Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Whoop!

Life is so good! :] I'm doing a lot of writing -- I've got three stories floating around in my head that I've been working on a lot so that's been really great! It's so much fun writing again and being inspired. It was worth the dry frustrating spell I was having.

So, I forgot to tell you guys that last Friday we went to the new Hard Rock Cafe in Dallas. I went with Cyndi, Kevin, Travis, and Dragon, and it was a lot of fun... until my stomach started hurting and I got sick. :( The waitress was pretty funny, the place looked really nice, etc. The only thing I didn't like was that this Hard Rock was obviously trying really hard to fit in with the rest of the restaurants in downtown Dallas -- it was being kind of fancy-ish and the music wasn't very loud and what few lighting fixtures they did have were kind of modern and retro at the same time. My favorite Hard Rocks have always been the ones that had really loud music playing with really crazy awesome waiters with lots of tattoos and piercings and look like they should be a tattoo artist. But it was pretty cool. (That's Travis making a peace sign for that picture.)

Other cool things going on? Last night there was a big party at Kevin's apartment -- it was a lot of fun. It was for a girl I rarely see but was in town, so it was good to see her but there were a lot of people at the party that I don't know and/or don't really get along with. But between Kevin, Cyndi, Katie, Zaq, and a few others, I had a lot of fun. I took like 2904529340 pictures, so I've posted a few of them here. Katie and Zaq are on the left (that's Zaq's really bad ass hat she's wearing) , and that's Kevin and I on the right there, sitting on the ground and watching Family Guy on TV. Then today Cyndi, Katie, and I went and got piercings done! Cyndi did her belly button, Katie did her cartilage and I finally got my tragus pierced! Whoop! If there were a cool picture of it being done, I would post it for you, but there's not. Sad days, huh? It's okay though -- I've been keeping up with my picture-of-the-day thing a little too well. There are days when it's actually difficult for me to pick which picture I want to win. But, here is today's picture of the day, taken with my ever-wonderful iPhone 3GS: (It's of Kevin waiting for me outside of Pappadeux.)

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Reasons why your next week will be spent in movie theatres

In the past week, I've finally seen Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter for the second time, (500) Days of Summer, The Ugly Truth, and The History Boys, which I found for $5 at Sam Goody. And I loved all of them so much, I'm giving you reasons to go see them.

Transformers 2: I got exactly what I expected out of this movie. I'll be honest, what people say about plotholes is pretty true -- I was left with a lot of questions at the end: What happened to the really annoying guy? Or the little mini Decepticon turned Autobot? Robot heaven...whaaat? Are those really that close together geographically? Etc. However, the total tomboy in me loved the plethora of giant explosions and superb animation (except at one point). The girl in me also liked seeing Shia Lebouf really prove once again that he's a great actor (as well as extremely attractive). Megan Fox was cool too -- though I did note that her right forearm never ended up on camera -- must have been to hide her ridiculous tattoo. Anyways, the movie was great, and I recommend it to everyone. It's also a great date movie. :)

Harry Potter: I've discussed this one before, but I have a few more comments on it: Tom Felton is such a wonderful actor. I knew that in every movie, but this movie kind of hit you over the head with it repeatedly. He doesn't really talk much in the movie, but just his acting alone shows you what a complicated character Draco Malfoy is. Mmm. :] <3 style="font-weight: bold;">[SPOILER ALERT] JK Rowling didn't make it totally obvious Ginny Weasley and Harry would end up together at the beginning of the series because otherwise the people that did the casting would have made sure the girl that played Ginny would have been extremely gorgeous (red-headed Megan Fox?) instead of the wonderfully adorable Bonnie Wright who I actually respect as an actress. While Bonnie is really pretty, she's perfect for it because Harry doesn't fall for Ginny because she's a supermodel, it's because she's very real. [End spoilers.] Rupert Grint is also proving that he's a great actor as well as a very interesting person, though really he started to prove his famous actor status in Prisoner of Azakaban. Anyways, though the movie leaves things out (like introducing two very important characters -- Bill and Charlie Weasley), but it's great and totally worth seeing.

(500) Days of Summer: This movie is different. As it says on the website, it's not a love story, but a story about love. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl doesn't. It's about searching for "the one" and how unnervingly easy it is to be incredibly wrong about him/her. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel give it so much life and make it quirky and refreshingly different. Everything about the movie is so different, and even knowing the plotline upfront, it was still powerful. And the music is great. I've said the least about this movie so far, but I urge you to see it the most. (I got to see it at the Angelika Theatre in Dallas, hence the picture.)

