeeded. His videos not only explain metaphors and imagery in the book, but also explain why they continue to be relevant and important. 

Another example of this is John's video Existential Airport Anxiety, a video discussing the increasing parallels between our modern life and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and the feeling of not being listened to, which is so common both on the internet and in real life.

As if their thought-provoking videos and inspiring careers weren't enough, both brothers are both heavily involved with charity work, and they spearhead Project for Awesome, a campaign which encourages other youtubers to make videos either benefiting or advocating different charities. John, Hank, and their thousands of viewers then promote the videos and raise money for the charities. Last year, the nerdfighter community raised over $400,000 and ten charities were granted $40,500 each. 

Although the language used in some of their vlogs can feel a bit cliche and overdone ("DECREASING WORLDSUCK BY THE POWER OF AWESOME"), I have to remind myself that they started this whole awesome "awesome" trend, so if anyone has the right to use the adjective awesome as a noun, it's them.

After a vlogbrothers marathon, you will probably feel inclined to talk very fast and very loud and feel very strongly about lots of things. Their videos are a great reminder that the internet is good for so, so much more than cute boys with British accents or the oft-mentioned funny cat videos (although I like both of those things, and the internet certainly has them in abundance). Sometimes it's easy to forget that all of the information known to humankind, literally the accumulated knowledge of the entire world is right here at our fingertips. The vlogbrothers do an amazing job providing entertainment and actual real knowledge at the same time.

You can stalk them here:
vlogbrothers channel
john's tumblr & twitter
hank's tumblr & twitter

-Maya

p.s. there are so so so so many REALLY GOOD vlogbrothers videos, that - believe it or not - I've actually limited myself to including only a few of the best videos in this post. I'll be watching one and see a different one suggested in the sidebar and open it in a new tab and by the time I'm done I have like 84 tiny tabs crammed onto my screen. (And then my computer overheats. I wonder why).

Catching Fire

A couple days ago, I went to see Catching Fire and I'm just going to say it now: this was one of the top ten best movies I have ever seen. Everything from the closeness to the book, the production value, the acting, the style, and the script itself showed meticulous attention to detail. 

Despite the amount of shaky camera action, the first movie was great, especially the acting. Jennifer Lawrence is without a doubt one of the best actors of this generation. After that movie, there was some fear that the second movie wouldn't be able to live up to the first. And after seeing this, I can say that you can throw that fear entirely aside. Catching Fire takes everything that worked with the original and expands on it, while abandoning a few aspects of the first film that didn't work.

The movie begins shortly after the first movie left off. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) are back in District 12, now champions from the previous Hunger Games tournament. While the duo professed love to each other for them to survive the games, they are barely speaking to each other now, because of the awkwardness of Katniss' not being genuine. The two are about to be taken away again, this time to tour the different districts as celebrities from their win. But before leaving, Katniss is visited by the cruel President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and is warned that he is seeing straight through her faked affection for Peeta. He recognizes that it was all for show and is concerned that their actions, from the acting to the berry-eating finale of the Hunger Games, might spark an uprising from the Districts. The pair try to convince President Snow, their efforts are futile. Uprisings begin, and a new Hunger Games tournament known as the Quarter Quell begins. It's essentially an all-star tournament and winners from previous tournaments are selected to face off against each other, leaving only one survivor.

One of the greatest aspects of this movie was its closeness to the book. There were several scenes that they directly quoted from the book and the plot followed almost the exact same order. It was clearly very well written and planned out, much more than many movies made from books. But the thing that really makes this movie stand out is the acting. The always excellent Jennifer Lawrence, of course, was flawless as were supporting actors Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, and Liam Hemsworth. Hemsworth and Banks especially brought out emotional aspects that weren't as displayed in the book and made the characters more realistic and likeable. Despite some trepidation about the casting, Sam Clafin and Jena Malone were fabulous as their roles. Clafin's charisma and charm makes him a perfect Finnick.

