Friday, March 30, 2012

in honor of district 12

I'm pretty much the only person in this whole town who hasn't seen the Hunger Games movie yet, because I love my best friend Brooke so much I'm waiting for her to come back from vacation tomorrow so we can see it Monday together. And just so I can prove my loyalty to you, Brooke, my parents are going to see it tonight and I am not, by my choosing. Don't worry, Brooke. I won't snap. I will be strong.

So instead of running around the house freaking out about how I can't wait to see the movie, I run around freaking out and productively create Hunger Games related things while I wait. Patiently.

Here is my vain attempt at making Mockingjay-style nails. Me and my friend at our sleep over were having an awesome time playing with her decorative nail polish brushes, as you can see.


And here is a sketch I made of Katniss and Peeta in their arena uniforms. It took me forever to get their faces right... but I think it turned out cool anyway.

Also, I conveniently have figured out "Safe and Sound" on the piano and have been practicing it and singing with Brooke who's learning how to play the violin. Monday just can't come fast enough can it?


EDIT: Guess what? It's Saturday now, and Brooke invited me to see the Hunger Games! I just got back, and it was awesome!! My parents changed their plans and are going to see it right now. You know, just in case any of you care.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

*face-palm*

Don't you hate it when you're baby-sitting your siblings and they are seemingly incapable of doing anything but this?


Yeah. Me too.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

my weakness

Okay, blogger friends. I have a confession. Come here, I'll tell you what it is. *waves hand over* I have a weakness. It's...it's....... *takes deep breath* .....it's.......

Sympathetic villains.

Oh gosh, I said it.

Yup, that's my weakness. Sympathetic villains. Bad guys you can feel sorry for. Characters in books/movies with more than one dimension, people that can be evil, but good at the same time.

Your probably either thinking about how much you agree with me, or what a freak I am. I agree with both.

But let me give you some examples.


(*WARNING!! The following post contains spoilers for Harry Potter, Once Upon a Time, Phantom of the OperaThor, and Megamind. Yes, Megamind. READ ON AT OWN RISK.*)


You sure you want to keep reading? Okay, be prepared...I feel a rant coming on....

[Note, it's been a couple months since I first posted this, and I've made a couple edits to it since.]

Here are some examples:


SEVERUS SNAPE, The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling

Let me start off by saying that Snape is my favorite character in the whole HP deal. (That's saying a lot, by the way, folks.)

First we think he's a really mean double agent working for Voldemort for half the series, and then we start to see a little of his past. He was poor, lonely little wizard bullied by none other than Harry's daddy. Wait, though. There's more. Later, we realize he was only mean and bitter to everyone because his best friend (his only friend, Harry's mommy) who was also the love of his life ran off with the guy he hated, and then got killed.

I felt so, well, sad for him.

His motives are so unique. He was mean to Harry because he was so bitterly reminded of James who he hated, and Lily, who he loved.

In the end, he was a Slytherin who died like a Gryffindor.

Plus, he doesn't always cry. But when he does, they're magical memory tears.


RUMPELSTILTSKIN / MR. GOLD, Once Upon a Time

I love Rumpelstiltskin. His accent is cool. But besides that, he is just such a deep, complicated character. He's bad, then he's good. Then he's in love. Then he's bad again. In the end, he's only working for himself, his son, and his true love.

It also helps that he is also the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, which is my favorite Disney princess story.

I don't really like to think of Rumpelstiltskin as evil though. At least as far as characters go, I think being truly evil, is being incapable of feeling regret and remorse for bad things you've done. But Rumpelstiltskin has done nothing but feel regret for everything he did. He's ashamed of being a coward, he's ashamed of letting his son and Belle slip away from him.

Can't wait for Season 2 of OUaT.

No, like I seriously can't wait.


THE PHANTOM, The Phantom of the Opera

Oh, Phantom. Ohhhhh, Phantom, Phantom, Phantom. You have a great voice, but those wax statues were taking it a bit too far, buddy.

The thing is, I think that both Raoul and Phantom truly cared for Christine. It's just that Phantom, the poor guy, just showed it in a weird creepy way.

