The Other Side of Nuit Blanche

Yesterday I wrote a post about volunteering for Nuit Blanche for my uni's blog, BlogUT (I attend the University of Toronto, fyi). I haven't posted anything here in a while but I'm working on some stuff :) I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the content on both blogs because it might be property of BlogU, so I'm just going to place a link and hope you guys will check it out :)

---> The Other Side of Nuit Blanche <---

Oh and I did pacman nails the other day. Whatdaya think?

French Doctor Who Parody

My friend posted this link on my facebook wall yesterday. I found it quite amusing and decided to share it with y'all. It's a (France) french parody of the current Doctor and Amy who were called to the rescue. It's pretty amusing. Enjoy! Oh, and there is also an Oh Land video because this song has been stuck in my head for the last few days and it might as well be in your head too :)

Doctor Who Parody: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bwgan/french-doctor-who-lpl

 

Oh Land - Son of a Gun

The Decorated Cookie (a blog)

About a month ago, I came across a blog as I was searching the net for some yummy treats to make. I just happened to find the site The Decorated Cookie. I LOVE IT!!! Honestly, if you are looking for awesome recipes and ideas for baking or making candy goods, this is definitely the place for you. It is so easy to navigate and very well ogranized. Everything just looks so delicious and I admit, I am guilty of a little mouth drool now and then.

Because Halloween is coming up, I was looking at the different treats I could attempt. There were things like chocolate spiders, zombie marshmallows (which are actually pretty cute), ghost and monster cookies, and so much more! (As you can probably tell, I'm terribly excited - I have the biggest sweet tooth ever).

Aren't those the most delicious things you've seen all day!!! source

The author has a ton of experience in the cookie decorating industry and always seems inspired by her creations. She has also published a few books, with a new one on the way next year.

Here's a link to the Halloween/fall treat ideas. Happy baking :D

Overwhelming

I never would have thought second year university to be overwhelming. But as I start this second week of school, I realize that indeed, it can be. This is only the sixth day of courses and there seems to be so much to do. I have six different courses and two tutorials this semester, - with only one in English (an environmental geography course of all things) - and all the reading everything is adding up. Not to mention that I want to spend time my friends who live in residence and elsewhere and do lots of the random stuff that my college puts on. And I can't forget the extracurriculars, many of which I have shown interest in but schedules just like to conflict with each. It seems like there is never enough time to do everything that needs to be done. I have barely spent any time at home the past few weeks and because my family all have random schedules, I feel like I will see even less of them.


At this point, I feel like all I can do is try to push through so my head doesn't explode. I can tell you that trying to read 100 pages of Spanish linguistics isn't a helluva lot of fun, considering I've really have no clue what I'm reading, but I guess it's gotta be done. That's what I've come to realize. You just gotta do what you gotta do - and the sooner the better.

Hopefully I can learn to manage time better and maybe add a job (-_-) on top of everything, because being broke isn't fun. I also want to keep up with blog posts. It's been a while, but I think doing something where I can be creativly free and is not in French or Spanish, will help keep me sane.

But on a less stressed note, I hope everyone's school year has been off to a great start :) Good luck!

Ain't my school pretty? But looks can be deceiving - it's hardcore...

50BC Book Reviews #2

Greek's cooler than English

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling (****): Recently I decided to start reading the Harry Potter series since the movies were over and I don't feel any pressure to read them. I'm one of those people who started reading the books but then saw the movies and never finished the series. I only made it through half of the Chamber of Secrets because I saw the movie and the spiders freaked me out so much that I didn't want to finish the book. Well that was years ago and I'm glad I decided have another go at them. Surprisingly, (or unsurprisingly depending on your HP beliefs), I really enjoyed the first book. I felt like I was starting something pretty cool but enjoying it for what I wanted it to be and not what others expected (pretty deep for a book eh?). I really like the storyline, and although I know what will happen in general, I'm excited to see the differences between the movie and books and understand the whole Harry Potter world in a different way.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (****): I really enjoyed this one as well - more than the first. As each of the events went by, I could picture the movies scenes in head. At times it bugs me that when you read a book and see a movie, the actor(s) become the face you visualize when you read. But in the case of Harry Potter, who is so iconic, I don't mind and wouldn't be able to picture anyone else anyways. The first book was more like an introduction to the wizard world and I felt like this book was a chance to get to explore the characters a little more and expanded on subplot that I'm sure will make an appearance later in the books. I'm excited to read the next one!