Catching Fire works on pretty much every level. Despite its two and a half hour run time, the movie never drags, even though we don't get to the tournament until almost 90 minutes into the film. It perfectly sets up and prefaces what is to come. There isn't a dull moment in this movie (and that's coming from me and my goldfish attention span) and it is highly recommended. Now, we sit and wait with our fingers crossed for the first part of Mockingjay.

~Simone

Announcement!

Hey there everyone!

First off, I want to apologize for the lack of posts for the past few weeks. Life has been ridiculously hectic and I haven't been able to find the time to write posts. But I promise, I'm working it out and I will be back to posting regularly this week.

Secondly, and the other reason that I haven't written posts recently is because I have been working on a new aspect of this blog - starting in the next few weeks, Maya and I will be adding a Youtube channel to our blog posts! But fear not, blog lovers, because we will still be posting everything in text on the blog. We will just have videos to accompany all of the posts. I'll be putting videos up every Wednesday and Maya every Friday, and if you would go subscribe, that would be great.

~Simone

Personality Types

This Saturday, I went to a leadership conference at the ACC downtown campus. Despite the ungodly hour (is 9:00 AM even a time on weekends?!) it was surprisingly energetic, interesting and fun. It was the second of four monthly volunteer-run and organized leadership events for youths.

The topic for this seminar was communication. Different communication styles naturally arise from different personalities, so four basic personality types were displayed. Everyone has all four of these traits within them at all times, but some people have a certain preferred style or habit that they tend to use most often. This can either be naturally what comes easiest to them, or what has been reinforced most often (for instance, some people are encouraged to be leaders, while others are rewarded for being more supportive).

None of the personality types are better or worse than any other, but their effectiveness can vary in different situations. Also, each type is balanced out with negative traits, so it's important to try to balance your overall personality with all of these types, so one trait won't be overwhelmingly dominant.

The first of these types is the director, who is strong-willed, fast paced, and dominant. However, the director's destructive traits can include becoming aggressive, controlling, impulsive, and intolerant.

Next is the inspirer, who is influencing, social, and optimistic. Destructive traits can include becoming frantic, hasty, gossipy, and disorganized.

The supporter is sensitive, cooperative, and patient, but destructive traits can include become stubborn, resistant, and withdrawn.

Finally, the observer is cautious, detailed, and creative, while their destructive traits can include becoming suspicious, indecisive, reserved, and perfectionist.

The supporter and the observer are more introverted, while the director and inspirer are extroverted. As always, here are some important things to remember about the care of both introverts and extroverts...

Can you tell what I am? Do you know which one you are? 

-Maya

p.s. A small warning: the other day I wanted to know what personality type I was so I took a Myers-Briggs test online, and I went through 73 questions - seventy-three questions - before I found out I had to pay $25 to see the results. This probably tells you something about my personality type, but unfortunately I won't know what exactly that is until someone gives me some money.

Janelle Monae at Austin City Limits

Everything began with a bang as a man wearing large glasses and a white lab coat came and introduced himself as Dr. Marlow Mindbender, keeper of the "Palace of the Dolls" and Ms. Monae's model. He explained that her temporary release was a special occasion and issued an emphatic directive "Dance or Die". He called to the audience, asking if they wanted to see her. The crowd screamed and he exited, returning shortly with Monae strapped to a dolly, wearing a white straight jacket, seemingly asleep. 

The crowd went absolutely wild (more than a few people around me cried) as her straight jacket was removed and she 'came to life' as the overture faded into 'Givin 'em What They Love', the Prince-accompanied track off of The Electric Lady. Wearing her signature black and white, Monae launched into the performance with an anything but robotic style. With her insane, barely restrained energy and funky 7-piece ensemble, including her black and white dress-clad backup singers, she sang her heart out for an electrifying rendition of the song that set the bar very high for the rest of the show. That bar that was met and topped only a few songs later with her performances of Dance Apocalyptic, Q.U.E.E.N., and Electric Lady.



