Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts

10 Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts is a weekly meme run by Christine @ Bookishly Boisterous! Go check her out and write your own list, then link up!

1.) I just had to steal the above picture from Tumblr because it provides me with endless amounts of amusement for some reason and it's also basically my attitude right now.

2.)SPAIN IN T- 4 DAYS!!! I'm incredibly excited, and yet at the same time it all feels so surreal. I mean I signed up for this trip last year and it's here already, which makes me stop and realize how fast time really does fly by: I'm almost at the end of my sophomore year of high school. I just want to pause for a second! Back to Spain though, I've never been out of the country before, so I have ideas of what it will all be like but I really have no way of knowing. It's incredibly myopic, but I really just see the whole world as a variation on America, which just shows how much I need to travel. This will kick off a string of adventures: In June I'm going to Iceland and in July I'm going to France! I bought a new camera for Spain so I'll be taking lots of pictures and making little vlogs and short videos, which is a hobby I'm fast becoming addicted to. Heads up, I won't be posting when I'm in Spain, which will be the 18-27, I apologize, but I'll have lots of goodies to put up when I get back!

3.) Postmodern Jukebox on Youtube is killin' it. Almost all of their covers are ten times better than the original versions. I wish I could go see their tour that they're doing in Europe this summer- I would start crying joyful tears in the middle of the performance. So if you're in Europe this June, go see them for me ok? ok. *Sorry for the accidental TFIOS reference...*

I want to be able to play the sax like that....

Bringing back memories of my times in Fiddler on the Roof pit orchestra.

4.) Speaking of Youtube *drum rolllllllllll* I started up my Youtube channel again! I'm making pretty dumb little short videos right now, not really about anything, but I'm focusing on wrangling my Movie Maker program and etc. video tools. That's where my Spain videos will be in a couple weeks time, though, so you should subscribe!

My Channel

5.)I swear I'll start talking about bookish things in a second, but did you know Sir Anthony Hopkins wrote a waltz fifty years ago? It's uber gorgeous and he'd never had it played because he was too afraid to hear it, but they finally played it for him and it's wonderful.

6.) OKAY NOW FOR BOOKS

Nope sorry wait.

Okay so I just need to share this because I had one of those magical moments that make you believe in fate the other day. So #1- I love Wes Anderson films. And one of the things I love most about Wes Anderson films is Jason Schwartzman. In fact, he's one of my favorite actors. He's like some dopey puppy and he has to take two steps for every one anyone else takes. #2- I love Coconut Records, and I've been listening to them for quite awhile now. And what I found out is that JASON SCHWARTZMAN IS COCONUT RECORDS. After which I provided to roll into a ball and squeal like a piglet for a few hours. I'm still recovering. 

7.) I got this great sketchbook for Christmas that has like 300 pages and is a japanese print on the front, and recently I've decided to convert it into a sort of mixed-media diary: I write down my thoughts, dreams, writing ideas, I make collages of poems I like, and yes, I still draw. It's nice having a place to deposit everything your brain comes up with free of judgement.

8.) I'm reading Candide by Voltaire in the original French and I'm loving it so far. Granted, it's slow going because, well, I've only had four years of French, but as long as I stay focused it's very enjoyable to read and I understand a lot more than I thought I would. And Voltaire Is So Sassy. I mean, probably half of all the sarcasm and witty commentary goes over my head and yet I find myself cracking up in the middle of study hall with my Pocket LaRousse on my lap. I'd like to read an English translation after I finish this, just so I can appreciate the text more and see what I missed, but this is turning out to be a great learning experience.

9.) I just started Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, more because I feel the obligation to read at least one work of Dickens than anything else, but it seems interesting so far. I'm not so crazy about his writing style, but the way he describes people is very powerful.

10.) Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's was last week, and seeing as Ben and Jerry's is about seven doors down from my school it was the event of the season. I think I went four times (our teachers take us in our classes, we go at lunch, and after school too. It's kind of a big deal.) However, I found myself very mildly outraged by the fact that the mint chocolate chunk I ordered was in fact, get this, not radioactive green. It was white. I sort of scowled at it until it knew I disapproved and then continued on to eat it because it was still delicious (and free) ice cream. But it left a feeling of wrongness in my heart, a wrongness that can only be righted by a good helping of neon mint ice cream. I will let you know my progress on acquiring some.

