Top 5 Records Presents - Obligatory End of the Year Post!

Wow, where did December go? It feels like finals week has just ended, but somehow it's the last day of the year and all. When school is out, it just feels like time has no meaning. I make the same to-do list for days and days, but just end up sleeping forever and then staying up all night on the internet. XD But one thing on my to-do list has a deadline, and here we are at the end of the year, so I can actually check this one off: End of the Year Blog Post. :D

Top Five Movies of 2010
I haven't actually seen a lot of the ones people keep raving about, so these are the top 5 of the ones I saw.

5. How To Train Your Dragon - release date: March 26, 2010

This was such an awesome movie, and not just for little kids, either. It was well-done, hilarious, and heart-warming. Overall it was a great movie, and a good time for everybody. :D

4. The Lovely Bones - release date: January 15, 2010

I went into this one expecting the worst, since I loved the book on which it was based, but it did an incredible job telling the story. The acting was pretty amazing - Stanley Tucci, has he ever been anything than amazing in anything he's done? - and the special effects and camera work were breathtaking. It was such a beautiful movie.

3. Kick-A** - release date: April 16, 2010

This was a freakin' awesome movie - kids being irl superheroes, a little girl just generally being a bamf, THIS GUY:

Yeah. Look at him. :D I was pretty decently pleased with this movie. Apparently they're making a sequel, though, and I don't know how I feel about that. =/

2. Scott Pilgrim VS The World - release date: August 13, 2010

Um, how freaking awesome is this movie? Answer: the most. :D It was so funny, and so sweet, and RIDICULOUSLY RIDICULOUS, and nerdtastic, and beautifully put together... I'm definitely buying this movie at some point. And also, Michael Cera! Come on! It's MICHAEL CERA.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 - release date: November 19, 2010

You guys knew I'd pick Harry Potter for number one, didn't you? XD But seriously, this movie was the best movie of the whole series. They're all crap, especially the sixth one, but this one was... nearly perfect. It was heart-wrenching in all the right places, they got most of the story correct, the acting was even decent in parts. There was a scene, guys - there was a scene where I didn't hate DanRad. I KNOW. But it happened. There were even a couple of moments when EmWat was all right. And yes, there were a few things I would change, because they can never just get the freaking movies right, I mean come on, the book is RIGHT THERE, just READ IT and FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS, you don't even need to write a SCRIPT, but overall, it was a fantastic movie, and I cried forever and ever. But I would have even if it was horrible, so that's not really relevant. XD

RUNNERS-UP:
1. Easy A - oh, man, this movie was fantastic. It's seriously almost tied with HTTYD. I laughed, I was invested in the storyline, the acting was great... it was such a creative premise, too. I enjoyed it immensely.
2. The Social Network - this was a pretty funtimes movie, and it has Michael Cera's older dark-haired brother, Jesse Eisenberg. It was entertaining and well done, but I don't know if I would buy this movie. I might, though. I do love Facebook. :D
3. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief - THIS WAS SUCH AN EPIC MOVIE. I haven't read the books yet, but I intend to because this movie was so awesome. Plus, sexy-Zac-Efron-lookin'-kid, Logan Lerman:

4. Youth In Revolt - not the best movie ever, but entertaining and sweet, plus, you know, Michael Cera. Even better, TWO Michael Ceras and one has a mustache:


Best terrible horror movie of the year - Splice. I don't even.
Runner-up - The Crazies. It was just ridiculous and irritating after a while.


Top 5 Best Albums and/or Bands I Discovered in 2010
I don't really keep up with music like I used to, so I don't pay a whole lot of attention when new albums come out, unless it's a band I'm really into at that moment. And most of those have been wizard rock or internet musicians for the last few months. XD I could probably do a better list if I paid more attention to the music of 2010 and had more time, but if you want to read that kind of post, I'll link you to my friend's blog when he posts it. XD

5. The Bird and the Bee - I don't know a whole lot about this band, other than they are ADORABLE. They came on my last.fm one time, and I was intrigued, so I downloaded their self-titled album, and I kind of love them a lot. :D Her voice is just freaking awesome, and I love how bouncy and adorable their songs are. GOOD TIMES.