The sci-fi aspects of the show didn't right after the opening, as she later 'shot' her handlers and triumphantly moonwalked across the stage. She also 'powered off' a few times, collapsing in a heap on the stage until a few more handlers would wake her up. 

She left the stage for almost five moments before returning with an encore of the beautiful Primetime and a crazy Prince cover of Let's Go Crazy. Then came my personal favorite part of the show and her very last song with the extended version of Come Alive in which she featured each musician in her band, led a long sing-along from the crowd, then finally convinced us all to crouch low on the ground and be quiet so that she could walk among us, crouch down and sing next to us, before bringing a roaring end to the concert as she jumped back on the stage and on to the hands of the masses to crowdsurf. 

CROWDSURFING OVER US!!

She once again exited, but returned shortly to talk for a moment, earnestly discussing how her career was launched by SXSW and how much it meant to return to this packed venue. Everything closed out with a beautiful rendition of What an Experience. Indeed, what an experience it was. This was a show that made people dance, cry, and testify and it was the best concert that I've ever been to. The thing that really shines about Monae is what a strong sense she has of herself, her history, her mission and her power - she's an artist. She pours so much of heart and soul into her music and it's sincere, beautiful, strong and optimistic. The show was an emotional ride from the call to arms in Q.U.E.E.N. to the explosive joy that is Victorious.


Showstoppers: Dance Apocalyptic, Tightrope and Q.U.E.E.N.

~Simone

Top 10 Reasons Why I Love Lorde

Ever since I first listened to Pure Heroine, I have been enraptured by Lorde. Her music is so good and she's possibly one of the coolest people ever. Definitely the coolest 17-year-old ever. So, without further ado, here are the top 10 reasons that I love Lorde (in no particular order).

1. Her lyrics are absolutely beautiful

"And I'll never go home again (place the call, feel it start)
Favorite friend, and nothing's wrong but nothing's true
I live in a hologram with you
We're all the things that we do for fun (and I'll breathe, and it goes)
Play along (make believe, it's hyper real)
But I live in a hologram with you"

"I'm kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air, so there
So all the cups got broke shards beneath our feet but it wasn’t my fault
And everyone’s competing for a love they won't receive
'Cause what this palace wants is release"

"No-one round here's good at keeping their eyes closed
The sun's starting to light up when we're walking home
Tired little laughs, gold-lie promises, we'll always win at this
I don't ever think about death
It's alright if you do, it's fine
We gladiate but I guess we're really fighting ourselves
Roughing up our minds so we're ready when the kill time comes
Wide awake in bed, words in my brain, 
"Secretly you love this do you even wanna go free?"
Let me in the ring, I'll show you what that big word means"

2. She is 17 but doesn't use her body/sexuality to market herself 

3. She's critical of the music industry 


(Talking about Lana Del Ray)

4. She's outspoken and unafraid of saying what she thinks
When asked if she would collaborate with David Guetta:

5. She's a little bit crazy but in a really cool way


 

6. She is genuinely passionate when performing



7. She's ambitious, writes her own music, and really is in control of what she does

o.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Tennis Court"	Ella Yelich O'Connor   Joel Little	Joel Little	3:18
2.	"400 Lux"	Yelich O'Connor   Little	Little	3:54
3.	"Royals"	Yelich O'Connor   Little	Little	3:10
4.	"Ribs"	Yelich O'Connor   Little	Little	4:18
5.	"Buzzcut Season"	Yelich O'Connor   Little	Little	4:06
6.	"Team"	Yelich O'Connor   Little	Little	3:13
7.	"Glory and Gore"	Yelich O'Connor   Little	Little	3:30
8.	"Still Sane"	Yelich O'Connor   Little	Little	3:08
9.	"White Teeth Teens"	Yelich O'Connor   Little	Little	3:36
10.	"A World Alone"	Yelich O'Connor   Little	Little	4:54

8. Her hair is freaking awesome and her style is really unique

9. She sings pop music but is really unique and cares about what she says

10. She's adorable, humble, and mature while still acting like a teenager



~Simone

NaNoWriMo Tips and Tricks (but mostly cheats)

For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is the very clunky acronym for National Novel Writing Month. Basically, the goal is to write a novel - defined here as 50,000 words - in thirty days, during November. The official NaNoWriMo website is hugely helpful because it allows you to connect with other writers, receive pep talks from amazing authors (including John Green, Markus Zusak, and Rainbow Rowell), and measure your progress.