Every time I hear the song "Learn to Be Lonely" I just want to cry, because after you learn the Phantom's cruel and tragic past, and figure out that he DOESN'T ACTUALLY GET THE GIRL, you realize the song's about him.


MEGAMIND, Megamind

Go ahead and laugh if you want, but I think the reason why I liked this movie so much is because I like bad guys.

 The fact that this movie was told from the point of view of the villain made it unique. Megamind was the bad guy at first, but then he came to realize he was actually supposed to be the GOOD GUY, and became the hero! I love it! Way to go, DreamWorks, you figured out how to make a great character!


LOKI, Thor, The Avengers

I'm a sucker for this guy. And I'd like to say that it was just because he was a good bad guy and not because Tom Hiddleston has the most adorable blue eyes I've ever seen, but that would be a lie.

In Thor, he's really got a reason I think to be bad. He just learned that he's adopted. Worse, that he's a monster whose race is the enemy of his home planet. He's been lied to his whole life, he's jealous of his brother, and he doesn't really know where he fits in. I wanted to cry, I felt so bad.

In Avengers, he turns into a maniac. He knows who he is, he knows he's the bad guy, he knows his motives. His motives are really crazy and diluded, but he doesn't think so. From his point of view, he's right.

Overall, he's a pretty good villain.

I like his Asgardian Prince hair better than his Earth-Conquering Pirate hair, though.


*AHEM* Okay, my rant is done. Sorry, just needed to get that out. Now I just need to figure out how to create characters in my own writing as deep as these ones. If you made it through all that without falling asleep, gold star for your forehead.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

my new favorite thing

I usually never post twice in one day. But when I do, you know it must be important. And this is definitely important.

Take a look at my new favorite thing.


Sweet mini peppers. Oh, my goodness. They're rainbow and yummy and healthy, and anything like that deserves a blog post all to itself. I can eat them plain, or on pizza, or on quesadillas, or on pizzadillas or....

Okay. I'm going to stop now, or I'll keep ranting about them all day. Actually, one more thing. In case you were wondering, this is the pizzadilla I had today. With sweet mini peppers on it.

what is this madness?!

It's Oregon. It is the middle of March, and there is cold, white stuff all over my yard. I assume it fell from the sky. And it's Oregon. What is this madness?!

The sunrise was really beautiful, though, with light scattered on the trees...

Well, wish me a relaxing day free of OAKS math tests and full of muffins for breakfast.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

one...two...three...RAINBOW!

My friends, Kaity, Kaitlyn, Taylor, Linden, and Raelene and I are writing and illustrating a book for the Kids Are Authors contest. We just finished the story, and today we all got together at school and did our photo shoot! (Thanks Mrs. Nilsen for taking the pictures!) At least if we don't win the competition, we made lots of fun memories. :)






Monday, March 5, 2012

More Artsy Stuff

I apologize for taking so long to sit down and throw another post together--I've been so busy going to basketball games and pondering about how my life is just like a Taylor Swift song, that I haven't had time.

But now I do. So let's get down to business.

I've finished couple more oil paintings, and I'm almost done with a third. Since I know you guys are all just dying to see them I'll post them here. (That was a joke, you know. Sarcasm. Oh, you do want to see them? Well, okay then.)



 This one was really fun to do! The color scheme turned out pretty, and I like how the background is a lot more abstract than the photo. Senior Project painting #2 status: COMPLETED.

_________________________________________



This one turned out really cool too. The purple flowers are a pretty contrast to the trees. (Sorry I don't have any progression pics for this one, by the time I remembered to take pictures I was finished with it.)

_________________________________________










So, this one isn't done yet, but it's close. I just need to ask my painting mentor to teach me how to paint the faces, and I'll be set. The tulips turned out really great, and of course, me and my brother are pretty cute too. (The photo I was looking at was of Nathan and me at the tulip fields when we were little.)


Well, that's it, folks. Thank you, faithful friends who actually read my blog, it means a lot to me. *pats heart with hand* Now, please excuse me, I'm going to go play "Teardrops on my Guitar" by Taylor Swift on the piano.