**11** This is more of a question, but I'd like to know your opinions on the matter. I was thinking of starting my own weekly meme, something like Inspired Fridays, where you post an original creation: a short film, a photo, a piece of art, or a piece of writing, something like that. I feel like it would be encouraging for creating more frequently, plus I'd love to see what original work the blogs I follow create. Would you be interested in participating/do you think this is a good idea? Comment below!

10 Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts

10 Bookish and not so Bookish Thoughts is a weekly meme hosted by Christine @ Bookishly Boisterous.

1.) I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel with my brother this weekend, and I'll have a review up soon. Hint: I thought it was enjoyable and visually stunning but I had some problems with how stylized it was. Also: I really like this Flavorwire article about sexuality in Wes Anderson films. 

2.)Grades close tomorrow and I'm sort of freaking out. Third quarter is always really tough for me, and my grades tend to slip a bit. *prayer circle for my math grade*

3.) I was fiddling around on my sax last night and just playing through my Real Book when I came upon "All of Me" (the jazz standard not John Legend) I really liked it, and  I'd never heard it before so I was playing it sort of as a ballad, which works on sax, but then I looked it up and I'm in love with this gypsy jazz version:

4.) On a gypsy jazz note, I was in history today and had my Pandora on a Django Rheinhardt station and this song came up that I now can't get enough of:

5.) Bombay Stories by Saadat Hasan Manto looks like a really interesting book, and I love that it's translated from Urdu; it's not a language you would typically read translated. I've been eyeing it, and I'll probably read it soon.

6.) I started my novel! I know that I'm in high school and I neither have the time nor the skills for a novel but I figured I might as well give it a go, because why not. It's practice at the very least, at the very best I actually finish it and get it published, which would be unbelievable and everything I've ever wanted in life. So it doesn't hurt to try.

7.)I'm getting chinese food delivery for dinner tonight and honestly I've been distracted the whole time I've been writing this just thinking about it-- oooh also Ben and Jerry's opened today and I went with my friends- we were the first customers of the new season. I got Phish Food and it was an out of body experience. 

8.) I've been reading Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King and I've been really enjoying it, which is surprising considering it's a book about building a dome. But it's told as a story, not a textbook, and I'm learning a lot from it. The building of the dome of the Santa Maria Del Fiore actually gave birth to a lot of innovations in architecture that we take for granted today. I might finish it this weekend, so I'll get  a review up for that.

9.) Sailing started today! We didn't actually sail- it takes two days at least to get all the boats rigged up and ready- but it's still exciting and we should be on the water next week! It's even better because this is the first year our school will have it's own sailing team and I've worked for the last year and a half to make that happen. 

10.) I want a Laser so badly it hurts. It would be so amazing to just hop on over to the yacht club, rig up my Laser, and take it out whenever I felt like it. It's just hard to find a cheap, used one. *cries*

10 Bookish and Not So Bookish Thoughts

Quick Sketch I did last week.

1.) I'm so happy it's March. February is quite possibly the dreariest month of the year.

2.) I finished reading A Separate Peace by John Knowles for English class. It was incredibly well-written but it didn't really have any topics in it I felt particularly connected to or interested in. Still, I loved having whole-class discussions about chapters we had read each night. Our class is small enough everyone got to get their ideas in. No spoilers about the ending but right now I'm pretty much :

3.) I've had a Kpop relapse. I'm not proud. But it's even worse this time because I've also discovered Jrock. My life is spiraling out of control.

D=out Kanden 18 Gou

BIGBANG Bad Boy

BIGBANG+ 2NE1 Lollipop

4.) I'm reading Call It Sleep by Henry Roth. Again, it's an amazing book but I'm just not connecting to it. I'm also reading The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, which is turning out to be really enjoyable and rich with culture. <3

5.) It's that time of the school year when I have to make my course decisions for next year. I decided on HL (AP, sort of) English, History, and French, and SL art, math, and environmental science. Pumped!

6.) The school literary magazine is coming together, which I'm really happy about- we're working on getting our first print edition out! And we're also thinking of doing a slam poetry contest in April- I know a lot of students who would be into that, and I myself have been working on some incredibly mediocre slam poems.

7.) I'm done with the winter session of jazz ensemble, which means I have my next two saturdays free! This Saturday I'm going into Boston to visit my brother and maybe see some museums. I had a ton of fun at the Museum of Fine Arts the other weekend, especially seeing the Dutch Art Nouveau exhibit and the Japanese printmaking.

