The Best of 2010

Nothing horrible happened to me this year, which considering 2009, is something to celebrate all its own. But some very good things happened to me as well.

Best Personal News of the Year

• I met Neil Gaiman!

• I sent out my novel and got rejections and am looking forward to many more rejections in the new year.
  

• I went to my first American Library Association Conference and got to see my awesome friend Sarah and visit Washington DC for the first time too.
  

• I got my driver's license!

• I finally feel like I have a good group of friends in the California area. However, unlike the the song Auld Lang Syne, my old acquaintance have not been forgot. I still love you guys.

• Over 300 blog posts! Gotta admit, that's pretty good.
  

Best Books

• Best Teen Book: Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I think this was easily John Green's best book with both humor and meaning--teaching us the importance of friendship.

• Best Young Adult Fantasy Books: I was sure I reviewed I Shall Wear Midnight but cannot seem to find the review anywhere! My favorite Tiffany book is still Wee Free Men, but this is still Pratchett, and thus, still wonderful and Tiffany really becomes a woman and a witch in this book.

• The Goblin Gate is another fabulous book I didn't review. I think what happened is I got these both as advanced readers copies at the ALA Conference and didn't feel right reviewing them until they actually came out and other peoople had a chance to read them. But in doing this, I forgot to review them completely! However, I do remember this is a fun, fast paced book with interesting ethical questions about survival. I eagerly await the sequel, The Goblin War.
  

• The Lost Hero was easily the best Rick Riordan book I've read so far, and that's saying a lot because I really loved his other books. I did review this one. Just click title for the link.

• Best Adult Book: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Best Movies

I reviewed both the following movies. Click the titles for the links.

Tangled







Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I







I hope your year was full of great things as well and that 2011 is even greater!

Friday Note

Blog Break. I will be taking a break from regular blogging starting now. I may still blog sporadically, but no promises or punishments as I'm giving due warning. Your regularly scheduled blogs will return Sunday, January 2nd.

Info Thursday
Low Blood Pressure, Postural Hypotension, and Salt Intake

I've known for a while that I had low blood pressure but never knew it was the cause of the frequent head rushes I get when standing. The official name for it is postural hypotension. A friend of mine mentioned today that she had the same condition because of low blood pressure, and the symptoms fit. It can also be treated with increased salt intake (though this is not recommended for those with preeisting heart conditions according to my research). This might explain my personal penchant for salty treats. It's not a serious condition but it's good to finally understand what causes it.

Sources:
http://www.medicinenet.com/low_blood_pressure/page6.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthostatic_hypotension

Wildcard Wednesday
Music Review

I don't generally feel strongly about music. I either like it or I don't, but something about internet artists inspires me to have an opinion. Perhaps it's because it's not a giant, focus-group run, corporation trying to crank out the next hit. It's actually just people doing what they like and hoping you'll like it too.

So that might be why I've been enjoying Charlie McDonnell's new album: This is Me, which you can listen to for free at: http://charliemcdonnell.com/music/

Charlie is known on YouTube as charlieissocoollike and I enjoyed his videos but never paid much attention to his music. But that's just because I didn't listen to it, until now. My favorite one is A Song About Love. I love how unpretentious it is, how unlike all the teenybopper stars out there, Charlie acknowledges that he's too young to talk about this with any expertise. The line about wanting to refine the person he wants to be before he worries about love is fantastic. I wish there was more of this type of thing in the general media. For similar reasons I loved Chemical Love as well.

The album's title song This is Me, is also great song both musically and lyrically. It follows the same youthfully wise vein of my other favorites. Same goes for Melody for Melody.

The song Bread has a great melody, and an animated music video, but I found the overall story so depressing that it can't be my favorite. But it's apparently John Green's favorite. I guess In the Absence of Christmas is also dark but I find that one funny and awesome.

Diary Tuesday
It's Not Beginning to Feel Anything Like Christmas

I can't really remember the last time I had a proper Christmas with all the decorations and feelings of anticipation. It makes sense that those feelings would mellow as the years go on, specifically in a family that doesn't really do presents. But I used to still love the season regardless. Now days it just seems to pass me by. It doesn't help that the closest it gets to winter chill in California is a gross drizzly day like today. I did have a nice cup of peppermint tea upon arriving home, which does summon some good memories of childhood. But I still don't feel like this time of year is different than any other.

It's not that I really miss Christmas. It's more that I miss, missing Christmas. I miss how important it would have once been to me to decorate and celebrate. This feeling of sameness when so many other people feel different, is worse than encountering any Christmas Scrooge.