4. Portugal. The Man - Their album Church Mouth is the one I'm most familiar with, and it. Is. AWESOME. A couple of friends introduced them to me on a road trip this summer, and I liked what I heard so I got a couple of their albums. They pretty much rock. That is all. :D

3. The Gregory Brothers - The Autotune The News guys! They're a real band, and they're REALLY AWESOME. Their voices are all just amazing, and their EP is five songs of awesomeness. I quite like them. They're a little folksy-bluesy-poppy-rockish, and it's a good time.

2. The Mountain Goats - Thanks, John Green, for turning me on to this band. They are just... basically, if Endless Mike and the Beagle Club and the Decemberists had a baby, it would be the Mountain Goats. Lyics and music like Colin Meloy, voice and style of song like Endless Mike. Oh man, this band is great. :3

1. Ministry of Magic's new album Magic is Might is the best album I have heard all year, probably. I cannot stop listening to it. It's amazing. Not only because I love Harry Potter and I love the Ministry of Magic, but also - the songs are just amazingly written, the music is so good, and it's just a fantastic album. Gah, I love them.

RUNNERS-UP
1. The Black Keys - I was introduced to them at a party this summer, and man, they are cool. The album Brothers is a pretty good album. I really like their voices, as well.
2. Freelance Whales - Darren Criss's brother is in this band, and while that's not the ONLY reason I got their album, it was a little of the reason. ^_^ But seriously, they're SO CUTE. And their music is REALLY good. They also sort of remind me of the Decemberists, maybe if they weren't so depressing and stuck in the 1700s in England (or on ships, as they often are). XD Really good, solid indie rock band.
3. Weezer's new album Hurley, though I haven't listened to it much... I listened to it all the way through a couple of times when I first got it, but haven't really since. But it was very good, and a lot of people have agreed, so I'm putting it on the list. ^_^


Top 5 TV Shows I Watched in 2010

5. Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Oh, Joss. I know I'm like, seven years late or something, but STILL. I wish I'd been a fan when it was on. It's so good - even though I hate half the characters, it's still so funny, so interesting, so well-crafted, so unique... it's definitely one of the best shows that has ever been on television.

4. How I Met Your Mother - Ahhh, this show is soooo gooood. I don't even care what other people say, this show has been consistently awesome since the first season. It's had some not-so-great episodes, but even those were better than most shows' best episodes. I love this show, and I want it to go on forever. :3

3. Dexter - Oh man, Dexter is a great show. It's SO GOOD. I could have lived without season 3, but whatevs, all the rest of it is so brilliant it makes up for it.

2. Doctor Who - I AM SO GLAD I STARTED WATCHING DOCTOR WHOOOO. Oh my god, this SHOW. It is so AWESOME. IT'S RIDICULOUS HOW AWESOME DOCTOR WHO IS. And I'll leave it at that.

1. Community - Probably my favorite show right now, for reals. Even more than Glee or HIMYM, even more than Buffy or Doctor Who. It's SO FUNNY. You guys. SOOO FUUUNNNNYYYY. And so clever and well-written, too, it's not just stupid jokes. All the actors are fantastic, it never feels forced, it's always ridiculous but somehow seems plausible for these people, and it's still got the right amount of drama and romance and all that other stuff. :D It's truly a terrific show, and I hope it stays on the air forever and ever, as well. ^_^

RUNNERS-UP:

1. Glee - I'm not so impressed with the first part of season 2, but there were some excellent episodes, so I'm not going to write it off yet. :D Besides, it still makes me really happy, so. Yeah.
2. The Big Bang Theory - Funny, smart, nerdy, at times irritating, but mostly adorable and hilarious. This is a GREAT show.
3. Pushing Daisies - Awww, this show was so adorable. :3 I wish there had been more of it - Kristen Chenoweth was brilliant on it, and it was just such a cute premise. I really really liked this show. ^_^

Top 5 Books Read In 2010

5. Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson - This was such a cute book! Maureen Johnson is hilarious and a little crazy, but her books are so well-written, and her characters are so fleshed out, it's awesome. This is a really good sort of coming-of-age quest-type book, one of those teens-on-a-soul-searching-road-trip type books, and it's amazing.