8.)I'm thinking about rereading The Cornish Trilogy. It's one of my favorite series but I read it in middle school and I can barely remember what it's about now. 

That's it for now! This meme is hosted by Christine @ Bookishly Boisterous!

10 Bookish (And not so Bookish) Thoughts

The forest next to my house as seen from my balcony.

1.) I got through the first part of Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin but I'm not really loving it and it's 700 pages, so I don't know if I should finish it at this point.

2.) The Great 2014 Indie Press Preview is out! I looked through some of it and there are a ton of great titles, plus I love that they're from indie presses that I wouldn't hear about otherwise.

3.) I've noticed from reading blogs and watching Youtube videos that a lot of adults read YA fiction. I didn't really expect this, so I thought I would do a little web search as to possible reasons. I thought this article explained the trend really well- check it out! And if you're an adult that reads YA, I'd love to hear why you like it! I'm just curious- I think it's an interesting topic. So comment below!

4.)I watched Rushmore last night, so now I've watched Wes Anderson's whole filmography! I loved it so much, and I'll write a review of it. I mean, Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman played the two main characters, so it would have been hard for it not to be amazing. It was interesting to see what a jump Wes made from Bottle Rocket to Rushmore- you can tell he really figured out what his style was. And as per usual, the soundtrack was 100% spot on. My favorites-

5.) I re-watched Ginger and Rosa because it's just so beautiful and I can't get over it. And I realized last night that I have all the components for a Rosa outfit! Boyfriend jeans, gray oversized turtleneck sweater, duffle coat. I'm feeling a photo shoot??

6.) WHY ARE THERE ONLY THREE MORE DAYS OF VACATION??? I literally didn't do ANYTHING except lay around and write and read and draw and blog and bleahahhh.

7.) On the same note I'm currently having a crisis about what I want to do when I grow up because I don't feel like I'll be qualified to do anything and I don't want to end up in a cubicle.

8.) It's a balmy forty degrees fahrenheit today, so maybe I'll walk my dog and snap some pictures.

9.) Plans for France this summer are moving along, and it looks like I'll be spending two weeks there and then meeting my brothers in Amsterdam for another week- I can't wait! I just don't know what I'll do with the rest of my summer- it will be too late by the time I get back to do any of the programs I was looking into, and sailing will be almost over. There's no way I can sit around for a whole month of the summer, which is weird because I always thought of myself as an incredibly lazy person, but I've found I start having mini panic attacks when I spend more than a couple hours not doing anything to better my skills. 

10.) I need winter to be over NOW. It's getting old.

Bookish (And not so bookish) Thoughts

1.) I've been deathly ill for this whole week and it is not at all fun. I haven't even been able to concentrate on any books or movies, so I've been mindlessly downloading my whole Grooveshark library into Itunes.

2.) I'm going to Vermont tomorrow- I'm excited for some time away from everything, without internet or tv. I'm hoping to write a little- I get inspired even thinking about going North for some reason. (Consequently, why I want to go to college up there.)

3.) I'm obsessed with this cover.

4.) My french teacher doesn't seem to consider having no voice an excuse for not filming my oral homework, and she sent me an e-mail saying, simply, "J'attends toujours." Tiny bit scary.

5.) THIS. #Im insufficient

6.) I watched Frances Ha last night. Review to come, but I really liked it- it just made me feel good. And Greta Gerwig is a goddess <3 I aspire to be as socially awkward.

7.) Almost done with Little Failure! I have one or two chapters to go. I'm going to start Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin this weekend- I want to read it before the movie comes out. It also seems to be the perfect time of year for it. I don't really love Mark Helprin's writing, but we'll see.

Link up with Christine@Bookishly Boisterous!

Ten Bookish (And not so Bookish) Thoughts

1.) I actually followed through on my idea from last time on making a Youtube channel. I only have on video up so far, and it doesn't look like much, but I'm having a lot of fun and learning a lot--like how wiggly my eyebrows are?

* I found an actual video camera so I will be moving on from crappy webcam video :)

2.) Speaking of social media, I started a twitter account!  I don't really understand the appeal of Twitter, but it seems really handy for book and blogging news.

