Happy Halloween/Halloweekend!

Tonight marks the first (or, arguably, the second) day of Halloweekend 2011. This year, Halloween lands on a Monday, which means that this year, there is maximum opportunities to par-tay. Basically, students are justified in getting dressed up, getting drunk, putting their morals off to the side, and having a good time from Thursday-Monday.

That being said, I'm really bad at Halloween.

"How is someone bad at Halloween?" you might ask. Well, I'm not sure, but somehow it's just not my strong point. Halloween is to me what New Year's Eve is to lots of other people. I always build it up in my head, think of all the fun/festive/sweet things I am going to do, but inevitably I get busy, Halloween sneaks up on me, and I'm there, with a shitty/no pumpkin, a last-minute costume, and even more last-minute plans. Don't get me wrong, I still have a good time, but in way that's not much different than any other weekend.

Especially that costume thing I mentioned. Every. Goddamn. Year. I am the worst at Halloween costumes. Year after year, I find myself a few days before, without a costume, and end up throwing together a half-assed costume. It sucks. This year, I was determined to have a well-thought out, properly planned, awesome costume, ready at least two weeks before Halloween. Yet somehow (I blame midterms), here I am, at 4PM on the Friday of Halloween weekend, without a costume. Or a very clear idea what I'm doing this weekend. Oops.

Fortunately, a few people are coming to visit from Vancouver, so it'll be a fun weekend no matter what. Now in terms of the costume- off to the Dollar Store!

I'm not above doing this for a last minute costume. I won't. But 

it's something I would do. I'M THAT BAD AT COSTUMES.

Library Ventures

March 25, 1955

I am the cheese?

Yesterday, I spent a good hour wandering around the UVic library, looking at the kids books they have there. I was in a weird kind of mood, but I got a kick out of looking at all the books. There are a lot of them. Like, aisles and aisles of them. Most of the books are pretty old, and almost all of them look like they haven't been taken out in a long time.Probably my favorite ones were the many, many volumes with names such as "The Boys Almanac (volumes 1-50)" and "Eve's Weekend Book for Young Ladies," and other such books, which I'm sure half of UVic's student population would whole-heartedly not approve of.


I saw quite a few books I recognized from when I was a kid, and many, many that I did not. It got me thinking about all the sweet reading I did when I was little, and how I much I really loved some books, and how weird kid stories tend to be. I did this already with childhood movies, but here is my book version...

Books that I almost (but not quite) forgot about (books that made little me very happy):

1) The Secret World of Og, by Pierce Berton.
I can't remember when I first read this book, but I'm about 90% sure that I read it in an elementary school, maybe in grade 3 or 4? Basically I'd almost forgotten about this book until I saw it in the library yesterday, and it was actually the most awesome book ever. I can't remember the details, but I know it involves a group of siblings, a secret world, little green creatures, and just a good overall story. It's an awesome fantasy-world/fairy-tale type story. I think I want to try and find a copy I can buy for myself. (The picture is a poor-quality because I took it on my phone in the library- oops!)



2) Henry Sugar (and six more stories), by Roald Dahl.

Okay, so I didn't "almost forget" about this one. If my sister hadn't permanently lent this book to a friend, I would still be reading this book. If you haven't read this, you lived a sad empty childhood. I'm just saying. Pretty much, Roald Dahl is one of the best children's authors out there. This book has some of his more serious stories (unlike The Twits, or Charlie and the Chocolate factory) and there are even a few non-fiction stories. This also led me to his book "Boy," which is an autobiography of his life, told with his unique voice/twist, and is kind of awesome. Not only did my family read this book repeatedly, but Henry Sugar was always our default choice when we couldn't decide on a talking book for the long car rides to the Okanagan each summer.

