Cornification, and an awesome website!

So, you might be wondering, what is cornification? Well, it's a word that I made up (of course) and it has to do with the (also made up) verb, cornify. Basically, it's a website that adds unicorns to everything. I think that it's pretty cool. Here's an example:


(click on the button to start seeing unicorns and rainbows everywhere)
I think that it's cute, in a weird, kiddie way.
If that makes sense to you.
There's this other website that I really like, called bookseer.com. Type in a book that you read and liked, and you'll get a whole bunch of book suggestions from Amazon as well as two other book databases. I think that it's pretty cool.
Sorry for the short post today, but I've been super busy. I hope that you're having/had a great day.

Love Always,
Olivia

itouch issues, and a new book!

Two days ago, I found myself grateful that I'd only gotten free apps so far. Why? Well, because, one day, I turned on my ipod touch only to find that none of the apps were working! I would touch one of them, they would open up, and then close after about 2 seconds. I got extremely frustrated, and almost regretted buying an itouch. After this dilemna presented itself to me, I did some troubleshooting (basically looking on the internet to see if anyone else had had the same problem that I was facing) and I found pages upon pages of ipod discussions devoted to this very topic. I sighed with relief, happy knowing that I wasn't the only one with this problem, and began reading through the various solutions. The most common solution that people came to through the various websites was just to delete all the apps from the itunes library, and re-get them all over again. If I'd spend $9 on these, I'd have a major issue with this, but luckily, since I refuse to pay money for something virtual that isn't really in a hard copy (like a computer game or something) I'd stuck with getting the free ones. So, after deleting all my apps and re-buying them, it seems as though it works again. For now. But if you stumble upon the same problem, I suggest that you do what I did and delete everything and start over. Unless you have expensive paid apps, this shouldn't be a problem. But if you do, I don't know what to tell you. Sorry. But hopefully this works for you too in case you ever come across this.
So, after bidding a temporary farewell to my old book, I've started a new one, called Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch. The premise is basically a young woman growing up in the debutante society of Charleston, South Carolina, decides to find her fortune and move to NYC. She finds that she has lived a very sheltered life until then and doesn't really know how to live in such a different city. It's a really great book, I'm about halfway through and I'm really enjoying it. It's now in paperback, so run to your local bookstore and buy one.
It's, once again, scorching where I live, so I hope that wherever you are, the weather's a bit more bearable.

Love always,
Olivia

Abandonment, and The Notebook, and a clothing line

Hi,
Remember when I told you about that book I had started reading, called How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone? Well, I think that I'm going to have to send that book back to the library, even though I'm not even halfway through with it yet; the reason being that I just don't find that the book has a specific focus. While it's gotten all this worldwide acclaim, and the writing is really fantastic, for me, the plot just isn't working out. I know that you might say to give this book another chance, but I really have given it many chances, the last page that I read was 85. So, I think that I'm going to have to abandon this book in search for a new one. Maybe I'll come back to it in a few years and find it to be one of the best books that I've ever written, but so far, it hasn't really lived up to the high expectation I had when I picked it up. While I don't usually abandon a book, I once abandoned a book series by Lloyd Alexander that a few years later I found to be one of the best book series I've ever read in my entire life.
So, I think that it's really okay to give up a book. I probably will come back to it in a years' or couple months' time and find it to be amazing, but for now, other books are calling, and I think that I'm going to have to put this one aside for now in search for another one. So, goodbye for now, but hopefully I'll be saying hello to it a little later.
Using my secret online movie database, I watched the movie, The Notebook. A lot of my friends said that they found the movie to be "the saddest movie I've ever seen", but I found it to be really good, and while I did get a tad emotional toward the end (a tear, just a tear) I found it to be a really good movie. But then again, I find many movies, even those that get 1 star in the reviews to be really good, so you shouldn't trust my judgement on that. If you haven't seen the movie, it's about a young man and woman, one from the upper crust of society, the other one a lowly farm worker, who meet and fall in love. However, social and geographical differences soon separate them for many years. But, as in many movies, fate makes them cross paths once again. The actors (Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling) I found to be okay. They could've picked better actors, and each fits his or her part sort of like a shoe that is a tad tight but you love anyway, so you buy it even though you always wear it uncomfortably. Hopefully you get my simile. But overall, it was fairly well done, not on my "best movie ever" list but still up there on my "it-was-a-nice-movie" list. It's worth a watch.
Lastly, I'd like to tell you about a clothing line by a woman named Abigail Lorick. Her line, called Lorick, is sort of a cross between Erin Fetherston and Gap. A weird combination, but one that produces some really interesting and unique clothes. Her website, loricknewyork.com is quite creative, and is worth a look. While I personally prefer her debut collection, the one you can see in very old episodes of Gossip Girl, some of her newer lines are definitely creative and things that I might wear. So, check it out, think about it a bit, and come back to me with your opinions.
Hope you're enjoying the last weeks of summer!

