Allergic to My Hometown

That's right, I belive this to be true...Everytime I go home I start sniffling and having a runny nose. But then I come back to UNC for a few days and I'm back to normal. I'm just now getting back to normal from this past weekend where allergies were the worst so far. The main reason I conclude this is I think I remember reading somewhere that Greensboro had one of the highest concentrations of pollen in the country; figures the one thing it's known for adversely affects me. I guess I'll just have to get drugged up everytime I return from now on until allergy season is up...

Big Brother 11 - JORDAN WINS!

So i'm like two weeks late in posting this, but I'm excited to say that Jordan won Big Brother 11. Though not the strongest player, I'm glad she won over Natalie. I will also give cudos to her strategy: she layed low for most of the game but won when she needed to, especially in the final HOH competition to secure her place in the final two! At first, I thought for sure she would lose against Natalie, but for whatever reason the majority of the jury just wasn't buying what she was selling. GO JORDAN, and I can't wait for next summer for another exciting (and sometimes irritating) season of Big Brother! :)

Flash Forward

So this past Thursday, ABC's highly-promoted and anticipated Flash Forward premiered. The show's basic plot involves everyone in the world blacking out at the same time for 2 minutes 17 seconds. During these blackouts, people saw glimpses of their futures, specifically what they were doing at a certain time of the day in 6 months time. The show was very interesting and kept your attention throughout the whole hour without a boring moment. I also liked how it started with a "what the heck is going on" moment and then "flashed backwards" to show exactly what happened. The only shortcoming seems to be the show's premise; can they make it last/stretch for a whole series? I wondered the same back when Lost premiered and it's on its sixth season now (also on ABC) so maybe they can find a way. I would definitely encourage others to watch the show if the preview below seems at all enticing...

Crazy Busy

so i don't feel like doing a normal post so I'll just complain for like the thousandth time that this has been/is a crazy busy week, I'm so exhausted and I still got 2 days...let's see so far I had my first college test Tuesday in Chemistry (always fun) and today a test in Psyc. After i took my test, i rushed to finish my lab report for chem and do the pre-lab quiz. I then have a paper due tomorrow and for friday I have like a million pages to read for a reading quiz and a revision of my engl essay for this class (no biggie compared to this other stuff)...so yeah the end, I'm tired and can't wait for friday! hopefully i'll be goin home to go to my high school's homecoming (ok not that excited about the actual game or going back to that school, but seeing everyone makes it fun!)...the end, haha

P!nk's 2009 VMA Performance

I hadn't heard about P!nk's performance at Sunday's VMAs, so this morning I watched a recorded video of it on youtube and was surprised by what I saw...this performance for me definately tops some of the others I mentioned; how can you top singing while flying in the air and doing acrobatics? That's right - you can't! So a great performance from P!nk, but idk why this wasn't mentioned with some of the other performances in news that I read about the show...watch it below

P!nk - New Music - More Music Videos

p.s. I also hadn't heard about Lil Mama going on stage during Jay-Z's performance...idk what's wrong with these people jumping on stage, messing with other people's moments; do they have no sense?

2009 MTV Video Music Awards

Although I didn't get to watch them live, I certainly heard about it all reading people's facebook statuses during the show. Instead, I only watched the "highlighted clips" provided on MTV.com . From this, the highlights of Sunday's show were as follows:

First off, obviously Kanye West's award show rant (yet another one) is the hottest topic. But his antics have gotten old, and he just needs to get over himself (cuz he definately ain't the next Michael Jackson, as he previously claimed). See below as he takes over Taylor Swift's moment

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/435995/taylor-swift-wins-best-female-video.jhtml#id=1620605

The Michael Jackson tribute was phenomenal as professional choreographers came out to honor the talented dancer. As well, in the last half, Janet Jackson came out to sing and dance along side the video of her late brother to their 1996 hit "Scream" (one of my favorite songs)

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/435991/michael-jackson-tribute.jhtml#id=1620605

Lady GaGa (as always) kept things interesting...and confusing. Although I understand the theme of the effects of fame, especially now with stalkerish paparazzi, I didn't realize she was going for a "Princess Diana" story until I read about it. I'll give her points though, she definately knows how to keep us guessing; the ending was great though

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/435679/paparazzi-live.jhtml#id=1620605

Lastly, Beyonce's performance of her worldwide smash hit "Single Ladies". As great as it was, I've seen her perform this song a thousand times on tv, and though she changed it up a little bit, i still was expecting something more. However, as always she's a dedicated and great performer all around. As well, she was classy in later giving Taylor Swift her time to shine by letting the country star finish her thank you speech after Beyonce had won the Video of the Year.

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/435683/single-ladies-live.jhtml#id=1620605

Overall, it seemed to be a pretty good show from the clips I've seen and MTV definately received the attention it was hoping for after the show was over (though the majority had to do with an unplanned moment, but that's just how the VMAs go!).

p.s. for whatever reaosn, blogger was letting me embed the videos, idk why, so just click the link and watch!

BIG BROTHER 12!