3) Peabody, by Rosemary Wells.
I actually had to do a bit of research to find the name/author of this book. It's a picture book that my brother and I had when we were quite little. I don't remember all of it, but it was about a little girl's favorite teddy bear, Peabody. From what I remember, at some point they  go to the beach, and at some point she neglects him for a new toy. I think. For 5 year old me, it was an epic story of love and loss. But what I remember most about this book is this one line, where the girl sets Peabody up to protect her room/cookies/dolls or something, and makes the oh-so-threatening comment, "Peabody bites," as a warning to her brother (or someone). It was written just like that, but for some reason my brother and I always said it as "Peeea-bawwwwdy..... BITES!" And we thought this was about the funniest thing in the world and would almost piss ourselves laughing.

4) Wayside School Is Falling Down, by Louis Sachar.

Louis Sachar, (the author of Holes and many other awesome books I enjoyed as a kid) most importantly brought us the Wayside School books. There are, I think, three of them, and I  read them all. This is the main one though, that I have read many times. From what I remember, each chapter is dedicated to a student of Ms. Jewels (?) grade 4 (?) class, as well as Louis (?) the Janitor. They are on the 30th story of their school, due to a mix-up in the building of the building, and have to take the stairs everyday, due to a similar mix-up. These stories are, in a word, "wacky." I can't even go into the intricacies of these stories, because they make very little sense, but reading this wikipedia page brought back some good ol' nostalgic feelings. Again, I think this was one of those books that all elementary school kids read. But maybe that was just me. Either way, I loved them. Also, Louis Sachar may have been high while writing them.

5) Some other series/authors:
   -Again, I just have to mention Roald Dahl. "The Witches," "The Twits," "BFG," etc, THEY ARE ALL AWESOME.
   -The Magic Treehouse Series, by Mary Pope Osbourne. Educational AND entertaining. OH BABY, DID I EVER LIKE THOSE ONES.
   -many more I'm sure, that I sadly cannot remember


6) Various other books.
I'm trying to think of some other books I read when I was little, but I'm having a lot of trouble remembering the names. Mostly, I just remember a small detail, or what the cover looks like. So, I'm searching key words in google, hoping to find them. Here are some examples of what my searches look like:
"magic dust spike kid book" = SUCCESS. I am a google master.
"kid book fake magic marriage ghost contest love witchcraft" = fail. I cannot remember anything about this book but I think it involved a contest, possibly to win a wife/husband? And one person tries to revive the dead, because that's obviously the most impressive kind of magic. And I think they eventually end up faking it all, and hire someone to pretend to be a ghost or something? Also I think at one point the fake ghost is practicing being a ghost and, upon mournfully hitting his palm against his forehead, needs to sound like "more of a plash, and less solid." Or something. I don't really know if I am making this up or not. What I just said makes very little sense. IF YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT PLEASE TELL ME.
"collection of stories with girl heroes kid book" = fail. My sister and I tried to find the title of this book last summer, but not luck. We both remember it though- it was a collection of short stories, all with girls as the main character, as active heroes. I think there were a few of them in the series. Anyways, I can sort of picture the cover in my head, and can almost recall some of the stories.

I'm sure I've said enough about my childhood reading habits now. If you have any books that you particularly liked as a kid, comment below! If you read/enjoyed any of the books I mentioned above (especially the one's I can't remember), let me know as well!

We Found Love

Usually I'm not a big fan of Rihanna, but this new song is not only pretty catchy, but the video is fucking sweet. People kept posting about it on facebook, so eventually I gave in and watched it. Something about this video is just awesome.

Rick Rypien

The Canucks had a really touching video tonight  in memory of ex-player Rick Rypien, who died over the summer. You can see it here.

Also, it's 2AM and I'm not sleep. I think I broke my internal clock. I DON'T LIKE NOT SLEEPING AT THIS TIME.

And finally, a cat for your viewing pleasure. I know the internet needs more of them.

I've mentioned my cat before. This is her domain.

Teh Internetz

The internet is a weird place.