Writing Stats Monday

FFAAAIIILLLLL.....

But at least one of my beta readers who happens to be one of the best editors I've ever met finished reading my novel, so that will be a great help.

Photo Sunday

I took this picture when I visited France in 2005 but this is the first time I've posted this pic. I chose this particular gargoyle overlooking the city of Paris from the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral because I bought a black and white photo print of this very vista when I visited in high school.

Links Saturday
Shaytards: YouTube Channel Review

This vlog is from back in August but it's a fun one. I didn't start at the beginning; I think I started watching somewhere around here.

Here's a link to the Shaytard Vlogs Channel.

As mentioned in my book review yesterday, I like watching sweet, quirky families go about their lives. It's so hard to be a cute, loving family without being obnoxiously so. But I think the well known YouTuber, Shay Carl and his family accomplish this. I'll admit I started by watching his vlogs, not his actual comedy sketches. I can't remember how or why, but I'm glad I did. I still primarily watch the vlogs. Rather than inciting annoyance or jealousy that we're not all as happy a family as them, they balance it with constant humor. In a world where people basically sign in blood to be exploited and act as dysfunctional as possible, I feel Shay's family are possibly the best reality show ever--actual reality that makes you feel better about the world.

Review Friday
Suite Scarlett

Summary

A rich and eccentric visitor comes to stay in Scarlett's family hotel for the summer, and it quickly becomes the strangest summer any of them have ever experienced. Both for the worst and the better.

Overview

Teen chick lit isn't normally the type of book that I read, but since Maureen Johnson is a friend of John Green's, and I have found her YouTube videos on writing both amusing and insightful, I thought I'd give it a try. It's still not my favorite genre, but I liked it enough to get through the whole thing and get the sequel. However, that is probably because I'm a bit of a voyeur when it comes to functional but quirky families, which is something portrayed in this book. I liked the interactions that Scarlett had with her siblings and like, just as in many families, the siblings had their favorites, those they couldn't stand, and those they just didn't understand. It wasn't a profound book, but I got the feeling it was never meant to be, and that's fine. If you're looking for light read with humor and family drama, I'd recommend this.

Book Club (Spoilers)

I kept thinking that it was going to be revealed at the end that Mrs. Amberson was actually just some crazy mental patient escaped from the institution and that she'd somehow stolen all the money she was giving Scarlett. I was a little disappointed with the actual truth.

I laughed out loud a few times while listening to this book, but one of my favorite lines was the description of Lola's "creepy underwear sandwich."

Info Thursday
Orcus and Vanth

A few weeks ago I posited on the question of Roman mythology before it was blended with the Greeks. In my readings I've been led to believe that the Romans were not particularly religious before. But this still baffles me as to why they would adopt a foreign religion.

In any event, I did find a God separate from the Greek pantheon, Orcus, an Italic god of the underworld thought to have originated with the Etruscans. While he was later equated to Hades and Pluto, it is notable that Orcus was initially a separate god and even later more related to the punishing side of Pluto.

Worship of Orcus even survived into the Middle Ages.

There was also a goddess of death by the name of Vanth who has no overlap in the Greek and later Roman pantheon.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orcus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanth

Wildcard Wednesday
Quotes and Comments

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."
--Mark Twain

Clearly this was before the time of the Abercrombie and Finch model.

Diary Tuesday
Why are you so cute?!

I will get to the bunny.

Today I was volunteering as a shelf reader at my local public library. For any unfamiliar with library speak, a shelf reader makes sure the books on the shelf are in the proper order. I was working on a section of the youth nonfiction shelves, and if you read those shelves like a sentence, the sentence would be something like: Cat the on mat sat. Yeah, the books were pretty out of order, though this is hardly surprising. Because it's kids, you say? No. Because they actually get looked at. Take a note adults. Read! When I was working as a shelver 90% of shelving was children's books. Which tells me why kids are sometimes smarter than adults. Actually, I'd venture to guess, if you're reading this, you probably do read more than the average adult. Good for you. Here's a cookie.