4. Looking For Alaska by John Green - John Green's book are all sort of along the same vein, the teen-taking-a-life-changing-road-trip vein. This one in particular doesn't have a road trip, per se, but it's a kid going away to school and all, so same diff. XD But it so fully embodies the kind of memories and feelings that I want to have from this time in my life, and it's so sad and poignant and John Green is such a good writer... it touched me, okay? It might not be your favorite, but it's mine. ^_^

3. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman - I just finished this a couple of nights ago, and holy crap. It takes a while to get into, but boy howdy, does it keep you turning pages once you do. SO GOOD. It's such an interesting premise, and you get so attached to the characters and so affected by what's going on in the book, you just can't put it down. I'm excited to start the next one.

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Man, this series. THIS SERIES. Definitely the best series I've read in the last year, though really sad and kind of horrible. But it's so fast-paced and thrilling! It's like a quest but without the questing. It's AWESOME.

1. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - The sequel to The Hunger Games, I think I liked it better than the first. It was just so much more intense.

Okay, I can't think of much else to do a list of, and this has gotten really long, and it's 6:15 in the morning, SO... I will leave you with a few of my goals for 2011.

* Edit my NaNo novel and get the free copy from CreateSpace
* Get all As and Bs this semester (a C is okay for Math XD)
* Blog more!
* Finish our Twilight musical and film it
* Stop drinking soda
* Stop eating so much fast food/junk food
* Learn to actually play an instrument
* Start doing yoga and/or dance classes or something active

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope you have a safe and joyous New Year's Eve, and hope 2011 is better than 2010. What are some of your resolutions or goals?

Procrastination Station, indeed.

This is me not working on my NaNo novel! :D YAY.

You guys, I am so far behind, it's not even funny anymore. O_o I don't know if I can make it, but failure is NOT AN OPTION THIS YEAR. I HAVE to do it. I don't even know how I got so far behind!

The first week of November, I had a lot of stuff that I had to do for school. It was pretty hectic. But the very first day, I wrote nearly 2,000 words. I was like "I totally gots this, whatevs" and then I did my schoolwork and didn't touch the document until a week later. =/

That week, I added another 3,000ish words, a few hundred here and there, a thousand that night, and so on. It was progress, slowly and somewhat steadily. But I was still very behind. -_-

And then this past week! Miracles! I finally broke 10,000, even 11,000, and all it took was actually sitting down and writing! Who knew? I hit 11,100 and thought "Well, this was a good night! I'll take a break!" And then I didn't touch it again for four days.

Now I am up to 13,783, when I SHOULD be at 35,000. It is a huge, staggering gap, and I am determined to close it in the next couple of days. I have school tomorrow, but then I have a week off - yes, the holiday and family and working Black Friday, but STILL. SIX WHOLE DAYS in which I can close this gap. AND I SHALL. I am determined.

I can take some solace in knowing a few of my friends have given up, and a few of the people who ALWAYS win are behind, as well. I look to Kristina Horner (of the Parselmouths and ALL CAPS), four time winner, who is currently behind schedule at around 27,000, as my biggest inspiration - she's behind, but she never loses. And there's not so many words between us. I could easily catch up to her in a couple of days. And from there, I could easily catch up to NaNo's suggested word count. And from THERE, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to finishing!

