Let the Right One In

Guten abend! Wie ghets?
German is a funny language, although I guess not as strange as English seems to them. I do like the ümlaut especially- there's something so special about two dots over a letter. Maybe it's pingüino that makes me feel this way... Anyways, taking a leaf out of the two stooges' books, I will attempt to review a movie. Now I'm not an actor, or a critic, or nearing any of those standards and this is just my non-eloquent and nontechnical opinion.

This movie was playing in the Varsity Theater in the U-District, and it is just a Norwegian film with English subtitles. It's called Låt den rätte komma in, or Let the Right One In, and is an excellent vampire movie. It's basically about this kid, around 12 years old, named Oskar whose life is pretty bad, with his parents divorced and getting bullied at school. But then some new neighbors- a girl named Eli and her father- move in. She gradually becomes an actual friend to Oskar and teaches him to stand up for himself, but she seems a little strange; she doesn't mind the cold and the snow, and is really good at puzzles :). A little while later, some odd murders took place while we (the viewers) see the criminal in the act... and if I keep going there might be too much given away.

But overall, this vampire movie follows the older, and arguably more real, myths, and has a really interesting plot. The filming and some stunts is really well done too- there are several shots that could be really pretty still camera pictures. It is not for the extremely squeamish, and is apparently rated R (I had no idea until around 5 minutes ago) because although there is not crazy blood or visible violence, it is a vampire movie :) and a very good one at that. I'm not going to try to give it a 'star' or 'buttery bag of popcorn' or even a simple number rating because of my wishywashiness. All I'm saying is that I recommend that you, especially my more movie-obsessed amigas, watch it.

Hmmm.... an ending quote...
" 'Cause I'm looking for internal truth and not a date"
Felicia Day as Penny in Dr. Horrible's Commentary! the Musical

Wow... that was a pretty long attribution. Is that what it's called? Anyways, probably only Brecht will understand anyways, so this whole last part was pretty useless. I'll be quiet now.

Taffy :)

Well, because of 'popular demand,' and the fact that I can't think of anything interesting to write, here are some silly pictures of Taffy...


Somehow, she got onto the top of our couch and was sleeping there without falling off.


Hiding in her bed...


Everything that I thought was mine: slippers, beanbag...



I think she just woke up, and seems more than half asleep still.

Have I Done What?

Following in Ms. Pony's footsteps, I might as well highlight this list too, with added comments of course.

1. Started your own blog (really... trust me)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (does Rock Band count?)
4. Visited Hawaii (twice!)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Bathed in a river
7. Been to the Taj Mahal
8. Walked on a glacier in Alaska
9. Caught and held a snake (at 6th grade camp, it was part of an 'activity,' though)
10. Spoke in front of a big crowd (how big is 'big'?)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Had a whirlwind love affair that broke your heart
13. Found an arrowhead or fossil
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (or at least attempted to for a while, like piano)
15. Rescued an animal (see, there was this poor frog stranded... oh, does this mean like a dog?)
16. Ate sweet breads, glands or tripe
17. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
18. Grown your own vegetables (not completely by myself, but in our garden)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight (please don't say that you haven't)
22. Hiked to base camp on Mt. Everest
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort (1st time this last winter)
25. Watched an animal being born
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Learned a foreign language (4, but 3 not fluently at all)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Stayed up for more than 24 hours (I think I have, or very nearly- like 1 hour of sleep)
31. Trained a dog to do cool tricks
32. Been on a cruise (to Hawaii!)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (no, but apparently there's this tiny town in Eastern Washington called Odessa where basically everyone is my cousin, with a last name of Goetz)
35. Seen an Amish community (not that I remember, but my dad says that I have...)
36. Can drive a stick shift car (I know what to do, but haven't tried)
37. Won over $1000 in a raffle or lottery
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (heheh...)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Been serenaded (seriously, no; as a dare, yes)
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (it's actually really cool)
46. Broke a bone (the school nurse gave me an ice pack)
47. Started your own business (does a little lemonade stand count?)
48. Quit a job because you were totally unhappy
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the Eiffel Tower
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (I took lessons when I was younger)
53. Played in the mud (so squishy)
54. Gone to a drive-in (stole the hotel bedsheets to sit on, and saw Live Free or Die Hard)
55. Been in a movie (on the news, but not a real movie)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Joined a prayer group
58. Taken a martial arts class (for about three years, *hwataaaa*)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (the Thin Mints are soooo good)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Received flowers for no reason (only as those random 'here you go' presents)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (I still have stuffed animals from a long time ago)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial (when I was less than 3 years old)
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt (DON'T do this for your senior project)
73. Stood in Times Square (again when I was really little)
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London (read it and weep)
77. Broken something extremely expensive (you klutz, moni)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (does "The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark count?)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Got a tattoo (only temporary... like the water ones)
83. Been to a coffee shop in Amsterdam
84. Seen the aurora borealis in person (I wish... it's so pretty)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox (I was one of the weenies with the vaccine)
89. Saved someone’s life (yes, in the sense of 'thanks sooo much, you are a life saver')
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (I think that Seahawk players should count)
92. Joined a book club (*shudder* the evil sub)
93. Lost a loved one (surprisingly, no, everyone who has died in my family I hardly remember)
94. Toured the UN
95. Hiked to Machu Picchu
96. Swam in the Indian Ocean
97. Conversed with someone when neither of you spoke each others language (my grandpa has in Italy, the cab driver spoke Spanish and Italian, and he only knew tidbits of Spanish)
98. Dirty danced (well... wouldn't you like to know ;) )
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Acted in a play (the awful third grade school play, ugh)

Peer Pressure Strikes... AGAIN!

'Ello everyone, and, yes, I did get a blog. Which I will most likely never update unless I am bothered even more. Peer pressure and constant nagging really gets to me, so I really hope there are none of those 'real life' situations that everyone always talks about coming up anytime soon.

Although I may just end up blocking everyone except invites, I'm not inclined to share anything but my random thoughts to the world. See, for instance, if I put up a picture of my beloved beagle, some dog stalker who is also on this very blog website may track her down and then proceed to stalk her. This may not be the most drastic situation, but, you have to admit, it could happen. However, I will probably go back on my word and end up posting a whole bunch of Taffy pictures anyways, among other things.

If I'm going to go ahead and pretend that people will read this, I might as well introduce myself-- though some would argue that they know more about me than me... or at least think that they have more accurate opinions of me.

I have a dog, a beagle named Taffy, and cats despise me. Seriously, they scratch me up EVERY time I try to hold them. You could try to guess my age, but I can only say for certain that I'm in school. So, if we're all thinking about this logically, I would be 0, or 1, at the youngest and maybe at oldest around 24 if I just got my Bachelor's degree in college. But, seeing as I can type coherent sentences and appear to have a sense of grammar, punctuation, and some knowledge at least, I may or may not be over 9, let's say. And, of course, if you already know me, even with my super secret code name, then this whole excercise was useless. Hmmm... I guess you could say that I tend to overthink things and am a perfectionist, in a way (or a lot of ways). And I am in no way a social butterfly-- more like a worm, who hides underground all the time; although I could be a caterpillar because people claim that I have potential.

Anyhow, that 'short' introduction became really long really fast, so I will end this post with a cool quote that I found:

'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
- Abraham Lincoln (attributed to)