BUT. This progress-measuring has two sides. Sure, it allows you to see how much you've written, and the bar graph makes it easy to calculate how much more you should write, but sometimes it can be very depressing.

You'll be happily writing for hours (or at least a few minutes), filling up pages and pages (well, maybe one page), and you'll confidently click over to enter your progress onto your graph.You'll wait while it's loading, positive that you've already passed your daily word goal, when - what do you mean I've only written 29 words?? That horrible little blue line barely even rose with your number. Well, never fear. I have several great, slightly-cheating tips to help lift your word count.

1. Song lyrics. This actually is probably real cheating, especially if it's a song you didn't write ... but as long as it (kind of, sort of) affects your story, I think it's okay. For example, your character could be listening to a song, then suddenly realize how it relates to her life and be motivated to, I don't know, go on a walk or something, whatever characters do. Plus, if the chorus gets stuck in her head, she can keep singing it during the whole book, which will add just a few extra words.

2. Skip contractions. This is also totally cheating and doesn't help your story move along at all...but come on, sometimes you just need five more words. Don't becomes do not, won't becomes will not, and wouldn't've (which may or may not be a real word) becomes would not have. Sure, nobody talks like that in real life, but this is your story and, who knows, maybe contractions are illegal in your fictional world.

3. Introspective scenes. My book doesn't have any plot (seriously, no plot at all. How did this happen?) so quite a few of my characters spend entire chapters sitting in their rooms questioning their existence and picking their nose (this is a real thing that really happened in my book. Don't judge me).

4. Pointless tasks. Are you procrastinating from writing? Then have your character procrastinate from doing whatever he's supposed to be doing. You can write him doing exactly the same thing that you're doing at the same time as you're doing it - which not only is very easy and doesn't require a lot of thought, it also is very Inception-y and could lead to some kind of plot point about dreams and reality or something.

5. Dreams. Give your character a very detailed, rambling, nonsensical dream - because that's what dreams are, and the best books echo reality, right? Right. So it's totally okay to spend three pages describing talking squirrels. And maybe the dream could be some detailed fore-shadow-y metaphor for the rest of the story.

6. Write talkative characters. I am convinced that Miss Bates was only included in Emma because Jane Austen was participating in NaNoWriMo and needed an extra boost. Last year, during the final week of NaNoWriMo, I added a character who said everything twice. Really. But I completed my novel.

7. Give up (but not really). Accept that your book probably won't be very good - which, let's face it, it probably won't be. Trying to cram as many words on the page in as short a time as possible might not create a masterpiece - but you will get lots of valuable practice, and you might create a character, setting, or storyline that you love and will come back to later. Don't worry about the quality of your words, just try to write something - and it'll still be more than you would have if you hadn't written it. (That sentence is an example of the quality of my entire novel. Learn from this and lower your own expectations).

Generally when I write, I try to make it the best it can be, and I spend twice as much time editing as I do writing. This usually results with me never writing anything at all. During NaNoWriMo, though, I can just let all of that go. My expectations for this book are exceedingly low, but I will finish it, and maybe I'll learn something from it. If I ever read it again, I'll probably laugh, but I might find something worth keeping too - and I'll definitely be glad I wrote this pile of 50,000 words. 

~Maya

p.s. Full disclosure: this entire blog post was written as procrastination from writing my novel, and I'm currently 4,597 words below my word count goal for the day, so I really have no idea what I'm talking about and you shouldn't follow any of my advice. Thanks bye.