Anyway, as I was straightening up the animal books, and found like a million books on bunnies, a thought occurred to me. Why are certain animals cute? What useful purpose could it possibly serve to find the young of a different (very edible species) adorable? Shouldn't it be more common to look at it and think: "Yum, a vulnerable piece of delicious meat"? I suppose finding the babies cute could be a way to force us to let them grow before we eat them. But that doesn't explain why some animals are even cute when they're fully grown. Although, bunnies aren't nutritious enough to sustain you alone, so perhaps that's why. But I still remember this line from a fantasy book I read (Foundation, by Mercedes Lackey) where the boy sees a little girl crying over a dead rabbit, and having grown up with no food, the boy's immediate desire is to offer to help her skin it. Luckily, it's fantasy, and his magic horse prevents this social faux pas.

Still, there are some very edible animals that we consider cute. Is it maybe just conditioning, just because we're told they're cute? Did cavemen think they were cute? And why are they always mammals?

Writing Stats Monday

Sci-Fi
695 words

Fantasy
I only edited a little bit just now, so not much this week. But it is nice to know that the story started out 234,891 words and is currently 210,579 words. So I've cut 24,312 words so far.

I've come to suspect that no one actually looks at my Monday writing stats. This is actually excellent since it means you probably all believe I'm getting so much more done than I actually am...

Photo Sunday
Dark Light

A dark picture of a very light painting, both in mood and color, that I liked in the art museum in Nantes.

Links Saturday
Associations

I talked about Sirius, the dog star this week, cause I heard this song on Glee:

Review Friday
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1

Trailer



Overview

In my personal opinion this is the best Potter book to film adaptation. The third film is still my favorite, but this one captured all of the most important parts of the 7th book, as well as being pitch perfect on the tone of both the book and the characters. Fans have often lamented than Ron's best lines from the book are given to Hermione in the film. But this was Ron at his best.

Overall, the pacing, which I feel has been the biggest problem in the last two films, was perfectly executed. I never felt things were to slow or too fast. In pacing, it's actually even better than the book, as I did feel the camping dragged on too long, but in the movie it was great character building and well integrated with excitement and suspense.

There were a couple quibbles I had with things being confusing if you hadn't read the books, but I actually saw the film with someone who had never read the books and had only seen the first film. And the only thing she said she didn't understand were the horcruxes.

Finally, the part where they chose to cut it worked surprisingly well. Many fans had been speculating they might cut it at Dobby's death but that it would be really depressing. By having Vodemort stealing the wand be the very last seen they balance that bleakness with suspense. I am eagerly looking forward to part 2.

Spoilers

Okay, so the mirror shard that Harry carries and sees what he thinks is Dumbledore's eye through, was my biggest complaint. They never explained it in any of the films and they didn't in this one either! The girl I was with who hadn't seen them probably assumed it had been explained and perhaps that's why she wasn't confused. But I knew they hadn't, so that annoyed me. But honestly I don't think it's that important. I think they could have left it out entirely. Many fans claim there's no other way to explain how Aberforth knew to send Dobby to help them. But trust me, there's always another way. But I'll reserve final judgement in the hopes they explain the mirror in part 2.

A change I loved was Hedwig saving Harry instead of simply exploding. At least she went out heroically and not trapped in a burning cage.

I also loved Dobby's speech. Only seriously maim. Golden. Some fans seem to feel it was too comedic, but I think it was just right. You can't have the entire film be dark, it would be too much. Plus, considering that we haven't seen Dobby since the second film, I think it was crucial to remind us why we love this little elf before he gets killed. Cruel, yes, but necessary to make us care.

Info Thursday
Dog Days

On the onset of winter, I thought I'd remind us all of summer. So if you've ever heard the phrase "the dog days of summer," then you may (or may not) be interested to know that it refers to the ancient, and incorrect, belief that summer was caused by the proximity of Sirius, also known as the dog star, to the sun.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_Days

Wildcard Wednesday
Moody Thoughts

The heart breaks when you lose a friend, but it's rare to have friends you don't eventually lose. If you're reading this, there's a good chance you're a friend, and I haven't lost you yet. So thank you. A big thanks even to those who will never see this. On the surface, it's a depressing thought. And, I guess, it is under the surface as well. But, in other ways, it's good that people can grow and change, even if it means growing apart. Sometimes friends are forever, and sometimes they're the person you need at that time. I don't think one is necessarily better than the other. We're trained to feel betrayed if someone leaves us, but what if we left them first? What if we changed so much or they changed so much that you're both just too different? Should that negate all the kindnesses they've done you in the past? I don't think so. I think there's something to be said for knowing when you've got nothing more to give. Having a friend grow apart from you is always a loss, but accepting that it's natural can give you solace. As long as we still have great people in our lives, we should rejoice and count ourselves lucky. I know I have (and have had) great people in mine.