Final Project

Here it is, our Tumblr about East Liberty: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Have a great holiday everyone!

This felt creepy...

Hey, I like those boots. I actually think I have them, that’s probably why. Anyway, It looks like your seat is too low for your desk, because it looks like you’re typing at a weird angle. You also type pretty fast. It looks cool when you type because your nails are a really bright hot pink, which matches your coat and backpack. That’s cool, My coat is olive so that would be a really ugly nail polish. Do you normally curl your hair, I can’t remember but I think you usually wear it straight. It looks like you don’t very good posture, better watch that, as my mom always points out, otherwise you’ll grow a hunchback.

Blog Lovin'

Since this is one of my last posts for the class (not for life, I'm starting to like blogging) I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite blogs, the ones I read on a daily basis. These aren't the blogs I head to when I want to read something substantial, they're more of what I like to call my "fun" blogs.

I've actually had to start allotting myself one hour of fun blogging, otherwise I'll either start going insane from all the work I have to do, or I'll go over an hour and fall down an internet black hole, emerging a few hours later groggy and a little lost.

- Frankie Magazine: This is the blog for an Australian magazine for 20-something women. I can't actually get the magazine here, but I love reading the blog, since they showcase different Australian designers and musicians, furthering my desire to move to Australia. Some of my favorite music, including my study song from my previous post, has come from Frankie.

-Vanilla and Lace: One of my absolute favorites, V&L is just plain pretty. Abi, the author, is very crafty, and I've stolen a lot of decorating tips from her. She also wears really cool clothes (most of which are handmade or up-cycled from thrifted items), has a husband in a band (which means she goes on tour with him all the time) and bakes some crazy good sweets, many of which are vegan. I've tried a few of her recipes, and this is my favorite so far. She's even opened her own online clothing shop. Plus she lives in Portland.

-Explore, Dream, Discover and Fairy Tales are True: Both of these girls currently, or have in the past, live in Europe, a dream of mine. Think of the cheese! I really only follow these blogs because their pictures are stunning, and Liz, the first blogger, has really enviable outerwear.

-Okayplayer: Okayplayer is a music site started by Questlove, the drummer for the Roots. They always have really great music on here, often with free downloads. However, the layout of this site makes my eye twitch. They changed it about two years ago, and it's really hard to follow. Which is a shame, because the writing is actually pretty good.

-Go Fug Yourself: Ahhh, the Fug Girls. This is one of the first blogs I started reading, way back in high school. They offer up whip-smart fashion commentary and have actually parlayed their blog's success into writing a young adult novel, Spoiled.

-Pinterest: Technically Pinterest isn't a blog. It's a lifestyle. Really, it's a combination of Tumblr and StumbleUpon, a place to keep all the junk you've accumulated in your bookmarks bar. I've found recipies, hair styles, clothes, craft ideas, all sorts of things on Pinterest. I actually recently was asked for gift advice from a girl because she liked my boards. However, DO NOT sign up for Pinterest before finals week. It is a colossal time suck.

Finals, We Meet Again

I'm currently climbing Mt. Finals Week, so I thought I'd ask what some of your secrets for studying/paper writing. Any study spots, food, music, distraction methods you'd like to recommend?

Here are a few of mine.

#1 Coffee (Pumpkin Spice Latte anyone?)

#2 Do not try to watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills at the same time like I am right now. It does not work.

Sidebar: Taylor is crazy

#3 Study with your buddies!

But don't talk too much, otherwise engineers will yell at you.

#4 Find the right tunes

Brother by mattcorby

#5 Rearrange furniture if need be to fully take advantage of out of the way outlets.

#6 And if all else fails, remember this...

I take way too much life advice from Troop Beverly Hills. Also, this is my other favorite study song.

Photo Credits: 1. Christopher Cullen, 2. Hellogiggles

Genre Translations

I just came across this McSweeney's piece by the impressively named Cirocco Dunlap about how different genres would interpret the same sentence. The sentence he chose was "I ate a sandwich and looked out the window," and he subsequently rewrote it in the style of 11 different literary genres.

My personal favorites were fantasy (Ralfarus!), 19th Century British romance (Mr. Wadswortherton!) and poetry.

It got me thinking about applying this in the real world. How much should you curtail your piece to fit different papers/magazines? Obviously different papers have different styles, but what are the changes you need to make? Nonfiction is "technically" a genre, but that doesn't mean that there is one universal style.

Literary Inspiration

So this past week, my Nonfiction Lit class has been reading Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, and I have to admit, I loved it. But the point of this post isn't to ramble about how awesome Vowell is (because she is) but it's more about a video we were shown in class.

Towards the end of the video, she talks about books she turns to when she has writer's block. And it got me wondering, what are my inspiration books?

There are the obvious choices, like Didion (the high priestess of too cool for school female authors) and Talese (who, in my opinion, made essentially stalking Frank Sinatra cool). But while I enjoy them and am often humbled by their talent, I can't say that they really help me get out of y writing funk. I mentioned reading Michael Paternitti's "The Long Fall of One-Eleven Heavy" which made me weep (in public, mind you) because it is simultaneously heartbreaking and beautifully written. Seriously, the detail is astounding.

But then I decided to branch out. For some reason, I always have trouble thinking of my favorite nonfiction reads (awful, both because I am a nonfiction writer and that this is ALWAYS the first question asked in nonfiction classes). So I decided to take a glance over at my bookshelf, which is mostly fiction.

There's Emerson, who's succinct sentence structure makes me giddy. And there's Austin, who's elegant and witty observations make me wish I was British. Pushkin for the same reason, just Russian. And there's Allende, just because her writing is like music to my eyes.

So, what are everybody else's go to books?

Tumblr Lab

Enjoy my Tumblr about Mark Bittman!