When I look at it like that, it seems easy. But then I think "I'm writing all these words in a blog post when I should be writing my novel!" and I get all discouraged again. XD

Share your NaNo stories! Inspire me! Tell me how awesome I am for trying! Give me comments to read when I should be writing! :D

PS - also, would you guys be interested in a post about my Harry Potter experience? 'Cause I'll probably do it anyway, so just figured I'd ask. XD Do I even still have any readers?

I'm from the future.

Another suggestion from my blog muse was to write a letter to the Erin of the Future. :D So here's my letter to me in ten years.

Dear 32-year-old Erin,

Hello! It's 22-year-old Erin, remember me? I'm just writing to see how you're doing, how life's going and all. I hope it's going pretty well. For Pete's sake, I hope you're done with college. If you're still in school, punch yourself in the face RIGHT NOW. I'm gonna know if you did it or not. =/

Am I married yet? I guess I hope I am - I mean, it doesn't matter if you're still single, I'm sure life is still awesome. But it'd be nice to be married by now. What's our hypothetical husband like? I hope he's handsome and funny, smart but not too much smarter than me, sweet and caring, with interests similar to mine. I'm not even going to ask if he likes Harry Potter, because if you married him, I'm sure he does. Did we have a Harry Potter themed wedding?! Oh, I hope so. If you didn't have a HP-themed wedding, punch yourself in the face again. SERIOUSLY. That's just messed up. (I'm pretty sure we had a Harry Potter themed wedding, or at LEAST some references here and there. Like the bride and groom figurines were in Gryffindor colors or something. Or maybe we served butterbeer. I'm sure we figured something out.)

Are you a famous author yet? Were you famous before your 10-year high school reunion rolled around? If you weren't, I guess it's okay. I was just looking forward to rubbing it in the faces of everyone who was mean to me. XD But hey, as long as we're a famous best-selling author now, I'm cool. And with pronouns like these, how could we/you/I not be?!

I hope we've had a lot of adventures and fun in our lifetime. When the time comes to write a memoir, I hope future-future-me has a LOT to write about. And I hope our life has been full of joy and happiness, love and friendship. I sincerely hope my parents are still around, and my sisters are close and doing well in their future lives. Let me know how things are going with you, 32-year-old self! I look forward to finding out all about you. :D

Love,
22-year-old Erin

Top Five Records - Book Edition :D

I missed yesterday because I was out doing things until like, 11:30, and when I got home I was just too tired. But whatever, I can still Blog Most Days in September! :D

So back in like... June or something, I did a Top 5 list post. One of my favorite movies is High Fidelity, in which John Cusack plays a record store owner who is always making "Top 5" lists. The first post was bands, and this post is going to be books. I will do a Top 5 Books Right Now, and Top 5 Books of All Time. 'Cause that shouldn't be hard, right?! :D

TOP 5 BOOKS RIGHT NOW

1. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
Yes, I am going to make series count as one. It's my blog and I can do what I want. :D But seriously, these books are amazing. They're set in a futuristic-y distopian society, and every year a bunch of kids have to fight to the death for the rest of the country's entertainment and as a reminder that the Capitol can do whatever they want and there's nothing the citizens can do about it. It's amazing, really.

2. The Gemma Doyle series by Libba Bray
Ahhhhh I love these books! They're so good, omg. They're set in 1895 in a girls' finishing school in England, and there's magic and other worlds and monsters, and it's just fabulous. :D I love this series. It's the perfect blend of historical fiction, which I think is a good time, and fantasy, and it's well-written and funny and sad and just... awesome.

3. Paper Towns by John Green
I love John Green a lot, thanks to YouTube, but I hadn't actually read any of his books until just recently. Paper Towns is about a boy who likes a girl and randomly has one incredible night with her, but the girl disappears and leaves a bunch of clues so he can find her, which he does. There's all kinds of message-y things and stuff in it, but mostly it's just a really fun story with really adorable characters. It's got an epic road trip, too, which is always fun. :D

4. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Another book with an epic adventure. I want epic adventures. =/ This girl is basically following her dead aunt's instructions, via the 13 envelopes, for an adventure all around Europe. It's sad and funny and weird and a really good story, and reading all these books about these amazing places and stories just makes the wanderlust worse. =/ But they're still fun.

