Hi, My Name is Jennie, and I'm an Eavesdropper

Don't you hate it when you hear people talking about an interesting topic and you want to jump into it, but you don't know them and that'd just be weird. I do. Anyway, these people were talking about how books are always better than the movie and I wanted to jump in and say that every once in a while a movie is better than the book. Not often, but sometimes. For me that movie is Sense and Sensibility. Emma Thomson's screenplay is flawless, beautiful, and true to the Austen spirit. Are there any movies you think are better than it's literary counterpart?

Focus (7/365)

A Small Rant, A Huge Rant, and an Announcement

First -

I would very much like to know why the hell I'm being spammed with all these financial and insurance companies trying to get me to work for them. I certainly never applied for any such jobs. Seriously! If I wanted to work with people's money I'd have probably majored in something besides chemistry. Anything but chemistry. Like accounting or business or something...

Secondly -

This second matter is of some amusement to my roommates and I. It appears we are being evicted. Yes, yes, you heard (read) right. The girls who pay their rent on time and keep a mostly clean house are soon to be homeless. How did such a thing come to pass you ask? Well, let me tell you. I live in an apartment that houses four women. Now the four women who currently live there are not the original women who signed the original lease about 3 years ago. Nope. There have been 8 or so who have come and gone in between. As each new lessee moved in, the rental company made them sign a contract stating that they were taking over the old lessee's contract. Easy enough.

Next, they told each new lessee to pay the $250 deposit to the old lessee who was moving out. That way, if the leasing contract was ever dissolved, it would be easy for the rental company to give back the deposit. Duh! That's how every place I've ever lived in has worked it. It makes sense. Geniuses!

Well, the time has come that the leasing contract is to be dissolved. The rental company has decided that our apartment has garnered too much paperwork (from all those leasing agreements signed in between), so they would like us to start afresh. Sign a new lease to make things easy. So we agreed. What difference could this possibly make. None, they just want to get rid of paperwork.

Funny thing is, we just got a lovely notice from said company stating that we are to sign the new lease February 1st and that if we don't pay our $250 deposits, we'll be evicted. WHAT!!!!!!! We asked them why we weren't refunded our first deposits. Apparantely they went to the effort of tracking down the original lessees and paying THEM our deposits. And the checks have been cashed. And apparently we are at fault. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME!!!!??? Like I have $250 dollars to just lose. So now we are meeting with the boss's boss on Friday to tell him he's a moron and threaten him with small claims court. Delightful! I can't possibly express how much I am anticipating this meeting. Gee whiz, I might not be able to sleep tonight from all the excitement!

Finally -

After having no job and a minimal social life I am proud to announce that I will soon have another blog dedicated solely to reviewing books. I've read tons of them recently (due to all that extra time) and find it cumbersome to post them in here. I'm still working on it, but I'll be sure to keep you all posted.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter...

It's on everyone's minds (should be anyway). I had a bit of an epiphany earlier today and I thought that I'd share it before I read about it on someone else's blog and then can't claim it as my own theory. That being said, someone else probably has already come up with the same theory, but I haven't read it yet, and I can pretend I'm the first.

Since reading book 6, I've been under the impression that Harry Potter will die. It's the classic, tragic ending. So thoroughly heartbreaking, yet memorable and touching. Harry Potter (the obvious Christ figure), so talented, gifted, and loved, dies to save the wizarding (and muggle) world from the evil Voldemort.

I no longer believe this.

Harry Potter is too pathetic to kill off. He may be talented, gifted, and loved, but he is terribly alone. His entire background is tragic. I don't think that Rowling would make someone with such a tragic background into the tragic hero. It's just too much tragedy. Instead, Ron will die.

And here's my reasoning: Ron, although possessing many good qualities, has not really pulled his fair share in the Harry-Ron-Hermione trio up to this point. Harry of course has been marked for greatness and as we all know, he is awfully brave. Just like his parents. Hermione is clever, smart, and can think quickly. Ron.....wait a sec, nothing really comes to mind. He has a cute sister? Good for a laugh every once in a while?

I think what he really brings to the table is loyalty. It's an underveloped trait of his we'll say. All that jealousy stuff sort of deterred him from fully developing it. But think back to the first book (I know it's been ages). They're all making their way together to find the Sorcerer's Stone. The first couple of obstacles, they face as a trio. Then at the chess match, Ron sacrifices himself so Harry can go on and do what he's gotta do. Rowling has previously said that Harry must face Voldemort alone (Hello! Dumbledore really is dead!) just like he faced Quirrel and Voldemort alone in book 1. Book 7 will play out similarly, but this time, Ron will sacrifice himself for real and Harry will go on to defeat the Dark Lord. Ron will then be immortalized by his willful death.