I know, I know, I can practically hear you guys through my computer screen responding with a resounding "well, duuuhhhh." But I'm not talking like kinky-weird, or how-does-it-work weird, or breeds-creeps-weird. I'm just referring to the fact that we have reached the point where there are websites dedicated to literally any and everything you could possible imagine, and some things you can't. The amount of time that has been spent making websites dedicated to the most random, obscure, things is astonishing. With the growing popularity of tumblr, these sites seem only to be getting more popular. Here are ten examples of a few of my favorite "hidden gems" of the world wide web, highlighting the vast extents of the human mind:

1) Catalog Living (http://catalogliving.net/). While based on a very random idea, this site is actually hilarious. It depicts the stories behind the scenes you see in catalogs, describing the context in which these photos fit into the life of two fictional people, Elaine and Gary. I recommend giving it a look, preferably while in a quiet space (for example, the library) and be ready to stifle some serious giggles. A preview: 

"Gary, don’t forget to wipe your feet and leave your 

wet umbrella before walking into the brick wall."

2) Things Organized Neatly (http://thingsorganizedneatly.tumblr.com/) For those of you with a bit of OCD running through your veins, this is the site to see. It is literally just pages and pages (and pages and pages) of random objects. Organized. Very neatly. Example:

 A very neat (and delicious) sandwich.

3) Chicks with Steve Buscemeyes. (http://chickswithstevebuscemeyes.tumblr.com/) Steve Buscemi has very distinct eyes. They do not go well on faces. But that won't stop people from photoshopping them on every celebrity, ever. Example:

 My eyes! HER EYES! Oh god. (PS. Guess who?)

4) Hungover Owls (http://hungoverowls.tumblr.com/). Because owls like to party too. This website is just pictures of owls, looking haggard after a long night of partying. They're nocturnal, so you know they must party twice as hard during the nighttime. Read the captions, they are hilarious. Example:

 “Yes, I may be sprawled out on the floor right now, but dammit, 

you look me in my one good eye and show me some respect.”

5) Pretty Colors (http://prettycolors.tumblr.com/). No captions or anything, not even the name of colors. Just colored squares, with the "color number" (I don't know what it's really called). 1269 pages. Of pretty colors. Example (I picked an especially pretty one, from page 278):

 #00b8c6

1269  pages of this.

6) Michael Buble Being Stalked By A Velociraptor (http://bubleraptor.tumblr.com/) Seriously, who thinks of these things? But it's oddly hilarious (the best ones are the ones you have to really look for). Example:

More like... STALKERAPTOR.

7) Kim Jong-Il Looking At Things (http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com/). Because Kim Jong looks at a lot of things. Example:

 looking at cucumbers

8) Selleck Waterfall Sandwich (http://selleckwaterfallsandwich.tumblr.com/). I.. I don't even know. This is very, very self-explanatory, yet unexplainable all the same. Example:

 ...what?

9a) Bread People (http://breadpeople.tumblr.com/). Just... just look.

9b) Cheese People (http://cheesepeople.tumblr.com/). Same here.

10) Sims Gone Wrong (http://simsgonewrong.tumblr.com/). Because everyone has played The Sims. And gotten a kick out of glitches and taken advantages of cheats. Again, it's all in the captions. Example:

 SCARY.

So there we are... 11 sites that highlight the highly sophisticated and easily amused minds of our species. Hopefully this will help provide you with some successful procrastination techniques, and restored your faith in either the human race or the fact that you are, in fact, more intelligent than 90% if the internet community.

Internet folk are weird. 

P.S. If you know of a website dedicated to equally random things, post below!

Bug Hall

So it's like 3AM and I can't sleep. I don't remember the last time I was up this late for no reason. I don't feel tired, yet all I want to do is go to sleep. Because it's three in the morning and I have nothing better to do. But no. I suspect it is the three cups of tea I drank tonight that may be keeping me up. So, in hopes that this might make me a little sleepier, I shall become (at least for tonight) an insomniac blogger.

Rant-y introduction over.

Do you remember this guy?