Love always,
Olivia

A film, and a video

As you can see, my title's a bit trippy today, it's sort of like saying "a drink, and a beverage" or something like that. Well, in reality, I will be touching on both of those topics.
Two days ago, I watched the movie, The Class, or, in French "Entre les Murs", or "between the walls". It is an amazing and unconventional movie about a particularly roudy French high school class, and their journey through the 9 months of the school year. The film focuses almost entirely on what happens inside the classroom, and rarely journeys outside, in fact it basically never journeys outside except at the very beginning and at the end. The class is composed of your stereotypical personalities; the boys who are "too cool for school", the girls and boys who are quiet, the girls and boys who challenge everything the teacher says, those who blatantly don't care, and the select few who are quietly respectful and smart. It's a really great movie, even though it's entirely in French there are English subtitles, which are awkwardly phrased and aren't always what the actors are saying (I'm learning French) but they get the general idea.
Here is a video of an SNL Harry Potter spoof that I found. I love Harry Potter, but I just had to post this:


Funny, huh?
Also, I just started a book called "How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone". It's really interesting so far, and it's gotten all these acclaims and awards. It was translated from German, which is pretty cool, and this is only the author's first book!!
Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Love Always,
Olivia

Just... Thoughts

Today's post won't really have a real focus, it's really going to be about a jumble of things that seem to pop into my head at the right time.
If you've ever heard of the American Girl doll collection, you'll know that these 18'' realistic dolls, today, come in a wide variety of both historic dolls, as well as the "dolls of today" which are available in many different skin shades, types and hair colors. I finally had the free time to dig out my own American Girl dolls, Samantha and Nellie, both of which I bought at a fairly young age. After some serious consideration, I decide to price both of my dolls, along with the various outfits I bought them off of americangirl.com . To my surprise, I found that American Girl has discontinued the selling of the dolls, Nellie and Samantha. So, if you have either or both of these dolls, DO NOT SELL THEM. They have now become collector's items, and I'm sure that people in the future would pay a pretty penny to showcase these in their homes.
As for the outfits, unless they are worth something in the future, I'll probably sell them off of ebay or Craig's List or some other online place to sell used things.
About a week ago, I also finished the sequel to the book The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, called The Girl who Played with Fire. It's a thoroughly intense and amazing book from start to finish, and this book is definitely not for kids. Its inappropriateness is mainly the fact that the book does feature torture and rape, however it doesn't describe it, just mentions it, because some of the characters have such experiences. If you enjoyed the first book, then this is definitely a book for you. The third book comes out this October, early October for Europe and late October for the US.
I have the Chanel app for my iTouch, and I just heard on their newest update this really cool song that plays during their runway video called "In for The Kill", by an artist called La Roux. It's a really great song, you can currently buy the single on itunes.
That's it for now!! Check back tomorrow, or Monday. But probably tomorrow.

Love always,
Olivia

An amazing book, and Octomom!