Death is a Welcome Guest: Part III by Becca Halaney

If you missed them, here are the first and second parts.

Part Three

            …I woke up with the most wonderful feeling: when I looked around me at the small, makeshift camp we’d built, the little Angie kid was gone. Every trace of her had vanished—her purse, her blanket, her granola bar rapper, her obnoxious voice…This’s great, I thought, no more giggles, no more fairies, no more missions, no more girls, no more humans, and (best of all) no more optimism! I stood up with more vigor that morning, shaking out my coat and feeling grand, on top of the world. With a swipe of my tail, the remains of last night’s fire had disappeared. I started wading off into the tall grass in the direction I’d come from with a new spring in my step. Even better, some worms and other nasty bugs were up from the rain storm a few days before—a healthy snack to start the day. After I spat out my fifth snail-shell, and was about to start on my sixth, a high, annoying, and all too familiar voice chimed up behind me. “Alex, wait for me! Alex!”

My eyes closed. The breath fell out of me in a sigh. “…Well? Where were you?! If you want to come along with me, you’ve got to stick with me, got it?”

“Sorry,” She was panting. “You weren’t awake yet, and I thought that until you were, I’d go take a bath…there’s a really nice little stream down that hill, if you want one too!”

A growl slowly rose in my throat. I chewed on another snail, spat its crushed shell out of my mouth with more force than normal, and stomped ahead. Angie ran to catch up with me, her wet hair bouncing. It was colorful—stupidly colorful. She’d streaked it with weird tints like blue and red and gold and stuff.

“Hey, wait—”

“No.” I sped up a little. I heard the kid’s footsteps speed up too. I sharply turned a corner, and she turned it too. Once again, I considered leaving her behind; why not? She wasn’t doing anything to help me, and this whole trip wasn’t my idea anyway. She was slowing me down too….But for some reason, I was never able to bring myself to that; every time I thought about it, I came up with these weird excuses not to, like I was connected to her somehow—like I cared about her. I didn’t care about her, though. Nope. Last time I cared about someone, they had to go and die right when I needed them most. “Death is a welcome guest”, ha. More like “death is a thief in the night”.

Soon enough, we were out of the grassy country and back into the tightly-knit forest. Angie made us stop so she could climb the trees. Finally I got so annoyed by it that I knocked down the one she was in—she never stopped us to climb on stuff again. After leaving the seemingly endless forest, there came the lush, beautiful hill-country…at least shethought it was beautiful. I hated it ‘cause it was so open; there were plenty of places humans could be lurking and find me. Besides, it was right by a town, where there would be even more people: people whose families I’d eaten. Yup, I visited a lot, and they knew what I looked like. Recently they’d imported some guns just in case I showed up again, and when I did, I left with a few scars to decorate my pelt. The little Angie kid, on the other hand, didn’t realize this (of course not, she had a pea for a brain) and went skipping through the hills singing a loud love song. The town came in view not too long later, with its teeny thatched roofs and stupid, crooked houses. Why they would build a house on uneven foundations, I don’t know; they just did. Anyway. I felt my fur rise uncomfortably as we neared it.

“…Hey, kid, stay close to the tree-line.”

“Oh, why? This place is so pretty!” She did a cartwheel.

I could see some people in the town pointing at us; it made me stiffen. “Just come on!”

“Alex, you’re such a spoilsport—”

Then, a woman screamed— “WENDIGO! IT’S THE WENDIGO, COME TO STEAL OUR YOUNG GIRLS AGAIN!”

A man belted something else about people hiding their daughters, and I rolled my eyes; what do they take me for, a fire-breathing dragon? Girls taste all spongy; everyone knows little boys are better.

A gunfire split the air through the hills with a loud bang, and without thinking, I grabbed the back of the kid’s dress between my teeth, slung her onto my shoulders, and raced ahead toward the sunset. The men, hunters, came after us quickly, bringing their guns.

