Big bundle of nerves

So, this weekend I am going to spend most of my time preparing for my oral presentation in Arabic class. I am so nervous, even though I am using words I know pretty well. I am really good at the writing and reading comprehension but the speaking, especially when everyone will be staring at me, is still a little bit of an issue for me. We are getting graded on the comprehension of our presentation to our peers, grammatical structure of our sentences, and pronunciation. I am really the most worried about pronouncing words because I still have this tendency to say things the way I would in Persian. And trust me, there is a difference between vowels in Arabic and in Persian, as my professor tells me on occasion. Plus, I have to make a powerpoint presentation with pictures and such because I am talking about my family and friends. Wish me some luck.

Also, if all goes well, I will have a new laptop by the end of the weekend. Yippee!

Queens and Playlists

Last week, or possibly the week before that, I read two books on my trip to and from Montreal. That's what happens when you get stuck in O'Hare International for way too many hours.

Queen of Babble in the Big City picks up not long after Queen of Babble ended. Lizzie has moved to NYC and miraculously ends up moving in with her darling boyfriend Luke. But Lizzie's life is far from perfect; she can't imagine life without Luke but she might have to when she sticks her foot in it one too many times. She's got one too many jobs and the job she loves she doesn't exactly get paid to do. Also, Lizzie's friends aren't having the best time of it either. But otherwise, things are great.

I thought this was a great follow-up to the first book. I can only hope that Meg is writing another book in this series because this one left us with quite the cliffhanger.


I also read Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (and how awesome is it that David and John Green are getting their book published? Really awesome!) Anyway, this book is the story of one night in the lives of Nick and Norah. See, Nick is a musician with this ex-girlfriend that he's still a bit hung up on. So, he asks Norah to be his "five minute" girlfriend to shake off Tris (his ex). Only Nick doesn't know that Tris and Norah are friends. Or that Norah is sort of the girl of his dreams. And Norah's a bit floored too.

I thought this book was pretty great. Cohn and Levitahn take turns writing chapters with Cohn writing Norah's chapters and Levithan writing Nick's. I liked how they made the night so long but that you got to see into the minds of both main characters and understand where they were coming from. This book has a lot of the cursing but that doesn't bother me.

Books Read in 2007:

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist ~ Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Queen of Babble in the Big City ~ Meg Cabot
Devilish ~ Maureen Johnson
Eclipse ~ Stephenie Meyer
New Moon ~ Stephenie Meyer
Twilight ~ Stephenie Meyer
The Key to the Golden Firebird ~ Maureen Johnson
Enna Burning ~ Shannon Hale
Fool Moon ~ Jim Butcher
Queen of Babble ~ Meg Cabot
The Goose Girl ~ Shannon Hale
The Princess Academy ~ Shannon Hale
Avalon High ~ Meg Cabot
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ~ J.K. Rowling
A Thousand Splendid Suns ~ Khaled Hosseini
The Bermudez Triangle ~ Maureen Johnson
Fray ~ Joss Whedon
The Dragonriders of Pern ~ Anne McCaffery
Embroideries ~ Marjane Satrapi
13 Little Blue Envelopes ~ Maureen Johnson
The Cider House Rules ~ John Irving
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ~J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ~ J.K. Rowling
The Good Men: A Novel of Heresy ~ Charmaine Craig
An Abundance of Katherines ~ John Green
The Count of Monte Cristo ~ Alexandre Dumas
Looking For Alaska ~ John Green
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest ~ Stephen Ambrose
Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times ~ edited by Sara Nikles
Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood ~ Ann Brashares

More on the WGA strike

I always knew that I totally loved Sandra Oh. But this speech makes my love even more real! Share; it's fair!

A to Z cds: Day 60

I bet you all thought that I had forgotten about listening to all of my cds. I haven't it's just taking me a lot longer than it took good ol' GMYH. And now, on with the list...

281. Misfits ~ The Kinks (last listen: 1-3 years ago): I bought this cd because it was on one of those lists of cds that everyone should own. And honestly, I have tried to like this disc. But it's just not my thing. I apologize to Kinks fans everywhere. I can see why people like their music but I won't be getting tickets for their reuniting tour.