That's right!, the reality competition has been renewed for a 12th season to begin next semester, as a new batch of houseguest begin vying for $500,000. In case you didn't already know, I've become a big fan of the show since the past few seasons and cannot wait for a new one next summer! The CBS show always has some tricks up its sleeve (from bringing together two siblings who were unaware of one another, twins playing the game, and this year the houseguests starting out in high school cliques), and I can't wait to see what it has in store for us! I think they should bring out a celebrity edition of the show to spark some more interest; the version has already been tried out in the UK's edition of the show.

p.s. with only 1 of the "good guys" left in the final 3, i'm rooting for Jordan all the way! The live finale comes on thursday, will def. be tuning in! (below is Jordan with her proclaimed "bff" in the house, Jeff who has been evicted)

Sorority Row (2009)

This afternoon, I went to see the 2009 slasher flick Sorority Row. Apparently, the film is a "loose" remake of an older film with a similar plot. The movie reads like a flashback to the 90's where a group of sorority girls and one of their brothers accidentally kill one of their own sisters through an attempt to play a prank. Foolishly, the group deicdes to cover the murder up and dump the body. 8 months later, the girls are graduating and spending one last night as sisters in their sorority house with a party. However, bodies start turning up and mysterious texts haunt the girls as an unidentified killer (has their sister come back from the dead?) seems to be saying "i know what you did last...fall?", if you catch my drift. While the body pile-up gets a little too big for my taste, the movie keeps a good pace and has some witty lines that give some much needed humor relief to the constant suspense. Although nothing new or groundbreaking, the film was enjoyable for what it was and kept the audience guessing as to what might occur next. The only problem was the seeming revelation of the killer, but not really-so then the real revelation came, leaving some confusion in my mind. To end on a positive note though, who knew there were so many ways you could kill someone with a tire iron? ;)

The Fray LIVE 9/8/09

This past Tuesday, 9/8, I went to go see The Fray live in concert in Durham. To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of The Fray; I'm more of a casual listener but I do like their albums though I don't listen to them a lot. Thus, I was excited for the show but was unsure of how much I would enjoy it not being an avid fan who knows every song. However, the show was amazing, and though I didn't know every song, I still enjoyed myself. The best parts of the show were when the band performed their big hit singles and you could see everyone standing up and hear everyone in the audience singing the words (sometimes even hearing them over the lead singer); these moments, with songs such as "How to Save a Life", "You Found Me", "Never Say Never", and "Over My Head", sent chills. I have to say that I'm a bigger fan of The Fray having seen them live, now wanting to go back and listen to all the album tracks they performed.

*I should also mention the band's inclusion of their cover of Kanye West's "Heartless" as the first part in their encore; I had already heard their cover before, but once again it was even better live!

"An Abundance of Katherines"

To be honest, I got this book for $5 @Barnes & Noble awhile ago and got it because hey, it was $5 and it sounded interesting enough. However, I started reading it @the end of summer and just finished it and came to really enjoy the book, and is definately a novel I would recommend to anyone.

Published in 2006, the young adult novel by John Green, An Abundance of Katherines, tells the story of Colin Singleton. Now what's so special about Colin? Well, that's the same thing the 18 year-old recent high school graduate and supposed "washed-up child prodgiy" is asking himself after being dumped by Katherine the XIX...yes, the guy has got a thing for Katherines, and being dumped by them-19 times to be exact. With this recent dumping and questioning of who he is, Colin and his best friend, Hasssan, decide to take a road trip. The excursion leads them to Gutshot, Tennessee where they meet a girl named Lindsey who eventually becomes their guide to the city. During the course of the summer in Gutshot, the teenagers learn about friendships, relationships, and what it means to be famous or popular. Most of all, they learn that mattering involves what matters to you. As well, Colin realizes the revelation that the future is unpredictable and unstoppable, and that's exactly what makes it so enjoyable. The novel is a great read for both guys and girls with its great humor and insight into relationships and the young adults mind, mixed in with a little bit of romance and heartbreak.

One hilarious and memorable line: "Listen, sitzpinkler*...(*footnote: A German word, slang for "wimp," that literally means "a man who sits to pee." Those wacky Germans--they've got a word for everything.)"

A D A M

As we're talking about movie trailers in class, I thought about a movie I had seen this past Saturday called Adam. The movie stars Hugh Dancy (most recently in Confessions of a Shopaholic - fortunately, I haven't had to sit [suffer] through that) and Rose Byrne (whose breakout has been her leading role on the FX hit show Damages). The film tells the story of two neighbors who meet and begin a relationship, and the effects in brings into both of their lives (one of whom has Asperger's Syndrome). I enjoyed the film because it wasn't quite the typical rom-com as it was depicted in the trailer, but instead a drama about how we affect other people's lives and sometimes it takes seeing from someone else's perespective to gain a fresh look on things. As well, the film shines a light on a syndrome that many know little about. See the trailer below:

to read more about Asperger's Syndrome visit http://www.aspergers.com/ or google the disorder