“Don’t shoot until the girl is out of range, alright?! We’ve got to get her back to town before we kill the beast!”

My heart sank down to the pit of my stomach…they think I’ve kidnapped her.

“A-Alex, what’re they doing? Who are they?!”

“They’re hunters, kid.”

“Why’re they after you?”

I groaned, “Because I’m a monster, okay?! I eat people.”

“Oh Alex, that’s horrible!”

A bullet shot past us, grazing my shoulder; it took a chunk of skin and fur with it. I growled deep in my throat, but pushed the urge to kill and eat them right there and then back. “I know, I’ve been trying to tell you that!”

“No, it’s horrible they’re after you.”

“It’s not horrible to hunt the horrible, kid; it’s human nature.”

She started to say something, but another piece of metal flew past and tore through her shoulder; I heard her scream. The leading hunter yelled at the others for hitting the girl. I felt panicked, all of a sudden, something I couldn’t control, and began to run much faster than before, flying across the hillsides until we’d lost them.

Angie’s arm was sluggishly pulsing red blood that got all over her and me, and I quickly laid her down once we’d reached a safe place—a small little groove in a bluff bordering the hill-country. “Quick, give me your purse. I need something to bandage it.”

Her voice and body was shaking badly. “I’ve got some spare underwear in there, somewhere…”

I paused, then gave a deep sigh. “Underwear? Really? Fine.”

She laughed weakly, but it was sort of choked. I could tell she was trying not to bawl; my own laugh was strangled as well.

I opened the little pink pouch (almost ripping the thing in two with my claws) and started fishing around; yup, there were some frilly pieces of women’s personals in there, but they were quickly shredded to bandages instead.

“…Hey, Alex?” the kid asked after I bound her injury.

“Yeah?”

“They said you were a wendigo….Are you?”

I sighed…how am I gonna say this?

“…Yup, that’s me.”

“So…you ate someone?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, but yeah.”

“Oh…”

A silence spread over again—one that I was perfectly happy with. After she fell asleep with the tiny blanket over her and her bandaged arm carefully arranged where it wouldn’t get any more damaged, I kept thinking. It’d been a while since I’d thought about the first time I’d eaten someone. I was an ordinary man, then: twenty-something, handsome, loved by all, and terribly greedy. I missed those days. Why me? What’d I do to deserve this?

...Reality hit again in a while after lamenting, and I realized that we’d have to miss a few days on the road while Angie recovered.

For some reason, she didn’t bug me so much anymore.

Death is a Welcome Guest: Part II by Becca Halaney

If you missed it, you can read Part I here.

Part Two

            …The beginning to my day was not a good one. First, bad dreams of men with guns coming after me; second, the stupid little girl waking me up two hours earlier than I would’ve liked.

“…Hey, Alex, you awake? Hello? Can we go now?” There was a ball of light coming from the girl’s hand that almost blinded me when I opened my eyes.

“Agh—what is that?!”

“Oh, sorry.” She turned the flashlight off. What’s that human doing here…does she want me to eat her?!

After a few seconds, when my head finally stopped pounding from the light directly in my eyes, it all came back in one horrible train of thoughts. Great. I’d hoped it was a nightmare. The girl—or Angie, I guess—slung her purse back over her shoulder and ran to the mouth of the cave. She stretched her tiny arms out to the sides and gave a long sigh. “Oh, it’s a beautiful day, isn’t it? C’mon, you’ll miss all the sunshine!” The light coming from outside showed me she’d changed into dry clothes…hideous dry clothes. They looked like men’s overalls, but they were made of this stupid, flowery-pink fabric.Does she have any taste whatsoever?

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming…” I got up from my stone bed and fluffed my fur out, sending droplets of blood flying to hit the walls around me. When I started toward the back of my cave, the little human thing asked where I was going, but I answered only with a growl….