And I think Snape will die for Harry as well, proving once and for all that he is not evil. I'm not actually so sure about this one, but I really want him to be good, so I'm going to believe this theory until proven otherwise. (And I've changed my mind about Allen Rickman not being attractive as Snape. Hello! He's attractive in everything! It's definately the voice.)

And that is officially all of my Harry Potter rantings. For the moment.

Where the Wild Things Are

Tonight I found myself in the Barnes & Noble children's section, looking for "The Littlest Angel." On my way through the isles however, I found myself picking up all these books that I loved from my childhood and ones I hadn't heard of but had beautiful covers. Yup, that's right, I judge books by their covers. Anyway, one of the books I picked up was "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak. As a child, I always loved this book and I still love it. It's definitely my favorite children's book and one of my favorite books in general. So good! The illustrations really are masterful and I love the story. Max reminds me of my little brother. I think when I'm rich and after I've bought myself a nice road bike (priorities!), I'd like to collect children's literature. Some of my favorite memories from when I was little are those of my parents reading to me. I'd really like to do the same with my children.

Blood Brothers

Author: Elias Chacour

Rating: Go read this book now!

Without a doubt, one of the best books I've read in quite a while. It's basically an autobiography that details the life and ministry of Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Christian. The book starts off by explaining the circumstances of his childhood in a small village in Galilee called Biram. As Zionist forces move in, Elias's family is forced to leave their home and belongings. What follows is an account of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict intertwined with Elias's development as a Christian leader. Though the book reads very simply, the story is incredible.

Throughout the book, Chacour is explicit when he states that his mission is not to turn the world against Israelis, but rather to unite the Christians, Muslims, and Jews. His entire life he has worked to raise the Palestinians out of poverty by educating and instilling hope in the Palestinian youth. In my opinion, this is a must read.

I'm weak!

As graduation draws nearer and nearer I keep having thoughts about things I would like to do before December 15. I realized as I was studying last night that I have never once pulled an all-nighter while in college. Not ever. How is that even possible? I'm a major procrastinator and college is supposed to be full of late night/early morning studying. So I decided that I would try to pull one last night for my test this morning. How hard could it be? I know plenty of people who do them all the time. Not to mention it'd give me plenty of time to solidify the my knowledge of boron and group theory. It went swimmingly until about 3:30 when I sort of collapsed. I'm weak, it's true. I have no idea how people can go without sleep. I don't think it's physically possible for me. All I can say is it's a good thing I zonked out on my floor since I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to pull myself out of my warm bed at 7:00 this morning.

On a completely different note, I finally read "The Giver" by Lois Lowry yesterday. Most people end up reading it sometime in their growing up years, but somehow I missed it. It was an absolutely beautiful book. There were a few little things I didn't like in it, but I think it makes it onto my favorite books list. Even though it's technically a children's book, it has very deep themes running through it that can be enjoyed by any adult reader. Definately one of those stories that you can't stop thinking about after you read it.

The Lovely Bones

Author: Alice Sebold

Rating: Go read something else

Parts of this book were wonderful to read. Sebold has a beautiful writing style. But there are some serious bones I'd like to pick with it (lame pun intended). First, it felt like she was just hurrying time towards the end. The beginning is filled with an incredible richness that is neither hurried nor slow. It's somewhere in the middle that the story starts to feel skimmed over and rushed. Like she's trying to get to the end without letting the reader enjoy the journey. The second issue I had with the story was when Susie comes back and inhabits Ruth's body so she can make love to Ray. Can we say just a little bit far fetched? Come on. This scene felt completely out of place with the rest of the story. At that point the only reason I kept reading was because Sebold's writing style is entirely lovely. She might want to work on content next.

Oops!

Ack! So I got to class today and realized, oh wait, everyone is silent and bent over working. Ummmm....do we have a test? Oh yes! We had a test! Why is that I've been such a space cadet lately? Hello! Who forgets things like tests? Apparently I do. Sheesh.

I went and bought Eric Clapton unplugged today. I think I will soon be in full Eric Clapton obsession. It's kind of weird how since my parents raised me strictly on things like classical music and marty williams, I now get to go back and discover music that everyone else has been listening to for ages. Not that I didn't know the most popular Clapton songs, I just didn't fully realize how fantastic it all is. A year ago this same thing happened with James Taylor. And now I'm a full fledged James Taylor addict.

On a completely different topic... I have recently been rereading Jane Austen's novels and the question my girlfriends and I have been discussing is this: If you had to pick any of the male characters (not just the lead ones) to marry, which would you choose. I'm having an awfully difficult time choosing between Colonel Brandon and Mr. Knightly. Both very gentlemanly and fantastically rich. Although maybe I would have to go for Mr. Knightly because he seems to have a more developed sense of humor.