Nerd

Bible College Fight Club

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When I was twelve years old, I fell in love with Fight Club.  The plot blew my teenage brain, Brad Pitt was overwhelmingly attractive, and the anarchist violence appealed to something some dark part of me.  I watched the movie four times in a week before my mom realized the content of my latest obsession, and she forbade me from seeing it again.  It was too late.  The movie was deeply ingrained in my psyche.

Fourteen years later, I sat on my bed at a Bible College in Greece when my American roommate said she was going downstairs to a fight club.  Continue reading →

Celebrity Crush: Miles Teller

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When I saw The Spectacular Now, I side-eyed the casting choice for the “life of every party” main character.  This guy?  He was cute, sure, but not King of High School cute.  Then he started moving and talking, and I regretted my shallow assumptions.  Miles Teller is absolutely the star of everything, high school or Hollywood.  He is mesmerizing and incredibly talented.

But like Ewan McGregor before him (my tiny pubescent self noticed him in The Phantom Menace, but it wasn’t until Moulin Rouge two years later that I fully fell in love with the Scotsman), it took a second movie for Miles Teller to solidify his place in my heart.  Continue reading →

Name Meme Generator

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Bored?  Have I got a solution for you (that will last at least, like, three minutes).  Just type “[Your Name] Meme” into Google.  Enjoy the bounty that follows.

image

First one to appear.  I’m ecstatic, both by the compliment and that the Internet knows Zoolander is my spirit animal.  Continue reading →

Selfie Culture: I’m a Fan

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It seems to be a cool thing to denigrate Generation Y as being self-absorbed and entitled.  A lot of this has to do with my generation’s love of social media and the rise of the selfie art form.  And sure, there are some problematic tendencies with my peers’ culture.  Are we sometimes self-absorbed and entitled?  Sure.  But I don’t think selfie culture is all bad.

Ezra Koenig, lead singer of the awesome band Vampire Weekend, once said something that completely solidified my positive opinion of selfies.

“I’m definitely pro-selfie.  I think that anybody who’s anti-selfie is really just a hater. Because, truthfully, why shouldn’t people take pictures of themselves? When I’m on Instagram and I see that somebody took a picture of themselves, I’m like, ‘Thank you.’ I don’t need to see a picture of the sky, the trees, plants. There’s only one you.  I could Google image search ‘the sky’ and I would probably see beautiful images to knock my socks off. But I can’t Google, you know, ‘What does my friend look like today?’ For you to be able to take a picture of yourself that you feel good enough about to share with the world – I think that’s a great thing.”

Continue reading →

I’m All About Girl Pop

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Growing up, I had a lot of internalized misogyny.  I was convinced that boy things would always be better than girl things, and this definitely included musicians.  I loved Ben Folds Five and *NSYNC, but female singers?  Ew, they sang so high.  They couldn’t carry the weight of an emotional song like a man could.

Lies!

So many lies that kept me from loving some really wonderful female singers.  Thankfully, I’ve grown out of that internalized misogyny, and now I’m free to love both male and female musicians.  Which is fantastic, because there are some truly phenomenal girl pop creators making my kind of music right now.

1.  Taylor Swift.  Four months after 1989 came out, I still listen to the full album at least three times a week.  I cannot stop!  I was never much into TSwift as a country singer, but when she made the switch to pop, she stole my heart forever.  I love every song on her album (with the occasional exception of This Love, which is sometimes too slow for my preferred car jams).  I mean, seriously, the amount of times I say, “This one is my favorite!  No…this one is my favorite!” is ridiculous, considering I’ve had four months to decide.  Taylor is queen of pop, and I’m a happily devoted subject.  Continue reading →

Final Fantasy: RANKED

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My gaming life has always revolved around the Final Fantasy games.  I was eight years old when Final Fantasy 7 came out, and my older brother let me watch him play through the whole thing.  Occasionally he would play a few minutes without me present, at which point I would become outraged and demand a full accounting of what had happened.  I was obsessed, and I still am.  I’ve played all the games released since FF7 (except the online player ones–FF11 and FF14), so here is my extremely opinionated ranking of the Final Fantasy games!  Warning:  SPOILERS AHEAD.

1. Final Fantasy 7 final-fantasy-vii-cast
I imprinted on this game like a baby duckling, so there is no way it could stand anywhere but as #1.  I think, however, that even with objective standards, FF7 would top most people’s lists.  The plot is absolutely phenomenal–I gasped when Aeris died, and I freaked out when Cloud flashbacked to Sephiroth’s destruction of Nibelheim.  This game was overloaded with fascinating backstories, believable motivations, and genuinely emotional moments (Dyne and Barrett’s confrontation, OH MY GOSH).  I’ve played this one over and over again, and it still manages to catch me off guard with how intensely I love it.  Continue reading →

#Athens2015 Playlist

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It is a known fact that the most important part of preparing for a trip is the construction of a trip-specific playlist.  Here are five of the songs on my #Athens2015 Playlist.

1)  Making Money by Ben Rector

  Continue reading →

There’s Some Good in This World, and It’s Worth Fighting For

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I cannot watch this scene from The Two Towers without crying.  It has become my inspiration and motivation as I prepare for Greece.  Saying that, I immediately feel dumb, because who am I to compare my decision with the epic quest of Frodo and Sam?  But perhaps my feelings of insignificance are exactly what qualify me as a hobbit.  Continue reading →

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Whether you’re getting ready for a date or settling in for an evening of treating yourself, there’s always time for some Internet goodies!  Waste away the day with these Valentine’s Day-related links.

There you go!  Enjoy the Internet, and enjoy whoever you’re spending Valentine’s Day with, even and especially if that person is yourself!

Valentine’s Week Posts
February 8: How to Plan a Galentine’s Day Party
February 9:  Top 6 Romantic Songs
February 10:  Top 6 Heartbreak Songs
February 11:  “Romance” in Senegal
February 12:  Top 8 Romantic Books
February 13:  A Romantic Ideal:  Harold and Jean Stark
February 14:  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Top 8 Romantic Books

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When life is not giving me what I want, I almost always turn to books to meet my emotional needs.  Romance is no exception.  I can almost stand being alone when I can live vicariously through the banter between Jane and Mr. Rochester.  Healthy?  Probably not.  But sometimes a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do.

1)  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
I am aware that it’s problematic to love a relationship founded on lies.  But…what can you do?  I remember being shocked that Jane Eyre was written in 1847.  The dialogue between Jane and Mr. Rochester sparks with wit and sexual tension, and I was immediately hooked.  I also really love the character of Jane; her self-confidence and devotion to doing what’s right is incredibly admirable.  It doesn’t hurt that she’s plain but winds up catching the eye of a rich man either, hey-o!!

“I have for the first time found what I can truly love–I have found you. You are my sympathy–my better self–my good angel–I am bound to you with a strong attachment. I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my centre and spring of life, wrap my existence about you–and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one.”

Continue reading →