It's cold, raining, and dreary where I am right now, so I hope that wherever you are, it's somewhere a bit nicer. I just finished an amazing book, as I said in my post earlier, called My Sister's Keeper. I've yet to see the movie, but the book was the saddest book I've ever read, as well as one of the best. It has an unexpected ending, so if you think this book might be predictable, it really isn't. From start to finish, it was a beautifully crafted book, an amazing story, and overall really sheds light on families who have to deal with these kids of issues every day, not knowing if their children might live another week, or another year. As I said before, this book is about a normal family whose eldest daughter has a rare form of leukemia. The doctors tell the parents that she will most likely die before she's 5, and out of desperation the parents use their egg and sperm to craft a "designer baby" that's genetically compatible with their daughter, so this baby can give whatever is necessary to help their eldest daughter live. As you can see, this contains a lot of moral as well as legal issues, and I'd love to hear your opinions on the topic.
I found this video on MSN, and it talks about Octomom, Nadia Suleman. It's a preview for a two-hour special that is set to air on August 19th, and while I personally don't believe that all this media attention should be drawn to her, I think that it's interesting to hear what she has to say:

So, what do you think? I'd love to hear your opinions. Thanks!

Love always,
Olivia

A book, and some software... For starters.

First of all, I'd like to apologize for not writing yesterday. My schedule was especially hectic, and with everything plus trying to squeeze in a swimming workout afterwards just did not make things any easier. So, I promise you that this entry will be extra long.
After hearing about all of the buzz that has been generated by the movie My Sister's Keeper, I decided to go out and read the book. Well, I'm about halfway through and it's been a great story so far. The book revolves around a family whose eldest daughter has basically fatal leukemia. She was supposed to die when she was around four or five (having been diagnosed when she was around 3) but something (or, should I say, someone) has kept her alive until her late teens. Why? First of all, throughout her life she would need multiple injections of bone marrow, as well as many other cells that she would need to get from someone who was a "match" for her. After testing the entire family and seeing that no one was a match, the parents, out of desperation, tried something that few had tried before. Using their egg and sperm, they created a baby that would be a match to their older daughter, and therefore be able to keep her living well beyond her early childhood years. The story revolves around this girl with leukemia (named Kate) and her younger sister, Anna, 16 and 13, respectively. It was always assumed that Anna would obediently donate and do whatever she could to help her older sister. But now that Anna is 13, she feels that she needs to start making decisions on her own, that she shouldn't be entitled to be her sister's "keeper" anymore. While she is completely aware of the fact that she has now written her own sister's death sentence, she feels as though having the freedom to not answer to anyone is most important. To you, this may seem selfish. Of course, any sibling should always do whatever he or she can to help another sibling. But, the procedures until now, which included extracting white blood cells as well as stem cells had been fairly non-invasive as well as fairly harmless. However, the next procedure, because Kate's kidneys were failing, would be to remove one of Anna's kidneys and place it in Kate. This had a significantly higher risk to Anna, and would only ensure that Kate might be able to live for a few more years.
I'm about midway through the book, and I've found it fascinating. The concept of a "designer baby", as termed in the book, is an extremely controversial topic, which can often spark an interesting discussion. Watch the movie or read the book today!!
On a happier note, I recieved some free software from Microsoft. Even though it's software that's about to be discontinued, I think it's pretty cool. It's called Microsoft Student, and it comes with Encarta Premium 2007. It helps middle and high school students with their homework, which is pretty cool. Here's what's inside:
For 6th-8th graders, they can use the Pre-algebra portion with step-by-step math solutions, translations for French, German, Italian, and Spanish, Microsoft Office templates for book and science reports, as well as powers and exponents.
For 9th-10th graders, it has Algebra and Geometry, equations and functions, verb congugations for the languages listed above, presentation tools and templates, as well as the triangle solver.
For grades 11 and up, it comes with trigonometry and calculus, limits and series, language tools for Microsoft Office, Essay tools and templates, and 3-D graphing.
It sounds as though this software wouldn't just be useful for students! It seems to me as though adults could also easily use this to help their kids, or just for their own personal use.
Hope you had/are having/will have a great day.

Love always,
Olivia