3.) My copies of The Golem and the Jinni, Little Failure, and The Life of God all came and I am overjoyed. I need to finish reading Nabokov so I can start them!

4.) Poetry Out Loud is finally over! I had a lot of fun, but in my opinion it was way too drawn out. I mean, we had like four weeks to memorize and prepare and honestly I could have done it over a weekend and I thought we wasted a lot of class time. Anyways, I read "The Blues Don't Change" by Al Young. 

5.) Right now is sort of an amazing time at school. It's the start of the new semester, so some of our classes are a bit different and everything feels fresh. All the tests and reports and unfinished homework from the first semester are forgotten, and we're at that moment where we're learning new things in each class but aren't so advanced as to be tested on them or have projects, so I'm sort of coasting and relaxing, because I know everything will get a lot harder soon.

6.) I'm pretty obsessed with the acoustic version of "Only Ones Who Know" by Arctic Monkeys. I couldn't tell you how many times I've played it in the last two days.

7.) We're starting a poetry unit in English which I would be excited for, but my English class is a total bore. My teacher has zero passion for the subject and I couldn't tell you one thing I've learned the whole year. It's really starting to get on my nerves-- I would much prefer a hard class to an easy one. Anyways, we had to answer who our favorite and least favorite poets are, which made me realize how little poetry I've read. For favorite I said Langston Hughes; I've found there's something about African American poetry that's so appealing- it has great rhythm. For least favorite I said Allen Ginsberg; I never enjoy reading his work and he's just a little too abstract in my opinion. 

8.) I FINALLY STARTED WRITING AGAIN! I'm sure I've mentioned it before but I've had writer's block basically since eighth grade AND IT KILLS ME INSIDE so I ventured into the dusty recesses of my attic and dug out my elementary school copy of Gale Carson Levine's Writing Magic. It's actually extremely helpful to give you a strong punt in the right direction- once you start writing it becomes a mindset you're always in. Anyways, I wrote a poem last night that I posted right before this post, called "Waiting to Fall". It's sort of strange for me since it's really free-form and abstract-- I usually just write about the seasons or beautiful things. But maybe my writing style is moving in a different direction?

9.) I'm getting a little tired of winter at this point. Can Spring just get here already?

10.) Ten's a nice, even number.

Link up to Christine, who runs this meme!

10 Bookish (and Not So Bookish) Thoughts

Ten Bookish and Not so Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Christine at Bookishly Boisterous

1.) I'M FINALLY DONE WITH MIDTERMS!! They were incredibly dragged out due to two snowstorms, but they're finally over and I couldn't be happier to get back to normal life.

2.)There was a big ol' snowstorm yesterday and there's still snow all over everything, so I took a two-hour walk around my village this afternoon and took a few pictures (example above)

3.) I finally got around to watching Ginger and Rosa last night (instead of studying for my french midterm) and it was one of the best films I've seen in awhile. And Elle Fanning was incredible. And then of course I had to write a super long gushing review (instead of studying for my french midterm). Anyways I'll definitely be looking into more of Sally Potter's work.

4.) THE HANNIBAL SEASON TWO TRAILER IS OUT! It made me feel a lot better about having finished Sherlock season 3. In my excitement I dug out my copy of Red Dragon I had gotten at a library book sale a few months ago, and read it in basically one go. I'm still feeling a little too disturbed about it to write a review. I will say that I think the show is a lot better.

5.) Okay, so this is a really random idea but.... I'm thinking of starting a Youtube channel? I just discovered this massive network of Booktubers, and they're all so interesting and smart and hilarious, and I think it could be a lot of fun. I have no idea how to act in front of a camera, and in reality I would probably be an awkward mess, but *insert irony* YOLO, amarite? Anyways, I'm thinking of getting more into film, and if anything it could be a good learning experience with editing and all that. What do you guys think?

6.) Back to Ginger and Rosa, the soundtrack was FLAWLESS. We're talking jazz standards left and right. It was so cool to look up the song list and be like, wow, I played half of these. I made a youtube playlist with my favorites here.

7.) I sort of went on a shopping spree on Amazon and ordered The Golem and The Jinni, Little Failure, and The Life of God (As Told By Himself. I'm really excited to read them when they come: I've heard good things about them all. Have you read any of these? What did you think?

Well, that's all I have for this week. Midterms sort of sucked what little life I have outside of school all away. I'm looking forward to relaxing and reading all weekend!