282. Kiss My Ass: Classic KISS Regrooved ~ Various Artists (last listen: 5+ years): I am not ashamed to say that I bought this cd basically because of the Garth Brooks cover of "Hard Luck Woman". My Garth love was fairly well documented earlier in the year. What I can say is that whoever thought that Toad the Wet Sprocket should cover Rock -N- Roll All Night is a freaking moron. How a band can take one of the most essential rock songs in the history of music and make it sound whiny and pathetic is just a travesty. Shame on you Toad the Wet Sprocket. Shame. On. You.

283. When I Look In Your Eyes ~ Diana Krall (last listen: 1-3 years): I got into Diana Krall my first year at IU because Squater was in desperate need to find her cover of Besame Mucho and then listen to it 4,000 times. In my living. Since we lived together. But I have to say that he was right. She has a killer voice. I really dig her cover of "I've Got You Under My Skin."

284. Christmas Songs ~ Diana Krall (last listen: 1 year): I got this two years ago for Christmas. Yes, I like listening to Christmas music. So, shoot me. But again, Diana does her covers with such class that you sort of forget these are Christmas songs and just hear her smooth voice.

285. Every Time You Say Goodbye ~ Alison Krauss and Union Station (last listen: 0-3 months)

286. New Favorite ~ Alison Krauss and Union Station (last listen: 0-3 months): What can I say about Alison Krauss? I love her. I love everything she does. Her voice is amazing. Her fiddle skills are superb. I saw her in concert almost three years ago and it ranks up there in the top five of all concerts I have been to. And I've been to a lot of concerts. Anyway, she can kind of do no wrong in my eyes. My pal Robyn once mentioned that she thinks Alison does too many Jesus songs but I think her tradition of one per record is fine. Her records are a reflection of who she is and even if her songs are about things I don't personally believe in I can still appreciate their beauty.

You Just Got Slapped - How I Met Your Mother

Dear Sky Gods,

Thank you for whoever came up with the idea and then the follow through of this Slapbet song. I was laughing so hard I was crying last night. You have no idea how much I love this.

Cheers,

Jalehlabad

Fuck you, Blaise.

So, an old IU pal emailed me from out of the blue today. Sam asked if I had read Blaise's new book. Of course, I hadn't because I try not to read things by blowhards who can barely deign to look upon their graduate students. Since Blaise's new book is about living in B'ton I wrongly assumed that the passage was about BCMRL (our once illustrious racquetball league). Alas, the post was actually a rip on my "narcissistic" blog. Quoting Blaise,

Personal bloggers - reflecting the geekiness of this sub-culture - go in for silly, if harmless, names and titles. Sampo; the Journal of Abundant Media; popou's Journal; Metajaleh; Thus Spake the Princess...

...Metajaleh begins: "Well, I know I haven't posted in a while. Mostly that is due to having not a lot to say...Man, I have a lot of shit to do...the rest of my life is pretty boring." in which case why bother blogging? Why, dear Metajaleh, inflict such narcissistic ramblings on the world-at-large? What desperate craving for attention is indicated by this kind of online outpouring?

You know, I wish I had answers to his questions because most likely when I wrote a post like that on my old blog it was because one of my friends commented on the fact that I hadn't posted in a while. Also, I wonder too about the parts he cut out. I deleted that blog long ago and yet it still comes back to haunt me. I notice he also chose one of the more mundane posts and not some of my old posts dealing with Mid-East politics. As for my clearly desperate craving for attention, much like I suppose Blaise would categorize this blog posting, well, isn't that what 99.9% of the social aspect of the internet is about? Isn't it about us wanting connections and attention from people. Isn't it, at least partially, about staying in touch with old friends and, on occasion, making new friends. Christ, I am no dean of the school of library and information science and I can figure that out.

I know I shouldn't let him bother me. I mean, I was at the school for two years and he wouldn't know me from Eve, even though I checked out books to him on an almost weekly basis; he could barely take the time to look at us measly library workers. But for some reason it does bother me. Who the fuck is he to pass judgment on me?

I also find it interesting that all those blogs he lists were once listed on something called the SLIS blogroll, which I did not ask to join. If I had known Blaise was going to mine my blog for his research I would have told Elijah to suck it.

I know it's mundane and narcissistic but I will be posting about my trip to Montreal soon. If you all can stand it, that is.

The Office Heroes

I am heading to Canada tomorrow morning for a conference. I won't be back until next week. So, enjoy this awesome Heroes/The Office mashup while I am gone.