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley (****): This book was actually recommended to me by Little Orange Jeep Girl awhile ago and I finally got around to reading it. And I am very glad I did. The basic story line follows a girl with a large port-wine stain on her face and some of her difficulties with family and friends. But it is actually much deeper than just a story about beauty. The family aspect of her life, with her controlling and abusive father and her compliant mother is very intriguing. But one of my favourite parts is the romantic aspect between the main character and a boy she meets haphazardly. It is truly a captivating book that brings many surprises as well as thought provoking questions and thoughts.

The Guinea Pig Diaries by A.J. Jacobs (***1/2): I was quite pleased with this book. It was my first time reading one of Jacobs books, although I have heard about his other two books The Know-It-All and The Year of Living Biblically. The book consists of experiments that Jacobs performs in different aspects of his life, usually for a month at the time. For example, in one chapter he outsources his entire to India, including everything from arguing with his wife to emailing his boss. It is a very amusing and funny book that I read pretty quickly. I'm anxious to read his others.

Nobody Move by Denis Johnson (**): Oh God, I hated that book. I only finished it out of pure dedication. I don't even know how to describe it. *throw my hands up in frustration* I bought it for three reasons: 1) it cost 2 bucks (I was born cheap), 2) the outer cover had bullet holes and big font, 3) the cover said National Book Award winner. Boy was I disappointed to learn that it was not this book, but another one of the author's, that had won the award. -_- And this happened to be the book he wrote in a different style. My dislike is deep, in case you have not noticed. It is an organized crime sorta book, but on a small scale. Some things that I didn't like were: the "scenes" (the proper literary term escapes me) - they were choppy; the plot was hard to follow at times; there were hardly any transitions from one paragraph to another; there were no chapters, just four sections; I could go on really, but I think you get the point. It got two stars because the plot concept was decent enough.

A Painted Television? Why Not!

A while ago I decided that I wanted to paint my T.V., because I have this unfortunate habit of not leaving things as they are. My first step (about four months ago) was to tape up the TV with painter's tape. I have no artistic talent when it comes to painting so I usually just stick finger painting or abstract art becuase it sounds legit.

Before

I used basic acrylic paints and did multiple layers. Originally I had wanted to paint in bright or neon colours, but I never really thought about it before I started paint and didn't feel like heading out to the store. It looked like a retro 70s pattern before I took the tape off.

And volia!!

the left side

the top

the right side

If you look closely, you can see that a lot of the edges aren't straight, that some painted seeped underneath. Also, I used this really ugly neon orange that looked horrendous, so I painted grey over it. But the original orange is still visible. I'm happy with the way it turned out though. I'm probably going to seal it with a spray to make it glossy and clean the edges up, but it looks pretty good to me :)

50 Book Challenge (#5)

I'm half way there! :)

Read/Listened to:

Born Red by Gao Yuan (*****)

Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (audio book) (****)

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (****)

Rosaura a las diez by Marco Denevi (in my Spanish Lit class - very good book) (****)

Paper Towns by John Green (actually went out and bought it after I read it) (**** 1/2)

The Gospel According to Peanuts by Robert L. Short (***1/2)

The Art of War by Sun Tzu (ebook) (***)

Looking For Alaska by John Green (****)

The Associate by John Grisham (***)

Talk Thai: The Adventures of Buddhist Boy by Ira Sukrungruang (***)

Freakin' Fabulous: How to Dress, Speak, Behave, Eat, Drink, Entertain, Decorate, and Generally be better than everyone else by Clinton Kelly (I felt terribly unfabulous after reading this) (***)

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton (*** 1/2)

Lemonade Mouth by Mark Peter Hughes (*** 1/2) (I saw the Disney movie about a week ago so I already knew what was going to happen)

Airframe by Michael Crichton (****)

Next by Michael Crichton (****)

The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa (*****) 
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (*****)
Elixir by Hilary Duff (***)
Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (****)
The Alcoholic by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel  (graphic novel) (***)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling (****)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (****)
North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley (****)
The Guinea Pig Diaries by A.J. Jacobs (***1/2)
Nobody Move by Denis Johnson (**)

Reading:

Dreams from My Father - A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
Canada's Prime Ministers - Macdonald to Trudeau under the direction of Ramsay Cook and Réal Bélanger

To Read (in no particular order):

The Great Gatsby  by Francis Scott Fitzgerald (ebook)

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
The Confession by John Grisham 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Rebel Angels by Libba Bray

25/50

As of August 31st 2011

ratings out of 5 stars (*****)