Finally, after much arguing and nagging, we started off. First we passed through the lengthy field surrounding my home in the cliff-side. Then came a river, then the forest, then we looped around a town…needless to say, she was incredibly slow. And don’t give me that “well her legs are shorter” look, either! I don’t know why I ever agreed to escort her on this stupid little trip. She was obnoxious, too; she kept singing these little classic-rock songs. She sang them again, and again, and again. When I heard the refrain of “Here Comes the Sun” for what was probably the billionth time, I finally yelled at her to shut up; my roar could be heard throughout the countryside, and that kept her quiet for at least another half-hour.

By nightfall, we’d only walked five miles. “Phew!” She said as she dropped more wood onto our fire. I came back and dropped the ten dead rabbits I’d been holding in my mouth next to the small circle of rocks; Angie looked at them hungrily, and slowly, very slowly, I felt a growl rising in the back of my throat.

“…Hey, Alex?”

“What?”

The little girl hesitated, scuffing the heel of her battered shoes on the ground. “Could I maybe…you know…have one of those?”

My snarl came out in my voice now, too. “No. Get your own food.” Thus was the nature of instinct; I hunted, caught, and killed it, and therefore, it was mine. Besides, if she was gonna be traveling with me, she’d have to realize I wasn’t gonna wait on her hand and foot like a slave. I was an escort; that was all. I saw her big blue eyes fall, but she made up her mind and waded off into the tall grass around us. Without hesitation, I started on my own food, not even looking back…until I heard small grunts and turned my gaze back over. She was hitting the ground with the point of a dull stick, obviously trying to spear something in the grass. How cute. I think I’ll watch for a bit. So with that, I turned to face the tall weeds and watched her fail time and time again. It was quite amusing. After a few more minutes of not being able to get anything, she dejectedly walked back over and plopped into her previous place across the fire from me. “How’d your hunting go?” It was all I could do not to burst out laughing at her. She shrugged, sniffing, and dug through her purse for a moment. The little Angie kid pulled out a crushed, half-eaten granola bar and began to eat it with sadness across her face. I felt myself beginning to crack. There was a gentle, sort of unsatisfying crunch as she bit off a tiny piece and chewed it. Then she bit off another, and another, each little crunch making me feel like a worse and worse person.

I sighed deeply. “…Fine. Here you go—make sure to cook it, though. I know you humany things can’t handle raw meat.”

Her face instantly lit up, her eyes glowing a little, as I tossed one of the dead rabbits over the fire to her. “Thank you, Alex! Thank you!” With that, she ran to me and threw her arms around my neck. Instinct made me push her off, but she wasn’t discouraged by that and just went back to cook the rabbit meat.

About fifteen minutes later, the little girl spoke with her mouth full. “Sho…Alex, you shaid you know da fairiesh?”

“Yeah, duh!” I swallowed my own food. “They’re always coming after me with their stupid dance and stuff—‘Alexander, come dance with us! Stop ripping out peoples’ hearts and take a break!’” 

She giggled, the sound high and still annoying. I grinned with large, sharp teeth.

“…And what about you?”

Her bright eyes snapped back up to me, “Huh?”

“You know, how’d you find out about the fairies? Most humans don’t know they exist.”

She gave a broad, slow smile and leaned to whisper something to me. Even though she beckoned me closer, I raised an eyebrow and just held my distance. Oh no, don’t you think I’m your friend. I’m only in this to get you off my tail. Nothing else. After an irritatingly suspenseful pause, she finally said, “…I met one.”

I waited for her to go on. “Yeah, and?”

“And…she asked me to come be with them!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” I cut her off, “a fairy was in your town?”

“Well, no, not exactly, but just outside of it! My dad told me to stop daydreaming when I told him…actually, that was really close to when he disowned me.”

I didn’t say anything else, thinking about this, and then our conversation moved to other things.

The little Angie girl was soon asleep, curled up on the ground with the blanket barely covering her again. The thought of eating her didn’t occur to me now: I was too full.