Devilish

Instead of doing Arabic homework last night, I read Maureen Johnson's Devilish. This is the fourth book by Johnson I have read this year. I have to say this is my least favorite of the four books. It's not that this book was bad; in fact I found the story to be engaging but it comes down to the fact that I felt this book ended in an odd place. It seemed to me like there needed to be another chapter to sort of tie up some loose ends.

Anyway, the story. Jane goes to an all girls school. She's super smart and pretty much has it together, although she's not quite over being dumped by her ex-boyfriend. Jane's best friend, Allison, is kind of a spazz. Well, she is until one day she comes to school completely remade and has no time for Jane. Then Jane discovers that Ally's sold her soul to a demon. Can Jane help her friend defeat evil or will Ally become a demon?

Books Read in 2007:

Devilish ~ Maureen Johnson
Eclipse ~ Stephenie Meyer
New Moon ~ Stephenie Meyer
Twilight ~ Stephenie Miller
The Key to the Golden Firebird ~ Maureen Johnson
Enna Burning ~ Shannon Hale
Fool Moon ~ Jim Butcher
Queen of Babble ~ Meg Cabot
The Goose Girl ~ Shannon Hale
The Princess Academy ~ Shannon Hale
Avalon High ~ Meg Cabot
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ~ J.K. Rowling
A Thousand Splendid Suns ~ Khaled Hosseini
The Bermudez Triangle ~ Maureen Johnson
Fray ~ Joss Whedon
The Dragonriders of Pern ~ Anne McCaffery
Embroideries ~ Marjane Satrapi
13 Little Blue Envelopes ~ Maureen Johnson
The Cider House Rules ~ John Irving
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ~J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ~ J.K. Rowling
The Good Men: A Novel of Heresy ~ Charmaine Craig
An Abundance of Katherines ~ John Green
The Count of Monte Cristo ~ Alexandre Dumas
Looking For Alaska ~ John Green
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest ~ Stephen Ambrose
Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times ~ edited by Sara Nikles
Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood ~ Ann Brashares

Standing up for Writers

Y'all know how much I love television. Hell, a good third of the posts on this blog are about telly. So, when I heard about the impending writers strike (well, back when it was impending) I was a little scared. Cos, I love me some telly.

Now that the strike is on, I have to say that much as I didn't want it to happen; I am really glad the writers are on strike. This video does a great explanation on the issues. I hope the strike doesn't last much longer but it's necessary. I think it's only fair to adequately compensate the folks who bring so much joy to my life. I am behind you writers and I am glad to see that so many others in the biz they call show are behind you too.

A to Z cds: Day 59

275. Songs in A Minor ~ Alicia Keys (last listen: 3-5 years): Didn't most girls buy this cd? Fallen is still a terrific song.

276. Devil Without A Cause ~ Kid Rock (last listen: 5+ years): All this cd reminds me of is going to the tanning beds in preparation for my sister's wedding. My sister got married the year this cd was pretty big and we had to wear these backless dresses. I didn't want to be the pale girl next to all of her super tan friends. So, I hit the tanning beds hard that summer. I would go cook myself every morning and listen to this cd. And boy did I ever get tan. I think that is the tannest I've been in my life. I look at those pictures and I am amazed. You know, the first couple of songs aren't so bad but then once you hit around song four you realize that all these songs sound the same. And they aren't all that great. Although, I still like Badwitdaba.

277. King of the Blues Guitar ~ Albert King (last listen: 3-5 years)

278. The Ultimate Collection ~ Albert King (last listen: 5+ years)

279. Born Under A Bad Sign & Other Hits ~ Albert King (last listen: 3-5 years): Albert King is the man. This guy can play the blues; he discovered Stevie Ray Vaughn. He's a musical genius and most people have no idea who he is. I love listening to him play the guitar and sing his amazingly great blues songs.

280. In Session ~ Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughn (last listen: 3-5 years): This disc is fabulous. Basically, it's Albert and Stevie on stage playing their songs and talking about how they met. I highly recommend this disc.

New Moon and Eclipse

Well, in the last four days I have read over 1,000 pages. I finished books two and three in the Twilight series. I still am enthralled by this series. I am now eagerly awaiting the fourth book due out some time in 2008. But for now I must get down to business.