The Ugly Truth: I saw this one with Cyndi and I think we both agree that it was cute. Like Transformers, I got exactly what I expected out of it. Self-proclaimed man-whore "love is a lie" guy falls for the beautiful girl who's dreams about prince-charming were never shattered. The whole story was obvious from the previews, but we all knew we weren't going to find out what happened. Go because this movie is funny. It's a chick-flick, but it's one I could see guys going to and enjoying because it's look on falling in love is hilarious.

The History Boys: This movie is based on a play by Alan Bennett and actually came out a few years ago, but it's awesome. It's about some boys at an all-boys grammar school in England and their teachers that are preparing them for the Oxford and Cambridge entrance exams. But, of course, the movie covers their lives outside of school -- it covers every teacher's relationship to the boys and to each other and whether or not they've crossed societal boundaries in them, and it shows the boys' search for lust, excitement, and importance before they're separated and sent off to university. It's a great movie, every actor is wonderful, and I highly recommend it for your next night in. Though, if you're at all homophobic, I would suggest you watch it with the knowledge that there are homosexual overtones. It's not over-the-top or anything, but it's clear. I can see why the play won the Tony Award and the Olivier Award.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Mod Cloth

Mod Cloth is a really random website I stumbled across earlier this week (I'm not honestly sure how I found it) and am now totally in love with. It's very modern bohemian and earthy, if you're into that sort of fashion (which I am). They have great vintage stuff, shoes, accessories, etc. This dress has quickly become my favorite... I think. They have nine pages worth of dresses (with 50 dresses per page!) so it's kind of hard to decide. But I think that one won. But, even more cool is all their cute apartment stuff. Okay, as you guys know, I'm moving into a new apartment soon so anything labeled apartment has been catching my eye recently. It's mostly accessories-type stuff like this kickass Vintage Shoe Bible, the I Am Not a Paper Towel towel set, and this really random but awesome brain-cell shaped plush toy that I seriously might get.

Other things I kind of really want:

The Wet Cats book. Uhm, cats that are wet are all sorts of hilarious.

Cat shaped ice? Count me in.

Uhm, hi pretty white boots. These are exciting, but I'd get them so dirty, so fast.The Key to the City ring. I like the idea of this -- it's super original.



(No, they did not pay me to make this post. I legitimately mean everything I said in here.)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Praying

I've been spending a lot more time quietly reading my bible, praying and really studying the Word recently. It's been good for me, especially since it's kind of difficult to go to church when I'm home for summer (atheist dad, you know). Anyways, I stumbled across these verses in Matthew (the book I've been reading mainly recently) and was happy I read them, so I thought I'd share.

Matthew 6:25-34
25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?...34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own.

The verses I skipped (28-33) are really good but incredibly too long to quote in this short little blog post. Here, however, it a link to the full section I pulled.

(The photo is of a lizard I saw -- I know it's hard to tell he's there, but that's why I like it to go with this verse -- he doesn't store food away nor does he wear clothing, but he is well protected by the skin God gave him and has plenty of food to eat.)

Sunday, July 19, 2009

In the news...

So, Walter Cronkite died. :( He was 92 years old when he passed away on Friday. How sad -- he was an honest, trustworthy news anchor that America actually trusted. RIP, Walter Cronkite.

Yesterday, two rail cars collided in San Francisco and injured 44 people, but there were no fatalities and none of the injuries were considered especially serious.

Police shot and killed 12 in the Uyghur ethnic riots that occurred earlier this month. The 12 were supposedly "mobsters" who were not deterred by previous shots into the air. It's not clear whether the men were Uyghurs or Han (the two groups the ethnic riots are happening between -- Uyghurs are predominantly Muslin, and Han is pretty much the majority of China). This situation isn't being helped by the fact that Seyfullah, the leader of the Turkistan Islamic Party is encouraging the Uyghurs to "kill the Chinese Communists...ambush them wherever..."

As far as Iran goes, the situation isn't getting much better. Students are countinuing protests at a university in Shiraz, and now an opposition candidate has come out and say that he is "embarrassed" by the "thoughtless and clear lies" that the government and military is feeding to the world. Maybe it's a good thing that someone other than students and Moussavi is saying something now though. Also in Iran, the last British Embassy worker was finally freed after being held for about a month. He and nine other workers were arrested after the elections last month for supposedly trying to incite protests. As the unrest continues, human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr was arrested according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Other lawyers have been being detained and around 40 other demonstrators were also arrested on Saturday. Sadr is apparently in poor health and due to have surgery sometime in the next week.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Really, I'm 19?

Birthdays are so lame now. I don't feel even kind of different than I did on Sunday when I was still 18. Oh well.

Despite what I just said about birthdays, go wish my good friend Kevin a happy birthday! He's twenty now and feels just like me -- no different than he did yesterday, haha.