5. The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
I haven't actually been reading these lately, but a friend of mine is and her talking about it is making me remember how much I love them. :D Another futuristic distopia, and another epic adventure. In a world where everything is computerized, where hoverboards and tracking rings are standard, and plastic surgery is mandated when you turn 16, a couple of kids run away to live in the wilderness to escape the involuntary brain surgery that comes with the operation. They basically just make you completely shallow and idiotic so you don't question the way things are run. Another book series that shows us a completely ridiculous future to sort of put the way we actually live in perspective. It's very good.

Yes, yes I do read a lot of Young Adult fiction. And I like it. And I also read real books, so hush. :D

TOP 5 BOOKS OF ALL TIME

1. Harry freakin' Potter series by JK freakin' Rowling
Do I really need to say anything?

2. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
I love this book. I love the epicness, I love the romanticness, and in recent re-readings, I even love the whole Civil War aspect. It's a classic for a reason. Ugh, it's SO GOOD. I love it. The end.

3. The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Um, YES, I still love these books, and NO, I don't care that they're written for children. I love Laura Ingalls Wilder and I want to be her. These books are awesome - the 1800s were awesome, and I want to live like she did. I just basically love everything about these books as well.

4. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
I don't care what you say, I love this book. I need to read it again, actually. It's one of those books I could read over and over and over and still find new meanings and make new connections. It's just amazing.

5. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
This is one book that will always stick with me, primarily because it's awesome, but also because I had to annotate it for a summer reading assignment and my annotations are AMAZING. :D It was one of the first books about Buddhism that I ever read, so it's special in that way too.

BONUS 6. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
This book is also awesome and amazing and about an epic trip and learning things, and it's another book I could probably read forever and still find new stuff in it every time. Oh my goodness, READ THIS BOOK.

I could probably make a Top 100 book list, but I don't think I'll do that now. I am too hungry now. :D But there you have it, a small sampling of books I like. What are your thoughts on them? I'd particularly like to hear what people think of the ones on the All Time list. Tell me your favorite books and why - go! :D

Blog Every Day in September!

One of my friends challenged me to blog every day in September, so I'm going to give it a go. :D It will probably be boring, and I will probably miss a few days, but who knows - I might make it, and I might even still have readers at the end of it! ^_^

SINCE it is September 1st, a very important day indeed, I am going to talk about something pretty personal, more personal than anything else I think I've mentioned on this blog.

I love Harry Potter.

No, like, REALLY love. Like, go-to-conventions-dressed-like-a-witch love. Listen-to-music-about-Harry-Potter love. Somehow-manage-to-relate-everything-in-my-life-to-Harry-Potter love. I have a Harry Potter related tattoo, and I plan on getting more. I have a special shelf in my room for my Harry Potter books, which includes the series, the two textbooks JKR published, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, six theory-type books about the series, and a textbook from a real college from a course about theology in Harry Potter.

I have another special shelf with all of my memorabilia: my HP glasses, the Marauder's Map, two plastic Snitches, a crystal ball, a Magic-8-Ball-esque Sorting Hat, two packs of HP Uno cards, a stationary set, three collector's bookmarks, two snowglobes, a Time-Turner, the cloth bag from a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, my two House ties, my Gryffindor scarf, and a toothbrush. That doesn't include my 2 wizard rock T-shirts, four cast T-shirts, and two hoodies. Or my Chocolate Frog cards, my House Crest pins, my wristband from the book release party, my posters and wallscroll, my pins from the 7th book release and the 4th DVD release, and my less-awesome HP glasses. Then there's the notebooks and folders, the towel, and the plushie Snitch and Time-Turner necklace hanging from my car's review mirror. Oh, and I almost forgot my replica of Hermione's wand, that actually lights up. AND all the board games (six HP board games, I think?), including Wizard Chess and a LEGO set. Aaaand also the video games. Oh, and my Quidditch goggles! How could I forget those?