OF COURSE YOU DO. This guy here is Alfalfa, the most adorkable love-struck five year old ever, as seen in The Little Rascals, a movie that came out in 1994 and I watched many many times in my childhood. This is one of those movies that I'm pretty sure everyone has seen, and can unconsciously quote it every once in a while ("Quick! What's the number for 911!?"). This little guy, and his odd hairdo (which, thinking back, I'm pretty sure they slip a boner reference in with it?), defines this movie. And this movie was awesome.

Now why am I bringing this up? Well, fast forward fifteen years, and the American Pie series hands out another straight-to-DVD movie (Americana Pie Present: The Book of Love). What do we have in the opening scene? A teenage boy masturbating into a peanut butter sandwich?  Ah, now that's classy (and only to be expected, come on now, you know what you're watching).

BUT WAIT. What's that you hear?

That's a small part of my childhood collapsing in on itself as it collides with my teenage-hood, because, yup, that boy is AL-goddamn-FALFA. Many years later, Alfalfa still only has one thing on his minds- girls. I guess it's nice to know that some things never change.

I never thought I'd say this but here it is: Alfalfa standing next to 

Eugene Levy.

Seriously, I just spend an hour and a half (because yes, I secretly like the American Pie movies, I think they are mindlessly, stupidly, funny) watching a movie featuring Alfalfa trying to bone the blond girl from 2 Broke Girls. Eugene Levy,  K-Fed, Bret Michael, and Screech (from Saved by the Bell) also made appearances, as contributors/founders of "The Bible."  It was a weird 90 minutes.

I found this little connection to be simultaneously hilarious and kind of sad. But I did a little imdb-lurking and read up a bit on the actor. So here we go:
1) His name is Bug Hall. His first name is Bug. For real.
2) He's had appearances on all three CSI's and Criminal Minds. How have I not noticed him before??
3) He also had a small part in Hercules. Seriously, he was in something I liked from every period of my life (childhood, elementary school, and now).
4) I just realized he kind of looks like a combination of Sean Austin and a family friend of mine. The mind-blowing properties of him have no end.
5) Finally, as far as I can tell, he's the only Little Rascal who kept up acting at a steady pace. Good job Alfalfa!
6) He's got a 6-pack now. Just putting it out there, I would not have guessed that from his Little Rascal days.

So anyways, there's my little childhood-tainting fact of the day. If you have any other "What they're doing now" stories for childhood favorites, I would really enjoy hearing them. But for now, it's 3:30 and I'm feeling much more prepared to sleep. Good night!


(P.S. HAHAHA I JUST REMEMBER HOW HE WIGGLES HIS EARS IN LITTLE RASCALS. I'm so glad they didn't add that into his later movies. It would be so much less cute, and more creepy)

Value Village

Yesterday, I went to Value Village with a few of my roommates, in hopes of getting a Halloween costume.

That didn't happen (although I was dangerously close to buying an Angry Bird costume), but I did pick up a few other things. I have to admit- despite the suspicious smell(s) that seem to lurk around certain corners and clothes racks, I do enjoy me a good thrift/second-hand store. Here's what I picked up:

1) BOOKS! I've been trying to get back into reading lately, something that I have been, besides textbooks, sorely lacking lately. (As in, the last 8-12 months....) I picked up 5 of them, which will hopefully motivate me to get some reading done. I was especially stoked to find a Douglas Adams book I'd never heard of before (The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul), but a stranger on the bus very eagerly (and nicely) noticed it on my way back and assured me it was "really awesome." Also, I got another book to add to my Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy collection, which brings my total to 3 of 5. Yay for majority! As for the other books, I've heard about The Hunger Games over and over in recent months (they're even making a movie of it!), so I figured I'd give it a read. I liked The DaVinci Code, so I picked up Dan Brown's Angels & Demons as well. Finally, I picked up a Stephen King novel. I've never actually read any of his works, so I'm kind of intrigued. So yeah... here's to getting me to read again! Also, if you have any suggestions, I really do want to start reading more, but my knowledge of good books is sorely limited, so comment below!