So far, I've been doing well with the photo-a-day thing. On the 14th, I took one with the ever-wonderful Cyndi (whose really artsy shoes you should go check out, by the way) at a local coffee shop that we frequent (and where I'm sitting to write this). Look, you can see the bangs that I cut myself and that my mom almost killed me for! Later, we went to the midnight release of Harry Potter together -- we're HP nerds and proud! I think we both agree on the movie pretty well -- it's one of the best done ones (though I still think the first was the best) and they really made good use of light moments to offset an otherwise incredibly dark movie. My only complaint would be that the movie is called Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and a central part of the book was trying to find out who the Half Blood Prince was, yet in the movie only a few moments were dedicated to trying to figure it out. At the end, when the identity of the Prince is revealed I was actually like "Oh, right, that's what this movie is about." But it was good. And my picture for the 15th was actually a picture of something we saw at the movie theatre (it would have been of the movie tickets, but they weren't very cute). That "for humans only" theme went throughout the whole theatre -- on bathrooms, on the doors into the actual rooms with screens. It was pretty funny. You can't tell in the picture, but the bottom of the signs says "Call this number to report any non-humans!" It was pretty great.

Other than that -- life has been okay. I got really really sick yesterday so all my evening plans had to be cancelled (but don't worry, I still took my picture!). But it gave me time to rest and I'm back on my feet today! But I should sign off so I can go teach a private swimming lesson.

Have a great day everyone! Have y'all seen Harry Potter yet? If not, go see it!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Photo Blog!

Okay, I know I've been back from Munich and Prague for a while, but I JUST realized that I never posted a photo blog for you guys. So, long overdue, here are some of my favorite photos from the trip!
One of the first things we saw when we got to Prague -- I love grafitti! It's so beautiful, especially when it's done artfully. :)

The Dancing Building in Prague -- isn't it beautiful? I wish I could have gotten more shots of it, but I never got the chance.

Again -- grafitti. I love it.

Okay, this time, a picture of me with grafitti.

This and the next picture are from a random open air market we found on the street in Prague. It was super cute. :]

Another picture from the open air market -- their fruit was so fresh.

Doors to a church. :)
One of the very random interesting sculptures we saw in Prague.

This is the entrance to the Charles Bridge (Karluv rnost). It was really cool -- there were sculptures everywhere -- some religious, some not -- that were beautiful, but the way the sun was in the sky prevented me from taking a single good picture of them. :(

This was one of the few good pictures I did get on the Charles Bridge -- the guy was having his pupper "play" along with a record that was playing. It was pretty cute.

Neuschwanstein -- I've covered this one before. :]

These statuettes are of King Ludwig and his fiance that never married before he died.

These were some candles in a Munich church we toured (not St Peter's or St Nepomuk's). I'm not totally sure I was supposed to take pictures, but I'm really glad I did.

I know, I know, again with the graffiti. But I love political graffiti. And this time, in Munich, on the back of St Peter's Church! (Unrelated: Can anyone translate that one for me?)

This is a couple I spotted while on our Hitler and the Third Reich tour. They were cute. :]

This is the building where the Nazis (NASDP) had their first political rally. It is now a bar/tavern/thing in the bottom and a large eating hall of some sort on top.

A shot of one of the tables in the upstairs dining hall-type room where hundreds of people gathered to hear Hitler speak as teh leader of the Nazis for the first time.

This is the Apple Store of Munich, which was built on top of the site of the beer hall where Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch happened.

This was at the Hard Rock Cafe in Munich. The guitar is a big deal because it's actually a piece of the Berlin Wall. Legit, huh?

This is a picture of Mahdis and I at the ever-wonderful Hard Rock Cafe that I love so dearly. :]

Uhm, cool grafitti, anyone?

A random cute little fruit stand near the Glockenspiel.

The apricots at the fruit stand. They were apparently (according to my mom) the best apricots ever. She hasn't eaten once since she got back to the US because she thinks they won't be as good. She said the same of the cherries.

I love how bright the colors of those cherries were. It was eye-catching.

Just pay attention to the license plate.

This is near the Beverly Hills of Prague, in the Jewish cultural center. If you look closely, you can see a Star of David on the door.

Actually in the area where the Jews were corralled into pogroms before concentration camps were established and running.

A very beautiful church in Prague. :)

We stumbled across a wedding while in Prague for the second time. I decided not to post pictures of the bride and groom (yes, I have some), but I thought this was really pretty and acceptable to post. :]

These were up in the Astronomical Tower, and I thought they were really cute. :]

Here's a picture of the actual Astronomical Tower. We went up to the top and took pictures, but none were particularly mesmerizing or anything.

I know it's blurry, but this was at the five story club we went to in Prague that was crazy fun. It was a great way to end the vacation. :]

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Havee any of you taken any cool trips recently?