Okay, I think that's all. And wow. That's actually... quite a lot of stuff. :D And I'm proud of that, thank you. I am not in the LEAST bit ashamed of owning so much HP stuff, or wanting a full HP sleeve tattoo, or listening to more wizard rock than regular rock. I am proud of my nerddom, and of my obsession with this series. It's a huge part of who I am.

I didn't actually read the books until the third one was coming out, and at first I'd kind of written it off as a silly kids' series. When I read the first two, though, I was immediately hooked. Not as crazy about it as I am now, because the first two books are the least amazing of the seven - they're still awesome, but they're more stand-on-their-own, less about the backstory and character development. So when I read 3 and 4, which really start telling you who these people are and what is going on, and the story starts getting really epic, it became apparent that this was something that would stay with me forever.

My first book release party was the fifth one - and I stayed up all night to finish it, crying for hours over Sirius. My friends and I talked about Harry Potter all the time. In fact, I firmly believe I would not be best friends with my bestie if it weren't for this series. The midnight showings of the movies became totally reasonable excuses for falling asleep in first block, and in fact, some of my teachers understood if I did.

The summer of 2007 was a very important time in my life. The fifth movie was coming out, and as that was my favorite book, I was very excited, but more importantly, the last book of the series was coming out on July 21st, 2007. The very last installment of my beloved series. People would die, Harry would face Voldemort, everything would end. The months leading up to July 21st were filled with speculation, hopes and fears, and endless, endless conversation about our boy wizard. And then it came. And then came the months of "why?" and "I wish that ____ hadn't/had happened," and "I miss _____." I have cried more over Harry Potter than anything else in my life.

I don't know why exactly I feel so strongly about this series and these characters, other than the obvious: a) it's an amazing story, b) the characters are all so awesome and so well-developed and everyone's individual story is fantastically told, c) it's one of the most popular series of my time. I do feel like my being in the thick of it all had a lot to do with my loving it so much. I was THERE. I was at the final book release party. I was in the theatre at midnight. I was part of the Harry Potter community, almost from the beginning, and among us there is a bond that cannot be broken, a feeling of camaraderie, even with someone you've just met. I'm not the only person who feels this way, and that in and of itself makes me love the series more, for making some of my favorite memories and bringing some of my favorite people into my life.

So yes, I am a huge nerd, and yes, it's probably really lame that I know birthdays and who married who and whose kids were born when and all this stuff that's not in the books. And yes, it's probably kind of pathetic that a 22-year-old is still this obsessed with a book series. But you know what? I love it, and it makes me happy, and there are many intelligent, amazing, influential adults older than me who feel the same way I do.

NERDFIGHTERS!

PS - as I'm tagging this entry, I'm amazed to find that I have not actually used a Harry Potter tag yet.

PPS - and now I'm ashamed to find that I have, in fact, used a Twilight tag before I used Harry Potter. =/


EDIT - Okay, I posted this, and I read over it, and I don't feel like I stressed the last bit enough. I know I am a huge nerd, and I am proud of it. Loving Harry Potter like I do doesn't make me pathetic, though. Maybe you think it's weird, or you can't understand what I see in this series, but loving something - anything - with everything in you does not make you pathetic in any way. I don't care if it's books or music or motorcycles or YouTube videos or cats. If you love something so much that it fills you up inside and makes you want to cry from pure joy, so much that you can't help but smile when you think about it, and you think about it all the time, and it consumes your mind and your heart and your soul... if you love anything that much, you should consider yourself lucky. And it makes no difference what it is. If you're happy, it doesn't matter who thinks what about it.

And I am extremely glad that I have Harry Potter, and that I've been able to have the experiences I've had, and meet the people I've met through our love of this series. I'm extremely glad that I was part of all of this. And I will always have a place in my heart for this amazing story that's been with me for half of my life.

And there's nothing pathetic about any of that, thank you very much.