BOOKS.

2) The Big Chill OST. I actually already have most of this songs in my iTunes, but I couldn't help but pick this up when I saw it. I watched this movie with my parents once, when I was pretty little, and I was not a fan. At all. (In fact, the only movie I distinctly remember not enjoying more as a child was A Mighty Wind... also my parents' choice. Beware.) My point is, despite not particularly liking the movie, it has about the best soundtrack of any movie I've ever heard. Seriously, so good. I'm listening to it right now. It's so good, I think I want to give this movie a second chance.

The '80's were not a good time for hair.

3) Grampa sweater. What is the best thing about second-hand stores? Buying old man sweaters, obviously.  I picked up this baby yesterday. It's kind of itchy, kind of odd-patterned, murky colored, and a little shapeless. In other words, it's great. I'm wearing it now and finishing my 4th cup of tea of the day. O, the glamorous life of me.

Yup, (dirty) mirror shot. 'Cause I'm classy.

So tell me... What's your favorite thrift store find?

Dammit Telus

I still don't have internet at home. For the past month or so, the internet has been patchy at best, but for the past two weeks it's been just about out solid. While in this day and age the difference between having internet and not having internet is massive, I'm still kind of torn about how I feel about it. On one hand, it's a lot easier to focus on my work without the constant distractions of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. On the other hand, I do have course work to do online, and somethings, such as e-mail, I like to be able to check whenever I like. And, like any other student, I enjoy the wonderful, mindless, entertainment the internet can provide me. (Also, I do like blogging, but don't particularly enjoy doing it while at school.)

That being said, thank god for free UVic wifi.

Also, three guys in banana suits just ran past me. In the library. Hmmmm.

Anyways, this is kind of a roundabout explanation as to why I haven't been posting things too much recently.... sorta. For your trouble, check out this link. Anyone who has ever played The Sims I think will agree with the fact that it is hilarious. Because it is so true.

Hiking Up Mountains

Yesterday, my mom took my sister and me on a hike. Today, my body hurts.

We hiked up to Garibaldi Lake, which is about 9 kilometers each way. While it wasn't especially hard, it was a long hike, and took us about 5 hours all together. It was really gorgeous at the top (and cold as hell). Take a look at some of the photos I took (and check out the color of that water!):

Ready to go!

Dementors.

Feeding the birdies

This is my friend. His name is Jacques.

Hilary did not like the birds.

Dr. Seuss trees

We saw this on the way back. Can anyone explain it?

Keslurked

As I'm sure many, many people have already seen, Vancouver Canucks's superstar/hottie Ryan Kesler posed for ESPN's "Body Issue" magazine. Tots naked. Just in case you haven't seen it, here it is:

While this is a nice picture and all (and ohmy is it ever), I have gotten much more amusement from the surrounding commentary that is flooding in from Canucks fans, journalists, and (a lot) of teenage girls. Some of my favorites include, "I think even his buttcheeks have abs" (random facebook comment) and, from Kesler himself, "Jealousy, that's all they've got is jealousy," referring to the teasing from his teammates. Still out of the lineup due to an injury, Kesler doesn't have a lot else going on for him in the news.

Speaking of Kesler, have you heard the term "Keslurked"? Well, it refers to Kesler's habit of photobombing interviews and photos whenever possible. Hell, he even photobombs himself. There's a pretty funny article about it here. My favorite part? "Kesler is getting more and more brazen. One wonders if he was ever actually asked to appear in ESPN’s “Body Issue”, or if the photographers just discovered sometime after the shoot that he was standing naked in the background of all the shots, and decided to claim it was intentional."

Ahahahahahaha. There are a lot of articles poking fun of Kesler's seeming unability to keep his clothes on/stay out of a camera frame, and I have to say: I laugh. Every single time.