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer continues pretty much where Twilight left off. New Moon leads off with a terrible occurance. Bella is unintentionally harmed and the Cullen family, including Edward, leave Forks. This is beyond painful for Bella and her heartache is palpable. However, in time she enters the world again and bonds with Jacob. Their friendship is sweet and sticky. I don't mean that in a gross way but I do mean that for Jacob it's not just friendship. He loves Bella. And I know Bella begins to have more than friendly feelings for him but life intervenes. This time Bella must save Edward. Meanwhile, some mysterious wolves are roaming the wooded areas around Forks and the reservation. Is it the wolves causing all the havoc or something much more dangerous?

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer is the third installation in this series. This portion of our saga deals with Bella's choices. Will Bella choose Edward or Jacob? Will Bella become a vampire or stay human? Will Bella live until graduation or will a roving band of vampires or the Volturi get to her first? Will Bella be able to bridge the gaps between vampire and werewolf? I think many of these questions do get answers and they might not be the answers one expects. I often found myself torn between Jacob and Edward. I also see now what some of Bill's pals meant by Edward's controlling ways. Although, I do think he was able to work through those by the end of the book. I mean, even vampires can get jealous sometimes. Can we say Angel and Spike? But now I am just left wanting more from this series. Can it please me 2008 already?

Books Read in 2007:

Eclipse ~ Stephenie Meyer
New Moon ~ Stephenie Meyer
Twilight ~ Stephenie Miller
The Key to the Golden Firebird ~ Maureen Johnson
Enna Burning ~ Shannon Hale
Fool Moon ~ Jim Butcher
Queen of Babble ~ Meg Cabot
The Goose Girl ~ Shannon Hale
The Princess Academy ~ Shannon Hale
Avalon High ~ Meg Cabot
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ~ J.K. Rowling
A Thousand Splendid Suns ~ Khaled Hosseini
The Bermudez Triangle ~ Maureen Johnson
Fray ~ Joss Whedon
The Dragonriders of Pern ~ Anne McCaffery
Embroideries ~ Marjane Satrapi
13 Little Blue Envelopes ~ Maureen Johnson
The Cider House Rules ~ John Irving
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ~J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ~ J.K. Rowling
The Good Men: A Novel of Heresy ~ Charmaine Craig
An Abundance of Katherines ~ John Green
The Count of Monte Cristo ~ Alexandre Dumas
Looking For Alaska ~ John Green
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest ~ Stephen Ambrose
Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times ~ edited by Sara Nikles
Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood ~ Ann Brashares

Twilight

Twilight by Stephenie Miller is, quite possibly, the most kick ass ya lit I have read all year. Bill is right. This is the perfect blend of teen romance and drama. Plus, vampires! You all know how much I love stores with the vamps.

I really can't recommend this book highly enough. And honestly, this isn't really young adult literature in my mind. Even though the characters are high schoolers the story itself is much more adult skewed. I would not give this book to my niece. Or at least not until she's a few years older.

For those of you who love Buffy, this book doesn't conform to the normal vampire folklore. For example, these vamps can be in the sun; crosses don't effect them, etc. But like Buffy, you have this gorgeous vampire attracted to the life and vitality of a beautiful, human girl.

This is a romance I can get behind. I am waiting on pins and needles for the person who has book two in this three book series to return the sequel New Moon. I've even recalled the book because I cannot stand the wait.

Books Read in 2007:

Twilight ~ Stephenie Miller
The Key to the Golden Firebird ~ Maureen Johnson
Enna Burning ~ Shannon Hale
Fool Moon ~ Jim Butcher
Queen of Babble ~ Meg Cabot
The Goose Girl ~ Shannon Hale
The Princess Academy ~ Shannon Hale
Avalon High ~ Meg Cabot
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ~ J.K. Rowling
A Thousand Splendid Suns ~ Khaled Hosseini
The Bermudez Triangle ~ Maureen Johnson
Fray ~ Joss Whedon
The Dragonriders of Pern ~ Anne McCaffery
Embroideries ~ Marjane Satrapi
13 Little Blue Envelopes ~ Maureen Johnson
The Cider House Rules ~ John Irving
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ~J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ~ J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ~ J.K. Rowling
The Good Men: A Novel of Heresy ~ Charmaine Craig
An Abundance of Katherines ~ John Green
The Count of Monte Cristo ~ Alexandre Dumas
Looking For Alaska ~ John Green
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest ~ Stephen Ambrose
Drinking, Smoking, and Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times ~ edited by Sara Nikles
Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood ~ Ann Brashares